What Did a Worker Earn in 1915?

The best broad figure is about $11.22 per week for a manufacturing / factory worker production worker in 1915. Historical Statistics of the United States gives $11.22 as the average weekly earnings for manufacturing production workers.

Another BLS series, based on monthly manufacturing earnings, puts the 1915 figure in essentially the same neighborhood—roughly $11 per week.

But wages varied enormously by occupation. For example, in the lumber industry in 1915, full-time weekly earnings ranged from $9.58 for laborers to $32.75 for band sawyers.