TABLE 12.-PERCENTAGE OF UNEMPLOYED MEMBERS OF LABOR UNIONS IN THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE. 1901. 1902. 1903. 1904. 1905. 1901. 1902 1903. 1904. 1905. A. End of March. Lack of work...... 30,988 23,667 23,997 Total......... 42,244 36,710 41,941 103,995 54,916 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 34,685 28,759 73.4 64.5 57.2 33.3 52.4 2,309 { B. End of September. 952 12.6 Lack of work...... 11,259 10,430 18,528 21,718 11,525 60.5 56.8 53.9 58.0 62.5 Lack of material... 1,349 852 418 677 2,973 2,301 10,153 2,279 1,993 The weather...... Labor disputes.. Disability... 1,851 Other causes. 682 981 2.010 Reason not stated. 85 81 157 655 7.2 2.5 2.5 3.6 968 739 2.2 2.0 2.6 4.0 10,593 2,403 16.0 12.5 29.5 28.4 13.0 1,873 2,577 9.9 12.4 5.8 5.0 14.0 1,140 438 3.7 5.3 5.8 3.1 2.4 136 93 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5 Total......... 18,617 18,381 34,370 37,380 18,430 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 II. WAGES AND EARNINGS. Table IV of the Appendix sets forth at some length the rates of wages in the various organized trades. In some trades the rate provided in the union scale is a standard rate and may be so recognized in formal agreements* between associations of employers and the unions, as is the case, for example, in all of the skilled building trades in New York and other cities. Where the union is able to secure such recognition for its scale, its rates are almost universally accepted throughout the locality. In other cases the union scale is accepted by a sufficient number of individual employers to make it the standard, while in still other instances the union scale may have been adopted by only a minority of the employers and yet stand as a fair expression of the current," "going" or prevailing rate of wages. Some industries are still unorganized, even in the large cities. This is especially true in the case of industries partially carried on by female operatives. But so far as men's wages in trades requir ing a moderate degree of skill are concerned, the unions' statistics of wage rates embrace the larger number of industries in manufacturing and transportation, with some representation in commerce and trade. On the assumption that no significant changes were made in rates of wages, it is clear that the year 1905 would witness a general increase in the annual earnings of workingmen in consequence of the increased amount of employment which they enjoyed. As a matter of fact, such changes in wage rates as were made in 1905 were almost entirely advances. Thus, Table X of the Appendix containing the changes reported by trade unions, shows that 34,766, or about one-tenth of their members, obtained higher wages last year while only 286 had their wages reduced either by reduction of the hours of work or other circumstance. A summary of the changes is given on the next page. The increases noted above average only 30 cents a day for the 35,000 wage earners who received them; distributed among all organized wage workers, the advance would be less than 3 cents a day. But daily earnings are often increased without any change in the rate of wages; such being the case when workmen put in extra hours at a special overtime rate. Piece rates are often *A number of these trade agreements are printed in the current report of the Bureau of Mediation and Arbitration, and where the wage scale amounts to a long list of prices on piece work it must be looked for in the agreement rather than in the table of rates. |