Full text of Facts on Women Workers : March 31, 1949

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

BUREAU
LABOR

L~
Washington 25, D. C.
March 31, 1949

EMPLOYMENT OF WCMEN IN FEBRUARY 1949

About 400,000 more women were in the labor force in February 1949 than in
February a year ago, as shown by the Census monthly reports. The number of
unemployed was not materially different from the level of February 1948.

Since January 1949, women’s employment rose slightly while men’s declined
slightly. Most of the additions to the civil i«n labor force were women.

Number of
women
Population (14 years
and over)
Civilian labor force
Employed
Unemployed
Anaed forces
Nonworkers

55,506,000
17,159,000
16,356,000
804,000
16,000
38,330,000

February 1949
Change since
Total persons
January 1949
Number Percent women

+ 47,000
♦ 242,000
♦ 92,000
♦ 151,000
♦
1,000
- 197,000

109,195,000
60,388,000
57,168,000
3,221,000
1,506,000
47,298,000

50.8
28.4
28.6
25*0
1.1
81.0

(U. S. Bureau of the Census)
MINIMUM WAGE
The District of Columbia’s recently revised minimum-wage order for office and
miscellaneous occupations (the last of the District’s 6 orders revised since
V-J Day) will become effective April 25, 1949* The revised order sets a
mini mum of $31 for a workweek of 32 to 40 hours and requires payment of not
less than 86 cents an hour for working time of less than 32 hours or in ex­
cess of 40 hours in week. These same rates apply to elevator operators and
janitors, but the weekly hours for them are from 32 to 44, the overtime rate
beginning after 44 hours. The mi ni mum rate for maids and cleaners under the
revised order is $29*75 for a week of 32 to 44 hours with an hourly minimum
of 78 cents for working time of less than 32 hours or in excess of 44 hours
in week.
The order specifies amounts that must be added to the minimum wage if employee
furnishes and/or launders her own uniform; it also requires that 95 cents
extra be paid for any day on which employee works a split shift or the spread
of hours exceeds 11, or both these situations occur.

WOMEN’S HOUR LAW - Wyoming
An amendment to the Wyoming hour law, approved February 25, 1949, requires
two rest periods of not less than 15 minutes, one before and one after the
lunch hour, for women employees whose duties require continuous standing*
The Wyoming hour law provides maximum hours for women of 8 a day and 48 a
week.




EABNINGS IN HOSIERY MANUFACTURE

Average hourly earnings in the full-fashioned hosiery industry for five
major production areas studied in October 1948 have recently been
reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among 8 women’s mill jobs
studied, two-thirds of the area averages fell in the $1.05-$1.35 range.
For the major women’s group, seamers, area averages ranged from 98 cents
an hour in Statesville-Hickory, N. C., to $1.39 in Reading, Pa. Average
earnings of hand menders ranged from $1.10 in Statesville-Hickory, N. C.,
to $1.33 in Charlotte, IT. C. Earnings of folders, the lowest-paid mill
workers studied, ranged from 95 cents to $1.13 among the 5 areas. Men
knitters, comprising about a sixth of the mill work force, averaged
from $1.36 to $2.75 an hour.

?

In seamless hosiery, women loopers, the largest job group, averaged 8$
cents in lowest-paid areas and 97 cents in the highest, in October 1948.
In men’s seamless hosiery women knitters operating automatic machines
averaged 83 cents an hour in Reading, Pa.', and Statesville-Hickory, N. C.
areas, and 98 cents in Winston-Salem—High Point, N. C.; in children’s
hosiery mills they averaged 91 cents in Chattanooga, Tenn., and 86 cents

in Winston-Salem—High Point, N. C. Men knitters operating automatic
machines averaged from 5 to 9 cents an hour more than women on similar work
in the same area. Average area earnings for women on other knitting jobs
ranged from 72 cents for transfer knitters on men’s hosiery in StatesvilleHickory to $1 for*string knitters on men’s hosiery in 7/5nston_Salem—High
Point.

WOMEN IN UNIONS
California Union Membership in 1947
Of 2,125 local unions in California replying to a questionnaire sent out
by the California Department of Industrial Relations, 2,059 reported the
number of women members. Women formed about 16 percent of the total member­
ship — a slight drop from the 18 percent reported in 1946.
The proportion of union members who were women was higher in manufacturing
industries (22 percent) than in nonmanufacturing (13 percent). Women
comprised nearly three-fourths of the membership reported in the textile
and apparel industry, 44 percent in hotels and eating and drinking places,
and 38 percent in food and kindred products.

The influx of women into industry has had a marked effect on the sex
composition of unions, according to the Calif onia Department’s report. In
1940 only one-fourth of the reporting locals had women members. By 1947,
this proportion was 45 percent.

