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the working agreements of union labor organizations. These data 
are collected by the Department of Labor and Industry of Pennsyl- 
vania in cooperation with the United States Bureau of Labor Sta- 
tisties. The work was inaugurated in Pennsylvania in 1919, and 
the data has been gathered in each succeeding year. Originally this 
information was gathered in sixteen Pennsylvania cities but that 
number has since been increased to twenty-four. Union wage data is 
now compiled for the following cities: Allentown, Altoona, Chester, 
DuBois, Easton, Erie, Harrisburg, Hazleton, Johnstown, Lancaster, 
Meadville, New Castle, Oil City, Philadelphia, Pottsville, Pittsburgh, 
Seranton, Sharon, Warren, Washington, Wilkes-Barre, Williamsport, 
and York. Rates for approximately seventy crafts are represented 
in this compilation. The information, as nearly as possible, is con- 
fined to scales of wages paid to union workmen but in some cases, 
especially in the absence of union organizations in the locality, pre- 
valling non-union rates are determined and published. Even this 
one wage compilation alone represents the expenditure of a large 
amount of time and money. Numerous personal interviews are neces- 
sary in order to obtain the required information. Experience has 
demonstrated that the only satisfactory method of seeuring accurate 
wage figures is through personal calls made on the local representa- 
tives of the various unions. This is the Federal practice, and it has 
been followed in Pennsylvania. The Bureau of Industrial Relations 
is constantly in touch with Union officials in the various cities and 
for that reason the agents of that bureau have been assigned the work 
of collecting the union wage data during the last few years. 
These union wage scales are published in special bulletins of the 
Department of Labor and Industry and of the United States Bureau 
of Labor Statistics. Rates for the years 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 
and 1924, are published in one special bulletin of the Department of 
Labor and Industry printed in 1924. Rates for subsequent years are 
oublished in separate bulletins. 
" The Union wage rates as published by the Department are of con- 
siderable interest and value to employers in this and other states. 
The rates as published in our bulletins are used by contractors in fig- 
aring labor costs on construction jobs in the various cities. A state- 
wide knowledge of wage rates is also of value to the Department in 
adjusting wage disputes. 
BUILDING PERMITS 
Building activities in a number of Pennsylvania cities and boroughs 
constitute another field of statistical inquiry. Collection through 
monthly reports from building inspection offices of the number and 
sstimated value of permits granted in the cities and boroughs of the 
State was begun in January, 1923. For a few years this information 
was published in the Department bulletin, but it was found that the 
information is of maximum value when it can be brought to the atten- 
tion of interested persons soon after permits have been granted. With 
a view toward making this possible, widespread publicity is now given 
to building permit reports by means of press notices that are released 
within a few days after complete reports have been received at the 
Department. There is considerable demand for this class of informa- 
tion and copies of reports are furnished to a number of financial insti-