The high wage myth (1963)

From the September 1963 issue of the Socialist Standard

For many years the Ministry of Labour has published figures showing the average earnings of industrial workers in a selection of industries. These have been supplemented recently by similar figures for salaried workers. The consequence is that we now have two images instead of one, the image of white collar workers’ pay added to that of the manual workers.

It is not that the Ministry of Labour figures are wrong or misleading but only that, in course of transmission to the columns of the newspapers and the speeches of politicians, the careful definitions and explanations are forgotten.

The latest figure for the industrial workers shows that the average wage is over £16 a week. Its brother turns up in the Daily Mail on July 3rd like this: “ £21: The average White Collar workers’ pay.”

The Industrial workers’ £16 12s. 4d. is average earnings, including an average of over five hours overtime pay, plus all extras for output bonuses, profit sharing, etc., and before any deductions have been made for income tax, National Insurance contributions, and the like.

The figure applies only to men of 21 and over (the average for women, youths and girls ranges from £8 3s. 8d. down to £5 4s. 6d.), and applies only to the manufacturing industries, which are relatively highly paid.

The inclusion of some non-manufacturing industries lowers the average by about 10s. a week, and although some other "high wage” as well as “low wage " industries are outside the figures it is well-nigh certain that the inclusion of shop assistants, catering workers, agricultural workers, etc., would bring it down much more. On this basis it could well be less than £14 for an average of 48 hours a week or more, and before deductions.

The same and some additional qualifications apply to the myth of the £21 a week “white collar worker.” As defined by the Ministry of Labour for its enquiry this group includes all administrative, technical and clerical staff ”from managerial and administrative grades to junior clerks and typists” as well as technical and “professional" employees.

But as it happens the Ministry also publishes figures which exclude the more highly paid sections, the managers and administrators, and apply only to "clerical and analogous employees." The contrast is a striking one. We drop from the Daily Mail’s £21 to a figure only two-thirds as large, actually £14 2s. 5d. a week for male workers and £10 14s. 11d. for women and girls: and like all the other figures these include overtime and other extras and arc before deduction of tax and insurance contributions.

So much for the newspapers’ fairy tales about wages.

Edgar Hardcastle