Cost of Living, Real Wages and Real Incomes Across Canada’s Regions, 1900-1926
J.C. Herbert Emery and Clint Levitt
Department of Economics
University of Calgary
Calgary Alberta
T2N 1N4
March 1, 2000
ABSTRACT:
The economic history of Canada is fundamentally the history of regional
economies and their relationships. Despite this reality, economic historians have
lacked some of the essential information about regional variations in prices and
real wages before the Depression. To fill this gap we build price indexes for 12
Canadian cities for the period 1901-1926. The price indexes indicate that there
were clear regional differences in the cost of living among the twelve cities
included in this study. Costs of living were generally highest in the prairie cities.
The lowest costs of living were in the Maritime cities, Montreal and Quebec. Our
analyses of real wage estimates suggest that the highest real wages were paid in
Vancouver and Toronto. The prairie cities along with Quebec and Montreal had
the lowest real wages. Finally, using the price indexes to adjust nominal
estimates of province and regional per capita income measures reveals that the
regional income disparities observed in nominal income measures after 1920 are
reflective of real income differences that existed from at least 1890. The stability
of the real income differences suggests that with the exception of the Maritimes,
Canada experienced balanced growth from 1890 to 1930.
Introduction
The economic history of Canada is fundamentally the history of regional economies and
their relationships. Despite this reality, economic historians have lacked some of the essential
information about regional variations in prices and real wages before the Depression. Price
indexes are available for specific cities but not as a larger comprehensive set of city or regional
price indexes for Canada.1 Bertram and Percy (1979) construct price indexes for 11 Canadian
cities to construct a national price index for Canada, but they do not report the price indexes on a
city or regional level. Furthermore, with the exception of Allen (1994), most price indexes
developed are own-city indexes that are inappropriate for comparing price levels across space
and time.
The lack of regional and city price indexes and real wage series reflects that to date many
of the questions of interest for economists have been national in nature or focussed on
international comparisons. Even for these purposes the existing real wage series are problematic.
For example, in several recent studies of international labour markets, the Canadian real wage
series are for Toronto and Vancouver (Allen 1994, Williamson 1995, Greasley, Madsen and
Oxley 2000). How representative these cities are for Canada as a whole has not been
established. Examinations of questions pertaining to regional issues within Canada that require
information about cost of living levels and real wages in a regional or city context have been
incomplete. For example, in examinations of western settlement in Canada, while it is generally
recognized that nominal wages and incomes in the west were higher than in eastern Canada
before World War I, how real wages and incomes compared between the east and west has not
been established. For example, McInnis (1970) argues that it is reasonable to expect that even
after accounting for the higher price levels in western Canada, “one cannot avoid the conclusion
that incomes in British Columbia and the Prairies were clearly above those in the older regions of
1
Allen (1994) builds inter-urban price indexes for Toronto and Vancouver as part of a larger
study analysing international labour market integration. Paquet and Wallot (1998) build own
city price indexes for Montreal and Quebec.
1
the country.” Similarly, Voisey (1988) suggests that prices in the west were “proportionately
higher” than in the east and that in turn suggests that real wages or incomes were roughly equal
between east and west.2 In the absence of some measures of regional price levels, we cannot
move beyond guess-work as to how much of regional variation in wages and incomes reflects
variation in prices, nor how real wages and incomes actually compared across regions.
Developing the regional and city-specific price indexes that are necessary for the
estimation of regional and city-specific real wages, and thus vital for regional real wage and
income analysis, is the motivation for our paper. We build directly on the work of Bertram and
Percy (1979) and Allen (1994) and construct both own-city price indexes and inter-urban price
indexes for twelve Canadian cities over the period 1900-1926. For each of the twelve cities we
explore cost of living trends, and compare price levels across cities and regions. Next we use
these indexes to estimate real wages for each of the twelve cities. We investigate real wage
trends and compare real wages between cities and regions. Finally, we use our inter-urban price
indexes aggregated to provincial and regional levels to deflate McInnis’s (1968) and Green’s
(1971) regional per capita income measures to assess the extent to which regional income
differentials before 1930 reflect regional differences in cost of living.
We show that there were clear dissimilarities in the cost of living and in real wages
between the twelve cities considered in this paper. The cost of living was highest on the prairies
up until the onset of the First World War. Following the conclusion of the war, the cost of living
in Regina and Winnipeg remained high, while Edmonton’s and Calgary’s costs of living
decreased and were amongst the lowest by 1926. Costs of living in St. John, Halifax, Quebec and
Montreal were consistently lower than the other eight cities. The costs of living in Toronto,
Ottawa and Hamilton had cost of living levels that were most often located between those cities
to the east and west of Ontario.
2
More recently, MacKinnon (1996) used CPR personnel data to build regional nominal wage
series for various CPR occupations that has shed considerable light on nominal and real wages in
Canada. MacKinnon’s discussion of regional real wages patterns is limited to the two Canadian
cities that Allen (1994) includes in his work on international comparisons of real wages.
2
Before 1920, nominal wages display clear regional patterns where the highest nominal
wages were paid in the western cities of Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg.
In contrast, our analysis of real wages suggests that the highest real wages were paid in
Vancouver, Toronto and Hamilton. Relatively high nominal wages in the prairie cities did not
translate into similarly high real wages with the exceptions Calgary and Edmonton after World
War I. Wages in these two Alberta cities for the skilled trades were relatively high and similar to
Vancouver’s by 1926 while real wages in Regina and Winnipeg remained lower. Overall these
regional real wage structures suggest that the international labour market studies relying on
Toronto and Vancouver real wage series for the Canadian experience are examining a
particularly optimistic view of the level of real wages in Canada before 1930.
Finally, we show that the regional income differentials in nominal per capita income
measures, identified by McInnis (1968) and Green (1971), are preserved after conversion to real
(1913 Toronto) dollars. Indeed, the effect of cost of living differences masked the existence of
the differentials before World War I, giving the appearance that the regional income disparities
emerged after the war. Instead, only after regional price levels converged after 1920 were real
disparities visible in nominal data.
The remainder of the paper is divided into three sections. The first section details the
sources of the price data used for our indexes and the methodology of the index construction.
The second section contains analysis of the price indexes. The third section provides our
estimates and discussion of city-specific real wages and regional per capita income measures.
1. Price Data Sources and Methodology
The construction of the price indexes for the 12 cities follows the work of Bertram and
Percy (1979) and Allen (1994). Like Bertram and Percy (1979) we construct an own-city price
index for each of Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Halifax, St. John, Regina, Winnipeg, Quebec,
Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Then following Allen (1994), we use the same
price data to construct inter-urban intertemporal price indexes.
3
Own-city price indexes allow for the investigation of cost of living changes in a single
location over time, and for the comparison of price level changes in a specific city to the national
average for price changes. Own-city price indexes do not allow for the comparison of price
levels across cities. If we use the own-city price indexes to compare price levels between cities,
then we impose the assumption that all the cities had identical prices in the base year because
each city’s index is normalized to 100 in the base year. For the purpose of comparing cost of
living and real wage rates between cities we construct an inter-urban index that substitutes
Toronto 1913 prices for the base prices for all 12 cities instead of own-city 1913 prices. Since
prices in all the cities are compared to the same prices in the base year we can compare price
levels, and hence, real wages between cities.
The primary source of the price data is the Board of Inquiry into the Cost of Living
(Coats, 1915), and the Labour Gazette (Department of Labour). For the years 1900-1913 price
data was retrieved from Coats (1915).3 For the years 1914-1926 we use price data published in
the Labour Gazette. The Board of Inquiry into the Cost of Living (Coats) data was compiled
from the Labour Gazette for the years 1900-1913.
The price data used for both the own-city and the inter-urban indexes are identical, and
the construction of each index is very similar. The selection of commodity prices and their
weights are those used by Bertram and Percy (1979). For both price indexes price relatives for
each commodity are calculated by dividing the price of commodity j in city k in year t by the
price of commodity j in the base year. Own-city price indexes use the price of j in city k in the
base year 1913. The inter-urban index uses the price of j in Toronto in the base year 1913. The
price relatives are then weighted and summed. The price relatives of each commodity are used
to build three sub-indexes that are then weighted and summed to give each cities aggregate price
index. The three sub-indexes are for food, fuel and light and rent.4 Each of these sub-indexes
3
1901, 1905, 1909 are the only three years available prior to 1910. For the missing years we
linearly interpolate the existing price data.
4
We have not included clothing prices as Bertram and Percy and Allen do. Bertram and Percy
4
are given weights that reflect typical budget expenditures of urban working men. The weights
used for the sub-indexes are those used by Bertram and Percy(1979). Food prices have the
largest weight of 58.3. Rental prices are assigned a weight of 30.0. Fuel and light prices have a
weight of 11.7.5
The food sub-index consists of 24 different types of foods.6 The weights Bertram and
Percy assigned to each food type are intended to correspond to the relative portion each food
type comprises of the food component in the complete budget. The rent sub-index is based on
the rental cost of a representative six-room dwelling with sanitary facilities. Bertram and Percy
(1979) use prices for dwellings with sanitary facilities rather than prices for rental units without
sanitary conveniences because they felt the latter became increasingly unrepresentative of
housing, particularly after the First World War. For each city and in each year only one price
was used for the construction of the rent sub-index. The fuel and light sub-index uses the prices
of the types of coal and wood used in each city for fuel costs, and coal oil prices were used for
lighting costs. Not all of the twelve cities used the same type of coal and wood for fuel.
