§ Mr. John Mooreasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing, for a married man with two children, earning average male earnings in the relevant year, and after taking into account income tax liability and national insurance contributions, the length of time, approximately, he would have had to work in order to pay for the following items in 1945, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, 1966,
374Wbecause the information gathered was incomplete and sometimes misleading, the maintenance of these records has been discontinued, other than in Northern Ireland.
The latest available information, broken down into broad occupational groupings. and showing the position in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland separately is set out below. A more detailed breakdown by areas is not readily available.
1970, 1974 and the latest year for which information is available: (a) weekly rent of a three-bedroomed council dwelling, (b) mortgage payment on a newly-built 3-bedroom semi-detached house, (c) 3 lb. of beef sirloin, (d) 2 lb. of fresh cod. (e) 14 lb. of potatoes, (f) a large loaf, (g) a half pound of tea, (h) a quart of fresh milk, (i) 5 cwt of best coal, (j) five gallons of petrol, (k) a weekly season ticket between Brighton and Victoria, () postage on five letters, (m) 20 cigarettes, (n) a pint of beer, (o) a bottle of whisky, and (p) a family car.
§ Mr. GoldingFor a married man with two children under the age of 11 and with gross weekly earnings (a) equal to the average for all full-time manual men after deductions for income tax and national insurance contributions, the approximate figures are as follows:
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Estimated (b)number of minutes work required to pay for items in Item July 1945 October 1950 October 1951 October 1955 October 1959 October 1964 October 1966 October 1970 October 1974 April 1978 Weekly rent of a three-bedroomed council dwelling 360 310 290 240 220 220 230 320 270 260 Weekly mortgage, repayment on a newly built semidetached house … … … … … 470 620 610 490 430 460 500 520 740 510 3 lbs of beef sirloin (without bone) … … … 130 130 130 180 180 180 160 170 170 200 2 lbs of fresh cod fillets … … … … 73 60 54 51 57 55 53 54 71 80 14 lbs of potatoes (whites) … … … … 35 35 39 50 45 38 41 30 31 32 1¾ lb large loaf (unwrapped and unsliced) … … 8 9 9 8 10 10 10 11 10 12 ½lb of tea (medium price) … … … … 35 33 33 47 38 28 25 21 13 22 2 pints of silver top milk … … … … 20 17 17 16 15 13 12 12 6 11 5 cwt high quality coal … … … … 480 460 440 480 470 460 450 510 380 540 5 gallons of petrol … … … … … 260 310 320 310 270 210 210 200 200 170 Monthly season ticket: Brighton/Victoria (d) … 2,500 2,500 2,200 2,200 2,000 2,000 2,100 1,900 1,800 2,300 Postage on five letters … … … … 27 21 19 14 14 11 13 11 14 17 20 cigarettes (filter tip) … … … … 53 58 54 42 38 38 36 32 23 24 1 pint of beer (bottled/canned) … … … Not available 34 33 26 21 20 19 18 16 17 1 bottle of whisky … … … … … 670 660 630 490 430 390 400 360 210 190 Notes: (a) The earnings figures used are estimates of average gross weekly earnings for men aged 21 and over in all industries and services covered by the Departmen of Employment's regular inquiry into earnings and hours of manual workers. Figures relate to October of each year except July 1945 and April 1978, the latter havin been calculated by updating the results of the October 1977 survey by the monthly index of average earnings. (b) The calculations involve a substantial degree of approximation. Moreover, no allowances have been made for changes in quality over the period in question. Interpretation of the data should take these qualifications into account. The estimates are shown rounded to two significant figures. (c) Information on beer for 1945 and family cars for the whole period have been excluded from the above table since there are no comparable data available for the years in question. (d) Weekly season ticket rates are not comparable over the period: monthly fares have, therefore, been substituted.