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

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FACTS

on Women Workers
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Maurice J. Tobin, Secretary
= WASHINGTON

WOMEN'S BUREAU

Frieda S. Miller, Director
V5t D.C.
MAY

31,

1949

EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN BI APRIL 1949

The number of women in the civilian labor force in April was somewhat
1 ft-r
than in March, according to the Census monthly reports.
Farm operations were
delayed in some parts of the country, so that there was not the usual seasonal
rise in agricultural employment.
The proportion of the women of the United
States who are in the labor force (including the armed forces) has continued
to increase, in accordance with the historical trend: it was 30*9 percent in
April 1949, compared with 27.6 percent in April 1940, and 25.6 percent in
April 1930.
The proportion of men in the labor force has remained aA most
unchanged, except during the war period, throughout the past two decades.

_____________________________ April 1949___________________

Number of

Change since

Total persons

women___________ March 1949________ Number Percent women
Population (14 years
and over)
Civilian labor force
Employed
Unemployed
Armed forces
Nonworkers

55,609,000
17,167,000
16,356,000

♦

811,000
17,000
38,425,000

4♦
♦

—
—

(u. s .

49,000
122,000
199,000
77,000
1,000
170,000

109,373,000
60,835,000
57,819,000
3,016,000

50.8
28.2
28.3
26.9

1,492,000
47,046,000

1.1
81.7

Bureau of the Census)

HOUR LAWS FOR WOMEN

Maine amended its hours law for women to add to the industries covered by the
law’s daily maximum-hour provisions mercantile establishments, beauty parlors,
hotels, restaurants, dairies, bakeries, laundries, dry cleaning establishments,
telegraph offices, telephone exchanges employing more than 3 operatoi-s, and
express or transportation companies.
In these, as well as in industries
already covered, the daily maximum is set at 9 hours (10 allowed on one day
in week) and the weekly maximum at 54*
For production workers in workshops,
factories, and manufacturing establishments, the maximum weekly hours may
not exceed 50.

Tennessee amended its hours law to reduce the maximum hours a female 16 years
and over may be employed to 10 a day, 50 a week (formerly 10j and 57) J io
permit employment of women in telegraph offices for 54 hours a week; and,
in addition, to limit overtime in seasonal employments to 4 hours in any one
of 8 weeks in a calendar year.
The amendment authorizes suspension of the
maximum hours provision for duration of an emergency affecting the operation
of certain util ity and distribution companies and in other industries which
affect the health and well-being of State citizens.
It retains the 1943
amendment authorizing suspension, in times of National emergency, of maximum
hours limitation for women employed in industries manufacturing Government
supplies.



OTHER STATE LEGISLATION

Industrial Homework is now under regulation by the State Department of
Labor in the State of Maine. Manufacture by industrial homework is
prohibited on 5 specified types of goods, and power is given the
Commissioner of Labor to prohibit the process in any other industry, as
provided by the law.

Equal Pay for equal work as between men and women in any occupation
within the State of Maine is required by an act approved April 25, 194%
which prohibits discrimination in salary or wage rates because of
difference in sex. However, the law expressly provides that variations
may be made in such pay rates when based on difference in seniority,
experience, training, skill, ability, duties performed, shift or time
of day worked, availability for other operations, or other reasonable
differentiation.
HOMEWORK IN DIRECT MAIL ESTABLISHMENTS - NEW YORK STATE

The rapid growth of homework in direct mail establishments since the war
is reported by the New York State Department of Labor. On operations
performed by homeworkers — almost exclusively typing addresses on
envelopes and labels -7- homeworkers outnumbered shop workers, according to
the study made.
In May 1948 in the 323 direct mail houses employing workers on any operation
that can be performed at home, there were about 1,500 homeworkers out of a
total work force of almost 5,400? five months later, in October, the
number had increased to more than 1,950.

The earnings of homeworkers are reported to be lower than shop workers*.
Preliminary reports indicated that the average straight-time earnings of
typists at home was 68 cents an hour, compared with 84«2 cents for typists
in the shop. For the most part homeworkers in the industry are mothers of
small children with husbands working but whose earnings as a result of
high cost of living were insufficient to maintain the family.
The New York Department of Labor held a hearing to inquire into the
conditions and the need for regulation.

