R6 MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES
Results

Inquiries by the statistical division of the National Labor Department
 ** ascertained that, as regards women’s trades, the earnings
of the home workers yet remain considerably below those of
factory workers in the same industry. For instance, dressmakers
working at home earned 3.43 pesos per day, while those working in
shops earned 4.55 pesos; for embroiderers the daily wage of the
women working at home was 3.12 pesos, and in shops 5.12 pesos.
T'wo men’s trades may also be indicated: Chairmakers working at
home earned 4 pesos a day and those in shops 5.77 pesos; tinsmiths
working at home earned 4 pesos a day and those in shops 6.04 pesos.
Equalization of shop and home workers’ earnings has so far not
been realized, but the daily earnings seem, even with the cost of
living of Buenos Aires, to come near a living wage. As in Victoria,
Australia, appreciation of the results of the minimum wage in the
home-work trades has led to its extension to industry generally.
Minimum wage legislation has been extended to shop work in the
Provinces of Tucuman and San Juan.. The conclusion seems justified,
 therefore, that in Argentina, as in Australia, results obtained
in the limited field of home work have given satisfaction.

Minimum Wage for Shop Workers

A CTS in the Provinces of Tucuman and San Juan, both passed in
1928, provided for minimum wages, fixed by the legislature
itself.” The scope of the law in Tucuman was more general, as all
adult factory workers are to receive 4.20 pesos (national currency)
per day, while the act of San Juan makes provisions for particular
classes of workers.
Principles of Wage Fixation

The situation in Tucuman and San Juan seems to be about the
same as that in Uruguay (see p. 101). The principle, “ wages the
trade can bear,” might enter into account as an upper limit, as the
industries of Tucuman and San Juan have to compete, in the inland
market, with imported articles, just as Uruguayan agriculture, exporting
 its products, has to compete with other agricultural countries
n the world market.
The sphere of application of the law in Tucuman particularly is
too extensive to allow for useful comparisons of the protected
branches of labor with similar unprotected branches. The  fairwage”
 principle in the French sense therefore can scarcely apply.
As in Uruguay, the “living-wage ” principle and, more especially,
political factors seem to have been the main considerations involved.

26 Agociacion del Trabajo. Boletin de Servicios, Buenos Aires, Feb. 5, 1927, pp. 50-52;
Monthly Labor Review, May, 1927, PB 171.
#1 International Labor Office. Studies and reports, series D (wages and hours of work),
No. 17: Minimum Wage-Fixing MacHinery. Geneva, 1927, p. 95.