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Show Wages Account For One-Third Of Road Building Expenses WAGES paid to labor by contractors con-tractors accounted for close to one-third of the total cost of buying the 1,643,435 miles of federal-aid highways completed during the second quarter of 1047 Charles II. Upham, engi-' engi-' ncc-rrector of the American i Ho ad Builders' Association, Minted out to a group of road engineers recently. He added , that this labor charge did not include pay of workers in mines, quaries, factories and other sources of material and equipment. equip-ment. "Total cost of labor for this mileage, according to the report of the Public Roads Administration, Administra-tion, was $10,896,892, as against 135,314,369 for the entire quarter's quar-ter's job. Cost of materials came to $9,504,239. It must be re- J membered, however," Mr. Upham Up-ham said, ''that other costs to the contractor such as bonding, insurance, social security payments, pay-ments, expense of ownership, ' operation and maintenance of I equipment, transportation, supplies sup-plies and administrative expenses are not included in the PRA tabulation." tab-ulation." i i HOURLY wage rates for high-, high-, way labor vary greatly throughout through-out the nine geographic divisions of the United States, the ARBA executive noted. "In June, the last " month of the quarter, the national average was SI. 59 per hour for executive, administra-I administra-I live and supervisory jobs, $1.63 1 5 for skilled labor, $1.22 for intermediate in-termediate grade labor, and $.89 forunskilled labor. H "Lowest wages obtained in the South Atlantic, East South Central Cen-tral and West South Central di-H, di-H, visions. The highest wages were paid on the Pacific Coast where I boss jobs drew S2.20 per hour, skilled labor $1.96, intermediate I , $1.54 and common labor $1.29. "In the New England division, men in supervisory capacities drew only 31 cents an. hour more than the unskilled laborer. In only two of the nine divisions the Mountain and Pacific did the executive-administrative-supervisor class receive more than skilled labor; and in the Mountain Moun-tain division, this advantage was only three cents an hour," the report cited by Mr. Upham disclosed. dis-closed. . "Skilled labor took the lion's share of the national construc- tion payroll for this quarter, with $4,009,395," said Mr. Up-. Up-. nam. ''Unskilled labor's wages amounted to $2,732,502. Inter-. Inter-. mediate grade labor totalled $2,-180,283, $2,-180,283, while the administrative . group's pay came to $1,974,712." |