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EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK IN H O TEL OCCUPATIONS Duties •Qualifications •Outlook •Earnings •Working Conditions OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK SER IES Bulletin No. 905 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR L . B. Schwellenbach, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Commissioner LETTER O F TRA N SM ITTA L U n it e d S tates D e p a r t m e n t B ureau of L of abor L abor , S t a t is t ic s , W ashington, Z>. (7., J u ly 7, 191ft. T h e S ecr etar y of L abor : I have the honor to transmit herewith a report on the employment outlook in hotel occupations. This is one of a series of occupational studies conducted in the Bureau’s Occupational Outlook Division for use in vocational counseling o f veterans, young people in school, and others interested in choosing a field o f work. The report was prepared by Herbert L . Gottlieb, under the supervision of Helen W ood . Sylvia K . Lawrence assisted in the library research. The Bureau wishes to acknowledge the generous assistance received in connection with this study from the American H otel Association, the H otel and Restaurant Employees’ and Bartenders’ International Union, A F L and the U . S. Employment Service. E w a n C l a g u e , Com m issioner. H on. L . B. S ch w ellenbach, Secretary o f Labor. Photographs are by courtesy of American Hotel Association and the Mayflower Hotel. CONTENTS Page Introduction_______________________________________________________________________ 1 The hotel industry____________________________________________________________ Hotel occupations_______________________________ Trend of employment_____________________________________________________ Earnings and working conditions__________________________________________ Employment prospects in typical hotel occupations_____________________________ Front-office clerks_________________________________________________________ Service employees_________________________________________________________ Bellmen and baggage porters__________________________________________ Bell captains and head baggage porters_______________________________ Superintendents of service____________________________________________ Housekeepers and assistants_______________________________________________ Managers and assistants_____________________________________________________ How to get more information about job opportunities_____________________________ 1 3 3 5 5 5 7 7 8 9 9 For sale by the Superintendent o f Docum ents, U. S. Government Printing Office W ashington 25, D. C. - Price 10 cents II 11 12 EM PLO YM EN T O U T LO O K IN H O T E L O C C U P A T IO N S Introduction arrangements. M ost hotels also have large rooms that can be rented for public or private gatherings. Inn-keeping had its beginnings more than 2,500 years ago, with the growth o f trade and travel in the Near East. In the days o f the early E g y p Conventions (which number about 15,000 in an average year in the United States) are frequently tians, Babylonians, and Persians, there were inns scattered along the main caravan routes. Inns held in hotels. Other kinds o f gatherings which often take place there are local business, fraternal, dotted the highways which were built throughout the Roman Empire. W ith the fall o f Rome, how and professional meetings; concerts and lectures; private dinners, dances, and w eddings; and trade ever, travel became unsafe and practically ceased in Europe, and the number o f lodging houses de exhibits, where salesmen display their wares to clined until the late Middle A ges, when the revival o f commerce brought a great new growth in the buyers. inn-keeping business. employed about h alf a million workers in m id1946, more than were employed in such important T o furnish these many different services, hotels D uring the 1700’s, large and elaborate inns were built in France, especially near the K in g ’s court at Versailles. These were the first “ hotels.” trade and service industries as drugstores or laun From that time on, hotels m ulti dries. There are hotels and hotel workers in all plied in W estern Europe. I t was in the United States, however, that the largest and most luxurious ones were built. M any o f the new parts o f the country— in small villages, medium American hotels catered to people o f moderate means as well as to the ric h ; therefore, the number deserts, and on islands off the coast. A great many sized towns, and big cities. M any resort hotels are in remote spots in the mountains, woods, and different kinds o f workers are em ployed: for ex o f hotels increased more rapidly here than in any other country. ample, managers, clerks, skilled maintenance men, restaurant and kitchen workers, and housekeep The typical modern hotel in this country is not ing and service employees. simply a lodging place but a complex organization offering many kinds o f services to its guests— from providing them with food and doing their laundry The qualifications needed for these jobs are so varied that men and women with very different educational back grounds, personalities, and skills can find jobs in the hotel industry. to helping them get theater tickets and make travel The Hotel Industry