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UN ITED STATES DEPA R TM E N T OF LABOR
Frances Perkins, Secretary
B U R E A U OF L A B O R ST A T IS T IC S
Isador Lubin, Commissioner (on leave)
A . F. Hinrichs, A cting Commissioner
Handbook o f Labor Statistics
1941 E d itio n
Volume I
A ll Topics Except Wages
B ulletin 1S[o. 694
U N IT E D ST A T E S
G O V E R N M E N T P R IN T IN G OFFICE
W A S H IN G T O N : 1942
For sale by the Superintendent o f Documents, Washington, D . C.
Price $1
U NITED STATES DEPARTM ENT OF LABOR
F r a n c e s P e r k in s ,
Secretary
+
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
I sador L ubin ,
C o m m is sio n e r
A. F. H inrichs ,
(on leave)
A c tin g C o m m is sio n er
D onald D avenport , Chief, Employ
ment and Occupational Outlook
Branch
A ryness Joy , Chief, Prices and Cost
of Living Branch
H enry J. F itzgerald, Chief, Business
Management Branch
N. A rnold T olles, Chief, Working
Conditions and Industrial Relations
Branch
H ugh S. H anna , Chief, Editorial and
Research
Sidney W . W ilcox , Chief Statistician
DIVISIONS
Construction and Public Employment,
Herman B. Byer
Occupational
Welch
Cost of Living, Faith M. Williams
Post-War Labor Problems, Dal Hitch
cock
Employment Statistics, Lewis E. Tal
bert
Historical Studies of Wartime Prob
lems, Stella Stewart
Industrial Injuries, Max D. Kossoris
Industrial Relations, Florence Peter
son
Labor Information
Stern
Service,
Boris
Machine Tabulation, Joseph Drager
ii
Outlook,
Emmett
H.
Price Analysis, Saul Nelson, Walter
G. Keim
Productivity and Technological Devel
opment, W . Duane Evans
Retail Prices, Ethel D. Hoover
Wage Analysis, Robert J. Myers
Wholesale Prices, J. M. Cutts
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Apprenticeship and training:
National apprenticeship program_____________________________________
Vocational education__________________________________________________
Vocational rehabilitation______________________________________________
Progress of Indian arts and crafts_____________________________________
Child labor:
Child-labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act______________
Administration of the child-labor standards of the act___________
Determination of hazardous occupations_________________________
Trend of child labor___________________________________________________
Child labor in agriculture_____________________________________________
Children in the theater________________________________________________
Status of Federal child-labor amendment_____________________________
White House Conference on Children in a Democracy________________
Conciliation and arbitration:
Governmental conciliation and arbitration agencies__________________
Cooperative movement:
Consumers’ cooperative movement____________________________________
Operations of cooperative burial associations, 1939___________________
Cooperation in the building of homes_________________________________
Farmers’ cooperative purchasing______________________________________
Credit unions in 1939_________________________________________________
Status of labor banks, 1940___________________________________________
Cooperative productive enterprises in the United States_____________
Self-help organizations in the United States__________________________
Cost and standards of living:
Cost of living indexes:
Time changes in cost of living____________________________________
Place differences in living costs___________________________________
Standards and planes of living:
Bureau of Labor Statistics Study of Money Disbursements of
Wage Earners and Clerical Workers____________________________
Changes in family expenditures in the post-war period__________
Nutritional adequacy of diets of wage earners and clerical workers
Effect of stamp plan on living levels_____________________________
Studies of standards of living____________________________________
Consumer incomes in the United States in 1935-36______________
Consumer expenditures in the United States in 1935-36_________
Defense labor activities:
Labor policy of National Defense Advisory Commission___________
Labor under the selective service law_________________________________
Company policies covering long-term military service of employees __
Military-service provisions in union agreements______________________
Labor requirements in defense industries____________________________
Safety and health in defense industries_______________________________
Women in defense industries__________________________________________
Child conservation and national defense______________________________
Working agreements for shipbuilding industry________________________
Characteristics of shipbuilding labor__________________________________
Employment services:
Organization of United States Employment Service__________________
Operations of United States Employment Service____________________
in
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139
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IV
CONTENTS
Employment services— Continued.
Page
156
National employment clearance system_________________________________
Junior-placement services_____________________________________________
157
Toledo plan for placing veterans________________________________________
159
Fees of private employment agencies in California, 1940_____________
160
Limitations of fees of private employment agencies__________________
162
Employment and pay-roll trends:
Available statistics on employment and unemployment_____________
165
Unemployment__________________________________________________
165
165
Employment_____________________________________
Trend of employment and pay rolls in private industry______________
167
168
Employment and pay rolls in manufacturing industries__________
Employment and payrolls in mining, public utility, trade, and
service industries, _____________________________________________
176
Trend of employment on steam railroads________________________
177
Employment and total wages of hired farm workers_________________
178
Public employment-------------------------------------------------------------------------------181
Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates of nonagricultural employment182
W PA estimates of employment and unemployment-------------------------183
Employment conditions:
Preliminary census report on employment, unemployment, and the
labor force, March 1940-------------------------------------------------------------------187
188
National unemployment census, 1937_________________________________
Unemployment in a depressed coal-mining area----------------------------------191
Problems of a stranded population: Brazil, Ind________________ ._____
197
Bootleg mining of anthracite____________________
199
Employment conditions among Indians_______________________________
202
Michigan— Population and unemployment census, 1935______________
204
Nebraska— Unemployment, 1932-39---------------------------------------------------207
208
Ohio— Unemployment in Cincinnati, 1929 to 1940___________________
Pennsylvania— Unemployment in Philadelphia, 1938.. _______________
210
Rhode Island— Employment and unemployment, 1936______________
212
Farm labor: Special problems:
Farm labor: Special problems_________________________________________
219
Hired workers and family workers on farms_______________ __________
219
224
Distribution of hired farm laborers in the United States___ _________
Part-time farming in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Indiana_______
227
Part-time farming in the Southeast__________ __________________ _____
230
Report of President’s Committee on Farm Tenancy________ _________
232
Wage laborers and sharecroppers in cotton production_______________
234
Wage workers and sharecroppers on Mississippi plantations__________
237
Housing and building operations:
Sources and character of information on construction and housing___
243
Building construction:
Trends in building construction, 1929 to 1941___________________
244
Residential building in nonfarm areas, 1920 to 1941_____________
246
Permit valuation per new dwelling unit, 1921 to 1940___________
249
Construction projects financed from Federal funds, 1939 and
1940____________________________________________________________
250
251
Prices of building materials, wages, and rents, 1921 to 1940___
Permit fees for residential construction in the United States, 1940_
252
Laws requiring examination and licensing of contractors________
253
Housing:
Public housing in the United States, 1917 to 1940_______________
255
262
Defense housing policies and progress, 1940 and 1941___________
Overcrowded housing in the LTnited States_______________________
266
Housing and housing finance in American cities_________________
267
Housing legislation in the United States_________________________
271
Operations of urban home builders______________________________
274
Working conditions of maintenance staffs on Federal housing
projects-----------------------276
Comparison of construction costs of small houses, by cities_____
277
Building and loan associations, 1939__________________
279
Work of District of Columbia Alley Dwelling Authority________
281
Labor involved in various types of construction_________________
282
CONTENTS
V
Immigration, emigration, and naturalization:
Page
Immigration, emigration, and naturalization_____________________________ 287
Immigration into the United States, 1820 to 1940_______________
287
Quotas allotted, countries_______________________________________ 291
Deportations________________________________________________________
292
Naturalization statistics____________________________________________
292
Registration of aliens__________________________________________________
294
Legislation regulating employment of aliens__________________________
295
Restriction on the employment of aliens______________________________
297
Income, production, and occupation statistics:
National income, 1919 to 1940^_______________________________________
301
Revised index of industrial production_______________________________
308
Social-economic grouping of gainful workers__________________________
311
Industrial disputes:
Statistics of strikes______________________________________________________
317
Review of strikes from 1915 to 1940____________________________________
329
Strike restrictions in union agreements________________________________
342
Compensation for unemployment during industrial disputes___________
344
Industrial health:
Federal and State agencies concerned with problems of industrial
health______________________________________
Industrial diseases:
351
Program for prevention and compensation of silicosis___________
Prevalence of anthracosilicosis in Pennsylvania_________________
354
Experience with silicosis in Wisconsin______________________________
357
Anthrax in the United States, 1919 to 193S______________________
362
Lead poisoning in 1936 and earlier years_________________________
365
Medical services:
Agricultural Workers’ Health and Medical Association, California.
369
Medical care for low-income farm families_________________________
371
Cost of medical care among farm families______________________ _
373
Minimum standard for medical service in industry______________
374
Effect of the frequency of meals upon efficiency______________________
376
Income and income changes in relation to sickness__________________ _
380
Health programs and surveys:
382
National health survey, 1935-36_________________________________
Health work of International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. _
387
Sickness and death statistics:
Health of industrial policyholders, 1940__________________________
395
Sickness among male industrial employees, 1939_________________
397
Sickness and nonindustrial accidents among railroad employees__ 399
Mortality statistics of American and English printers__________ .
400
Industrial injuries:
Industrial injuries in the United States_____________________________ __
405
411
Injury experience in the iron and steel industry______________________
Causes of accidents in the construction industry_____________________
413
417
Causes of accidents in lumber manufacture__________________________
Causes of accidents in the fertilizer industry_________________________
422
Railway accidents in the United States, 1930 to1939_________________
426
Industrial injuries in mining and quarrying,1930 to1939____________
429
Federal Mine Inspection Act of 1941_________________________________
432
Accident experience of Federal civilian employees, 1921 to 1935______
433
Relation of age to industrial injuries_________________________________
436
Farm accidents in Alabama, 1932 to 1938____________________________
440
Industrial home work:
Extent and character of industrial home work_____________________ 445
Surveys of industrial home work______________________________________
448
Industrial relations:
Collective bargaining:
Collective bargaining with employers’ associations_____________ _
455
Closed and preferential shop in union agreements_______________
460
Settlement of grievances under union agreements________________
466
Seniority provisions in union agreements_________________________
471
473
Enforcement clauses in union agreements________________________
Wage-adjustment provisions in union agreements________________
475
VI
CONTENTS
Industrial relations— Continued.
Labor relations boards:
Activities of the National Labor Relations Board, 1939-40______
New York and Massachusetts Labor Relations Boards__________
Workers' attitudes toward work-sharing and lay-off policies__________
Changing attitudes of management toward labor_____________________
Provisions for management efficiency in dress-industry agreements__
Oppressive labor practices: Summary of Senate inquiry_____________
Labor organizations:
Recent developments in the labor movement_________________________
Establishment of Congress of Industrial Organizations__________
Membership growth of various unions____________________________
Attitude toward national defense_________________________________
International Labor Organization_____________________________________
Union agreements in individual industries____________________________
Origin and significance of Labor Day_________________________________
Legislation regarding the union label___ ______________________________
Labor standards:
Work of Division of Labor Standards_________________________________
Standards for employment of women in industry_____________________
Labor turn-over:
Factory-labor turn-over, 1930 to 1941________________________________
Labor turn-over in the machine-tool industry_________________________
Industrial aspects of labor mobility___________________________________
Legal aid and small-claims courts:
Legal-aid work in the United States__________________________________
Statistics of legal-aid work, 1939______________________________________
Work of District of Columbia Small-Claims Court___________________
Migratory labor:
The migratory labor problem_________________________________________
Interstate migration of destitute citizens______________________________
Report to Congress on labor migration____________ __________________
Migratory, casual, and part-time workers on farms___________________
Arizona— Migratory cotton pickers in Arizona________________________
California—
Agricultural labor-contractor system in California_______________
Patterns of agricultural labor migration within California_______
Refugee labor migration to California,___________________________
Oregon— Drought and depression migration into Oregon, 1930 to 1936_
Washington— Seasonal agricultural labor in the Yakima Valley______
Negro in industry:
Special problems of the Negro worker________________________________
Earnings of Negro workers in the iron and steel industry_____________
Occupational distribution of Negroes_________________________________
Earnings of white-collar and skilled urban Negroes, 1936_____________
Negro-training facilities for higher-grade jobs_________________________
Aid to Negroes under FSA rehabilitation program____________________
Georgia— Wages and hours of white and Negro workers, 1938_______
Michigan— Employment problems of Negroes________________________
New York— Restriction in employment of Negroes___________________
New Jersey— Economic status of Negroes____________________________
Occupational outlook:
Sources of information on occupational outlook_______________________
Occupational Outlook Service of the Bureau of Labor Statistics______
Trends of manufacturing employment, 1929 to 1937__________________
Employment prospects in the petroleum and natural-gas industry____
Employment prospects in the tung-oil industry_______________________
Future of employment in the mineral industries______________________
Employment opportunities in small-scale placer mines_______________
Individual productivity differences____________________________________
Employment of handicapped workers_________________________________
Power farming and labor displacement in the Cotton Belt___________
Old-age insurance, retirement, and assistance:
Federal old-age insurance system_____________________________________
Retirement system for railroad employees____________________________
Page
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650
CONTENTS
VII
Old-age insurance, retirement, and assistance— Continued.
Tagre
Federal-State assistance to needy aged________________________________
651
Care of aged in old people’s homes____________________________ _______
653
Housing of dependent aged___________________________________________
655
Almshouses in relation to the social-security program________________
659
Pension plans of Protestant churches_________________________________
663
Older worker in industry:
The older worker in industry__________________________________________
667
Employment problems of older workers_______________________________
667
Discrimination in the employment of older workers in Massachusetts. _
670
677
Conclusions of New York legislative committee on older workers____
Influence of age on employment opportunities________________________
681
Prices— Retail and wholesale:
Retail prices:
Retail prices in the United States________________________________
687
Retail price information compiled by Bureau of Labor
687
Statistics----------------------------------------------------------------------------Retail food prices____________________________________________
689
Indexes of food costs, 1913 to 1941_____________________
689
Indexes by commodity groups, 1923 to 1941___________
690
Average retail food prices, 1935 to 1941________________
692
Indexes of food costs by cities, 1923 to 1941___________
696
Early indexes of food costs______________________________
704
Residential rents--------------------------------------------------------------------705
Retail coal prices____________________________________________
705
Electricity— Residential costs_______________________________
706
Gas— Residential costs_______________________________________
707
Effects of rising costs on quality of wearing apparel_____________
708
Government price control in the first World War________________
711
Wholesale prices:
713
Wholesale prices in the United States____________________________
Method of computing index numbers________________________
714
Trend of wholesale prices, 1801 to 1941_____________________
714
Index numbers of commodity groups, 1890 to 1941_________
715
Index numbers by subgroups of commodities, 1913 to 1941 __
717
Weekly index numbers of wholesale prices__________________
729
Index numbers of specified groups of commodities__________
733
Daily index of basic commodities____________________________
735
Recent revisions in wholesale price series____________________
738
Special index numbers and price series for the National De
fense Commission_____________________________
739
Prison labor:
743
The prison-labor problem_____________________________________________
Prison labor in the United States, 1940______________________________
748
Federal prison-labor legislation________________________________________
753
Industrial training of prisoners________________________________________
754
United States prison schools__________________________________________
756
Work of Federal Prison Industries Corporation, 1940_________________
758
Productivity of labor:
Productivity of labor and industry and technological developments. _
761
Technological trends and national policy_____________________________
762
Agriculture: Productivity of farm labor, 1909 to 1938________________
764
Agriculture: Labor productivity in the growing of corn______________
770
Agriculture: Labor productivity and work opportunities in cotton
growing_____________________________________________________________
772
Manufacturing: Employment and production, 1919 to 1936_________
773
Beet-sugar industry: Productivity and employment________________
777
Boot and shoe industry: Labor productivity_________________________
779
Cement industry: Technological changes and labor productivity_____
789
Cigar manufacture: Effects of mechanization_________________________
791
Cotton-garment industry: Productivity of labor______________________
798
Cotton-textile industry: Mechanical changes, 1910 to 1936__________
802
Crushed-stone industry: Productivity and employment, 1913-37____
806
Industrial instruments: Changing technology_________________________
808
Leather industry: Labor productivity________________________________
810
VIII
CONTENTS
Productivity of labor— Continued.
Lumber industry: Technology, productivity, and employment_______
Mining: Effects of changes in grades of ore upon labor productivity.Mining, anthracite: Productivity of labor____________________________
Mining, bituminous coal: Mechanization_____________________________
Mining, bituminous coal: Productivity of labor______________________
Mining, copper: Labor productivity and employment________________
Mining, iron: Technological changes and employment opportunities._
Petroleum and natural-gas production: Man-hour output and em
ployment____________________________________________________________
Steel industry: Technological changes and employment______________
Woolen and worsted industries: Mechanical changes, 1910 to 1936__
Unit labor cost in manufacturing industries_________________________
Profit sharing:
Senate report on profit sharing________________________________________
Profit sharing for industrial employees________________________________
Profit-sharing plan of General Electric Co____________________________
Selby Shoe Co. profit-sharing plan____________________________________
Westinghouse profit-sharing plan______________________________________
Social security: Federal and State:
Types of social security systems______________________________________
References to articles elsewhere in this Handbook_____________________
Aid to dependent children_____________________________________________
Maternal aid and child welfare________________________________________
Vocational rehabilitation of the disabled--------------------------------------------Aid to the blind_______________________________________________________
Principal features of workmen’s compensation laws as of July 1, 1941Savings-bank life insurance____________________________________________
Unemployment insurance and unemployment-relief measures:
Unemployment insurance under Federal Social Security A ct_________
Railroad unemployment insurance_________________________________
State unemployment-compensation laws, as of December 31, 1941__
Changes in dismissal-compensation plans, 1935 to 1938_______________
Share-the-work provisions in union agreements_______________________
Experience of a group of plants in stabilizing employment___________
Stabilizing the millinery industry_____________________________________
Activities of the Work Projects Administration, 1935 to 1940_________
Vacations with pay:
Vacations with pay in American industry_____________________________
Survey of paid vacations in 1937--------------------------------------------------------Vacation provisions in union agreements_____________________________
Vacations with pay in Southern California____________________________
Wage earners’ debts:
Wage earners and the loan shark______________________________________
Wage executions for debt______________________________________________
Women in industry:
Sources of information on women in industry_________________________
Employment of women_________________________________
Trend in employment of women, 1938 to 1940___________________
Women in the labor force, 1940__________________________________
Chief occupations of gainfully employed women_________________
Proportions of women in the labor force of various manufacturing
industries_______________________________________________________
Women employed in trade________________________________________
Employment of women in the Federal Government_____________
Household employment in New York State, 1938-39------------------Employment of women after marriage___________________________
Women’s wages:
Women’s wages in selected industries and States________________
Season’s earnings of women in canneries_________________________
Earnings of office workers________________________________________
Comparison of women’s wages with men’s _______________________
Responsibility of employed women for support of others_____________
Woman workers and family finances_____________________________
Woman workers and family support_____________________________
Women’s contribution to family support_________________________
Pag«
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CONTENTS
Women in industry— Continued.
Occupational diseases among women:
Occupational diseases among women, 1935-38___________________
Exposure of women to toxic substances and conditions__________
Labor laws applying to women only__________________________________
Types of labor laws for women in the various States____________
Laws regulating women’s hours of labor_________________________
Women in labor unions:
Women’s participation in labor organizations____________________
Youth in industry:
Special problems of young workers_______________ ____________________
Occupational adjustment of youth____________________________________
Youth Commission’s work program___________________________________
Activities of National Youth Administration, 1935-40_______________
Eight years of CCC operations_______________________________________
Employment status of Philadelphia public-school graduates of|1936__
Work history of former Rochester high-school students______________
Employment experience of eighth-grade graduates___________________
Economic condition of rural youth____________________________________
Youth in agricultural villages___________________________________________
Economic problems of youth as they affect other groups_____________
IX
Pago
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1006
1012
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1014
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1019
1020
L E T T E R OF T R A N S M IT T A L
U nited S tates D epartment of L abor,
B ureau of L abor S tatistics,
Washing ton, December 15, 19bl.
The S ecretary of L abor :
I have the honor to transmit herewith the 1941 edition o f the H and
book o f Labor Statistics. This is the fifth edition o f this publication,
the latest previous one having been issued in 1936.
The preparation o f this publication was essentially a cooperative
enterprise, involving all branches and divisions o f the Bureau o f
Labor Statistics, as well as other bureaus and divisions o f the D e
partment o f Labor. It is thus impracticable to give credit in this
place to each o f the individual contributors, but footnote citations o f
authorship are given in the case o f major articles. The planning and
organization o f the Handbook as a whole was under the general direc
tion o f Hugh S. Hanna, Chief o f the Editorial Division, the final
critical editing being done by Grace F. Felker o f that division.
Respectfully submitted,
A. F. H inr ich s , A cting Commissioner.
Hon. F rances P er k in s ,
Secretary o f Labor.
XI
Bulletin 7\£o. 694 (V o l. I ) o f the
U nited States B ureau o f Labor Statistics
Handbook o f Labor Statistics
1941 Edition
Introduction
This is the fifth in the series o f Handbooks o f Labor Statistics to
be issued by the Bureau o f Labor Statistics, the earlier editions being
dated, respectively, 1926, 1929,1981, and 1936.
In its general form this edition follows closely that observed in the
preceding Handbooks. There is necessarily repetition o f many sub
ject titles, but there is no repetition o f subject matter except that, for
convenience o f reference, in the case o f most o f the simpler statistical
series, such as the price and cost-of-living indexes, the figures have
been carried back for a number o f years.
The material presented in this volume, as in the preceding editions
o f the Handbook, represents for the most part digests o f reports or
articles previously published by the Bureau o f Labor Statistics. H ow
ever, other bureaus and divisions o f the Department o f Labor, notably
the Children’s Bureau, the W om en’s Bureau, and the Division o f Labor
Standards, have contributed articles dealing with subjects coming
within their fields o f activity, and, in a few instances, outside authori
tative sources have been drawn upon.
During the past few years there has been a marked increase in the
source material on labor published by various agencies o f the Federal
Government. O f the periodical publications in this field the oldest
is the Bureau o f Labor Statistics’ Monthly Labor Review, which has
been issued continuously since 1915. Other printed periodicals of the
Department o f Labor, with the dates when they were established, are:
The W oman W orker o f the W om en’s Bureau (1920), The Labor In fo r
mation Bulletin o f the Bureau o f Labor Statistics (1934), The Child,
o f the Children’s Bureau (1936), and Labor Standards o f the Division
o f Labor Standards (1938). O f the periodical publications o f other
Federal agencies the Social Security Bulletin o f the Social 'Security
Board is o f particular value as a source o f information regarding the
various aspects o f social insurance.
In these various publications there is presented a current record
o f important labor developments. This record has been constantly
improving in scope and adequacy o f treatment, although there are
still many important gaps in our knowledge o f labor conditions in the
United States. It is only in very recent years that the significance
o f accurate information on labor conditions to our whole economic
structure has been appreciated. It is now understood that labor is
1
2
INTRODUCTION
not just a segment o f the population, to be studied and reported upon
as a separate field o f statistical interest, but that labor is an integral
part o f our social and economic life and its interests are inextricably
bound up with the interests o f other groups. The analysis o f these
interrelationships is, o f course, beyond the scope o f the present volume,
but it is believed that the information presented in it constitutes an
essential part o f the raw material necessary for such an analysis.
Date o f Preparation
The material in this Handbook was originally assembled in the
summer o f 1941. Certain important later material was added in the
course o f printing, this being particularly the case with the major
series o f monthly statistical reports, most o f which have been brought
down to the end o f 1941. However, it was impracticable to do this
for all o f the subjects covered, so that many o f the articles must be
read in the light o f their dates o f preparation as shown in the text itself
or in footnotes. In general, it has not been possible to incorporate
data dealing with conditions arising after the entry o f the United
States into the war in December 1941.
Apprenticeship and Training
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics: 1941 edition.
3
National Apprenticeship Program1
Apprenticeship has always been the acknowledged method ^o f
training highly skilled workers. It involves training on the job
and on actual production work as distinguished from vocational
education which takes place in schools and school workshops. The
skilled worker today occupies fully as important a place in indus
try as ever before, even in mass-production industry, for it is only the
all-round trained mechanic who can build machine tools, set them up,
keep them in running order, and make necessary repairs.
In part because o f the prolonged depression, apprenticeship had
fallen into disuse in some trades, and had been neglected in others.
A s industrial production revived, and particularly when the national
defense effort began to gather momentum, an acute shortage of skilled
labor became apparent. Through the Federal Committee on Appren
ticeship and its field staff— the Apprenticeship Unit of the Division of
Labor Standards— Federal agencies, labor, and employers are seeking
to remedy this deficiency and to revive the training o f apprentices
under conditions that will insure both an adequate supply of highly
skilled workmen and the maintenance o f labor standards in the trades
they enter.
Federal C om m ittee o n A pprenticeship
The Federal Committee on Apprenticeship is composed o f two rep
resentatives each o f labor and management and one representative-each
o f the United States Department o f Labor, the United States Office o f
Education, and the National Youth Administration. The Labor Deartment representative is chairman, and the Chief- o f Apprenticeship,
division o f Labor Standards, -acts as the Committee’s secretary. The
Committee ordinarily meets four times a year, to discuss general
policies and formulate basic standards, and to recommend methods of
coordinating State, local, and trade activities with current needs.
The Federal Committee was first established in connection with
the N R A to set up a standard definition o f apprentice under the codes.
It was continued as an agency for promoting the training o f young
persons, with N Y A funds, and finally in 1937 Congress established
it as a permanent agency and allocated funds for the promotion of
apprenticeship under proper labor standards, in cooperation with the
States, to the Department o f Labor.
S
A pprenticeship Standards
The Committee has approved for Nation-wide distribution a defini
tion o f the term “ apprentice” and recommended certain basic standards
as essential to the all-round development of an apprentice. An ap
prentice is defined as “ a person at least 16 years of age who is covered
1 P rep a red by the D iv is io n o f L a b or S ta n d a rd s o f the U. S. D e p a rtm e n t o f L a b or.
328112—42—VOL. i----- 2
15
6
APPRENTICESHIP AND TRAINING
by a written agreement registered with a State apprenticeship
council, providing for not less than 4,000 hours o f reasonably con
tinuous employment, and for his participation in an approved sched
ule o f work experience through employment, which should be supple
mented by 144 hours per year o f related classroom instruction.” The
agreement must also specify a progressively increasing scale o f wages
for the apprentice, averaging over the entire period o f apprenticeship
approximately half the journeyman’s rate.
The written agreement includes a statement o f the trade or craft
being learned, the length o f the apprenticeship, and the length o f the
period o f probation— usually from 3 to 6 months— during wdiich the
apprenticeship may be terminated by either employer or apprentice.
The written agreement definitely fixes responsibility, and is a p ro
tection against the “ jum ping” o f apprenticeship. It holds the em
ployer, the foreman, the journeyman, and the apprentice to the pur
pose o f apprenticeship. More than any other device, it is an aid to
the completion o f the training period within the length o f time spe
cified. Apprentices rarely break an agreement, and in plants that
have kept records the turn-over o f apprentices under agreement has
been found to be less than half the turn-over o f the regular force.
The apprentice’s related classroom instruction includes trade mathe
matics, trade science, blueprint reading, mechanical drawing, and.
other related subjects— according to the trade he is learning. He
wants to know the history o f his trade or industry. He needs an
understanding o f the present-day economic world, and o f the problems
that face the citizen o f a democracy. Vocational education can usu
ally supply these classes and the public school is the logical place
where the related instruction can be given.
W ithin this general framework o f the apprenticeship standards ap
proved by the Federal Committee the details are worked out, trade
by trade, by joint committees o f employers’ and workers’ representa
tives. There are now 647 plans in operation under these joint com
mittees, some o f them functioning on a national, some on a State-wide,
and some on a local basis. These committees analyze and set up
the schedule o f processes to be taught, the amount o f time to be devoted
to each, the subjects fo r classroom instruction, the number o f ap
prentices and the ratio permitted, the rates o f pay, and the scale o f
periodic increases. They may also arrange for supervision, fo r ap
peals, and for continuity o f the apprenticeship in case the original
employer fo r some reason beyond his control is unable to provide the
guaranteed employment.
Apprentices are recruited through the public employment offices,
the schools, and the labor organizations.
National apprenticeship standards have been developed by na
tional committees o f employers and labor in the follow ing trades:
Steamfitting, plumbing, painting, plastering, electrical construction,
and carpentry.
A major trend o f the past year has been the growth in the number
o f approved apprenticeship plans in individual manufacturing es
tablishments from 22 in June 1940 to 419 in October 1941. Many o f
these plans are being developed by some o f the leading firms in the
defense industries— shipbuilding, aircraft and machine-tool building.
7
NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM
The total number o f approved plans, including both joint trade com
mittee plans and those in industrial establishments, has increased
from 521 in June 1940 to 1,066 in October 1941.
Apprenticeship syste m s reported as conform ing to standards recom m ended by
F ed eral C om m ittee on Appren ticesh ip , D ivision of L a bor Standards , U. S.
D epa rtm en t of L abor , October 1 9 4 1
Aug.
im
All systems____________________________________________________________
Oot.
mi
578 1,066
Building trades:
6
General and miscellaneous___
30
Brickmasons, tile workers, etc.
73
Carpenters, millmen, etc_____
53
Electrical workers____________
8
Iron and steel workers_______
63
Painters, etc__________________
22
Plasterers, lathers, etc_______
108
Plumbers, steamfitters, etc___
35
Sheet-metal workers--------------Metal trades:
General and miscellaneous________________________________________
4
Auto mechanics___________________________________________________ 10
Machinists, etc____________________________________________________ 17
Molders, patternmakers, etc_______________________________________
7
General and other trades:
General and miscellaneous________________________________________
37
Bakers, cooks, etc________________________________________________
9
Barbers, cosmeticians, etc________________________________________
34
Printers, etc_______________________________________________________ 15
Industrial establishments 1_____________________________________________ 47
13
40
111
66
12
73
29
112
40
3
24
23
12
24
14
36
15
419
1 T h ese a re sin gle -em p loy er system s, w h erea s th e oth e rs c o v e r n u m erous em p loy ers and
a re o fte n c ity o r even S tate w ide.
In 22 States,2 State apprenticeship councils or agencies were func
tioning on that date, with representation from employers, labor, and
departments o f labor and vocational education, and with an executive
secretary or director in the labor department. In Oregon the agency
was independent; in Colorado it was under the department o f educa
tion. Sixteen States and Hawaii provided for the promotion o f ap
prenticeship systems, by an agency created by law.3 However, not all
the States with laws had proceeded to the setting up o f a council, and
conversely in some States, councils had been created under the general
powers o f the labor department.
State apprenticeship programs are entirely voluntary. The law
merely provides for the establishment o f an agency in the State de
partment o f labor to assist management and labor in doing the job,
and for the necessary appropriation to cover administrative expenses
and the salary o f a State director o f apprenticeship.
The director o f apprenticeship promotes sound apprenticeship pro
grams within the State, acts as a clearing house o f information, and
is available for assistance and technical advice to employers and work
ers who wish to set up apprenticeship programs or to strengthen those
already in existence.
2 A rizon a. A rka n sas, C a liforn ia . C on n ecticu t, F lorid a . Iow a , K ansas, K en tu cky, L ou isia n a.
M assachu setts, M inn esota, N evada, N ew H am pshire, N ew M exico, N orth C arolina, Ohio,
Oregon, P en n sy lv a n ia, V erm on t, V irgin ia , W ash in g ton , and W iscon sin .
3 A rizon a , A rka n sas, C a lifo rn ia , C olora d o, K en tu ck y , L o u isia n a , M a ssa ch u setts, M inn e
sota , M ontana, N evada, N ew Y ork, N orth C arolina, Oregon, V irgin ia , W ashington, and
W iscon sin.
8
APPRENTICESHIP AND TRAINING
The State apprenticeship council is a policy-making body, made up
o f an equal number o f employer and labor representatives, as well
as a consultant from each o f the public agencies interested in appren
ticeship. The State council meets at regular intervals to establish
policy, and to formulate and recommend basic minimum standards for
the training o f apprentices. It is the agency where all apprenticeship
agreements in the State can be registered. Through this procedure
the apprenticeship council can also furnish reliable statistics on the
number o f apprentices being trained for the various trades in the State.
Defense A ctivities
The work and staff o f the apprenticeship unit has rapidly expanded
to cope with the demands o f the defense and lend-lease programs, and
has been closely coordinated with the In-Plant Training Division o f
the Office o f Production Management. Apprenticeship field represent
atives now operate in five regions, with regional offices in Boston,
Mass.; Harrisburg, P a.; Madison, W is .; Austin, T ex.; and Denver,
Colo.
Special efforts are being made to stimulate the training o f appren
tices in those trades deemed most important to defense— machinists,
tool and die makers, molders, shipyard craftsmen, and aviation me
chanics. Experts in apprenticeship and in-plant training problems in
the fields o f machine tools, shipbuilding, and aviation have been ap
pointed to the apprenticeship staff and arrangements made to supply
other technical assistance to Federal and private organizations.
The defense emergency, however, is such that additional, more
speedy, and more intensive instruction methods must be applied.
Enough experienced workers must be trained rapidly to enable defense
industries to keep operating at fullest capacity day and night, 7 days
a week, and to expand their capacity still further. In addition to
apprenticeship, the immediate need for experience and skill must there
fore be supplied through “ upgrading” and “ advancing worker” pro
grams conducted within the plants among the workers employed in
those plants.
Briefly, “ upgrading” means the progression o f workers within a
plant from one job to another requiring more skill for the purpose
o f making the maximum use o f their abilities. The jobs in the plant
are engineered into a sequence o f operations each requiring a greater
degree o f skill. The workers who show aptitude and are willing to
undergo the preparatory training are given the chance to rise from
grade to grade. In this way the plant is enabled to make the most
effective use o f its competent manpower, while the quick learners
are given the opportunity to rise in accordance with their abilities.
B y this method, also, the skilled and more experienced workers are
permitted to devote their entire time and energy to the more exacting
tasks, leaving those with lesser aptitude and skill to handle the less
complicated jobs. Many skilled workers who have the proper quali
fications are also moved into supervisory positions.
The training-within-industry section o f the Office o f Production
Management, staffed almost entirely with training experts from in
dustry who have volunteered their services on a part-time basis, makes
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
9
contacts with management, organizes local conferences, and calls upon
the apprenticeship field representatives to follow up by assisting
with the actual establishment o f training programs— including both
apprenticeship and upgrading within the plants.
The Federal Committee, in August 1941 adopted standards for train
ing programs at less than apprenticeship level, known as “ advancing
worker” programs, and the apprenticeship staff is rendering assistance
to plants that wish to undertake this type o f training. A n “ advancing
worker” is one who is participating in a prescribed training program
o f work experience through employment, supplemented by related
instruction, which fits him for the performance of work in a limited list
o f job classifications. The standards call for adequate supervision
and instruction, including related technical instruction where appro
priate, payment o f the minimum rate for the job classification during
the training period, instead o f learners’ rates, installing a record sys
tem to cover the progress o f the worker, and provision for the devel
opment o f these training programs by cooperative arrangement be
tween employer and employees. Where joint apprenticeship com
mittees exist this committee’s participation in the program is deemed
essential.
########^
Vocational Education 1
The Vocational Education A ct (Smith-Hughes A ct) passed in 1917
provided for cooperation between the Federal Government and the
States in the promotion o f vocational education in the fields o f agri
culture, the trades and industries, home economics, and business edu
cation. Federal money allotted to the States under the Smith-Hughes
A ct must be matched at least dollar for dollar. Under the GeorgeDeen A ct (1936), on the other hand, States are required to match only
50 percent o f the Federal funds allotted to them for the first 5 years,
1937-42, in which the act is operative. Even with the lower matching
ratio provided under the later act the States in the fiscal year 1938-39
expended $1.71 o f State and local money for every dollar o f Federal
money allotted to them under the Smith-Hughes and George-Deen
Acts, as compared with $1.54 the previous year.
During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1939, there were 2,085,427
students enrolled in vocational schools or classes, operated under State
plans in the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Pico, and
the District o f Columbia. This registration represented an increase
o f 275,345 over the previous fiscal year.2 O f the total students enrolled
538,586 were farm youth and adult farmers taking agricultural
courses; 715,239 were boys and girls and adult trade and industrial
workers taking trade and industrial courses; 741,503 were girls and
women follow ing homemaking courses; and 90,099 were boys and girls
and adults in training for the distributive occupations. In table 1 the
number o f students in various types o f classes in 1938-39 are shown,
as well as the increases in the enrollment o f these classes as compared
1 F rom M o n th ly L a b or R ev iew fo r J une 1940.
2 U. S. Office o f E d u ca tio n .
V o c a tio n a l D iv is io n .
D ig e st o f A n n u a l R e p o rts o f S ta te
B oa rd s f o r V o ca tio n a l E d u ca tio n , fiscal y e a r ended J u n e 30, 1939.
W a sh in g to n , 1940.
10
APPRENTICESHIP AND TRAINING
with the preceding year. 'Wftile only 90,099 were reported in business
(distributive) education in 1939, this, however, represents an increase
o f 150.2 percent over 1938, which was the first year in which this par
ticular type o f education was given.
T
able
1 . — Enrollment in vocational schools or classes operated under State plans,
year ended June 80, 1939
Enrollment, 1938-39
T ype of school
Total
Agri
cul
tural
Trade
and
indus
trial
Home
eco
nom
ics
Increase from 1937-38 to 1938-39
Busi
ness
educa
tion i
Agri
cul
tural
Total
Trade
and
indus
trial
Home
eco
nom
ics
Busi
ness
educa
tion 1
All types________
2,085,427 538, 585 715, 239 741, 503
90,099 275, 345
77, 710
29,435 114,109
54,091
Evening________
Part-time_______
All-day_________
657,603 181, 962 156,464 236,034
486, 551 51, 593 362, 410 65, 592
941, 273 305,031 196, 365 439,877
83,143 87,895
6,956 47, 558
139,892
23,149
8,693
45,868
26,855
24,128
12,162
50.735
3,356
1 Distributive occupations.
20,866
11, 381
81,862
2 Decrease.
Table 2 shows the total enrollments in vocational schools and classes
under State plans, by years, from 1929 to 1939. Except for the years
1933 and 1934 substantial increases are shown, the expansion for 1938
and 1939 being, respectively, 313,245 and 275,345, the highest records
for the period here reported.
T
able
2 ,— Enrollment in vocational schools operated under State plans, hy yearsr
1 9 2 9 -3 9
Total
Year
Number
and
Agricultural Trade
industrial
Home
economics
Increase
1939 i.
19381937..
193619351934-
2,085,427
1,810,082
1,496,837
1, 381,701
1,247, 523
1,119,140
275,345
313, 245
115,136
134,178
128,383
2 31,187
538, 586
460,876
394,400
347,728
329, 367
289, 361
715,239
685,804
606, 212
579,971
536,932
486,058
741, 503
627, 394
496,225
454,002
381,224
343,721
19331932193119301929..
1,150, 327
1,176,162
1,117, 556
1,064, 536
1, 047,976
2 25,835
58,606
53,020
16,560
48,945
265,978
257, 255
237,200
193,325
171,466
537, 512
579,591
602, 755
633,153
627, 397
346,837
339,316
277,601
238,058
249,113
Business
education
(distribu
tive occu
pations)
90, 0 9 9
36,008
1 Provisional figures.
2 Decrease. The decreases for 1933 and 1934 should be considered in connection with the decreases in Fed
eral funds available in these years. A reduction in 1933 of 8 percent in these funds, and a further reduction
in 1934 of 10 percent, as compared with the previous years, largely account for the decrease in enrollments of
less than 3 percent for each of these years.
Federal expenditures in 1939 for vocational education under State
plans totaled $19,433,394 as compared with $17,737,118 for the year
1938. Expenditures from State and local funds for 1939 amounted to
$33,232,777 as against $27,257,419 for the preceding 12 months as
reported in table 3.
11
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
T
able
3 . — Expenditures of Federal , State, and local m oney under State plans for
vocational education, by years , 1 9 2 9 -8 9
Expenditure
Increase or decrease
in expenditure
Year
From Federal
funds
From State
and local funds
From Federal
funds
From State
and local funds
1939 i.
1938..
1937..
19361935..
1934-
$19,433. 394
17, 737,118
10,013,669
9, 748,925
9,371,980
6,950,945
$33,232, 777
27, 257,419
26,385,616
23,678,909
19,917,943
21,237,472
+$1,696,276
+7, 723,449
+264,744
+376,945
+2,421,035
-777,300
+$5,975,358
+871,803
+2,706,707
+3,760,966
-1,319, 529
-1,161,171
193319321931..
19301929-
7,728,245
8,414,834
7,978, 729
7,404,223
6.878,530
22, 398,643
24,987, 569
24,164,463
22, 504,676
20,595,776
-686, 589
+436,105
+574,506
+525,693
+47,078
-2 , 588,926
+823,106
+1,659,787
+1,908,900
+1,701,467
i Provisional figures.
State Trends in Curriculum Development
Among the general trends in curriculum development in vocational
education is that toward the cooperative development of curriculum
materials. Continued cooperation was reported between teachers o f
vocational agriculture and the Soil Conservation Service, the Rural
Electrification Administration, and like agencies to develop subjectmatter and course-of-study materials which will be helpful to voca
tional agricultural students.
Another major trend—the outcome of new economic and social
factors—is that toward the upgrading of various forms of vocational
education. Ever-increasing attention was being given to the develop
ment of vocational courses on the post-high-school, junior-college, or
technical-institute level.
Under the direction of State specialists, instructional plans for vari
ous short-unit extension courses were being worked out.
The problem of the responsibility of the schools for the occupational
adjustment of all young persons is being more and more seriously
studied by vocational educators.
In developing curricula the States are recognizing the principle that
course-of-study material must be appraised on its functional or use
value.
The cooperative planning of home projects by teachers and pupils
in home-economics courses exemplifies another principle being fol
lowed in curriculum development.
Among the curriculum-building problems which are now being
studied or which should be the subject of continued research are the
follow ing:
1. Are there occupational skills, basic to a number of occupations, which may
be learned and to some extent generalized?
2. What are the appropriate materials of instruction in the area of occupational
adjustment for the slow-learning or nonacademically minded pupil?
3. What can be done to vivify and functionalize the teaching of English and
social studies in vocational schools and courses?
12
APPRENTICESHIP AND TRAINING
4. How may related subject materials be kept continuously related to the
actual needs of the occupation?
5. What are the relative merits of so-called “technical courses” as compared
with “vocational courses” in the development of occupational intelligence and
skill?
6. How can the educational experiences of evening-extension students be organ
ized in a progressive sequence?
7. How can diversified curriculum offerings which will assure greater equality
of vocational-educational opportunity be set up to serve small-town and rural
areas?
8. What is the optimum arrangement for the guidance and counseling of stu
dents in the selection of a personal vocational objective?
9. To what extent should industrial and practical arts subjects be made the core
of the curriculum for all students who are not college bound?
10. How can the needs of the evening-extension teacher for course outlines be
most effectively met?
11. What are the comparative values in courses for teachers in the various
fields of vocational education, of general education in the socio-civic area, and of
special courses in educational methods?
12. To what extent are courses whose controlling purpose is to prepare for use
ful employment, effective in developing problem-solving ability or the scientific
habit of thinking?
Vocational Rehabilitation
The number of rehabilitations of disabled persons reported by
the Vocational Rehabilitation Division in Washington, D. C., for
1939-40 was 11,890 as compared with 10,747 in the preceding year,
representing a gain of 10.6 percent.1 The increase during the past
decade has been as follow s:
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
5,184
5,592
5,613
5,062
9,422
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
10,338
11,091
9,884
10,747
11,890
Total expenditures for rehabilitation amounted to $4,107,805, an
increase of $116,141 over 1939 and $245,642 over 1938. The average
cost per case was $345, as compared with $371 in 1939 and $392 in
1938.
O f the persons rehabilitated, 75.7 percent were given training.
The proportion retrained has risen steadily since 1934 when only 50
percent of the rehabilitants received training. Increased attention
was given to the retraining of younger persons and those with better
education rather than to older men injured in industry. In 1940,
25.8 percent of the rehabilitants were females as compared with 21.7
percent in 1937, and 67.1 percent were unmarried as compared with
62.7 percent in 1937. On the other hand, 37.7 percent had less than
10 grades education in 1940 while 45.4 percent were in this classifica
tion in 1937, and 17.8 percent were employment accident cases as
eompared with 21.7 percent in 1937.
1 V ocational Rehabilitation in 1939-40 ; a Statistical Analysis. By Robert E. Thomas,
Special Agent, V ocational R ehabilitation Division, W ashington, D. C.
(In National Re
habilitation News, Chicago, April 1941.)
13
VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION
The decreased emphasis on industrial cases is shown in the follow
ing table giving the types of disabilities of the persons receiving
retraining in the past 4 years.
T
able
1.— Percentage distribution of rehabilitants by type of disability, 1937 to 1940
P e r c e n t o f r e h a b i l i t a n t s w i t h s p e c i f ie d d i s a b i l i t y
D is a b ilit y
1 938
1 937
A m p u t a t i o n _____________________________________________________________________
O r t h o p e d i c d i s a b l e m e n t _______________________________________________ _
V i s i o n ________________________ . . . _______ ___________
_ __
. __ .
H e a r i n g _______________________________ ______ ______________________________________
T u b e r c u l o s i s . _______ ___ _________
_____ ____________ _________ _______
_______________________
.
_
C a r d ia c .
_.
O t h e r _______________________________________________________________________________
T o t a l _______________
...
_____
..
_______ ____________________
._
3 0 .6
4 4 .0
6.1
7 .7
5 .3
1 .9
4 .4
100. 0
1 939
1 94 0
2 9 .2
4 4 .2
6 .5
8 .5
6 .4
1. 5
3 .7
2 4 .5
4 6 .8
. 5
9 .2
100.0
100.0
6
6.8
2. 2
4. 0
2 0 .5
4 8 .3
7. 6
9 .4
7 .7
2 .7
4 .0
100.0
The percentage of persons rehabilitated through “ appliance only”
decreased steadily during the past 4 years, or from 22 percent in
1937 to 9.7 percent in 1940.
There was a total of 47,174 live-roll cases reported by the States
on June 30, 1940, an increase of 1 percent over the number reported
at the end of 1939. The classification of cases on June 30, 1940, was
as shown in table 2.
T
able
2 .—
Status of cases on the live roll, June 1940
Status
Number
Percent
2
5.7
1.0
1.6
23.4
Interviewed____ ___ __ ___ _
_ __ ______ . __ ______ - ___ _
Plan completed__ __ _. .
______ ______
_ __ __________
Medical or surgical treatment_______________________________________
Appliance authorized____ _
__________ __ _ ___ _______ . . . ...
School training _ _
.
_____
_
__
____ _ _ _ _
15,174
2, 690
469
745
11, 040
Employment training, _ ________ ______ ______________________
Other training,_
..
___
_ __ _
__ _
Ready for employment—prepared__
__ ___ ... __ __ ________ __
Ready for employment—placement only____ _ _____ _ __________ _
In employment, temporary,
___________ _____ ____ __________ .
2,313
1, 292
5, 451
1, 119
1, 399
4.9
2. 7
11. 5
2.4
3.0
In rehabilitation employment_____ _________ ___ _______ __ _____
Training interrupted, _
_
_ _ ______ ___ _ __ ______ ______ __
Other service interrupted____ _ _ _______________ _____ _________
1,952
3, 250
280
4. 1
6.9
47, 174
100.0
Total________________________________________________________
32.
.6
Progress of Indian Arts and Crafts1
In order to promote a more profitable development of native skills,
by an act of Congress the Indian Arts and Crafts Board was created
in the United States Department of the Interior in 1936, to educate
Indian craftsmen in modern commercial methods, to expand the mar
ket for Indian goods, and to protect both the consumer and the
1 From Monthly Labor Review for A pril 1941.
14
APPRENTICESHIP AND TRAINING
Indian craftsmen from cheap imitated articles. The following account
o f activities under this legislation is taken from the annual report of
the Secretary of the Interior, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1940.
Although the Indian craftsman’s individualism has been his chief
asset in production, it has been his liability in selling his wares.
Original design and execution constitute the charm of Indian arts
and handicraft. In marketing his products, however, the lone crafts
man has great difficulty in competing with the well-organized sales
associations throughout the United States.
One of the main functions of the Arts and Crafts Board has been to
instruct the Indians in the methods of modern commercial distri
bution without commercializing their work.
Preparatory to making specific recommendations to the different
tribes as to the best utilization of their handicraft talents, it was
necessary for the Board to survey every kind of craft work being done
among the Indian tribes in the States and by the natives of Alaska.
It was necessary to ascertain whether or not Indian handiwork could
be sold in its traditional form or whether it would have to be modified
to meet the demands of buyers.
A summary of the data secured in these investigations, published
in 1940,2 reviews North American Indian art from pre-Columbian
days and also surveys recent accomplishments.
The next consideration was the commercial market. In the spring
of 1940, efforts were made to get the reaction of manufacturers and
merchandising experts concerning possible demand for high-class
Indian products as practical merchandise.
Articles shown included Choctaw and Cherokee fabrics, Navajo silver, moc
casins, and belts from the Plains Indians, ribbon work from the Oklahoma tribes,
and braided sashes from the Eastern Woodlands. The reactions of the merchan
dising experts were highly favorable and brought immediate orders, in spite of
Che fact that such orders were not solicited.
Since the volume of quality Indian products in all regions is still too small and
too unstable to meet the large demands of most organized business houses, the
Hoard could only carry back to the tribes the results of this inquiry as concrete
proof of the existence of a demand and as a means of encouraging local agencies
in their efforts to organize quality production.
Plans were laid during the fiscal year under review for the formation
o f marketing organizations among the Navajo, Pueblo, and Seminole
Indians. The Board also assisted in the establishment o f a Com
munity Arts and Crafts Center at Sells, Ariz., for the Papagos in
southwestern Arizona. By the utilization of tribal moneys and re
habilitation funds of the Indian Service, a building was erected for
displaying and marketing art products and handicrafts. A field
worker has been assigned to the Papago region, and handicraft pro
duction has been undertaken, according to standards which the
Board has approved.
The Board has also promoted the demand for Indian goods. Not
only through the sponsorship of publications on Indian arts but also
through the exhibition o f authentic Indian articles and the demon
strations of Indian techniques by the Indians themselves, the Board
has opened up a rapidly growing market for Indian products.
A t the Golden Gate International Exposition the largest exhibit of
Indian arts and crafts ever assembled was presented by the Board.
2Valliant, George C. Indian Arts in North America. New York, Harper & Brother, 1940.
PROGRESS OF INDIAN ARTS AND CRAFTS
15
This exhibit was made practicable through the aid of the United States
Commission of the Fair, foundations, and private individuals. In
cluded in the exhibit were the products of Alaskan culture areas and
of the seven major Indian cultures of the United States (the Eastern
Woodsmen, the tribes of the Plains, the fishermen of the Northwest,
the California seed gatherers, the Navajo shepherds, the Pueblo
farmers, and the tribes of the Arizona desert).
“ The simplicity of line, strength of form, and absence of all ex
traneous matter in the two model Indian-decorated rooms at the San
Francisco Exposition blended so naturally as an effective interior
motif for modern homes that the Board was asked to prepare a similar
exhibit for the Museum of Modern Art, New York City. Files of
specimens and photographs have already been assembled and work
undertaken on many reservations.” The exhibit was opened in 1941.
Furthermore, the Board has conducted its program of protecting
buyers from spurious products by issuing die-stamps or certificates of
genuineness for all articles made under conditions which that agency
approves. The Government’s seal of protection can be used only for
Indian products made under conditions unlike those of a factory
system or workshop. In illustration, a Navajo rug has a label on a
loose wire sealed against tampering. This label states that the rug
was woven on hand looms from hand-carded wTool. Silver jewelry
from the Navajo and Pueblo region is die-stamped to indicate the
name o f the tribe responsible for hammering and making the handwrought article from slug silver.
During 1939-40 the Arts and Crafts Board had in preparation a
trade-mark system for quality products in the other less-advanced
branches of Indian crafts.
The sale o f craft products provides an additional source of income
for Indians, which, according to a rough estimate, amounts to approxi
mately $1,000,000 per annum. As the program progresses, it is
anticipated that the remuneration of Indians from these arts and
crafts will increase greatly within the next few years.
Child Labor
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics: 1941 edition.
17
Note
Except as otherwise indicated all the articles in this section were
prepared by the Children’s Bureau of the United States Department
of Labor. See also Surveys o f Industrial Home Work (p. 445), and
Junior-Placement Services (p. 157).
18
Child-Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards A ct
Adm inistration o f the ChilcULabor Standards o f the A ct
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which became effective on
October 24, 1938, marked a significant advance in labor standards for
both children and adults. By closing the channels of interstate com
merce to employers failing to comply with its provisions as to wages,
hours of labor, and employment of children, it in effect required
interstate industries to adopt those standards. The decision of the
Supreme Court of the United States on February 3, 1941, upholding
the constitutionality of this act and expressly overruling the case of
H a m m e r v. D a g e n h a r t , which in 1918 had held unconstitutional the
first Federal child-labor law, removed all doubt as to the validity of
child-labor regulation based on the grant of power to Congress to
regulate interstate commerce.
The child-labor provisions of the act are administered by the Chil
dren’s Bureau of the United States Department of Labor; the wage
and hour provisions, which apply to minors and adults alike, are ad
ministered by the Wage and Hour Division of the Department o f
Labor.
The act in effect establishes a basic 16-vear minimum age for employ
ment in industries producing goods shipped in interstate or foreign
commerce. For employment of minors within 2 years below and 2
years above this age, certain legislative policies are set up, which are
to be put into operation through determinations made by the Chil
dren’s Bureau. The younger group, children of 14 and 15 years, may
be permitted such limited employment in nonmanufacturing and non
mining occupations outside o f school hours as is performed under
conditions that do not interfere with their schooling, health, or well
being; the conditions of such employment, including the occupations
prohibited, are to be determined by the Bureau. As to minors of 16
and 17 years, the act recognizes that young workers of these ages
should be protected from employment particularly hazardous for them
or detrimental to their health or well-being, and power is given to the
Chief of the Children’s Bureau to find and declare the occupations
that fall in this category.1 Goods produced in establishments sit
uated in the United States in or about which, within 30 days prior
to the removal of such goods, children have been employed contrary
to these standards are prohibited from shipment across State lines or
to any foreign country, the prohibition applying to producers, manu
facturers, and dealers who ship such goods or deliver them for ship
ment.
Exempted from these child-labor provisions are children under 16
years of age working for their parents in nonmanufacturing and non
mining occupations, children employed in agriculture while they are
1
For a description o f the activities of the Children’s Bureau in the adm inistration o f
this provision of the act, see p. 21.
19
20
CHILD LABOR
not legally required to attend school, and child actors in motion pic
tures or theatrical productions.
Responsibility for administering the child-labor provisions was
assigned by the Children’s Bureau to its industrial division, which for
many years had been making child-labor studies, developing current
reports from States and localities showing child-labor trends, and
giving widespread consultative and advisory service on problems re
lating to the employment of minors. With this background of ex
perience, the plans of the division for administering the law have been
directed not only toward Nation-wide compliance with the Federal
provisions but also toward making the necessary administrative pro
cesses support State child-labor standards and aid in developing the
best possible methods for making those standards effective.
The enforcement program has a threefold aspect: First, preven
tive—making available for employers a reliable method of obtaining
proof of the ages of their minor employees; second, fact finding ana
standard setting—through the determination, on the basis of research,
consultation, and hearings, of standards for protecting workers 16
and 17 years of age from hazardous occupations 2 and for authorizing
the employment of children 14 and 15 years of age in occupations
that will not interfere with their schooling or with their health or
well-being;3 and third, educational and punitive—through acquaint
ing employers with the standards with which they should comply
and the methods offered for their protection, and through the discovery
and correction of violations of those standards by inspecting places
of employment and by legal action when necessary.
On the theory that the administration of the Federal provisions
should not be a new and independent effort to control child labor
by the establishment of Federal machinery duplicating and possibly
conflicting with State administrative functions, cooperative plans
have been worked out with State officials for the acceptance of State
employment or age certificates, required under most State laws for
children going to work, as proof of age under the Federal act. The
act provided a basis for this procedure, first by authorizing the Bureau
to utilize, with their consent and cooperation, the services of State
and local agencies charged with the administration of State childlabor laws, and, second, by providing that a certificate of age issued
under certain conditions and kept on file by the employer, showing
the minor to be above the oppressive child-labor age, is evidence that
the employer is complying with the minimum-age requirement.
Standards were set up by the Bureau for the issuance of such cer
tificates, and agreements have been made with State agencies, usually
the State department of labor or of education, for making certificates
available for the purposes of the Federal act. As a result of these
agreements, and with the assistance of Bureau representatives, im
portant advances have been made in the State procedures heretofore
used, particularly in the degree of State supervision of local issuance
by a State agency and in the extension of existing State certificate
systems. State age or employment certificates are now accepted as
evidence of age under the Federal act in 44 States, the District of
2 See p. 21.
3 These standards are set forth in Employment of Minors Between 14 and 16 Years of
Age, Child-Labor Regulations, Regulation No. 3 [29 Code o f Federal Regulations, 1939
supp., pt. 441].
PROVISIONS OF FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT
21
Columbia, and the Territories o f Hawaii and Puerto Rico.1 Because
no State certificate-issuing systems as yet exist in Idaho, South Caro
lina, Mississippi, and Texas, Federal certificates are being issued in
these four States, with the assistance and close cooperation o f State
and local officials.
In coordination with this preventive program, the Bureau carries
on certain inspection activities with respect to the child-labor aspects
o f the act. To avoid duplication of inspections, this program is
carried on in close cooperation with the Wage and Hour Division.
The Children’s Bureau, however, has special responsibility for the
inspection of establishments where problems of child labor are par
ticularly acute or where the coverage of the wage and hour provisions
is limited. In connection with all wage and hour investigations,
inspectors of the Wage and Hour Division inspect for violation of
the child-labor provisions; Children’s Bureau inspectors report to the
Wage and Hour Division cases of apparent violation of the wage and
hour provisions observed in establishments where they make inspec
tions. In order to develop these cooperative activities more effectively
and to provide direct consultation on child-labor aspects of admin
istrative problems arising under the act, representatives of the Chil
dren’s Bureau have been assigned to give consultant service to the
regional staff of the Wage and Hour Division.
In dealing with violations, the act provides fo r injunction pro
ceedings in civil cases and fo r criminal prosecutions. It has been
the policy o f the Bureau to bring about voluntary compliance, where
possible, through consultation and warning letters rather than to
resort to court action. Legal action, however, has been successfully
brought in a number o f cases o f flagrant or repeated violation.
Determination o f Hazardous Occupations
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, although in effect estab
lishing a basic minimum age of 16 years for employment in all
industries subject to its child-labor provisions, recognizes the social
waste of allowing young persons to engage in dangerous work and
sets up machinery for establishing a minimum age of 18 years for
employment in hazardous occupations. This is done by giving to
the Chief of the Children’s Bureau the power to find ana, by order,
declare occupations to be particularly hazardous for the employment
of minors between 16 and 18 years of age or detrimental to their
health or well-being; after such a determination has been made and
an order issued, an 18-year minimum age is in effect in the particular
occupations covered by that order.2
Faced with the need for making factual determinations in a field
where uniform standards and criteria for research methods had not
been established to any considerable extent, the Industrial Division
o f the Children’s Bureau, to which the administration of these pro
visions has been entrusted, has attempted to develop research methods
especially suited to making the determinations of fact that are
necessary for giving effect to the policy of the act. The framework
1 In the one remaining Territory, Alaska, a survey is under way which will give inform a
tion basic to the setting up o f a certification system there.
2 The act provides that i f any State or Federal law or m unicipal ordinance establishes a
standard higher than that established under the act, the higher standard shall prevail.
3 2 8 1 1 2 — 4 2 — v o l . i--------3
22
CHILD LABOR
for its procedure was outlined in the Bureau’s Regulation No. 5:
Procedure Governing Determinations of Hazardous Occupations,
and, as investigations and findings in several fields have progressed,
the research procedures especially suited to making determinations
of fact with respect to hazardous occupations have been more fully
developed. In its program the Industrial Division has been guided
by certain principles formulated with the advice o f an Advisory
Committee on Occupations Hazardous for Minors. This committee,
composed of experts in industrial health and safety, employer and
labor representatives, and other persons concerned with the welfare
of young workers, also has given valuable advice to the Children’s
Bureau on matters of policy.
The basic principles adopted are: (1) That occupations particularly
hazardous or detrimental to the health or well-being of workers in
general are also particularly hazardous or detrimental to the health
or well-being of minors under 18 years of age, and (2) that other
occupations, not particularly hazardous or detrimental to the health
or well-being of adult and experienced workers, may nevertheless be
particularly hazardous for minors under 18 because they require a
degree of muscular coordination, stability, maturity of judgment, or
resourcefulness in meeting emergencies not usually characteristic
of young workers, or because they tend to inhibit or injure the
growth or development of these workers.3
Research Methods and Procedures
The research methods and the procedures followed in making
determinations of hazardous occupations may be classed under three
headings: (1) Investigation, (2) consultation, and (8) provision of
opportunity for objection and review.
I n v e s t i g a t i o n .—The Industrial Division’s work of investigation
follows several lines. Material on the nature and degree of the
hazards of work in the occupations being studied is obtained by
visits to numerous plants and actual observations of processes carried
on. Full information on the hazards of these occupations is obtained
from managers, technicians, and safety engineers employed by these
plants. Statistical data on industrial injuries are compiled from
figures published by or obtained from State agencies administering
workmen’s compensation laws, from industrial-injury surveys made
by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, from studies made
by other governmental or private safety organizations, and from the
industrial-injury records of plants of the type being studied. The
provisions of State laws arid regulations restricting the employment
of minors in the occupations being investigated are reviewed. The
results of these investigations are embodied in a report, and a pro
posed finding and order based on the findings of the report is
prepared.
C o n s u lta tio n .—In carrying on these investigations and in formu
lating these orders, the Industrial Division consults frequently with
representatives of employers, of labor groups, of State labor depart
ments and industrial-accident commissions, with safety engineers, and
8
For a full statement o f the general principles formulated by this committee see The
Child, November 1939 (U. S. Children’s Bureau, W ashington), p. 136. A list o f members
o f this comm ittee appeared in The Child, February 1939, p. 177.
PROVISIONS OF FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT
23
with State and Federal agencies. The division not only seeks tech
nical assistance from these persons but welcomes their advice regard
ing the investigation and the content and wording of an order.
In the course of the investigation the Industrial Division usually
organizes and consults with a technical advisory committee, composed
of persons with intimate knowledge of the particular industry and
its hazards or concerned with employment problems of young workers.
This committee is asked to make suggestions, corrections, or additions
to a preliminary draft of the report of investigation submitted to it
and to give its reactions to a tentative draft of the order.
P r o v i s i o n o f o p p o r t u n i t y f o r o b je c tio n a n d r e v i e w . —After the re
port of investigation and the proposed order have been issued, oppor
tunity for reviewing them and for making suggestions and objections
regarding the proposed order is afforded interested persons or organi
zations by widespread distribution of the proposed order with a notice
of the public hearing. Interested parties unable to appear in person
may file briefs.
Orders N o w in Effect
At present (August 1, 1941) five groups of occupations are dealt
with by hazardous-occupation orders: (1) Occupations in or about
plants manufacturing explosives or articles containing explosive com
ponents, (2) the occupations of driver or helper on motor vehicles, (3)
coal-mine occupations, (4) logging and sawmilling occupations, and
(5) occupations involved in the operation of power-driven woodwork
ing machines.4 The effect of these orders is to fix a minimum age of
18 years for employment in the occupations covered.5
T h e e x p lo s iv e s in d u s tr y . —The explosives industry, which was the
first industry selected for study by the Bureau because of its widely
recognized hazards, was found to be one that is hazardous in nature
despite progress in the promotion of safe working conditions and that
is especially hazardous for young workers, who are characteristically
lacking in the exercise of caution, a quality essential for work in ex
plosives plants. The order issued applies to “ all occupations in or
about any plant manufacturing explosives or articles containing ex
plosive components” and defines the terms “plant manufacturing
explosives or articles containing explosive components,” “ explosives,”
and “ articles containing explosive components.” 6
M o t o r -v e h i c l e d r iv e r s m id h e lp e r s. —The employment of minors as
drivers of motor vehicles and helpers on such vehicles was the second
field for consideration under this program. The investigation revealed
that not only does work on motor vehicles involve a high degree of
accident risk for persons of all ages, but also that motor-vehicle
drivers between 16 and 18 years of age have been found to be involved
in a larger number of fatal accidents in proportion to miles driven
than drivers in any older age group. Also, a minimum age of 18 years
4 The reports o f investigations, prepared by the U. S. Children’s Bureau, on which these
orders ar« based a re : Occupational Hazards to Young W orkers: Report No. 1.— The Explosives-Manufacturing Industries, Pub. No. 27 3; Report No. 2.— Motor-Vehicle Drivers and
Helpers, Pub. No. 274 ; Report No. 3.— The Coal-Mining Industry, Pub. No. 275 ; Report
No. 4.— The Logging and Sawmilling Industries, Pub. No. 27 6; Report No. 5.— W oodworking
Machines, Pub. No. 277.
Washington, 1941.
5 The act provides that i f any State or Federal law or m unicipal ordinance establishes a
standard h id ler than that established under the act, the higher standard shall prevail.
6 IT S. Children’ s bureau, Child-Labor Regulations, Order No. 1 (hazardous occupations),
4 Federal Register 2079.
24
CHILD LABOR
or higher for the employment of motor-vehicle drivers and helpers
has been adopted voluntarily as a general policy by many employers
and by the branch of organized labor especially concerned with em
ployment in this field. The order covers the occupations of both driver
and helper and defines the terms “ motor vehicle,” “ driver,” and
“helper.” 7
Coal-mine occupations.—The coal-mine investigation showed that
most occupations in or about mines are particularly hazardous for
the employment of minors 16 and 17 years of age. Although it was
found that, in general, work in or about anthracite and bituminouscoal mines involves an exceptionally high degree of accident risk in
comparison not only with manufacturing as a whole but also with
most other industries for which adequate injury statistics are avail
able, the report indicated that certain surface occupations involve a
lesser degree of hazard than underground work. As a result, the
order applies to all occupations in or about coal mines except certain
specified surface occupations (slate or other refuse picking at a picking
table or picking chute in a tipple or breaker) and occupations requir
ing the performance of duties solely in offices or in repair or main
tenance shops located on the surface.8
Logging and sawmilling occupations.—Investigation of employ
ment in the logging and sawmilling industries clearly demonstrated
the extra-hazardous character of all but a few logging and sawmilling
occupations. The study showed that the industrial-injury rates for
these industries are among the highest of all industries for which
adequate statistics are available. Furthermore, the hazards of these
industries were found to be common to most logging occupations and
to practically all occupations in sawmilling plants. Accordingly, an
order was issued, effective August 1, 1941, which has the effect of
establishing an 18-year minimum age for such employment.
The logging and sawmilling order classes as particularly hazardous
“ all occupations in logging and all occupations in the operation of
any sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill, or cooperage-stock mill,” with
the exceptions listed below. As defined in the order, the term “ all
occupations in logging” does not include work where pulpwood only
is logged or work performed in timber culture, timber-stand improve
ment, or emergency fire-fighting. Similarly, work performed in the
planing-mill department or other manufacturing departments of any
sawmill does not come within the scope of the order. The following
are excepted "from the terms of the order: (1) Work in offices or
in repair or maintenance shops, (2) work in the operation or main
tenance o f living quarters, (3) work in timber-cruising, surveying, or
logging-engineering parties, provided that no work in the construc
tion of roads or railroads is performed, (4) work in forest protection,
and (5) work in the feeding or care of animals used in logging.9
Pow er-driven woodworking machine occupations.—The hazards of
woodworking-machine employment were studied simultaneously with
those of logging and sawmilling. Evidence of the especially haz
ardous nature of many occupations involved in the operation of
7 U. S. Children’s Bureau, Child-Labor Regulations, Order No. 2 (hazardous occupations),
4 Federal Register 4726.
8U. S. Children’s Bureau, Child-Labor Regulations, Order No. 3 (hazardous occupations),
5 Federal Register 2722.
9
U. S. Children’s Bureau, Child-Labor Regulations and Orders, Hazardous Occupation
Order No. 4. 6 Federal Register 3148.
PROVISIONS OF FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT
25
power-driven woodworking machines is presented in a report which
has recently been completed and on which the order was based. The
conclusions of the report, which are summarized below, illustrate the
nature of the material surveyed and the conclusions presented in the
various hazardous-occupation studies of the Division.
It wTas found that considerable numbers of young workers are
employed in power-driven woodworking-machine occupations and
that these machines are the cause of a large number of industrial
injuries. Such injuries are likely to be especially severe, often result
ing in amputations or other permanent partial disabilities. For in
stance, in Massachusetts during a 5-year period, 18.5 percent of the
injuries due to woodworking machines resulted in permanent partial
disability, whereas only 3.8 percent of the injuries from all causes
in the manufacturing industries resulted in this type of disability.
The sharp cutting edges combined with high operating speeds and
the fact that operators and most off-bearers must work in close prox
imity to moving parts make work on these machines extremely
hazardous. Mechanical guarding cannot be relied upon to protect
workers from woodworking-machine hazards. State laws vary widely
in their requirements for guards. Moreover, some guards cannot be
used consistently or continually. It was concluded that workers en
gaged in helping operators to feed materials into woodworking ma
chines and those engaged in setting up, adjusting, repairing, oiling, or
cleaning power-driven machines have jobs very nearly as hazardous
as those who operate these machines. Off-bearing directly from saw
tables of circular saws or directly from the point of operation of
guillotine-action veneer clippers was also found to be particularly
hazardous.
Woodworking-machine occupations, moreover, are especially haz
ardous for1workers under 18 years because the attributes of experience,
judgment, capacity for concentration, and caution, essential to the
safety of workers in these occupations, have not been fully developed
in young workers. Minimum-age standards for employment of young
workers imposed by State laws, those voluntarily maintained by em
ployers, and those adopted by XEA code authorities constitute recog
nition of the extremely hazardous nature of woodworking-machine
employments for young workers.
The power-driven woodworking-machine order declares the follow*
ing occupations involved in the operation of power-driven woodwork
ing machines to be particularly hazardous: Operating power-driven
woodworking machines; setting up, adjusting, repairing, oiling, or
cleaning such machines; and off-bearing from circular saws and guil
lotine-action veneer clippers where such off-bearing is done directly
from a saw table or from the point of operation. It includes defini
tions of the terms “power-driven woodworking machines” and “offbearing.” 10
The hazards of shipbuilding occupations and employment on metal
working machines are the subject of investigations now being con
ducted by the Children’s Bureau, and a program for developing orders
dealing with industrial health hazards is under way.
10 U. S. Children’s Bureau, Child-Labor Regulations and Orders, Hazardous Occupation
Order No. 5, 6 Federal Register 3149.
CHILD LABOR
26
Trend of Child Labor 1
Throughout the decade since 1980 the general trend of child labor
has followed that of industrial employment, except where the influence
of legal regulation of the employment of children under Federal ox
State laws has been powerful enough to bring about a reversal of that
trend. This is indicated by reports of employment certificates issued
for children going to work which have been obtained by the United
States Children’s Bureau annually, and in recent years monthly, from
an increasing number of States and cities.2 An annual compilation
and evaluation of this information by the Children’s Bureau has been
made possible by the generous cooperation of State and city officials.
It must be kept in mind, however, in evaluating the significance
of these reports, that they do not show the number of children actually
employed at any one time but are indicative only of the stream enter
ing industry each year; that is, they show the number entering employ
ment for the first time in occupations for which employment certifi
cates are required. Children who enter occupations for which
certificates commonly are not required, such as agricultural pursuits,3
domestic service, and street trades, are of course not included. These
reports, moreover, show only the number going to work legally; they
give no indication of the number employed without the certificate
required by law. *Everywhere the value of the employment-certificate
reports is dependent upon the careful and consistent attention of issu
ing officers, many of wT
hom are overburdened with other duties. In
spite of these limitations, however, the figures do indicate the trend
in the number of children going to work in gainful employment,
especially in urban areas, and may fairly be considered a Nation-wide
index of the employment of young workers.
Factors Influencing Employment of Children
Many factors are responsible for changes in the extent to which
children are employed, the most important being State and Federal
child-labor legislation, public opinion (which is reflected in childlabor legislation), and employment opportunities. Although the
volume of child labor has tended to rise and fall with industrial
employment where restrictive legislation was not in effect, there has
1 For fuller inform ation see Serial No. R. 677, reprinted from the M onthly Labor Review
for December 1937, and Serial No. R. 1058, reprinted from the M onthly Labor Review
January 1940, with supplementary material.
3 These reports are collected as a join t project of the Industrial Division and the Division
o f Statistical Research o f the Children’s Bureau. A t the end o f 1936 the reporting area
included 58 percent o f the total population o f the United States, reports in that year being
submitted fo r 14- and 15-year-old children from 17 States and the D istrict o f Columbia,
and from 82 cities of 25,000 to 50,000 population and 108 cities of 50,000 or more popula
tion in 23 other States. Reports o f 16- and 17-year-old children were being received from
3 States and the D istrict o f Columbia, and from 51 cities o f 25,000 to 50,000 population
and 82 cities o f 50,000 or more population in 11 other States. A t the end of 1938 the
Bureau was receiving data from areas including alm ost 60 percent of the total population
o f the United States, reports being submitted in 1938 for more than 7,000 children 14 and
15 years o f age going to work and for more than 75,000 young workers of 16 and 17 years.
3A ccording to the United States census o f 1930, 70 percent o f the children under 16
years o f age gainfully employed and 34 percent of those 16 and 17 years o f age vTere in
agricultural pursuits.
TREND OF CHILD LABOR
27
been a net decrease since 1920 in employment of children between
14 to 18 years of age, despite an increase in this age group of the
population.
For some years the conviction has been growing in the minds of the
public that it is socially wasteful to allow children under 16 years of
age to leave school for work. A generation ago, 14 rather than 16
years was the generally accepted minimum age for the entrance of
children into industry. In 1919, however, and again in 1930 and 1940,
public opinion, crystallizing in the recommendations of the White
House Conferences of those years, spoke for a basic minimum age of
16 in State child-labor laws. Scarcity of employment opportunities
during the depression, and an increasing realization of the need for
better-trained citizenry to meet the complex social problems of the
present day, have undoubtedly influenced the tendency to outlaw
through State legislation the employment of children under 16 in
industrial work.
The increasing number of children attending school beyond the
elementary grades indicates a change in social custom that has un
doubtedly decreased the number of children entering employment.
In 1920 only 32 percent of the population 14 to 17 years of age, in
clusive, were enrolled in secondary schools, compared with 67 percent
in 1936. Enrollment in secondary schools increased from 2,494,676
children in 1920 to 4,799,867 in 1930, or 92 percent. In 1936, the
latest year for which figures are available, the enrollment was
6,424,968, an increase of 34 percent over 1930.4
Legislation has also been a factor in reducing the number of chil
dren entering employment. In 1930 only Montana and Ohio had a
basic minimum age of 16 years for employment. Between 1930 and
1938 eight additional States 5 established this minimum. These eight
States, where in 1938 (because of this legislative advance) very few
children under 16 were permitted by law to leave school for work, in
1930 had accounted for 34 percent of the children under 16 years
of age engaged in nonagricultural pursuits and 46 percent of those
working in manufacturing and mechanical industries. An advance
for the whole country was made in 1938, when the Fair Labor Stand
ards Act was passed by Congress. The child-labor provisions of
this act established a basic 16-year minimum age, applicable without
regard to State laws, for employment in manufacturing, mining,
and other industries producing goods for shipment in interstate
commerce.6
4U. S. Office o f E ducation Bulletin No. 2 (1937) : Statistical Summary o f Education,
1935-36 (being ch. I o f vol. 1 o f the Biennial Survey o f Education in the United States,
1934-3 6), table 9, p. 1 2 . W ashington, 1939. Estim ated population figures and enrollment
figures are used for 1936.
5Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina,
Utah, and Wisconsin. In 1939 two more States, Massachusetts and West Virginia, in 1940
one additional State, New Jersey, and in 1941 still another State, Florida, were added to
this list.
6A ct o f June 25, 1938, Public, No. 718 (75th Cong., 3d sess.), ch. 676. The act was
passed June 25, 1938, but did not go into effect until October 24 of that year. Thus, the
first 6 months o f 1939 represented the first continuous half year during which a Federal
minimum-age standard was in effect since May 1935, when the codes under the National
Industrial Recovery A dm inistration were declared invalid.
These codes were effective
throughout an industry w ithout regard to State lines, establishing, through the 16-year
minimum age for employment, child-labor standards which were higher than any previously
in effect in the country as a whole. The code-making power under the act was declared
unconstitutional in the Schechter case ( S c h e c h t e r v. U n i t e d S t a t e s , 55 Sup. Ct. 837) on
May 27, 1935.
28
CHILD LABOR
Variations in employment opportunities have also influenced the
fluctuations in the numbers of children going to work. Although
there has been a net decrease since 1920 in employment of children,
the employment both of children 14 and 15 and of those 16 and 17
years of age has usually risen and fallen somewhat from year to year
with the trend of general employment. The only exceptions have
been for the younger group, and these have occurred in States where
the basic minimum age for employment has been* raised to 16 by
State law and in the country as a whole when Nation-wide restrictive
legislation has drastically narrowed opportunities for employment of
children under 16. This is indicated in the accompanying table,
which compares from 1929 to 1938 the index numbers for first
regular employment certificates'7 issued in areas where the legal
minimum age under State law was not raised to 16 with the index
of employment in nonagricultural industries.8 For young workers
between 16 and 18 years of age the index of employment certification
followed roughly the ups and downs of general employment, but for
those between 14 and 16 this tendency was interrupted in 1933 and
1934 when a 16-year minimum under the NEA codes was in effect
practically on a Nation-wide basis.9 Kemoval of the code restric
tions in 1935 was followed in 1936 by an upward swing for employ
ment of this younger group which continued until it was checked
by the drop in employment opportunities that began in the last 6
months of 1937 and continued into 1938.
7The index number fo r the number o f first regular employment certificates issued for
children going to work fo r the first time is used as a rough index o f employment o f children
o f these ages.
8The computed index o f total nonagricultural employment in the United States, based on
estimates by the U. S. Bureau o f Labor Statistics, is used as reflecting types o f full-tim e
work in which young persons fo r whom employment certificates are required are likely to
be engaged.
9When the National Industrial Recovery A ct was passed in 1933, a 16-year minimum
age for employment was on the statute books o f only 4 States— Montana, Ohio, Utah, and
W isconsin. Children for the m ost part were perm itted to leave school for work at 14 years
o f age, if they had fulfilled certain requirements. In contrast, practically all the codes,
beginning with that fo r the cotton-textile industry, effective July 17, 1933, prohibited the
employment o f children under 16, though there were a few exceptions.
29
TREND OF CHILD LABOR
C hildren f o r w h om first regular em p lo ym en t certificates were iss u ed , a nd p erson s i n
nonagricultural em p lo ym en t in the U n ited S ta tes , 1 9 2 9 to 1 9 3 8
Estimated nonagricul
tural employment in
the United States of
14 and 15 years of age1 16 and 17 years of age2
persons of all ages3
Employment certificates issued for minors—
Year
Number 4
1929.
1930.
19311932.
1933.
19341935.
1936.
1937.
1938.
13,240
7,289
4,434
2, 781
1,466
361
809
1,853
1,919
1,247
Index
(1930=
100)
181.6
100.0
60.8
38.2
20.1
5.0
11.1
25.4
26.3
17.1
Number 5
38,453
27, 793
23,403
19,972
21, 977
26, 754
27,100
628,454
633, 625
627, 212
Index
(1930=
100)
138.4
100.0
84.2
71.9
79.1
96.3
97.5
102.4
121.0
97.9
Number
31,876,000
29,727,000
26, 747,000
23, 713, 000
23,854,000
26,150,000
27,258,000
29,017,000
30, 552,000
28, 222,000
Index
(1930=
100)
107.2
100.0
90.0
79.8
80.2
88.0
91.7
97.6
102.8
94.9
1 Figures based upon reports from 27 cities with 100,000 or more population (1930 census) in which mini
mum-age standards were not changed during the period 1927-38. Cities included are: Atlanta, Baltimore,
Chattanooga, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kansas City (Kans.),
Knoxville, Los Angeles, Louisville, Lowell, Lynn, Minneapolis, Nashville, Omaha, Peoria, St. Paul, San
Francisco, Somerville, South Bend, Springfield (Mass.), Washington (D. C.), Wichita, and Wilmington.
2Figures based upon reports from 18 cities with 50,000 or more population (1930 census). Cities included
are: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Grand Rapids, Hamtramck, Kalamazoo, Milwaukee, New
Orleans, New York, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Saginaw, San Francisco, Springfield (Ohio), Toledo, Yonkers,
and Youngstown.
3Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U. S. Department of Labor. The estimates cover all persons en
gaged in gainful work outside of agriculture, except for the CCC, W PA, and NY A work projects, and
the CWA and FERA work programs in 1933 and 1934. The estimates presented here exclude officials,
proprietors, and self-employed persons.
4Figures for Detroit and Grand Rapids are for 15-year-old children; law does not permit issuance of
certificates for 14-year-old children.
8 Figures for cities in Wisconsin and New York are for 16-year-old minors; laws did not require issuance of
certificates for minors over 16 until September 1935 in Wisconsin and September 1936 in New York State.
Figures for New Orleans are for girls only.
3Figures for Hamtramck are for 16-year-old minors only. Figures for San Francisco and the District of
Columbia include certificates issued for work outside school hours and during vacation.
Children 14 and 15 Years of Age
Number of Children Going to Work
In the area from which complete reports were received, the number
of first regular employment certificates issued for 14- and 15-year-old
children—that is, certificates allowing them to leave school for work—
decreased from 15,551 in 1936 to 8,323 in 1937 and 5,080 in 1938.10
Of the certificates issued in 1936, however, nearly half (6,891) were
issued in New York and Rhode Island cities, where the basic minimum
age was raised to 16 in the latter part of the year, and 592 were issued
in North Carolina where a similar advance in State legislation was
made in 1937. In areas in which the employment of children of 14
and 15 years was generally permitted by law during this 3-year period
(that is, in areas in which the minimum age for employment was not
raised to 16) the number of children 14 and 15 years of age leaving
school for work showed only a slight decrease from 1936 to 1937 (from
8,068 to 7,968), but substantial decrease was shown from 1937 to 1938
(from 7,968 to 5,062).
10 In a larger area, including States and cities that reported only the total number o f
certificates issued, the number decreased from 21,413 in 1936 to 11,701 in 1937 and to
7,431 in 1938. These figures are based upon reports received from 15 States, the D istrict
o f Columbia, and 89 cities o f 50,000 or more population in 21 other States.
30
CHILD LABOR
Preliminary figures for the first 6 months of 1939, compared with fig
ures for the first 6 months of 1937 and 1938,11 show a decrease in the
number of children under 16 leaving school for work. There was a de
crease from 4,191 in the first 6 months of 1937 to 2,425 in the first 6
months of 1938, or 42 percent; in the first 6 months of 1939 the number
fell to 1,908, a further drop of 21 percent. The drop between the first
half of 1937 and the first half of 1938 corresponded roughly to the
downward trend in nonagricultural employment; the drop between the
corresponding periods in 1938 and 1939, however, was contrary to an
upward employment trend. Thus, for the first time since the period
when the codes under the National Industrial Recovery Act were in
effect, a decrease in the number of children under 16 leaving school for
work occurred in spite of increased general employment. This is be
lieved to be due primarily to the effect of the Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938, which went into effect October 24,1938, and which drasti
cally restricted employment of children under 16 in industries pro
ducing goods for shipment in interstate commerce.
Occupations Entered
Comparatively small numbers of the children under 16 leaving
school for work were entering manufacturing and mechanical indus
tries. In areas for which comparable figures are available for 1936,
1937, and 1938, the proportion of children of 14 and 15 years entering
these industries has ranged between 12 and 14 percent. Slightly larger
proportions, between 13 and 16 percent, entered mercantile work,
while 42 to 44 percent, entered the domestic-service and personalservice occupations. Less than 4 percent of the group Tvere found
in office work in any of these years.
Reports of regular employment certificates issued in the first 6
months of 1939 indicate a considerable decrease in the percentage of
14- and 15-year-old workers entering manufacturing and mechanical
industries, a decrease undoubtedly due to the restrictive effect of the
16-year minimum age set by the Fair Labor Standards Act. The
proportion going into the domestic-service and personal-service occu
pations increased correspondingly.
Minors 16 and 17 Years of Age
Number of Minors Going to Work
The problem of gainful employment of young persons between 16
and 18 years of age requires an approach that is different from that
required by the problem of the younger boys and girls. It has been
very generally advocated that the years of a child’s life up to 16 should
be devoted to mental and social growth rather than to full-time wage
earning. On the other hand, it has been thought that for a large group
of minors of 16 and 17 years entrance to employment may be desirable,
if properly safeguarded; suitable educational opportunity, however,
should be available for those who wish to attend school, and no youth
between 16 and 18 should be both out of school and without useful
employment. Labor legislation for minors of this older age group
11 Comparisons by corresponding 6-month periods in the 2 years, rather than by consecu
tive 6-month periods, are used because o f seasonal differences in proportions o f certificates
issued during the first and the last h alf o f a year.
TREND OF CHILD LABOR
31
is needed chiefly to protect them from long hours, low wTages, danger
ous work, and other undesirable conditions of employment. Thus,
Federal and State child-labor legislation, while tending to keep chil
dren under 16 out of industry, has had no such definite restrictive effect
upon employment of workers of 16 and 17 years, and prohibitive leg
islation for children under 16 may have the effect of opening employ
ment opportunities for older minors.
The number of minors 16 and 17 years of age for whom first regular
employment certificates12 were issued in the areas for which complete
reports were received for each of the 3 years, 1936-38, was, roughly,
between 70,000 and 95,000. Although the number for 1938 (69,540)
was less than in either of the 2 preceding years, there was an increase
in 1937 as compared with 1936 (from 84,629 in 1936 to 94,937 in 1937).13
This increase may be attributed chiefly to the effect of the New York
law, operative September 1, 1936, raising to 16 the minimum age for
employment, and resulting in more openings for slightly older
workers. In a few cities the number of certificates issued was greater
in 1938 than in 1936, and in many places there was little difference
in the numbers issued in each of the 3 years.
O ccupations E n te re d
In the period 1936-38, openings in manufacturing and mechanical
industries were more frequent for the 16- and 17-year-old boys and
girls than for those under 16. However, the percentage of the older
group entering these occupations decreased from 34 percent in 1936
to 25 percent in 1938. There was a corresponding increase in the
proportion of minors 16 and 17 years old entering outside messenger
and delivery work. Somewhat less than one-fifth of this group en
tered mercantile establishments and about one-fourth entered domesticand personal-service occupations. Contrary to the situation for the
children of 14 and 15 years, there appear for the 16- and 17-year-old
workers no marked changes in the occupational distribution in the
first half of 1939 as compared with 1938, as this group was affected
only indirectly, if at all, by the minimum-age provisions of the Fair
Labor Standards Act.
*##+####<
Child Labor in Agriculture
Children’s work in agriculture has been viewed traditionally as
healthful, out-of-door activity on the home farm, supplementing
the child’s formal education. During the past few decades, however,
wide areas of American agriculture have changed to an industrialized
type of production, with the result that much farming activity is
no longer a “way of life” but a part of the industry of the Nation.
12In some States where children are not required to attend school after reaching the age
o f 16, regular certificates may be issued to all children applying who have met the legal
requirement without regard to whether or not they are attending school. For this reason,
these figures include, in all years, some children working outside school hours and during
vacation.
13These figures are based on reports from 3 States, the District o f Columbia, and 80 cities
in 11 other States. In a somewhat larger area, including States and cities that reported
only the total number o f certificates issued, the number increased from 89.657 in 1936 to
102,018 in 1937 and decreased to 75,595 in 1938. These figures are based on reports re
ceived from 4 States, the D istrict o f Columbia, and 67 cities of 50,000 or more population
in 10 other States.
32
CHILD LABOR
Thousands of laborers, among them large numbers of children of all
ages, are employed in the cultivation and harvesting of many crops
under conditions that do not differ essentially from those in industrial
employment. However, very little progress has been made in extend
ing the generally recognized child-labor standards for industrial em
ployment to employment in agriculture.
Child Tabor in Industrialized Agriculture
The United States Children’s Bureau and other agencies interested
in the welfare of children in families of agricultural workers have
made a number of sample studies over a period of almost three
decades to determine the circumstances under which agricultural
laboring families and their children live and work. In the statement
submitted by the Children’s Bureau to the La Follette Committee1
in May 1940 and revised for submission to the Tolan Committee 2
in December 1940, the Children’s Bureau brought together data
from numerous studies of agricultural child workers made since 1930.3
These studies show that children of all ages work at hand operations
in the cultivation or harvesting of many crops, that strenuous labor,
long hours, and low wages are typical, and that such work competes
seriously with schooling. Moreover, children in migratory families,
who go from crop to crop or who come from towns into farming
areas during the crop season, are subject to additional hazards and
deprivations incident to constant migration.4
A g es o f the children .—Many children under 14, some as young as
6 or 7 years of age, work in the fields. A study of agricultural labor
made in New York in 1940, for example, revealed that out of a total
of 3,670 workers employed on 100 truck farms, 1,629 (44.4 percent)
were under 16 years of age, 1,070 (29.2 percent) were under 14 years
of age, and 330 (9.0 percent) were under 10 years of age.5
T yp es o f w ork .—The fact that agricuhural work is carried on outof-doors, and that many of the tasks in themselves may be quite
harmless, has tended to obscure the actual nature of the work done by
children who are hired as seasonal laborers. Many of the processes
performed by these children consist of the mechanical repetition of
tasks, and require cramped, crawling, or stooping positions. In
some instances the very youngest children may do only the lighter
1Statement o f Beatrice M cConnell, D irector, Industrial Division, Children’ s Bureau,
U. S. Department o f Labor, on Child Labor in Agriculture. Submitted to a subcommittee
o f the Committee on Education and Labor, U. S. Senate, pursuant to S. Res. 266, May 27,
1940.
(H earings before a subcommittee o f the Committee on Education and Labor, U. S.
Senate, 76th Cong., 3d sess., pursuant to S. Res. 266 (74th C ong.), a resolution to investi
gate violations o f the right o f free speech and assembly and interference with the right o f
labor to organize and bargain c o lle ctiv e ly : Part 3, Supplementary Hearings, National
Farm Labor Problem, W ashington, D. C., May 23, 24, 27, June 3 and 4, 1940 (pp. 790—
843), W ashington, 1941.
2Select Committee To Investigate the Interstate M igration o f Destitute Citizens, pursuant
to H. Res. 63, and LI. Res. 491, 76th Cong., A pril 22, 1940.
3F or previous studies, see the follow in g r e p o r t : Child Labor, report o f subcommittee on
child labor, W hite House Conference on Child Health and Protection, New York, 1932.
(See also Handbook o f Labor Statistics, 1936 edition, U. S. Bureau o f Labor Statistics Bull.
No. 616, Washington. 1936, pp. 39-42.
4Social problems o f m igrants and their families were discussed in the report submitted
by the Secretary o f Labor to the U. S. Senate on July 3, 1937. (M igration of Workers,
prelim inary report o f the Secretary o f Labor pursuant to S. Res. 298 (74th C ong.), a
resolution to make certain investigations concerning the social and econom ic needs o f
laborers m igrating across State lines. U. S. Department of Labor, W ashington, 1938.
M imeographed.)
5Agricultural Child Labor, R eport by New York State Department o f Labor, November
8, 1940. (M anuscript.) For published summary see Child Workers in the Berry and Bean
Fields o f Erie County, New York, in The Child, May 1941, pp. 290, 291.
CHILD LABOR IN AGRICULTURE
33
tasks, such as the bunching and tying of vegetables. Commonly,
however, the operations that the children perform are the same as
those performed by adult laborers, and even young children may
perform such strenuous tasks as lifting heavy baskets or dragging
heavy sacks.
In addition, the children are subject to the accident hazards attend
ant upon farm work and to the serious hazards involved in truck
transportation to and from the fields; truck accidents have been
reported in which young workers were killed, or in which young
workers were injured when a rear gate or rack of an overcrowded
truck gave way and they were thrown out.
H ours o f w ork .—The working hours of children employed in the
fields have been found in child-labor studies to be usually the same
as those of adults. Long working days occur particularly during
harvest and other rush seasons, the times at which the largest number
of children are employed. Although the rush season for a particular
crop may be short, 5 or 6 months of intermittent rush wTork are
common in some areas, as for example in southern New Jersey, where
the successive harvesting of different crops provides fairly continuous
employment from strawberry picking in May to cranberry picking
just before the November frost.
W a ges .—Frequently children who work in agriculture as laborers
are members of family groups employed under a contract or familywage system. The child’s work is counted in with that of his parents
or older relatives and payment for his production is made to the
family or the head of the family group. Recent studies show,
however, that even with the combined labor of adults and children,
family incomes among agricultural laborers are very low.
Education .— One of the most serious consequences of agricultural
child labor is its interference with schooling. The use of children
as hired seasonal laborers may cause repeated or prolonged absences
from school, thereby retarding the child’s educational progress.
Moreover, due to economic pressure and discouragement with their
slow school progress, child workers may drop out of school before
they have acquired even a reasonable minimum of school training.
Child-Labor Regulation in Sugar-Beet and Sugarcane Fields
The use of children for hand processes in sugar-beet production,
traceable largely to the family contract system and the low incomes
of workers, has been for many years an outstanding feature of the
industry.6 A beginning in the regulation of child labor in sugarbeet and also sugarcane production was made under an amendment
to the Agricultural Adjustment Act. This act7 had designated
certain products as basic commodities and provided for the payment
of benefits to producers entering into production and marketing
agreements with the Secretary of Agriculture. In May 1934, by an
amendment to the act. sugar beets and sugarcane were made basic
commodities, and the Secretary of Agriculture was specifically
authorized to include regulation of child labor in benefit contracts.8
6See U. S. Children’s Bureau Pub. No. 115 : Child Labor and the Work o f M others in the
Beet Fields o f Colorado and M ichigan, W ashington, 1923.
7A gricultural Adjustm ent Act, May 12, 1933 (ch. 25, 48 Stat. 3 1 ; H. R. 3835, Public, No.
10, 73d Cong.).
8Jones-Costigan Act, 1934 (48 Stat. 670, Public, No. 213, 73d C ong.).
34
CHILD LABOR
These contracts provided as a condition for payment of benefits that
no child under 14 should work in the production of sugar beets or
sugarcane, and that the hours of labor for children between 14 and
16 should be limited to 8 a day; growers’ children on their parents’
farms were exempted from these provisions.
After consultation with the Agricultural Adjustment Administra
tion, the Children’s Bureau in 1935, while the benefit contracts under
the Jones-Costigan amendment were in use, made a study of condi
tions affecting child welfare in beet-producing areas in six States—
Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Michigan, and Minnesota.9
Among families that had worked both in 1934 (before these con
tracts were in effect) and in 1935, there was a marked decrease in
the percentage of children under 14 years of age who had worked
in the beet fields in 1935 compared to the percentage in 1934. Never
theless, in 1935, 9 percent of the children between 6 and 12 years of
age in all the families surveyed and 50 percent of those 12 and 13
y£ars of age worked in the beet fields. Family income from sugarbeet work was seldom sufficient to provide a decent standard of
living; for many of the workers, destitution during a part of the
year was the only alternative to public relief. Median annual earn
ings from beet work in the families surveyed amounted to only $340,
and less than half of the families had earnings of more than $50
in the year from other sources. The prevalence of child labor in
the industry interfered seriously with school attendance. Although
90 percent of the children between 6 and 16 years of age had enrolled
during the school year 1934-35, more than half of those enrolled were
absent in the spring, or the fall, or both, on account of their own
work in the beet fields or that of their families.
Preliminary findings of the survey were made available to the
Department of Agriculture for use in recommending new sugar-beet
and sugarcane legislation, enacted in 193710 to take the place of the
earlier provisions which were invalidated when the Agricultural
Adjustment Act was declared unconstitutional in 1936.11 The new
legislation contained practically the same child-labor standards as
those incorporated in the earlier Agricultural Adjustment Adminis
tration contracts.12
Although this survey showed that the child-labor restrictions in the
production-control contracts had been by no means entirely effective,
the improvement in chiM-labor conditions over the 1934 season was
encouraging and indicated the eventual possibility of eliminating em
ployment of children under 14. Lack of compliance with the earlier
child-labor provisions apparently had been due largely to the fact that
no definite plan for requiring reliable proof of age for children work
ing in the beet fields had been developed. It was accordingly recom
mended by the Secretary of Labor that certificates of age be provided
9 U. S. Children’s Bureau Pub. No. 24 7: W elfare of Families o f Sugar Beet Laborers.
W ashington, 1939.
19 Sugar A ct o f 1937 (P ublic, No. 414, 75th Cong., H. R. 7667).
11U n i t e d S t a t e s v. B u t l e r e t a l ., r e c e i v e r s o f H o o s a c M i l l s C o r p o r a t i o n (297 U. S. 1).
12The Sugar A ct o f 1937 prescribes as -a condition for the granting of benefit payments
under the act that no child under 14 be employed in the cultivation or harvesting o f
sugar beets or sugarcane, and that no child between 14 and 16 be employed more than 8
hours a day. These provisions apply to all producers claiming benefits under the act except
that members of the immediate family of owners o f as much as 40 percent of the crop as
to which benefits were claimed are exempted.
CHILD LABOR IN AGRICULTURE
35
as an administrative method of checking compliance with the childlabor provisions of the new act. By the spring of 1939 a program for
making certificates of age available for children employed by growers
was worked out. Under this program the Children’s Bureau has de
veloped a program of certificate issuance in cooperation with State and
local officials; the Sugar Division of the Department of Agriculture
has familiarized the State and county agricultural conservation com
mittees, through which the Sugar Act is administered, with the pro
gram and has encouraged sugar-beet and sugarcane growers to obtain
certificates of age for children in their employ. The areas in which
the program is now operative include the sugar-beet producing States
of Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Da
kota, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, and the 22
Louisiana parishes producing sugarcane (December 31, 1941).
Recommendations of National and Regional Conferences Regarding
Agricultural Child Labor
Faced with the general lack of State or Federal legislation which
would effectively meet the problems of child workers in industrialized
agriculture, several organizations and conferences have developed and
endorsed standards embodying the principle of regulating child labor
in industrialized agriculture, and of providing adequate educational
opportunities for the children of migratory agricultural workers.
Such standards were recommended by the 1940 White House Confer
ence on Children in a Democracy,13 and by the President’s Interde
partmental Committee To Coordinate Health and Welfare Activities.14
Standards have also been proposed by the International Association
of Governmental Labor Officials,15 an organization of State labor-law
administrators, and by the Conference of the American States, Mem
bers of the International Labor Organization.16 A similar interest in
the establishment of protective measures applicable to child employ
ment in agriculture has been voiced by the National Conferences on
Labor Legislation 17 which are called annually by the Secretary of
Labor, and by Interstate Conferences on Migratory Labor held under
the auspices of State labor departments.18
13Children in a Dem ocracy, general report adopted by the W hite House Conference on
Children in a Democracy, January 19, 1940, W ashington, D. C. (pp. 45, 6 9 -7 4 ). W ash
ington, 1940.
14M igratory Labor. A report to the President by the Interdepartmental Committee To
Coordinate Health and Welfare Activities, July 1940 (pp. 14. 15). (Mimeographed.)
15A discussion o f I. A. G. L. O. standards appears in Child Labor, a report to the A n
nual M eeting o f the International Association o f Governmental Labor Officials, September
9-12, 1940, New York. Submitted by the Child Labor Committee.
(M im eographed.)
10 Second Conference o f American States, Members of the International Labour Organi
zation, Havana, November 1939, Report on the A ction Taken To Give Effect to the Resolu
tions Adopted by the Santiago Conference, Second Item on the Agenda (pp. 1 0 8-11 0).
International Labor Office, 1939.
17See Proceedings o f the Third National Conference on Labor Legislation (1936). p. 65 ;
Proceedings on the Fourth National Conference on Labor Legislation (1937), p. 10 8: Re
ports o f Committees and Resolutions Adopted by Fifth National Conference on Labor
Legislation (1 938), pp. 13-14 ; Proceedings o f the'Sixth National Conference on Labor Leg
islation (1939), pp. 9 3 -9 4 ; Reports of Committees and Resolutions adopted by the Seventh
National Conference on Labor Legislation (1 940), pp. 2, 14-16. The Proceedings of the
National Conferences on Labor Legislation were issued as bulletins o f the U. S. Depart
ment o f Labor, Division o f Labor Standards. The Reports of Committees and Resolutions
adopted by the F ifth and Seventh National Conferences on Labor Legislation were issued
as Bulletins 2 5 -A and 45—A by the U. S. Government Printing Office.
18See Proceedings o f the Interstate Conference on M igratory Labor (Delaware, Maryland,
New Jersey, V irgin ia), Baltimore, Md., February 12-13, 1940, pp. 9 7 -9 8 ; and Proceedings
o f the Interstate Conference on M igratory Labor (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Caro
lina, South C arolina), Atlanta, Ga., December 17-18, 1940, pp. 63-67.
36
CHILD LABOR
Children in the Theater1
Nearly all of the States have legislation concerning the employment
of children as entertainers, but the laws vary greatly as to the kinds
of work covered, the age and circumstances under which employment
is allowed, and the status of these young wage earners with road
companies.
So
little seemed to be known regarding the working conditions of
children in the entertainment industry that the National Child Labor
Committee, after consultation with representatives of both childwelfare and theatrical interests, conducted a study of children on the
legitimate stage in the hope that studies of children in the allied
fields of entertainment might follow. The results are presented in
a report published in 1941.2
It is noted in the introduction to the report that children on the
legitimate stage do not take the places of older workers. They are
used only when a play calls for a child’s part; and in some cases, where
a play has a long run, another child has to be substituted for one who
has outgrown the part. Again, the term “cheap child labor” does not
apply to the type of employment under discussion, for every child on
the legitimate stage is paid a fixed salary rate under a contract of the
Actors’ Equity Union.
The one problem to be considered is whether theater employment
is advantageous or disadvantageous to the child. The significant
aspects would seem to be the results of such employment upon school
ing and health, the psychological effects, whether the work interferes
with normal childhood activities, and to what extent it is of vocational
value.
The home backgrounds of the children included in the study varied
widely, some of their fathers being laborers and others professional
men. Less than one-third of these children belonged to families with
any experience on the legitimate stage or in other fields of the enter
tainment industry.
Age of Children in the Theater
The age at which the child starts work on the legitimate stage is
subject to great variation. Among the 63 child actors covered by
the report and who had appeared in Broadway productions, only
7 had had their first part before they were 7 years of age. It is
probable this was due to the fact that for a long period 7 years had
been the minimum age in New York City, although there are excep
tions to this provision. For the whole group the median age at their
first appearance in the legitimate theater was 9 years.
Of the 1,138 child appearances for which permits were granted in
the decade and a half from 1925 to 1940, over one-third were for
children who were under 10 years of age at the time they appeared.
The median age was between 10 and 11 years, being approximately a
year older for boys than for girls.
1 From M onthly Labor Review fo r A pril 1941.
a National Child Labor Committee. Children in the Theater.
Gertrude Folks Zimand. New York, 419 Fourth Ave., 1941.
B y Anne Hood Harken and
CHILDREN IN THE THEATER
37
Hours and Working Conditions
Work on the stage is irregular and intermittent. The hours per
day and per week are not excessive, and most of these child actors are
employed in the theater for only a small portion of the year. Such
employment, however, is wholly dependent upon the number of plays
in which a child is to appear during the year and also upon the length
of the runs, which cannot be predicted.
The earnings of the majority of the child actors studied were used
entirely for their own expenses and benefit and many had savings ac
counts. About one-third contributed to the general family expenses.
In three exceptional cases the children were the sole wage earners in
the family.
The investigators found that few of the children in the theater con
fine their professional activities to the stage. They seek or are “on
call” for other kinds of work in the entertainment field—motion pic
tures, commercial photography, and radio. Even while cast for a
play, some will do other work.
Physical, Educational, and Social Effects Upon the Children
Although there are individual cases of long (in some instances exces
sively long) rehearsal periods, and also instances in which even young
children have had schedules which were too heavy, “it appears that
on the whole work in the legitimate theater is an occupation for a small
number of children in which proper safeguards are not too difficult to
achieve. A regimen is possible which allows for education, recreation,
and adequate time for sleep.”
In the opinion of the investigators, if the abuses are controlled, and
if the child actor has periodic medical supervision, the work cannot
reasonably be considered disadvantageous to the child’s physical
well-being.
Most of the children studied had superior mental ability, which was
reflected in their school grades. Thirty-eight percent were being
accelerated in their school work, 58 percent were normal, and only 3
percent were found to be retarded. Although employment in the
theater interferes somewhat with the school routine children ordinarily
follow, the young actors apparently had overcome this handicap.
Most of them were pupils in the Professional Children’s School, which
offers special facilities for the education of theater children.
Although it was not possible in one or two interviews to measure the
social adjustment of the stage children covered by the study, it was
noted that certain aspects of their professional employment might be
inimical to a normal emotional development, while other features
would seem to have an actual psychological value. From the 65 chil
dren interviewed, however, “no clear-cut pattern emerged that would
justify any conclusions as to the relative advantages or disadvantages
of theater work from a mental hygiene viewpoint for the group as a
whole or even for individual children.”
The extent to which theater children are “talented” and the value
of their experience as training for a future theatrical career are debat
able subjects. Few of these young folks start their professional work
328112— 42 —
v o l
.
i -------- 4
38
CHILD LABOR
in the legitimate theater and many of them find opportunities in the
entertainment industry only by chance.
Opinions of the theater children, of their parents, of adults who had
been stage children, and of producers, directors, and other persons
connected with theatrical life, differ as to the particular advantages of
childhood experience in acting with reference to future success in the
profession. All, however, agree in the belief that such experience
“has definite cultural, educational, and disciplinary values.”
Problems Connected With State Legislation
The great diversity in State legislation regarding child actors in
traveling companies and the lack of a uniform enforcement policy in
various cities result in serious difficulties not only for theatrical pro
ductions which open out of town or make tours but also for the stage
children themselves. Frequent attempts are made to evade these
statutes.
Regulation of children’s work in the theater must be on a different basis than
regulation of other forms of child employment. The child actor is not to be
regarded solely as a working child, but as a participant in an artistic production.
The objective of regulation of work by theater children should be to protect the
child from undue strain without depriving him of the opportunities and advan
tages which such employment may bring. It is a field in which supervision is
desirable but in which legal regulation should be kept to the minimum necessary
to insure such supervision and to prevent individual instances of overwork.
Recommendations
In addition to special recommendations of the advisory committee
relating to the employment of theater children, it is suggested in the
report that a central service for professional children in all branches
of the entertainment industry should be established which might (1)
serve as an employment exchange, (2) carry on health examinations
as a prerequisite for employment permits, (3) make possible the en
forcement of regulations for the employment of children, and (4)
serve as a consultation and advisory agency for parents and children.
Status of Federal Child-Labor Amendment
The United States Supreme Court, in opinions handed down on June
5, 1939, cleared the way for the completion of ratification of the pend
ing child-labor amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
This amendment,1which reads as follows, would give Congress specific
power to enact child-labor legislation effective throughout the whole
country in both interstate and intrastate industries:
S e c t io n 1. The Congress shall have power to limit, regulate, and prohibit the
labor of persons under 18 years of age.
S e c . 2. The power of the several States is unimpaired by this article except
that the operation of State laws shall be suspended to the extent necessary to give
effect to legislation enacted by the Congress.
1H.
J. Res. No. 184, 68th Cong., 43 Stat. 670.
STATUS OF FEDERAL CHILD-LABOR AM ENDM ENT
39
It should be noted that the amendment in itself is not a law, but an
enabling act, giving Congress power to pass Federal child-labor leg
islation.
During the period between 1924, when the amendment was submit
ted to the States, and 1939, when the Supreme Court cases hereafter
referred to were decided, the amendment had been ratified by 28 States,
and some o f these States had ratified it after they had previously
rejected it. The quest if ms which finally came to the United States
Supreme Court arose in two cases— Coleman v. Miller (59 Sup. Ct. 972)
from the Kansas Supreme Court, and Chandler v. W ise (59 Sup.
Ct. 992) from the Kentucky Court o f Appeals. As a result of the
Supreme Court’s decision, ratifications by Kansas and Kentucky,
which were the subject o f the dispute, were allowed to stand, and the
amendment was left open for ratification by other State legislatures.
In both these cases it had been argued that the amendment was no
longer subject to ratification fo r two reasons, first, because o f the
lapse o f time since its submission in 1924 and, second, because the
legislature o f each o f these States had previously rejected it. These
arguments were not sustained by the United States Supreme Court.
In the Kansas case, the decision o f the State supreme court, which
had refused to interfere with the certification o f the Kansas ratification
to the Secretary o f State o f the United States, was upheld by the
United States Supreme Court, basing its affirmation on the ground
that these questions are political in nature and not for court review.
A s to the effect o f a rejection by a State prior to ratification, the
United States Supreme Court referred to the history o f the fourteenth
amendment as a historical precedent fo r its opinion that this is a
political question. A t that time it was the political branch o f the
Government, Congress, and not the judicial branch, the courts, that
passed on the question whether the amendment had been in fact
ratified, deciding that, in the presence o f an actual ratification, both
a prior rejection and a subsequent withdrawal o f ratification were
ineffectual.
A s to the effect o f lapse o f time between the submission o f an
amendment and its ratification by a State, the Court held that this
also is not a question fo r the courts but a political question which
should be open for the consideration o f Congress when, “ in the presence
o f certified ratifications by three-fourths o f the States, the time arrives
fo r the promulgation o f the adoption o f the amendment.”
The Supreme Court dismissed the Kentucky case, Chandler v. W ise,
upon the ground that “ after the Governor o f Kentucky had forwarded
the certification o f the ratification o f the amendment to the Secretary
o f State o f the United States, there was no longer a controversy
susceptible o f judicial determination.”
No States have ratified the amendment since 1939. A t the present
time ( July 1, 1941) 8 more ratifications are needed to make up the
36 necessary fo r the adoption o f the amendment as a part o f the
Federal Constitution.
40
CHILD LABOR
The States that have already ratified and the dates of ratification
are as follow s:
Arizona, 1925.
Arkansas, 1924.
California, 1925.
Colorado, 1931.
Idaho, 1935.
Illinois, 1933.
Indiana, 1935.
Iowa, 1933.
Kansas, 1937.
Kentucky, 1937.
Maine, 1933.
Michigan, 1933.
Minnesota, 1933.
Montana, 1927.
Nevada, 1937.
New Hampshire, 1933.
New Jersey, 1933.
New Mexico, 1937.
North Dakota, 1933.
Ohio, 1933.
Oklahoma, 1933.
Oregon, 1933.
Pennsylvania, 1933.
Utah, 1935.
Washington, 1933.
W est Virginia, 1933.
Wisconsin, 1925.
Wyoming, 1935.
**## ###*#
White House Conference on Children in a Democracy
Specific standards both for child-labor regulation and for methods
o f satisfying the employment needs o f youth were among those
approved by the W hite House Conference on Children in a Democ
racy held in Washington, D. C., January 18-20, 1940,1 and follow -up
conferences in the States have been held with a view to promoting
these standards.
This conference was organized at the suggestion o f the President
o f the United States. It concerned itself with the interests o f all
the children o f the Nation and with every aspect o f child welfare,
including home life, material security, education, health, and general
preparation for the responsibilities o f citizenship. It was a citizens’
enterprise, in which persons representing many types o f professional
and civic interests, practical experience, and political and religious
belief joined together to consider the aims o f our American civilization
for the children in whose hands its future lies.
The conclusions presented to the Conference by the Section on
Child Labor and Youth Employment were based on recognition o f
the significance o f youth as members o f our present democracy and
as the bearers o f its future— a significance which it was felt must be
given m ajor attention in national planning and in public finance.
The section recognized that the achievement o f the objectives that
it proposed must depend on the wide extension o f other social serv
ices fo r youth, such as public education and recreation, and on the
development o f general programs for solving the economic and
social problems that condition the welfare o f children and youth in
all its aspects.2
The direct measures for child labor and youth employment that
were discussed may be divided into two classes— (1) protective
measures and (2) measures relating to educational and advisory
services and work opportunities. It was also felt that a program for
youth must include not only attainment o f the standards recommended,
1Children in a Democracy, general report adopted by the White House Conference on
Children in a Democracy, January 19, 1940, W ashington, D. C. (pp. 43—50 ). W ashington,
1940.
2These matters were considered by other sections o f the conference. See Children in a
Democracy, general report adopted by the W hite House Conference oh Children in a De
m ocracy, January 19, 1940, W ashington, D. C.
CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN IN A DEMOCRACY
41
but also provisions fo r guarding against any relaxation o f those
standards in the event o f a national emergency resulting in labor
scarcity.3
Protective Measures
The conference endorsed the follow ing requirements fo r protective
legislation in the field o f child labor and employment o f youth:
A minimum age of 16 for all employment during school hours and for employ
ment at any time in manufacturing or mining occupations or in connection with
power-driven machinery.
A minimum age of 16 for employment at any time in other occupations,
except as a minimum age of 14 may be permitted for limited periods of work
after school hours and during vacation periods in agriculture, light nonmanu
facturing work, domestic service, and street trades. Determination of desirable
standards for legislation governing child actors requires further study.
A minimum age of 18 or higher for employment in hazardous or injurious
occupations.
Hours-of-work restrictions for persons up to 18 years of age, including
maximum hours, provisions for lunch period, and prohibition of night work,
the hours permitted not to exceed 8 a day, 40 a week, and 6 days a week.
Requirement of employment certificates for all minors under 18, issued only
after the minor has been certified as physically fit for the proposed employment
by a physician under public-health or public-school authority.
At least double compensation under workmen’s compensation laws in cases
o f injury to illegally employed minors.
Minimum-wage standards for all employed minors.
Abolition of industrial home work as the only means of eliminating child
labor in such work.
Adequate provision for administration of all laws relating to the employment
o f children and youth.
The conference also made the follow ing recommendation with
regard to the proposed child-labor amendment to the Federal
Constitution:
Ratification of the child-labor amendment to the Constitution of the United
States should be completed immediately.
W ith reference to provision o f school facilities as it bears on child
labor, the conference recommended the fo llow in g :
Compulsory school-attendance laws should be adjusted to child-labor laws,
since school leaving and child labor are closely related. Schooling during at
least 9 months of the year should be both compulsory for and available to
every child up to the age of 16.
It is the obligation of the community to provide a suitable educational pro
gram for all youths over 16 who are not employed or provided with work
opportunities.
Financial aid from public sources should’ be given whenever necessary to
young persons to enable them to continue their education even beyond the
compulsory-attendance age if they wish to do so and can benefit thereby.
3 Preliminary Statements submitted to the W hite House Conference on Children in a
Democracy, January 18-20, 1940, Washington, D. C. (pp. 145-159).
U. S. Department o f
Labor, Children’s Bureau, W ashington, 1940.
42
CHILD LABOR
Educational 4 and A d v iso ry Services and W ork O pportunities
fo r Y o u th
In the belief that the cost o f constructive programs for satisfying
the needs o f American youth will be less than the ultimate cost o f the
neglect o f the youth, the conference made the follow ing recommend
ations :
Programs of general secondary education based on changes in industrial de
mands and opportunities and contributing significantly to responsible citizen
ship, wholesome family life, constructive use of leisure time, and aijpreciation of
our cultural heritage should be developed.
Vocational preparation, guidance, and counseling services adapted to modern
conditions and the changing needs of youth should be extended in the school
systems, and when carried on under other auspices, should be conducted in
cooperation with the schools.
Placement services for young workers should be staffed by properly qualified
and professionally trained workers, with full cooperation between the schools
and the public employment services.
Federal, State, and local governments should provide w w k projects for youths
over 16 not in school who cannot obtain employment. Such work should be use
ful, entailing possibly the production of some of the goods and services needed
by young people themselves and other unemployed persons. Civilian Conservation
Corps and National Youth Administration activities should be continued and
enlarged to serve more fully the purposes for which these agencies were created.
There should be further experimentation in part-time work and part-time
schooling.
No person should be arbitrarily excluded from work programs or other programs
for youth because of a deliquency record.
* General recommendations as to educational services in the comm unity were made by
another section of the conference. See Children in a D em ocracy; general report adopted
by the W hite House Conference on Children in a Dem ocracy, January 19, 1940, W ashington,
D. C.
C o n c ilia t io n a n d A r b it r a t io n
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics: 1941 edition.
43
Governmental Conciliation and Arbitration Agencies1
Disputes W h ich Are Subject to A rb itra tion and C onciliation
In general, it may be said that conciliation and arbitration are
concerned with disputes:
(1) W here the collective-bargaining relationship has been estab
lished but where there is a controversy over the interpretation, appli
cation, or observance o f certain terms in an agreement already entered
into by the employer and the union.
(2) Where there is a controversy over the terms o f a new agreement
under negotiation, or where there is no collective bargaining but where
the right to bargain collectively is not the issue. Such disputes are
rare in an unorganized plant, because it is difficult fo r a number o f
individuals without leadership or financial backing to express their
grievances in an overt act o f protest.
(3) Over rights between two or more unions to perform a certain
job. There is a distinct difference between jurisdictional disputes
and disputes between rival unions. A dispute between rival unions
is likely to come under the jurisdiction o f a labor relations board,
since it is a matter o f determining which union a m ajority o f the
workers in a certain trade or plant wish to have to represent them.
In a jurisdictional dispute, it is a question o f which union has juris
diction over a certain trade or kind o f work, the workers themselves
already having chosen their bargaining agency.
Disputes arising over the first o f the above-mentioned classes o f
disputes— the interpretation, application, or enforcement o f an agree
ment already in force— are amenable to arbitration, since the basic
terms o f the employment relationship have been negotiated and em
bodied in the collective agreement. The arbitrator’s sole duty is
to clarify ambiguous clauses, to relate a general rule to a specific
situation, or to determine whether or not the accused party has actu
ally violated any o f its terms.
Disputes arising over terms to be included in a new agreement are
o f an altogether different nature. These are controversies over what
general wages, hours, and working rules should be adopted. W hile
either one or both parties may ask for the assistance o f an outside
mediator in such a dispute, employers and unions are less likely
to have such questions arbitrated, especially at the beginning o f a
dispute.
In the case o f jurisdictional disputes, if both the unions concerned
belong to the same affiliated organization, this organization usually
attempts settlement. In many instances the city or national federa
tion, such as the City Trades Council or B uilding Trades Department
1 Abstract o f article Adjustment o f Labor Disputes, by Florence Peterson of the Bureau
o f Labor Statistics, in the November 1939 M onthly Labor Review, with addition of later
data.
45
46
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION
o f the American Federation o f Labor, has established special ma
chinery fo r the adjustment o f jurisdictional disputes. A t the request
o f one or both parties, Government agencies may intervene.
Types o f Arbitration and Conciliation Agencies
There are two main channels through which labor disputes in this
country are adjusted: (1) Committees o f private citizens or indi
vidual arbitrators who are appointed directly by the parties con
cerned in the disputes; (2) governmental agencies— Federal, State,
and local. The latter may be permanent boards established by law, or
they may be temporary committees appointed by the President, gov
ernor, or mayor in pursuance o f a law which permits or requires
such appointment when certain occasions arise. The follow ing is a
brief summary o f Federal, State, and city conciliation and arbitration
agencies which were functioning in 1940 and the early part o f 1941.2
Some o f these agencies have rather broad powers to investigate dis
putes but none has any authority to compel arbitration. Legal
compulsory arbitration does not at present exist anywhere in the
United States. B y court decision,3 as well as by preponderance o f
public opinion, it is held to be contrary to a free, democratic form
o f government. Predominantly in this country legislation dealing
with the settlement o f labor disputes has clearly indicated that any
government intervention shall be voluntarily agreed upon by the
parties concerned, and that acceptance o f the findings or recommenda
tions shall be optional unless both parties have voluntarily agreed
in advance to accept an arbitrator’s decision.
Railroad Mediation
Because o f the importance o f railroads in the Nation’s economic life,
the Government very early began to concern itself with railroad labor
relations. A n arbitration act providing for the voluntary investiga
tion o f disputes was passed in 1888, but never used. The Erdman A ct
o f 1898 provided for mediation and arbitration by the Commissioner
o f Labor and the chairman o f the Interstate Commerce Commission.
The Newlands A ct o f 1913 created a permanent, full-time Board o f
2The National Labor Relations Board and the several State labor relations boards which
are patterned along sim ilar lines cannot strictly be called arbitration or conciliation agen
cies, although certain phases o f their work approximate that o f conciliation and arbitration.
When a com plaint is first made to a representative o f the National Labor Relations Board,
he may, and frequently does, act as a m ediator in an attem pt to get the parties to agree
to obey the law. W hile the terms o f the law are explicit and cannot be compromised,
settlement o f questions over specific application and adaptations necessarily have to be
made. In such a capacity the representative o f the Board serves more as a peace officer
than as a conciliator.
3The only experience this country has had with com pulsory arbitration was that o f the
Kansas Court o f Industrial Relations, which functioned from 1920 to 1923. This court
was given jurisdiction in disputes arising in the public utilities, coal, food, and clothing
industries, wherein strikes were altogether prohibited in Kansas.
The United States
Supreme Court, in a suit brought by employers, declared the entire scheme o f com pulsory
arbitration to be unconstitutional for industries not peculiarly affected w ith the public
interest, thus depriving the industrial relations court o f jurisdicion in m anufacturing and
transportation industries. In another case the Supreme Court held that the fixing o f
wages and hours, rules, and regulations by such a State agency was contrary to the due
process clause o f the fourteenth amendment in that it “ curtailed the right o f the employer,
on the one hand, and o f the employee, on the other, to contract about his affairs.” Before
even the first o f these Supreme Court decisions was rendered, the court o f industrial relations
had practically ceased to function, because o f the increasing opposition and indifference
•of the employers, workers, and public. In 1925 the court was abolished altogether.
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION AGENCIES
47
Mediation and Conciliation. Under both o f these acts, i f Government
mediators failed to obtain a settlement, they were to try to get the
parties to agree to arbitration. Special tripartite arbitration boards
were appointed fo r each such dispute, the Government appointing the
neutral members i f the others failed to come to an agreement. Awards
made by the arbitration boards were binding.
W hen in 1916, the railroads refused to accede to the employees’
demand for an 8-hour day, the employees threatened a general strike
and refused to submit the matter to arbitration. This strike was
averted by the enactment o f the Adamson A ct establishing a basic
8-hour day.
During the Federal control o f the railroads in 1917-20 railway
boards o f adjustment were established, composed o f an equal number
o f management and employee representatives, which had authority to
make decisions in all disputes over the interpretation and applica
tion o f existing agreements.
W hen the railroads were returned to private ownership in 1920 a
Railroad Labor Board was established, composed o f nine members
appointed by the President. This Board was to investigate all dis
putes and to publish its findings and recommendations. Compliance
with its decisions, however, was not obligatory.
The 1926 act reestablished mediation as the basic method o f G ov
ernment intervention. Although arbitration was not compulsory,
having once been accepted, awards were binding.
Labor relations on the railroads at the present time are governed by
the 1934 amendments to the 1926 act. These created a 3-man Na
tional Mediation Board, appointed by the President, and a National
Railroad Adjustment Board, consisting o f 18 carrier representatives
and 18 union representatives. The Adjustment Board, with head
quarters in Chicago, is divided into 4 separate divisions, each o f
which has jurisdiction over a distinct class o f employees, viz, train
and yard service, shop craft, etc.
In this arrangement for the handling o f labor relations on the rail
roads, a clear distinction is made with respect to the basic differences
in the character o f labor disputes; that is, those over the interpretation
and application o f existing agreements, and those over terms o f a new
agreement— wages, hours, and working conditions, and questions
concerning bargaining units and representation agencies.
The Adjustment Board handles disputes “ growing out o f grievances
or out o f the interpretation or application o f agreements concerning
rates o f pay, rules, or working conditions.” The decision o f the
Adjustment Board may be enforced by civil suits in Federal district
courts. I f the bipartisan board is unable to agree it must appoint a
referee; if it cannot agree in a selection, the National Mediation Board
appoints such referee.
The National Mediation Board takes care o f the other two classes
o f disputes. Through holding elections or by other means it certifies
who shall represent the workers in their collective bargaining. On
request o f either party to a dispute involving changes in pay, rules, or
working conditions, or on its own motion in cases o f emergency, it
intervenes and through mediation attempts to bring about an agree-
48
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION
ment. I f its mediating efforts fail, the Board attempts to induce the
parties to submit their controversy to arbitration, the arbitration
board to be selected by the parties concerned. I f they cannot agree
on the selection, the Mediation Board is authorized to name the
members o f the board.
I f arbitration is refused by either party, and the dispute should
“ threaten substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree
such as to deprive any section o f the country o f essential transporta
tion service,” the Board is required to notify the President, who may
appoint an emergency board to investigate the facts and report
thereon within 30 days. During this time no change, except by
agreement, may be made by the parties to the controversy in the
conditions out o f which the dispute arose. W hile the law does not
require compliance with the recommendations o f the emergency board,
the publication o f the findings o f fact o f such a board makes it very
difficult for either party not to follow its suggestions.
Maritime Labor Board
In pursuance to an amendment to the Merchant Marine Act, the
President, in July 1938, appointed a 3-member Maritime Labor
Board. One o f the duties o f this Board is to act as mediator upon
request o f either party in any dispute over the interpretation o f an
agreement or over the terms o f a new agreement. I f mediation serv
ices are unsuccessful, the Board uses its best efforts to secure the
assent o f both parties to arbitration.4
Federal Conciliation Service
The act passed in 1913, which created the United States Depart
ment o f Labor, provided among other things: “ * * * that the
Secretary o f Labor shall have the power to act as mediator and to
appoint commissioners o f conciliation in labor disputes whenever in
his judgment the interests o f industrial peace may require it to be
done * *
Under this provision the present United States
Conciliation Service was established. This now has a staff o f about
100 commissioners actively engaged in efforts to settle questions in
dispute before strikes and lock-outs occur, or to bring them to a
speedy settlement if they have already started. The Conciliation
Service may enter a case at the request o f either party to the dispute,
or at the request o f some representative o f the public— mayor, gov
ernor, congressman. It may also intervene upon its own motion, but
this is done only in the more serious disputes when it is believed that
a public interest is involved.
Although the original act gave power to mediate in any kind o f
dispute, the Conciliation Service has no power of coercion or means to
enforce its recommendations. When the National Labor Relations
A ct was passed, giving to workers the legal right to organize and to
bargain collectively with their employers, the enforcement o f this act
was turned over to the National Labor Relations Board which exer
cises quasi-judicial power. W hen requested, however, the Concilia
tion Service intervenes in union-recognition disputes to the extent o f
4
Conciliation activities o f the Maritime Labor Board were terminated in July 1941.
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION AGENCIES
49
supervising consent elections to determine the collective-bargaining
agency. Thus the responsibilities o f the two Federal agencies, the
Department o f Labor Conciliation Service and the National Labor
Relations Board, are clearly distinguished between the judicial and
enforcement function o f deciding and maintaining rights under a
given law, and conciliation or mediation which implies voluntaryism
and compromise.
The United States Conciliation Service is primarily concerned,
not with the rights and mechanics o f collective bargaining as such,
but with the disputes which arise over the terms to be included in a
collective agreement, or the interpretation and application o f the
provisions o f the agreement after it is once made. Also, a conciliator
may intervene in a dispute in an unorganized plant where the em
ployees are seeking not collective-bargaining arrangements but only
a settlement o f a specific question o f wages, hours, and working condi
tions. The Service is also frequently called upon to settle jurisdic
tional disputes, most o f these being in the construction industry.
A Commissioner o f Conciliation has no set formula o f procedure
when he is called in to help settle a dispute. Whenever possible he
tries to get the parties concerned to discuss their differences in con
ference, in which case he acts as a conciliator. Frequently, especially
during the early stages, either or both parties refuse to meet together.
H e then acts as a mediator, holding separate conferences with the
respective sides, adjusting the minor points o f misunderstandings
or differences, and getting each to agree upon what m ajor points
can be or shall be further negotiated. I f either or both sides still
refuse to discuss together these m ajor points, the commissioner may
draft a plan o f settlement independently and submit it to the parties
as a recommendation, or he may obtain the approval of both sides
to have the matter arbitrated, in which case he assists in making
the plans and selecting the arbitrator. A n increasing number of
union agreements specify that the Conciliation Service act as arbi
trator or select an arbitrator when disputes arise which cannot be
adjusted by the parties concerned.
Whatever the exact procedure may be, only purely conciliatory
methods are used. Acceptance o f the commissioner’s service is op
tional, and his recommendations may or may not be adopted. The
results he obtains are dependent entirely upon the prestige o f his
office, the assistance he can render by reason o f his knowledge o f the
facts involved in the dispute, his skill as a negotiator, and the w ill
ingness o f the opposing parties to come to terms o f agreement.
A ctivities o f the Service.— During the year ended June 30, 1941,
the United States Conciliation Service disposed of 3,705 labor dis
putes, involving 2,951,944 workers. In addition, 1,894 other situa
tions, involving 494,213 workers (arbitrations, consultations, etc.),
were disposed o f during the year. The follow ing table classifies these
various situations by type o f disposition.
50
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION
S itu a tio n s d is p o s e d o f b y
TJ. S.
1941,
C o n c ilia tio n S e r v ic e J u ly
b y t y p e o f d is p o s itio n
D is p o s itio n
1, 1940,
Num ber
to J u n e
30t
W o rk e rs
in v o lv e d
All situations handled--------------------------------------------------------------- 5, 599
3,446,157
Signed agreements-------------------------------------------------------------------- 1, 208
452
Renewal of signed agreements------------------------------------------------Verbal agreements-------------------------------------------------------------------- 1, 059
363
Written statements terminating situations---------------------------261
Disputes called off; no further action required------------------99
Unable to adjust-----------------------------------------------------------------------13
Plants closed indefinitely---------------------------------------------------------427
Investigations completed_____________________________________
Referred to National Defense Mediation Board during
44
negotiations_________________________________________________
Referred to National Labor Relations Board during nego
156
tiations________________________________________ ‘----------------------7
Referred to other Federal agencies during negotiations— —
16
Referred to State agencies, during negotiations--------------------39
Referred to National Labor Relations Board, direct-------------25
Referred to other Federal agencies, direct-----------------------------1
Referred to State agencies, direct____________________________
15
Referred to nongovernmental agencies_______________________
19
No action required_____________________________________________
29
Outside parties appointed as arbiters------------------------------------161
Decisions rendered in arbitration_____________________________
114
Technical services rendered___________________________________
19
Consent elections held_________________________________________
10
Union membership verified____________________________________
Information furnished_________________________________________ 1, 062
537,157
389,152
836, 792
350, 510
71, 384
12, 807
439
274,609
708, 300
35, 025
6, 435
342
40
686
1
1, 242
1, 615
30*, 139
32,148
47, 051
4, 578
982
104, 633
National Defense Mediation Board, 19415
In the latter part o f 1940 and the early part o f 1941 there occurred a
series o f industrial disputes which threatened seriously to interfere
with production in several very important industries and which ap
parently were not amicable to settlement under existing machinery.
In an effort to cope with situations o f this character the President o f
the United States, by Executive Order o f March 19, 1941, established
a special agency known as the National Defense Mediation Board,
and placed it in the Office for Emergency Management. The E x
ecutive Order provided that the Board should have 11 members, 3
representing the public, 4 representing labor, and 4 representing
employees.
Procedure and Functions
Action by the Board is taken only after the Secretary o f Labor
certifies to the Board that a controversy or dispute has arisen between
any employer or groups o f employers and any employees or organiza
tions o f employees which obstructs or is likely to hinder or obstruct
national defense and which cannot be adjusted by the commissioners
o f conciliation o f the Department o f Labor. Disputes coming within
the jurisdiction o f the Railway Labor A ct as amended are excluded
from consideration by the Board.
Under the terms o f the President’s order the Board is authorized—
( a ) To make every reasonable effort to adjust and settle any «ueh contro
versy or dispute by assisting the parties thereto to negotiate agreements fo r
that purpose;
5
Replaced by National War Labor Board on January 12, 1942.
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION AGENCIES
51
(&) To afford means for voluntary arbitration with an agreement by the parties
thereto to abide by the decision arrived at upon such arbitration, and, when
requested by both parties, to designate a person or persons to act as impartial
arbitrator or arbitrators of such controversy or dispute;
(c) To assist in establishing, when desired by the parties, methods for
resolving future controversies or disputes between the parties and to deal with
matters of interest to both parties which may thereafter arise;
(cl) To investigate issues between employers and employees, and practices
and activities thereof, with respect to such controversy or dispute; conduct
hearings, take testimony, make findings of fact, and formulate recommendations
for the settlement of any such controversy or dispute; and make public such
findings and recommendations whenever in the judgment of the Board the
interests of industrial peace so require ;
(e)
To request the National Labor Relations Board, in any controversy or
dispute relating to the appropriate unit or appropriate representatives to be
designated for purposes of collective bargaining, to expedite as much as possible
the determination of the appropriate unit or appropriate representatives of
the workers.
When a controversy or dispute is referred to the Board, the chair
man, according to the regulations o f the Board, designates certain
members as a division o f the Board to act on the case. Such a division
must have at least three members and each o f the three groups— the
public, employers, and employees— must be represented on any such
division. I f a controversy or dispute is brought to the Board’s atten
tion but has not been certified to it in the prescribed manner, the Board
is required to refer it to the Department o f Labor.
In order to settle disputes without interruption in production or
transportation, the order specifies that it is the duty o f employers
and employees to give to the Conciliation Service of the Department
o f Labor and to the Office o f Production Management “ (a) notice in
writing o f any desired change in existing agreements, wages, or
working conditions; (b) full information as to all developments in
labor disputes; and (c) such sufficient advance notice o f any threat
ened interruptions to continuous production as will permit exploration
o f all avenues o f possible settlement o f such controversies so as to
avoid strikes, stoppages, or lock-outs.”
State A rbitration and Conciliation Services
State machinery for the adjustment o f labor disputes antedates
Federal conciliation services, that in Massachusetts and in New Y ork,
for instance, having been created as early as 1886. The concern o f
most State governments with employer-employee relations, however,
has fluctuated with the increase and decline o f labor disputes. In
only a few States has there been any continuing, consistent program
for the prevention and settlement o f strikes and lock-outs. More gen
erally, when there has been a sharp rise in union activity and workers
have shown a disposition to make known their discontent and desires,
the State government has hastily passed legislation in an attempt to
meet the situation. During periods when there have been few
disputes, such legislation often has been forgotten and many agencies
which have been formed have become moribund through lack o f
interest and financial support.
W ith the recent increase in union activity and industrial disputes,
many States again have interested themselves in employer-employee
relations. Follow ing the example o f the Federal Government, most
o f the State legislation passed in 1935 and 1937 was concerned with
52
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION
defining more clearly labor’s “ rights” and providing means fo r the
protection o f those rights. Five States, for instance, passed State
labor relations acts which more or less followed the pattern o f the
National Labor Eelations Act.6 Many more passed anti-injunction
laws similar to the Norris-LaGuardia Act, which restricts court
injunctions in labor disputes and makes “ yellow-dog” contracts
unenforceable in Federal courts.
Subsequent to the peak in strike activity in 1937, States which
had passed protective legislation for labor, as well as others which
had not already passed such legislation, turned their attention to
ways and means for settling strikes and lock-outs. Inactive concili
ation services were revived and new mediation and arbitration boards
created. A t the present time the majority of the States have some
kind of legislative provision for the handling of employer-employee
disputes. Most of them have designated conciliation and arbitration
agencies. In some, however, there is merely enabling legislation per
mitting the establishment of boards of conciliation and arbitration,
but no such boards have been appointed.
When discussing State mediation agencies, the role o f the governor
must not be ignored. W hen a threatened stoppage o f work clearly
threatens the public interest, even though there is no request for
calling the militia, the governor frequently appoints a temporary
committee to undertake settlement. Such intervention by the gov
ernor is limited to the larger and more important disputes.
Different Types o f State Conciliation Agencies
There is a great deal o f variation among the several State mediation
agencies in their mechanical arrangements and legal powers, and the
financial and moral support which is given them. The most common
arrangement is for the conciliation service to be a part o f the State
labor department or industrial commission, the conciliators usually
having other duties when not engaged in the work o f settling disputes.
A number o f States have tripartite boards appointed by the governor.
W hile these may be permanent boards, the individual members in
some instances serve only upon occasion and are paid on a per diem
basis. In such ‘cases the boards work in close cooperation with the
regular labor department, usually being called to service upon its
request. In only a few o f the more important industrial States are
there full-time 3-man conciliation and arbitration boards. Several
States have no permanent machinery but provide that the labor
department or the governor shall appoint a conciliation committee
as the occasion arises or when there is a particularly grave dispute.
A few State laws provide that the State agency may appoint city
or county conciliation boards. So far as is known, no such local
boards have ever been appointed.
The procedure in three States (New York, Massachusetts, and
Pennsylvania) resembles the Federal arrangement by sharply differ
entiating disputes arising over questions of union organization and
collective bargaining from those arising over questions of wages,
hours, and working conditions. The former are handled by State
labor relations boards with quasi-judicial powers, while the latter
come under the State conciliation service.
6 In 1939 Wisconsin and Pennsylvania made drastic revisions in their acts. In 1941
Rhode Island enacted a labor relations act similar to* the National Labor Relations Act.
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION AGENCIES
53
Most generally the State agency intervenes only upon the request
o f one or both parties to the dispute, although a few o f the laws
specify that the agency shall on its own motion investigate disputes
wherever “ public interest is material.” The Connecticut Board o f
Mediation and Conciliation is given power to enter any establishment
to investigate conditions where a strike or lock-out exists; otherwise
it intervenes only upon the request o f one or both parties. The
Massachusetts board is required to undertake mediation whenever it
learns o f any dispute.
Some o f the laws require that a minimum number o f persons,
usually 10, shall be involved in a dispute before the State agency
shall intervene. Others specify that there shall be State intervention
only when asked by a designated number o f private citizens, the
local government officials, the employer, or a majority o f the
employees involved in the dispute.
A few laws specify that it is the duty o f the parties to a dispute
or threatened dispute to submit the matter to the State board for
investigation. An early statute (1895) in Illinois, for instance, says
executives o f labor organizations shall notify the State agency o f
any strike or any threatened strike. When there is no penalty in
volved, such as prohibition o f strikes or lock-outs until after the
notification, such provisions can hardly be considered mandatory
intervention.
Compulsory notification before stopping w ork.— The Colorado In
dustrial Relations Act, passed in 1915, prohibits strikes and lock
outs in industries affected with a public interest, pending investiga
tion and report by the industrial commission. Employers and em
ployees are required to give to the Commission 80 days’ notice o f
any “ intended change affecting conditions o f employment or with
respect to wages or hours.” It is “ unlawful for any employer to
declare or to cause a lock-out, or for any employee to go on strike,
on account o f any dispute prior to or during an investigation, hear
ing, or arbitration o f such dispute by the commission.”
Until very recently, Colorado was the only State which forbade
strikes and lock-outs pending investigation and issuing o f a report
by the State commission. During 1939 three States adopted legisla
tion requiring notification to a State agency before stoppages o f
work may take place. The Wisconsin law provides for 10 days’
notice before a strike may be called in the agricultural, dairy, and
canning industries. Michigan requires 5 days’ and Minnesota 10
days’ notice before calling a strike against any employer, and 30
days’ notice in businesses “ affected with the public interest.” When
notice has been given to these State boards they are instructed to
take immediate steps to effect settlement, the parties to the dispute
being obliged to attend any conferences which the conciliator may
call during the notification period. I f mediation fails, the Board
shall endeavor to have the parties submit the controversy to
arbitration.
Voluntary acceptance o f recommendations.— Since the Kansas ex
periment in 1920, no State has attempted to compel the parties to a
dispute to accept the recommendations o f the conciliation agency
unless the parties have agreed beforehand to abide by its determina3 2 8 1 1 2 — 4 2 — y o l . i--------5
54
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION
tions.7 In some instances, a degree o f pressure is exerted by permitting
or requiring the board to publish a written report with recommenda
tions. The W ashington law goes further by specifying that if con
ciliation fails and the parties refuse to arbitrate, the director o f labor
and industry shall request a sworn statement from each party o f the
facts in dispute and their reasons for not arbitrating, which state
ment shall be fo r public use. The Oregon and Massachusetts laws
go still farther by providing that the State board shall prepare and
publish its findings, placing the blame by designating which party
is mainly responsible for the existence and continuance o f the dispute.
C o n c ilia tio n i n M a s s a c h u s e tts a n d N e w Y o r k
Two States— Massachusetts and New Y ork— have maintained con
ciliation agencies for over 50 years. W hile there has been no formal
interruption in their activities, the character o f the work has fluc
tuated from time to time, due to the amount o f public interest and
financial support and the type o f personnel in charge. Recently
both boards have been strengthened by additional legislation and
financial support.
Both Massachusetts and New Y ork have State labor relations
boards which hold elections to determine collective-bargaining rep
resentatives and handle questions o f union recognition and unfair
labor practices. The conciliation and arbitration boards, therefore,
do not usually concern themselves with disputes over collective
bargaining, although upon occasion they may help to adjust such
controversies when both parties wish to avoid the form ality and pos
sible delay incident to the filing o f charges and holding o f hearings
necessary when bringing cases to the labor relations boards. I f
conciliation is unsuccessful, the case is then referred to the labor
relations board.
Massachusetts.— The board o f conciliation and arbitration, com
posed o f three members appointed by the governor, operates under a
law which requires the mayors o f cities and selectmen o f the towns to
notify the board o f any existing or threatened strike or lock-out. It
is also the duty o f the employers and unions to give notice to the
board before resorting to strikes or lock-outs. U pon notice from any
source, the board is required to intervene and endeavor to obtain an
amicable settlement. I f conciliation is unsuccessful, the board at
tempts to persuade the parties to submit the controversy to arbitra
tion. I f they refuse arbitration, the board may hold open hearings,
to which it may summon witnesses, and publish its findings. In this
report the board is required to place blame or responsibility in order
that the public may be inform ed as to the causes o f the dispute and
its continuance.
The Massachusetts board is unique in its willingness to serve as
arbitrator. In general Government agencies prefer to confine their
activities to conciliation work. W hen conciliation fails they seek
to persuade the parties in dispute to let the agency appoint an arbi
tration committee, or the neutral member o f a 3-man arbitration
committee. W hile the Massachusetts board assists the disputants
7
There is one exception— a South Carolina statute which requires arbitration of streetrailway disputes in cities between 30,000 and 50,000 population if either party requests.
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION AGENCIES
55
in the selection o f a private or local arbitration committee, if they so
desire, the board itself frequently assumes the role o f arbitrator.
Many o f the union agreements, particularly those in the shoe industry,
specify the Massachusetts board as the arbitrator for any dispute
occurring under the agreement. During recent years this board has
handled almost as many arbitration as conciliation cases.
A pplication for arbitration to the Massachusetts board must be
made in writing, accompanied by a promise to continue in business or
at work until the decision o f the board is made, i f such decision is
rendered within 3 weeks. I f only one party to the dispute makes
application, the board must hold a public hearing on the application;
if both parties ask for arbitration, a public hearing is not mandatory
although it may be held if the board considers it advisable. The
board has the legal power to subpena witnesses to such hearings, but
has not found it necessary to do so within recent years.
A second unique feature o f the Massachusetts board is its employ
ment o f experts on a per diem basis. Other State boards occasionally
make use o f outside persons who are conversant with the industry or
the particular problem in dispute. Usually, however, such persons
serve on a voluntary basis or are paid by the parties in dispute.
New .Y ork.— The former Bureau o f Mediation and Arbitration has
been merged with the State Board o f Mediation which was estab
lished July 1, 1937.8 The latter is a 5-man board, appointed by the
Governor, which is enabled by law to intervene in any dispute upon
request o f either party or upon its own motion. W hile the board
may subpena witnesses to a hearing when both parties have volun
tarily agreed that such a hearing shall be held, the board by court
ruling is not permitted to subpena the principals to a dispute.
Unlike the Massachusetts board, the New Y ork board does not
usually act as arbitrator, although individual members o f the board
occasionally serve as arbitrators upon request. Believing that its
work as a mediator, where no compulsion is used and no orders or
instructions are issued, might be impaired if it acted also as arbi
trator where a decision becomes binding upon all parties, the board
has chosen another method o f handling arbitration cases.
It has
selected a panel o f about 75 outstanding public-spirited citizens who
have accepted the board’s invitation to act as arbitrator when desig
nated by it in specific cases. These persons are not paid from State
funds, as are the experts in Massachusetts, although the two parties
to the dispute sometimes reimburse the arbitrator. An increasing
number o f union agreements, particularly in New Y ork City, specify
that the board shall appoint the arbitrator for disputes which can
not be settled through conciliation.
City Conciliation Boards
W hile it would seem that city governments would be as concerned
as the State and Federal Governments in providing means for the
prevention and settlement o f industrial disputes, few cities in the
United States have established any conciliation machinery. Prob
ably one reason for the lack o f formal arrangements is the tendencv
to rely upon the mayor, especially in disputes in the service and trade
industries, which are most likely to affect the com fort and convenience
8
1941 amendments authorize appointment o f special boards of inquiry and public report
ing on causes o f all disputes which Board o f Mediation certifies it cannot settle.
56
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION
o f the public. Other disputes, such as those in manufacturing, are
more likely to be taken to higher Government agencies.
Although all mayors o f necessity would intervene in disputes which
were likely to interrupt the public services, some individual mayors
have entered into the field o f industrial relations much more than
others. I f both sides feel that a mayor is unbiased and concerned
only with the public good, and i f he is an astute mediator, a mayor
is in a position to accomplish a great deal in the prevention and
settlement o f disputes. A public official who is dependent upon the
popular vote, however, is somewhat reluctant to intervene in disputes
when any decision which he might make may alienate certain portions
o f his constituency.
F or this and other reasons, the mayor usually prefers to appoint a
committee o f private citizens instead o f taking part in the negotia
tions himself. Several cities at the present time have continuing
m ayor’s committees to which disputes may be referred. Others have
been appointed, served fo r a short time, and then disbanded when
the number o f disputes declined. Some have been created with a
distinctly partisan make-up and were, therefore, ineffective from the
start.
T w o cities, Toledo, Ohio, and Newark, N. J.9 now maintain labor
boards which can be considered a part o f the regular municipal
government. The members o f these boards are private citizens
who serve without pay, an equal proportion representing employers,
the union, and the public. In each case the city maintains the paid
director and staff. The Toledo board has been in operation since
the summer o f 1935; the Newark board was established in the spring
o f 1937. They have handled hundreds o f cases and have been
effective both in the prevention and in the settlement o f employeremployee disputes.
9
See Monthly Labor Review, November 1939, p. 1045, for a detailed description o f the
operation o f these two boards. The Newark board was terminated in 1941 about the time
the State o f New Jersey established a board o f mediation in the State department of labor.
Cooperative M ovem ent
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics: 1941 edition.
57
Consumers’ Cooperative Movement
Probably the best-known form o f consumers’ cooperation in this
country is the cooperative store handling groceries or general mer
chandise. A s a matter o f fact, the store associations do form the largest
group and account for the largest proportion o f total cooperative busi
ness. There are, however, many other lines o f activity in which co
operation has made at least a start, and there is probably greater diver
sification in cooperative effort today than at any time in the history
o f the movement in the United States.
There has been considerable variation in the development o f different
types o f associations on a geographical basis. Store associations are
now found in practically every State in the Union, though they still
appear in largest numbers in the North Central States. The petroleum
associations have reached their greatest development in the Mis
sissippi Valley States, with a smaller growth in the Mountain and P a
cific States; the East has few such organizations. The bakery societies
on the other hand are all in the States o f Massachusetts, New York, and
New Jersey, although there are a few store associations in other parts
o f the country which run a bakery as one department o f the merchan
dising business.
Until the past few years cooperative housing has been concentrated in
one metropolitan area— New Y ork City— and has consisted o f apart
ment buildings. Now there are several associations in the M iddle
West which have built 1-family detached houses for their members.1
A group o f petroleum and fuel-oil associations has developed in
Texas. Aside from these, however, there was little cooperative activity
in the South until the advent o f the electricity associations formed
under the rural electrification program. Practically all other sections
o f the country also have associations o f this type now. Washington
State had a number o f cooperative power associations which had been
in existence for many years before the P E A program was inaugurated.
Telephone associations are found here and there in nearly every part
o f the country, but 80 percent are in the North Central States.
Credit unions also have been started in every State in the Union.
Although New England was the birthplace o f the cooperative credit
movement in this country, that section has yielded first place as regards
number o f associations to the East North Central and West North
Central regions. In this connection it may be noted that although the
South still has few distributive and service cooperatives, some o f the
States there have been very receptive to the idea o f cooperative credit.
Am ong these may be cited Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, each o f which had more than
100 credit unions in operation at the end o f 1939. The expansion o f the
credit-union movement was greatly facilitated by the passage o f the
Federal Credit Union Act, in June 1934. B y the end o f 1939 over
1 F or data on these associations, see M onthly Labor Review, February 1941.
59
60
COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
3,500 associations had been formed under that act, whereas State associ
ations (dating from as early as 1908) numbered 4,771.
Much o f the cooperative development is in rural sections. Most o f
the telephone associations and a large proportion o f the insurance
associations are in the country or in small towns. The electricity asso
ciations are almost entirely rural. Analysis o f the store associations
and their members, in relation to population, in 1936 indicated that o f
1,668 associations in cities, towns, and villages, more than three-fourths
o f the associations, over four-fifths o f the membership, and nearly
three-fourths o f the business done in 1936 were in places with a popula
tion o f 5,000 or less. F or the whole group the cooperative member
ship 2 formed approximately 1 percent o f the total population in
places where the associations were located. However, although the
cooperators formed only 0.05 percent o f the population in cities of a
million or over they formed about 11 percent in places o f 1,000-5,000,
nearly 24 percent in places o f 500-1,000, and 47 percent in places o f less
than 500.
The bakeries, consumers5 creameries, housing associations, restau
rants, medical-care associations, and credit unions are practically all
in industrial centers.
A s the above figures indicate, the large cities
have proved to be the most difficult locale in which to obtain a foothold
for the store societies. There are several reasons for th is: The efficiency
o f private retail distribution; the low prices in the chain stores, with
which the cooperative with its small purchasing power cannot com
pete on a price basis, unless it has the advantage o f a cooperative whole
sale in nearby territory; the difficulties o f bringing city people together
in homogeneous groups and o f contending with long-established buying
habits o f the housewife.
