Show living cost remains U up P 5 many factors count in principal causba NEW YORK what Is holding the cost of living up when the price of basic raw materials has fallen so far since last fall commodity prices at wholesale have retreated since then about halfway half halt way back to their OPA levels on the ave average but the cost of living has dropped back only about one eight of the way however the average weekly wage in factories is about one twelfth of the way back the recession so co far adds up to Us this producers are getting considerably less for many raw materials but not all 0 it costs almost as much to uvo live as it dI dInst year and the workers average pay has veen been only slightly touched roughly the same factors that retarded the cost of livings pace upward in the months when whole sale commodities were soaring are now acting as a drag as it slips slightly lower Ile between tween june IM 1949 and january 1048 wholesale commodities went up at t a dizzy pace the cost of living climbed steadily but more slowly beaw between i cen january and september of last year commodities as a whole were on the downgrade but the cost of living still edged upward since then tho the cost of living has raced receded ed but much more slowly than prices have fallen rent controls rols and price absorption by processors and retail retailers irs acted as a drag on the cost of living on an the upgrade braking the decline of the cost of living now are rents as high and apparently ly going higher the nornal normal time lag between betau ret ailand land whole sale salci price changes continued high labor boits coits continued high taxes and of course tub substantial profits on june 16 1948 the index in which 1828 1926 prices are stood at by january IS 15 1948 it had reached it was back to by september 15 1948 |