Ladies Dancing & Lords a-Leaping get raises, Maids a-milking stuck at min. wage

[LynneSin]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,232122,00.html

Giving 'Twelve Days of Christmas' Costs True Loves $75,122

Monday , November 27, 2006




PITTSBURGH — The cost of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is on the rise — again.

Buying each item in the song just once — from a partridge in a pear tree to a dozen drummers drumming — will cost you $18,920, or 3.1 percent more than last year, according to PNC Financial Services Group.

The total cost of items gifted by a True Love who repeats all of the song's verses costs more than ever before — $75,122 — for all 364 items, up from $72,608 in 2005, a 3.5 percent increase.

"After years of stagnation, wages for skilled workers, including the song's dancers and musicians, have increased as the labor market has tightened," said Jeff Kleintop, chief investment strategist for PNC Wealth Management. "Also, a decline in the housing market has dampened demand for luxury goods, such as gold rings."

While prices for the partridge, two turtle doves, three French hens, six geese and seven swans remained the same as last year, higher wages made the lords a-leaping, ladies dancing and pipers piping costlier.

The nine ladies dancing earned $4,759, 4 percent more, according to Philadanco, the Philadelphia Dance Co. The lords a-leaping got a 3-percent pay raise, while the drummers drumming and pipers piping earned 3.4 percent more.

The maids a-milking, however, weren't as lucky. They make the federal minimum wage, which has been $5.15 per hour since 1997