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U N IT E D S T A T E S D E P A R T M E N T O F L A B O R L . B , Schw ellentach , Secretary B U R E A U O F L A B O R ST A T IST IC S Ew an Clague, Comm 'ssioner + Trends in Urban W age Rates A pril 1946 B ulletin J\[o. 891 F or sale by the Superintendent o f D ocum ents, U* S« G overnm ent Printing W ashington 25, D . C* * Price 5 cents Office Letter of Transmittal U n it e d S t a t e s D e p a r t m e n t o f L a b o r , B u r e a u of L a b o r S t a t is t ic s , Washington, D . C ., November 4, 1946. T he S e c r e t a r y of L a b o r : I have the honor rates in April 1946, under the direction work for the survey wage analysts. to transmit herewith a report on the trend of urban wage which was prepared in the Bureau’s Wage Analysis Branch of Frances Jones Clerc and Eleanor K . Buschman. Field was conducted under the direction of the Bureau’s regional E w a n C l a g u e , Com m issioner . H o n . L. B . Sc h w e ll e n b a c h , Secretary of Labor . Contents Page War and postwar wage movements in manufacturing_____ _________________ Movements of gross and real manufacturing wages____________________ Trend of manufacturing wage rates, April 1945 to April 1946______________ Changes in wage rates in industry groups_______________________________ Area comparisons______________________________________ ___________________ Changes in selected lionmanufacturing industries, April 1945 to April 1946Wage increases in individual industries_________________________________ Area comparisons_________________________________________________________ dir) 1 3 6 7 9 10 11 11 B ulletin A[o. 891 o f the U nited States Bureau o f Labor Statistics [Reprinted from the M onthly L abor R eview , November 1946.] Trends in Urban Wage Rates, April 19461 URBAN wage rates showed greater advances between October 1945 and April 1946 than in any 6-month period since the beginning of World War II, and at the end of August 1946 they were still registering substantial gains each month. Despite large increases in basic rates, however, real wages still showed only moderate advances over January 1941 levels, as a result of a 42.6-percent rise in consumers’ prices between January 1941 and August 1946. If measured from wartime peak levels, real weekly earnings show a decline despite the basic wage rate increases that have occurred during the reconversion period, whereas real wage rates show a small gain. These facts were disclosed by an analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics semiannual survey of the trend of urban wage rates for April 1946. The urban wage-rate series covers all manufacturing industries and the wholesale and retail trade, finance groups, local utilities, and service trades of the nonmanufacturing industries. W ar and Postw ar W age M ovem ents in M anufacturing In April 1946, 8 months after the end of war with Japan, average hourly wage rates in urban manufacturing industry as a whole stood 11.7 percent above the VJ-day level, 12.4 percent above the VE-day 1 For a more detailed description of the Bureau’s measure of urban wage trends and the findings of pre vious surveys, see Monthly Labor Review, October 1944 (p. 684), or Serial No. R. 1684;*February 1945 (p. 379), or Bulletin No. 809; September 1945 (p. 519), or Bulletin No. 846; and February 1946 (p. 289), or Bulletin No. 860. Urban wage rate trends should not be confused with trends of factory earnings published in each issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The urban wage-rate series measures changes in basic wage rates result ing from general changes in pay scales and from individual wage-rate adjustments within occupational classifications. For incentive workers they reflect changes in straight-time hourly earnings of key occu pational groups. They exclude the effect of such factors as the shifting of employment among regions, industries, and occupations, and most of the changes in the composition of the labor force, as well as changes in payments for overtime and late-shift work, vacations and holidays, and other similar items. The series dealing with trends of factory earnings, on the other hand, is based on gross earnings of all wage earners and reflects such factors as hours of work, premium pay for overtime and late-shift work, and shifting of employment among regions, industries, and occupations. The estimated straight-time average hourly earnings are computed by applying a correction factor to gross average earnings to eliminate the effect of overtime premiums but not of night-shift premiums or other factors affecting gross earnings. 