There are three main types o f hotels— transient tively long periods. (or commercial), residential, and resort. The rooms may be rented furnished or unfurnished and in some places house Commercial hotels are by far the most numerous keeping apartments are available, but “ hotel serv type, about three-fourths o f the country’s 28,000 ice” is always provided. hotels being o f this kind. tial hotels together employed about 322,000 work Such hotels cater chiefly to business travelers and tourists who seek lodging ers during 1939, 95 percent of the average annual for short periods o f time, though they may have employment figure for the entire industry.1 some permanent guests. Residential hotels, which make up less than one- 1 These figures do not include apartment houses or residential hotels catering exclusively to permanent guests. tenth o f all hotels, let most o f their rooms for rela 741899— 47 Commercial and residen l CHAHT FEW BIGGEST HOTELS HAVE MOST OF THE WORKERS PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF YEAR-ROUND AND SEASONAL HOTELS AND HOTEL WORKERS, BY NUMBER OF ROOMS, 1939 PERCENT OF HOTELS NUMBER OF ROOMS 100 80 60 40 20 PERCENT OF WORKERS 20 40 60 80 100 MORE THAN 3 0 0 100 - 2 9 9 50 — 99 2 5 - 49 LESS THAN 25 SO U R C E: CENSUS O F B U SIN E S S , 1 9 3 9 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Resort hotels cater to vacationers and are open pensive establishments. for business only part o f the year.2 Some mana gers operate one hotel in the North and one in the A few big hotels have as many employees as guests, though the average for the industry as a whole is estimated at one worker to about every four guests. South and move back and forth between them in the spring and fa ll, with all or most o f their staff. Resort hotels represent about one-sixth o f all hotels in the country. The number of people em ployed varies greatly from one season o f the year to another: for example, in 1939, employment in such hotels was 13,000 in February, the busiest month o f the Southern season; it fell to 8,000 in There are some hotels in all parts of the country and nearly every city has at least one. However, the majority o f hotel workers are employed in a rel atively small number o f States, resort hotel work ers being concentrated in even fewer States than year-round hotel workers. Over three-fifths o f the workers in year-round hotels in 1939 were em M ay, rose to 38,000 in August, the month when ployed in the following 10 States— New Y ork , I lli there are the most vacationers, and then dropped nois, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, M ich to a low o f 4,000 in November. igan, Missouri, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. The tremendous downtown transient hotels, some O f the workers in resort hotels, three-fifths were o f which have over 1,000 rooms, are, in general, the employed in only five States— two-fifths o f them in largest ones, though some residential and resort Florida and New Y ork and one-fifth in New Jersey, hotels are very big also. In 1939, there were, alto Maine, and California. Ten cities had over one- gether, about 3,000 hotels with more than 100 third of all the workers in year-round and resort rooms; these employed 240,000 workers (see chart hotels combined. 1 ). San Francisco, W ashington, Boston, Atlantic City, In contrast, the 12,000 hotels with fewer than 25 rooms had only 20,000 employees. These were New Y ork , Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, St. Louis, and Philadelphia. The larger and more expensive hotels not only have more guests to serve but, as a rule, employ 2 The Census of Business defines resort hotels as those open fol business less than 9 months of the year. more workers per guest than smaller and less ex 2 performed and the training required are much the Hotel Occupations same in hotels as in other fields, and hotel em ployees make up only a small proportion o f all employed workers. The employment opportuni A great variety o f jobs are to be found in the various departments o f large hotels. In the executive department o f a big hotel, there is likely to be a general manager, a personnel director, a publicity director, sales and advertising managers, and other executive and junior executive workers. ties for these occupational groups are affected by general conditions in their trades. The outlook for them in hotels is suggested by the trend o f employment in this industry, which is described The front office employs such workers as mail in the next section. clerks, room clerks, reservation clerks, and the front-office manager. In the accounting depart work usually have to begin at the bottom o f the ment are auditors, bookkeepers, office-machine op ladder— in jobs such as bellman, elevator operator, erators, cashiers, and other clerical workers. The housekeeping department includes not only the be promoted to supervisory positions, i f they have Y ou n g people interested in a career in hotel clerk, or maid. housekeeper and her assistants and the chamber the needed personality and ability. Exceptionally able and well-qualified men may advance eventu maids but also housemen (who do heavy cleaning), furniture polishers, seamstresses, decorators, up ally to managerial jobs, which are almost always filled