asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish figures for 1950, 1964 and 1976 for a married man with no children earning a salary equal to that of a Permanent Secretary, the Prime Minister, the Chairman of British Railways, the Chairman of Cable and Wireless, a motor industry worker receiving the average earnings for that industry and a farm worker receiving the average earnings for agriculture workers, showing the length of time, after taking into account income tax liability and national insurance contribution, necessary to pay for each of the following items: (a) three pounds of beef sirloin, (b) two pounds of fresh cod, (c) 14 pounds of potatoes, (d) a large loaf. (e) a half pound of tea, (f) a pint of fresh milk, (g) one pound of butter, (h) five hundredweight of best coal, (i) five gallons of petrol, (j) a weekly season ticket between Surbiton and London, (k) postage on five letters, (l) a telegram of 12 words, (m) 20 cigarettes, (n) a pint of beer and (o) a bottle of whisky.
, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 25th March 1977; Vol. 928, c. 723], gave the following information:The estimates given in the following table involve considerable uncertainties. In particular, the standard hours worked, which have been assumed for the first four categories in the absence of other information, are likely in some cases to be much lower than actual hours worked.
| APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF MINUTES WORK REQUIRED TO PAY FOR VARIOUS CONSUMER ITEMS | ||||||||||||
| For a married man with no children, at various levels of salary or gross earnings, after allowing for income tax liability and national insurance contribution | ||||||||||||
Salary or gross earnings equal to those of
| ||||||||||||
A Permanent Secretary† | The Prime Minister† | The Chairman of British Rail† | ||||||||||
Item *
| 1950
| 1964
| 1976
| 1950
| 1964
| 1976
| 1950
| 1964
| 1976
| |||
| 3 lbs. of beef sirloin (without bone) | … | … | … | 16 | 22 | 52 | 10 | 17 | 50 | 12 | 18 | 47 |
| 2 lbs. of fresh cod fillets | … | … | … | 7 | 7 | 19 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 17 |
| 14 lbs of potatoes | … | … | … | 4 | 5 | 21 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 3 | 4 | 19 |
| Large loaf (not wrapped or sliced) per 1? lb. | … | … | … | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| ½ lb. of tea | … | … | … | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 1 pint of fresh milk | … | … | … | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 lb. of butter | … | … | … | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| 5 cwts. of coal (high quality) | … | … | … | 57 | 58 | 127 | 37 | 43 | 123 | 44 | 46 | 115 |
| 5 gallons of petrol | … | … | … | 38 | 26 | 51 | 25 | 20 | 49 | 30 | 21 | 46 |
| 1 monthly season ticket, Surbiton to Victoria ¶ | … | … | … | 99 | 97 | 199 | 65 | 73 | 192 | 77 | 77 | 179 |
| Postage on 5 letters | … | … | … | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 1 telegram of twelve words | … | … | … | 3 | 6 | 21 | 2 | 4 | 21 | 2 | 4 | 19 |
| 20 cigarettes | … | … | … | 8 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| 1 pint of beer | … | … | … | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 1 bottle of whisky | … | … | … | 81 | 49 | 50 | 53 | 37 | 49 | 63 | 39 | 45 |
Salary or gross earnings equal to those of
| ||||||||||||
The Chairman of Cable & Wireless‡ | A motor industry worker§ | An agricultural worker║ | ||||||||||
Item *
| 1950
| 1964
| 1976
| 1950
| 1964
| 1976
| 1950
| 1964
| 1976
| |||
| 3 lbs. of beef sirloin (without bone) | … | … | … | 23 | 22 | 57 | 107 | 154 | 202 | 187 | 279 | 293 |
| 2 lbs of fresh cod fillets | … | … | … | 11 | 7 | 21 | 50 | 48 | 75 | 87 | 87 | 108 |
| 14 lbs. of potatoes | … | … | … | 6 | 5 | 23 | 29 | 33 | 81 | 51 | 59 | 118 |
| Large loaf (not wrapped or sliced) per 1¾ lb | … | … | … | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 15 |
| ½ lb. of tea | … | … | … | 6 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 24 | 14 | 48 | 43 | 20 |
| 1 pint of fresh milk | … | … | … | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 7 |
| 1 lb. of butter | … | … | … | 7 | 4 | 7 | 33 | 29 | 25 | 58 | 53 | 36 |
| 5 cwts. of coal (high quality) | 82 | 58 | 140 | 385 | 399 | 498 | 673 | 722 | 723 | |||
| 5 gallons of petrol | … | … | … | 55 | 26 | 56 | 258 | 182 | 199 | 450 | 330 | 289 |
| 1 monthly season ticket, Surbiton to Victoria ¶ | … | … | … | 144 | 96 | 218 | 673 | 669 | 777 | 1,176 | 1,210 | 1,127 |
| Postage on 5 letters | … | … | … | 4 | 2 | 5 | 17 | 11 | 18 | 30 | 20 | 26 |
| 1 telegram of twelve words | … | … | … | 4 | 5 | 24 | 21 | 38 | 84 | 36 | 69 | 122 |
| 20 cigarettes | … | … | … | 12 | 5 | 6 | 55 | 37 | 23 | 97 | 68 | 33 |
| 1 pint of beer | … | … | … | 4 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 12 | 12 | 33 | 22 | 17 |
| 1 bottle of whisky | … | … | … | 118 | 49 | 55 | 551 | 339 | 197 | 963 | 612 | 286 |
Notes:
* No allowances have been made for possible changes in quality over the period in question.
† A working week of 37 hours for 1950 and 1964 and 36 hours for 1976 has been assumed for these categories.
‡ Calculations for this category have been made on the basis of a working week of 37 hours in 1950, 22·2 hours (3 days) in 1964 and 25·2 hours (3½ days) in 1976.
§ Based on average weekly earnings and hours of work of full-time manual men (aged 21 and over) employed in motor vehicle manufacture in the United Kingdom.
║ Based on average weekly earnings and hours of work of full-time males (aged 20 and over) employed in agriculture in Great Britain.
¶ Weekly data not available for 1950 and 1964.