Prices and Wages by Decade: 1940-1949

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WAGES -- GENERAL SOURCES  (all occupations and worker types)

WAGES in CITIES AND STATES

WAGES by RACE

• Non-white males' income by occupation, pages 215-222.
• Non-white females' income by occupation, pages 223-230.

• 1948 Handbook on Women Workers
  The chapter "Wages or salaries of women" (p.17-31) from this Handbook is filled with data on the wages or salaries of women for 1946:
  • Census reports on women’s earnings (p. 18-22)
    • Median annual earnings of all women workers
    • Annual earnings by occupation and industry groups, age, and race
    • Comparison of earnings in 1944, 1945, and 1946
  • Factory production worker earnings reports (p. 23-27)
  • White-collar worker earnings reports (p. 27-31)
• 1950 Handbook on women workers
  The chapter "Wages, salaries, and income of women" (p.22-40) in this Handbook is filled with data on women's pay in the years 1944-1949 (mainly 1948):
  • Census reports on women's income and earnings (p. 24-27)
  • Factory production worker earnings reports (p.28-31)
  • White-collar worker earnings reports (p.31-40):
    • Teacher salaries, 1948-1949
    • Nurse earnings, 1946
    • Library employee salaries, 1949

• Agriculture - Wartime wages, income, and wage regulation
  Farm wages and labor cost, wage rates by regions, wage rates of piece workers, income of hired workers and family workers.
• Agriculture - Farm laborer wages, 1818-1948
  ​Lists average monthly earnings with board, by geographic divisions. Data for years: 1818, 1826, 1830, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1909, 1919, 1929, 1940, 1948. Read the explanation and historical context for this table.
• Agriculture - Farm labor wages, 1940-1949
  The monthly USDA periodical Farm Labor shows farm labor wages with and without room and board, and broken out by geography. These issues are available in HathiTrust as well.
• Agriculture - Farm labor wages, 1945-1947
  Wages of farm laborers working in specific crops in various states and locations. These reports do not yet seem to be available in full text online, but we do have printed copies in our library and will be happy to do a lookup.
• Bank employee earnings,1943
  BLS Bulletin, no. 774
• Bituminous-coal mining - Wage structure,1945
  BLS Bulletin, no. 867
• Book and job printing, earnings and hours - 1942
  Hourly earnings, weekly hours and earnings.
• Broadcasting industry (radio and TV) weekly wages, 1947
  Shows weekly earnings of full time employees at radio and television stations, including announcers, news personnel, writers, musicians, production men, engineers and technicians, commercial supervisors, clerical employees and broadcasting executives. Excellent descriptions of these jobs are provided elsewhere in the book Employment Outlook in Radio and Television Broadcasting Occupations.
• Bus drivers wage rates by city - 1940s
  See bus driver wages in the early 1940s, or for the later 1940s, find hourly wages listed in these annual issues: 1946, 1947, 1948, and 1949
• Carpenters' union wages - 1940
  This is a union publication rather than a government document. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America published an annual publication titled The Carpenter. In it, one can find union wages by city and state. Although this source is not available in Hathi Trust past 1922, our library has a set and would look up a wage upon request. The union wages for 1940 begin on page 35 of the October 1940 issue.
• Chiropractor income by state, 1949
  Source: Table 17, Health Manpower Source Book
• Common laborers' starting wages in large cities, 1943
  Average hourly entrance rates, variation by industry, rates in individual cities. Source: BLS Bulletin no. 775.
• Construction and building trades - Union wages and hours - 1943
  Average hourly wage rates, trends, weekly hours, union scales of wages by city and trades.
• Construction and building trades - Union wages and hours by city, 1947
  Reports both journeymen and apprentice pay for carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, plasterers and related occupations in the construction industry.
• Construction and building trades - Typical earnings, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the U.S. Dept of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook
  • Electricians, construction
  • Plumbers
  • Sheet-metal workers
  • Structural and ornamental metal workers
  • Construction machinery operators
  • Glaziers
• County officers' compensation in Missouri counties, 1945
  This report includes tables showing gross commissions and fees as well as estimated net compensation of County Collectors and other county officers in a number of Missouri counties. Source: Committee on Legislative Research Report No. 6
• Dentists' income, 1929-1948
  Nine-page article includes breakouts by state, by size of community, by source of income, and more.
• Dentists' income by state, 1949
