BRITISH WAGES AGAIN RISE

Grey River Argus, 23 September 1948, Page 5

BRITISH WAGES AGAIN RISE

Wages continue to rise in the United Kingdom. The latest increases, which came into operation in June, aggregated about £129,000 —with overtime not taken into account—in the weekly full-time wages of about 538,000 employees. These . increases caused a rise of one point in the index of the average level of weekly wage rates, which now stands at 106 —June, 1947, equals 100. Oyer the same period the index of retail prices has risen from 100 to 110. In the half-year, January to June, some 3,277,000 British workers have participated in wage rate increases, which aggregate about £962,500 a week, say £50,000,000 a year. The increases, which are widely spread, did not embrace agriculture. More Old People at Work The July issue of the British Ministry of Labour Gazette contains some interesting figures of the employment of elderly persons, showing the numbers of men over 64 and women over 59 in the employment field and changes from year to year. _ An estimate of those employed in insurable work is shown in the attached table: —

On certain assumptions, says the “Financial Times” London, it seems that the proportion of the total male population in the 65-69 age group who were employed rose from 40.2 per cent, in 1939 to 52.1 per cent, in 1947. In the case of women aged 60-64, the proportion rose from 5.3 to 7.9 per cent.

Women Men aged aged 65 and over. 60 and ovei’ Mid 1939 . . 320,000 63,000 1939 .. 600,000 118,000 1949 .. 456,000 104,000