Poverty and Progress, 1920–38

Abstract

In the follow-up study of poverty in northern towns in 1924, Bowley points out that in the decade separating the original investigation from the sequel there were ‘dominating events’. These include the ‘fall in birth rate, loss of life by the war, the rise in prices and the more rapid rise of weekly money wages for unskilled labour, and unemployment’.298 Together, these were responsible for reducing the incidence of primary poverty to about one-third of its pre-war level. According to Bowley, the increase in real wages was twice as important as the reduction in average family size in reducing the proportion of families below the poverty standard.299