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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
W. N. D OAK, Secretary
CHILDREN’S BUREAU
GRACE ABBOTT, Chief
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS
IN MILWAUKEE
By
ALICE CHANNING
Bureau Publication No. 213
* & -l,Y
1158c.
U NITED STATES
GOVERNM ENT PR IN T IN G OFFICE
W ASHINGTON : 1932
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.
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Price 10 cents
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C O N TEN TS
Page
Letter of transm ittal___________________________________________________________
Introduction____________________________________________________________________
The employed minors other than apprentices________________________________
Termination of regular schooling and beginning of work experience. _
Age at leaving school________________________________________________
School attainm ent____________________________________________________
Interval between regular school and work_________________________
Age at beginning regular work__________________________________ . . .
Work certificates_____________________________________________________
Occupations_______________________________________________________________
First occupation______________________________________________________
Occupation at the time of inquiry__________________________________
Change in occupation________________________________________________
Relation of school attainment to occupation______________________
W ages______________________________________________________________ , _______
First wage____________________________________________________________
W age at the time of inquiry________________________________________
Difference between first and last wage_____________________________
Relation of occupation to wage_____________________________________
Relation of school attainment to wage_____________________________
Regularity of employment_______________________________________________
Length of work history________________________________
U nem ploym ent_______________________________________________________
Duration of first position____________________________________________
Duration of last position____________________________________________
Changes in position__________________________________________________
The apprentices________________________________________________________________
Termination of regular schooling and beginning of work experience. .
Occupations________________________________________________________________
W ages______________________________________________________________________
Regularity of employm ent________________________________________________
The unemployed minors_______________________________________________________
Summary and conclusions_____________________________________________________
List of references_________________________________________________y_____________
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LETTER OF TR A N SM ITT A L
U n it e d S ta t e s D e p a r t m e n t of L a b o r ,
C h il d r e n ’ s B u r e a u ,
Washington, June SO, 1932.
S i r : Herewith is transmitted a report on the Employed Boys and
Girls in Milwaukee.
The investigation upon which this report was based was planned
and carried out under the general supervision of Ellen Nathalie M at
thews, formerly director of the industrial division of the Children’s
Bureau, and was one of several studies undertaken to find out the
kinds of work open to boys and girls and the effect of age and educa
tion upon their occupations ana the stability of their employment.
Harriet A. Byrne was in charge of the field work, and Alice Channing
has written the report.
Thanks are due to the officials of the Milwaukee Vocational School
for their cooperation and the use of their records. Acknowledgment
is also made of the help given by the public and parochial schools
and the officials of the Milwaukee office of the Industrial Commission
of Wisconsin.
Respectfully submitted.
G r a c e A b b o t t , Chief.
Hon. W. N. D o a k ,
Secretary of Labor.
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EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS
IN MILWAUKEE
IN TRO D U CTIO N
This study of employed minors in Milwaukee, Wis., is one of a
series of studies of the employment histories of wage-earning boys
and girls in different cities. The purpose of these studies is to find
out what kinds of jobs are actually held by boys and girls who go to
work before they are 18 years old, and the extent to which sex, age at
beginning work, and amount and type of education affect their wages
and the extent and stability of their employment. To obtain as
large a basis for conclusions as possible a series of studies were made
in Newark and Paterson (N. J.), and in Rochester and Utica (N. Y .),
as well as in Milwaukee. These studies 1 present conditions during
a normal period, having been made before the peak of the industrial
expansion which antedated the present depression. Two earlier
bureau studies of children under 16 employed on work certificates were
made in Boston (Mass.), and in Connecticut.2 Other studies of
selected groups of young workers have been published, chiefly by
State and local educational authorities.3
The city of Milwaukee with its diversified industries,4 including
iron and steel and other metal establishments, hosiery and knitting
mills, men’s clothing, glove, shoe, candy, paper-box, and other fac
tories, offers a variety of occupational opportunities to minors. The
number of employed minors in Milwaukee was sufficiently large to
use as a basis for a study of young workers, although the number
employed under 16 years of age decreased considerably between 1920
and 1925, the year the study was made, owing to the raising in
1920 and 1921 of the educational requirements of the child labor
laws. In 1920 there were 4,617 employment certificates issued in
Milwaukee by the State industrial commission to children of 14 and
15 years and* 1,190 to children of 16 years who went to work during
school hours for the first tim e;6corresponding figures for the 12 months
ended December, 1924, show that 1,926 certificates were issued to
children of 14 and 15 years and 1,080 to those of 16 years.6
1 Child Labor in New Jersey— Part 3. The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, b y Nettie P .
McGill (U. S. Children’s Bureau Publication No. 199, Washington, 1930); Employed Boys and Girls in
Rochester and Utica, N. Y. (in preparation).
.
, ..
.
2 The Working Children of Boston, a study of child labor under a modern system of legal regulation, by
Helen Sumner Woodbury, Ph. D. (U. S. Children’s Bureau Publication No. 89, Washington, 1922); Indus
trial Instability of Child Workers, a study of employment-certificate records in Connecticut, by Robert
Morse Woodbury, Ph. D. (U. S. Children’s Bureau Publication No. 74, Washington, 1920).
» For a list of these studies, see list of references, p. 70.
j,
* Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, vol. 4, Population, Occupations, p. 171 (Washington,
1923), and vol. 9, Manufactures, Reports for States, p. 1626 (Washington, 1923).
« Child Labor in Wisconsin, 1917-1922, p. 6. Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, Madison, Jime l, 1923.
• For figures for children of 14 and 15 years see Fourteenth Annual Report of the Chief of the Children s
Bureau, 1926, p. 15. For children 16 years of age figures were furnished by the Industrial Commission of
Wisconsin.
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2
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
Wisconsin is one of the States in which the employment of children
is regulated by relatively advanced legislation. As in many of the
States, 14 is the minimum age at which a child may be regularly
employed during the hours when school is in session, and since June,
1921, children between 14 and 16 years of age may be employed only
when they have completed the eighth grade or have attended school
nine years. Unlike the laws of most States which require children
to attend school full time unless they are employed, the Wisconsin law
allows a child who has reached 14, the legal age for employment, to
drop out of the regular full-time day school if he has completed the
eighth grade, even though he is not employed. On the other hand,
the age up to which employed children in Wisconsin, except inden
tured apprentices and those employed m certain exempted occupa
tions, as in agriculture, are required to have work certificates is higher
than in most States. The requirements for continuation-school
attendance in Wisconsin are also relatively high. It is one of the
few States which require all boys and girls who are not attending
full-time day school (except those who have graduated from high
school) to attend continuation school at least eight hours.a week up
to the end of the term in which they become 18 years of age.7 Appren
tices, who under the apprenticeship law may "be indentured between
the ages of 16 and 21, must, like other employed minors, attend con
tinuation school during the first two years of their apprenticeship,
regardless of their age when indentured, but they attend only four
hours a week.
An attempt was made to include in the present study all the
employed minors under 18 in Milwaukee. This study includes all the
minors who, at the time of the study, in conformity with the require
ments of the Wisconsin continuation school law, were enrolled as
part-time day-school pupils in the continuation school, locally called
the Milwaukee Vocational School. In addition, high-school graduates
under 18 who were or had been employed were located through the
high schools they had last attended and were interviewed. An effort
was made to find through the school census the boys and girls who were
employed but were not attending continuation school as they were
legally required to do; this, however, proved to be impracticable.
In order to find out to what extent nonworking eighth-grade gradu
ates between 14 and 16 and unemployed minors between 16 and
18 were using their legal privilege of being excused from regular dayschool attendance, information was also obtained concerning minors
between the ages of 14 and 18 who had not been employed but had
left regular school and who, as they were not high-school graduates,
were required to attend continuation school.
In the present study information was sought concerning the ages of
young workers at leaving the regular full-time school, the grades they
had completed, the types of occupations in which they were employed
when they first started to work and at the time the study was made,
their wages, the number of positions they had held, the amount of their
unemployment, and the relation of their education and their ages to
the kinds of occupations they entered and to the wages they received.
7 A law requiring half-time attendance at continuation school for children under 16 was passed in 1921
(to be fully operative in 1923) but had not been put into effect in Milwaukee at the time the study was
made.
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INTRODUCTION
The vocational-school records furnished information regarding the
school history of the young workers in both full-time and part-time
schools, including the age and date at which they had left full-time
school and entered part-time school, and also some information regard
ing their work histories, such as the date they had first started work
and the kind of work in which they were employed. For those under
17 years of age this information was supplemented from records of the
Milwaukee work-certificate office of the Wisconsin Industrial Commis
sion. Since according to the law a minor is required to have an
employment certificate for each job until he is 17, except in certain
occupations such as farm work, these records furnished information
about all the jobs for which work certificates were required and in
which the child had been legally employed. This information
included the date the certificate was issued and the date it was
returned, the name of the occupation, and the wages received.
In some cases it was not possible to identify the names of the chil
dren at the work-certificate office, and in other cases the records from
both sources, the vocational school and the work-certificate office,
were incomplete or conflicting. In all cases in which the records were
incomplete the young workers were interviewed, at the school, in
their homes, or at their places of employment, except for a number
who could not be found because they were no longer in attendance at
the vocational school or because the address of their homes or places
of employment could not be found. For the children who were
interviewed information was obtained concerning the number of
positions they had had, the duration of their first and last positions,
and the extent of their unemployment, points on which it was not
possible to get complete accounts from records. It is possible that,
because a relatively large number of these individuals whose records
from various sources were incomplete had held more than one position
and had been unemployed between positions, the amount of their
unemployment and the number of changes in their positions may be
slightly greater than for the noninterviewed group.
The groups included in the study were as follows:
Total
Boys and girls who had been employed
Employed minors, vocational school--------Indentured apprentices, vocational school
High-school graduates-------------------------------Boys and girls who had never been employed
10, 320
9, 207
8, 930
231
46
1 ,1 1 3
The group given the most intensive study comprised 9,207 boys
and girls— 231 apprentices and 8,930 other employed minors who
had been employed at some time since leaving regular school and who
were enrolled in the vocational school,8 and 46 high-school graduates.
Of the 8,930 enrolled in the vocational school 760 (9 per cent) had
recently passed their eighteenth birthdays and were attending parttime school until the end of the term. Of the 9,207 employed boys
122517— 32------- 2
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EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
and girls included in the study, bureau representatives interviewed
3,819. (Table 1.) The minors for whom records of employment
could not be obtained and who were not interviewed because they ✓
could not be located (581 in number) have been excluded from all the
following discussions on employment. Of the 1,113 minors who had
left regular school but had never been employed 243 were boys and
870 were girls.
The 8,447 employed boys and girls under 18, including the appren
tices and high-school graduates, are believed to constitute most of the
employed minors under this age in the city at the time of the inquiry,
although no doubt others were employed in violation of the law who
were not enrolled at the vocational school. A general idea of the
proportions of those of the various ages who were employed may be
obtained by computing the percentage which the minors included in
the study were of the minors of corresponding ages found through the
school census to be resident in the city. The working children of 14
years included in the study were but 3 per cent of the total number of
children of this age living in the city according to school-census
figures, but working children constituted 17 per cent of the children
15 years of age. The employed minors of 16 and 17 years were 43
and 55 per cent, respectively, of the minors of these ages resident in
the city.9
T a b l e 1.— E m ployed minors and indentured apprentices enrolled in the M ilw aukee
Vocational School Janu ary 3 1 , 1 9 3 5 , and high-school graduates who had been
em ployed at som e time since leaving regular school
Number not inter
viewed
Groups included in study, and sex
Total
_
......
Total
Number
inter
viewed
Work
records
obtained
Work
records
not ob
tained
9,207
3,819
4,807
681
Indentured apprentices, vocational school. __________________
Employed high-school graduates_____ _______ _______________
8,930
231
46
3,613
160
46
4,736
71
581
Boys________________________________________________
4,479
2,117
2,003
359
Employed minors, vocational school_________________________
Indentured apprentices, vocational school................................__
Employed high-school graduates____________________________
4,228
231
20
1,937
160
20
1,932
71
359
Girls__________________________
Employed minors, vocational school........ .......................... .........
Employed high-school graduates____________________________
4,728
1,702
2,804
222
4,702
26
1,676
26
2,804
222
* The school-census figures are as of June, 1924, six months before the date of the study. For schoolcensus figures see Sixty-fifth Annual Report of the Board of School Directors of the City of Milwaukee,
Wis., 1924, p. 163.
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T H E EM PLO YED M IN O R S O TH ER T H A N APPRENTICES
The 8,930 employed boys and girls enrolled in vocational school and
the 46 high-school graduates included individuals of all ages from 14
to 18, inclusive. The length of the possible work histories (that is,
the time between the date of beginning work and the date of the
study) ranged from a few days for those who had just left school to
four years for those who had left school at the age of 14 and were 18
at the time the inquiry was made.
The girls somewhat outnumbered the boys, partly because they left
school at slightly earlier ages than the boys. The proportion of girls
and boys among young workers varies considerably from city to city,
to judge from studies which have been made in other cities and the
number of employment certificates issued to those of each sex. No
doubt this depends partly on local custom and partly on the oppor
tunities for work for each sex.10
More than four-fifths of the young workers enrolled in the Milwau
kee Vocational School were at least 16 years of age at the time of the
inquiry. Three per cent of each sex were under 15 years of age.
(Table 2.11) Practically none of those who had reached the age of 18
had passed his eighteenth birthday more than three months before
the date of the study. With one exception the high-school graduates
were 17 years of age.
T able 2.— A g e Jan u ary S I, 1 9 2 5 , o f em ployed boys and girls enrolled in the M i l
waukee Vocational School
Age Jan. 31,1925
Qirls
Boys
Total
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number distribu Number distribu Number distribu
tion
tion
tion
Total...................................................
8,930
14 years_________ ___________________
15 years.........................................................
16 years............................................ .............
17 years.........................................................
18 years and over__________ ________ ____
1
255
1,308
3,104
3,502
760
100
4,228
100
4,702
3
16
35
39
8
1
141
645
1,627
1,864
424
(l)
3
15
35
39
9
114
663
1,477
1,638
336
100
(»)
3
14
35
40
9
i Less than 1 per cent.
TERMINATION OF REGULAR SCHOOLING AND BEGINNING OF W ORK
EXPERIENCE
Age at leaving school.
More than four-fifths of the boys and girls enrolled in the vocational
school for whom the age on leaving regular school was reported (82
per cent of the boys and 86 per cent of the girls) had left school before
i° See especially the following studies: The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, pp. 16, 56; The
Working Children of Boston, pp. 15-16; Part Time School and the Junior Worker in the City of Seattle,
Wash., p. 13 (State Board for Vocational Education, Olympia, 1929); Robinson, Claude E.: Child Workers
in Two Connecticut Towns, pp. 16-17 (National Child Labor Committee, New York, 1929); Sixteenth
Annual Report of the Chief of the Children’s Bureau, 1928, p. 21.
ii The figures in Table 2 and the following tables do not include high-school graduates.
5
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€
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
they were 16 years of age— 36 per cent of the boys and 46 per cent of
the girls at the age of 14 or before they were 14.12 (Table 3.) The
children who left school before they were 14 were for the most part/
within a few months of their fourteenth birthday. Many of them had
left school in June and were 14 by the time school opened in the fall.
All but five of the high-school graduates were either 16K or 17 years
of age when they left school.
u The age at leaving regular school was not reported for 1,909 pupils enrolled in the vocational school, but
there is no reason to suppose that it differed from that of the 7,021 pupils for whom the information was
obtained.
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X
T able 3.— A g e at leaving regular school and last grade completed by em ployed boys and girls enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Employed boys and girls
Last grade completed, and sex
Boys........................................................
Grade reported....... ........... .........................
Fifth grade or less.............................. ............
Sixth grade__________________________ .
Seventh grade. . ............ ....................
Eighth grade.... ........... ..........................
Ninth grade.................................. ...........
Tenth grade....... ............ ......................
Eleventh grade or higher............................
Commercial...........................................
Prevocational_____________ ____ ______
Special class....................... ............ .........
Grade not reported................. ..........................
Girls.........................................................................
Under 14 years
14 years
15 years
16 years
Age not reported
17 years
and
over
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent (num
Per cent
Number distri Number distri Number distri Number distri Number distri
ber)1 Number distri
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
4,228
157
4,203
100
157
97
322
538
2,045
449
246
32
113
350
11
2
8
13
49
U
6
4
6
3
134
5
i
i
0
3
8
1,024
100
3*
4
85
i
3
4
1,496
1,023
100
1,488
25
76
105
687
78
2
38
129
246
48
1
10
67
181
71
0
155
0
i
25
4,702
296
1,438
100
294
100
1,436
100
1,500
Fifth grade or less................................... ........
Sixth grade__________ i _____ _________
Seventh grade............ ................................
Eighth grade.................................................
Ninth grade.........................................
Tenth grade.........................................
Eleventh grade or higher.......................
Commercial.......................................
Trade school________ _____
Prevocational...........................
Special class..................................
79
279
553
2,245
230
231
2
6
12
48
6
2
4
3
7,
i
80
36
87
141
21
107
240
655
Grade not reported..................................
1 Per cent distribution
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315
636
78
12
23
5
5
0
7
14
2
0
5
2
0
15
2
2
8
10
69
4
54
8
114
i
6
i
2
17
94
3
0
0
not shown because number of boys and number of girls wasless than 5Q,
238
38
6
5
977
25
10
7
0
18
10
70
100
21
12
0
6
0
113
\ 73
13
9
12
42
10
112
408
100
46
0
1
12
8
7
1,505
4,679
37
36
8
Grade reported.............................. ............ ..........
12
16
236
537
512
100
16
44
0
0
19
505
27
71
99
20
7
932
926
1
20
1
11
46
84
264
19
26
315
141
14
1
1
? Less than 1 per cent.
100
9
29
3
1
34
15
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
Age at leaving regular school
T'ntol
8
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
The tendency of girls to leave school at a slightly younger age than
boys has been noted in several other studies of working children. In
the Children’s Bureau study made in Boston in 1918 the working r
girls were found to leave school somewhat earlier than the boys, and
this was also the case in Newark and Paterson, N. J., in 1925.
According to a study made by the National Child Labor Com
mittee in two Connecticut towns, the same tendency existed there.13
This tendency is due in part at least to the fact that girls tend to be
a little more advanced in school than boys of the same ages and thus
finish the educational requirements for leaving school at an earlier
age.14
The requirement of an eighth-grade education for children who leave
school before they are 16 tends to keep Milwaukee children in school,
especially children who are overage for their grades, longer than would
a lower grade requirement. The provision for eighth-grade gradu
ation or nine years’ school attendance in Wisconsin has been in effect
since June 7, 1921, when it superseded a provision for seventh-grade
completion or eight years’ school attendance. The eighth-grade
requirement was in effect during practically all the 4-year period when
the children included in the study were leaving school. A much
smaller proportion of Milwaukee children who left school while still
under 16 left before they reached 15 than in other cities where the
grade requirements were lower and where similar studies were made—
44 per cent of the boys and 54 per cent of the girls in Milwaukee as
compared with, for example, 80 per cent of the boys and 89 per cent of
the girls in Newark and 95 per cent of the children in Boston.15 A
fifth-grade requirement was in effect in Newark and a sixth-grade
requirement in Boston at the time those studies were made.
School attainment.
Information as to the grade completed at the time of leaving regular
school was obtained for most of the boys and girls who had last
attended the regular elementary grades of the public and parochial
schools, for most of those who had last attended academic high schools,
and for boys who had attended the technical high school. It was not,
however, possible to obtain this information for girls who had last
been in the Girls’ Trade School nor for either boys or girls who had
attended prevocational or business schools or commercial classes.
The great majority, when they left school for work, were equipped
with at least an eighth-grade education or some type of industrial or
vocational training, or both. (Table 3.) Two-thirds (66 per cent)
of the boys, including 11 per cent who had been in technical high
schools, had completed the eighth or a higher grade; in addition, 3
per cent who had last attended commercial classes or business schools
were probably eighth-grade graduates. Almost all the remaining
number had last attended prevocational schools, which are especially
organized to meet the needs of children who fail to adjust themselves
to the school work of the regular grades, and these were probably
not eighth-grade graduates. Among the girls 58 per cent had com
ía The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, p. 8; The Working Children of Boston, p. 105; Child
Workers in Two Connecticut Towns, pp. 16-17.
H Figures published by the United States Bureau of Education for boys and girls of 900 city school systems
show that the proportion of boys of 14,15, and 16 years who are overage for their grades is somewhat greater
than the proportion of girls of the same ages. Bureau of Education Statistical Circular No. 8 (May, 1927),
*P&bl6 6
u The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, p. 9; The Working Children of Boston, p. 104.
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THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
9
pleted the eighth or a higher grade, and an additional 7 per cent who
had had training in business or commercial classes after they left
regular school had also probably completed the eighth grade. A
small proportion of the girls had last attended the Girls’ Trade School.
Many of these, as well as the girls who had been in prevocational and
special classes, were probably not eighth-grade graduates.