by promoting workers with many years o f holsterers, and others. Headed by the superin tendent o f service, the service department employs such workers as bellmen, baggage porters, elevator starters and operators, and doormen. From these entry jobs, they may hotel experience. Managers with sufficient capital and good experience have sometimes been able to go into business for themselves, as owner-operators The restau rant department includes chefs, cooks of various kinds, and kitchen helpers; the steward and his staff— pantrymen, storeroom employees, dish o f small hotels. Trend of Employment washers; and waiters, bartenders, and other food department one finds such workers as stationary engineers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and Employment in hotels will probably tend to increase slowly both in the next year or two and in the more distant future. painters. In addition, there may be auxiliary de partments which employ, for example, laundry W h en the war ended, there were labor shortages in almost all hotel occupations. W artim e con workers, barbers, valets, and tailors. ditions brought a marked increase in hotel busi ness, at the same time that large numbers of experienced workers were leaving to go into the armed forces or into higher-paid jobs in other industries. Though many inexperienced workers and beverage service workers. In the maintenance Though small hotels do not have nearly as many separate occupations as this, practically all of them employ front-office, housekeeping, and maintenance work ers, and some have restaurant workers and service employees such as bellmen. were hired and employment rose, the number o f Kestaurant and bar-room employees are the largest occupational group in hotels, as shown in chart 2. In 1939, over one-third of the workers in year-round hotels with more than 25 rooms were new recruits was not large enough to fill all the openings. W ith the return o f former employees to the industry, the need for workers has been greatly reduced, but there still are openings in in this group. some occupations in many hotels. One-fourth were housekeeping em ployees, more than one-tenth were employed in Additional opportunities will arise continually owing to turn the service department, and another tenth were over, which is especially high among the less engaged in front-office and other clerical work. skilled and lower-paid workers such as maids and kitchen help. A number of occupations— including front-office Moreover, if the plans that have Each of been made for building new hotels are carried out, these typical hotel occupations is discussed sep these will create some further jobs within the next few years. clerk and bellman— exist only in hotels. arately in later sections o f this bulletin. However, many o f the occupations in hotels— for example, In the long run, a slow upward trend in employ accountant, carpenter, cook, waiter— are found also ment in practically all hotel occupations is to be in other industries. In these occupations, the work expected, 3 as population and travel increase. CHART 2 RESTAURANT AND HOUSEKEEPING EMPLOYEES ARE LARGEST GROUPS OF H O T E L WORKERS PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYEES IN YEAR-ROUND HOTELS, BY MAJOR OCCUPATIONAL CROUPS, I9S9 UNITED ST A TES DEPARTMENT OF BUREAU OF LABOR ST A TISTIC S LABOR Sources: CENSUS OF BUSINESS,SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS, VOLUME H E ,1939 "HOTEL B U SIN ESS"-B Y R. T. HUNTINGTON, 1940 4 Tourist camps and other lodging places will take some business away from hotels, as they were doing than the average, as is indicated by the earnings data for a few occupations given in later sections of the bulletin. before the war, but the growing demand for lodg ings should offset this competition in most locali ties as long as general business conditions continue to be good. Declines in business activity have led to sharp declines in hotel employment in the past, some occupational groups would be affected more than others. H ow stable employment is likely to be One o f the advantages o f work in year-round hotels is the fact that employment and earnings are likely to be steady throughout the year. Some employees o f resort hotels, who move each fa ll from a hotel in the North to one in the South which is under the same management and then back again in the spring, also have steady jobs. More often, in different hotel occupations is one o f the points discussed later on in this bulletin. however, workers in this branch o f the industry face the problem o f finding new jobs when their however, and would probably do so in the future ; hotel closes at the end o f the season. Earnings and Working Conditions Hours o f work and other working conditions vary greatly from one hotel to another and also Earnings o f hotel workers have risen greatly dur from occupation to occupation. ing the past few years, in line with the general up ward trend in wages. Besides their money wages, many workers are furnished meals and lodgings by Although some N ot counting any of these items, the av workers, especially in large hotels, are on regular 8-hour shifts, many others have a longer workday. “ Split shifts”— on which employees have several hours off duty during the day but start their work erage pay