SPENDING POWER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 167, 18 July 1938, Page 8

SPENDING POWER.

DOMINION INCREASE. . . \ UP 66 2-3 P.C. SINCE 1932. MARKED WAGES RISE. The increase in the purchasing power of the New Zealand public since the slump period is shown in estimates of private income compiled by the Government Statistician. Aggregate salary and wapre payments in 1937-38 amounted to £98,000,000, an increase of 15 per cent on the figure for the previous year. The following table compares incomes of various groups in recent years in millions of pounds: — 1931- 1932- 1035- 198632. 33. 36. 37. , Subject to employ- £m. £m. £m. £m. ! ment charge — Wiises e0.5 55.0 66.2 78.3 Other income . 25.0 22.3 36.0 4».2 \Vn~e.* of pereone under twenty . . — — 3.0 5.0 Wnces of exempt relief workers . 2.0 2.9 2.5 1.7 Wages of domestic servants 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.9 Exempt income of women 3.1 3.1 3.5 4.0 Exempt Income of Maoris .... v . . 1.0 1.0 — — irmlistributed company income (includinjr income tax payments) . 3.0 2.5 4.0 5.0 Pensions under Tensions Act .. 1.7 1.7 2.0 2.9 Exempt income (including sustenance pay) 0.5 0.5 2.0 '3.0 Totals " 97.8 90.0 120.0 150.0 For the purpose of the estimates, mainly drawn for employment tax returns, the aggregate private income w taken to consist of the gross income of persons from euch things as wages, salary, pensions and investments, and the net receipts (gross receipts, less expenditure incurred in earning them) of business houses, farmers, professional men, landlords and employers of labour. Capital receipts, namely, from deceased persons' estates and repayment* of debte, are excluded. It ie probable that* the estimate tends to understate the aggregate private income, owing to the inclusion in some cases of domestic expenditure or living costs among expen-d-iture incurred in earning income. No allowance ie made on this account in the statistical computation, and the estimates ehould be regarded as on the conservative side.

The receipts for any year from the charge on wages relate to wages and salaries of the current year, while those from the charge on other incomes ere in respect of incomes during the preceding year. For the 1936-37 computation, therefore, the 1936-37 receipts from the charge on wages and tfie 1937-38 receipts from "that on other incomes are taken.