A slightly larger proportion of the employed boys enrolled in con
tinuation school than of the girls (20 per cent and 14 per cent respec
tively) had last attended academic high schools; 17 per cent of the boys
as compared with 10 per cent of the girls for whom there was informa
tion concerning grade or type of school attended, had finished one or
more years of academic high school. The greater tendency of boys to
attend high schools was also found among children in Newark, N. J.16
On the other hand, only 9 per cent of the boys but 14 per cent of the
girls had attended trade or technical high schools.
For admission to both the Boys’ Technical High School and the
Girls’ Trade School at the time of the study, completion of the sixth
grade was necessary; the Boys’ Technical High School gave courses
through the twelfth grade, the Girls’ Trade School through the tenth.17
At the Boys’ Technical High School trade instruction was given in
machine work and tool making, drafting, plumbing, pattern making,
electrical work, carpentry and cabinet making, and printing. The
Girls’ Trade School offered courses in domestic science, millinery,
dressmaking, music, typewriting, and other commercial work. No
information could be obtained concerning the number of years of
training the boys and girls had had in these schools; 44 per cent of the
employed boys from the technical high school had completed the
eighth grade and in addition 38 per cent, the ninth or a higher grade.
The children, many more of whom were boys than girls, who had
attended the prevocational classes had also received instruction in
hand or industrial work but no training which would be considered as
preparation for any specific trade.
There appeared to be a tendency for the Milwaukee children who
went to work under 18 to leave regular school as soon as they legally
could. The proportion of those who remained in school after they
were 16 was not large (16 per cent), and only a small proportion of
those leaving school before they were 16 had completed a grade
higher than the eighth. (Table 3.) Only 8 per cent of the girls and
13 per cent of the boys for whom age and grade information was ob
tained and who left school before they were 16 had completed one or
more years of high school. On the other hand, 24 per cent of the boys
and 21 per cent of the girls who left school before they were 16 had
not graduated from the eighth grade. According to figures published
by the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin concerning the school
attainments of Milwaukee children under 16 to whom regular work
permits were issued during the year ended June 30, 1924, 20 per cent
had left school before finishing the eighth grade, but most of these
had attended school for nine years.18 Probably one reason why this
proportion was slightly larger for children included in the present
study is that some of them had left school before June, 1921, when
1» The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, pp. 8-9.
17 Sixty-fifth Annual Report of the Board of School Directors of the City of Milwaukee, Wis., 1924, p. 27.
u Wisconsin Labor Statistics, vol. 4, Nos. 1 and 2 (January and February, 1926), p. 4, Table VI. Indus
trial Commission of Wisconsin, Madison.
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10
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
the present educational requirements went into effect; another reason
is that some of them were at least 15% years when they left school in
June and reached their sixteenth birthday before school opened in
the fall.
Since grade information could not be obtained for children in preyocational and trade classes and grade or age information for many
other employed children was lacking (no information being obtained
on one or both of these points for 2,799 children), it is not possible
to give representative figures for the amount of retardation among
employed minors attending the vocational school, nor can the compar
ative amount of retardation among employed and full-time school
children of the city be learned. Studies which have been made con
cerning the intelligence of school and working children, including one
study of the intelligence of continuation-school pupils in Wisconsin,
have demonstrated that although on the whole the intelligence quo
tients of working children average lower than those of school children
of corresponding ages, there is a wide range of mental ability among
the working group and that a considerable proportion of children of
superior mentality are included among them.19
In Milwaukee, as in other places where it is the custom for large
numbers of children to leave school for work as soon as it is legally
possible, the operation of a relatively low age and high grade require
ment of the school and child labor laws allows the brighter children
who are able to complete the eighth grade by the time they are 14 to
leave school and go to work at earlier ages than the children who are
backward in school. According to the information available with
regard to progress in school for 2,629 boys and 2,908 girls who had
last attended regular grades, only 10 per cent of the boys and 8 per
cent of the girls who went to work at 14 were overage for their grades.
On the other hand, 26 per cent of the boys and 24 per cent of the girls
who entered employment at 15 years and 47 per cent of each sex who
started work at 16 were retarded in school.20 Relatively more of the
children of each sex who began work at 14 were in advanced grades
for their ages than the children who were 15 or 16 when they left
school.
Interval between regular school and work.
On the whole the boys and girls in the present study did not lose a
great deal of time between school and work; that is, during the time
school was in session. The interval between the date they left
school and the date they went to work, not including the school
vacation period, was less than one month for 79 per cent of the boys
and for 67 per cent of the girls for whom this information was obtained.
For a considerable number, including all those who had last attended
commercial classes, the date of leaving school was not learned and
19 Woolley, Helen Thompson, Ph. D: An Experimental Study of Children, pp. 313,330 (New York, 1926);
Hopkins, L. Thomas: The Intelligence of Continuation-School Children in Massachusetts, pp. 117-119
(Cambridge, 1924); Stine, J. Ray: A Comparative Study of Part-time and Full-time Students in the Public
Schools of Toledo, Lima, and Fremont, Ohio, pp. 44-45 (Ohio State Board for Vocational Education,
Columbus, 1927); Mecredy. Mary: Continuation Education for Employed Minors in California, California
Part-time Youth, pp. 6, 7 (Los Angeles, 1928); Clark, Ruth Swan: The Continuation School (Survey, vol.
45 (January 8,1921), pp. 541-542), Sudweeks, Joseph: Intelligence of Continuation-School Pupils in Wis
consin (Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 18 (December, 1927), pp. 601-611).
M Retardation has been calculated according to the standards of the United States Office of Education;
that is, children of 6 and 7 are expected to enter the first grade, children of 7 and 8 the second grade, etc.
They are normally expected to complete one grade each year. Children are therefore considered overage
for their grades if they have not entered the sixth grade at the age of 12, the seventh grade at the age of 13,
and the eighth grade at the age of 14.
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THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
11
therefore the time elapsing between school and work could not be
calculated. There is no reason to suppose, however, that those
children lost either more or less time than the others.
The interval between leaving regular school and going to work was
on the whole somewhat shorter for the boys and the girls who went to
work before they were 16 than for those who began at a later age.
This may be because the younger children attended school until they
actually found work, whereas many children who became 16 during
the school year left school as soon as they reached their sixteenth birth
day but did not at once get employment; it is unlikely that it was
easier for the younger children to find employment than for the older
ones. There were, however, a considerable number of children under
16- 209 boys (12 per cent) and 430 girls (20 per cent)— who were
neither at school nor at work for at least two months during the time
school was in session; a small number let a whole school year elapse
(that is, nine or more months) before finally going to work. No doubt
one of the reasons why so many children under 16 were neither at
school nor at work was the fact that, as was previously noted, those
who had completed the eighth grade were not legally required to be
attending regular school even though not employed. According to a
Children’s Bureau study made in 1918 of working children under 16
in Boston, where the child labor law requires children of this age to be
in school unless they are employed, the interval between school and
work was somewhat shorter than it was for children in the present
study. Fifteen per cent of the Boston children as compared with 26
per cent of the Milwaukee children lost as much as a month’s school
time between leaving school and going to work.21
Age at beginning regular work.
Nearly, one-third of the working minors whose work records were
obtained 22 (28 per cent of the boys and 33 per cent of the girls) en
tered regular employment after leaving school at the age of 14, the
minimum age at which children may go to work on employment cer
tificates during the school term. (Table 4.) A small number of boys
and girls started work before they were 14. Most of these were
within a few months of their fourteenth birthday; some of them
started work in the summer vacation and were 14 by the time school
opened in the fall. Before reaching the age of 16 three-fourths of the
children, the same proportions of the two sexes, were at work. Practi
cally all the graduates of high school were at least 16 years and 6
months of age when they entered employment. The slightly larger
proportion of girls beginning work at 14 is partly due to the somewhat
earlier age at which girls complete the grade requirements for leaving
school, as has been noted, and is due also, no doubt, to the greater
opportunities for work open to them in Milwaukee.
Some of the boys and girls had done part-time work while they were
attending school or had worked during summer vacations before leav
ing school. Twenty-four per cent of the boys and 21 per cent of the
girls who were interviewed had been employed at some time before
leaving school, usually during the summer vacation. Reliable infor
mation on this point was not available for the group of children who
were not interviewed.
21 The Working Children of Boston, p. 106.
22 Excluding 581 minors whose work records were not obtained.
122517— 32--------3
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12
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
T able 4.— T im e o f year and age at beginning regular work o f em ployed boys and
girls whose work records were obtained and who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee
Vocational School
Employed boys and girls whose work records were obtained
Total
Time of year at beginning regular work
Age at beginning regular
work, and sex
June to August
September to May
Per cent
Number distribu
Per cent
Per cent
tion
Number distribu Number distribu
tion
tion
Boys....................
3,869
Age reported_________
3,812
Under 14 years____
14 years__________
15 years__________
16 years....................
17 years and over...
16
1,086
1,685
945
80
1,415
100
1,407
28
. 44
25
2
7
474
664
251
11
(')
2,405
(l)
100
2,402
34
47
18
1
9
612
1,020
694
67
Not re
ported
49
100
(9
25
42
29
3
3
1
2
Age not reported______
57
8
3
46
Girls....................
4,480
1,763
2; 676
41
Age reported.................
4,431
Under 14 years____
14 years........ _.........
15 years____ _____ _
16 years.................. .
17 years and over...
12
1,456
1,808
1,092
63
Age not reported...........
49
0)
100
1,761
33
41
25
1
6
693
753
299
10
2
(9
100
2,669
39
43
17
1
6
763
1,055
792
53
7
(9
100
1
29
40
30
2
1
40
1 Less than 1 per cent
The great decrease in the number of Milwaukee children going to
work at 14 is shown by comparing these findings of 1925 with those
of a survey of Milwaukee Vocational School pupils made in 1918 by the
school-attendance department. Seventy per cent of the 6,388 pupils
enrolled in the vocational school in 1918 who reported on this subject
had begun work at the age of 14, more than twice the percentage of
those included in the present study.23 No doubt the large number of
children who started work at 14, according to the survey of 1918, was
partly a result of war conditions, but the marked decrease in this
group throughout the State since 1921 is also due to the raising of the
grade requirement.24
More than three-fifths of the boys and of the girls entered regular
employment for the first time during the months when school was in
session, from September through M ay; the remainder in June, July,
or August. Many children who leave school in June apparently do
not go to work immediately but wait until school vacation is over, as
is indicated by figures of the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin for
MAnnual Report of the Attendance Department. Fifty-ninth Annual Report of the Board of School
Directors of the City of Milwaukee, Wis., 1918, p. 92.
a4 Child Labor in Wisconsin, 1917-1922, p. 14. Since 1925 there has been another decrease. Among
children in the present study who went to work before they were 16 years of age, 42 per cent began work at
the age of 14 as compared with 23 per cent in 1928, according to reports made by the Industrial Commission
of Wisconsin to the Children’s Bureau regarding the number of permits issued to children under 16 who
were going to work for the first time. First Regular Employment Certificates Issued to Working Children
in 1928, p. 10 (reprint from Seventeenth Annual Report of the Chief of the Children’s Bureau, 1929).
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
13
work permits issued in 1925, for example. A larger number of first
regular permits were issued in September than in any other month
during the year, the next largest numbers were issued in October and
August.25
Work certificates.
Almost all the boys and girls in Milwaukee for whom work certifi
cates were required under the provisions of the child labor law
obtained them for their first position, to judge from the information
available for the 3,613 children who were interviewed. Four per cent
however (159 children), who were employed in occupations for which
work certificates were required, had failed to get them for their first
positions. Of these only a negligible number (4) were under 14 years
of age. In this connection it may be noted that most of the children
received certificates, as required under the law, for all the positions
they held during their work history. A small proportion, however
(14 per cent of those interviewed), had failed to get work certificates
for one or more of the positions they had held.
Not all the children under 16 who had received work certificates
when they first went to work had graduated from the elementary
grades; 527 (24 per cent of those under 16 for whom work certificates
were required) had not completed this grade. These children had
either left school before June, 1921, when lower educational require
ments were m effect, or in all probability had fulfilled the legal
requirements for a work certificate by nine years’ school attendance.
4
.
Jbirst occupation.
OCCUPATIONS
In the cities in which studies of the employment of young workers
have been made, it has. been found that the boys and girls were
employed chiefly in factories or in various kinds of errand, messenger
delivery, and clerical work. The proportions in these occupational
groups vary from city to city depending on the relative importance of
the manufacturing, mercantile, and other industrial groups of the
several cities, on the kinds of goods produced there, and to some
extent also on the ages of the young workers included in the studies.26
According to the study made by the Children’s Bureau in Boston the
proportion of boys under 16 entering factories and other occupations
classified as mechanical was only 21 per cent, in Newark it was 48 per
cent, and m the present study 60 per cent. The proportion of girls
under 16 entering factories and other mechanical occupations was
50 per cent in Boston, 82 per cent in Newark, and 73 per cent in
Milwaukee.27 In these and other cities most of the children not in
factories were m errand, messenger, delivery, sales, and clerical work;
relatively few were in domestic service. A marked variation in thé
proportions of children entering manufacturing, mercantile, and other
occupational groups in different cities is also shown by figures which
give the occupations of children to whom work certificates were issued
m cities of 50,000 or more population throughout the country.28
m ty^ieonsin
l,
Statistics, vol. 4, Nos. 1 and 2 (January and February 19261 n 2
aJ st,°.f these studies see list of references, p. 70.
eoruary, 1926), p. 2.
Regular Employment Certificates Issued to Working Children in 19*>9 n 17
(reprint from Eighteenth Annual Report of the Chief of the Children’s Bureau, 1930.)
- » P-
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T a b l e 5.— Occupation and industry of first regular position and age at beginning regular work o f em ployed boys and girls whose work records
were obtained and who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Boys and girls whose work records were obtained
Girls
Age at beginning regular work
Age at beginning regular work
Occupation and industry of first regular position
Total
Total________________________ ________________________________ 3,869
binder 16 years
Under 16 years 16 years and over
Age Total
Age
Per cent
Per cent not re
Per cent
Per cent not re
Number distribu Number distribu ported
Number distribu Number distribu ported
tion
tion
tion
tion
57
4,480
3,276
Industry reported_____________ ________ . ______ ____________________ _
3,638
2,618
100
966
100
54
4,302
3,133
100
1,120
100
Manufacturing and mechanical industries............ ................................
2,140
1,560
60
557
58
23
2,881
2,286
73
586
52
9
1,824
1,363
52
446
46
15
2,863
2,273
73
582
52
8
Candy___ _______________________________________________
Clothing............................................................................... ........
Electrical equipment____________ _______ ____ ____________
Metals_________________________________________
Lumber and furniture________ ____ _______________________
Paper box_______________________________________________
Shoes__________________ _________ ______ _______________
Textiles______________ ______ ________________ _____ ______
Other manufacturing and mechanical industries............... ......
162
76
102
451
114
113
333
70
403
126
61
66
312
82
101
252
56
307
5
2
3
12
3
4
10
2
12
36
14
35
136
30
12
80
14
89
4
1
4
14
3
1
8
1
9
708
249
20
34
11
147
195
738
171
23
8
1
1
4
1
(l)
5
6
24
5
116
98
13
17
4
32
59
193
50
10
9
1
2
3
5
17
4
2
1
7
824
351
34
51
15
179
256
932
221
Laborers______________________ _____________________________
Others..............................................................................................
157
159
105
92
4
4
50
61
5
6
2
6
5
13
5
(1)
8
(9
Transportation, trade, and clerical......................................................... 1,348
965
37
367
38
16
1,033
592
.19
418
37
23
5
7
1
288
106
179
17
6
1
100
86
9
g
(!)
63
1
19
97
6
(9
7
68
237
63
51
135
40
2
4
1
16
99
22
1
9
2
Semiskilled operatives__________ ______ _____ ______________ _
Sales and stock boys and girls and other clerks in stores_________
Telephone operators____________________________________ _____
Telegraph messengers, and special delivery mail carriers________
Messenger, errand, office, bundle, and cash boys and girls_______
Stenographers and typists_______________________ _______ _ . .
Bookkeepers and cashiers..................................................................
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
193
2
135
445
13
10
2,787
16 years and over
129
1
116
343
7
3
1,025
(i)
4
13
1
1
3
2
1
(1)
2
10
1
1
5
1,155
4
49
(9
49
1
(9
9
3
i
3
i
\
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
Boys
285
95
137
33
195
51
96
24
7
2
4
1
87
41
37
9
9
4
4
1
D omestic and personal service___________
Professional and semiprofessional pursuits.
Other industries_______________„ ________
87
28
35
59
14
20
2
1
1
21
14
7
2
1
1
231
169
Industry not reported1_____________________
1 Less than 1 per cent.
59
3
3
4
7
8
3
232
142
5
85
8
5
27
12
20
8
1
1
1
0)
6
4
370
18
245
10
(>)
8
109
7
10
1
16
1
178
143
35
(i)
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
Other clerical............................... ........
Drivers and helpers..............................
Others......... ......................................... .
Occupation not reported......................
Or
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
16
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
The occupational distribution of the Milwaukee children in the
present study is very similar to that reported by the census of 1920 for
Milwaukee children of the same ages. According to these figures,
59 per cent of the employed boys of 14, 15, and 16 years of age and
67 per cent of the girls of the same ages were in manufacturing and
mechanical industries; 24 per cent of the boys and 17 per cent of the
girls were in messenger, errand, and clerical work; and the remainder
were scattered through various other occupational groups.29
The proportions of the boys under 16 and 16 years of age and over
in the present study who began work in manufacturing and mechan
ical industries were similar (60 per cent and 58 per cent), but more of
the girls under 16 than 16 and over entered manufacturing and mechan
ical industries (73 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively). The great
majority of the boys and nearly all the girls in the manufacturing and
mechanical occupations were factory operatives; some of the boys were
laborers or were helpers to skilled mechanics. (Table 5.)
The first occupations in which the young workers were employed
represented practically all the important manufacturing industries of
the city. The boys were employed in the metal-working industries,
in factories manufacturing electrical supplies, in shoe, furniture, and
paper-box factories. The girls were concentrated in the textile, cloth
ing, and candy factories, in which boys were likewise employed, and
to a considerably smaller extent in the shoe, paper-box, metal, and
electrical industries and in printing establishments. Girls and boys
under 16, as well as those who were older, found employment in all
these industries when they started work.
Numerically the most important occupations for the boys who
began work in nonmanufacturing and nonmechanical occupations
were errand and messenger work, miscellaneous clerical work, sales
and stock work in stores, and delivering telegrams and special-deliv
ery messages. Less important numerically were the boys employed
as drivers’ helpers on trucks and wagons. A small number of the boys
were laundry operatives, caddy boys, bootblacks, and workers in
other occupations classified according to the Bureau of the Census
as domestic and personal. About the same proportions of the boys
under 16 as of the older boys (13 per cent and 10 per cent, respec
tively, of the total number employed) were errand and messenger
boys; likewise there was but little difference in the proportions of
boys of the different ages who were employed as clerical workers,
as sales or stock boys, or as helpers to drivers.
i ¡The girls in nonmanufacturing industries were chiefly sales and
stock girls in stores, clerical workers, typists, stenographers, or mis
cellaneous clerical workers, were telephone operators, or were domestic
workers. The girls under 16 were not so likely as the older girls to be
typists, stenographers, or other clerical workers, and few girls under
16 were telephone operators. About the same proportions of the
girls under 16 as of the older girls were domestic workers; usually
these were employed in private families or in laundries.
Occupation at the time of inquiry.
The occupational distribution of the boys and girls employed at the
time of the study was very similar to that at the time they began work.
Indeed, the last positions of about one-half of the young workers
Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920 , vol. 4, Population, Occupations, pp. 633-634.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
17
were the same ones in which they had found employment when they
started work.
Manufacturing and mechanical occupations.— Fifty-two per cent of
the boys under 16 and 59 per cent of those 16 and over were in factory
and other mechanical occupations; 74 per cent of the girls under 16
and 60 per cent of those 16 and over were likewise in factory work.
As in their first positions, both sexes were engaged in a great variety
of occupations in different manufacturing industries at the time of the
study. (Table 6.) No doubt the Wisconsin laws prohibiting the
employment of minors under 16 or under 18 on or in connection with
certain machinery30 excluded a number of these children from factory
work, particularly machine work. Employment on machines of
minors— particularly those under 16— was, no doubt, lessened, even
in occupations not specifically prohibited, by the so-called blanket
clause prohibiting the employment of minors in “ any place of em
ployment or any employment dangerous or prejudicial to life, health,
safety, or welfare.”
T a b l e 6 .— Occupation and industry of last position and age J anuary 3 1 , 1 9 3 5 ,
o f boys and girls em ployed on that date whose work records were obtained and who
were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Boys and girls employed Jan. 31,1925, whose work
records wer e obtained
Boys
Girls
Occupation and industry of last position
Age Jan. 31,1925
Total
Total............................................. - ......................
Under 16 years
16 years and over
Age Jan. 31, 1925
Total
Under 16 years
16 years and over
3,280
622
2,658
3,814
627
Manufacturing and mechanical industries................. 1,855
319
1,536
2,364
457
1,907
3,187
Semiskilled operatives_________ ____ ___ ______
1,550
282
1,268
2,340
452
1,888
Chemicals and allied industries____________
Glove factories..................................................
