I'm trying to get some information on wages for typical jobs in the 18th century. I've read a range of sources, but they seem to vary wildly.
Using a "labourer" as a baseline, I just read that a typical labourer of this time period would earn 2s (British Shillings) a day. If true, that means a labourer would earn £3 a month.
But another source, looking at dock labourers and foremen in London, states they would have earned 3s and 3s 6d per month, respectively.
I also have data on merchants in the British East India Company, who would have apparently earned roughly £6 per month.
Also the Governor General of the VOC (Dutch East India Company) who would have earned 1200 Guilders per month (£120).
What is right, what isn't?
I was hoping someone with more experience with specifically British wages would chime in, but since they haven't. I know a fair amount about American 18th century wages and most of it should be applicable (just not the actual numbers since the wages here were much higher). We have to first separate out the types of people you're looking at wages for. A laborer in the sense of a dock worker is unskilled. That will be a vastly different daily wage than a tradesperson who has gone through a proper apprenticeship, but still "labors" by modern standards. So that 2 shillings a day wage might be more appropriate for a journeyman blacksmith, wheelwright, etc. I do know that beginning tailors in London earn slightly below 1 s. a day. There are minimum wages set by guilds for certain trades in London, and very likely in other countries as well.
Further up the line are merchants, since they can make a decent amount of overhead. Margaret Hunter, a milliner who owned a shop in Virginia, earned about 1 pound a day. A tailor here was closer to 3 s. a day, a small farmer about 1 s.