o f employees in year-round hotels (ex early in the morning and end it after dinnertime cluding high-salaried executives and supervisors) in the evening— are frequent among kitchen and dining-room workers. Ow ing to the fact that ho the hotel. tomers. In addition, many receive tips from cus was 60 cents an hour in the first h alf o f 1946. was nearly twice as high as in 1940. This tels provide service 24 hours a day, some employees must work at n ig h t; in some hotels, employees take W eekly wages in early 1946 averaged about $26 or $27 for approx imately 44 hours’ work. turns at the different shifts. The amount an individual hotel worker can ex pect to earn depends, first o f all on his occupation and the degree o f skill which it requires; also on dent hazards, nor are there any special industrialdisease hazards. In many occupations, however, the size and location o f the hotel, how well the worker does his job, and other factors. Large workers have to be on their feet all day long and this may lead to various health problems. numbers o f hotel employees, such as maids and busboys, are in unskilled occupations paying less than the average earnings cited. On the other hand, certain occupational groups make much more Employees such as housekeepers and maids, who often “live in” and are provided with meals find that living conditions vary greatly from one hotel to another. In general, hotel work involves no serious acci Employment Prospects in Typical Hotel Occupations always show up in exactly the numbers calculated Front-Office Clerks by the architect who designed the h otel; and some Everyone who has been in a hotel lobby has seen times after room 703 is rented, M r. Jones, who the “ front-office clerks” at work behind the main always stays in that room, arrives in the lobby with hotel desk. his baggage. Their m ajor responsibility is to rent Bearing in mind arrivals and depar rooms to incoming guests, trying to give each one tures from all the rooms in the hotel and trying the kind o f room he wants for the length of time to please all the guests, the clerks must try to make he wants it. This is not always easy: guests want room assignments in such a way as to obtain the ing double rooms with southern exposure do not greatest possible room revenue. 5 They also have many other duties, such as acknowledging room reservations received by telephone or mail and fil ing reservation cards; handling guests' com plaints; issuing and receiving room keys; supply ing information about arrivals and departures of guests and about local points of interest: receiving and delivering messages; and taking care of in coming mail. In small hotels with few employees, one clerk may do all this work by himself or with the help of one or two assistants. Where there is a large staff, however, employees usually specialize in d if ferent types of work. In such cases, beginners are assigned routine jobs such as those of key clerk, in formation clerk, or mail clerk, and there are also higher-grade clerks with such titles as room clerk, desk clerk, or front-office manager, who supervise other clerical workers in addition to handling the more difficult and responsible work. Openings in beginning jobs are filled sometimes by hiring inexperienced outsiders, sometimes by promoting bellmen, switchboard operators, and other workers already employed by the hotel. Po sitions of higher grade are usually filled by promo tions from within but, in some instances, by hiring experienced clerks from other hotels. A super visory clerk may be promoted to assistant mana ger, and, after becoming familiar with the opera tion of other departments of the hotel, may pos sibly become general manager. Men are generally preferred for front-office clerical jobs. Highschool education is often helpful in entering and advancing in this work. Completion of a course in hotel work in the public schools, where one is offered, is also likely to be an aid in getting a job. Room clerk filling out “ rooming slip" showing guest’s name and address and the room number and rate, while guest registers. 6 Bellmen also run errands, deliver messages and packages, and supply various types o f information There will be some job opportunities in the im mediate future, not only for experienced workers but also for newcomers who have the desired personal qualifications. to guests. In large hotels, a separate group o f employees, known as “ baggage porters,” handle D uring the war, about these occupations left for the armed forces and war industries. Although a large number o f new the suitcases and other baggage o f guests who are leaving. They also help to set up sample rooms for salesmen, supply travel information and buy clerks were hired, including many women, there transportation tickets, and arrange for shipment was a shortage o f help in both supervisory and of express articles. lower-grade jobs. Some former workers have frequently combined with those o f baggage por returned to their jobs since the end o f the war, but ters, except in large hotels, and the worker in such cases is generally known as a bellman. In h alf o f the many thousands of men employed in the shortage has not been filled in all hotels. In The duties o f bellmen are some instances, bellmen and baggage porters act as relief men in