United States Bureau of Labor Statistics

“ It is greatly to be wished that the Department of Commerce and Labor, through the Labor Bureau, should compile and arrange for the Congress a list of the labor laws of the various States, and should be given the means to investigate and report to the Congress upon the labor conditions in the manufacturing and mining regions throughout the country, both as to wages, as to hours of labor, as to the labor of women and children, and as to the effect in the various labor centers of immigration from abroad. ”

“ Upon that basis, says the report, "there would be 460,000 unemployed able-bodied men and women in the United States, ordinarily having work, now out of employment." On the basis of the June report, there would have been 570,000 unemployed in the United States. This was the only statistical report upon the subject made prior to 1885; and coming, as it does, from Colonel Carroll D. Wright, through the Massachusetts Bureau of Labor, it possesses as much authority as statistical statements ever do. ”

“ Gains to Labor. Bulletin No. 71 of the United States Bureau of Labor, published in July, 1907, is devoted mainly to an elaborate report on Wages and Hours of Labor in Manufacturing Industries, 1890 to 1906, exhibiting "the average wages per hour, the average hours of labor per week, and the number of employees in both 1905 and 1906, in the leading wage-working occupations of 4,034 establishments in the principal manufacturing and mechanical industries of the United States." The report does not cover salaried employees in any industries. ”

“ The Bureau of Labor Statistics has done more than merely gather the statistics, for by keeping in close touch with all the leading labor interests it has kept them informed on countless matters that were really of vital concern to them. Incidentally, one pleasing feature of the work of this bureau has been the steady upward tendency shown during the last four, years both in amount of wages received and in the quantity and steadiness of employment. No other man has benefited so much as the wage-worker by the growth in prosperity during these years. ”

“ The statistics issued by the Labour Bureaus of many of the states in the United States are of considerable value, in particular, those of Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Wisconsin. Germany, France and Belgium also publish statistics, but like the figures of other countries, they far from represent the actual state of unemployment. ”

“ GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $19,000 (1996 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: NA%
Population below poverty line: NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices) : 4% (1992 est.)
Labor force: 65,660 (1995)
Labor force - by occupation: federal and territorial government 31%, private 69% (trade 21%, services 33%, construction 12%, other 3%) (1995)
Unemployment rate: 2% (1992 est.) ”

“ Labor and management in many industries have been operating successfully under the Government's wage-price policy. Upward revisions of wage scales have been made in thousands of establishments throughout the Nation since VJ-day. It is estimated that about 6 million workers, or more than 20 percent of all employees in nonagricultural and nongovernmental establishments, have received wage increases since August 18, 1945. ”

“ Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
total population: 80%
male: 88%
female: 73%
Labor force:
total workers: 4.9 million
workers not receiving money wages: 4.7 million (96% of total labor
force) ; note - 4.3 million workers are in subsistence agriculture
wage earners: 175,000 (3.6% of total work force)
wage earners by occupation: agriculture 45,500, domestic service
29,750, industry 26,250, commerce 24,500, construction 19,250, service
15,750, transportation 10,500, other 3,500 (1985 est.) ”

“ Trade-unions and co-operative societies have sprung up, and the workingman's admission to the franchise has made organized labor a powerful factor in the political world. The purely wage-workers of the United States, whose average income does not much exceed $475 annually, number over 15,000,000 or three tenths of the population. The Federation of Labor is an organization of American wage-workers, and its object is to obtain the best results for the laboring people by fair and honorable means. ”

“ It has been variously estimated by careful statisticians that we have from 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 girls and women in the United States who are making their own livings. The Commissioner of Labor, in his report for 1885, estimated that in New York City alone, there are over 200,000 employed in various wage-earning vocations. ”