Library Guides: Prices and Wages by Decade: 1940-1949

Wages, 1940-1949

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COST OF LIVING / CONSUMER EXPENDITURES

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

Federal Minimum Wage chart, 1938-2009
Chart from the U.S. Dept of Labor shows the first federal minimum wage law enacted in 1938 (25 cents), and all subsequent increases through 2009. By contrast, certain states enacted minimum wage laws as far back as the 1910s. See also this history of state minimum wage laws from 1912-1958.
State minimum wage laws, 1940
Some states had minimum wage laws only for certain occupations and industries. This source lists each state that had any minimum wage as of 1940 and listed out the rates in detail. Tables begin on page 6.
State minimum wage laws, 1949-1950
The states of CA, CT, MA, NH, ND, RI, WA, WI and Puerto Rico had minimum wage laws in 1949 that covered specified types of workers in particular occupations. The chart in this source tells minimum wages for each.
Manufacturing job hours and earnings, 1919-1960
Very simple table shows average hours and earnings for all production workers in manufacturing for each year from 1919-1960.
Median wage and salary income by occupation for MALES - 1949
Source: 1950 Census. Shows data for male workers with and without occupational breakouts in Table 22, pages 231-238. Find the median at the far right-hand side of the table. Immediately following the data for males is a table for females. If citing this report, use info from the title page.
Negroes and whites - Wage and salary income, 1939-1960
The source Economic Situation of Negroes in the United States compares median wages and salary income for white race and non-white races, with breakouts by sex. Provides data for the years 1939, 1947, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960. The preface states that "Negroes constitute more than 95% of the non-white residents of the U.S." See also a chart showing median family income by race [from all sources, not just job earnings] from 1945-1950 in Employment and Income of Negro Workers, 1940-1952 in the June 1953 issue of Monthly Labor Review.
Hundreds of occupations - Typical expected earnings, 1940s
The U. S. Dept of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook (a favorite source in libraries) shows hundreds of occupations each discussed in short chapters, along with earnings data. They attempted to find the most recent data when the volume went to press in the late 1940s, so expect earnings data to range from 1941 up to early 1948. Occupations are grouped by category: professional, administrative, clerical, sales, service, industrial, trades, and agricultural occupations, some with geographic breakdown. Find the page number for an occupation in the table of contents, then enter it in the "Jump to..." box. Earnings are listed near the end of each short chapter.
Hours and Earnings in the United States, 1932-40: With Supplement for 1941
Movements of hours and wages, 1932-40, hours and earnings, farm wage rates.
War and Postwar Wages, Prices, and Hours, 1914-23 and 1939-44
Compares wage rates and hours of work for the WWI and WWII eras, focusing specifically on the manufacturing, mining, railroad, printing and maritime industries, as well as farm labor wages. Discussion puts wage data in context with price levels which were definitely affected by the wars.
Government (municipal) Salaries and earnings,1944
Average hourly earnings, hours or work, estimated annual salaries for 15 U.S. cities.
Congressional salaries, 1789-present
Historical chart shows salaries of members of the U.S. Congress, along with dates of enactment and statutory authority for each pay increase.
Manufacturing industries - Earnings
This publication "Employment, Hours, and Earnings, United States, 1909-90" shows average hourly or weekly wages in both "current" and "constant" (1982) dollars. Data is listed by industry and broken out by sex, but not by occupation. Volume I lists wages for goods-producing industries; Volume II for service industries. Link for Volume II

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Source: Employment, Hours, and Earnings, United States, 1909-90 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 2370 : Volume I
Average earnings by industry (SIC) code - 1940-1990
This source provides wage/earnings data for industries, but each industry has a different start date. Some date back to around 1940, such as for workers in the railroad industries. The wholesale and retail trade industry data only goes back to 1947.

