Page:Wages in US 1908-1910.djvu/58

Rh both the wages of females and of minors to be a very low-paid industry. The range of the percentages of minors who earn less than $6 per week is very slight, probably showing that the character of their occupation is very similar as regards skill, judgment and like qualities.

In Massachusetts, therefore, for the five industries employing the largest numbers, nearly one-half of the minors employed received less than $6 per week. For the State at large, 80,944 minors were employed, of whom 37,271, or 46 per cent., received less than $6 per week. The five largest industries and the entire State are remarkably similar in this,—that approximately the same percentage of women and of minors is paid a weekly wage of six dollars.

The statistics thus far presented show for Massachusetts the variation in classified weekly wages from industry to industry, from sex to sex, and from adults to minors. The remaining task, by far the most difficult, is a summary of the wages in Massachusetts, in an attempt to answer that fundamental question,—"What are