Full text of Facts on Women Workers : December 31, 1951

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FACTS
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on Women Workers
U. S. Department of Labor

Maurice J. Tobin,

Women's Bureau

Frieda S. Miller,

Secretary

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December 31? 1951

EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN NOVEMBER 1951

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LIBRARY
A. £ M. COLLEQt OF

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The civilian woman labor force, which includes both the employed and unemployed,
was estimated at 19.8 million in November 1951? according to the U. S. Department
of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. There was a decrease from October of half
a million in the number of women employed on farms, but this was offset in
part by an increase in nonagricultural employment. The net decrease in the
woman labor force was not large--only 112,000, but the proportion of women
workers who were employed was lower and the proportion unemployed was higher than
in the previous month. Comparison with November 1950 shows an increase of
325,000 in the woman labor force during the year.

November 1951
Women
Percent
Change
of
since
all
October
persons
1951

Change
since
November
1950

52.5

+ 60,000

+648,000

19,818,000
18,992,000
1,294,000

31.4
31.0
18.4

-112,000
-212,000
-498,000

+325,000
+431,000
-101,000

54,314,000
1,828,000

17,698,000
826,000

32.6
45.2

+286,000
+100,000

+531,000
-105,000

45,958,000

37,480,000

81.6

4172,000

+322,600

Employment
status

Civilian noninstitutional
population

Number

Total, 14 years and over

109,122,000

57,298,000

In labor force.................
Employed...........................
In agriculture....
In nonagricultural
industries
Unemployed......................

63,164,000
61,336,000
7,022,000

Not in labor force....

WSB EQUAL-PAY RESOLUTION

A (a

The National Wage Stabilization Board announced the unanimous adoption of an
Equal-Pay Resolution on November 15, 1951. Under the provisions of the resolu­
tion the WSB is empowered to approve "increases in wages, salaries and other
compensation, for comparable quality and quantity of work on the same or similar
operations in the same establishment, without regard to sex, race, color or
national origin.” An appropriate General Wage Regulation will be issued by the
* WSB on the basis of experience gained in administering this resolution.

s/,y




MINIMUM WAGE

Massachusetts revised its 1948 mercantile occupations order by increasing the
minimum-wage rates for a week of 36 to 44 hours to $27 for experienced workers
and $24 for inexperienced. (The superseded order established $22.50 and $20.50
as the minimums for these groups.) The new order, effective December 26, 1951,
sets 6tJ and 60 cents, respectively, as the hourly minimums for part-time workers
(those working less than 36 hours) in the two groups mentioned above and these
same minimum rates are applicable to overtime, i.e., employment in excess of 44
hours a week. (The 1948 order set 55 cents and 50 cents as the minimums for these
same groups.) The learning period, formerly 1,040 hours, is reduced to 780 hours
by the new order.
In most intrastate occupations not covered by wage order, the 65-cent minimum
set by State statute applies.

HOUSEHOLD EMPLOYEES UNDER SOCIAL SECURITY

The extension of old-age and survivors insurance under Federal social security
to approximately ten million more workers, including regular employees in private
households, affords a measure of economic security to four out of five of the
Nation's gainfully employed and self-employed. The inclusion of domestic employees
in this broadened coverage not only removes an inequity, but gives this security
to a segment of our working people who were especially lacking in personal and
fainlly insurance protection. In granting them the rights enjoyed by most other
employees, it gives recognition to their place in our national society.

Not all domestic employees are building toward old-age and survivors insurance;
not all household employers have responsibilities under the social security law.
It applies only to domestic workers who are regularly employed.
A maid, cook, laundress, or other household worker is "regularly" employed if
she works for a household employer on at least part of 24 different days in a
3-month period. This period must be one of the four calendar quarters of the year
That is, it must be a 3-month period beginning with January, April, July, or
October. If the worker is employed in one private household on all or part of
at least 24 different days in any such period, or on 24 different days in the pre­
ceding period, she is a "regular" employee in that household. If her cash wages
are $50 or more in the quarter, she is meeting the test for a regular worker and
her employer has an obligation to file with the Collector of Internal Revenue a
quarterly report on her wages and remit the social security tax. The amount of
this tax is 3 percent of the cash wages, one-half of which the employer is ex­
pected to deduct from the worker.'s earnings.

It is important for the regular household worker to have a social security account
card and show that card to her household employer. It is equally important for
the household employer to get a copy of the booklet, DO YOU HAVE A MAID?, from the
nearest social security office. This booklet has a tear-off franked postcard
addressed to the Collector of Internal Revenue. On receipt of this postcard,
the Collector will send full instructions, together with the envelope-type quarterly
tax return form.
41
HAVE

YOU

WOMAN AT WORK. Autobiography of Mary Anderson, as told to Mary N. Winslow.
University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis. 1951* 266 pp.
MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE. By Catherine Owens Peare. Vanguard Press, New York.

1951- 219 pp.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN IN THE FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE.

