Wages and Cost of Living (1939)

This document is Chapter 7 of the Report by the Labour Officer Mr H.R. Butters on Labour and Labour Conditions in Hong Kong. The chapter provided several tables of figures: (1) the wholesale prices of certain foodstuff from 1924 to 1938; (2) the retail prices of staple food from 1930 to 1938; (3) the value of local dollar in terms of sterling; (4) the cost of living for a single man, for a man and his wife, and for one child; (5) diet for Chinese prisoners, men and women, with hard labour, and that for Chinese patients in the government hospitals. The chapter also provided figures of cost on food, housing, clothing and other items; and the rates of pay of Chinese workers in local factories.

Date 1939
People foremen, skilled, unskilled labour, worker, male labour, female, casual labourer, apprentice, specialist, permanent worker, contractors' coolies, gunny bag manufacturer, box maker
Industry baker | confectionery | battery | torch | camphorwood | cardboard | cement | feather | felt hat | preserved fruit | glass blower | handkerchief | hat | ivory | joss stick | Chinese medicine | mine | mosquito stick | paint and lacquer | rattan | rope | rubber | rubber knee boot | shirt | leather shoe | sugar | sweet | tin can | tobacco | cigarette | electric torch | building | electroplating | engineering | sewing | knitting | ore refinery | paper dyeing | pea sorting | perfumery | printing | engineering | stocking | transport | weaving | spinning
Related Keywords daily rate|piece work
Material Type Print
Collection Pre-war Industry
Source "Wages and Cost of Living", Report by the Labour Officer Mr H.R. Butters on Labour and Labour Conditions in Hong Kong, pp.136-150, Sessional Papers 1939, Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hongkong 1939. Hong Kong Government Reports Online (1842-1941).
Repository The University of Hong Kong Libraries Digital Initiatives
Note to Copyright Copyright expires
Accession No. WL-LAB-009b
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