| | | |
Average weekly wages | | | |
paid to-- | | | |
Men | 12.04 | 8.07 | 11.85 | 8.26
Women | 5.12 | ... | 6.09 | 3.37
Young persons | 5.76 | 2.52 | 5.10 | 2.40
Children---- | 5.31 | ... | 3.81 | .79
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General average weekly wage | | | |
paid to all _employes_ | 11.75 | 8.07 | 10.32 | 6.96
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Result: General average | |
weekly wages higher in | 45.60 | 48.28
Massachusetts by per cent | per cent. | per cent.
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The two first columns of the table are simply illustrative of the method
applied to a single industry, exhibiting the highest average, lowest
average, and average weekly wages, whether to men, women, young persons,
or children, in the particular business of "machine-making," together with
the general average wages paid to all the _employes_ in such industry. The
general average weekly wages in this industry are thus shown to be 45.6
per cent. higher in Massachusetts than in Great Britain.

The 3d and 4th columns of the table consolidate all the twenty-four
industries, and yield, in similar terms, as in the case of machine-making,
an average comparison applying to the whole group of industries under
examination, giving, as a grand result, that the general average weekly
wages of Massachusetts are higher by 48.28 per cent. than those of Great
Britain.

It is, however, explained that the British wage returns were made in three
different ways, viz., for a definite number of _employes_, by percentage
returns, and by general returns; both of the latter being for an
indefinite number of _employes_. Where more than one wage-basis was given,
the highest figure was used in the calculations, and, this being the case
in eighteen out of the twenty-four industries, its effects on the grand
result are considerable; for, by crediting Great Britain with the
_average_ instead of the _high_ weekly wage, the average percentage in
favor of Massachusetts rises from 48.28 per cent. to 75.94 per cent.

In order truly to indicate the higher perce