Hardship Arising Should Credit Facilities Be Stopped

Navigate the documents in the report

10 11 12 13

HARDSHIP ARISING SHOULD BE CREDIT FACILITIES BE STOPPED

QUESTION 5. If it should become impossible to buy on a credit system, would this cause any hardship.

	No.	%
Yes	727	23.6
Difficult but could manage	166	5.4
No.	311	10.1
People not buying on credit	1858	60.4
Not answered	14	0.5
TOTAL	3076	100.0

Nearly a quarter say that it would cause them hardship if they could not buy on credit.

To check up on the question of whether the cessation of credit amenities would cause hardship, informants were asked a second question on the same subject at a later stage of the interview.

If you could not buy on credit, would you have to give up buying some articles?

Would you have to give up articles	No.	%
Yes	697	22.7
No	311	10.1
Don’t know	155	5.0
Not answered	31	1.0
People not buying on credit	1882	61.2
SAMPLE	3076	100.0

The number of those who think they could not buy certain articles is nearly the same as those who thought it would cause them hardship. Six hundred and ninety-seven answered this question in the affirmative, and seven hundred and twenty-seven did so in answer to the first question.

Group differences exist. As these are the same for both hardship questions, we give in the following table, only the breakdowns for the question “If it should become impossible to buy on a credit system would this cause any hardship?

Breakdown by class

	Class C		Class D
	No.	%	No.	%
Yes	236	15.6 ± 1.9	482	31.5 ± 2.4
Difficult but could manage	83	5.5 ± 1.2	82	5.4 ± 1.1
No.	170	11.3 ± 1.6	134	8.8 ± 1.4
People not buying on credit	1011	67.0 ± 2.4	825	54.0 ± 2.6
Not answered	9	0.6	5	0.3
TOTAL	1509	100.0	1528	100.0

Many more women from the D than the C group think that the cessation of credit systems would cause them hardship.

Breakdown by No. of children under 14 in family.

	No. of children under 14		1-2 children under 14		3-8 children under 14
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Yes	242	15.1	312	27.9	172	48.3
		± 1.8		± 2.7		± 5.2
Difficult but could manage	63	3.9	75	6.7	28	7.9
		± 1.0		± 1.5		± 2.9
No	156	9.7	127	11.4	26	7.3
		± 1.5		± 1.9		± 2.7
People not buying on credit	1143	71.3	602	54.0	130	36.5
		± 2.3		± 0.9		± 5.1
SAMPLE	1604	100.0	1116.	100.0	356	100.0

People with bigger families would feel hardship more seriously than those with less children.

Breakdown in urban and rural areas

	Urban		Rural
	No.	%	No.	%
Yes	618	24.6	83	17.8
Yes		± 1.7		± 3.6
Difficult but could manage	135	5.4	25	5.4
Difficult but could manage		± 0.9		± 2.0
No	249	9.9	50	10.8
No		± 1.2		± 2.9
People not buying on credit	1512	60.1	307	61.1
People not buying on credit		± 2.0		± 2.5
SAMPLE	2514	100.0	465	100.0

Town people expect hardship more frequently that the other areas.

Breakdown by husband’s occupation

	SERVICES		HEAVY INDUSTRY		LIGHT INDUSTRY		UNOCCUPIED		NO HUSBAND
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Yes	173	40.5	181	27.0	2018	19.8	38	18.3	90	18.8
Yes		± 4.7		± 3.2		± 2.4		± 5.4		± 3.6
Difficult but could manage	17	4.0	52	7.7	68	6.2	2	1.0	21	4.4
Difficult but could manage		± 1.9		± 2.1		± 1.4		± 1.4		± 1.8
No	39	9.1	80	11.9	120	10.9	18	8.7	0.34	7.1
No		± 2.8		± 2.5		± 1.9		± 4.0		± 2.3
People not buying on credit	198	46.4	358	53.4	696	63.1	150	72.0	333	69.7
People not buying on credit		± 4.8		± 3.8		± 2.9		± 6.2		± 4.2
SAMPLE	427	100.0	671	100.0	1102	100.0	208.0	100.0	478	100.0

The wives whose husbands are in the services, would suffer most from a lack of credit buying facilities.

Question 6. Which article would have to give up buying, if you could not buy on credit.

Articles	No.	%
Clothes - adults	330	10.7
Clothes - children	229	7.5
Shoes - adults	72	2.3
Shoes - children	65	2.1
Hard furniture	77	2.5
Soft furniture	44	1.4
Household linen	69	2.2
Others	81	2.6
SAMPLE	3076

It is mainly adults' and children's clothes which could not be bought without the credit system.

The people of the different groups who think they would experience hardship. if credit buying ceased to exist, name articles which could not be bought without a credit system in the same frequency.

Question 7. If it would be any hardship - what are the reasons

Reasons	No.	%
Could not afford to buy at all	380	12.4
Less money now than before the war	96	13.1
Habit, always done it, handy	112	3.6
Prices dearer, can’t pay so much at once	209	6.8
Because of coupons have to buy dearer quality	26	0.8
Is the easiest way to save	91	3.0
Others	30	1.0
Not answered	17	0.6
SAMPLE	3076	100.0

Class Breakdown

Reasons	Class C		Class D
Reasons	No.	%	No.	%
Could not afford to buy at all	112	7.4	262	17.1
		± 1.3		± 1.4
Less money now than before the war	34	2.3	58	3.8
		± 0.7		± 1.0
Habit, always done it, handy	46	3.0	66	4.3
		± 0.9		± 1.0
Prices dearer, can’t pay so much at once	80	5.3	128	8.4
		± 1.1		± 1.4
Because of coupons have to buy dearer quality	8	0.5	128	8.4
		0.5		± 2.2
Is the easiest way to save	39	2.6	52	3.4
		± 0.9		± 2.8
Others	11	0.7	19	1.2
		± 0.5		± 2.2
Not answered	8	0.5	9	0.6
		± 0.5		± 2.2
People not buying on credit	1248	82.7	1021	66.8
		± 1.9		± 2.4
SAMPLE	1509		1528

It seems clear that the D group would suffer hardship, because of economic reasons.

Navigate the documents