Garment workers......................................... .
25
37
25
6
4
5
19
33
20
12
78
107
4
12
14
8
66
93
Sewing......................... .............................
Other processes__________ _____ _______
4
16
5
1
4
3
12
5
46
53
g
3
10
1
43
43
7
9
2
4
79
22
31
1
17
4
9
1
Millinery and hat manufacturers________ _.
Other clothing industries__________ _______
Electrical equipment..................................... _
4
2
2
107
9
98
88
24
35
Bench work, assembling, and finishing,.
Machine work______ _____ ____________
Other processes........................................ .
Process not reported............................ .
54
0
30
14
5
1
2
1
49
8
28
13
18
4
12
1
Candy factories................................................
84
15
69
514
164
350
5
58
6
90
319
89
16
19
100
38
7
71
219
51
9
D ipping...________ _______ ___________
Wrapping, packing, and labeling....... .
Other processes....................... ..................
Process not reported__________________
7
71
6
2
13
3
80The chief prohibitions affecting the children under 16 included in this study are employment on cylin
der, boring, or drill presses, stamping machines in sheet-metal and tinware manufacturing, on emory or
polishing wheels, and on burnishing machines in leather manufacturing.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
18
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
T a b l e 6 .— Occupation and industry of last position and age Janu ary 3 1 , 192 5 ,
o f boys and girls em ployed on that date whose work records were obtained and who
were enrolled in the M ilw au kee Vocational School — Continued
Boys and girls employed Jan. 31, 1925, whose work
records were obtained
Boys
Girls
Occupation and industry of last position
Age Jan. 31,1925
Total
Manufacturing and mechanical industries—Contd.
Semiskilled operatives—Continued.
Other food industries_____________________
Metal industries______________ ______ ____
Under 16 years
16 years and over
Age Jan. 31, 1925
Total
Under 16 years
16 years and over
59
373
16
82
43
291
17
51
3
6
14
45
32
1
10
8
19
12
50
22
73
22
60
64
7
1
7
13
14
9
1
1
6
Wrapping, packing, and labeling............
Other processes___________ _____ ______
Process not reported...... ...........................
82
23
83
30
79
76
2
1
1
7
11
13
8
Lumber and furniture industries................. .
Paper-box manufacturing____ _____________
Printing and publishing..............................
Shoe manufacturing_______ ______________
136
60
92
327
25
12
10
55
111
48
82
272
15
135
66
264
3
31
16
53
12
104
50
211
Cutting (hand or machine)......................
61
2
46
199
19
8
Other machine work__________________
Other processes____ __________________
Process not reported__________________
10
34
3
53
2
36
165
16
4
39
30
174
17
1
2
6
41
3
3
37
24
133
14
Textile industries.............................................
78
11
67
850
115
735
Coning, knitting, looping, ribbing,
spooling, topping...................... ...........
Mating and inspecting________________
Packing, wrapping, and labeling_______
Other processes______ ____ _______ ____
Process not reported__________ ____ ___
11
2
4
53
8
2
1
7
1
9
2
3
46
7
330
49
87
362
22
55
3
7
48
2
275
46
80
314
20
Other manufacturing and mechanical industries..____________ _______ _____________
143
30
113
84
16
68
Laborers............................................... .................
Others............................................................... ......
111
194
18
19
93
175
4
20
2
3
2
17
Transportation, trade, and clerical..................... ........ 1,256
275
981
1,151
86
1,065
28
1
148
2
236
200
37
199
200
Assembling and bench work....................
Core making _______ _____ ___________
Sales and stock boys and girls and other clerks in
stores___________________________ ____ _____
Telephone operators__________________ ____ __
Telegraph messengers and special delivery mail
carriers_____________________ ______________
Messenger, errand, office, bundle, and cash boys
and girls_________ ________ __ ______ ______ _
Stenographers and typists_______ ___________
Bookkeepers, cashiers, and accountants.... ..........
Other clerical workers___ _____ _______________
Drivers and drivers’ helpers_________ _________
Others.......................... .1______________________
Occupation not reported............................. ..........
60
31
29
325
18
29
387
100
135
23
102
1
53
25
29
5
223
17
29
334
75
106
18
52
265
99
263
12
7
4
22
40
258
95
241
29
7
3
1
26
6
Domestic and personal service....................... .............
54
13
41
241
73
168
Nursemaids and housework (not otherwise specifled).....................................................................
Others____________________________________ _
Occupation not reported________ _____________
54
13
41
165
74
2
57
16
108
58
2
Professional and semiprofessional pursuits_________
Other industries_____ ___ ________ _______________
Industry not reported________ ____ ______________
47
11
57
1
2
12
46
9
45
23
2
21
35
9
26
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
176
3
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
19
Metal industries.— In the machine shops and foundries, stove and
machinery factories, and the tinware and other metal trades of the
city, 373 boys (about one-fourth of the boys who were factory opera
tives) were employed. Twenty-two per cent of these boys in the
metal industries (practically the same proportion as of all the boys
employed at the time of the study) were under 16 years of age. The
work of many of the boys under 16 in the metal industries was in
connection with the assembling of parts, such as gas cocks, faucets,
valves, and chains, and in other hand operations. Few of the younger
boys (10) were employed in machine processes. A number of the
older boys were engaged in core making, and a considerable number
(73) were employed in machine operations, feeding the tack machine
and working on drill presses, milling, riveting, and other metal-work
ing machines. (Table 6.) Relatively few girls were employed in
the metal industries, and practically all of these were at least 16 years
of age.
Electrical-supply factories.— About 100 boys and a small number
of girls, nearly all of both sexes at least 16, worked in factories manu
facturing electrical and radio supplies, assembling parts, inspecting,
testing, and in other hand work; a few of them were employed on
machines.
Shoe industry.— Shoe factories 31 employed 327 boys and 264 girls
(one-fifth of all the boys and about one-tenth of the girls classified as
semiskilled operatives). There appeared to be considerable oppor
tunity for both boys and girls under 16 in shoe factories, as 17 per
cent of the boys and 20 per cent of the girls of continuation-school
age employed in this industry were in that age group. Children
under 16 were employed in many of the varied hand operations com
mon to shoe factories but were not employed to any extent on the
machines. The boys of all ages did such hand work as cementing
(gluing or pasting), assembling, sorting and inspecting, and floor
work (carrying supplies to the workers). Eighty of the 272 boys of
16 and over were employed on machines, including the heeling, tack
pulling, buffing, burnishing, polishing, and other machines. A num
ber of boys, chiefly those of 16 years or over, were employed in cutting
trimmings and linings, and in other cutting processes; although not
apprenticed, they no doubt had a chance to pick up a knowledge of
shoe-cutting work, a relatively skilled occupation in which a number
of boys were indentured as apprentices. (See p. 60.) The girls of all
ages also were employed in numerous simple hand operations, such as
cementing, trimming, putting laces in shoes, marking sizes, packing
and wrapping; a considerable number of the older girls (80) were
employed on machines; some of these did stitching operations which
require a certain degree of skill.
Textile industries.— The textile mills, chiefly hosiery, underwear,
and other knitting mills, furnished employment to 850 girls (36 per
cent of the girls employed as factory operatives) and to a relatively
small number of boys (78). The employment of girls under 16 in the
textile mills appeared to be less common than in some of the other
industries employing girls of continuation-school age;_ only 14 per
cent were under 16. Three hundred and thirty of the girls, including
55 under 16 years of age, were employed in connection with the
si For an account of the opportunities in the shoe industry in Milwaukee see The Shoe Industry in the
series entitled “ M y Life Work.” Milwaukee Vocational School, Milwaukee.
122517— 32— — 4
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
20
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
coning, knitting, looping, ribbing, spooling, and topping machines.
A number, practically all of whom were at least 16 years of age, were
employed on machines in the silk-throwing department of one of the
hosiery mills in such work as winding and twisting. Power sewing
and cutting out knit garments, also mating and inspecting, operations
usually regarded as requiring considerable experience, were reported
by a number of the older girls. Some of the older as well as the
younger girls did relatively simple hand operations, such as dipping
and trimming threads, marking, packing, wrapping, and labeling.
Candy industry.— In the candy factories there were 514 girls, of
whom an unusually large proportion (32 per cent) were under 16.
Only a small number of boys (84) were in candy factories. The
occupations of more than three-fifths of the girls were packing,
wrapping, and labeling. Hand dipping, an occupation which requires
considerable judgment, furnished employment to about one-fifth of
the older girls but to few of the younger ones. The remaining girls
and the boys were employed in other processes connected with the
making of candy or in floor work, taking around trays of candy and
supplies to and from the workers, and in other miscellaneous work.
Clothing industries.— Two hundred and ninety-seven girls, but few
boys, also worked in the glove factories, in men's clothing establish
ments, and in millinery and hat manufacturing. Only 12 per cent of
the girls in these industries were under 16. Many girls of 16 and
over were engaged in various sewing operations, both hand and ma
chine. The others in this age group and most of those under 16 did a
variety of miscellaneous work, including such simple hand operations
as pulling bastings, clipping threads, and carrying work to the
operatives.
Paper-box industry.— Paper-box manufacturing was the only other
industry in which a considerable number of girls (135), of whom 23
per cent were under 16, were employed. This industry offers a
variety of simple hand work, such as closing (putting covers on
boxes), nesting (stacking the covers or bottoms of boxes), pasting,
gluing, and bending or folding the sides of boxes. A few girls, all
of them 16 or over, were employed in machine work. Only a small
number of boys were employed in this industry.
Miscellaneous manufacturing industries.— The lumber and furniture
industries employed a considerable number of boys (136), especially
boys of 16 years and over, in woodworking, upholstering, and other
processes. A number of boys (92), chiefly those of 16 years and over,
were in the printing and publishing industries. A few of these,
although not legally apprenticed, were working as helpers to com
positors and typesetters and may have had a chance to learn some
thing of the printing trade. The number of girls in these industries,
especially in the manufacture of furniture, was small.
Other occupational groups.— Forty-eight per cent of the boys under
16 and 41 per cent of those 16 years and older were employed in
occupational groups other than manufacturing and mechanical. One
of the important occupations numerically was errand and messenger
work for factories, stores, and offices, occupations open primarily to
juvenile workers. Twice as many of the younger as of the older boys
(17 per cent and 9 per cent of the total number employed) were
engaged in this type of work. A small additional proportion of both
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
21
the younger and the older boys were telegraph messengers. Another
numerically important group were the boys who did clerical work (9
per cent of the boys under 16, and 15 per cent of the older boys)—
work which included filing, billing, and helping in the shipping rooms.
A number of the older boys but practically none of those under 16
were bookkeepers, cashiers, or typists. Small proportions of the
boys in each age group were sales or stock boys,- “ jumpers” or helpers
to drivers of trucks and wagons. Only 2 per cent of the boys (about
the same percentage of the older and of the younger boys) were
employed in occupations classified as domestic and personal, in laun
dries, restaurants, helping janitors, or running elevators; a few were
employed in barber shops, where they might have had a chance of
learning a trade. A few boys also were employed in blueprinting
concerns and in photographic studios— work which, according to the
census, was classified as professional or semiprofessional.
About 25 per cent of the girls under 16 as compared with 40 per cent
of those 16 and oyer were in nonmanufacturing occupations. The
majority of these girls were in clerical work or were employed in stores
or as telephone operators. Occupations as stenographers, typists,
bookkeepers, or cashiers were reported by a negligible number of the
younger girls but by 353 (11 per cent) of the girls of 16 years and
older. Girls under 16 were not eligible as telephone operators;
200 or 6 per cent of the girls 16 and over were engaged in this work.
About the same proportion of each age group were sales, stock, trans
fer, or bundle girls or general clerical workers in stores. Domestic
an d personal service furnished employment to 6 per cent of the girls
at the time of the inquiry, about the same proportion of the older and of
the younger children. For the most part the girls worked in private
families, but there were a few in steam laundries. Practically none
were in hotels or restaurants, work which is prohibited for girls under
17 by ruling of the industrial commission. A few girls were employed
in hairdressing and beauty parlors. A small number of the girls,
most of whom were at least 16 years of age, worked in photographic
places, as assistants in dentists’ offices, or as ushers in theaters, or in
other occupations classified in the professional group. On the whole,
as might be expected, the girls of 16 and over appeared to have a wider
range of employment in clerical and mercantile occupations than the
younger girls.
Change in occupation.
Among the employed boys and girls for whom satisfactory informa
tion as to work history was obtained and who were interviewed were
619 boys and 561 girls who had reached the age of 17 at the time the
inquiry was made. A comparison of the first occupations of the boys
in this group with the occupations in which they were employed at the
time of the study shows that some occupational change had taken
place in the interval since they had entered industry, especially in the
case of clerical workers and errand and messenger boys. Of the group
of boys of 17 years who were under 16 when they began work, 53 per
cent were employed in their first jobs as factory operatives and 47 per
cent at the time of the interview. On beginning work 9 per cent of the
boys and at the time of the study 20 per cent were in clerical work; 12
per cent were in errand and messenger work in their first jobs and only
4 per cent at the time of the study. The girls who began their working
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
22
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
lives in factories tended to leave factories for clerical and other posi
tions when they became older, as is indicated by a comparison of the
first and last occupations of the girls who were 17 years of age at the
time they were interviewed and had begun work before they were 16.
A larger proportion of this group were in factories when they began
work than at the time of the study (69 per cent and 56 per cent, respec
tively), while a correspondingly smaller percentage were clerical
workers and telephone operators in their first than in their last posi
tions (22 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively).
There was apparently a much greater tendency for both boys and
girls to make minor changes in occupations— that is, to change from
hand work to machine work in the same kind of factory or to change
from one kind of factory to another—than there was for them to go
from one general type of occupation to another, as from factories into
offices. Information concerning such minor changes in occupation
was obtained for the group of boys and girls interviewed who were
between the ages of 15 and 18 at the time of the study and who had
had more than one job. Most of them (93 per cent of the boys and
86 per cent of the girls) had made some minor change in occupation.
The girls who were in clerical work at the time of the study reported
the least change. Twenty-five per cent of these as compared with
10 per cent of girls in factories had done the same kind of work in their
first and last occupations.
Relation of school attainment to occupation.
The amount of education of the young workers was of great impor
tance in relation to the kind of work they did. It was the boys and
girls who had failed to complete the elementary grades and who had
been in prevocational classes who were employed in factory work in
great numbers, in both their first and last positions; individuals with
more education, especially those who had high-school or commercial
training, were much more likely to do clerical or mercantile work.
This same influence of schooling on the kind of work has been found
true in studies of young workers made in other cities. In a Cin
cinnati study of working children between the ages of 14 and 18,
factory work occupied a larger proportion of children of both sexes
from the lower than from the upper grades, and office work a much
larger proportion of children from the upper than from the lower
grades.32 According to the findings of the study of employed boys
of 16, 17, and 18 years of age made in New York State in 1918 for the
military training commission, the more education the boys had the
more likely they were to go into professional, clerical, and retail
business occupations and the less likely they were to go into factories.33
A correlation between grade completed and type of occupation entered
was found in an earlier bureau study made of working children under
16 in Boston and also to some extent in the case of working children
under 16 in Newark and Paterson, N. J., according to the more recent
study made there.34 The influence of school attainment on occupation
was much more marked for the Milwaukee children than for working
children in these two other Children’s Bureau studies, doubtless
because an older group, including boys between 16 and 18, was
32 An Experimental Study of Children, p. 603.
33 Burdge, Howard G.: Our Boys, a study of the 245,000,16, 17, and 18 year old employed boys of the State
of New York, p. 231. Military Training Commission, Bureau of Vocational Training, Albany, 1921.
34 The Working Children of Boston, p. 246; The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, p. 20.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
23
studied in Milwaukee, and in consequence a considerable number bad
had high-school or some kind of special training.
There was a marked tendency for the boys with a low grade ac
complishment to be employed in factory and other mechanical occupa
tions. Of the boys who had not graduated from the eighth grade or
had last been in prevocational classes, 60 per cent were employed as
factory operatives at the date of the inquiry, as compared with only
31 per cent of the high-school boys and 23 per cent of those who had
had business training. Correspondingly smaller proportions of boys
from the lower grades and larger proportions of boys from high-school
grades and commercial classes were employed in some kind of clerical,
messenger, or store work. (Table 7.) Boys with varying amounts of
education were employed to some extent in both their first and last
positions in the different manufacturing industries; but those who had
not completed the elementary school appeared to be less in demand in
some industries than in others, at least in occupations classified as
semiskilled. In the printing establishments and in factories making
electrical supplies boys from prevocational classes and those with less
than an eighth-grade education formed less than 23 per cent and 26
per cent, respectively, of the boys of continuation-school age at work
in these industries; on the other hand, at the time of the study these
boys represented 34 per cent of the boys employed in the shoe factories
and 45 per cent of those employed in the metal industries.
The extent to which boys made use of training received in wood
working, machine-shop work, printing, and other courses given in the
boys' technical high school is not known, as the kind of work they had
done in school and the length of their training could not be learned.
About the same proportions of the 281 boys who had attended this
school as of all the boys attending continuation school were in the
manufacturing and mechanical, clerical, and the other main industry
groups in their last positions. A little over one-third of the technical
high school boys who were employed as factory operatives— about the
same proportion as of all the boys in this group— were in the metal,
furniture, and printing industries, yet it might be supposed that in
these industries they could find occupations in which they had had
some instruction.
The advantage of the boys' commercial training is indicated by the
fact that 32 per cent of those with such training compared with 13 per
cent without commercial training were clerical workers, bookkeepers,
cashiers, typists, stenographers, or other office workers, or were in
other work classified as clerical, such as stock and shipping room work
in factories. Ten per cent were sales or other store clerks; the re
mainder who were not in manufacturing and mechanical industries
were mostly delivery, errand, or messenger boys.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
T able 7. -Occupation and industry o f last position and last grade completed by boys and girls em ployed J anuary 3 1 , 1 92 5 , whose work records
were obtained and who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Boys and girls employed Jan. 31,1925, whose work records were obtained
Less than
eighth
Occupation and industry of last position, and sex
Total
Ninth or
higher
Eighth
Boys----------------------- -------------------- ---------- ------------------
3,280
680
1,640
604
3,223
667
100
1,614
595
Manufacturing and mechanical industries.............................
1,855
479
72
918
1,256
160
Semiskilled operatives....... ..................- ........- .............—
Laborers_________________ _______ _______ _________ —
Others.............................. ..............................................—
Occupation not reported............ .....................—..............
0
Sales and stock boys and other clerks in stores------------Telephone operators_____________________________ __________________
Telegraph messengers and special delivery mail carriers.
Messenger, errand, office, bundle, and cash boys______
Stenographers and typists_____ ______ ____ ____ ______
Bookkeepers and cashiers____________________________
Other clerical_______________________________________
Drivers and helpers_________________________________
Others----------- ------ ---------------- --------------------------------Occupation not reported_____________________________
Domestic and personal service___________________________
Professional and semiprofessional pursuits........................ —
Other industries________________________________________
Industry not reported..i________________________________
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Girls’ Trade Prevocational
School
school
Spe
cial
Not
class
re
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
(num
ported
cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent
Num distri
ber) 1
distri
distri
distri
distri
distri
ber
ber
ber
ber
ber
ber
bu
bu
bu
bu
bu
bu
tion
tion
tion
tion
tion
tion
Industry reported_________________ ________________________
Transportation, trade, and clerical......................... ...............
Commercial
39
57
40
70
339
55
0
CO
0
102
230
100
30
173
69
43
0
643
«
103
100
0
0
20
100
20
78
18
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
Last grade completed
*
J
3,814
670
3,779
661
100
1,853
100
398
100
Manufacturing and mechanical industries________________
2,364
524
79
1,333
72
107
27
Semiskilled operatives.......................................................
Laborers___________________________________________
Others............. .............................................................. .
Occupation not reported___________ _____ ___________
2,340
4
20
520
79
4
1
1,319
3
11
71
(8)
1
103
1
3
26
(2)
1
Transportation, trade, and clerical.............................. ..........
1,151
78
12
389
21
268
67
224
83
181
Sales and stock girls and other clerks in stores................
Telephone operators.............. ............................................
Telegraph messengers and special delivery mail carriers.
Messenger, errand, office, bundle, and cash girls............
Stenographers and typists........................... ....................
Bookkeepers and cashiers....... ........... ...............................
Other clerical_______________________________________
Others_____________________________________________
Occupation not reported....................................................
236
200
23
25
3
4
101
85
5
5
49
41
12
10
13
17
5
6
48
31
52
265
99
263
29
7
1
3
15
6
2
1
2
2
5
1
(8)
23
30
39
97
11
3
6
77
28
62
4
1
2
19
7
16
1
(2)
4
136
12
40
1
1
1
51
4
15
(2)
(2)
Domestic and personal service______________________ ____
Professional and semiprofessional pursuits________________
Other industries________________________________________
241
23
57
2
(2)
6
1
21
2
5
1
5
2
2
1
Industry not reported................................................... .................
