(South Tipperary) asked the Minister for Finance if he will state, on the basis of an estimated annual growth of 4.4 per cent. in the gross national product between 1960-1970, what percentage annual increase in wages and salaries is possible consistent with corresponding improvements to the rest of the society and without detriment to the employment content of the State or its international trading position.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Wage and Salary Increases.
14.
The target set in the Second Programme for Economic Expansion is an increase between 1960 and 1970 of 50 per cent in real Gross National Product, expressed in terms of constant 1960 prices. This is equivalent to an annual average growth rate of 4.14 per cent. Achievement of the target will enable real national income to be increased by this amount. The Second Programme, while making no assumptions about the expected rate of change in each of the constituents of national income draws attention, in paragraph 105, to the requirement that “at least part of the benefit of increased productivity should emerge in the form of lower prices or better quality, first, to ensure that more Irish products become competitive and exportable and, second, to ensure that the benefit will be shared by all sections of the community”.
On the basis that there would be corresponding improvements in other incomes, and on the condition that labour costs per unit of output were not rising in relation to those of our competitors, wages and salaries could advance in real terms at the same rate as real National Income.