Excerpt from Department of Labor Bulletin, 1911, Vol. 13

This is $20 below the corresponding average for the same months Of 1909, which was the highest on record, and is considerably below the averages for the years from 1905 to 7, though not so low as the average in 1908, the year Of depression. The explanation Of lower average earnings in 1910 as compared with the year before cannot be found in lower rates Of wages. On the contrary, the average per diem wage for the quarter Of the men whose earnings are considered was as against in 1909. This difference is in part a merely mathematical result Of large changes in membership, but only partly so; and in every one Of the thirteen groups Of trades, or industries, repre sented in the returns the average per diem wage was as high or higher, except in three Of the less important groups, m which the decreases were small. The lower average earnings in 1910 must be sought, therefore, in less time worked, and as a matter Of fact the average number Of days worked by those reporting earn ings was only in 1910 as compared with in 1909. This decrease in the general average, however, was not shared by all the groups Of trades. On the contrary, in all but three Of the thirteen the average number Of days worked is practically the same or somewhat higher in 1910, and Of those three only two the build ing and the clothing trades are among the larger group. An alysis Of the returns in these two groups shows that a decrease Of one day in the average for the building trades is largely accounted for by unusual idleness in a strike Of bricklayers in New York City, while an enormous decline in the clothing group from in 1909 to was due mainly to the general idleness Of cloak makers in New York City who were on strike for two out Of the three months Of the quarter. In other words, the reduction in average time worked during the quarter, and consequently the decline in average earnings, is very largely traceable to the one great strike Of cloak makers and can practically all be accounted for by that and one other large dispute in the building trades. The general result indicated by the returns, therefore, is that union wages ruled higher in 1910 than in 1909 and that, in con sequence, eamings were also generally higher except where two great controversies with employers abnormally reduced amount.

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