such jobs as elevator operator and addition, many hotels have been anxious to re place some of the clerks hired during the war. switchboard operator. The best chance of jobs for inexperienced work ers will generally be found in the larger com mercial hotels, where beginners can be assigned The way of entering these occupations differs from one hotel to another. Some hotels fill open to specialized jobs. Because of the long-run upward trend and also ings only by promoting workers already employed by the hotel— most often elevator operators and because employment o f front-office workers is only starters. slightly affected by declines in general business in other hotels— as bellman or baggage porter or, occasionally, in another occupation. A good many activity, most men who find positions in year-round Some also hire workers with experience hotels and prove satisfactory may expect to keep hotels, especially the smaller ones, sometimes hire their jobs for many years. outsiders without previous hotel experience. hotel occupations are available. In a few localities, training courses for bellman jobs are No up-to-date statistics on earnings in different given by the public schools; completion o f such a However, scat tered information for a few large cities suggests course is generally helpful in obtaining work. that typical weekly salaries in beginning fronto f 1946; in higher-grade jobs, about $35 to $45. A man who wishes to advance from the job o f bellman may aspire to be bell captain. A baggage porter may advance to head baggage porter. From Earnings o f head clerks tend to be somewhat either position, the second step up is to become higher, especially in large hotels. hotel is a member o f the service department— the doorman. Bellmen are a still better-known group superintendent o f service. Some workers have a chance to transfer to front-office clerical jobs, which may enable them to advance eventually to managerial positions. Moreover, both bellmen and baggage porters may increase their earnings by moving to jobs o f the same kind in better-grade hotels. o f service employees. Other workers in this de partment include elevator operators and starters, country as a whole, although there are a limited bell captains, head baggage porters, and the super number o f openings in a few localities. A s former intendent o f service. These positions form a pro motional ladder up which men may move as they workers have returned from the armed forces and office jobs were roughly $25 to $35 in the early part Service Employees The first worker one meets when coming into a gain in experience and skill. These occupations are overcrowded, taking the war industries, many o f the men hired during the T he usual steps in war have been down-graded, usually to elevator- promotion are outlined in the next three sections operator jobs, or have been laid off. H irin g stand describing the most important service occupations. ards have become much more strict. D uring the next few years inexperienced men Bellmen and Baggage Porters are likely to find it difficult to get positions as bell men or baggage porters. T he ringing o f a bell or the call o f “ F r o n t!” in In general, competition a hotel lobby quickly brings the “bellman” to for jobs will be keenest in large commercial hotels usher a guest up to his room and carry his baggage. in metropolitan centers. 7 The chance o f entering the occupations will probably be best in resort hotels, and experience gained there may enable men to transfer to commercial or residential hotels. It may also be possible for beginners to find jobs in occupations such as elevator operator or house man in which there are still shortages of workers in some areas. These jobs may lead to positions as bellmen or baggage porters in the future. The length of time it will take to be promoted will vary greatly, however, depending upon the rate of turn over in the particular hotel and the number of em ployees with greater seniority. Though the long-run trend is upward, employ ment in these occupations is very much affected by declines in business activity. Whether all bell men and baggage porters will have steady employ ment over a long period of time will therefore de pend on whether or not general business activity continues at a high level. A fairly large number of bellmen and baggage porters belong to unions. The union members are mostly in large cities outside the South. They are represented by the Hotel and Restaurant Employ ees’ and Bartenders’ International Union, AFL, and in a few places bv the Building Service Em ployees' International Union, AFL. W ages in union hotels were about $12 to $10 per week in early 1916, according to scattered data for some large cities. Including tips, the total amount received by many bellmen was reported to be roughly $45 to $60 a week. Bell Captains and Head Baggage Porters The work of bellmen and baggage porters is generally done under the watchful eyes of the ‘“bell captain” and the “ head baggage porter.” These supervisory employees are to be found in almost all medium-sized and large hotels, though seldom in small hotels with only a few service employees. It is their job to assign work in rotation to em ployees in their respective departments and to keep time records. They also instruct