24 



CIKCULAR 4 71, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE 



These are exclusive of foremen's bonuses (which averaged 12 Rpf. 10 

 a day for all workers in 1933 and 1934), pay for days on vacation and 

 sick leave, etc. (averaged 12 Rpf. a day for all workers in 1933 and 16 

 Rpf. in 1934), and State contribution to social insurance (averaged 

 32 Rpf. a day per worker in 1933 and 22 Rpf. in 1934). The highest 

 wages on an hourly basis were paid in the western districts and the 

 lowest in East Prussia. 



Workers are required to furnish their own tools and keep them in 

 good working order. Frequently, they are paid an allowance in addi- 

 tion to their wages, to be applied on the purchase and maintenance 

 of tools, and in some instances the State gives an extra allowance to 

 induce workers to acquire new and improved types of equipment, 

 such as saws. The object of this, of course, is to increase production 

 per man-hour and consequently to reduce costs. 



Between 1927 and 1934 the average yearly earnings from work in 

 the State forests of Prussia ranged, for men, from RM608 (about $144) 

 in 1930 to RM310 (about $74 in 1933) (table 18). Owing to the devalu- 

 ation of the dollar the 1934 earnings of RM363 were about the same 

 in terms of dollars as the nominally higher earnings of 1930. 



Table 18. — Average yearly earnings of male and female workers in the State forests 



of Prussia, 1927-34 1 



Year 



Males 



Females 



Year 



Males 



Females 



1927 



Marks 

 498 

 547 

 594 

 608 



Marks 

 66 

 76 

 79 

 80 



1931 ... 



Marks 

 524 

 335 

 310 

 363 



Marks 

 69 



1928 



1932 



1933 



1934 



35 



1929 . 



42 



1930 



45 









J Based on official reports (24). 



Tor year-long workers, of course, the earnings were much larger. 

 As long ago as 1908 the workers in the Harz region of Hanover 

 earned from RM800 to RMl,200 ($190 to $285) a year (14). 



Total wages paid to laborers in the Prussian State forests averaged 

 more than RM 45,700,000 a year during the period 1927-31 ($10,900,- 

 000), decreased to RM25,000,000 in 1932, and rose to RM38,000,000 

 (over $15,000,000 in terms of devalued dollars) in 1934. This is for 

 an area of approximately 6,000,000 acres. 



FOREST WORKERS' WAGES IN BAVARIA 



Average wage rates for adult male workers in Bavarian State 

 forests (5) increased from 28.6 pf. an hour in 1913 to a peak n of 

 68.0 pf. from December 1929 to February 1931, since when there was 

 a rapid decline to 50.7 pf. in February 1933. The maximum hourly 

 rates increased from 33 pf. to 77 pf. plus 4 pf. additional for heads 

 of families, then declined to 51 plus 4 pf. (table 19). 



io One Rpf. (Reichspfennig) is equivalent to 0.4 cents. Prior to 1934, lpf. = 0.238 cents. 

 11 Wages during the inflation period (1922 to early in 1924) reached such fantastic levels that they are 

 omitted from the official statistics. 



