Profits

In the six years between 1951-52 and 1957-58 when import controls were being gradually dismantled, company profits rose only 32.5 per cent while salaries and wages soared by 62.8 per cent. In the six years after 1957-58 when import controls gave a lush protected market to the New Zealand manufacturer, company profits soared 68.9 per cent while wages and salaries grew only 45.3 per cent. All these figures of course only partially represent real gains because of inflation, but the relative comparability remains. The re-imposition of comprehensive import controls in 1958 was followed by a continued shift in the national income towards the profits sector.