Full text of Facts on Women Workers : June 1958

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on WOMEN WORKERS
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

James P. Mitchell, Secretary
WOMEN’S BUREAU

June 1958

Alice K. LeoDold. Director

Communities and Field Staff Cooperate

■’ Occupational Outlook
By JAMES P. MITCHELL, SECRETARY" OF LABOR
After
exercises,
that faces
one: ’’Can

the excitement of commencement
the most important question
college graduates is a basic
I find a job?”

At the moment the American economy
is operating at levels somewhat below
those of the past few years. This is a
temporary situation which will inevitably
be altered by the forces which are already
at work within the economy to restore it»
to its normal high levels. And we must not
allow the current situation to blind us to
the long-term trends which will determine
the Nation’s manpower future, and, in
large measure, the employment outlook of
1958’s college graduates.

Forecasts of economic growth have
indicated that there will be a great need
in the coming decade for professional,
technical, clerical and sales personnel.
These predictions are still valid.

The immediate picture shows a favor­
able employment outlook for college
graduates this spring, although there are
somewhat fewer recruiters on the campus
than in recent years and companies are
being much more selective in hiring.
Greater emphasis is being placed on quali­
fications, and there is a continued need
for men and women with advanced degrees,
reflecting persistent shortages of special­
ists in many fields. Those who can con­
tinue their education to get advanced
training in their specialties should
certainly do so.




Reports from the members of the new
field staff of the Women’s Bureau of
the Department of Labor who have com­
pleted their first trip for 1958, show
exceptional cooperation in the communi­
ties where they have been working.
June-July itineraries will take the
staff into Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Kansas, and
Missouri.

Eleven States have been visited by
the staff. They are Louisiana,
California, Texas, Colorado, Missouri,
Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and the State of
Washington.
In all communities where contacts
were made, the staff members were
enthusiastic about the exceptional inter­
est of local groups in programs for
women. Meetings of local groups were
called, materials presented, and gener­
ally groundwork was laid for continuing
service on the part of the staff to help
with local programs which concern the
Women’s Bureau and the Department of
Labor.
Projects of current concern include
the shortage of nurses. The new pub­
lications which have just been released
by the Women’s Bureau tell the story of
the need for more trained nurses. The
pamphlet and leaflet will be well
received by local associations of the
national nurses’ groups and were
featured at the convention of the American
Nurses’ Association in Atlantic City in
June.

Continued on Page 2, Col. 1

June 1958

FACTS

Page 2

EOF REPORTS ARE GOOD

’’Little Rock, Arkansas, and St.
Petersburg and Miami, Florida, have con­
ducted Earning Opportunities Forums this
year,” Mrs. Alice K. Leopold reported.
In Little Rock, the follow-up com­
mittee, enthusiastic with EOF results,
voted to concentrate this year on efforts
to: provide group counseling for older
workers; assist in developing job open­
ings for senior workers; work with
publicity committees to present on
television,interviews with successful
mature workers; help promote setting up
training classes.
The follow-up questionnaire sent
out by the local committee to the 778
people who attended the St. Petersburg
EOF brought back the word that the
majority found the Forum was helpful
either in their looking for a job, pre­
paring for a job, or deciding what they
would like to do.

Earning Opportunities Forums to
help older workers who want to or need to
work have been a major program of the
Women’s Bureau for the past few years.
They are conducted by community groups
and service clubs with the cooperation
of the State Employment Service, and
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of
Employment Security and Women’s Bureau.

FIELD STAFF - Continued from Page 1.
The teacher shortage, women in
scientific and technical jobs, day care
for children of working mothers, youth
programs, effect of automation and
electronics on women’s jobs, and older
worker programs were other subjects in
which local groups are keenly interested.
A wealth of information which has
enabled the Women’s Bureau to put its
finger on the most important needs of
local communities was gathered from
these first major trips of the year.



Working Wives
About 28 percent of all married
couples were working in the spring
of 1957, according to a recent report
by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
This represents an increase from the
end of World War II, when the pro­
portion was 20 percent. The majority
of wives, however, are still full­
time hcmemakers. For some 63 percent
of married couples, the husband was a
worker and the wife a full-time home­
maker. The remaining couples were
chiefly older people who were not
working.

The report shows that wives were
more likely to work: when the husband
was unemployed; when his income was
under $U,000 a year; or when there
were no children under 18 years of
age in the home. Mothers of children
under 6 years of age were only about
one-half as likely to be working as
other married women.
MIDWEST TRIP
“Spotlight on American Women” is the
title of the talk Mrs. Leopold will give
at the convention of the General Federa­
tion of Women’s Clubs June 6. The
meeting takes place in Detroit.

The day before her Detroit speech,
Mrs. Leopold will address the second
annual National Convention of Golden Age
and Senior Citizens Clubs in St. Louis,
Missouri.