  Source: Table 25, Health Manpower Source Book.
• Department and clothing store wages in large cities, 1943
  BLS Bulletin no. 801.
• Education - Instructional staff salaries by state, 1929-1946
  Table 8 shows average salaries of instructional staff (principals, supervisors and teachers) for every state in every year from 1929-1946. Source: Biennial Survey of Education.
• Education - Instructional staff salaries by state and race, 1939-1940
  Table 7 shows average salary for instructional staff in elementary and secondary schools by race in the states of AL, AR, DE, DC, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, MO, NC, OK, SC, TN, YX, VA, WV.
• Education - Instructional staff salaries by state, 1947-1948
  Shows average salaries for staff in urban and rural schools in 36 states. See note at the top of table 2: "Instructional staff" includes principals, supervisors, teachers, librarians, psychologists, deans, etc.
• Electroplating and polishing Industry wage structure, 1945
  BLS Bulletin, no. 875
• Engineer earnings, 1946
  BLS Bulletin no. 968
• Engineers - Typical earnings, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the U.S. Dept of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook
  • Civil engineers
  • Ceramic engineers
  • Chemical engineers
  • Electrical engineers
  • Flight engineers
  • Industrial engineers
  • Mechanical engineers
  • Metallurgical engineers
  • Mining engineers
• Engineers - Median annual income by field, age and education, 1949-1950
  Source: Report from the U.S. Dept of Labor.
• Government (federal) - Pay scales, 1930-1949
  Table shows the basic annual pay rates for federal employees of various services and grades (GS-1 through GS-18, P, SP, CAF and CPC). These are not salary averages.
• Government (state) pay by occupation in Missouri, 1949
  Shows pay to state government employees such as chemists, financial officers, inspectors, actuaries, judges, janitors, librarians, highway patrolmen, statisticians, telephone operators, carpenters, typists, watchmen and many more. Also shows salaries for the top officials in executive agencies. Recommended: use the search in text feature to find occupations.
• Government (municipal) salaries and earnings, 1944
  Average hourly earnings, hours or work, estimated annual salaries.
• Hospital jobs for women, early 1940s
  Source tells average monthly salaries and cash wages for female hospital orderlies, ward aides and practical nurses.
• Hotel occupations - Outlook for earnings
  Source: BLS Bulletin, no. 905
• Hotel occupations - Typical earnings, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the U.S. Dept of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook
  • Front-office clerks (Hotels)
  • Bellmen and baggage porters
  • Bell captains and head baggage porters
  • Hotel housekeepers and assistants
  • Hotel managers and assistants
• Laundry and dry cleaning workers in Rhode Island, 1949
  Extensive 168-page Rhode Island state document gives detail on wages, hours and working conditions in laundries and dry cleaners.
• Law school faculty and administrator salaries, 1948-1949
  Includes salaries of both instructors and deans. Law librarian salaries are also included. This is not a government document.
• Lawyer's income
  • Lawyers' income, 1929-1948
    Shows lawyers' incomes by regions and states, by size of community served, by the age of the lawyer and number of years in practice, by WWII veteran status, and more. Source: "Income of Lawyers, 1929-1948" in the August 1949 issue of Survey of Current Business.
  • Lawyers' income, 1936-1941
    This report provides especially good detail for the year 1941.
  • Lawyers' income, 1947-1954
    With breakouts by state, by size of law firm, size of the community served, age of the lawyer, number of years in practice, type of clientele, and more. Source: "Income of Lawyers in the Postwar Period" published in the December 1956 issue of Survey of Current Business, pp. 26-36.
• Lumber industry wages, 1944
  Wage levels in union and nonunion operations, occupational average hourly earnings.
• Lumber industry wages, 1944
  Covers CA, OR, WA, ID, MT only.
• Machinery Industries wage structure, 1945
  Source: BLS Bulletin no. 861.
• Machine shop occupations - Typical earnings, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the U.S. Dept of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook
  • All-round machinists
  • Engine-lathe operators
  • Grinding-machine operators
  • Milling-machine operators
  • Set-up men (machine shop)
  • Tool and die makers
  • Turret-lathe operators
• Manufacturing
  See separate box below for manufacturing wages by industry.  Includes links to general sources and sources specific to the following industries: aircraft, ammunition and explosives, carpet and rugs, clothing, fertilizer, food, grain products, industrial machinery and machine tools, motor-vehicle, rubber, and textiles.