Consequently, the price data used to construct this sub-index reflect the type of wood and coal
consumed in the city. For each city either softwood or hardwood prices were used for the wood
component, and for the coal component either bituminous or anthracite prices were used.
used the same clothing prices for all cities, hence smoothing away some of the regional
variations in other prices. This was not important for their study that was building a national
price index. But this is not an acceptable assumption for our study with its regional focus.
Rosenbloom (1990) in his study of U.S. labour market integration calculated real wages for
twelve different U.S. cities. For his study he used only retail food prices collected for three
different years to construct his price indexes. Rosenbloom suggests that his retail food indices
are a good proxy for overall cost of living because of the fact that food accounts for the largest
expenditure in a typical family budget. Second, retail food prices depend in part upon costs of
supplying the food. Rosenbloom offers the example of site rent. Consequently, retail prices
partially reflect variations in other expenditures.
5
These price indexes should not be interpreted as Laspeyres indexes since the weights used are
not the quantities consumed in the base year.
We use the same types of food and corresponding weights as Bertram and Percy. The types of
food and weights are listed in an accompanying appendix.
6
5
2. The Price Indexes
2.1 The Own-City Price Index
The own-city price index illustrates changes in the price level over time for a specific
city. Table 2.1 presents the own-city price indexes for each of the twelve cities for the years
1900-1926. Figure 2.1 presents regional price levels (aggregated from the city specific indexes
in Table 2.1) for 1900 to 1926. From 1900 to 1913 the cost of living in all 12 cities increased
gradually. From 1913 to 1920 price levels increased more rapidly. Quebec, Montreal, Hamilton
and Toronto experienced the largest increases in their cost of living. St. John and Halifax
experienced the smallest increases in their cost of living. For Vancouver and the prairie cities
the patterns of price level changes were different from the other cities. Just prior to the large
increases in price levels brought by the onset of the war, there was a noticeable fall in the cost of
living in Vancouver that lasted for two years. This short-lived decrease in the cost of living for
these cities was primarily the result of declining rental prices.
The gradual increase in the price level each city encountered from 1900 to 1913 was
driven by price increases in all three sub-indexes. There is not an identifiable dominant
movement of prices in any one sub-index. The same, however, cannot be claimed for the sharp
increase in aggregate price levels experienced by each of the cities at the onset of the war. Faster
rising price levels, initiated by the start of the war, coincided with dramatic increases in retail
food prices. In particular, between the years 1914 to1919 the price of meat and dairy products in
the prairie cities doubled. Montreal and Toronto experienced similar price increases for meat
products, while the prices of vegetables in these two cities increased approximately 150 percent,
and dairy products doubled in price.
In contrast to the changes in food prices, most cities experienced declining rental prices
with the onset of the First World War. Vancouver, Toronto and the prairie cities exhibited a
sharp decrease in rental prices around 1913. Hamilton experienced a small decline in rental
rates, whereas rental rates in Montreal remained stable. In contrast, the cities on the east coast,
6
Ottawa and Quebec experienced increases in their rental prices. There was a small increase in
rental prices in Halifax and St. John, whereas rental prices in Quebec and Ottawa increased
sharply.
Changes in the fuel and light sub-index represents the largest change among the three
sub-indexes for a majority of the cities and contributed to the rising cost of living in each of the
cities during the war. The primary reason for the increase in fuel and light price levels was the
increase in the price of hardwood which increased substantially and remained high. The cities
with the largest increases in fuel and light prices all used hardwood as a type of fuel. Moreover,
high prices for fuel and light remained high relative to rent and food prices even with the
conclusion of the war. The largest increase in fuel and light prices, relative to food and rent
prices, occurred in Halifax, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Fuel and light prices in
Winnipeg and Regina, however, did not exhibit the largest change in prices. Food prices in these
two cities experienced the largest increase, but in contrast to fuel and light prices, food prices
dropped after the war in the same dramatic fashion in which they rose.
Following the conclusion of the First World War all cities experienced decreasing price
levels for approximately two to three years. This initial decrease in price levels corresponds to
large decreases in food prices for all cities, and for cities west of Winnipeg to a significant
decrease in fuel and light prices. Thereafter price levels tended to either increase slightly, or
remain constant with yearly fluctuations effectively cancelling each other out. The prairie cities’
prices, along with those of Ottawa and Toronto, remained stable. Substantial increases in St.
John’s rental prices caused its price level to appreciate modestly. Only Halifax displayed a clear
continuously decreasing price level for the whole period after the First World War resulting from
decreasing rent, and fuel and light prices.
2.2 The Inter-urban Price Indexes
The inter-urban price index allows for the comparison cost of living levels accross cities.
Table 2.2 presents the inter-urban index for all cities. Notice that in 1913, the base year, price
levels were not equal across cities. This demonstrates the inappropriateness of cross-city
7
comparison using own-city price indexes. Figure 2.2 presents a comparison of price levels
aggregated to the regional level for the 26 year time period.
The inter-urban indexes illustrate that relative costs of living in each city tend to follow
similar paths. From 1900 to 1912 there was a general increase in the cost of living. The
following two years there were cost of living decreases. For the next five years there were again
increasing price levels peaking in 1920. Post 1920 there was a sharp decline in costs. From
1923 to 1926 costs of living stabilized with the exception of Ottawa. In 1923 Ottawa
experienced a dramatic increase in the cost of living relative to the other cities due to a large
increase in relative food costs.7
One other notable trend in costs of living that was not apparent
in the own city price indexes is the convergence in price levels across the regions after World
War I.
When comparing levels of cost of living across cities, the prairie cities of Edmonton,
Regina, Calgary and Winnipeg had higher costs of living than the other eight cities. Edmonton’s
high cost of living was in the years prior to the First World War. Through the war years
decreasing rental costs combined with continued low fuel and light prices explain why
Edmonton’s price level was actually among the lowest of the twelve cities in those years.
Calgary’s cost of living remained high until approximately 1920. Thereafter, a substantial
decrease in Calgary’s rental prices and a slight decrease in fuel and light prices resulted in
Calgary having the lowest cost of living amongst the twelve cities.
In contrast to Calgary and Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg’s high costs of living, were
characteristic of those cities for the entire 26 year period. In 1900 Regina, Winnipeg and
Calgary had the highest cost of living, with their respective price levels being approximately
thirty, forty and twenty percent higher than Hamilton which enjoyed the lowest cost of living.
Winnipeg’s and Regina’s high costs of living, relative to the other cities, can be attributed to
higher costs of food and significantly higher rent prices. Beginning in 1905 rental prices in
Of course with such an extreme movement over a short period of time one needs to be
conscious of possible errors in the data.
7
8
Regina and Winnipeg started to increase at faster rates than any other city until 1913 when rental
prices in Regina were approximately forty percent higher than Edmonton, which at that time had
the closest rental prices to Regina. Rental prices in Winnipeg increased such that only Regina’s
were higher. Astoundingly, Regina in 1913 had 80 percent higher rental rates than Toronto, 132
percent higher rates than St. John, and 126 percent higher rates than Montreal. Fuel and light
costs were not a factor in Regina’s or Winnipeg’s relatively higher cost of living prior to 1913
since in 1913 Regina had the second lowest prices for fuel and light, only Winnipeg was lower.
However, post 1913 costs of fuel and light for both Regina and Winnipeg climbed sharply until
1914 when Regina had the highest costs. One year later, however, costs dropped and Regina
would remain in the middle or near the bottom in relative fuel and light costs.
The cities of Quebec, Montreal and St. John were the only cities that enjoyed relatively
lower costs of living compared to the other nine cities for the entire 26 year period. Other cities
experienced only short periods of low cost of living relative to the other cities. Hamilton and
Halifax initially started with the lowest cost of living but faster rising rent and fuel and light
costs in Hamilton, and faster rising food and rent prices in Halifax meant that their lower
aggregate price levels were not maintained. During the war, Vancouver had the lowest cost of
living because of slower increases in food prices and faster decreases in rental rates. Quebec,
Montreal and St. John had consistently lower cost of living throughout the entire period because
of consistently lower relative prices in all three sub-indexes.
2.3 Comparison to Other Price Indexes
If we follow Rosenbloom (1990) and use only our food sub-index as the price index, then
cost of living adjustments over time would be similar to those produced by the aggregate price
index that includes all three components. There would be, however, differences in price levels.
The most important component driving aggregate price movements were food prices. This is not
surprising given the fact that food has most of the weight in the construction of the index.
