AVERAGE INCOMES

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 125, 30 May 1930, Page 10

AVERAGE INCOMES

A CENSUS ANALYSIS

DISTRIBUTION OF £ S. D

When the Census was last taken, the schedules contained a questionnaire about incomes. The admission of this item to the field of tho Census inquiry was done after serious deliberation, and no little hesitation. To tho majority of individuals their personal income is an intimate matter which they are reluctant to disclose. Somo persons, again, may disregard, or not fully accept, the assurance that the data will be used only in quantitative statistics. Others, for motives peculiar to themselves, have doubtless exaggerated or understated. A further class may be quitu unable to answer the question with any degree of precision by reason of lack of records, irregular employment, or by tho nature of the business with which they are associated. To overcome somo of these difficulties the exact income was not asked, that being left to those responsible "for collecting tho income tax. Individuals were asked merely to indicate which of some seven groups was applicable to their particular case. The analysis of the answers received now forms the subject matter of the latest volume issued by the Government Statistician dealing with Census returns.

The returns show that at the time of the Census the monetary increment to the private purse of the population of New Zealand was roughly £100,000,000". The mean income for males of all ages was £205, and for females £100, per annum. No fewer than 20,000 males aged 16-60 years recorded themselves as not being in receipt of income. Undoubtedly the majority of these people were placed in the jight category, remarks the Government Statistician. Half of them, for instance, were youths aged 16, 17, 18, or 19 years. Many of these would be students and the like, while others would be engaged on farms, etc., without monetary remuneration. In parentheses it may be said that the important point of pay-' ment in kind, free housing, and similar allowances is beyond the scope of the present investigation. That such allowances would as a whole amount, to a very considerable sum is'undoubted, but the paucity of information available precludes any estimation in monetary terms. DISTRIBUTIONS OF INCOME. A rough approximation, rather than a mathematically precise ■ computation, gives »the following results when the population's total income is analysed: Proportion Annual Per Cent, of Income. Total Income. Under £52 2 £52-£155 23 £15C-£207 21 £208-£3ll 15 £312-£36.1 10 £364-£s9i) 8 ■ £COO-£999 S £1000-£1999 7 £2000-£2999 3 £3000-£4999 2 £5000 or over 1 100 The average income for adult males was £225, and for females £110 per annum. These figures cover persons aged 21 years or upwards, and thus includo those of advanced ages whose earnings would be relatively small. If it be assumed that the age period 25-65 years inclusive covers the stage in male lives when earning power is at full development, and 21-54 years represent a similar position for females, then the average yearly monetary increment during maturity was—males £235, females £115. , . The average of persons with incomes analysed according to conjugal condition or civil state give the following results:— Conjugal Condition. Males. Females. £ £_ Never married 146 105 Married 245 05 Legally separated.." 200 105, ( Widowed ........ 180 110 Divorced 200 120 Not specified 145 100 WEALTHY WELLINGTON. On the geographical side, income distribution is more largely affected by the character of the dominant industries in the different provincial districts. Not inconsiderablo local variation is shown in the following1 summary:— ' , Mean Income. Provincial District. Males. Females. £ £ Auckland 210 100 Hawkesßay .-' 200 105 Tarauaki 185 100 Wellington 220 110 Marlborough 180 95 Nelson ISO , 90 Westland 210 95 Canterbury 180 .100 Otago— Otago portion ... 200 95 Southland portion 180 90 Dominion £205 £100 The highest level of incomes for both male and female sexes occurs in the Wellington Province. The connection between the lower income levels and Che relatively high proportion of rural population is clear.' As the South Island contains, relatively, more rural population than the North Island, this is at least a partial explanation of the lower figure "for the South Island. Averages for respective urban areas show rather less variation than those for provincial districts. The highest average incomes, male or female, are recorded for Wellington, with Hamilton and Palmerston North ranking next for male incomes. Lowest levels for males occur in Tiniaru and Hastings.