723757—46 (i) 2 level, and 48.9 percent above the rates that prevailed prior to the wartime wage rise, in January 1941 (table 1). Since April 1946,2wage rates have continued to advance at a rate of approximately 1 percent per month. Urban wage rates showed moderate increases throughout the war. An advance of 17.0 percent in manufacturing industries occurred during the 21-month prestabilization period (January 1941 to October 1942). The subsequent period of wage stabilization (October 1942 to August 1945) witnessed gains in manufacturing wage rates aver aging somewhat less than one-half of 1 percent per month and totaling 13.9 percent, bringing the total increase between January 1941 and the end of the war with Japan to 33.3 percent. Average weekly earnings in manufacturing rose more sharply, and reached a high point in January 1945, which was 78.3 percent above the January 1941 base period. This gain was the composite result of higher wage rates, a longer average workweek (by 16.4 percent), substantial amounts of premium pay for overtime and late-shift work, and the movement of large numbers of workers from lower-wage industries and areas to those where higher wages prevailed. The months following January 1945, however, recorded a steady decline in weekly manufacturing earnings from the all-time high of that month, culminating in a sharp break in August 1945, coincident with the end of the war with Japan. This decline reflected the influ ence of the above-named factors (except wage-rate increases) oper ating in reverse while reconversion to a peacetime economy got under way.*2 3 In the summer of 1945, organized labor began a concerted drive for increases in wage rates that would maintain wartime levels of earn ings under a potentially shorter peacetime workweek. When wage controls were relaxed in August 1945, numerous employers immedi ately put into effect wage increases that were pending approval by the National War Labor Board; some gave raises that they had been prevented from granting during the period of wage stabilization; and still others allowed interim increases of small amounts which they intended to supplement after clarification of governmental wage policy and the establishment of wage-movement patterns for indi vidual industries or areas. These types of increases accounted for most of the 1.7 percent rise in urban wage rates that occurred between August and October 1945. 2 Estimate based on the Bureau’s monthly series of average weekly hours and average hourly earnings. The latest data for the urban wage-rate series apply to April 1946. The upward movement of wages since April 1946 is caused mainly by first or additional increases nego tiated to bring the rates in specific establishments into line with industry or area patterns. 2 See the Bureau’s monthly series of Hours and Earnings, and of Employment and Pay Rolls, published monthly in mimeographed form and summarized in each issue of the Monthly Labor Review. 3 During the 6-month period following October 1945, pattern-setting wage negotiations of national importance were concluded, and in creases in wage rates became general throughout the country. Some of these increases followed industry patterns, some followed area patterns, and a great many were modeled after the pattern of 18% cents set in the 1946 steel case.4 The net increase in urban wage rates between October 1945 and April 1946, chargeable in the main to these general wage changes, was 9.8 percent. More than half of this amount occurred after February 13, 1946, the closing date of the “ wage increase pattern period” established by Executive Order No. 9697 of February 14, 1946. General wage increases between VJ-day and April 1946 brought the total of manufacturing wage changes resulting from this type of increase to 29.6 percent for the period since January 1, 1941. Table 1 shows movements of wages in manufacturing, as indicated by various Bureau of Labor Statistics wage measures, for specified periods, January 1941 to April 1946. T a b l e 1.