new employees, interview job applicants, investigate and adjust guests’ complaints relating to the work of their departments, and decide what action should be taken on unusual requests for service. The head baggage porter is sometimes called a “ transporta tion clerk" because of his expert knowledge of train and airplane schedules. The bell captain, in addi tion to his other duties, may occasionally perform bellman’s work. Bell-captain positions are usually filled by pro moting one of the bellmen employed by the hotel; head-baggage-porter jobs, by promoting one of the porters. Although a man may advance to the job of superintendent of service from either posi tion, bell captains are more likely to receive this promotion than head baggage porters. Both occupations are small ones, employing only a few thousand workers. In both, the number of men employed declined slightly during the war. Vacancies created by withdrawals to the armed forces and war industries could not always be filled and, often, part or all of the duties were taken over by other employees such as the super intendent of service, room clerk, or assistant man ager. The shortage of qualified workers has largely been met, however, by the return of most of the men who le ft; only a small number of Bell captain receiving telephone request for service from a guest, while a bellman waits for instructions. openings remain. These openings, plus those aris ing because of turn-over, w ill, as usual, be filled in most instances by promoting the most qualified bellmen and baggage porters. Men who obtain somewhat. such promotions in year-round hotels will have a good chance o f holding their positions indefi nitely, since employment in these occupations is trend in hotel employment but these w ill, as usual, be filled by promotions from within. Since this is another occupation that is little affected by de clines in general business activity, the small group o f men who succeed in obtaining positions in year- not affected very much by declines in general business activity and will probably tend to rise slowly over the long run. round hotels should have steady employment for many years. Typical weekly wages o f both bell captains and head baggage porters were roughly $35 to $45 in the early part o f 1946, according to fragmentary data for a few large cities. On the basis o f scattered data for some large cities, it appears that typical wages were approxi Total earnings were higher, however, because o f tips. W ith the return of most o f the men who left, employment has risen again, and the occupation has become overcrowded in most parts o f the country. A few openings may be expected as a result o f turn-over and the long-run upward mately $40 to $60 a week in this occupation in the early part o f 1946. A few men who work in very The amount of money earned through tips varies considerably from one hotel to another. In general, head bag large hotels earn more. T ips are seldom received, but meals may be provided by the hotel. The number o f hours o f work per day and per week vary greatly, depending upon pressure o f work. gage porters make more than bell captains, be cause they receive larger and more frequent tips— mainly for making travel arrangements and pur chasing tickets. Housekeepers and Assistants Superintendents of Service The furnishings, rooms, and halls o f hotels must be kept clean and attractive— and this is the house keeper’s responsibility. The housekeeper super A t the head o f the service department in some large hotels is the “superintendent of service.” He hires, instructs, disciplines, and discharges em vises the work o f room maids, linen maids, wall and window washers, furniture polishers, housemen (who do heavy cleaning), and seamstresses. Gen ployees in his department. In addition, he confers and cooperates with the people in charge o f other departments— for example, the chief clerk and the erally, she hires and discharges employees in her department. In addition, she buys or assists in housekeeper— and he m ay also make out the pay roll for his department. In smaller hotels, these duties are performed, as a rule, by the assistant or general manager, the room clerk, or the bell cap tain (who may be called “ working superintendent the buying o f supplies, reports expenditures to the manager, makes out the pay roll for the de partment, takes periodic inventories o f supplies, and trains new employees. o f service” ) . Ten years o f hotel experience is often necessary in order to become a superintendent o f service. A s already indicated, most employees in this occupa tion have been promoted from the job o f bell cap Large hotels have an executive or head house keeper and also one or more assistant housekeepers and floor housekeepers or inspectresses. In small hotels, on the other hand, there is only one house keeper (often called a “ working” housekeeper) tain, though some were previously head baggage who not only handles all the supervisory duties by porters. herself but may, in addition, do some o f the work Occasionally, a superintendent o f service o f a maid. transfers to a front-office clerical job, with the aim o f advancing eventually to a managerial job. Openings for housekeepers are usually filled by promotions from within the hotel or by hiring wo