The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-11-06

hat Budges Director Thorvold ol-
 en has been outlining plan along
 heBe lines to remove some ot the nequalltles Of salary among clerical
 employees and to provide grades of employment similar throughout all Appointments.
 rho report in full follows:
 Tho employees of 0 number of City Departments have petitioned the Beard of Finance for flat 20 per- cent pay increase, one of their con- Aentions being that the cost of hv- lnx In Waterbury has increased. The supervisory boards of e number of Ench departments have recom- mended salary increases of 10 per cent. Basically, the requests are like m nature, except for the percent- nRe Of Increase recommended, The proposals, which, would cost the City from s6500000 to $325 0000, depending upon which plan is adopted, cannot be defended solely on the basis of cost of living in- creases nor on the basis of equity among employees.
 According to the most recent data erom the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ehe cost of living in the United 6tates on September IS, l94I was
 ~50 per cent above the l9S5~S9 aV- 1erage. However, living costs on Sep- temher IS, ie4i were still l2 per eent below the December, 1929 level. sxThe National Industrial Conference a~Doart's cost of living index for Sep- eemher shows an increase of per smcent over September l940. In terms uf purchasing value of the employe .~EloliGr, the September, ls4l dollar smdecreased 5,7 per cent from Q year previous.
 ~ Real wages (purcnaSlng power) of nlty employees has increased steadily ssslnce 1925, and when considered in A4terms of average cost of goods, em- ployes are in much better position sstoday than in any of the five pre- .saglepression years, During the de- pression years, the purchasing power Of city employees, in spite of salary mEeductions, remained equal to and in most instances far above the five .mpre-depresSion years In other words '~city employees to this extent were not .RsRed to bear that part of the econ .~Umy enforced by the depression. 'aFinally, the real wages of city em- @ployes whose salaries have remained Stationary between 1925 and 194l, except for the eight year reductions eciuring the depression, were higher son September l5, l94l than in all sbut two years of that sixteen year period.
 As the cost of living rises, the purchasing power of the dollar drops proportionately. This assumes how ever, that an employees entire salary rwill be used for living expenses. Act- llally, this Is not generally the case, and q portion of an employees salary goes into savings or luxuries not contemplated by an adequate stand ard of living budget.
 V It Is obvious therefore, that if "saIayy increases are made directly proportionate to the increase in the cost of living. the employe is not only having his standard of living kept on uniform level, but the eIn- ployer is also insuring the purchas- ing power of the employees luxury purchases or his savings. Adoption Of the proposed salary increases would mean that the cost of living of 6 8l 10000 employe has increased !, S24000, whereas in the case of eS ,OOOO0O Q year employe, the in- .creased cost of living Is Si00000. To 1his extent at least, salary adjust aaanents in proportion to cost of living changes cannot be defended.
 The question next presenting it. @self is what proportion of an em- spioye's wages should be considered .eI tSrlva answer to this question Is, of course, ampossible due to a large number of Circumstances such as the number aacf persons in the family, living @.habits, etc. From data collected by the Works Projects Administration, 5n cooperation with the Bureau of ~xabor Statistics, 1t was estimated that the average family of four Gin the wage earning and lower salary --classes) requires an annual income s~Df from $l,350yo0 to $l ,55000 to main tain adequate living standards. From .Stiais, 1t might be argued that the @salary of an employe, up to this amount, should vary directly as the cost of living fluctuates. The prob- lem is not however, so easily solved. "A number of other factors enter in- ~to the picture as to the desirability Of such plan.
 ~ In the first place, proceeding on the above assumption, a city em- ploye would be entitled to salary in- creases of approximately per cent since 1880. This however, assumes that the 1889 salary level was just and reasonable-an assumption not unnecessarily warranted as will be hereafter shown.
 Let us assume for example that Waterbury had adhered strictly to the plan of correlating salaries with The average cost of living in the country as computed by the U. s. Bureau of Labor Statistics over 8 period of years. With the latest in- sdex cost of living at i08l, the cost of living as of September IS, 41Oal, is 12 per cent below the 1929 average and 14 per cent under the Al025 average. The conclusion to be drawn is logical; if the salaries paid 10 municipal employees between 4zD2S and 1888 were just and equit- able, then the salaries paid today are much more equitable since the parchasing power of the employe dollar is higher today than for any gear in that eight year period. It might even be argued, proceeding on this same line of reasoning, that the municipal employe is being overpaid today if employe salaries over an extended period of time are to be correlated to the cost of living in- dex.
 It may Dc argued that the salaries paid to specific municipal employees