— Comparative Summary o f Changes in Earnings and W age Rates in M anu facturing, January 1 9 4 1 -A v ril 1946 Percent of change in specified period Period Gross Gross Adjusted Urban weekly hourly hourly wage earnings earnings earnings1 rates General wage changes Total period (January 1941-April 1946)....................... +61.0 +54.9 +54.7 2+48.9 +29.6 Prestabilization period (January 1941-October 1942). +46.0 +30.7 +21.5 2+17.0 +12.6 Stabilization period (October 1942-August 1945)____ October 1942-April 1943.......................................... April 1943-October 1943.......................................... October 1943-April 1944.......................................... April 1944-October 1944......................................... October 1944-April 1945 (VE-day)........................ April 1945-August 1945 (VJ-day) __...................... +7.3 +9.2 +5.6 +1.5 + 3.1. + .4 -1 1.5 +14.7 +5.7 + 4.7 +2.5 +1.8 +1.3 -1 .9 3+15.6 + 3.2 +3.6 + 3.0 +2.1 +1.9 3+ .9 2+13.9 2+3.0 +3.8 +1.9 + 2.2 +1.6 + .7 + 3.6 +1.1 + .6 + .5 + .4 + .5 + .4 Postwar period (August 1945-April 1946)................... August 1945-October 1945...................................... October 1945-February 1946 (Executive Order No. 9697)............................................................. February 1946-April 1946....................................... +2.8 -1 .8 +3.3 -3 .8 3+10. 1 3+1.0 <+11.7 <+1.7 <+11.1 <+1.5 - 1 .0 +5.7 +1.7 +5.6 + 4.2 + 4.6 +4.3 +5.3 +4.1 +5.1 1Hourly earnings excluding premium payments for overtime, and with industries weighted in proportion to their 1941 employment. 2 Partially estimated. 3 Data not available for August 1945. July 1945 data substituted. * October 1945 estimates revised on basis of more precise data obtained in connection with the April 1946 survey. Previously published October estimates were obtained from a survey of 18 of the 69 cities usually represented in the Bureau’s indexes of urban wage rates. MOVEMENTS OF GROSS AND REAL MANUFACTURING WAGES Wartime trends.— Projecting the urban wage-rate index beyond April 1946 in the fight of other wage measures for the same period, there appears to have been a further increase of 4 to 5 percent between < For data on postwar general wage increases, see Postwar Increases in Basic Wage Rates, Monthly Labor Review, September 1946, or mimeographed Bureau press release, Increases Granted in Basic Rates Since VJ*day, dated September 20,1946. 4 WARTIME MOVEMENTS OF GROSS AND REAL MANUFACTURING WAGES JANUARY 1941 >100 lJR B A N 3 W Ai E INDEX 160 R A T E S 150 140 i wAGE RATE 130 ------------------------------! 120 NO REAL RATE 1 100 ^ 90 170 H O U R LY E■ A R N I N G S 160 150 G R O S S *^^ 140 130 R £ A L n» _ 120 110 ■ 100 i 180 | WEE:KLY EAR is 170 G R O S S ^^T ^ -160 fj -150 -140 REAL S ** -130 -120 -110 — F A MJ J A 1941 1942 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS_________ 1 943 1944 1945 1946 - 100 5 M OVEM ENTS OF GROSS AND R E A L MANUFACTURING WAGES SINCE WARTIME PEAK JANUARY 1945 8100 INDEX 130 URBAN WACIE RATES INDEX 130 120 120 MO MO WAGE RATE 1 100 nmr ^ ^ ^ ^ R E A L RATE 100 90 _________ i_____________ I______ i_________ ___i______ i___i___i___i___i____________ 90 120 HOURLY E,ARNINGS 120 MO MO 100 100 i9l* S^ ^ ^ ^ G R 0SS REAL 90 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , _ _ _ _ _ _ _ i 1___l______ i___i___i___i___l_____________ 9 0 MO 100 90 80 6 April and August 1946. Urban wage, rates were, therefore, about 56 percent above prewar (January 1941) levels in August 1946. Average weekly earnings, which fell 14.6 percent between January 1945 and February 1946, began to rise again with increases in basic rates, and in August 1946 were 67.5 percent above January 1941 levels. The impact of the 42.6-percent rise in consumers* prices 5 over the same period reduced the increase in real weekly earnings to 17.5 percent, and in real wage rates to 9.4 percent (chart l ) . 