35
9
1,868
4
(2)
2
1
9
119
12
15
402
(8)
272
4
1 Per cent distribution not shown because number of boys and number of girls was less than 50.
269
513
59
100
509
100
38
14
294
58
38
14
292
57
36
9
6
14
19
16
48
5
3
4
3
9
1
29
5
6
1
2
3
10
20
100
10
20
46
78
8
14
46
78
8
14
6
10
1
4
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
2
1
7
12
1
59
(2)
4
2 Less than 1 per cent.
1
2
1
2
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
Girls.......................................................................................
Industry reported......... . .................................... ..........................
to
Oi
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
26
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
Even more noticeable among the girls than among the boys was the
employment in factories of those from the elementary-school grades
and the employment in stores and offices of those who had had the
advantage of one or more years in academic high-school or businessschool training. Seventy-nine per cent of the girls with less than an
eighth-grade education were employed in factories in their last posi
tions, as compared with only 26 per cent of the girls who had finished
at least one year of high school. Only 7 per cent of those who had
failed to graduate from the eighth grade, as compared with 54 per
cent of the high-school girls, were clerical workers or telephone opera
tors ' 4 per cent of the former and 14 per cent of the latter were employed
in various capacities in stores. The occupational distribution of the
eighth-grade graduates was more like that of the girls who had not
graduated from elementary school than like that of girls with highschool or special training. (Table 7.) The influence of education on
the girls’ occupations was more evident in their occupations at the
time the inquiry was made than in their first occupations, no doubt
because some occupations open to the older girls were not open to
younger ones with the same training.
That the girls utilized the commercial training which they had is
shown by the fact that the great majority (71 per cent) with this kind
of training were employed in some kind of clerical work in their last
positions, 51 per cent of them as stenographers or typists. The Girls’
Trade School gave commercial training as well as courses in millinery
and dressmaking and instruction in domestic science. However,
information was not available as to what kind of instruction the girls
had had. Not quite three-fifths (57 per cent) of them, a smaller pro
portion than of eighth-grade graduates, were factory operatives at the
time the study was made; one-fifth were engaged in typing, stenog
raphy, and other clerical work; the rest were in store work or were
telephone operators or in domestic service. More than one-tenth of
the employed girls had last attended trade school. The proportions
of girls of continuation-school age who had had this kind of training
varied from 8 per cent in paper-box factories to 15 per cent in the
clothing trades exclusive of the millinery establishments. Forty-five
of the 88 continuation-school girls employed in millinery and hat
making establishments had been trained at the Girls’ Trade School.
The effect of education and training in the case of the girls is most
striking when a study is made of the occupations which those of 17
held at the time of the inquiry. (Table 8.) For example, the pro
portion of girls who were employed in factories ranged from 79 per
cent for those with less than an eighth-grade education to 6 per cent
for those with training in commercial work; the proportion employed
in clerical work ranged from 4 per cent for those with less than an
eighth-grade education to 85 per cent for those with business training.
Like the girls, the boys with a low grade attainment tended to go into
factories, those who were eighth or ninth grade graduates into clerical
occupations, or into stores or other occupations classified under the
heading “ Trade, transportation, or clerical.”
The occupations of the 46 graduates of high schools, not included
in these figures, were also significant in this connection. Only 2, 1
boy and 1 girl, were in factories; all the rest were in clerical, mer
cantile, or other nonfactory occupations. Seventeen of the girls were
stenographers and two were teachers.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
T a b l e 8.
-Occupation and industry of last position and last grade completed by interviewed boys and girls 17 years o f age, em ployed J anuary S I,
192 5 , who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Last grade completed
Total
Boys........................- .................................. — ...........
149
(*)
143
277
«
252
Commercial
35
37
Sales and stock boys and other clerks in stores—
Messenger, errand, office, bundle, and cash boys.
Other clerical workers...................................... —
Telephone operators--------------- -----------------------Others.
Occupation not reported...
Domestic and personal service.
Other industries........................
Industry not reported......................
1 Per cent distribution not shown because number of boys and number of girls was less than 50,
J Not shown because number of boys was less than 50.
a Less than 1 per cent.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Ninth or
higher
334
Semiskilled operatives_________________________
Laborers------- ---------- ---------------------- --------- ----Others_____________________ ____ ____________
Occupation not reported_______________ - ...........
Transportation, trade, and clerical____________ ____
Eighth
280
619
Industry reported------- ------- ----------------- ------------- -----Manufacturing and mechanical industries..................
Girl’s Trade
PrevoSchool
cational
school
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
(num
Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent
ber distri ber distri ber distri ber distri ber distri ber)1
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
Less than
eighth
Occupation and industry of last position, and sex
85
Spe
cial
Not
class
re
(num ported
ber)1
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
122517— 32
Interviewed boys and girls 17 years of age
T a b l e 8 .— Occupation and industry o f last position and last grade completed by interviewed boys and girls 17 years o f age, em ployed January S I,
1 92 5 , who were enrolled in the M ilwaukee Vocational School — Continued
fcO
00
Interviewed boys and girls 17 years of age
Less than
eighth
Occupation and industry of last position, and sex
Total
Ninth or
higher
Girl’s Trade
School
Prevocation- Spe
cial
Not
al
class
re
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per school (num
ported
Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent (num
ber)
ber distri ber distri ber distri ber distri ber distri ber)
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
Eighth
Girls____________________ ____ ____ ____ ______________ _____ ___
561
103
Industry reported____________ ______ ______________ __ ____ ___________
557
101
100
225
100
Manufacturing and mechanical industries________ ____ ________ ____
287
80
79
140
Semiskilled operatives________________________________________
Laborers___ _______ _____ _______ ___________________ ____ _____
O thers...______________ ________________ ____ ________________
Occupation not reported............................. ......................................
283
79
78
138
4
1
1
Transportation, trade, and clerical_________________ ____ ___________
242
15
Sales and stock girls and other clerks in stores___________________
Messenger, errand, office, bundle, and cash girls.............................
Other clerical workers_____________ _______ ________________ ___
Telephone operators____ ______ _______________________________
Others________________________ _____ _____ ______ ________ ____
Occupation not reported_____ ________________ ________________
36
3
155
40
4
1
4
1
4
5
1
Domestic and personal service...................................................................
Other industries__________________________________________________
24
4
5
1
5
1
Industry not reported________________________________________________
4
2
8 Less than 1 per cent.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
226
Commercial
74
71
100
71
62
15
21
4
61
14
19
4
2
1
1
1
15
73
32
56
77
66
93
4
1
4
5
1
17
8
33
21
1
1
15
9
(3)
(*)
10
1
42
2
1
14
1
58
3
1
11
1
2
3
(8)
1
5
1
4
79
73
100
4
4
79
100
6
42
53
4
6
42
53
4
31
39
8
10
15
7
1
19
9
1
1
5
1
6
1
1
1
60
5
1
85
7
1
1
2
1
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
Last grade completed
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
29
WAGES
First wage.
Various factors may influence the wages of young workers on
beginning work, especially their ages, their occupations, and their
school attainment. The earning capacity of the Milwaukee children
depended at least partly on their ages. The median beginning wage
for boys 14 years and under when they began work was $9.50 a week;
for boys of 15 years, $10; and for boys of 16 years and over, $12.
The girls’ median wage was $9 for those 14 and under; $9.50 for those
of 15; and $11, for those of 16 and over. (Table 11.)
T able 9.— A g e at beginning regular work and first regular weekly wage o f em ployed
boys and girls whose work records were obtained and who were enrolled in the
M ilw aukee Vocational School
Employed boys and girls whose work records were obtained
Age at beginning regular work
First regular weekly wage,
and sex
Under 15
years
15 years
17 years
and over
16 years
Total
Age
not re
Per
Per
Per
Per ported
Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent
ber distri ber distri- ber distri ber distri
dution
bution
bution
bution
3,869
1,102
3,519
1,002
100
1,537
100
860
100
74
100
46
Cash wage o n ly ................ 3,446
983
98
1,509
98
844
98
72
97
38
Less than $6.................
$6, less than $8_______
$8, less than $10______
$10, less than $12_____
$12, less than $14_____
$14, less than $16_____
$16, less than $18.........
$18 and more....... ........
102
554
945
831
535
283
87
109
45
234
331
222
96
31
14
10
4
23
33
22
10
3
1
1
34
252
442
372
216
123
36
34
2
16
29
24
14
8
2
2
17
55
161
219
200
107
34
51
2
6
19
25
23
12
4
6
4
6
7
10
17
16
1
11
5
8
9
14
23
22
1
15
2
7
4
8
6
6
2
3
Cash plus other.................
Other only..........................
No wage________________
47
15
11
13
3
3
1
17
5
6
1
11
3
2
1
1
1
1
1
5
3
Wage reported______________
1,685
(*)
(>)
945
«
«
80
(9
¡9
57
350
100
148
85
6
11
4,480
1,468
1,808
1,092
63
49
Wage reported—____ _________ 4,162
1,357
100
1,671
100
1,031
100
60
100
43
Cash wage only.............. ... 4,040
1,322
97
1,618
97
1,006
98
58
97
36
Less than $6_________
228
904
$6, less than $8.............
$8, less than $10______ 1,254
$10, less than $12.........
802
$12, less than $14.........
599
$14, less than $16_____
189
$16, less than $18_____
49
$18 and more________
15
89
380
478
234
102
25
10
4
7
28
35
17
8
2
1
(»)
88
370
557
303
210
70
16
4
5
22
33
18
13
4
1
(i)
42
142
216
245
254
84
17
6
4
14
21
24
25
8
2
1
3
5
2
15
22
6
5
5
8
3
25
37
10
8
6
7
1
5
11
4
1
1
2
36
6
11
2
16
3
6
2
1
2
(Ó
1
1
2
3
2
2
Wage not reported__________
Girls
Cash plus other.............. .
Other only______________
No wage____ ____________
83
15
24
27
4
4
Wage not reported.............. .....
318
111
1 Less than 1 per cent.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
(l)
137
(i)
1
61
(l)
3
6
30
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
Under the Wisconsin minimum wage law the industrial commission
has the power to issue orders fixing the minimum-wage rate for minors.35
The rate in effect during most of the 4-year period when the minors
of the present study were entering employment was 16 cents an hour
for inexperienced employees in all occupations.36 On the basis of
a 48-hour week this would be equivalent to a wage rate of $7.60 a
week, a rate lower than the median wage of both boys and girls in
this study. The great majority of the children who were paid in
cash reported wages of at least $8 a week (77 per cent of the boys
and 68 per cent of the girls under 16 and 91 per cent of the boys
and 82 per cent of the girls of 16 or older). The cash wages of only
a small proportion were less than $6 a week (3 per cent of the boys of
all ages and 6 per cent of the girls). In addition to those who were
paid entirely in cash there were 2 per cent who received some form of
maintenance as part or all of their compensation. (Table 9.) It
should be borne in mind that the initial wages of these Milwaukee
boys and girls do not represent the wages of any one year. The
children entered employment at different dates over a 4-year period,
and during this period, as a result of the business depression of 1921
to 1922, there was considerable fluctuation in wages.37
Wage at the time of inquiry.
The wages of the boys and girls at the time of the inquiry also
depended to a large extent on their ages and to a lesser extent on the
length of time they had been at work. The boys’ wages varied from
less than $5 to $36 a week; the girls’ wages, from less than $5 to $45.
The median weekly wages for the boys who were paid in cash ranged
from $9 a week for those of 14 years to $15 for those of 18 years. As
is generally the case, the girls’ wages averaged less than those of boys
of the same ages, the median ranging from $8.50 for those of 14 years
to $13.50 for those of 18.
The majority of the young workers of 16 and 17 years were earning
a wage higher than that set by the minimum-wage scale for experi
enced workers which on the basis of 20 cents an hour for a 48-hour
week for minors of 16 and of 25 cents an hour for minors of 17 would
be $9.60 and $12, respectively. (See footnote 36, below.) Sixtyfour per cent of the boys of 16 and 17 years and 52 per cent of the
girls of these ages received weekly wages of $12 or more, including 19
per cent of the boys and 10 per cent of the girls whose wages were at
least $16. (Table 10.)
M Wisconsin Stat. 1927, sec. 104.01-104.12.
86 Order No. l, Revised Aug. 1,1921. This order, which was in effect during most of the period when the
children included in this study were employed, provided for the following hourly wage rates (these
applied to all occupations, except for special orders for work in fruit and vegetable canneries, in which few
of the minors in this study were engaged; see Minimum Wage, pp. 1, 2, bulletin of the Industrial Commis
sion of Wisconsin, 1924.): Minors of 14 and 15 years—not less than 16 cents an hour the first year and not
less than 20 cents an hour the succeeding year; minors of 16 years —not less than 16 cents an hour the first
6 months and not less than 20 cents an hour after the first 6 months; minors of 17 and 18 years—not less
than 16 cents an hour the first 3 months, not less than 20 cents an hour the second 3 months, and not less
than 25 cents an hour thereafter.
88 For the fluctuation in wages and number of employees in Wisconsin factories see Wisconsin Labor
Market, published by the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, vol. 3, N*. 11 (November, 1923), chart, p. 3.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
31
T able 10.— A g e and weekly wage Janu ary 8 1 , 1 92 5 , o f boys and girls em ployed on
that date whose work records were obtained and who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee
Vocational School
Boys and girls employed Jan. 31, 1925, whose work records were obtained
Age Jan. 31,1925
Under 15
years
Weekly wage Jan. 31,
1925, and sex
15 years
18 years
and over
17 years
16 years
Total
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent
ber distri ber distri ber distri ber distri ber distri
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
1,252
1,156
528
250
3,280
94
Wage reported.................. 3,168
89
100
507
100
1,125
100
1,210
100
237
Cash wages only____
3,104
88
99
494
97
1,108
98
1,183
98
231
Less than $6.........
30
$8, less than $10...
$10, less than $12..
$12, less than $14..
$14, less than $16..
$16, less than $18..
$18 and more........
444
698
715
510
221
334
1
21
36
18
8
2
1
24
40
20
9
2
2
2
12
65
156
146
62
38
7
7
2
13
31
29
12
7
1
1
12
41
173
325
282
147
57
71
1
4
15
29
25
13
5
6
4
24
67
182
313
275
124
194
Cash plus other........ .
41
18
5
1
1
2
10
5
2
1
15
11
1
11
1
1
(i)
(■)
(0
('*)
(l)
2
6
15
26
23
10
16
1
1
(*)
1
100
97
(0
5
11
21
20
14
25
12
27
50
48
33
60
4
1
1
112
5
21
31
42
13
3,814
116
511
1,326
1,528
333
Wage reported................... 3,700
(i)
(')
2
105
100
490
100
1,278
100
1,501
100
326
100
3,626
100
95
474
97
1,245
97
1,485
99
322
99
Less than $6.........
$6, less than $8___
$8, less than $10...
$10, less than $12..
$12, less than $14..
$14, less than $16..
$16, less than $18..
$18 and more____
80
309
651
862
844
540
205
135
12
29
40
13
6
11
28
38
12
6
20
124
165
92
50
12
4
7
4
25
34
19
10
2
1
1
33
110
295
345
258
138
38
28
3
9
23
27
20
11
3
2
13
43
128
357
436
302
129
77
1
3
9
24
29
20
9
5
2
3
23
55
94
88
34
23
1
1
7
17
29
27
10
7
Cash plus other..........
Other o n l y _________
No wage........... ..........
52
13
9
4
1
4
1
10
3
3
2
1
1
26
1
6
2
9
7
1
3
1
114
11
Cash wages only____
Wage not reported........ .
21
48
(')
(>)
27
(>)
1
0
7
i Less than 1 per cent.
The importance of age as a factor in determining earnings is shown
by the last wages of the boys and girls who started work at different
ages but whose work histories were of the same duration. For
example, the median wage of boys whose work histories were between
one and two years was $11 for boys starting work at 14 years,
$12.50 for those starting work at 15, and $13.50 for those starting
work at 16. Similarly, the median wages of the girls with work
histories of between one and two years ranged from $10.50 for those
beginning work at 14 to $12.50 for those beginning work at 16.
(Table 11.)
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
32
EMPLOYED BO Y S AND G IR L S IN M ILW A U K E E
The boys and girls who had started work between two and three
years before the study were earning higher wages than those of the
same ages who had just started work. The median wage in the last
job of boys with a work history of between two and three years who
had started work at 14 and were 16 at the time of the study was $14 as
compared with $12, the median wage of boys starting work at 16 who
had been at work less than a year. The effect of a long work history
on wage is shown perhaps more clearly by the wages of the group of
boys who were 17 years old at the time of the study. The boy of
17 with a work history of two or three years was likely to earn more
than a boy of the same age who had just gone to work. Of the group
of 17-year-old boys who were interviewed and whose work histories
were of two or more years’ duration, 54 per cent as compared with
39 per cent of those who had started work less than two years before
the study were earning $15 or more a week. Likewise, the girls of
17 who had been in industry two or more years reported higher wages
than those of the same age group who had been in industry less than
one year. However, a long work history in itself did not mean a high
wage; the age of the workers appears to be the more important
factor.
T able 11.— M ed ia n weekly cash wage in first regular position , median weekly cash
wage in last regular position by length o f work history, and age at beginning regular
work o f em ployed boys and girls whose work records were obtained and who were
enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Age at beginning regular work, and sex
Median wage1in last regular position of boys
Median
and girls who had worked—
wage in
first regu
lar posi Less than 1 year, less 2 years, 3 years and
tion
more
than 2 less than 3
1 year
BOYS
$9.50
10.00
12.00
$9.50
10.50
12.00
$11.00
12.50
13.50
$14.00
15.00
$16.50
9.00
9.50
11.00
8.50
9.00
10.50
10.50
11.50
12.50
12.50
13.00
14.00
GIRLS
16 years and over____________ - ------ ---------------
1 Not shown where number of children was less than 50.
Difference between first and last wage.
Most of the individuals who had been in industry at least a year
had had increases in pay varying from less than $1 to $10 a week or
more. The increases in wage were no doubt due partly to the fact
that the individuals were older at the time of the study than when
they started work, and partly to the length of their work experience.
The median increase in the weekly wage, from the first to the last
position, was between $3 and $4 for both boys and girls. The longer
the possible work history, the greater the increase in wage. The
wages of only 25 per cent of the boys who had been between one and
two years in industry, but of 57 per cent of those who had been in
industry two years or longer, had increased $5 or more a week.
Similarly, only 21 per cent of the girls with the shorter work histories
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
33
but 48 per cent of those with work histories of two or more years
were earning as much as $5 a week more in their last positions than
at the beginning of their work histories. (Table 12.) The wages of
Cincinnati boys and girls 18 years of age who had been four years in
industry— that is, for a longer period than the boys and girls included
in the present study— had more than doubled since they began work,
according to the Cincinnati study made during the period between
1911 and 1916 before wages were affected by the war.38
T a b l e 12.— Change between first and last wage and length o f work history of inter
viewed boys and girls em ployed one year or more who were enrolled in the M i l
waukee Vocational School
Interviewed boys and girls employed 1 year or more
Length of work history
Change between first and
last wage, and sex
Total
1 year, less than 2 2 years, less then 3
Number
3 years or more
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
distri Number distri N umber distri Number distri
bution
bution
bution
bution
Boys_________________
1,264
Change reported______ _____
1,156
100
794
100
331
100
31
Increase________________
859
74
528
66
300
91
31
Less than $1___ ____
$1, less than $2...........
$2, less than $3______
$3, less than $4...........
52
95
109
92
104
293
114
4
8
9
8
9
25
10
44
78
84
58
63
164
37
6
10
11
7
8
21
5
7
15
24
33
40
117
64
2
5
7
10
12
35
19
1
2
1
1
1
12
13
150
147
13
13
139
127
18
16
11
20
3
6
$5, less than $10.........
Decrease...........................
No change.............. ..........
Change not reported________
861
366
37
108
67
35
6
1,122
647
385
90
(>)
Change reported___________
1,022
100
591
100
353
100
78
100
Increase_______________
771
75
391
66
308
87
72
92
Less than $1.......... .
$1, less than $2______
$2, less than $3______
$3, less than $4...........
$4, less than $5______
$5, less than $10.........
$10 and more_______
55
86
116
99
82
258
75
5
8
11
10
8
25
7
36
59
73
57
40
110
16
6
10
12
10
7
19
3
15
25
37
38
33
119
41
4
7
10
11
9
34
12
4
2
6
4
9
29
18
5
3
8
5
12
37
23
Decrease...........................
No change........................
114
137
,11
13
90
110
15
19
20
25
6
7
4
2
5
3
100
56
32
12
1 Not shown because number of boys was less than 50.
Relation of occupation to wage.
