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This image is making the rounds. Paycheck stub from 1939. O.A.B. - Old Age Benefit?

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Yup. Social Security 1% of pay in 1939.

Is that a good wage by industry standards? I read somewhere that Packard wasn't known for high wages and with $1 then worth $19.68 today,in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1939?amount=1 $45.54 works out to a take home of $896 and change. I guess if they had union pay scale for all workers then it would be but wonder if that is a weeks pay or did they pay less often and the check was only issued in the week that is listed.

The wage for a pipefitter at GM in 1939 was $44.00 assuming a 40 hour week. So, it would appear that this would be a weekly paycheck and in line with other auto manufacturers of the time.

Actually pay scales in those days were pretty generous. For example change a front universal drive shaft on a modern pickup pays a paltry 45 minutes. In 1940, Packard was paying 45 minutes to change the rear U-joint which is a bolt. They make the cars harder to work on but don't change the pay.

My joke is you have three lazy bum managers sitting at a bar, eating doughnuts, and gaining weight. One says they can reduce labor costs by paying two tenths for everything. The next bum says that will reduce paperwork costs.
The next one says that will save money by making the flat rate book one sheet of paper.

As well, today's fake interest rate, soak the poor monetary policies has real wages declining again and again. Remember the Weimar republic and what happened there.