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For expenditure, Booth, Rowntree, and Shergold all produced similar results of data, showing costs for Rent, food, fuel, and clothing. For Rowntree, he calculated the minimum expenditure necessary to maintain a ‘state of physical efficiency’. For a family of two adults and three children, he stated this was 21s. 8d per week. He concluded that the average wage for a labourer in York was from 18s to 21s which would place the family in his classification of “C” and as such ‘poor’.
Shergold stated that the necessities of life were: food, rent, fuel, clothing, and furniture, and how much this could buy for 1 hour of labour, he called this his ‘basket of goods’. In Chapter 5, section 33, he concluded, that between 1901-1914 Birmingham families devoted 54.5 percent of their income to the purchase of food. 17.7 percent to the payment of rent and 5.9 percent to the provision of fuel and lighting. Thrift totaling 3.3 percent, presumably this comprised the portion of income that workers subscribed to friendly societies, trade unions, burial funds, or industrial insurance policies. Surplus representing 17.7 percent, probably included all income not immediately consumed
Shergolds 'Basket of Goods' percentage expenditure of Income
Food 54.4 %
Rent 17.7%
Fuel and Light 5.9%
Clothing 12%
Furniture 1.3%
Home Utensils 1.3%
Seebohm had read Booth's work and after a visit to Newcastle, he was deeply troubled and concerned by the standard of living and the poverty the poor were living. He wondered if Booth's work could be carried out similarly and decided to investigate and survey the working-class homes of York.
Tables: Shergold 25
Estimates of the Comparative Cost of Living: Pittsburgh and Birmingham, 1901 - 1914
Booth categorised his expenditure for the different classes and gave a cost for; food, rent and clothes per adult per week
Tables: Booth 02
Charles Booth Poverty Classes amount per week
All three authors showed real costs and provided diverse tables for the individual heads stated above. By combining the percentages of expenditure with these real costs, I am now equipped to analysis the actual expenditure for families. This allows for a detailed comparison with family income, facilitating the classification of Birmingham families.
Using Rowntree’s percentage of household expenditure, I can elaborate further and calculate the real expenditure costs as follows:-
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