STANDARD OF LIVING

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25269, 22 August 1947, Page 8

STANDARD OF LIVING

NEED FOR INCREASED PRODUCTION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS SUGGESTED (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) , WELLINGTON, August 21. Ways and means must be found, and found quickly, of galvanising our people into greater activity,” said the Minister of Finance (Mr W. Nash) m his Budget speech in the House of Representatives this evening, when he referred to the need for increased production.

There had been a substantial increase in the value of production in recent years, but there had been a falling-off in volume, he said. Exports had been maintained, and imports had increased, although they had been well down during the war, and for 1945-46 there was only about three-quarters of the volume of 193839. The consequence was that goods available for consumption during 194546 were only 89 per cent, of what was available in 1938-39.

Whatever might be done by increasing money Incomes could not alter the fact that each person could obtain only about four-fifths of the goods available to him or her in 1938-39, he continued. A considerable factor : n the present lower standard of living was the inability to obtain .iecessary imports, but the restoration and maintenance of living standards could be assisted, by increased production. As there was virtually no unemnloyment in New Zealand, but about 33,000 vacant jobs, the objective could be obtained only by making better use of available resources, and “above all, bv increased output for each unit of labour, whether it was in the mines on the farms, in the factories, on the wharves, in transportation, or in offices.”

The Minister felt sure that a better understanding of the real position, and a realisation that in general every worker’s standard of living was determined by his own output, would be helpful, and he considered th,at could best be emphasised by some system of incentive payments.

Between 1938-39 and 1947 total wage and salary payments, when corrected to show “real” earnings after allowing for changes in the cost of living, increased as follows:—37 per cent, in the United Kingdom; 41 per cent, in Australia; 45 per cent, in New Zealand.