> 10 — 
comparisons, after calculating the average real wages for the 
occupations considered, with reference to the type of food con- 
sumption in each of the groups of countries mentioned above, 
general average index numbers, corresponding to the average 
of the various types of food consumption, are also calcul- 
ated. 
In all these comparisons respecting the purchasing power 
of wages food consumption alone has been considered, in view 
of the difficulty of establishing comparable data concerning 
the other items of a wage-earner’s budget. Rent has, however, 
been taken into consideration to some extent, by using data 
supplied by the Statistical Services of various countries con- 
cerning the approximate proportion of income spent on 
rent 1. 
The statistical data in question, for the period from July 
1924 to April 1926, are embodied in the table following, and 
are also shown in the diagram opposite. 
For both the table and the diagram it must be emphasised 
that the statistics are subject to the reserves formulated by 
the International Labour Office in the article “Comparison of 
the Level of Real Wages in Certain Capital Cities ’’2, and in the 
volume entitled Wage Changes in Various Countries, 1914 to 
19255. ‘The figures relating to nominal wages are not always 
strictly comparable «+. Furthermore, they cover only a limited 
number of occupations in the capital cities of a certain number 
of countries, and not all occupations in each of the countries 
under review. It must also be remembered that the real 
wages in question are calculated solely on the basis of their 
purchasing power in foodstuffs, except in those cases where 
rent is indirectly allowed for; that only a limited number of 
commodities have been included owing to the difficulty of 
obtaining comparable data for some articles ®; and that the 
typical budgets adopted do not correspond exactly to the 
oe or an account of the method adopted see International Labour Review, October 1924, 
pp. 63 oid Sedq.: ‘ Comparison of the Levels of Real Wages in Certain Capital Cities‘. 
* See in particular p. 295. 
* In certain towns minimum rates onl i 
; y are available, although the rates actually paid 
are sometimes siehtly higher; in other cases either actual rates or actual earnings are taken. 
The Hgux those fo Penhagen are based on the actual earnings of both piece workers and time 
workers va tes alin are based on average earnings. 
1S reason that certain special features of ordinary consumption in 
southern Furopean countries have had to be ignored, the budgets used not making sufficient 
allowan egetable consumption in those countries,