Note 46 — Chapter V · —WAGES AND PRICE MOVEMENTS

W. C. Mitchell, "Business Cycles," page 483. The increased cost of labor arises from many causes besides the increase of wages. The less efficient workers receive fuller employment; extra rates are paid for "the tired labor of overtime"; there is likely to be an increase in the rate of labor turnover due to the rapidity of wage movements and the ease of getting a job; and lastly it is said that work is carried out with less energy when the workmen are secure in their employment. Mitchell goes so far as to write that "labor is a highly changeable commodity—its quality deteriorates as its price rises" (pages 476-7), "Business Cycles." See also J. C. Stamp, "The Effect of Trade Fluctuations on Profits," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, July, 1918.