Wow! Now That Seems A Good Wage.
 

I found myself with a little time on my hands and was thinking about a conversation we'd had yesterday in the pub.

It was all to do with the first wage you took home.

Mine was in 1968 and after tax was £4,6s,6d doesn't sound much for 44 hours does it?

But after putting it through here:-

£4.50 in 1968 ? 2018 | UK Inflation Calculator

It works out to be somewhere around £75.80 which makes it sound much better.

I went home feeling quite pleased at the time thinking of all the things I could spend this money on, I was met at the door by my mother, where is your wage she demanded to know.
I showed her the brown envelope and my wage slip.
right said she, I'll take whats needed for your board money and you get to keep £1.50 a week.
I hadn't even considered this expense but back then you didn't argue but meekly gave in to your parents.
As the shock of this expense started to wear off I started to do some calculations.
Before starting work I had this as my personal income:-

Paper round £1.50 About 5hrs per week
Spending Money from Dad £0.25p per week
Selling wood Saturday mornings £0.50p 4 hours per week
Peeling potatos for chip shop Sat Afternoon £0.50p 4 hours per week
Finding and taking back bottles to shop for deposit £0.25p Hours depended on luck
This came to a total of £3.00 per week call it a total of 12 hours work.

Now of course I was working full time I wouldn't have time for any of these jobs plus, the people I used to work for had already got some other enterprising youths to take my place.

I went back to Mum and explained how working longer hours had cut my money in half and asked if we could come to a better arrangement i.e. I gave her £1.50p per week and I kept the rest.
I could duck a lot quicker back then and avoided the back hander she aimed my way.
No she said, your working now and have to pay your way in the world, you wanted to leave school without finishing your exams had you stayed on you would still be getting what you used to, but it's a fact of life and you will now have to put up with it like all other adults.

I put up with it what other choice did I have?

Re: Wow! Now That Seems A Good Wage.
 

My first wage in 1962 was two pounds and fifteen shillings.
That would be £56.99 today.
I tipped all my money up to my mum and she gave me ten bob back.
This was on a Saturday...by Tuesday she was asking how much I had left....sometimes it was all of it...and she would 'borrow' it back.

Re: Wow! Now That Seems A Good Wage.
 

In 62 I started as an apprentice compositor at the nationally agreed wage of £3 7s 3d per week which I didn't think was bad at the time but when I received my first weeks wage I got a shock to find 6s 9d had been taken out for "stamp" or NI contributions as they now called. The basic minimum wage for a compositor at the time was £12.

Re: Wow! Now That Seems A Good Wage.
 

My first wage was £2.2s.6d for a 5½ day week including Saturday until 6 p.m. with half a day off during the week. This was in 1949. When I was saving for a holiday I washed dishes at a local fish and chip shop on Saturday nights for a couple of hours and if I remember correctly I got 2s 6d and my supper. I think I was about 15. I don't think kids would work for that these days somehow.

Him indoors started at £1.10.0d a week as an apprentice carpenter. When he finished his apprenticeship a carpenter’s gross wage was £9.9.0d.

Re: Wow! Now That Seems A Good Wage.
 

He was lucky Dottie, I was in the same job but only twenty eight shillings for forty six and a half hours. Ten pound ten and six after six year apprenticeship.

Re: Wow! Now That Seems A Good Wage.
 

I forgot to say five shillings out of the twenty eight went to Bridges tool club.

Re: Wow! Now That Seems A Good Wage.
 

Whilst we are talking about wages.
When I finished my apprenticeship in 1953, I went into the army to do my national service, and my wage went back to Twenty Eight Shillings per week. My last six months in the army I received Three Pounds six and six per week which was the regulars rate of pay, and they knocked out sixpence tax. Like my army number these things I have never forgotten.

Re: Wow! Now That Seems A Good Wage.
 

My first wage for a week as an apprentice engineer with English Electric in 1958 was £2.3s.1d. I gave all to my Mother and got 5s back.
I would boost this up by delivering meat for a butcher 3 times per week for 10s, which I could keep for myself.

Cheers
Phil Kenyon

Re: Wow! Now That Seems A Good Wage.
 

My first Easter 63 was £2-15-0 a week apprentice butcher.

Re: Wow! Now That Seems A Good Wage.
 

It was that long ago, I honestly cannot remember