HC Deb 28 July 1955 vol 544 c173W
Mr. Fernyhough

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the national income wages represented in the years 1938, 1945, 1948, 1951, 1952, 1953 and 1954.

Sir E. Boyle

The following tables give estimate of wages expressed as a percentage of the gross national product. Figures for 1945 on a comparable basis are not available; figures for 1946 are given instead.

per cent.
1938 37.1
1946 37.2
1948 40.1
1951 39.7
1952 39.0
1953 38.7
1954 39.3

Mr. Fernyhough

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much real earnings of British workers have increased since 1948; and what was the increase in productivity for the same period.

Sir E. Boyle

Between 1948 and 1954 wages and salaries increased by 51 per cent. and the consumers' price index by 26 per cent.; this implies that in real terms wages and salaries increased by 20 per cent. In the industries covered by the index of industrial production (i.e. mining and quarrying, manufacturing, building and contracting, gas, electricity and water) output per man year increased by 15 per cent. during the same period.