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

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A

FACTS

on Women Workers
Women's Bureau

U. S. Department of Labor

Maurice J. Tobin,

Secretary

Frieda S. Miller,

-------- WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

Director

....... .......

library
A. 4 M. COtLEfl€ OF T03U
January 31, 1951

WLOYHENT OF WOMEN IN DECEMBER 1950
Nearly a million more women were employed in December 1950 than in December
1949, according to the Bureau of the Census, the gain being entirely in the
nonagricultural industries.
The number of unemployed women declined by
over a quarter of a million.
The number of women nonworkers dropped very
slightly.

Changes from November to December 1950 were largely seasonal in nature.
Agricultural work slackens at this time, and farm women often leave the labor
force for the time being.
At the same time the Christmas expansion in trade
adds to the number of women in nonagricultural employment and often gives
work to women previously unemployed

___________________
December 1950
_______ ______
Number of Percent women
Change since
Change since
women
of all persons
November 1950 December 1949
Population (14 years
and over)

Civilian labor force
Employed
In agriculture
In nonagricultural
industries
Unemployed
Armed forces
Nonworkers

56,729,000

19,003,000
18,232,000
743,000

51.0
30.4
30.2
11.9

4
53,000
— 490,000
- 329,000
- 652,000

17,490,000
770,000
27,000
37,700,000

32.3
34.5
1.3
30.8

♦ 323,000
- 161,000
1,000
4♦ 542,000

4

681,000

723,000
9^9,000
♦
- 106,000

4-^)76,000
- 274,000
6,000

4-

-

47,000

(U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census)

MINIMUM WAGE

Puerto Rico recently promulgated two minimum-wage orders—one for the pineapple
industry, effective September 1, 1950, and the other for the coffee industry,,
approved October 23, 1950, effective on publication in two newspapers.
The
pineapple industry order covers all processes from the growing to the canning
and transportation of this fruit. Minimum-wage rates for agricultural occupations
are established by zone and occupation; minimums range from $1.70 to $4 a day.
The minimum for industrial occupations is 30 cents an hour.
The coffee industry
order sets a minimum of 50 cents an almud (8/10 of a liter) for pickers and $1.44
a day for all other workers.
Increase or decrease in minimum-wage rates may
vary
under
terms
of
the
order
according to the price of coffee.



DEFENSE INDUSTRIES MUST LOOK TO OLDER WOMEN WORKERS
Discussing the Nation’s manpower potential before a subcommittee of the Senate
toned Services Committee, the Secretary of Labor, Maurice J. Tobin, said recently,
•In sharp contrast to the situation with respect to males, most of the women of
working age are not now in the labor force. Consequently, the adult woman group
must supply the greatest relative addition to the labor force. ¥e know that most
of those under 35 years of age are the mothers of young children, with home
responsibilities which greatly limit the extent to which they can seek employment.
Therefore* it is to the housewives over 35 that we must turn for the bulk of our
additional women workers."

After estimating the potential total labor force, the Secretary stated, "Under
greater pressure and with careful planning we might stretch this total by a few
more million. For example, large-scale provision for child-care centers and
other community facilities could release many thousands of additional women for
employment• The systematic placement of defense contracts and location of plant,
facilities in areas where potential labor is available would also serve to expand
this total. However, beyond a certain limit, any further increase in gross
numbers, drawn from such groups as the mothers with very young children or from
the 14-17 year old age group, would yield little in terms of over-all productivity
and would be possible only at a heavy social cost chargeable to the future.®

DAY CAKE FOR CHILDREN OF WORKING M3T5ERS
A conference on planning for day care and extended school services in areas
affected by defense mobilization was held reoently at the Federal Security
Agency. The meeting substantially re indorsed the policy set forth in 1942 by
the War Manpower Commission on employment in industry of women with young
children, which stated that special efforts to secure employment in industry of
such women should be deferred until full use has been made of all other sources
of labor supply. However, the policy statement continued, barriers against
enployment of women with young children should not be set up. "The decision as
to gainful employment should in all oases be an individual decision made by the
woman herself in the light of the particular conditions prevailing in her home."
If recruitment of women with young children is necessary, the statement said,
it is essential that such women be employed at hours and on shifts causing the
least disruption in their family life and that adequate community facilities
be provided for day care of their children during working hours.

I

The day care committee of the Child Welfare League of Amenton, meeting in
New York recently, recommended that State and Federal funds be allocated
immediately to help establish new programs for day care facilities for children
of working mothers. A pressing need is already developing in certain areas as
a result of the present emergency, the League pointed out.

During the last war, Federal funds for child-care centers were made available
under provisions of the Lanham Actj direct grants were made to local communities
after certification by the U. S. Office of Education and the Children’s Bureau
with respect to war necessity and program standards. The peak utilization of
this program was reached in July 1944, when 3,102 units were in operation with
an enrollment of 129,357 children. Federal funds were withdrawn in March 1946.
During the entire period of the Lanham Act program (August 1942-March 1946), a
total of $51,922,977 of Federal funds was allocated to these projects, supplemented

by local contributions. Federal funds amounted to 66 percent of the total spent.


A

EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF WOMEN BY AGE GROUP

Close to half of all women from 18 to 24 years of age are in the labor force,
according to figures for December 1950 from the U. S. Bureau of the Census.
Only slightly over a third of women in the next age grjup—25 to 34—are
workers, but nearly 40 percent of women from 35 to $4 are in the labor force.

