Pressure on Prices

STATE OF BUSINESS Pressure on Prices The average pay of U.S. workers set an alltime high in December of $2.05 hourly, or $84.05 a week. Employment of 64.6 million also set a record for the month. The Connecticut Manufacturers Association survey of 70 companies found one job unfilled for every eleven taken.

With wages and employment at record levels, other income sources joined to swell U.S. buying power. Social Security was a growing factor. National benefits paid to 10 million people added up to about $6 billion annually.

The record national income and spending pressed hard on prices. The Department of Agriculture reported that consumers would pay more for pork in 1957, and possibly for better-grade beef. Last week, alarmed by the burst of price increases, Washington began taking notice and action. Two congressional committees laid plans to investigate the hike in gasoline prices, and the Department of Justice launched a third probe into a possible price-fixing conspiracy. In an attempt to keep sugar prices from soaring higher, the Agriculture Department again increased sugar-marketing quotas, the second time in less than a month. But as consumer buying and business spending (expected to rise another 10% in 1957 first quarter) continued to mount, few believed that the price line could be held.

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