That cities are not invulnerable to cooperative attack, however, is
attested by the growing number o f American cities in which there are
associations o f some size that are in apparently successful operation.
Operations in 19393
In 1937 the Bureau o f Labor Statistics made a general survey o f
consumers’ cooperative associations o f all kinds, fo r the year 1936.
Although the coverage was not complete, such a large proportion o f
associations reported that the Bureau felt justified, for the first time,
in making estimates o f total number o f associations, membership, and
business done.4 No general survey has been made since that time but
for each succeeding year the Bureau has obtained reports for a suffi
ciently large sample o f associations to indicate the general trend.
On the basis o f the 1936 estimates and the later percentages o f change
shown in the three items by the reporting sample, the follow ing table
o f estimates fo r the year 1939 has been constructed. In using the
percentages o f change since 1936, however, it was recognized that the
reporting sample consisted o f better-than-average associations and
therefore the percentages were lowered somewhat. Although there
may be a considerable margin o f error in either direction, it is felt
that the estimates given are quite conservative.
2 Members o n ly ; not counting their families.
3 F or data on cooperative developments during 1939 and statistics of operation in that
year, see Serials Nos. R. 1092 and R. 1158, respectively, or M onthly Labor Review, March
and January, February, March, May, August, and September 1938.
4 F or details see Bulletin No. 659, or Monthly Labor Review, issues of November 1937,
and January, February, March, May, August, and September 1938.
61
CONSUMERS’ COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
T
able
1 .—
E stim a ted n u m ber, m em b ersh ip , and bu sin ess o f con su m ers’ coopera tives,
1989
Number of
associations
Type of association
Members
Amount of
business
L o c a l a ssocia tion s
4,350
2,900
1,400
50
914
Retail distributive associations...___________________
Stores and buying clubs_________________________
Petroleum associations___________________________
Other distributive associations__________ _______
Service associations... . . . . . . ___________ . ______
Associations providing rooms, meals, or both______
Medical-care associations________________________
Funeral associat ions_____________________________
Housing associations.. _______________________ .
Electricity associations__________________________
Miscellaneous__________________________________
Telephone associations 5_____________________________
Credit unions______________________________________
Insurance associations ®_____________________________
925,000
450,000
450,0'OO
25,000
576, 450
2 2 ,0 0 0
100
50
i 36
53
575
2 0 ,0 0 0
100
5,000
i 8,315
1,800
F ed eration s
138
i2
i 23
i 13
Wholesale associations_________ ___________________
Interregional___ ______ _________________________
Regional_______________________________________
District___________ _________________ __________
7
31,250
4,200
3 485,000
14,000
330,000
2,421,000
6,800,000
(9)
io 2 1
io 2,163
io 160
$211,653,000
120,053,000
8 6 , 0 0 0 ,0 0 0
5,600,000
5,815,000
1,600,000
500,000
190,000
2 2,750,000
(4)
775,000
5,485,000
«240, 500,000
8 103,375,000
56,728,406
i 2, 504, 599
52,472, 534
i 1, 751, 273
Actual figure; not an estimate.
Gross income.
Number of customers.
Data not sufficient to warrant computation of an estimate.
1936; data not sufficient to warrant later computation.
Amount of loans made.
Policyholders.
Gross premium income.
* Cannot be totaled, as subgroups are not mutually exclusive.
10 Number of affiliated associations.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
In order to round out the picture, data are given in table 2 for the
labor banks, mutual savings banks, and the whole group o f mutual
insurance associations, all o f which have some cooperative features.
T
able
2 .— Sem icoop era tive o rganizations in the U n ited States in 1 9 3 9
Type of organization
Labor banks
_ ________
Building and loan associations 4___
Mutual savings banks 6 ___ . . . .
Mutual insurance companies 8 ____
Num
ber of Number of
asso
members
ciations
4
, 328
552
1.279
8
7
(2)
6 , 499, 511
13, 266,172
(2)
Amount of
business
3
3 $23, 847, 294
5 710, 058, 596
10, 432, 803, 000
9 276, 015,960
Total assets
$26, 931,651
5,674, 262.030
11, 798,804,000
515, 582, 733
Net worth
$2, 684, 911
(2)
1, 203,350,000
(2)
Data as of June 30, 1940. Information furnished by Industrial Relations Section, Princeton University.
No data.
Deposits.
Information furnished by United States Building and Loan League.
4
Mortgage loans made in 1939.
6 From Annual Report of the Comptroller of the Currency for year ended Oct. 31,1939; data are as of June
30, 1939.
7 Depositors.
8 1936.
From Directory of Mutual Insurance Companies in the United States (fire and casualty) pub
lished by American Mutual Alliance, Chicago, 111.; figures here given represent remainder after deduc
tion of associations included in Bureau of Labor Statistics study.
9 Premiums written.
1
2
3
4
Wholesale Associations
A t the end o f 1939 there were 23 regional wholesale cooperatives,
each operating in one or more States and handling consumer goods,5
and 13 district associations whose trading area was less than State5
There are also many farmers’ wholesales handling only farm supplies, which are not
included here.
62
COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
wide. In addition 2 associations were federations o f regional associa
tions. Data showing sales in various lines o f goods in 1939 indicate
that the largest volume o f business is done in petroleum products.
Household goods, clothing, and groceries accounted for about 10
percent o f the total.
Summary data on operations o f the three types o f wholesales are
given in table 3.
T
able
3 . — O p era tion s o f cooperative wholesale a sso cia tio n s, 1 9 3 9 1
Item
Number of associations___ ___________
___ __________ __
Affiliated associations __ _______ ____ _________ ____ _____
Amount of business._________ ________________ _____ _
Net earnings . . . ______ ____________________ .. . . . ____
Patronage refunds . . _____ _______________________ _____ _
Share capital________ _____ ____________________ _________
Total assets_____ __ __________________ ____ ___ _________
Value of goods produced.. ________________________ .. ..
Interregional
associations
Regional as
sociations
2
21
23
2,163
$52,472, 534
$1, 600,137
$1,322, 590
$2,846, 692
$8, 439, 721
$4,497, 154
$2, 504, 599
2$154, 922
2$154,922
2$237, 000
2$491, 086
District as
sociations
13
160
$1, 751, 273
$102, 272
$62, 597
3$98, 697
4$317,302
$594,930
Data relate only to wholesales handling consumer goods.
association only.
associations only.
* 9 associations only.
1
2 1
3 8
T r e n d o f C o n s u m e rs ’ C o o p e r a tiv e W h o le s a lin g , 19 2 9 t o 19 3 9
Since 1929 the Bureau o f Labor Statistics has been gathering data
annually on the operations o f cooperative wholesale associations
handling consumer goods. Table 4, constructed on the basis o f these
figures, shows the trend during the period 1929 to 1939. During this
period the number o f wholesales handling consumers’ goods nearly
tripled, rising from 8 to 23. This does not mean that 15 new co
operative wholesales were established during the interval. Only 8
o f the associations in operation at the end o f 1939 were new associa
tions ; the others had entered the tabulations at different times during
the period as they began to handle consumers’ goods.
T
able
4 .— D evelo p m en t o f con su m ers’ cooperative w holesaling in the U n ited Sta tes ,
1 9 2 9 to 1 9 3 9 1
Year
Num
ber of
associ
ations
Num
Num
Num ber of
ber of
mem Amount of Net earn Patronage ber of mem Amount Net
of busi earn
business
ber
ings
refunds
associ
ber
ness
ings
associ
ations associ
ations
ations
Amount
1929______
1930_____
1931_____
1932_____
1933_____
1934______
1935_____
1936_____
1937______
1938______
1939_____
1
8
8
11
11
13
18
20
21
23
23
23
377
475
666
850
1,085
1,463
1,692
1, 824
1, 930
2,081
2,163
$7,023, 296
7, 670, 589
8 , 566, 946
9, 560, 630
14, 238, 059
21, 518, 414
33, 277, 647
41, 370,101
51,868, 466
49, 774, 982
52,472, 534
Index numbers (1929=100.0)
$154,882
203,371
223,115
190, 929
264, 906
582, 416
1, 002,943
1,123, 943
1,467,904
1, 224, 559
1,600,137
$92,181
152,960
161, 714
137, 019
178, 909
350, 695
541,625
775, 773
989.184
947,855
1, 1 2 2 , 590
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
137.5
137.5
162. 5
225.0
250.0
262.5
287.5
287.5
287.5
Figures partly estimated; data relate only to regional wholesales.
Pa
tron
age
re
funds
1 0 0 .0
126.0
176.7
225.4
287.8
388.0
448.7
483.7
511.8
551.9
573.6
1 0 0 .0
109.2
1 2 2 .0
136.1
202. 7
306.4
473.8
589.1
738.5
708.7
747.1
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
131.3
144.1
123.3
171.1
376.2
647.9
726.0
948.2
791.0
1033. 6
165.9
175.4
148.6
194.1
380.4
587.5
841.5
1073. 0
1028.1
1217. 6
COOPERATIVE
BURIAL ASSOCIATIONS
63
Operations of Cooperative Burial Associations, 1939
On the basis o f reports to the Bureau o f Labor Statistics it is esti
mated that the cooperative burial associations in the 5 midwestern
States o f Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin
conducted about 1,100 funerals in 1939 and had a total income for
their services o f over $187,000. These are associations providing
complete funeral services. In addition there are a few associations
which buy caskets cooperatively, the funeral then being conducted
by a private undertaker.1 It is estimated that these provided about 65
caskets at an estimated total o f nearly $2,400. The funeral associa
tions are estimated to, have had a combined membership o f over
29,000 at the end o f 1939, and the casket associations about 1,600.
Most o f the associations for which the Bureau has records have
shown a steady growth in membership since their formation. The
number o f funerals conducted and the gross income have varied
erratically, however, depending on the incidence o f death among the
member families.
The m ajority o f the associations have a more or less definite terri
tory fo r their operations. The older associations usually confined
their services to a radius o f 20-35 miles around the town where the
funeral home was located, and one organization covered “ 40 town
ships.” The tendency, however, has been toward a greater coverage
o f territory and o f families. One o f the associations, which in the
beginning restricted its services to the region within a radius o f 20
miles o f its headquarters, in 1933 removed that restriction and now
conducts funerals as far away as Minneapolis and St. Paul, a distance
o f 50 to 60 miles.
Many o f the more recently organized associations cover a whole
county or even more. O f the associations in operation at the end o f
1939, four in Iowa, seven in Minnesota, one in Nebraska, and one in
South Dakota are organized on a county basis. Iowa, Minnesota,
South Dakota, and Wisconsin each have one association serving sev
eral counties. Since 1932 no association, as far as the knowledge o f
this Bureau goes, has been formed on the old town basis.
Funds and Membership Procedures
A s is usual in consumers’ cooperative associations, the capital o f
the funeral and casket associations is provided by the members.
These associations are more generally o f the nonstock than the
capital-stock ty p e ; only a few o f the South Dakota associations and
the federations have share capital.
These latter provide that
shares shall be nontransferable, except on the books o f the association.
In all of the others the member receives, not a share of stock, but
a nontransferable membership certificate. The advantage of the
1 Mutual aid or benefit associations which pay cash benefits upon the death of a member
are not covered in this article, nor are the funeral-aid associations in W ashington State
which have developed under Grange auspices. The latter are a combination o f contract
undertaking service and mutual aid. They operate on an assessment basis, and when a
member dies his fam ily receives the total amount o f the previous assessment, minus a few
cents per member for adm inistrative expenses. The State Grange has made a contract
w ith the W ashington State Undertakers’ A ssociation, whereby private undertakers who
ratify the contract agree to provide complete funeral service for $165.
64
COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
membership-certificate plan, to the association, is that unlike share
capital the certificate does not draw interest and upon the death o f
the member and his fam ily it goes into a special fund to be used fo r
free burials. The share o f stock remains a liability to the associa
tion as long as the association exists. Membership certificates are
repayable only if the member fam ily moves from the territory.
The membership fee— or in the few capital-stock associations, the
share— is almost invariably $5.
Only a few associations charge
$10, although some associations penalize the person who postpones
joining the association until he wishes to use its facilities, by charging
him double the regular fee. A ny fam ily residing within the terri
tory served by the association is welcome to join, though one organi
zation in its bylaws prohibits from membership any undertaker
except the one employed by the association.
In the federations the capital is provided by the member associa
tions. Only cooperative associations are accepted into membership in
the three federations.
In general the membership is a fam ily membership covering
parents, single children under 30 years o f age, and any dependent
relatives living with the family. It continues in force during the
lifetime o f parents or dependent relatives and until the children
marry or reach 30 years o f age.
Service Charges and A m ount o f Business
A m ong the cooperative burial associations reporting to the Bureau
o f Labor Statistics, the average cost o f the funerals held in 1939 was
$166. Each association was asked what was the average cost per
funeral to the patron in 1939. The lowest average, $84, was reported
by one association in Iowa. The highest average was fo r the associa
tion in Nebraska. The follow ing statement shows the range o f
averages reported by the associations and the State average:
Range
Iowa________________________________________________ $84-$225
Minnesota_________________________________________
111-231
Nebraska__________________________________________
250
South Dakota______________________________________
200
Wisconsin!______________________________
150
S t a t e a v e ra g e
$142
172
250
200
150
These are averages fo r adult funerals; also, they do not include
associations which merely provide caskets.
These charges include “ complete funeral service,” meaning by this
the embalming o f the body, funeral direction, casket with cover box o f
wood, and use o f hearse, lowering device, and grave cover. Generally
the price o f the casket determines the cost o f the funeral, as the
charge fo r the other services is standard. I f a steel vault is desired,
its cost is extra. Other charges not included in the above prices are
the digging o f the grave and the rental o f automobiles fo r the
mourners.
Business to the amount o f $187,204 was done by the 31 funeral asso
ciations, and that o f the 5 associations providing caskets only was
$2,359. More than 1,100 funerals were conducted by the funeral
associations during the year, and the casket associations furnished
coffins fo r 64 funerals which were conducted by private undertakers.
COOPERATIVE
65
BURIAL ASSOCIATIONS
O f 20 funeral associations reporting, 2 had had fewer than 10
funerals during the year, 5 had had between 10* and 25, 8 had had
between 25 and 50, 8 had had between 50 and 100, and 2 had had
100 or more.
The follow ing table shows the business done in 1989, by States, for
each type o f association.
M e m b e r s h ip and b u sin ess
1 o f fu n er a l
State and type of association
All States_________ _____ __________________
Funeral associations___ _______ _________
Casket associations__ _____ _____ ________
Iowa:
Funeral associations...... ........................ ......
Casket associations______________ _____
Minnesota:
Funeral associations_____________________
Casket associations_____________________
Nebraska: Funeral associations______________
South Dakota: Funeral associations__________
Wisconsin: Funeral associations____ . _____
and casket coopera tives, 1 9 3 9 , by States
Number of
associations
36
31
5
8
1
15
4
1
5
2
Number of
members
Number of
funerals
Amount of
business
31, 247
29, 647
1,600
1,180
1,116
2 64
$189, 563
187, 204
2,359
6,082
247
35, 598
205
200
3 21,180
1,400
65
1,699
621
24
735
260
128, 806
2,154
8
2 ,0 0 0
91
35
15, 502
5,298
1 Figures are partly estimated.
2 Number of caskets provided for funerals.
3 Includes 13,000 persons who were members of the local cooperatives affiliated with the 2 regional federa
tions.
Earnings and Patronage Refunds
The great m ajority o f the associations for which information is
available provide in their bylaws for the return o f patronage refunds.
However, with few exceptions the burial associations do not follow
the practice o f Rochdale cooperatives, i. e., o f making their charges
conform to the current prices. Rather, most o f them set their rates
as low as possible, consistent with the financial stability o f the organi
zation. One o f the larger associations, which retains an undertaker
on contract, specifies in its bylaws that the charges shall be set at “ as
near cost as practicable,” and that the price o f the funeral shall be
set at a sum covering the price o f the casket and other supplies fu r
nished, plus the amount paid the funeral director in accordance with
the association’s contract with him, plus a charge for use o f hearse,
plus enough to meet current operating expenses and fixed charges on
any borrowed capital.
The price policy followed does not, however, generally yield a sur
plus. Thus, only eight associations reported having any such surplus
or net gain on the year’s operations. These had combined earnings
o f $7,792. One association, the smallest reporting, had a loss o f
$804. Tw o associations made patronage refunds aggregating $887.
The federation with a mortuary department also returned earnings
o f several thousand dollars, but as its report did not make a division
o f refunds by departments, it was not possible to ascertain how much
was refunded on patronage by the mortuary department.
66
COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
Cooperation in the Building of Homes1
Until comparatively recently, cooperative activity in the field o f
housing in the United States had been limited to apartment houses
which had been built or purchased by cooperative groups. These
were concentrated in Greater New Y ork City.2 W ithin the last 2
years, however, several cooperative developments providing single
fam ily dwellings have been launched. Although none o f these has as
yet reached any considerable proportions as regards number o f
families housed, together they form a significant development not
only in the cooperative movement but in the field o f low-cost, non
profit housing. The present report deals with seven such projects
which have come to the attention o f the Bureau o f Labor Statistics.
These are situated in Penn-Craft, P a .; Iona, Idaho; Chapel H ill,
N. C .; Madison, W is .; Minneapolis and St. Paul, M inn.; and
Greenbelt, M d.3
B y October 1940, 6 o f these projects had a total o f 157 dwellings
either completed or in some stage o f construction. In the seventh,
ground had not yet been broken although land had been obtained.
In three o f the associations (Penn-Craft, Iona, and Chapel H ill),
some or all o f the actual building work is done by the members them
selves, by the exchange o f labor; in all but one o f the others, by a
private contractor under association control (in Madison the members
make individual contracts).
Three associations have taken over unimproved land and opened it
fo r development, and two o f these have done a complete job o f
community planning and lay-out, as well as o f financing and pro
viding the necessary utilities. The achievement o f most o f the other
associations has been that o f the purchase o f city lots, o f negotiating
fo r architects’ and contractors’ services and for Federal Housing
Administration insurance on loans, o f controlling subcontracts, o f
making bulk purchases o f materials, and o f controlling construction.
These developments present an interesting variety and represent
housing in various stages on the road to completely cooperative hous
ing enterprise. A ll lack the final characteristic o f Rochdale coopera
tive housing procedure— permanent retention by the association o f
the title to land and dwellings. In a thoroughgoing cooperative, the
member would hold shares o f stock in the association to the value o f
his house and land. The construction o f dwellings would be carried
on by the association, and the member would never receive the title
to the house he occupied, but only a lease running indefinitely for as
long as he was acceptable to the other members. Several o f the asso
ciations started out with the idea o f adhering to strict cooperative
practice. Difficulties o f financing the project and o f obtaining Fed1 F or detailed description o f the various projects see M onthly Labor Review, February
1941, or Serial No. R. 1224.
'
2 F or inform ation regarding such cooperative housing see M onthly Labor Review,
November 1937, p. 1146, or Serial No. R. 656.
3 A lthough using land in the Government-built town o f Greenbelt, the association here
described is a voluntary independent association entirely distinct from the Government
enterprise. Cooperative housing projects are known to be under consideration in several
other communities, as for instance, L os Angeles and San Francisco, Calif., Chicago, 111.,
Detroit, Mich., and North Kansas City, Mo. None o f these were sufficiently far advanced
to warrant inclusion in the Bureau’ s survey.
COOPERATION IN BUILDING OF HOMES
67
eral insurance, on such a basis, led to the abandonment of the idea of
collective ownership.
These associations have, however, made available, through joint
effort, well-built houses of moderate cost to persons who would
otherwise not have been able to afford them. They have effected sav
ings in utilizing for a whole group of houses the services of a single
architect and contTactor, and in making bulk purchases of many
items of material and equipment.
Further development is possible on land already owned by the
association in Chapel Hifl, Madison, Minneapolis, and St. Paul, and
on leased land in Greenbelt. Present capacity has been reached in
Penn-Craft.
Characteristics of Housing Groups
Public employees and employees of a nearby university formed the
majority of the members in Madison and Greenbelt, university build
ing-service employees in Chapel Hill, and coal miners in Penn-CTaft.
The membership of the Iona cooperative was drawn from a variety
of occupations. The annual incomes of the members averaged about
$1,700 to $1,800 in Minneapolis, and ranged from $1,600 to $4,500
in Madison, and from $1,248 to less than $2,400 in St. Paul. Data
on this point are not available for the other projects.
Building Sites
Three of the groups (Penn-Craft, Chapel Hill, and Madison) pur
chased on an acreage basis undeveloped and unimproved land which
they plotted into housing sites. The Greenbelt association will
utilize land unimproved but for which a]l improvements are available
from the planned community of which the housing project will be a
part. In Minneapolis and St. Paul the association took over city
lots, already improved, which had reverted to the State because of
tax delinquencies. In the seventh group (Iona) the member’ was
required to have title to a building lot before being admitted to
participation in the scheme; for such land, water and electricity, but
not sewers, were available.
Land purchase wTas involved in all cases except that of the Green
belt association. The dwellings of the members of that association
will be erected on land leased from the Federal Government.
The associations studied include rufal, small-town, and urban de
velopments. In the Twin Cities the land acquired was within the
city limits but several miles from the center of town, in Chapel Hill
and Madison it was in a suburb of the city, in Iona and Greenbelt
within towns of several hundred families, and in Penn-Craft it was
in a rural district though within a few miles of several good-sized
towns and cities.
Building lots of generous size are provided. In Chapel Hill the
lots average 125 by 160 feet, in Madison 60 by 120 feet, and in Min
neapolis 50 and 60 by 125 feet. The St. Paul association, buying
40-foot lots, replotted them into 60-foot widths having a depth rang
ing from 112 to 126 feet. In Penn-Craft the individual holdings
range from iy 2 to 3 acres each.
68
COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
Types and Cost of Houses
All of the houses being built on these sites are single-family dwell
ings and the majority are of frame construction. All of the PennCraft houses, however, are of native stone quarried nearby. At
Madison, the buildings are more ot less evenly divided between those
built of wood and those made of concrete blocks. Two-story houses
form nearly all of the dwellings at Penn-Craft, one-story houses
predominate in the Iona, Minneapolis, and St. Paul projects, while
both types are found in Chapel Hill and Madison. The dwellings in
the projects visited4 are equipped with all modern conveniences,
including water and sewer systems, electricity, central heating, and
garage. Both traditional and modern styles of architecture are being
utilized.
Sizes range from the two-bedroom house with living room, kitchen
(with dinette), and bath, to the four-bedroom house with living
room, kitchen, dining room, and recreation room. The bid cost per
house has ranged from $4,100 to $6,500 in Madison, from $3,750 to
$5,400 in St. Paul, from $4,100 to $6,000 in Minneapolis, from $2,750
to $5,000 in Chapel Hill, and from $3,500 to $6,500 in Greenbelt.5
In the case of Penn-Craft and Iona it is impossible to fix a definite
cost, as the members have supplied so much of the construction labor.
The loan to cover materials was $2,000 in Penn-Craft6 and $1,500
in Iona.
In the three projects operating on the “self-help” plan (Penn-Craft,
Iona, and Chapel H ill), the financing has been on a different basis
from that of the other groups. In the case of Penn-Craft the funds
from which the housing loans have been made were donated to the
American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization. In
Iona, money remaining from an F E R A grant made under the terms of
the Federal Relief Act has been used as a revolving loan fund, and by
the payment of interest, fines, etc., has been nearly doubled since the
association has been in operation. In Chapel Hill the housing funds
have been supplied by the Service Employees Corporation at the
University of North Carolina and by a private lending agency. In
all of these cases the loans have been used only to cover the cost of
materials. The actual work of excavation and construction has been
done entirely by the members at Penn-Craft and Iona, while in Chapel
Hill certain parts of the work have been done by them.
The initial financing in Madison was done through the issuance of
capital stock in a required amount per member, sufficient to cover cost
of land and water system; in Greenbelt by the issuance of capital stock
and a special service-charge assessment; and in Minneapolis and St.
Paul by the issuance of membership certificates and the sale of lots
at a mark-up sufficiently high to cover the cost of public-improvement
assessments and organization expenses. The initial cost to the mem
ber averages $22 in Greenbelt, $210 in Chapel Hill, $350 in St. Paul,
$375 in Minneapolis, and $500 in Madison. Except for Greenbelt,
these figures cover the cost of the land to the member. The lower
* Madison, M inneapolis, St. Paul, and Penn-Craft.
'
5 In the case o f Greenbelt these figures are for standard plans ; houses deviating from
these plans w ill cost more.
6 In Penn-Craft it is estimated that the completed house is wmrth about $3,000 for tax
purposes and at least $4,000 in the real-estate market. No actual cost-to-member figures
are available, however.
FARMERS’ COOPERATIVE PURCHASING
69
cost in the Twin Cities as compared to Madison is in part due to the
fact that the cost of the land to the association was based not upon
current prices but upon the amount of the tax delinquency of the
former owners.
All of these associations have arranged for F H A insurance on the
building loans. In the case of the St. Paul members, such loans
were obtained from the local credit-union chapter. Loans for the
members of the other three associations have come from private
lending agencies.
In order to obtain F H A insurance on low-cost houses, the borrower
must have an equity equal to 10 percent of the cost of the house.
Cost of land, if equal to 10 percent, is regarded as such an equity.
Therefore in many cases the land formed the necessary equity. In
cases in which the value of the land fell below 10 percent of the cost
of the house, the member was required to furnish additional capital
to meet the difference. He also had to provide for certain extra
charges (“closing costs” ) which may increase the total by $50 or $100
more. The “down” cost to the member, therefore, before construc
tion can be begun has ranged from $450 to $650 in Madison, $425 to
$600 in Minneapolis, $375 to $540 in St. Paul, and $372 to $672 in
Greenbelt.
In Penn-Craft, Chapel Hill, Minneapolis, and St. Paul, the asso
ciation exercises close supervision over purchases of materials, sub
contracts, and the construction process. The Penn-Craft, Minne
apolis, St. Paul, and Greenbelt organizations are each using the
services of a single architect and contractor. At Madison each mem
ber chooses his own architect and contractor. Joint purchase of
equipment, where a saving could be made, has been carried on for the
whole group of houses in Chapel Hill, St. Paul, and Minneapolis, and
the same procedure is planned for the Greenbelt project.
In most of the seven associations some measure of control is exer
cised over the style of architecture, in order that it shall not deviate
too widely from that of other dwellings nearby. The Madison asso
ciation also requires that the total house cost shall not be less than
$3,000. All but the “self-help” groups also require that in case a
member wishes to sell his house it must first be offered to the asso
ciation. I f the association does not exercise its option, the member
may sell to an outsider, but the purchaser must be acceptable to the
other members.
►########
F arm ers’ C oop era tiv e Purchasing
Data collected by the Farm Credit Administration indicate a steady
growth in number of farmers’ cooperative purchasing associations
as well as in their membership and business, up to 1937-38. That
agency estimates that in the 1938-39 marketing season the 2,600
farmers’ cooperatives whose function is the purchase of farm and
household supplies for their members had an aggregate membership
of 890,000 and a business of $335,000,000. Whereas these associa
tions formed only 3.6 percent of all farmers’ cooperatives in 1913,
by 1938-39 they formed nearly one-fourth of the total. During the
period from 1913 to 1938-39, their sales increased from 1.9 percent
of the total business done by farmers’ cooperatives to 16.0 percent.
328112— 42— vol . i-------6
70
COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
In 1915 their membership was less than 10 percent of the total,
whereas by 1938-39 it had increased to 27.0 percent.
The following table, compiled from reports of the Farm Credit
Administration, shows the trend since 1913.
Number, membership, and business of farmers’ cooperative purchasing associations,
1918 to 1938-39
Estimated mem
bership
Associations
Year
Number
Percent
of all
associa
tions i
Number of
members
Percent2
1913_________________________
1915_________________________
1921_________________________
1925-26_______________________
1929-30_______________________
111
275
898
1,217
1,454
3.6
5.1
12.2
11.3
12.1
59, 503
9.1
247,000
470,000
1930-31_______________________
1931-32_______________________
1932-33_______________________
1933-34_______________________
1934-35_______________________
1,588
1,645
1,648
1,848
1,906
13.3
13.8
15.0
17.0
17.8
1935-36______________ ____
1936-37_______________________
1937-38_______________________
1938-39_______ ____ ___________
2,112
2,601
2, 600
2, 600
20.1
24.2
23.8
24.3
Estimated business
Amount
Percent 3
9.1
15.2
$5, 928.000
11, 677,000
57, 721,000
135, 000,000
190, 000,000
1.9
1.8
4.6
5.6
7.6
392,000
533,000
542, 700
«92,000
790, 000
13.1
16.7
18.1
21.9
24.1
215,000,000
181,000,000
140, 500,000
152, 000,000
187,000,000
9.0
9.4
10.5
11.1
12.2
950, 000
856,000
900,000
890, 000
26.0
26.2
26.5
27.0
254,000.000
313, 400,000
350,000,000
335,000.000
13.8
14.3
14.6
16.0
11. e., of all farmers’ marketing and purchasing associations listed by Farm Credit Administration.
2 Percent of membership of all associations listed by Farm Credit Administration.
3 Percent of business done by all associations listed by Farm Credit Administration.
*## ###+ #
C redit U n ion s in 19391
Credit unions are now found in every State in the Union. As their
name implies, they are cooperative associations whose function is
the supplying of credit to their members. Generally they serve small
borrowers who can offer little or no security except their own personal
integrity. When it is remembered that a very large percentage of all
credit-union loans are “character loans,” i. e., loans made without
any security except the personal note of the borrower, it becomes
evident how important the personal factor is.
As various analyses have shown, remedial loans, for such purposes
as the payment of cost of sickness or death or accumulated debts,
form a very large proportion of the total loans made. This is
especially true of the early experience of nearly all credit unions.
Later, a$ the organizations accumulate funds and the early cases
of need are taken care of, they expand their lending to such other
constructive purposes as tuition for educational courses, house re
pairs and improvement, payment of insurance premiums, and taxes.
Credit-union funds come in the main from the share capital pro
vided by the membership. Obviously, not all of the members can
be borrowers, and indeed a certain percentage of the members of all
credit unions never avail themselves of the credit facilities of the
organization but join because of their desire to support the cause
and because of the favorable returns on their investment.
1 F or detailed statistics and discussion o f credit unions, see M onthly Labor Review, issues
o f April, June, and October 1938, April and August 1939, and March and September 1940.
CREDIT UNIONS IN
71
19 3 9
The principle of open membership is one of the main tenets of
Rochdale cooperation. By the very nature of credit-union operation
however, this principle has to be modified somewdiat in credit coop
eratives. In order to insure the safety of loans made, it is essential
that the members know one another and thus be able to judge the
trustworthiness of those who apply for loans. For this reason it
is usually required by the statutes under which credit unions operate
that the organizations shall be formed among persons having some
common bond of employment, religious faith, association, etc., and
that the membership shall be limited to persons within that group.
Within this field, membership is open to all trustworthy persons.
The general survey of cooperative associations (including credit
unions) made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 1936 indicated
that 61 percent of the credit unions had been formed among the em
ployees of industrial businesses, and not quite 25 percent were com
posed of public employees. No data on this point are available since
1936. It is known, however, that credit unions have become increas
ingly popular among the members of consumers’ cooperatives and
many have been formed by them in the past 3 years.
Additional evidence of mutual interest between the credit union
movement and that of general consumers’ cooperatives was given
by the affiliation, as a fraternal member, of the Credit Union National
Association with the Cooperative League of the U. S. A. in March
1939.
Trend of Credit-Union Development
Data gathered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics since 1929 show
an almost unbroken record of credit-union expansion in nearly every
State since its law was passed authorizing such associations. The
tempo of development was greatly accelerated, however, by the pass
age of the Federal Credit Union Act in 1934.
The year 1939 represented the high point up to that time, as re
gards number of associations, membership, and loans made in every
State.
The records for the years prior to 1936 are not sufficiently complete
to permit estimates of total credit-union operation for the United
States. Table 1 gives for the years beginning with that year the
total number of associations and estimates of total membership and
loans made.
T a b l e 1.— Estimated relative growth of State and Federal credit unions, 1936 to 1939
Item and year
Number of credit unions:
1936____ ______ ___________________________
1937____ _____ ____________________________
1938____ _____ ____________________________
1939______________________________________
Membership:
1936____ ____ _____________________________
1937______________________________________
1938______________________________________
1939______________________________________
Amount of loans:
1936______________________________________
1937______________________________________
1938______________________________________
1939______________________________________
State-chartered
associations
Federal-chartered
associations
5, 437
6,400
7, 265
8,315
3, 575
3,900
4, 250
4, 771
1,862
2,500
3,015
3,544
1, 209, 902
1, 546, 400
1, 931,400
2, 421,000
893,932
1,013,900
1, 241,000
1, 475,000
315,970
532, 500
690, 400
946, 000
$112,134, 577
$139, 355, 200
$186, 302,800
$240, 500, 000
$96, 476, 517
$102, 770, 200
$134, 513, 800
$161,000,000
$15, 658,060
$36, 585,000
$51, 789,000
$79. 500, 000
Total
72
COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
Operations in 1939
Summary figures for both Federal- and State-chartered credit unions
in 1939 are given in table 2.
T a b l e 2 . — Sum m ary of operations of credit unions, 1939
Item
Total
Total number of associations_________________ _____
Number reporting, _______________________________
Number o f members______ ____ ______ _____ _________
Number of loans during y e a r __________ ________
Amount of loans—
During y e a r ___ _______ ____________ _____ __
Outstanding at end of year. _____ _______________
Paid-in share capital___________________ _______ _____
Reserves__________________________________________
Total assets____________ ______ _____ __________ _____
Net earnings for year________________________________
Dividends on share capital__________________________
State-chartered Federal-charter
associations
ed associations
8,315
7,841
2,300,422
1,971, 851
4,771
4,677
1,454,435
1,306,654
3, 544
3,164
845, 987
665,197
$229,874, 347
$148,773,153
$160,032,414
$10,926,108
$193,300, 538
$6,701,458
$4,516, 586
$158,848, 287
$111,305, 503
$116,994,824
$9, 664,917
$145,803,444
$4, 564,708
$3,141, 506
$71,026,060
$37.467,650
$43,037,590
$1, 261,191
$47,497,094
$2,136, 750
$1,375,080
In at least 43 States, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii the
credit unions have a State-wide association or league. These State
leagues are in turn affiliated to a Nation-wide association, the Credit
Union National Association, with headquarters in Madison, Wis.
Of 45 such organizations, 32 reported, indicating affiliated associa
tions numbering 4,084 credit unions (with a combined membership of
more than a million persons); this represented 65.0 percent of all
associations in those States.
# /# # # # # #
Status o f L abor Banks, 1940
Continuing the upward trend shown since 1938, the labor banks
showed increases in deposits, total resources, and net worth in 1939-40
as compared with 1938-39. The resources of the 4 banks totaled
nearly 27 million dollars on June 30, 1940, or 4.3 percent above the
same date of the previous year. The combined net worth (capital, sur
plus, and undivided profits) has shown an uninterrupted rise since 1034.
That these increased totals in 1939-40 are largely the result of gains
made by the Amalgamated banks is shown when comparison is made
of the figures for individual banks for 1938-39 and 1939-40. Thus
the Union and Telegraphers’ banks both showed gains in net worth
but decreases in deposits and total resources. The Amalgamated
banks both had gains in all three items, those in deposits and total
resources being more than sufficient to offset the decreases of the other
two banks. Data for each of the four banks, as of June 30, 1940,
supplied to the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the Industrial Relations
Section of Princeton University, are shown in table 1.
T a b l e 1 .— Status of individual labor banks, as of June 30, 1940
Capital, sur
plus, and un
divided profits
Name and location of bank
Deposits
Total resources
____
$2,684,911
$23,847, 294
$26,931,651
Amalgamated Trust & Savings Bank, Chicago, 111____
Union National Bank, Newark, N. J_________________
Amalgamated Bank of New York, N. Y ______________
Telegraphers’ National Bank, St. Louis, M o__________
786,934
474,183
704,652
719,141
9,448, 530
3, 035, 006
7,150, 670
4, 213, 089
10,393,324
3, 533, 792
8,032, 754
4, 971,781
All banks
____________________
___ _
73
COOPERATIVE PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISE
Table 2 shows the trend of the labor banking movement since 1920.
T
able
2 .—
Development of labor banks in the United States, 1920 to 1940 1
Date
December 31—
1920....... .............. ..............................
1921........................................................
1922______ ______ ___________________
1923,................................ .......................
1924_________ _______ _______________
1925 2_______________________________
1926_________ ____ ________________
1927____________ ____________________
1928_______ ____ ____________________
June 30—
1929_________ ______ ________ ____ _
1930__________________ ________ _____
1931________ ___________ __________
1932_______ ____ ____________________
1933 3_______________________________
1934________________________________
1935__________ ______________ _____
1936__________ ______________________
1937________________________________
1938______________________ _____ ____
1939_________ ______ _____________ _
1940________________________________
Number
of banks
Capital, sur
plus, and un
divided profits
Deposits
Total resources
2
4
10
18
26
36
35
32
27
$1,154,446
1,535,869
2,793,162
5, 575, 252
8, 333, 024
12, 536,901
12, 751,885
12, 029,676
11,358, 705
$2, 258, 561
9,970,961
21,901,641
43,324,820
72,913,180
98, 392,592
108,743, 550
103, 290,219
98,784, 369
$3,628,867
12,782,173
26,506,723
51,496, 524
85, 325,884
115,015,273
126, 533,542
119,818,416
116,307, 256
22
14
11
7
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
10,495,079
7, 217,836
6,865, 378
3, 443,396
2,161,421
2,038,433
2,051,943
2,155,221
2,189,671
2, 503,899
2, 544, 538
2,684,911
92,077,098
59,817, 392
50,949, 570
22,662, 514
15, 338, 505
15,899,849
17, 262,281
20, 302,297
21,679, 590
21,013,099
22,923,861
23, 847,294
108, 539,894
68,953,855
59,401,164
28,564, 797
18, 653, 355
19,168, 718
19,692, 385
22,858, 772
24,359, 340
23, 785,086
25,813,638
26,931,651
1 Data are from Princeton University, Industrial Relations Section, Report on Labor Banking Move
ment in the United States, Princeton, 1929, p. 277, and additional new material furnished by the university
to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
2 Amalgamated Bank of Philadelphia not included.
2 Dec. 31.
* ## + # ###
C oop era tiv e P ro d u ctiv e Enterprises in th e
U n ited States
Workers’ productive associations, i. e., business enterprises owned
and operated by the workers themselves, have not been numerous in
the United States. There were 39 such associations in 1925, 20 in
1929, 18 in 1933, and 24 in 1936. In June 1937 there were, according
to information received by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 27 associa
tions.1 A total membership of 3,333 was reported at the end of June
1937, 2,167 being employed in the business. There were, in addition,
282 nonmember employees. Approximately $540,000 was paid in
wages in 1936 by the associations which reported on this point.
With share capital of $853,000 and net worth of almost $1,100,000,
these societies did a business in 1936 amounting to nearly $3,000,000,
or an average of about $160,000 per society. There were aggregate
net earnings of nearly $70,000, or an average of $5,200 per association.
A division of net earnings among the members was made by only
a few associations in 1936, some associations having been organized
only a comparatively short time, some having sustained net losses,
and others having placed their net earnings in the reserve. Over
$20,000 was divided among the members of 3 associations, or an
average of $6,800 per association.
Various types of industry are carried on by workers’ productive
associations. The industries represented in the Bureau’s study were
cigar making, the manufacture of clothing (including shoes), shingles
x For detailed report see Monthly Labor Review, November 1938.
COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
74
and lumber, canning and processing of food and fish, fisheries, print
ing and publishing, coal mining, sheet-metal works, sign painting,
laundries, and handicraft production.
Workers have undertaken productive enterprises from various
motives. Unemployment in their own industry has been a frequent
reason. In a number of cases they have become unemployed because
of the failure or the transfer to another locality of the plant in which
they were employed, and in others because of an unsuccessful strike
in which they were engaged. In some instances workers have been
assisted by their trade-union in starting a cooperative productive
business.
General Characteristics of Cooperative Workshops
A comparison of the structure of the societies reporting in the
survey discloses that they vary in certain respects from the “ideal”
workers’ productive association. In the “ideal” workers’ productive
association the workers in the business contribute all the capital, and
through their representatives manage and operate the business. These
owner-workers are paid regular wages, and any profits of the business
are divided among them according to one of several plans.
The membership of a workers’ productive society tends to be more
circumscribed than that of a consumers’ cooperative society. In the
latter, an increase in membership expands the business, and in gen
eral reduces the overhead, thus increasing the savings which accrue
to the individual members. In the workers’ productive association,
on the contrary, additional worker-members increase the number to
share in the profits but do not necessarily enlarge the amount of
business transacted. The fact that the workers depend on the busi
ness for their livelihood tends to restriction of membership— as ad
ditional members are considered as reducing the profits of the others—
and may even result in closing the membership rolls altogether. I f
the business is successful, additional workers may be taken on as
employees rather than as members, thus restricting the number who
will share in the profits.
The nature of the business or work conducted by the association
may also act as a limitation on the membership, especially if the work
requires particular skill or if the business is highly specialized.
Few of the associations reporting in the Bureau’s survey con
formed to the “ideal” association in every particular. Some had
been promoted by trade-unions and had more of the characteristics
of trade-union or joint-stock enterprises than of cooperative work
shops, and only trade-unionists were accepted as members. One or
two societies were more nearly profit-sharing organizations than co
operative societies, as the workers, although sharing in the profits,
owned only part of the capital stock. One such society had used
part of the profits of the business to buy the common stock of the
association; at the time of the survey it held collectively 63 percent
of the common stock.
In general the broad outlook and cooperative idealism which are
features of the consumers’ cooperative movement are not a common
characteristic of workers’ productive societies.
75
COOPERATIVE PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISES
Membership and Employment
Membership in workers’ productive associations is frequently lim
ited in certain ways. The most common restriction is that only the
employees or workers may be members. In three societies the mem
bers must be Indians of a certain tribe, and in one society they must
be farmers. The bylaws of one society limited the membership to
producing farmers, fishermen, woodsmen, and employees of the society.
Seven associations reported that they had no limitations on member
ship, but in one of these the members were nearly all producers.
One small association had closed its membership and would accept
no new members.
In 13 societies all the members were employed in the business and
in another all but 1 were so employed. Eleven societies employed
nonmembers as well as members, and in three of these there were
approximately as many nonmember as member employees. Four so
cieties reported they had no nonmember employees, and the other
11 did not report on this point. The number of nonmember em
ployees in the societies which reported having such employees ranged
from 1 to 127 per society.
Table 1 shows the number of members in the societies in the various
industries, and also the number of member and nonmember employees.
T a b l e 1. — Members (,shareholders) and employees of workers’ productive associa
tions in 1986, by kind of business
Members (shareholders)
Kind of business
Number of
societies
Number
Number em
ployed in
business
Total______________________ ____ __________
27
3,333
2,167
Cigar factories _ ___________________ _______
Clothing factories. __________ _____ _______
Coal mines.
___ ____ ..
_____________
Fish canning and processing plants_______ . . .
Fisheries _ _______________ ____ __________
Food factories._
.. ____________________
Handicraft production__________________
Laundries. ___ _
_______________________
Lumber mills. __ _ _____ ______________
Printing and publishing_____________________
Sheet-metal works _______________________
Shingle m ills ._________ _ _________________
Shoe factories.____ ____ _____ ______ ____ ____
Sign painting
.
. . .
1
i3
2
3
1
1
36
41
1
3
1
1
2
1
74
1 405
210
565
112
2 78
3 764
42
50
23
3
13
994
10
280
210
422
112
78
764
42
23
21
3
12
190
Nonmember
employees
282
61
2
40
22
10
2
4
14
127
1 Including 1 association which reported 100 employee members; total number not stated.
2 Employee members; total number not reported.
3 Including 2 associations which reported total of 38 employee members; total number not stated. •
4 Also cannery.
Capitalisation and Business
Share capital to the amount of $853,000 had been paid in by the
members of 14 associations by the end of 1936. The value of the
individual shares ranged from $5 to $1,000. Three associations had
originally been self-help organizations, financed initially by Federal
loans or grants. Another had a membership fee of $1. One coal-
76
COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
mine association had no cash share capital; its members each acquired
a share of stock by 15 days’ work.
Table 2 shows the capitalization, net worth (paid-in capital, sur
plus, surplus reserves, and undivided earnings), and total and average
business of the societies, classified according to kind of business.
T a b l e 2 . — Capitalization and business of workers’ productive associations in 1936
Num
ber of
societies
report
ing
Kind of business
Total 1______________________________
Cigar factories______________ _____ ___
Clothing factories _ . ___ _ _______
Fish canning and processing plants.- . . .
Fisheries___ ______ _
_ _________
Food factories...
. . . . _ ___________
Handicraft production__________ ______
Laundries. _ ___ __ ______________
Lumber mills
___. . . _________ . . .
Printing and publishing.___ _____ ._
Sheet-metalworks.. _________ ________
Shingle mills_________ _________ ____
_________________
Shoe factories
_____
1 14 societies.
216 societies.
Average
business
per
society
Paid-in
share
capital
Net worth
Amount
of business
22
i $853,293
2 $1,078,341
3 $2,876,040
$159,780
1
2
3
1
1
5
1
1
3
1
1
2
4,313
75,769
« 165, 906
(4)
27,493
359, 450
402, 449
5 5,998
(4)
2,060
4, 295
3,000
34, 258
155, 245
301,165
8 7, 799
2,457
2, 900
8 4, 219
5, 539
7 17,833
385,152
6, 973
229, 521
673, 320
42, 704
869,024
42, 767
(4)
(4)
15, 468
27, 244
(4)
3969,019
6,973
114,761
224,440
42,704
869,024
8,553
318 societies.
* Not reported.
61 society.
6 2 societies.
5,156
27,244
969,019
7 Deficit.
The amount of business done by the associations each year, 1934
to 1936’, and the net earnings or losses each year are presented in
table 3.
T a b l e 3.— Trend of business and net earnings of workers’ productive associations,
1934 to 1936
Kind of business
Total _. __________ _____________
Cigar factories _______ _________
Clothing factories_________________
Fish canning and processing plants. __
Fisheries _ ________ __________ _
Food factories.
________ ________
Handicraft production . _________
Printing and publishing.___________
Sheet-metal works ____________ _
Shingle mills .._ __________________
Shoe factories_____________________
Num
ber of
socie
ties
re
port
ing
Net earnings
Business done
1934
1935
1936
1934
1935
1936
19 i $2,475, 561 2$2,606,986 3 $2,876,040 4 $35,254 3$68,933 2 $67,796
1
2
3
1
1
5
3
1
1
1
8,353
8 107, 945
8455, 201
60, 687
656, 601
8 13, 500
82, 742
7,934
7,055
«112, 962
8 669, 298
42, 217
832,782
11 26, 546
8 2, 699
11, 251
1,162, 598
902,176
(13)
(13)
6,973
229, 521 7 8,131 7 2,091
787
673,320
8 832 8 3, 866 9 11, 796
io 199 io 1 ,092
42, 704
4,267
869,024
8, 572 14,022
3,023
42, 767
6 422
1,693
(12)
15, 468 ( 12)
27, 244
2, 499
4, 661
9, 265
(!3 )
io 1,839
9,197 io 9, 279
969,019 io 41, 454 39,055 52, 477
I 12 societies.
2 13 societies.
318 societies.
4 Net loss, 10 societies.
612 societies.
6 1 society.
7 Net loss, 1 society.
8 2 societies.
9 2 societies; 1 other society had net loss of $18,314, but had processed fish valued at $36,815 held for favorable
market.
19 Net loss.
II 3 societies.
%
42 2 societies reported no earnings.
23Not reported.
SELF-HELP ORGANIZATIONS
77
In addition to the wages earned by the member or shareholder
employees in a workers’ productive association, they are entitled to a
share of the net earnings of the business. It was the practice in
most of the reporting associations to distribute earnings on the basis
of the number of shares held. In one case stock was given the worker
instead of cash, and in another the earnings were used to buy the com
mon stock of the association for the workers collectively. One asso
ciation treated the net earnings as working reserve. Three of the
associations in the fisheries ana fish canning and processing business
divided the net earnings among the fishermen according to the fish
delivered by each, and one divided the net profits equally between the
shareholders and the fishermen, the latter receiving their share on the
basis of the fish delivered by each. A shoe-factory association di
vided any surplus remaining, after paying 3y 2 percent on preferred
stock and on purchases by common-stock holders, between the workers
(according to wages) and the retailers (according to sales). A handi
craft association distributed the net earnings to the workers on the
basis of wages.
In 1936, however, only four associations divided any profits among
their members. One association paid 10 percent on shares, amount
ing to $9,170; another paid $40 in stock to the workers and 6 percent
on preferred stock; and a third paid dividends of 3y 2 percent on pre
ferred stock and on purchases by common-stock holders, amounting
to $148. A fish-processing association distributed $11,078 equally
between stockholders and fishermen.
S e lf- H e lp O r g a n is a tio n s i n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s 1
At the close of 1938 there were 140 self-help organizations in the
United States, with about 5,500 members. These self-help coopera
tives were in 18 States,2 the District of Columbia, the Tennessee
Valley, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Pico. Almost one-half of them
were in California. From the beginning of the movement, in 1931,
to the end of 1938, it is estimated that over half a million families had
been affiliated with 600 self-help organizations in 37 States.
In the self-help programs emphasis has been laid upon varying
objectives at different times and in the different States. Thus, in
California, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands the relief aspect of
the program has been stressed, whereas in Idaho, Missouri, Utah,
and Washington the attempt has been made in recent years to place
the units on a full-time, self-supporting basis. In the District of
Columbia and Virginia, the self-help activities are looked to for the
purpose of providing supplementary income through part-time em
ployment and of functioning as an adjunct to private employment.
According to the ultimate objective, the degree of supervision and
the limitations imposed upon the groups have varied widely. Natu
rally, where the self-help activities were regarded merely as one form
1 For detailed reports on self-help associations in general and in particular States, see
Monthly Labor Review, issues o f August 1936 (U tah), August 1937 (C alifornia), Sep
tember 1937 (Id a h o ), July 1938, May, September, and December 1939, and February 1940.
2 Alabama, C alifornia, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri,
Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, W ashing
ton, and W est Virginia.
78
COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
of relief, the restrictions imposed as to the use of capital and the
disposal of goods were greatest.
Originating during the early part of the depression when unem
ployment was abnormally large, the self-help organizations were at
first simply barter and exchange societies, formed by the more enter
prising and independent unemployed in an effort to supply their needs
by exchanging their labor for surplus commodities. The peak of this
phase of the self-help movement was in the spring of 1933, when the
number of self-help groups reached over 400 and the active member
ship was approximately 75,000. During the following year, as ade
quate relief became obtainable, there was a sharp decline in the number
of groups of this character.
When Federal grants became available for productive cooperatives,
in 1934, those receiving grants were encouraged to undertake pro
ductive enterprises and a great many of the early barter groups did
so. A large number of new self-help groups were also formed, espe
cially in Idaho, Utah, Washington, and Missouri.
Approximately $4,730,000 in public funds was expended on the
productive enterprises of self-help cooperatives during the period
from 1933 to 1938. About $3,190,000 of this was in grants from the
Federal Government, principally during 1934 and 1935. The State
relief administration generally had supervision of the productive co
operatives, but State officials and local groups were given almost
complete control of the determination of the program to be followed.
Only 8 States 3 and the District of Columbia furnished financial
support. These States contributed about $1,540,000 to the program.
In consequence, when Federal grants ceased in 1935 the self-help co
operative production program also stopped in many States. In 1938
Congress again authorized Federal grants to self-help groups of the
unemployed, but no grants were made, though regulations covering the
eligibility requirements for such grants were published.
Present Forms of Self-Help Cooperatives
Most of the self-help cooperatives in existence at the end of 1938
were productive cooperatives. Only 31 of the 140 organizations were
barter groups and all but 2 of them were in California. Of these two,
one was in Nebraska and the other in West Virginia.
The majority of the self-help productive cooperatives have been of
the relief type, and, as such, were usually under the supervision of the
State relief administrations. Generally their products could not be
sold in the open market, though a small portion was sold to relief
agencies in order to reimburse the cash costs of operation. The
largest part of the products, however, has been exchanged among the
groups and distributed to the members.
In Idaho, Missouri, Utah, and Washington, the self-help coopera
tives have been allowed to sell their products on the open markets.
Their typical products are lumber and canned goods. Their original
capital and operating expenses were secured from Federal and State
funds. A number of these groups have paid their members a higher
cash wage during operations than they would have received on W P A
work. In off seasons, however, the members have Had to depend
on W P A employment.
8 California, Idaho, Iow a, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Utah, and W ashington.
79
SE LF-H E LP ORGANIZATIONS
In Michigan, North Carolina, and Tennessee, processing and mar
keting cooperatives have been organized in areas where farmers
and fishermen were particularly destitute. Grants from Federal selfhelp funds were obtained. The Farm Security Program has provided
aid for somewhat similar groups in other parts of the country.
Idaho and Pennsylvania have each had a successful experiment in
the cooperative provision of housing on the self-help plan.
The community self-help exchanges in Washington, D. C., Kichmond, Va., and Wheeling, W . Va., were formed by committees of
local citizens, which supervise their activities, though there is an
advisory council of self-help workers. The members are composed
mainly of those who are in need of a small supplementary income, those
who are unemployable in private industry, and young persons who
desire vocational training. A great many kinds of projects are car
ried on by a single organization. The members obtain products
and services on the basis of hours worked. The exchanges provide
recreational and social activities for their members, and the stress is
on individual rehabilitation rather than on efficiency in production.
As all the products are distributed to the members, outside aid is
necessary for cash expenses and raw materials.
The number of self-help organizations in the United States and
their membership as of June 1938, with a percentage distribution, are
shown in the accompanying table.
Self-help organizations and their membership in the United States as of
June 1988, by States
[Data are from California 1939 Legislative Problems Report No. 9]
Units
State
Number
California1 ________________________ _________ -Washington __________ _______________________ Utah ___________________________________________
Idaho
_________ - ________ ____ ___ - - ________
______ _ _____ __ _________ _________
Missouri
Nebraska2 _________________ ____________________
Michigan
_________________ - _______ __________
Tennessee.
- ______________________ _____ - _____
__________ ________ ________
West Virginia 3
Alabama____________________________ ____________
Colorado____________ _________ _________ _______
Florida _ ______ _ ______________________________
I o w a ___________________________ _________________
Louisiana _ ____- ____________ ____________
New York
_________ ______ __________________
North Carolina ___________________________________
Pennsylvania ____________ _______________ - ____
V irginia ________________________________________ Tennessee Valley Authority. _ ________ ________ ..
Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico_____ ________________
Washington, D . C _______________________________ _
Total_____________________________________
1 Includes 30 nongrant units with 1,570 members.
2 Includes 1 nongrant unit with 35 members.
3 Includes 1 nongrant unit with 100 members.
71
20
19
9
6
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
8
2
1
154
Members
Percent of
total
Number
Percent of
total
46.1
13.0
12.3
4.8
3.9
1.9
1. 3
1.3
1.3
.7
.7
.7
.7
.7
.7
2,173
380
263
.7
.7
.7
477
17
700
8.4
.3
12.3
5.2
1.3
400
127
207
2.2
5,701
100.0
.6
100.0
100
200
55
220
90
130
40
15
20
27
50
10
38.1
6.7
4.6
1.8
1.0
3.9
1.6
3. 5
2.3
.7
.3
.3
.5
.9
.2
7.0
3.6
Cost and Standards o f Living
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics: 1941 edition.
81
COST-OF-LIVING INDEXES
Time Changes in Cost of Living
Significance of Cost-of-Living Indexes1
The Bureau o f Labor Statistics cost-of-living indexes for the
United States are designed to measure changes from time to time in
prices to the ultimate consumer o f goods purchased, by a represent
ative group o f wage earners and lower-salaried workers in the larger
cities o f the country, whose fam ily incomes as o f 1934^-36 ranged
upward from $500. The income o f the group covered averaged
$1,524 at that time.
These indexes represent price changes not only o f food, clothing,
and other items bought in retail stores, but also o f rent and a variety
o f commonly used services for which prices ordinarily do not change
often. The indexes therefore show less change than do prices o f
food and some articles o f clothing and they are often subject to the
unwarranted criticism that they do not reflect “ what is happening”
by people who forget that the electric-light bill or the hairdresser’s
charge is part o f the cost o f living.
In combining price changes to get an average change, the relative
importance given to the various classes o f goods and services is de
termined by the purchases o f families o f wage earners and clerical
workers, as shown by a study o f the consumer expenditures o f these
groups in the years 1934-36. Since the list o f articles priced must
be limited, weights representing purchases o f a group o f commod
ities are applied to a small group o f selected items for which prices
are actually obtained each quarter or each month (e. g., purchases
o f all meats are represented by selected cuts o f 11 kinds o f meat).
In this procedure it is assumed that price movements o f the missing
articles in the group are accurately represented by the selected ar
ticles, as for instance, all beef by top round, rib roast, and chuck
roast.
In the matter o f price collection, the Bureau o f Labor Statistics
has greatly improved its methods in recent years. The field agents
who now obtain prices from retail store buyers go equipped with a
set o f price specifications which are o f considerable assistance in get
ting prices o f the same quality o f goods from time to time. This
change has been possible partly because the Bureau has allotted a
larger and more highly trained staff to its price work than was the
case formerly.
In recent years there have been certain changes in retailing which
have made possible more adequate methods o f price collection. The
retail buyers who furnish the Bureau with price quotations are now
1 F o r da ta on the a ctu a l incom e and expenditures o f the fa m ilies o f A m erican w orkers,
see section on Standards and P lanes o f L iv in g (p. 1 0 2 ).
F o r d etails regard in g the collection and com p ila tion o f reta il p rices by the Bureau o f
L abor S ta tistics, see section on R eta il P rices (p. 0 8 7 ).
83
84
COST AND STANDARDS OF LIVING
much more likely to have exact inform ation on the quality o f the
goods they are selling than they were in the decade o f the twenties
when synthetic fabrics and the plastics were just coming onto the
market.
There are, however, continuous changes in the nature and the qual
ity o f goods available in the market, and these changes frequently
necessitate the substitution o f one article for another in the list o f
goods priced fo r the cost-of-living index. This is particularly im
portant in the case o f clothing. The Bureau o f Labor Statistics fo l
lows the practice o f carrying a particular article on its list as long
as it is commonly sold, and then substituting another article o f ap
proximately the same grade which serves the same purpose. H ow
ever, if there is a price differential between the two articles (i. e.,
i f a sweater form erly selling at $1.75 is no longer obtainable ana
is replaced by another type selling at $1.65 or $1.95), this differen
tial is not reflected in the index. The new article is introduced by
a linking method. The Bureau’s field agents are instructed, however,
to treat certain cases o f substitution as price changes. When the
stock o f an article regularly priced for the index is exhausted in
one o f the reporting stores, and the only substitute available is at
a higher price, the substitution is treated as a price change.
W hen new models o f automobiles, radios, refrigerators, vacuum
cleaners, and washing machines are introduced, the practice is to
use the price o f the largest-selling lines o f the current model (e. g.,
6 % -cubic-foot refrigerators; 2-door sedans, etc.) and to allow the
full effect o f price changes o f the most popular models to enter into
the index. Thus when refrigerator prices went down more than 10
percent in the spring o f 1940 this was reflected in the Bureau’s in
dex, even though quality had improved so that price, with regard
to quality, might have shown a greater decline. The technical diffi
culties in the way o f measuring the percent o f change in the quality
o f goods o f this sort are so great that no other procedure seems
possible.
In pricing fo r the Bureau’s cost-of-living index, State and city
sales taxes are added to the cost o f the commodities on which those
taxes are imposed. Similarly, automobile taxes and other consump
tion taxes are specifically included. Property taxes are included in
rental costs. Social-security taxes have been treated as savings, and
thus omitted from the index. Income taxes paid have also been
omitted, as they have heretofore applied to a very small proportion
o f the groups whose living costs the indexes attempt to measure.
Thus, the Bureau’s cost-of-living indexes do not represent changes
in the living costs o f all urban families. Nor do they represent the
cost o f the way average wage earners’ and clerical workers’ families
actually live today, as this group, like any other, adjusts its pur
chases to changes in prices, and buys, for example, more pork and
less beef when pork is relatively cheap and beef is relatively dear,
and more rayon and less wool when rayon prices remain stable and
those o f wool rise.
One reason why no attempt has been made to represent the cost
o f the way average wage earners’ and clerical workers’ families ac
tually live today is that no current month-by-month allowance is
85
TIME CHANGES IN COST OF LIVING
made (nor does inform ation exist on which to make it) fo r substi
tutions in buying because o f price changes. The makers o f index
numbers must assume that beef is used in approximately the same
quantity month after month. This obviously makes short-time
changes in certain parts o f the fam ily budget somewhat unrealistic.
Since the object, however, is to indicate price changes as such, it is
almost imperative to make only infrequent changes in weights in
order to measure broad swings in prices. Moreover, it is obviously
impossible to make frequently those studies o f the way in which
people spend their money which are the basis for the selection o f the
articles priced and o f the importance assigned to them.
There comes a time, o f course, when consumption habits have
changed so materially that it becomes necessary to use a new set o f
weights. The Bureau o f Labor Statistics recently revised its costof-livin g index, using new consumption weights applying to 1934-36.
The group indexes were completely recalculated with the new weights
back through 1935, and chained to the group indexes previously pub
lished for each city covered. Relatively little difference appeared in
the movement o f the old and the new series between 1935 and 1939.
Cost-of-Living Indexes, by Groups of Items, 1913 to 1941
Table 1 presents indexes o f the cost o f goods purchased for all
large cities combined, by groups o f items, from 1913 to 1941. Be
ginning with October 1940, monthly indexes have been computed
at the request o f the Defense A dvisory Commission. The indexes
fo r the months intervening between the regular quarterly surveys
are based on a limited number o f items for 20 cities only.
T a b l e 1 .— In d ex es o f cost o f' goods purchased b y wage earners and low er-salaried
w orkers in large cities com b in ed , 1 9 1 8 through D ec. 1 5 , 1 9 4 1
[A v e r a g e 1 93 5-3 9= 10 0]
A l l it e m s
D a te
D e c e m b e r ________________________
D e c e m b e r ________________________
D e c e m b e r ________________________
D e c e m b e r ________________________
D e c e m b e r ________________________
J u n e _________________________________
D e c e m b e r ________________________
192 0 — J u n e _________________________________
D e c e m b e r ___________________
1921— M a y _________________________________
S e p t e m b e r ____________ - _____
D e c e m b e r ________________________
1 922— M a r c h _____________________________
J u n e - .. . . . . . . - - - - - S e p t e m b e r _______________________
D e c e m b e r .. . .
_____
. .
1 923— M a r c h ______________________________
J u n e . _____________ . . . . _ S e p t e m b e r _______________________
D e c e m b e r ________________________
1 92 4 — M a r c h ______________________________
J u n e _________________________________
S e p t e m b e r _______________________
D e c e m b e r ________________________
vol.
Rent
F u e l,
e le c tr ic
it y , a n d
ic e
H o u sefu r n is h
in g s
M is c e l
la n e o u s
7 9 .9
6 9 .3
9 2 .2
6 1 .9
5 9 .1
5 0 .9
7 2 .6
7 4 .0
8 2 .4
9 7 .8
1 1 8 .0
8 3 .9
8 3 .9
7 0 .0
7 2 .5
8 3 .2
1 0 3 .3
1 4 7 .9
1 6 0 .1
1 9 8 .4
2 0 9 .7
1 8 7 .8
1 6 1 .5
1 3 9 .5
1 3 3 .4
1 2 7 .3
1 2 4 .9
1 2 3 .5
1 2 3 .6
1 2 5 .4
1 2 5 .7
1 2 6 .7
1 2 6 .7
1 2 6 .3
1 2 5 .1
1 2 3 .8
1 2 3 .0
9 2 .2
9 3 .6
9 4 .3
9 2 .3
9 7 .1
6 2 .5
6 2 .5
6 7 .1
7 6 .8
9 0 .4
8 9 .3
9 4 .8
1 0 4 .8
1 1 9 .0
1 1 2 .9
1 1 2 .7
1 1 3 .8
1 1 0 .5
6 1 .5
6 5 .4
7 5 .5
8 9 .0
5 2 .4
5 4 .6
5 7 .6
7 1 .5
8 3 .1
8 5 .5
9 4 .3
1 0 0 .7
1 0 4 .7
1 0 4 .7
1 0 4 .0
1 0 3 .5
121.0
1 3 5 .3
1 4 9 .4
1 3 8 .3
1 2 6 .6
1 2 5 .3
1 2 3 .6
1 1 9 .3
1 1 9 .5
1 1 8 .7
1 2 0 .4
120.2
121.6
1 2 3 .1
1 2 3 .5
122.0
121.8
122.2
1 2 3 .2
1Covers 51 cities s*nce 1920.
328112— 42—
C lo t h in g
7 0 .7
191 3 — A v e r a g e ___________________________
1 91 4 —
1 915—
191 6 —
1 917—
1 918—
1 919—
Food i
i ---------7
100.6
1 2 5 .4
1 4 9 .6
1 4 8 .5
1 6 0 .0
1 8 5 .0
1 4 6 .4
121.2
1 2 9 .2
1 2 6 .1
1 1 8 .3
121.0
1 1 8 .1
1 2 2 .4
1 1 9 .7
1 2 3 .7
1 2 6 .6
1 2 6 .0
1 2 1 .3
1 2 1 .5
1 2 3 .1
1 2 5 .9
101.0
1 0 9 .6
1 1 9 .1
1 3 1 .4
1 3 9 .2
1 4 0 .0
1 4 2 .3
1 4 2 .0
1 4 2 .5
1 4 2 .8
1 4 3 .8
1 4 4 .5
1 4 6 .0
1 4 7 .4
1 4 9 .6
1 5 0 .4
1 5 2 .0
1 5 2 .2
1 5 2 .6
121.2
112.0
1 2 8 .8
1 5 2 .3
1 6 9 .7
1 6 4 .4
1 4 1 .6
1 2 7 .8
1 2 4 .4
1 1 7 .7
1 1 5 .5
1 1 5 .7
1 1 9 .3
1 2 4 .7
1 2 7 .4
1 2 7 .5
1 2 7 .4
1 2 6 .5
1 2 3 .1
1 1 3 .5
1 1 4 .2
1 2 2 .7
110.0
1 1 5 .8
1 1 7 .3
1 1 6 .5
1 1 3 .2
1 1 4 .5
1 1 6 .0
1 1 4 .7
122.1
101.8
1 0 0 .9
1 0 0 .7
1 0 0 .4
1 0 0 .5
1 0 0 .5
101.1
1 0 1 .5
101.2
1 0 1 .3
1 0 1 .3
1 0 1 .7
86
COST AND STANDARDS OF LIVING
T a b l e 1 . — In d e x es o f cost o f goods purchased b y wage earners and low er-sa laried
workers i n large cities com b in ed , 1 9 1 3 through D ec. 1 5 , 1 9 4 1 —
Date
All items
Food 1
Clothing
124.9
128.2
126.4
126.1
125.7
123.8
122.1
122.4
122.1
122.8
120.3
115.3
108.2
104.2
97.4
93.5
90.8
93.9
95.3
96.2
97.8
97.6
98.0
98.8
97.8
99.4
100.4
99.8
101.8
102.8
104.3
103.0
100.9
100.9
100.7
100.2
99.1
98.6
100.6
99.6
99.8
100.5
100.4
100.2
100.1
100.7
100.8
100.8
101.2
102.2
102.9
104.6
105.3
106.2
108.1
109.3
110.2
110.5
131.9
140.6
137.8
136.8
137.5
132.5
129.7
130.6
131.3
133.8
128.1
116.5
102.1
96.5
85.7
82.0
82.2
88.1
93.0
95.4
99.7
99.4
100.0
101.5
98.4
102.6
104.8
101.6
105.0
106.0
107.9
102.7
97.5
98.2
98.1
97.2
94.6
93.6
98.4
94.9
95.6
98.3
97.2
96.2
95.9
97.3
97.8
97.9
98.4
100.6
102.1
105.9
106.7
108.0
110.8
111.6
113.1
113.1
122.6
121.8
120.7
119.6
118.5
116.9
116.7
116.0
115.4
114.7
113.8
109.4
103.5
96.3
91.1
86.2
84.8
94.4
96.6
96.5
96.8
96.7
96.9
97.3
97.4
97.2
97.5
99.0
100. 9
102.5
105.1
104. 8
102. 9
102. 2
101.4
100. 9
100.4
100.3
100.3
101.3
102.0
101.7
101.6
101.6
101.6
101.6
100.7
100.4
102.1
102.4
102.8
103.3
104.8
106.9
110.7
112.6
113.8
114 8
1925—J u n e-.- __________ ____
December________ ___ _
1926—June____________________
December_______________
1927—June_________ ________
December________ ______
1928—June____________________
December_______________
1929—June____________________
D ecem ber..- _____ ______
1930—June____________________
December_______________
1931—June____________________
December______________
1932—June____________________
December___________ ___
1933—June____________________
December___________
1934—June____________________
N ov. 15___ __ _ ________
1935—Mar. 15_________________
July 15________________ _
Oct. 15__________________
1936—Jan. 15__________________
Apr. 15___ _____ ______
July 15.. _______________
Sept. 15_________________
Dec. 15________ ________
1937—Mar. 15_________________
June 15_________ _______
Sept. 15_________________
Dec. 15__________________
1938—Mar. 15_________________
June 15__________________
Sept. 15_________________
Dec. 15______ __________
1939—Mar. 15_________________
June 1 5 _________________
Sept. 15_________________
Dec. 15______________ - - .
1940—Mar. 15_________________
June 15_________________
Sept. 15_______________ _
Oct. 15__________________
N ov. 15_____ ___________
Dec. 15__________________
1941—Jan. 15__________________
Feb. 15__________________
Mar. 1 5 - _ ____
_
Apr. 15_______ --_ . __
M a y 15. _______________
June 15___
July 15__________________
Aug. 15- ___ __
_ ____
Sept. 15__________ ______
Oct. 15__________________
N ov. 15_____ _ ________
Dec. 15__________________
Rent
152.2
152.0
150.6
150.0
148.4
146.9
144.8
143.3
141.4
139.9
138.0
135.1
130.9
125.8
117.8
109.0
100.1
95.8
94.0
93.9
93.8
94.1
94.6
95.1
95.5
96.5
97.1
98.1
98.9
101.0
102.1
103.7
103.9
104.2
104.2
104.3
104.3
104.3
104.4
104.4
104.5
104.6
104.7
104.7
104.7
104.9
105.0
105.1
105.1
105.4
105.7
105.8
106.1
106.3
106.8
107.5
107.8
108.2
Continued
Fuel,
electric
ity, and
ice
Housefurnish
ings
112.4
121.3
114.7
118.6
114.1
115.4
112.0
114.3
111. 1
113.6
109.9
112.4
107.3
109.1
101.6
102.5
97.2
102.9
100.3
101.8
102.1
99.0
100.5
100.8
100.8
99.1
99.9
100.5
100.8
99.2
100.0
100.7
101.2
98.6
99.3
100.0
100.1
97.5
98.6
99.9
100.6
98.6
99.3
99.9
100.3
100.7
100.8
100.6
100.7
101.0
101.1
101.4
102.3
103.2
103. 7
104.0
104.0
104.1
121.3
121.1
118.6
117.3
115.7
115.2
112.8
112.1
111.7
111.3
109.9
105.4
98.1
92.6
84.8
81.3
81.5
91.1
92.9
93.6
94.2
94.5
95.7
95.8
95.7
95.9
96.6
97.9
102.6
104.3
106.7
107.0
104.7
103.1
101.9
101.7
100.9
100.6
101.1
102.7
100.5
100.1
100.3
100.4
100.6
100.4
100.1
100.4
101.6
102.4
103.2
105.3
107.4
108.9
112.0
114.4
115.6
116.8
M iscel
laneous
102.3
102.6
102.5
102.8
103.1
103.6
103.6
104.3
104.5
104.9
105.2
104.9
104.3
103.3
101.8
100.2
97.8
98.1
97.9
97.8
98.1
98.2
97.9
98.2
98.4
98.7
99.0
99.1
100.2
100.9
101.7
102.0
101.6
101.8
101.6
101.0
100.5
100.4
101.1
100.9
100.8
100.6
101.4
101.6
101.7
101.8
101.9
101.9
101.9
102.2
102.5
103.3
103.7
104.0
105.0
106.9
107.4
107.7
1 Covers 51 cities since June 1920.
Cost^of-Living Indexes, by Cities, 1913 to 1940
Table 2 presents the new indexes o f the cost o f all goods pur
chased by wage earners and lower-salaried workers, fo r each o f the
large cities covered and for the large cities combined, for all pricing
dates. Manchester has been added to the list o f cities covered since
March 1935, and Milwaukee since March 1939.
87
TIME CHANGES IN COST OF LIVING
T a b l e 2 . — In d e x es o f cost o f all goods purchased b y wage earners and low er-salaried
workers in large cities
[Average 1935-39=100]
D a te
1 91 3 — A v e r a g e ______________________
1 91 4 — D e c e m b e r ___________________
1 9 1 5 — D e c e m b e r ___________________
1 9 1 6 — D e c e m b e r ___________________
1 91 7 — D e c e m b e r ___________________
1 9 1 8 — D e c e m b e r ___________________
191 9 — J u n e ____________________________
D e c e m b e r ___________________
1 92 0 — J u n e __________________________
D e c e m b e r ___________________
192 1 — M a y ____________________________
S e p t e m b e r __________________
D e c e m b e r -------- ----------1 92 2 — M a r c h . ------- --------------J u n e ____________________________
S e p t e m b e r __________________
D e c e m b e r ___________________
1 92 3 — M a r c h ________ _______________
J u n e . . . -----------------------S e p t e m b e r ________________
D e c e m b e r ______________ __
1 9 2 4 — M a r c h ________________ „ ______
J u n e ____________________________
S e p t e m b e r __________________
D e c e m b e r ___________________
1 92 5 — J u n e ____________________________
D e c e m b e r ___________________
1 9 2 6 — J u n e ____________________________
D e c e m b e r ___________________
192 7 — J u n e ____________________________
D e c e m b e r ___________________
1 928— J u n e ____________________________
D e c e m b e r ___________________
1 9 2 9 — J u n e ____________________________
D e c e m b e r ___________________
193 0 — J u n e --------- -------------------D ecem ber
____________
1 9 3 1 — J u n e ----------------------------D e c e m b e r _______________
1 9 3 2 — J u n e ____________________________
D ecem ber
_
_
_
1933— J u n e .
.
_____________ .
D ecem ber
_____________
1 93 4 — J u n e ------------ -------------N o v e m b e r 1 5 ______________
1 9 3 5 — M a r c h 1 5 ____________________
J u ly 1 5 ,
__________
__
O c t o b e r 1 5 _______
_ _ _
1 9 3 6 — J a n u a r y 1 5 ________ _________
A p r i l 1 5 ______________ ________
J u ly 15.