There were practically no differences, in either the first or the last
positions of the boys in this study, between the wages of those who
worked in factories and those who worked in stores and in clerical
38 An Experimental Study of Children, pp. 552, 602.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
34
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
occupations (not including errand or messenger b oy s).39 (Tables 13
and 14.) As compared with 30 per cent of the boys of the present
study who were factory operatives, 32 per cent of the sales and other
store clerks, and 31 per cent of the clerical workers received $15 or
more in their last positions. The wages of laborers and errand and
messenger boys were somewhat lower; only 6 per cent of the errand
and messenger boys (including telegraph messengers, who were sel
dom over 16 years of age) and 18 per cent of the laborers received as
much as $15 a week. The wages of the factory operatives varied but
little in the different manufacturing industries, although wages in
the electrical-supply industry appeared to be slightly higher on the
whole than wages in the shoe, metal, and other manufacturing indus
tries. A number of boys (59) received some form of maintenance as
part of their compensation; in many instances these boys helped
their parents in stores or in other occupations.
The similarity of wages in factory, store, and clerical occupations
is clearly shown in the case of boys who were interviewed and were
17 years of age when the inquiry was made. (Table 15.) More
than four-fifths of the clerical workers (other than errand boys) and
about the same proportion of the factory operatives reported wages
o f at least $12 in their last positions; more than one-third— about the
same proportions of clerical and factory operatives— had wages of
$16 or more.
*• According to figures for the wages of minors published in 1923 by the Industrial Commission of Wis«
consin, the wages of minors in the mercantile establishments reporting were lower than those in factories.
Wisconsin Labor Statistics, vol. 1, Nos. 5 and 6 (May and June, 1923), p. 4.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
T able 13. -Occupation, industry, and weekly cash wage in first regular position o f em ployed hoys and girls whose work records were obtained,
who reported cash wages only, and who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocationat school
Weekly cash wage in first regular position
Occupation and industry of first regular position, and sex
Total
3, less than $10
Less than!
$10, less than $12 $12, less than $15
$15 and more
Number Per cent1 Number Per cent1Number Percent1 Number Per cent1 Number Per cent1
3,446
656
945
3,407
650
936
Manufacturing and mechanical industries--------------------
2,029
403
569
Semiskilled operatives.........- .......................................
1,742
355
B oy s...........................................- ....................................
Industry reported_______________________________________
20
499
27
24
641
373
24
634
369
191
29
Candy-------- -------------- --------- ------ -----------------Clothing____________________________________
Electrical equipment_________________________
Metals.........................- ...........................................
Lumber and furniture— ------------------------------Paper box___________________________________
Shoes________________________________________
Textiles
_
_____________________________
Other manufacturing and mechanical industries.
Laborers___ ____________________________________
Others........ ...................................................................
Transportation, trade, and clerical---------------------------------------------Sales and stock boys and other clerks in stores---------- ------ -----Telephone operators_______________________ -----------------------Telegraph messengers and special delivery mail carriers----------Messenger, errand, office, bundle, and cash boys--------------------Stenographers and typists__________________________________
Bookkeepers and cashiers----------------------------------------------------Other clerical______________________________________________
Drivers and helpers____ ___________________ ____ ___________
Others------------------ -----------------------------------------------------------Occupation not reported................................................................
1 Not shown where number of boys and number of girls was less than 50.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
144
143
1,262
214
350
44
28
230
18
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
Employed boys and girls who reported cash wages only and whose work records were obtained
T able 13.— Occupation, industry, and weekly cash wage in first regular position o f em ployed boys and girls whose work records were obtained,
who reported cash wages only, and who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School — Continued
00
05
Employed boys and girls who reported cash wages only and whose work records were obtained
Total
$8, less than $10
Less than $8
$10, less than $12 $12, less than $15
$15 and more
Number Per cent Number Per cent Number Per cent Number Per cent Number Per cent
Boys—Continued.
Industries reported—Continued.
Domestic and personal service________________________
Professional and semiprofessional pursuits......................
Other industries____________ ________________________
70
26
20
20
7
6
29
14
1
2
20
14
7
1.
9
20
16
6
5
23
6
5
6
Industry not reported............................................. ................
39
6
Girls................................................................................. .
4,040
1,132
28
1,254
31
802
20
685
17
167
4
Industry reported.................................................................. .
4,002
1,121
28
1,240
31
794
20
682
17
165
4
Manufacturing and mechanical industries_______ ____
2,754
748
27
1,045
38
554
20
332
12
75
3
Semiskilled operatives................................................
2,740
745
27
1,042
38
550
20
328
12
75
3
Candy____ _________________________________
Clothing...................... ............... ........................
Electrical equipment_________________________
Metals............................... ........... ........................
Lumber and furniture..........................................
Paper box___________________________________
Shoes.............................................. ......................
Textiles_____________________________________
Other manufacturing and mechanical industries.
780
328
33
50
15
173
248
902
211
281
111
3
10
3
49
69
152
67
36
34
330
102
9
14
5
80
77
362
63
42
31
128
70
10
16
3
26
60
190
47
16
21
36
37
8
7
3
16
38
155
28
5
11
5
8
3
3
1
2
4
43
6
1
2
Laborers.................................. ...... ................... .........
Others.........................................................................
4
10
1
2
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
20
28
28
17
32
3
7
9
13
28
46
31
40
30
3
1
32
15
24
21
22
4
4
14
9
15
17
13
6
1
2
5
3
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
Weekly cash wage in first regular position
Occupation and industry of first regular position, and sex
963
17
155
16
227
24
333
35
89
9
Sales and stock girls and other clerks in stores---------------------------Telephone operators___________________________________________
Messenger, errand, office, bundle, and cash girls-------------------------Stenographers and typists_____________________________________
Bookkeepers and cashiers______________________________________
Other clerical____________ ___ _________________________________
Others-------------- ------ -------- -------- ---------------------------------- ----------Occupations not reported_______ ______ ____ ________- ........... ......
248
106
66
229
62
222
25
5
30
44
18
29
6
10
17
27
22
12
42
5
3
41
10
19
19
49
14
14
62
16
65
7
20
13
21
27
26
29
65
73
5
95
24
63
7
1
26
69
8
41
39
28
15
19
1
36
4
14
6
18
2
16
6
6
Domestic and personal service............... - --------- -------------------------------Professional and semiprofessional pursuits................................ - .............
267
18
78
37
3
14
8
5
3
13
4
5
1
Industry not reported----------------------------------- -------------------------------------
38
1 Less than 1 per cent.
14
8
3
2
(»)
EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
Transportation, trade, and clerical---------------------------------------------------
00
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
T a b l e 14.— Occupation, industry, and weekly cash wage in last position o f boys and girls em ployed J anuary S I, 1 92 5 , whose work records
were obtained, who reported cash wages only, and who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
00
00
Boys and girls employed Jan. 31, 1926, who reported cash wages only and whose work records were
obtained
Total
Less than $8
$8, less than $10
$10, less than $12 $12, less than $15
$15 and more
Number Per cent1 Number Percent1 Number Percent1 Number Percent1 Number Percent1
Boys............................................................................
3,104
182
Industry reported.........................................................
3,073
182
Manufacturing and mechanical industries...........
1,784
106
246
1,606
82
207
82
64
107
368
133
67
319
77
309
10
1
Semiskilled operatives_____________ .
Candy............................................................
Clothing.........................................
Electrical equipment_____________
Metals.........................................
Lumber and furniture___________
Paper box...... .............................................
Shoes_____________________
Textiles................._...................
Other manufacturing and mechanical industries........
Laborers.......................................................
Others..................................................
Transportation, trade, and clerical........................
Sales and stock boys and other clerks in stores
Telephone operators_________ ____
Telegraph messengers and special delivery mail carriersMessenger, errand, office, bundle, and cash boys__
Stenographers and typists.....................
Bookkeepers and cashiers_______
Other clerical.........................
Drivers and helpers............. ......
Others________ _______ _____
Occupation not reported................................
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
6
877
A
9
18
6
19
6
17
11
42
39
14
360
869
28
30
641
30
461
31
449
30
17
30
27
36
27
20
16
37
114
24
25
36
32
35
28
32
26
26
631
8
28
29
16
101
17
0
101
177
16
9
1,193
66
184
15
28
291
24
161
2
69
322
16
29
381
82
123
18
8
5
18
11
33
20
50
31
52
32
2
30
3
9
16
82
27
25
24
112
6
41
35
14
78
24
24
5
6
9
8
2
11
42
10
12
3
20
8
13
113
31
44
6
13
72
23
102
33
79
18
42
¿0
3
11
34
4
3
26
30
38
36
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
Weekly cash wage in last position
Occupation and industry of last position, and sex
Domestic and personal service________________________
Professional and semiprofessional pursuits____________ _
Other industries____ ____ _________________ ______ ____
43
45
8
7
4
6
2
6
11
19
7
9
14
1
10
6
9
8
8
31
Girls..................................................... ...........................
3,626
389
11
651
18
862
24
1,076
30
648
18
Industry reported_____ _________________________________
3,608
385
11
647
18
858
24
1,072
30
646
18
Manufacturing and mechanical industries_____________
2,299
230
10
525
23
615
27
587
26
342
15
Semiskilled operatives___________________________
2,279
229
10
524
23
611
27
581
25
334
15
Candy...................................... ..............................
Clothing_______ _____________________________
Electrical equipment_________________________
Metals______________________________________
Lumber and furniture________________________
Paper box___________________________________
Shoes......................................................................
Textiles____ _____ ___________________________
Other manufacturing and mechanical industries.
491
284
34
50
15
132
261
838
174
80
40
16
14
31
24
82
76
11
13
5
30
70
248
46
17
27
25
39
10
11
3
6
43
188
9
5
14
12
7
7
10
150
60
10
18
3
41
74
194
61
31
21
1
1
16
17
57
17
154
69
3
7
3
39
57
151
41
Laborers________________________________________
Others............. ............................................ - ...............
4
16
1
Transportation, trade, and clerical...................................
1,107
47
4
93
8
223
20
458
41
286
26
Sales and stock girls and other clerks in stores-------Telephone operators...------ ----------------------- --------Messenger, errand, office, bundle, and cash girls----Stenographers and typists..........................................
Bookkeepers and cashiers------------------------------------Other clerical___ ________________________________
Others_________________________________________
Occupation not reported........................... .................
207
198
52
261
99
261
25
4
27
13
1
3
3
9
4
2
1
3
3
27
1
21
10
5
26
1
2
13
1
40
4
5
10
51
7
19
48
18
70
10
25
4
37
18
18
27
79
96
10
105
53
106
8
1
38
48
19
40
54
41
23
94
1
95
20
50
2
1
11
47
2
36
20
19
180
22
102
6
57
29
16
17
3
9
19
8
11
13
5
7
18
4
Domestic and personal service_______________________
Professional and semiprofessional pursuits____________
Industry not reported___________________________________
1 Not shown where number of boys and number of girls was less than 50.
2
14
30
22
18
24
1
4
36
31
28
23
35
2
2
4
26
23
27
30
26
5
16
22
5
1
7
6
4
22
2
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER THAN APPRENTICES
Industry not reported_________________________ _________
CO
CO
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
40
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
The girls who worked in factories received lower wages than those
who were in store or clerical work in both their first and their last
positions. In the last positions, wages of $12 or more were reported
for 40 per cent of the factory operatives, 46 per cent of the sales and
other store clerks, 65 per cent of the clerical workers, and practically
all the telephone operators. Low wages were paid to girls employed
in the candy and paper-box industries, approximately three-fourths of
whom received less than $12 a week. In the textile industries, which
employed more of the older girls, wages were somewhat better, but in
this industry also many were earning low wages, nearly one-half
receiving less than $12 a week. The girls who earned the lowest
wages did housework in private families, most of them being paid less
than $10 a week. However, their wages were undoubtedly supple
mented in many cases by meals or some form of maintenance, although
this fact did not appear on the records from which the information
was obtained.
The tendency of girls to receive better wages in clerical than in
factory work is shown more clearly by the wages of the interviewed
girls who were 17 years of age when the study was made. The wages
of 65 per cent of the factory workers and 80 per cent of the clerical
workers were $12 or more a week. Low wages were more common in
factory than in clerical work; 13 per cent of the girls of 17 in factories
but only 1 per cent of those in clerical work were earning less than $10
a week. However, about the same proportion (21 and 20 per cent,
respectively) were earning $16 and more. (Table 15.)
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
T a b l e 15.— Occupation, industry, and weekly wage in last position o f interviewed boys and girls 17 years o f age em ployed Janu ary S I, 1 9 2 5 , who
were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Interviewed employed boys and girls 17 years of age
Total
Less
$10, less $12,less $14, less $16,less $18, less $20 or
than $10 than $12 than $14 than $16 than $18 than $20 more
Cash
plus
Wage
other or No wage not re
other
ported
only
Boys.................................................................
619
41
87
143
142
60
48
65
18
Manufacturing and mechanical industries_______
Semiskilled operatives______________________
Laborers__________ ________________________
Others____________________________________
Occupation not reported____________________
334
275
13
45
1
25
18
3
4
38
28
3
7
74
61
2
10
1
79
69
2
8
34
31
27
26
3
1
42
33
1
8
8
3
1
4
Transportation, trade, and clerical....................... .
Sales and stock boys and other clerks in stores
Messenger and errand boys................................
Other clerical workers______________________
Others____________________________________
Occupation not reported____________________
Domestic and personal service__________________
Other industries......................................................
Industry not reported.............................................. .
Girls.................................................................
252
31
38
121
60
2
12
14
7
561
13
3
4
2
4
45
4
13
19
9
62
5
12
34
11
58
10
9
27
12
22
5
17
22
2
7
2
1
5
16
1
10
10
5
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
53
1
2
1
102
1
4
2
149
2
1
2
118
2
2
11
5
1
1
3
1
3
66
25
27
13
8
Manufacturing and mechanical industries_______
Semiskilled operatives....................................... .
Others____________________________________
Transportation, trade, and clerical......................... .
Sales and stock girls and other clerks in stores.
Telephone operators................. .........................
Clerical workers____________________________
Others_______________________________ I____
Occupation not reported____________________
Domestic and personal service__________________
Other industries____________________________
Industry not reported.......................... ” ................
287
283
4
242
39
40
158
4
1
24
4
4
36
35
1
10
7
64
63
1
33
3
1
29
61
61
25
24
1
40
2
20
18
14
14
20
20
1
1
4
4
10
6
1
8
1
6
6
3
2
1
6
4
2
2
1
62
61
1
51
2
11
36
1
1
3
2
1
1
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
2
1
7
1
83
17
6
59
1
1
14
7
6
1
1
1
6
1
1
THE EMPLOYED M IN O RS OTHER THAN A PPR E N T IC E S
Weekly wage in last position
Occupation and industry of last position, and sex
42
EMPLOYED BO YS AND G IR L S IN M ILW A U K E E
Relation of school attainment to wage.
There is no definite evidence that the amount of education the
boys had had affected their wages during the first years of their
working lives. The boys with some high-school training were older
than the eighth-grade graduates when they began work, and probably,
chiefly for this reason, they received somewhat better wages in both
their first and last positions. Moreover, the wages of the group of
boys of 17 years of age who were interviewed did not vary with their
school attainment; that is, there was almost no difference in wage in
the last positions between those with some high-school or commercial
training and those with only the elementary schooling. Wages of
less than $12 a week were reported by 23 per cent of the ninth-grade
graduates and commercial-school boys and by 28 per cent of the
boys who had not completed the eighth grade or had last attended
prevocational classes. Wages of $16 or more a week were reported
by 25 per cent of those who had completed the ninth grade and the
same percentage of the boys from a grade lower than the eighth.
(Table 16.) The wages of all but 2 of the 20 boys who had graduated
from high school were at least $16; 2 of them were earning as much
as $30 a week.
T able 16.— Last grade completed and weekly cash wage in last position o f inter
viewed hoys and girls, 17 years of age, em ployed January 3 1 , 192 5 , receiving cash
wage only who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Boys and girls 17 years of age employed Jan. 31, 1925
Last grade completed
Weekly cash wage in last
position, and sex
Total
Less
Ninth Com Girls’ Prevothan Eighth and
Trade eationeighth
higher mercial School
al
Other
Boys.
Not re
ported
2
Less than $10___
$10, less than $12.
$12, less than $14.
$14, less than $16.
$16, less than $18.
$18, less than $20.
$20 and more___
41
87
143
142
60
48
65
13
28
27
40
13
16
22
33
21
31
38
16
8
10
Girls_____
540
100
212
71
Less than $10___
$10, less than $12.
$12, less than $14.
$14, less than $16.
$16, less than $18.
$18, less than $20.
$20 and more___
53
102
149
118
66
25
27
17
26
11
28
19
36
64
40
30
9
14
4
8
10
4
4
15
31
76
54
33
11
11
23
17
9
5
2
____
2
3
2
2
2
3
2
4
5
7
1
1
1
1
2
4
71
79
4
5
2
10
22
8
3
17
1
29 ______
11 - ............... .
22
11
3
3
6
1
____
4 ______
4 ______
The girls’ wages, on the contrary, appear to have been materially
affected by their school attainment. There was a considerable dif
ference between both the beginning and the last wages of girls from
the ninth and higher grades and from commercial schools and those of
girls from the elementary grades and the trade school. No doubt this
was partly due to the fact that the girls who had attended high schools
were older when they began work than were the eighth-grade
graduates. The better earning capacity of the girls with the higher
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE EMPLOYED M INO RS OTHER THAN A P PR E N T IC E S
43
school attainment is shown conclusively by the wages of the girls who
were 17 years of age at the time they were interviewed. (Table 16.)
Only 3 per cent of the ninth-grade and commercial-class girls, as
compared with 14 per cent of those who had not graduated from the
eighth grade or who had been in trade school, reported wages of less
than $10 in their last positions. The wages of 82 per cent of the girls
from the higher grades, as compared with 57 per cent of those from
grades lower than the eighth, were $12 weekly. The wages of the
eighth-grade graduates were higher than those of girls who had failed
to graduate, but not so high as those of girls who had been to high
school. Eighteen of the 26 girls who had graduated from high school
were earning between $15 and $25 a week at the time they were
interviewed or in their last positions.
The explanation of the difference in the effect of school accomplish
ment on the wages of girls and boys lies no doubt in the difference in
the wages paid the two sexes for factory and for store or clerical work.
Both boys and girls with some high-school and commercial training
tended to go into clerical and store work, but the wages for boys in
offices and stores were no better than in factories, whereas for girls
wages in offices and stores tended to be higher than in factories. If
inquiry could be made 5 or 10 years after all the boys and girls had
started work, the relation of educational advantages to wages might
be more evident in the case of boys as well as girls.
The evidence brought out in other studies concerning the advantage
of educational attainment in the matter of wages is conflicting. In
Newark completion of the eighth or a higher grade meant a somewhat
better wage than was received by children with a lower school
accomplishment.40 In Cincinnati there was no relation between
wages and school attainment during the first four years of a child’s
working life; boys and girls in that study who had completed only the
fifth grade at 14 had as good an earning capacity as those who had
completed the eighth grade. The Cincinnati study, however, did not
include children who had gone further than the eighth grade. In
Cincinnati it was found that wages paid boys who went into office
work were but slightly better than those for factory Work. For girls
wages in stores and offices were somewhat less than in factories.
Children from the upper grades in Cincinnati as well as in Milwaukee
tended to enter stores and offices rather than factories.41
R EG U LAR ITY OF E M P L O Y M E N T
The regularity of a child’s employment is affected, of course, not
only by his own temperament and desires but by circumstances over
which he has no control, such as a general industrial depression or
seasonal employment. It should be remembered that some indi
viduals in the present study had begun work as early as 1921 and may
have been affected by the unemployment situation in Wisconsin
caused by the industrial depression of 1921-22. Information con
cerning the amount of time unemployed, the duration of positions
and number of changes was obtained through interviews for 1,937 of
the boys and 1,676 of the girls included in the study.
•°The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, p. 32.
i An Experimental Study of Children, pp. 602-603, 735.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
44
EMPLOYED BO Y S AND G IRLS IN M ILW A U K E E
Length of work history.
The median length of the possible work history for the interviewed
group— that is, the period between the date of beginning work and the
date of the inquiry— was between 15 and 18 months for the boys and
between 18 and 21 months for the girls, or about the same as for the
group which was not interviewed. The length of the possible work
histories of about one-third was less than one year for both boys and
girls, and a very small proportion (2 per cent of the boys and 5 per
cent of the girls) had possible work histories of three or more years.
The work histories of the boys and girls who were 16 and 17 years of
age at the time of the study were naturally longer than those of the
younger children, but a considerable proportion of these, too, who had
not begun work until they were 16, had work histories of less than a
year. (Table 17.)
T a b l e 17 .— Length o f work history and age J anu ary 3 1 , 1 9 2 5 , o f interviewed
em ployed boys and girls who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Interviewed employed boys and girls
Age Jan. 31, 1925
Length of work history,
and sex
Total
18 years and
15 years
16 years
17 years
over
Un
der 15
years
Per
Per
Per
Per (num
Per
Num cent ber) 1 Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent
ber distri ber distri ber distri ber distri
ber distri
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
1,937
Length of work history
reported____________ ___
3 months, less than 6__
6 months, less than 9__
9 months, less than 12. .
12 months, less than 18..
18 months, less than 24..
24 months, less than 36..
