11.13. Real Wages

            From the data as to weekly wages, and as to costs of living, we can now construct the real wages in each year (a figure in the 4^th or 8^th column which is above 100.0, means that the year was better than 1770): 

	Earnings	Expenses	Real Wage		Earnings	Expenses	Real Wage
1770	100.0	100.0	100.0	1800	143.1	175.2	81.7
1771	101.5	103.7	97.9	1801	158.5	189.8	83.5
1772	101.5	112.3	90.4	1802	156.9	134.8	116.4
1773	101.5	110.3	92.0	1803	158.5	127.3	124.5
1774	101.5	104.3	97.3	1804	161.5	134.3	120.2
1775	101.5	105.5	96.2	1805	163.1	161.6	100.9
1776	101.5	93.6	108.5	1806	166.2	150.4	110.4
1777	101.5	102.6	98.9	1807	167.7	147.3	113.9
1778	107.7	99.9	107.8	1808	167.7	156.5	107.1
1779	107.7	91.6	117.5	1809	169.2	172.2	98.3
1780	107.7	85.8	125.6	1810	173.8	179.5	96.9
1781	107.7	98.1	109.8	1811	184.6	169.2	109.1
1782	107.7	102.4	105.2	1812	200.0	206.9	96.7
1783	107.7	105.5	102.1	1813	196.9	197.2	99.8
1784	107.7	101.4	106.2	1814	198.5	164.7	120.5
1785	107.7	97.4	110.6	1815	186.2	150.6	123.6
1786	107.7	94.2	114.4
1787	109.2	99.0	110.4
1788	110.8	101.1	109.5
1789	112.3	104.3	107.6
1790	113.8	112.2	101.4
1791	115.4	108.2	106.7
1792	115.4	106.4	108.5
1793	115.4	111.0	103.9
1794	118.5	115.7	102.3
1795	136.9	139.1	98.4
1796	143.1	150.3	95.2
1797	143.1	125.3	114.2
1798	141.5	122.9	115.2
1799	141.5	144.2	98.1

 The graphical expression is as follows:

We note that the index of real wage for 1787-1792, which is the range of years commented by the Rev. Davies and his correspondents, is from 105 to 110. This means that the “mental image” that we have of the standard of living in those years, was only exceeded in the following years: 1796-1797, 1802-1804, and 1814-1816. The worst years were 1801-1801, which were 20-25 % below 1787-1792.

	Real Wage	Real Wage
	Index Quinq	Clark Quinq
1770-1774	100.0	100.0
1775-1779	110.7	105.8
1780-1784	114.9	111.5
1785-1789	115.6	112.4
1790-1794	109.4	108.1
1795-1799	109.1	106.0
1800-1804	110.2	102.7
1805-1809	111.1	104.1
1810-1814	109.5	105.2
1790-1794
To
1810-1814	100.0	97.3

The Clark figures for 1795 to 1809 are a little lower than in this study, as he does not take into account the change to cheaper cereals (barley, rye, oats) in this time-span.