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Real Wages and Labor Productivity in Britain and Germany, 1871–1938: A Unified Approach to the International Comparison of Living Standards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2010

Stephen Broadberry  and
Carsten Burhop
Stephen Broadberry*
Affiliation:
Professor of Economic History, Department of Economics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom. E-mail: S.N.Broadberry@warwick.ac.uk.
Carsten Burhop*
Affiliation:
Heisenberg Fellow, Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung von Gemeinschaftsgütern, Kurt-Schumacher-Straβe 10, 53113 Bonn, Germany; and Professor of Economic and Business History, Universität zu Köln, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923 Köln, Germany. E-mail: burhop@coll.mpg.de..
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Abstract

Throughout the period 1871–1938, the average British worker was better off than the average German worker, but there were significant differences between major sectors. For the aggregate economy, the real wage gap was about the same as the labor productivity gap, but again there were important sectoral differences. Compared to their productivity, German industrial workers were poorly paid, whereas German agricultural and service sector employees were overpaid. This affected the competitiveness of the two countries in these sectors. There were also important differences in comparative real wages by skill level, affecting the extent of poverty.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 70 , Issue 2 , June 2010 , pp. 400 - 427
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2010

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