Should Wages Be Frozen?
| Author | William Green |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624222400110 |
| Published date | 01 November 1942 |
| Date | 01 November 1942 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
58
Should
Wages
Be
Frozen?
By
WILLIAM
GREEN
I N
THE
summer
of
1942
America’s
civilian
work
force
outside
of
agri-
culture
consisted
of
42,000,000
persons.
Excluding
the
proprietors,
the
self-
employed,
and
domestic
servants,
our
effective
labor
force
comprised
35,000,-
000
wage
earners.
Of
these,
nearly
5,000,000
were
employees
of
the
munici-
pal,
state,
and
Federal
governments.
The
remaining
30,000,000
were
workers
in
industry
and
trade.
Of
the
industrial
and
trade
employ-
ment,
about
14,000,000
workers
were
in
manufacturing
and
mining;
about
11,000,000
were
in
wholesale
and
retail
trade,
in
banks,
insurance
companies,
and
service
occupations;
over
2,000,000
were
in
construction;
and
about
3,500,-
000
in
transportation
and
public
utili-
ties.
In
discussing
wages
of
all
workers
it
is
a
common
error
to
refer
to
the
earn-
ings
of
workers
in
manufacturing
indus-
tries.
The
reason
for
this
is
simple.
The
Labor
Department
maintains
the
most
complete
wage
reporting
system
in
manufacturing
industries,
which
shows
detailed
changes
in
weekly
earn-
ings
and
hourly
earnings
month
by
month.
No
such
complete
reporting
is
maintained
for
any
other
group
of
wage
earners.
It
must
be
remembered,
however,
that
in
manufacturing,
wages
of
workers
measured
in
hourly
earnings
as
well
as
annual
earnings
are
generally
higher
than
in
any
other
employment.
It
is
extremely
misleading,
therefore,
to
imply
that
wage
standards
attained
in
manufacturing
industries
employing
13,-
000,000
workers
apply
generally
to
42,000,000
nonfarm
workers.
FACTORS
AFFECTING
EARNINGS
Nor
are
hourly
rates
or
hourly
earn-
ings
alone
a
sound
measure
of
the
work-
ers’
income.
Stability
of
employment,
hours
of
work,
the
amount
of
overtime
paid,
and
other
factors
modify
the
value
of
a
particular
wage
standard
as
a
meas-
ure
of
the
workers’
income
over
a
period
of
time.
For
example,
the
average
hourly
earnings,
including
overtime,
of
building
and
construction
workers
were
about
$1.16
in
July
1942.
These
hourly
earnings
are
better
than
the
average,
and
it
is
common
to
consider
building-
trades
workers
as
workers
whose
wages
are
in
the
higher
brackets.
But
are
they?
A
junior
stenographer
employed
by
the
government
the
year
round
at
$1,440
per year
averages
63
cents
per
hour,
or
$27.70
per
week
for
a
44-hour
week.
It
would
appear
that
the
build-
ing
workers’
pay
is
almost
twice
as
high.
In
reality,
the
stenographer’s
an-
nual
earnings
are
somewhat
higher
than
the
average
annual
earnings
of
building-
trades
mechanics
and
laborers.
The
building
workers’
jobs
are
sea-
sonal.
Even
when
construction
is
under
way,
the
work
may
be
often
interrupted
by
weather.
Each
job
seldom
lasts
more
than
a
few
weeks,
and
there
are
spells
of
waiting
and
unemployment
be-
tween
jobs.
To
earn
enough
to
live
on
the
year
round,
building
workers
must
travel
at
their
own
expense
from
one
locality
to
another.
In
contrast,
even
in
industries
in
which
hourly
rates
are
below
the
average
wage
standard
but
where
the
work
is
steady,
workers
may
often
be
found
to
receive
higher
annual
compensation
than
building
workers
and
other
skilled
craftsmen
whose
employ-
ment
is
highly
seasonal.
Of
course,
in
highly
seasonal
industries
in
which
wage
rates
are
low,
as
for
example
in
canning,
the
annual
income
is
far
below
the
aver-
age
standard.
at SAGE PUBLICATIONS on December 4, 2012ann.sagepub.comDownloaded from
To continue reading
Request your trial