The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-01-11 00:00:00

THE EARNINGS OF THE WORKING

CLASSES.'

Professor Leone Levi, at the request of Mr. M.
T. Bass, M.P., has prepared an estimate of the pre-
sent earnings of the working classes in the United
Kingdom, similar to that compiled at the same solicita-
tion in 1866. The prevailing distress and the critical
condition of the working chi, ses at present have led
Mr. Bass to believe that such an investigation as this
may be peculiarly interesting and useful. The follow-
ing is a condensed account of Professor Levi's instruc-
tive paper (which is given in full in The Times of
Monday) :
Professor Leone Levi says that the population of
the United Kingdom, which, in 1871, was 31,513,000,
has increased by 7 per cent., and is now 33,759,000.
The number of persons engaged in various industries
is a total of 11,509,080, composed of 7,821,000 men
and 3,688,000 women. Domestic service, the textile
manufactures, and agriculture employ 90 per cent, of
all the women engaged in industry; 6,647,000 of all
the men engaged in inslustry are occupied in agricul-
tural and industrial pursuits.
Quoting a great number of returns giving the wages
earned in different occupations, Professor Leone Levi
calculates the average rate 'of wages in the most
skilled arts at 335. and 355, per week. It is, he says,
in the nature of British industry, which consists
mainly in manufactured goods and artistic,roducts,
to require much labour, and hence the greater conflicts
between capital and labour in England than in other
countries.
The total amount of gross earnings of the working
classes of the United Kingdom under a condition of
an average amount of employment and at present
rates he has ascertained to be £503,000,000, of which
men earn £390,000,000 and women £113,000,0,10
Deducting from this calculation 7i per cent, for
holidays and other suspensions of labour, estimated at
four weeks' duratien, and 2,i for the number of mas-
ters not distinguished in the census, a total of
£452,700,000 remains. But another important deduc-
tion has to be made in consequence of the stag-
nation of trade, which has hitherto existed mainly in
• the textile industries, mining and metal manufactures,
and that class of labourers of an indefinite character
who are always the first to suffer when work is slack.
He estimates the total number engage., as here
stated, at 4,239,000, earning £182,000,000. Allowing
for a loss of wages in these industries to the extent
of two months additional, equal one-sixth of the
yearly income, amounting in all to about £30,000,f 00,
the earnings of the labouring classes will be re-
duced to £422,700,000, an amount almost equal to
that of 1863, divided, however, among a much
larger number of labourers. The average wages show an
increase as compared with 1866 of 62 3 per cent. earned
by men under 20 ; of 6i by men at and above 20; of 12 by
women under 20; of 24 by women at and above 20. It
will be seen, therefore, that women's wages have ad-
vanced more in proportion than men's, this being
I especially the case among domestic servants and dress-
makers. Taken separately, the average wages are not
high, but if the total amount earned be divided among
the 4,800,000 families, each of five individuals, repre-
senting 21,000,000 as the number of the labouring classes,
the amount per family will be £94 per annum without
the deduction for the depression of trade, and £BB with
the deduction, or 365. per week in the first case, 335.
in the latter.
Professor Levi says that in the past twelve years
our labouring classes have had opportunities of set-
ting aside a considerable amount, and there ought,
therefore, -to be no reason for the excessive distress
complained of at this moment. In 1866 the total
amouet in trustee and post-office savings banks
was £44503000; in 1877 it was £72,930,000, being
an increase of £28,477,000. The amount held by
friendly societies in 1865 was £5,362,000 ; in
1874 it was £9,038,000, an increase of £3676000,
making a total increase of both savings banks
and friendly societies in ten years of £32.113,000, or
an average of £3,200,000 per annum. But, says the
Profeseor, a c asiderable propoition of the extra
amount earned has been spent in an excessive expendi-
ture for eating, drinking, and smoking. In no other
coantry, he sa3s, are the wages more liberal, but in
no othtr country are they more wastefully used.
The consuxqtiou of ipswirted articlds of food and
drink per head in 1866 and 1877 shows a large increase