6 Trends since wartime peak.—In comparing wage levels in August 1946 with peak wartime conditions (January 1945), wage rates increased an estimated 18.9 percent, but average weekly earnings stood 6.1 percent below the January 1945 base (chart 2). Adjusted by consumers* prices, the real earnings for these two measures of wages became a 5.1-percent advance and a 17.0-percent decline, respectively. Trend o f M anufacturing W age Rates, A p ril 1945 to A p ril 1946 During the period of wartime wage stabilization, increases in wage rates as revealed by the urban wage-rate index, reflected not only general wage changes,7 which usually accounted for only a small proportion of the increase, but also wage “ adjustments” for individual workers, promotions of workers to the tops of job-rate ranges, hiring above normal entrance rates, and similar practices growing out of tight labor-market conditions. Since straight-time hourly earnings for incentive occupations are used in constructing the indexes, changes in productivity for these workers have also been reflected in the series. At the end of the war (VJ-day) urban wage rates had actually ad vanced 33.3 percent over the January 1941 level, but general wage changes accounted for an increase of only 16.7 percent (table 1). By contrast with the war period, changes in wage rates since VJ-day may be identified very closely with general changes in wage scales. General wage changes amounted to an 11.1-percent increase in wage rates between August 18, 1945, and April 1946; the urban wage-rate index rose 11.7 percent.8 The respective figures for the 1-year period covered by this study were 11.5 and 12.4 percent. 5 As measured by the BLS index of consumers’ prices. For an explanation of this index, see November 1946, Monthly Labor Review, p. 781. 8 Real wages represent the purchasing power of actual wages. Real-wage indexes are computed by dividing actual-wage indexes by consumers’ price indexes. 7 The Bureau’s definition of “ general wage change,*’ for purposes of these studies, is a general or acrossthe-board change in rates that affects, at one time, 10 percent or more employees, or all workers in important occupational classifications. 8 See footnote 4. 7 CHANGES IN WAGE RATES IN INDUSTRY GROUPS The trend of urban wage rates for major groups of manufacturing industries between January 1941 and April 1946 is presented in table 2. The change from VJ-day to April 1946 has not been separated for measurement at the industry-group level, but wage-rate changes between kpril and August 1945 (as shown in table 1) were negligible in volume.9 T ab le 2.— Percent o f Change in Urban Wage Rates in Manufacturing, by Industry Group, January 1 94 1 -A p ril 1946 1 Jan 1941 to Oct. 19421 Oct. 1942 to Apr. 19431 Apr. Oct. 1943 1943 to to Oct. Apr. 1943 1944 Apr. Oct. 1944 1944 to to Oct. Apr. 1944 1945 |^ Industry group ^ Percent of change from— All manufacturing industries................ ........ +17.0 +3.0 +3.8 +1.9 +2.2 +1.6 +2.4 Food and kindred products................ ......... Tobacco manufactures________ _____ _____ Textile-mill products............................... . Apparel and allied products--------------- -----Lumber and timber basic products.............. Furniture and finished lumber products........ Paper and allied products........... ................... Printing, publishing, and allied industries.. . Chemicals and allied products........................ Products of petroleum and coal..................... Rubber products................ ............................ Leather and leather products........................ Stone, clay, and glass products..................... Basic iron and steel....... ................................ Shipbuilding_______________ ____________ Metalworking (except basic iron and steel an d shipbuilding).................. .................... +13.6 l + . o +15. 7 +2.8 +24.2 +2.1 +13.8 +5.6 (3) (3) +16.2 -3 .0 +13.6 +2.4 +7.4 +1.9 +15.9 +2.8 +18.0 +1.0 +15.5 +2.8 +20.3 +3.2 (3) (3) (5) (5) (6) (*) +3.2 +1.1 +2.7 -.2 (3) +3.4 +5.2 +3.1 +2.4 -.3 +2.0 +4.5 (3) (5) + .4 +1.1 +3.1 +2.7 +5.0 (3) +1.8 + .2 +1.6 +1.3 0) +2.5 +4.0 (3) + .7 + .4 +1.9 +1.7 +2.3 +7.6 (3) +2.9 +1.7 +2.5 +1.2 + .3 +1.-4 +4.2 (3) -.6 + .5 +1.4 +3.7 +1.1 +6.7 (3) +1.0 +. 4 +2.1 + .8 +. 1 +2.0 +4.2 (3) + .4 + .8 Oct1945 to Apr. 1946 +9.8 +48.9 +3.0 +7.8 +5.3 +7.4 +5.0 +12.3 +3.1 +11.0 (3) (3) + 5.7 +9.0 +3.2 +11.6 +3.5 +9.1 +5.0 +10.6 +5.7 +12.0 + . 5 +15.2 +3.1 +12.9 (3) (3) (5) «+13.2 + .4 +10.0 +16.2 +3.4 +5.4 +1.9 +2.0 +1.2 +2.0 Jan. 1941 to Apr. 19461 +40.9 +47.8 +63.1 +65.6 (3) +41.9 +44.1 +35.5 +46.4 +41.2 +48.5 +70.5 (3) 7+13.8 8+12.6 +8.9 +47.9 1 Data for periods prior to April 1943 are estimated. 2 October 1945 estimates revised on basis of more precise data obtained in connection with the April 1946 survey. Previously published October estimates were obtained from a survey of 18 of the 69 cities usually represented in the Bureau’s indexes of urban wage rates. 3Representation inadequate to show percent of change. 4Less than a tenth of 1 percent. 3 Data not available. •April 1945 to April 1946. Does not include the effect of 4-cent second shift and 6-cent third shift differen tials introduced in 1945. The inclusion of shift differentials would bring the increase in urban wage rates between April 1945 and April 1946 to 15.4 percent. 7October 1943 to April 1946. «April 1943 to April 1946. The largest gains in rates for the 1-year period were made by petroleum (18.4 percent) and textiles (17.9 percent); the smallest gains10 were in the food, shipbuilding, and the metal products indus tries other than basic iron and steel and shipbuilding (11.0, 10.4, and 11.1 percent, respectively). Including postwar gains as of April 1946, wage rates advanced after January 1941 by 70.5 percent and 65.6 percent, respectively, in the leather and leather products and the apparel industries. In view of the importance of piecework in these » General wage changes for the period ranged in volume from one-half of 1 percent for products of petroleum and coal to seven-tenths of 1 percent for furniture and finished lumber products. Relatively small gains were also made by the lumber, and the stone, clay, and glass-products industries, for which separate data are not published. 8 industries, these figures, to some extent, may reflect increased pro ductivity. A similar increase in rates (63.1 percent) occurred in the textile industries. Rate advances in the metal products industries over the long period were slightly under the average for all manufac turing. The postwar increase in wage rates shown by the urban wage rate index for manufacturing as a whole, as already noted, is almost the same as the increase from general wage changes alone. This also holds true for several of the individual industry groups, notably metal products, shipbuilding, rubber products, and petroleum. In other industries, the urban wage rate index shows an increase larger than the advance from general wage changes alone. On the other hand, part of the rise caused by general wage changes in basic iron and steel was offset by other factors, so that the full amount of the increase was not evident in the urban wage-rate index. The variations that were found among industries in the postwar movement of wage rates were traceable to such factors as man power shortages in low-wage consumer-goods industries, in which wage rates during the war had not increased proportionately with those of the war industries; changes in scx-composition of the labor fo rce ;11 and increases in the proportion of all workers found in the lower range of rate brackets during the period of reconversion. Slackening of incentive earnings resulting from changes in products, materials