§ 34. Mr. Ian Lloydasked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs what components and what base have been used to calculate the figure of 23 per cent. for profits in the Progress Report No. 2 of his Department; and to what extent the ratio of this figure to that of 51 per cent. given for wages and salaries in the same report conveys the relative influence of net disposable wage income and net disposable profits on costs and prices.
261W
§ Mr. AlbuThe base used to calculate the figure of 23 per cent. for profits in the D.E.A. Progress Report No. 2 was Table 9 of the National Income Blue Book (1964) which gives an analysis of the composition of the output of goods and services in the United Kingdom in 1963. As regards the second part of the Question, the figures on which these percentages are based are gross and therefore do not indicate the relative influence of net disposable wage income and net disposable profits on costs and prices.
The figures for net disposable wage income and net disposable profits on costs and prices were not used because they were not relevant to the point being made—that by far the most important element in the selling price of goods and services making up final output is money incomes.