Page:Wages in US 1908-1910.djvu/127

Rh the working hours at Bethlehem works, fourteen cents per hour is equivalent to about $500 per year; eighteen cents to $625 per year; twenty-two cents to $750 per year; thirty cents to $1,000 per year; and fifty-two cents to $1,400 per year. The longest hours were found, on the whole, among the lowest paid workers, hence the ratio between hourly pay and annual earnings changes in the higher paid employments.

Applying these computations to the table of classified earnings, it appears that nearly one-third (31.9%) of the total number of employees were earning $500 per year or less, while nearly two-thirds (61.2%) were earning $625 per year or less. Of the remaining third (30% of the total) nearly all fall below an annual income of $1,000, leaving only 8.2 per cent. of the total number of employees enjoying a yearly wage in excess of $1,000. These facts are rendered still more significant when it is recollected that the steel industry is demanding a large share of highly skilled laboran industry which is commonly believed to pay high wages.

A still more striking variation m wages paid appears in a consideration of the wages by departments.