earned during that week less than $5, $5 but less than $6, $6 but less than $7, $7 but less than $8, and so on through the category? If the system of payment by months is so prevalent as to make the weekly statement impossible, a statement for an entire month would be even more satisfactory than a statement for a week only. The time would be longer and the results more representative.
At this point it must suffice to say that the average figures for wages on American railroads seem, for the most part, typical of the average wages reported in the manufacturing and other like industries. With the exception of enginemen, conductors and machinists (who constitute 9 per cent, of the total number of employees, and whose wages average in the first two cases over $4, and in the last over $3), no group of employees reports an average wage of more than $3. For three groups the average is less than $2; for three groups it is between $2 and $2.49, and for three other groups it falls between $2.50 and $2.99. An analysis of average wages in those manufacturing industries which are similar in character to the work done on the railroad, shows that the averages are approximately similar.[1] With the exception of the three high-paid occupations mentioned above, railroad wages are, to all appearances, on a level with other wages in the community.
The telephone and telegraph industry offers some excellent wage data. The Oklahoma Department of Labor publishes some figures on wages in the telephone industry. Of 660 male wage-earners, 27 per cent, received less than $500; 78 per cent., less than $750, and 95 per cent, less than $1,000. The wage rates for females are much lower. There were 1,143 employed. The wage rates of 17 per cent, were under $250, 96 per cent, under $500, and 99 per cent, under $750.[2]
The wage figures published by the Bureau of Labor[3] are taken from the pay rolls of the company, and represent, as accurately as wage figures may, the situation on the company's books in 1908. In general, the wage scale in the telephone industry is much higher than the scale in most other industries.[4] The wages in nine typical occupations (cable splicers, chauffeurs, drivers and stablemen, installers, inspectors, laborers, repairmen, switchboard men, testers and trouble men) show a considerable uniformity.[5] Only 10 men (they were all in one class, "inspectors") were receiving wages of more than $125 per month ($1,500 per year); two fifths received less than $750; four fifths received less than $1,000. If the laborers are eliminated, the range for the other occupations is greatly advanced. The great bulk of installers,
- ↑ "Wages in the United States," op. cit., Chapter 7 and Chapter 9, Section II.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Department of Labor of Oklahoma, 1911-12, p. 232.
- ↑ Investigation of Telephone Companies, 1910, op. cit.
- ↑ "Wages in the United States," op. cit., pp. 96-108.
- ↑ Investigation of Telephone Companies, op. cit., pp. 273-289.