Commission, Pamphlet 35, September 1951. 26 pp.
READ



U. S. Civil Service

WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD

ILO Looks into Household. Employment. —A meeting of experts on the Status and Con­
ditions of Employment of Domestic Workers, held in Geneva, July 2 to 6, 1951,
presaged a new phase of ILO activity in this field. With Frieda S. Miller, Director
of the Women’s Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor, as chairman, the committee of
11 members from 8 countries brought together the viewpoints and experience of
government, labor, and management in true ILO fashion. The committee’s report
covered: (l) Contracts of employment in domestic work; (2) conditions of work, in­
cluding hours, living arrangements, pay, health safeguards, and special protection
for young workers; (3) vocational training and certification; (4) social security
for domestic workers; and (5) the organization of home aide (visiting housekeeper)
services. The committee was unanimous in finding that it is both important and
practicable for the ILO to take action in the field of domestic work and that
such action would benefit both employers aid workers and would promote the well­
being of family life in general. Copies of the report will shortly be available.
ILO Committee on Women’s Work. --A meeting of the Committee of Experts on Women’s
Work was convened in Geneva, December 11-15, by the International Labor Organization.
Participants, invited as individuals and not as representatives of organizations
or governments, included Frieda S. Miller, Director of the Women's Bureau, U. S.
Department of Labor.
India. --A 3-<iay conference of the All-India Women’s Food Council was held in
New Delhi on October 13, 14, and 15, 1951« The main object of the conference was
to review the Council’s campaign for changing the food habits of the people and
saving foodgrains. About 150 delegates from various states attended. Both the
Minister of Food and Agriculture and the Health Minister participated in the
conference, which adopted resolutions urging restaurants to use more non-cereal
foods and as little as possible of rationed foods; advocating a training center
for cafeteria managers and nutritionists; and urging the government to entrust
to the Council the distribution of gifts cf food from foreign countries.
Great Britain. --Data on insured employees in Great Britain as of May 1950 appear
in the Ministry of Labor Gazette (London) for June 1951 • The figures include all
employees 15 years of age and over within the scope of the National Insurance Acts.
Excluded are employers, self-employed persons, and members of the armed forces.
The total number of employees was estimated at 20,650,000 of whom one-third, or
6,950,000, were women. Eighteen percent of the women were under 20 years of age;
46 percent were 20 to 39 years; 32 percent were 40 to 59 years; and 4 percent
were 60 or over. Women are pensionable at 60 in Great Britain, and men at 65.

The highest proportions of women under 20 were found in the paper and printing
industry, clothing, distributive trades, and insurance, banking and finance. Women
40 years of age and over were found in highest proportions in miscellaneous ser­
vices (including domestic service), public administration, and professional services.
Details as to marital status were difficult to obtain, but it was estimated that
about 40 percent of the women employees were married. In eight industry groups
employing large numbers of women, the percentage of women employees who were married
ranged from 38 percent in professional services to 55 percent in textiles. About
one-fourth of all married women in the population were working as employees.
Honduras. --A measure passed by the Honduran Congress in December permits women
to practice law in Honduras for the first time.
The Supreme Court had proposed
the legal reform.



WORK EXPERIENCE OF WOMEN IN 1950

Of the women in the United States in early 1951# more than 40 percent had worked
in 1950 according to the U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
(Census Current Population Report P-50# No. 35)• Of these women workers threefourths had full-time jobs. About half of those who were aged 20 to 64 had worked
40 weeks or more at full-time jobs in 195°.
Of the women 18 to 64 years of age, 80 percent of the single, 58 percent of the
widowed and separated, and 37 percent of the married had worked in 1950. Of
those with children under 6 years of age, only 25 percent had worked.
Considerably larger proportions of the unmarried than of the married women were
in professional and clerical occupations and in household service. The largest
groups of married women workers, whether with or without small children, were
operatives, farm laborers, and clerical workers, which together accounted for
56 percent of the total. Part-time jobs were held by a considerably larger pro­
portion of the married women workers than of those in other marital groups. Al­
most 40 percent of the women workers with young children had part-time jobs.

WOMEN IN THE NEWS

The highest decoration awarded by the Army to a civilian employee, the decoration
for Exceptional Civilian Service, was presented December 12 to Mrs. Lillian B. Swartz,
for leadership in developing a uniform system of regulations for civilian workers.
The Civil Defense Administration announced in December the appointment cf Mrs.
John L. Whitehurst of Baltimore to head a new office of volunteer manpower. Her
title is Assistant Administrator of Civil Defense.
Awarded a Legion of Merit citation in November for her 3 years of service in
Tokyo as a dietitian, Nell Wickliffe has been made director of the Women’s Medical
Specialist Corps of the Army, with the rank of colonel.

For significant achievement in German reorientation, Helen Imrie, of Rhode Island,
a government specialist, was named a Young Woman of the Year and given a 1951
Merit Award by Mademoiselle magazine.




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