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Source: Employment, Hours, and Earnings, United States, 1909-90 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 2370 : Volume II
Occupational Wage Surveys
Lists wages by region and by occupation. Some tables are broken down by gender. View full text documents from 1949 to about 1973. More in Hathi Trust.
Wage Chronologies
Lists of monitored changes in wage rates for selected large U.S. companies including General Motors, Chrysler Corp., Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Berkshire Hathaway, Swift, Armour, United States Steel Corporation, Carolina Coach Co., Western Greyhound Bus Lines, International Harvester Company, International Shoe Co., Bethlehem Atlantic shipyards, Sinclair Oil Companies, Pacific Coast Shipbuilding, Massachusetts Shoe Manufacturing, Ford Motor Company, International Paper Co., Aluminum Company of America, Rockwell International, Boeing, and more. Covers the late 1930s through the 1970s.
Hourly Earnings in ... Industries : Selected Wage Areas, 1947-1950
Honolulu HI -Wartime Earnings and Spending, 1943
Family income and outlay by category.
Economy of Hawaii in 1947 : with Special Reference to Wages, Working Conditions and Industrial Relations
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 926

WOMEN'S WAGES

Median wage and salary income by occupation for FEMALES - 1949
Data for women workers, with and without occupational breakouts is reported in Table 22 (pp. 239-246. Find the median at the far right-hand side of the table. If citing this report, use info from the title page.
Womens' median wage/salary income, 1939-1951
Compares men's and women's median wages or salaries. See also a narrative explanation in the chapter on Income, starting on page 82.
Women's Reserve, U.S. Marine Corps - Pay, 1944
Marine Corps brochure shows monthly base pay for colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, captains, 1st and 2nd lieutenants, sergeants, corporals and privates. Also shows base pay for cooks, drum majors and musicians.
Dietitians and nutritionists' income in 1949 (females only)
Table shows income ranges by state and region.

