§ 69. Mr. Osborneasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the £300,000,000 wage increases already granted this year or still under consideration he estimates can be absorbed by the increased national productivity; and how far it must be reflected in a higher cost of living.
§ Sir A. SalterIn October, 1951, weekly wage rates in the principal industries and services of the United Kingdom are estimated to have been 10 per cent. above their average level in 1950. It should be 165W observed that this is a measure of changes in weekly wage rates and not necessarily in actual earnings, about which current information is not yet available. The total estimate of my hon. Friend of course includes increases which are now the subject of negotiations, which I should be reluctant to prejudice by forecasting the resulting increase. Moreover exact information as to production in the industries affected is not available to me.
For all those reasons I am unable to calculate the amount which is likely to increase the cost of living. I may say however that as compared with the 10 per cent. increase in wage rates mentioned above the level of industrial production recently is estimated at about 4 per cent. above the average level of 1950 and part of this is due to an increase in the numbers employed. It is evident therefore that increase in production has been only a small proportion of wage increases this year.