DOMESTICS' PAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 176, 26 July 1940, Page 4

DOMESTICS' PAY.

FARM WORKERS, TOO.

NEW SECURITY CHARGE

BOARD AND LODGING CASES.

With the introduction of the Xational Security Tax the deduction from the wages of all workers whose keep is provided by their employers is now doubled, the basis of calculation being that set out in the Social Security Act, where board and lodging are valued at fl a week. The workers affected include domestic servants, maids, cooks and others employed in hotels, and farm labourers, representing in the aggregate many thousands.

The deduction on account of board and lodgiug to cover the two taxes is 2/ a week, the amount l>eing reduced where board only or lodging only is provided. For restaurant workers the deduction is based on an assessment of 11/ as the value of meals.

"The tax will be another obstacle in the way of securing domestics," said the manager of a city employment registry this morning. "Already girls and young women are very difficult to secure, and anything which reduces their wages adds to the problem. They are turning more and more to factory and other work where the wages are attractive, and they have definite hours and their evenings free. The tendency seems to be for domestic work in the private homes to be left more to middle-aged women, and where young women are wanted extra money has to be paid to attract them."

Among farmers the view was expressed that the new tax on board and lodging should not affect the supply of farm labour, and that the employment position was governed by other factors of much greater importance, particularly the acute shortage of trained men. A Government official stated that all industrial workers for whom board and lodging were provided by their employers would be affected in the same way as domestics and farm employees.