Viscountess ASTORasked the Minister of Labour what is the present rate of weekly wage in force for the lowest paid grade of adult labour in private shipbuilding yards, as approved by the Shipbuilding Employers' Federation; what was the rate for the same kind of labour immediately before the War; and what has been the highest rate paid in the intervening period?
§ Major BOYD-CARPENTERThere are no collective agreements between employers and workpeople fixing standard rates of wages for the lower-paid grades of adult labour employed in shipbuilding yards by members of the Shipbuilding Employers' Federation. The rates actually paid vary in different localities, and also, to some extent, with different individuals within the same district, and complete information as to these variations is not available. The most general range of rates, however, for adult male unskilled labourers in the principal federated districts is now about 38s. 6d. to 40s. a week as compared with about 22s. to 24s. a week at July, 1914, and about 61s. 6d. to 63s. 6d. with a bonus of 12i per cent, on earnings in addition at the beginning of 1921, when rates of wages were at their highest level.