HC Deb 24 March 1925 vol 182 c219
21. Mr. WARDLAW-MILNE

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can give figures showing the working hours and rate of wages in German shipbuilding yards as compared with those paid in similar establishments in this country?

Weekly Time Rates of Wages in Shipbuilding Yards.
— Great Britain (9 Principal Shipbuilding Centres). Germany (Mean of Rates for Hamburg and Stettin).
German Currency. Sterling.
Skilled: s. d. Reichmarks. s. d.
i. Shipwrights … … … 55 7 31.00 30 10
ii. Shipjoiners … … … 57 9
Mean of i. and ii. … … … 56 8
Semi-skilled … … … No information 29.16 29 0
Unskilled … … … 38 5 25.38 25 3
NOTES:—(1) The German rates are those paid to single men. Supplementary allowances are paid to married men at the rate of 1 pfennig per hour for a wife, and 2 pfennigs per hour for each child. For a married man with two children this represents an addition of 2s. 8d. per week.
The weekly rates for Germany shown in the Table were obtained by multiplying the hourly rates given in the source by 54, and converting the results into English currency at the rate of 20.10 Reichsmarks to the £.
(2) For both countries the rates shown in the Table are based on minimum agreed time rates (per week in Great Britain, per hour in Germany). In both countries rates in excess of this minimum are in practice frequently paid. Futhermore, no allowance has been made in respect of extra pay for piecework or for overtime. Consequently a comparison of the average weekly sums actually earned in the two countries might yield different results.