THE STANDARD OF LIVING OF THE WORKERS 
IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES 
The problem will be discussed from three points ot view: 
(1) wages reckoned on a gold basis; (2) real wages (i.e. the 
actual purchasing power of wages); (3) workers’ family budgets 
as shown by various enquiries. 
I. Gold Wages. 
A comparison between wages reckoned in gold in different 
countries is of special interest in connection with the cost of 
production, as it enables the cost of labour expressed in a single 
currency (the normal pre-war curiency) to be compared between 
producing countries which are competitors in the world market. 
But a study of the fluctuations of gold wages is also of value 
in relation to the standard of living, because the purchasing 
power of wages is in fact more or less affected by these fluctua- 
tions. 
To calculate the gold wages in various countries, the nominal 
wages are converted into dollars, or some other gold currency at 
par. Thus, for the period from March 1923 to July 1926, and for 
the base period 1 August 1914, the wages have been calculated 
in gold francs for a series of occupations belonging to several 
typical industries: in the building trades: masons and brick- 
layers, carpenters, plumbers, painters (general), labourers 
(general); in the engineering trades: fitters, ironmoulders 
(hand), pattern-makers, turners, labourers; in the furniture 
trades: cabinet-makers, labourers; in the printing and allied 
trades: hand compositors, machine compositors, machine 
minders, bookbinders, labourers. 
The data utilised are those employed in the comparisons 
made by the International Labour Office as regards real wages