------------------S e p t e m b e r 1 5 ______________
D e c e m b e r 1 5 _______________
1 9 3 7 — M a r c h 1 5 ____________________
J u n e 15
____________________
S e p t e m b e r 1 5 . __ _______
D e c e m b e r 1 5 _______________
1938—M a r c h 1 5 ____________________
J u n e 1 5 __________ ____________
S e p t e m b e r 1 5 _______ . . .
D e c e m b e r 1 5 _______________
1 93 9 — M a r c h 1 5 ____________________
J u n e 1 5 _________
... _ .
S e p t e m b e r 1 5 ______________
D e c e m b e r 1 5 _______________
1 94 0 — M a r c h 1 5 ____________________
J u n e 1 5 _______ ___________
.
S e p t e m b e r 1 5 ____________
O c t o b e r 1 5 _______________ _
N o v e m b e r 1 5 ______________
D e c e m b e r 1 5 _______________
1 Indexes not computed.
A ll
c it ie s
7 0 .7
7 2 .6
7 4 .0
8 2 .4
9 7 .8
1 1 8 .0
121 0
1 3 5 .3
1 4 9 .4
1 3 8 .3
1 2 6 .6
1 2 5 .3
1 2 3 .6
1 1 9 .3
1 1 9 .5
1 1 8 .7
1 2 0 .4
1 2 0 .2
1 2 1 .6
1 2 3 .1
1 2 3 .5
1 2 2 .0
1 2 1 .8
1 2 2 .2
1 2 3 .2
1 2 4 .9
1 2 8 .2
1 26 . 4
1 2 6 .1
1 2 5 .7
1 2 3 .8
1 2 2 .1
1 2 2 .4
1 2 2 .1
1 2 2 .8
1 2 0 .3
1 1 5 .3
1 0 8 .2
1 0 4 .2
9 7 .4
9 3 .5
9 0 .8
9 3 .9
9 5 .3
9 6 .2
9 7 .8
9 7 .6
9 8 .0
9 8 .8
9 7 .8
9 9 .4
1 0 0 .4
9 9 .8
1 0 1 .8
1 0 2 .8
1 0 4 .3
1 0 3 .0
1 0 0 .9
1 0 0 .9
1 0 0 .7
1 0 0 .2
9 9 .1
9 8 .6
1 0 0 .6
9 9 .6
9 9 .8
100. 5
1 0 0 .4
1 0 0 .2
1 0 0 .1
1 0 0 .7
A t
la n ta
0
0
0
0
1 1 0 .6
1 3 2 .3
1 3 7 .8
1 5 1 .2
1 6 7 .6
1 51 . 6
1 3 8 .0
1 3 4 .6
1 3 0 .8
1 2 7 .1
1 2 7 .6
1 2 6 .6
1 2 6 .3
1 2 6 .7
1 2 7 .8
1 2 9 .5
1 2 7 .5
1 2 5 .8
1 2 6 .0
1 2 6 .0
1 2 6 .2
1 3 0 .1
1 3 3 .2
1 3 1 .5
1 2 9 .2
1 3 2 .0
125 . 5
1 2 6 .7
1 2 6 .3
1 2 4 .8
1 2 4 .6
1 2 0 .1
1 1 4 .9
1 0 7 .9
1 0 2 .2
9 7 .3
9 1 .8
9 0 .9
9 4 .2
9 5 .4
97. 2
9 7 .5
9 7 .6
9 9 .8
1 0 0 .3
9 8 .3
9 9 .9
1 0 1 .1
1 0 0 .9
1 0 2 .2
1 0 2 .8
1 0 4 .3
1 0 2 .6
1 0 0 .1
9 9 .2
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
9 8 .8
9 8 .0
1 0 0 .1
9 8 .7
9 9 .5
9 8 .5
9 9 .4
0
0
1 0 0 .0
B a lt i
m o re
0
6 6 .3
6 6 .3
7 7 .0
9 5 .5
1 1 6 .3
1 1 8 .0
1 2 7 .7
1 4 2 .0
1 2 9 .3
1 1 9 .1
1 1 8 .9
1 1 6 .6
1 1 4 .0
1 1 4 .0
1 1 2 .8
1 1 4 .5
1 1 4 .8
1 1 7 .3
1 1 8 .4
1 1 7 .6
1 1 6 .6
1 1 6 .9
1 1 6 .3
1 1 7 .2
1 1 9 .9
1 2 2 .9
1 2 1 .8
1 2 0 .6
1 2 0 .1
1 1 7 .8
1 1 7 .6
1 16. 5
1 1 7 .2
1 1 8 .2
1 1 6 .9
1 1 2 .4
1 0 6 .2
1 0 2 .9
9 6 .5
9 3 .3
9 0 .6
9 5 .0
9 5 .7
9 6 .8
9 8 .1
9 8 .4
9 8 .9
9 9 .8
9 9 .1
9 9 .7
1 0 0 .6
9 9 .7
1 0 1 .4
1 0 1 .7
1 0 2 .9
1 0 1 .9
1 0 0 .3
1 0 0 .3
1 0 0 .1
1 0 0 .0
9 9 .6
9 9 .2
1 0 0 .5
9 8 .9
9 9 .7
100. 5
1 0 0 .0
9 9 .8
9 9 .8
1 0 0 .5
B ir
m in g
ham
0
0
0)
0J
1 1 3 .7
1 3 2 .9
1 3 7 .2
1 5 4 .1
1 6 9 .2
1 5 2 .8
1 4 0 .6
1 39 . 6
1 3 4 .0
1 2 8 .9
1 2 9 .0
1 2 8 .7
1 2 9 .7
1 3 0 .1
1 3 2 .2
1 3 2 .8
1 3 3 .3
1 3 1 .9
1 3 0 .3
1 3 2 .2
1 33 . 6
1 3 6 .0
1 3 9 .0
1 3 7 .5
1 3 6 .4
1 3 4 .4
1 3 3 .4
1 3 1 .0
1 3 0 .0
1 2 9 .1
1 2 8 .1
1 2 5 .5
1 1 8 .6
1 0 6 .7
1 0 1 .6
9 3 .4
9 0 .1
8 8 .3
91. 7
92. 7
9 6 .0
9 6 .0
9 7 .0
9 8 .3
9 8 .0
9 6 .1
9 9 .0
1 0 0 .2
1 0 0 .9
1 0 3 .2
1 0 4 .0
1 0 4 .9
1 0 4 .1
1 0 1 .5
1 0 0 .7
1 0 1 .2
1 0 0 .4
9 9 .1
9 8 .2
1 0 0 .3
9 9 .5
9 9 .3
9 9 .1
1 0 0 .3
1 0 0 .6
1 0 0 .5
1 0 1 .9
B o s to n
0)
7 3 .1
7 4 .1
8 3 .8
9 9 .0
1 2 0 .4
1 2 1 .1
1 3 5 .2
1 4 8 .9
1 4 0 .1
1 2 5 .2
1 2 5 .0
1 2 3 .5
1 1 7 .7
1 1 6 .6
1 1 7 .2
1 1 9 .9
1 1 9 .1
1 1 9 .2
1 2 2 .5
1 2 3 .4
1 2 0 .2
1 1 9 .7
1 2 1 .4
1 2 2 .2
1 2 1 .7
1 2 9 .0
1 2 5 .4
1 2 6 .6
1 2 4 .6
1 2 5 .0
1 21. 7
123 . 4
1 2 1 .7
1 2 4 .0
1 2 0 .6
1 1 7 .3
1 0 8 .9
1 0 6 .4
9 8 .1
9 5 .8
9 3 .1
9 6 .3
9 8 .1
9 8 .9
1 0 0 .3
9 9 .0
9 9 .2
1 0 0 .1
9 9 .6
1 0 0 .8
1 0 0 .3
9 9 .3
1 0 1 .5
1 0 2 .6
1 0 4 .8
1 02 . 2
9 9 .8
9 9 .8
9 9 .8
9 8 .8
9 8 .1
9 7 .4
9 9 .3
9 7 .9
99. 2
1 0 0 .0
9 9 .4
9 8 .8
9 8 .5
9 9 .1
B u f f a lo
0
.
6 6 .1
6 8 .3
7 9 .8
9 5 .7
1 1 5 .6
1 1 9 .2
1 3 0 .0
1 4 4 .8
1 3 1 .1
1 19 . 9
1 19 . 2
1 1 7 .6
1 1 4 .5
1 1 4 .1
1 1 4 .7
1 1 6 .0
1 1 5 .8
1 1 7 .8
1 2 0 .4
1 1 9 .6
1 1 8 .2
1 1 7 .7
1 1 8 .3
1 1 9 .2
1 2 1 .8
1 2 5 .4
1 25. 4
1 2 4 .3
1 2 3 .9
1 2 1 .7
1 2 1 .5
1 2 0 .8
1 2 1 .3
1 2 1 .8
1 2 0 .0
1 1 3 .9
1 0 6 .9
1 0 1 .4
9 7 .5
9 2 .9
9 0 .8
9 3 .2
9 5 .0
9 4 .6
9 6 .9
9 7 .7
9 7 .2
9 8 .0
9 8 .1
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
9 9 .9
1 0 1 .7
1 0 3 .9
1 0 4 .5
1 0 3 .6
1 0 1 .3
1 0 0 .6
1 0 0 .1
1 0 0 .4
9 9 .3
9 8 .6
1 0 1 .1
9 9 .7
1 0 0 .5
1 0 1 .2
1 0 1 .2
1 0 0 .9
1 0 0 .9
1 0 1 .7
C h i
cag o
C1)
7 2 .8
7 4 .6
8 4 .7
9 8 .5
1 1 9 .0
121. 5
1 3 8 .0
1 5 1 .7
1 3 7 .6
1 3 0 .7
129. 5
1 2 7 .6
1 2 3 .3
123 . 6
1 2 3 .6
1 2 4 .8
1 2 5 .1
1 2 6 .4
1 2 8 .7
1 2 8 .8
1 2 8 .1
1 2 9 .1
1 2 9 .7
1 3 0 .4
1 3 2 .7
135. 2
1 3 3 .5
1 3 3 .4
1 3 3 .2
1 2 9 .9
1 2 8 .3
1 2 8 .7
1 2 8 .2
1 2 9 .3
1 2 6 .7
1 2 0 .9
1 1 3 .4
1 0 8 .8
9 9 .0
9 3 .8
9 0 .3
9 2 .1
9 2 .6
9 3 .5
9 7 .1
9 7 .3
9 7 .2
9 7 .7
9 6 .9
9 8 .7
1 0 0 .5
99. 5
1 0 1 .3
1 0 3 .6
1 0 5 .1
1 0 3 .3
1 0 1 .1
1 0 2 .2
1 0 2 .1
1 0 0 .8
9 9 .4
9 8 .9
1 0 0 .7
9 9 .8
9 9 .7
1 0 1 .4
1 0 0 .9
1 0 0 .9
1 0 0 .5
1 0 1 .0
C in c in
n a ti
C le v e
la n d
0
0)
0
(0
0
9 7 .0
1 1 3 .4
1 1 8 .6
1 3 1 .2
1 4 7 .0
1 3 1 .4
1 1 9 .9
1 1 7 .6
113. 5
1 1 1 .1
1 1 2 .9
1 1 1 .2
1 1 1 .5
1 1 2 .7
1 1 5 .3
1 1 5 .8
115. 3
115. 6
1 1 5 .6
1 15. 5
1 1 5 .9
1 2 2 .1
1 2 3 .0
1 2 3 .4
1 2 2 .4
1 2 4 .8
1 1 9 .6
1 2 0 .3
1 1 9 .4
1 2 1 .1
1 2 2 .2
1 2 0 .6
1 1 5 .3
1 0 8 .0
1 0 3 .6
9 5 .8
9 2 .0
9 0 .6
9 3 .2
9 4 .8
9 5 .4
9 8 .6
9 8 .5
9 9 .0
9 9 .6
9 8 .2
1 0 0 .6
1 0 1 .7
9 9 .9
1 0 2 .7
1 0 3 .1
1 0 4 .4
1 0 2 .9
1 0 0 .6
1 0 0 .5
1 0 0 .3
9 9 .1
9 8 .2
9 7 .3
9 9 .4
9 8 .2
9 8 .4
9 8 .8
9 9 .9
9 9 .1
9 9 .1
9 9 .6
6 6 .6
6 7 .9
7 7 .7
9 2 .2
1 1 0 .7
115 . 5
1 2 9 .1
1 4 5 .8
1 3 8 .2
1 2 7 .0
1 2 4 .0
1 2 1 .5
1 1 5 .2
1 1 5 .6
1 1 4 .3
1 17 . O'
1 1 7 .8
120. 6
1 22. 3
1 2 1 .5
1 2 0 .4
1 1 9 .8 ;
120. 5
1 2 0 .3 ;
1 2 3 .1
1 2 4 .0
1 2 4 .3
1 2 3 .2
1 23 . 5
120. 2
1 19 . 9
1 1 8 .4
1 19 . 3
1 1 8 .1
1 1 8 .1
112. 0
1 0 4 .3
1 0 0 .4
9 5 .5
9 0 .4
8 9 .1
9 1 .5
9 3 .4
9 3 .7
9 6 .9
9 7 .0
9 7 .4
9 7 .2
9 6 .8
98. O
1 0 0 .0
9 8 .4
1 0 0 .5
1 0 2 .8
104. 3
1 0 2 .9
1 0 1 .1
1 0 1 .8
1 01 . 9
1 0 1 .4
1 0 1 .0
1 0 0 .8
1 0 1 .7
1 0 0 .9
1 0 0 .7
1 01 . 5
1 0 2 .2
1 0 1 .5
101. 2
1 0 2 .0
88
COST AND STANDARDS OF LIVING
T a b l e 2 . — In d e x es o f cost o f all goods purchased b y wage earners and loW er-salaried
w orkers in large cities —
D en
ver
Detroit
1913—Average....................... -
(0
(0
1914—Decem ber___________
1915—D ecem ber__________ _•
1916—Decem ber___________
1917—Decem ber.............. .......
1918—Decem ber___________
1919—June_________________
December____________
1920—J u n e................... ..........
Decem ber___________
1921—M a y _________________
Septem ber....................
D ecem b er............. .......
1922—M arch_______________
June...................... .........
Septem ber.................
D ecem b er........... .........
1923—M arch................ ..........
June_______ _________
September----------------Decem ber-----------------1924—M arch_______________
June.. ............... .........
September___________
D ecem ber....................
1925—June-------------------------December___________
1926—June-------------------------December____________
1927—June_________________
December___________
1928—June_________________
Decem ber....................
1929—June__________ ______
December___________
1930—June-------------------------D ecem b er.---------------1Q31—June-------------------------D ecem ber.............
1932-^-June............................ Decem ber___________
1933—June_________________
Decem ber___________
1934—June-------------------------Novem ber 15_____ __
1935—March 15____________
July 15........................
October 15.____ ______
1936—Jan u a ry...,---------------April 15______________
July 15______________
September 15________
December 15................
1937—March 15____________
June 15______________
September 15________
December 15_________
1938—March 15____________
June 15___ _____ ____
September 15...............
December 15. ...........
1939—March 15____________
June 15______________
September 15________
December 15_________
1940—March 15......................
June 15_______ _______
September 15...............
October 15___________
Novem ber 15.......... .
December 15................
0)
(l)
0)
97.6
117.4
123.2
136.8
151.9
138.0
128.2
127.0
124.9
120.4
121.1
119.0
120.6
120.1
121.5
122.1
122.3
119.2
119.2
118.8
120.8
123.8
124.0
122.7
121.3
122.0
116.6
116.1
116.5
116.8
117.0
115.6
110.1
104.4
100.3
94.7
91.3
89.9
91.5
93.5
94.9
97.2
96.8
97.2
97.9
97.1
99.6
100.5
99.9
102.8
103.5
105.1
103.3
101.0
101.0
100.2
99.9
99.2
99.2
99.7
99.7
98.7
99.7
98.9
99.1
99.0
100.2
Date
1 Indexes not computed.
69.1
71.4
83.4
101.2
120.9
126.2
141.7
163.2
150.9
135.0
131.3
127.5
123.1
123.7
123.3
124.6
125.7
128.0
130.4
129.4
128.6
128.7
127.4
127.3
130.0
132.1
130.7
129.2
129.7
125.5
123.8
123.9
125.1
124.7
121.8
113.3
105.3
98.7
91.3
86.2
83.5
87.6
90.8
91.2
94.2
94.9
95.5
96.5
96.4
99.2
100.1
99.5
102.7
105. 3
106.1
106.4
104.2
103.0
101.5
100.7
99.8
99.1
100.2
99.8
99.9
100.9
100.5
100.6
100.4
100.9
Continued
Hous Indian Jack Kansas
Los
M an
ton
apolis sonville C ity Angeles chester
(0
(I)
CO
(0
72.8
72.6
83.0
101.0
121.6
125.2
141.6
151.0
144.5
129.3
126.7
125.4
121.7
120.9
120.5
122.0
120.5
121.4
122.2
123.3
121.5
119.4
120.8
122.3
123.4
125.4
122.2
122.8
120.3
120.7
118.4
119.4
119. 2
120. 7
117.6
112.2
105.8
102.8
94.2
89.3
88.5
92.4
93.1
96.1
97.6
96.5
97.0
97.8
96.7
98.5
99.5
99.6
101.6
101.5
103.5
103.0
101.7
101.2
101.5
101.4
100.0
100.1
101.6
101.3
100.8
100.7
101.1
101.7
101.8
102.2
0)
0)
0)
101.2
120.1
123.1
138.5
158.3
139.4
126.4
126.7
122.1
118.9
121.2
120.6
121.2
122.4
123.5
125.9
123.2
122.4
122.5
123.8
123.9
125.5
128.5
126.8
125.8
127.4
122.2
121.8
121.0
121.1
122.4
120.8
114.0
105.7
101.3
95.1
91.3
90.1
93.2
95.0
94.4
97.1
97.4
98.4
98.9
97.9
98.8
100.2
100.0
101.9
103.4
104.4
103.5
101.5
101.1
101.0
100.0
99.3
98.4
99.7
99.6
99.6
100.2
100.7
(0
0)
102.0
76.4
77.0
85.3
103.4
126.8
130.6
146.6
160.1
150.4
137.8
134.1
131.4
126.8
125.9
124.3
125.9
125.7
126.7
128.4
128.7
127.4
126.1
128.0
127.9
128.8
139.8
141.1
139.7
135.6
131.7
127.1
126.5
125.0
123.7
120.8
116.2
108.6
103.1
96.3
92.8
89.8
95.0
96.4
97.6
97.9
98.9
99.2
100.0
98.0
100.1
100.2
100.7
102.4
102.8
103.4
102.7
100.4
100.2
100.2
99.1
98.4
98.2
100.1
99.3
98.9
100.2
101.0
0)
0)
101.8
0)
0)
0)
103.9
123.7
124.4
143.1
159.-8
145.6
134.2
131.4
129.4
122.6
122.5
121.2
122.3
122.4
122.1
123.0
123.4
122.1
120.7
120.3
121.3
123.2
125.0
124.1
121.8
121.7
117.6
117.6
117.0
116.8
117.9
116.2
113.4
108.9
104.3
97.2
94.6
92.6
93.9
95.2
96.7
98.0
97.3
98.0
98.7
97.6
99.3
100.7
99.9
101.7
102.9
103.8
102.6
100.9
100.8
100.3
99.7
99.1
99.0
100.6
99.3
98.3
98.6
97.8
98.0
98.3
98.6
«
74.1
72.7
79.3
93.9
114.6
118.9
134.9
147.8
143.8
133.8
132.7
132.8
131.5
131.1
130.3
131.2
130.6
132.5
133.6
134.8
134.2
132. 5
133.2
132.0
133.6
133.6
128.5
128.7
123.7
126.7
124. 2 '
126.0
124.6
124.4
121.2
116.0
107.8
105.7
98.2
95.0
90.6
94.1
93.2
96.3
98.2
95.4
95.1
96.6
95.7
97.2
99.6
99.4
103.4
102.9
104.2
103.2
101.5
101.8
101.8
102.6
101.2
100.3
101.9
100.4
100.7
100.8
101.2
101.4
101.9
102.2
(0
0)
0)
0)
C1)
0)
0)
0)
0)
0)
0)
0)
0)
(!)
0)
(0
0)
0)
0)
0)
0)
0)
(0
0)
0)
(0
0)
0)
C1)
0)
0)
0)
C1)
C1)
rn
0)
(0
(0
0)
0)
0)
0)
0)
(0
0)
99.1
99.2
98.9
99.8
99.3
100.8
100.4
99.7
102.1
103.2
103.5
101.6
100.1
100.3
99.6
98.8
98.0
97.9
100.4
99.0
100.1
100.5
100.4
0)
0)
100.3
M em
phis
(0
(i)
0)
0)
101.8
120.2
125.4
140.2
155.3
144.5
131.7
131.9
129.0
124.6
124.8
124.1
123.7
124.7
125.7
126.5
126.4
124.8
123.6
124.4
124.9
126.3
129.1
126.9
125.8
125.8
122.0
121.3
121.9
122.0
121. fi
120.5
114.0
105.7
101.7
95.0
90.7
90.1
93.7
94.8
97.4
98.5
97.7
97.6
98.7
98.4
99.7
100.7
101.0
102.7
102.9
103.5
102.5
100.4
100.1
100.4
99.5
98.5
98.1
100.4
98.9
98.5
98.4
98.8
0)
0)
99.9
89
TIME CHANGES IN COST OF LIVING
T a b l e 2 . — In d e x es o f cost o f all goods purchased by wage earners and low er-sa laried
w orkers in large cities —
Date
Mil
wau
kee
1913—Average.............. ........
0
1914—December__________
1915—December . . . _____
1916—December__________
1917—December__________
1918—December__________
1919—June.. _______ .
December____ ______
1920—June_______________
December__________
1921—May.
September________ _
December__________*
1922—March________ _____
June... _________ .
September__________
D ecem ber____ ____
1923—March______________
June _ _ _ ________
September__________
December__________
1924—March______________
June.-. . __ . . .
September _ ____
December_____ . . .
1925—June________________
December__________
1926—June________________
December___ ______
1927—June________________
December__________
1928—June________________
D ecem ber_________
1929—June_______________
December...................
1930—June _ _ __________
December_______ _
1931—June___ __________
December__________
1932—June_______________
December...................
1933—June____ ________ _
December. ________
1934—June_______________
November 15_______
1935—March 15________ _
July 15_____________
October 15__________
1936—January 15__________
April 15_____________
July 15_____________
September 15________
December 1 5 _______
1937—March 15_______
June 15___________
September 15_______
December 15 . . . .
1938—March 15________
June 15_________
September 15..
December 15_____
1939—March 15_________
June 15_________
September 15________
December 15
1940—March 15___________
June 15_____________
September 15________
October 15__________
November 15________
December 15________
0
0)
0
0
0
0
0
(0
0
(1)
0)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0)
0
0)
0
0
0)
0
0
0)
0
0
0
0)
0
0
0
0
0
0)
0)
0)
0)
0
0
0)
0
(0
0)
0
0
0
0)
0
0
0
0
0
0)
0
0
0
in d e x e s not computed.
0
0
98.3
97.5
99.1
98.1
98.0
99.5
98.8
0
0
99.1
Continued
Minne Mobile New
apolis
Orleans
0)
0
0
0
98.1
113.2
116.2
130.3
144.7
135.5
123.7
122.7
121.8
118.1
118.5
115.8
118.1
118.2
118.1
118.4
119.4
118.7
117.0
116.0
117.4
117.8
121.7
121.3
119.3
119.7
116.2
116.6
115.5
115.9
117.2
116.0
111.3
106.1
102.6
96.1
92.8
88.7
92.8
93.9
94.3
96.4
96.1
96.8
98.0
96.9
98.1
100.1
99.9
101.6
102.7
104.2
103.4
101. 5
101. 8
101.4
100.9
100.2
100.1
101.2
101. 1
100.7
100.8
100.9
101.0
101.1
102.2
0)
0
75.3
75.1
84.4
104.9
127.1
130.4
144.4
156.3
145.0
130.1
128.5
124.8
119.7
119.8
119.5
120.6
120.2
121.2
122.7
122.7
120.9
119.6
122.0
123.4
124.6
128.7
127.5
127.8
127.3
125.7
124.4
124.9
123.8
124.7
122.4
116.8
108.2
103.9
95.9
93.0
90.1
95.0
94.8
97.3
98.6
98.4
98.9
98.7
97.5
99.6
99.5
99.0
102. 5
103.3
103.3
102.0
100.8
100.6
100.3
99.6
99.4
98.8
101.0
99.7
99.1
99.2
98.8
0
0
0
99.3
116.7
118.5
132.4
141.7
135.8
125. 2
124.8
123.9
122.2
120.7
119.5
119.4
118.7
119.3
120.8
121.3
120.5
118.4
119.6
121.5
121.4
123.5
120.8
122.1
122.5
120.7
119.4
120.4
118.7
119.6
116.7
111.7
101.7
101.2
94.5
92.4
89.6
94.5
94.3
96.7
99.4
98.4
98.9
99.3
97.3
99.7
100.4
100.5
102.4
101.5
103.0
101.6
100.4
99.1
100.3
100.2
101.4
0
0
99.9
99.4
98.7
102.0
100.4
100.9
101.1
102.2
0)
0)
New
York
Nor
folk
Phila
del
phia
Pitts
burgh
Port
land,
Maine
0
0
0
(0
0)
68.1
69.3
77.6
94.5
115.3
117.5
132.6
143.1
134.1
122.7
122.2
122.7
117.1
117.7
117.1
119.6
118.6
119.2
120.8
121.9
119.3
119.3
119.7
121.7
121.5
126.9
124.1
124.5
123.4
124.3
121.4
122.5
122.0
123.0
119.6
116.5
109.8
106.0
101.1
97.3
93.7
96.4
98.1
98.5
98.9
98.3
98.7
99.9
98.6
99.5
100.4
99.5
101.3
101.4
103.9
102.8
99.6
99.7
100.3
100.2
99.2
98.2
101.3
100.1
101.2
101.6
101.0
100.2
100.4
100.9
70.5
70.9
79.3
98.6
126.3
130.1
144.9
159.1
147.0
133.4
131. 4
127.6
123.2
121.9
120.4
120.3
120.5
122.2
123.4
121.8
121.2
119.7
120.1
121.2
121.9
126.2
124.1
123.6
124.7
122.1
121.0
121.3
121.1
122.4
120.0
115.1
107.3
103.2
97.0
93.6
90.1
95.6
97.3
97.9
99.5
98.9
100.1
101.1
99.0
100.0
100.9
101.2
102.1
102.2
102.9
101.8
100.1
99.0
99.0
99.0
98.4
97.3
99.5
98.5
97.7
98.5
99.0
0)
0
100.7
70.1
71.0
79.7
97.5
117.4
120.5
132.7
146.7
137.1
125.0
123.2
122.0
119.1
119.5
116.7
119.1
119.4
121.7
123.0
122.7
121.6
122.0
121.7
124.0
126.8
130.3
129.5
129.2
127.6
126.3
124.7
122.8
122.4
123.4
120.4
115.8
109.8
105.7
97.9
93.4
91.2
95.5
97.7
97.2
98.0
98.2
99.0
100.1
99.2
100.2
101.0
100.8
102.2
102.7
104.0
101.6
100.2
100.6
100.1
99.4
98.2
98.0
99.6
98.6
98.3
99.2
98.7
98.7
98.8
99.1
0
0
0
99.4
118.8
121.6
134.9
149.7
138.6
128.4
125.5
123.3
118.8
119.4
118.9
120.3
120.3
123.0
123.7
123.0
121.8
123.8
124.3
125.3
127.9
130.2
129.0
128.7
128.4
126.2
124.5
125.9
125.5
124.9
122.8
116.7
109.7
105.0
97.2
93.8
90.0
93.2
95.3
95.3
96.9
97.4
98.3
98.7
97.5
100.0
101.2
100.0
101.8
103.6
105.2
102.5
100.8
101.2
71.5
71.3
80.5
96.2
119.3
122.2
134.5
148.8
135.9
122.6
122.5
120.1
115.8
114.8
115.5
116.9
117.7
117.3
118.6
119.2
117.5
116.1
116.9
117.6
117.8
122.2
120.8
120.6
120.5
119.1
117.2
118.5
118.1
119.0
116.6
113.2
108.0
104.9
99.7
95.8
94.1
98.0
98.9
99.9
100.0
100.7
100.1
100.5
99.9
101.3
101.1
100.5
102.0
103.6
103.5
101.8
99.3
99.2
100.3
97.8
98.4
100.1
98.8
99.1
100.6
100.7
100.5
100.6
101.1
97.8
96.6
96.4
99.0
97.6
97.8
98.9
98.5
101.1
99.4
0
0
98.3
90
COST AND STANDARDS OF LIVING
T a b l e 2 . — In d e x es o f cost o f all goods purchased b y wage earners and low er-sa laried
w orkers in large cities —
Continued
Date
Port
land,
Oreg.
Rich
mond
St.
Louis
San
Fran
cisco
Savan
nah
Scran
ton
Seattle
Wash
ington,
D. C.
1913—Average....... ................
0)
0)
0)
0)
0
0
0)
0)
0)
0
0
73.4
72.7
78.9
92.2
112.2
116.5
129.1
139.0
131.1
120.4
119.3
119.2
116.3
115.8
115.0
116.0
114.5
115.7
117.5
118.7
115.9
115.8
116.4
117.3
119.9
121.4
118.8
119.0
119.3
118.3
117.1
118.7
117.7
118.1
115.7
111.7
105.4
102.2
97.0
95.2
92.7
95.9
96.6
99.0
99.4
97.5
97.8
98.4
97.0
97.9
98.7
98.8
101.1
101.5
102.9
103.0
101.2
101.4
101.7
101.4
100.3
99.2
101.0
100.2
99.8
100.1
100.8
101.4
101.6
101.6
80.6
80.4
90.3
109.7
135.9
138.4
152.2
162.8
153.7
139.5
136.1
132.0
126.1
126.0
125.4
126.2
126.0
126.1
126.3
125.6
124.6
123.4
123.9
123.9
125.7
131.0
129.2
128.2
127.5
125.9
124.8
125.5
124.6
124.4
121.7
116.3
110.4
103.9
97.0
94.1
91.5
95.8
96.5
97.6
98.6
98.5
100.0
100.2
98.5
100.1
100.3
100.2
101.7
102.1
103.0
101.9
100.3
99.8
99.4
99.5
98.7
98.7
100.6
99.7
100.0
100.8
101.0
101.1
100.8
101.5
0
0
0
97.1
119.2
123.3
134.3
151.7
136.5
126.9
125.8
125.0
120.2
121.1
118.7
121.0
121.3
122.7
124.3
124.5
122.8
122.5
123.6
124.8
127.5
132.6
130.1
129.7
129.3
127.9
127.0
127.2
126.6
126.9
123.3
118.2
109.6
106.0
98.5
96.1
93.0
97.8
98.6
98.4
99.8
99.9
100.3
101.4
99.4
101.4
102.5
101.8
102.1
102.9
103.8
101.2
99.7
99.6
97.7
97.9
96.9
96.4
98.7
97.4
.98.4
98.7
98.6
70.5
69.8
75.0
90.5
118.1
123.6
139.8
151.1
137.6
128.8
125.3
122.8
120.6
120.1
119.3
119.1
115.8
119.3
120.4
120.1
119.0
119.9
119.3
119.8
122.8
123.2
121.5
120.6
122.1
118.5
117.9
118.2
119.1
119.7
118.7
111.0
107.0
103.4
97.0
92.8
92.5
93.1
93.6
95.5
97.4
95.7
95.9
97.8
96. 5
97.7
99.0
99.5
102.0
102.2
103.7
103.2
102.2
101.2
101.1
101.2
100.9
100.8
102.6
100.9
101.6
101.7
101.7
101.5
101.6
102.0
72.6
73.2
81 5
102.9
119.5
117.8
127.5
141.9
130.0
118.2
119.0
116.2
112.8
113.7
112.3
113.5
112.9
116.0
116.8
115.8
114.4
114.3
114.4
115.9
117.4
120.0
119.3
118.6
116.3
115.2
114.8
114.1
114.6
114.5
112.9
110.2
105.0
102.4
97.3
94.1
92.7
96.4
97.6
98.3
98.6
98.7
99.4
99.9
98.6
99.8
100.5
100.4
101.9
102.4
103.3
102.2
100.1
100.1
100.1
99.7
98.9
98.5
100.3
98.9
99.6
100.1
100.0
0
0
99.7
1914—December___________
77.7
1915—December.....................
74.8
80.7
1916—December___________
97.8
1917—December___________
1918—December___________
123.7
1919—June________________
128.3
141.0
December__________ _
1920—June__________ ______
156.8
Decem ber..................
139.6
127.2
1921—M ay________________
September__ i _______
126.5
December___________
124.7
120.9
1922—March.........................
June_____ _____ _____
120.6
122.1
September....................
Decem ber.-........ ........
122.8
1923—March_____ _________
122.1
Ju ne_______________
122.3
September___________
123.4
124.4
December....................
1924—March______________
123.0
121.4
June.............................
September.----- --------122.2
122.5
December....................
123.5
1925—June ---------------------123.8
December___________
1926—June________________
122.2
121.8
December___________
1927—June________________
121.7
119.6
•
December___________
1928—June.......... ...... ...........
117.6
December___________
118.3
1929—June_________ _______
116.8
December.._________
117.8
1930—June.. .......... .............
116.7
December___________
109.7
104.4
1931—June _______________
December__________ _
101.4
94.4
1932-June. ______________
December___________
91.8
1933—June ________________
88.6
90.5
December___________
91.9
1934—June________________
94.1
November 15. _.......... .
1935—March 15........ ........... .
96.4
Julv 15______ ____ _
95.5
October 15_____ ____ _
95.7
1936—January 15__________
96.8
96.2
April 15____________ _
98.2
July 15______________
September 15-..........
99.3
December 15 ..............
99.4
1937—March 15____________
102.0
June 15_....... ..............
103.0
September 15_______
104.7
December 15________
103.2
102.7
1938—March 1 5 -.......... ........
June 15_______ _____ _
101.7
September 15..............
101.6
December 15___ ____ _
101.7
1939—March 15____________
100.7
June 15______________
100. 5
September 15____v—...
102.1
December 15 ________ ‘ 100.9
1940—March 15— ...............
99.7
June 15.......... ..............
100.7
101. 5
September 15....... ........
October 15................
0
November 15...............
0)
December 15............. .
101.8
1 Indexes not computed.
0
0)
0
101.9
119.7
123.0
134.8
151.3
135.5
123.0
124.3
121.9
118.1
118.7
116.6
117.4
117.6
119.7
121.6
120.6
119.1
117.8
119.1
119.7
121.8
126.6
125.8
123.5
123.7
119.7
120.0
118.2
117.2
118.3
117.7
112.2
105.9
103.1
96.9
92.9
91.1
95.2
96.4
97.2
98.2
98.3
99.7
99.9
98.3
99.8
101.5
102.0
102.0
101.6
103.6
102.0
100.6
99.2
100.0
99.8
98.6
97.4
99.9
98.8
98.4
98.5
99.3
0
0
99.7
98.7
115.1
116.7
132.3
151.6
134.9
123.9
123.9
120.1
117.0
118.1
116.5
117.6
118.1
119.2
121.3
121.0
120.4
120.0
120.2
121.3
124.6
127.4
126.8
126.3
126.9
122.7
121.9
121.4
122.6
123.6
121.0
114.9
107.2
101.9
96.3
92.3
90.7
92.8
94.9
95.6
98.0
98.3
98.2
99.4
98.3
99.8
101. 3
99.7
101.8
103.0
104.1
102.7
100.7
100.4
100.7
99.5
99.0
97.8
100.4
99.1
99.0
99.5
99.8
100.0
99.7
101.0
(0
0
99.4
TIME CHANGES IN COST OF LIVING
91
Comparison of N ew and Old Indexes
As already noted, the current cost-of-living indexes o f the Bureau
of Labor Statistics are based upon the consumption habits o f wage
earners and clerical workers as ascertained in the Bureau’s survey
made in 1934-36. This adjustment was made in 1940 and at the
same time the base period was changed from 1913 to 1935-39. Pre
viously, consuming habits as they existed in 1917-18, and as shown in
the Bureau’s budget survey o f that year, had been used as the basis
for the weights used in computing its cost-of-living indexes.
Despite the large changes in the internal composition o f the index
resulting from the new study o f consumption habits in 1934-36, the
differences between the movement o f the new and original indexes
over the period for which both indexes were computed, March 1935
to December 1939, are not large. The general pattern o f change in
the cost o f all items was the same for both indexes— little change
during 1935, a sharp increase from the spring o f 1936 to the fall o f
1937, with a subsequent decline to levels in 1939 still somewhat above
those prevailing in 1935. The maximum discrepancy between the
two indexes at any period is slightly more than 1 index point. In
general the new index seems to be somewhat more sensitive to price
change than was the original.
The general closeness o f the agreement between the two sets o f
indexes over the period 1935-39 is a strong indication o f the usefulness
o f the original group indexes for periods prior to 1935.
The earlier group indexes for each city have been linked to the
new group indexes in order to provide a complete series back to 1913.
From 1930 to 1940, the group indexes have been combined with the
weights derived from the study o f fam ily expenditures in 1934-36 to
secure indexes representing the cost o f all items. From 1913 to 1925,
the group indexes are combined with weights derived from the study
o f family expenditures in 1917-19. F or the intervening years, 1925
through December 1929, the group indexes have been combined with
weights which represent an estimate o f the distribution o f fam ily
expenditures in this period.1 The 19 city indexes available from
1913 through 1917 were originally combined without population
weights and this method has been retained fo r this period. From
1918 through 1924 the city indexes have been combined with weights
representing average population in 1920-30. From 1930 to 1935,
they have been combined with weights representing 1930 population.
Relative Importance of the Groups of Items
Table 3 presents for each o f the 33 cities the relative importance o f
each o f the six groups o f items in the index on the basis o f average
costs in 1935-39. Because o f differences from one city to another in
climate, in the economic level o f the wage-earner and clerical group,
in prices and consumer preferences, the manner in which families
apportion their expenditures among different groups o f items differs
from one city to another. W hile the same general pattern is pre
served from one city to another, certain important differences exist.
1 This
was done by averaging the new and original group weights for the period 1925-29.
92
COST AND STANDARDS OF LIVING
The differences in the percentage assigned to food can be largely ex
plained on the basis o f differences in income. New Orleans families,
fo r example, with a low average income, allocate almost 40 percent of
their total expenditure to food, whereas Washington families, with a
comparatively high level o f income, spend less than 30 percent. In
New York, however, where the average money income is relatively
high, food prices are high enough to bring the proportion o f the total
going to food to a percentage distinctly above the average.
F or clothing, intercity differences are less than for any other group,
the percentages all falling between 9 and 12.
In those cities in which rental costs are high relative to the cost
o f other items, and where a large proportion o f the rents include
heat as well as shelter, rent tends to claim a higher than average
portion o f total expenditure. Thus in New York, rent is 21.1 percent
o f total expenditure; in Chicago, 19.3; in Washington, 21.8; and in
Boston, 19.8. F or each o f these cities rental costs are not only above
the national average but are high relative to the cost o f other items.2
On the other hand, in cities like Manchester, Portland (O reg.),
Indianapolis, and Mobile, where relative rental costs are low, the
percentage o f total expenditure allotted to rent is less— 12.6,13.2, 14.2,
and 12.8, respectively.
Another group o f items for which large differences between cities
may be expected is that which includes fuel, electricity, and ice. In
warm climates the reduction in fuel requirements more than balances
the increased need for refrigeration and tends to reduce the percentage
o f total expenditures allocated to the group. In addition, cities in
which apartments are important, and where, therefore, fuel is in
cluded in rent, also tend to show low percentages for this group.
Thus, Manchester and Portland, Maine, both cities characterized by
long cold winters and few apartments, show high percentages o f
total expenditure fo r fuel, electricity, and ice— 9.4 and 9.3, respec
tively. New Y ork City, in a somewhat warmer zone and character
ized by the very large number o f apartment-house dwellers, shows
an extremely low percentage— 4.8. On the other hand, Los Angeles,
situated in a spot in which the climate eliminates any necessity for
central heating, and in which apartment houses are not freauent.
shows an even lower percentage— 4.1.
T a b l e 3 . — R elative im p ortan ce o f grou ps o f item s in com p u tin g changes in costs o f all
item s purchased hy wage earners and low er-sa laried w orkers
[A v e r a g e 1 9 3 5 -3 9 = 1 0 0 ]
City
Average: Large cities_________
New England:
Boston ____ ____________
Manchester__ ________
Portland, M a in e _______
Middle Atlantic:
Buffalo ____ _________
New York
_ _______
Philadelphia
_________
Pittsburgh _ _ ______ _
Scranton________ _____
All items
Pood
Clothing
Rent
Fuel,
electric
ity, and
ice
Housefurnish
ings
Miscel
laneous
100.0
33.9
10.5
18.1
6.4
4.2
26.9
100.0
100.0
100.0
36.7
36.8
32.2
9.8
12.0
10.5
19.8
12.6
17.2
8.8
9.4
9.3
2.9
5.2
4.6
22.0
24.0
26.2
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
32.5
36.2
§6.4
34.1
37.1
10.4
11.2
10.6
10.1
11.3
17.8
21.1
15.8
19.3
17.9
7.7
4.8
7.4
6.2
7.5
4.8
2.9
4.2
4.6
4.7
26.8
23.8
25.6
25.7
21.5
2 See W ork s P rog ress A d m in istra tion , I n te rcity D ifferen ces in C ost o f L ivin g , M a rch 1935.
tab le 3, p. 162.
93
TIME CHANGES IN COST OF LIVING
T a b l e 3 . — R elative im p ortan ce o f grou p s o f item s in com p u tin g changes in costs o f all
item s purchased b y wage earners and low er-salaried w orkers —
City
East North Central:
Chicago _ . ____________
Cincinnati _ __ _ _ ___ ___
Cleveland--_____ _____
Detroit __ ___
_____
Indianapolis
________
West North*Central:
Kansas City_____________
Minneapolis ____________
St. Louis_______ _ _____
South Atlantic:
A tla n ta_____
_ ______
Baltimore _ _
___
Jacksonville______________
N orfolk _____ _ ______
R ichm ond___ _ ______ _
Savannah____
______
Washington, D. C__..........
East South Central:
Birmingham. ___ _______
Memphis__________ _ ___
Mobile. _ _ _ __________
West South Central:
Houston__
_ __________
New Orleans __ _________
Mountain:
Denver___ _ _ _ _ _ _
Pacific:
Los Angeles. ____
______
Portland, O re g ._________
San Francisco.......... ......... .
Seattle. ______ ___________
All items
Food
Clothing
Rent
Continued
Fuel,
electric
ity, and
ice
Housefurnish
ings
Miscel
laneous
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
35.8
34. 5
31. 6
31.9
30. 2
9.1
10.9
11.0
11.0
11.1
19. 3
16.2
16.7
19.1
14. 2
6.4
6.1
6. 7
6.5
8.1
3. 2
5.8
5.4
4.4
6. 5
26.2
26.5
28.6
27.1
29.9
100.0
100.0
100.0
30.1
30.7
33.4
10.4
9.9
9. 7
15.2
16.7
15. 5
7. 3
8.5
6. 9
5.2
5.1
5.0
31.8
29.1
29.5
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
31.1
35.0
32.1
33. 2
30. 7
34.1
27.8
10.8
It). 4
10. 7
9. 8
11. 2
10.9
11.2
15.0
17.9
14.3
14.9
15. 3
15.0
21.8
'6. 7
7.4
6.1
8.2
7.8
7.3
4.8
4.9
4.8
4.8
6.5
4. 6
5.0
4.3
31.5
24. 5
32.0
27.4
30.4
27.7
30.1
100.0
100.0
100.0
31.6
30.8
33.1
11. 5
10.6
11.4
14.8
15.4
12.8
6. 2
7.8
6.8
5.1
6.2
5.4
30.8
29.2
30.5
100.0
100.0
29.0
38.9
10.6
10.1
15.4
15.6
5. 2
6.1
6.7
3.8
33.1
25.5
100.0
32.9
10.3
16. 3
6. 2
3.9
30.4
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
31. 7
31.8
33. 5
33.1
10.8
10.6
11. 2
10.0
16. 2
13.2
16. 6
14.7
4.1
6. 2
3.8
6.6
4.8
5.0
3.7
4.0
32.4
33.2
31.2
31.6
Still another group o f items for which intercity differences are a f
fected by the frequency o f apartment houses is housefurnishings. The
apartment, with its restricted living space, offers little opportunity for
the acquisition o f items like washing machines, and frequently elimi
nates the necessity o f purchasing such items as refrigerators and stoves.
The low percentages in Boston and New Y ork— 2.9— are in contrast
to the proportions in cities like Houston, Indianapolis, Memphis, and
N orfolk, where the percentage o f apartment-house dwellers is small,
and where over 6 percent is spent on this group.
Expenditure for miscellaneous items, a large portion o f which is
allocated to automobile purchases and operation, are influenced by the
general community situation as regards automobile ownership. In
Southern and Pacific cities, where automobile ownership is common,
the percentage o f total expenditure for miscellaneous items is high.
In large Eastern cities, where automobile ownership is more expensive
and more easily dispensed with, the percentage is low.
Changes in Cost of Living of Federal Employees, 1933 to 1940
Indexes o f living costs o f Washington Federal employees are com
puted annually by pricing in representative W ashington stores a
list o f the most important goods bought by these employees and their
families. The list o f items priced and their relative importance in
the budgets o f Federal workers was determined by a study 3 o f the
expenditures o f 336 families o f Federal employees and 123 single
individuals in the Federal service made in the fall o f 1933.
8 See M on th ly L a b o r R eview , M a rch (p . 5 1 1 ) and J u ly (p . 2 1 3 ) 1934.
94
COST AND STANDARDS OF LIVING
Indexes o f these living costs are presented in table 4 by commodity
groups and types o f employees for each date the survey has been
made. The indexes are based on average costs in the first 6 months
o f 1928 as 100.
T a b l e 4 . — In d e x es o f cost o f goods 'purchased b y Fed eral em p lo yees in W a sh in g to n
D . C ., M a r c h 1 9 3 3 through D ec. 1 5 , 1 9 4 0
A LL EM PLO YEES
[ F ir s t 6 m o n th s of 1928= 100]
G ro u p
M a rc h
1 93 3
D e
N o v . M a r.
cem Ju n e
15,
15,
ber
1 93 4
1934 1 93 5
1933
J u ly
1 5,
1 935
O ct.
15,
1935
Ja n .
15,
1 936
A p r. D e c. D ec. D e c. D ec. D e c.
15,
15,
15,
15,
15,
15,
1 936 1 936 1 937 1 938 1 939 1 9 4 0
A l l i t e m s _________________________
8 2 .7
8 5 .0
8 6 .4
8 7 .3
8 8 .1
8 7 .8
8 8 .2
8 8 .5
8 7 .8
8 9 .1
9 1 .0
8 9 .5
8 8 .8
8 9 .8
F o o d , , , __ ____________________
C l o t h i n g , __________ ___________
H o u s i n g , __________ ____________
H o u s e h o l d o p e r a t i o n ______
7 0 .9
6 7 .0
91. 6
8 7 .2
7 2 .8
8 3 .5
87. 9
8 8 .0
7 5 .5
8 4 .7
88. 2
8 6 .5
7 8 .6
8 4 .7
8 8 .8
8 8 .0
8 1 .9
8 3 .2
8 8 .8
8 6 .8
8 2 .0
8 2 .9
89. 0
8 4 .4
8 2 .5
8 3 .0
8 9. 3
8 6 .6
8 2 .4
8 3 .6
89. 7
8 6 .5
7 9 .8
8 3 .5
89. 9
8 5 .8
8 1 .7
8 7 .7
9 1 .1
8 5 .9
8 3 .2
92. 4
92. 5
8 6. 5
7 8 .9
8 9 .2
9 2 .1
8 6 .3
7 7 .1
9 0 .0
9 1. 7
8 5 .0
7 9 .8
9 0 .6
9 1 .8
8 5 .2
F u r n is h in g s a n d e q u ip
m e n t ____________________________
T r a n s p o r t a t i o n _______________
P e rso n a l ca re ,
M e d i c a l c a r e ___________________
7 1 .3
8 7 .7
8 9 .9
9 6 .0
8 7 .3
8 8 .6
8 8 .5
9 5 .9
9 1 .3
9 2 .2
8 5 .2
9 6 .0
9 1 .2
9 0 .6
8 2 .9
9 6 .9
9 1 .1
9 1 .2
8 2 .6
9 7 .2
9 1 .2
9 1 .1
8 2 .4
9 7 .1
9 2 .4
9 0 .6
8 2 .0
9 7 .0
9 3 .6
9 1 .8
8 1 .3
9 6 .6
9 4 .0
9 2 .4
8 1 .3
9 6. 5
9 7 .8 1 0 3 .5
8 8 .8 9 4 .3
8 8 .4 8 6 .5
9 6 .8 9 6 .8
R e c r e a t i o n ______________________
F o r m a l e d u c a t i o n __________
L i f e i n s u r a n c e _________________
R e t i r e m e n t f u n d __________
9 9 .9 1 0 2 .6 1 0 3 .9
9 5 .1 9 2 .8 8 9 .7
8 5 .8 8 6 .0 8 5 .5
9 6 .8 9 7 . 2 9 7 . 3
9 1 .1
9 2 . 2 9 4 .6 9 2 . 5 9 2 . 0 9 1 .5 9 1 .5 9 1 .6 9 1 .6 9 2 . 2 9 4 .3 9 8 .4 9 9 .1
1 0 7 .8 1 0 8 .1 1 0 8 .1 1 0 8 .2 1 0 8 .2 1 0 8 .4 1 0 8 .5 1 0 8 .5 1 0 8 .5 1 1 0 .4 110. 4 1 1 0 .4 1 1 0 .4
1 0 5 .3 1 05 . 5 1 0 6 .1 1 0 6 .1 1 06 . 7 1 0 7 .4 1 0 7 .4 1 0 8 .3 1 0 7 .9 108. 5 1 07. 2 1 0 9 .1 1 0 9 .3
1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0
1 0 3 .1
1 1 0 .4
111. 1
1 0 0 .0
E M P L O Y E E S L IV IN G IN F A M IL Y GROUPS
C u s t o d i a l e m p l o y e e s w i t h b a s i c s a l a r i e s o f l e s s t h a n $ 2 ,5 0 0
All items____ _________
78.8 82.8 84.0 85.6 87.3 87.0 87.8 87.5 86.1 87.4 88.7 86.5 85.7 86.8
Food___ ______________
Clothing__________
Housing, ____
_ _ ,
Household operation___
64.8
65.5
90.4
87.5
69.6
85.0
88.1
88.5
72.4
88.6
87.5
86.1
76.7
87.8
87.2
88.3
81.9
87.0
87.2
87.3
81.9
86.7
87.9
83.0
83.3
86.9
87.9
85.8
82.3
87.3
87.9
85.7
78.6
86.9
88.0
85.3
81.2
89.7
88.0
85.1
81.5
93.3
89.4
85.2
76.1
91.4
89.1
85.3
74.1
92.3
88.7
83.5
76.0
92.8
89.4
83.9
Furnishings and equip
ment________________
Transportation________
Personal care__________
Medical care, ______ .
70.1
93.1
92.0
98.4
87.3
94.8
93.1
97.9
91.2
96.9
86.6
98.2
91.0
97.4
82.6
98.4
90.9
99.6
82.1
98.4
91.1
99.3
81.8
98.4
92.4
98.2
81. 2
98.2
93.8
99.1
80.3
97.5
94.3
99.7
80.4
97.5
98.0
97.9
81.0
97.7
103.6
105.0
81.3
97.7
99.2
105.8
79.6
98.3
102.3
104.3
82.8
98.3
103.9
102.7
83.3
98.4
97.9 97.2 96.1 95.9
110.1 110.1 110.1 110.1
106.1 106.1 106.7 107.4
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
95.7
110.1
107.4
100.0
95.8
110.1
108.3
100.0
95.8 96.1
110.1 110.1
107.9 108.5
100.0 100.0
97.6
110.1
107.2
100.0
100.2
110.1
109.1
100.0
100.6 105.1
110.1 110.1
109.3 111.1
100.0 100.0
Recreation, __________
Formal education______
Life insurance , . . . ___
Retirement fund_______
93.4 94.9
110.1 110.1
105.3 105.5
100.0 100.0
Other employees with basic salaries of less than $2,500
A ll
items________ _____
82.1 84.7 86.3 87.1 87.9 87.9 88.1 88.4 87.6 89.2 91.2 89.6 88.9 89.7
Food_____________ ____
Clothing ____________
Housing_______________
Household operation___
68.7
66.7
92.1
87.2
71.6
83.2
88.4
88.0
75. 5
84.6
88.6
86.5
78.0
84.7
89.0
88.0
81.7
83.0
89.1
86.8
82.6
82.7
89. 2
84.5
82.5
82.8
89.6
86.4
82.0
83.4
90.4
86.3
79.1
83.3
90.7
85.8
81. 2
88.1
92.0
86.1
82.7
92.9
93.3
87.2
78.0
89.6
93.0
86.9
76.1
i 90.4
92.6
85.6
78.8
91.0
92.6
85.7
Furnishings and equip
ment. _, ____________
Transportation___ ____
Personal c a r e ,._______
Medical care, ________
71.5
86.5
89.4
95.7
87.3
88.0
87.8
95.8
91.2
91.8
84.2
96.0
91.1
90.4
81.9
97.0
90.9
91.0
81.6
97.3
91.0
90.8
81.5
97.2
92.2
90.3
81.1
97.1
93.4
91.6
80.4
96.7
93.7
92.3
80.3
96.7
97.4
89.2
88.2
96.9
103.0
95.0
86.1
96.9
99.3
95.7
85.5
97.0
101.8
93.5
85.5
97.3
103.0
90.6
84.8
97.4
Recreation____________
Formal education 1_____
Life insurance... ______
Retirement fund_______
R e v is io n .
90.9 92.0
108.1 108.7
105.3 105.5
100.0 100.0
94.1 92.3 91.7 91.3 91.3 91.3 91.3 91.9 94.0 97.4 98.2 102.2
108.7 108.8 108.8 109.1 109.3 109.3 109.3 111. 2 111.2 111.2 111.2 111. 2
106.1 106.1 106.7 107.4 107.4 108.3 107.9 108.5 107.2 109.1 109.3 1 1 1 .1
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
TIME CHANGES IN COST OF LIVING
95
T a b l e 4 . — In d e x e s o f cost o f goods purchased by F ederal em p lo ye es in W a sh in g to n
D.
C ., M a r c h 1 9 3 3 through D ec. 1 5 , 1 9 4 0 —
Continued
EMPLOYEES LIVING IN FAMILY GROUPS-Continued
Other employees with basic salaries of $2,500 and over
D e
o v . M ar. J u ly O ct. J a n . A p r. D ec. D ec. D ec. D ec. D ec.
M a rc h cem J u n e N15,
15,
15,
15,
15,
15,
15,
15,
15,
15,
b er 1934 1934 15,
1933
1935 1935 1935 1936 1936 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940
1933
G ro u p
A ll ite m s _______________
8 2.0 8 4.8 86.1 8 7.4 88.1 8 7.5 8 8.2 8 8.7 8 7.8 8 9.2 9 1.3 8 9.7 8 9 .0 8 9.8
F o o d ___________________
C lo th in g _______________
H o u s i n g - ___ - ______
H o u seh o ld o p e ra tio n ___
6 7.9
67.3
91.5
8 5.8
70.6
8 3.9
8 8 .0
8 6.5
72.7
85.1
8 8.9
85.1
77.4
8 5.2
8 9 .7
8 6.9
8 0.7 79.5 8 0.8
8 3.8 8 3.5 8 3.6
8 9.7 9 0.0 9 0.2
8 5.6 8 3.2 8 5.9
8 1.5
84.1
9 0.7
8 5.7
78.4
8 4.0
9 1.0
8 4.7
8 0.5
8 7.9
9 2.5
8 4.8
8 2.4
9 2.7
9 4.0
8 5 .2
77.4
8 9.4
9 3.4
8 5.2
75.6
9 0.2
9 2.8
8 4.0
7 8.3
9 0 .9
9 2.6
8 4.2
F u rn ish in g s a n d e q u ip
m e n t_________________
T r a n s p o rta tio n ____ _ _
P e rso n a l c a re ___________
M ed ical care___ - _ __
71.3
8 4.4
9 0.6
9 5.7
8 7.2
8 6.4
8 9.7
9 5.3
91.3
90.7
86. 5
9 5.5
9 1.2
88.1
8 3.9
96.3
91.1
8 8.7
8 3 .7
9 6.6
9 1.2
8 8.6
8 3.5
96.4
9 2.4
88.1
83.1
96.3
9 3.6
8 9.6
8 2.3
9 5.9
9 3.8
90.1
8 2.3
9 5.9
9 7.8
8 7.5
9 1.0
96.1
103.6
9 3.0
8 8 .6
96.1
100.0
93.1
8 8.0
96.1
102.9
91.1
8 8 .0
9 6.7
104.0
8 7.8,
8 7 .8
9 6.8
R ecre a tio n
___ ____
F o rm a l e d u c a tio n ______
Life in s u ra n c e ______
R e tire m e n t f u n d . . __ _
8 9.7
107.1
105.3
100.0
9 0.6
107.1
105. 5
100.0
9 3.6
107.1
106.1
100.0
9 1.5
107.2
106.1
100.0
91.1
107.2
106.7
100.0
9 0.6
107.2
107.4
100.0
9 0.6
107. 3
107.4
100.0
9 0.7
x07. 3
108.3
100.0
9 0.7
107.3
107.9
100.0
91.4
109.2
108.5
100.0
9 3.7
109.2
107.2
100.0
9 8.9
109.2
109.1
100.0
9 9.7
109.2
109.3
100.0
103.4
109.2
111. 1
100 .0
EMPLOYEES LIVING AS SINGLE INDIVIDUALS
All items______________
88.3 88.1 88.6 88.8 88.9 88.9 88.9 89.0 89.0 89.5 91.2 90.6 90.3 91.6
Food_________________
Clothing__________ ___
Housing_______________
Household operation___
86.5
67.9
90.7
94.7
82.4
82.6
85.8
95.2
83.1
82.4
85.9
94.9
83.9
82.4
86.9
94.9
85.0
80.9
86.8
93.1
85.2
80.6
86.9
93.0
85.3
80.7
86.8
93.3
85.4
81.5
86.1
93.3
85.3
81.5
86.4
92.4
85.9
85.5
87.0
92.5
87.4
90.1
88.2
90.6
85.7
87.0
87.9
90.3
84.6
87.8
87.9
89.8
87.6
88.0
89.2
89.7
Furnishings and equip
ment________________
Transportation________
Personal care____ _____
Medical care__
_____
70.2
98.4
89.2
96.2
87.9
94.6
86.9
96.5
92.7
96.3
85.3
96.6
93.2
95.7
83.8
97.7
93.4
96.0
83.6
98.0
93.6
95.8
83.4
97.8
95.3
95.6
83.1
97.7
96.6
96.1
82.5
97.4
97.4
96.5
82.5
97.4
101.6
88.0
88.3
97.8
108.1
92.0
86.7
97.8
104.3
94.9
85.7
97.9
109.5
91.3
85.7
98.1
112.5
88.0
84.8
98.2
Recreation____________
Formal education______
Life insurance. ______
Retirement fund_______
93.0
108.1
105.3
100.0
93.9
108.1
105.5
100.0
95.9
108.7
106.1
100.0
92.9
108.8
106.1
100.0
92.6
108.8
106.7
100.0
92.2
109.1
107.4
100.0
92.3
109.3
107.4
100.0
92.3 92.3 92.9
109.3 109.3 111.2
108.3 107.9 108.5
100.0 100.0 100.0
94.9 98.9 99.6 103. 6
111.2 111.2 111.2 111.2
107.2 109.1 109.3 111.1
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Cost of Living in Five Defense Cities
F or the purpose o f extending the cost-of-living surveys o f the Bu
reau o f Labor Statistics to specific cities affected by defense activity,
the National Defense Advisory Commission in 1940 allocated funds
to the Bureau. The specific cities were chosen according to $ plan
specified by the Commission. Part o f the plan includes the extension
in 1941 o f the Bureau’s quarterly index to 20 selected cities from
5,000 to 50,000 population; part o f it includes the study o f additional
specific cities affected by defense activity. These special studies were
made for five cities— Bridgeport, C onn.; Corpus Christi, T e x .; Gads
den, A la .; San Diego, C alif.; and South Bend, Ind.— in October
1940, and again in January 1941. Except for rents, which advanced
considerably, changes in cost o f living in these five cities were similar
in most respects to those in the larger cities o f the country.
The average increase in the rental bill o f wage earners and lowersalaried workers in these cities ranged from 1.0 percent in San D iego
to 7.3 percent in South Bend between October 1939 and October 1940,
whereas, throughout the large cities o f the country thei advance was
much smaller, averaging only 0.3 percent. Higher rents were a
96
COST AND STANDARDS OF LIVING
direct consequence o f sharply increased demand for housing, caused
by increased defense activities in the areas.
In each o f these five cities, construction o f new dwellings to ease
the acute housing shortage has been requested under the Lanham Act.
That act appropriated $150,000,000 to be used for defense housing
in such cities as the President designates. In San Diego, construc
tion under this act is already going forward. In San Diego and
Corpus Christi, the Navy is also building dwellings for civilian work
ers on defense projects. In Corpus Christi and in Bridgeport, the
city housing authorities also have projects under way.
D uring the late fall and early winter, living costs rose in four o f
the five cities. In all five cities rents were raised between October
15, 1940, and January 15, 1941. In all o f these cities, also, consider
able price increases occurred fo r some foods and other articles which
are important in the budgets o f moderate-income families, with the
exception o f some articles o f clothing for which prices were cut in the
January sales in each o f the cities except Gadsden.
Table 5 shows percent o f change in the cost o f goods pur
chased by wage earners and lower-salaried workers in these five
cities, by groups o f items, from October 15,1939, to January 15, 1941.
T a b l e 5 . — P ercen t o f change in cost o f goods 'purchased hy wage earners and low ersalaried w orkers in B rid g ep o rt , C o rp u s C h risti, G a d sd en , S a n D ie g o , and Sou th
B e n d , October 1 9 3 9 - J a n u a r y 1 9 4 1
Percent of changes in cost of—
City and period
All
items
Food
Fuel,
Cloth
electric House Mis
ing i Rent ity and furnish
cella
ings
neous
ice
Bridgeport, Conn.: Oct. 1939-Jan. 1941__________ +1.3
Oct. 1939-June 1940_____________ _____ _____ +1.0
-.3
June 1940-Oct. 1940..________ ______________
Oct. 1940-Jan. 1941.................... ........................ + .6
+0.7
+2.7
-3 .1
+1.2
-1 .2
(2)
(4)
-1 .2
+3.9
+ .5
+2.4
+1.0
+3.9
+2.6
+ .8
+ .5
+0.8
-.6
+ .7
+ .7
+0.8
3-.9
3 +1.3
+ .4
Corpus Christi, Tex.: Oct. 1939-Jan. 1941------------ +• 8
Oct. 1939-June 1940_________________________ 3-2.4
June 1940-Oct. 1940_________________________ 3+2.2
Oct. 1940-Jan. 1941________________ ______ _
+1.1
+. 6
-6 .6
+5.5
+2.1
+ . 4 +4.6
+1.3 +1.2
- . 1 3 + .6
-.8
+2.6
-.9
-.9
(4)
(4)
-2 .5
-2 .8
3 + .3
(4)
+ .2
3 -1 .4
3 +1.2
+ .4
+1.3
-1 .7
+1.9
+1.1
+2.4
-5 .0
+4.7
+2.9
+1.1
+1.2
-.1
(4)
+2.0
+ .9
+ .4
+ .7
+2.0
-2 .2
+4.2
(4)
-2 .0
-2 .9
+ .7
+ .2
+ .5
-.8
3 + .8
+ .5
San Diego, Calif.: Oct. 1939-Jan. 1941____ _______ +1.0
-.8
Oct. 1939-June 1940____ _____ ______________
June 1940-Oct. 1940_________________________ + .9
+ .9
Oct. 1940-Jan. 1941..._______________ ____ _
+ .3
-.2
-.1
+ .6
-.4
(4)
-.2
-.2
+4.8
(4)
+1.0
+3.8
-4 .3
-1 .8
(4)
-2 .5
-.6
-1 .3
+. 1
+ .6
+ .9
-2 .0
+2.4
+ .5
+2.2
+. 3
+1.9
(4)
+1.6
+ .3
+1.4
-.1
-.9
+ .4
-.1
-1 .2
+7.9
+4.0
3+3.3
+ .6
-1 .9
-5 .3
3 +3.2
+ .2
-.7
3 -2 .0
3 + .5
+ .8
+1.8
-.1
+2.0
-.1
Gadsden, Ala.: Oct. 1939-Jan. 1941..____________
Oct. 1939-June 1940______________ ____ _____
June 1940-Oct. 1940._________ ______________
Oct. 1940-Jan. 1941_________________________
South Bend, Ind.: Oct. 1939-Jan. 1941___________
Oct. 1939-June 1940............................................
June 1940-Oct. 1940____ _______ _____ _______
Oct. 1940-Jan. 1941..______ ________ ____ _
1January 1941, level affected by January sales.
2 Revised. No change.
3 Revised.
4 No change.
Cost of Living in Foreign Countries
The principal index numbers o f the cost o f living (official and
unofficial) published in the different countries are printed in current
issues o f the International Labour Review. These indexes are pre
sented in each quarterly issue o f the Bureau o f Labor Statistics’
pamphlet Changes in Cost o f Living.
COST AND STANDARD OF LIVING
97
Place Differences in Living Costs
Measures o f differences in living costs between localities at a given
time are less satisfactory than those which have been developed to
measure time-to-time changes. The time-to-time indexes themselves
cannot be used fo r this purpose. The only comparison between cities
that can be drawn from an index o f changes in living costs from
time to time is a comparison o f the extent o f change in living costs
in different cities over given periods. Differences between the average
costs from which indexes o f time changes are computed in different
cities are due to differences in standards and in purchasing habits
in those cities as well as to varying prices for goods o f given grades.
Differences between the indexes o f costs from time to time in the
various cities at any particular date are due entirely to differences in
the percentage o f change in living costs in each city.
W PA Maintenance Budget
The most widely used measure o f difference in living costs from
place to place is the cost o f the W P A “ maintenance” budget. In
March 1935, the Division o f Social Research o f the W orks Progress
Administration conducted a study o f comparative living costs in
59 cities. The purpose o f this study was to determine the cost o f a
uniform level o f living in these cities at a given time, and how its
cost compared from one city to another. Quantity budgets were
constructed by the W orks Progress Administration to represent the
needs o f families at two levels o f living— the “ basic maintenance” level,
and the “ emergency” level. A n identical budget for each o f these
levels o f living, with certain adjustments in the fuel, ice, and trans
portation lists to take account o f climatic and other local conditions,
was used in each city. The Bureau o f Labor Statistics o f the United
States Department o f Labor cooperated with the Division o f Social
Research o f the W orks Progress Administration in obtaining the
prices necessary to compute the costs o f the two budgets. As far as
possible, prices for identical commodities were obtained in each city.
Details o f this study and a description o f the goods and services in
cluded in each budget can be found in the report Research M ono
graph X I I : Intercity Differences in Costs of Living in March 1935,
59 Cities, a copy o f which may be obtained from the Division of
Research, W ork Projects Administration, Washington, D. C.
Between March 1935 and the spring o f 1939, no attempt was made
to price these budgets. In order to bring the intercity comparison
o f costs up to date, estimates o f the cost o f the “ maintenance” budget
were made, however, for the 31 cities covered by both the W orks
Progress Administration study and the Bureau o f Labor Statistics
studies o f changes in the cost o f goods purchased by wage earners and
lower-salaried workers.
This budget does not approach the content o f what may be considered
a satisfactory American standard o f living, nor does its cost measure
what families in this country would have to spend to secure “ the
abundant life.” (See page 120 for discussion o f living standards.)
Such a standard would include an automobile, better housing and equip
ment, a more varied diet, and preventive medical care. Provision would
98
COST AND STANDARDS OF LIVING
be made for future education o f the children and for economic security
through saving. These and other desirable improvements above a
maintenance level o f living would require annual disbursements con
siderably in excess o f the money values o f the budget used in this
investigation. B y applying the Bureau o f Labor Statistics indexes o f
living costs, which show changes in costs from time to time, to the
W orks Progress Administration data on intercity differences in costs
in March 1935, approximate intercity comparisons o f costs were ob
tained. The cost-of-living indexes o f the Bureau o f Labor Statistics
are based on a budget weighted differently from the budget used in
the W orks Progress Administration study, and therefore, when the two
sets o f figures were combined, the resulting estimates o f intercity d if
ferences in costs were merely approximations.
Early in 1939, the W orks Progress Administration budgets were, in
part, priced again for many o f the cities. A t that time the Bureau o f
Labor Statistics, in connection with its study o f comparative living
costs in 10 small cities,1computed the cost o f parts o f the “ maintenance”
budget using prices obtained as o f December 15,1938, and February 14,
1939.
The costs o f clothing, housefurnishings, fuel and light, and miscel
laneous groups were recomputed on the basis o f prices o f 55 articles o f
clothing, 16 articles o f furniture and furnishings, 5 items o f fuel and
light, and 37 miscellaneous items in 31 cities on December 15,1938, and
weighted by the quantities provided in the “ maintenance” budget. The
food-cost budget was entirely recomputed in terms o f the “ adequate
diet at minimum cost” o f the United States Bureau o f Home Economics
(a somewhat more varied diet than that originally used in the “ main
tenance” bu dget). Average rents in each o f the 31 cities were estimated
by applying the Bureau’s time-to-time indexes o f rental costs to the
W orks Progress Administration’s figures for March 1935. In order to
include Manchester and Milwaukee (recently added to the cities for
which the Bureau prepares indexes o f time changes) among the cities
for which estimates o f intercity differences are regularly prepared,
similar computations have been made for these cities, using prices as o f
September 15, 1940.
The Bureau o f Labor Statistics has prepared estimates o f the cost o f
the “maintenance” budget as o f March 15, 1941, by applying the
Bureau’s indexes o f living costs (which show changes in costs from
time to time) to the costs as previously estimated, for all items other
than food. The “ adequate diet at minimum cost” was recalculated as
o f March 15, 1941, for inclusion in the budget on the basis o f 61 foods
now priced by the Bureau o f Labor Statistics. The attached tables
show the estimates by cities. Table 1 shows (1) the estimated cost o f
living for a 4-person manual worker’s family, at the “maintenance”
level as defined by the W orks Progress Administration in 33 large
cities, as o f March 15, 1941, and (2) indexes based on the cost in
Washington, D. C., as o f that date as 100.
1 A study of differences in living costs in northern and southern cities was made at the
request of the Wage and Hour Division (see p. 100).
99
PLACE DIFFERENCES IN LIVING COSTS
T able
1 .—
E stim a ted 1 cost o f living f o r a 4 -p e r s o n m a n u a l w ork er's f a m i ly
m ainten ance lev e l 2 in 3 3 large c ities , as o f M a r . 1 5 , 1 9 4 1
Total
City
Atlanta
_______ ____ _______
B irmingham....... ......................
Boston __ __________________
Buffalo______ _____ __________
Chicago.. ____________ _____
Cincinnati_______
___ . ..
Cleveland- _______ ________
Denver _
_ ____________
Detroit _ -- ________________
H ou ston .... ................ ...... ........
Indianapolis__ ___________
Jacksonville_____ ______ _____
Kansas City__ _
__ __
Los Angeles______________ __
Manchester ............ ......... __ __
Memphis__________ _______
Milwaukee_________________
Minneapolis _______ _ _____
Mobile.*_______ ______ ______
New Orleans _ _ __ _______
New York. _._______ _________
Norfolk_________ ____ _______
Philadelphia________________
Pittsburgh__________________
Portland, M a in e ____________
Portland, Oreg_______________
Richmond __________ ______
St. Louis.
_________ _____
San Francisco._____ ______
ScrantQn.___ ________ _. .
Seattle________ _____ _____
Washington. D. C _ ______
Food
$1,339.68
$478.87
1,339.62
Baltimore 476.58
483.82
1,305.90
481.38
1,436.37
474.50
1, 327. 72
486. 57
1,468.68
468. 71
i; 356. 67
474.04
1,420.16
446.81
1,298.24
472.46
1,449.62
458.72
1, 312.84
1, 318.91
463.97
489.66
1, 331. 37
456.47
1, 259. 52
463.13
1, 348.62
1,342.87
493.48
450.85
1,317. 08
1,413.86
476.66
487.75
1,431.83
1,196.15
467.26
471.15
l', 277. 30
527.42
1, 519.44
488. 53
1,361.77
1, 344. 72
478. 25
1,400.89
496.55
499.62
1, 356.45
487. 39
1, 338.79
457. 35
1, 343.95
489. 25
1,407.62
502.89
1,480.32
495.79
1, 387.04
499.16
1, 387.11
489. 90
1,498.00
Clothing Housing
$162.70
167.05
172.44
171. 38
170. 77
160.14
178.60
177.16
163. 83
170.05
161. 27
160.47
149.62
172. 79
170.10
154.34
173. 35
141.99
164. 54
155. 67
164.04
166.65
173.26
169.88
167.28
163.28
160.42
167. 77
163.27
172.67
161. 35
172. 31
173. 28
$285.76
252.87
238.48
260.71
243.67
292. 28
269. 74
287.94
237. 98
309.95
245.49
246. 30
231.84
209.63
242.22
192.29
268. 30
288.60
306.08
188. 32
209.04
309.58
258.93
258.18
287.' 51
201. 53
192.34
253.01
283.75
286.37
266.10
198.26
351.83
Fuel,
electric
ity, and
ice
$89.76
103.18
70.09
136.67
109.44
129.12
95. 23
112.60
112. 26
113.11
85.69
96. 52
102.02
106.19
71.13
152.44
81.63
123.08
136. 75
78.51
70. 79
121.62
97. 52
102.12
91.02
146.40
131.41
104. 57
110.48
84.77
95.06
121.03
114. 36
Housefurnish
ings
$30.48
36.40
32.20
32.73
33.04
31.87
35. 35
34.07
33.19
32.42
35. 27
32.93
32.77
33.20
35.61
32.19
35.00
31.05
32.34
33.97
37. 56
33.68
34.44
33.43
34.13
32.71
34.28
34.93
36.15
37.37
32.48
35.07
36.90
at
Miscel
laneous
$292.11
303.54
308.87
353.50
296. 30
368.70
309.04
334.35
304.17
351.63
326.40
318. 72
325.46
281. 24
366.43
318.13
307.95
352.48
304. 37
272.42
324. 72
360.49
309.09
302.86
324.40
312.91
332.95
326. 32
324. 72
396.25
336.26
361.28
331. 73
Indexes (cost in Washington, March 15, 1941-100
Atlanta
Baltimore___________________
Birmingham
Boston
Buffalo______________________
Chicago ____ ________ _ Cincinnati.. ._ ____________
Cleveland- _____________ ___
D enver___ _
___________
Detroit . _________________
Houston
................... .
