BULLETIN OF THE
U. S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
ws WASHINGTON oporwnes, ims
MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION IN
VARIOUS COUNTRIES
CHAPTER 1.—_ SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
PI YHE principal features of the minimum wage laws of the differ-|
ent countries which have enacted such legislation and the application
of such laws have been studied with the view of
ascertaining the results which have followed.* The following comparison
brings together in a general way the more significant findings
of the study. An analysis of the basic problem is given in Chapter
2 (p. 8); the particular development in the different countries is dis-*ussed
in the subsequent chapters.
Principle of Wage Fixation
A USTRALIA and New Zealand, starting from various opportu-“*
nistic considerations, have applied more and more the principle
of the “living wage.” The United States (for females and minors,
and with some modifications in Massachusetts), Canada, South
Africa, Mexico, Argentina, and Hungary apply, with varying precision,
the same principle.
In France (somewhat similarly in Spain and Norway) and in the
British coal mines mere equalization of certain classes of wages are
sought for specific reasons, which does not make for general results.
The ability of the trade to bear wage increases is a secondary consideration
in Massachusetts (next to the main principle of the living
wage) ; it seems to have decreased opposition and contributed to the
stabilization of the law. This consideration seems preponderant in
Austria and of strong importance in Germany.
Political considerations seem to be decisive in Uruguay and Tucuman
(Argentina). The wish to increase the efficiency of the workers
1s embodied in the rules for British agriculture, and obviously in-!
The author is indebted for assistance rendered to him in the preparation of this
‘port to Albert Thomas, Director of the International Labor Office, and T. Waelbroeck
Doctor Irzibram, J. FI. Richardson, and Leifur Magnusson, of the same office ; Miss Ethel
folinson, assistant commissioner of labor of Massachusetts; welfare commissions in other
American States; the Ministries of Labor of Canada, Mexico, South Africa, France, Gerniny,
and Austria; the high commissioners of Australia and New Zealand in T.ondon;
:he Italian, German. and Spanish Embassies and the Austrian and Czechoslovakian Legadons
in Washington: Professor Wilbrandt, of Tuebingen; Engelbert Broda, of Vienna ;
Prof. William M. Leiserson, of Antioch College; Carl S. Joslyn, of Harvard Dpsysseiy:
ind Miss Margaret Little. He has utilized particularly the materials collected and the
Methods developed by the International Institute for the Exchange of Social Experience
(Paris, later Bern).
