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# Chapter IX.
## WAGES AND COST OF LIVING.
The increased industrial activity in the Colony which was noted in the report for 1938 was maintained during the year 1939, notably in the weaving and knitting industries. There was no appreciable change in rates of wages or in the employment situation.
There was a distinct rise in the cost of commodities (rice, oil, fish, meat, vegetables and firewood) generally consumed by the poorer classes and it is estimated that the cost of a normal working class family budget (excluding clothes and rent) was at the end of the year about 20% higher than at the beginning of the year, and also higher than at any time since October, 1937. The rise accelerated towards the end of the year and the indications were that it would continue. There was, however, no appreciable variation in the cost of clothes. It is difficult to obtain reliable figures for the rents paid by sub-tenants in working class tenements, but the tendency for rents to rise was no doubt checked to some extent by the Prevention of Evictions Ordinance, 1938.
By the end of the year the price of oil had risen by over 60% and price of rice by over 12% as compared with the beginning of the year, a contributory factor in these increases being the outbreak of the European War and the consequent increased cost of freight.
The figures for rice are:-
1939 1938 Per 100 catties. May $7.14 Average for four grades. December Variation. $7.74 8% January $8.38 Variation. 14% December $7.33## Average Retail Prices of the Staple Foodstuffs, etc., of Wage Earning Classes.
1939 1938 1937 Rice (3rd Grade) per catty 7.0 cents 7.3 cents 7.9 cents Fresh fish, per catty 28.4 26.9 Salt fish, per catty 23.9 24.4 Beef, per catty 15 Pork, per catty 24.1 25.2 Oil, per catty 36.8 37.6 34.9 Firewood, 51.9 49.7 54.4 10 cents for 9.8 catties 7.0 catties 5.6 catties## Average Rates of Wages for Labour.
### Building Trade:-
Locomotive Driver $1.30 to $1.80 per day. Carpenters 0.80 to 1.30 Bricklayers 0.80 to 1.30 Painters 0.80 to 1.30 Plasterers (including Shanghai Plasterers) 1.00 to 1.50 Scaffolders 1.00 to 1.50 Labourers (male) 0.60 to 0.80 (female) 0.40 to 0.50Working hours 9 per day. Time and a half paid for overtime. Free temporary sleeping quarters provided on the building site and communal messing at cheap rates.
24
Chapter IX.
WAGES AND COST OF LIVING.
The increased industrial activity in the Colony which was noted in the report for 1938 was maintained during the year 1939, notably in the weaving and knitting industries. There was no appreciable change in rates of wages or in the employment situation.
There was a distinct rise in the cost of commodities (rice, oil, fish, meat, vegetables and firewood) generally consumed by the poorer classes and it is estimated that the cost of a normal working class family budget (excluding clothes and rent) was at the end of the year about 20% higher than at the beginning of the year, and also higher than at any time since October, 1937. The rise accelerated towards the end of the year and the indications were that it would continue. There was, however, no appreciable variation in the cost of clothes. It is difficult to obtain reliable figures for the rents paid by sub-tenants in working class tenements, but the tendency for rents to rise was no doubt checked to some extent by the Prevention of Evictions Ordinance, 1938.
By the end of the year the price of oil had risen by over 60% and price of rice by over 12% as compared with the beginning of the year, a contributory factor in these increases being the outbreak of the European War and the consequent increased cost of freight.
The figures for rice are:-
1939
1938
Per 100 catties.
May $7.14
Average for four grades. December
Variation.
$7.74
8%
January $8.38
Variation.
14%
December $7.33
Average Retail Prices of the Staple Foodstuffs, etc., of Wage Earning Classes.
Rice (3rd Grade) per catty
Fresh fish, per catty
Salt fish, per catty
Beef, per catty
Pork, per catty Oil, per catty Firewood,
1939 7.0 cents 28.4
23.9 ""
وو
1937
7.9 cents
1938
7.3 cents
26.9
24.4
15
24.1
25.2
36.8
37.6
34.9
""
J"
51.9 28.3
49.7
54.4
,,
""
22.2
23.8
22
">
10 cents for 9.8 catties
7.0 catties 5.6 catties
Average Rates of Wages for Labour.
Building Trade:-
Locomotive Driver
$1.30 to $1.80 per day.
Carpenters
0.80 to 1.30
J
Bricklayers
0.80 to
1.30
JJ
Painters
0.80 to
1.30
,,
Plasterers (including Shanghai Plasterers) Scaffolders
1.00 to
1.50
,,
>>
1.00 to
1.50
Labourers (male)
0.60 to
(female)
0.80 0.40 to 0.50
رو
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Working hours 9 per day. Time and a half paid for overtime. Free temporary sleeping quarters provided on the building site and communal messing at cheap rates.
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