Indianapolis _________ _ _ _
Jacksonville ________________
Kansas City______ ___________
Los Angeles_________________
Manchester ______ _________
M em phis____ __ _________
Milwaukee _ ___________
Minneapolis________________
Mobile _ _________________
New Orleans______ ___ __
New York______ _ ____ _
Norfolk. ________
_______
Philadephia __ ____ ____ ___
Pittsburgh __ ___ _ ______
Portland, Maine _ _ _ _ _
__ _
Portland, Oreg_________ ___
R ichm ond_____ ____ _ ___
St. Louis ______ _
_____ _
San Francisco ___ _________
Scranton. _ _ _______ _ ___
Seattle. _
__________ _____
Washington, D. C __________
89.4
89.4
87.2
95.9
88.6
98.0
90.6
94.8
86.7
96.8
87.6
88.0
88.9
84.1
90.0
89.6
97.7
97.3
98.8
98.3
96.9
99.3
95.7
96.8
91.2
96.4
93.6
94.7
100.0
93.2
94. 5
100.7
93.9
96.4
99.5
98.9
98.6
92. 4
103.1
102. 2
94. 5
98.1
93.1
92.6
86. 3
99. 7
98.2
89.1
81.2
71.9
67.8
74.1
69.3
83.1
76. 7
81.8
67.6
88.1
69.8
70.0
65.9
59.6
68.8
54. 7
78.5
90.2
61.3
119. 5
95.7
112.9
83.3
98.5
98.2
98.9
74.9
84.4
89. 2
92.9
62. 2
133.3
82.6
98.6
87.3
88.7
89.5
86.4
95.8
92.3
89.9
87.9
95.6
89.2
88.8
90.0
96.5
87.2
8 7.9
9 4.4
9 5.6
79.8
8 5.3
101.4
9 0.9
8 9.8
93. 5
9 0.6
8 9.4
89.7
94.0
9 8.8
92. 6
9 2.6
100.0
88.1
91.5
93.1
106.6
89.3
111.1
93.2
100.8
91.7
106.0
98.4
96.1
98.1
84.8
110.5
95.9
9 2.0
97.3
9 9.6
9 5.4
9 6.2
107. 7
9 9.7
97. 6
101.4
102.0
9 9.5
9 3 .4
9 9.9
102.7
101.2
101.9
100.0
100.0
8 1.9
9 5.0
8 9.8
94.7
96. 2
100.0
9 8.0
96. 5
94. 2
92. 6
96.8
94. 2
9 9.6
93.1
9 9.4
100.0
76. 3
8 2.0
8 7.0
53. 5
59. 4
8 8.0
7 3.6
73. 4
81. 7
57.3
54. 7
7 1.9
80. 6
8 1.4
75.6
5 6.4
100.0
7 1.4
107.6
119.6
6 8.7
6 1.9
106.3
8 5.3
89.3
79. 6
128.0
114.9
9 1.4
9 6.6
74.1
83.1
105.8
100.0
9 4.9
84.1
8 7.6
92.1
101.8
91.3
9 3.3
90. 6
9 2.5
8 8.6
9 2.9
9 4.7
98.0
101.3
88.0
9 5.0
100.0
9 2.8
106.3
9 1.8
82.1
9 7.9
108. 7
9 3 .2
9 1.3
9 7 .8
9 4.3
100.4
9 8 .4
9 7.9
119.4
101.4
108.9
100.0
1 See explanation of method on pp. 97 and 98.
2 As defined for all groups except food by the Works Progress Administration in its Research Monograph
XII: Intercity Differences in Cost of Living in March 1935, 59 Cities. The food budget is computed in
terms of the “ Adequate Diet at Minimum Cost” of the U. S. Bureau of Home Economics.
100
COST AND STANDARDS OF LIVING
Difficulties of Place-toPlace Comparisons
The methods used in the above estimates are subject to some error,
because o f differences in the relative importance o f given items in
the W P A maintenance budget and in the weights o f the time-to-time
cost-of-living index. The error would be accentuated i f a rise in
prices occurred.
Another limitation is the lack o f realism in adhering to an identical
list o f commodities fo r all cities regardless o f climate and custom, as
is done in the W P A maintenance budget. The case o f overcoats in
New Orleans and Boston illustrates this point. W hat is really re
quired is a standard which provides the same level o f economic well
being, yet has elasticity enough to adapt to variations in local customs.
The most satisfactory technique yet devised is probably the pricing
o f a budget o f some sort, comprising a more or less fixed list o f items,
with some allowance for regional differences in consumption habits to
indicate whether a given wage will buy the same level o f living in one
part o f the country as in another.
There is a considerable body o f literature dealing with the develop
ment o f techniques to meet this problem. The Bureau used a d if
ferent method o f estimate in its study o f the cost o f living in five small
southern and five small northern cities, but the results were not very
different from those obtained when the fixed list o f items was em
ployed. The International Labor Office have done work in the field,
and Bagnar Frisch and Hans Staehle have experimented with tech
niques o f different types, but no single solution has been found.
Differences in Living Costs in Northern and Southern Cities
The Bureau o f Labor Statistics in 1939 made a survey o f living
costs in five northern and five southern cities. This survey was
undertaken at the request o f the W age and Hour Division, in order
to supply information on questions arising in the administration o f
the Fair Labor Standards A ct o f 1937.
The object o f the inquiry was to ascertain what differences, if any,
exist between northern and southern cities o f approximately the
same size in expenditures necessary to maintain the same level o f
living. That is to say, for any given expenditure in northern cities,
what expenditure in southern cities o f about the same size will provide
an equivalent living? To answer this question, living costs in the
two regions had to be compared. Thus, the term “ living costs” as
here used means the expenditures necessary to purchase a given level
o f economic well-being.
The survey covered the follow ing 10 cities with populations ranging
from 10,000 to 19,000:
P o p u la tio n
P o p u la tio n
Chillicothe, Ohio_________________18,340
Dover, N. H _____________________ 13,573
Hanover, Pa____________________ 11,805
Holland, Mich__________________ 14, 346
Little Falls, N. Y ________________11,105
Hattiesburg, Miss________________ 18,601
Sherman, Tex_____________________15,713
Statesville, N. O__________________ 10,490
Sumter, S. O______________________ 11,780
Thomasville, N. C________________ 10,090
101
PLACE DIFFERENCES IN LIVING COSTS
The importance o f this size group in consideration o f regional d if
ferences may be seen from the fact that in 1930, 14.7 percent o f the
urban population in the South Atlantic and South Central Divisions
and 13.1 percent o f that in the New England, Middle Atlantic, and
North Central Divisions were living in cities o f 10,000 to 25,000
population.
The cities covered are all industrial communities, and were selected
to represent the types o f production on which industry committees were
likely to rule on wage rates during 1940. They are independent com
munities, not satellites o f a nearby larger city. They each have more
than 1,000 wage earners employed in manufactures. No extreme
changes in employment have occurred in them in recent years, and
such changes as have occurred have been in line with changes in the
entire region concerned. A relatively small proportion o f the
dwellings occupied by their wage earners are company owned.
Results o f Study
The cost o f living in the five small southern cities surveyed, as
shown by indexes that represent averages obtained from making two
separate comparisons, one based upon northern consumption, the other
based upon southern consumption, was found to be 3.1 percent lower
on the average than in the five northern cities o f the same size. Food
prices were virtually the same, and lower housing and fuel costs in the
five southern cities were partially offset by higher prices for clothing,
furniture, furnishings and equipment, and micsellaneous items. It is
o f interest to note that the difference o f 3.1 percent in living costs
between the northern cities as a group and the southern cities as a
group is smaller than the differences between some o f the cities in the
same region. The lowest as well as highest cost in the 10 cities
surveyed was found in the northern group.
T
.
a b l e 2 — I n d e x e s o f liv in g c o sts o f w a g e e a r n e r s i n 1 0 s m a l l c i t ie s , D e c e m b e r 1 5 , 1 9 3 8
[A verage for th e 10 cities = 100.0]
Index es 1 of—
Region and city
Total
Food 2
Cloth
ing
Hous
ing
Fuel,light,
and refrig
eration
Furniture,
furnish
ings,
household
equipment
Miscel
laneous
Northern c i t i e s , _____ _
Chillicothe_____ __ _
Dover__ ____________
Hanover. . . ______ _
Holland.. ___ _ _ __ _
Little Falls___
101.6
103. 5
109.2
94.6
96.7
103.9
99.9
99.3
109.9
96.4
94.5
99.3
99.0
105.4
93.1
89.5
105.0
102.0
103.9
119.8
121.0
86.2
82.6
110. 1
120.6
96.8
143.3
112.2
119.8
130.7
98.1
102.0
98.7
97.8
92.5
99.5
98.5
100.9
99.8
93.7
98.3
99.6
Southern cities. __ _ _ _
Hattiesburg..____ _
Sherman___________ _
Statesville__ ___
Sumpter... _
Thomasville____ _
98.4
97.9
95.0
102.0
99.8
97.2
100. 1
101.0
102.9
103.5
106.4
92.3
100.1
90.0
83.7
79.2
102.1
121.3
93.7
79.4
78.5
82.0
88.7
76.8
70.9
101.8
107.9
99.9
104.0
95.3
101.8
101.5
106.2
103.0
103.6
97.1
97.6
99.3
95. 6
102.2
100.1
103.3
1 T h e b u d g e ts u sed are based u p o n d a ta from th e S tu d y of C o n su m e r P u rch a ses. A v erag e p u rch ases
of w age earners in 9 N ew E n g la n d a n d E a s t N o rth C e n tra l sm all cities w ere d eriv ed fro m th e su rv e y m a d e
b y th e U . S. B u re a u of L a b o r S ta tis tic s. A verage p u rch ases of w age earn ers in th e 4 so u th e a s te rn sm all
cities w ere su p p lie d b y th e U . S. B u re a u of H o m e E conom ics.
2 P rices a p p ly to F e b . 14, 1939.
3 2 8 1 1 2 — 4 2 — VOL. I— — 8
102
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
The budgets used for the two regions are not hypothetical budgets
prepared to reflect presumed typical habits. They are based upon
actual purchasing habits o f both northern and southern wage-earner
families as determined by the Study o f Consumer Purchases. The
northern budget is based upon average fam ily consumption in small
New England and North Central cities. The southern budget is
based upon average fam ily consumption in small South Atlantic
cities. In addition, prices were collected in each o f the 10 towns
studied only on those items which retail dealers sold with some fre
quency. Items which were not generally sold by dealers in both
regions were not included in the comparison. The quantities used
are those actually consumed by wage-earner fam ilies; the prices used
are those actually paid.
S T A N D A R D S A N D PLANES OF LIVING
Bureau of Labor Statistics Study of Money Disburse
ments of Wage Earners and Clerical Workers 1
The United States Bureau o f Labor Statistics made a Nation-wide
study o f money disbursements o f wage earners and lower-salaried
clerical workers in 1934-36 which covered 12,903 white families
and 1,566 Negro families in 42 cities with a population o f over
50,000.
A ll families included in the survey met the follow ing requirements:
Fam ily incomes o f at least $500 per yea r; no receipt o f relief, either
direct or work relief, during the survey year; at least one earner
employed for 36 weeks and earning at least $300; no clerical worker
earning over $200 per month or $2,000 per year.
Income
The 14,469 families averaged 3.6 persons each and their average
income was $1,524. H a lf o f them had incomes below $1,458. The
average income o f the 12,903 white families was $1,546 and o f the
1,566 Negro families was $1,008. The income of the 28 percent o f
families in which the chief earner was a clerical worker averaged
$1,642. Corresponding figures for other occupational groups were:
Skilled worker (23 percent), $1,661; semiskilled worker (35 percent),
$1,437; unskilled worker (14 percent), $1,255.
Expenditures
Data based on actual expenditures o f these families show the
overwhelming importance o f food, clothing, and housing, including
fuel, light, and refrigeration. These expenses were about two-thirds
o f the total, even at the highest income levels surveyed. Outlays
for the m ajor categories o f fam ily spending are shown in the fol1 By Faith M. W illiams and Alice
see Bulletin No. 638 o f the Bureau o f
Review, December 1939 to July 1940.
bulletins (Nos. 636, 637, 639, 640, and
C. Hanson. For a general summary of this study
Labor Statistics, and articles in the Monthly Labor
Separate results for each study appear in a series o f
641).
103
M O N EY DISBURSEMENTS OF WAGE EARNERS
low ing table. The figures show not only the average for all families
surveyed, but the changing proportions claimed by the various cate
gories at relatively low, intermediate, and high income levels.
Average yearly m oney expense of 1 4,46 9 fam ilies in 1 9 3 4 * 3 6 , for main categories of
fa m ily spending
All
families
Families with annual net
income of—
Item
Under
$1,200
$1,200 to
$1,800
$1,800
and over
Amount
Percent
All items___________________ _________- ------ --------
$1, 512
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Food---------------------------- ------ -----------------------------Clothing________________________________________
Housing.-- -------------------------------------------------------Fuel, light, and refrigeration-------------------------------Other household operation---------- ------------------------Furnishings and equipment______________________
Automobile and motorcycle—purchase, operation,
and maintenance---------- ---------- ----------------------Other transportation---------------- ----------------- -------Personal care-----------------------------------------------------Medical care__________________ _____________ - Recreation--------------------- ------ - ----------------- --Education__________ ________ --- -- -------------V ocation-..
--------- -------------- -- ---- -------- -Community welfare_____________________________
Gifts and contributions to persons outside the eco
nomic family ________ _- ------ ------ -- -------------Other items_____________ ______ _______________
508
160
259
108
58
60
33.5
10.6
17.1
7.1
3.8
4.0
36.2
9.0
19.5
8.6
3.4
3.4
33.9
10.2
17.7
7.4
3.7
4.1
31.7
11.9
15.3
6.2
4.2
4.0
87
38
30
59
82
7
6
19
5.8
2.5
2.0
3.9
5.4
.5
.4
1.3
3.2
2.7
2.0
3.8
4.8
.3
.3
1.2
5.7
2.4
2.0
3.9
5.3
.4
.3
1.2
7.3
2.5
2.0
4.0
5.9
.6
.5
1.3
24
7
1.6
.5
1.1
,5
1.4
.4
2.0
.6
P ercen t
Percen t
P ercen t
It is clear that with a fam ily income o f $1,200 or less per year
average expenditures for food, clothing,. and housing absorbed such
a large part o f the total that the margin left for recreation, medical
care, transportation, and other items was necessarily small. A t
higher incomes, larger quantities and better food were consumed,
housing was better, and clothing more varied and attractive, but still
there was a proportionately greater share o f the total available for
miscellaneous categories o f fam ily spending.
Im portance o f Siz,e o f Fam ily
In order to obtain a full picture o f what may be called the economic
level at which a fam ily lives, it is necessary to take account o f the
complicating effect o f fam ily size and composition, and not merely
o f the size o f fam ily income. F or example, a family composed o f a
young husband and w ife only may live quite comfortably on an
income o f $1,500. Another family, however, composed o f an elderly
father, a middle-aged married couple, and four children ranging in
age from 6 to 20 must forego many things the first fam ily can afford,
if it is to stay within its $1,500; that is, it must live at a lower
economic level.
This difference in fam ily composition and size can be taken account
o f by classifying families according to total expenditure per family
member. In counting the number o f fam ily members, the moderately
active man is taken as one unit, and each other member is counted in
proportion, making due allowance for the customary consumption o f
persons o f different age, sex, and activity.
104
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
Such a classification has been used, in addition to the family income
classification, in the reports giving the results o f this survey by
regions. It is also used in the tables in Bulletin No. 638 which present
details o f fam ily expenditure.
Current expenditure per fam ily member averaged $455. When
families were classified by economic level, the largest families were
found at the lowest levels. Fifteen percent o f the families and 35
percent o f the children were in the group spending less than $300
per year per fam ily member. A t this level, the families averaged 5%
persons. O f their total current expenditures 41 percent was spent for
food, 26 percent for housing, fuel, light, and refrigeration, and 10
percent for clothing. Less than a quarter o f the total could be used
for the many other things which urban families must buy.
Expenditures fo r Specified Items
F ood .— F ood expenditures constitute the most important single
item in the fam ily budgets o f the entire group o f families surveyed,
taking 33.5 percent o f the average fam ily’s expenditure. Despite the
fact that food took first place in expenditures, a large proportion o f
these families did not spend enough to obtain the amount and kinds
o f food needed for good health for all the family and for normal
growth o f the children. Although most o f them had sufficient food
to avoid actual hunger, only about 75 percent o f the white families
and 32 percent o f the Negro families spent enough to buy the
recommended “ minimum-cost adequate diet” o f the Bureau o f Home
Economics.
This diet consists o f lists o f low-cost foods in proportions and
quantities sufficient to yield a balanced ration for persons o f different
age, sex, and activity. The retail cost o f each o f these diets in each
city was computed by the Bureau o f Labor Statistics on the basis o f
prices reported from retail stores for the year in which the con
sumption survey discussed here was conducted. From these costs it
was then possible to compute the cost o f the Bureau o f Home
Economics “minimum-cost adequate diet” for a fam ily o f any stated
composition. The actual food expenditure o f each fam ily could then
be compared with the computed cost o f the minimum adequate diet
for that family. Although this comparison does not furnish in for
mation on the proportion o f families actually attaining adequate
diets, it does furnish an estimate o f the proportion o f families spend
ing enough for food to have obtained an adequate diet if the food
selections had been wisely made, and indicates that more than 70 per
cent met that test.
Housing.— Housing expenditures, the item o f next importance in
the spending o f these families, averaged $34 per month. This figure
includes expense for fuel, light, and refrigeration, rent, and rental
value o f owned homes. Two-fifths o f these families lived in 1-family
detached houses; one-fourth lived in apartments; and the rest in semi
detached, row, or 2-fam ily houses.
The home o f the typical wage earner or clerical fam ily with an
income above^ $500 had a bathroom with inside flush toilet and hot
running water. It had electric lights, and gas or electricity for
cooking. Seventy-eight percent surveyed had all o f the facilities just
MONEY DISBURSEMENTS OF WAGE EARNERS
105
mentioned. Two-thirds o f the families had central heat in their
homes. Ice. was used for refrigeration by two-thirds o f these families
in 1934-36. During and since that period there has been a great
increase in sales o f mechanical refrigerators. Twenty-six percent
had electric refrigerators at the time o f the study, and the proportion
is doubtless larger now. Forty percent o f the homes had garages and
30 percent, telephones.
Seventy percent o f the families surveyed rented their homes. O f
these, 38 percent lived in houses, 24 percent rented heated apartments,
and 38 percent rented unheated apartments. Thirty percent o f the
families were home owners; all but a negligible fraction o f these lived
in houses; a few lived in apartments o f which they were owners or
part owners.
The total money expense o f home owners for taxes, assessments,
interest, insurance, repairs, fuel, light, and refrigeration was $27
a month. When the return on their capital investment is taken into
consideration, their total monthly housing expenditure actually
amounted to $39. Families renting heated apartments paid an aver
age o f $35 for rent, light, gas, and refrigeration. Kent, fuel, light,
and refrigeration both for families renting unheated apartments and
fo r families renting houses averaged $31 per month.
House furnishings and household operation.— About one-twelfth o f
the total expenditure was absorbed by household expenses other than
rent, heat, and light. These expenditures were for furnishings and
household equipment, cleaning supplies, laundry and domestic service,
telephone, water rent, insurance on furniture, and other items con
nected with the running o f the home. The average annual expendi
ture o f all families fo r furnishings and equipment was $60 and for
household operation, $58. Expenditures for furnishings and equip
ment were very limited at the lowest income level, where they amounted
to only 2 percent o f total expenditure. They rose to about 4 percent
at the $2,000 income level, after which they showed a tendency to
decline as a proportion o f total expenditure. Expenditures for house
hold operation increased from about 3 percent at the lowest income
level to almost 4^2 percent at the highest. The increase in the amount
paid fo r household operation as income increased was due princi
pally to greater use o f laundry service and paid help. The total
amount spent fo r the fam ily home, including rent, value o f housing
“ in kind” from investment in owned home, fuel, light, and refrigera
tion, furnishings, telephone, etc., averaged for all the families about
$44 per month, ranging from about $20 per month for families with
incomes o f $500 to $600 a year to over $50 for those with incomes
above $1,800.
Clothing.— Clothing expenditures, the third most important item
in relative importance, claimed 10.6 percent o f total fam ily expendi
ture. The urgency with which families regard the need for com
fortable and socially appropriate clothing is evidenced by the larger
outlay for clothing per fam ily at higher income levels. A s incomes
permitted, these families o f wage earners and clerical workers spent
for clothing not only more dollars, but a larger proportion o f the
total fam ily expenditure. When families were classified by amount
o f total expenditure per fam ily member a sharp increase in clothing
expenditure per person was found at higher economic levels. Im -
106
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
portant differences were noted in total clothing expenditures o f per
sons o f different age, sex, and occupation, even when allowance was
made for differences in income and fam ily size. Employed women
spent most, then employed men, followed by women at home and men
at home. For both men and women over 18, outerwear (that is coats,
sweaters, suits, shirts, dresses, and blouses) represented the major
clothing expenditure. The men bought a new overcoat or topcoat on
the average once in 5 years, at an average price o f $21, and a new wool
suit once in 2 years at an average cost o f $24.
The second major clothing expense for both men and women was
footwear, including shoes, slippers, rubbers and arctics, and hose.
It represented a larger expenditure, both in dollars and as a percentage
o f the total, for women than for men. This fact is largely explained
by the importance o f silk stockings in the women’s clothing expendi
tures. W om en’s silk and rayon stockings cost 72 cents per pair on
the average and accounted fo r $7.41 per year for each person, almost
as much as shoes which cost the average woman in these workers’
families $7.85 a year.
Automobiles and other transportation.— F orty-four percent o f all
the families covered in this study owned automobiles. Almost all
were purchased second-hand rather than new. O f these families
nearly 2 percent owned more than one automobile, and practically all
o f them included grown sons and daughters who pooled their earnings
with those o f their elders. The average net purchase price (gross
price, minus trade-in allowance) was $300 per family purchasing
an automobile.
The percentage o f total expenditure devoted to “ other” transporta
tion was less at the higher economic levels. The principal factor in
this decline was the smaller proportion o f expenditures going to
streetcar fares as automobile ownership became more frequent.
Radios.— That the habit o f “ listening to the radio” has become
widespread is shown by the high proportion o f the families reporting
radio ownership in 1934—36. Seventy-four percent owned a radio.
Even among those families spending less than $200 per year per
fam ily member for all items o f fam ily living, 40 percent had a radio.
Recreation.— The average expenditure fo r tobacco accounted for
over a third o f the total spent fo r recreation. Cigarette purchases
were reported by only a little over half the families at the low economic
level but by three-fourths at the high level. About 50 cents per week
per fam ily spending went for this purpose at the low economic level
compared with almost 90 cents at the high economic level. Reading o f
the daily paper and some attendance at movies w^ere almost universally
reported.
Medical care and personal care.— When these families had paid for
the basic requirements o f urban living— food, shelter, clothing, trans
portation, and recreation— they had, on the average, a margin o f only
one-tenth o f their total expenditure for medical care, personal care,
gifts, direct personal taxes, formal education, and miscellaneous
items. Thus it is not surprising to find that the actual average ex
penditure o f all families for medical care, $59 per fam ily or $16 per
person, was far below the amount that has been estimated as necessary
to obtain adequate medical care. The greatest part o f this expendi
ture went to the general practitioner while the dentist received the
next largest share. These expenditures combined with those for med-
MONEY DISBURSEMENTS OF WAGE EARNERS
107
icines and drugs comprised over one-half o f the total expenditure for
medical care. The balance went for services o f hospitals, specialists,
and nurses, and for eyeglasses, medical appliances, and miscellaneous
medical expense.
The average fam ily expenditure o f $30 for personal care was about
equally divided between services o f barber and beauty shops and the
purchase o f toilet articles and preparations. Haircuts accounted for
$10 of the $16 total for personal-care services, permanent waves for
$2, and other waves for $1.70. Practically all o f the families (96
percent) bought toilet soap as well as laundry soap. The same
proportion reported expense fo r haircuts.
Education, vocation, and miscellaneous.— Formal education, voca
tional expense (including such items as union dues), and miscellane
ous expenditures each took one-half o f 1 percent or less o f total family
expenditure. Such expenditures and those for community welfare all
tend to be highly variable. Individual families spent from nothing to
rather large amounts in this way.
Savings.— In the aggregate, the current incomes o f the families
studied were a little greater than their current expenditures. The
average savings amounted to $11. Am ong families with incomes
from $500 to $600 (the lowest income level included in this study)
the year brought a deficit, with an average net change in assets and
liabilities for all families o f $80. This deficit became progressively
smaller at successive income levels, and changed to an average surplus
at the $1,500 to $1,800 income level. The average surplus was greater
at each higher income class, reaching a maximum of $231 for families
with incomes o f $3,000 and over. In this report expenditure for
life-insurance premiums is treated as savings.
Com parison o f W hite and N egro Families
The principal differences noted in the spending o f white and Negro
families are associated with income differences. The same require
ments fo r inclusion in the survey were applied to white and to Negro
families. A s relatively more Negroes than whites were on relief or
unemployed at the time o f the survey, the Negroes included repre
sented the higher stratum o f Negro wage earners and clerical work
ers. Despite this fact, the incomes o f the Negro families included
were substantially below those o f the white families.
When expenditures for white families were compared with those
fo r Negro families at the same income level or economic level, few
marked differences were found. The principal ones were that Negroes
saved more because o f their almost universal practice o f paying
insurance premiums; that they contributed more to relatives; and
that they spent somewhat less fo r food. In Northern cities, Negro
families spent more fo r housing than white families at the same
income level, but the reverse was found in the South.
R egional Differences
The generalized averages fo r 42 cities combined necessarily do not
show differences between localities. Separate data for individual
cities have been presented in the series o f bulletins mentioned earlier.
When a comparison is made o f differences in family-spending patterns
108
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
between regions, many o f these differences are found to be due to
income variations. Some are o f course associated with climate and
custom. Regional differences iji averages for main categories o f
spending are in general small between families at the same income
level. F or families with income between $1,200 and $1,500 the cate
gory which showed the largest regional difference was housing. New
Y ork City families had the largest expenditure for housing including
fuel, light, and refrigeration. Other North Atlantic cities had the
second greatest expenditure and Pacific coast cities the lowest housing
expenditure. One o f the most interesting contrasts found was the
difference in expenditures fo r automobile purchase, operation, and
maintenance. The highest average expenditure was found among
the Pacific coast families, with families in the West North Central,
East North Central, Southern, and North Atlantic regions follow ing
in the order named. Families in New Y ork City had the lowest average
automobile expenditure. In fact the average expenditure for auto
mobile purchase, operation, and maintenance in Pacific coast cities was
nine times greater than the average for New Y ork City.
*## # # # # # #
C h a n g e s i n F a m i ly E x p e n d it u r e s i n t h e P o s t - W a r
P e r io d
In the period since the close o f the W orld W ar in 1918, technological
advances in agriculture, in engineering, and in production methods,
which had been developing over a long period, combined to place at
the disposal o f wage earners and clerical workers in the United States
a wide array o f consumers’ goods which had not been available to
them before. Some o f these goods were actually new; for example,
canned tomato juice, rayon fabrics, and certain types o f electrical
equipment. More o f them had been in the markets before, but at
prices higher than moderate-income families could pay.
New developments in agricultural production and in transcon
tinental refrigerator cars began to bring oranges and grapefruit,
lettuce and spinach to urban markets the year round at prices con
siderably lower than those prevailing before the war. Motorcar
production entered a new phase. Passenger automobiles had been
produced commercially since the nineties, but the cost o f a car was
fo r a long time far out o f the reach o f the average American family.
Silk stockings had been a luxury to women in the moderate-income
group before the war period. In most stores the only kind o f silk hose
sold was a very heavy service-weight stocking, with a mercerized top,
double-sole lisle foot, with a silk “ boot” only 20 inches high. They
cost $2 a pair at retail. In the period after the war the much more
attractive sheer and semiservice hose, with silk feet and a 25-inch
“ boot,” began to appear in all the stores, at a lower price, and silk
stockings for everyday became the rule even for women in moderateincome families.
Electric power, which had been available to few in the wage-earner
and clerical groups before 1918, has declined in price over the period,
and dwellings wired for electric lights and small electrical appliances
have come within the range o f the purchasing power o f the average
employed worker.
FAMILY EXPENDITURES IN POST-WAR PERIOD
109
A t the end o f the war period the results o f extensive researches into
the physiological needs o f the human body reached the stage where
they could be popularized, and Americans for the first time became
aware o f minerals and vitamins in foods and their importance in human
nutrition. War-time restrictions were relaxed and a Nation which had
learned to count its calories went on to attempt an understanding o f
other factors affecting diet. This new information, together with
lower food prices in general and the lower prices o f certain nutri
tionally valuable foods in particular, and also the greater availability
o f fruits and vegetables all the year round, combined to produce
striking changes in American food expenditure.
The Bureau o f Labor Statistics study o f the money disbursements
o f wage earners and clerical workers in 1934-36 1 provided figures on
expenditure patterns at that time, with which similar data secured in
1917-19 2 may be compared.
The 1917-19 study covered the expenditures o f families o f husband
and wife and at least one child for 12 months within the period
from August 1, 1917, to February 28, 1919. Seventy-five percent o f
the material applies to the year 1918. In the interval between the
end o f this study and the beginning o f the 1931-36 investigation,
the cost o f living in the larger cities o f the country rose to a high
point in May 1920, dropped sharply until December 1921, and rose
again gradually until December 1925. In 1926 costs began to decline
again, gradually until December 1929, sharply between that date
and June 1933, rising again thereafter. The result o f all these
changes was that total living costs fo r wage earners and clerical
workers in large cities were approximately 5 percent lower in the
period included in the recent investigation than in that included in
the bench-mark study at the end o f the W orld War. Costs for differ
ent types o f goods and services had moved quite differently in the
interval. The follow ing statement shows the estimated net percent o f
change in the various groups o f items from the period covered
by the 1917-19 study to that o f the 1934-36 study:
Percent
of change
F o o d _______________________________________________________ — 24
Clothing______________________________
— 15
R e n t____________________________ ,________________________
—1
Fuel and light_________________________________________ -f2 9
Housefurnishings________________________________________ — 4
Miscellaneous items_____________________________________ -j-34
All items_________________________________________________
—5
The sharp decline in food costs was caused partly by the develop
ment o f new and more efficient techniques o f agricultural production
and partly by the falling off in the European demand for American
agricultural products. Clothing costs had declined partly because
o f the invention o f new methods o f textile production, partly because
o f improvements in the mass production o f moderate-price, ready-towear clothes. Fuel and light costs were higher, largely because coal
prices had been controlled at relatively low levels during the W orld
W ar period. The cost o f miscellaneous items purchased by moderateincome families (medical service, movies, laundry service, telephone,
1 See U. S. Bureau o f Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 638 : Money Disbursements of W age
Earners and Clerical Workers, 1934-36— Summary Volume.
2 U. S. Bureau o f Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 357 : Cost o f Living in tbe United States,
Washington, 1924.
110
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
and newspapers) rose very rapidly in 1918, 1919, and 1920, and has
remained relatively stable since that time, which accounts for the cost
in 193A-36 being distinctly above the level o f costs in 1917-19.
T o secure a living wThich cost $1,200 in larger cities o f the country
at the time o f the 1917-19 survey, it would have been necessary on
the average in 1934-36 to spend only $1,140.
A comparison o f the actual expenditures o f families with money
incomes ranging from $1,200 to $1,500 in the two periods shows the
differences in the distribution o f the total amount spent currently for
goods and services. Expenditures in 1934-36 were somewhat lower
fo r food, furniture, and furnishings, and considerably lower fo r cloth
in g; expenditures fo r housing, fuel and light, and miscellaneous
items were considerably higher.
C u rren t exp en d itu res o f fa m ilie s o f wage earners and clerical w orkers w ith in co m es
f r o m $ 1 ,2 0 0 to $ 1 ,5 0 0 in 3 5 large cities in 1 9 1 7 - 1 9 and in 1 9 3 4 - 3 6
[Families including husband and wife and at least one child]
Average expendi
tures in—
Item
1917-19
Food _________
Clothing_____________ ____ ____ ____ __
Rent______ ______ __ _
Fuel and lig h t...
_
. __
Furniture and furnishings____________
Miscellaneous items _______
______
Total.......................... .................
1934-36
Cost at
1934-36
prices of
goods
pur
chased in
1917-19
Average expendi
tures in—
1917-19
1934-36
Percen t
Percen t
$521
205
$508
139
$389
169
41.2
16.3
60
216
54
339
57
281
4.8
17.2
1,261
1,392
1,171
~100.0
36.4
10.0
Cost at
1934-36
prices of
goods
pur
chased in
1917-19
P ercen t
33.2
14.4
C?:!}25-3
{ ™ } 23-8
4.9
24.0
100.0"
100.0
3.9
24.4
The greatest difference between average expenditures at this income
level occurred in the case o f miscellaneous items. Expenditures for
the miscellaneous group, which includes automobiles, radio, and tele
phone, were almost three-fifths greater in 1934-36 than in 1917-19.
In analyzing these figures, it is important to return to the realinement o f prices which occurred in the period between the two surveys.
In order to eliminate the effect o f price differences as such from the
comparison o f expenditure patterns, the Bureau o f Labor Statistics
indexes o f the cost o f food, clothing, rent, fuel and light, and mis
cellaneous items have been applied to the average expenditures o f
families in the $1,200-$1,500 income bracket in 1917-19. The result
ing figures (column 3 above) represent an estimate o f what the equiva
lent o f the goods actually purchased in 1917-19 would have cost i f
they had been purchased in 1934-36.
A comparison o f these figures with the expenditure patterns ac
tually found in 1934-36 shows that the families studied in the letter
period were spending considerably more for food than would have
been required to buy the foods purchased in 1917-19. Part o f this
increase was due to the increase in eating out in the period between
the two surveys, and part to the fact that these moderate-income
families had taken advantage o f lower food prices to satisfy food
needs which had not been met in the period at the end o f the W orld
W ar. The data available on the kinds o f food purchased indicate
FAM ILY EXPENDITURES IN POST-WAR PERIOD
111
that the consumption o f employed workers at the present time is
much nearer the diets recommended by nutrition specialists than
were the diets o f families at approximately the same general eco
nomic level in 1917-19.
Total clothing expenditures in 1917-19 were, on the other hand,
lower on the average than would have been expected on the basis of
expenditures in 1917-19. Clothing prices, as mentioned above, were
lower in 1931-36 than in the period at the end o f the W orld W ar,
but clothing expenditures were lower than would have been required
to buy the equivalent o f the clothing purchased earlier. Part o f the
difference is doubtless accounted for by the increase in dwellings with
central heat. R iding to work in automobiles instead o f walking
long distances fo r trolleys has probably reduced the need for heavy
winter clothing. In addition, the trend o f styles in women’s clothing
has been in the direction o f less voluminous and more tailored
garments.
A comparison o f actual housing expenditures in 1934-36 with those
estimated as required to provide the type o f housing secured by the
families studied at the end o f the W orld W ar shows a higher average
expenditure in 1934-36, when the comparison is made in terms o f
housing as such, or in terms o f housing expense combined with ex
pense for fuel and light. Dwellings o f a better grade than those
occupied in 1917-19 by workers at this income level were available in
1934-36— dwellings with electric lights and modern plumbing. These
urban workers were not content with homes which were the equivalent
o f those with which city families at this income level had perforce been
satisfied in the W orld W ar period. They found, however, that they
could not obtain the housing they wanted by paying the equivalent o f
the amounts paid in 1917-19, and the lower cost o f food and clothing
gave them the margin they needed to pay more for housing, as well
as to increase their expenditures for items classified in the miscel
laneous category.
Families in this middle-income class in the 35 cities included in
both investigations spent $216 for miscellaneous commodities and
services in 1917-19. In 1934-36 the equivalent o f these commodities
and services would have cost $281. Actually, however, families at
this income level in these same cities in 1934-36 spent $339 for goods
o f this sort. The most marked change was in expenditures for travel.
In 1917-19, among families o f the type covered by the Bureau’s
study at that time— i. e., families with husband, wife, and at least one
child— expenditures for travel o f all kinds averaged $35 a year or 3
percent o f total current expenditure in the $1,200-$!,500 income class.
The comparable figures for 1934-36 are $99 and 7 percent.
The travel figures for both periods include the expense o f automo
bile purchase, maintenance, and operation, an item which has become
o f considerable importance even to moderate-income urban families
who are not actually dependent on motor transportation. Nowadays
when a fam ily has had a successful year, it is more apt to think o f an
automobile as a symbol o f success than to turn to new clothes, or
new furniture for the parlor.
Expenditures for personal care have also increased markedly in the
interval between these studies. A n expenditure o f not quite $13
per fam ily (1 percent o f all current expenditures) in this income class
112
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
in 1917-19 has become $27, or 2 percent o f all current expenditure, in
1934-36. Obviously the barber and the hairdresser are receiving
considerably more attention than in 1917-19.
These differences in the distribution o f expenditures by wage-earner
and clerical families in the $1,200-$1,500 income class are repre
sentative o f differences up and down the income scale covered by
these two investigations; that is, from $500 to $2,500 and over.
W ithout exception the averages by income class show that in 1934r-36
families were spending a higher proportion o f total expenditures for
food and a lower proportion for clothing than would have been
necessary to buy the equivalent o f the 1917-19 purchases. In all
except the lowest income class they were spending a higher proportion
for housing than the equivalent o f W orld W ar housing would have
required. In this lowest bracket again, there was a deviation from
the rule as regards furniture and furnishings. In every other income
class the proportion spent in 1934-36 wTas slightly less than would
have been required to purchase furniture and furnishings o f types
and in the amounts bought in 1917-19. In all but one income class
the expenditure for miscellaneous items was proportionately larger
in 1934-36.
One o f the most striking differences between these two sets o f
figures is in the matter o f savings and deficits in each period. In the
group covered in 1917-19 in these 35 cities, only the families at the
lowest income level showed a deficit and that was a small one— not
quite $11. Above the $900 level, each group, on the average, showed
net savings (treating payments on insurance,premiums as savings).
Am ong the comparable families covered in 1934r-36, in a period
when the average cost o f living was 5 percent lower, average deficits
appeared until the $1,800 level was reached. The group with in
comes from $1,200 to $1,500 spent, for example, $131 more for com
modities and services than the similar group covered at the end o f the
W orld W ar. Their average incomes were, on the other hand, only
$20 higher. The balance o f the additional current expenditure was
possible, partly because no net saving was made by families in this
bracket in 1934^-36, and partly because these families made use o f
funds other than current income. Part o f these nonincome funds
were withdrawn from savings accounts, part were borrowed on in
stallment credit, part represented a surrender o f insurance policies,,
while the balance came from a variety o f scattered sources. In con
trast with the situation in 1917-19, when the average fam ily in the
wage-earner and clerical group in the $1,200-$1,500 income class
saved $80 over the year, in 1934r-36 the comparable families reported
a net decrease in assets a n d/or increase in liabilities o f $30.
In considering these differences, it is important to remember the
difference in the national situation at the time the two investiga
tions were made. Much o f the data obtained in the 1917-19 investi
gation applies to years ending between June 30 and November 1,
1918, a time when Government loans were being floated in small
denominations, and subscriptions to them by moderate-income fam i
lies were made at considerable sacrifice. Amounts paid on such sub
scriptions by families covered in the Bureau o f Labor Statistics
study would, o f course, appear as savings in calculating changes in
assets and liabilities.
ADEQUACY OF DIETS OF WAGE EARNERS
113
The investigation in 193L-36 was made just after a period o f ex
tensive unemployment and reduction in earnings, in which most lowand moderate-income families, even if they had not suffered acutely
from unemployment themselves, had postponed, insofar as possible,
all expenditures which were not immediately necessary. B y 1934
and more particularly by 1935, conditions were somewhat improved,
particularly for the families having relatively steady employment, a
requirement for inclusion in the study. It was natural, therefore, to
find them buying with a certain amount o f optimism to make up for
the enforced economies o f the past, drawing on savings where pos
sible, and where savings were not available, on credit.
There seems, however, to have been another reason fo r the differ
ences in the expenditures o f families with the same incomes. There
is much that indicates that families o f wage earners and clerical
workers actually have higher standards o f living than similar workers
had at the end o f the war period. Their diets more nearly approach
the recommendation o f specialists in human nutrition; they have
homes with better ligh tin g; many o f them are able to travel more be
cause they have automobiles. The change in the ideas of these
workers as to how they ought to live has resulted in fundamental
changes in their expenditure patterns. Insofar as the analyses al
ready made make it possible to compare the goods and services pur
chased by comparable families, it would appear that the change has
resulted in a level o f living for employed w orkers3 which may
actually be called higher than that found in 1917-19.
N u tritio n a l A d e q u a cy o f D iets o f Wage Earners and
•
C lerical W ork ers
The 1934-36 Study o f Money Disbursements of W age Earners and
Clerical Workers made by the Bureau o f Labor Statistics indicated
that 75 percent o f the white families and 32 percent o f the Negro
families spent enough for food to buy the “ minimum-cost adequate
diet” o f the United States Bureau o f Home Economics. There was a
striking progression in these proportions from the families with
annual unit expenditures 4 o f less than $400 for all items of family
living to those spending $600 or more.
In making these estimates, the cost o f the “minimum-cost adequate
diet” was calculated on the basis o f average prices in the period to
which the expenditure data apply in each city surveyed. It is, o f
course, possible to shop with care and buy at lower prices than these.
A careful selection o f in-season fruits and vegetables and fish will
8 It is im portant in using these figures to remember that this report does not attem pt to
estimate the change in the consumption o f the average fam ily in the wage-earner and
clerical groups in our large cities from the middle o f 1919 to the middle o f 1936.
The
Bureau o f Labor Statistics studies o f the expenditures o f wage earners and clerical workers
at both periods were made for the purpose o f providing weights for cost-of-living indexes
applying to changes in the costs o f goods purchased by employed workers. On that account,
many fam ilies in the lowest incom e brackets were eliminated both from the study made at
the end o f the war period, and from the 1934-36 investigation.
It is impossible to make any
estimate o f the income distribution o f all the urban fam ilies who regarded themselves as
4 “ Annual unit expenditure” is the term used to denote total expenditure per family mem
ber. In counting the number o f family members, a moderately active adult male is counted
as one unit. Each other member is counted in proportion, with due regard to differences in
customary consumption by age, sex, and activity.
For fuller explanation see Monthly
Labor Review for January 1940 or Bureau o f Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 638, ch. 3.
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
114
lower the cost, but on the other hand, to secure a nutritionally
adequate diet at the calculated cost requires thoughtful planning and
food-consumption habits which follow nutritional needs very closely.
These figures furnish, therefore, an estimate o f the proportion o f
families spending enough to secure nutritionally adequate fo o d ; they
do not furnish information as to the proportion o f families actually
attaining adequate diets. The follow ing statement shows the per
centage o f families spending enough fo r food to buy the “ minimumcost adequate diet,” o f the Bureau o f Home Economics, by unit
expenditure fo r all items.
PSfOGTti/
Annual unit expenditure for all items of
W h ite
family living:
f a m ilie s
All families__________________________________
75
Qjf
N e g ro
f a m ilie s
32
Less than $400_____________________________
40
$400 and under $600________________________
88
$600 and over________________________________ 98
11
173
1 Families w ith annual unit expenditure o f $400 and over.
An analysis was made by Hazel Stiebeling o f the U. S. Bureau o f
Home Economics o f the nutritional content o f the average quantities
o f foods shown in Bulletin No. 638 as actually consumed by 14,469
families o f employed wage earners and clerical workers. The results
o f this analysis are shown in table 1. They indicate that, on the
average, the foods o f these wage earners and clerical workers were
adequate in energy value and in proteins. They were deficient, how
ever, at the lowest economic level, in phosphorus, iron, and the vita
mins. Only fo r white families at the highest economic level did the
average diet provide calcium sufficient to meet requirements o f a
good diet.
T
a b l e
and
1.— A verage nutritive value o f diets per n u trition u n it p er d a y , 1 4 ,4 6 9 w hite
N eg ro fa m ilie s o f em p lo yed wage earners and clerical w orkers in cities^
1 9 3 4 -3 6
1
Total annual unit expendi
ture for all items
White families:
Less than $400________
$400-$600_____________
$600 or over___________
Negro families:
Less thaD $400________
$400-$600______________
$600 or o v e r .......... ........
Energy
value
Pro
tein
C a l
ories
G ra m s
G ra m s
2,840
3, 260
3, 580
70
84
96
0.47
.59
.70
2,990
3,860
3, 780
67
93
96
.32
.53
.57
Cal
cium
Phos
phorus
Vitamins
Iron
M illi
g ram s
A
B
C
G
I n te r
n a tion a l
u n its
M illi
gra m s
M illi
gra m s
M illi
gra m s
1.17
1.36
1.54 .
12.4
15.2
17.1
4,900
6, 900
8,600
1.6
1.9
2.1
65
97
123
1.6
2.0
2.4
1.10
1.48
1.48
14.0
17.5
17.3
4, 400
6, 800
8,200
1.7
2.2
2.2
54
88
109
1.3
2.0
2.1
G ra m s
1 Analysis furnished by the Bureau of Home Economics of the Department of Agriculture. The figure
are in terms of the nutritional needs of a moderately active man of 154 pounds.
A detailed analysis o f food-consumption records kept for 1 week
in several seasons by approximately 4,000 o f the families cooperating
in the study was made in 1939 by Stiebeling and Phipard.5 The diets
5 U. S. Department o f Agriculture. Circular No. 507 : Diets of Families of Employed
W age Earners and Clerical W orkers in Cities, by Hazel K. Stiebeling and Esther F. Phipard.
Washington, 1939. Since the publication o f this report, the National Research Council’s
committee on food and nutrition has recommended daily allowances for specific nutrients
for various age, sex, and activity groups that differ somewhat from those used in this study
as a basis for grading diets. Hence, on the new basis the proportion of diets classed as good,
fair, or poor might be somewhat different from those here reported.
ADEQUACY OF jDIETS OF WAGE EARNERS
115
as shown by these records were classified separately for each indi
vidual fam ily as good or fair if the uncooked food materials con
sumed furnished per nutrition-requirement unit at least the follow ing
quantities:
S p e c ific a tio n s f o r d ie ts r a t e d goo d a n d f a i r ; d a i ly a llo w a n c e s o f c e r t a in i m p o r t a n t n u t r ie n t s
p e r d a y f o r a 15^-pound m o d e r a te ly a c t iv e m a n
Good diets
Protein___________________
Calcium___________________
Phosphorus_______________
Iron_______________________
Vitamin A ________________
Vitamin Bi, thiamin-----Vitamin C, ascorbic acid.
Vitamin G, riboflavin___
_______________grams_____
67
0. 68
_________________do____
_________________do____
1. 32
_________ milligrams__
15
International units__ 6, 000
--------------- milligrams__
1. 5
_________________do_______
75
_________________do____
1. 8
Fair diets
45
0. 45
0. 88
10
3, 000
0. 75
37
0. 9
The analysis shows from 11 to 21 percent o f the white families in
the several regions, and 11 percent o f the Negro families in the South,
consuming food which, as uncooked food material, provided generous
quantities o f protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and vitamins A , B,
ascorbic acid, and riboflavin. These included a wide margin o f safety,
probably about 50 percent above average minimum requirements for
protein and the minerals. These generous margins provide not only
for some waste in use but also for the higher than average requirements
o f some individuals and the fact that more than the minimum quanti
ties o f certain nutrients needed for growth or equilibrium appears to
be advantageous.
The percentage o f the families in this sample whose diets were
classified as fair and poor are shown in table 2.
Stiebeling and
Phipard found that “ The chances for better diets increased with rising
per capita expenditures for foods. This was due chiefly to a more
liberal use o f milk, meat, eggs, leafy green vegetables, and fruits,
when more money was available. But the quality o f the food supply
selected by families w^as by no means only a matter o f level o f food
expenditure. A t every expenditure level above a certain minimum,
some families succeeded in obtaining good diets but others procured
food only fair or poor, from the standpoint o f nutritive value. For
example, with an expenditure o f $2.50 a person a week for food, 32
percent o f the families in East South Central cities bought good diets,
while another 37 percent obtained diets that were classed as poor”
(that is, in need o f improvement, since they were below, in one or
more respects, what is now considered average minimum requirement).
T a b l e 2 . — P r o p o r tio n o f all fa m ilie s stu died obtaining diets o f different grade , b y
color o f f a m i ly and region
Proportion obtaining diets graded—
Color of family and region
Good
White families:
North Atlantic
______ _______ _____________
East North Central___ _ ___________ _________
East South Central___________ _____ ____________
Pacific .
_____ _______ _____ _ ___________
Negro families: South------------------------------------- -------- -
P ercen t
Fair
11
12
21
14
11
Poor
P ercen t
32
28
33
46
25
Percen t
57
60
46
40
64
116
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
In summarizing their findings, Stiebeling and Phipard estimate that
there is little likelihood o f a deficiency in protein in the diets o f many
employed workers’ families. Most o f the diets furnished an adequate
amount o f phosphorus. Less than half, however, purchased food
supplying as much as 0.70 gram or more o f calcium per unit per day
(a safe allowance), while about a sixth had diets furnishing less than
the average minimum requirement o f 0.45 gram o f calcium per unit
per day. About half the diets supplied 15 milligrams o f iron per
unit per day (the amount needed for a “ good diet” ), and all but about ‘
5 percent, a “ fa ir” allowance, 10 milligrams.
About a third o f the families obtained diets high enough in vitamin
A to insure good visual adaptation in semidarkness, and about a
fifth obtained a liberal allowance. About half the families purchased
foods which furnished less vitamin B i than the standard o f the good
diet for this nutrient. A n abundance o f vitamin B x promotes good
functioning o f the digestive tract.
Acute deficiencies result in a
disease o f the nervous system called beriberi.
Somewhat less than half o f the families secured the specifications
o f the good diet as regards vitamin C (ascorbic acid), a substance
found in abundance in citrus fruits and tomatoes and in certain green
and leafy vegetables and fruits, but almost 90 percent had a “ fair”
allowance. Diets without sufficient provision ,o f this nutrient result
in increased susceptibility to infection, and in restlessness and irrita
bility in children. A n acute deficiency in vitamin C may produce
scurvy, but other symptoms are more common in this country.
Riboflavin (essential in the production o f an enzyme involved in cell
respiration and the energy metabolism o f the body) was fairly well
supplied by these diets. The pellagra-preventive factor was appa
rently amply supplied except in the Southeast, where the deficiency
among the low-income groups is serious.
Deficiencies in the consumption o f calcium and vitamins A , B, and
C are readily understood when the division o f actual expenditure is
compared with recommendations for adequate nutrition at expendi
ture levels just abovei and just below the average prevailing in this
group. Milk is one o f the most important sources o f calcium and o f
vitamins A and B. The relatively low proportion o f the average
allotted to milk and milk products is responsible in large part for
these deficiencies. The deficiency which appears in the analysis as
regards vitamin C is probably accounted for by the fact that actual
purchases o f green and leafy vegetables were considerably below
those in the recommended diets.
The relationship between food consumption and health is now so
well established that it must be a matter o f general concern that so
large a proportion o f this relatively favored group was not securing
the foods needed for a nutritionally satisfactory diet. There is
abundant clinical evidence that the vitamins and the minerals listed
above are needed for physical well-being. Part o f the consumption
deficiencies just shown could easily be remedied by more widespread
knowledge o f nutritional needs, but a large part is due to thei inade
quacy o f incomes to meet total fam ily needs. F orty-four percent
o f the children in the families o f the employed workers covered by
EFFECT OF STAMP PLAN ON LIVING LEVELS
117
this investigation were members o f families whose expenditures did
not come up to the modest standard o f the W P A “maintenance
budget.” a
###+####
E ffect o f Stamp P lan o n L iv in g L evels 1
Food-Stamp Plan
In A pril 1939, the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation (now
functioning as the Surplus Marketing Administration o f the D e
partment o f Agriculture) announced plans for distributing surplus
agricultural commodities to needy persons through normal wholesale
and retail channels o f trade. The food-stamp program opened on
May 16,1939, in Rochester, N. Y . From this experimental beginning
in one city the program has gradually expanded to other areas. The
success o f the food-stamp plan suggested the possibility o f its applica
tion to other commodities and led to the announcement in February
1940 o f the cotton-stamp plan. The stamp plan offers a way to aid the
farmer toward a fairer share o f the national income through an expan
sion o f the domestic market. A t the same time it provides an attack
on the problem o f underconsumption by low-income families.
Method of Operation
The method o f operation o f the food-stamp program is simple.
Local welfare agencies in areas where the plan is used certify families
eligible to purchase stamps. Such families may purchase books o f
orange stamps, up to a value equivalent to their customary food pur
chases. These stamps may be used to purchase any food items. In
addition, each book includes 50 cents’ worth o f free blue stamps for
each $1 o f orange stamps purchased. The blue stamps may be used
to purchase only those foods which have been declared by the Secre
tary o f Agriculture to be in surplus. Local welfare agencies are
responsible fo r selling the stamp books to the needy families and for
the establishment o f a revolving fund for the redemption of the
orange stamps which represent the fam ily’s customary food pur
chases. The stamps, both orange and blue, are treated as cash and
may be spent at any retail store participating in the plan. Retailers
paste the stamps on $10 cards and redeem them through their whole
salers, their banks, or through the Surplus Marketing Administra
tion. The stamp books contain orange stamps to the value o f $2,
$3, $4, $6, $8, and $10, and blue stamps in the proportion o f one blue
stamp to two orange stamps. Food purchased with blue stamps is not
subject to local retail taxes.
Persons eligible under the food-stamp plan include persons on
work or direct relief; needy persons certified as eligible for either
type o f relief but not actually receiving aid; and persons receiving
social-security benefits, who are in need o f additional aid. In cases
where eligible persons are unable to purchase orange stamps, blue
a See section on Post War Standard Budgets (p. 123).
1 Summary o f article by Olive T. Kephart in November 1940 M onthly Labor Review, with
addition of later data.
328112— 42— von. i----- 9
118
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
stamps may be issued separately. Such figures as are available indi
cate that the average fam ily receiving public assistance spends for
food approximately $1 per person per week. Under the food-stamp
plan a fam ily o f two persons with a customary expenditure o f $2
per week fo r food will, by purchase o f $2 in orange stamps, receive
an additional $1 in stamps which can be spent for surplus commod
ities. This increase brings the fam ily’s weekly expenditure for food
to $1.50 per person, and while raising the level o f expenditure toward
a minimum standard o f adequacy, increases the value o f food con
sumed only to 7y2 cents per person per meal. The plan functions
through the normal channels o f trade, the wholesaler and retailer
making their purchases in the usual way.
Contracts between the Government and the local officials in com
munities requesting the stamp plan provide that local expenditures
fo r relief shall not be reduced as a result o f its adoption.
Commodities Distributed
The surplus commodities purchased with the blue stamps have
changed from time to time in accordance with economic conditions
and seasonal factors. Continuous studies are being conducted which
are yielding valuable inform ation on the selection o f foods by lowincome families with increases in income and on the effect o f the
program on the agricultural situation. The accompanying table
shows the estimated quantity o f commodities distributed through the
stamp program from July 1940 through A pril 1941.
Extent and Cost of Operation
A s o f May 1, 1941, the food-stamp plan was bringing the benefits
o f increased purchasing power to 3,827,868 persons and was in oper
ation in 307 areas. D uring the period from July 1, 1940, to M ay
1, 1941, total Federal expenditures fo r the program were $62,970,000.
Expenditures in A pril were $9,550,000. Funds for the purpose are
derived from the 30 percent o f customs revenues assigned by act o f
Congress to the Agricultural Adjustment Administration for the
encouragement o f the export o f agricultural products and o f domes
tic consumption o f such products, as well as from special
appropriations.
Q uantities o f su rp lu s fo o d s distributed through the fo o d -sta m p d istribu tion progra m
J u l y 1 9 4 0 through A p r i l 1 9 4 1 1
Commodity
Butter_________________ ..pounds..
Eggs---------------------------- _ .dozen
Flour__________________ . . pounds. _
Other cereals_ _________ ___ do___
Dry beans .. __________ ___ do .
White potatoes_________ ..bushels.
Quantity 2
25.204.000
34, 848,000
227,699,000
76.054.000
32.606.000
3,475,000
Commodity
Other vegetables_______ ..pounds..
Fresh fruits.______ _____ ____do___
Dried fruits........... .
...
Citrus fruits____________ ___boxes..
Pork lard. ____________ ..pounds..
Pork__________________ ------do___
Quantity 2
87.168.000
77,008,00020,097, ooa
1, 633,000
43, 868,000
86.864.000
1 Data supplied by the Economic Analysis Section, Surplus Marketing Administration.
2 Farm equivalent; retail purchases adjusted to include estimated waste occurring in the process o f
distribution.
EFFECT OF STAMP PLAN ON LIVING LEVELS
119
Cotton-Stamp Plan
In February 1940 Secretary W allace announced the cotton-stamp
plan, designed to provide for the movement o f surplus cotton goods
through the normal channels o f trade. The plan opens a new market
for cotton goods by increasing the purchasing power o f low-income
families, and directing it toward purchases o f cotton goods.
Certification o f eligible persons is by State and local welfare or
ganizations. A ll persons receiving or eligible for public asssistance
and persons receiving aid through the social-security program are
eligible to participate in the cotton-stamp plan.
E ligible persons may purchase cotton stamps in an amount equal
approximately to their normal cotton expenditures. F or each dollar
o f expenditure they receive another dollar’s worth in free surplus
stamps. The purchased stamps are green; the free stamps are brown.
Both stamps are issued in denominations o f 25 cents each. Some
families who are not able to purchase the green stamps are certified
by local welfare agencies as eligible to receive the free brown surplus
stamps without having to buy the green stamps. The stamps are
used to purchase new cotton goods fo r personal or household use in
retail dry-goods stores. They are pasted on cards by the merchants
and redeemed in the same manner as the food stamps.
As o f A pril 30, 1941, the cost o f the plan in the fiscal year to the
Federal Government was $1,740,000. A t this time it was operating in
23 areas and serving 259,631 persons.
The Surplus Marketing Administration recently announced a sup
plementary cotton-stamp program under which cotton farmers may
receive cotton stamps up to a value o f $25 a year per fam ily in return
fo r reducing their cotton plantings and raising more garden produce
fo r fam ily use.
Extent of Available Market
Evidence as to the extent o f the market available under the stamp
plans and the desirability o f that method o f increasing domestic
consumption, was furnished by the Study o f Consumer Purchases.
A ccording to that survey, 4 million families, or 14 percent o f all
American families, had an average income o f only $312. Another
8 million families, 27.5 percent, had an average income o f $758.
Seven million more had average incomes of $1,224, or about $100 a
month. The families in the group with incomes o f $312 spent only
a little more than $1.00 per person per week fo r fo o d ; those with
incomes o f $758 spent on the average about $1.62 per person per
week. Families with approximately $100 per month spent about
$2.18 per person per week fo r food. A s income increased, food
expenditures increased, at first rapidly, then more slowly after pass
ing the $100 income level.2 A n analysis made by the Bureau of
Home Economics o f the Department o f Agriculture o f the quantities
o f different kinds o f foods consumed by the families, offered convinc2See reports of the National Resources Committee: Consumer Incomes in the United
States, and Consumer Expenditures in the United States.
120
S T A N D A R D S A N D P L A N E S O P LIVING
ing evidence that a large proportion of American families were not
receiving the foods they needed in order to be well nourished."1
On the basis of the Study of Consumer Purchases, referred to
above, it has been estimated that a family of four persons with an
income of less than $500 spends approximately $17.90 annually for
cotton clothing and household goods, an amount which is obviously
inadequate. Families of the same size with average incomes of
$1,000 to $1,500 spend more than twice this amount, $36.73, and
families with annual incomes of $5,000 or over spend $111.96 for
cotton goods.b
S t u d ie s o f S t a n d a r d s o f L i v i n g
Standard Budgets
Any attempt to compare the actual expenditures of the families o f
wage earners and clerical workers studied by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics in 1934-361 with the cost of the “ American standard o f
living” presupposes that there is general agreement about the goods
and services which go to make up that standard. As a matter of fact,
there are almost as many opinions about the details which must be
included in the “ American standard” as there are American homes,
and the general point of view about the essential details has changed
considerably with changes in production techniques of the last quarter
o f a century. There is, however, a general agreement about certain
basic goods and services essential to the health and welfare of the
American family.
During the period of the World War .and the economic readjust
ments which followed it, figures on the cost of maintaining an ade
quate family living were compiled by several different agencies o f the
Federal Government. In connection with the wage adjustments of
the war period, W. F. Ogburn, then in charge of the cost-of-living
section of the National War Labor Board, prepared and priced two
family budgets as of June 1918— a “minimum of subsistence” budget
for a family of five costing $1,386, and a “ minimum comfort” budget
costing $1,760.2
In 1919 and 1920 the United States Bureau o f Labor Statistics
prepared two quantity budgets. The first was intended to represent
the needs of Government employees in Washington 3 while the second
had a wider application. It was the “ minimum quantity budget
necessary to maintain a worker’s family of five in health and deThe B aureau o f Home Econom ics, Department o f Agriculture, w ill present the results o f
this analysis in tw o reports on fam ily food consumption and dietary levels, now in press, for
the Study o f Consumer Purchases.
b These figures are from estimates prepared by the M arketing Section, U. S. Departm ent o f
Agriculture, on data obtained in the Study o f Consumer Purchases conducted by the Bureau
o f Labor Statistics and the Bureau o f Home Econom ics, in cooperation with the W orks
Progress A dm inistration, N ational Resources Committee, and Central S tatistical Board.
1See Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 638, ch. 3, and article in M onthly Labor
Review fo r January 1940.
2Bureau o f Applied Econom ics, Inc. Bulletin No. 7 : Standards o f L iv in g ; A com pilation
o f budgetary studies. W ashington, 1920.
* U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Tentative quantity and cost budget necessary to
maintain a fam ily o f five in W ashington, D. C., at a level o f health and decency. W ashing
ton, 1920. This budget was based on a study o f the expenditures o f Government employees
in W ashington. The primary aim o f the study was to furnish inform ation for the use of the
Join t Commission o f Congress on Reclassification o f Salaries. The cost o f this budget in
August 1919 was $2,016 in W ashington.
STUDIES OF STANDARDS OF LIVING
121
cency” 4 and was prepared in cooperation with a committee of the
National Conference of Social Work and the Office of Home Eco
nomics in the Department of Agriculture.
Among the concrete formulations of standards of living at specified
levels which are most used at the present time are the “maintenance
budget” of the Works Progress Administration, and the budgets
for families in different economic groups prepared by the Heller
Committee for Social Research.
The Works Progress Administration, in March 1935, found that in
59 cities o f the United States the average cost of a budget for a 4person family of a manual worker at a “maintenance” level was
$1,261. When the allowance for insurance premiums (which in the
recent Bureau of Labor Statistics investigation were treated as
savings) is deducted, the cost for items of current family living of
the W P A budget at that date becomes $1,215. The maintenance level
is described as above the “minimum of subsistence level” or “emergency
level” of relief budgets, but below the standard of the skilled worker.
It is stated that it does not “ approach the content of what may be con
sidered a satisfactory American standard of living.” 5
Still another attempt to obtain quantity and cost statements of
given standards of living is represented by the work o f the Heller
Committee for Research in Social Economics at the University of
California. The average cost of its budget for a 5-person family of
a skilled wage earner, as priced by the Heller Committee in San
Francisco at various intervals from November 1933 to October 1936,
was $1,953. That budget was designed to meet accepted requirements
of health and decency and to “ accord with the spending habits of the
*U . S. Bureau o f Labor Statistics. Minimum quantity budget necessary to m aintain a
worker’s fam ily o f five at a level o f health and decency. M onthly Labor Review, June 1920,
pp. 1-18.
The budget constituted the Bureau’s “ best estimates at that time o f what should be in
cluded in the fam ily budget o f the workingm an.’ ’ It was based in part on estimated standard
requirements and in part on the expenditures o f wage-earning families in the United States,
as shown in the investigation o f 1917—19.
The food budget was obtained by averaging the actual amounts o f foods used by 280
fam ilies selected from the 1917-19 survey. These families were selected because they
averaged 3.35 equivalent adult males and purchased food am ounting to 3,500 calories per
man per day. Slight changes were made to make the budget acceptable to trained dietitians
as a standard budget intended to maintain the fam ily in health.
The clothing budget “ intended to provide a fair degree o f that mental satisfaction which
follow s being reasonably well dressed,” consistent with the minimum requirement for health
and social decency. It was based on the clothing budgets o f 850 families having three
children under 15 years o f age, as reported in the 1917-19 survey, modified to take aceount
o f suggestions from clothing experts and o f the results o f a special study o f such factors as
replacement.
The standard o f housing included in the budget required one room per person and a com
plete bathroom with toilet.
The budget was never priced by the Bureau o f Labor Statistics, but its cost was calculated
fo r 10 large cities in 1922, by the Labor Bureau, Inc., a private research agency. A ccord
ing to the figures o f that agency, the average for those cities was $2,282. I f this cost o f
the budget were estimated in the dollar values o f the period o f the Bureau o f Labor
Statistics’ m ost recent study o f the fam ily expenditures of wage earners and clerical work
ers, it would amount to $1,898, but that budget is not applicable to present-day conditions.
The kinds o f goods and services custom arily consumed have changed greatly in the past two
decades. The fa ct that no automobile, no radio, no silk stockings, and no beauty-parlor
services were included in the budget suggests the changes in Am erican consumption habits
which have taken place since it was prepared.
8W orks Progress Administration, Research Monograph X I I : Intercity Differences in Cost
o f Living in March 1935, 59 Cities, p. xiv.
The “ maintenance budget” was designed to provide for a fam ily consisting o f a m oderately
active man, a moderately active woman, a boy aged 13, and a girl aged 8. The man is an
unskilled manual worker w'ho wears overalls at work. The allowance for food included in
the budget is based on the adequate diet at minimum cost o f the Bureau o f Home Econom ics,
using a restricted list o f foods. The housing allowed a four- or five-room house or apartment
in a fair state o f repair, with an indoor bath and toilet for the fam ily’s exclusive use. The
budget includes maintenance for an inexpensive radio, a daily newspaper, and attendance at
the movies once a week. It does not provide an automobile. No provision is made for
saving other than life-insurance premiums, which amount to $46 a year.
122
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
economic group.” 6 The equivalent of this San Francisco cost for an
average of 59 cities throughout the United States for March 1935 has
been estimated to be $1,760.7 When the cost of life insurance is
deducted from this figure, it appears that the average current ex
penditure provided by the Heller budget (as distinguished from
savings) may be estimated at $1,661, for the large cities of the
country in this 3-year period.
No official estimate at a higher level than the W P A maintenance
budget has been made recently. Many economists use approximately
$2,000 as the amount needed at the present time to provide an urban
family of four persons with the goods and services included in what is
widely accepted as the “ American standard of living.” 8
The significant thing to be noted, when attempts are made to
compare the cost of each o f these standards with actual family ex
penditures, is that family size as well as total expenditure must be
taken into account. Each of these quantity-cost budgets, if equitably
shared by the indicated numbers of persons, provides for each of those
persons the standard set by the budget. However, should the same
quantities of goods and services or the same total expenditures be shared
by a larger number of persons, it is obvious that each would fall
somewhat below the standard set by the budget. Conversely, should
the same total expenditures be divided among a smaller number o f
persons than the budget estimate, each person would in fact enjoy
a plane of living higher than that indicated by the standard set in the
budget.
Family size as well as income is of crucial importance in determining
the economic plane which the family is actually able to achieve.
Small family size and high incomes make for a higher degree of com
fort, while large families and limited incomes mean a more limited
provision of goods and services for each family member, or a lower
economic plane. It is also clear that two families with the same
incomes, but one composed of husband, wife, and two children, and
6Heller Committee for Research in Social Econom ics, Quantity and Cost Budget, Berkeley,
University o f California, 1937.
The 1936 Heller budget fo r the fam ily o f a wage earner provides for five persons— a man,
his wife, a boy aged 11, a girl aged 5, and a boy aged 2. The food budget included in this
standard was adapted from Adequate Food at Low Cost, by Ruth Okey and Emily H.
H untington, with adjustm ents to take into account custom ary food consumption as well as
nutritional adequacy. The home is a five-room house, apartment, or flat in a “ working
class neighborhood.” The budget allows for the maintenance of a radio and a second-hand
automobile, and life-insurance-policy premiums o f $101.75.
7To the San F rancisco cost fo r each m ajor category, as food, clothing, etc., was applied an
adjustm ent fa ctor which was the ratio o f costs in San F rancisco to costs in 59 cities com
bined, as determined by the W orks Progress Adm inistration as o f M arch 15, 1935.
W orks Progress Administration, Research Monograph X I I : Intercity Differences in Cost o f
Living in March 1935, 59 cities, p. 116.
8Perhaps the most widely known o f the private estimates is that o f Mordecai Ezekiel, who
set an incom e o f $2,500 as necessary at 1929 price levels to furnish an average city fam ily
o f four persons with the “ American standard.” When this sum is converted to its equivalent
dollar value in 1934-36 by the application o f the Bureau’s cost-of-living indexes, the corre
sponding money incom e in 1934-36 is found to be $2,015. When the savings included in
the Ezekiel budget are deducted, the cost o f goods and the services it provides (adjusted to
the 1934—36 dollar) would be valued at $1,873 fo r a fam ily of four.
The author defines the standard to which his dollar estimate applies as follow s :
“ * * * decent shelter, decent clothing, and adequate food for growth and health.
Under American conditions, a fam ily can hardly be said to be sharing in abundant living
unless it can also enjoy the com forts of civilization which many Americans have come to
regard as necessities. Those include running w ater and modern plumbing, adequate heat,
the telephone and electric light, newspapers, magazines, and books, a minimum o f health
care from doctors and dentists, an automobile, and some opportunity for travel, recrea
tion, amusement, and higher education. F or the average city fam ily o f four persons, an an
nual income o f $2,500 is probably the minimum on which such comfortable living can be
attained (using the 1929 level o f prices). In fact, such an income would probably not be
high enough for most families to enjoy all the com forts listed. Rather than set our stand
ards too high, though, we may regard such an income as being the minimum needed to
enable a family to live a moderately full life under American conditions.” Ezekiel, Mordecai,
$2,500 a y e a r ; From Scarcity to Abundance. Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York, 1936,
pp. 3-5.
CONSUMERS INCOMES IN 1 9 3 5 -3 6
123
the other composed o f husband, wife, and six children, live on widely
separated planes o f living.
In an effort to analyze the expenditures o f the families covered in
the Bureau’s study o f money disbursements o f wage earners and
clerical workers a in relation to their planes o f living, families were
classified according to “ unit expenditure,” that is total fam ily ex
penditure per equivalent adult male. It was found that 21 percent o f
the families included in that investigation even though they were rela
tively favorably situated, had unit expenditures less than $331, the unit
cost o f the W P A budget at the date o f the survey. Furthermore, 34
percent o f the families studied had unit expenditures which wTould place
them below the level o f the Heller Committee’s “ wage earner” budget
and 56 percent spent less than the cost o f the “ $2,000 standard for a
fam ily o f four.”
In view o f the larger size o f the families at the lower economic
levels, 30 percent o f the total number o f persons covered in the in
vestigation were found to be living below the “ maintenance” stand
ard ; 44 percent below the Heller standard for wage earners; and 67
percent below the “ $2,000 standard.” Considering the fact that the
groups at the higher economic levels were largely mature families
with relatively few children under 16, the distribution o f the chil
dren included in the survey is even more striking. The proportion
o f children found below the W P A “ maintenance” standard was 44
percent; below the standard o f the Heller wage-earner budget, 61
percent; and below the “ $2,000 standard,” 82 percent.
Consumer Incomes in the United States in 1935-36
This article summarizes a few o f the significant findings o f a re
port on the distribution o f income published by the National Re
sources Committee in 1938.1 The estimates are approximations, but
are derived from data much more adequate than any previously
available. The volume was prepared under the direction o f Dr.
H ildegarde Kneeland and was made possible by the large body o f
data on incomes and expenditures collected by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics in urban communities and by the Bureau of Home E co
nomics in rural areas. From time to time since 1888 the office o f the
Commissioner o f Labor Statistics has made surveys o f family in
comes and expenditures. These were required for use in construct
ing the Bureau o f Labor Statistics cost-of-living index. Important
changes, especially in consumption habits, led the Bureau to under
take a new survey o f incomes and expenditures in 1934. It was not
until 1936, however, that a survey o f incomes and expenditures be
came possible on a scale designed fo r the purpose o f making Nation
wide estimates o f the distribution o f income.2 The larger coverage
was made possible by a W orks Progress Administration project, and
the study was a cooperative undertaking on the part o f the National
a See Bureau o f Labor Statistics Bull. No. 638 : Money Disbursements o f Wage Earners and
Clerical Workers, 1934-36 : Summary volume.
1 United States. National Resources Committee. Consumer Incomes in the United
States : Their D istribution in 1935-36. W ashington, 1938.
2 The earlier surveys, although much more restricted in their coverage and purpose, were
used extensively in connection with estimates o f the distribution o f income, notably in the
volume on A m erica’ s Capacity to Consume, by M. Leven, H. G. M oulton, and C. W arburton
o f the Brookings Institution.
124
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
Resources Committee, the Central Statistical Board, the Bureau o f
Labor Statistics, the Bureau o f S om e Economics, and the W orks
Progress Administration. Another phase o f the study deals with
the spending o f the incomes analyzed in the present report. (See
next article.)
The income report found that there were 39,458,300 “ consumer
units” in 1935-36,3 including 29,400,300 families o f two or more per
sons and 10,058,000 single individuals. The estimated aggregate in
come o f families was $47,679,238,000. The fam ily average was $1,622
and the per capita average o f the members o f families was $411.
The aggregate income o f single individuals was $11,579,390,000, with
an average o f $1,151. (See table 1.) These averages are means
(the aggregate income o f each type o f consumer unit divided by
the number o f units). The median income o f families and single
individuals was $1,070, indicating that half o f the total number re
ceived incomes below this amount. The median income is much more
typical or characteristic, because the mean is more affected by the
exceptionally large incomes o f a very few. The median income o f
persons, as distinguished from consumer units, is not known.
T a b l e 1 .— D istrib u tio n o f p o p u la tio n , b y typ e o f con su m er u n it, and average and
aggregate in co m es o f each typ e, 1 9 8 5 - 3 6
Persons
ype of consumer unit
Number
of con
sumer
units
Number
Average income—
Per
cent
Per con
sumer unit
Me
dian 1Mean1
All consumer units______________
(2)
128,024,000 100.0
Families and single individuals___ 39,458, 300 126,024, 000
Families of 2 or more persons. __ 29, 400,300 115,966,000
Single individuals___ ________ 10,058,000 10,058,000
Institutions______ ______________
2,000,000
09
(2)
(2)
98.4 $1, 070 $1,502
90.6 1,160 1,622
7.8
830 1,151
1.6 (2)
(2)
Aggregate income
Per
Amount
person (in thou
(mean)1 sands)
Per
cent
$469 $59,982,928 100.0
470 59, 258,628
411 47,679,238
1,151 11, 579,390
362
724,300
98.8
79.5
19.3
1.2
1 Half of the consumer units of each type had incomes below the median. The median income is a much
more characteristic or typical income than the mean (the aggregate income divided by the number of con
sumer units) because of the exceptionally high incomes received by a few.
2 Not available.
Number of Consumer Units and Aggregate Income at Various
Levels
The lowest level o f income in the classification o f consumer units
given in the report is composed o f incomes under $250 and the highest
level Consists o f incomes o f $1,000,000 and over. The estimated
number o f families receiving less than $250 was 1,162,890 and the
number o f single individuals receiving less than this amount was
960,644, the two together comprising 5.38 percent o f all consumer units.
