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included in the budget. Account must also be taken : (1) of differences
 in the period considered — the available enquiries for
a given period not being always strictly contemporaneous; (2) of
the very important fact that in the post-war period an essential
item of the budget, namely, rent, is subject to conditions which
differ widely in different countries, the effect of ‘tenants’ protection
 ’’ regulations being to reduce the actual expenditure
on rent to perhaps a mere fraction of what it would be on
the free market*; (3) for the enquiries carried out during
the years immediately after the war, of the fact that in certain
countries the consumption of various articles of food was
rationed.

Even subject to all the reserves called for by these considerations,
 it may be interesting to compare the average composition
 of workers’ family budgets in different countries at approximately
 the same period during the years after the war. It
will be found that, generally speaking, when the countries are
arranged in decreasing order of the proportion of total expenditure
 devoted to foodstuffs, the result is substantially the
same as when they are arranged in increasing order of
average real wages, as shown by the table and diagram given
above 3.

The points noted above justify the adoption of certain conclusions
 regarding the comparative standard of living of the
workers. Apart from their social value, these conclusions have
a definite interest in relation to the economic -problems with
which the Conference may have to deal. While expenditure
on foodstuffs corresponds to a great extent with agricultural
production, expenditure on clothing (including hosiery, underwear,
 footwear, hats, etc.), and a considerable part of the expenditure
 classified as “sundries ”’, is associated with various
branches of the manufacturing industries. It follows that the
problem of the standard of living of the workers and of the
movement of real wages is closely connected with the problem
of markets for manufactured goods.

* With regard to this point, it is important to distinguish between, for instance,
predominantly agricultural and predominantly industrial countries.
. * See on this point INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE: European Housing Problems
since the War (1924), and The Housing Problem in the United States (1925). Studies and
Reports, Series G, Nos. 1 and 2.
* Section II: “ Real Wages.”