Both the food-only and the aggregate price index had similar increasing price levels up to
approximately 1920. The average price level, proxied with only retail food prices, is higher than
9
the average price level using the full own-city index. After 1920 both indexes demonstrate a
sharp one year decline in price levels. There is a difference, however, in the magnitude of the
price level decline. The food-only price index exhibits a steeper and larger decline compared to
the aggregate index. This corresponds to higher price levels in the food-only index relative to
the aggregate own-city price index prior to 1920, and lower price levels of the food-only index
post 1920. The results of this exercise demonstrate that if we were to use only retail food prices
for the construction of our own-city price index, price levels prior to 1920 would be higher, and
price levels after 1920 would be lower. We conclude that using all three sub-indexes, food, rent,
and fuel and light, provides a more comprehensive indication of the cost of living in each of the
twelve cities.
To determine the accuracy of the construction of our own-city index, we compared our
results with Bertram and Percy’s (1979) national index. Bertram and Percy aggregated their
own-price city indexes by weighting each city’s index according to population. For the purpose
of our comparison we linearly aggregated our own-city price indexes to approximate their
national index. Our national index compares well with that of Bertram and Percy and
demonstrates that we were successful in following their work. The only differences that are
apparent can be explained by the differences in weights used in aggregating the city indexes to a
national index. For example, our straight linear aggregation compared to population based
weighting understates Toronto influence early on, and overstates Toronto’s influence later in the
period compared to Bertram and Percy’s index.
The work of Paquet and Wallot (1998) offers another opportunity to assess our own-city
indexes. Paquet and Wallot published an annual price index for Quebec City and Montreal for
the period 1761 to 1913. Their indexes have different base years, some different commodities
and weights than the indexes we have built. Given these differences we hope to emulate price
changes but not price levels. Our indexes for Montreal and Quebec City do have similar price
level changes as Paquet’s and Wallot’s indexes. The only divergence in the direction of change
is between 1910 and 1911. Our own-city index exhibits growing price levels, whereas Paquet
10
and Wallot demonstrate a decrease in cost of living.
To gain some indication of the reliability of our inter-urban index we compared our
Vancouver and Toronto indexes to those constructed by Allen (1994). Allen’s indexes were
constructed for his study of international labour market integration, hence, the construction of his
indexes differ from ours. Allen uses Manchester prices in 1896 as his base prices; the set of
commodities represented in the index differs from Bertram and Percy and he uses different
weights for the components of the price index. Cost of living movements captured in our
indexes are of the same direction, and the relative magnitudes of changes appear to be very
similar. Consequently, our inter-urban index seems to capture the same price level determinants
as those captured in Allen’s inter-urban index for Vancouver and Toronto.
3 Nominal and Real Wages
3.1 Wage Data
For our study we collected nominal wage data from the Department of Labour’s Labour
Gazette Supplements, “Report of Wages and Hours of Labour in Canada” for 1901-1920 and the
same for 1920-1930. From these sources we collected nominal wages for carpenters, bricklayers
and builders’ labourers for the years 1901-1926. The wage series reported in the “Wages and
Hours of Labour in Canada” have been under some scrutiny as to the representativeness of the
wage data for Canadian workers. Most notably MacKinnon’s (1996) study of nominal wages
using personnel data from the CPR suggests that the nominal wages reported by the Department
of Labour are biased upwards. The bias occurs because the wages reported are fair wage ranges
that were closely related to union wages (MacKinnon, 1996). Thus we also include
MacKinnon’s CPR nominal wage data in our analysis of regional real wages. Mackinnon’s CPR
wage data, however, does pose some difficulties for our regional comparisons after 1918 due to
institutional factors affecting railway wages, and the fact that wages are for only one firm, albeit
a large and important one. Thus, we are uncertain about how much of the wage structures in the
CPR data reflect the wage policy of the firm across regions and how much is a reflection of the
11
conditions in regional labour markets.
Now that the necessary indexes have been built we use them to estimate real wages for
the different occupations in specific cities. Moreover, we include a discussion of MacKinnon’s
wage series for CPR labourers, helpers, and fitters and Machinists. Each wage series was
deflated using both the own-city price indexes and the inter-urban price indexes. Tables 3.1, 3.2
and 3.3 report nominal wages for carpenters, bricklayers and builders’ labourers respectively.
Tables 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6 report real wages for the three occupations deflated with our own-city
indexes. Tables 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9 report real wages deflated with our inter-urban index.
3.2 Nominal Wages
Nominal wages for all three building trade occupations increased slightly through to the
First World War with the smallest wage increases observed for builders’ labourers. Beginning at
the start of the war nominal wages for all three occupations increased dramatically, peaking in
1920. Thereafter, workers in all three occupations experienced a period of declining wages. By
1926, however, nominal wages for carpenters and bricklayers recovered to levels similar to those
in 1920 or even slightly higher. In contrast, nominal wages for builders’ labourers suffered the
largest decline and did not recover by 1926. Nominal wages for builders’ labourers in
Vancouver and Calgary exhibited significantly different patterns than was the norm. Their
respective nominal wages increased relatively rapidly between 1900 and 1910. Post 1910 wages
in Vancouver were steady up to the First World War. Thereafter, Vancouver’s nominal wages
declined to similar levels exhibited by the other eleven cities. Builders’ labourers nominal wages
in Calgary after 1910 exhibited a two year decline and then remained constant. At the beginning
of the war Calgary had the highest nominal wages and they remained high for the duration of the
time period.
An important feature of this nominal wage series is that there is a clear disparity in
nominal wages across Canadian regions. Vancouver consistently had the highest nominal wages
for all building trades. The prairies and Ontario had the next highest wages with nominal wages
in the prairies being greater than those in Ontario. Quebec and the Maritimes consistently had
12
the lowest nominal wages. Prior to the First World War, nominal wages were highest in
Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg. Following the war, nominal wages
remained highest in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and nominal wages in Toronto grew to be
among the highest. Throughout the period 1900-1926 Halifax, St. John and Quebec had the
lowest nominal wages for all three occupations. These regional patterns correspond to
MacKinnon’s (1996) regional CPR nominal wage data. CPR nominal wages for each of the
three wage series were highest in British Columbia and on the prairies.
3.2 Real Wages
There is a distinguishable pattern of real wage movements over time that is common to
most cities. Further, this trend in real wages is significantly different from that of nominal
wages. The typical result of adjusting nominal wages with our own-city indexes is illustrated in
Figure 3.2. Comparisons can be made to Figure 3.1 that depicts nominal wages for builders’
labourers. Nominal wages were increasing through the First World War. Real wages, in
contrast, decreased slightly from 1900 to the end of the First World War. This decline in real
wages was most evident for builders’ labourers. Edmonton, however, is an exception since real
wages increased in Edmonton prior to the war. The general decline of real wages reached a
minimum in approximately 1917. Thereafter, real wages for carpenters and bricklayers
increased until 1926. Real wages for builders’ labourers tended to decline, or remain relatively
constant after an initial sharp increase that followed the conclusion of the war. Figure 3.2 also
demonstrates that if we inappropriately deflate nominal wages with own-city price indexes we
get an optimistic view of urban labour markets in the prairie cities as high wage labour markets.
When we use the appropriate inter-urban price index to generate real wages there is a
clear disparity in the levels of real wages between the twelve cities for each of the three labour
groups. Moreover, regional wage profiles in real terms, deflated with the inter-urban index, are
fundamentally different than nominal wages. Figure 3.3 illustrates the typical result of deflating
nominal wages with our inter-urban indexes. The interesting result that comes out of deflating
nominal wages with city specific price indexes is that the structure of nominal wages is not
13
carried through to real wages. Wages on the prairies in nominal terms were higher than those in
Ontario, but wages in real terms in Ontario are in fact higher than those in the prairies. Indeed,
prior to World War I, the high cost of living in the prairie cities resulted in real wages in the
prairie cities that were closer to those paid in the Maritime cities than to those paid in the Ontario
cities. These real wage estimates suggest a more pessimistic view of prairie labour markets
before 1914 than authors such as McInnis (1970) and Voisey (1988) may have expected.
Initially real wages were highest for builders’ labourers in Vancouver, Hamilton and
Toronto. Builders’ labourer’s wages in Vancouver and Toronto remained the highest over the
entire 26 year time period. Hamilton’s high wages, however, did not last throughout the 26 year
time period. Initially, Hamilton paid the second highest real wages for builders’ labourers and
these wages remained high until approximately 1921 when wages suffered a significant one-year
decline and would not rebound. Real wages for builders’ labourers in the prairie cities, before
the onset of the First World War, were as low as those that existed in the east coast cities of St.
John and Halifax. For the six- year period between 1910 and 1916 Regina actually had the
lowest real wage for builders’ labourers relative to the other eleven cities. Low real wages for
builders’ labourers in Regina, St. John and Halifax is a consistent feature from 1900 to 1926.