shortages, and tightening of incentive standards was another factor affecting the trend of wage rates in some industries, although the consumer-goods industries, in which piecework is important, registered larger gains in the urban wage-rate index than the increases reported as general wage changes only. Had the index of urban wage rates in manufacturing been confined to time workers, the increase for manufacturing us a whole for the year April 1945 to April 1946 would have been approximately 1.5 percentage points greater than the increase for both time and incentive workers. The upward trend of rates in individual industries during the year after VJ-day did not exactly follow the course of the increases granted in the major wage cases during the first months of 1946. In some industries, especially those which in previous months had been en gaged in war production, the rise was substantially less than the amounts of the pattern-setting advances granted by major firms in the industry. In other industries, such as the textiles, the increases ii Although constant weights for sex groups normally prevent this factor from influencing the urban wage-rate index, women workers have disappeared from some occupations in which they were found during the war, and the weights for them were consequently dropped. The effect of these changes on the index is believed to be only slight. 9 were somewhat greater than the typical general wage changes during the period. Failure of the urban series to follow the publicized pat tern-setting general wage increases results primarily from the inclusion in the index of plants which gave varying amounts of general wage raises, averaging on an industry-wide basis less than the amount of increase given in the pattern-setting cases.12 AREA COMPARISONS The amount of postwar increase in manufacturing wage rates showed some variation among individual cities or wage areas, but, in general, there was remarkable uniformity. Of the 15 major cities for which separate postwar data can be presented (table 3), only 3 deviate more than 3 percentage points from the average advance for all manufac turing. The largest gains vrere made in Portland, Oreg., and Hous ton, Tex.; wartime gains in both of these cities had been well below the national average. The smallest postwar rise in rates occurred in Minneapolis. This city likewise had experienced relatively small warT able 3.— Percent o f Change in Urban W age Rates in M anufacturing, b y Selected Area , A p ril 1 94 3 -A p ril 1946 Percent of change from— Urban area Apr. 1943 to Oct. 1943 Oct. 1943 to Apr. 1944 Apr. 1944 to Oct. 1944 Oct. 1944 to Apr. 1945 Apr. 1945 to Oct. 1945 Apr. 19*15 to Apr. 1946 Total, United States. +3.8 +1.9 +2.2 +1.6 i +2.4 +12.4 Atlanta.................... . Baltimore--------------Birmingham............ Boston...................... Buffalo..................... Chicago.................... Cleveland------- -----Dallas....................... Denver..................... Detroit..................... . Houston................... Indianapolis.............. Kansas City.............. Los Angeles.............. Louisville................. Memphis.................. Milwaukee............... Minneapolis............ Newark.................... . New Orleans............ New York................ Philadelphia............ Pittsburgh................ Portland, Oreg........ Providence................ St. L ouis.................. San Francisco.......... . Seattle....................... +3.6 +1.2 +1.9 +5.3 +9.3 +3.1 +5.3 +7.2 +4.1 +5.9 +1.6 +3.6 +1.4 +6.8 +1.4 +3.8 +2.7 +2.8 +6.4 +7.3 +• 6 +2.1 +1.0 +. 5 +2.6 +4.9 + .9 + .9 +1.4 +1.6 +3.5 +1.6 +2.3 +1.8 +1.2 +1.9 +3.3 + .2 + .2 + .9 +1.7 +1.5 +3.9 +2.5 + .3 + .9 +1.8 + .5 +5.0 +1.5 +1.8 -.1 + .7 +5.4 + .4 +2.4 +2.7 +1.6 +1.2 +1.1 +• 5 +3.0 +2.7 +1.7 + 1.8 + .3 + .8 +1.4 +1.7 +1.1 +3.3 +2.0 +3.1 +1.2 +2.8 +1.0 +6.4 +2.3 +2.2 + .8 +2.3 +1.0 + .8 + .4 +2.9 + .5 +4.1 +3.7 +1.8 +2.1 +1.0 +2.4 -2 .1 0 + .1 +. 