Canada Union Membership, 1947
Each year all local unions are requested to report to the Department of
Labour in Canada the number of their members who are women.
Of the 4,221
locals which reported December 31, 1947, 1,267, or 30.0 percent reported
women members. Women numbered 86,603, or 11.0 percent of the total member­
ship of the reporting locals.
These figures probably underestimate the
real facts as many locals do not differentiate between men and women workers

in their records, states the report.



DEPARTMENT OF LA30R'S LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

Below is listed the 15-point basic program sponsored by the Department of
Labor to improve the economic status of those who work:

1.Repeal the Taft-Hartley law and re-enact the original Wagner Act; advocate
additional legislation to promote the public interest, fair to labor and
industry alike. 2.Increase the minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards
Act to at least 75 cents an hour with increases up to §1 an hour under
industry committee procedure; extend the Act to large numbers not now
covered or who are now exempt; improve and extend bans on child labor.
3 .Provide Federal aid for labor education through a labor extension
service in the Department of Labor. 4.Centralize Government labor functions
in the Department of Labor.
5.Control inflationary tendencies.
6.End job
and wage discriminations against minority groups in interstate industries
by enacting a sound Fair Employment Practices Act.
7.End wage discrimination
against women workers through a Federal equal pay law.
8.Provide Federal aid
to the States to promote industrial safety.
9.Enact a law establishing a
fair policy for admitting displaced persons.
10.Amend the Social Security
Act to provide higher old-age and survivors insurance and unemployment
compensation and extend coverage to many people not now entitled to its
benefits.
H.Provide for rehabilitation, job counseling, and placement
for handicapped workers through effective laws administered in the Depart­
ment. 12.Create a commission to investigate the legal status of women and
to recommend means of wiping out unfair laws and practices operating against
them. 13 .Promote in the United States the labor standards set by the
International Labor Office.
14.Regulate private employment agencies and
labor contractors operating in interstate commerce. 15.Protect American
workers outside the country under Government contracts.

Current status of certain of these measures as of March 26, 1949 is:
“Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1949" (H.R. 3190), was reported with
an amendment by the House Committee on Education and Labor, March 16
(H. Sept. 267).

’’National Labor Relations Act of 1949” (S. 249)> was reported with amendments
by the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, March 8 (S. Rept. 99/*
“National Labor Relations Act of 1949" (H.R. 2032) was reported without
amendments by the House Committee on Education and Labor March 24. (H. Rept.317).
These two bill s would repeal the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947 and
re-enact the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 with certain amendments.
Labor Extension Service (S. 110), was reported without amendment by the
Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, March 4 (S. Rept. 92).

Hearings on proposed amendments to the Social Security Act opened before
the House Ways and Means Committee February 28.
The first portion of such
hearings concerned the establishing of more adequate public-welfare programs
(H.R. 2892). Extending coverage under the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance
program (H.R. 2893) will be taken up next.




WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT

United States - Indian Ambassador
Mrs. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, India’s Ambassador to Russia, has been appointed
Ambassador to the United States, succeeding Sir Benegal Rama Rau. She is the
sister of India’s Prime Minister, Jawaharial Nehru. At present Mrs. Pandit
is India’s delegate to the United Nations Assembly.

United Rations - Korean Representative

Miss Helen Kim, President of Ehwa College, Korea, has been appointed Korean
representative to the United Nations by President Rhee.

Puerto Rico - Women Mayors
Puerto Rico has four -women mayors: Mrs. Blanca E. Colberg, of Cabo Rojo;
Mrs. Esperanza Ydrach viuda de Quinones, of Guanica; Kirs. Victoria Mateo
Serrano, of Salinas; and Mrs. Felisa Rincon de Gautier, Mayor of the Capital,
San Juan.

H
A
V

E

The Legal Status of Women in the United States of America.
(Individual State material constituting a part of a
compilation to show the present legal status of women in the
United States.) Reports are now available for 17 States:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, New York State, North Dakota, Ohio,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

Suffrage for Komen in Countries of the World. A one-page supple- )
ment to Bui. 217, revising Appendix C, International Documents
)
on the Status of W'omen.

Y

0
U

)
Women’s
)
)
Bureau
)
)
U. S.
)
) Department

)

The Occupational Outlook Handbook.

of
Labor'

A new basic source-book of

occupational information.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U. S. Department of Labor.
May be obtained from Supt. of Documents, Washington 25, D.C.
$1.75 a single copy.

R
E

A
D

Nursing for the Future, by Dr. Esther L. Brown. A report pxepared for
the National Nursing Council. New York Russell Sage Foundation,
130 East 22nd Street, New York 10, N. Y.
194^.
Outlines
recommendations on what is needed to improve the Status of nursing
service and nursing education.

Facts About Nursing, 194&»

Brochure published by the American Nurses

Association, 1790 Broadway, New York 19, N.Y.




(w.B.49-335)