If we kept our analysis regionally based and did not investigate wage structures at a city
level we would have overlooked important variation within the regions. In particular, the
experiences of the four prairie cities differ significantly. Initially real wages for builders’
labourers in Edmonton and Calgary were similar to those in Winnipeg and Regina. However,
real wages for builders’ labourers in Edmonton grew continuously from 1900 to 1915, and from
1900 to 1910 real wages in Calgary increased substantially. This is in contrast to wages in
Regina that were declining over the same time periods, and to wages in Winnipeg that increased
only slightly. After the war real wages for builders’ labourers in Edmonton and Calgary were
significantly higher than wages in Regina and Winnipeg.
Real wage structures for carpenters and bricklayers follow a similar story to that for
builders’ labourers. Similar to builders labourer’s real wages, real wages for skilled labour were
14
highest in Vancouver and Hamilton. Real wages in Edmonton and Calgary, by the beginning of
the war, were among the highest and remained high. From 1900 to 1914 carpenter’s real wages
in Regina were among the lowest, thereafter wages increased relatively fast to be about average.
Halifax, St. John and Quebec had the lowest real wages for carpenters and bricklayers. Real
wages in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto were consistently around the national average.
MacKinnon’s CPR wage data supports the conclusions presented in the above analysis.
Real wages, constructed with our inter-urban index, for CPR labourers, helpers, and fitters and
machinists were highest in British Columbia. Real wages in Quebec were the lowest relative to
the other three regions for all three CPR occupations. CPR Real wages on the prairies and in
Ontario wages were consistently between those of BC and Quebec for all three CPR occupations
An important difference from the Department of Labour building trades wages concerns
the relationship of real wage levels in Ontario and to those paid on the prairies.8 In particular,
the prairie labour market disadvantages prior to World War I are not an obvious feature in the
CPR wage data. Initially, labourers in Ontario enjoyed higher wages up to the onset of the war.
During the duration of the war wages in the prairies were higher than Ontario. However, at the
conclusion of the war Ontario again had the higher wages. Real wages for fitters and machinists
were initially highest in the prairies. After the war real wages for fitters and machinists in
Ontario surpassed those in the prairies and would remain high through to 1926. Thus, the CPR
real wage series suggest that the prairie labour market paid as well as the Ontario labour market.
What remains to be determined is whether this difference from the real wage pictures developed
from the Department of Labour wage data reflects that the lower real wages in the prairie cities is
an artefact of the data problems with Department of Labour sources, or whether the CPR real
wage structures reflects wage policies specific to the firm. For example, it is possible that the
CPR was paying a “compensating differential” in the prairie wage as opposed to paying the wage
MacKinnon uses Toronto to represent Ontario, Winnipeg to represent the prairies, Vancouver to
represent British Columbia and Montreal to represent Quebec. The Department of Labour uses a
number of cities in each region.
8
15
that was dictated purely by local labour market conditions.
3.3 Regional Income Differentials
Regional disparities in the nominal levels of per capita incomes have been an enduring
feature of the Canadian economy (McInnis 1968, Green 1971). Further the regional nominal
income differentials became more prominent through the wheat boom period and converged only
slightly through to 1960. To what extent are these nominal income differentials reflective of
differences in costs of living across the regions? To what extent are these income differentials
reflective of the real wage variations detailed above? To answer these questions, we take
McInnis’s (1968) estimates of per capita participation income by region for 1910-11 and 192627 and per capita Gross Value Added by province from Green (1971) for 1890, 1910 and 1929
and deflate them using regional and provincial price indexes aggregated from the inter-urban city
price indexes. The McInnis income numbers are deflated with price levels from 1910 and 1926
while the 1890, 1910 and 1929 GVA numbers are deflated with prices from 1900, 1910 and 1926
respectively.
Figure 3.4 presents McInnis’s participation income estimates by region in nominal and
real (1913 Toronto) dollars. The nominal income estimates suggest that in 1910-11, incomes fell
monotonically from west to east. By 1926-27, incomes in Ontario had risen to meet the level of
prairie incomes and had even slightly surpassed prairie incomes. Deflating the nominal income
estimates with regional price indexes reveals that 1926-27 nominal income profile is preserved
after adjusting for price levels, and perhaps more interesting, the 1926-27 income profile which
is not apparent in the 1910-11 nominal income profile is apparent in the 1910-11 real income
profile. Thus, the income disparities that McInnis identifies in the 1926-27 nominal income
estimates are not the product of differences in costs of living. Further, the impact of the
relatively high costs of living in the west before 1914 was to mask the actual differences in real
incomes across the regions. Once regional price levels converge after 1920, the nominal income
profile in the 1920s is an accurate depiction of regional real income differences.
Table 3.5 presents the nominal and real (1913 Toronto) per capita GVA estimates by
16
province for 1890, 1910 and 1929. The nominal GVA profiles suggest that from 1890 to 1929,
regional incomes became more unequal. Deflating the nominal income estimates to real terms
suggests the regional income disparities existed as early as 1890 and were preserved as the
Canadian economy grew. Quebec, the prairie and Maritime provinces always had lower incomes
than Ontario and British Columbia. As with the McInnis income estimates, the regional income
disparities only become apparent in the nominal income estimates in the 1920s once price levels
across the provinces converge. Accounting for differences in cost of living across the regional
economies reveals that with the exception of the Maritimes, economic growth through the wheat
boom period was shared equally across the regions. As a consequence differences in real
incomes at the outset of western settlement were preserved.
Finally, the real income estimates can be used to assess whether the pessimistic or
optimistic view of prairie labour markets described above in the real wage estimates is more
accurate. The McInnis participation income estimates provide support for the MacKinnon
(1996) CPR wage data story that real wages on the prairies compared favorably with real wages
in Ontario. Indeed, the price adjusted McInnis income estimates generates a regional income
profile that is very similar to a regional real wage profile for the CPR workers. In contrast, the
Green (1971) price adjusted per capita GVA estimates present a regional real income profile that
is more supportive of the Department of Labour building trades real wage story. The Green
income estimates suggests that prairie incomes have always lagged behind those of BC and
Ontario, and only by the 1920s had the prairie incomes surpassed those of the Maritimes. The
more disaggregated nature of the GVA estimates also suggests that the optimistic view of the
prairie region from the McInnis income estimates may in part the effect of averaging the
particularly low incomes of Saskatchewan and Manitoba with the higher incomes of Alberta.
Overall, the real income estimates suggest that a more accurate depiction of regional real wage
profiles is emerging from the Department of Labour wage data than from the CPR wage data.
17
Conclusions
The objective of our paper was two-fold. First, we used the best available data to build
both an own-city price index and an inter-urban price index for Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary,
Regina, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, St. John, and Halifax. The
building of these indexes fills a considerable void that was left by the absence of city specific
price indexes. The analysis of these indexes indicate that there were clear regional differences in
the cost of living among the twelve cities included in this study. The cost of living was generally
highest in the prairie cities, although Edmonton’s cost of living did decline to be among the
lowest by the end of the 26 year period. The lowest cost of living levels existed in the maritime
cities, Montreal and Quebec. Cities in Ontario were generally located in the middle. Similarly,
our analyses of wages indicate that there existed regional wage differences. Our analysis of real
wages suggests that the highest real wages were paid in Vancouver, Toronto and Hamilton. The
prairie cities along with Quebec and Montreal actually had the lowest real wages. Finally, using
the price indexes to adjust nominal estimates of province and regional per capita income
measures reveals that the regional income disparities observed in nominal income measures after
1920 are reflective of real income differences that existed from at least 1890. The stability of the
real income differences suggests that with the exception of the maritimes, Canada experienced
balanced growth from 1890 to 1930.
18
References
Allen, Robert C. (1914) “Real Incomes in the English Speaking World, 1870-1913,” in George
Grantham and Mary MacKinnon eds. Labour Market Evolution: The Economic History of
Market Integration, Wage Flexibility and the Employment Relation (London and New York:
Routledge).
Bertram, Gordon and Michael B. Percy (1979) “Real Wage Trends in Canada 1900-26: Some
Provisional Estimates,” Canadian Journal of Economics XII (2), 299-312.
Canada (1915) Board of Inquiry into the Cost of Living. Report of the Board (Ottawa: King’s
Printer).
Department of Labour, Labour Gazette (Ottawa: King’s Printer).
Department of Labour (1921) Wages and Hours of Labour in Canada (Ottawa: King’s Printer).
Department of Labour (1931) Wages and Hours of Labour in Canada (Ottawa: King’s Printer)
Greasley, David, Jakob B. Madsen and Les Oxley (2000) “Real Wages in Australia and Canada,
1870-1913: Globalization versus Productivity,” Australian Economic History Review.
Green, Alan G. (1971) Regional Aspects of Canada’s Economic Growth (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press).
.McInnis, Marvin (1968) “The Trend of Regional Income Differentials in Canada,” Canadian
Journal of Economics I(2), 440-470.
McInnis, R. Marvin (1970) “Provincial Migration and Differential Economic Opportunity,” in
M.V. George Internal Migration in Canada (Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics).
MacKinnon, Mary (1996) “New Evidence on Canadian Wage Rates, 1900-1930,” Canadian
Journal of Economics XXIX(1), 114-131.
