Dispersion of pre-tax basic pay rates in Malta

Abstract

This paper records the dispersion pattern of the basic pay rates of wage and salary earners in Malta in census years 1957 and 1967. Studies of labour's aggregate remuneration rates i.e. basic rates plus bonuses, overtime payments and non-financial fringe benefits, cannot be carried out; statistical data are inadequate in quality and in quantity. For the same reason it is not feasible to analyse the personal or the household income dispersion within a set time period or over time i. e. to graph the time profile of personal or household incomes. The compilation of data about income and wealth composition and ownership has only recently been initiated in Malta; this late start in collecting such statistical information, crucial for socio-economic planning, seems common to many developing countries. It is hoped, therefore, that this paper's modest contribution would be of interest to researchers engaged in worldwide comparative studies of labour 'income', however defined, and also to those 'development economists' active in constructing socio-politico-economic indices for evaluating the existence or otherwise, of a trade-off between distribution and productivity policy targets in less developed countries.