36 months, less than 48—
48 months and more___
717
107
777
100
36
293
100
713
100
760
100
84
264
135
162
326
535
366
35
2
4
14
7
8
17
28
19
2
8
19
4
4
1
25
86
40
40
55
47
9
29
14
14
19
16
42
126
62
89
129
197
68
6
18
9
12
18
28
10
9
31
28
27
132
266
243
24
1
4
4
4
17
35
32
3
0
28
1
6
4
17
1,676
33
211
655
672
100
33
208
100
654
100
666
100
5
13
8
6
14
25
23
5
12
14
6
1
22
76
36
13
38
22
1
11
37
17
6
18
11
41
104
69
60
82
203
95
6
16
11
9
13
31
15
8
24
25
30
102
173
237
67
1
4
4
5
15
26
36
10
Length of work history reported....... ......................... 1,664
Less than 3 months____
3 months, less than 6__
6 months, less than 9__
9 months, less than 12. j
12 months, less than 18.
18 months, less than 24.
24 months, less than 36.
36 months, less than 48.
48 months and more___
299
1,909
Length of work history not
Girls_______________
37
83
219
136
104
230
417
385
84
6
Length of work history not
12
0
0
3
1
6
107
100
2
1
2
9
25
55
11
2
2
1
2
8
23
51
10
2
105
103
100
1
1
8
19
52
17
6
8
18
50
17
6
2
1 Per cent distribution not shown because number of boy sand number of girls was less than 50.
* Less than 1 per cent.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE EMPLOYED M IN O RS OTHER THAN A P PR E N T IC E S
45
Unemployment.
The great majority of the individuals of the present study were
actually employed on the date the study was made (the last week of
January, 1925). About one-fifth, however, were temporarily out of
work. It is probable that the number unemployed in January was
somewhat larger than it would have been at some other time of the
year since the total number of persons at work in Milwaukee manufac
turing industries in January, 1925, was smaller than in the other
months of the same year.42 Many of those unemployed at the time
of the study had not been out of work for more than one or two months;
about 3 per cent of the total number had been unemployed for six
months or more.
That young workers have but little unemployment during the first
years of their work experience has been indicated in several recent
studies as well as in earlier studies of employed children in various
cities. Working children of Newark and Paterson, N. J., according
to the Children’s Bureau study made in 1925, had been employed for
most of the first year or two of their working lives. This is true of
employed children in New Britain and Norwich, Conn., as is shown
in a study made by the National Child Labor Committee in 1928.
The New York State Department of Education found that boys
attending continuation schools in 1926 were employed most of the
time but that this was not true of the girls. Earlier studies also, both
the one made in Connecticut and that made in Boston, show but little
unemployment among either boys or girls. The study of Cincinnati
children begun in 1911 is especially significant in this connection
because it covered the first four years of the child’s working life, a
longer period than that included in any of the other studies mentioned.
Three-fourths of the Cincinnati children were found to have been
employed in each of the four years for 50 or more weeks out of the
52.43 The present study of employed Milwaukee minors confirms the
conclusion that both boys and girls who leave school before they are
16 are employed during the greater part of the first years of their
working lives.
For the boys and girls with work histories of a year or more, the
great majority of whom were at least 16 years of age at the time they
were interviewed, the percentage of time they had been out of work
was calculated. Children who had a work history of less than a year
were not included in this calculation because many of them had such
short work histories that they had little chance to be unemployed.
Sixty-three per cent of both the boys and the girls for whom the information was obtained had been unemployed less than one-tenth of their
work histories. Only a small proportion (8 per cent of the boys and
11 per cent of the girls) had been unemployed for one-half or more of
the time they might have worked. (Table 18.)
Because Milwaukee boys and girls were somewhat older and had
longer work histories than young workers in other studies made by
the Children’s Bureau, the information with regard to unemployment
in the different studies is not exactly comparable. Nevertheless, the
45 Wisconsin Labor Market, vol. 6, No. 11 (November, 1926), p. 1.
« The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, p. 37; Child Workers in Two Connecticut Towns,
p. 33; Statements of New York State Department of Education released Feb. 18, 1929 (boys), and July 8,
1929 (girls); The Working Children of Boston, p. 191; Industrial Instability of Child Workers, p. 34; An
Experimental Study of Children ,p. 56
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
46
EMPLOYED BO YS AND G IRLS IN M ILW A U K E E
proportion that had been out of work one-fifth or more of the time
was almost the same in Milwaukee and in Newark for children who
had gone to work before they were 16 and whose work histories were
from one to two years. This percentage was 24 for Newark and 29
for Milwaukee. However, very short periods of unemployment were
more common and very long periods of unemployment somewhat less
common in Newark than in Milwaukee.44
Unlike many State child labor laws, the Wisconsin law does not
require that children under 16 at work on employment certificates
shall attend school on full time when they are temporarily unem
ployed. No doubt this is one explanation of the fact that some chil
dren were unemployed and oiit of school not only for a large percent
age of their work histories but for considerable periods of time between
positions. About 10 per cent of the Milwaukee minors— almost the
same percentage of boys and of girls— had been out of work as long^
as six months at a time between positions.
The girls in Milwaukee reported little if any more unemployment
than the boys.45 In Newark it was found that there was little differ
ence between boys and girls in the matter of unemployed time. In
Boston and likewise in Cincinnati, however, girls were found to have
considerably more unemployment than boys. A great deal more
unemployment for girls than for boys, among the children attending
continuation schools, was reported by the New York State Depart
ment of Education.46
The study of employed children between 14 and 18 in Cincinnati,
all of whom had a work history of at least four years, showed a striking
increase in steadiness of employment from year to year.47 In the
study of Connecticut children under 16 who had work histories of less
than two years it was also found that unemployment decreased as the
children remained longer in industry.48 Among the Milwaukee boys
and girls who were interviewed there was the same tendency for those
who had longer work histories to have relatively less unemployment
than those with shorter work histories. For example, 22 per cent o f
the boys with a work history of between one and two years as com
pared with 12 per cent of those with a work history of two or more
years had been out of work for 30 per cent of the time, a difference in
percentages large enough to be significant. Likewise 23 per. cent o f
the girls with the shorter work histories as compared with 14 per cent
of those with work histories of two years or longer had been unem
ployed 30 per cent or more of the time. (Table 18.)
44 The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, p. 37.
45 However, the number of girls who were enrolled at the vocational school but had never been employed
exceeded that of boys. (See p. 64.) These minors are not included in any of the above figures.
46 The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, p. 36; The Working Children of Boston, p. 191;
An Experimental Study of Children, p. 603; statement of New York State Department of Education
released July 8,1929.
47 The proportion of children who were employed 52 weeks each year was 56 per cent the first year, 64 per
cent the second year, and 77 per cent the third year. The children were employed somewhat less steadily
the fourth year than the third, but according to the report this was probably because of disturbed industrial
conditions. An Experimental Study of Children, p. 559.
48 Industrial Instability of Child Workers, p. 31.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER TH AN
47
APPRENTICES
T a b l e 18 .— Length o f work history and percentage o f time unem ployed o f inter
viewed boys and girls em ployed one year or more who were enrolled in the M il
waukee Vocational School
Interviewed boys and girls employed one year or more
Length of work history
Total
Percentage of time un
employed, and sex
1 year, under 2
2 years, under 3
3 years and over
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number distri Number distri Number distri Number distri
bution
bution
bution
bution
Boys............ .................
1,264
Unemployment reported.......
941
100
648
100
264
100
29
None_____________
Less than 5 per cent_____
5 per cent, less than 10__
10 per cent, less than 20..
20 per cent, less than 30..
30 per cent, less than 40..
40 per cent, less than 50. .
50 per cent and m ore.___
288
197
105
109
64
57
42
79
31
21
11
12
7
6
4
8
207
115
75
70
38
40
34
69
32
18
12
11
6
6
5
11
_
78
71
25
35
23
17
6
9
30
27
9
13
9
6
2
3
3
il
5
4
3
102
861
366
37
(>}
2
1
8
Unemployment not reported.
323
Girls.._______________
1,122
Unemployment reported____
948
100
563
100
318
100
67
100
None..................... ...........
Less than 5 per cent_____
5 per cent, less than 10__
10 per cent, less than 20..
20 per cent, less than 30..
30 per cent, less than 40..
40 per cent, less than 50.
50 per cent and m ore......
290
211
94
110
58
52
27
106
31
22
10
12
6
5
3
11
171
100
55
65
40
37
15
80
30
18
10
12
7
7
3
14
102
96
25
33
15
14
12
21
32
30
8
10
5
4
4
7
17
15
14
12
3
1
25
22
21
18
4
1
5
7
Unemployment not reported.
174
213
647
84
385
67
90
23
1 Not shown because number of boys was less than 50.
The age at which the children began work was found to have no
relation to the amount of their unemployment, provided the length
o f their work histories is taken into consideration. The children with
work histories of the same lengths who started work at 14, 15, and 16
years of age had about the same percentages of unemployment.
The boys with the higher school attainment tended to have less un
employment than boys from the lower school grades; the school
attainment of the girls did not appear to be related to the amount of
their unemployment. Among the boys 52 per cent of those with less
than an eighth-grade education, 67 per cent of those who had gradu
ated from the eighth grade, and 70 per cent of those who had finished
one or more years of high school or had had commercial-school training
had been out of work less than one-'tenth of their possible work
histories. Correspondingly smaller proportions of those from the
upper than from the lower grades had been unemployed for long
periods. (Table 19.) The girls, however, who had graduated from
the eighth grade or from high-school grades or had had commercialschool training appeared to have about as much unemployment as
those who had failed to graduate from elementary school. Perhaps
this was because girls from high schools and commercial schools
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
48
EMPLOYED BO YS AND G IBLS IN M ILW A U K E E
entered clerical and store occupations and girls from the lower grades
entered factories where the demand for their work was greater than in
offices and stores. Since the graduates of high school all had work
histories of less than one year their experience is not significant in this
connection.
T a b l e 19 .— Percentage o f time unem ployed and last grade completed by interviewed
boys and girls em ployed one year or more who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee
Vocational School
Interviewed boys and girls employed 1 year or more
Percentage of time unemployed
Last grade com
pleted, and sex
Total
Less than 5 per cent, 10 per cent, 20 per cent, 30 per cent
5 per cent less than 10 less than 20 less than 30 and more
Total
Not re
report
ported
ed Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per
ber cent1 ber cent1 ber cent1 ber cent1 ber cent1
Boys............. 1,264
941
485
52
105
11
109
12
64
7
178
19
323
344
649
168
36
61
2
4
251
489
128
24
45
1
3
103
269
74
16
21
1
i
41
55
58
27
57
15
2
4
11
12
12
27
66
10
1
4
11
13
8
22
30
5
1
6
9
6
4
72
67
24
4
10
29
14
19
93
160
40
12
16
1
1
Girls_______ 1,122
948
501
53
94
10
110
12
58
6
185
20
174
183
466
88
85
117
3
6
89
258
42
46
64
1
1
49
55
48
54
55
19
44
8
9
13
10
9
9
11
11
26
56
5
11
12
14
12
6
13
10
9
28
6
4
8
5
6
7
5
7
40
80
27
15
20
2
1
22
17
31
18
17
29
76
22
19
24
Less than eighth...
Eighth___________
Ninth or higher___
Less than eighth...
Eighth......... ..........
Ninth or higher___
Commercial______
Trade school_____
212
542
110
104
141
3
10
1
1
1
3
4
1 Not shown where number of boys and number of girls was less than 50.
School attainment has been found to be related to unemployment
in several other studies, children from the upper grades having a
somewhat better record with regard to unemployment during their
first years at work than those from the lower grades. According to
the Cincinnati study there was less unemployment among both boys
and girls who had completed the eighth grade than among those who
had completed only the fifth grade. The Newark study also showed
that there was somewhat less unemployment among the boys who
had completed the eighth grade than among those from the lower
grades.49
It might be expected that unemployment would have a detrimental
effect on wages, but there was no marked relation between wages and
unemployment, possibly because the number of individuals who had
been unemployed for a great deal of time was small and a little unem
ployment would not be likely to affect wages. Among the boys there
was no association of unemployment with low wages; neither did un
employment affect the extent to which wages had increased since the
boys started work. Among the girls, however, there was a slight
indication that those who earned very low wages and those who re« An Experimental Study of Children, p. 602; The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, p. 38.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE EM PLOYED MINORS OTHER TH AN APPRENTICES
49
ceived the smaller wage increases since starting work had had more
unemployment than those whose wages were higher. For example,
25 per cent of the girls who received less than $10 in their last posi
tions, as compared with only 11 per cent of those who earned between
$10 and $12 a week and 9 per cent of those who received $12 and
more a week, had been out of work for the relatively large proportion
of 30 per cent or more of their work histories.
Duration of first position.
At the time of the inquiry the first positions of most of the individ
uals who were interviewed were ended; only 19 per cent, about the
same proportion of boys and of girls, were still working for their first
employer.80 In Milwaukee, as in other cities where the employment
of young workers has been studied, most of the boys and girls had
held their first positions but a short time. Sixty-two per cent of the
boys whose first positions were ended and 59 per cent of the girls had
kept them for less than three months; 27 per cent of the boys and 23
per cent of the girls, less than one month. A considerable proportion,
however (20 per cent of the boys and 22 per cent of the girls), had
kept their first positions for six months or longer. (Table 20.)
The Milwaukee children who went to work before they were 16
kept their first positions, which had terminated by the date of the
inquiry, an even shorter time than children who went to work at the
same ages in Newark, N. J. According to the Children’s Bureau
study made there, 48 per cent of both boys and girls as compared with
60 per cent of the boys and 56 per cent of the girls of Milwaukee
stayed in their first positions less than three months. The duration
of the first positions of working children of Boston, all of whom had
likewise started work before they were 16, was somewhat similar to
the duration of the first positions of Milwaukee children, the positions
of 49 per cent of the boys and 60 per cent of the gills in Boston having
lasted less than three months. Little difference in the duration of the
first positions of boys and girls was found either in Milwaukee or in
Newark; in Boston, however, the girls kept their positions a shorter
time than the boys.61
No conclusions, however, could be reached in this study as to
whether or not children who began work before they were 16 kept
their first positions a longer or a shorter time than those who began
work when they were older. A smaller proportion of the Milwaukee
children who started work before they were 16 than of those who
began after they had reached this age were still employed in their
first positions at the time the study was made (14 per cent as compared
with 33 per cent). This comparison, of course, must be considered in
the light of the fact that the children who were under 16 on starting
work had had a longer opportunity to work than the children who were
16 and 17 years old on beginning work.
jo The duration of a position is defined as the length of time the child stayed with 1 employer irrespective
of the number of different occupations in which the child was employed.
81 The Working Children of Newark and Paterson, p. 39; The Working Children of Boston, p. 361.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
50
EMPLOYED BO YS AND G IR LS IN M ILW A U K E E
T able 20.— A g e at beginning regular work and duration o f first regular position
o f interviewed em ployed boys and girls who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee
Vocational School
Interviewed employed boys and girls
Age at beginning regular work
Total
Duration of first regular position,
and sex
14 years and
under
16 years and
over
15 years
Age not
Per
Per
Per
Per report
ed
Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent
ber distri ber distri ber distri ber distri
bution
bution
bution
bution
Boys____________ _________
Terminated positions..............
Duration reported_____________
Less than 2 weeks_________
2 weeks, less than 1 month. __
9 months, less than 1 year__
1 year and more......... ..........
1,937
563
874
474
1,664
509
718
317
26
20
1,380
100
440
100
659
100
278
100
3
159
213
478
256
110
81
83
12
15
35
19
8
6
6
42
66
139
88
32
34
39
10
15
32
20
7
8
9
70
95
244
115
63
37
35
11
14
37
17
10
6
5
45
52
95
53
15
10
8
16
19
34
19
5
4
3
2
69
59
39
17
356
17
51
3
151
5
150
7
4
2
1,676
576
681
401
18
1, 358
528
557
261
12
Duration reported.......................
1,238
100
485
100
511
100
236
100
Less than 2 weeks_________
2 weeks, less than 1 month..
1 month, less than 3________
135
155
436
238
109
72
93
11
13
35
19
9
6
8
56
59
139
97
41
38
55
12
12
29
20
8
8
11
45
57
207
89
51
31
31
9
11
41
17
10
6
6
30
39
88
52
17
3
7
13
17
37
22
7
1
3
9 months, less than 1 year__
1
184
6
4
2
120
43
46
25
6
308
10
48
123
1
134
6
3
3
The school attainment of the child appeared to make little difference
in the length of time he kept his first position, either among the whole
group of boys and girls or among those who had started work when
under 16 and had in most cases left their first positions before the date
of the study. Among boys who went to work before they were 16 and
whose first positions were terminated, 63 per cent of those with less
than an eighth-grade education and 55 per cent of those who had had
some high-school or commercial training had stayed with their first
employer less than three months. Correspondingly smaller propor
tions of those from the lower than from the upper grades had kept
their first positions six months or more, but statistical analysis shows
that the differences in proportions are not large enough to be con
clusive. There was no relation between the last grade completed by
the girls who went to work under 16 and the duration of their first
positions. (Table 21.)
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
T able 21.— Duration o f first terminated regular position and last grade completed by interviewed em ployed boys and girls beginning work under
16 years o f age who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Employed boys and girls beginning regular work under 16 years of age
Boys...........................................................
. .
Duration reported.................- ...............—
Less than eighth
Total
1,437
366
302
797
' ----1
1,099
277
100
273
83
92
64
38
10
30
33
19
14
4
74
25
T e r m i n a t io n
Eighth
=====
146
114
698
--- ------1--
39
95
35
75
619
100
97
100
32
148
212
115
92
52
24
34
19
15
8
21
36
16
15
9
22
37
16
15
9
5
9
5
11
2
0)
3
15
34
12
9
1
21
48
17
13
1
1
3
4
4
18
2
52
2
95
4
3
100
17
202
4
71
79
32
not reported-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -
Other
Trade school
Commercial
Not re
Per cent ported
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
distri
distri
Number
Number
Number distri Number distri Number distri Number distri
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
1^227
203
Ninth, tenth,
and eleventh
1
1
1
Girls............................... ..........................
1,267
219
681
87
104
150
14
2
Terminated positions.........................................
1,085
202
583
72
94
126
6
2
Duration reported.......................................
996
188
100
542
100
64
100
84
100
112
100
6
43
66
2S
35
20
123
177
104
28
14
7
16
25
11
10
2
25
39
17
16
3
15
24
22
19
4
18
29
26
23
5
17
51
12
18
14
15
46
11
16
13
3
3
86
23
33
19
16
10
89
14
41
8
10
14
171
17
98
15
10
23
1
186
6 m o n t h s , less th&n 1 ys&r—- - - - - - - - - - -
Termination not reported-- -- -- -- -- - —-- - - - - - -
52
(»)
2
THE EMPLOYED M IN O RS OTHER THAN A PPR E N T IC E S
Last grade completed
Duration of first terminated regular position,
and sex
8
Or
1Not shown because number was less than 60.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
52
EMPLOYED BO Y S AND G IR LS IN M ILW A U K E E
The land of occupations which the boys and girls entered when
they first began work appeared to make but little difference in the
length of time they remained with their first employers, although
the duration of the first positions of the individuals in the principal
occupational divisions varied slightly. The boys who entered fac
tories as operatives tended to remain a somewhat shorter time than
those who went into clerical, errand, sales, or stock work. For
example, 63 per cent of the boys who were factory operatives, as
compared with 51 per cent of those who did clerical, errand, sales,
or stock work, kept their first positions less than three months.
Eighteen per cent of those in factories as compared with 29 per cent
of those in the other types of work enumerated stayed in their first
positions for the relatively long periods of six or more months. Among
the boys whose first positions lasted an especially short time were
boys who carried messages for the telegraph companies. The girls
who were factory workers remained in their first positions about the
same length of time as girls who were clerical workers. Some of the
girls in sales, stock, or other store work remained but a very short time;
24 of 74 reporting duration in this type of work stayed less than one
month, no doubt because they had taken temporary jobs during busy
weeks in department stores. Domestic workers were also inclined
to hold their first positions but a short time.
Duration o f last position.
After boys and girls have been some time in industry they appar
ently settle down to steady work in one position, to judge from the
fact that the duration of the positions in which the Milwaukee chil
dren were employed at the time of the inquiry was much longer than
the duration of their first terminated positions. The length of time
they had been employed in their present position up to the time of the
study depended largely on the length of the time they had had an op
portunity to work since leaving school. A small group of boys and girls
had been employed for the whole of their work history, usually a
short one, in one position, and were still employed at the time of the
study. There were 1,124 boys and 1,016 girls who had had two or
more positions, were employed in January, 1925, and reported the
duration of the positions they were holding. Of this number over
half, 53 per cent of the boys and 57 per cent of the girls, had held
their present positions six or more months, including 33 per cent and
39 per cent, respectively, who had been in their present positions for
at least one year and were still employed.
Changes in position.
The number of times an individual changes positions is one indi
cation of his stability or lack of stability as a worker, at least when the
length of his possible work history is also taken into consideration.
