Part 5

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).

The following table gives the result so obtained:--

---------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+---------+-------- | Mid-July, 1914. | Mid-March, 1922. | Mid-June, 1922. ---------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+---------+-------- | A. | B. | A. | B. | A. | B. Food | 2992.0 | 3117.7 | 5984.1 | 5869.9 | 5710.0 | 5710.0 Clothing | 922.3 | 925.7 | 1818.2 | 1779.7 | 1750.0 | 1750.0 Rent (C) | 426.1 | 426.1 | 542.2 | 542.2 | 540.0 | 540.0 Fuel and Light | 326.2 | 336.7 | 730.8 | 730.8 | 700.0 | 700.0 Sundries | 657.0 | 674.7 | 1341.6 | 1327.3 | 1300.0 | 1300.0 ---------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+---------+-------- Total | 5323.6 | 5480.9 | 10416.9 | 10249.9 | 10000.0 | 10000.0 ---------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+---------+--------

Then, taking the prices in July, 1914, as the standard and representing them by the figure of 100 we get the final percentage table.

----------------+-----------+---------------+-------------- | Mid. | Mid. | Mid. | July, 1914| March, 1922. | June, 1922. ----------------+-----+-----+-------+-------+-------+------ As Per Cent. of | | | | | | | A | B | A | B | A | B July, 1914. | 100 | 100 | 195.7 | 187.0 | 187.8 | 182.5 ----------------+-----+-----+-------+-------+-------+------

The following table shows the percentage changes so obtained for the main groups of commodities:--

----------------+-------------------+----------------- | March 1922 over | June 1922 over | July 1914. | July 1914. ----------------+---------+---------+---------+------- | A | B | A | B ----------------+---------+---------+---------+------- Food | 99.9 | 88.3 | 90.8 | 83.2 Clothing | 97.3 | 92.0 | 89.9 | 88.7 Rent (C) | 27.3 | 27.3 | 26.8 | 26.8 Fuel and Light | 124.9 | 117.2 | 114.6 | 108.0 Sundries | 104.1 | 96.9 | 97.8 | 92.8 +---------+---------+---------+------- ALL ITEMS | 95.7 | 87.0 | 87.8 | 82.5 ----------------+---------+---------+---------+-------

The figures in column marked "A" as before were obtained from the prices collected by Post Office officials, and those marked "B" from prices collected by officials of the Ministry of Labour and Local Government Board.

By taking the mean of "A" and "B" for March and for June, 1922, the final figures showing the increases in the Cost of Living are obtained:--

Mid-March, 1922, Mid-June, 1922, over July, 1914. over July, 1914.

=91.4= per cent. =85.2= per cent.

=and these are the final figures which we recommend the Government to adopt.=

NOTES ON THE COMPILATION.

(a) Comparison of Post Office, Ministry of Labour and Local Government Board Figures.

The close similarity between the figures supplied by the various Departments can perhaps be most clearly seen in a different tabular form.

For every 100 shillings spent by wage-earning classes in July, 1914, the following would be the corresponding amounts (as shown by the different returns) which would have to be spent in order to maintain the same standard of living in March and June, 1922.

-------+-------+-------------+---------+--------------+-------------- | | Ministry of | Mean of | Deviation | Deviation | Post | Labour and | columns | of (a) and | as a |Office.| Ministry of |(a) and| (b) from | percentage of | | Local Govt. | (b). | the mean. | column (c). | (a) | (b) | (c) | | -------+-------+-------------+---------+--------------+-------------- March, | | | | | 1922 | 195.7 | 187.0 | 191.35 | 4.35 | 2.3 June, | | | | | 1922 | 187.8 | 182.5 | 185.15 | 2.65 | 1.4 -------+-------+-------------+---------+--------------+--------------