§ 64. Mr. John Arbuthnotasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the rises, to the latest ascertainable date, in wages, retail prices, import prices and export prices over the average level of 1950, as compared with the figures for the whole year assumed in the Economic Survey.
§ Mr. J. EdwardsNo specific assumption about the rise in wages was stated in the Economic Survey. The Ministry of Labour's index of weekly wage rates averaged over the period January to April, 1951, 5 per cent. above the average level for 1950, but this index does not cover all wage-earners and does not apply to salary earners.
As regards retail prices, the Survey implied that the average prices of all consumer goods and services would be 7½ per cent. higher than in 1950. The Interim Index of Retail Prices for the period January to April, 1951, was on average 4½ per cent. above 1950. The interim index does not, of course, cover the whole range of consumers' goods and services.
As regards import prices, the estimates in paragraph 96 of the Economic Survey (subject to the major uncertainties about the course of prices referred to in paragraph 47) imply import prices in 1951 as a whole about 30 per cent. higher than in 1950. The average for import prices January to April, 1951, was 27 per cent. above 1950.
As regards export prices in 1951, no specific assumption was stated in the Economic Survey except that the rise in prices could not be expected to meet the whole of the required rise of 25 per cent. in export earnings (paragraph 101). In fact, export prices in the period January to April, 1951, were 11 per cent. higher than the average of 1950.