The number o f families receiving $1,000,000 or more was 75 and the
number o f single individuals was 12. A summary of the number o f
families and o f single individuals and o f the two combined at different
income levels, together with their aggregate income at these levels, is
given for convenient reference in table 2. Percentages at each level
3
It is im portant to note that the distribution of income here described relates only to the
12 months from July 1935 through June 1936. The figures for later years, if available,
would be somewhat different because o f changes affecting both the aggregate incom e and the
income status o f the various groups.
125
CONSUMERS INCOMES IN 1 9 3 5 -3 6
and the cumulative percentages, both o f the number o f units and o f
aggregate income, are also given in this table.
T a b l e 2 . — N u m b er o f c on su m er u n its and aggregate in co m e received at va rious in co m e
le v e ls , 1 9 8 5 - 3 6
‘ Families and single indi
viduals combined
Income level
Families
Single individuals
Per Cumu
Per Cumu
Per Cumu
lative Number or cent lative Number or cent lative
Number or atcent
each per
amount at each per
amount at each per
amount
level
level
cent
cent
cent
level
Number of units
All levels_____ ______ 39,458,300 100.00
5.38
5. 38
Under $250........... ...... 2,123, 534
$250-$500____________ 4, 587,377 11.63 17. 01
5,771,960 14.63 31.64
$500-$750_______ ____
5', 876', 078 14.90 46. 54
$750-$l,000-_________
$1,000-$1,250_________ 4,990,995 12.65 59.19
9. 49 68. 68
$1,250-$1,500................ 3, 743,428
$1,500-$1,750................ 2,889,904
7.32 76.00
5. 82 81.82
$l,750-$2,000................ 2, 296,022
4. 32 86.14
$2,000-$2,250_________ 1, 704, 535
1, 254,076
$2,250-$2,500......... ......
3.18 89. 32
1,475,474
$2,500-$3,000........... .
3. 74 93.06
2.16 95. 22
$3,000-$3,500________
851,919
502,159
1. 27 96.49
$3,500-$4,000_________
.72 97. 21
$4,000-$4,500_________
286,053
$4,5Q0-$5,000_________
.45 97.66
178,138
.96 98. 62
$5,000-$7,500_________
380, 266
$7,500-$10,000________
215,642
.55 99.17
152, 682
$10,000-$15,000_______
.39 99. 56
$15,000-$20,000-....... .
67,923
.17 99. 73
$20,000-$25,000......... 39,825
.10 99.83
.06
$25,000-$30,000_______
25, 583
99.89
.05 99. 94
$30,000-$40,000.............
17,959
.02 99.96
$40,000-$50,000_______
8,340
.03 99.99
$50,000-$100,000______
13,041
4,144
$100,000-$250,000.........
.01 100.00
916
$250,000-$500,000.........
0)
240
$500,000-$l,000,000___
0)
$1,000,000 and over___
87
0)
29,400,300 100.00 |______ 10,058,000 100.00
9.55
1,162, 890
3.95
3.95
960,644
3,015, 394 10. 26 14.21
1,571,983 15.63
1, 972, 745 19.62
3,799, 215 12. 92 27.13
1, 599,030 15.91
4,277,048 14. 55 41.68
1,108,551 11.02
3,882, 444 13. 20 54.88
2, 865,472
9. 75 64.63
877,956
8. 73
546, 546
2, 343,358
7.97 72.60
5.43
6.45 79.05
1,897,037
398,985
3.97
2.82
4. 83 83. 88
283,652
1,420,883
210,099
2.09
1,043,977
3. 55 87.43
1,314,199
4. 47 91.90
161,275
1.60
1.08
2. 53 94. 43
743, 559
108,360
.63
1.49 95.92
63, 731
438,428
.36
249,948
36,105
.85 96. 77
152,647
.52 97.29
.25
25,491
322, 950
.57
57,316
1.10 98. 39
.64 99. 03
28, 582
.28
187,060
.21
131,821
.45 99. 48
20,861
9,436
.09
58,487
.20 99. 68
.06
34, 208
.12 99. 80
5, 617
.03
22, 233
.08 99. 88
3,350
.02
2,398
15, 561
.05 99.93
.02
.02
99.95
1,737
6,603
.02
.04 99.99
2,470
10,571
808
.01
3, 336
.01 100.00
217
(!)
699
0)
0)
0)
43
197
12
75
0)
(0
9.55
25.18
44.80
60.71
71.73
80.46
85.89
89.86
92.68
94.77
96.37
97.45
98.08
98.44
98.69
99. 26
99. 54
99. 75
99.84
99.90
99.93
99.95
99.97
99.99
100.00
Amount of aggregate income (in thousands)
All levels..................... $59, 258,628 100.00
$47,679,238 100.00
$11,579, 390 100.00
294,138
Under $250-........ ........
.50
0. 50
135,836
.28
158,302
1.37
0. 28
2. 98
$250-$500____________ 1,767, 363
3.48
1,166,509
2. 45
2. 73
600,854
5.19
6.10
$500-$750_____ ____ 3,615,653
9. 58
2,384,017
1, 231,636 10.63
5.00
7. 73
$750-$l,000__________
5,129, 506
8.65 18. 23
3, 738,014
7. 84 15. 57
1,391,492 12.01
$1,000-$1,250.............. . 5, 589, 111
9.42 27. 65
4,348,429
1, 240,682 10.71
9.12 24. 69
$1,250-$1,500_________ 5,109,112
8. 62 36. 27
3, 907, 765
8. 20 32. 89
1, 201,347 10.37
$1,500-$1,750_________ 4,660, 793
7. 87 44.14
3,777, 570
7. 92 40.81
7. 63
883, 223
$l,750-$2,000_________ 4, 214, 203
7.11 51.25
6.44
3,468,803
7. 27 48.08
745,400
$2,000-$2,250_________ 3,602, 861
6. 08 57. 33
3,002,082
6. 30 54. 38
5.19
600, 779
$2,250-$2,500...........—
2,968,932
5.01 62.34
2,471,672
5.18 59.56
4.29
497,260
6. 76 69.10
$2,500-$3,000_________ 4,004, 774
3, 568,624
436,150
7. 48 67. 04
3. 77
$3,000-$3,500_________ 2, 735,487
4. 62 73.72
2,385,993
349,494
3.02
5.00 72. 04
$3,500-$4,000_________ 1, 863,384
3.14 76. 86
1,625,887
3.41 75. 45
237,497
2.05
2. 03 78. 89
$4,000-$4,500......... ......
1, 202,826
1,048,368
154,458
2. 20 77. 65
1. 33
$4,500-$5,000.............
841,766
1. 42 80.31
122,319
719, 447
1.51 79.16
1.06
$5,000-$7,500................ 2, 244,406
3. 79 84.10
3. 99 83.15
344,315
2. 97
1, 900,091
$7,500-$10,000________ 1,847,820
3.12 87. 22
1,605, 632
3. 37 86. 52
242,188
2.09
$10,000-$15,000_______
1, 746,925
2. 95 90.17
1,496,600
2.16
3.14 89. 66
250, 325
$15,000-$20,000_______ 1,174, 574
1.98 92.15
1,013,664
2.13 91.79
160,910
1. 39
889,114
1.50 93. 65
$20,000-$25,000_______
762,240
126,874
1.60 93. 39
1.10
1.22 94. 87
$25,000-$30,000_______
720, 268
627, 567
1.32 94. 71
92,701
.80
$30,000-$40,000_______
641, 272
1.08 95. 95
560, 390
1.18 95. 89
80,882
.70
.66 96.61
$40,000-$50,000_______
390, 311
314,689
.66 96. 55
75,622
.65
$50,000-$100,000______
908,485
1.53 98.14
755,017
1. 58 98.13
153,468
1.33
$100,000-$250,000_____
539,006
.91 99.05
440, 554
.92 99.05
98,452
.85
$250,000-$500,000_____
264,498
.45 99. 50
200,174
.42 99. 47
64,324
.56
$500,000-$l,000,000___
134,803
.23 99.73 j[
110, 954 I1 .2 4 99.70
23,849
.21
$1,000,000 and over___
157,237
.£7 m t jo i
142,650
. 30 100.00
14,587
.13
1Less than 0.005 percent.
1.37
6. 59
17.16
29.20
39.91
50. 28
57. 91
64.35
69.54
73.83
77.60
80.62
82.67
84.00
85.06
88.03
90.12
92. 28
93. 67
94. 77
95. 57
96. 27
96. 92
98. 25
99.10
99.66
99.87
100.00
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
126
In the lowest third o f the Nation’s consumer units, with incomes
under $780, there were about 4,688,000 single individuals and
8,465,000 families. A m ong this lowest third 30.4 percent received
some relief during the year. Am ong the middle third, with incomes
from $780 to $1,450, 12.8 percent received some relief, 12.0 percent
o f the number being families. A m ong the highest third, with incomes
beginning at $1,450, 2.3 percent o f the families and no single indi
viduals received relief. (See table 3.)
T a b l e 3 .— F a m ilie s and sin gle in divid u als in each third o f the N a tio n } hy typ e o f
con su m er unity 1 9 8 5 - 8 6
Number of consumer units in—
Type of consumer unit
All income
classes
Lowest third
(incomes un
der $780)
third
Middle third Highest
(incomes of
(incomes of
$1,450
and
$780 to $1,450)
over)
All consumer units 1_________________
Single individuals________________
Families________________________
39,458,292
10,058,035
29, 400,257
13,152, 764
4,687, 677
8, 465,087
13,152,764
3, 218,484
9, 934,280
13,152,764
2,151,874
11,000,890
Not receiving relief:2
Single individuals............................
M en________________________
Women_____________________
Families..........................................
2 persons..__________________
3-4 persons__________________
5-6 persons________ ____ ____
7 or more persons.......................
8, 572,463
5, 509, 262
3,063, 201
24, 913,177
6, 668, 850
11,170, 365
4,804, 379
2, 269, 583
3, 304,364
1, 714,138
1, 590, 226
5,853,406
2,017, 505
2, 314, 794
959, 222
561,885
3,116, 225
2,176, 205
940,020
8, 358,167
2, 274,486
3, 699,034
1, 604,467
780,180
2,151,874
1,618,919*
532,955
10, 701, 604
2, 376,859
5,156, 537
2, 240,690
927, 518
Receiving some relief2............. . . . ____
Single individuals________________
Families________________________
5,972,652
1,485, 572
4,487,080
3,994, 994
1, 383, 313
2, 611, 681
1, 678, 372
102, 259
1,576,113
299,286
Percent of consumer units in—
Type of consumer unit
299,280
Percentage of group in—
All in Lowest Middle Highest All in Lowest Middle Highest
third
third
third classes third
third
third
classes
All consumer units i____
Single individuals___
Families_____ ______
100.0
25.5
74.5
100.0
35.6
64.4
100.0
24.5
75.5
100.0
16.4
83.6
100.0
100.0
100.0
33.3
46.6
28.8
33.3
32.0
33.8
33.4
21.4
37.4
Not receiving relief: 2
Single individuals___
Men___________
Women........... .
Families___________
2 persons_______
3-4 persons_____
5-6 persons_____
7 or more persons
21.7
13.9
7.8
63.1
16.9
28.3
12.2
5.7
25.1
13.0
12.1
44.5
15.3
17.6
7.3
4.3
23.7
16.5
7.2
63.5
17.3
28.1
12.2
5.9
16.4
12.3
4.1
81.3
18.1
39.2
17.0
7.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
38.5
31.1
51.9
23.5
30.3
20.7
20.0
24.7
36.4
39.5
30.7
33.5
34.1
33.1
33.4
34.4
25.1
29.4
17.4
43.6
35.6
46.2
46.6
40.9
Receiving some relief2__
Single individuals___
Families___________
15.2
3.8
11.4
30.4
10.5
19.9
12.8
.8
12.0
2.3
100.0
100.0
100.0
66.9
93.1
58.2
28.1
6.9
35.1
6.7
2.3
5.6
1 Excludes institutional groups. See table 1.
2 Families are classified as receiving relief if they received any direct or work relief (however little) at any
time during year. Many such families were dependent on relief for part of the year only, and then may
have been only partially dependent. The incomes of the relief group therefore include earnings from regular
employment and other nonrelief income as well as direct relief, in cash and kind, and work-relief earnings.
The families and single individuals making up the poorest third in
the Nation, with incomes under $780 and averaging $471, were not a
distinct and unusual group. T h ey belonged to all the major occupa
tional groups, included all types o f consumers and lived in all kinds o f
127
CONSUMERS INCOMES IN 1 9 3 5 - 3 6
communities. More than 9,000,000., or about 70 percent, received no
assistance from relief agencies. W age earners and farmers comprised
the m ajor portion o f the lowest third.
The highest income received by the tenth o f the Nation’s consumer
units with lowest incomes was $340 and the total amount received
was $2,600 and the aggregate income was $21,452,000,000, or 36.2
received by consumer units form ing the tenth with the highest incomes
was $2,600 and the aggregate income was $21,452,000,000, or 36.2
percent o f the total. The tenth o f the Nation’s income going to those
with lowest income was received by 12,745,000 consumer units, or
approximately one-third o f the total number. The tenth going to
those with highest incomes was received by 197,000 consumer units, or
half o f 1 percent o f the total number.
T a b l e 4 , — S hare o f aggregate in co m e received b y each tenth o f the N a tio n 's
con su m er u n its
1 and
b y the u p p er 5 percen t, 1 9 3 5 - 8 6
Aggregate income
Proportion of families and single
individuals
Income range
Highest 1 percent........... ......................
Highest 2 percent_____ ___ ___________
Highest 3 percent,_____ _____________
Highest 4 percent____________________
Highest 5 percent....................................
$9,100 and over__________
$5,800 and over,____ _____
$4,325 and over..............
$3,800 and over__________
$3,400 and over_________
$8,178
10, 904
12, 859
14, 518
16,118
13.8
18.4
21.7
24.5
27.2
Highest tenth,................. ............ .........
Ninth tenth_______________ _______
Eighth tenth_________________ _____ _
Seventh tenth.....................................
Sixth tenth,,.......____________________
Fifth tenth____ ____ ____ _______ ___
Fourth tenth................ ........................
Third tenth.________________________
Second tenth_____________________ __
Lowest tenth________________________
$2,600 and over__________
$l,925-$2,600_____________
$1,540-$1,925_____ _______
$1,275-$1,540_............... ......
$],070-$l,275_____________
$880-$1,070___ __________
$720-$880________________
$545-$720________________
$340-$545________________
Under $340 . _________
21, 452
8, 593
6,815
5,511
4, 444
3, 911
3, 259
2, 548
1. 719
1,007
36.2
14.5
11. 5
9.3
7. 5
6.6
5.5
4.3
2.9
1.7
59, 259
100.0
T o ta l,,_____ __________________
Amount
(in mil
lions)
Percent
in each
group
Cumula
tive per
cent
100.0
63.8
49.3
37.8
28. 5
21.0
14.4
8.9
4.6
1.7
1 Excludes institutions.
T a b l e 5 . — P r o p o r tio n o f the N a tio n ’ s con su m er u n its 1 receiving each tenth o f
aggregate in co m e , 1 9 3 5 - 8 6
Families and single individuals
Proportion of aggregate income
Income range
Number
All units....... .............................. ...........
Highest te n th ____________________
Ninth ten th ............... ..........................
Eighth tenth________________________
Seventh tenth___ ____ ________ . _
Sixth ten th ___________________ ___ .
Fifth tenth________________ _______ _
Fourth tenth______________ _______
Third tenth_________________________
Second tenth____________________
Lowest tenth_____
___ __________
i Excludes institutions.
39,458,000
$14,600 and over____ _
$4,900-$14,600
$3,100-$4,900___________
$2,375-$3,100
$l,950-$2,375
$1,610-$1,950
$1,320-$1,610
$1,040-$1,320
$760-$l,040
Under $760 ..........
197.000
750.000
1,618,000
2, 249, 000
2, 801,000
3.433.000
3,985, 000
5.130.000
6, 550,000
12, 745,000
Percent in
each group
Cumula
tive per
cent
100.0 __________
.5
100.0
1.9
99.5
4.1
97.6
5.7
93.5
7.1
87.8
8.7
80.7
10.1
72.0
61.9
13.0
16.6
48.9
32.3
32.3
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
128
Incomes of Main Occupational Groups
The inform ation regarding families is comparatively detailed. In
the case o f nonrelief families, wage-earning families comprised 37.9
percent o f the total— 9,459,300 out o f a total o f 24,913,200— and
received 27.5 percent o f the aggregate income. Farm families com
prised 24.8 percent o f all nonrelief families and received 17.5 percent
o f the total income. The average income (mean) o f farm families
was $1,259 as compared with $1,289 in the case o f wage-earning
families. The average income per fam ily in the other groups (clerical,
salaried business, independent business, salaried professional, and
independent professional) ranged from $1,901 for the clerical group
to $6,734 for the independent professional group. A miscellaneous
group, which included families with no income from earnings during
the year and village and city families with major earnings from farm
ing, averaged $1,696. The average income o f families deriving their
principal income from independent business activities was only $2,547,
but in this group were extremely large numbers o f storekeepers and
owners o f small service establishments, etc.— groups with income
status resembling that o f farmers and wage earners. (See tables 6
and 7.) In most o f these groups the significance o f the mean averages
is restricted by the wide range o f incomes within the groups.
T a b l e 6. — A v era g e and aggregate in co m es o f n o n relief fa m ilie s 1 in eight occup ation al
gro u p s ,2 1 9 8 5 - 3 6
Average income
per family
Families
Occupational group
Number
Percent Median Mean
Aggregate income
Amount
(in thou
sands)
Percent
All groups....................................................... 24,913,200
100.0
$1,285
$1,781
$44,359,900
100.0
9,459, 300
6,166, 600
3,626, 200
37.9
24.8
14.5
1,175
965
1,710
1,289
1,259
1,901
12,189,038
7,763, 570
6,893,835
27.5
17.5
15.5
1,112,600
2,372,700
4.5
9.5
2,485
1, 515
4, 212
2, 547
4, 686,662
6,043,451
10.6
13.6
989, 200
340,900
845, 700
4.0
1.4
3.4
2,100
3, 540
745
3,087
6, 734
1,696
3,053, 568
2, 295,669
1,434,107
6.9
5.2
3.2
W age-earning__________ ______ _______ ___
Farming 3______ ________________________
Clerical_______ ________ _______ _______
Business:
Salaried__________ ______ ____________
Independent.__________ _____________
Professional:
Salaried....................................... .............
Independent—...................... —............ .
Other4________ _________________ _____
i Excludes all families receiving any direct or work relief (however little) at any time during year.
* Families are classified according to occupation from which largest amount of family earnings was derived,
rather than according to occupation of the principal earner.
3Includes families living on farms in rural areas only.
4Includes families with no income from earnings during the year, and village and city families with major
earnings from farming.
12 9
CONSUMERS INCOMES IN 1 9 3 5 -3 6
The percentages o f nonrelief families in seven occupational groups
at various income levels are shown in table 7.
T a b l e 7 .— P ercen tages o f n o n relief fa m ilie s 1 in seven occup ation al grou p s 2 at va rious
in co m e levels, 1 9 8 5 - 8 6
Families in—
Income level
Professional
Business group
group
Wage- Farm Cler
earn
ical
ing
ing
Inde
Inde
group group 3 group Salaried pend
Salaried pend
ent
ent
All levels___ _______ ______________ _______
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Under $250________ _______ ______ _________
$250-$500_________________________________
$500-$750_________________________________
$750-$l,000____________ ____ ______________
$1,000-$1,250______________________________
3.0
7.5
12.0
16.2
16.2
3.8
13.9
18.0
16.6
12.8
.5
1.7
4.6
9.2
11.8
.1
.3
1.3
2.9
5.1
1.5
6.1
9.1
10.6
12.4
.7
1.7
3.1
4.8
6.8
.2
.4
1.2
2.6
5.1
$1,250-$1,500____ _____ ____ ______ _________
$1,500-$1,750.____ ________________________
$l,750-$2,000________________________ _____
$2,000-$2,250______________________________
$2,250-$2,500—____________________________
12.7
9.8
7.4
4.8
3.2
9.8
7.0
4.8
3.1
2.5
12.0
12.1
11.0
9.4
7.1
5.8
9.1
9.3
8.9
7.7
9.8
9.0
7.6
6.3
4.4
9.1
9.6
10.5
9.9
7.8
4.6
3.8
4.9
4.2
5.2
$2,500-$3,000______________________________
$3,000-$3,500______________________________
$3,500-$4,000______________________________
$4,000-$4,500_____ ________________________
$4,500-$5,000_____________________________ _
3.9
1.7
.8
.4
.2
2.9
1.6
1.0
.5
.3
8.9
5.0
2.7
1.4
.8
11.8
9.2
6.1
3.6
2.5
6.2
3.8
2.4
1.8
1.2
10.5
7.0
5.2
2.8
2.0
9.2
8.1
5.0
4.3
3.8
$5,000 and over____________ _______________
.2
1.4
1.8
16.3
7.8
8.5
37.4
1 Excludes all families receiving any direct or work relief (however little) at any time during year.
2 Families are classified according to occupation from which largest amount of family earnings was derived,
rather than according to occupation of the principal earner.
3 Includes families living on farms in rural areas only.
Wages and Farm Income, by Regions
The similarity o f the income status o f wage earners and farmers is
indicated by the fact that the average income o f nonrelief families in
the two groups was almost the same. There was o f course a relatively
wide range o f income o f farm families. The percentages o f families
in the farm ing group at the lower income levels were larger than the
corresponding percentages o f wage-earning families. This is ac
counted for by the large numbers o f sharecroppers, casual farm
workers, and subsistence farmers. In the South, for example, 8.5
percent o f nonrelief sharecropper families received less than $250,
and in the Mountain and Plains region 13.1 percent o f all nonrelief
farm families received less than $250. A t the other extreme, in the
highest ranges o f income in the 2 groups the percentages o f farm
families were larger. It should be noted also that the occupational
group classified as “ other,” with mean incomes above those o f wageearning families, included village and city families with major earn
ings from farming. These differences in the range o f income are not
130
STANDARDS AND PLANES OF LIVING
important. The fact of outstanding significance is the similarity of
income status of farmers and wage earners.
T a b l e 8 .— P ercentages o f w a ge-earn in g f a m i l i e s 1 (n o n r e li e f 2) i n five geographic
region s at various in co m e levels, 1 9 3 5 - 8 6
Income level
New
England
region
North
Central
region
Moun
Southern tain and
region
Plains
region
Pacific
region
All levels_______ _______ ______ _____ _______ _____
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Under $250....... .............................. .......................... .
$250-$500____________________ _____ _____________
$500-$750____ _________________ _______ - ........... ...
$750-$l,000_______________________ ______________
$1,000-$1,250______________________ _____________
.6
3.2
9.4
18.4
19.9
1.3
4.3
9.6
16.5
17.4
8.4
18.6
19.4
15.0
11.4
1.4
6.0
13.1
18.1
16.5
1.2
3.8
8.4
13.8
18.7
$1,250-$1,500_________ _____ - ____ ______ ____ _____
$1,500-$1,750_________ ___________________________
$1,750-$2,000___________________ ____ ____________
$2,000-$2,250_____________________________________
$2,250-$2,500_____________________________________
16.0
10.6
8.6
5.1
3.0
13.7
10.8
8.3
5.4
3.8
7.9
6.3
4.3
2.7
1.9
14.8
10.8
6.6
4.8
2.6
14.6
12.5
10.4
6.3
3.5
$2,500-$3,000___________________________ ____ _____
$3,000-$3,500_________ ___________________________
$3,500-$4,000__________________ _______ _____ _____
$4,000-$4,500___________________________ ____ _____
$4,500-$5,000___ ____ _________________ ___________
2.7
1.3
.7
.3
.1
4.8
2.1
1.0
.5
.2
2.2
.8
.7
.2
.1
3.0
1.6
.5
4.4
$5,000 and over.............................................................-
.1
.3
.1
1.4
.4
.3
.1
.1
.1
.2
(3)
1 Families are classified according to occupation from which largest amount of family earnings was derived,
rather than according to occupation of the principal earner.
2 Excludes all families receiving any direct or work relief (however little) at any time during year,
a Less than 0.05 percent.
The percentage distribution o f farm families, not receiving relief,
in five geographic divisions at various income levels is given in table 9.
T a b l e 9. — P ercen tages o f fa r m fa m ilie s 1 (■n o n r e lie f 2) in five geographic region s at
various in co m e levels , 1 9 3 5 - 3 6
Southern region
Share
croppers
Moun
tain and
Plains
region
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1.8
15.4
21.6
18.4
12.4
8.5
37.9
30.4
13.9
5.3
13.1
13.9
15.9
16.2
12.5
3.3
6.0
10.8
13.7
12.0
7.3
4.7
2.9
1.9
1.4
8.9
5.8
3.7
2.5
1.8
2.5
1.0
.5
8.2
5.4
3.8
3.0
1.9
10.6
8.6
7.4
5.6
3.9
4.2
2.2
1.4
.5
.2
1.9
1.1
.7
.5
.3
2.5
1.5
.9
.6
.4
2.0
1.8
.7
.3
.2
4.8
3.1
.6
.4
.1
.6
.2
.5
.8
.3
.7
.8
.3
New
England
region
North
Central
region
All levels_________ _____ - ........
100.0
100.0
100.0
Under $250____________ ______
$250-$500.______________ ____ $5Q0-$750____________________
$750-$1,000___________ ____
$1,000-$1,250-............ ................-
1.2
5.2
12.6
17.4
18.5
2.2
5.5
11.3
16.1
15.8
3.4
20.7
23.8
17.4
10.7
$1,250-$1,500-.................... ..........
$1,500-$1,750-............... ..............
$l,750-$2,000------------------------$2,000-$2,250 _____ --- _____
$2,250-$2,500 _______________
10.6
11.6
7.0
5.0
4.4
13.5
10.4
7.4
4.3
3.9
$2,500-$3,000 _______________
$3,000-$3,500 _______________
$3,500-$4,000 ________ ____
$4,000-$4,500 ______ _______
$4,500-$5,000
.......... - .............
3.5
1.0
.4
.4
.1
$5,000-$7,500
....................
$7,500-$10,000 ______________
$10,000 and over ____________
.3
.8
Income level
Total
Opera
tors
Pacific
region
i Includes families living on farms in rural areas only.
3 Excludes all famiies receiving any direct or work relief (however little) at any time during year.
2.2
1.3
.9
1.7
2.3
1.8
CONSUMER EXPENDITURES IN 1 9 3 5 - 3 6
131
Wage Earners’ Incomes, by Siz;e o f Community
There were noticeable differences in the income status of nonrelief
wage-earning families in communities of different size. The average
(mean) income per family ranged from $1,004 in rural communities
to $1,626 in the metropolises. The percentages of families at the lower
levels were greater, as was to be expected, in the smaller communities.
For example, in metropolises 6.2 percent o f nonrelief wage-earning
families received from $500 to $750. In large cities (with 100,000
to 1,500,000 population), 10.1 percent were at this income level; in
middle-sized cities (25,000 to 100,000 population), the percentage was
12.5; in small cities (2,500 to 25,000 population), 12.4; and in rural
communities, 16.6.
It does not necessarily follow from these differences that wage
rates for the same types o f work vary to the same extent in the
several types o f communities. The amount of income received is
affected by various other factors. It is possible, for instance, that
industries with relatively low wage scales in both large and small
places were located predominantly in the smaller communities.
Another factor is the size of the family and the proportion o f members
o f the family receiving income.
Even when different families receive the same money income, the
amount of income in dollars does not measure accurately the varia
tions in real income or purchasing power. There are significant
differences in the cost of living in different communities, although in
this connection it is important to distinguish variations in cost o f
living from variations in standards of living and in the cost of main
taining a specified standard of living. In respect to family income,
variations in the size of families mean variations in the per capita
income even in the case of families at the same level of income.
Comparisons of the incomes o f the various groups must also be
qualified by the fact that in some groups, especially farm families,
there is likely to be a larger proportion of unpaid services which in.
many cases significantly reduce the amount of money income required
for maintaining a given standard of living.
The term “ income” is used in the report to denote not only net
money income from all sources but also the value of certain items of
income not in the form of money. The latter includes such items as
the net value of the occupancy of a home owned by the occupants,
rent received as part of compensation (as when agricultural wage
earners are furnished living quarters), the estimated value of direct
relief received in kind, and the value of home-grown food and other
farm products used on the farm. Personal taxes, such as income,
property, and poll taxes, and sales taxes which, like poll taxes, weigh
heavily upon the smaller income groups, are not deducted.
Consumer Expenditures in the United States in 1935-36
A companion report to the one on consumer incomes by the National
Resources Committee (summarized in the preceding article) dealt
with income levels in the United States.1 As was the case with the
1 National Resources Committee.
fo r 1935-36. W ashington, 1939.
Consumer Expenditures in the United States, Estimates
132
STANDARDS AND PLAN ES OF LIVING
consumers5 income report the one on expenditures was based almost
entirely on the Study of Consumer Purchases in which the Bureau of
Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Home Economics cooperated with
the National Resources Committee and the Central Statistical Board
in a study financed by the Works Progress Administration. It pre
sents general averages for all consumer units (families and single
individuals combined) and averages for 15 different income levels,
beginning at the “ under $500” income level and proceeding to con
sumer units with incomes of $20,000 and over. These figures cover
39 million “ consumer units”—29,400,300 families, and 10,058,000 men
and women living as lodgers or servants in private homes, rooming
houses, or hotels, or maintaining homes of their own as 1-person
families. They represent 98 percent of the total population and
receive nearly 99 percent of the total consumer income. Estimates o f
aggregate consumption expenditures for the remaining 2 million con
sumers (those living in institutional groups) are presented in a separate
estimate by type of institution.
The report also gives estimates o f consumption expenditures and o f
savings and deficits for families and for single individuals separately
which are brought together in the tables which follow.
Average Spending Patterns o f Families
When the expenditures of all families in 1935-36 are analyzed, it
becomes apparent that the average income received by more than half
of the Nation’s families actually was insufficient, for the group as a
whole, to meet current needs for food, housing, clothing, and other
necessaries and comforts of daily living; that is, for families with
incomes of less than $1,250 in 1935-36, average expenditure exceeded
average income in that year. This does not mean, o f course, that all
o f these 16 million families spent more than they received in 1935-36.
Some of them managed to live within their incomes and even to save
something, but these families were not sufficiently numerous, nor their
savings sufficiently large, to bring the average expenditures of the
group as a whole within the limits of their average income.
For families with incomes of less than $500, average outlay, includ
ing gifts made and personal taxes paid, exceeded average income by
$162, or by almost 52 percent. As the average income increases, this
deficit decreases in amount until it disappears and in its place appears
a surplus of average income over average outlay. This surplus repre
sents savings—that portion of a family’s income not spent for current
consumption.
The proportion of the total income saved grows rather rapidly as
income advances, increasing from a bare 1 percent for incomes between
$1,250 and $1,500, to 30 percent for those between $5,000 and $10,000,
and to more than 50 percent, on the average, for incomes of $20,000
and over.
The fact that the proportion of income spent for current consump
tion decreases as income increases does not mean a decline in the
actual dollars spent for current consumption. On the contrary, outlays for commodities and services rise very rapidly with income.
CONSUMER EXPENDITURES IN 1 9 3 5 - 3 6
133
Families in the lowest income group spent an average of $203 on
food (the largest single item in the family budget at all income levels
up to $20,000), $90 a year on housing, $57 on household operation,
and $35 on clothing. Those in the group with incomes of $20,000
and over spent on the same items an average o f $2,261, $2,721, $2,177,
and $2,177, respectively. The average expenditure on medical care
for families was $22 in the lowest group, as contrasted with $837 for
those in the highest. Average recreation expenditures ranged from
$6 to $921, and average expenditures for automobiles ranged fromi
$15 to $1,759.
In addition to meeting their own living expenses, most families pay
some direct personal taxes and feel obliged to assist relatives and
friends and to contribute to churches and philanthropic organizations.
These outlays, on an average, ranged from 2 percent of the total
family income for families with incomes below $1,250 to 14 percent
for those with incomes of $20,000 and over. It must be emphasized
that these figures refer only to the specific taxes mentioned and are
no indication of the total tax burden borne by the different income
groups. Inheritance, estate, and gift taxes do not appear in these
estimates. Property taxes on owned homes, automobile and gasoline
taxes, sales taxes, and taxes on tobacco, liquor, and amusements have
been included in the estimates of expenditures for these goods and
services. Direct taxes on business operations and on income-produc
ing property were deducted as business expenses in calculating net
consumer income.
T
a b l e
1 .— Average outlay of Am erican fam ilies, by income level, 1 9 8 5 -3 6
[Estimates of National Resources Committee based on the Study of Consumer Purchases]
Families with incomes of—
Item
All
fam
ilies
Percent of families.............................. 100.0
Average income.................................- $1,622
Percent of income for—
Savings---- ---------------------------Food, total------ ------- --------------Purchased............................
Home-produced 2__________
Housing, total________________
Money expense..... ......... ......
Imputed value 3___________
Household operation ________
Furnishings.............. ................ .
Clothing______________ _____
Automobile. ________ _________
Transportation other than auto
mobile.................. ....................
Personal care________ ________
Medical care. ...................... ......
Recreation_____ _______ _____ _
Tobacco........................................
R eading_____________________
Formal education .....................
Gifts_________________________
Personal taxes 4..... ........... ...........
Other items_______________ ___
See footnotes at end of table.
328112— 42— vol. i------ 10
Under $500 to $750 to
$500
$750
$1,000
14.2
$312
$1,000
to
$1,250
$1,250
to
$1,500
$1,500
to
$1,750
9.8
$1,364
$3,612
12.9
$627
14.6
$874
13.2
$1,120
1-51.9 1-14.6
65.0
49.5
50.0
36.5
13.0
15.0
19.9
28.9
19.9
13.5
9.0
6.4
10.0 18.2 13.5
2.9
2.9
2.5
11.2
8.7
8.9
7.0
4.8
4.5
i -6 .6
43.5
34.3
9.2
18.5
13.2
5.3
1-2 .8
3.1
8.9
5.0
3.4
8.9
6.3
10.1
28.8
24.4
4.4
15.3
10.4
4.9
1.0
1.7
4.0
2.5
1.6
.8
.9
2.8
1.5
.4
1.0
2.9
7.1
1.9
2.9
1.3
.6
2.0
.6
.6
.8
2.2
4.7
1.7
2.3
.9
.5
1.6
.3
.8
12.1
1.0
2.1
4.3
1.9
2.2
1.0
.5
1.8
.2
.5
1.0
38.7
31.9
35.7
29.5
18.1
12.7
5.4
16.9
6.8
11.6
1.0
2.1
2.2
2.0
1.0
.6
4.2
1.9
.3
.5
6.2
11.6
5.3
10.9
3.5
9.0
6.8
1.0
2.0
8.0
6.4
$1, 829'
3.5
32.7
27.9
4.8
16.6
11. 5
5.1
10.3
3.5
9.1
7.6
5.0
30.5
26.8
3.7
16.5
.2
.6
.2
.7
2.3
.9
.7
2.5
.5
3.7
9.0
8.4
1.9
4.3
2.7
4.4
.2
11.8
4.7
10. 2;
1.0
2.0
2.6
1.8
4.2
2.3
2.0
1.0
$1,750
to
$2,000
1.0
1.8
.9
.&
2.7
. 4-
134
T able 1 .—
S T A N D A R D S A N D P L A N E S O F LIVING
A v era g e o u tla y o f A m e r ic a n f a m ilie s , b y in co m e level, 1 9 3 5 - S 6 — Con.
Families with incomes of—
Item
$2,000
to
$2,500
$2,500
to
$3,000
$3,000
to
$4,000
$4,000
to
$5,000
$5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000
to
to
to
and
$10,000 $15,000 $20,000 over
Percent of families......... ....................
Average income_______ ________
8.4
$2, 221
4.5
$2,715
4.0
$3, 394
1.4
$4,391
0.2
0.4
1.7
$6,874 $11,353 $17,331
0.3
$41,871
8.2
27.8
24.9
2.9
15.7
10.9
4.8
9.6
3.4
9.3
9.0
11.6
25.4
22.8
2.6
14.9
10.1
4.8
9.6
3.1
9.4
8.9
15.6
22.7
20.5
2.2
14.3
9.6
4.7
9.4
3.0
9.3
8.5
20.6
19.4
17.9
1.5
13.0
8.6
4.4
9.1
2.5
9.3
8.7
29.5
15.1
14.1
1.0
11.4
7.5
3.9
8.5
2.3
8.1
7.6
38.9
10.7
10.3
.4
10.6
7.0
3.6
6.7
2.0
7.3
6.0
39.9
10.3
10.0
.3
8.6
5.2
3.4
6.8
1.6
7.3
5.3
50.7
5.4
5.3
.1
6.5
3.5
3.0
5.2
1.1
5.2
4.2
1.0
. 1.9
4.1
2.8
1.7
.9
.9
2.9
.3
. .5
.9
1.8
4.0
3.0
1.5
.8
1.1
3.3
.3
.4
.9
1.6
3.9
3.1
1.4
.8
1.1
3.6
.4
.4
.8
1.5
3.6
3.1
1.2
.7
1.3
4.2
.6
.4
.7
1.3
3.6
3.0
.9
.6
1.2
4.3
1.4
.5
1.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
.7
.5
2.0
4.5
2.9
.2
2.3
.9
2.4
2.8
.6
.4
3.1
3.8
3.6
.3
1.0
.6
2.0
2.2
.3
.3
1.2
2.1
11.8
.2
Percent of income for—
Savings_____________________
Food, total________ _______ ___
Purchased______ ____ _____
Home-produced 2__________
Housing, total_________________
Money expense________ ___
Imputed value3___________
Household operation .................
Furnishings.......... .......................
Clothing ________________ ____
Automobile __________________
Transportation other than auto
mobile______________________
Personal care__________________
Medical care__________________
Recreation. _____________ ____
Tobacco______________________
Reading_____________________ _
Formal education_____________
Gifts_______________ _____ ____
Personal taxes *____ _________
Other items.......................... ........
1 Deficit as a percent of income.
2 For method of imputing money value to home-produced foods, see Consumer Expenditures in the United
States, pp. 94, 95. These figures cover rural families only.
3 For method of imputing money value to owned homes, see Bureau of Labor Statistics Bull.
No. 642, vol. II, pp. 230-231.
* Taxes shown here include only personal income taxes, poll taxes, and certain personal property taxes.
Average Spending Patterns o f Single Individuals
For the 10 million single men and women living alone, average
expenditures in excess of average income were relatively less in
amount in 1935-36 and savings were somewhat larger than in the
case o f families. Moreover, the income level at which average ex
penditures cease to exceed average income is lower—$1;000 as con
trasted with $1,250. Approximately the same proportion of total
expenditures is spent for food by single individuals as by families in
all income groups. In dollar value, however, the average food bill
of single individuals at a given income level naturally tends to be
somewhat lower than that of families. A slightly larger percentage
o f income is spent for housing by individuals than by families, but
this is offset by lower expenditures for household operation and fur
nishings, so that the average family expenditures for shelter—when
these three items are added together— are somewhat greater than
those of single men and women. On the other hand, the clothing ex
penditures of individuals tend to be somewhat higher up to the $2,500
income level, and outlays for gifts and personal taxes average de
cidedly more for single individuals than for families at every income
level above $500.
135
C O N S U M E R E X P E N D I T U R E S IN 1935-36
T able 2 .—
A v era g e ou tla y o f A m e r ic a n single in d ivid u a ls ,* b y in co m e level, 1 9 3 5 - 8 6
[Estimates of National Resources Committee2]
Item
Single individuals with incomes of—
All
single
indi
$1,250 $1,500
$500 to $750 to $1,000
viduals Under
to
to
to
$500
$750
$1,000 $1,250
$1,500 $1,750
Percent of persons_________________ 100.0
Average income___ ______ _________ $1,151
Percent of income for—
Savings_________________ _____
Food.............................................
Housing______________ ____ ___
Household operation...................
Furnishings________ _________ _
Clothing____ _________________
Automobile___________________
Transportation other than
automobile__________________
Personal care___________ _____ _
Medical care________ __________
Recreation____________________
Tobacco__________ _________
Reading_____________ _______
Formal education........................
Gifts and personal taxes 5______
Other items__________ _______
25.2
$300
10.1 3—16.3
27.2
53.3
19.2
33.6
4.5
4.0
.3
(4)
9.7
8.7
3.7
(4)
3.7
1.7
2.9
3.7
1.8
1.4
.4
8.9
.8
6.4
3.0
1.7
1.0
1.0
2.3
(4)
1.3
(4)
$1,750
to
$2,000
15.9
$873
11.0
$1,119
8.7
$1, 368
5.4
$1, 617
4.0
$1,868
3—2.7 3—0.5
37.9
33.8
24.9
22.1
5.0
5.3
.3
.3
11.7
11.7
1.0
2.2
2.0
31.5
20.1
5.4
.3
11.0
3.4
4.7
29.2
18.9
5.3
.3
10.5
4.1
7.2
27.0
18.0
5.2
.3
10.3
4.5
9.6
25.3
17.3
5.0
.3
10.1
4.8
4.0
2.0
2.7
4.0
2.4
1.6
.7
8.3
.6
3.7
1.8
2.8
4.3
2.4
1.5
.7
9.1
.7
3.5
1.7
3.0
4.4
2.4
1.4
.6
9.7
.8
3.3
1.6
3.1
4.5
2.3
1.4
.5
10.0
.9
19.6
$623
5.0
2.5
2.2
2.6
1.8
1.9
.5
5.1
.3
4.5
2.3
2.5
3.4
2.2
1.8
.7
7.1
.6
Single individuals with incomes of—
Item
$2,000
to
$2,500
$2,500
to
$3,000
$3,000
to
$4,000
$4,000
to
$5,000
$5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000
to
to
to
and
$10,000 $15,000 $20,000 over
Percent of persons_________________
4.9
Average income___________________ $2, 225
1.6
$2, 703
1.7
$3, 411
0.6
$4, 491
0.2
0.9
0.1
$6, 827 $11,999 $17, 052
12.5
23.1
16.6
4.8
.4
9.8
5.1
15.6
21.4
15.6
4.6
.3
9.1
5.7
19.9
18.6
15.1
4.2
.3
8.9
5.8
25.1
15.5
14.8
3.6
.4
8.8
5.3
31.4
12.4
13.8
3.1
.4
7.6
5.6
38.8
8.9
13.4
2.5
.3
6.4
5.3
42.1
7.5
12.5
2.1
.3
5.5
5.9
51.4
5.0
9.8
1.5
.2
4.0
4.5
3.1
1.5
3.2
4.6
2.1
1.3
.5
10.4
1.0
2.9
1.3
3.4
4.7
2.0
1.1
.4
10.8
1.1
2.7
1.2
3.5
4.6
1.7
1.0
.3
11.1
1.1
2.6
1.1
3.6
4.1
1.3
.8
.2
11.6
1.2
2.2
.9
3.7
4.0
1.0
.6
.1
12.0
1.2
2.0
.6
3.6
3.4
.6
.4
.1
12.6
1.1
1.7
.5
3.7
3.5
.5
.3
.1
12.6
1.2
1.3
.3
2.8
2.6
.3
.2
1
15.1
.9
Percent of income for—
Savings---------------------------------Food________ ______ __________
Housing..____________________
Household operation___________
Furnishings.-. _______________
Clothing__ _____ ______ _____
Automobile_____________ ____
Transportation other than
automobile______ _______ .
Personal care_________ ________
Medical care___________ _____ _
Recreation____________________
Tobacco____________ _________
Reading______________________
Formal education_____________
Gifts and personal taxes 8______
Other items..................___.........
0.2
$43, 884
1 Persons who maintained an independent economic status and thus constituted individual consuming
units.
2 Based on the Study of Consumer Purchases in Chicago, 111., and Portland, Oreg.; the U. S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics Study of Money Disbursements of Wage Earners and Clerical Workers in Philadelphia
made in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Emergency Relief Board; the Study of the Cost of Living of
Federal Employees in Washington made by the U. S. Bureaus of Labor Statistics and Home Economics;
and the Young Women’s Christian Association Business Girls’ Budget Project.
» Deficit as a percent of income.
4 Less than 0.05 percent.
•Taxes shown here include only personal income taxes, poll taxes, and certain personal property taxes.
Defense Labor A c tiv itie s
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics: 1941 edition.
137
Labor Policy of National Defense Advisory
Commission 1
In connection with the defense effort the National Defense A dvisory
Commission made the follow ing announcement, on September 1, 1940,
o f the policy to be followed in regard to hours o f work, wages, working
conditions, and other questions relating to labor.
Primary among the objectives of the Advisory Commission to the Council of
National Defense is the increase in production of materials required by our armed
forces and the assurance of adequate future supply of such materials with the least
possible disturbance to production of supplies for the civilian population. The
scope of our present program entails bringing into production many of our unused
resources of agriculture, manufacturing, and manpower.
This program can be used in the public interest as a vehicle to reduce unemploy
ment and otherwise strengthen the human fiber of our Nation. In the selection
of plant locations for new production, in the interest of national defense, great
weight must be given to this factor.
In order that surplus and unemployed labor may be absorbed in the defense
program, all reasonable efforts should be made to avoid hours in excess of 40 per
week. However, in emergencies or where the needs of the national defense can
not otherwise be met, exceptions to this standard should be permitted. When the
requirements of the defense program make it necessary to work, in excess of these
hours, or where work is required on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays, overtime
should be paid in accordance with the local recognized practices.
All work carried on as part of the defense program should comply with Federal
statutory provisions affecting labor wherever such provisions are applicable.
This applies to the Walsh-Healey Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, the National
Labor Relations Act, etc. There should also be compliance with State and local
statutes affecting labor relations, hours of work, wages, workmen’s compensation,
safety, sanitation, etc.
Adequate provision should be made for the health and safety of employees.
As far as possible, the local employment or other agencies designated by the
United States Employment Service should be utilized.
Workers should not be discriminated against because of age, sex, race, or color.
Adequate housing facilities should be made available for employees.
The Commission reaffirms the principles enunciated by the Chief o f
Ordnance o f the United States Arm y, during the W orld W ar, in his
order o f November 15,1917, relative to the relation o f labor standards
to efficient production:
In view of the urgent necessity for a prompt increase in the volume of produc
tion * * *, vigilance is demanded of all those in any way associated with
industry lest the safeguards with which the people of this country have sought
to protect labor should be unwisely and unnecessarily broken down. It is a fair
assumption that for the most part these safeguards are the mechanisms of effi
ciency. Industrial history proves that reasonable hours, fair working conditions,
and a proper wage scale are essential to high production. * * * every attempt
should be made to conserve in every way possible all of our achievements in the
way of social betterment. But the pressing argument for maintaining industrial
safeguards in the present emergency is that they actually contribute to efficiency.
1
From the Monthly Labor Review for October 1940.
139
140
DEFENSE LABOR ACTIVITIES
Labor Under the Selective Service Law 1
The first law calling fo r peace-time military conscription o f man
pow er in the United States became effective on September 16, 1940.2
The act, officially known as the “ Selective Training and Service A ct
o f 1940” provides legislation fo r the common defense o f the Nation
by increasing the personnel o f the armed forces and providing for its
training. The act will continue in operation until May 15, 1945,
unless extended or repealed by subsequent action o f the Congress.
Uegistration o f all men between the ages o f 21 and 36 took place on
October 16th.
A second registration was conducted on July 1, 1941, fo r all men
reaching 21 years since the previous registration, Amendatory legisla
tion in 1941 provided for deferment o f men 28 years and over, and
extended the normal period o f service from 12 to 18 months.
General Provisions
In addition to the compulsory provisions o f the act, any person
between the ages o f 18 and 36 may volunteer for the same type o f
service as is provided fo r others under the terms o f the legislation.
Service in either case, however, is limited to the Western Hemisphere,
but including the Territories and possessions o f the United States and
the Philippine Islands. The only exemptions from the liability o f
military service cover certain legislative and judicial officials and
specified persons already in military service, and ordained ministers
o f religion as well as bona fide theological and divinity students.
Provisions Affecting Labor
Every employer must consider a drafted employee as in the class
o f a furloughed employee or as one on leave o f absence and hence
grant to such employee those benefits ordinarily extended to other
employees. A fter a draftee has completed his term o f service in the
armed forces, the employer must restore him to his former job, or to
a position o f “ like seniority, status, and pay,” or to other benefits
unless the employer’s circumstances have so changed that it is “ im
possible or unreasonable to do so.” However, as a condition precedent
to such restoration, the form er employee must have received a cer
tificate o f service and must have made the request for reinstatement
within 40 days follow ing his release from the service. A n employee
restored to his former job cannot be discharged without cause for a
period o f 1 year. A n y employer refusing to rehire a trainee may be
forced to act by the District Court o f the United States for the district
in which such employer maintains a place o f business.
A drafted employee o f the Federal Government must be restored
to his former job, but in the case o f an employee o f a State or political
subdivision the law merely urges restoration o f the job.
Other provisions o f interest to employers and employees alike in
clude the establishment o f a personnel division that will render aid
1From
the Monthly Labor Review for October 1940, with later data.
2Public, No. 783, 76th Congress.
LONG-TERM M ILITARY SERVICE OF EMPLOYEES
141
in job placements; the restriction on the employer in the hiring o f
persons who are members o f certain groups to take the place o f
drafted employees; and the protection o f the rights o f drafted em
ployees who may have entered into contractual relations for install
ment purchases.
Provisions Applicable to Industry
Although the draft legislation is primarily designed to strengthen
the armed forces o f the United States, there is included also in the
act provisions for the limited conscription o f industry. Briefly, the
President may require a manufacturer to accept and execute orders
fo r defense materials. Upon refusal, authority is granted to the G ov
ernment “ to take immediate possession o f any such plant or plants’*
and to manufacture any product or material which may be required
fo r defense purposes. F or failure to comply with these provisions
a person is liable to imprisonment for 3 years and fine o f not more
than $50,000. In all such cases o f industrial conscription, the Govern
ment must reimburse a manufacturer for materials, etc., or pay fo r
the rental o f the premises on a basis that “ shall be fair and just.”
Company Policies Covering Long-Term M ilitary
Service of Employees 1
The selective service law contains several specific provisions re
garding the employer’s obligation toward draftees. A 1917 Federal
statute made it a misdemeanor to pay private compensation to
persons in Federal service, but the 1940 law establishing compulsory
military service provided that previous prohibitions included in all
other laws on this subject should not apply to drafted persons.
Manufacturing, Finance, and Service
A report o f the policies toward drafted employees adopted by differment member companies was issued by the American Management
Association in the latter part o f October 1940.2 This survey covered
45 companies, o f which 28 are manufacturing companies, widely di
versified both industrially and geographically; 9 are financial houses;
3, utility and service organizations; and 5, insurance companies.
Fourteen companies stated definitely that they were not planning
to make payments to drafted employees, but a number had planned
to make payments on somewhat the same basis as had been done
previously for 2- and 3-week military-training periods. Am ong
these companies, four will give vacation pay. Ten companies reported
that they pay wages or salaries for short periods, without deduc
tions. Seven o f these companies are banks, financial houses, or in-
1Summary o f articles in the Monthly Labor Review for March (p. 583) and June
(p. 1386) 1941.
2American Management A ssociation. Company policies regarding long-term m ilitary
service of employees : Second report. A special survey report for company members of
the American Management Association, New York, October 1940 ; also see American Man
agement Review for November.
142
DEFENSE LABOR ACTIVITIES
surance companies. A definite policy had-not been decided upon by
13 companies in regard to salary or wage payments, but in three
cases consideration was being given to the question.
Additional inform ation on the question o f compensation fo r con
scripted employees was secured by the American Management
Association and published in its Management Review fo r November
1940. These reports showed a higher percentage o f cases where
such payments are promised than had previously been reported.
O f 70 o f these more recent statements, 54 reported that compensation
would be paid. Eighteen o f the companies reported that 1 month’s
salary or wage would be paid. Tw o months’ salary or wages, it was
reported, would be paid by three insurance associations and two
m anufacturing companies. One o f the manufacturing companies
will deduct amounts due as contributions to its pension plan and for
Federal taxes.
Ten companies will give employees 2 weeks’ pay, and in three
cases vacation pay will be added if the vacation has not already been
taken.
Some companies are making up the difference between Arm y and
company pay, for periods ranging, in the different establishments,
from 1 month to a year. Tw o companies will pay one-half o f the
worker’s regular yearly salary, and two will match Arm y pay fo r the
entire year.
A number o f special plans have also been reported, among which is
an unusual feature o f payment o f specified amounts to men on their
return to employment.
Twelve o f the companies covered did not maintain pension systems
fo r their employees. O f the 33 companies having such plans, however,
17 reported that credit would be given drafted men for continuous
service, although one establishment restricted the period to 1 year,
while another stated that credit would be given “ unless the problem
becomes too extensive.” Seven companies reported that continuousservice status would be maintained, but neither the company nor the
employees would make contributions during the employees’ absence.
One company provides for 90-day participation in an annuity and
thrift plan, and eight companies did not report on the question.
Group life-insurance protection will be maintained for service men
by 30 companies, although there were various qualifications.
The Selective Service A ct provides for the reinstatement o f other
than temporary employees o f a company to jobs o f like seniority,
status, and pay, provided that the person has received a certificate o f
honorable discharge, is still qualified to perform the duties o f such a
position, and makes application for reemployment within 40 days
after he is discharged, unless the employer’s circumstances have so
changed as to make it impossible or unreasonable for him to reinstate
such employees. A ll the companies, however, believed they would
be able to comply with the provisions regarding reinstatement and
the maintenance o f seniority rights, “ short o f a national or business
catastrophe.” A possible difficulty, the report states, is in connection
with union jurisdiction.
The law does not settle the point as to whether or not service credit
will be given for the period o f absence in training. Three o f the
LONG-TERM MILITARY SERVICE OF EMPLOYEES
143
-companies reported that such credit will be given, and a fourth will
give continuous-service credit in case o f war, if the man returns
within 12 months after honorable discharge. Two o f the three com
panies first mentioned are among the largest in the country.
Retail Dry Goods Stores
A report issued in November 1940 by the National Retail D ry
Goods A ssociation3 summarized information furnished by 48 depart
ment and specialty stores throughout the country as to their policies
under the national defense program. A t the time the report was
made, a number o f the stores had not definitely decided upon the
policies to be followed. Store managers reported that the Selective
Service A ct would affect a larger number o f their male employees than
they had anticipated.
Thirty out of 47 stores replying to a question concerning preference
as to nationality of new employees indicated that they would give
preference in employment to American citizens, although the alien
problem is not so serious with retail stores as with industrial concerns,
particularly those engaged in vital war work.
Most stores indicated that in replacing draftees they would give
preference to members o f the draftees’ families, i f they could qualify
fo r the jobs.
A t the time the study was made, few stores had formulated definite
policies regarding supplementary payments to employees called to
service, as they questioned the financial ability o f management to pay
supplementary compensation for the entire training period. O f 45
stores reporting on this point, only 2 had decided to make such pay
ments while 13 were undecided and 30 either would not pay or probably
would not. O f those stores which were contemplating giving supple
mentary wages, most would pay the difference between store salary and
A rm y pay. In some instances, stores which were not planning to pay
supplementary salary would pay for the vacation period to which the
draftee would normally be entitled i f he remained on the job. Other
stores were considering the giving o f a cash bonus on completion o f the
training period and reemployment in the store, on the ground that
such extra compensation would be more helpful at that time than in
the initial stages o f training. Most stores regarded enlistment in the
Regular A rm y fo r the full service period as a definite and final
termination o f employment in the store.
It is believed that many stores will maintain the right o f drafted
employees to such benefits as membership in mutual-aid associations,
with resumption o f benefit rights immediately upon reemployment
without a waiting period, and continuance o f group-insurance cover
age during the training period i f the employee wishes to have it
continued and pays the premiums. It is expected that most associ
ated hospitalization plans will permit the individual to continue such
coverage fo r his dependents while in training, by paying a propor
tionately lower premium in 'v iew o f the temporary waiving of his
own personal benefits.
3
gram.
Store management operations and personnel policies under the national defense pro
National Retail Dry Goods Association, New York City, November 1940.
144
DEFENSE LABOR ACTIVITIES
Paper Industry
A report by the American Paper and Pulp Association covered
the practices o f 115 companies regarding absence fo r military serv
ice.4 Definite policies had been established by 102 companies.
Although the selective service law does not apply to volunteers, 68
o f the companies extended coverage to volunteers as well as to mem
bers o f the National Guard and Reserve Corps and to draftees; 16 cov
ered drafted men and members o f the National Guard and Reserve
C orps; and 2 covered conscripted men only. Twenty-seven companies
required at least a year o f service, while 15 required periods ranging
from 30 days to 6 m onths; 10 companies covered all employees except
those on a temporary basis; and 42 companies covered all employees
regardless o f length o f service. Eight companies, according to the
report, had no expressed policy on this point.
Thirty-one o f the 102 companies had provided fo r payments to
trainees, the lowest allowance so made being 1 week’s full pay and
the highest being 1 year’s company pay less 1 year’s pay from the
Government. Over half o f the companies allowed from 2 weeks’ to
a month’s wages, while nearly 20 percent paid employees at least
one-half o f the difference between their normal earnings and G ov
ernment compensation during the entire training period o f 1 year.
In some cases, also, vacation pay was allowed fo r a trainee’s unused
vacation time. The United States Treasury ruled that payments
made to employees for military service do not constitute “ wages” for
social-security tax purposes.
Fifty-three companies reported that they were allowing employees
to accumulate seniority during absence fo r military service, 38 that
they were “ freezing” seniority as o f the date o f leaving for military
service, and 11 that they had no expressed policy on the question o f
seniority.
Eighty-seven companies had group life-insurance plans, and in 61
cases the insurance was being continued fo r employees while in serv
ice. O f the 61 companies reporting on their policy in this respect, 49
will pay both their own and the employees’ premiums, in 8 cases the
premium will be paid jointly by the company and the employee, and
in 4 cases the employee will be responsible for 'the payment o f the
entire premium. Most companies had discontinued group health
and accident coverage, since the Government provides disability and
other benefits fo r trainees.
Military-Service Provisions in Union Agreements5
A number o f recent union agreements include provisions regarding
the seniority and reemployment rights o f workers who leave their
jobs to enter military service. In some o f the agreements the rights
apply only i f the United States is at war or is in an emergency ap
proximating war conditions. Although some cover only workers who
4American Paper and Pulp Association. Company Policies Regarding M ilitary Ab
sences in the Paper and Pulp Industry. New York. 122 East 42d Street, 1941.
5From Monthly Labor Review, October 1940 (p. 859).
LABOR REQUIREMENTS IN DEFENSE INDUSTRIES
145
are conscripted, others include those who volunteer as well. These
provisions are usually limited to military duty, but combat relief serv
ice and Government civilian service are included in a few instances.
The extent o f a worker’s rights under these provisions varies.
Sometimes there is simply a statement that seniority previously ac
quired is not lost because o f military duty. In other cases seniority
with the company continues to accrue during such service. Such
provisions give the worker the right to claim a job with the company
in preference to junior employees. Other agreements make reem
ployment compulsory after military service is completed. In some
cases the reemployment right is contingent upon physical and mental
fitness or an honorable discharge. I t is generally understood that the
worker must apply fo r reemployment within a reasonable time after
discharge, and some agreements specify the time limit.
Examples o f military-service provisions are given below :
Should it become necessary for any employee to leave the service of the com
pany to serve the Federal Government in its Army, Navy, or in Federal mobiliza
tion for war purposes, then such employee shall retain and accrue his seniority
during such service, provided he returns to the employ of the company within 30
days after his demobilization. Voluntary service with Federal forces after oppor
tunity for demobilization is offered shall deprive such employee of seniority.
Any employee who may enlist or be drafted into the armed forces of the United
States Government in time of war, or a state of emergency akin to war, shall be
reemployed at the close of the war or state of emergency, without loss of
seniority; provided that said employee shall receive an honorable discharge from
the armed forces, and provided further that he shall be mentally and physically
qualified for reemployment.
Seniority shall be considered broken and all rights of the person as an employee
terminated when he or she * * * is out of the service of the company for
one year or more unless engaged in military or naval service of the United States
during time of war * * *. Any such employee, however, must be able to pass
physical examination before being returned to service.
R e s o l v e d , That if, during the life of this agreement, any employees should be
called to the service of their country because of war, they shall not lose their
seniority rating during their absence, and upon their return, if such employees
are physically and mentally fit for employment, the company will offer them work
of a like kind that they were engaged in before entering the service.
The above is effective providing the employee returns and makes application
for work within 3 months after his discharge from the service.
In the event of a declared or undeclared war in which the United States takes
part, an employee who serves his country will return, after the war is over, to
his position with no loss of seniority.
Labor Requirements in Defense Industries
One o f the most important activities o f the Bureau o f Labor Sta
tistics, in connection with the national defense program, has been the
preparation o f estimates o f probable future labor requirements in
the industries immediately concerned wTith defense. In these indus
tries a great expansion o f employment was contemplated and in many
cases is still under way. A knowledge o f the probable employment
increases, by skills and by regions, became essential to the formula
tion o f various national policies, such as those on worker training
and employee housing.
146
DEFENSE LABOR ACTIVITIES
T o be o f service, such estimates must be made at relatively short in
tervals, in order to take account o f changing Federal expenditures
and other changes in the defense program. The Bureau o f Labor
Statistics therefore has made and is continuing to make periodical
estimates o f labor requirements for each o f the major industries.
These are made available currently in special reports and in the
Monthly Labor Review. A s indicative o f the character o f these re
ports, the follow ing brief statement, prepared as o f early June 1941*
may be cited :
An estimated 1,408,600 additional workers will be required in a selected group
o f defense industries alone by April 1942. This estimate applies to the manu
facture o f aircraft, vessels, machine tools, ordnance, and other defense items
but does not include building construction employment nor the manufacture o f
items for the Quartermaster Corps. Neither does it include employment that
will be necessary for transportation, power, or fb e extraction and fabrication
o f many o f the raw materials and parts going into defense products.
The estimate relates primarily to employment in the so-called metal-working
trades. This is the area in which the most difficult problems o f labor supply
w ill be encountered. In arriving at the figure, available data pertaining to the
man-hours necessary to manufacture the various items, contracts awarded, cer
tificates o f necessity for plant expansion, contemplated new facilities, separate
estimates by plant management, etc., were given consideration.
Some 323,900 additional workers w ill be needed by the shipbuilding industry,
408,400 by aircraft, 291,600 by machine tools and ordnance, and 384,700 by other
defense industries. It is estimated that 91,200 professional and subprofessional,.
550,900 skilled, 539,000 semiskilled, and 227,500 unskilled workers, w ill be needed.
The greatest single occupational needs will be for skilled machinists and semi
skilled assemblers (erectors) with requirements o f 156,500 and 139,500 respec
tively. It should be kept in mind, however, that an estimate o f this kind, based
upon current knowledge, is apt to be considerably increased by any change in
the emergency program demanding rapidly increased production.
Safety and Health in Defense Industries 1
Every accident avoided on a defense job means time gained.
Observance o f proper safeguards against accidents and occupational
disease prevents disruption o f production schedules, damage to
machines and equipment, and wastage o f materials, and helps to keep
workers fit fo r the job o f maintaining output and quality. The
Public Contracts Act, whose provisions govern all Government con
tracts fo r supplies in excess o f $10,000, provides that “ no part o f
such contract will be performed * * * in any plants * * *
or surroundings or under working conditions which are insanitary
or hazardous or dangerous to the health and safety o f employees
engaged in the performance o f said contract.” The difficulties o f
compliance have been increased by pressure fo r speed, crowding o f
machines, rapid expansion o f production forces, and reopening
disused plant facilities.
No detailed standards o f compliance have been attempted but, in
order that the objective may be reached substantially and quickly,
the Secretary o f Labor in 1940 appointed a National Committee on
Conservation o f Man Power in Industrial Companies composed o f 24
persons, including safety experts from private industry, labor repre-
1
Prepared by the D ivision o f L abor Standards, Departm ent o f Labor.
SAFETY AND HEALTH IN DEFENSE INDUSTRIES
147
sentatives, and State officials administering safety and health laws.
This committee has developed a plan for making available to plants
all over the country working on defense contracts an advisory service
on accident prevention. Eight regional representatives, 34 State chair
men, and over 350 safety engineers, functioning as special agents, are
engaged in the program.
Industrial safety experts, loaned to the committee and serving
without compensation (on a $l-a-year basis), are assigned as safety
advisers to plants as soon as contracts are awarded. The contact
man assigned visits the plant in question and volunteers to assist
the management in organizing a safety program, including setting
up shop safety committees and establishing a safety-training program.
H e offers his services in making an appraisal o f physical hazardsi
in the plant, submits recommendations fo r their correction, and in
other ways acts as a continuous adviser to the management for the
duration o f the contract.
Under its responsibility for the promotion o f industrial safety
and health the Division o f Labor Standards is the clearing house fo r
all activities in connection with the plan. The technical staff o f
the safety and health section o f the Division is responsible for the
preparation, under general approval o f the National Committee, o f
procedures, forms, and promotional, educational, and technical mate
rial. It is Serving as a liaison unit between the regional and local
representatives and the Public Contracts Division o f the United
States Department o f Labor. Congress has now appropriated funds
for enlarging the program by attaching a group o f 30 full-time safety
engineers to the Division o f Labor Standards, whose work will supple
ment—but in no sense replace— the work o f the volunteer safety
experts.
Under the auspices o f the committee, a series o f special bulletins
dealing with plant safety have been published by the Division o f Labor
Standards and distributed in large quantities to employers and
workers engaged on defense work.2
*###♦####
Women in Defense Industries 3
W omen are receiving a share o f employment in the rapidly increasing defense industries. Visits made by a W omen’s Bureau
agent in October 1940 and again in February 1941 to certain New
England munitions and airplane factories showed that in some o f
these the force o f woman workers had increased by about 50 percent,
and in some it had doubled. In several plants combined, where some
2,600 women were employed in October, over 4,500 were at work in
February. A plant being built for the manufacture o f small arms
ammunition in Kansas was expected to employ over 2,000 women; an
2See follow ing publications o f the Division : Special bulletin No. 1 : Safeguarding Man
power for Greater P roduction; Special bulletin No. 2 : The W orker’s Safety and National
D efense; Special bulletin No. 3 : Protecting Plant Manpower, Practical Points on Industrial
Sanitation and H y gien e; and Special bulletin No. 4 : Conserving Manpower in Defense
Industries (describes the plan for pooling safety services).
3From reports o f the United States Women’s Bureau. See Woman Worker, issues o f
January 1941, May 1941, July 1941, and November 1941.
148
DEFENSE LABOR ACTIVITIES
Ohio munitions plant would absorb some 2,500 in the early summer
o f 1941. In Florida, women as well as men were to be considered
fo r positions as aircraft fabric workers. In a V irginia plant to open
in the fall o f 1941,1,500 or more women were to be employed in making
bags, and sewing them closed after they were loaded with powder, the
latter requiring great care to prevent accident and injury.1
The Bureau o f Employment Security records placements in a
selected list o f some 400 defense occupations. Only about 1 percent
o f all women’s placements are in these defense jobs. However, the
placements o f women in these were more than three times as great
in the early months o f 1941 as in the late months o f 1940. O f these
women’s placements, 60 percent were in textile mills, most o f them
frame spinners, yarn winders, weavers and throwers— long tradi
tional employments for women. Some also were in electrical plants;
for example, as radio assemblers or armature winders. A few were
placed at less usual jobs, such as work at engine lathes, milling
machines, or as core makers, spot welders, or airplane coverers.
W omen are proficient at inspecting cartridges and polishing small
parts fo r rifles, and in one plant they are reported as assembling,
shaping, sharpening, testing, and chrome plating bandage shears for
Government use.
In airplane assembly factories, according to an investigation made
by the W om en’s Bureau early in 1941, women constituted only a
small fraction o f 1 percent o f the productive labor force, and their
chief work was in sewing jobs; o f course, many do the usual types
o f clerical work in the offices o f these plants. In the assembly
factories, the labor force o f women was being considerably increased
as the year progressed. One o f the predominating jobs throughout
the assembly o f an airplane is riveting, along with its concomitant
processes o f drilling, countersinking, dimpling, and buckling. A fter
short periods o f training, women can do a large part, though not
all, o f this work. Much o f the bench work on the subassemblies as
well as the inspecting o f parts is being done by women in Europe,
and the skills required do not differ materially from those done by
women in many other industries in this country.
In plants making engines and parts for airplanes, the major job
for women is inspecting small parts, and this generally is more than
a simple visual task, since blueprints are used and all parts are in
spected to fine degrees o f tolerance. Some women are at work clean
ing metal parts by dipping them in vats containing a soda solution
to remove grease; others etch identification numbers on small parts
with an electric needle, in a few cases, using a pantograph, in others
operating a multiple electric needle— 15 needles with a foot control.
In other factories, women perform a variety o f bench-work opera
tions, preparing work fo r processes, cleaning, assembling with the
use o f hand tools, riveting and arbor presses, small sensitive drills, and
automatic screw drivers, hand filing, burring, soldering, electric spot
welding, and light grinding. Large proportions are inspecting and a
few acting as drafting assistants and production clerks. An official o f
one o f these plants that did not employ women felt that they might
be used successfully on many drilling, grinding, tapping, assembly,
and inspection operations.
1 See current issue o f the Woman W orker for later data on employment o f women in
war industries.
WORKING AGREEMENTS FOR SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY
149
C h ild C o n se rv a tio n and N a tion a l D efen se 1
A National Citizens’ Committee was established by the W hite
House Conference on Children in a Democracy to give national
leadership in making effective the recommendations o f the Confer
ence. This Committee is o f the opinion that the Conference pro
gram will promote national unity, and will fortify the democratic
institutions o f the United States. It declared that child welfare and
national security are inseparable,2 and that—
The defense of democracy calls for the appreciation of the dignity and worth
of the individual, and concern for the young, the helpless, the needy, and the
aged. Support of public, and private services for children should be sustained
as an essential part of a national-defense program.
National effectiveness requires further development of cooperation and selfdiscipline among our citizens. To destroy our liberties in an effort to protect
them would be a tragic blunder. Denial of civil liberties, resort to mob action
and other extralegal procedures, and throttling of free discussion of public issues
will not advance the cause of democracy at home or abroad.
To be strong, a people must be well nourished. Proper food for mothers and
children depends upon factors such as agricultural production and distribution,
maintenance of family income, and education in nutrition.
Health service and medical care for all, particularly for mothers, children, and
youth, should be maintained and extended.
Educational opportunity adapted to present-day needs should be made avail
able to all children, to youth until they secure employment, and to adults as
required for vocational efficiency and for citizenship.
Standards now provided under Federal and State child-labor laws should be
preserved, and similar safeguards should be extended to children needing but
not now receiving such protection. The national strength does not need the
labor o f children.
W ork opportunities should be made available for all youth who have completed
their schooling, with necessary safeguards for their health, education, and welfare.
The gains under Federal and State legislation for the conservation of home life
for children in need should be maintained and developed, with more active State
and local participation.
W e must consider ways in which we may help to safeguard the children o f other
lands from such misfortunes as hunger and homelessness. W e cannot consider
the needs o f the children o f this Nation and ignore the hardships visited upon
children elsewhere.
The social gains o f the past decade should be maintained in the present critical
period. Standards of fam ily living should have an important place in the pro
gram o f the Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense. The Ad
visory Commission should consider ways in which health, educational opportunity,
and the social well-being of fam ilies and their children may be conserved and
advanced as essential elements in a national-defense program.
<########
Working Agreements for Shipbuilding Industry3
Nation-wide stabilization of the shipbuilding industry for the dura
tion of the emergency was established in 1941 under agreements rati
fied by shipbuilding firms and unions on the Atlantic and Pacific
Coasts and in the Great Lakes and Gulf Coast regions.
Each agreement is for 2 years and was approved by the Office o f
Production Management, the United States Navy, and the Maritime
1From the M onthly Labor Review for September 1940.
2U. S. Children’s Bureau. The Follow-up Program o f the W hite House Conference
Children in a Democracy.
(Supplement to The Child, Washington, July 1940.)
3Abstract of articles in Monthly Labor Review for May and October 1941.
328112— 42— v o l . i------ 11
on
150
DEFENSE LABOR ACTIVITIES
Commission, A t the end o f 1 year wage rates are subject to adjust
ment on the basis o f changes in the cost o f living. Machinery is pro
vided to settle grievances, and strikes and lock-outs are banned. Lim i
tation on production is forbidden.
The principal features o f the agreement for the W est Coast are:
(1) A basic hourly wage rate o f $1.12 for skilled mechanics; (2) an
8-hour day and 40-hour week (M onday to Friday unless local condi
tions require other arrangement) with time and one-half pay for
work on Saturdays (since intent is 6 days o f operation per week) and
double pay for overtime on Sundays and holidays; (3) shift work on
a specified schedule; (4) prohibition o f strikes and lock-outs; (5)
provision against limitation o f production; (6) machinery for settling
disputes; (7) continuation o f the agreement for the duration o f the
national emergency or 2 years, whichever is longer, with provision
for review and adjustment o f wage scales; and (8) apprentice training.
The agreement for the Atlantic Coast shipbuilding industry speci
fies a basic hourly wage rate o f $1.12 for first-class skilled mechanics,
with corresponding percentage changes for other employees. Pay for
overtime in excess o f the standard 40-hour week is at time and onehalf, with double time for work performed on Sundays and holidays.
F or Great Lakes shipyards a basic hourly wage o f $1.12 is fixed for
the standard first-class mechanics, with corresponding percentage in
creases for all other hourly paid employees. Shift work is permitted
with a 40-cent differential for second- and third-shift workers for each
full-shift period.
Time and a half is authorized for work in excess o f 8 hours in
1 day or 40 hours in 1 week, and for all Saturday work, with double
time for Sundays and holidays.
Restrictions are imposed on the use o f “ premium men.” Premiums
being paid for special skills above basic mechanic’s wage will be
maintained, but neither the number o f premium men nor the amount
o f the premium may be increased without official Navy and/or Mari
time Commission approval.
In G ulf Coast shipyards, the basic wage is $1.07 an hour for stand
ard skilled mechanics, with “ equitable raises” for other employees,
a 40-cent additional payment for second and third shifts, time and
one-half for overtime, with double time on Sundays and holidays, and
double time for all ship repair except large Government conversion
jobs.
*##++###4
Characteristics of Shipbuilding Labor 1
A study o f new accessions in shipbuilding labor was made by the
Bureau o f Labor Statistics in five private shipyards and one United
States Navy Y ard during the last 3 months o f 1940 and January 1941.
These yards were all on the Atlantic coast, from Massachusetts to V ir
ginia. The purpose o f these visits was to obtain inform ation pertain
ing to the characteristics o f workers hired in skilled occupations since
1A bstract o f an article prepared by O. R. Mann, Defense Labor Requirements Unit,
Bureau o f Labor Statistics, in the M onthly Labor Review fo r May 1941.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SHIPBUILDING LABOR
151
June 1, 1940, when the tremendous expansion in the shipbuilding in
dustry started. Included in the study were 2,546 workers, or about 85
percent of the skilled accessions in these yards during the period
covered.
The employees covered included those hired as shipfitters, machin
ists, electricians, sheet-metal workers, and welders. Information re
quested included occupation, date hired, age, marital status, number
o f dependents, former industry, and former employer. These data
were obtained by the Bureau’s representatives from the individual
applications or from questionnaires filled in directly by the workers.
