FULL REPORT

Measure of Recovery in Profits and Wages Since 1920–21 Depression	February 20, 1925

Entire Report

The stimulation of industrial activity produced by the war reached a climax in the year 1919, which was marked by the greatest industrial boom and the greatest credit inflation in the history of the United States.

In the spring of 1920 a depression set in which continued for nearly two years. It brought about abrupt deflation of credit and at its depths produced temporary industrial prostration.

The extent of the recovery in the manufacturing industry from the low point of the post-war depression may now be measured by new statistics compiled by the Bureau of the Census. Comparisons of these statistics with other basic statistics compiled by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Labor Statistics are given in the following pages. They provide the basis for significant conclusions as to the course of profits, wages and the cost of living during the last five years.

Statistics of Manufacture

The status of manufacturers at (1919) the height of the boom; (1921) the depth of the depression, and in 1923, the latest year for which complete figures are available, is revealed in the following table, giving the basic data on manufactures gathered by the Census Bureau.

1923

1921

1919

Number of establishments

195,714

196,267

214,383

Persons engaged.

10,176,750

8,265,821

10,688,849

Proprietors