Several changes in positions during the first few years of a child’s
working life may be an indication of initiative and ability to progress,
since he may change from an inferior position to another in which the
wage or the chance of promotion is better. That some changing may,
indeed, be desirable is indicated by the fact that the boys and girls of
this study who had changed positions several times had greater in
creases in wages between the time of beginning work and the time of
the study than those who had had but one or two positions. It is
when a child changes his positions repeatedly and when the changing
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
53
THE EMPLOYED M IN O RS OTHER THAN A P PR E N T IC E S
is accompanied by unemployment that he should be regarded as
unstable.
The number of positions which the boys and girls had held since
leaving school, as might be expected, depended to a large extent on
the length of time they had had an opportunity to work prior to the
date of the inquiry. (Table 22.) About one-fourth of the minors
who were interviewed (26 per cent of the boys and 27 per cent of the
girls) had held but one position; a very few (8 boys and 2 girls) had
held as many as 10 positions. For boys who had work histories of
less than one year the average number of positions held was 1.6, but
it was 2.9 for those with work histories of between one and two years
and 3.9 for those with work histories of two or more years. For girls
the average number of positions was 1.6, 2.7, and 3.4, respectively, for
corresponding groups. As has been explained (p. 3), the number of
positions which this group of interviewed boys and girls had held may
be slightly higher than for the whole group of employed children on
account of the method used in selecting the interviewed group.
T able 22.— Length o f work history and number o f positions held by interviewed
em ployed boys and girls who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Interviewed employed boys and girls
Length of work history
Under 1 year 1 year,2under 2 years, under
3
Number of positions held,
and ses
Total
Boys_________ ________
3 years and
over
Length
Per
Per
Per
Per not re
Num cent Num cept Num cent Num cent ported
ber distri
ber distri
ber distri
ber distri
bu
bu
bu
bu
tion
tion
tion
tion
1,937
645
100
861
100
366
100
37
501
584
380
214
122
72
30
17
9
8
341
226
50
23
2
2
1
63
35
s
4
123
279
229
116
60
36
7
4
2
6
14
32
27
13
7
4
1
g
18
23
18
14
8
6
3
2
1
1
5
U
6
5
5
2
2
1
28
65
86
66
61
29
20
11
7
3
Qirls__________________ 1,676
542
100
647
100
385
100
90
100
12
306
174
53
7
2
56
32
10
1
110
232
164
80
37
19
4
1
17
36
25
12
6
3
i
25
104
105
72
41
22
10
3
2
1
6
27
27
19
11
6
3
1
i
3
18
30
17
9
6
3
1
2
1
3
20
33
19
10
7
3
5
4
1......... .
2.............................
3.....................................
4 .. ........ ........
5___________ _____
6_______________ _____
7....... ....................................
8....... ........... ...........
9 .________________
10 or more______________
1........................
2..............................................
3................... .............................
4 ........ .................................
5 .. .____ __________________
6_____________________ _____
7.................................................
8___________ _____ _____ ____
9_________ _________________
10 or more__________________
449
532
352
178
90
47
17
5
4
2
0
(*)
0
0
0
0
0
0
28
0
9
4
2
1
2
1
1 Not shown because number of boys was less than 50.
1 Less than 1 per cent.
Since the number of positions depends largely on the length of the
possible work history, a classification was made in order to relate the
number of positions to the number of years of possible work history.
Boys and girls whose work history was less than one year in length are
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54
EMPLOYED BO YS AND G IR LS IN M ILW A U K E E
excluded from the discussion of stability because many of them had
started work but a few months before the inquiry was made and their
experience during the first few months of work, when adjustments
must often be made, would not necessarily be an indication of their
stability as workers. Individuals who changed positions less often
than once in each 12 months of their work history are classified in class
A ; those who changed positions once but not twice in each 12 months
of work history are classified in class B ; and those who changed posi
tions two or more times in each 12 months are classified in class C.52
The group of individuals who changed positions less often than once
a year (class A)— that is, those who shifted positions relatively sel
dom— comprised 18 per cent of the boys and 26 per cent of the girls.
The largest number of individuals were in class B, the group of those
who changed positions on the average of once for each year of work
history (48 per cent of the boys and 51 per cent of the girls). A con
siderable proportion shifted more often. (Table 23.)
T able 23.— Average number o f positions per year during work history and length
o f work history fo r interviewed boys and girls em ployed 1 year or more who were
enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Interviewed boys and girls employed 1 year or more
Length of work history
Average number of positions
per year, and sex
Total
1 year, less than 2 2 years, less than 3 3 years and more
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number distri Number distri Number distri
bution
bution
bution
Boys........... ..............
Class A, less than 1 position___
Class B, 1 position, less than 2 _
Class C, 2 or more positions........
Girls..........................
Class A, less than 1 position..
Class B, 1 position, less than 2
Class C, 2 or more positions........
1,264
861
100
366
100
37
233
609
422
123
420
318
14
49
37
93
172
101
25
47
28
17
17
3
1,122
647
100
385
100
90
100
291
568
263
110
337
200
17
52
31
129
199
57
34
52
15
52
32
6
58
36
7
<»)
1 Not shown because number of boys was less than 50.
The individuals who change positions seldom may not necessarily
work steadily throughout their work histories, as they may hold their
positions but a few weeks and be unemployed the rest of the time. On
the other hand, individuals who frequently change positions may work
fairly steadily, as they may begin work in their new positions immedi
ately on ending their old positions. The Milwaukee boys and girls,
however, who had seldom changed positions had, on the whole, little
unemployment in comparison with those who shifted positions more
frequently. Eighty-one per cent of the boys who changed positions
less than once in each year (class A) but only 42 per cent of those who
changed positions two or more times a year (class C) had been un
employed less than one-tenth of their possible work histories. On
, " A similar classification was made in The Working Children of Boston (see p. 194 of that study) and also
In The Workmg Children of Newark and Paterson (p. 40 of that study).
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55
THE EMPLOYED M INO RS OTHER THAN A P PR E N T IC E S
the other hand, 11 per cent of the boys who seldom changed posi
tions (class A) as compared with 32 per cent of those who changed
positions frequently (class C) had been out of work 30 per cent or more
of the time. Among the girls there was also a marked association
of unemployment and shifting of positions. (Table 24.)
T able 24.— Average number o f positions per year during work history and per
centage of time unem ployed fo r interviewed boys and girls em ployed one year or
more who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Interviewed boys and girls employed 1 year or more
Not reported
52
105
11
109
12
64
7
178
19
323
171
250
64
79
55
23
4
51
50
2
11
18
10
54
45
5
12
16
8
30
26
4
7
9
23
66
89
11
15
32
17
158
148
948
501
53
94
10
110
12
58
6
185
20
174
268
478
202
191
247
63
71
52
31
13
53
28
5
11
14
16
56
38
6
12
19
7
29
22
3
6
11
41
93
51
15
19
25
23
90
61
Girls....................... .......... 1,122
Class A, less than 1 position...
■Class B, 1 position, less than 2..
Class C, 2 or more positions___
291
568
263
Per cent
485
216
451
274
Number
941
233
609
422
Per cent
1,264
Per cent
Boys........... ........... ...........
Class A, less than 1 position. . .
Class B, 1 position, less than 2..
■Class C, 2 or more positions____
Total
Number
30 or more
Per cent
20, less
than 30
Number
10, less
than 20
Number
5, less
than 10
Per cent
Less than
5
Number
Average number of positions
per year, and sex
Total reported
Percentage of time unemployed
According to the findings of the study made in Cincinnati, there
was a tendency for children to become steadier workers the longer
they remained in industry.63 Milwaukee children also appeared to
become more steady with their longer work experiences, those with
the longer opportunities to work having relatively fewer changes in
positions than those with the shorter possible work periods. For
-example, 14 per cent of the boys with work histories of between one
and two years as compared with 27 per cent of those with work his
tories of two or more years were in the group of those who changed
positions least often (class A). Similarly 37 per cent of those with
work histories of between one and two years but only 26 per cent of
those with longer work histories were in the group of those who
-changed positions the most often (class C). This tendency was even
more marked among the girls than among the boys. (Table 23.)
Whether Milwaukee boys and girls change positions more or less
often than working children in other cities in which the Children’s
Bureau has made studies is not clear because longer work histories
were obtained for the children in Milwaukee than for those in the
other cities, and children with the longer work histories tended to
■change positions less often than those who had been at work a shorter
time. The children who were employed on work certificates in Con83 According to this study the average number of positions held by boys in the 4 successive years of their
-work histories was 2.2 positions the first year, 1.9 the second year, 1.7 the third year, and 1.5 the fourth year.
Por girls there was a similar decrease according to the consecutive year of work history. An Experimental
.Study of Children, pp. 565, 568.
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56
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN M IL W A U K E E
necticut are more nearly comparable with the Milwaukee children
than those in the other studies, because all the Connecticut children
for whom figures on shifting of positions are given had work historie»
of 21 to 24 months in length. Thirty-one per cent of the Connecticut
boys, as compared with 18 per cent of the Milwaukee boys, changed
positions less than once in each year (that is, were in the group of those
who changed positions least often). However, nearly as large a pro
portion of Connecticut as of Milwaukee boys changed position»
repeatedly (that is two or more times a year)— 27 per cent and 33
per cent, respectively. The industrial situation in Connecticut before
the war when the study was made and that in Milwaukee between
1921 and 1925 may not have been similar, and may have affected the
amount of shifting in positions of the individuals included in the two
studies. Girls were found to change positions somewhat less fre
quently than boys in both Milwaukee and Connecticut.54
The children who had a relatively high school attainment had some
advantage in the matter of stability at work over those who had a
lower school attainment. (Table 25.) The boys who had less than an
eighth-grade education or had last attended prevocational school
were somewhat more likely to be in the group who changed positions
repeatedly than were those who were eighth-grade graduates or had
been to high school; 46 per cent of the former as compared with 28 per
cent of the latter had changed positions on the average of at least
twice a year (class C). Similarly, among the girls 34 per cent of those
who had not graduated from the eighth grade as compared with 23 per
cent of those who had been to trade school, 21 per cent of those who
had graduated from the eighth or a higher grade, and 16 per cent of
those who had had commercial training were in the group of those
who had changed positions two or more times a year (class C). These
findings correspond with those of the Cincinnati study, in which it
was also revealed that the upper-grade children had a somewhat better
record for steadiness of employment than the lower-grade children,
the number of shifts in position being somewhat greater for fifth-grade
than for eighth-grade children.55
84 Industrial Instability of Child Workers, p. 23.
u An Experimental Study of Children, pp. 602-603.
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57
THE EMPLOYED M IN O RS OTHER THAN A P PR E N T IC E S
T able 25.— Average number o f positions per year during work history and last
grade completed by interviewed boys and girls em ployed one year or more who were
enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Interviewed boys and girls employed one year or more
Average number of positions per year
Last grade completed, and sex
Total
Class A, less than
1 position
Class B, 1 posi
tion, less than 2
Class C, 2 or
more positions
Number Per cent1 Number Per cent* Number Percent1
1,264
Girls_________________ ________
233
18
16
18
22
609
48
422
33
124
341
86
19
25
2
12
37
54
51
47
28
26
41
155 .
178
44
8
26
333
636
167
36
61
2
29
54
117
37
9
10
1,122
291
26
568
51
263
23
204
533
109
104
141
3
36
149
35
26
40
1
18
28
32
25
28
98
273
50
61
68
2
48
51
46
59
48
70
111
24
17
33
34
21
22
16
23
28
4
16
6
16
1 Not shown where number of boys and number of girls was less than 50.
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43
11
8
T H E APPRENTICES
The apprenticeship law in Wisconsin is an attempt to adapt the old
apprenticeship system to modern industrial conditions and to make it
possible for minors to get adequate training in skilled trades. Under
the provisions of the law, minors between 16 and 21 may be trained in
certain trades or businesses under a written contract or indenture.56
The period of training varies with the trade and is from one to five
years. The industrial commission has the duty of investigating and
declaring what occupations and industries should come under the
terms of the law and has the power to issue rules and regulations to
carry it out.57 The apprenticeship agreement must state the number
of hours to be spent in work and the number of hours to be spent in
instruction. During the first two years the period of instruction must
be at least four hours per week; and if the apprenticeship is for a
period longer than two years, the total hours of instruction must be
not less than 400.58
The 231 apprentices included in the study were boys between the
ages of 16 and 18, an older group than the main group of boys in
attendance at the vocational school, since under the law no boy may be
apprenticed until he reaches the age of 16. Many apprentices over 18
attended the vocational school but were not covered by the present
study.59 No apprenticed girls under 18 were enrolled at the voca
tional school. There is nothing in the law to prevent the apprentice
ship of girls, but at the time of the study the industrial commission
had not worked out apprenticeship requirements for any of the trades
which girls generally enter except dressmaking and millinery.
T E R M IN A T IO N OF REG U LAR SC H O O L IN G AN D B E G IN N IN G OF W O R K
EXPERIEN CE
The majority of the boys who were indentured as apprentices at
the time the study was made had left school before they were old
enough to become apprentices and had entered other kinds of employ
ment first. Sixty-two per cent left school before they were 16, in
cluding 18 per cent who left before they were 15. The proportion of
apprentices leaving school under 16, however, was smaller than of the
main group of boys, 81 per cent of whom had left school when under
this age. (Table 24.)
se ‘ ‘ The term apprentice shall mean any minor, 16 years of age or over, who shall enter into any contract
of service express or implied, whereby he is to receive from or through his employer in consideration for his
services
* * instruction in any trade, craft, or business. Every contract or agreement entered into by
an apprentice with his employer shall be known as an indenture * * * and shall be in writing * * * ”
Wisconsin Stat. 1927, sec. 106.01.
57 Wisconsin Stat. 1927, sec. 106.01. See also Administration of Child Labor Laws, Part 4—Employ
ment-Certificate System, Wisconsin (U. S. Children’s Bureau Publication No. 85), pp. 74-76.
** Wisconsin Stat. 1927, sec. 106.01.
» The number of apprentices included in the study constitute but a small proportion of the number
indentured in Milwaukee or in the State. During the school year 1924-25 the total number of apprentices
of all ages enrolled in the Milwaukee Vocational School was 1,097. In June, 1924, the Industrial Commis
sion of Wisconsin reported 2,050 indenture agreements in force throughout the State. During the 2 years
ended June 30,1924,1,414 new indentures had been entered into and 339 apprentices had been graduated;
during the 2 years ended June 30, 1926, 1,683 new indentures had been entered into and 430 apprentices
graduated. Biennial Report, Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, 1922-1924, p. 51 (Madison. 1925):
1924-1926, p. 47 (Madison, 1926).
58
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59
THE A PPR E N TIC E S
As compared with three-fourths of the main group of boys in
attendance at the vocational school, one-half of the apprentice group
started their working lives before they reached the age of 16. Only
12 per cent of the apprentices as compared with 29 per cent of the
other boys went to work at 14 or under.
In school attainment the boys who became apprentices were some
what superior to the other boys attending the vocational school
under the requirements of the compulsory part-time school law.
Only 19 per cent of those in the apprentice group were from prevo
cational classes or had left school before they had graduated from the
elementary grades, as compared with 31 per cent of the other boys for
whom either the grade or type of school last attended was reported.
(Table 26.) At least one year’s high-school or business training was
reported by 35 per cent of the apprentices as compared with 20 per
cent of the other boys. More than three-fourths of the apprentices
are known to have finished at least the eighth grade before leaving
school. Relatively few of the apprentices had been to business schools;
9 per cent compared with 16 per cent of the other boys had last at
tended the technical high school which gave instruction in connection
with some of the trades to which the boys were afterward indentured.
T able 26.— A g e at leaving regular school and last grade completed by indentured
apprentices enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Indentured apprentices
Age at leaving regular school
Last grade completed
Total
231
Less than seventh........................................
Seventh__________________________ _____
Eighth................ ........................................
Ninth................. ................ .........................
Tenth____________ ______ _________ _____
4
38
96
36
35
3
4
4
11
Under 15 15 years
years
17 years Age not
16 years and
over reported
38
91
71
7
2
27
6
3
16
36
17
14
1
17
22
7
18
1
2
1
3
1
1
1
2
3
1
24
3
9
5
1
3
1
2
The interval between the time of leaving regular school and entering
employment was about the same for the boys in the apprentice group
as for the other boys. Neither were they more prompt than the other
boys in entering vocational school. (See p. 10.) Twenty-four per
cent of the boys who were apprenticed at the time the inquiry was
made had lost at least a month’s school time between leaving school
and going to work; 57 per cent lost at least a month’s school time
between leaving regular school and entering vocational school. The
boys in this group who were not apprenticed on beginning work were,
like the other boys, subject to the work-certificate provisions of the
law and thus automatically came to the attention of the vocationalschool officials when they obtained their work permits. Boys who
begin their working lives as apprentices are not required to have
work certificates; however, they are required to register at the voca
tional school at the time the indenture papers are made out.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
60
EMPLOYED BO YS AND G IR LS IN M ILW A U K E E
O C C U P A T IO N S
Because of the minimum-age requirement of the apprenticeship
law few boys who began work before they were 16 were apprenticed
in their first positions; 84 of the 117 boys who began work after they
reached the age of 16, however, started their working lives as appren
tices. The occupations which the apprenticed boys entered were
very similar to those reported for the main group of boys. Of the
96 boys who later became apprentices and for whom industry was
reported, 49 were employed in their first positions in factory and other
mechanical occupations, chiefly as factory operatives; 30 were in cler
ical, store, delivery, or errand work; and the remainder were in
miscellaneous occupations.
The majority of the boys who were apprenticed when the inquiry
was made were indentured as soon as they reached the age of 16;
177 (76 per cent) were indentured at 16 years and 23 (10 per cent)
before they reached their sixteenth birthday, in spite of the provisions
of the law. The remaining 31 (13 per cent) were indentured after
they had reached their seventeenth birthday.
The trades which the boys were learning at the time of the inquiry
were varied. The largest numbers of the boys had been apprenticed
to machinists or to mechanics in the building trades such as plumb
ers, plasterers, electricians, carpenters, or cabinetmakers, or sheetmetal workers. Among other trades represented were pattern makers,
and moulders, bakers, printers and lithographers, shoe cutters,, glove
cutters, meat cutters, and stone cutters. (Table 27.) A small pro
portion of the boys (5 per cent) who were apprenticed were employed
by relatives. A few boys had been apprenticed in more than one
trade. Several (6) who were reported as apprentices in their first
positions had dropped out before the study was made and before
their apprenticeships were completed; these are not included in the
group of 231 who were indentured at the time the study was made.
T able 27 .— Occupation to which apprenticed and age J anuary S I, 1 92 5 , o f inden
tured apprentices enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Indentured apprentices
Age Jan. 31,1925
Occupation to which apprenticed
Total
16 years,
under 17
Total (boys)
Plumber_____________ ___________
Sheet-metal worker____ __________
Electrician____________ ____ _____
Cabinetmaker___________________
Others in building and hand trades.
Machinist..... ....................................
Shoemaker and shoe cutter..............
Pattern maker____ _____ _________
Draftsman______________________
Baker_________________________ __
Knitting-machine adjuster..............
Moulder_______ _______ _____ ____
Glove cutter..................................... .
Commercial artist....... ._ .............. .
Jeweler...............................................
Meat cu tter...___________________
Other occupations________ _______
Occupation not reported__________
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
17 years
231
76
151
44
13
2
.................
2
1
20
17
9
1
3
1
1
1
1
.................
1
3
31
4
4
6
4
3
8
51
29
23
14
8
5
4
5
4
3
3
16
1
..............
18 years
and over
4
1
7
29
12
13
13
5
4
3
4
3
3
2
12
1
2
Î
1
61
THE A PPR E N TIC E S
The school attainment of the apprentices was somewhat higher
than that of the other boys who were employed in manufacturing
and mechanical occupations. The proportion of boys apprenticed at
the time of the study who had had at least one year’s high-school or
some business-school training was larger than that of the other boys
who were employed in factory and other mechanical occupations at
the time of the study. The proportion of apprentices with this
amount of training was not, however, so large as that of the other
vocational-school boys who were employed in clerical work (other
than messenger).
W AGES
Apprentices are paid according to a wage scale which varies with
each trade, which is part of the written contract between the appren
tice and the employer, and which is approved by the industrial com
mission.60 Apprentices’ wages are exempted from the provisions of
the minimum wage law. At the time of the study most of the boys
were in the first year of their apprenticeship, only one-third of them
having served for as long as 12 months. Their wages, as would be
expected, were relatively low in comparison with the wages of the boys
16 and 17 years of age in other employment. (See p. 29.) However,
most of the apprentices (90 per cent) whose wages were reported at
the time of the study received $8 or more a week; that is, more than
would be required for beginners 16 and 17 years of age in other work
at the rate of 16 cents an hour for a 48-hour week. (See footnote 36,
p. 30.) Only 23 per cent of the apprentices received as much as $12
a week, which on the basis of 25 cents an hour for a 48-hour week
would be required under the minimum wage law for minors of 17
after the first six months. The wages reported varied somewhat with
the trade, wages being somewhat higher for machinists and pattern
makers than for those in the building trades.61 (Table 28.)