Former Industrial Affiliation 2
During the months of June to October, inclusive, manufacturing
industries as a whole contributed more skilled workers to the ship
building industry than any other single group (table 1). Vital defense
industries were not drawn on heavily except in October when 18.8
percent of all skilled accessions came from the machine-tool industry
and other shipbuilding, both private and Government, with an addi
tional 3.1 percent coming from the aircraft and aircraft-engine in
dustry. It should be kept in mind, however, that although the com
panies included under “ other manufacturing” are not devoting their
entire production to defense work, they do have large defense orders
and any large-scale drains on their skilled personnel might seriously
impair the defense program.
T able
1 . — In d u stria l sources o f skilled w orkers hired in selected A tla n tic coast
sh ip y a r d s , J u n e 1 9 4 0 to D ecem b er 1 9 4 0
Total
Industrial source
Manufacturing industries__________
Aircraft and aircraft engines____
Firearms, Government ______
Firearms, private _ ________ __
Machine tools
___________
Shipbuilding, Government_____
Shipbuilding, private__________
Other manufacturing__________
Nonmanufacturing industries______
Other Government (Federal, State,
and lo c a l)-.__________ ______ _
Self-employed_______ ____________
Work Projects Administration_____
Unemployed___________
_______
Not reported______________________
Total_______________________
Percent hired in each month
Num
ber
Per
cent
June
July
Au
gust
Sep
tem
ber
Octo
ber
No
vem
ber
641
20
15
2
51
38
88
427
509
36.6
1.1
.9
.1
2.9
2.2
5.0
24.4
29.0
41.0
.5
33.6
.4
1.6
36.7
.8
1.1
35.9
3.1
27.6
3.4
21.3
1.3
2.2
2.7
6.6
29.0
17.5
1.2
2.4
4.7
23.3
26.8
2.7
.6
4.2
27.3
30.6
40.9
.9
1.1
.2
3.5
2.3
5.6
27.3
26.8
.8
5.5
5.5
7.8
13.2
25.0
4.3
2.6
2.6
14.7
45.7
1.3
2.7
2.7
13.3
50.7
71
142
61
322
6
4.1
8.1
3.5
18.4
.3
4.9
6.0
4.4
26.2
7.5
8.7
3.2
20.2
3.2
5.7
4.0
19.6
.2
3.1
9.4
4.8
14.4
.6
4.7
10.9
.8
21.9
.8
3.4
12.9
2.7
4.0
10.4
20.0
1.3
1,752
100.0
100.0
100.0
10C.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
De
cem
ber
During November and December, the situation changed somewhat,
with nonmanufacturing industries becoming the largest contributors
of labor for shipbuilding. Some men were obtained from Work Proj2In presenting the former industrial affiliation (table 1 ), data pertaining to 2 com
panies were omitted because of lack of comparability. One company, for a number of
reasons, was forced to lay off numbers of skilled workers during October and November.
The second company was known to follow a policy of not hiring workers from other em
ployers without obtaining their permission. As a result, so large a number of its workers
reported that they were previously “ unemployed” that the figure was of doubtful accuracy.
15 2
DEFENSE LABOR ACTIVITIES
ects Administration during the first 5 months of the period covered*
but during the last 2 months none were obtained from that source.
It is interesting to note that a substantial percentage was recruited
from the ranks of the unemployed during each month of the period
covered. The percentages vary from month to month, without show
ing any definite trend, so it seems logical to assume that this source
o f skilled workers is not yet exhausted.
Geographical Source
Among 2,546 workers included in the study were representatives
o f 43 States, Venezuela, Honduras, and the Canal Zone. Over threefourths (76.8 percent) came from the six States in which the ship
yards studied were located, i. e., Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jer
sey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Massachusetts contrib
uted by far the most—nearly one-third (31.2 percent)—with Mary
land, Pennsylvania, and Virginia following in the order named.
There was no indication at the time of the study that the shipyards
were reaching farther afield for their skilled workers since the six
States mentioned above furnished 78.5 percent of all workers in June
and 77.0 percent in December, the last full month covered by the
report.
Age o f Shipyard Workers
A distribution of the 2,546 skilled workers by age group (table 2),
shows that more than one-fourth (28.3 percent) were under 30 years
o f age at the time hired. A t the other extreme, there were one-fourth
(24.7 percent) who were 45 years old and over. A total of 45.9
percent of all new workers were under 36 years.
T a b l e 2 . — A g e s o f shilled w orkers hired in selected A tla n tic coast s h ip y a r d s , J u n e
1 9 4 0 to J a n u a r y 1 9 4 1
Age group
Month in which hired
30 and
36 and
40 and
Under 30 under
36 under 40 under 45
years
years
years
years
45 years
and
over
Age not
reported
All
groups
June________________________
July________________________
August_____ _
- - -----------September__________________
October____ ____________ _
November................. ................
December_______ _ _______
January..___________ ____ __
29.8
27.2
25.0
33.7
31.7
22.7
23.2
28.1
12.1
18.7
16.5
16.7
20.8
22.2
20.0
17.5
11.3
11.3
12.0
10.9
13.1
9.2
14.2
14.0
18.2
16.4
17.3
14.8
11.8
17.3
13.5
12.3
26.0
24.4
27.4
23.1
18.6
24.9
27.2
28.1
2.6
2.0
1.8
.8
4.0
3.7
1.9
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Total. ................. .............
28.3
17.6
11.6
15.8
24.7
2.0
100.0
Em ploym ent Services
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics: 1941 edition.
153
Organisation of United States Employment Service
The State employment services were coordinated under a national
system by the Wagner-Peyser Act passed in 1933. Prior to that time
the Federal Employment Service had operated offices throughout the
country independently of the State employment services. States de
siring to receive benefits under the act were required to accept the
provisions of the national act and designate a State agency with the
necessary powers to enable it to fulfill the basic requirements of the
law and to meet the operating standards of the United States Employ
ment Service. A ll of the States and the Territories of Alaska and
Hawaii had become affiliated with the Federal service before the end
o f 1937. A special placement service for veterans under the United
States Employment Service was in operation in the 48 States and in
the District of Columbia by June 30,1935.
Under the Reorganization Act of April 3,1939, and the President’s
Reorganization Plan No. 1, the United States Employment Service
was transferred from the United States Department of Labor to the
Social Security Board. With the beginning of the fiscal year 1939-40,
Federal functions pertaining to the public employment services were
consolidated with the unemployment-compensation functions of the
Social Security Board. The combined functions of the United
States Employment Service and of the former Bureau of Unemploy
ment Compensation are now administered by the Bureau of Employ
ment Security. Under the present system the employment offices
maintained by the States with the aid of matching Federal funds
stand ready to serve, without charge, any worker or employer who con
sults them. At the end of June 1940 nearly 1,500 employment offices
were in operation in localities throughout the United States, and
itinerant service was provided at more than 3,000 additional points.
Operations of United States Employment Service
During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1940, the employment offices
received 16,200,000 applications for jobs and made more than 3,500,000 complete placements o f which 3,000,000 were in private employ
ment and 541,000 in public employment, representing an increase of
34.6 percent in private placements and a decrease of 40.4 percent in
public placements as compared with the preceding fiscal year. In
addition, the employment offices made 1,100,000 supplementary place
making the contact between the employer and the worker who took
ments, that is, placements in which the local office was responsible for
the job but did not perform all the steps in the placement. Most of
these supplementary placements were for seasonal work in agriculture.
On June 30, 1940, the active files of local employment offices included
5,700,000 registrants, a decline of half a million from a year earlier.
155
156
EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
The following table gives a summary of the reports of State agen
cies showing complete and supplementary placements, total applica
tions, and the number o f persons on the active file, by months, from
July 1940 to December 1941.
P la cem en t activities o f p u b lic e m p lo ym en t offices, by'm on th s, J u l y 1 9 4 0 toD ecem b er 1 9 4 t
Complete placements
Private
Month and year
Total
Regular
Tempo
rary
308,114
330,708
352,578
407,484
364,798
377,697
129,035
147,288
162,396
171, 702
154,451
136,431
130,501
133,011
142,849
167,641
140,326
161, 292
363,162
344,576
376.302
443,186
500,121
470,962
499,065
509,587
545,676
539,001
406, 789
430,822
243,398
238,379
245,032
266, 747
295,147
289, 565
323,028
334, 315
348, 281
341,757
248, 695
257,418
119, 764
106,197
131,270
176, 439
204,974
181, 397
176,037
175,272
197,395
197,244
158,094
173,404
Public
Supple
mental
place
ments
Total
applica
tions
Active
file
120,065
167,102
275,342
365,679
158,394
89,165
1,400,951
1,273,803
1,206,808
1,391,243
1,333,591
1,494,985
5,564.630
5,211,688
4,913,505
4,620,862
4, 568,415
4,759,836
92,523
67,132
53,124
45,817
121,815
153, 322
131,022
161, 727
562,020
395, 570
176,058
62, 553 ‘
1,826,414
1,371,429
1,627, 551
1,825,010
1, 538,974
1 623,180
1, 597,299
1,445,836
1, 396, 285
1, 487, 603
1,327,116
1, 616,947.
5,093,050“
5,095,429
5,166,491
5,096,841
5,154, 392
5,125, 871
4, 982,430
4. 699,020
4, 355,860
4, 241,918
4,324, 521
4,413. 22a
1940
July____________
August_________
September______
October________
November...........
December______
1941
January.............
February_______
March_________
April___________
M a y ............. ......
June___________
July_______ ____
August................
September______
October...............
November..........
December______
48, 578
50,409
47,333
68,141
70,021
79,974
National Employment Clearance System 1
The United States Employment Service of the Social Security
Board put into operation on October 28, 1940, a national system for
clearance of employers’ labor needs and interstate transfer of workers
in some 500 occupations which are essential to defense industries.*
This system supplements the existing interstate clearance machinery
maintained cooperatively by the various State employment services.
The national labor-clearance machinery is designed to minimize
unplanned and unnecessary movement of workers from one area to
another, following rumors of jobs. It will also serve to speed up the
interstate transfer of workers to vital defense jobs, where it is re
quired, without depleting any locality of workers who will be needed
there in the near future.
Employers’ orders for defense workers which cannot be filled
by the local employment offices within any given State are referred
by the State agencies to one of a network o f 13 regional clearance
offices covering the entire country. Provision is also made for inter
regional and Nation-wide clearance of workers, when necessary, with
the United States Employment Service at Washington as the focal
point.
The regional clearance offices do not themselves accept applications
from job seekers nor carry out placements. These activities will be
1 From the Monthly Labor Review, December 1940.
2 Federal Security Agency. Social Security Board.
28, 1940.
Press release, Washington, October
JUNIOR-PLACEMENT SERVICES
157
carried on as usual by the local State-operated employment offices.
The State services will continue to handle interstate clearance of non
defense workers, although they may use the new national machinery
for this purpose if they wish. The chief function of the regional
clearance offices is to route orders for defense workers which cannot be
filled within a State to the localities where such labor may be available.
Special emphasis has been placed on filling jobs with available
labor from the local community wherever possible. T o this end the
policy of the National Defense Advisory Commission, in connection
with the award of contracts for production of defense material, is to
urge employers not to recruit labor outside their locality until the local
State employment office has had an opportunity to meet their require
ments within the community or through clearance with other employ
ment offices.
Each of the regional clearance offices will have at its disposal infor
mation regarding the number and type of key workers in each area who
are registered with State employment services as available for employ
ment in defense industries. In addition, the United States Employ
ment Service will have advance information as to potential labor short
ages in any area or occupation through reports on the kind of jobs
which State agencies have had difficulty in filling locally. The Bureau
will, therefore, be in a position to speed up the recruiting of defense
workers and at the same time to make certain that workers who are,
or will soon be, needed locally for defense work in a given area, are
not transferred outside of the locality.
The 13 regional clearance offices established by the United States
Employment Service are situated in Boston, New York City, Phil
adelphia, District of Columbia, Cleveland, Chicago, Birmingham,
Minneapolis, Kansas City, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Austin
(T ex.).
W W W
Junior-Placement Services
In 1937 and 1938, the Children’s Bureau made a study of juniorplacement services in the United States, for the purpose of determin
ing the extent to which special services of this type had been organ
ized throughout the country and also of reporting on the techniques
developed by placement workers to meet the needs of junior appli
cants.1
Junior-placement programs sufficiently specialized to require the
full-time services of at least one junior-placement worker were operat
ing in only 66 communities in 1936, according to the results of a
questionnaire distributed by the Children’s Bureau to employment
offices and school systems throughout the country.2 Two-thirds of
these communities were cities with a population of 100,000 or over,
but even so, young job seekers were offered special placement assistance
in less than half of the 93 cities of this size in the country. In smaller
communities junior-placement services were much more infrequent.
1U. S. Children’s Bureau Pub. No. 2 5 6 ; Junior Placement. Washington, 1940.
2 A fter 1936, public employment offices throughout the country considerably expanded
their special programs for junior applicants, with the assistance of the National Youth
Administration. A survey made by the Employment Service Division of the Bureau of
Employment Security showed that on October 1, 1939, there were 177 cities with public
employment services having on their staffs full-time junior-placement counselors.
158
EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
To study the problems met by junior counselors and the methods
and procedures found effective in serving young applicants, visits were
made to junior-placement services in 12 cities.3 The following sum
mary reviews very briefly the findings of these visits.
The most characteristic feature of junior-placement procedure was
found to be the interview between applicant and counselor in which
the applicant’s job interests and qualifications are discussed and evalu
ated. This interview and subsequent ones not only provide informa
tion needed for purposes of registration but also are the means of coun
seling the young person, who requires help in understanding his own
interests and abilities, information on occupations likely to be available
in the community, and assistance in making vocational plans.
The information obtained through interviews was often supple
mented by the use of tests and other records indicative of the appli
cant’s abilities and background. Several of the junior offices visited
had available testing services under the supervision of a trained
psychologist and were therefore able to use tests to measure aptitudes
and abilities; other offices confined their programs to tests for profi
ciency in typing and stenography. Among the types of records con
sulted were proof of age, school record, employer’s reference, and
health record.
In most of the offices visited, junior-placement counselors not only
handled the registration and counseling of young applicants but also
their referral to employers. However, a few of the junior services
operating as units in public employment centers specialized in registra
tion and counseling, placement of the junior applicants being made by
the units handling adult placements.
In order to find job opportunities for the young registrants, the jun
ior offices found it necessary to determine which employers in the com
munity had job opportunities for inexperienced young persons and
to interest these employers in utilizing young workers. Most junior
counselors therefore spent a definite amount of time at regular intervals
in visiting factories and other places of business.
The selection of a worker for referral to an employer, in response to
an order, calls for careful judgment by the counselor o f the kind of
worker needed and of the applicant’s qualifications for and probable
interest in the job. When making a referral, the junior-placement
counselors in the offices visited did more to prepare the selected appli
cant for his interview with the employer than is usually done by
placement offices serving adults. The counselors customarily discussed
with each candidate the kind of work offered and the types of questions
the employer was likely to ask and gave him advice on how to dress for
and conduct himself in a business interview.
Since the assistance given to young applicants by a well-functioning
junior office should not cease with placement, many of the offices re
mained open outside of usual working hours so that young workers
who had been placed on jobs could conveniently call for follow-up con
sultation. Consultations with the employer as to his satisfaction with
the placement was also part o f the follow-up procedure but was sec
ondary in importance to follow-up through the applicant.
3 Visits were made as follo w s: Fall and winter of 1937, Atlantic City (N. J .), Concord
(N. H .), District of Columbia, Durham (N. C .), Essex County (N. J .), New York City,
Rochester (N. Y .) , Rockland County, N. Y .) ; winter and early spring of 1938, Cedar
Rapids (Iow a), Cincinnati (O hio), Detroit (M ich.), Philadelphia (P a .).
TOLEDO PLAN FOR PLACING VETERANS
159
The junior-placement offices frequently considered it part of their
function to assist other youth-serving agencies. Thus, some offices did
considerable work ki helping the schools to set up vocational-guidance
or vocational-training programs, and many kept in close touch with
the agencies enforcing the labor laws and with officials issuing employ
ment certificates. It was the policy of most of the offices visited to re
frain from placing young applicants on jobs offering substandard
wages or working conditions, and some offices reported to the proper
authorities all conditions which appeared to be in violation of legal
labor standards.
The study clearly indicated that the key to the effectiveness of juniorplacement activities is the counselor himself. It is therefore o f vital
importance in the development of junior-placement services to maintain
personnel standards at a professional level with respect both to qualifi
cations and to salary levels. Furthermore, full realization of the
possibilities in junior-placement services depends upon provision of
a staff large enough to handle adequately the work pressing to be done.
Quality o f service is seriously sacrificed when efforts to give some
service to all comers result in insufficient time for counseling and for
contact with employers and community agencies.
Toledo Plan for Placing Veterans 1
For some time the Veterans5Placement Service of the United States
Bureau of Employment Security has stressed the need for wellplanned collective activities to bring about the placement of unem
ployed workers over 40 years of age, especially veterans. For several
years past, the national veterans’ organizations have also made the
placement of veterans and older workers an objective ranking next to
their first objective—rehabilitation.
In view of these facts, the staff of the employment security center
at Toledo instituted a campaign to arouse local interest in the unem
ployment problem of veterans and other older workers, and at the
same time to promote the use by employers of the public employ
ment service.2
An intensive reregistration of all veterans in both the active and
the inactive files was conducted. Veteran groups were counseled to
refer to the office of the Toledo employment security center competent
veterans who were looking for jobs but had never been registered with
the center.
After an inventory list had been completed, including the names
not only of unemployed veterans but also of other registered job
seekers over 40, it was made available in folder form and distributed
by job campaigners to employers for their consideration during the
year. This pamphlet was called Experience for Sale, and included
a part of a sales talk which was prepared in behalf of older workers.
A supplementary sales talk was also prepared, emphasizing outstand
ing points in the report of the Committee of Employment Problems
of Older Workers, appointed by the United States Secretary of Labor.
1From the Monthly Labor Review, November 1940.
2U. S. Bureau of Employment Security, Employment Security Review, September 1940.
160
EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
The employment office compiled a list of employers who, it was
thought after a study of their organization and products, would be
in a position to utilize middle-aged workers. The various groups of
veterans’ organizations were circularized, as were also other fraternal
and civic groups interested in jobless older workers, requesting an
opportunity to explain the employment scheme and secure their coop
eration.
Over 1,000 folders were given to veterans who were either employers
or employed, the latter group being instructed to hand the folders to
their immediate supervisors. A t the same period the regular bulletin
o f the Toledo employment center, mailed each month to employers,
emphasized reasons for taking on older workers. The center’s regular
radio broadcast, “ The Opportunity Program,” also featured middleaged workers.
Increase o f Placements Am ong Middle-Aged
As a result of this drive, the local permanent placements of veterans
and others in the 40-plus age group in 1940 were 11 percent above the
record for 1939. These represent merely the immediate job place
ments effected. Experience in service-employer relations has indi
cated that even more important results are shown after the close of a
campaign, and that the veteran and his organizations have a better
understanding of employment-service facilities in referring applicants
for special types of jobs.
The success of this drive had favorable effects in other com
munities in Ohio as well as in other States. A summary of the pro
gram was sent to all veterans’ placement representatives in the country,
suggesting that at least one city in each State try out the scheme
wherever possible. The scheme is especially adapted for use in in
creasing placements for the large numbers of registered Negro
workers. The Toledo center included the use o f the same folder
method in its reemployment activities for Negroes, and met with
considerable success.
Fees of Private Employment Agencies in California,
1940 1
Since 1923 every California fee-charging employment agency has
been obliged by law to file with the State division o f labor statistics
and law enforcement a schedule of fees to be charged. In 1939 over
$830,000 was paid to 204 private employment agencies in the State
by job seekers in order to secure temporary and permanent employ
ment in the teaching, nursing, commercial, domestic, hotel and res
taurant, and general industrial fields. This amount does not cover
the fees aggregating about $5,000,000 paid to theatrical and motionpicture employment offices or fees collected by agricultural contrac
tors supplying workers for farm operations.2
1 From the Monthly Labor Review for June 1941.
2 California. Department of Industrial Relations. Division of Labor Statistics and
Law Enforcement. Fees Charged by Private Employment Agencies in California, by
M. I. Gershenson, principal statistician. San Francisco, 1940.
PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES IN CALIFORNIA
161
California fee-charging employment agencies are also required by
law to be licensed by the State division o f labor statistics and law
enforcement and to be bonded by reliable bonding companies.
The premises on which the employment agency is located must be
approved by the State commissioner of labor and such agency may
not operate “ in connection with lodging houses, restaurants, or pool
rooms, or in connection with buildings or premises where intoxicating
liquors are sold or consumed.” The contract and receipt forms o f the
agencies must be approved by the labor commissioner, and the agencies
must also keep records of applicants and jobs obtained as provided by
the State labor code. Furthermore, a copy of the schedule of fees
which is filed with the labor commissioner must be certified by that
official and posted in a conspicuous place in each room frequented by
job applicants.
Although the schedule of fees must not be posted before it is certi
fied by the commissioner, the law does not provide for the regulation
o f the amount of the fees agencies propose to ask. However, no fees
exceeding those posted may be charged.
Permanent Placements
The following table shows the “most usual” fees charged by the
California private employment agencies in 1940. Percentages are
translated into dollars and cents. The “most usual” rate is the modal
rate, that is, the rate charged by the largest single number of agencies
in a given classification and in a given locality.
It is obvious from this table that for positions with the same salary,
teachers are charged the most substantial fees. For positions of $125
per month they are most likely to pay $150 in San Francisco, $75 in
Los Angeles, and from $41.67 to $105 in the remainder of the State.
M o s t u su a l fe e s charged f o r p erm a n en t placem ents at specified sa la riest b y field o f
em p lo ym en t and location o f agency) C a lifo rn ia , 1 9 4 0
Monthly salary of—
Field of employment
Location of agency
$50
$125
$200
$24. 00
$15. 00
2 12.50 \ 26. 67
2 16.67 /
12. 50
20.00
$37. 50
41. 67
41.67
$60. 00
100.00
80.00
5.00
5. 00
7.50
5.00
8.00
8.00
12.00
8.00
12. 50
12. 50
18. 75
12.50
20.00
20.00
30.00
20.00
San Francisco_____
Los Angeles______
Remainder of State-
15.00
12.50
5. 00
24.00
26.67
8.00
37. 50
41.67
12.50
60.00
100.00
20.00
San Francisco_____
Los Angeles______
Remainder of State.
60.00
30.00
(4)
96.00
48.00
0)
150.00
75. 00
(<)
240.00
San Francisco_____
Los Angeles 2_____
Remainder of State.
5.00
5.00
7.50
5.00
8.00
8.00
12.00
8.00
12. 50
12. 50
18.75
12.50
Commercial i.
San Francisco.........
Los Angeles........ .
Remainder of State.
Domestic, note 1ana restaurant.
San Francisco_____
Los Angeles 2_........
Remainder of State.
Nurses.
Teachers3.
Miscellaneous.
$80
120.00
(4)
20.00
20.00
30.00
20.00
1 In cases where the schedules quoted two or more rates depending upon the time of payment, the rate
charged for payment in 30 days was used.
2 Two rates tend to predominate.
3 The fees, quoted as a percentage of a yearly salary on the schedule, are converted to a percentage of 1
month’s salary for a 12-month year.
* There is no “ most usual fee;’’ each agency schedules a different rate.
162
EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
Tem porary Placements
In over four-fifths o f the 224 schedules analyzed which include a
separate rate for temporary placements, the fee fixed is 10 percent o f
the total earnings in the temporary employment. A few commercial
agencies ask higher rates and also some hotel and restaurant, domes
tic, and nurses’ agencies. However, the number of exceptions to the
10-percent fee is small.
Most o f the schedules stipulate that the rate for a temporary job
shall not exceed that for a permanent job paying the same salary.
Limitations of Fees of Private Employment Agencies
The United States Supreme Court in a unanimous decision upheld
a Nebraska law limiting the fees that may be charged by private
employment agencies. The Court by this action overruled a former
decision, rendered in 1928, which held that a State may not legally
exercise such power ( R i b n i k v. M c B r i d e , 277 U. S. 350).
In the Nebraska case the State secretary of labor had withheld a
license from a private employment agency which refused to limit the
fees as prescribed by statute. On the basis of the former decision,
the employment agency challenged the constitutionality of the law.
Mr. Justice Douglas in delivering the opinion of the Court pointed
out that the “ drift away” from the Ribnik case has been so great in
recent years “ that it can no longer be deemed a controlling authority.”
Again, the Court referred to a number of recent cases upholding
price-fixing schemes, and declared that “ they represent in large meas
ure a basic departure from the philosophy and approach of the
majority” in the case decided more than a decade ago.
Finally, the Supreme Court observed that the employment agency
could not base the invalidation of the Nebraska law on the “ notions
of public policy” contained in earlier decisions, for the reason that
“ since they do not find expression in the Constitution, we cannot give
them continuing vitality as standards by which the constitutionality
of the economic and social programs of the States is to be> deter
mined.” The Court, therefore, reversed the decision of the Nebraska
Supreme Court and held that the State law was not violative of the
fourteenth amendment to the Constitution.1
Olsen V. State of Nebraska
(61 Sup. Ct. 8 6 2 ).
Employment and P ay-R oll Trends
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook o f Labor Statistics: 1941 edition.
163
Available Statistics on Employment and Unemployment
Unem ploym ent
Beginning with A p ril 1940 monthly estimates o f unemployment have
been made by the W ork Projects Administration, together with
monthly estimates o f total employment and total labor force. These
estimates o f unemployment are the only ones compiled by a govern
mental agency.
(F o r details see article on W P A Estimates o f Em
ployment and Unemployment, p. 183.) Estimates o f unemployment
have been made for several years by various private organizations such
as the National Industrial Conference Board, the American Federation
o f Labor, and the Congress o f Industrial Organizations, all utilizing
the “ residual” method which involves the assumption o f a steadily
increasing and nonseasonal labor force.
Employment
W ithin the past several years, there has been a substantial im
provement in source material relative to the field o f employment
statistics. T o the various industrial and business censuses which
have always served as bench marks for series based on sampling
techniques have been added employers5 reports to the Social Se
curity Board under the unemployment-compensation and old-age in
surance systems. These data are not available currently each month
but they serve as valuable checks on current information published
by the Bureau o f Labor Statistics. In addition, employment data
reported to the Social Security Board represent an important source
o f inform ation concerning groups o f employees not surveyed by other
agencies, particularly those in certain transportation and service in
dustries. Recent census data relative to State and local govern
ment employment have also proven to be o f much value.
Each month statistics concerning the trend o f employment and
pay rolls fo r the United States are compiled by Federal agencies
for the follow ing groups o f employees:
1. Private em ploym ent:
(a) Total nonagricultural employment: Estimates are com
piled by the Bureau o f Labor Statistics covering nonagricultural
employment. In addition estimates are made for employees
in nonagricultural establishments (which excludes proprietors,
self-employed persons, casual workers, and domestics) in
manufacturing, mining and related industries, construction,
transportation and public utilities, trade and related establish
ments, civil employees o f Federal, State, and local government
establishments, employees in financial, service, and miscellaneous
establishments, and military and naval personnel in the United
States. Estimates are available by months from 1929. Esti
mates by States for employment in nonagricultural establish
ments are also available by months from July 1937.
3 2 8 1 1 2 — 4 2 — v o l . i--------12
165
166
EMPLOYMENT AND PAY-ROLL TRENDS
Total employment and total labor force: A s noted before,
monthly estimates o f total employment and total labor force, as
well as estimates o f unemployment, are made by the W ork P ro j
ects Administration.
(b) Manufacturing industries: Data are compiled by the Bu
reau o f Labor Statistics fo r 157 industries. Indexes for the
m ajority o f the industries commence with 1923, although indexes
fo r several industries, for groups, and for the total are avail
able back to 1919; for 67 industries, the indexes begin with
January 1939. Indexes o f factory employment in metropoli
tan areas begin with January 1937.
( c ) Mining, public utility, trade, and service industries: Data
are compiled by the Bureau o f Labor Statistics for 16 industrial
groups, i. e., anthracite mining, bituminous-coal mining, metal
liferous mining, quarrying and nonmetallic mining, crude-pe
troleum production, telephone and telegraph, electric light and
power (form erly electric light and power and manufactured
gas), street railways and buses (form erly electric-railroad and
motorbus operation, and maintenance), wholesale trade, retail
trade, hotels, laundries, dyeing and cleaning, brokerage, and in
surance. Indexes for these groups, where available, begin with
1929, except for laundries and dyeing and cleaning which begin
with 1931.
(d) Building construction: Data have been compiled by the
Bureau o f Labor Statistics since 1931.
(e) A griculture: Monthly and annual estimates o f employ
ment and annual estimates o f pay rolls ( “ the cost o f hired farm
labor” ) are made by the Agricultural Marketing Service o f the
United States Department o f Agriculture.
( / ) Steam railroads: Data on employment are compiled by the
Interstate Commerce Commission.
2. Public employment :
W ith the assistance o f the United States Civil Service Commis
sion the Bureau o f Labor Statistics compiles monthly reports giv
ing the number o f employees in the Federal Service. These
figures include persons in the executive, legislative, and judicial
departments, and in the military services o f the United States
Government. The executive service figures include all forceaccount and supervisory and technical personnel working directly
fo r the Federal Government in United States navy yards, in man
ufacturing arsenals, and on construction projects, as well as
civilian employment in various Federal agencies.
In addition to employment in the regular Federal services, the
Bureau receives separate reports on employment on construction
projects financed by regular Federal appropriations, by the Public
W orks Administration, and by the Reconstruction Finance Cor
poration ; and on housing projects o f the United States Housing
Authority.
Separate reports are also secured for persons em
ployed by public agencies operating primarily for the relief o f
unemployment. Monthly employment figures are also published
for the construction and maintenance o f roads which are financed
wholly from State and local funds.
TREND OF EMPLOYMENT IN PRIVATE INDUSTRY
167
Trend of Employment and Pay Rolls in Private
Industry
A s indicated before, the compilation pf current data on employment
and pay-roll trends in private industry is, with the exception o f
railroad and farm labor, chiefly a function o f the Bureau o f Labor
Statistics. In part, the necessary reports are secured direct from
the establishments concerned; in part, various State agencies co
operate with the Bureau in securing the data for the particular
States. * Such reports are secured by State departments o f labor or
similar agencies in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa,
Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
New Jersey,. New York, North Carolina, Ohio,, Oregon, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin, and by the Federal R e
serve Bank o f Philadelphia and the University o f Texas. Most o f
the above agencies cooperate with the United States Bureau o f
Labor Statistics in collecting employment and pay-roll data. The
exceptions are the State bureaus o f Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,
and Rhode Island. In addition to the agencies listed above, employ
ment and pay-roll rata are also collected each month by several trade
associations as well as by local chambers o f commerce.
Methods and coverage o f Bureau o f Labor Statistics reports.— It
is impracticable fo r the Bureau o f Labor Statistics to obtain reports
from all establishments in any given industry. The sampling tech
nique and the methods used in collecting and compiling these data
are therefore matters o f importance. A brief outline o f current pro
cedure follows.
Employment and pay-roll data are obtained from representative
establishments in all sections o f the country. Each month forms are
sent to reporting establishments relative to the pay-roll period ending
nearest the fifteenth day o f the month. The form asks for in for
mation concerning the firm’s principal products or the kind o f busi
ness in which it is engaged, the dates covered by the pay period re
ported, the total number o f persons who worked any part o f the pay
period, both full- and part-time, the amount o f pay roll, and the
total number o f man-hours worked by the employees reported. The
reporting establishment is also requested to state the reason for any
marked increase or decrease in total pay roll or number o f employees
and to supply information relative to any change in the rate o f
wages. I f the pay-roll total covers a period longer than one week,
an equivalent weekly pay roll is computed. I f necessary, forms are
returned to senders for correction or for additional data.
It has been the Bureau’s aim to obtain as complete a coverage as
possible by industry and by areas. The geographical distribution
o f the sample in the several industries is maintained by endeavoring
to secure a coverage o f at least 50 percent o f the employees in manu
facturing industries in each State,, as recorded by the Census of
Manufactures. A like coverage and distribution by States has also
been the aim in nonmanufacturing industries; this, however, has not
as yet been achieved in all industries owing to the difficulty encoun
tered in sampling the smaller lines, such as retail trade. Efforts have
168
EM PLOYMENT AND PAY-ROLL TRENDS
also been made to secure in each geographic division a sufficient num
ber o f both large and small establishments in order that samples may
be representative as to size. Moreover, where there are two or more
important branches in an industry, the ratio o f representation in
each branch is also maintained.
The employment and pay-roll indexes o f the current month fo r
each industry are constructed from relatives based on the percentage
changes and on the indexes o f the preceding month. F or the com
putation o f percentages o f change over the year interval, indexes o f
the current month and o f the same month in the preceding year
are used.
Index numbers o f employment and pay rolls are published fo r
each o f 90 manufacturing industries, for each o f the 14 m ajor
groups and 2 subgroups, fo r combinations o f these groups into dur
able and nondurable goods divisions, and for all manufacturing in
dustries combined. Recently the Bureau has constructed indexes o f
employment and pay rolls fo r 67 additional manufacturing industries
on the basis o f the 1939 average as 100. Indexes o f employment and
pay rolls fo r these industries do not appear in the accompanying
tables but are available in mimeographed form for 55 o f them.
A t present the indexes fo r the nonmanufacturing industries are
on the 1929 base. Those fo r the 90 manufacturing industries are on
the 1923-25 base. Coincident with the biennial adjustment o f the
90 manufacturing industries to the 1939 Census o f Manufactures, the
index base period w ill be shifted from 1923-25 to the 1935-39 period.
The 67 additional manufacturing industries will be incorporated into
the basic series when this adjustment is made. Indexes are also con
structed fo r each o f the nonmanufacturing groups surveyed with the
exception o f brokerage, insurance, and building construction.
Employment and Pay Rolls in Manufacturing Industries
The Bureau o f Labor Statistics survey o f factory employment and
pay rolls in December 1941 covered 34,147 establishments in the 157
manufacturing industries fo r which data are compiled. These estab
lishments employed in that month 7,818,618 wage earners, whose
combined weekly earnings totaled $261,759,040. The reporting estab
lishments employed slightly more than 70 percent o f all factory wage
earners.
The group and composite indexes are weighted by the relative im
portance o f the component industries and industry groups as shown
oy the Census o f Manufactures. The indexes are subject to some
statistical bias over an extended period o f time, because sampling
technique does not entirely allow for new establishments coming
into the industries or fo r unusual changes in the firms not covered
in the survey. T o eliminate this bias the indexes are adjusted to
conform to the trends and levels shown in the Census o f Manufac
tures biennial reports o f wage earners and wages, which represent
approximately complete coverage.
Table 1 shows general indexes o f factory employment and pay
rolls by years from 1919 to 1940, and by months from January 1919
to December 1941, and indexes o f employment and pay rolls in the dur
able and nondurable goods groups by years from 1923 to 1940, and
169
TREND OF EM PLOYM ENT IN PRIVATE INDUSTRY
by months from January 1923 to December 1941. These indexes have
been adjusted to Census o f Manufactures biennial reports through
1939. The adjustment to the 1939 census was made on preliminary
figures and, therefore, indexes from 1937 to date are subject to fu r
ther revision when the final census figures for 1939 become available.
T
able
1. — Indexes of employment and pay rolls in manufacturing industries , by
months 1
ALL MANUFACTURING—JANUARY 1919 TO DECEMBER 1941
[1923-25=100]
Year
Jan
uary
Feb-.
April
ruary March
M ay
June
July
Au
gust
Sep
tem
ber
Octo
ber
N o
vem
ber
D e
cem
ber
A ver
age
Indexes of employment
1919.._ 104.5
1920... 114.3
1921...
79.5
1922... 82.4
1923... 100.2
1924._. 100.1
101.2
113.3
81.7
84.5
102.4
101.7
101.7
115.6
82.9
85.8
104.6
101.9
101.9
114.0
82.3
85.7
105.1
100.1
102.6
111.1
82.0
87.9
105.2
96.8
103.9
110.1
81.2
89.6
105.7
93.8
106.6
107.5
79.7
90.5
104.6
90.6
109.3
107.4
81.1
93.1
104.8
92.0
111.3
106.1
83 0
95.1
105.3
94.2
110.9
102.1
83.7
96.6
104.0
95.0
112.1
95.6
83.7
98.0
102.8
94.5
113.9
88.0
82.7
99.1
101.1
96.1
106.7
107.1
82.0
90.7
103.8
96.4
1925.._ 96.6
1926. - 101.0
1927. 98.6
1928.__ 95.3
1929— 101.7
98.2
1930—
98.3
102.0
100.2
97.2
104.1
98.3
99.2
102.5
100.9
98.2
105.4
97.9
99.1
101.8
100.3
97.8
106.7
97.3
98.6
100.8
99.6
97.8
106.5
95.6
98.4
100.8
99.7
98.5
106.8
93.6
98.3
99.7
98.6
98.4
107.3
90.4
100.0
101.8
99.9
101.1
109.2
89.7
101.9
104.0
101.2
103.3
110.3
90.7
102.6
103.6
100.2
103.5
109.0
88.7
102.2
101.6
98.0
102.6
104.6
85.4
101.8
100.3
96.5
102.1
100.7
82.9
99.8
101.7
99.5
99.7
106.0
92.4
1931...
1932...
1933...
1934...
1935...
1936—
80.1
70.0
63.3
78.8
86.7
92.3
80.8
71.2
64.7
83.7
89.6
92.7
81.2
70.1
62.3
87.2
91.0
93.9
81.2
67.8
63.9
88.8
91.2
95.5
80.6
65.2
66.8
89.0
89.9
96.4
78.8
63.2
71.6
87.8
88.3
97.0
77.7
61.0
76.2
86.3
88.7
98.4
77.9
62.7
81.3
87.4
91.7
101.2
78.3
66.1
85.0
83.5
93.9
103.8
75.5
67.2
84.6
85.9
95.2
104.9
72.7
66.3
81.2
84.3
94.6
104.9
72.0
65.1
79.5
85.6
94.2
106.4
78.1
66.3
73.4
85.7
91.3
99.0
1937...
1938—
1939—
1940—
1941—
104.7
91.0
94.5
105.0
115.5
107.6
91.6
96.1
105.0
117.8
110.1
91.2
97.0
104.4
119.9
111.3
89.3
96.9
103.2
122.6
111.5
87.0
95.9
102.5
124.9
110.3
85.4
96.4
103.1
127.9
110.8
85.9
96.6
103.2
130.6
112.2
90.2
99.5
107.4
133.1
112.2
* 93. 6
103.7
111.4
135.2
110.3
94.2
107.3
113.8
135.4
104.2
95.3
107.5
114.7
134.8
97.7
96.2
107.8
116.2
134.3
108.6
90.9
99.9
107.5
127.7
Indexes of pay rolls
1919...
1920—
1921...
1922—
1923...
1924...
93.8
119.1
80.6
69.6
93.9
98.9
89.3
117.4
80.1
72.5
97.8
104.5
90.0
125.4
81.0
74.4
102.6
104.5
89.2
122.3
78.8
73.6
103.8
102.0
90.1
123.0
77.4
77.0
107.3
97.6
92.7
124.4
75.6
80.0
107.2
91.9
95.6
120.0
71.6
80.2
102.9
85.3
101.7
120.6
73.6
84.1
103.1
89.1
106.3
118.9
73.3
87.0
103.8
92.4
103.6
114.4
71.9
88.7
105.9
94.6
107.8
105.0
70.9
92.2
103.9
93.1
115.4
95.5
72.7
94.5
102.7
97.6
98.0
117.2
75.6
81.2
102.9
96.0
1925... 96.0
1926.._ 101.6
1927... 98.6
1928—
96.6
1929... 103.8
1930—
96.5
101.0
105.7
104.8
102.0
110.8
99.6
102.8
107.2
106.6
103.5
113.0
99.7
100.4
104.9
105.0
101.3
114.1
98.5
101.4
103.5
104.8
102.3
114.3
96.1
99.2
103.7
103.2
102.7
112.7
92.9
97.5
99.4
99.1
100.2
108.6
85.0
100.1
103.8
102.5
104.6
113.5
83.8
99.4
105.1
102.1
106.2
114.4
84.8
105.3
108.0
102.7
109.5
113.7
82.9
105.1
104.3
98.9
106.2
104.9
77.3
105.5
103.6
100.0
106.9
101.2
75.4
101.1
104.2
102.4
103.5
110.4
89.4
66.4
41.4
58.6
65.1
74.0
87.3
63.8
44.0
61.3
60.8
76.8
87.2
61.8
45.8
61.1
64.0
79.5
92.9
58.3
43.6
57.3
62.5
78.6
94.4
57.8
42.4
56.5
66.2
80.5
99.2
67.8
46.7
50.1
64.5
74.1
85.8
108.7 104.9
77.9
82.3
91.2
95.4
105.5 111.6
158.1 162.16
104.9
85.0
103.2
116.2
167.0
93.3
85.3
103.2
116.4
165.4
84.6
88.1
105.4
122.4
170.2
102.5
78.5
92.2
105.4
148.8
1931...
1932—
1933—
1934—
1935—
1936—
70.3
54.0
40.3
56.1
67.5
76.9
74.4
55.4
41.4
62.9
72.6
76.6
75.9
53.6
38.3
67.2
74.4
80.5
74.7
49.6
40.4
69.6
74.6
82.6
73.6
46.8
44.4
69.7
71.8
84.0
69.9
43.7
49.1
67.4
69.8
84.2
66.6
40.4
52.7
62.8
69.1
83.5
1937...
1938...
1939—
1940...
1941...
94.6
75.4
84.7
99.8
120.7
100.1
77.7
87.1
99.3
126.8
105.9
77.8
88.8
99.8
131.2
109.7
75.2
86.8
97.9
134.7
110.1
73.6
86.3
97.8
144.1
107.6
71.6
87.9
99.5
152.2
105.2
71.7
85.8
98.2
152.7
1 Revised series, adjusted to preliminary 1939 census figures.
170
EMPLOYMENT AND PAY-ROLL TRENDS
T able 1 . — Indexes of em ploym ent and pay rolls in manufacturing industries , b y
months — Continued
DURABLE-GOODS MANUFACTURE—JANUARY 1933 TO DECEMBER 1941
Jan
uary
Year
Feb March April
ruary
M ay
June
July
Au
gust
Sep
tem
ber
Octo
ber
N o
vem
ber
D e
cem
ber
A ver
age
Indexes of em ployment
1923__
1924...
1925...
1926...
1927...
1928...
97.7
100.6
95.3
101.3
96.0
90.3
101.0
102.6
97.3
102.9
97.9
92.8
103.6
103.8
98.7
103.9
99.1
94.9
105.6
103.4
99.9
104.3
99.3
96.1
106.6
99.3
100.1
103.7
99.2
97.7
107.4
94.8
99.2
103.2
98.2
98.2
106.1
90.7
97.9
101.8
95.8
97.4
105.8
90.6
98.7
103.0
96.4
99.9
105.4
91.4
100.1
103.5
95.9
101.3
104.6
92.8
102.0
103.0
95.2
101.6
103.7
92.5
102.3
100.8
92.9
101.0
101.6
94.3
102.2
98.6
91.5
100.6
104.1
96.4
99.5102.5
96.5
97.7
1929...
1930—
1931...
1932...
1933...
1934...
101.0
94.8
72.3
58.1
47.7
65.1
103.9
95.3
72.4
58.8
48.6
69.4
105.9
95.1
72.5
57.5
46.8
73.5
108.0
94.9
72.6
55.5
47.9
76.6
109.3
93.8
71.9
54.0
50.9
78.3
109.3
90.8
69.8
52.5
55.3
77.6
109.2
86.3
67.1
50.1
59.8
75.1
110.3
83.7
65.8
48.9
65.0
72.9
109.8
82.3
65.0
49.2
68.3
70.7
107.7
80.9
62.2
49.6
68.0
69.3
102.5
78.1
60.6
50.0
66.1
68.8
97.6
75.7
60.2
49.6
65.8
71.2
106.2
87.6
67.7
52.8
57.5
72.4
1935...
1936...
1937...
1938...
1939...
1940._.
1941...
73.5
83.2
97.9
82.5
84.1
100.1
118.3
77.3
83.0
101.2
81.1
85.3
99.2
121.0
79.3
84.7
104.9
80.4
86.2
99.1
123.7
80.2
87.5
107.4
78.3
87.0
98.7
127.7
79.7
89.6
109.1
76.4
86.3
99.2
131.3
77.4
90.5
107.8
73.9
87.1
99.8
135.1
77.3
91.0
108.2
71.9
85.5
98.4
137.6
79.1
91.3
107.5
73.5
86.5
102.4
138.7
79.9
92.5
106.8
77.2
92.4
108.2
142.1
83.8
96.3
107.2
81.1
98.8
112.8
144.0
85.1
98.3
101.4
84.4
100.9
115.5
144.6
84.7
100.4
92.4
85.5
102.8
117.7
144.3
79.8
90.7
104.3
78.9
90.2
104.3
134. O'
Indexes of pay rolls
1923—
1924—
1925...
1926...
1927—
1928...
89.3
98.3
92.7
99.9
93.6
90.1
94.9
106.6
99.9
106.4
101.8
98.0
100.7
107.8
102.2
108.6
104.8
101.0
104.0
106.7
101.6
107.8
104.6
101.4
109.0
100.9
103.3
106.5
104.7
103.9
109.2
92.7
100.2
106.1
101.2
103.0
103.5
83.6
96.3
100.2
94.8
99.0
105.0
86.9
98.5
104.7
98.5
104.5
104.5
88.7
98.1
104.6
96.1
104.8
107.9
92.0
105.8
108.2
97.7
109.4
106.7
90.8
106.1
103.9
93.7
106.1
103.8
95.4
106.6
101.1
94.7
105.8
103.2
95.9
100.9
104.8
98.9
102. 3
1929._.
1930...
1931...
1932...
1933...
1934...
102.2
91.0
59.1
40.7
27.5
43.1
111.5
96.1
63.7
41.8
27.8
49.6
114.6
96.8
65.2
39.5
25.8
54.8
117.5 118.7
97.0
94.8
64.6* 63.7
36.9
35.8
27.5
32.0
59.6
60.9
115.8
90.3
58.7
32.6
36.4
59.2
109.8
79.1
53.6
29.4
39.6
51.3
115.4
76.0
52.2
27.9
45.2
51.7
114.6
75.4
48.8
27.9
46.0
47.1
113.4
74.4
47.7
29.8
46.3
48.2
102.9
68.6
45.3
29.5
43.6
48.1
97.4
66.1
44.9
29.0
43.8
52.7
111. 2
83.8
55.5
33.4
36.8
52.2
1935...
1936...
1937._.
1938...
1939...
1940...
1941...
55.1
69.1
90.3
66.6
76.7
99.3
132.0
61.6
68.1
96.8
66.7
78.4
97.8
139.3
63.6
73.2
104.9
67.0
80.2
98.7
144.6
64.9
78.2
112.0
65.2
80.3
98.4
149.9
60.0
81.6
109.9
61.4
81.7
101.4
173.9
58.2
78.7
106.1
58.5
77.0
97.4
172.2
62.5
79.8
109.2
63.5
82.5
106.5
177.6
64.6
80.1
104.7
68.6
88.8
115.1
183.3
70.4
88.6
107.0
75.1
100.7
123.4
191.4
71.9
92.4
93.8
78.2
102.1
125.1
190.3
73.5
97.3
80.2
80.2
105.8
131.7
195.9
64.1
80.7
102.4
67.9
86.2
107.8
167. 8
62.6
81.0
113.3
63.9
79.7
98.7
163.1
NONDURABLE-GOODS MANUFACTURE—JANUARY 1933 TO DECEMBER 1941
Indexes of employment
1923—
1924—
1925...
1926—
1927...
1928—
102.6
99.6
97.8
100.7
101.1
100.1
103.9
100.9
99.3
101.1
102.3
101.3
105.6
100.2
99.7
101.2
102.6
101.3
104.6
97.1
98.4
99.4
101.2
99.4
104.0
94.5
97.1
98.0
100.0
98.0
104.1
92.8
97.7
98.5
101.1
98.7
103.2
90.6
98.7
97.7
101.2
99.4
103.8
93.2
101.3
100.7
103.3
102.2
105.2
96.9
103.7
104.4
106.2
105.1
103.3
97.0
103.2
104.2
104.9
105.4
101.8
96.4
102.2
102.4
102.8
104.1
100.7
97.7
101.4
101.9
101.3
103.6
103.6
96.4
100.0
100.9
102.3
101.6
1929—
1930...
1931—
1932—
1933...
1934...
102.3
101.4
87.5
81.4
78.1
91.8
104.3
101.2
88.7
83.0
80.1
97.2
105.0
100.5
89.5
82.1
77.0
100.2
105.4
99.6
89.4
79.5
79.1
100.4
103.9
97.4
88.9
75.9
82.0
99.3
104.4
96.3
87.4
73.4
87.1
97.6
105.6
94.3
87.8
71.5
91.8
97.0
108.2
95.3
89.5
75.9
97.0
101.2
110.8
98.6
90.9
82.2
100.8
95.8
110.2
96.2
88.1
83.9
100.3
101.8
106.6
92.3
84.3
81.8
95.6
99.0
103.6
89.9
83.2
79.8
92.5
99.4
105.9
96.9
87.9
79.2
88.5
98.4
1935—
1936—
1937...
1938.._
1939.__
1940—
1941...
99.3
101.0
111.2
99.1
104.4
109.7
112.7
101.3
102.0
113.7
101.6
106.4
110.5
114.7
102.2
102.7
115.1
101.5
107.3
109.5
116.3
101.7
103.0
115.0
99.8
106.3
107.5
117.8
99.6
102.8
113.8
97.1
105.0
105.6
118.8
98.6
103.1
112.7
96.4
105.3
106.2
121.1
99.6
105.4
113.3
99.2
107.2
107.8
123.9
103.7
110.7
116.7
106.1
111.9
112.2
127.7
107.2
114.5
117.3
109.2
114.5
114.4
128.7
106.1
113.1
113.3
106.7
115.4
114.8
127.3
103.7
111.3
106.9
105.7
113.8
113.8
125.4
103.2
112.2
102.8
106.4
112.6
114.8
124.7
102.2
106.8
112.7
102.4
109.2
110.6
121.6
171
TREND OP EM PLOYMENT IN PRIVATE INDUSTRY
T
able
1. — Indexes o f employment and pay rolls in manufacturing industries, by
months— Continued
NONDURABLE-GOODS MANUFACTURE—JANUARY 1933 TO DECEMBER 1941—Contd.
Year
Jan
uary
Feb March April
ruary
M ay
June
Au
gust
July
Sep
tem
ber
Octo
ber
N o
vem
ber
D e
cem
ber
A ver
age
103.0
96.6
101.0
105.6
108.8
107.7
114.2
95.3
80.6
62.1
78.4
76.2
90.4
95.1
105.1
97.6
102.8
107.7
139.5
103.6
97.4
104.9
107.9
108.3
109.7
100.7
95.6
103.9
104.9
104.7
106.2
102.5
96.1
101.4
103.6
106.3
104.9
114.0
92.5
77.7
63.8
77.7
81.6
89.6
97.8
102.5
96.1
106.0
108.1
139.6
107.1
87.0
72.9
59.4
72.5
78.5
86.2
96.6
92.6
93.2
104.4
106.6
137.4
101.4
100.1
104.4
106.3
106.0
108.2
105.4
85.8
72.3
57.4
70.8
81.4
88.4
101.3
89.4
96.9
105.0
112.1
141.3
Indexes of pay rolls
1923-_
1924.__
1925...
1926—
1927—
1928—
1929—
1930—
1931—
1932—
1933—
1934—
1935—
1936—
1937—
1938__.
1939—
1940—
1941—
99,0
99.6
99.7
103.5
104.3
103.8
105.6
102.6
82.8
68.9
54.6
70.7
81.3
85.7
99.4
85.2
93.7
100.4
108.1
101.1
102.2
102.2
105.0
108.2
106.4
110.0
103.5
86.5
70.6
56.6
77.8
85.0
86.1
103.9
90.0
96.8
101.0
112.9
104.7
100.8
103.4
105.6
108.5
106.3
111.2
103.0
87.9
69.3
52.4
81.2
86.4
88.8
107.0
89.9
98.4
101.0
116.3
103.6
96.8
99.1
101.6
105.5
101.2
110.3
100.3
86.0
63.8
54.8
80.9
85.4
87.4
107.0
86.4
94.1
97.3
117.7
105.5
93.9
99.3
100.2
104.9
100.6
109.5
97.6
84.8
59.1
58.3
79.5
82.2
87.3
106.4
84.5
93.7
96.8
122.9
104.8
91.0
98.1
101.1
105.4
102.3
109.2
95.7
82.4
56.1
63.3
76.7
80.9
87.1
105.1
83.0
94.8
97.4
127.9
102.1
87.2
98.7
98.6
103.9
101.5
107.2
91.6
81.1
52.8
67.3
75.7
81.2
89.0
104.1
86.5
95.6
99.1
130.7
101.0
91.6
101.9
102.8
107.0
104.8
111.3
92.6
82.2
56.4
73.5
80.2
86.8
95.8
108.1
94.0
100.9
104.4
136.3
109.6
95.6
81.4
61.6
65.0
78.4
85.3
91.5
102.6
90.3
98.9
102.7
127.6
In d e x e s o f E m p lo y m e n t a n d P a y R o lls , b y I n d u s tr ie s
In table 2 are shown average yearly indexes o f employment and
pay rolls for 1929, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1939, and 1940 for each o f the 14
major manufacturing groups, the 2 subgroups, and the 90 separate
manufacturing industries included in the Bureau’s survey. Unlike
the indexes for total manufacturing and the durable and nondurable
goods groups, these indexes have not been adjusted to preliminary
1939 census figures, but will be revised as soon as the final 1939
census figures are released.
T
able
2 .— Indexes of em ploym ent and pay rolls in manufacturing industries fo r
1929, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1939, and 1940 1
[1923-25=100.0]
Employment
Pay rolls
Industry
1929 1933 1936 1937
1939 1940 1929 1933 1936 1937 1939 1940
D u r a b le goods
Iron and steel and their products, not
including machinery _ ____
103.3
Blast furnaces, steel works, and
rolling mills____________________ 103.2
Bolts, nuts, washers, and rivets— 114.0
Cast-iron pipe___________________ 87.8
Cutlery (not including silver and
plated cutlery), and edge tools— 89.5
Forgings, iron and steel__________ 87.8
Hardware_______________________ 101.7
Plumbers’ supplies______________ 92.5
Stamped and enameled ware_____ 120.5
Steam and hot-water heating ap
paratus and steam fittings_____ 91.6
Stoves___________________________ 99.3
Structural and ornamental metal
w ork__________________________ 111.2
T in cans and other tin w are.. . . . 104.3
Tools (not including edge tools,
machine tools, files, and saws).. 107.6
Wire work_______________________ 124.2
See footnotes at end of table.
65.8 100.4 114.5 95.9 109.5 108. 3 39.9 87.2 111.2 90.9 109.8
71.0 107.1 123.5 102.0 119.0 109. 6 40.5 93.0 122.5 96.8' 118. 6
59.8 101.9 118.6 101.2 115.6 122.0 39.5 96.7 121.9 108.0 131.7
42.1 72.1 78. 4 74.0 79.2 85.2 22.1 55.9 68.4 65.3 74.4
64.5
33.4
63.4
52.6
97.2
87.8
62.1
87.6
76.2
166.0
100.5
76.7
103.3
83.5
183.8
94.7
58.8
87.7
77.6
152.0
105.0
73.5
98.8
86.2
168.2
87.5
97.8
106.9
87.2
125.6
43.8
20.9
42.6
30.3
66.7
76.2
57.6
81.6
60.3
154.0
92.3
78.5
103.2
71.8
183.2
84.5
63.5
90.5
69.2
153.6
96.9
87.9
106.8
79.5
181.3
51.6 78.2 91.6 78.3 90.0 92.4 30.6 62.5 81.1 67.0 84.7
64.3 100.0 105.9 86.8 94.5 98.8 40.8 83.5 90.7 76.4 86.9
43.3 68.9 78.6 69.3 77.6 112.8 23.9 52.6 69.1 60.1 69.1
77.3 101.5 109.7 97.1 99.4 113.6 67.6 95.0 110.8 101.5 107.3
53.5 83.1 98.1 86.4 99.0 117.8 37.2 77.7 96.3 83.7 102.0
97.9 160.0 185.8 149.4 168.2,129.3 65.6 145.3 181.6 155.3 187.2
172
EM PLOYMENT AND PAY-ROLL TRENDS
T able 2.— Indexes of em ploym ent and pay rolls in manufacturing industries fo r
1 9 2 9 , 1 9 3 8 , 1 98 6 , 1937 , 1 9 8 9 , and * 0 ^ — Continued
Employment
P ay rolls
Industry
1929 1933 1936 1937 1939 1940 1929 1933 1936 1937 1939 1940
D u r a b le g o od s—
Continued
Machinery, not including transportation equipm ent____________________
Agricultural implements (including tractors)___________________
Cash registers, adding machines,
and calculating machines______
Electrical machinery, apparatus,
and supplies___________________
Engines, turbines, water wheels
and windm ills_________________
Foundry and machine-shop produ cts___________________________
Machine tools___________________
Radios and phonographs ______
Textile machinery and parts . _
Typewriters and parts___________
111.3
167.2
204. 5
88.1
121.1
101.3
233.3
144.3
82.0
119,9
117.9
187.6
202.9
96.7
130.1
34.9 80.3 104.9 79.8102.2
30.9 131. 5 192.0 175. 6 311. 3
81.4 140. 7,142.8 120.5 137.9
47.9, 65.8 84.7, 72. 9| 79.2
44.1 114. 8 151.4 122.4 127.3
Transportation equipment2 _________
A ircraft2________________________
Automobiles_____________________
Cars, electric- and steam-railroadLocom otives_____________________
Shipbuilding____________________
103.5 54.5 103. 2 118.3 95.9 122.2
525. 2 279. 6 627. 7 858. 6 1416.4 3217.7
111.3 60. 6 113. 9 128. 3. 97.9 111.3
63.1 22.5, 48.2, 63.9 37.5 56.4
56.8 12.2 27.0 46.3 ' 23.5 32.6
101.3 56.8 105. 5 114. 5 122. 7 172.2
105.4
501.5
111.6
63.1
58.3
109.7
35.6' 93.2 115.1 95.7 132.0
236. 2 523. 8 764. 4 1402.9 3399.7
38.3 102.8 124.1' 97.5 121.1
14.6, 38.4 | 58.9 31.8 51.1
6.0 22.0 47.8 21.6 32.9
42.1 97.0 116.4 130. 3 200.4
Nonferrous metals and their products.
..
Aluminum manufactures____
Brass, bronze, and copper prod
ucts ______________
________
Clocks and watches and time
recording devices _______ __ . _
Jewelry__________________________
Lighting equipment__ __________
Silverware and plated ware______
Smelting and refining—copper,
lead, and zinc__________________
110.2 62.6 96.1108.5 ! 98.2 114.1 115.3 41.1 81.7 102.5 ! 93.1 117.3
138.4 89.1 140.3154.8,153.9 192.0 150.0 60.1 125.3 161.2 168.4 227.3
Lumber and allied p r o d u c t s _______
Furniture________________________
Lumber:
M ill work____________________
Sawmills____________________
*
Stone, clay, and glass products_______
Brick, tile, and terra cotta_______
Cem ent_________________________
Glass____________________________
Marble, granite, slate, and other
products_______________________
Pottery__________________________
125.9 60.8 103.3 124.0 99.1 119.5 134.3 40.5 93.8 126.2 99.6 131.8
145.5 43.3 142.7 174.3 121.8 137.4 154.4 30.0 135.6 196.8 134.2 160.3
120.8 78.2 129.4 148.4 128.1 130.2 137.3 60.1 115.4 150.7 123.4 137.1
127.3 58.8 91.8 115.7 90.0 108.0 134.4 38.9 84.1 119.7 95.4 124.8
129.0 48.3 81.2 103.1 99.1 164.1 150.9 33.8 79.9 115.7 117.8 221.1
54.6 91.1'107. 8
44.9 129.0 166. 9
112.1 173. 0 164. 8
60. 5 70.1! 82.5
68. 5 119.8 153.2
85.4
150.9
133. 9
76.7
125. 2
121.5 73.4 110.9127. 6113.2 139.2 128.3 48.0 98.5 126.7 117.8 160.6
98.2
111.4
104.2
92.6
58.9
59.3
46.5
54.1
94. 8
81.9
84.7
57.8
106.4 1 85.1
91.0 92.5
96.0 , 83.0
67.0 69.7
95.5
96.8
92.6
71.9
102.2
113.3
110.6
96.5
39.7
37.7
31.6
35.1
89.1
64.0
J38.9
46.9
109.3
76.6
82.9
58.9
85.3
76.5
66.8
62.6
101.8
81.3
80.5
66.0
91.3 42.9 76.3 87.8 79.0 89.8 99.4 27.4 65.7 87.4 75.1 89.2
95.2 49.9 70.9 76.3 66.9 70.0 97.3 30.3 57.5 66.9 59.8 65.4
111.9 61.0 86.8 98.,3 86.9 91.2 114.0 35.9 67.6 81.2 73.6 81.0
84.6 33.2 54.9 62.7 59.4 64.3 83.5 18.7 40.7 48.5 46.9 51.5
87.7 39.6 61.7 67.8 60.5 62.7 90. 7 24.4 50.5 59.3 53.1 57.9
93.8
91.5
90.3
96.7
49.4
31.3
42.8
71.3
76.3
56.8
62.2
101. 2
85.8
63.9
71.5
113.2
79.4
59.4
66.7
100.1
82.8
61.2
68.9
108.0
93.7
84.7
92.9
100.9
30.8
15.0
26.4
52.0
61.4
41.3
50.6
93.9
75.5
50.8
64.9
116.9
69.8
47.1
62.3
103.8
74.9
49.6
66.2
117.6
98.7 43.1 49.2 54.3 50.1 46.0 104.0 27.7 36.0 40.4 37.7 33.5
94.7 63.2 81.1 88.4 87.6 94.1 91.4 37.4 67.1 80.1 78.5 85.5
N o n d u r a b le goods
Textiles and their products...................
Fabrics__________________________
Carpets and rugs____ ________
Cotton goods________________
Cotton small wares__________
Dyeing and finishing textiles.
Hats, fur-felt_________________
Hosiery______________________
Knitted outerwear_________ .
Knitted underwear________ __
Knitted cloth________________
Silk and rayon goods_________
Woolen and worsted goods___
Wearing apparel_________________
Clothing, m en’s______________
Clothing, wom en’s___________
Corsets and allied garm ents...
M en’s furnishings____________
M illinery___________ ________
Shirts and collars......................
104.8 90.5 107.9 111.3 103.0 101.2 105.2
99.2 86.4 96.9 100.6 , 93.8 92.5 99.4
96. 2j 62.8 83.1 90.8 78.1 77.6 90.1
96.1 85.9 88.8 95.5 89.1 92.7 90.1
97.4 84.3 86.4 88.1 84.1 81.0 102.1
121.8 101.8 120.2 124.2126.0 125.7 124.8
105.3 i 79.8 99.2 101.4 1 88.8 81.1 112.3
132.9 120. 9 146.6 152.3 152.0 139.4 169.2
84.8 78.7 96.0 85.8 71.5 67.2 85.7
89.0! 77.0 81.5 85.6 75.1 75.3 86.4
130. 8 137. 9 179.5 174. 9 138. 9 140.4 119.5
103.8 87.8 91.9 93.0 , 73.9 64.7 105.6
82.6 71.4 88.1 86.9 85.6 84.1 80.1
113.3 97.7 130.3 131.4 119.4 116.6 111.0
103.2 90.5 116. 5 117. 5 105. 6 105.0 95.8
146.8 125.1 191.7 190.1 170.1 164.3 142.6
89.2 91.6 102.2 107.1 112.9 112.6 97.0
132.7 110.7 141.1 147. 5 131. 5 118.9 145.5
101.3 71.0 80.1 83.3 78.8 I 75.4 104.0
109.1 103.1 121.1 126.7122.0 120.5 109.2
61.8
61.4
41.0
60.2
66.5
77.5
59.5
100.2
58.0
58.4
98.7
56.9
49.7
60.0
52.8
74.5
73.2
79.1
49.4
68.3
87.4 94.0 86.4 87.0
80.9 89.0 81.3 82.3
64.3 , 72.6 65.4 66.1
74.1 87.0 78.0 84.7
76.9! 80.4 79.0 76.8
100.9 108.1 107.6 106.1
88.3 ! 88.2 73.6 70.0
150. 9 162.4 160.2 145.5
80.7 | 70.2 57.1 56.1
70.6 1 74.9! 66.8 68.2
140. 2 143.8 113.9 118.3
66.5 , 71.0 , 56.5 51.3
69.5 75.2 71.3 74.0
96.5 98.8 91.2 91.0
82.2 86.8 1 78.7 78.6
131. 2 131. 9 121. 3 121.0
97. 71103. 3 117.1 116.2
121.8 126.0 118.1 112.8
68.8 69.1 63.0 62.2
101. 2I104.2i102.6 105.2
TREND OF EM PLOYM ENT IN PRIVATE INDUSTRY
173
T able 2 . — Indexes o f em ploym ent and pa y rolls in manufacturing industries fo r
1 929, 1 9 3 3 y 1 9 3 6 , 1 9 3 7 , 1 9 3 9 , and 1 94 0 — Continued
Employment
P ay rolls
Industry
1929 1933 1936 1937 1939 1940 1929 1933 1936 1937 1939 1940
Nondurable goods—Continued
Leather and its manufactures________ 98.5 87.2 98.0 102.7 97.7 92.1 99.0 61.2 77.7 85.6 79.4 74.6
Boots and shoes__________________ 96.7 89.8 96.3 101.4 96.4 90.5 95.6 61.1 73.8 82.3 75.9 70.9
Leather__________________________ 91.1 80.7 94.1 92.6 86.5 82.8 92.8 63.0 84.9 89.6 84.3 80.3
F ood and kindred products__________
Baking_______________ ____ ______
Beverages_____________________
Butter___________________________
Canning and preserving........... .
Confectionery___________________
Flour____________________________
Ice cream________________________
Slaughtering and meat packing . . .
Sugar, beet_________________ ____
Sugar refining, cane______________
T obacco manufactures_______________
Chewing and smoking tobacco and
snuff___________________________
Cigars and cigarettes____ ________
Paper and printing__________________
Boxes, paper______ _____________
Paper and pulp__________________
Printing and publishing:
Book and jo b ________________
Newspapers and periodicals...
111.1
123.6
101.3
100.3
134.6
101.7
80.6
96.0
96.7
91.2
94.3
100.3
112.2
138.2
86.7
112.7
81.0
69.2
61.6
89.3
130.0
77.9
126. 2 133.7
140.2 147.3
235.7 269.0
99.3 102.2
164.5 185.7
82.4 86.0
77.4 78.7
76.5 80.1
98.4 100.6
110.5 113.7
95.0 95.0
128.2
145.4
272.9
95.4
151.6
83.0
79.2
77.3
100.5
113.4
94.7
130.1
144.7
274.8
97.1
146.2
86.0
79.2
77.7
110.2
109.9
94.7
112.9
125.3
106.1
102.5
129.4
103.7
85.7
102.7
101.5
90.3
91.4
78.7
89.9
131.9
63.8
76.8
60.7
55.2
49.1
68.7
98.2
62.7
109.1
121.3
262.4
77.8
120.7
71.3
68.5
59.6
91.3
92.2
72.4
124.0
134.4
305.1
83.1
156.5
79.9
73.7
64.7
104.3
105.9
81.9
122.7
134.6
313.1
80.8
128.2
80.0
75.4
64.5
106.4
108.2
80.5
126.8
137.4
320.0
83.3
126.2
84.3
74.5
66.3
115.9
111.0
81.4
83.9 63.1 66.0 66.6 64.6 63.9 81.8 44.1 54.8 60.9 59.0 61.8
68.0 64.2 62.5 63.6 61.4 58.2 71.3 56.0 61.6 68.3 66.4 67.0
86.0 62.9 66.4 66.9 64.9 64.5 83.1 42.6 53.8 59.9 57.9 61.1
111.3 86.7 107.9 116.5 112.6 115.7 119.5 68.3 96.6 108.9 107.1 112.6
97.9 83.0 104.0 114.6 114.7 118.1 102.9 67.7 102.3 118.8 125.2 129.9
106.1 89.0 106.8 114.3 108.5 115.0 112.5 64.4 95.6 114.0 110.3 122.2
113.1 78.5 99.7 106.0 99.6 100.7 118.7 60.6 83.0 91.6 86.4 88.9
111.0 93.4 109.2 115.8 114.8 116.2 121.8 78.6 100.9 106.6 107.1 110.2
Chemical, petroleum, and coal prod
ucts _______________________________
Petroleum refining_______________
Other than petroleum refining___
Chemicals___________________
Cottonseed—oil, cake, and
meal__________________ ____
Druggists’ preparations'______
Explosives________ __________
Fertilizers........ .......... ...............
Paints and varnishes...............
Rayon and allied products___
Soap......... ........................ ..........
115.7
124.4
113.6
109.2
97.1
106.5
94.8
93.3
116.1
121.8
114.7
124.2
127.0
128.3
126.7
138.5
115.6
120.4
114.4
122.7
122.1
121.7
122.2
140.5
120.9
129.2
118.4
120.0
76.2
88.4
72.5
75.2
105.8
115.1
103.0
117.0
129.6 123.1
138. 2 134.3
126.9 119.7
148.9 139.8
109.0
116.4
95.3
113.4
122.3
244.4
88.6
98.1
94.7
70.8
70.7
95.9
276.7
88.3
91.9
106.9
81.5
95.1
122.7
320.0
81.0
114.2
116.0
91.8
113.1
132.7
344.1
86.5
93.4
111.5
93.1
106.1
122.0
298.5
83.0
88.7
117.1
126.5
108.2
124.8
309.9
83.8
118.9
124.4
102.0
108.3
129.6
220.2
96.7
57.1
86.7
49.6
44.0
73.0
190.3
71.9
65.5
105.1
82.6
70.0
111.6
260.7
80.5
90.6 79.2 83.7
120.5 122.6 129.6
103.4 107.2 154.3
92.9 | 84.3 | 89.7
131.2 126.2 133.5
321.7 285.4 320.3
97.0 99.7 101.6
R ubber products__________ ________
Rubber boots and shoes.............. .
Rubber tires and inner tubes____
Rubber goods, other.................... .
111.0
102.1
110.0
120.3
79.1
72.0
69.9
105.3
90.4
74.4
78.3
129.7
96.7
73.0
83.5
144.1
84.6
58.6
68.9
139.7
88.4
57.4
72.0
148.5
115.1
105.6
113.2
126.4
55.0
51.0
48.8
75.3
135.3
136.4
134.9
168.2
86.8 95.1 87.5 92.7
65.4 72.1 58.1 59.0
82.5 86.3 78.5 82.6
114.5 136.3 133.9 145.0
1Adjusted to 1937 Census of Manufactures for all industries except automobiles.
* 1939 and 1'940 data adjusted on basis of preliminary 1939 census figures and a complete survey of employ
ment in aircraft firms made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for August 1940.
174
EM PLOYMENT AND PAY-ROLL TRENDS
Table 3 shows the estimated number o f wage earners and amount o f
weekly wages, together with the indexes o f employment and pay rolls
fo r August 1941. The index numbers indicate in percentage terms
the levels o f employment and pay rolls in August 1941 in comparison
with employment and pay rolls in the base period, 1923-25.
T a b l e 3. — Average employment and weekly pay rolls in manufacturing industries
and indexes for August 1941
Employment, August
1941
Pay rolls, August 1941
Industry
Number
Index
(1923-25=
100)
Amount
Index
(1923-25=
100)
All industries________________________________________
10,501,800
133.1
$299,995,000
158.1
Durable g o o d s ____ _________________ _______ _
Nondurable goods_________. _____________________
5,341,800
5,160,000
138.7
127.7
177,980,000
122,015,000
177.6
136.3
1, 247,200
605,900
24,300
21,600
139.9
149.1
171.3
96.1
43,730,000
23, 512,000
895,000
569,000
172.0
183.3
257.3
111.8
21, 300
26, 300
58,200
31,000
74, 500
127.4
110.6
113.2
102.6
224.5
572,000
1,153,000
1, 775,000
875,000
2,194,000
147.5
169.8
145.7
107.1
286.0
54,100
55,100
54, 300
43,900
125.2
117.2
110.0
145.3
1,812,000
1,617,000
1,873,000
1,193,000
147.7
127.4
125.2
184.7
25, 500
34,200
142.6
189.8
800,000
1,029,000
190.1
247.9
Machinery, not including transportation equipm en t.. _
Agricultural implements (including tractors)_____
Cash registers, adding machines, and calculating
machines. _______________________________ ____
Electrical machinery, apparatus, and supplies ._ .
Engines, turbines, water wheels and windmills___
Foundry and machine-shop products_____________
Machine tools _.
. _ ____ _______
_____
Radios and phonographs.. . _____________ ______
Textile machinery and p a r t s ______ ._ _______
Typewriters and parts___ _____ _______ ___
1,562,900
76,500
176.5
172.0
58,009,000
2,710,000
243.4
227.5
23,700
372, 300
100,400
578,800
99, 500
59,500
33, 300
21,800
170.3
167.4
314. 7
145.6
351.5
202.4
108.4
155.7
930,000
13,750,000
4, 615, 000
20, 700,000
4,328,000
1,640,000
1, 023,000
734,000
223.1
240.0
546.2
186.0
553.4
234.0
135.8
222.3
Transportation equipm ent.. ______________________ .
Aircraft_________ ______ _____ ______ _ _______
Automobiles________ _. ___________ ______ _____
Cars, electric- and steam-railroad. _____ _______
Locom otives___ . . . ______ __________
____ __
Shipbuilding______________________________ - _____
969,500
221,100
446,600
56,600
16,600
211,200
172.0
7, 897. 3
110.9
89.2
70.2
388.3
38,622,000
8,655.000
17, 564,000
1,808,000
555,000
9, 508,000
224.4
10,303. 0
139.2
93.7
93.4
614.6
Nonferrous metals and their products______ _______ _
Aluminum manufactures ..
_____
Brass, bronze, and copper products_______________
Clocks and watches and time-recording devices___
Jewelry. _. .
_ _
_
. . .
Lighting equipment___________________ ________
Silverware and plated ware___ . _
. . . ._
Smelting and refining—copper, lead, and zinc____
363,000
36,900
125,600
25, 700
29,600
25, 300
14,400
35,100
145.5
240.9
192.9
118.0
118.0
111.8
84.8
103.5
11, 984,000
1, 317,000
4, 793,000
759,000
749,000
687,000
425,000
1,128,000
182.6
345.8
273.6
156.4
113.3
118.7
94.4
118.4
Lumber and allied products__________________________
F u rn itu re___ _
___ _____ __________ . . .
Lumber:
M illw ork____ _ ____ ______________ ______
Sawmills_____ _____
.
...
736,600
187,400
81.0
108.4
16,897,000
4,753,000
92.3
116.1
83,100
338,300
78.0
70.7
2,006,000
7,171,000
74.8
80.3
Stone, clay, and glass p ro d u c ts ____ __ ___ ___ __
Brick, tile, and terra c o t t a ___ ___ _____ . . .
C e m e n t___ _______ ___ __ ______________ ______
Glass_________________________________ __________
Marble, granite, slate, and other products.________
Pottery__________________________ ____________ .
