Abstract
Wages are an important element of well-being, as they directly affect material living
conditions. This chapter describes trends in real wages since 1820 for a wide set of
countries derived with a standardized method that allows for comparisons over
time and space. The main indicator is based on the real wage of an unskilled male
labourer in the building industry. Its derivation is based on data on nominal wages
adjusted by the price of a subsistence basket of goods. Strengths and weaknesses of
this method are discussed. It is found that during the first half of the 19th century,
real wages in large parts of the world were barely above subsistence, except for
parts of Western Europe and in particular in the Western Offshoots. As in the case
of GDP per capita, cross-country differences in real wages increased rapidly since
1820, and diminished in the late 20th century.
conditions. This chapter describes trends in real wages since 1820 for a wide set of
countries derived with a standardized method that allows for comparisons over
time and space. The main indicator is based on the real wage of an unskilled male
labourer in the building industry. Its derivation is based on data on nominal wages
adjusted by the price of a subsistence basket of goods. Strengths and weaknesses of
this method are discussed. It is found that during the first half of the 19th century,
real wages in large parts of the world were barely above subsistence, except for
parts of Western Europe and in particular in the Western Offshoots. As in the case
of GDP per capita, cross-country differences in real wages increased rapidly since
1820, and diminished in the late 20th century.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | How was life? |
| Subtitle of host publication | global well-being since 1820 |
| Editors | Jan Luiten van Zanden, Joerg Baten, Marco Mira D'Ercole, Auke Rijpma, Conal Smith, Marcel Timmer |
| Place of Publication | Paris |
| Publisher | OECD Publishing |
| Pages | 73-86 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9789264214262 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-92-64-21406-4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2 Oct 2014 |