Wages by Occupation / Industry - 1940s

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 here.
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. Contact govdocs@missouri.edu.
Aircraft parts manufacturing - Earnings, 1942
Hours and earnings,1941-1942.
Airframe Industry - Wage Rates in California, 1941
Wage order, wage-rate revisions, average wage rates in relation to hourly earnings, by region and plant basic hourly rates.
Airframe industry hourly earnings, 1943
Hourly earnings of factory workers and office workers.
Airframe Plants, 1942
Covers east coast states with especially good coverage of Buffalo NY. Compares to the mid-continent region ranging from Nebraska to Texas to Tennessee and Ohio with good coverage of Detroit, MI. History of wage rates, average hourly earnings, comparison of average hourly earnings by region.
Ammunition-Loading industry - Wages, 1944
Occupational earnings. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 827
Baking Industry - Union Wages and Hours, 1942-1952
Bank Employees - Earnings, Spring and Summer of 1943
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 774
Bituminous-Coal Mining - Wage Structure, Fall of 1945
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 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."
Building trades, union wages and hours - 1943
Average hourly wage rates, trends, weekly hours, union scales of wages by city and trades.
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.
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.
Carpet and rug industry - Earnings and hours
Shows data for November and December 1940. Wages listed by gender, occupation, and also by skilled, semiskilled, or unskilled labor.
Chiropractor income by state, 1949
Source: Health Manpower Source Book
Clothing industry (men's) - Wages, hours, earnings, 1939-1941
Covers cotton-Garment Industries and plants manufacturing pants other than cotton.
Common Laborers - Starting wages in large cities, 1943
Average hourly entrance rates, variation by industry, rates in individual cities. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 775
Cotton-Goods Manufacture During the War Years
Wage trends, occupational wage rates, variations by region.
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: Health Manpower Source Book
Department and Clothing Stores, Large Cities - Wages, Spring and Summer 1943
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 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: U.S. 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, January 1945
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 875
Explosives industry earnings, 1944
Occupational earnings.
Fabricated Structural Steel Industry - Wage Structure, January 1945
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 866
Factory workers - Spendable earnings, 1941-43.
Compares factory workers' "take home" pay to the cost of living between the years of 1941-1943.
Also available on FRASER. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin no. 769 or Serial Set no. 10906.
Fertilizer Industry - Wages, 1943
Average hourly earnings of plant employees, hourly and weekly earnings and hours of labor by occupation.
Glove industry wages and hours, 1941
Includes tables of the earnings by office and clerical workers. Displayed by sex, type of worker, and region.
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 pay by occupation, 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.
Grain-Mill Products industries - Wages, 1941
Flour milling, feed and cereals industries.
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 - Employment Outlook: Duties, Qualifications, Outlook, Earnings, Working Conditions
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 905
Industrial Machinery Manufacturing - Earnings, 1942
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 720
Knitted-Outerwear Industry, Philadelphia - Annual and Hourly Earnings, 1943
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 830
Knitted-Outerwear Industry, Philadelphia - Employment and Earnings, 1944 and 1945
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 887
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.
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.
Machine-Tool Accessories Industry - Wage Structure, January 1945
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 868
Machinery Industries - Wage Structure, January 1945
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 861
Manufacturing Industry wages in wartime
Trends in factory wages, average hourly and weekly earnings.
Medical personnel - Income of physicians, dentists and [other health workers], 1939-1976
Median net income of office-based nonsalaried physicians, dentists and male professional workers in health professions. Covers 1939, 1947, 1951, 1955, 1963, 1965, 1967, and 1970-1976.
Mining iron - Wages, 1943
Hourly earnings by occupation, trend of hourly earnings, entrance rates for male common labor.
Motor-vehicle industry - Wage structure, 1941
Covers earnings and hours of workers in the motor-vehicle industry as a whole as well as the automobile and automotive-parts divisions. Pages 12-17 have tables reporting on the trends in employment, earnings, and hours.
Motortruck drivers and helpers - Union wages, 1941
Shows trends of wages per hour and hours per week of union motortruck drivers and helpers, divided by city and job classification. The tables compare June 1940 with June 1941.
Motortruck drivers and helpers - union wages -1936-1960
Includes data from cities with 500,000 or more population, with mileage data.
Metals Industry (nonferrous) - Wage Structure, 1941-1942
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 729
Metalworking Industries wage structure - 1945
Covers 14 metalworking industries. Average hourly rates by occupation, size of establishment, size of community.
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 - Median income by state, 1949
Source: Health Manpower Source Book
Office Workers - Salaries in selected large cities
Covers 23 occupations with industry breakdowns in the cities of Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Milwaukee, New York, San Francisco-Oakland, and Seattle. Most data appears to be from 1947-1948.
Office Workers - Earnings trends
Earnings of white-collar clerical and office workers, professional and semiprofessional workers, government employees.
Office Workers in Metalworking Industries - Wages, January 1945
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 886
Optometrists - Median income by state, 1949
Source: Health Manpower Source Book
Petroleum Drilling and Production in the OK, TX and Louisiana,, 1944
Average hourly earnings, occupational differences. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 810
Petroleum industry in OK, TX and Louisiana, 1943
Average hourly earnings, occupational differences, regional differences.
Pharmacists' median income, 1949 (males only)
Source: 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.
Physicians' income, 1929-1949
Data from the U.S. Dept of Health, Education and Welfare's Health Manpower Sourcebook series:
- Income of non-salaried physicians,1929-1949
- Mean income of physicians by state, 1949
- Median income of physicians and surgeons, 1949 (males only)
- Mean net income by medical specialty, 1949
  This would include obstetricians, ophthalmologists, pediatricians, urologists, psychiatrists, surgeons, and more.
- Osteopaths' income
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.
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.
Psychologists' income by state, 1949
Source: Health Manpower Source Book
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.
Rayon industry wages, 1944
Review of industry, earnings of factory workers, going job rates, trends. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 806
Rubber manufacturing industry wages, 1942
Occupational wage data, average hourly earnings by occupation, trends of employment, hours and earnings.
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.
Service occupations - 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 Yards - Earnings, Fall of 1942
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 752
Ship-Repair Yards (private) - Hourly Earnings, Spring 1943
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 763
Shipyards (private) - Hourly Earnings, 1942
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 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.
Streetcar and Bus Operators - Union Wage Rates, 1942-1945
Street-railway employees - Wages, hours, working conditions in 1941
Goes over each subtopics and how most union agreements handle them. 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
Truckdrivers and helpers - Union wages and hours
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
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: Health Manpower Source Book

Wages in MULTIPLE COUNTRIES, 1940s

Click the tabs above for single countries.

Wages and hours in Europe and Canada, 1938-1947
Gives wages in Great Britain, France, and Austria beginning in 1938, and Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada beginning in 1939. To find actual wages and not just inflation (price indexes) look for tables that specifically mention units of money, such as schillings and pence for Great Britain, francs for France, Swedish kronor, or look for symbols like $ in the tables. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin no. 934
Prisoner of war wages in four countries, 1942
Article "Condition of Employment of Prisoners of War" discusses hours and pay for prisoners of war in Australia, Canada, Britain, and Germany.

Wages in FRANCE, 1940s

Wage rates and retail prices for French workers, 1938-47
This is an article on wage trends and policies in France (1938-1947). It describes the wages for various industries like metal work, woodworking, and transportation. It also compares their wages by skill and sex to prices. The article includes lowest page jobs, allowances for children, and compares wages across French cities.

