EFFICIENCY WAGE STANDARDS 257 



EFFICIENCY WAGE STANDAEDS 



By Professor SCOTT NEARING 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 



EFFICIENCY, when applied to personal capacity, signifies a maxi- 

 mum of return with a minimum of outlay; hence one man is 

 more efficient than another if, with a given expenditure of energy, time, 

 raw material or capital, he can secure a larger, though equally good, 

 product. The term efficiency is thus purely relative, since there is no 

 known limit to human possibilities. 



Each progressive employer aims to promote the efficiency of his 

 working force, for unless he secures a maximum return in product for 

 a minimum outlay of administrative ability, he himself is inefficient. 

 That manager who, other things being equal, produces the highest net 

 return for his outlay is looked upon as the most efficient manager. Yet 

 in producing this outlay no one factor plays a more important part than 

 the efficiency of the labor force which the manufacturer has at his 

 command. How then can he increase this labor efficiency ? How insure 

 a maximum productive power among his workers? 



Several attempts have recently been made to answer this question 

 practically and definitely by inquiring, " How much money is necessary 

 to maintain an efficiency standard of living ? " — that is, how much 

 money is required to supply food, clothing, housing, education, recrea- 

 tion and the other necessaries of life in sufficient quantities to enable 

 the recipient and those dependent upon him to maintain normal health, 

 strength and intellectual acumen. A successful answer to this question 

 will, in a measure, enable the employer to gauge the efficiency possi- 

 bilities of his labor force. 



Several very careful studies have recently been made, which are 

 remarkably uniform in their conclusions as to the amount necessary to 

 maintain efficiency in the various cities under consideration. Of these 

 studies, by far the most exiiaustive is that made in New York City in 

 1907 and 1908.^ 



An analysis of the family budgets of four hundred workingmen, 

 together with an exhaustive study of food values, housing, clothing and 

 the like, led to the conclusion that : " An income of $900 probably per- 

 mits the maintenance of a normal standard, at least so far as the physical 

 man is concerned. . . . Whether an income between $800 and $900 can 

 be made to suffice is a question to which our data do not warrant a 



* ' ' The Standard of Living among Workingmen 's Families in New York 

 City," Eobert C. Chapin, New York: Charities Publication Com., 1909. 

 VOL. LXXX. — 18. 



