Wages hike prices of 12 Christmas gifts

Monday, Nov. 25, 1996 | 5:18 a.m.

THE cost of buying all the items in the song "The 12 Days of Christmas" rose significantly this year because of higher wages for dancers and musicians.

However, Las Vegas dance officials and musicians union representatives say don't blame the local artists for the rise in the Christmas Price Index, which has been issued each November since 1984 by the PNC Bank of Philadelphia.

This year, to send your true love nine ladies dancing, the bank says it would cost $3,259 to hire that many professional ballerinas -- a 25 percent increase over 1995.

"Our dancers didn't get anywhere near that -- they got a 3 percent cost-of-living raise," said Sharon Gerrie, spokeswoman for Nevada Dance Theatre, which is preparing for its Dec. 12-28 production of "The Nutcracker" at UNLV's Judy Bailey Theatre.

She noted that because of the company's "modest budget, fund-raising is a year-round function. We even have to raise money to buy toe shoes for the dancers."

Nationwide, classical dancers earn between $300 and $1,000 a week, Gerrie said. It is unlikely Nevada Dance Theatre performers -- or any Las Vegas troupe, for that matter -- ever would get a low double-digit raise, let alone one of 25 percent, she added.

The PNC Bank, however, found that the Philadelphia Dance Co. gave its employees such a raise. However, it was their first pay increase in four years.

Twelve years ago, the bank started the Christmas Price Index more or less as a humorous venture during the holiday season. But each year, the prices for the song's products seem to mirror the U.S. economy and provide an interesting look at the nation's consumer spending practices.

For instance, in the wake of last year's 21.3 percent drop in the Christmas Price Index, retailers had their six geese-a-cooked by experiencing one of the worst Christmas shopping seasons in years.

After several years in which the cost of all 13 items in the song totaled in the $15,000 range, the price plummeted to $12,482 last year, but climbed 5.72 percent to $13,196 this year, the bank said.

The CPI also outran the current 3 percent rate of inflation.

As for the 11 pipers piping (include brass instrument and woodwind players in that group) and 12 drummers drumming (all types of percussion players), the local union did not keep pace with the one the bank used to determine the cost of hiring that many professional musicians.

The PNC Bank determined that there was a 2.53 percent raise over last year to bring the cost of the 11 pipers to $1,136 and the dozen drummers to $1,232.

"We had a 2 percent raise that kicked in June 1," said Dan Trinter, president of Las Vegas Musicians Local 369, and a trombonist in Strip orchestras since 1967.

"The problem, however, is not wages, it's the availability of work. Electronics, records and tapes have reduced work for live musicians significantly in recent years. If someone called for 11 pipers and 12 drummers, I'd have no trouble finding the people to send out to that job."

Trinter once got a request for a dozen bagpipers -- later reduced to just one -- for a golf tournament at Summerlin. Also, he said, he once filled a request for 12 steel drum players for the opening of a resort.

As for wage increase percentage, the lady dancers did far better than the working stiffs, but the musicians did not. The average hourly earnings of U.S. workers climbed 3.1 percent to $11.91 this year, the Labor Department said.

The 10 lords-a-leaping cost the same as last year -- $3,183 -- but look for that price to go up in 1997. The Pennsylvania Ballet, the bank says, approved a raise for its male dancers this year, but it does not go into effect until next year.

Gerrie noted that because many more girls take up ballet than boys, it sometimes is difficult to gather enough lords to go a-leaping.

"In September, we cast 93 children for (the three casts of) 'The Nutcracker,' but we will have a lot of girls playing parts meant for boys," she said, noting that in one of the casts, the feature role of Fritz, Carla's mischievous little brother, will be played by a girl.

Many of the Christmas Price Index pricetags from last year -- including all 23 of the birds from the lone partridge to the seven swans-a-swimming -- remained unchanged this year.

However, the eight maids-a-milking, for the first time since 1991, got a raise. And that's only because the minimum wage climbed from $4.25 to $4.75 an hour on Oct. 1. This means that to rent the women for an hour it would cost $38 -- $4 more than last year (an 11.76 percent increase).

The good news for the maids -- and bad news for the buyer of the 12 days Christmas gifts -- is that the women will get another pay hike in 1997 when the minimum wage climbs to $5.15 on Sept. 1.

For its study, the bank does not address the possibility that one might have to buy or rent the cows, which would make the purchase of all of the gifts even more cost prohibitive for most folks than they already are.

As for the commodities in the song, pear trees were low in demand, resulting in the price remaining the same as last year. Gold prices held steady, keeping the cost of five 14-karat gold wedding bands stable.

BLOOMBERG Business News contributed to this report.