§ Mr. Rhys Daviesasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury why, in Table A, page 10, Cmd. 6261, the earnings of shop assistants are included under the heading of wages; how these earnings have been arrived at; and what are the reasons for this distinction between one section of wage earners and the rest?
§ Captain CrookshankThis distinction, which has always been made by statisticians in calculating the National Income, requires a lengthy and complicated explanation. As stated in the notes (p. 14), item 3 "Salaries" in Table A is based upon estimated assessments under Schedule E, excluding the earnings of manual weekly wage-earners assessed half-yearly, which are returned under a separate section of that Schedule. The earnings of the latter are included in the independent calculation of "Wages" given in item 4. There is, however, a certain diversity of treatment of the earnings of shop assistants for Income Tax purposes, some employers returning them as clerks, others as manual workers. In the former case, their earnings are included in the portion of the assessments under Schedule E covered by Item 3 in the table; in the latter case they are not. For this reason it is necessary to make a separate calculation of the earnings of 1727W this latter class for the purpose of building up the total estimate of wages given in Item 4. For 1938 Professor Bowley's published estimate of £54 million has been adopted; as regards 1940 it has been assumed that the war-time increase in earnings by this class offsets any fall in the number of persons in these categories owing to entry into the Armed Forces and other employment. In consequence no change has been made in this item in calculating the total wages figure for that year.