• Mechanics and repairmen - Typical earnings, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the U.S. Dept of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook
  • Airplane mechanics
  • Automobile mechanics
  • Bridge and building mechanics (railroads)
  • Cash register servicemen
  • Diesel mechanics
  • Electronic technicians (Electronics manufacturing)
  • Industrial machinery repairmen
  • Jewelry repairmen
  • Radio servicemen
  • Radar technicians
  • Refrigerator servicemen and refrigeration and air-conditioning mechanics
  • Shoe repairmen
  • Typewriter servicemen
  • Watch repairmen
• Medical personnel - Income of physicians, dentists and [other health workers], 1939-1976
  Median net income of office-based, non-salaried physicians, dentists and male professional workers in health professions. Covers 1939, 1947, 1951, 1955, 1963, 1965, 1967, and 1970-1976.
• Medical service occupations - Typical salaries and wages, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the 1949 U.S. Dept of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook.
  In 1942, hospital X-ray technicians earned an average of $129/monthly
  • Chiropractors
  • Dentists
  • Dental hygienists
  • Medical laboratory technicians
  • Medical record librarians
  • Medical x-ray technicians
  • Nurses, registered professional (RNs)
  • Occupational therapists
  • Optometrists
  • Pharmacists
  • Physical therapists
  • Physicians
  • Veterinarians
• Medical service occupations - Physicians' income, 1929-1949
  Data from the U.S. Dept of Health, Education and Welfare's Health Manpower Sourcebook series:
  • Physicians, non-salaried - Income, 1929-1949
  • Physicians mean income by state, 1949
  • Physicians and surgeons' median income, 1949 (males only)
  • Medical specialists' mean net income by specialty, 1949
    This would include obstetricians, ophthalmologists, pediatricians, urologists, psychiatrists, surgeons, and more.
  • Osteopaths' income, 1949
• Metals industry (nonferrous) - Wage structure, 1941-1942
  Source: BLS Bulletin, no. 729.
• Metals - Steel industry wage structure, 1945
  Covers the fabricated structural steel industry.  Source: BLS Bulletin no. 866
• Metalworking industries wage structure - 1945
• Metalworking industries - Wages of office workers, 1945
  BLS Bulletin, no. 886
• Mining, iron - Wages, 1943
  Hourly earnings by occupation, trend of hourly earnings, entrance rates for male common labor.
• Nurse earnings - 1946 and 1949
  Shows median monthly earnings of nurses in different fields of practice, for example, working in hospitals, in private duty, for industry, etc. Also shows different pay rates for nurses living in the hospitals and outside of them.
• Nurses, see also "Medical services occupations" in this list.
• Nurses - Median income by state, 1949
  Source: Table 47, Health Manpower Source Book
• Office worker salaries in selected large cities, 1947-1948.
  Covers 23 occupations with industry breakdowns in the cities of Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Milwaukee, New York, San Francisco-Oakland, and Seattle. 
• Office workers - Earnings trends
  Earnings of white-collar clerical and office workers, professional and semiprofessional workers, government employees.
• Office workers - Federal Civil Service salaries, 1945
• Optometrists' income
  • Median income by state in 1949 as reported in table 56, Health Manpower Source Book
  • Income by years of experience in 1945 as reported in Optometry: professional, economic and legal aspects, published 1948.
  • Income by region of the country in 1945 as reported in Optometry: professional, economic and legal aspects, published 1948.
• Petroleum industry in OK, TX and Louisiana, 1944
  Average hourly earnings, occupational differences. Source: BLS Bulletin no. 810.
• Petroleum industry in OK, TX and Louisiana, 1943
  Average hourly earnings, occupational differences, regional differences.
• Pharmacists' median income, 1949 (males only)
  Source: Table 70, Health Manpower Source Book
• Pharmacists serving in the Navy, 1943
  Navy pamphlet shows base pay for pharmacists, pharmacist's mates, and hospital apprentices. A table spanning pages 10-11 gives further breakouts for each, and tells the additional allowance for dependents.
• Printing trades - Union wages and hours
• Printing trades - Union wages, hours, and working conditions, 1941
  Years shown span from 1907 to 1941 and show the rates both for the printing trade as a whole as well as for individual trades. Shows distribution of union members in the trades, changes in union rates and hours, and scales by trades and cities for 1940 and 1941.
• Printing occupations - Typical earnings, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the 1949 U.S. Dept of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook.
  Linotype operators could earn $1.45-$2.24 hourly in 1948 (same as hand compositors)
  • Bindery workers
  • Bookbinders
  • Electrotypers and stereotypers
  • Hand compositors and typesetters
  • Linotype operators