WOMEN FAMILY HEADS
In the spring of 1948, of 37 min inn families composed of two or more
persons related to each other and living together, one—tenth had a
woman head, according to a Census report. For the year 1947, the
msd1 an total money income of such families with a woman head was $2,172?
with a man head, $3,104*




MAJOR OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN APRIL 1949
A net decrease in women1 s employment in the year since April 1948
reflects a decline in manual workers of more than 200,000, and of pro­
fessional workers of some 100,000. At the same time the number of service
workers grew by about 100,000, and of farm workers by more than 80,000.

Since 1940, women’s employment has risen by nearly 4^ mil lion. There
were 2 mill Ion more women clerical workers and 1 million more women
manual workers in April 1949 than in 1940. Both service workers (except
domestic) and sales worioers increased by more than half a mil 1nonT The
only notable decline was ii numbers of domestic service workers, who in 1949
were a half million fewer than in 1940.

Women, April 1949
Percent
distribution

Number
All occupations
Clerical and kindred
workers
Operatives, laborers, craftsmen, and foremen
Service workers (except
domestic)
Domestic service workers
Professional and semiprofessional workers
Sales workers
Farmers and farm workers
Proprietors, managers, and
officials (except farm)

Percent of
all workers

16,356,000

100,0

28.3

4,542,000

27.8

61.2

3,449,000

21.1

15.2

1,911,000
1,666,000

31.7
10.2

44.1
91.6

1,477,000
1,386,000
1,057,000

9.0
8.5
6.5

36.6
37.7
13.9

867,000

5.3

13.9

(U. S. Bureau of the Census)
INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE PROGRAM
m«« Marta Zaiden, Mrs. Leonie Victor, Miss Gudelia Gomez, and
Mrs. Teresa Troconis, officials of Labor Departments in Cuba, Haiti,
Mexico and Venezuela, are in this country for a four-month training
program administered by the Women’s Bureau. Various State Labor
Departments are cooperating in the training program. Mrs. Parul
Chakraborty of Calcutta, India was accepted at the request of the
Embassy of India for a period of in-service training under the
direction of the Women’s Bureau.




TO IN THE ARMED SERVICES
Kay 14, 1949, marked the seventh anniversary of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC),
created originally on May 14, 1942, as the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and now
established as a permanent part of the Regular Army.

The new Women’s Armed Services Integration Act passed by the 80th Congress and
signed by President Truman on June 12, 1948, has settled the question of the
status of women in active duty in the United States Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.
Under the new Act women are an integral part of the permanent mi 1 i tary establish­
ment.

Under the new program opportunities for women to build a career in serving the
Nation are widened. Serious study is being given to women’s particular ski11 a
and training so that they can be properly utilized.
Through career guidance and
training programs women may be advanced to jobs requiring increased responsibility
and to supervisory positions.
Promotions for women in the armed services now
follow the same general pattern as for men.
There were in the Army May 1949, approximately 5,000 enlisted women, and over
600 officers, including those serving with the occupation forces in Germany and
Japan.
In the Navy on April 1, there were 2,223 enlisted women and 479 officers
on active duty.

SAURIES OF SOCIAL WORKERS

The Bureau of Labor Statistics made a survey, in November 1948, of the salaries,
hours, and economic status of social workers in Michigan, in cooperation with
the National Council of Social Work Education. An analysis of these data is
presented in an article by Miss Lily Mary David of the Bureau’s Division of Wage
Analysis. Concerning salaries the article states:
The average annual salary for social work positions in Michigan in November 1948
amounted to $3,100.
One out of four workers in such positions was receiving
less than $2,650 a year-, and a corresponding proportion more than $3,850.
The average for men was $3,700, that for women $2,880.
The higher earnings
of men were traceable partly to differences in pay for the same type of
position, and partly to employment of men in the more responsible positions
in greater proportions than women.
In some positions, earnings of men were
a fourth above those of women, although a slightly higher proportion of
women than of men reported graduate study in social work.

A scheduled workweek of 40 hours applied to two-thirds of the workers studied —
foui>-fifths of the government employees and three-eighths of the workers in non­
governmental organizations. In private organizations almost a fifth of the
workers reported a shorter workweek schedule of 37j hours, and an eighth a
longer workweek of more than 48 hours. Overtime was occasionally required
of 7 out of 10 workers, half of whom reported they were compensated, usually
in the form of time off rather than by additional pay.
Reprints of the article ’’Salaries of Social Workers in Michigan, 1948”
covering various aspects of the economic status of social workers will
be available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics June 13, 1949*




("IB 49-4U)