Wage rates in 24 occupations in 87 towns 1845-1906.

Table ID:

WAGES     (28513)

Contents:

Wage rates in 24 occupations in 87 towns 1845-1906.

Approx. number of rows:

26,953

Table type:

Raw Data

Documentation Author:

Humphrey Southall

Geography:

Reporting units are identified by:
   Unspecified Town

Chronology:

The data cover the period 1845 to 1906.
Dates and times are identified by:
   Year

Sources:

1. Holds wage statistics gathered by the Board of Trade Labour Department and tabulated in their unpublished report on Rates of Wages and Hours of Labour in various industries in the United Kingdom for a series of years (our copy was provided by Jeffrey Williamson but the original source was the Department of Employment Library).

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Notes:

1. This transcription, covering 24 occupations for 87 towns (NB not all towns appear for all occupations), includes only selected occupations from the original report. In general, localised groups were excluded hence the main emphasis is on the artisan trades. The data run from various start dates, the earliest being 1845, to 1906.
2. The original report consists of a series of tables, one for each occupation, with columns for each year and a row for each town. The data was input in this format, and converted within the original database into the format used here. However, this table does include all the data we entered.
3. The report listed wage rates as shillings and pence either per hour or per week. The 'text_w' field contains the original entry as a piece of text, and this has been converted into a number of pence and the result placed into either the 'weekly_w' or the 'hourly_w' column based on whether the rate was above or below 100 pence.
4. In some cases, the entry in the original report contained multiple rates for a particular town and year. The 'text_w' column contains a full transcript of the original, with commas separating the rates. In calculating the value of 'weekly_w' or 'hourly_w', the first rate given in the source was used, which usually means the lowest.

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Indices:

Index	Type	Column(s) indexed
wages_pk	Primary key	town, occup, year

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Constraints:

The table has the following associated constraints:

Constraint	Type	Details
wages_pk	Primary Key	See details above for primary key index

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Columns within table:

Column	Type	Contents
year	Integer number.	Year to which rate refers.
town	Text string (max.len.=44).	Town to which rate refers.
occup	Text string (max.len.=24).	Occupation to which rate refers (see note).
weekly_w	Floating point number.	Weekly wage rate, expressed in pence; null if rate is hourly.
hourly_w	Floating point number.	Hourly wage rate, expressed in pence; null if rate is weekly.
text_w	Text string (max.len.=20).	Original text. NB this may contain two or more separate rates, separated by commas.

Additional Notes:

Occupations in the Table:

The following occupations appear in the table (Those marked ^* all come from United Society of Boliermakers reports):

aisboil	Angle-Iron Smiths*	ifound	Ironfounders
book	Bookbinders	lith	Lithographers
brfin	Brass Finishers	malab	Masons' labourers
brick	Bricklayers	paint	Painters
brlab	Bricklayers' Labourers	pattern	Patternmakers
brmould	Brass Moulders	planers	Planers
cabin	Cabinetmakers	pllab	Plasterers' labourers
carp	Carpenters	plumb	Plumbers
comp	Compositors	rivboil	Riveter*
fitters	Fitters	smiths	Smiths
frpol	French polishers	turners	Turners
holboil	Holder-Up*	uphol	Upholsterers