Builders' Wages and Housing Costs In ordinary circumstances a trade
union's plea for a general increase of wages on the ground that an industry was extremely prosperous would seem to be a reasonable one. But the circumstances in which the Joint Industrial Council for the building industry advance that claim are not ordinary. The boom in building is mainly due to the fact that a great national drive is in process with a view to improving the housing conditions of the working classes. It is the needs of their fellow- workers which have produced the boom in their own sheltered industry. The additional wages which they are asking for would increase the cost of building houses appreciably, and before long would have the effect of increasing the rent paid by other workers. Even so their claim would be a just one if their scale of pay was below the average paid in other industries. But the contrary is the case. Since 1914 their hours have been shortened and their pay increased, and the rates for labourers are 100 per cent. per hour, or 82 per cent. per week, higher than they were, the cost-of-1•iving index figure being 48 per cent. higher.
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