Occupation and Pay in Great Britain 1906–79

287 Pages·1980·21.154 MB·English

by  Guy Routh (auth.)

OCCUPATION AND PAY IN GREAT BRITAIN 1906-79
By the same author
THE ORIGIN OF ECONOMIC IDEAS
THE TEACHING OF ECONOMICS IN AFRICA (co-editor)
OCCUPATION AND PAY IN
GREAT BRITAIN 1906-79
Guy Routh
Reader in Economics
University of Sussex
© Guy Routh 1965, 1980
All rights reserved No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First edition (entitled Occupation
and Pay in Great Britain 1906---60
and published for the National
Institute of Economic and Social
Research by Cambridge University Press) 1965
Second edition (published by Macmillan) 1980
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Routh, Guy
Occupation and pay in Great Britain, 1906-79
-2nd ed
1. Wages - Great Britain - History - 20th century
2. Great Britain - Occupations
I. Title
331.2'8 HD5015
ISBN 978-0-333-28653-1 ISBN 978-1-349-16364-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-16364-9
The paperback edition of this book is sold subject to the
condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's
prior consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that
in which it is published and without a similar condition including
this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
Contents
List of Tables and Figures vi
Preface to the Second Edition xi
Preface to the First Edition xiii
List of Abbreviations xvii
Introduction I
I Occupational Class Structure 3
2 Occupational Pay 47
3 The Time and Circumstances of Pay Changes 133
4 Interpretations 181
Appendixes
A Occupational Composition of the Occupational Classes 221
B Occupational Groups by Industry, England and Wales, 195 I 226
C Income Distribution, 1911-12 and 1975-6 (Table 2.1) 232
D Derivation of Professional Earnings Data (Table 2.4) 235
E Derivation of Managers' and Administrators' Earnings 239
lVotes 241
Index 261
v
List of Tables and Figures
TABLES
1.1 Occupational class and industrial status of the gainfully
occupied population in Great Britain, 1911, 1921, 1931,
1951, 1971 6
1.2 Percentage distribution of labour force in six groups,
various countries circa 1970 I 0
1.3 Percentage of occupied population in occupational
groups, United States (1910-70) and Great Britain
(1.911-71) II
1.4 Higher professions (constituents of class lA), 1911-71 13
1.5 Lower professions (constituents of class IB), 1921-71 17
1.6 Employers and proprietors (constituents of class 2A)
1911-71 18
1.7 Managers and administrators (constituents of class 2B),
1911-71 19
1.8 Staff per employer and manager in various industrial
groups, 1911-71 22
1.9 Clerical workers (constituents of class 3), 1911 24
1.10 Foremen and number of manual employees per foreman
in various occupational groups, 1911-71 27
1.11 Skilled manual workers (major constituents of class 5:
employees and self-employed, 1911-71 29
1.12 Distribution of women within class 5 (skilled workers),
chief occupational groups including self-employed,
1911-71 33
1.13 Semi-skilled workers (major divisions of class 6), 1911-71 34
1.14 Semi-skilled workers in mining and quarrying and in
various manufacturing occupations (excluding self-
employed), 1911-71 35
1.15 Semi-skilled workers in various occupations in transport
and communication 1911-71 36
vi
List of Tables and Figures vii
1.16 Unskilled workers (major constituents of class 7: em-
ployees only, unless otherwise stated), 1911-71 38
1.17 Occupational class distribution by industry, England and
Wales, 1951 41
1.18 Distribution of occupied population (including em-
ployers, self-employed and unemployed) by industry,
1911-71 42
1.19 Indexes of changes in the proportions of each occup-
ational class due to changes in the relative size of industry
orders (A), all changes (B) and changes within industry
orders(C), 1911-71 43
2.1 Distribution of annual income before tax, Great Britain
(1911-12) and United Kingdom (1975-6), employees 48
2.2 Quantiles at 1975-6 prices 51
2.3 Professional earnings, 1913/14, 1922/3 and 1955/6 60
2.4 Average male professional earnings (occupational class
lA), various years, 1913-14 to 1960 63
2.5 Earnings in the higher professions, 1970, employees and
self-employed, males, as adjusted 66
2.6 Earnings for higher professional men in matched occup-
ations, 1955-6 and 1970 67
2.7 Average professional earnings (occupational class lA),