Wages in GERMANY, 1940s

German prisoner of war wages, 1944
Tells what Nazis paid to Russian and Polish prisoners and to prisoners of other nationalities.
Germany - Fishermen's wages, 1941
Monthly wages for coastal and deep sea fishing vessels, broken out by job title: sailor, helmsman, hand, boy, etc.
Germany - Wages by industry, 1941
This articles describes the fixed wage rates for German workers at the end of 1941. It includes a table that shows the average hourly wages by sex and skill level in various industries such as coal, chemicals, textiles, brewing, and rail services. Discussion is on the previous page (p.361) in the source.
Germany - Wages, 1940
Extensive article in the U.S. Dept of Labor Monthly Labor Review shows wages in the food industries, locksmiths, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, coppersmiths, pipelayers, mechanics, woodworkers, makers of vehicles, sawmill workers, printers, painters, agricultural workers and more.
Germany - Labor conditions, 1930s-1945
Tells wage averages by industry and sex. Includes a chart showing the trend of wages in Germany, 1929-1942. Published in the U.S. Dept of Labor's Monthly Labor Review, April 1945 issue, pages 498-524. (For additional context, see the Nov 1945 issue discussing price controls in Germany, 1936-1945).
Germany - Hourly and weekly earnings, 1929-1942
Contains tables showing hours and earnings, Discusses reasons for the changes in earnings under the Nazi regime. Article covers pages 401-404.

Wages in GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, 1940s

Weekly earnings in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1941
Compares wages rates to those of 1938 in industries such as iron, textile, woodworking, and transportation.
Weekly agricultural wages in Northern Ireland, 1940
This article describes the regulations established for governing the wages of agricultural workers in Northern Ireland. The article includes a table depicting the minimum weekly wages of male workers of various ages and counties.
Hours and earnings in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1943
This article describes the hourly and weekly earnings of laborers and Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It includes tables which depict the wages in different manufacturing and civil industries, distinguished by age and sex of worker.

Directions for finding more wage rates in the 1940s

Wages and hours in foreign countries - 1940s
This index to the U.S. Dept of Labor Monthly Labor Review tells where one can find wage rates for many foreign countries. HOW TO FOLLOW THROUGH TO SEE THE WAGE RATES: Use the index to find a country of interest. Note the abbreviation after each entry, for example "1944--June 1175." This refers to the year, month and start page of an article in the Monthly Labor Review. Wages/hours for the following countries are available:
Albania, Argentina, Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, British Malaya, Bulgaria, Canada,
Chile, China, Cuba, Curacao, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France, French Indo-China, French North Africa, Germany,
Great Britain, Greece, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, India,
Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Palestine, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Rumania, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yugoslavia.

Wages, analysis - 1940s

Federal policy on wage control during and after World War II
This source gives no wage rates but provides explanation and context for wage statistics reported in other federal sources. Read this if you want to understand the numbers. See section "Wage Policies" beginning on page 50.

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Discussion in the Federal Reserve's article Prices, Wages and Employment in the Postwar Economic Studies, No. 4, May 1946.
Intercity Variations in Wage Levels
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 793

Prices, 1940-1949

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FOOD
MERCHANDISE
HOUSING and UTILITIES
SERVICES
TRAVEL and TRANSPORTATION
COLLEGE EDUCATION
COST OF LIVING / CONSUMER EXPENDITURES
PRICES in FOREIGN COUNTRIES

FOOD PRICES

Food prices by city with U.S. averages - 1940s
. U. S. Office of Price Administration poster
More about this agency
Click for 1940, 1941-1944, 1948 or 1949. Some of these tables extend for many pages, so be sure to scroll forward in the sources to see breakouts for cities.

