TY - RPRT AU - Pencavel, John H. TI - An Essay on Real Wage Index Numbers PY - 2011/Jan/ PB - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) CY - Bonn T2 - IZA Discussion Paper IS - 5455 UR - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp5455 AB - Real wage index numbers have been used to measure movements in the standard of living of the typical worker. This paper describes some of these indicators for the United States and England. A new real wage index is proposed that resembles the sliding scale used to adjust wages in certain industries years ago. This new index is applied to U.S. manufacturing industry and it suggests a fall in real wages by about 40 percent since 1960. Workers’ distributional position in U.S. manufacturing has deteriorated considerably. KW - index numbers KW - real wages KW - sliding scale ER -