Wages Push Prices Up
It is the fsfrni/liar, un tale Of wage*cost-push; tion. Businessmen are ing higher wages to t workers and are passing' _ increases along to theie^^S5å¨ that worker produc-tomers in steeper price&vity declined slightly dur-</br></br>Wages are not the isgitjie first quarter of 1969. cost increase that busfPtess- downturn broke a men are encourtering. fitting of seven straight are being forced toqjj#itrly advances and more for just about ^gflfed the first time that thing they buy. Manufi^fativity had fallen since ers1 raw materiarcos%^ening three months oå£ surging ahead. Bigger jaijjce tags are being put on machinery and other eqttfBIRKER OUTPUT eus-ment. Construction cos^^gflly weakens at the top skyrocketing. Loans f age boom and the tradi. more expensive, for int^^f pattern SCems to be rates have risen sharpl^^ ^</br></br>BUT THE fast-movRegl, physical production wages are a major triaifetewing less rapidly. The spot. Wages are movir^owiDh pace has become in-much more swiftly tha*rpgs)mgiy sluggish over the duction. To make mggtjffiSx months. worse, all the signs are tj}å¤å£ employment is rising wage boosts will contir^t^g Nation>s jobholders ahead of Prodiy^jt^)rking |ong weej<s rapidly in 1969. Thcs#"^å¨/ >s turning out less much bigger increases than most businessmen can offset through greater efficiency.</br></br>According to the Kenne-dy-Johnson guideposts that President Nixon jettisoned, wages can go up an average of 3.4 per cent a year without generating inflationary pressures. The 7.5 per cent wage boosts are more than double the abandoned guide-post standard.</br></br>The government has a closely-watched barometer that measures the difference between increases in worker efficiency and increases in compensation. The barometer shows the change in labor cost for each unit that is produced. The current readings tell a disturbing tale.