  • Monotype keyboard operators
  • Monotype caster operators
  • Photoengravers
  • Printing pressmen and assistants
  • Proofreaders
  • Rotogravure photoengravers
• Prisoner of war wages - World War II
  Policies on pay for prisoners of war varied over the time that WWII was being fought, and there were sometimes differences based on the rank of the prisoner and the type of work he would be doing. For quick location of pages discussing labor pay, do a search on the word "cents" and look at pages 75 and up.
• Protective service occupations - Typical earnings, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the U.S. Dept of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook.
  • Policemen
  • Detectives
  • Federal police and detectives
  • FBI agents
• Psychologists' income by state, 1949
  Source: Table 88, Health Manpower Source Book
• Radio operators - Typical earnings, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the U.S. Dept of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook
  • Radio operators (telephone and telegraph industry)
  • Ship radio operators
  • Radio operators (broadcasting)
  • Ground radio operators and teletypists
• Railroad worker earnings, 1940
  Check table of contents for additional data tables on employee earnings. Source: Wages and labor relations in the railroad industry, 1900-1941: an historical survey and summary of results.
• Railroad occupations - Typical earnings, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the U.S. Dept of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook
  • Baggagemen
  • Brakemen (railroads)
  • Carmen (railroads)
  • Clerks (railroads)
  • Conductors (railroads)
  • Hostlers (railroads)
  • Locomotive engineers
  • Locomotive firemen and helpers
  • Redcaps
  • Signalmen and signal maintainers (railroads)
  • Station agents (railroads)
  • Switch tenders (railroads)
  • Telegraphers and telephoners (railroads)
  • Towermen (railroads)
• Restaurant occupations - Typical earnings, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the U.S. Dept of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook
  • Cooks and chefs
  • Beverage-service workers
• Scientists's earnings, 1948-1949
  The BLS sent questionnaires to all who were listed in the 1944 edition of American Men of Science. Shows earnings breakouts for chemists, biologists, engineers, physicists and electronic scientists, earth scientists, mathematicians, medical specialists, statisticians and psychologists.
  • Median salary by age and highest degree earned
  • Median salary of scientists holding Ph.D.'s
  • Median salary of Ph.D.'s by type of employer and field of specialization
• Service occupation wages, 1949
  For service occupations such as nurse, cook, teacher, housekeeper, etc. we recommend the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Hundreds of occupations are each discussed in short chapters, along with earnings data for each. See the page number in the table of contents, then enter it in the "Jump to..." box. Earnings data are listed near the end of each section.
• Ship construction yard jobs - Earnings, 1942
  Source: BLS Bulletin no. 752.
• Ship-repair yard jobs, Earnings, 1943
  Source: BLS Bulletin no. 763.
• Shipyards (private) - Hourly Earnings, 1942
  Source: BLS Bulletin no. 727.
• Social worker salaries by city, 1945
  Tables 8-9 show median salaries and salary ranges for social workers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and New York City.
• Teachers - Typical wages, 1949
  Earnings as reported in the U.S. Dept of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook
  • College and university teachers
  • High school teachers
  • Kindergarten and elementary school teachers
  • Physical education teachers
• Transit (local) - Sreetcar and bus operators - Union wage rates, 1942-1945
• Transit (local) - Street-railway employees' wages and hours, 1941
  Wage rates are displayed in the tables by city and type of motor vehicle.
• Transit (local) - Union wages and hours by city
  Shows union wages for bus drivers, trolley employees, cable car gripmen and conductors, subway and elevated train operators, platform workers, and other jobs in local transit. See issues for 1946, 1947, 1948, and 1949.
• Truck drivers and helpers - Union wages and hours
  Source: BLS Bulletin.
• Truck drivers and helpers - Union wages, 1941
  Shows trends of wages per hour and hours per week of union motor truck drivers and helpers, divided by city and job classification. Table 9 compares June 1940 with June 1941.
• Truck drivers and helpers - Union wages, 1936-1960
  Includes data from cities with 500,000 or more population, with mileage data.
• Veterinarians' income, 1941
  Breaks out veterinarians' income by age of workers, also by the type of job, for example, working in an independent practice, doing research/education, inspection of meat and milk, etc.
• Veterinarians' income, 1949
  Source: Table 110, Health Manpower Source Book.

