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AVERAGE ANNUAL MONEY EARNINGS IN SOVIET
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
0
AVERAGE ANNUAL MONEY EARNINGS IN SOVIET
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Office of Research and Reports
corrfENTS
Introduction
ChangesDifferentialeO5
Appendixes
Appendix A. Methodology
Appendix B- Source References
Tables
Average Annual Money Earnings in Industry in
the USSR, Selected Years,
Average Annual Money Earnings in Branches of
Industry in the USSR,05
Changes ln Employment and Average Annual Honey
Earnings in Branches of Industry in the
AVERAGE ANNUAL MOHEY EAHKDCS JJ SOVIET
1- In'.roductlor.
This report presents estimates of average annual coney earnings In Soviet Industryhole during selected years lnndof these earnings Inranches of Industry0Tberanches accounted forercent of total industrial employ-ment5 The estimates refer to the earnings- of wage and salary workers combined and to both state and cooperative industry.*
Becauae the USSR does not publish data on average annual money earnings expressed ln rubles, the estimates shown inndhad to be compiled from bits and pieces of information concerningpercentage changes in real and money wages and from information in1 State Plan. The principal sources for the estimates of average annual money earnings by branch of industry are1 State Planableecent Soviet source that presents therelationships of the "level of average wages"5ranches ofo the "wage level" in the coal3/
" Persons employed ln producer cooperatives are paid on the basis of the wage and salary scales set for state Industry, l/ (For serially numbered source references, sec* ollow onnd 3, respectively, ist of those branches of industry, see the second footnote on p.elow.
t Until6 the activities of the Industries considered in this report were administered by the Peoples Commissariats. ft ollows on p. 4.
The estimates of average annual money earnings in the individual branches of industry0 represent the earnings of workers andln Industrial activities in the various ministries.* 5 relate to individual branches of industry. Inthe comparisons shown lnndT tbe implicittherefore la made that the average wage paidarticular industrial ministry reflects the wage level for the corresponding branch or industry. Thc wage level of an industrial ministry probably did not differ widely from the wage level of the corresponding branch of industry, for each mlniotryarge port of the totalof the product for which lt was primarily responsible. Inseveral Soviet statements generally support the assumption, os
Estimated Average Annual Money Earnings in Industry in the USSR a/ Selected
Index
Kor source Identification sumbers and methodology for this table, see Appendix A.
b. Tbe figuresave been rounded to the nearestubles. Ruble values in this table say be converted to US dollarsate of exchange ofUuble. This rate of exchange does not necessarily reflect the value of the ruble in terms of dollars.
follows: (a) the ranking of branches of industry by average wages of workers (rabochlvc) givenoviet source is In most cases the some as the ranking obtained from1 Stateb) the average annual wage in thc machinery and mctalworklng industry5 as estimated from data In1 State Plan and from the Sovietthat wages lo "machine building" doubled0s almost exactly the same as the average annual money earnings shown innd (c) the average wage of logging workers is reported to have beenercent below the average for all industry0ompared withercent below the average as calculated from1
* P.elow.
State Plan.
table 2
estimated average annual honey earnings in branches of industry in the ussr05
branch
all industry
(current rubles)
Rank
of the average for all industry
100
(current fables)
rank
of the average for all industry
100
3 -
Table 3
Estimated Changes lo Employment and Average Annual Honey Earnings In Branches of Industry in the USSR
a Percent
a Percent
_
industry b/
metals
metals
Chemicals
and metalvorking
power
products
materials
For source identification numbers and methodology for this table, see Appendix A.
b. The employment figures for all industry are the totals for theranches shown and are
not the totals for all Soviet industry. The earnings figures are for all Soviet industry.
2. Changes in Differentials05
Six of theranches of Soviet industry considered ln thishad the sane relative rank0 andh respect to levels of average annual money earnings. The coal, nonferrous metals, and ferrous metals Industries remained as the top three; the chemicals Industry remained in sixth place; and light Industry and the foodremained as the lowest two. The paper Industry rose from ninth to fifth place, and the machinery and metalworking Industry foil from fourth to seventh place. The construction materials industry fell from eighth to tenth place, the forest products industry rose from tenth to ninth, the electric power Industry fell from seventh to eighth, and the petroleum industry rose from fifth to fourth. Average annual money earnings increased moat rapidly in the paper, coal, and nonferrous metals industries and least rapidly in the machinery and metalworking, food, and electric power Industries.
The amount of dispersion of overage annual money earnings among tho branches of Industry also increased considerably. For example, the earnings in tbe coal industry wereercent above the average for all industry5 compared withercent above thatnd the earnings in the food industry wereercent below the average for all industry5 andercent below With theof the electric power and construction materials industries, the industries with the highest earnings5 generally tended to be those in which employment increased most rapidlysee Table
Becauseack of information, estimates of average annual money earnings for the individual branches of industry cannot bo madeore recent year Interindustry wage differentials, however, may change somewhatesult of the general reform of wages and salaries that has been ln process oviet source states that,6ages of workers increasedercent in the coal industry,ercent in thc ferrous metals industry,ercent ln the nonferrous metals industry, andercent in the chemicals industry and that increases5 percent7 percent were planned for light Industry and the food Industry, respectively, j/
P. H, above.
APPENDIX A
METHODOLOGY
1. Estimates for Tablef Average Annual Money Earnings in Industry in the USSR Duringi
1
The average annual money earnings in Soviet industry estimated1 were computed from datal in1 State Plan, which also reported that the planned average wageHercent above the average wage/
19jlt
A Soviet source reported an increase ofercent in average annual money earnings7
A Soviet source reported an increase ofercent in average annual money earnings0
A Soviet source reported that average money earnings3ercent of the earnings
The estimate of average annual money earnings was computed by geometric interpolation3
* P.bove.