Paquet, Gilles and Jean-Pierre Wallot (1998) “Some Price Indexes for Quebec and Montreal
(1760-1913),” Histoire Sociale/Social History XXXI(62), 281-320.
Rosenbloom, Joshua (1990) “One Market or Many? Labour Market Integration in the Late
Nineteenth Century United States,” Journal of Economic History L(1), 85-107.
Voisey, Paul (1988) Vulcan: The Making of a Prairie Community (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press).
Williamson, J.G. (1995) “The Evolution of the Global Labor Markets since 1830: Background
Evidence and Hypotheses,” Explorations in Economic History 32, 141-196.
19
YEAR Vancouver Edmonton
1900
73.4
68.7
1905
78.9
75.2
1909
90.8
83.7
1910
99.4
87.8
1911
106.9
95.0
1912
109.9
101.9
1913
100.0
100.0
1914
88.8
84.9
1915
84.5
83.2
1916
97.4
99.6
1917
123.5
111.8
1918
148.2
126.3
1919
160.8
146.1
1920
161.4
149.0
1921
135.4
123.5
1922
132.4
119.5
1923
133.8
115.7
1924
135.3
116.5
1925
138.3
116.8
1926
135.0
120.8
TABLE 2.1: AGGREGATE PRICE INDEX FOR ALL CITIES (base=city specific1913 prices)
CITY
Calgary
Regina Winnipeg Toronto
Hamilton Ottawa Montreal
Quebec
Saint JohnHalifax
Average
88.2
68.8
71.2
65.7
65.4
66.6
80.8
64.0
70.1
71.1
71.3
92.5
71.0
75.6
72.8
69.2
72.2
89.7
76.2
78.9
74.9
77.1
91.9
74.6
86.6
81.5
81.8
77.5
89.3
91.3
83.5
83.2
84.6
93.0
85.2
89.7
86.5
87.7
82.7
91.6
88.5
87.5
85.9
88.9
104.4
94.5
94.8
91.7
95.4
86.7
91.1
93.1
89.6
89.5
94.3
96.9
96.0
96.8
97.7
99.8
88.8
102.9
100.9
92.6
91.0
98.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
98.4
99.6
93.0
91.9
100.2
104.3
103.6
105.3
104.7
103.1
98.3
100.4
90.5
94.6
94.4
106.9
110.3
102.0
112.4
110.8
111.4
99.9
113.6
97.3
103.1
123.3
122.6
127.1
119.0
137.7
120.8
122.3
115.3
130.1
120.5
122.9
152.1
149.0
144.0
146.4
152.6
143.7
146.0
136.8
146.7
131.3
132.6
158.6
167.0
153.0
152.7
153.0
166.0
169.7
150.4
154.6
137.9
157.2
170.2
163.0
163.8
147.0
154.2
173.3
179.0
159.6
161.6
138.3
162.1
162.7
182.7
174.6
170.9
165.5
188.4
195.8
168.8
132.9
115.5
129.1
150.7
154.6
147.5
149.7
146.0
161.4
170.1
143.3
118.0
110.6
124.5
146.9
158.2
145.2
155.3
144.2
168.7
167.4
140.9
116.3
113.8
129.9
150.5
161.0
146.7
163.0
150.6
180.9
162.5
144.1
115.9
111.0
126.4
147.7
156.5
140.0
161.1
153.3
173.1
158.4
141.5
116.1
113.2
130.7
156.2
164.1
147.5
169.3
161.0
177.1
165.3
146.3
123.6
111.2
128.0
148.0
164.1
148.2
163.1
149.8
176.3
162.3
144.5
20
YEAR Vancouver Edmonton
81.0
75.7
1900
87.6
81.3
1905
98.2
94.5
1909
102.0
103.0
1910
108.7
109.7
1911
117.7
111.8
1912
115.8
102.5
1913
100.5
92.5
1914
95.3
88.8
1915
113.4
103.6
1916
126.3
130.5
1917
140.4
154.5
1918
164.1
167.2
1919
167.1
166.1
1920
137.9
138.0
1921
136.8
134.8
1922
131.3
135.8
1923
133.2
137.2
1924
133.3
140.8
1925
136.8
137.2
1926
Table 2.2: Inter-Urban Price Index For All Cities (base=Toronto 1913 prices)
City
Hamilton Ottawa Montreal Quebec Saint John Halifax
Regina Winnipeg Toronto
Calgary
66.3
65.4
61.0
74.3
65.6
59.8
65.7
81.1
90.4
102.1
70.4
74.4
70.6
82.5
71.0
63.2
72.8
87.2
92.9
108.1
78.9
80.4
84.4
82.0
76.9
74.7
81.5
99.2
98.7
107.4
80.7
83.8
81.4
84.0
81.4
79.4
86.5
102.3
113.1
105.6
84.2
86.6
85.2
82.5
85.4
85.7
91.7
108.3
126.9
115.9
85.8
91.4
92.9
94.4
87.7
89.4
97.7
110.9
130.7
108.7
93.1
94.4
92.0
92.5
97.7
89.7
100.0
116.2
137.5
115.6
96.5
89.4
95.7
95.3
101.6
90.5
91.9
105.4
130.3
112.4
105.7
94.2
101.5
93.0
107.6
96.9
94.4
106.0
116.8
114.9
116.0
105.8
122.0
109.7
135.8
112.5
123.3
114.5
124.8
129.7
138.4
129.1
141.1
137.3
143.3
136.5
152.1
137.8
153.6
148.0
160.9
148.0
144.9
144.9
153.1
151.3
158.6
148.7
169.3
163.1
168.9
152.7
144.4
142.5
162.7
149.1
170.2
174.8
177.3
169.3
183.0
161.6
152.0
160.5
172.0
164.1
162.7
183.4
185.5
177.5
154.8
134.6
133.2
136.3
143.7
136.9
150.7
150.1
154.8
148.9
151.3
135.0
131.6
138.8
141.8
139.8
146.9
145.1
149.7
131.2
147.6
144.4
136.4
143.9
168.8
142.4
150.5
150.5
152.8
128.5
144.7
138.2
137.8
142.7
137.6
138.7
147.7
147.2
150.3
126.9
151.0
141.5
143.5
149.6
145.0
145.9
156.2
151.3
151.2
127.2
149.9
140.1
133.4
143.7
145.6
146.7
148.0
149.1
149.1
137.4
21
Year Vancouver Edmonton Calgary
1900
0.250
0.190
0.200
1905
0.345
0.250
0.275
1909
0.375
0.280
0.350
1910
0.438
0.280
0.400
1911
0.438
0.280
0.394
1912
0.438
0.350
0.350
1913
0.438
0.350
0.350
1914
0.375
0.350
0.350
1915
0.313
0.350
0.350
1916
0.313
0.350
0.350
1917
0.313
0.400
0.400
1918
0.473
0.400
0.400
1919
0.550
0.550
0.550
1920
0.625
0.675
0.600
1921
0.563
0.600
0.550
1922
0.480
0.500
0.500
1923
0.510
0.450
0.475
1924
0.510
0.500
0.400
1925
0.510
0.475
0.400
1926
0.510
0.450
0.400
Table 3.1: Nominal Wages, Builders' Labourers ($/Hour)
City
Regina Winnipeg Toronto
Hamilton Ottawa Montreal Quebec Saint John Halifax Average
0.174
0.197
0.225
0.197
0.165
0.147
0.121
0.162
0.140
0.181
0.250
0.250
0.250
0.250
0.200
0.200
0.167
0.177
0.167
0.232
0.255
0.250
0.250
0.250
0.250
0.220
0.200
0.200
0.195
0.256
0.250
0.250
0.280
0.275
0.250
0.225
0.200
0.200
0.195
0.270
0.275
0.275
0.280
0.275
0.280
0.250
0.223
0.223
0.195
0.282
0.300
0.275
0.280
0.280
0.300
0.280
0.250
0.223
0.223
0.296
0.300
0.275
0.300
0.300
0.300
0.300
0.250
0.240
0.250
0.304
0.275
0.275
0.300
0.300
0.300
0.300
0.250
0.240
0.250
0.297
0.250
0.275
0.300
0.300
0.300
0.300
0.250
0.240
0.250
0.290
0.275
0.300
0.350
0.325
0.300
0.300
0.265
0.250
0.250
0.302
0.300
0.350
0.400
0.375
0.375
0.300
0.275
0.278
0.250
0.335
0.400
0.375
0.450
0.400
0.400
0.350
0.300
0.405
0.400
0.396
0.500
0.500
0.500
0.550
0.500
0.400
0.350
0.405
0.450
0.484
0.550
0.575
0.600
0.550
0.600
0.450
0.450
0.450
0.490
0.551
0.475
0.525
0.550
0.500
0.500
0.350
0.450
0.425
0.425
0.493
0.425
0.450
0.525
0.350
0.475
0.325
0.375
0.325
0.375
0.425
0.425
0.450
0.525
0.350
0.475
0.400
0.375
0.315
0.325
0.423
0.425
0.450
0.525
0.375
0.475
0.375
0.400
0.325
0.325
0.424
0.400