Age

Woman ___________ ________ Women in labor force______________
population
Total
Employed Unemployed
14 years
Number
Percent of
and over
woman population

Total 56,702,000
14-15 2,128,000
16-17 2,037,000
18-19 2,120,000
20-24 5,770,000
25-34 12,097,000
35-44 10,726,000
45-54 8,837,000
55-64 6,878,000
65 and
6,109,000
over

Women
not in
labor force

19,003,000
253,000
661,000
1,052,000
2,805,000
4,149,000
4,230,000
3,416,000
1,837,000

33.5
11.9
32.4
49.6
48.6
34.3
39.4
38.7
26.7

18,233,000
240,000
591,000
982,000
2,685,000
3,991,000
4,089,000
3,294,000
1,782,000

770,000
13,000
70,000
70,000
120,000
158,000
141,000
124,000
55,000

37,700,000
1,875,000
1,376,000
1,068,000
2,966,000
7,950,000
6,496,000
5,419,000
5,041,000

599,000

9.8

580,000

19,000

5,510,000

(U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census)
WOMEN IN UNIONS
United States — The 1950 Convention of the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
held in November in Chicago, was attended by $$7 delegates, of whom 25 were
women. Six of the women represented national and international unions; 6 were
from State, city, county, or district Industrial Union Councils; while the
remaining 13 represented local industrial unions*

In Houston, Texas, in September, the 1950 Convention of the American Federation
of Labor was attended by at least 13 women. The list of delegates, 573 in all,
listed some persons by initials only, so that other women delegates may have
been present who were not identifiable from the official list. Seven women
represented national and international unions; four came from city central
bodies, and one was a delegate for a State branch. Miss Florence Hancock, chief
woman officer of the Transport and General Workers Union in England, was one of
the two fraternal delegates from the British Trades Union Congress. Miss Hancock
is the second British woman sent to the United States as a fraternal delegate
in the 56 years of fraternal relations between the AFL and the BTUC.

Great Britain — Of 913 delegates attending the 1950 Trades Union Congress in
Great Britain, 36 were women. The report of the Congress showed' that altogether
there were 1,217,083 women members of unions affiliated with the Trades Union
Congress. They were 15-4 percent of all members.
Since the Trades Union Congress was founded in 1868, two women have served as
President, Anne Loughlin in 1943 and Florence Hancock in 1948. Margaret
Bondfield served as chairman of the parliamentary committee and general council
in 1923; Anne Loughlin held the same position in 1942 and Florence Hancock

in 1947.


WOMEN IN POLITICS
According to & release issued by the Republican National Committee, a total
of 235 women are serving in 1951 State Legislatures.
The political line­
up is:
Republicans, 152; Democrats, 80; without party designation, 2;

Citizens Party, 1.
The 1951 total is the all-time high, exceeding by 1
the previous high in 1946.
The 1951 total is 21 more than that listed in
the 1949-50 Legislatures.
Twenty-three of the women are serving in State
Senates, 212 in State Assemblies.
Only 8 States do not have women legislators;
they are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma
and Virginia, according to the Committee.

WOMEN IN THE ARMED SERVICES
Assistant Secretary of Defense Anna M. Rosenberg has asked Congress to lift
the statutory limitation on number of women in the armed services. At present,
a ceiling is set of 2 percent of total strength.
In making the request,
Mrs. Rosenberg said, "We definitely do not anticipate now any draft induction
of women, but I am quite sure we can use twice as many as we have authorized.”

WOMEN IN AVIATION
A new altitude record for light planes was set on January 5 by a 28-year old
woman, Miss Caro Bayley, who flew her Piper Super Cub 30,380 feet above Miami,
Florida.
The temperature at this height was 34 degrees below zero.
Miss Bayley1 s feat passes the previous altitude record (also set by a woman)
by 6,000 feet.

MORE BOYS THAN GIRLS GO TO SCHOOL, SAIS U.N.
In most countries of the world, according to a report made to the United
Nations Commission on the Status of Women, fewer girls than boys attend school.
In some countries three or four times as many boys as girls are in school,
though in general the differential is not this great.
In only a few countries
are there more girls than boys in school, and in these cases the difference is
insignificant.
Proportion of boys to girls in school in the United States was
given as 70 to 66; in France, 62 to $3;
Canada, 82 to 85; India, 27 to 10;
Iraq, 33 to 8.
Some factors accounting for the differences were suggested:
the emphasis often made on education for boys to increase their- future earning
power, the fact that girls often drop out of school to help or replace their
mothers at home or to marry.

;

TRS 0^ FOR ™ a OCCUR CORF „„ , . _ OF^O.

h

U. S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau Bulletin 235-2.
WOMEN’S BUREAU 1950 HANDBOOK OF FACTS ON WOMEN WORKERS.

I
0
U

U. S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau Bulletin 237.
1950.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE AMONG THE NATIONS.
U. S. Department of Labor,
Women’s Bureau.
4 pp.
Mimeo.
September 1950.

R
E
&
D

"Child Care Facilities for Women Workers," in INTERNATIONAL LABOUR REVIEW,
November 1950.
"State Budgets for Single Women Workers," in MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW,
December 1950.




1950.

(The printing of this publication has been approved by
the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, March 9, 1950^