WAS THERE A NATIONAL LABOR-MARKET AT THE END OF THE 19TH-CENTURY - NEW EVIDENCE ON EARNINGS IN MANUFACTURING

Average annual earnings calculated from the census of manufactures are used to extend previous research on labor market integration in the U nited States. In contrast to earlier research examining occupational w age rates, census average earnings indicate that a well-integrated lab or market had emerged in the Northeast and North Central regions as ea rly as 1879. They also reveal substantial convergence within the South Atlantic and South Central regions, suggesting the emergence of a uni fied southern labor market. Large and persistent North-South different ials indicate, however, that a unified national labor market did not d evelop before World War I.