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Show WAGE INCREASES. The industrial commission of the state of New York has just completed an elaborate compilation of the increase in 'wages in that state during the war period. The official finding is that factory wages have advanced 75.49 per cent since 1915. The average weekly earnings of a factory employee in New York City increased from "$12.99 in 191o to $22.4S in 1919; and in factories fac-tories outside the city, but within the state, the increase was from $12.43 in 1915 to $22.93 in 1919. The figures are for March of each year. According to the commission 's report, re-port, industries in which labor's earnings earn-ings increased more than 100 por cent are the following: Average weekly earnings in Marrh. Industry. 1S15. 1919. Pig iron and rolling mill products $15.37 $33.52 Structural iron work 14.52 30.96 Fur and fur goods 11.34 2S.09 Lime, cement and plaster. 12.51 25.96 Some of the other lines in which significant sig-nificant increases were registered are as follows: Average weekly earnings In Marrh. Industry. 1915. 1919. Cars, locomotives and rall- I way repairs $14.24 ?2fi.'9-i i Boat and ehipbuilding. . . 13.75 31.76 i Furniture and cabinet ! work 13. OS 20.21 Leather 10.59 20.09 Foots and shoes 12. 3S 21.46 1 Printing and bookmak- ! in sr 16.22 2o.23 Silk and silk goods 9.47 15.05 Wool manufactures 10. 2 17.40 Cotton goods 9.96 14.R6 Men's clothing 11.13 19.22 "Women's clothing 16.32 28.15 Laundering, cleaning, dyeing dye-ing 9.15 15.20 Slaughtering, men t packing, pack-ing, dairy products. . . . 13.72 25.14 j Thcw figures include all employees, both office and shop. Office salaries are commonly higher than the earnings of operatives, but as office forces form relatively a small percentage of tho total number of workers, their effect, in the computation of weekly wages, is negligible. In connection with these statistics of earnings the commission has also worked out a comparison of labor's earnings with retail food prices. Taking Tak-ing the wages and prevailing prices in June, 1914, as a pre-war standard, and assigning to them an index value of 100, tho table shows' how wages and prices have compared relatively since then. In March of this year the in-dc in-dc number for wages had risen from the 100 of June, 1914, to 175, and the retail price of food had risen from 100 to 177. Thua the two had kept fairly clo?e together, wh food price-j slightly in the Vad. |