THE WAGE-EARNER

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18968, 5 April 1927, Page 10

THE WAGE-EARNER

HIS POSITION IN N.Z. ! CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ' BULLETIN. ; , i ! The Bulletin issued by the Economics | Committee of the Canterbury Chamber ; of Commerce last uight deals with the j position of the wage-earner in New I Zealand:— j Some estimate o< the relative r.umeri- : oa! importance of wage-earners, and of I . . . i particular groups ox Mage-earners, is j essential as a basis to; investigation ot ' thei- position in the economic organis- ; acior. oi the Dominion The ngures '■ ;: : veii beiow are all from official sources. j from the occupational statistics of the ; io.lz.iZ available census report, that of \ l.)'2\, and the statistics of the abstracts ; nnd the Year Book, u hie!* are more up ; t-o date. These statistics show that the ' relationships of the broarler groups j within our population change but little, i and over many years about -14 per cent, i have been classed as breadwinners, j about 5--i per cent, as dependents, ; while about 30 per cent, ore classed as ! wage-earners and included among the ] breadwinners Changes in the distribu- j tion of population between the chief j occupational groups are greater in ex- ; tr-nt, but slow in development, and are j ''■orefore small over short periods. The | Allowing table shows the details of oc- j cupationa! distribution in 1921: j OCCUPATIONAL DI.STMBCrfON OF POPULATION, 1921. Percentage; oi Total. Xumbers _ Both j (thousand.;). llaLi-: Females Sexes Employer* . . 50.5 7.ij 0.5 4.2 Own account .. 72.9 10.3 1.5 6.0 Relatives 23sistin; .. 12.1 1.1 0.9 1.0 Wage-earners 370.6 -15.0 15.2 3u.-l Not applicable 711.9 36.0 31.9 53.4 Totals .. 1213.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 The '-not applicable" group of 712,000 includes, besides dependents who number 683,000. a small number of breadwinners (2-1.000), whose occupations are undefined. But in order to bring out the relative proportions of proprietors (employers and one-man business workers) and wage-earners, the whole "not applicable" group and the "relatives assisting" may be omitted, and the remainder of the table summarised as follows: PROPRIETOnS AN'D WAGE-EA'RNEK.3. Numbers Percentage (thou- Both sands.) Males. Females. Soxes. Proprietors .. 123.t 23.5 11.6 25.0 Wage-earners 370.6 71.5 SS.t 75.0 Totals .. 491.0 100.0' ICO.O 100.0 This table shows that over that part of our population actively engaged :n industry, there are on average almost exactly" three wage-earners to each proprietor. The proportion of male wageearners is a little less than, this; that of female wage-earners considerably greater. The next table shows the distribution of both proprietors and; wagerearners ! amongst the chief industrial groups. Unclassified groups' are omitted, and the totals are therefore a little les3 than in the preceding tables: — . . ..IXDUSTfiJ Primary production. .. -. • Industrial .. Transport and Communication Commerce and finance .. ■ Public administration and professional Domestic and personal service Totals •■ *'••• This table shows the same average proportion of one proprietor to three wage-earners, but there are wide differences in the industrial groups from which the average is taken. In primary production the number of proprietors almost equals the number of wageearners. More than half the proprietors and one-fifth of the wage-earners, arc found in this group, and together they constitute the most numerous and important single group of producers in the Dominion. Obviously the dominant type of organisation in this group is the one-man farm. In other groups the number of wage-earners per proprietor varies from ten in transport and communication to less than four in commerce and finance. But the whole table, with its average of only three wage-earners to each, proprietor, furnishes convincing evidence that the commonest type of business in New Zealand is very small and that the great majority "of businesses are under the control "of working proprietors whose incomes and standards of life probably differ but little from those of the wage-earners they employ. Trade Unions and Arbitration. j To compare the foregoing figures J (from the 1921 census report) with j figures for 1925 and 1926, they require to be brought up to date. They are the , latest available, but tho proportions of wage-earners and proprietors have changed little over tho fifteen years ended 1921, and it is fair to assume they have changed little in 1921-1928. Between 1921 and 1925 the population increased 8J per cent. A similar increase brings the total of proprietors up tb 134,000 and the total of wageearners up to 402,000. It is commonly assumed that the j Arbitration Court settles waje disputes ] between wage-earners and their employers ; but wage-earners approach the j Arbitration Court only through their j registered trade unions. Out of the 402,000 wage-earners, only 100,500, or 25 per cent, were financial members of trade unions in 1925. In addition, there is a varying number of unfinancial members, not included in the union returns, but estimated by a labour authority at about 20 per cent. These unionists are not fully representative of the whole of industry, but rather represent special industrial groups. The range and extent of representation are shown in the following tables. Estimates have been made for the 1925 members in industrial groups by adding Si per cent, (the population increase) to the 1921 census numbers for each group, and these are compared with the trade returns for ea<:h group in 1925: ■WAGE-EARNERS AN'D TRAD Industrial . . ~ Transport and communication . . [] Domestic and persona! service . . ' Primarv production Commerce and finance, public administration professional and unclassified Totals 'lncluding uafinancial unionists, totall In the next table these figures have been reduced to percentages.-WAGE-EARNERS AND TRADE UNIONISTS PERCENTAGES. *Per cent of Per cent of Per cent of Groups total tvage- total • who are earners. Unionists. Unionists. { Industrial . . 26.6 50.3 47.7 Transport and communication ~ 13.5 28.7 13.Z I Domestic and per- ! sonal servica 9.7 7.8 20.0 j Primary produc- I tion .. 13.4 6.1 7.3 Commerce and finance, public administration and professional, miscellaneous .. 30.3 8.5 7.0 100.0 100.0 25.0 'Financial unionists only. It is not certain that the industrial and unionists groups are exactly comparable in the above tables, but they are certainly comparable in sufficient measure to justify the general conclu-