0.400
0.500
0.375
0.475
0.350
0.400
0.375
0.325
0.415
0.425
0.450
0.500
0.400
0.475
0.350
0.350
0.375
0.325
0.418
22
Year Vancouver Edmonton Calgary
1900
0.333
0.270
0.288
1905
0.438
0.333
0.350
1909
0.438
0.420
0.450
1910
0.500
0.438
0.450
1911
0.500
0.420
0.500
1912
0.520
0.450
0.550
1913
0.533
0.450
0.550
1914
0.533
0.500
0.550
1915
0.450
0.500
0.500
1916
0.450
0.500
0.500
1917
0.500
0.500
0.600
1918
0.700
0.600
0.600
1919
0.750
0.700
0.667
1920
0.890
0.850
1.000
1921
0.813
0.825
0.900
1922
0.813
0.775
0.800
1923
0.813
0.800
0.800
1924
0.850
0.800
0.800
1925
0.875
0.800
0.800
1926
0.938
0.800
0.925
Table 3.2: Nominal Wages, Carpenters ($/Hour)
City
Regina Winnipeg Toronto Hamilton Ottawa Montreal Quebec Saint John Halifax Average
0.215
0.250
0.250
0.220
0.230
0.175
0.200
0.223
0.220
0.239
0.265
0.350
0.325
0.325
0.235
0.275
0.200
0.223
0.250
0.297
0.338
0.450
0.330
0.375
0.300
0.290
0.250
0.278
0.270
0.349
0.375
0.450
0.350
0.375
0.300
0.300
0.277
0.277
0.300
0.366
0.400
0.450
0.370
0.400
0.300
0.350
0.278
0.300
0.300
0.381
0.450
0.475
0.400
0.400
0.325
0.400
0.300
0.345
0.335
0.412
0.450
0.475
0.450
0.400
0.350
0.420
0.300
0.375
0.350
0.425
0.400
0.475
0.450
0.400
0.425
0.450
0.325
0.375
0.350
0.436
0.400
0.475
0.450
0.400
0.350
0.450
0.300
0.375
0.400
0.421
0.450
0.500
0.450
0.425
0.400
0.450
0.325
0.375
0.400
0.435
0.550
0.550
0.550
0.450
0.425
0.500
0.325
0.410
0.400
0.480
0.650
0.600
0.625
0.500
0.500
0.500
0.400
0.450
0.500
0.552
0.800
0.750
0.725
0.650
0.600
0.600
0.475
0.600
0.660
0.665
1.000
1.000
0.900
0.850
0.850
0.675
0.550
0.625
0.660
0.821
0.850
0.900
0.900
0.800
0.750
0.650
0.540
0.600
0.660
0.766
0.750
0.850
0.800
0.750
0.700
0.575
0.500
0.550
0.570
0.703
0.750
0.850
0.875
0.800
0.750
0.663
0.525
0.550
0.570
0.729
0.750
0.850
0.850
0.800
0.750
0.700
0.525
0.550
0.570
0.733
0.750
0.850
0.850
0.800
0.750
0.700
0.500
0.550
0.570
0.733
0.900
1.000
0.850
0.800
0.750
0.700
0.500
0.550
0.570
0.774
23
Year Vancouver Edmonton Calgary
1900
0.500
0.500
0.400
1905
0.560
0.550
0.550
1909
0.650
0.600
0.625
1910
0.680
0.600
0.675
1911
0.750
0.600
0.675
1912
0.750
0.700
0.700
1913
0.750
0.700
0.700
1914
0.750
0.750
0.700
1915
0.750
0.750
0.700
1916
0.620
0.750
0.700
1917
0.750
0.750
0.763
1918
0.870
0.750
0.800
1919
1.000
0.850
0.925
1920
1.120
1.250
1.250
1921
1.120
1.250
1.150
1922
1.060
1.150
1.150
1923
1.060
1.100
1.150
1924
1.060
1.100
1.150
1925
1.120
1.250
1.150
1926
1.120
1.250
1.150
Table 3.3: Nominal Wages, Bricklayers ($/Hour)
City
Regina Winnipeg Toronto Hamilton Ottawa Montreal Quebec Saint John Halifax Average
0.500
0.500
0.370
0.350
0.360
0.300
0.300
0.333
0.360
0.398
0.560
0.550
0.470
0.450
0.450
0.450
0.333
0.333
0.360
0.468
0.620
0.600
0.500
0.500
0.500
0.500
0.450
0.400
0.400
0.529
0.700
0.600
0.500
0.500
0.500
0.500
0.450
0.450
0.400
0.546
0.700
0.670
0.520
0.500
0.520
0.500
0.500
0.450
0.400
0.565
0.750
0.700
0.520
0.550
0.520
0.550
0.500
0.450
0.400
0.591
0.750
0.700
0.550
0.550
0.550
0.550
0.500
0.550
0.450
0.608
0.750
0.700
0.550
0.550
0.550
0.550
0.500
0.550
0.450
0.613
0.750
0.700
0.550
0.550
0.550
0.550
0.500
0.550
0.500
0.617
0.620
0.700
0.585
0.550
0.550
0.550
0.500
0.550
0.500
0.598
0.685
0.750
0.620
0.600
0.625
0.600
0.500
0.550
0.500
0.641
0.750
0.800
0.695
0.700
0.650
0.600
0.500
0.600
0.600
0.693
0.870
1.000
0.745
0.750
0.750
0.600
0.550
0.800
0.750
0.799
1.000
1.250
1.000
1.025
0.900
1.000
0.750
0.800
0.750
1.008
1.150
1.150
1.000
1.025
0.850
0.950
0.750
0.900
0.750
1.004
1.150
1.125
1.000
0.950
1.000
0.900
0.750
0.900
0.750
0.990
1.150
1.100
1.000
1.000
1.100
1.000
0.900
0.900
0.900
1.030
1.250
1.175
1.250
1.125
1.100
1.000
0.900
1.000
0.900
1.084
1.250
1.250
1.120
1.125
1.100
1.000
0.900
1.000
0.900
1.097
1.250
1.350
1.120
1.125
1.200
1.000
0.900
1.000
0.900
1.114
24
Year Vancouver Edmonton
1900
0.341
0.277
1905
0.437
0.332
1909
0.413
0.334
1910
0.440
0.319
1911
0.409
0.295
1912
0.398
0.343
1913
0.438
0.350
1914
0.422
0.412
1915
0.370
0.420
1916
0.321
0.351
1917
0.253
0.358
1918
0.319
0.317
1919
0.342
0.377
1920
0.387
0.453
1921
0.416
0.486
1922
0.363
0.418
1923
0.381
0.389
1924
0.377
0.429
1925
0.369
0.407
1926
0.378
0.373
Table 3.4: Real Wages, Builders' Labourers (1913 $, Own-City price index)
City
Calgary Regina Winnipeg Toronto Hamilton Ottawa Montreal Quebec Saint John Halifax Average
0.227
0.253
0.277
0.342
0.301
0.248
0.182
0.189
0.231
0.197
0.255
0.297
0.352
0.331
0.343
0.361
0.277
0.223
0.219
0.224
0.223
0.302
0.381
0.342
0.289
0.307
0.305
0.322
0.246
0.219
0.240
0.234
0.303
0.430
0.294
0.279
0.324
0.314
0.302
0.246
0.226
0.228
0.227
0.302
0.377
0.291
0.290
0.305
0.288
0.323
0.274
0.239
0.248
0.218
0.296
0.361
0.312
0.284
0.286
0.280
0.338
0.272
0.248
0.240
0.244
0.301
0.350
0.300
0.275
0.300
0.300
0.300
0.300
0.250
0.240
0.250
0.304
0.356
0.276
0.296
0.326
0.299
0.288
0.290
0.238
0.229
0.242
0.306
0.349
0.276
0.291
0.318
0.281
0.272
0.294
0.222
0.217
0.224
0.294
0.308
0.283
0.291
0.284
0.265
0.236
0.252
0.193
0.207
0.204
0.266
0.307
0.249
0.285
0.263
0.252
0.260
0.205
0.180
0.193
0.171
0.248
0.273
0.305
0.283
0.284
0.240
0.261
0.229
0.196
0.244
0.236
0.265
0.356
0.363
0.318
0.294
0.337
0.305
0.272
0.227
0.234
0.251
0.306
0.371
0.398
0.355
0.369
0.301
0.344
0.263
0.272
0.239
0.250
0.333
0.414
0.411
0.407
0.365
0.323
0.339
0.234
0.308
0.263
0.250
0.351
0.424
0.384
0.361
0.357
0.221
0.327
0.209
0.260
0.193
0.224
0.312
0.408
0.373
0.346
0.349
0.217
0.324
0.245
0.249
0.174
0.200
0.305
0.345
0.383
0.356
0.356
0.240
0.339
0.233
0.261
0.188
0.205
0.309
0.344
0.353
0.306
0.320
0.229
0.322
0.207
0.248
0.212
0.197
0.293
0.324
0.382
0.352
0.338
0.244
0.321
0.215
0.234
0.213
0.200
0.298
25
Year Vancouver
1900
0.454
1905
0.555
1909
0.482
1910
0.503
1911
0.468
1912
0.473
1913
0.533
1914
0.600
1915
