Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-08-29
FATTER CHECKS
MAY KEEP TIME
WITH PRICE RISES
PROSPERITY MONEY MARGIN
MAY GIVE AMERICANS
BETTER LIFE

Fatter and fatter pay checks give
the average American family an ever
widening margin of prosperity money"
in spite of the fact that living costs
have finally started their long pre-
dicted rise. But because raw materials
and wholesale prices have scared far
more than retail price tags to date.
the average family may see its ex-
from here on, suggests a study made
OF family buying power
In the past IL months, prices Of
farm products have jumped IS percent,
and wholesale prices Of food have in
creased nearly 20 percent. but Mrs.
Housewife is only paying an average
of 8 percent more for foods at retail,
the study notes. If the storekeeper's
costs continue to mount, he is nat
urally going to have to mark his own
prices up more in proportion. The rise
In food prices began in March of this
year and from May to June was the
sharpest since September, 1899. when
the war started and memories Of the
price boom of the last World war sent
householders scurrying to market to
lay in pantrytuls of supplies.
Saw Costs Soar
In 1917. third year of the World
war. the American family saw its liy-
ing costs soar 10 percent in 70 months
time, and 1912 will be the third year
of the present war. the study points
out. As yet, however, Mr.. and Mrs.
America have nothing TO complain
about because their monthly pay check
has increased five times as much in
the past year as their living costs
have.
Graphically illustrating the benefits
TO the American pocketbook of recent
relative payroll and living cost
changes. the study shows that an av-
erage employed workers family of
four, with monthly earnings of Sl2O
at average 1888 payroll levels. has
seen its monthly pay check fattened
by nearly $40 since then. with most
of the increase added since the re-
armament drive began.
BY June, 1910, this "yardstick"
American family was enjoying earn
ngs of sl5O.86 per month. Meanwhile,
rise in living costs had increased the
familys outgo to sl3186 per month
by mid1940 for the same standard
of living for which sl20 was paid at
1893 prices.
Pay Check Zoom
But on top of this handsome gain in
income over outgo registered up to
the middle Of last year, the family has
since seen its pay check zoom to
$l55.41 in January, l94l. and to s169.40
by June, total increase of 1884 for
the year, Of which approximately $l4
was scored in the last six months.
Meanwhile, the family's living ex-
penses have risen only to sl3538, so
that the gain in income in the past
year Is five times the increase in
expenses, the study finds The star
ting expansion in the average fam
ily's buying power shown by the COM
pany's study, which reflects payroll
conditions in industries employing
over 100000 workers, is partly due
to wage rate increases, partly to more
hours Of work per week, with overtime
premiums. and also to higher pro-
portion of highly paid workers in the
picture. An actual house-to house can
vass Of families would probably show
still roster picture than the COM
panys index registers, because there
is almost certainly an average of more
employed workers per family at the
present time, the study states.
The hiring rate for manufacturing
concerns is running at new post
depression high, but three times as
many workers per 1000 are quitting
their jobs as a year ago. This, the
study says, reflects the rapid shift
Of workers as they quit lower paid
jobs for higher paying berths, while
the defense industry continues to
boom.