EAST COAST
A report on nurses’ salaries will be
given by Mrs. Leopold at the convention
of the American Nurses* Association in
Atlantic City, June 11. There will also
be a new exhibit and other materials
portraying occupations of women and
stressing nationwide shortages of women
workers•

SUMMARY OF FEDERAL
LEGISLATION IN THE MAKING

*

*

A new sqramaiy digest of.major Federal
legislation affecting women workers is
being prepared by the Legislation
Division of the Women’s Bureau for use, by
the members of Girls’ State and Girls’
Nation. The digest will contain infor­
mation on the Fair Labor Standards,
Social Security, Employment Security
system, and Labor Relations legislation.

The Women’s Bureau has assisted the
leaders of this project in planning State
and National programs. Among study mate­
rials provided are digests of State labor
laws and digests of laws on family and
property rights. Mrs. Leopold was speaker
at Girls’ Nation last year and has been
invited again this year.

Girls’ States and Girls’ Nation wsre
organized ty the American Legion Auxiliary
to encourage young women to have an inter­
est in public life and their Government.
Each year a conference is set up in every
one of the U8 States. They organize them­
selves as a local government and elect
their officials. Next they organize
themselves as a State government. Repre­
sentatives are chosen from each State
conference to come to Washington for a
week to study the National Government.
WB ASSISTING MIGRATORY LABOR PROGRAM

>
»

Page 3

FACTS

June 19f>8

The President’s Committee on
Migratory Labor and the Department of
Labor are cooperating in planning a
program for areas where migratory labor
is a problem. The Women’s Bureau is
working with the Intradepartmental Committee on this matter. Some of the
groundwork is being done by members of
the Field Staff of the Bureau.

U.S. DELEGATE TO U.N.
TELLS OF FUTURE PLANS
Mrs. Lorena B. Hahn, head of the
U.S. Delegation to the United Nations
Commission on the Status of Women, met
with Mrs. Leopold and staff members of
the Women’s Bureau this month to dis­
cuss new developments in women’s inter­
national programs.

The 12th Session of the United
Nations Commission on the Status of
Women was held in Geneva March 18 April h. The agenda covered a wide
range of topics, including access of
women to higher education, working
women with family responsibilities, age
of marriage, freedom of consent to
marriage, and equal pay.

The United Nations is giving in­
creased attention to regional con­
ferences in order to advance the status
of women. The first such conference,
held in Bangkok in 19^7, demonstrated
the particular value of regional
seminars where participants from
countries with common interests and
problems can benefit by sharing their
experience and information.
A resolution adopted at the recent
Status of Women Commission meeting
expressed the hope that the United
Nations would hold a regional seminar
on civic responsibilities of women and
their participation in public life in
either Africa or Latin America in 19^9;
a regional seminar on family and
property rights in Asia in I960; and a
regional seminar either in Africa or
Latin America in 1961; with a seminar
in Europe at a later date.

Continued from Col. 1

In essence the Women’s Bureau
encourages communities with a demon­
strated need to plan and carry through
a program for improvement of working and
living conditions of migrant families.



Continued Col. 2

Among the many agencies interested in
the migratory field are church groups,
National Consumers League, h-H Clubs,
the Grange, and youth clubs.

June 1958

FACTS

Page U

SURVEY RESULTS

FOOD FOR

INFORMATION

A nationwide study of women college
graduates of 1956 has been made by the
National Vocational Guidance Association
in cooperation with the Women’s Bureau.
The findings of this survey are reported in
two Women’s Bureau publications.

<

AND THOUGHT

The leaflet, which appeared late in
May. is called “Young Women of the Year”
(5^), and the pamphlet, “College Women Go
to Work*’ (30£), will be ready in June.
NURSES ARE NEEDEDI

Two new releases from the Women’s
Bureau which have become very popular in
the short time they have been available,
are the pamphlet, "Nurses and Other
Hospital Personnel—Their Earnings and
Employment Conditions" (l5tf), and the
leaflet, "Memo To: Communities Re: The
Nurse Shortage" (5£), which point up the
continuing need for more nurses in the
Nation.

WOMEN LAWYERS

IF YOU WANT COPIES:

All Women’s Bureau publica­
tions are sold by the
Government Printing Office
as soon as they are printed.
Address orders to the
Superintendent of Documents,
Government Printing Office,
Washington 25, D. C. The
price for individual copies
is noted following the
listing of publications.




The would-be "Portias" of the Nation
will be able to find out the requirements
they must meet and the problems they have
to hurdle when Employment Opportunities for
Women in Legal Work is published within the
next few weeks by the Women’s Bureau.

HELP FOR HANDICAPPED

Help for Handicapped Women, a pamphlet
to be published in July by the Women’s
Bureau and the Office of Vocational
Rehabilitation, makes available for the
first time information on the various
aspects of the State-Federal vocational
rehabilitation program affecting women.
The publication deals with women work­
ers who are handicapped, handicapped home­
makers, and women who have disabled persons
in their families; how women’s organiza­
tions can help; community resources for the
handicapped; and professional careers for
women in the field of rehabilitation.

*