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Basic Wage
Rise Will
Lift Prices
An inevitable rise in the
;ost of both goods and scr
rices would follow the in
:rease of 3/ a week in the Fede
ral basic wage, which would ap
ply from the first pay period
next month, an Adelaide econo
mist said yesterday.
The increase would be almost
immediate where manufacture
sr handling was closest to the
public, and where items were
Dutside price control.
Transport services, restaur
ants, department stores and
other industries, where a- large
proportion of costs came from
tabor, would be hardest hit by
the increase, it was stated.
The general capacity to ab
sorb increased costs without
reducing profits was almost non
existent in trade and industry.
Even where prices of goods or
services were controlled an all
round narrowing of profit mar
gins already reduced tWa. mini
mum would strengthen argu
mentsjfor price increases.
£lm. Wage Increase
The basic wage increase would
add more than £lm. to the an
nual wages bill in SA. About
three-quarters of this will be
borne by private employers, it
was pointed out.
, The Railways would pay an
extra £60,000 a year and the
MTT about \£20.000.
Because the Industrial Code
Amendment Act. passed by Par
liament at the end of last year,
links the State living wage
automatically with the Federal
basic wage, about 60 p.c. of the
210,000 employes in SA will re
ceive a 4/ instead of a 3/ in
crease under State awards.
The State living wage, which
was 1/ a week less than the
Federal basic wage, will be auto
matically brought up to the
same amount in addition to re
ceiving the 3/ increase.
The female State living wage,
which is seven-twelfths of the
male wage, will be increased by
1/9 to £3 10/3 a week.
Since the war, the Federal
basic wage in SA has risen from
£4 14/ to £6 9/, an increase of £1
15/ in four years.
The State Jiving wage, which
was effectively £4 18/6 in 1946.
has followed it closely.
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