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You may find average retail food prices in each of these cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Bridgeport, Buffalo, Butte, Cedar Rapids, Charleston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Fall River, Houston, Indianapolis, Jackson, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Knoxville, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Louisville, Manchester, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Mobile, Newark, New Haven, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Omaha, Peoria, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland ME, Portland OR, Providence, Richmond, Rochester, St. Louis, St. Paul, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Savannah, Scranton, Seattle, Springfield, Washington DC, Wichita, Winston-Salem.
Average retail food prices reported annually from 1890-1970
This one-page table shows the average retail prices for bread, milk, eggs, meats, fruits, vegetables, coffee, beans, sugar, margarine, etc. each year from 1890-1970. Data collection took place in about 30-60 U.S. cities. Jump to page 193 of this resource for an excellent explanation of the historical table and the methodology of data collection.
Restaurant food and drink prices, 1940s
Site has over 700 scanned restaurant menus from the 1940-1949 decade. This is not a government resource but it can be useful for spot-checking prices for specific food or beverages at restaurants.
Grocery prices paid by farmers, 1935-1949
This source lists average grocery prices paid in farming areas rather than big cities. Lists prices for coffee (per pound), lemons (per dozen), loaves of white bread, packaged tea, assorted meats, dairy and fruits.
Farm-retail spreads for farm products, 1947-1964
Lists retail prices for many food staples and food products for each year from 1947-1964. It also shows how much of the purchase price went to farmers. The extensive table spans pages 14-45 in this source.

MERCHANDISE PRICES

Clothing prices paid by farmers, 1939-1943
See average prices for men's wool suits, trousers, overalls, work shirts, socks, work shoes and rubber boots, as well as women's silk/rayon hose, percale house dresses, underwear and shoes. Prices for sheets and fabrics are also provided. A different table shows prices for 1944.
Price ceilings on clothing - 1945
Government regulation M-388 (established by the War Production Board) set ceilings on retail prices for clothing. This document explained the new rule and listed the upper limits on retail prices for men's, women's and children's cotton garments.
Price ceilings for household soap and cleansers - 1943
This bulletin instructed retailers on how to calculate the highest price they'd be allowed to charge for soap. Source: U. S. Office of Information, Department of Price Administration. Retailer's Bulletin #28, May 1943.
Wartime family living / Rural family living - 1943-1947
Articles in this newsletter mostly focus on the change in prices due to the war. The actual prices of food, automobiles, clothing and building supplies may be mentioned anecdotally in a few of the articles, but it takes some hunting to find them (tip: use the "Search in text" feature to find words or phrases like "silk hose.")
Mail order catalogs for Christmas, 1940s
This link leads to WishbookWeb.com, a site that displays complete, historic mail order catalogs in color and offers keyword searching in the full text. Find retail prices for clothing, jewelry, toys, household decor and furnishings, gift items and other items selected for inclusion in Christmas catalogs. Retailers include Sears, Lord & Taylor, Spiegel and Wards.

HOUSING and UTILITIES PRICES

Median gross rent by state, 1940-2000
Gross rent is defined as "the monthly amount of rent plus the estimated average monthly cost of utilities (electricity, gas, water and sewer) and fuels (oil, coal, kerosene, wood, etc.). This source shows data by state and for the U.S. as a whole. Source: U.S. Census of Housing, choose unadjusted figures. Table displays best in Chrome.
Housing rent - Average expenditure by income, 1941-1942
Source does not show the average cost of rent. It does tell how much wealthier people were actually paying in rent compared to less wealthy people. The data is broken out by income group, with income categories ranging from less than $500 annually to over $10,000 annually. Covers Jan 1941-March 1942.
Median home values by state, 1940-2000
Median home values for states and for the U.S. as a whole. Source: U.S. Census of Housing, choose unadjusted figures. The table displays best in Chrome.
Farm real estate values in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa, 1912-2018
Shows average value per acre (statewide) for farm real estate including both land and buildings. Table shows price per acre for each year from 1912 to 2018. Compares the figures to the average for all other states.
Electricity bills for residential service - 1941
Lists typical net monthly bills for residential service, taking into account whether the household used electricity mainly for just lighting, or for refrigeration, cooking and water heating as well. Tells rates in all U.S. cities with a population over 50,000 residents.
Residential heating fuels - Retail prices by city, 1941-48
Tells average retail prices for June and December of each year from 1941-1948, including anthracite and bituminous coal, coke, gas, kerosene, fuel oil and briquets in each of 55 U.S. cities.

PRICES for SERVICES

Health and accident insurance premiums (average expenditures), 1941-1942
Read this table carefully, as it reports both the percent of families that had health insurance as well as the average dollar amount spent on insurance in 1941 and in the first three months of 1942. Tip: look for the dollar sign ($) in the tables to make sure you are in the right place. Note that this table reports average family consumer expenditures on insurance premiums and not the actual prices of the policy.
Cost to mail a letter, 1863-present
Chart shows postal rates for mailing a domestic letter. Source: the Historian of the U.S. Postal Service.

