The third section of The Sunday Times was devoted to business and finance. Much of the news on the ups and downs of the market are not particularly relevant to this site, but some stories do reflect more broadly on life at this time.
A Page One story touched on the postwar clash between management and labor on wages, Business leaders insisted that any wage increases had to be tied to productivity gains. Union leaders insisted that they had to reflect the cost of living.
Statistics seemed to show that the wave of postwar strikes had not had a drastic effect on reconversion. Business leaders were in an uproar over the wave of strikes since the end of the war as unions sought higher wages for their members. They claimed that the strikes were taking a toll on trhe economy. A story on page one of the business section said an informal survey of tge electrical industry showed that industrial use of electricity was about the same as it had been in 1945 when wartime production was in full swing. The big worry was the ongoing soft-coal strike. Negotiations were deadlocked. The stock market was in a state of "watchful waiting." So far the effect had not been drastic but some observers felt that if the strike continued beyond mid-June it could lead to a shut-down of power plants.
A five-day work week seemed to be in the cards for Wall Street banks this summer. The five day work week was not yet universal in 1946. Saturday was generally a work day on the stock exchanges and for banks. The Sunday Times reported that recent state legislation gave financial institutions the option to shut down on Saturdays between June 1 and September 30. It was not yet clear how many would take advantage of this option.
The section extensively covered the trends in retail sales and clothing manufacturing, two of New York's key businesses in 1946.