A Soviet source reported that average money earnings5ercent of the earnings
A Soviet oource reported an increaseercent in average money earnings of vorkersji/
The estimate of average annual money earnings vas computed from reported changes in realimes" thosend in consumer prices0
Soviet sources state that coney wagoo of industrial workers roseercent/ and that money wages of industrial workers increased at an average annual rateercent
2. Estimates for Tablef Average Annual Money Earnings InIndustry Inl'^'O5
The estimates wore computed from data in1 State Plan, which gives planned employment and wage bills for individualministries forand also gives for each one the percentage relationship of the planned average wage1 to the average wagej/
P.bove.
Theranches are "nonferrous metallurgy, ferrous metallurgy, fish, oil, machine building, chemical, power industry, timber, paper and woodworking, building materials, light industry, food industry, and meat and dairy." ' t
The principal source for the estimates of average annual aonoy earnings in the individual branches of industryableoviet source thitt presents percentage relationships of the level of average wagea"5 ofronchos ofo the "wage level" in the coal The average annual money turnings in the coal industry were estimated5 rubles on the basisoviet statement that wages in the coal industry5ercent of those Other indications of the level of
wages in thc coal industry are the Soviet statements that the planned average annual wage for coal miners56hat the average wages of coal and shale miners5 wereof thosend that average wages in the coal(presumablyereercent above those in the machine building Because wages ln coal mining Increased sharplyesult of the wage reform, this differential undoubtedly was smaller
Por eight branches of industry (thc nonferrous metals, ferrous metals, machinery and metalworking, petroleum, chemicals, electric power, construction materials, and light Industries) the estimates of average annual money earnings were obtulned directly by applying the given percentages to the average annual wage in the coalobtained as explained above. The estimates for the remaining three branches were obtained as follows:
Taper
Tbe Soviet sourceercentage for "paper and woodworking" combined. ercentage ofas used to calculate average annual money earnings for thc paper industry alone. According to another Soviet source, the paper industry ranked next below the petroleum industry in average wages of workers The percentage used for the paper industry is the midpoint between the percentages* given for) and
Forest Products
The Soviet source gives percentages for) and for paper andercentage ofas used tothe average annual money earnings for forest products,paper.
Food
The Soviet source gives percentages for the "food, for "meat and dairy"nd for the "fish" The percentage given for the "food industry" was used to calculate thc average wage for the food industryhole.
3. Estimates for Tablef Changes In Employment ond Average Annual. i'ranchrfi ol' Industry ln thc 'JilSH
The employment data are based on estimates Included In tworeports of thc Foreign Manpower Research Office of the US Bureau of the These reports Include estimates of the number of wage workers by branch of industryo5 and estimates of total employmentthat la, wage workers, engineering-technical workers, employees, and all othersby branch of industry The estimates of total employment by branchnere obtained by multiplying tho number of wage workers ln each branch0 by5 ratios of total employment to wage workers, the ratios for the individual branches first having been adjusted uniformly to reflect the change in the ratios05 tn theronchoshole.
P. above. ** P. P.bove.
The estimates of average annual money earnings for the branches of industry were taken from* The averages shown innd Tableor industryhole05 were token from The weighted averages for industryhole computed from thcranches ore somewhat below thc averages computedhole by the method explained above.
APPENDIX B
SOURCE REFERENCES
1- dr. Ekonomika truda (Economics of-
Gosudarstvennyy plan po razvitlya riarodnogo khozyaystva
SSSR1 god (State Plan for Development of the Rational Economy of the USSR, ptl. (hereafter referred to as USSR. 1 State Plan)
Kostin, Leonid. Wages in the
nd. ZorabotnayaSSR
(Wages in the.
trud, no
.
Partiynaya zhlzn',. USSR: 1 Statebove).
9- Sotsdallstlcheskly trad, no
Aganbegyan and Mayer,
- Ocherkl po ekonomika mashinostroltel'noy
promyshlennosti SSSR (Essays on the Economics of the Machine Building industry in the.
gazeta,. Aganbegyan and Mayer, op.,.
USSR. Byulletcn' nauchnoy informatsii: arabotnaya
Plata,. W.
15- . Lenlnekiy prlntflip materlal'noy zainte-
resuvamiostlrazverautogo stroltel'atvB kommunl zica (The Leninist Principle of Material Self-Interest in the Period of the Development of
Sotsialistlcheskly trud, no
USSR. flbove).
Kostin, pp.
Sotsiallsticheskiy trud, no
- Prolzvoditfll'noat'gol'noy
hestoy pyatilctke (Productivityof Labor in the Coal Industry Under the Sixth Five Year
Sotsialistlcheskly trud, no
. jja.
Bureau of the Census, Foreign Manpower Research Office. Notes
on the Industrial labor Force of the SovietulThe Magnitude ard Distribution of Civilianthe USSR,tf-5a, Sep
Original document.
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