Word: method
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Dates: during 1900-1900
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...individual laborers was ascertained without any accompanying record of the number of men and women receiving particular wages. The work of Dr. Bodio in compiling Italian statistics of labor twelve years ago, though considered valuable at that time, is now entirely discredited on account of his incorrect method of classification. The great development in the treatment of wages statistics has come from this side of the water. Entering upon a field new and unexplored, the American statistician gradually evolved the system of individual classification with the concentration method. For this method there is a classification of weekly wages...
...great desideratum of statisticians is some common method for presentation and tabulation of figures which can be used everywhere. In this way only can an exact comparison of wages be made. For purely economic purposes use can be made of "positions"--that is, using as a theoretic unit the laborer who works at standard wages for a standard length of time. For social purposes however, there can be no theory in the compilation of figures and we must consider the number of laborers and their time of labor strictly according to truth. When some uniform system has been used...
...wages question is perhaps the most important branch of political economy and its subjective treatment is attained by the use of statistics. But it is essential that the user of statistics should understand the proper method for constructing them, and the attendant difficulties. There are four great sources of error which are to be avoided in securing statistics. First, observation is not trustworthy; there must be reliable figures and they should cover a considerable space of time. Second, the distinction must be kept in mind between "average" and "arithmetical mean." Third, in dealing with percentages the basic numbers must...
...difficulties of obtaining correct data are almost insurmountable. In the first place all figures must be obtained by personal inspection, for a manufacturer answering a letter of inquiry would be sure to fall into one or more of the fatal errors enumerated above. The proper method of constructing a schedule is to show the wages paid to each employee through a period of years, but here the statistician is confronted with serious problems. The number of people employed is always difficult to find; and even when that is done he may be unable to compute the duration of the labor...
...instance, weavers are paid from 60 cents to $1.49 a day, there being perhaps fifty rates between the two extremes. Calculations can be made here only on the basis of average. The United States Census deals only with the statistics of wages relating to manufacturing but even here the method used is faulty and is a makeshift for the correct system, which is impossible of consumtion. The problems of collecting railroad wage statistics are also perplexing on account of the great variety in the grades of labor employed. The railroad managers in giving out their figures have been accustomed...