6 +3.1 +1.2 +1.3 +6.0 +1.5 +1.6 + .9 +1.0 +4.7 +1.6 -.3 + .2 + .9 + .8 0 + .3 +4.9 (2) (2) +1.7 (2) + .3 (2) +2.2 +2.3 -.4 (2) (2) + .9 +1.1 (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) -.3 (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) + .5 (2) +11.7 +11.7 (2) +12.7 <2) +9.6 (2) (2) (2) +15. 5 +12.2 (2) +12.7 +10.0 (2) (2) +7.4 (2) +14.9 +12.1 +12.7 (2) +16.2 +10.0 +10.6 (2) (2) Apr. 1943 to Apr. 1946 +23.5 +17.2 +24.2 +29.0 +21.1 +18.7 +19.7 +25.0 +21.3 +14.5 +26.4 +31.7 +21.5 +17.8 +17.2 +24.7 * October 1945 estimates revised on basis of more precise data obtained in connection with the April 1946 survey. Previously published October estimate was obtained from a survey of 18 of the 69 cities usually represented in the Bureau's indexes of urban wage rates. 2 Data not available. i* See footnote 4, p. 3. 10 time wage increases in manufacturing industries. Its small postwar advance is attributable, at least in part, to reconversion problems in the metal-products industries, which employ a majority of the city’s manufacturing workers. Changes in Selected Nonmanufacturing Industries, A p ril 1945 to A p ril 1946 Urban wage rates in the nonmanufacturing industries covered by the survey advanced more evenly between April 1945 and April 1946 than in manufacturing, the 10-percent annual increase being almost equally divided between the two 6-month periods (table 4). In con trast, the greater portion of the 12.4-percent rise in manufacturing occurred during the period October 1945-April 1946, and much of it was concentrated around the precedent-setting wage increases of the first 3 months in 1946. T a ble 4.— Percent o f Change in Urban W age Rates in Selected Nonmanufacturing Industries, by Industry Group , A p ril 1943—A p ril 1946 Percent of change from— Industry group 1 Apr. 1943 Oct. 1943 Apr. 1944 Oct. 1944 Apr. 1945 Oct. 1945 Apr. 1943 to Apr. to Oct. to Apr. to Oct. to Oct. to Apr. to Apr. 1944 1944 1943 1945 1945 2 1946 1946 Total, selected industries.......... +6.4 +2.5 +4.2 +3.7 +4.1 +5.7 +29.7 Wholesale trade......................... Retail trade.____ ________ ____ Finance, insurance, and real estate______ _______________ Local utilities___ ____ ________ Service trades............................ +2.5 +9.2 +2.0 +2.7 +2.9 +5.7 +1.5 +4.6 +4.1 +5.5 +4.3 + 6.8 +18.6 +39.7 +3.9 +1.5 +6.4 +3.1 +1.1 +2.4 + 1.6 + .3 +5.4 +4.5 +1.5 +3.2 +1.7 +2.3 +2.8 +4.1 +10.1 +4.1 +20.3 +17.6 +26.9 1 The specific industries selected to represent these groups in the measurement of wage-rate changes were as follows: Wholesale trade—general-line wholesale groceries; retail trade—department stores, clothing stores, and groceries; finance, insurance, and real estate—banks and savings and loan associations; local utilities— electric light and power or gas companies; service trades—hotels, power laundries, and auto-repair shops. 2 October 1945 estimates were revised on basis of more precise data obtained in connection with the April 1946 survey. Previously published October estimates were obtained from a survey of 18 of the 69 cities usually represented in the Bureau’s indexes of urban wage rates. Type of wage-rate changes.— The increases in nonmanufacturing industry wages were largely the result of wage adjustments for indi vidual workers rather than of general or across-the-board wage in creases, such as occurred in manufacturing. In the period between August 18, 1945, and April 1946, for example, an estimated 41 percent of all the workers in the selected nonmanufacturing industries received 11 general wage increases, whereas about 79 percent workers were given such raises.13 Nevertheless, in nonmanufacturing rates between April 1945 only 2.4 percentage points less than the increase of all manufacturing the over-all increase and April 1946 was in manufacturing. WAGE INCREASES IN INDIVIDUAL INDUSTRIES Local utilities and retail trade made the greatest advances in rates during the 1-year period of all the five nonmanufacturing industry groups studied. Moreover, the gains registered by them (12.6 and 12.7 percent, respectively) compared more favorably with gains in manufacturing industries than did the increases in the