male employees, NES 1970 and 1978 68
2.8 Pay in the lower professions (constituents of class I B),
various years, 1913-60 71
2.9 Pay in the lower professions (constituents of class I B),
1970 and 1978 72
2.10 Averages for lower professional earnings (occupational
class 1B ) various years, 1913-78 73
2.11 Salaries of administrators and managers in the Civil
Service (men) (occupational class 2B), various years,
1913-78 (London rates) 73
2.12 Salaries of five managerial occupations, July 1960, with
changes between 1956 and 1960 79
2.13 Earnings of non-manual workers (men and women), 1960
and 1970 83
2.14 Pay for managers (men) from the NES 1970, 1975 and
1978 87
2.15 Pay for representative managers (occupational class 2B),
men and women, various years, 1913-14 to 1978 88
viii List of Tables and Figures
2.16 Clerks' pay (occupational class 3), various years, 1911-13
to 1960 90
2.17 Clerks' pay (occupational class 3), various years, 1911-13
to 1978 92
2.18 Earnings of foremen, forewomen, supervisors, inspectors
(occupational class 4), various years, 1911-13 to 1978 98
2.19 Earnings of skilled men (occupational class 5), various
years, 1906-60 101
2.20 Earnings of skilled women manual workers (occupational
class 5), 1906-60 104
2.21 Earnings or rates for semi-skilled men (occupational class
6), various years 1906-1960 107
2.22 Average pay for semi-skilled men (occupational class 6),
various years 1906-1960 109
2.23 Earnings of semi-skilled women (occupational class 6),
various years, 1906-60 Ill
2.24 Earnings or rates for unskilled men (occupational class 7),
1906 and 1924 114
2.25 Earnings or rates for unskilled men (occupational class 7),
1924, 1935, 1955 and 1960 115
2.26 Average earnings of unskilled women workers compared
with average for all women manual workers (selected
industries) and the manual average (selected industries) 118
2.27 Average earnings, seven occupational classes, various
years, 1913-14 to 1978 120
2.28 Women's as a percentage of men's averages 123
2.29 Occupational class averages as percentages of the mean
for all occupational classes, men and women 124
2.30 Average pay for each men'so ccupational class expressed
as a percentage of the simple average for all men 127
3.1 Indices of wage rates and the cost of living (average for
1906-10 = 100) and percentage unemployment (trade
unions, 1906-23; insured workers, 1925-47; all workers,
1948-78), United Kingdom 134
3.2 Estimated increase in the average salary of Schedule E
tax-payers with new arrivals excluded each year, 1915/16
to 1920/1 139
3.3 Number of workpeople reported as affected by changes in
weekly full-time rates of wages and aggregate amount of
such changes in the years 1920-4 142
List of Tables and Figures ix
3.4 Salaries in public companies in various industries, 1920/1
to 1924/5 145
3.5 Professional incomes in 1921-2 and 1922-3 146
3.6 Indexes of pay movements (for non-manual workers),
1924-34 150
3.7 Engineering industry, interrelationalship of earnings in
various occupations, 1950-60 161
3.8 Unemployment and unfilled vacancies from employment
exchange records, average for 1958, 1959 and 1960, June
and December each year 162
3.9 Earnings per week of manual and non-manual workers,
men and women, 1970 and 1977, October 165
3.10 Men's and women's average earnings from the New
Earnings Surveys, 1968-78 170
3.11 Women's averages as percentages of men's averages,
various occupations, 1970-8 171
3.12 Pay structure, adult full-time men whose pay was not
affected by absence 175
3.13 Average hourly earnings, excluding overtime premia, of
skilled and semi-skilled male workers as percentage of
labourers' earnings, engineering industry, June each year,
1970-8 177
4.1 Distribution of draughtsmen by fathers' occupational
class, 1960, and distribution of occupied men by occup-
ational class, 1931 195
4.2 Occupational classes of draughtsmen's children 195
4.3 Dispersion of earnings between and within certain occup-
ations within the engineering industry, full-time workers,
April 1978 212
FIGURES
1.1 Occupational distribution, 1911-71 8
2.1 Occupational class averages as percentages of the mean
for all occupational classes, men and women 126
2.2 Occupational class averages, men, as percentages of the
unweighted average for all men 129
3.1 Indices of wage rates and cost of living (average 1906-
10 = 100) and percentage unemployment, 1906-78 136