>:oisi or the table, "hidi brings out j dearly the comparatively narrow range ; of trade unionism amongst tne wage- ; tamers In the industrial group, main- • lv manufacturers, building, printing. I etc.. about hdf ct the wage-earners are , vniouists. This proportion would be ; -reater if apprentices aud ouier cmiTrvo unionists were included. A similar oroportion holds ror the transport gi-M-p. includina shipping wnarves. I railways, etc. Domestic .. and personal service has 20 per cent, or its earners in trade unions, and these are ! mr.ir.lv hotel and restaurant workers. ; In pr'imarv production less than a per cent, of the wage-earners are unionists, and of these unionists more than. nali are miners. There are &600 "miscellaneous-' unionists, who may be spread over the other groups, out it appears thai, though there are some, guilds and other associations, unionism is negligible in the agricultural and pastor'ai. commerce, and finance and punlie administration and professional group-, who together constitute roughiy half of the total wage-earners. . Thi* means that they are not directly .subject to review by the Arbitration Court The Arbitration Court does review and determine the waees'or most unionist wage-earners; butT a large group of 11.COO unionist vailwar workers lies outside the scope of the Court. These set off. in part,. ; the unfinaticial unionists, apprentices ! et".. not included in the returns o. i trade unionist;. It seems a fair conclusion, therefore, that, as recorded ! trade unionists represent 25 per cent. !of the wage-earners, the proportion I whose conditions are reviewed for the i purpose of Court awards is somewhat j larger than this, but not more than 30 ! Descent. Acting largely upon the information obtained in its examination of the conditions of this limited section of the wage-earners, the Court makes decisions which apply not only to trade ! unionists, but also to non-unionists in occupations governed by awards, and which are accepted as standards over a wide range of other occupations as well. Consequently the Court exerts a powerful though indirect controlling influence over the" wages of a proportion of the wage-earners much larger than the estimated So to 30 per cent, who come directly under its examination. Wage Levels and Prices. These conditions exercise a considerable influence upon the wages and conditions prevailing in the various industrial groups, and upon the amount of j public attention they feeure. The At- j nitration Court, dealing directly with the wages of less than 30 per cent, of the wage-earners, determines indirectly the wage standards for a much larger section; while the trade unions, including only one-fourth of the wage-earners in their financial membership, are often regarded as representing the whole of tho wage-earning groups. Consideration of v-;age rates brings out again the disparity noted in previous Bulletins between the conditions of sheltered and unsheltered industries. The published information regarding wage rates is practically confined to manual workers, about one-half of the total wage-earners, and a marked difference appears between recorded wages of manual workers in sheltered and in unsheltered occupations. . With the single exception of the agricultural and pastoral group, which is the largest individual group, tho official index number of wages is confined to rates for mainly manual workere in sheltered industries—the industrial, transport, and j :IAL GROUPS. Proprietors. Wage-earners, dumber. Per cent. JCurnber. Per cent. .'. 69,600 56.3 71.900 20.0 „ 13,700 16.1 96.700 27.5 .. 4.900 4.0 50,300 1-1.0 .. ' 13.1 59.7C0 16.7 .. 7 600 U.