Earnings increased as rapidly as rates in 1919 and the first half of 1920, after which there was a depression in trade.
Table 6. Piece-rates of cotton operatives. (Percentages of recognized standards.)
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Preparing & Spinning.
Weaving.
1909 1912 1915 June ig;_6 Jan
105
no no 115
IOO
105 105 no no
1917 Jan Feb lulv .
"5 125 125
"5 "5
125
Dec
140
1918 June Dec 1919 July
1920 May
165 215 245 .V5
Table 7. Piece-rates.
Piece-
rates
Earn- ings
IOO
IOO-
133
142
157
143
Aug 1919 Tan
157 205 205
156 215
211
July
233
2H
220 228
1920 April May June
233 300 3OO
239 310
302
Wool and Worsted. In these industries the organization of wages and their changes is less standardized than in the cotton industry, and a much larger proportion of operatives are paid by time. Between 1909 and 1914 we have to depend on employers' statements to the Board of Trade (Labour Gazette, monthly) of average earnings, and from these it appears that earnings in- creased in the ratio 93 to 100 in these five years, whether owing to changes of rates or to better trade.
During the war earnings advanced very rapidly owing to the great demand for woollen goods, and the following figures relate to time-rates for the normal week or to piece-rates.
The most complete statement for the first three years of the war relates to the Huddersfield district. Here weekly bonuses were given to all workers (whether on time- or piece-rates) in rough proportion to their pre-war earnings, as follows: April 1915 6d. to 2s., Jan. 1916 6d., April 1916 is. to 23., Oct. 1916 is. to as.; in Jan. 1917 the bonuses were increased especially to those with the highest earnings and the aggregates since July 1914 were 35. 6d. to all earning los. weekly or less before the war, 53. to those earning between ids. and 155., 6s. 6d. to women earning over 155. and to men earning 155. to 205., and los. to men earning over 20 shillings.
In June 1917 a common system was arranged for most of the districts and occupations in the Yorkshire woollen and worsted industries. Instead of the war bonuses 50% was added to the time-rates customary before the war and this was increased successively to 60% in Oct. 1917, 72!% in March 1918, 8iJ%in Aug. 1918, 104! % in Nov. 1918 and 107% in Feb. 1919; after March 1918 the percentage was only given on 303. if the basic rates exceeded this sum. Male piece-workers were given igths and female piece-workers |5ths of these sums, the percentages being based not on piece-rates but on pre-war earnings. In the spring or summer of 1919 an additional 10% was added to the basic rates. From Sept. 1919 the increases were related to the cost-of-living index number, and the addition moved upwards 10 % on the original basic rates for every complete 10 points added to the cost-of-living number, these increments were at first not applied to the 10% added in 1919, nor to the excess of basic wages over 305., and consequently rates moved rather less rapidly than the cost of living as officially measured. In Dec. 1920 the " cost-
of-living" wage was 175% of the basic rate, and owing to other changes the whole increment (to operatives where pre-war earn- ings were under 305.) reached 216% for time-workers, 181% for male piece-workers and 190% for female piece-workers.
Hours were reduced in March 1919 from 55? to 48 weekly, and in compensation piece-rates were increased 15% in addition to the increments already described, while weekly time-rates remained unchanged.
Coal-Mines. The majority of men working in or at coal-mines in the United Kingdom are paid piece-rates, which used to be increased or lowered by agreed percentages in the various dis- tricts at frequent intervals, subject to a minimum day's payment for underground workers. The percentage levels reached in the principal districts from 1909 to 1917 are shown in Table 8.
Table 8. Piece-rates in coal-mines (expressed as percentages of their amount) in July 1914.
-o
.1
c
+J
Si
l2
tfi
a
1
Q
J
o
r>
i
"S
j2
o
a
3 H
03
J3
1
o
j=
c
|
IM
Q
^
o
3
o
c
Q
u.
1
1
CJ
o
End of 1909 .
86
92
91
8 9
86
90
1910 .
87
91
91
91
86
90
1911
84
88
91
90
86
89
1912 . .
92
93
94
95
97
94
July 1914 .
IOO
IOO
IOO
IOO
IOO
IOO
1915
109
107
nsf
in
118
"3
1916 .
141
I2O
132
136
129
Feb. 1917
'47
132
132!
146
136
136
In Sept. 1917 the adjustment by percentages in the different districts was given up, and, the mines being controlled by the Government, uniform movements over the whole country were arranged. In Sept. 1917 and also in June 1918 uniform increases of is. 6d. per day or shift were granted to all men, and a further increase of 2s. in Jan. 1919 resulted from the reports of the Coal Industry Commission. Evidence to this Commission showed that the average of all workers before the war was 6s. 6d. per shift and in Nov. 1918 as a result of the percentages increases and the bonuses of 33. was 123. 6d. In July 1919 the maximum time of a shift was reduced from eight to seven hours, piece- rates being increased to compensate for the shorter time. In March 1920 an increase of 20% on the wages paid before Sept. 1917 was added, bringing the average to nearly is. a shift; in Oct. 1920 after a strike further increases in proportion to any increase in output were arranged; in the early months of 1921 the demand for export coal fell off, and when control was removed on April i the miners refused to work at the lower rates offered.
Iron and Steel Manufacture. Wages in these industries are generally related by a sliding scale to the selling price of the product. The movements in different districts have been so divergent that it is not possible to give a summary account of their results, but the following figures are illustrative.
In Cleveland (Yorks) ironstone mining, on Aug. 1917 piece- rates had risen 60% over those of July 1914; from that date to April 1920 the same additions were made as in coal-mining.
In Cleveland and Durham pig-iron manufacture, blast-furnace operators' wages were in successive Julys, 1915 to 1919, respec- tively 8, 31, 44, 57, and 92% above July 1914, and in Oct. 1919 108% above. In Nov. 1919 a new percentage basis was changed. In addition a bonus of 50!. per shift was added in Feb. 1915 and raised to tod. in April 1917, and a war wage of is. 6d. per shift was added in Aug. 1918.
In Northumberland, Durham, and Cleveland iron manufac- ture, iron millmen's rates were in Julys, 1915 to 1920, respectively 7^> 5) 67J, 82!, 1475, and 187 J% above those of July 1914; some bonuses were granted but merged in subsequent increases.
Minimum Wage under the Trade Boards Acts. Under the Trade Boards Act of 1909 minimum wages were established in the following industries. Chairmaking (1910), lace finishing