T a b l e 2 8 .— Occupation and weekly wage in last position o f indentured apprentices
enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Indentured apprentices
Weekly wage in last position
•Occupation to which appren
ticed
Total
Total (boys)____________
Machinist....................................
Plumber_____________________
•Others in building and hand
trades______________________
£Shoemaker and shoe cutter____
Pattern maker________________
Draftsman___________________
Knitting-machine adjuster.........
- Other trades__________________
•Occupation not reported............
231
Cash
$ 11 ,
$ 12,
plus Wage
$10,
$13,
$8,
$9,
$14 other
Less less
less less less less less and
than than
than more or not re
than
than
than
than
$8
$11
$12
other ported
$9
$10
$13
$14
only
33
38
25
20
47
16
«o The Apprenticeship Law with Explanations. Industrial C o m m i s s io n of Wisconsin, Oct. 1, 1928,
pp. 29, 39, 41.
•t In 1926 the industrial commission reported that the average wage paid apprentices during their first
. year was 27 cents an hour, the second year 32 cents, the third year 40 cents, the fourth year 45 cents, and the
. fifth year 50 cents an hour. Biennial Report, Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, 1924-1926, p. 47.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
62
F
EMPLOYED BO YS AND G IR LS IN M ILW A U K E E
The initial wages of the apprentices who were not indentured in
their first positions were higher than the wages of boys who were in
dentured on beginning work in spite of the fact that the boys who
were learning a trade were considerably older than the others. Only
4 of the 73 boys who were apprenticed on beginning work and whose
cash wages were reported, as compared with 50 of the 90 in other oc
cupations, received as much as $10 a week in their first positions; 21
of the apprentices, but 17 of the other boys also, had initial wages of
less than $8 a week. Some of the boys made considerable sacrifice in
wage when they started to learn a trade, and were earning less at the
time of the study than on beginning work. Of the 98 apprentices
who were interviewed and whose work histories were at least a year
in length, 29 were earning less at the date of the inquiry than when
they started work, although the wages of some of them had no doubt
increased since the beginning of their apprenticeship period.
R E G U LA R ITY O F E M P L O Y M E N T
The length of the possible work history of the 160 boys who were
apprenticed at the date of the study and who were interviewed was
about the same as that of the main group of boys in attendance at the
vocational school. Although the boys in the apprentice group were
in general older than the other boys when the inquiry was made, they
had also left school later and had begun work later. The length of
their work histories ranged from less than a month to three years, the
median being between 15 and 18 months. About three-fifths (99) had
held two or more positions since beginning work, including 25 boys
who had had four or more different positions. Only three had been ap
prenticed more than once. About two-fifths of the boys apprenticed
at the time of the study had been employed all their working time as
apprentices. The possible work history in the case of these boys
was somewhat shorter than in the case of the boys who had held other
types of jobs before being apprenticed, and they were older on begin
ning work.
The length of time that the boys had been indentured when the
inquiry was made varied from two weeks to two years. ^One-third
had been apprenticed to their present employer less than six months;
another third between six months and a year, and the remaining third
between one and two years. (Table 29.) The duration of the
apprenticeships of boys who had never done any other kind of work
was somewhat longer than the duration of the apprenticeship posi
tions of the boys who had been otherwise employed before they were
indentured. None of the boys, however, had completed his term of
apprenticeship up to the time the study was made, the term required
varying with the trade from one to five years.
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63
THE A PPR E N TIC E S
T able 29.— Duration o f -present position and number o f positions held by inter
viewed indentured apprentices enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
In terviewed indentured apprentices
Duration of present position
Number of positions during work history
Total
1
Total (boys).______________________________
2 weeks, less than 1 month________________ _______
1 month, less than 3____ ____ _____________________
3 months, less than 6____ ____ ___________________
6 months, less than 9___________ ____________ ____
9 months, less than 1 year___ ______ _____________
1 year and more____ ___________ _________ ______ _
2
3
3 or more
160
61
59
15
25
5
14
35
25
28
53
2
2
14
14
10
19
1
8
13
6
11
20
1
4
2
2
6
2
3
4
3
5
8
The majority of the boys in the apprentice group had been in other
types of work before they were apprenticed and had changed their
positions at least once. Among the group who were interviewed there
was a considerable amount of shifting, although not so much as among
the main group of boys enrolled in the vocational school in conformity
with the requirements of the continuation school law. Of the appren
tice group with a work history of at least one year, 31 per cent as
compared with 18 per cent of the main group of boys had changed
positions less than once for each year (class A). Fifty per cent of the
apprentices and 48 per cent of the other boys had changed positions
at least once but less than twice for each year of their work history
(class B), and 19 per cent of the apprentices, as compared with 33 per
cent of the others, two or more times a year (class C).
Unemployment among the boys who were apprenticed when the
study was made was less common than among the main group of boys,
but there were a number of apprentices who had been out of work
before they were indentured. After they were indentured they were
not considered for purposes of this study as unemployed if they were
kept on the employer’s pay roll, even if they were laid off from time to
time on account of slack work.62 More than four-fifths of the appren
tices, as compared with about three-fifths of the main group of boys
whose work history was as long as a year, had been out of work less
than 10 per cent of the time. One-fourth of the other boys but less
than one-tenth of the apprentices had been out of work as long as 20
per cent of the time. Many of those who entered miscellaneous types
of employment on beginning work kept their first positions but a short
time. Among 85 boys who were not apprenticed in their first jobs, 30
reported that they left their positions within three months and 55
within six months after beginning work.
68 Some indentures especially provide for the seasonal nature of the trade. For example, the clause used
in the standard schedule of training for the bricklayer’s trade provides that the term of apprenticeship
shall be 4 years, each year to consist of the building season. The Apprenticeship Law with Explanations,
Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, Oct. 1,1928, p. 52.
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T H E U N EM PLO YED M IN O R S
Children who have reached 14 and who have completed the eighth
grade are permitted in Wisconsin to leave the regular full-time day
schools even if they have not obtained employment.
(See p. 2.)
Until they are 18 years of age, however, they are subject to the same
continuation-school requirements as employed minors. Among the
boys and girls from 14 to 18 years, inclusive, enrolled in the compul
sory continuation-school classes of the Milwaukee Vocational School
were 1,113, about one-tenth of the total number, who had not been
employed since leaving regular school. About three-fourths of them
were girls, many of whom, no doubt, were making no effort to find
a paid occupation but were helping with the housework at home.
These children who had left regular school and had never been em
ployed, however, formed but a very small proportion of the children
of corresponding ages living in the city. Those included in the study
were but 2 per cent of the boys and girls of 14 years, 5 per cent of
those of 15 and 16 years, and 4 per cent of those of 17 years, found
according to school-census figures to be resident in the city.63
Both the boys and the girls who had not been employed since
leaving regular school were a much younger group than those who
had entered industry; this fact probably indicates that within a year
or so after leaving school these children, especially the boys, seek
employment. About one-half the unemployed children, as compared
with less than one-fifth of the employed (approximately the same
proportions of each sex), were under 16 at the time the inquiry was
made. Sixteen per cent of the boys and girls who had not been
employed, as compared with 3 per cent of the employed group, were
14 years of age or younger. (Table 30.)
T able 30.— A g e Janu ary 8 1 , 1 92 5 , and period between leaving school and that date
fo r boys and girls never em ployed who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational
School
Boys and girls never employed
Ag( Jan. 31,1 925
Period between leaving school and Jan. 31,
1925
Total
Boys......................... ..........................
6 months^ less than 12__________________
Girls....................................................
6 months, less than 12___________________
Period not reported......................................
243
10
14
127
15
5
4
68
870
13
49
387
88
74
86
173
Under 14 14 years
years
15 years
16 years
39
1
2
30
185
3
4
46
6
2
6
131
4
19
71
8
2
1
26
»24
282
4
15
166
27
18
2
50
77
6
6
36
4
3
2
20
263
5
13
105
28
31
22
59
1
1
4
2
2
17 years
and over
41
2
14
5
2
18
190
2
43
25
23
61
36
» Includes 1 still in school.
«3 Percentages computed from school-census figures. Sixty-fifth Annual Report of the Board of School
Directors of the City of Milwaukee, Wis., 1924, p. 163.
64
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THE UNEMPLOYED MINORS
65
Most of the children who had never been employed had left school
at least six months before the study was made. The girls had been
out of school longer than the boys. Three-fourths of the boys and
more than one-half of the girls had been out of school between six
months and a year. Fourteen per cent of the boys as compared with
36 per cent of the girls had been out of school for a year or longer
before the time of the study. Among the 337 girls who had left
school when they were 14 years of age or younger were 98 who had
been out of school and unemployed for at least 18 months. No doubt
many of the boys and girls who had not been employed up to the time
of the study were intending to get work later, like the boys and girls
who had found employment before the date of the study but had been
unemployed for many months after leaving school.
The children who left school and did not go to work were more dila
tory about entering the vocational school than the working children,
although the children who went to work frequently let at least a
month’s school time pass between leaving regular school and entering
vocational school. The boys who did not get employment were
apparently less interested in attending part-time school than the girls;
at least they lost more time than the girls before they entered the
vocational school. Seventy-six per cent of the boys as compared with
49 per cent of the girls lost at least two months of the school year
after leaving regular school and before entering vocational school; 32
per cent of the girls and 34 per cent of the boys let at least three
months of school time pass before entering vocational school. These
figures show that it is difficult to get children to vocational school
promptly when they do not come to the attention of the official
issuing work certificates. The school-attendance officers who have
the duty of enforcing the continuation school law are notified by the
regular-school authorities when the children leave regular school,
but it requires considerable time to follow up those children who are
not employed on work certificates and are not attending any school.
How many minors under 18 years were not at work and not attending
part-time school is, of course, not known, but in 1920, when a study
of the Wisconsin employment-certificate system was made by the
Children’s Bureau, school-attendance officials stated that they be
lieved there was a considerable number of children whom they did
not succeed in locating.64
The boys and girls who had never been employed had left school at
about the same ages as the other regular pupils at the vocational
school who had gone to work, about four-fifths of those reporting age,
before they were 16. As in the case of the employed children, rela
tively more girls than boys left school at the age of 14 or when still
younger. (Table 31.) The school attainment of the nonemployed
children when leaving school compared favorably with that of those
who entered industry. Relatively more of the nonworking boys than
of the working boys had had at least an eighth-grade education and
about the same proportions had completed at least one year of aca
demic high school or had commercial training. The proportion of
boys who had left school before completing the eighth grade was
somewhat smaller among the nonworking than among the working
boys. About the same proportions of nonworking as of working girls
M Administration of Child Labor Laws, Part 4— Employment-Certificate System, Wisconsin, p. 86.
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66
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
had completed the eighth grade or one or more years of high school,
or had been to the Girls’ Trade School. The proportions of nonwork
ing and working girls who left school before completing the eighth
grade were also the same. The difference in school attainment between
boys and girls in the nonworking group may have been due to the fact
that the girls drop out of school to help at home, while the boys do
not leave school as a rule until they have either completed the eighth
grade or found work. According to the available grade information,
a smaller proportion of unemployed boys than of employed boys of
14 and 15 years were retarded (13 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively),
but about the same proportions of employed and unemployed girls of
14 and 15 were overage for their grades. The reason, therefore, that
they did not go to work as the other children did within a few weeks
or months after they left school is obviously not because of their
educational accomplishment or general intelligence.
T a b l e 31 .— A g e at leaving regular school and last grade completed by boys and girls
never em ployed who were enrolled in the M ilw aukee Vocational School
Boys and girls never employed
Age at leaving regular school
Total
Last grade completed, and sex
17 years Age not
Num Percent
distri Under 14 years 15 years 16 years and
re
ber
bution 14 years
over ported
Boys............ .......................... .
Grade reported................... ...............
243
234
100
2
1
4
8
57
9
7
1
1
11
2
e
Prevocational_____ ______ ____ _
19
133
21
17
2
2
25
4
19
48
66
31
7
72
19
47
65
31
5
67
1
5
11
4
5
1
1
39
4
1
5
8
33
5
6
1
1
3
5
35
7
4
2
3
6
1
3
2
2
1
1
2
5
99
238
234
102
17
180
17
165
1
15
1
9
Girls...........................................
870
Grade reported....................... .............
841
100
96
234
230
99
27
52
88
425
39
49
8
18
109
19
7
3
6
10
51
5
6
1
2
13
2
1
4
8
8
74
6
16
26
144
10
4
9
15
31
105
11
19
2
24
3
1
1
33
5
1
4
5
4
28
12
15
1
3
4
4
Eighth grade__________ ________
Trade school____ ______________
29
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21
5
4
3
1
3
5
5
4
2
9
1
4
8
19
71
6
6
2
17
25
6
1
15
SU M M A R Y AN D CONCLUSIONS
The 8,447 employed boys and girls between 14 and 18 included in
the present study are believed to embrace most of the minors of these
ages in the city of Milwaukee in January, 1925, who were employed
or had been employed since leaving regular school. Information was
obtained for all the employed boys and girls enrolled in compliance
with the law in the Milwaukee Vocational School, as the continuation
school is called locally (including those who had recently passed theneighteenth birthdays and were attending part-time school until the
end of the term), and all the apprenticed boys under 18. All the
employed high-school graduates under this age who could be found
were also included in the survey. More than four-fifths of the main
group of employed minors, all the apprentices, and all the graduates
of high school were 16 years of age or older at the time the inquiry
was made.
The operation of the Wisconsin law, which requires completion of
the eighth grade or nine years’ school attendance before a child can
be employed, tends to keep children in school longer in Milwaukee
than in cities where similar studies have been made in which the grade
requirements are lower. The tendency, however, of the employed
children in Milwaukee appeared to be to leave school for work as soon
as they could legally. More than one-third of the boys and nearly
one-half the girls had left school before they were 15 and more than
four-fifths of each sex before they were 16. About one-fourth of those
who left school before they were 16 and who reported the grade com
pleted had not even graduated from the eighth grade. M ost of these
children presumably had left school prior to the date the eighth-grade
requirement went into effect, or had attended school nine years.
However, there was a noteworthy proportion of each sex who had
achieved an education above that of the eighth grade; 14 per cent
had finished at least one year of academic high school. In addition,
16 per cent of the children had received some kind of special training
in trade, technical, or commercial classes, though they were not all
eighth-grade graduates. Most of the children began work soon after
leaving school; about one-fourth, however, had lost one or more
months of the school term between the date they left school and the
date they started work.
As in other cities for which similar information is available, the
occupations which the majority of boys and girls entered when they
began work were in the manufacturing and mechanical industries,
chiefly as factory operatives; a considerable proportion did clerical,
errand, messenger or delivery work, or sales and stock work in stores.
The occupational distribution- of the boys and girls at the time the
inquiry was made was similar to that at the time when they began
work; however, individuals who were 16 years of age and older
appeared to have a greater choice of occupations in both their first
and last positions than the younger children. More than one-half the
67
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68
EMPLOYED BOYS AND GIRLS IN MILWAUKEE
boys who were under 16 at the time the study was made and nearly
three-fifths of those who were 16 and over were in factory and other
mechanical occupations; about three-fourths of the girls under 16
and three-fifths of those who had reached the age of 16 were factory
workers. Both boys and girls under 16 were more restricted than those
who were older as to the kind of occupations in which they were
employed in factories, partly on account of the legal regulations pro
hibiting the employment of children under 16 from work on many of
the machines. A larger proportion of the older than of the younger
boys were clerical workers, and more than twice as many of the older
as of the younger girls were clerical or store workers or telephone
operators.
The wages of the young workers depended both on their ages and
on the length of time they had been at work. When the study was
made, the median weekly- wage ranged from $9 for boys of 14 years to
$15 for boys of 18, and from $8.50 for girls of 14 to $13.50 for girls of
18. Both at the time of beginning work and at the time of the inquiry
their wages were, on the whole, higher than those which would be
required under the minimum-wage regulations for a 48-hour week.
However, there was a small proportion of both boys and girls whose
wages were very low; that is, less than $8 a week.
The length of time they had had an opportunity to work (that is,
the time between the date of beginning work and the date of the study)
ranged from a few days to four years. For the interviewed group the
median was between 15 and 18 months for the boys and between 18
and 21 months for the girls. The average number of positions for the
boys with work histories of between one and two years was 2.9 and
for the girls 2.7; for those whose work histories were two or more
years the number of positions was 3.9 for the boys and 3.4 for the
girls.
Most of these Milwaukee boys and girls, like the young workers in
other cities, had been employed for the greater part of their working
lives up to the time the inquiry was made; nearly two-thirds of those
with possible work histories of a year or longer had been out of work
less than 10 per cent of the time. About one-tenth of both boys and
girls, however, had been out of work 50 per cent or more of their possi
ble working time. There was a slight tendency for the boys and girls
with the longer work histories to work more steadily than those whose
work histories were shorter; that is, the boys and girls with a work
history of between one and two years were unemployed a somewhat
greater percentage of the time and shifted positions relatively more
often than individuals whose work histories were two years or longer.
This tendency toward increased stability as the period of employ
ment becomes longer corresponds to the findings of the study of
children employed on work certificates in Connecticut, and of the
study of Cincinnati children whose work histories were all at least four
years in length. That young workers keep their first positions but a
short time was demonstrated in this as well as in other studies. The
present study also indicates that after a few changes young workers
tend to settle down to steady work in one position.
Much larger proportions of both boys and girls with some high-school
or business training than of those with only an elementary-school
education were employed in clerical and store positions. The indi
viduals with less than an eighth-grade education and also those who
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SUMMAKY AND CONCLUSIONS
69
had graduated from elementary school were concentrated in the
manufacturing and mechanical industries, chiefly as factory operatives
in both their first and last positions. Education, however, had little
effect on the wages of the boys (that is, when their ages are taken into
consideration); the girls with high-school or commercial training had
somewhat better wages than those with a lower school accomplish
ment. The explanation of the difference between the boys and girls
in this respect is that the wages paid boys in factories were at least
equal to those paid for clerical or store work, whereas the wages of the
girls who were clerical workers were a little higher than for those who
were factory workers. The relation of school attainment to stability
of employment was not very clear, although boys, at least, with the
higher school accomplishment appeared to work somewhat more
steadily and shift positions less than those with an inferior education.
On the whole, the advantage of an education for workers who enter
industry early, as these children did, is indicated by an ability of the
individual with a superior or specialized training to select his occupa
tion, such as clerical in preference to factory work, rather than by
ability to earn higher wages or by stability of employment, at least
during the first years of his working life.
Up to the time they became indentur ed the work experience of the
apprentices did not differ to any extent from that of the other em
ployed boys. They were slightly older on starting work and slightly
higher in school attainment. The majority were not apprenticed on
beginning work and were employed in much the same types of occu
pation as the other boys. Like the main group of boys, they held
their first positions but a short time and were subject to a certain
amount of unemployment. After they were indentured they had the
advantage of steady employment and a potentially large earning
capacity, although their wages at the time of the inquiry were low.
The proportion who completed their apprenticeships— an important
factor in the value of the apprenticeship system— is not known, since
most of them had been indentured little more than a year.
One of the facts brought out by this study is that a large group of
children, 1,113 in January, 1925, had left full-time school but had
never been employed, owing largely to the fact that the law permits a
child who has reached 14 and completed the eighth grade to leave
school even though not employed. One-half of these children were
under 16 at the date of the inquiry; three-fifths of them had left
school at least 12 months before. This large group of unemployed
children, as well as the considerable number of other children who had
worked part of the time since leaving school but reported long periods
of unemployment, indicates the value of the laws in other States
which require cliildren, if not employed, to attend school fall time, and
suggests the need of a better coordination in this respect between the
school laws and the child labor laws of Wisconsin. The situation in
regard to these unemployed children has been improved since this
study was made. All children between 14 and 16 who have left
regular day school (whether employed or unemployed) must now
attend continuation school half time instead of only 8 hours a week.65
“ The law requiring half-time attendance was passed in 1921 (Wis., acts of 1921, chs. 414, 513) to be fully
operative in 1923, but it had not been put into effect in Milwaukee at the time the study was made.
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_ ,
A Comparative Study of Part-Time and Full-Time Students in the Public
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Employment of Continuation-School Pupils in New York State; a study
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„j
Hopkins, L. Thomas: The Intelligence of Continuation-School Children
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.
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.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
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The Product of the Minneapolis Public Schools.
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[Survey made in 1927.]
89 pp.
Trumbull, Frederick M .: Guidance and Education of Prospective Junior
Wage Earners. John W iley & Sons (Inc.), New York, 1929. 298 pp.
Type of Jobs Held by a Group of Continuation-School Children. Indus
trial Bulletin (Industrial Commission of New York State, Albany), December,
1931, p. 70.
Woolley, Helen Thompson: An Experimental Study of Children at Work
and in School between the Ages of Fourteen and Eighteen Years.
Macmillan Co., New York, 1926.
762 pp.
The Working Children of Philadelphia; a survey of the work and working
conditions of 3,300 continuation-school children, by Anna Bassett Griscom.
W hite-W illiam s Foundation, and the Junior Employment Service of the Board
of Public Education, Philadelphia, Bulletin Series N o. 3, September, 1924.
45 pp.
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