Under 4 8 3
4 to 13 30 31
14 and over 57 59
-- --
Total, 95 93
Total Weekly Incomes 1597s. 1543s.
_The Household Budgets in the "S" Group were separately tested and the
following results were obtained:--_
------------------------------+-------------------------------------
| INCOME OF HOUSEHOLD.
|-------+------+------+------+--------
Proportion of Expenditure | Under | L3 | L4 | L5 | L6
under each of the following | L3 | | | | upwards
sub-divisions:-- | | | | |
|-------+------+------+------+--------
Food | 61.1 | 60.4 | 56.3 | 48.0 | 41.4
Clothing | 15.7 | 13.7 | 19.3 | 19.4 | 17.7
Rent | 5.3 | 6.6 | 5.0 | 8.8 | 12.4
Fuel and Light | 8.7 | 7.6 | 7.3 | 8.1 | 9.0
Sundries | 9.2 | 11.7 | 12.1 | 15.7 | 19.5
|-------+------+------+------+--------
Total | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100
| | | | |
------------------------------+-------+------+------+------+--------
This test showed that the budgets we used conformed with common
experience, and is, therefore, evidence of their reliability.
(_b_) _Comparison of English and Irish Weights._
The weights used in England in compiling the British index figure were
compiled from budgets collected as long ago as 1904. These show a
pre-war standard of living and the final index figure shows the
percentage increase in expenditure necessary to maintain that precise
standard of living absolutely unchanged at the present day.
We were not in possession of any Irish figures by which the pre-war
standard of living could be accurately measured, and it was accordingly
necessary for us to obtain budgets showing the present standard of
living. Our final index figure therefore shows the percentage increase
in expenditure which would have been necessary to maintain the present
standard of living absolutely unchanged from July, 1914, to the present
day.
It has been seen that according to the figures compiled by us, 57.1s.
out of every 100s. is spent on food in Irish wage-earning class
households; 17.5s. on clothing, and so on, and it is of interest to
compare these "weights" with the corresponding figures calculated by
the English Ministry of Labour from the "United Kingdom" Budgets of
1904, which relate to the pre-war "United Kingdom" Standard of Living
and which are still in use in England.
The following table shows the proportion of each 100s. spent by
Wage-Earning Class Households which is spent on (1) Food, (2) Clothing,
(3) Rent, (4) Fuel and Light, and (5) Sundries:--
----------------------------------------------+-----------------------
| IN IRELAND. | IN "UNITED KINGDOM."
+--------------------------+-----------------------
| In June, |In July, 1914| |In July,
Class of | 1922, as |as calculated| In July, |1922, as
Commodity. | calculated |from the | 1914, as |calculated
| from the |previous |calculated |from 1904
| Committee's|column by | from 1904 |Budgets by
| Budgets. |price | Budgets. |price
| |changes. | |changes.
-------------------+------------+-------------+-----------+-----------
| A. | B. | C. | D.
(1) Food | 57.1 | 56.2 | 60 | 58.6
(2) Clothing | 17.5 | 17.0 | 12 | 15.6
(3) Rent | 5.4 | 7.9 | 16 | 13.3
(4) Fuel and | | | |
Light | 7.0 | 6.6 | 8 | 8.3
(5) Sundries | 13.0 | 12.3 | 4 | 4.2
+------------+-------------+-----------+-----------
Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100 | 100.0
-------------------+------------+-------------+-----------+-----------
It should be explained that the method of arriving at Columns B and D is
as follows:--
The amounts of the various commodities consumed, as shown in the table
compiled from the budgets, are left unchanged, but the prices are
altered according to the prices ruling at the date under consideration,
_i.e._, Column B shows the proportion of expenditure in 1914 on the
various classes of commodities had the 1914 standard been precisely the
same as the present day standard.
(C) Compilation of the Final Figure.
We were now in possession of the retail prices of the individual
commodities at the different dates, and of the weights obtained from the
summarisation of the household budgets, and these prices and weights for
the main groups of articles are set out in the subjoined table:--
--------------+---------------+-----------------+-------------+---------
| | | | Irish
|Mid-July, 1914.| Mid-March, 1922.| Mid-June, | Weights
| | | 1922. |(see last
| | | | par.).
--------------+-------+-------+--------+--------+------+------+---------
| A. | B. | A. | B. | A. | B. |
Food | 52.4 | 54.6 | 104.8 | 102.8 | 100 | 100 | 57.1
Clothing | 52.7 | 52.9 | 103.9 | 101.7 | 100 | 100 | 17.5
Rent (C) | 78.9 | 78.9 | 100.4 | 100.4 | 100 | 100 | 5.4
Fuel and Light| 46.6 | 48.1 | 104.8 | 104.4 | 100 | 100 | 7.0
Sundries | 50.5 | 51.9 | 103.2 | 103.1 | 100 | 100 | 13.0
--------------+-------+----------------+--------+------+------+---------
The figures A result from the returns from the Post Office.
The figures B result from the returns from other Departments.
The figures C were obtained from only one Department--the Local
Government Board.
It now only remained for us to compile the final figure.
This was ascertained by multiplying the ratio prices of the various
commodities by the "weights" appropriate to those commodities (_i.e._,
by multiplying the figures in the first six columns of the table above
by the figures in the final column).