TRAVEL and TRANSPORTATION PRICES

Gasoline prices paid by farmers, 1910-1943
Under the heading "Supplies" in the table on page 21, this source shows the average gasoline price per gallon for 1910-1914 (five year average), 1919, 1929, 1939, and 1943.
Gasoline prices, 1949-2011
Average retail gasoline prices from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The "nominal price" is that which was paid at the time of the transaction.
Automobile expenses paid by farmers, 1935-1944
Table lists price of gasoline by the gallon, motor oil and automobile tires.
Average RT steamship fare from NYC to Europe and Mediterranean, 1949
This source tells the average amount an American traveler paid for a roundtrip steamship ticket plus shipboard expenses on routes from New York to Europe or the Mediterranean. From Survey of Current Business article titled "American Expenditures for Foreign Travel in 1949."

COST of a COLLEGE EDUCATION

Law school tuition, 1948 and 1954
Source: Law schools of the United States : a statistical and analytical report based on ...160 law schools. (Not a government document)

Cost of Living and Consumer Expenditures in the 1940s - Analysis

NOTE: This section does not show actual prices, rather, it reports <i>how much consumers were spending</i> in various categories, like food, utilities, rent, etc. Some figures indicate the degree to which such spending increased or decreased compared to a specified base year.

Cost of clothing for moderate-income families, 1935-44
Bulletin of the US.. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), No. 789
Cost of Living in 1941
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 710
Wartime Prices, 1939-1941
Tracks price changes between the invasion of Poland (August 1939) and the attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941. The focus is on wholesale and commodity price fluctuations and the reasons behind the changes, and tracks profit margins for sellers. It does not give actual retail prices.
Family Spending and Saving in Wartime, 1941-1942
Very extensive list of tables show the percent of families spending money on various categories of goods and services by income group. It also provides the average dollar amount spent in these categories. For example, people in the highest income brackets spent the most on club memberships and hotel stays.
Wage Report to the President on the wartime relationship of wages to the cost of living, February 22, 1945
Does not give actual prices or wages, but it does explain the context of price and wage regulation during wartime.
Consumers' Prices in the United States, 1942-48 : Analysis of Changes in Cost of Living
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 966
Worker's budgets in the U.S., 1946-1947
Detailed review of budgets for city families and single persons.
Cost of living in large cities of the U.S., 1913-1941
This document looks only at whether the cost of living was going up or down for families, in relative terms. It compares the affordability of food and consumer goods from one year to the next and provides price INDEXES but not actual prices. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 699
Federal policy on wage control during and after World War II
This source gives no wage rates but provides explanation and context for wage statistics reported in other federal sources. Read this if you want to understand the numbers. See section "Wage Policies" beginning on page 50.

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Discussion in the Federal Reserve's article Prices, Wages and Employment in the Postwar Economic Studies, No. 4, May 1946.
Honolulu HI -Wartime Earnings and Spending, 1943
Family income and outlay by category.
Price Trends and Price Control in Foreign Countries Since VE-Day
No actual prices here, just price indexes (% change from year to year in existing prices). It does tell about government price control efforts and rationing. Source: Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 873
Wartime Prices, Price Control, and Rationing in Foreign Countries
This source does not give actual prices, but only tells the degree to which prices went up as a result of the World War. In other words, it gives price indexes, not actual prices. It does go into detail on efforts by governments to control rising prices and it also gives detail on food rationing. Some countries included: Mexico, Canada, France, Poland, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Italy, USSR, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Egypt, Palestine, Iran, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, China and Japan. Source: Bulletin of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 851

Buying power of historic wages expressed in today's dollars

Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator
This calculator allows you to compare the buying power of wages earned at different points in history. For example, a dollar earned in 2016 had the same buying power as 4 cents in 1913. Conversely, a dollar earned in 1913 had the same buying power as $24.24 in the year 2016.

Prices in Foreign Countries, 1940-1949

Canada - Food and rents by province and city, 1941
Shows prices of dozens of food and grocery items, soap, coal, wood by the cord, matches by the box and rent for a 6-room house, with and without modern conveniences. Source: Labour Gazette, Canada Department of Labor.
Soviet Union - Prices and rations, 1946-1947
This article discusses food rations in the Soviet Union during WWII, as well as the reductions in 1946 and their implications. Food prices are provided for both ration and commercial stores, as well as relative price increases on the open market. There is also information on prices for select consumer items and the increase of basic monthly wages.

Prices and Wages by Decade: 1940-1949