CHAP. 1. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 5

In Australasia, as in Russia, the problem is of another order—the
proper proportion of incomes of the wage-earning classes (protected
Oy minimum wage) to those of the other economic classes, the farmers
 and business men in ‘Australasia and the peasants in Russia.
Influence on Discharge of Slow Workers and Unemployment

Slow workers are sometimes discharged; the system of licenses,
authorizing handicapped workers to accept wages below the minimum
 does not cover evervwhere cases where defects are not of a
tangible nature,
How important is the number of these cases in proportion to the
number of workers benefiting by the laws? Reports from the
United States and from Canada do not indicate that any great
“ardships have resulted for the women employed in stores and shops.
The general situation of the labor market, the proportion of mate-“ial
 resources to the human material, are so favorable to the workers
that practically ali are absorbed by the needs of industry.
The problem is different in Great Britain and in Australasia.
Some home-work trades, the competitive strength of which was
sased on low wages, have been replaced by factories. Not all home
workers have been absorbed in industry. No serious hardship, however,
 has resulted in Australasia, the general conditions of the labor
market being favorable. Great Britain suffers from general unsmployment,
 but most of the reports do not indicate a serious increase
 due to the shifting from home work to factory.
The slowness of the individual worker plays even a lesser role in the
home-work trades of Australasia, Britain, and continental countries
than with the shop and store workers in the United States and in
Canada. Piece rates alone are possible for home work. The slow
worker earns less, automatically, so there is no reason for the einployer
 to discharge him.
The collective-employment problem of the home workers on the
Continent is more serious. The increase of the French rates was
too small to endanger the competitive strength of the home-work
trades, but in Germany feeling prevailed that employment of heme
workers might be restricted by high minimum wages, and the home
workers themselves do not insist thereon, for fear of unemployment.*
[n Silesia the rates have been kept low intentionally by the wages
board. Actual loss of means of subsistence, however, is not reported—only
 prudent application of the law. Overprudent enforcement
 of the laws, for the same reasons, is reported from Austria.
The increase of unemployment through minimum wage legislation
lS not serious in most countries, though there is such a problem in
Central Europe.

Efficiency of Workers and Employers Under Minimum Wage
Legislation

From Great Britain it is reported that workers are compelled to,
nd do, work harder in order not to be discharged. The Bureau of
Labor of the State of Washington reports similar instances. The

¢ Soziale Praxis. Berlin. No. 49. 1928.