Employment is likely to rise slightly above the present figure, which is in the hundreds, during the men who have performed similar work in another next few years. hotel. D uring the war, a small number Positions as inspectresses or assistant o f men left the occupation fo r the armed forces housekeepers in large hotels are filled sometimes and war industries. A s in the case o f bell captains and head baggage porters, vacancies were not al by hiring inexperienced women and giving them on-the-job training; sometimes by promoting ways filled and employment therefore declined chambermaids, 9 linen maids, and seamstresses. From these assistant supervisory jobs, promotion to the position of housekeeper is possible. Train ing courses for housekeeping jobs are given by the public schools in some localities and are likely to be helpful to girls wishing to enter the occupation. Many thousands of housekeepers and assistants are employed in the industry as a whole, and their number is likely to increase slowly both during the next few years and in the long run. The shortage of workers which developed in those occupations during the war has been much reduced since VJday, but there are still some vacancies, especially in small hotels and in lower-grade jobs. In addition, there will be hundreds of openings a year owing to turn-over. As already indicated, however, inex perienced women will be able to find jobs only as maids or, if the}7have the desired personal qualifi cations, as assistant housekeepers or inspectresses. Moreover, competition for the better-paying jobs in large hotels is likely to be keen, as it was before the war. Housekeeper supervising a houseman in hanging drapes and inspecting the color of paint before it is put on the w alls. !~ € s — :__ ' zz ... ........ . i 1 The long-run trend of employment in this occu pation is upward also. Women who obtain promo tions to housekeeper jobs in year-round hotels should have a good chance of holding them indefi nitely. Assistant housekeepers and inspectresses, however, have less assurance of steady employ ment. since declines in general business activity affect the number of assistants needed to a much greater extent than the number of top jobs. The number of maids employed is likely to be still more affected by changing business conditions. Earnings of housekeepers, according to limited data for a few large cities, were about $150 to $350 a month in large hotels and $75 to $100 in small hotels in early 1916. In addition, housekeepers are often given their meals and, sometimes, rooms as well. Assistant housekeepers and inspectresses make less. and war industries since Y J -d a y , some o f the men who were placed in managerial positions during the war have been downgraded or laid off. Men without experience in such positions will therefore find it very difficult to enter the occupations in the immediate future. Managers and Assistants Over-all responsibility for the operation o f a hotel rests with the manager. I t is his job to see that the different departments function efficiently, so that the guests are satisfied and the greatest possible profit is made. In the next few years and also in the long run, employment will tend to rise slowly as new hotels are built. In addition, there will be hundreds of job openings a year, owing to deaths, retirements, The manager has many duties to perform, such as hiring personnel, buy ing or supervising the buying of supplies, direct ing publicity, introducing improvements in service, and determining rates and credit policies. and transfers to other fields. In large hotels, some o f these duties are delegated to assistant managers. A s in the case o f managerial positions in many other fields, how ever, competition for jobs is keen. Therefore, only men with exceptional ability and many years o f experience will be able to obtain positions as mana In small hotels, on the other hand, the manager— who is frequently the owner— may also do front-office clerical work. gers, especially in large hotels. In general, the Advancement to the position o f manager is trend is toward filling openings by promoting possible from many hotel jobs, including bellman, college-trained persons with hotel experience, but it will still be possible for some men without such education to rise very slowly to the top jobs. bookkeeper, and cook, but the most common line o f promotion is from the front office. T o qualify for promotion to manager, it is often necessary to Most managers and assistant managers may look forward to continued employment over a long have a high-school education and very helpful to have college training, especially in hotel manage ment. College-trained persons often start in such period o f time, both because of the long-run up ward trend in hotel employment and because, in this occupation also, employment is little affected positions as room clerk, auditor, sales manager, accountant, purchasing agent, or, sometimes, as by declines in general business activity. sistant manager. Earnings o f managers have an extremely wide Each o f the 28,000 hotels in the country has a range and largely depend upon the size o f the hotel. In addition to a fixed salary, many mana manager, and big hotels also have one or more assistant managers. A t the present time, these occupations are overcrowded. gers receive a percentage o f the profits and fre quently living accommodations and meals for A s former workers have returned to their jobs from the armed forces themselves and their families. 