0.533
1916
0.462
1917
0.405
1918
0.472
1919
0.466
1920
0.551
1921
0.600
1922
0.614
1923
0.607
1924
0.628
1925
0.633
1926
0.694
Table 3.5: Real Wages, Carpenters (1913 $, Own-City Price Index)
City
Edmonton Calgary Regina Winnipeg Toronto Hamilton Ottawa Montreal Quebec Saint John Halifax Average
0.393
0.326
0.312
0.351
0.380
0.336
0.345
0.217
0.313
0.317
0.309
0.338
0.443
0.378
0.373
0.463
0.446
0.469
0.326
0.307
0.263
0.282
0.334
0.387
0.502
0.489
0.453
0.520
0.405
0.458
0.387
0.325
0.274
0.332
0.325
0.413
0.498
0.484
0.440
0.502
0.405
0.428
0.363
0.327
0.314
0.317
0.349
0.411
0.442
0.479
0.423
0.475
0.404
0.419
0.346
0.384
0.298
0.335
0.335
0.401
0.441
0.568
0.469
0.491
0.409
0.401
0.366
0.389
0.297
0.373
0.368
0.420
0.450
0.550
0.450
0.475
0.450
0.400
0.350
0.420
0.300
0.375
0.350
0.425
0.589
0.559
0.401
0.511
0.490
0.399
0.408
0.434
0.309
0.358
0.339
0.450
0.601
0.498
0.442
0.502
0.477
0.374
0.317
0.441
0.267
0.338
0.359
0.429
0.502
0.440
0.462
0.485
0.365
0.347
0.315
0.378
0.236
0.310
0.327
0.386
0.447
0.461
0.456
0.447
0.362
0.302
0.295
0.341
0.213
0.285
0.274
0.357
0.475
0.409
0.495
0.453
0.394
0.299
0.327
0.327
0.262
0.271
0.295
0.373
0.479
0.431
0.580
0.477
0.426
0.399
0.366
0.408
0.308
0.346
0.369
0.421
0.570
0.619
0.723
0.617
0.553
0.465
0.487
0.395
0.332
0.332
0.337
0.498
0.668
0.677
0.736
0.697
0.597
0.518
0.508
0.434
0.370
0.372
0.388
0.547
0.649
0.678
0.678
0.683
0.545
0.474
0.482
0.370
0.347
0.326
0.340
0.515
0.692
0.688
0.659
0.654
0.581
0.497
0.511
0.407
0.349
0.304
0.351
0.525
0.687
0.690
0.676
0.672
0.576
0.511
0.536
0.435
0.342
0.318
0.360
0.536
0.685
0.689
0.662
0.650
0.544
0.488
0.508
0.414
0.310
0.311
0.345
0.520
0.662
0.748
0.809
0.781
0.574
0.487
0.506
0.429
0.334
0.312
0.351
0.557
26
Year Vancouver
1900
0.681
1905
0.710
1909
0.716
1910
0.684
1911
0.701
1912
0.682
1913
0.750
1914
0.845
1915
0.888
1916
0.636
1917
0.607
1918
0.587
1919
0.622
1920
0.694
1921
0.827
1922
0.801
1923
0.792
1924
0.783
1925
0.810
1926
0.830
Table 3.6: Real Wages, Bricklayers (1913 $ Own-City Price Index)
City
Edmonton Calgary Regina Winnipeg Toronto Hamilton Ottawa Montreal Quebec Saint JohnHalifax Average
0.728
0.454
0.727
0.702
0.563
0.535
0.541
0.371
0.469
0.475
0.506
0.563
0.731
0.595
0.789
0.727
0.646
0.650
0.623
0.502
0.437
0.422
0.481
0.609
0.717
0.680
0.831
0.693
0.613
0.611
0.645
0.560
0.493
0.479
0.481
0.627
0.684
0.726
0.822
0.669
0.578
0.570
0.604
0.546
0.509
0.514
0.466
0.614
0.631
0.647
0.741
0.707
0.567
0.524
0.600
0.549
0.537
0.502
0.447
0.596
0.687
0.723
0.781
0.723
0.532
0.551
0.586
0.535
0.496
0.486
0.440
0.602
0.700
0.700
0.750
0.700
0.550
0.550
0.550
0.550
0.500
0.550
0.450
0.608
0.883
0.711
0.753
0.753
0.598
0.549
0.528
0.531
0.475
0.525
0.436
0.632
0.901
0.697
0.828
0.740
0.583
0.514
0.499
0.539
0.445
0.496
0.449
0.631
0.753
0.616
0.637
0.679
0.474
0.449
0.433
0.462
0.363
0.455
0.409
0.531
0.671
0.586
0.568
0.610
0.408
0.403
0.434
0.410
0.328
0.383
0.342
0.479
0.594
0.545
0.571
0.603
0.438
0.419
0.425
0.393
0.327
0.361
0.354
0.468
0.582
0.598
0.631
0.636
0.438
0.460
0.458
0.408
0.357
0.462
0.419
0.506
0.839
0.773
0.723
0.771
0.614
0.561
0.515
0.585
0.453
0.425
0.383
0.611
1.012
0.865
0.996
0.891
0.664
0.663
0.576
0.635
0.514
0.558
0.441
0.720
0.962
0.974
1.040
0.904
0.681
0.600
0.688
0.579
0.520
0.534
0.448
0.728
0.951
0.989
1.010
0.847
0.664
0.621
0.750
0.614
0.597
0.497
0.554
0.741
0.944
0.992
1.126
0.930
0.847
0.719
0.786
0.621
0.587
0.578
0.568
0.790
1.070
0.990
1.104
0.956
0.717
0.686
0.746
0.591
0.559
0.565
0.545
0.778
1.035
0.930
1.124
1.055
0.757
0.685
0.810
0.613
0.601
0.567
0.554
0.797
27
Year Vancouver
1900
0.330
1905
0.424
1909
0.397
1910
0.425
1911
0.399
1912
0.391
1913
0.427
1914
0.406
1915
0.352
1916
0.302
1917
0.240
1918
0.306
1919
0.329
1920
0.376
1921
0.408
1922
0.356
1923
0.375
1924
0.372
1925
0.362
1926
0.372
Table 3.7: Real Wages, Builders' Labourers (1913 Toronto $, Inter-Urban Price Index)
City
Edmonton Calgary Regina Winnipeg Toronto Hamilton Ottawa Montreal Quebec Saint John Halifax Average
0.234
0.196
0.193
0.243
0.342
0.330
0.252
0.197
0.199
0.248
0.211
0.248
0.285
0.254
0.269
0.287
0.343
0.396
0.282
0.243
0.236
0.237
0.237
0.291
0.285
0.326
0.258
0.252
0.307
0.334
0.325
0.271
0.237
0.249
0.247
0.291
0.275
0.379
0.221
0.244
0.324
0.346
0.307
0.268
0.246
0.239
0.242
0.293
0.258
0.340
0.217
0.254
0.305
0.321
0.328
0.303
0.261
0.257
0.231
0.289
0.297
0.322
0.229
0.248
0.286
0.313
0.342
0.297
0.269
0.243
0.259
0.292
0.302
0.303
0.218
0.237
0.300
0.334
0.307
0.324
0.272
0.254
0.269
0.296
0.348
0.311
0.211
0.261
0.326
0.332
0.295
0.315
0.261
0.269
0.259
0.300
0.367
0.305
0.214
0.259
0.318
0.310
0.279
0.323
0.246
0.255
0.237
0.289
0.309
0.270
0.220
0.262
0.284
0.289
0.221
0.273
0.217
0.236
0.216
0.258
0.317
0.270
0.195
0.254
0.263
0.275
0.262
0.219
0.195
0.215
0.181
0.240
0.285
0.245
0.236
0.252
0.284
0.264
0.261
0.242
0.207
0.274
0.249
0.259
0.335
0.325
0.282
0.286
0.294
0.369
0.307
0.281
0.242
0.265
0.266
0.299
0.404
0.338
0.297
0.314
0.369
0.335
0.349
0.280
0.296
0.279
0.268
0.325
0.435
0.369
0.307
0.350
0.365
0.365
0.348
0.257
0.338
0.316
0.275
0.344
0.365
0.381
0.284
0.310
0.357
0.250
0.335
0.234
0.285
0.241
0.248
0.304
0.343
0.370
0.278
0.299
0.349
0.246
0.281
0.278
0.275
0.218
0.220
0.294
0.376
0.315
0.283
0.306
0.356
0.270
0.345
0.263
0.290
0.235
0.225
0.303
0.356
0.314
0.265
0.264
0.320
0.257
0.328
0.234
0.279
0.265
0.215
0.288
0.329
0.291
0.285
0.302
0.338
0.273
0.326
0.244
0.262
0.268
0.217
0.292
28
Year Vancouver Edmonton
1900
0.433
0.334
1905
0.538
0.380
1909
0.463
0.428
1910
0.485
0.429
1911
0.456
0.387
1912
0.465
0.382
1913
0.520
0.389
1914
0.576
0.498
1915
0.507
0.525
1916
0.435
0.441
1917
0.383
0.396
1918
0.453
0.427
1919
0.449
0.426
1920
0.536
0.509
1921
0.589
0.598
1922
0.603
