Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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REMSCHEID. 419 Wages returns were obtained from about thirty leading firms engaged in various branches of the Remscheid industry. The variety of conditions and the differences in the work done by the same classes of workmen are naturally very considerable, and consequently there is a wide range of earnings. In the engineering trade the usual range of wages for skilled men is from 305. to 365. per week, though some of the moulders exceed the latter earnings, while unskilled men earn from 225. to 205. In the steel works and rolling mills, in which piece-work predominates, the range is naturally wide, first smelters earning 345. 7d. for 63 hours’ work, rollers 34s. 9d., and hammer smiths 45s. 8cf., both for 60 hours’ work, while labourers earn from 25s. 6(7. to 28s. 6d. for the same hours. In the small iron industry there is equal diversity, though on a lower level of earnings. The usual rates for fitters are from 24s. to 80s., slniths’ wages are offener above than below 30s., grinders earn from 30s. to 36s., and file cutters and rasp cutters, working with machinery, earn in the majority of cases from 24s. to 27s., though special workmen, working by hand, largely exceed the higher figure. In domestic industry the hours worked are much longer, and the wages much lower than in the factories. The secretary of a trade union stated that the file or rasp cutter, working 72 hours a week, and with the assistance of wife and children in minor processes and to carry the work backwards and forwards, can earn from 24s. to 27s., but if working alone the maximum earnings do not exceed 20s. As a fact the taxation authorities assume 24s. per week to be the earnings of men engaged on small or very large files, but in arriving at the taxation assessment from 5 to 7 per cent, is allowed off the gross earnings for rent, lead, tools, &c. Coming to the miscellaneous trades common to all towns, it is to be noted that wages agreements have been concluded in the principal building trades, yet not in all, for this mode of regulating the conditions of employment has not been readily accepted by the employers. It is noteworthy that carpenters have a somewhat higher hourly rate than bricklayers and masons, viz., 50 pfennige (6(7.) against 49 pfennige. Twenty years ago the hourly rate of carpenters’ wages was 3ft7., and it has advanced successively to 4(7. (1890), 4|(7. (1895), 4f(7. (1900), 5|(7. (1904), and 6(7. (1905). The carpenters’ agreement stipulates that elderly men and single men in their first year of journeymanship shall not be paid a rate lower than the standard by more than ¿(7. In the brewing trade 8| pints of beer are given daily as a perquisite, but it may not be renounced in favour of a money payment. Wages and Hours of Labour in the Principal Occupations, October, 1905. Building Trades* :— Bricklayers and Masons Carpenters Joiners and Cabinetmakers Plumbers and Fitters ... Painters... Stucco-workers... Labourers Engineer ing Trades :— Moulders -Temper Steel Hand Machine Fitters ... Turners ... Smiths ... Pattern-makers Labourers Weekly Wages. Weekly Hours of Labour. 28*. 11(7. 29s. 6(7. 24s. 6(7. to 27s. 27s. to 30s. 29s. 8(7. 33s. to 34s. 10(7. 21 s. 10(7. 32s. 11(7. 38s. 4(7. 43s. 6(7. 31s. 10(7. 30s. to 34s. 33s. „ 37s. 32s. 8(7. to 36s. 29s. 5(7. „ 31s. 22s. to 25s. 59 59 57 to 60 60 66 57 59 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 The wa^es and hours of labour stated for the building trades are for a full week in summer. 29088 3 G 2

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