Wages, Prices, Profits

Report Outline
Upsurge of Wage Rates and Welfare Benefits
Upswing of Producer and Consumer Prices
Continuing Upward Pressures on Labor Costs
Shares in Rising Corporate Earnings

Upsurge of Wage Rates and Welfare Benefits

The almost unbroken chain of wage increases won by organized labor during the first ten months of 1955, coupled with an unprecedented volume of industrial activity, has lifted the earnings of American workers to record heights. Preliminary estimates by the President's Council of Economic Advisers indicate that the annual rate of compensation for all employees, organized and unorganized, now stands at $224.3 billion—a gain of $16.4 billion over 1954.

Despite the upsurge of wage rates, living costs have remained relatively stable. The Eisenhower administration points to this phenomenon as an outstanding accomplishment of its leadership. Secretary of the Treasury Humphrey told a gathering of Republicans, Oct. 11, that “We now have a sound and stable dollar” and “wage-earners of America are now getting real wage increases instead of …cost of living increases.”

Labor Secretary Mitchell said, Sept. 25, that “The American worker… has more to spend for the things he needs than he has ever had before.” Vice President Nixon said American workers now have “more jobs at higher wages, with greater purchasing power and less strikes than at any time in history.”