§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity whether she is aware that retail prices rose during October by 1 per cent. over the month of September, and the weekly wage-take rose by only 0.1 per cent.; and what action she now proposes to take to enable the lower-paid workers to offset this worsening in their standard of living.
§ Mr. DellI am aware that the increase in the weekly wage rate index was about 0.1 per cent. The increase in the retail price index was ¾ per cent. The period is too short to draw any useful comparison. The longer term trend is for earnings to rise faster than prices. The Government's views on the problem of low pay are set out in the White Paper, "Productivity, Prices and Incomes Policy after 1969" published last week.