11 How To G e t M ore Information A b out Job Opportunities The descriptions of job opportunities in typical hotel occupations refer to conditions in the country generally. Individual hotels and local areas may for various reasons offer better or poorer chances o f employment. In formation on opportunities and how best to obtain a job in a particular locality, in the occupations discussed in this bulletin or in other hotel work, may be obtained in several ways. The applicant may go to any local office o f his State employment service, affiliated with the U . S. Employment Service. H e may obtain the addresses o f nearby hotels from the classified section o f the telephone book and go directly to these establishments. I f he lives in a city where there is a local office o f the American H otel Association, or locals o f the H otel and Restaurant Employees’ and Bartenders’ Inter national Union, A F L , or o f the Building Service Employees’ International Union, A F L , he can obtain helpful information by writing or visiting these organizations. Inform ation may be obtained also by writing to their national offices at the follow ing addresses: American Hotel Association, 221 W est 57th Street, New Y ork 19, New York. Hotel and Restaurant Employees’ and Bartenders’ International Union, AFL, 528-530 W alnut Street, Cincinnati 2, Ohio. Building Service Employees’ International Union, A F L , 130 North W a lls Street, Chicago 6, Illinois. One o f the best ways to get information on training courses in hotel work is to write to the State Director o f Vocational Education at the Department o f Education in the State capitol. 12 O ccupational Outlook Publications of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Studies o f employment trends and opportunities in the various occupa tions and professions are made by the Occupational Outlook Service o f the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Reports are prepared for use in the vocational guidance o f veterans, young people in schools, and others considering the choice o f an occupation. Schools concerned with vocational training and employers and trade-unions interested in on-the-job training have also found the reports helpful in planning programs in line with prospective employment opportunities. Occupational Outlook reports are issued as bulletins of the Bureau of Labor Statistics; sometimes they are also published in the M onthly Labor Review (subscription price per year $3.50; single copy, 30 cents). Both the M onthly Labor Review and the bulletins may be purchased from the Superintendent o f Documents, W ashington 25, D . C. Tw o types of reports are issued: Occupational O utlook Bulletins describe the long-run outlook for employ ment in each occupation and give information on earnings, working conditions and, the training required. Special B ulletins are issued from time to time on such subjects as the general employment outlook, trends in the various States, and occupational mobility. Occupational Outlook Bulletins Employm ent Opportunities for Diesel-Engine Mechanics Bulletin No. 813 (1 9 4 5 ), price 5 cents. (M onthly Labor Review, February 1945.) Employment Opportunities in Aviation Occupations, Part I .— Postwar Employment Outlook Bulletin No. 837-1 (1945), price 10 cents. (M onthly Labor Review, A p ril and June 1945.) Employment Opportunities in Aviation Occupations, P art I I .— Duties, Qualifications, Earnings, and W orking Conditions Bulletin No. 837 -2 (19 4 6 ), price 20 cents. (M onthly Labor Review, August 1946.) Employm ent Outlook for Automobile Mechanics Bulletin No. 842 (19 4 5 ), price 10 cents. February 1946.) (M onthly Labor Review, Employment Opportunities fo r W elders Bulletin N o. 844 (1 9 4 5 ), price 10 cents. September 1945.) (M onthly Labor Review, Postwar Outlook for Physicians Bulletin No. 863 (1 9 4 6 ), price 10 cents. December 1945.) (M onthly Labor Review, Employm ent Outlook in Foundry Occupations Bulletin No. 880 (1 9 4 6 ), price 15 cents. December 1945 and A p ril 1946.) (M onthly Labor Review, 13 Postwar Employment Prospects for W om en in the Hosiery Industry Bulletin No. 835 (1 9 45), price 5 cents. (M onthly Labor Review, M ay 1945.) Employment Outlook for Business Machine Servicemen Bulletin No. 892 (1947), price 15 cents. Employment Outlook in Machine Shop Occupations Bulletin No. 895 (1 9 4 7 ), price 20 cents. Employment Outlook in Printing Occupations Bulletin No. 902 (1947). (In press.) Special Bulletins Occupational Data for Counselors, A Handbook o f Census Information Selected for Use in Guidance Bulletin No. 817 (1 9 4 5 ), price 10 cents. (Prepared jointly with the Occupational Inform ation and Guidance Service, U . S. Office of Education.) Factors Affecting Earnings in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Bulletin No. 881 (1946), price 10 cents. (M onthly Labor Review, June 1946.) State and Regional Variations in Prospective Labor Supply Bulletin No. 893 (1 9 4 7 ), price 15 cents. M onthly Labor Review, December 1946.) 14 U. S. 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