0.566
1923
0.598
0.609
1924
0.616
0.601
1925
0.621
0.600
1926
0.683
0.585
Table 3.8: Real Wages, Carpenters (1913 Toronto $,Inter-Urban Price Index)
City
Calgary Regina Winnipeg Toronto Hamilton Ottawa Montreal Quebec Saint JohnHalifax Average
0.281
0.234
0.304
0.372
0.372
0.352
0.231
0.318
0.331
0.328
0.324
0.324
0.285
0.402
0.446
0.514
0.331
0.333
0.283
0.299
0.355
0.374
0.419
0.342
0.454
0.405
0.502
0.390
0.354
0.296
0.345
0.342
0.395
0.426
0.332
0.440
0.405
0.472
0.369
0.357
0.341
0.331
0.372
0.396
0.431
0.315
0.415
0.404
0.467
0.351
0.424
0.326
0.346
0.356
0.390
0.506
0.344
0.428
0.409
0.447
0.371
0.424
0.323
0.377
0.390
0.406
0.476
0.327
0.409
0.450
0.446
0.358
0.454
0.326
0.397
0.376
0.411
0.489
0.307
0.451
0.490
0.442
0.418
0.472
0.340
0.420
0.364
0.439
0.435
0.343
0.448
0.477
0.413
0.325
0.484
0.296
0.398
0.379
0.419
0.385
0.360
0.437
0.365
0.378
0.295
0.410
0.266
0.355
0.345
0.373
0.406
0.358
0.399
0.362
0.330
0.297
0.364
0.230
0.318
0.289
0.344
0.368
0.384
0.404
0.394
0.331
0.327
0.345
0.276
0.304
0.311
0.360
0.394
0.451
0.429
0.426
0.436
0.369
0.421
0.329
0.393
0.391
0.409
0.563
0.539
0.545
0.553
0.518
0.494
0.421
0.362
0.387
0.361
0.482
0.605
0.549
0.600
0.597
0.584
0.522
0.477
0.405
0.446
0.426
0.533
0.610
0.501
0.586
0.545
0.536
0.494
0.414
0.380
0.407
0.377
0.502
0.622
0.491
0.565
0.581
0.562
0.444
0.460
0.385
0.381
0.386
0.507
0.630
0.499
0.578
0.576
0.577
0.545
0.490
0.381
0.398
0.394
0.524
0.629
0.496
0.562
0.544
0.548
0.517
0.468
0.348
0.389
0.377
0.508
0.673
0.604
0.671
0.574
0.545
0.515
0.487
0.375
0.393
0.380
0.540
29
Year Vancouver Edmonton
1900
0.660
0.617
1905
0.688
0.628
1909
0.688
0.611
1910
0.660
0.588
1911
0.684
0.552
1912
0.671
0.595
1913
0.732
0.605
1914
0.811
0.747
1915
0.845
0.787
1916
0.599
0.661
1917
0.575
0.594
1918
0.563
0.534
1919
0.598
0.518
1920
0.674
0.748
1921
0.812
0.906
1922
0.786
0.840
1923
0.780
0.838
1924
0.773
0.826
1925
0.795
0.938
1926
0.816
0.914
Table 3.9: Real Wages, Bricklayers (1913 Toronto $, Inter-Urban Price Index)
City
Calgary Regina Winnipeg Toronto Hamilton Ottawa Montreal Quebec Saint John Halifax Average
0.392
0.553
0.617
0.563
0.586
0.549
0.404
0.491
0.509
0.543
0.540
0.509
0.603
0.631
0.646
0.712
0.634
0.546
0.472
0.447
0.511
0.586
0.582
0.628
0.605
0.613
0.669
0.650
0.610
0.533
0.498
0.507
0.600
0.639
0.619
0.586
0.578
0.629
0.614
0.595
0.553
0.537
0.496
0.591
0.582
0.552
0.619
0.567
0.583
0.609
0.606
0.587
0.519
0.475
0.578
0.644
0.574
0.631
0.532
0.615
0.593
0.583
0.538
0.492
0.466
0.578
0.605
0.545
0.603
0.550
0.613
0.563
0.595
0.543
0.582
0.483
0.585
0.623
0.576
0.664
0.598
0.608
0.541
0.577
0.522
0.615
0.466
0.612
0.609
0.642
0.660
0.583
0.568
0.511
0.592
0.493
0.584
0.473
0.612
0.540
0.497
0.612
0.474
0.489
0.405
0.501
0.410
0.520
0.431
0.512
0.515
0.446
0.544
0.408
0.439
0.436
0.437
0.354
0.426
0.361
0.461
0.490
0.443
0.538
0.438
0.463
0.425
0.414
0.345
0.405
0.373
0.453
0.546
0.491
0.572
0.438
0.503
0.461
0.421
0.381
0.524
0.444
0.491
0.704
0.539
0.682
0.614
0.625
0.523
0.623
0.493
0.495
0.410
0.594
0.773
0.743
0.766
0.664
0.749
0.591
0.697
0.563
0.669
0.485
0.701
0.877
0.768
0.775
0.681
0.679
0.705
0.648
0.570
0.666
0.496
0.708
0.895
0.753
0.731
0.664
0.702
0.652
0.695
0.660
0.623
0.610
0.717
0.906
0.832
0.798
0.847
0.811
0.800
0.701
0.653
0.723
0.622
0.774
0.904
0.827
0.826
0.717
0.771
0.759
0.668
0.627
0.707
0.596
0.761
0.837
0.838
0.905
0.757
0.767
0.824
0.696
0.675
0.714
0.600
0.779
30
Figure 2.1: Own-City Price Indexes by Region
220
200
180
160
Maritimes
$
Ontario
Quebec
140
Prairies
Vancouver
Average
120
100
80
60
1900 1905 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926
Year
31
Figure 2.2: Aggregate Inter-Urban Price Indexes by Region
200
180
160
Maritimes
140
$
Ontario
Quebec
Prairies
120
Vancouver
100
80
60
1900 1905 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926
Year
32
Figure 3.1: Nominal Wages by Region, Builders' Labourers
0.7
0.6
0.5
Ontario
$
Vancouver
0.4
Prairies
Quebec
Maritimes
0.3
0.2
0.1
1900 1905 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926
Year
33
Figure 3.2: Real Wages by Region, Builders' Labourer's (Own-City Price Indexes)
0.5
0.45
0.4
Ontario
0.35
$
Vancouver
Prairies
Quebec
0.3
Maritimes
0.25
0.2
0.15
1900 1905 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926
Year
34
Figure 3.3: Real Wages by Region, Builders' Labourers (Inter-Urban Price Index)
0.45
0.4
0.35
Ontario
$
Vancouver
0.3
Prairies
Quebec
Maritimes
0.25
0.2
0.15
1900 1905 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926
Year
35
Figure 3.4: McInnis' (1968) Per Capita Participation Incomes by Region, 1910-11 and
1926-27, Nominal and Real (1913 Toronto $)
500
450
400
350
$
300
Income1910-11
Income1926-27
250
Real1910-11
Real1926-27
200
150
100
50
0
BC
Prairies
Ontario
Quebec
36
Maritimes
Figure 3.5: Green's (1971) GVA Per Capita in 1890, 1910 and 1929, in Nominal and Real
(1913 Toronto) Dollars
0.09
0.08
0.07
0.06
$ millions
Real1890
Real1910
0.05
Real1929
Nominal1890
0.04
Nominal1910
Nominal1929
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
BC
Alberta
Sask
Manitoba
Ontario
37
Quebec
New
Nova Scotia
Brunswick
38
Appendix
FOOD TYPES AND CORRESPONDING WEIGHTS
Food Types
Weight
Fresh Beef (sirloin steak)
17.74
Fresh Pork (ham)
4.97
Salt Pork Products (bacon)
3.29
Veal
1.735
Mutton
1.735
Pure Lard
3.30
Granulated Sugar
5.59
Flour
3.965
Rolled Oats
1.98
Potatoes
4.58
Coffee (mocha)
3.8
Tea (black medium)
1.88
Cheese (old)
6.69
Salt Pork
1.65
Prunes (medium grade)
2.92
Apples (evaporated)
2.92
Rice
0.73
Milk
7.56
Bread
4.42
Vinegar (white wine)
1.46
Fresh Eggs
5.96
Butter (creamery prints)
10.2
38
39
TYPES OF FUEL AND LIGHT AND CORRESPONDING WEIGHTS
Anthracite Coal
64.6
Bituminous
64.6
Hard Wood
19.5
Soft Wood
19.5
Coal Oil
15.9
39