By Johan Söderberg
The series of daily wages for unskilled labourers in Stockholm presented below is based on the building accounts of Stockholm City, supplemented by some institutional and parish archives (Söderberg 1987; Jansson, Palm & Söderberg 1991; Söderberg, Jonsson & Persson 1991).
The main source on wages is the accounts of the Town Council of Stockholm. This material contains detailed descriptions of the building works initiated by the Town Council and the wages of various building workers. Parish accounts (e.g., Storkyrkoförsamlingen and the German Church) also provide information on wages.
Wages were paid in cash, and there were no substantial additional benefits in kind (though the City occasionally paid the gloves used by the labourers, and gave them some beer). Wages refer to summer rates of male labourers.
List of variables and their definitions:
Name
|
Explanation |
Daily wages of unskilled labourers, nominal rates |
Daily wages of unskilled labourers in Stockholm in öre (1501-1623), daler kopparmynt (1624-1775), skilling specie (1776-1803) and skilling banco (1804-1850). |
Daily wages of unskilled labourers, in silver |
Daily wages of unskilled labourers in Stockholm expressed in grams of silver |
Real wages of unskilled labourers |
Real wages of unskilled labourers in Stockholm, calculated by deflating nominal daily wages by a cost of living index |
References
Jansson, Arne, Lennart Andersson Palm & Johan Söderberg, Dagligt bröd i onda tider: priser och löner i Stockholm och Västsverige 1500-1700, Göteborg 1991
Söderberg, Johan, ”Hade Heckscher rätt? Priser och reallöner i 1500-talets Stockholm”, Historisk tidskrift 107 (1987), 351-356
Söderberg, Johan, Ulf Jonsson & Christer Pers¬son, A Stagnating Metropolis: The Economy and Demography of Stockholm, 1750-1850, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1991