This section does not necessarily show prices for goods, rather, it reports how much consumers were spending in various categories, like food, utilities, rent, etc.  It also shows how such spending increased or decreased relative to a certain base year.

In the United States...

• In 1940, minimum wage was $0.30 per hour. Source: U.S. Department of Labor
• In 1940, bread cost an average of $0.08 per pound. Source: U.S. BLS
• In 1940, milk cost an average of $0.26 per ½ gallon. Source: U.S. BLS
• In 1940, eggs cost an average of $0.33 per dozen. Source: U.S. BLS
• In 1940, sugar cost an average of $0.052 per pound. Source: U.S. BLS
• In 1940, flour cost an average of 21.5¢ per 5lbs. Source: U.S. BLS 
• In 1940, the cost of the Ford Standard 4-Door Sedan was $725. Source: J.D. Power
• In 1940, the average cost of a gallon of gasoline was $0.18. Source: Energy Information Administration
• In 1940, the median cost of a home in the US was $2,938. Source: US Census Bureau
• In 1940, public teachers in the state of Missouri made an average salary of $1,159. Source: Bureau of Education  
• In 1940, the average cost of a passenger train ticket per mile was $0.0176. Source: Section of Transportation Service
• In 1946, nurses earned an average salary beginning at $168. Source: U.S. BLS  
• In 1946, chemical engineers made a median monthly salary of $240, but those with the most career experience could make up to $1,000 every month. Source: U.S. BLS 
  • In 1946, electrical engineers began with a median monthly salary of $235 and could make up to $15,000 per year depending on their level of education. Source: U.S. BLS  
  • In 1946, civil engineers made a beginning monthly salary of $240. Depending on their level of experience and education, they could make over $10,000 annually. Source: U.S. BLS