ABSTRACT
As compared with 1911, profits now take a lesser share and salaries a considerably increased share of the national income. This is partly accounted for by the replacement of independent employers by salaried managers, but also by a great increase in the number of well-paid salaried posts. The share of wages in the national income oscillates with the trade cycle but has shown little change in the last 25 years. The share of the national income taken by rents fell low in the post-War years and has since been rising, but even now it only doubtfully covers the replacement cost of buildings.
One tenth of the whole working population (those with incomes over £250) take nearly half of the national income, and a small class comprising 1½ per cent of the population (with incomes over £1000) take one quarter. As compared with 1911, the proportions of the population in the upper income classes, though still small, are found to have increased.
The distribution of the product of industry can be analysed separately, and comparisons made between 1911 and 1930, for industry, railways, agriculture and other economic activity. For the years 1933 and 1934, annual data collected under the Import Duties Act Inquiries make possible up-to-date calculations of the net output of industry and its distribution, and some estimates of the gross profits in various industry groups.
The distribution of family incomes differs widely xivfrom the distribution of individual incomes. Fourteen per cent of the whole population of England and Wales live in families with an income of less than 10s. per head per week, but as many as 25 per cent of all the children in the country are included in these families.
