§ Commander BELLAIRSasked the Minister of Labour what average wages an unskilled able-bodied labourer can earn per week to-day as a bricklayer's labourer, as a railway porter, as a trench-digger under an electric company, as a road-sweeper under a borough council, and as an agricultural labourer in a specified county?
§ Miss BONDFIELDThe rates of wages of these workpeople vary in different localities, and the information available as to the number of men paid at various rates is not sufficient to enable the average wages to be calculated. The following table summarises the particulars in the possession of the Ministry of Labour as to the usual range of full-time rates of wages in each case:
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Occupation. Rates of Wages. Per hour. Bricklayers' labourers … 11¼d. to 1s. 3d.* Railway port[...]rs:— Traffic Grades— … Per week. Grade I … 49s. Grade II—London … 47s. Provinces … 45s. Goods Depots—London … 50s. Other Industrial Areas … 49s. Rural Areas … 46s. Trench diggers employed by electricity supply undertakings … 43s. to 62s. 9d.† Road sweepers employed by local authorities in the larger towns … 42s. 6d. to 59s. 2d.‡ Ordinary agricultural labourers … 25s. to 35s.§ * For bricklayers' labourers the rates quoted are those recognised by the organisations of employers and workpeople prior to the present dispute. The lower rates apply generally in the smaller towns and the higher rates in the larger towns. The normal hours of labour in a full week were 44 in some districts and 46½ in others. † The lower rates apply generally in the smaller towns and the higher rates in the larger towns. ‡ In many of the smaller towns and rural areas lower rates are paid; on the other hand, higher rates are paid by some local authorities in London. § The rates quoted for agricultural labourers are those (a) agreed upon by Local Conciliation Committees or (b) recommended by the farmers' organisations for payments by their members, in certain counties in England and Wales for which rates have been so agreed or recommended.