§ Dr. J. WILLIAMSasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will furnish a statement showing the productive capacity of a worker engaged in agriculture, engineering, mining, building, and weaving in the years 1800, 1900, and 1931; and whether costing figures are available showing wage costs of products in the industries?
1186W
§ Mr. RUNCIMAN:The precise information for which the hon. Member asks is not available. I append, however, certain particulars which may be of assistance to him.
The productive capacity of a worker engaged in industry can be calculated only for those years in respect of which a Census of Production has been taken. The following figures show the net output per employé as ascertained by the Censuses of Production for the years 1907 and 1930:
Net output per person employed. — 1930. 1907. £ £ Engineering (excluding shipbuilding and vehicle construction): Mechanical Engineering 205 109 Electrical Engineering 218 Coal Mining 148 127 Building and Contracting 195 84 Cotton Spinning and Weaving. 111 79 The above figures for 1907 relate to the United Kingdom as then constituted whereas the figures for 1930 relate to Great Britain only. Further, the 1930 figures are based on information obtained only from firms employing more than 10 persons, as published in the preliminary reports in the Board of Trade Journal. A summary of the preliminary reports published in that journal to-day indicates certain factors which may affect the net output per employé. The term "net output" means the figure which is arrived at by deducting, from the value of the gross output, the aggregate cost of materials used and the amount paid to other firms for work given out to them. It thus constitutes the value added to materials in the course of manufacture.
Corresponding figures for agriculture for the years 1908 and the average of 1927–28 are as follow:
£ 1908 … … … 78 1927–28 … … … 150 As regards wage costs, no information is available which could be applied to production as a whole in these industries except in respect of coal mining, particulars of which are contained in the annual reports of the Secretary for Mines.