HC Deb 21 April 1904 vol 133 c839
MR. HERBERT SAMUEL (Yorkshire, Cleveland)

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will state what is the estimate of the Labour Department of the approximate average income per annum of an average working class family containing one adult male wage earner.

(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) The average annual earnings of the adult male wage earners employed in the principal industrial and agricultural occupations in the United Kingdom in a year of average employment may be estimated approximate at £70 per head. The average income of a working-class family would no doubt considerably exceed this figure, but there are no materials available for making a trustworthy estimate on the basis stated in the Question.