The new industrial revolution and wages

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1804651486

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-193069

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Lauck, William Jett http://d-nb.info/gnd/173237126

Title:: The new industrial revolution and wages

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: Funk & Wagnalls

Year of publication:: 1929

Scope:: ix, 308 S.; graph. Darst.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter IX. Increased consumption and prospertity accepted as an outgrowth of lower costs and higher wages

Collection:: Economics Books

210 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WAGES of goods to the consumer have not risen as much as wages have risen. And fourth, general prosperity during the last three years has been greater and more widely diffused than at any previous period in our history. . . . The result is that the purchasing power of the average wage—the “real wage,” as it is called—has increased about one-third since 1914. Before that date the wage-earner was not getting his share of the increase in production—he was right about that. Now he is getting a much larger share than he formerly received. Why the change? There are many reasons. One is found in our new policy of restricting immigration, which has checked the inflow of new and for the most part ignorant workers; another is .the higher average mechanical intelligence of wage-earners, which makes them more valuable; another is the greater accumulation of capital available for industrial purposes, with which is closely connected our greatly im- proved methods of handling credit; and one of the important reasons, undoubtedly, is the general feeling among employers that a relatively high wage-scale pays. . . . Irregular employ- ment means thousands of temporarily nonproductive con- sumers. Likewise, it means nonproductive machinery, fac- tories, capital, railway cars and locomotives. It means that thousands of persons are no longer turning their work into circulating dollars, that wealth is being dissipated instead of being increased. Stability and regularity of industry mean more to the effi- ciency of production and therefore more to the rapid accumu- lation of wealth than any other one thing. And it is in this direction that the greatest strides have been made in the last half dozen years. Toward this the Federal Reserve Bank system has contributed much by supplying credit when needed and keeping the money market on an even keel. Better man- agement and more cooperation among employers, especially in various kinds of trade associations, have contributed much. A broader-minded attitude on the part of members of trade unions, and better leadership in the unions, have contributed much.

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