finance indus tries, the service trades, and wholesale trade, which were all less than 10 percent (table 4). Only the utilities group had received general or across-the-board increases in rate scales that approximated the advance in the urban wage-rate index. More than 95 percent of the workers in this group are estimated to have benefited from general wage increases following VJ-day, as contrasted with about half of the employees in wholesale trade and approximately one-third in retail trade, the service trades, and the finance group.13 AREA COMPARISONS The nonmanufacturing urban wage-rate indexes of individual wage areas showed a great deal of variation in amounts of increase, ranging from 4.7 percent (in Cleveland) to 18.3 percent (in Minneapolis) between April 1945 and April 1946 (table 5). In 9 of the 15 cities for which separate data can be shown, rates had advanced by more than the national average, and these include such widely separated areas as Providence, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Buffalo. Among the cities showing lower-than-average increases are New York City, Cleveland, Houston, and Portland, Oreg. These variations cannot be ascribed to differences in industrial composition of the city indexes, as the nonmanufacturing indexes, unlike manufacturing indexes, represent the same industries in all cities. Individual city trends in nonmanufacturing wage rates during the past year apparently have been influenced by such factors as labor supply and the size of wartime wage increases. 13 See footnote 4, p. 3. 12 T a ble 5.— Percent o f Change in Urban W age Rates in Selected Nonmanufacturing Industries, by Selected A rea , A p ril 1 9 4 3 -A p ril 1946 Percent of change from— Urban area Apr. 1943 Oct. 1943 Apr. 1944 Oct. 1944 Apr. 1945 Apr. 1945 Apr. 1943 to Oct. to Apr. to Oct. to Apr. to Oct. to Apr. to Apr. 1943 1944 1944 1945 1945 1946 1946 Total, United States. +6.4 +2.5 +4.2 +3.7 1+4.1 +10.0 Atlanta............ ......... Baltimore.................. Birmingham_______ Boston............ .......... Buffalo...................... Chicago.................. Cleveland.......... ....... Dallas.................. ..... Denver...................... Detroit........... .......... Houston____ ______ Indianapolis— ____ Kansas C it y ........... Los Angeles............. Louisville-............... Memphis................. Milwaukee..... ......... Minneapolis.............. Newark___________ New Orleans............ New York................. Philadelphia............ Pittsburgh............... Portland, Oreg......... Providence............... . St. Louis.................... San Francisco............ Seattle...................... . +9.8 +6.0 +9.2 +2.9 +3.3 +8.8 +7.0 +8.7 +2.9 +15.2 +13.5 +4.0 +8.6 +5.0 +7.4 +11.6 +9.8 +4.8 +8.5 +14.5 +5.4 +9.1 +3.3 +2.6 0 +7.5 +1.7 + .2 +3.6 +3.3 +2.6 +2.8 +1.0 +2.7 +4.0 +12.1 +2.2 + .8 +2.5 +3.2 +2.9 +1.3 +7.8 +. 7 +1.2 +2.6 +3.9 +4.1 +1.9 +3.5 +2.4 +1.7 +2.4 +3.2 +1.6 +1.3 +6.3 +2.7 +8.8 +3.3 +2.0 +6.3 +3.5 + .8 +3.3 +5.5 +3.2 +2.1 +1.1 +3.0 +2.6 +8.7 +4.6 +7.6 +3.8 +1.7 +3.2 +1.9 +2.1 +6.6 +1.3 +3.9 +5.9 +4.0 +5.6 +3.6 +2.2 +4.1 +2.0 +3.8 +1.9 +2.1 +4.9 +2.5 +1.7 -.3 +5.7 +2.5 +4.0 + .7 +3.5 -4 .1 +2.4 +2.1 +6.2 +4.2 +2.3 - 1.0 +5.6 +3.5 -2 .0 + .4 +1.3 (1 2) (2) +1.9 (2) +2.6 (2) +1.0 +2.3 +3.4 (2) (2) +5.5 +7.6 (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) +1.9 (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) +2.8 (2) +14.6 +11.2 (2) +11.9 (2) +4.7 (2) (2) (2) +6.9 +11.7 (2) +17.0 +6.3 (2) (2) +18.3 (2) +13.6 +9.1 +11.2 <2) +6.8 +13.4 +11.3 (2) (2) +29.7 +33.5 +38.5 +21.5 +22.8 +30.5 +22.0 +31.4 +31.4 +31.3 +40.7 +28.5 +33.3 +17.5 +24.2 +32.7 1 October 1945 estimates revised on basis of more precise data obtained in connection with the April 1946 survey. Previously published October estimate was obtained from a survey of 18 of the 69 cities usually represented in the Bureau's indexes of urban wage rates. 2 Data not available. U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: >8 4 «
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