Los salarios en la industria manufacturera. Uruguay, 1946-1955

In 1943 a law created the tripartite Wages Councils with the assignment of fixing minimum wages per occupation in economic activities groups. This source of information was still unexplored, and those decisions allowed designing 4 indexes of wages of urban workers and employees in the private sector. According to these, wages peaked in 1952, which was 33% above the level of 1946 when weighted by the number of employed, and 40% above when weighted by the wages. During the following years until the end of the period in 1955, the 4 indexes showed slight declines and last year ranked between 30 and 37% above the initial level. Estimated in dollars of 2011, the average minimum wage in 1955 for the unskilled workers was approximately 1,000 $, and the maximum for mid-level technicians was 1,597 $.