-2 42,500 11.3 ~ 4,700 3.8 36,000 10.0 ..122,500 100.0 359,100 100.0 hotel and restaurant groups. In fact, the Year Book states that, with the exception of agricultural wages, obtained from the Labour Department, and railway, wages, obtained from the Railway Department, the index number is based almost entirely upon the awards of the Arbitration Court. The official "aver- . age wage for all industrial groups combined" is thus representative of special groups rather than of all groups of wage-earners. A3 given in the Abstract of Statistics, it indicates that wages in 1926 were 58 per cent above the 1914 level This is the figure most commonly quoted, and it i 3 usually regarded as comparable with other pre-war price indexes. But the chief of these indexes, those for wholesale, export, and import prices, are on the broader and safer base of the five pre-war years, 1909-13. The Year Book publishes indexes for wage rates based on Dominion averages for the same years, which are therefore directly comparable with these price indexes. The comparison is made in the. following tables, where figures have been computed from the official indexes:— WAGE INDEXE3. (Ease weighted average of ail groups, 1909-13; 100.) Unsheltered Sheltered j All "Wage Agricultural Manual I Groups, and Pastoral Workers. 3926 - - 170.0 149.4 175.6 Last qr. 1926 170.6 149.4 176.2 PRICE INDEXES. All Animal Wholesale Import Export ProPrices. Prices. Prices. duct 3. "1009-13 .. 100 100 100 100 1926 .. 161.9 153.6 152.5 141.0 Average of last quarter 1926 160.7 153.6 133.1 1'J3.2 The wage indexes show a wide disparity in wage rates, unsheltered agricultural and pastoral wages being about 50. per cent, above the 1909-13 wagesheltered wages about 7© per centf'above that level. Sheltered wages, too, determined mainly.by the Arbitration Court, have been rising since 1923. and are apparently still rising. Wholesale prices have fallen steadily since 1924, import prices since 1920, and export prices, which fell heavily in 192526, are at a relatively low level. These low prices are for unsheltered products sold mainly in competitive overseas markets. It is instructive to compare the price levels of certain more sheltered products:— SHELTERED PRICES. • Milled Asrri- Textile '•ultura! Manu- Wood Products, fixtures. Products. Coal. 1909-13 -. 100 100 100 300 I 1926 . - 192.3 209.4 207.4 137.5 I Average o.' last qr. 194.1 205.5 203.3 183.2 These are the prices of articles having for the most part a sheltered local )E UNIONISTS— XCiIBERS. Estimated Total Wage- T/ade Nonearners. Unionist'. Unionists. . 107.000 51.000 56,000 54,500 26,900 27.600 39,00''! 7.300 T-U.209 78,00-:> 6,100 71,900 V 123,503 3,600 114,900 . 402.000 100,400 301,600 lin» perhaps 20.000. market. There appears to be a close connexion between high prices in these sheltered industries and high wages in the corresponding, groups of wageearners employed iu the sheltered industries, and an equally dose connex- { ion between the lower wages and the j low prices of the unsheltered industries. i j Conclusion. In the absence of fuller information regarding wages among . the nonmanual wage-earners, precise arid definite conclusions cannot, be drawn regarding the relative positions of all the different groups. There i.%\ however, considerable indication that wages in sheltered industries, and subject mainly to Arbitration Court awards, are relatively high compared with wages in unsheltered industries These high wages are r,artly the effect, partly the ca£e of the high price's received for the"product* of those industries, and

they exert a considerable influence on the"cost of living, which is undoubtedly a chief factor considered by the Arbitration Court in making its awards. There is reason, too, for believing that the relatively high wages of workers in sheltered town industries, where the influence of the Court is great, have attracted many wage-earnera from the unsheltered rural industries, where the Court's influence is less. But the unsheltered industries provide a large part of the market for the products cf the sheltered industries. Wages in the latter industries are 76 per cent, above the pre-war level, prices higher still. It is difficult to see how the unsheltered industries, receiving prices only about 40 per cent, above pre-war "level for their products, can afford to buy at present prices their usual quantities of goods produced by the sheltered industries; Or how all the workers can continue to be employed in those industries if the market for their products is curtailed because buyers' incomes are unequal to sellers' prices. Is this a cause of the present unemployment problem? The question raises large and important issues. It includes the whole question of the soundness or unsoundness of our present arbitration procedure, and the general problem of unemployment as well. These two questions fill provide the subject matter for Bulletins Xos. 28 and 30.