355,000
81,100
30,800
90, 700
17,100
44,700
101.3
79.4
83.5
130.0
44.6
119.4
9, 254,000
1,868,000
949,000
2, 598,000
421,000
1,139,000
104.2
77.0
93.9
155.4
36.1
124.1
D u r a b le goods
Iron and steel and their products, not including ma
chinery___ ______
___
______
_
Blast furnaces, steel works, and rolling mills___ _.
Bolts, nuts, washers, and riv ets.. _________ ______
Cast-iron p i p e ____
. _ _ _ . ___ ___
Cutlery (not including silver and plated cutlery),
and edge tools_________ _________ ____
_____
Forgings, iron and steel__________________________
Hardware.
. . . _____________ _________
____
Plumbers’ supplies
. . _ _____ __
__
Stamped and enameled ware____________ _____. . .
Steam and hot-water heating apparatus and steam
fittings________________________________________
Stoves_____ _______ _____ . ______ _____________
Structural and ornamental metal work___________
Tin cans and other tinware
. . . .
. . . _ __
Tools (not including edge tools, machine tools, files,
and saws). . . .
___________ . . . . . _________
Wire w o r k _____ __________ ____ _________________
.
TREND OF EM PLOYMENT IN PRIVATE INDUSTRY
175
T a b l e 3 . — Average employment and weekly pay rolls in manufacturing industries
and indexes for August 1941— Continued
Employment, August
1941
Pay rolls, August 1941
Industry
Number
Index
(1923-25=
100)
Am ount
Index
(1923-25=
100)
N o n d u r a b le goods
Textiles and their products___________________________
Fabrics__________________________________________
Carpets and rugs_____________________________
Cotton goods_________________ ______________
Cotton small wares. _ .
__________ _____
Dyeing and finishing textiles_______ _ ______
Hats, fur-felt_________________________________
Hosiery______________________________________
Knitted outerwear___________ _________ ____
Knitted underwear_________ _____________ __
Knit cloth____________ _____________________
Silk and rayon goods_________________________
W oolen and worsted goods___________________
Wearing apparel_____ ___________________________
Clothing, men’s .. ________ . . . ____ _______
Clothing, wom en’s .. . _________________ ______
Corsets and allied garments__________________
M en ’s furnishings____________________________
M illinery____________________________________
Shirts and collars____________________________
1,880,600
1,182,200
30,700
485, 500
16, 700
88, 700
12, 900
138,000
27, 800
40, 300
10, 500
85,400
193, 800
614,500
224, 700
224,400
18, 200
25, 600
25,400
77,000
115.4
106.9
90.5
109.9
106.4
136.3
82.0
141.5
81.3
86.4
161.4
67.9
108.9
129.6
123.3
175.7
119.1
128.1
79.8
133.6
37, 791,000
23,303,000
799,000
8, 742,000
359,000
1,924,000
348,000
2,450,000
502,000
666,000
222,000
1, 595,000
4, 670,000
12, 574,000
4, 708,000
5,070,000
344,000
439,000
589,000
1,132,000
119.3
114.4
93.4
126.2
123.3
132.5
90.4
153.9
77.3
90.5
157.3
63.7
118.5
121.7
113.6
154.3
139.4
144.4
74.5
140.6
Leather and its manufactures________________________
Boots and shoes__________________________________
L e a t h e r .____ ____________
_________________ _
326, 900
209,000
51,900
101.1
98.3
94.8
7, 311,000
4, 502,000
1,432,000
104.7
100.7
109.0
Food and kindred products__________________________
B aking.__ ________ _______ _____
____ . . .
Beverages________________________________________
Butter___________________________ _________ _
Canning and preserving__________ ______________
Confectionery____________ ______________________
Flour____________________________________ _______
Icecream ____ _______ __
______ _____________
Slaughtering and meat packing___________________
Sugar, beet_______________________________________
Sugar refining, cane______________________________
1,058,400
248,000
91, 500
21,100
254, 500
56,800
26, 200
22,100
155,100
5,200
14,000
159.3
152.7
328.1
111.1
304.4
91.1
78.1
94.8
122.4
63.6
95.4
25,100,000
6, 535,000
2,986,000
477,000
4,043,000
1,053,000
636,000
533,000
4,490, 000
144,000
377,000
165.5
155.2
429.7
105.1
324.7
100.6
80.9
84.4
142.9
67.8
100.3
Tobacco m anufactures.. . . . ___ ___________________
Chewing and smoking tobacco and snuff_________
Cigars and cigarettes________________________ : ____
91,100
8, 300
82, 700
65.8
52.3
67.5
Paper and printing________________________________ _ _
Boxes, paper_____________________________________
Paper and p u lp .. _______________________________
Printing and publishing:
Book and job __ .. . _ ____ _____________
Newspapers and periodicals. ________________
658,100
80,800
154,100
123.9
142.0
127.8
19,462,000
1, 941,000
4,814,000
130.9
181.9
162.7
140, 400
134,100
105.5
114.7
4, 014,000
4, 390,000
98.5
109.8
Chemical, petroleum, and coal products______________
Petroleum refining___ ___ ______ ___ ___ _
Other than petroleum refining____ . . . ________
Chemicals_______ . . . _______ .... _________
Cottonseed—oil, cake, and meal______________
Druggists’ preparations_______ ____ _________
Explosives___________________________________
F ertilizers._____ ._ . . . . ________. . . . _.
Paints and varnishes_________________________
R ayon and allied products___________________
Soap_______ ________________________________
470, 600
82, 900
387, 700
102, 700
10, 300
18,600
21, 400
16, 600
34, 600
52, 700
15, 800
142.0
127.9
145.4
180.1
70.9
135. 7
363.5
89.6
144.8
329.3
97.4
14,914, 000
3,106,000
11, 808,000
3, 750, 000
118, 000
482, 000
829, 000
289,000
1,075,000
1, 436, 000
511,000
180.0
159.1
186.4
247.2
65.1
165.0
518.0
90.8
171.5
368.2
135.1
Rubber products____________________________________
Rubber boots and shoes. ___ . . . ____ _____. . .
Rubber tires and inner tubes___ ____ . . . ______
R ubber goods, oth er.___ _______________________
150, 200
20, 000
65,600
64,400
111.8
79.4
86.7
192.9
4,815, 000
557, 000
2, 512,000
1, 746,000
138.8
102.2
116.4
228.3
1, 558,000
165,0001, 390, 000
70.0
68.2
70.1
176
EM PLOYM ENT AND PAY-ROLL TRENDS
Employment and Pay Rolls in Mining, Public U tility, Trade,
and Service Industries
The indexes o f employment and pay rolls in the nonmanufacturing
industries surveyed by the Bureau have as the index base period the
average for the year 1929=100. A s in manufacturing, they are
adjusted periodically to conform with trends shown by available census
data. Figures fo r recent years are therefore subject to revision.
The indexes fo r anthracite and bituminous-coal mining have been
adjusted to conform with levels shown by the Censuses o f Mines fo r
1929 and 1935, and those fo r the telephone and telegraph, electric light
and power, and street railways and busses have been adjusted to the
figures for the respective industries shown by the Censuses o f Electrical
Industries fo r 1932 and 1937.
The indexes for wholesale trade have been adjusted to levels indi
cated by the 1929 and 1933 Censuses o f Wholesale Distribution, while
those for retail trade have been adjusted to the Censuses o f Retail D is
tribution o f 1929, 1933, and 1935. In connection with the revision to
the 1935 census, retail trade was subdivided by lines o f trade and trade
groups. The group and total retail trade indexes are weighted by
the component lines or groups, similar to the method used in weighting
the manufacturing indexes.
The hotel indexes, which relate to year-round hotels only, have been
adjusted to the censuses o f hotels having 25 or more rooms fo r 1929,
1933, and 1935, and the laundries and dyeing and cleaning indexes to
respective census figures fo r 1929, 1931, and 1935.
Indexes fo r the brokerage and insurance industries are not available.
Table 5 shows indexes o f employment and pay rolls in nonmanu
facturing industries, by years from 1929 to 1940 and by months from
July 1940 to December 1941.
T a b l e 5 . — Indexes o f employment and pay rolls in nonmanufacturing industries
by years 1929 to 1940 and by months July 1940 to December 1941
[1 9 2 9 = iOQ]
Anthracite Bituminouscoal mining
mining
M etal
liferous
mining
Year and
month
Em
Pay ploy
rolls ment
Em
ploy
ment
Em
Pay ploy
rolls ment
Quarrying
and nonmetallic
mining
Crudepetroleum
production
Telephone
and
telegraph
Electric
light and
power
E m Pay E m
Pay E m Pay E m P ay ploy
ploy
ploy
ploy P ay
rolls ment rolls ment rolls m ent rolls
ment rolls
1929............... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100 0 100.0
100.0
1930..............
1931...............
1932________
1933________
1934________
1935________
95.2
84.3
68.2
59.5
69.4
64.7
96.0
76.9
56.0
49.0
59.9
52.2
96.1
88.9
76.3
79.9
92.3
94.9
83.0
61.2
41.3
45.4
64.0
70.1
83.2
59.1
36.5
34.6
41.6
47.3
78.0
44.8
21.6
20.6
26.7
33.9
84.3
67.4
49.0
44.9
48.9
46.0
79.3
53.4
29.1
24.7
29.6
30.7
87.4
65.7
55.3
62.2
77.7
74.9
85.9
61.7
44.1
44.1
56.9
57.9
97.9 102.9 105.0
86.6 93.7 96.4
79.1 81.1 82.9
70.6 68.5 77.3
70.7 72.2 79.8
70.7 75.6 81.4
106.3
97.8
80.6
71.8
76.4
81.2
1936........ .
1937________
1938...............
1939.......... .
1940________
mo
J u l y . ............
A ugust_____
Septem ber...
October____
N ovem b er...
D ecem b er...
62.5
60.2
52.3
50.6
50.7
49.6
46.9
38.2
39.5
38.5
97.5
99.3
86.7
78.6
88.0
82.7
88.5
67.9
69.9
81.2
60.3
76.8
59.0
62.7
69.9
48.4
74.0
50.4
55.9
66.7
49.5
51.4
42.3
44.6
45.3
38.9
45.4
35.1
38.7
40.5
72.9
76.5
72.1
65.8
62.9
58.6
68.2
66.5
61.0
58.2
73.1 80.5
78.9 91.5
76.2 94.1
75.8 95.6
77.9 100.2
86.7
92.4
89.5
89.0
91.1
89.0
100.6
99.7
100.4
104.8
50.5
49.9
49.8
49.4
50.4
50.8
36.5
33.1
39.3
32.3
37.6
•42.7
84.9
86.6
87.7
89.2
89.8
90.1
75.2
82.5
83.2
83.6
84.5
91.4
71.0
71.5
72.5
72.6
72.5
72.2
63.6
68.5
69.5
71.3
69.8
72.8
48.1
48.5
48.9
48.8
47.2
45.4
43.5
45.2
46.2
46.7
42.3
42.4
63.7
63.6
63.0
62.4
61.3
60.7
59.1
59.0
58.2
57.6
56.8
55.9
78.8
79.0
78.9
79.1
79.2
79.7
92.2
93.0
92.7
92.3
91.8
91.3
105.8
108.1
105.8
107.0
106.9
106.0
101.3
100.4
101.8
102.2
103.2
103.5
177
TREND OF EM PLOYMENT IN PRIVATE INDUSTRY
T
5 . — Indexes of employment and pay rolls in nonmanufacturing industries
by years 1929 to 1940 and by months July 1940 to December 1941— Continued
able
Anthracite Bituminouscoal mining
mining
M etal
liferous
mining
Year and
month
Em
ploy
ment
E m Pay E m
Pay ploy
ploy
rolls ment rolls ment
50.3
50.6
50.2
48.7
48.6
49.2
49.3
50.0
50.0
50.3
50.2
49.1
38.5
45.2
42.4
24.3
33.4
51.2
34.8
51.1
49.6
49.2
41.8
35.9
Quarrying
and nonmetallic
mining
CrudeTelephone
petroleum .
and
production . telegraph
Electric
light and
power
Pay E m Pay E m Pay E m Pay Em P ay
ploy
ploy rolls ploy
ploy
rolls ment rolls ment
ment roils ment rolls
mi
January------February----M arch...........
A pril_______
M a y ........... June....... .......
July------------August-------September __
October____
N ovem ber.—
Decem ber.
Street rail
ways and
busses
1929...—— 100.0
90.2
90.6
91.1
23.5
87.9
88.1
90.3
92.6
94.2
95.3
95.1
95.5
87.8
90.8
93.8
15.5
103.4
107.2
105.4
117.3
115.5
122.6
116. 3
19.9
Wholesale
trade
72.5
73.4
74.3
77.2
77.1
78.9
79.0
79.9
79.4
79.7
79.5
80.2
70.4
71.8
72.7
78.9
81.5
85.3
79.3
85.4
85.9
88.3
89.8
93.7
Retail
trade
41.7
42.4
44.2
48.2
51.0
51.9
52.7
53.9
54.2
54.1
52.6
50.2
36.9
38.2
40.3
47.0
53.2
55.7
55.5
59.3
60.5
61.5
57.5
55.6
Retail trade
general
merchan
dising
60.3
60.4
60.2
60.1
60.3
61.5
62.1
62.2
61.8
61.6
60.9
61.1
55.7
57.3
56.1
57.8
58.6
59.9
61.4
61.5
64.4
64.4
64.2
64.6
Hotels,
yearround
80.4
80.9
81.8
83.2
84.6
86.3
88.3
89.6
90.3
90.6
90.1
90.0
103.9
104.3
106.4
107.3
110.5
113.0
115.7
116.4
117.3
117.0
118.3
122.9
Laundries
90.5
90.1
90.3
91.3
92.2
93.5
94.6
95.2
94.9
94.1
93.4
93.1
105.1
105.4
106.1
107.6
109.6
111.4
113.5
115.1
115.0
125.7
115.2
115.2
Dyeing
and
cleaning
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
100.0
1930 ............
1931........ —
1932................
1933________
1934................
1935................
93.6
84.5
75.3
69.7
71.5
70.8
93.6
82.7
67.2
58.1
61.3
62.7
95.7
85.8
76.8
76.1
82.8
84.0
95.3
81.9
64.2
56.8
-63.0
65.6
93.9
85.8
75.1
74.2
81.8
84.4
91.8
80.0
61.6
55.2
63.7
68.9
93.9
92.1
82.6
84.2
89.7
89.6
93.7
87.9
69.7
65.4
73.0
74.5
96.5
86.3
74.1
70.1
83.2
87.4
96.5
81.4
60.9
51.0
63.8
68.2
93.1
85.4
83.1
87.9
90.1
88.3
70.5
60.3
66.0
68.4
85.6
79.8
84.4
92.7
97.7
76.1
59.3
53.7
62.6
66.3
1936________
1937________
1938........ .
1939________
1940________
71.6
72.7
69.8
69.0
68.5
66.1
69.6
68.6
69.5
70.4
86.7
92.0
88.8
89.2
90.4
69.4
76.6
74.7
76.6
79.0
88.7
93.1
88.3
89.8
92.3
74.1 94.3
82.2 99.3
78.6 94.0
80.8 96.8
84.2 100.4
79.5
88.3
84.3
86.9
90.8
90.9
94.9
92.7
92.0
92.0
72.7 95.6
80.6 100.6
80.3 95.7
81.2 95.9
82.4 99.5
75.6
83.0
80.6
83.1
87.7
104.4
107.5
104.3
101.3
104.7
71.9
77.6
75.3
73.6
78.2
68.4
68.4
68.5
68. 7
68.7
68.4
70.0
70.4
71.5
70.7
70.3
73.1
89.2
90.1
90.9
91.0
91.8
92.5
78.3 89.1
78.7 88.7
81.1 92.8
80.2 94.3
80.7 96.3
83.4 108.1
82.6 90.3 84.0
81.5 90.1 82.3
85.1 99.4 90.5
85.8 103.5 92.3
87.1 111.4 97.5
97.3 152.2 132.9
90.3
90.3
91.6
93.4
92.3
92.6
80.5
80.7
81.8
84.2
83.6
84.1
102. 5
102.8
101.9
100.2
99.7
100.3
90.0
90.5
89.9
88.0
87.2
89.2
108.2
106.7
110.0
109.4
106.0
103.3
80.0
78.9
85.6
82.4
77.8
75.8
68.3
68.0
68.2
68.3
68.9
69.1
69.5
69.7
70.3
70.3
70.2
70.6
70.7
71.0
72.5
72.0
72.7
76.2
75.8
78.6
78.1
74.8
78.2
79.7
91.2
91.4
91.8
92.4
92. 2
93.8
94.2
95.8
95.6
96.3
96.3
96.3
80.5
81.4
82.0
83.4
84.6
88.4
88.0
89.8
90.9
92.0
91.8
92.8
92.9
93.9
94.2
95.2
96.3
95.0
94.5
94.5
95.7
96.2
96.1
95.3
84.1
86.1
85.7
87.1
87.9
87.4
87.6
88.2
90.0
91.9
93.2
93.3
101.4
101.1
102.5
104.9
108.3
112.0
115.8
114.6
113.0
111.2
108.9
108.4
89.8
89.7
90.9
95.8
98.7
102.5
106.7
104.7
105.2
103.4
101.9
102.6
101.0
101.4
104.4
117.2
120.6
122.7
121.7
118.9
121.5
121.2
117.2
113.3
73.3
74.4
77.2
97.8
96.1
98.4
96.4
92.1
99.5
98.5
93.0
88.6
mo
July________
August_____
September
October____
N ovem ber..
D ecem b er...
mi
January____
February___
M arch______
A p ril.. . . . .
M a y _______
June________
July________
August_____
S eptem b er..
October____
N ovem b er.._
Decem ber. __
90.5 83.7
90.7 84.6
92. 5 86.2
97.8 91.7
96.1 91.5
97.8 95.2
96.7 94.0
96.9 94.0
100.0 95.8
101.0 97.3
103.0 98.5
113.0 107.8
94.0
92.9
96.6
108. 7
102.5
105.1
100.9
103.0
111.7
116.4
125.9
161.5
86.5
86.6
88.3
98.6
96.0
100.1
97.5
99.3
108.6
110. 9
117.8
151. 1
Trend o f Employment on Steam Railroads
The trend o f employment by months from January 1923 to Decem
ber 1940 on class I railroads is shown by the index numbers pub
lished in table 6, based on the average, 1923-25 as 100. Class I
railroads are defined as those roads having operating revenues o f
$1,000,000 or over per annum. A new series based on the 1935-39
178
EM PLOYMENT AND PAY-ROLL TRENDS
average is also shown for the months from January 1940 to December
1941. Both series o f indexes have been computed by the Interstate
Commerce Commission. Salaried employees are included.
T
a b l e
6
.— Indexes of employment on class I railroads in the United States, January
1923 to December 1941 1
7
[Average, 1923-25=100]
Year
Jan
uary
Feb
ru March A pril M ay
ary
1923______________
1924______________
1925______________
1926______________
1927______________
1928______________
98.4
96.7
95.5
95.6
95.2
89.1
98.6
96.9
95.3
95.8
95.0
88.7
1929________ ______
1930_______ _______
1931______________
1932______________
1933______________
1934_________ ____
88.0
86.1
73.5
61.1
53.0
54.1
88.6
85.2
72.6
60.2
52.7
54.6
89.8
85.3
72.7
60.5
51.5
55.9
91.9
86.7
73.4
59.9
51.8
56.9
94.6
88.3
73.8
59.6
52.5
58.5
95.8
86.3
72.7
57.7
53.6
59.0
96.3
84.5
72.3
56.3
55.4
58.7
97.1
83.5
71.0
54.9
56.8
57.8
96.5
82.0
69.2
55.7
57.7
57.3
96.6
80.2
67.6
56.9
57.4
56.6
1935______________
1936______________
1937____ _________
1938______________
1939............ ...........
1940........................ .
53.7
55.0
60.2
53.7
52.2
55.4
54.2
57.8
61.4
52.6
52.7
55.7
54.8
57.2
61.6
51.9
53.1
55.2
54.7
58.8
63.3
51.1
53.2
55.1
55.8
59.8
64.6
50.7
53.6
56.7
56.8
60.3
65.6
51.2
55.6
58.0
57.0
60.8
65.7
52.1
56.1
58.8
56.6
61.0
65.1
52.6
56.3
59.4
56.5
61.7
63.4
53.9
57.1
59.8
56.9
62.1
62.5
54.7
59.1
60.1
June July
Au
gust
Sep
N o D e
tem Oc vem cem A ver
age
ber tober ber
ber
100.4 101.9 104.8 107.1 108.2 109.2 107.7 107.1 105.0
97.3 98.8 99.1 97.9 98.0 98.9 99.6 100.7 98.9
95.1 96.5 97.7 98.5 99.3 99.5 99.7 100.4 98.9
96.5 98.6 100.0 101.3 102.6 102.4 102.5 103.1 101.0
95.6 97.1 99.1 100.7 100.7 99.2 98.8 98.5 95.5
89.7 91.5 94.4 95.8 95.4 95.5 95.1 95.2 92.7
99.1
96.0
96.9
98.0
91.7
89.5
104.0
98.2
97.8
99.8
97.3
92.7
92.8
76.9
64.4
55.8
55.8
54.8
88.5
74.8
62.5
54.7
54.0
53.8
93.1
83.3
70.6
57.8
54.4
56.5
55.8
61.1
59.3
53.8
58.2
58.4
55.0
60.6
56.3
52.8
56.5
57.4
55.7
59.7
62.4
52.6
55.3
57.5
______ 96.9 97.5
96.7 96.5 99.2 101.5 103.0 103.9 104.6 105.2 102. 3 100.5
.....................
99.8.....................
100.9 103.1 106.0 110.3 113.3 116.4 118.3 118.7 119.4 117. 8 116.2
100.7
111.7
Average 1935-39=100
1940
1941
1 Source : Interstate Commerce Commission.
Based on number of employees at middle of month, not adjusted for seasonal variation.
*##+#+#
Employment and Total Wages of Hired Farm Workers 1
A n outstanding characteristic o f agriculture during the past three
decades is the decline in the number o f farm workers. The popula
tion o f the country in 1919 was about 16 percent larger than in 1909,
and yet the average number o f farm workers was about 9 percent
smaller. This decline was partly a result o f the drawing off o f work
ers into the armed forces and into industries most directly associated
with wartime needs.
A fter the W orld W ar, there was a slight increase in the number o f
farm workers, but in 1927 the decline was resumed, and in 1940 the
average number was 14 percent smaller than in 1909.
The total
population o f the country, on the other hand, was about 45 percent
larger. This comparison o f the number o f farm workers with total
population must o f course be qualified by such considerations as the
changing age distribution o f the population. Thus, in 1910, 65.3 per
cent o f the population was from 15 to 69 years o f age, and in 1940, ac
cording to preliminary estimates, 71.0 percent fell within these ages.
On the other hand, the past three decades were marked by a tendency
to reduce the amount o f child labor.
1 From articles by Witt Bowden, of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in Monthly Labor Re
view, June and July 1939, and from later data published by the Bureau of Agricultural
Economics.
179
EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES OF FARM WORKERS
Revised estimates o f agricultural employment recently made by
Government agencies2 distinguish between fam ily workers and hired
workers. Fam ily workers include operating owners, tenants, and
sharecroppers, together with working members o f their families.
The group here classified as hired workers includes farm managers
and foremen. In 1909, the estimated number o f employed workers
in both groups was 12,209,000. The estimate for 1919 was 11,106,000.
The number ranged within narrow limits during the next 10 years
and in 1929 was 11,289,000, virtually the same as in 1919. This num
ber was not again attained, although there was a rise after 1929 in
the number o f fam ily workers as distinguished from hired workers.
The estimated average o f both types in 1940 was 10,445,000 or
1,764,000 (14.4 percent) less than the number in 1909.
T
a b l e 1 .—
E stim a ted average n u m ber o f fa r m w ork ers, 1 9 0 9 to 1 9 4 0 1
Family workers
Year
Number
(thousands)
Index
(average
1923-25=
100.0)
Hired workers
Number
(thousands)
Total
Index
(average
1923-25=
100.0)
Number
(thousands)
Index
(average
1923-25=
100.0)
1909____________________
1910____________________
1911____________________
1912____________________
1913____________________
1914____________________
1915____________________
1916___________________
9,341
9,269
9,172
9,149
9.128
9,081
9, 047
9,050
109.7
108.8
107.7
107.4
107.2
106.6
106.2
106.2
2,868
2,877
2,870
2,889
2, 905
2,919
2, 934
2,966
99.6
99.9
99.7
100.3
100.9
101.4
101. 9 •
103.0
12,209
12,146
12,042
12,038
12,033
12,000
11,981
12,016
107.1
106.6
105.7
105.6
105.6
105.3
105.1
105.4
1917..____ _____________
1918____________________
1919____________________
1920____________________
1921___________________
1922____________________
1923____________________
1924____________________
8, 856
8, 507
8, 322
8, 479
8, 511
8, 528
8,491
8, 488
104.0
99.9
97.7
99.5
99.9
100.1
99.7
99.6
2,933
2,841
2, 784
2, 883
2, 901
2, 915
2,894
2,874
101.9
98.7
96.7
100.1
100.8
101.3
100.5
99.8
11, 789
11,348
11,106
11, 362
11, 412
11,443
11, 385
11, 362
103.4
99.6
97.4
99.7
100.1
100.4
99.9
99.7
1925____________________
1926___________________
1927____________________
1928____________________
1929___________________
1930____________________
1931____________________
1932____________________
8, 577
8, 507
8, 296
8, 340
8, 305
8, 323
8, 469
8. 571
100.7
99.9
97.4
97.9
97.5
97.7
99.4
100.6
2, 869
3, 027
2, 950
2, 956
2, 984
2, 850
2, 690
2, 498
99.7
105.1
102.5
102.7
103.6
99.0
93.4
86.8
11,446
11, 534
11, 246
11, 296
11,289
11,173
11,159
11,069
100.4
101.2
98.7
99.1
99.0
98.0
97.9
97.1
1933____________________
1934____________________
1935____________________
1936____________________
1937____________________
1938____________________
1939____________________
1940________________ _
8, 590
8, 506
8,704
8, 502
8,273
8, 216
8,150
7, 995
100.8
99.9
102.2
99.8
97.1
96.4
95.7
93.9
2, 433
2, 346
2, 468
2, 495
2, 557
2, 529
2, 479
2,450
84.5
81.5
85.7
86.7
88.8
87.8
86.1
85.1
11, 023
10,852
11,172
10, 997
10,830
10, 745
10, 629
10,445
96.7
95.2
98.0
96.5
95.0
94.3
93.3
91.6
1 The annual figures are the averages of the number of persons em ployed on the first of the month. The
index numbers are computed on the 1923-25 base to correspond to the base period of employment indexes
in manufacturing.
Data are from U. S. Works Progress Administration, National Research Project, Report No. A -8: Trends
in Employment in Agriculture, 1909-36, and U. S. Department of Agriculture, Crops and Markets, January
1941.
2 The general estimates of employment here given for 1909-36 are by Eldon E. Shaw and
John A. Hopkins in U. S. Works Progress Administration National Research Project, Re
port No. A - 8 : Trends in Employment in Agriculture, 1909-36, Washington, 1938; the
later estimates are by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics. This volume contains dis
cussions of sources and methods. The estimates are computed from fragmentary data
and must be viewed as broad indications, not exact measurements, of size and trend. Esti
mates of family- workers are especially subject to error and, for reasons stated later, are
not comparable to figures of industrial employment.
180
EM PLOYMENT AND PAY-ROLL TRENDS
Most farms require little labor at certain seasons, and some, as fo r
example certain types devoted wholly to wheat raising, require no
labor except for planting and harvesting. The Census o f Agriculture
o f 1935 indicated that more than 2,000,000 farm operators worked,
fo r pay, away from their farms during a part o f the year. About
279,000 o f these worked at agricultural occupations, and about 1,484,000 worked at nonagricultural occupations. The children o f farmers
usually do some work during seasons o f peak demand fo r labor, espe
cially when these seasons do not come within the school year. W hen
not employed at farm labor, they are not properly to be considered
as unemployed. Such circumstances prevent exact comparisons o f
the number o f farm workers, especially fam ily workers, with the usual
figures o f the average employment o f industrial wage earners.
Recent extensive studies o f farm costs and income by the Depart
ment o f Agriculture have included farm wage payments. These
were studied primarily fo r making estimates o f cost items offsetting
the income o f farm operators. The estimates o f board and other
perquisites, fo r example, were made from the point o f view not o f
their value to the worker but o f their cost to the employer. Total
farm wage payments from 1909 to 1940, as calculated by the Depart
ment o f Agriculture, are given in table 2. Estimates are also there
given o f the average annual earnings o f hired farm workers. These
averages are computed from the wage data o f table 2 and from em
ployment figures in the preceding table and should be viewed not as
exact measurements but as mere approximations.
T
a b l e
2 .— E stim a ted total fa r m wage p a ym e n ts and average a n n u a l ea rn in g s o f
hired f a r m w ork ers , 1 9 0 9 to 194-0
Farm wage payments (in millions of
dollars)1
Cost of—
Year
Total
1909________________________________________________
1914____________________ ___________________________
1919________________________________________________
1920________________________________________________
1921________________________________________________
1922________________________________________________
1923________________________________________________
1924________________________________________________
1925________________________________________________
1926________________________________________________
1927________________________________________________
1928________________________________________________
1929________________________________________________
1930________________________________________________
1931________________________________________________
1932____________________________ : __________________
1933________________________________________________
1934________________________________________________
1935________________________________________________
1936________________________________________________
1937________________________________________________
1938_________________________________________ _____
1939________ _______________________________________
1940______ _________________ _______________________
$735
805
1,515
1,780
1,159
1,122
1,219
1,224
1,243
1,326
1,280
1,268
1,284
1,134
847
584
517
558
639
690
794
758
738
751
Cash
pay
ments
$522
566
1,099
1,325
841
820
902
912
924
991
955
945
955
838
618
420
366
393
449
488
570
556
542
550
Board
and
lodging
Other
perqui
sites
$130
152
258
283
208
198
206
203
200
213
210
209
213
194
160
118
104
106
117
124
138
137
135
136
$83
87
158
172
110
104
111
109
119
122
115
114
116
102
69
46
47
59
73
78
86
65
61
65
Average
earnings
of hired
farm
workers 3
$256
276
544
617
400
385
421
426
433
438
434
429
430
398
315
234
212
238
259
277
311
300
298
307
i IT. S. Department of Agriculture. Income Parity for Agriculture, Part II, Section 1, The Cost of Hired
Farm Labor, 1909-38. Washington, 1939. Figures for 1939 and 1940 were obtained from the Bureau of
Agricultural Economics. The census of 1940 indicates that cash wage payments were probably higher
than the estimates here given.
3 Calculated from total farm wage payments (the first column of this table) and the estimates of hired farm
workers given in table 1 (the preceding table).
181
EMPLOYMENT AND PAY-ROLL TRENDS
Public Employment
Changes in the number o f persons in the executive, legislative,
and judicial branches and in the military services o f the United States
Government, from 1933 to 1941, are given in the table following. A
broad general estimate o f the total number o f employees in the services
o f the Federal, State, and local governments, from 1929 to 1941, is
given in the table in the article Bureau o f Labor Estimates o f Nonagricultural Employment (p. 183).
These figures o f public employment do not include employment
resulting from the use o f public funds in the execution o f public
contracts by private individuals or agencies. Furthermore they in
clude only the administrative staffs o f certain public agencies operating
primarily for the emergency relief o f unemployment. During the
period from 1933 to 1941, these agencies include the Federal Emer
gency Belief Administration, the Civil W orks Administration, the
Civilian Conservation Corps, the W orks Progress Administration, the
W ork Projects Administration, and the National Youth Administra
tion. The persons to whom emergency relief employment was fu r
nished by these agencies are not included in the regular tables o f public
employment; and in estimates o f unemployment they are usually classi
fied as unemployed. Accounts o f the principal agencies for handling
emergency relief employment, together with tabulations showing the
amount ox employment o f this kind, are given in other sections o f this
publication.
N u m b er o f p erson s i n the executive, legislative, and ju d ic ia l depa rtm ents and in
the m ilita ry services o f the U n ited States G overn m en t, 1 9 8 3 to 1 9 4 1
[Subject to revision]
Year and month
Executive
Legislative
Judicial
M ilita ry1
1933______ ____ _______________________________
1934___________________________________________
1935___________________________________________
1936___________________________________________
1937___________________________________________
1938___________________________________________
1939___________________________________________
1940___________________________________________
587,898
677,261
778,311
843,147
850, 505
852,290
916,675
1,024,991
2 4,796
4,719
4,938
5,149
5,196
5,229
5,405
5,911
a 1,870
1,824
1,902
2,038
2,113
2,157
2, 259
2,461
* 264,135
257,948
269,478
301,148
321,612
335,415
369,243
573,147
1939—January____ _ _ _______
_______ _____ __
February____ __
________ _________
M arch_____ __ _____________ _______ __
A pril___________________________________
M a y ____________________________________
June______________ ____________________
July____________________________________
A u g u st...______ ______________________
September______________________________
October__________________ ______________
N ovem ber____ __ _ _ _ _ __ ________ .
December___ ___ ___________ ________
865, 608
875, 553
879,057
885,975
903, 754
926,415
928,865
934, 832
940,133
936, 562
935, 250
988,090
5,234
5, 284
5,292
5,315
5,336
5,353
5,432
5,532
5, 551
5,418
5,583
5, 535
2,228
2,210
2,317
2,123
2,322
2,292
2,192
2,162
2,282
2,357
2,359
2,268
339,680
340,852
344,848
350,610
354,612
363,734
376,326
372,853
376,480
386,216
402,898
421,806
1940—January_________ ______________ _______
February_____ _________________________
M arch_______ ________________ ______ _
April______________ ________ __________
M a y _____ ______________________________
June____________________________ ____
_
July_____________________. ______________
August_______________ ________________
September_____ __________
______
October_________________ ____ __________
N ovem ber_____ ______
_______________
December_______________________________
939, 296
939, 396
949,418
959, 972
980,801
1,014,117
1, 026, 572
1,039, 996
1, 059, 984
1,091,931
1,114, 068
1,184, 344
5,889
5,883
5,860
5,882
5,851
5,886
5,985
6, Oil
5, 938
5,892
5,932
5,921
2,360
2,379
2,379
2,480
2,499
2,468
2, 535
2,482
2, 518
2,529
2,391
2,514
434,745
449,776
456,802
460,969
464, 111
473,680
515,822
549,290
633, 589
733,220
821,662
884,094
See footnotes at end of table.
3 2 8 1 1 2 — 4 2 — VOL. I--------13
182
EMPLOYMENT AND PAY-ROLL TRENDS
N u m b e r o f p erson s in the executive , legislative , an d ju d ic ia l d ep a rtm en ts a n d in
the m ilita ry services o f the U n ited S tates G o vern m en t , 1 9 3 3 to 1 9 4 1 — Continued
Year and month
1941—January. __
F ebruary..
M arch____
A pril.........
M a y .........
June........ .
J u ly ..........
August----September.
October___
Executive
1,153,431
1,173,152
1,202,348
1, 251,283
1,306,333
1, 370,110
1, 391,689
1,444.985
1,487.925
1, 512,428
Legislative
Judicial
5,985
5,921
6,033
6,015
6,055
6,132
6,142
6,048
6.279
6,242
M ilita ry 1
2,507
2,505
2,509
2, 505
2,517
2, 526
2,637
2,578
2,571
2,569
i M ilitary services include Arm y, N avy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.
* Average for N ovem ber and December; other years, average for the 12 months.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Estimates of
Nonagricultural Employment
Tw o series o f estimates o f nonagricultural employment are com
piled monthly by the Bureau o f Labor Statistics. The first, “ total
civil nonagricultural employment,” shows the estimated total number
o f persons engaged in gainful work in the United States in nonagri
cultural industries, including proprietors and firm members, selfemployed persons, casual workers, and domestic servants. The second
series, described as “ employees in nonagricultural establishments,” is
limited to employees only and does not include proprietors and firm
members, self-employed persons, casual workers, or domestic servants.
Persons employed on W P A and N Y A projects, enrollees in CCG
camps, and military and naval forces are not included. Table 1 shows
annual figures for each series from 1929 to 1940, and monthly figures
from July 1940 to August 1941. The estimates for “ employees in non
agricultural establishments” are shown separately for each o f seven
m ajor industry grou ps: (1) Manufacturing, (2) mining, (3) construc
tion, (4) transportation and public utilities, (5) trade, (6) financial,
service, and miscellaneous, and (7) government. Data for the military
and naval forces, which are excluded from the employment estimates,
are also shown.
The totals fo r the United States are based on the figures shown by
the 1930 Census o f Occupations for the number o f nonagricultural
“ gainful workers,” minus the number shown to have been unemployed
for one week or more at the time o f the census. In general, they follow
the movements and trends shown by the Bureau’s employment indexes
adjusted periodically to the various industrial censuses and the more
recent social security tabulations. The series will be subject to revi
sion as additional data, from the 1939 industrial censuses and from the
1940 Census o f Occupations, become available.
183
ESTIMATES OF NONAGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT
E stim a tes o f total nonagricuU ural e m p lo ym en t and em p lo ym en t i n nonagricultural
esta blish m en ts , 1 9 2 9 to 1 9 4 0 and J u l y 1 9 4 0 to A u g u s t 1 9 4 1
M ilitary
Finan
Federal, and
Trans
naval
cial serv
State,
Con portation
M anu M in
factur ing and struc and pub Trade ice, and and local per
govern son
miscel
related tion
ing
lic util
nel
laneous
ments
ities
Em ploym ent (in thousands) in nonagricultural establishments 2
Year and month
Total 1
1929......................
1930...........- ............
1931..........................
1932....................... .
1933..........................
1934.........................
36,448
34,177
31,256
28,035
28,222
30,632
31,804
33,868
35,561
33,362
34,624
35,756
30,589 10,203
28,346 9,087
25, 531 7,751
22,452 6,571
22,672 7,036
2< 877 8,112
25,965 8,641
27,824 9,350
29,442 10,273
27,229 8,827
28,480 9,544
29,613 10,170
1,064
982
847
706
714
844
855
896
949
834
791
847
1,806
1,422
1,236
821
755
840
908
1,211
1,148
1,001
1,241
1,337
3,878
3,647
3,221
2,789
2,647
2,727
2,762
2,944
3,102
2,835
2,934
3,024
6,404
6.065
5,530
4,914
4,941
5,476
5,669
5,941
6,233
6,012
6,144
6,266
4,147
4,028
3,782
3,471
3,422
3,627
3,771
3,978
4,144
4,059
4,119
4,173
3,087
3,117
3,166
3,180
3,156
3,251
3,359
3,504
3,593
3,662
3,708
3,797
262
263
260
254
252
258
269
301
322
335
369
573
35,454
35,902
36, 528
36,867
36,986
37,608
29,311
29,759
30,385
30,724
30,843
31,465
9,832
10,163
10,479
10,668
10,735
10,856
837
839
846
856
853
855
1,378
1,443
1,511
1,654
1,709
1,720
3,059
3,081
3,120
3,121
3,065
3,039
6,159
6,168
6,321
6,362
6,433
6,884
4,218
4,226
4,255
4,187
4,167
4,180
3,828
3,839
3,853
3,876
3,881
3,931
516
549
634
733
822
884
36,621
36,928
37,227
37,676
38,306
38,860
39,281
39, 626
30,478
30,785
31,084
31,533
32,163
32,717
33,138
33,483
10,797
10,982
11,152
11,370
11,537
11,777
11,995
12,168
852
854
864
564
862
876
888
900
1,623
1,678
1,631
1,775
1,782
1,816
1,895
1,921
3,012
3,028
3,056
3,113
3,185
3,239
3,290
3, 326
6,165
6,173
6,259
6,463
6,421
6,530
6, 512
6,564
4,142
4,164
4,187
4,265
4,327
4, 353
4,394
4,394
3,887
3,906
3,935
3,983
4,049
4,126
4,164
4,210
958
1,145
1, 343
1,546
1,662
1,740
1,857
1,944
1935..........................
1936— . ...................
1937-........................
1938-........................
1939........- ................
1940..........................
Total
1940
J u ly.-------------------August___________
S eptem ber............
October__________
N ovem ber_______
December________
1941
January— .............
February................
M arch.....................
A pril........................
M a y ........................
June........................
July.....................
August....................
1 Includes proprietors, firm members, self-employed persons, casual workers, and domestic servants.
Does not include military and naval personnel.
2 Excludes self-employed persons, casual workers, domestic servants, and military and naval personnel
*+##++#«
WPA Estimates of Employment and Unemployment
The W P A estimates o f employment and unemployment are based
on a monthly survey o f a carefully selected cross section o f the popula
tion. The same definitions and in general the same enumeration p ro
cedures are used as were used in the population census o f 1940. These
estimates begin with A pril 1940 and are shown by months in table 1.
T
able
1 .—
E stim a ted civilian labor fo r c e, e m p lo ym en t , and u n e m p lo ym en t,
A p r i l 1 9 4 0 to October 1 9 4 1
Estimated number (mil
lions of persons)
M onth and year
Labor
force
Em
ployed
53.9
54. 7
56.3
57. 0
56.7
55.2
54.8
53.9
53.2
45.1
46.3
47.7
47. 7
47.8
48.1
47.4
46.3
46.1
Unem
ployed 1
1 9 40
A pril...... ............................
M a y _________ ____ _____
June............................... .....
J u l y - - ..........................—
August........ .......................
September..........................
October..............................
N o v e m b e r_______ _____
December .........................
Estimated number (mil
lions of persons)
M onth and year
Labor
force
Em
Unem
ployed ployed 1
1941
8.8
8.4
8.6
9.3
8.9
7.1
7.4
7.6
7.1
January
February
M arch.
April
_ _
M a y______ _
June...................................
J uly...... ..................... .........
August
September_____ _______
October__________ ______
52. 8
52. 7
52.4
53. 3
54.0
55. 7
56.0
55. 8
54. 3
53.5
45.2
45.5
45. 6
46. 7
48.3
49.8
50.4
50. 5
49.8
49.6
Includes persons on public emergency work projects, including N Y A student work projects.
7. 5
7.2
Q, 8
6! 6
5. 7
5.9
5.6
5.3
4. 5
3.9
184
EMPLOYMENT AND PAY-ROLL TRENDS
The W P A estimates o f employment as presented in the second
column o f table 1 are broader in scope than those o f the Bureau o f
Labor Statistics (given in the preceding article) in that they include
farm employment as well as persons in nonagricultural pursuits.
The Bureau’s estimates o f nonagricultural employment provide a
means o f throwing into proper perspective the significant fluctuations
in basic industrial and business employment, where changes are
measured currently with a high degree o f accuracy. The W P A
monthly sample survey o f individual households, on the other hand,
utilizes the only satisfactory method o f directly measuring the fluc
tuations in the size o f the labor force and in unemployment, and
reflects in the employment total the changes resulting from the m is
cellaneous temporary activities o f students during the summer vaca
tion period, which because o f their irregular and casual nature are not
caught directly by the reporting techniques employed by the Bureau
o f Labor Statistics.
Comparison W ith 1940 Census
In order to make possible direct comparison with census figures,
the A pril 1940 survey was arranged to coincide with the census date.
Comparisons between the two sets.of data indicate fairly close agree
ment, as shown in the follow ing figures. There is only an insignifi
cant difference between employment totals shown by the two surveys,
though the W P A unemployment and labor-force figures are both
somewhat higher than the preliminary census estimates. Part o f
this difference appears to be due to the fairly large group whose labormarket status was reported as “ unknown” in the preliminary census
reports. Moreover, the census total for public emergency workers
was about 1 million less than the number on the pay rolls o f Federal
emergency work agencies at the time o f the census, while the similar
undercount in the W P A survey appears to have been considerably
smaller. Final tabulations by the census will probably reduce the
number o f unknown and misclassified items, and thereby bring the
two sets o f data into closer agreement.
WPA
(millions)
Census1
( millions)
Total noninstitutional civilian population 14 years of age and
older________________________________________________________________ 99. 4
99. 4
Labor force___________________________________________________________
Employed__________________________________________ ______________
At work_____________________________________________________
Not at work but having jobs---------------------------------------------Unemployed_____________________________________________________
On public emergency work-------------------------------------------------Seeking work_______________________________________________
Not in labor force___________________________________________________
Engaged in home housework___________________________________
At school________________________________________________________
Unable to work_________________________________________________
53. 9
45.1
43. 7
1. 4
8. 8
2. 7
6 .1
45. 4
29. 4
9. 3
5 .1
52. 5
45. 0
43. 7
T. 3
7. 5
2. 4
5 .1
45.1
28. 8
9 .1
5. 2
O th er________________________________________________________
1. 6
2. 0
.1
1 .8
Labor-market status
unknown____________________________________
1 Sixteenth Census o f th e U nited States, 1940, R elease P -4 , No. 5.
(A p ril 25, 194 1 .)
F igu res fo r to ta l pop u la tion , la bor force, and em ployed exclude an estim ated 355 000 men
in th e arm ed fo rce s in c o n tin e n ta l U n ited S tates. F ig u re s fo r to ta l p o p u la tio n and p erson s
n ot in la bor force exclu d e 1,226,000 persons in in stitu tion s.
Employment Conditions
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics: 1941 Edition.
185
Preliminary Census Report on Employment, Unem-*
ployment, and the Labor Force, March 1940
There were 52,841,000 workers in the labor force in the United
States during the week o f March 24^-30, 1940, according to prelim
inary figures compiled by the Bureau o f the Census, United States
Department o f Commerce. These workers were classified as follow s:
44,353,000 were employed on private or nonemergency Government
w ork; 2,906,000 were employed on public emergency projects (W P A ,
N Y A , and C C C ), excluding those enrolled in the N Y A student-work
program, the number when these are included being 3,378,000; and
5,110,000, without any form o f public or private employment, were
seeking work.1
The preliminary census tabulations indicate a tendency to classify
incorrectly some o f the workers employed on public emergency p roj
ects. Some emergency workers probably reported themselves as em
ployed on nonemergency Government work or even on private work,
and there was frequent uncertainty in the minds o f workers and their
families or o f the census enumerators concerning the proper classi
fication o f certain types o f project work. The figures given above are
therefore adjusted to take account o f the numbers engaged on public
emergency projects as shown by the records o f these projects.
The 1940 census o f employment differs in important respects from
the 1930 occupational census. In 1940, the term “ labor force” was
used in place o f the term “ gainful workers” or persons with “ gainful
occupations.” In the 1930 census, gainful workers were persons re
ported as follow ing a gainful occupation— that is, “ an occupation by
which the person who pursues it earns money or a money equivalent,
or in which he assists in the production o f marketable goods”— re
gardless o f whether the persons were working or even seeking work at
the time o f the census. The concept o f the labor force in 1940 included
only those persons who, in the week o f the census (March 24-30), were
actually working or were seeking work or had a job at which they
were not actually working during the census week because o f vacation,
illness, or other temporary conditions. The labor force as defined
in 1940 thus excluded certain types o f persons, such as retired persons,
some inmates o f institutions, persons recently disabled, and (par
ticularly important) inactive seasonal workers who were ordinarily
included in the earlier censuses under the definition o f gainful workers.
The labor force, however, was defined to include persons seeking work
without previous work experience; that is, new workers. The term
“ labor force” is more specific than the term “ gainful workers” and may
1 U . S. D ep a rtm en t o f C om m erce.
B u rea u o f th e C ensus.
S eries P - 4 , N os. 1 - 6 .
A
p relim in a ry su m m a ry a p p eared in th e M on th ly L a b or R e v ie w f o r J a n u a ry 1941 (p . 1 0 2 ).
T h e m on th ly series o f W P A estim a tes o f u n em p loym en t b e g in n in g in A p ril 1940 an d lin k e d
Soot*cS»n\ensS? ^ata w a s d escrib ed in th e M on th ly L a b o r R e v ie w f o r O cto b e r 1941 (p p .
8 9 3 8 9 9 ). F o r a su m m a ry o f th is a rtic le , see a n oth er s e ctio n o f th is volu m e.
187
188
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
be used to take account o f the variable number o f persons available
fo r employment, as for example, the considerable number o f persons
o f school age who work in vacation periods. It is this flexible concept
that was used in the development o f the W P A ’s monthly estimates o f
the labor force, the number o f persons employed, and the member
unemployed.
The preliminary census reports indicate that in March 1940 52.3
percent o f the total population 14 years old and over were in the labor
force at that time. The number employed, except on public emer
gency work, form ed 83.9 percent o f the total labor fo rce ; the number
employed on public emergency projects, including the N Y A studentwork program, formed 6.4 percent; and the number seeking work
(5,110,000), 9.7 percent.
The population 14 years o f age and over not a part o f the labor
force consisted o f 48,131,000 persons, representing 47.7 percent o f the
total population 14 years old and over. These included 28,838,000
persons engaged in home housework, 9,071,000 persons attending
school, 5,220,000 persons unable to work, 1,226,000 inmates o f institu
tions, 1,986,000 persons who for other reasons were not working or
seeking work, and 1,789,000 persons whose employment status during
the census week could not be determined. It is believed that the
m ajority o f the group whose status could not be determined were not
in the labor force. Tabulations o f the final data will provide in for
mation on the basis o f which the employment status o f most o f the
persons in this group can be established with substantial accuracy.
*+#####*
National Unemployment Census, 1937
A census o f partial and total unemployment in the United States
was conducted November 16 to November 20, 1937, under authority
o f an act o f Congress approved August 30, 1937. The undertaking
was carried out by a temporary organization created by the act, o f
which John D. Biggers was appointed administrator. The legisla
tion provided that the furnishing o f the information should be vol
untary— a voluntary registration offering the possibility o f securing
essential data more expeditiously and at less cost than a national
enumerative census. However, from the very beginning it was
realized that entire reliance could not be placed on the voluntary
registration o f the unemployed, and an enumerative test census o f
1,950,000 people representing a cross section o f the United States was
conducted for the purpose o f appraising the completeness and ac
curacy o f the voluntary registration. This test census indicated that
the voluntary registration November 16 to 20, 1937, o f totally unem
ployed (including emergency w orkers), was 72 percent complete. A l
low ing fo r the variation between results o f the two censuses, it was
estimated that the maximum number who regarded themselves as
unemployed was approximately 10,870,000.
NATIONAL UNEM PLOYMENT CENSUS,
189
193 7
The final report o f the returns o f the voluntary registration was
published in three volumes, the first being the source o f the present
article.1
O f the 7,845,016 persons voluntarily registered as unemployed, 2,011,615 were workers on emergency relief programs. The number o f
females who reported themselves as totally unemployed or on emer
gency relief work in the voluntary registration, and who are in
cluded in the totally unemployed, was 2,028,041.
The number in the 48 States and the District o f Columbia regis
tered as totally unemployed and wanting work (not including persons
on emergency work) was 5,833,401. The registration was as low as
3,085 in Nevada and as high as 765,039 in New York. Slightly over
one-half o f the unemployed wanting work were in 8 States— New
Y ork (765,039), Pennsylvania (568,214), Illinois (339,307), Ohio
(305,275), California (258,750), Massachusetts (248,833), Texas
(229,502), and New Jersey (216,695), as reported in table 1.
T
a b l e
1 ,—
P e rs o n s
who registered in the 1 9 3 7 u n e m p lo ym en t census
u n em p lo yed or on em erg en cy w ork
Unemployed, including
emergency workers
Totally unemployed
as totally
Emergency workers
Division and State
Total
Males
Females
Total
Males
Females
Total
Males
Fe
males
United States......... ... 7,845,016 5,816,975 2,028,041 5,833, 401 4,143,194 1,690 207 2,011,615 1,673,781 337,834
New England__
565,394|1 395,431 169,963 436,166 289,895 146, 271 129,228 105, 536 23,692
M iddle Atlantic. 2,012,471 1,508,346 504,125 1,549,948 1,109,691 440, 257 462,523 398,655 63,868
East North Cen
tral___________ 1,469, 281 1,139,422 329,859 1,086,048 802, 698 283, 50 383,233 336, 724 46,509
West North Cen
tral___________
753, 271 582, 506 170,765 514,875 382,079 132,796 238,396 200,427 37,9*9
South A tlantic.. .
868,660 578,833 289,827 649,988 411, 734 238,254 218,672 167.099 51,573
East South Cen
654, 567 460,865 193,702 499,896 334, 563 165,333 154,671 126,302 28,369
tral___________
West South Cen
736,526 546,608 189,918 533.409 386,156 147, 253 203,117 160,452 42,665
tral___________
44,663 155,617 125,373
30. 244
84,665
70. 246 14,419
240, 282 195,619
Mountain ____
544,564 409,345 135,219 407,454 301,005 106,449 137,110, 108,340 28, 770
Pacific__________
N ew England:
M aine_________
N ew Hampshire.
V erm ont______
Massachusetts- __
Rhode Island___
C onnecticu t.. __
M iddle Atlantic:
N ew Y ork ____ _
N ew Jersey __
Pennsylvania___
East North Central:
Ohio____________
Indiana_______ .
Illinois__________
M ichigan. ______
W isconsin______
West North Central:
M innesota.__ ___
I o w a . . . _______
Missouri________
North D akota. __
South D akota. __
Nebraska_______
Kansas____ ____
43, 903
32,259
14,334
327, 907
58, 568
88,423
32,821
21, 722
10,975
225,412
39,916
64,585
11,082
10,537
3,359
102,495
18,652
23,838
37,844
25,600
10.181
248,833
43,678
70,030
27, 586
16,394
7, 596
162, 232
27,438
48,649
10, 258
9,206
2,585
86, 601
16. 240
21,381
6,059
6,659
4,153
79,074
14,890
18,393
824
5, 235
5,328 1,331
774
3,379
63,180 15,894
12,478 2,412
15,936 2,457
972, 522
287,424
752,525
718,408
216, 485
573,453
254,114
70,939
179,072
765,039
216,695
568,214
538, 776
155, 751
415,164
226, 263
60,944
153,050
207,483
70, 729
184,311
179,632 27,851
60,734 9,995
158,289 26,022
411,069
186, 667
462,318
249, 709
159,518
316,183
145, 778
354,027
195,327
128,107
94,886
40,889
108. 291
54,382
31,411
305, 275
133, 229
339,307
195,533
112, 704
223,307
97,708
246,446
147,569
87,668
81,968
35,521
92,861
47, 964
25,036
105,794
53,438
123,011
54,176
46,814
92,876 12,918
48,070 5,368
107, 581 15,430
47,758 6,418
40,439 6,375
144, 288
85, 561
256,892
45,774
50,181
71,056
99,519
114, 721
67,335
189,323
37, 964
40,151
55,715
77, 297
29, 567
18,226
67, 569
7,810
10,030
15,341
22, 222
98,495
61,676
192,166
27,009
26, 296
44,839
64,394
75, 524
46,874
133,840
22,378
20, 711
33,478
49, 274
22,971
14,802
58,326
4,631
5, 585
11, 361
15,120 '
45, 793
23,885
64, 726
18, 765
23,885
26, 217
35,125
39,197
20,461
55, 483
15, 586
19,440
22, 237
28,023
6,596
3,424
9, 243
3,179
4,445
3,980
7,102
1 United States. Census of Partial Employment, Unemployment and Occupations, 1937.
Final R eport: Vol. I, United States Summary, Geographic Divisions, and States from
Alabama to Indiana; Vol. II, States from Iowa to New Y ork ; Vol. I ll, States from North
Carolina to Wyoming, Alaska, and Hawaii. Washington, 1938.
190
T
a b l e
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
1. —
P e rs o n s who registered i n the 1 9 3 7 u n e m p lo ym en t cen su s as totally
u n e m p lo y e d or on em erg en cy w ork — Continued
Unemployed, including
emergency workers
Totally unemployed
Emergency workers
Division and State
Total
South Atlantic:
D ela w a re ______
M a ry lan d-__ . . .
District of Colum bia________
V ir g i n i a .______
W est Virginia___
North Carolina._
South Carolina. .
Georgia......... ...
Florida_________
East South Central:
Kentucky . . . _
Tennessee_____
Alabam a________
Mississippi_____
W est South Central:
Arkansas_______
Louisiana_______
Oklahoma______
Texas___________
Mountain:
M ontana_______
Idaho___________
W yom ing_______
Colorado..............
N ew M exico____
A rizo n a ____ . . .
U tah___________
N evada_________
Pacific:
W ashington_____
Oregon_________
California_____ _
Males
Females
Total
Males
Females
Total
Males
Fe
males
11,337
71,546
8,370
53,030
2,967
18,516
9,017
58,341
6,598
41,555
2.419
16,786
2,320
13,205
1,772
11,475
548
1,730
47,416
112,878
121,594
126,351
103,560
167, 210
106, 768
26,046
73,935
99,383
77,892
65,616
106,193
68,368
21,370
38,943
22, 211
48,459
37,944
61,017
38,400
37,615
84, 720
87, 217
95, 268
73,715
130,661
73,434
19,058
53,510
69,932
55,384
44,428
78,626
42,643
18,557
31,210
17. 285
39,884
29. 287
52,035
30,791
9,801
28.158
34,377
31,083
29,845
36,549
33,334
6,988
20,425
29,451
22, 508
21,188
27, 567
25, 725
2,813
7,733
4,926
8, 575
8,657
8,982
7,609
198,187
148,891
188,307
119,182
143,966
104, 503
129.051
83,345
54, 221
44,388
59, 256
35,837
143, 502
116,810
149, 778
89,806
98,651
76, 702
98,355
60,855
44,851
40.108
51,423
28,951
54, 685
32,081
38, 529
29,376
45,315
27,801
30,696
22,490
9,370
4,280
7,833
6,886
126,533
130,353
173,605
306.035
97,038
96,427
134, 466
218, 677
29,495
33,926
39,139
87,358
92, 269
97, 281
114,357
229,502
67,930
69,410
85,838
162,978
24,339
27,871
28,519
66,524
34. 264
33,072
59, 248
76, 533
29,108 5,156
27.017 6,055
48,628 10,620
55,699 20,834
48,626
25,868
10. 901
67, 708
30,836
21, 585
29,919
4,839
40,423
21,973
8, 733
52,071
26, 741
17, 440
24, 289
3,949
8,203
3,895
2,168
15,637
4,095
4,145
5,630
890
28,415
18, 597
7,680
44, 568
21,287
13,069
18,916
3,085
22,903
15, 770
6, 369
34,156
18,346
10. 227
15.036
2,566
5,512
2,827
1,311
10,412
2,941
2,842
3,880
519
20, 211
7,271
3, 221
23,140
9,549
8,516
11,003
1, 754
17, 520
6, 203
2,364
17,915
8,395
7,213
9,253
1,383
121,334
73,005
350,225
98, 528
59,006
251,811
22,806
13,999
98,414
90, 272
58, 432
258, 750
71,621
46,646
182, 738
18, 651
11, 786
76,012
31,062
14,573
91,475
26,907 4,155
12,360 2, 213
69,073 22,402
2,691
1,068
857
5,225
1,154
1,303
1,750
371
Persons Partly Unemployed
Persons who registered as partly employed and wanting more work
numbered 3,219,502, o f whom 2,657,917 were males and 561,585 were
females. That the voluntary registration o f those partly unemployed
was only 57 percent complete was indicated by the subsequent test
census. The Middle Atlantic States, including New Y ork, New Jer
sey and Pennsylvania had the largest number o f partly unemployed,
totaling 718,145, o f which number 584,987 were males and 133,158 were
females. New Y ork had the highest State total o f partly employed
who wanted more work— 322,161, including 253,156 males and 69,005
females. Pennsylvania was second with a total o f 301,087, o f whom
258,473 were males and 42,614 were females. The registration returns,
showing partially unemployed by geographical divisions and States,
are given in table 2.
UNEMPLOYMENT IN A DEPRESSED COAL-MINING AREA
T able
P erson s
Division and State
who registered i n the 1 9 3 7
u n e m p lo ye d
Total
Males
United States__________ 3,219,502 2,657,917
New England______ 265,656 195, 990
M iddle Atlantic___
718,145 584,987
East North Central. 580,755 501,421
West North Central. 307,875 264,525
South Atlantic_____
405,716 314,760
East South Central.
302,684 250,295
W est South Central. 336,870 286,941
M ountain_________
84,602
75, 631
217,199 183,367
Pacific_____________
N ew England:
M a in e _____ ______
N ew Hampshire___
Verm ont___________
Massachusetts_____
Rhode Island___ __
C onnecticu t.............
M iddle Atlantic:
New York _ . . . . .
New Jersey______ _
Pennsylvania. ___
East North Central:
Ohio_______________
Indiana____________
Illinois___________
M ichigan__________
W isconsin_________
W est North Central:
Minnesota_________
Iowa_______________
Missouri____ ______
North D akota..........
South Dakota........
N eb ra sk a ..............
Kansas_______ ____
Fe
males
561, 585
69,666
133,158
79,334
43,350
90,956
52,389
49,929
8,971
33,832
29,089
21, 659
7,890
136,111
28,276
42,631
23,727 5,362
15,937 5,722
6,587 1,303
98, 553 37,558
18,376 9,900
32,810 9,821
322,161
94,897
301,087
253,156 69,005
73,358 21,539
258,473 42,614
178,592
86,693
163,173
89,025
63,272
154,677
75,966
138,892
77, 281
54,605
56,137
50,487
104,695
12, 576
15,202
29,669
39,109
23,915
10,727
24,281
11,744
8,667
48, 556 7, 581
44,130 6,357
87,529 17,166
11.283 1,293
13,400 1,802
25, 650 4,019
33,977 5,132
u n e m p lo ym en t cen su s
Division and State
South Atlantic:
Delaware_________
Maryland-----------District of Columbia.
Virginia_T________
West Virginia_____
North Carolina___
South Carolina____
Georgia___ ______
Florida__________
East South Central:
Kentucky________
Tennessee________
Alabama_________
Mississippi____ _
West South Central:
Arkansas_________
Louisiana________
Oklahoma________
Texas.._ ________
Mountain:
Montana_________
Idaho..---------------Wyoming________
Colorado_________
New Mexico_____
Arizona__________
Utah____________
Nevada__________
Pacific:
Washington............
Oregon------ ------California________
Total
4, 329
28,069
12,174
53,442
37,839
79,522
51, 559
88,064
50,718
191
as p a rtly
Males
3,511
22, 765
7,258
43,149
34,282
58,517
39,687
66,239
39,352
Fe
males
818
5, 304
4,916
10,293
3,557
21,005
11,872
21,825
11,366
63,752
69,314
104,031
65, 587
54,080 9,672
57,344 11,970
84,268 19, 763
54,603 10,984
67,497
61,252
61,693
146,428
58,647 8,850
51, 709 9, 543
53, 580 8,113
123,005 23,423
13,669
12,735
4,814
23,867
7,987
6,549
13,607
1,374
49,860
31,329
136,010
12,267
11,709
4,366
20,975
7,175
5,666
12,249
1,226
1,402
1,026
448
2,892
814
883
1,358
148
43,981 5,879
27,332 3,997
112,054 23,956
Unemployment in a Depressed Coal-Mining A re a 1
Pronounced differences in the severity o f unemployment are to be
found within as well as between the m ajor industrial areas o f the
country. In some o f the more populous States deep pockets o f un
employment exist and persist almost unnoted because o f the small
weight they have in determining State unemployment totals. Thus,
the Unemployment Registration Census o f 1937 showed that unem
ployment was i y 2 to more than 2 times as severe in the coal-producing
counties o f southern Illinois as it was in the State as a whole. When
further inquiry shows that these “ black spots” o f unemployment are
the result o f economic dislocations peculiar to the locality, the un
usually high rate of unemployment implies the existence o f what may
well be called a “ problem” or “ depressed” area.
In the survey o f the southern Illinois coal fields extensive use was
made o f newspaper files, mortgage foreclosures, real-estate transfers,
production, and court records, pay rolls, corporation accounts, and
1Abstract of an article by John N. Webb, Division of Research, Works Progress Ad
ministration, in the Monthly Labor Review for December 1039 (p. 1 2 9 5 ). This article
was based upon an unemployment census taken in connection with a survey of the de
pressed coal-mining area of southern Illinois made by the Division of Research, W P A .
For a preliminary report on this survey, see W ork Projects Administration, Seven De
pressed Coal Towns, by Malcolm Brown and John N. Webb, Washington, 1939.
192
EM PLOYMENT CONDITIONS
similar sources o f year-by-year events. One essential type o f in for
mation, however, could not be obtained from any existing source: The
amount and the duration o f unemployment among the coal miners
at the time o f the survey; and the personal characteristics, fam ily
composition, dependence upon public assistance, and allied data for
the total population.
One o f the first steps taken in this survey, therefore, was a census
o f unemployment and population. Seven towns in three counties
were selected. The towns chosen were Herrin, Johnston City, and
Bush in Williamson County; West Frankfort and Zeigler in Franklin
County; and Eldorado and Carriers Mills in Saline County. A
census o f their inhabitants was begun in December 1938 and com
pleted in March 1939. The results o f that census are reported in
this article.
In order to bring out the aspects o f unemployment that are charac
teristic o f a depressed area, frequent comparison will be made be
tween the figures obtained from the 7-town census and figures from 3
cities— Birmingham, Ala., Toledo, Ohio, and San Francisco, Calif.—
having more nearly normal economic conditions, wherein a com
parable survey o f unemployment was made at about the same time.
T otal Population
The population o f the seven towns had either declined or remained
almost stationary during the 9 years follow ing the Federal Census
o f 1930. Four o f the 7 towns had lost a total o f 3,451 persons,
and in the other 3 (Bush, Carriers Mills, and Eldorado) the increase
totaled only 286 persons. The net loss in all 7 towns was 8 percent
over the 9-year period.
Koughly, two out o f five persons in the population o f all o f the
towns except Bush (one out o f three) were found to be workers, that
is, they came within one o f three categories— employed persons, un
employed persons actively seeking work, or persons normally em
ployed but temporarily neither working nor seeking work.
Compared with the labor force o f the three cities o f Birmingham,
Toledo, and San Francisco, in which a survey o f unemploymeilt was
made at about the same time, the labor force o f the seven coal towns
form ed a distinctly smaller proportion o f the total population. The
difference, however, was largely explained by a much smaller per
centage o f women in the labor supply o f the coal towns.
Extent of Unem ploym ent
Over two-fifths o f the labor force o f the seven coal towns was un
employed at the time the census was taken. Large as it is, this figure
does not tell the whole story. The census was taken during the peak
months o f seasonal activity in the mines.2 In addition, this figure
does not report underemployment (divided time) which was par2 An index of seasonal variation in coal tonnage produced in Franklin, Saline, and
Williamson Counties for the 15-year period 1922-37 shows that the peak of activity
occurs between October and March, and the low point between April and August. Peak
activity is regularly more than double the activity at the slack period. The census of the
seven coal towns in these counties was started in December 1938 and completed in March
1939.
193
UNEM PLOYMENT IN A DEPRESSED COAL-MINING AREA
ticularly prevalent in the mines that were still operating. The labor
force o i the seven towns, and percentage o f total unemployment as
well as that for each sex, are shown in table 1.
T a b l e 1. — S ize of labor force and percent unemployed , by sex , in 7 towns in southern
Illin ois coal fields
Total labor
force
Town
Percent unemployed
Men
Total
Women
All 7 towns_______________ ____ ______ ______ _______
15,698
42
40
48
Bush___ __ ______ _____ ___________ ___ _________
Johnston City______________________________ _______
Carriers Mills_____________ ______________ _______
Herrin.__ _ _ _________ ______ _______ _ __________
West Frankfort_______________ ___________________
Zeigler__________________________________ ________
Eldorado___________________ ________ __________
219
2,120
869
4,087
5.226
1,225
1,952
80
60
45
38
38
37
35
79
60
42
37
37
33
30
84
58
56
45
41
55
50
About 40 percent o f the men in the labor supply and 48 percent
o f the"women were out o f work.
Underemployment can be nearly as serious as complete lack o f
work. In the coal mines o f southern Illinois “ divided time” is a very
common practice o f spreading what work does exist. In fact, this
device has become so much a policy o f the miners’ union that it is
frequently included in the working contract with the operators. The
extensive practice o f divided time in the seven towns is clearly shown
by a comparison o f the 22 percent o f underemployment (i. e., less
than 30 hours per w eek)3 there t^ith 14 percent in Birmingham, 12 per
cent in Toledo, and 11 percent in San Francisco.
T h e Unemployed
The unemployed o f the seven towns— 42 percent o f the labor force—
fell readily into three easily distinguished groups. By far the largest
group was employed on the W orks P rogram ; 4 three out o f five
unemployed workers had such jobs.
The proportion o f unemployed workers on the W orks Program was
unusually high in the seven towns. F or the country as a whole an
estimated 20 to 25 percent o f the unemployed had W orks Program
jobs at about the same time the figures fo r the southern Illinois coal
towns and the three cities were secured. In contrast, the smallest
percentage among the seven coal towns was 51 percent in West Frank
fort, and the largest was 73 percent in Bush.
The extremely high proportion o f employed workers on the W orks
Program in the seven coal towns is another indication o f the de
pressed nature o f the area in which they are located. The turn-over
o f workers is lo w ; the hard core o f unemployment is unduly large;
and the normal activities o f job seeking on the part o f the unem
ployed have little chance o f success.
3 Since only 60 percent o f the total labor was employed in private industry, the amount
of underemployment rises to 38 percent when computed on the basis of workers with jobs.
4 As used here, this term includes the W PA, NYA, CCC, and other emergency work pro
grams o f the Federal Government. Of these, the W PA is by far the largest.
194
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
Active job seekers who had neither private nor W orks Program
employment made up the second largest group among the unem
ployed in the seven towns. About one-quarter (26 percent) o f the
unemployed were in this group, approximately one-half the pro
portion that was found in Birmingham, Toledo, and San Francisco.
One reason for this marked contrast in groupings among the unem
ployed will be evident when data on duration o f unemployment are
presented.5
The third group among the unemployed was made up o f jobless
workers who were temporarily out o f the labor market. In the seven
coal towns about one-seventh o f the unemployed were inactive at
the time o f the census. This is a distinctly smaller proportion than
will be found in most communities.
T o an important degree, the smaller proportion o f inactive workers
among the unemployed o f the coal towns is related to the very large
proportion o f unemployed workers on the W orks Program. W ere it
not that the W orks Program provided jobs for so large a number o f
the unemployed, the proportion o f inactive workers would undoubt
edly have been much larger.
Nearly half o f the inactive unemployed were neither working nor
looking fo r work during the week o f the census because they were
convinced that there were no jobs to be had. W ith the principal
industry, mining, offering less and less in the way o f job opportuni
ties, many o f the displaced miners turned to the W orks Program as
the only alternative to an enforced idleness. Miners, particularly the
older ones, found themselves with a particular skill that was o f no
use any place except the mines. Even i f alternative employment were
available, the chances o f their being acceptable to other industries were
remote because o f the large surplus o f younger workers in the area.
Second in importance as a reason for workers becoming inactive in
the seven towns was temporary illness or disability. This is a reason
found in every community.
The remaining reasons for inactive workers in the seven coal towns
were largely industrial in nature. Some workers with jobs in private
employment were not working during the census week because o f
machinery break-down, shortage o f material, bad weather, etc. Like
wise, some workers were on temporary lay-off and would return to
their jobs shortly. A few workers with jobs in seasonal industries
were waiting for the resumption o f normal activity.
Age and Unemploym ent
The younger and the older workers suffer most from unemploy
ment. The young lack experience, and in an overcrowded labor mar
ket many employers are reluctant to make the small investment re
quired for training a new worker. The old, on the contrary, have
experience but, in the judgment o f many companies, experience does
not compensate fo r a decline in physical vigor and, particularly with
miners, for the cost o f retraining. The older worker is the one worst
hit by mechanization o f mining, in which the substitution o f mechani
cal fo r manual operations has made great strides. When men are
2 See p. 195.
UNEM PLOYMENT IN A DEPRESSED COAL-MINING AREA
195
replaced by machines some manual workers must be taught machine
operation. Not only is there a general belief that the older worker
is slow to learn “ new tricks,” but when employers do retrain they
tend to prefer younger workers with some industrial experience.
T a b l e 2 .— A ge and unemployment in 7 Illinois coal towns
Percent of workers unemployed in each age group
Town
Under 25
years
All 7 towns__________ ____ _ __________
______
Bush______________________________________________
Johnston City. _ __________ ______________________
Carriers Mills_____ . . . _ ________ ________
____ _
Herrin_________________________________________ _
West Frankfort________ ________________ _________
___ _
______________ ___
Zeigler_____ ______
Eldorado__________________________________________
25 to 55 years
55 years and
over
58
34
44
88
74
57
60
54
52
49
75
51
36
32
30
28
29
87
63
53
32
45
53
32
The relationship between age and unemployment shown in the
preceding table is, in general, much the same as in any community.
In the seven coal towns, however, the percentages are larger; more
over, in most communities the case for youth, bad as it is, has one
relieving feature; with any future improvement in conditions these
young people constitute the labor supply which will inevitably be
drawn into productive operations— a prospect denied the older work
ers who have only a few productive years left. But in a depressed
area, the young workers are in by far the worse position because
there is nothing to look forw ard to— no hope o f improved conditions
to bolster their morale. Over one-third o f the new generation in
the seven towns have come to the best years o f their productive life
without ever having held a private job. The evidence is shown in
the follow ing statement which gives the proportion o f workers under
25 who have never had a job in private employment.
Percent
All 7 towns_____________________________________________________ 38
Bush_____________________________________________________________
Johnston City__________________________________________________
Carriers Mills_______________________________ .__________________
Herrin_______________________________________ !---------------------------West Frankfort-------------------------------------------------------------------------Zeigler_________________________________________________ '------------Eldorado___________________________________ '_____________________
52
50
33
42
34
33
28
Duration o f Unem ploym ent
The same conditions that are responsible for a long period o f
economic depression, such as has persisted in this country since 1930,
produce important changes in the composition o f the surplus labor
supply. Starting as a fairly representative cross section o f the total
working force, with a relatively short duration o f unemployment, the
unemployed gradually accumulate an undue proportion o f workers
who are jobless because o f technological changes, long-run trends in
industry, age restrictions in hiring policies, obsolete skills, personality
196
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
difficulties, and so forth. Under these conditions, figures on duration
o f unemployment differentiate sharply the special groups among the
unemployed.
The relationship between length o f time out o f work and the likeli
hood o f reemployment is so close that some o f the m ajor aspects o f the
unemployment problem can be identified by figures on duration o f
enforced idleness. F or instance, the “ hard core” o f unemployment
consists o f the long-time unemployed who fo r industrial or personal
reasons have small likelihood, under ordinary conditions, o f recall to
private industry.
F or the seven coal towns, two figures should be considered to
gether; 42 percent o f the labor supply was jobless, and the average
(median) time elapsed since their last full-time job 6 in private indus
try was 3 ^ years. The average (median) number o f months
elapsed since the last full-time job ended is shown, for each o f the
seven towns, in the statement following.
Average (median),
in months
All 7 towns_______________________________________
39
Bush________________________________________________over 61
Johnston
City____________________________________
36
Carriers Mills_____________________________________
30
Herrin_____________________________________________
41
38
West Frankfort________________ :__________________
Zeigler__________________________________________t___over 61
Eldorado___________________________________________
23
But there is a still worse side o f this story. The average o f 8%
years’ duration o f unemployment is based upon all unemployed work
ers in the seven towns who had held a full-time job in private indus
try. When the unemployed workers whose usual occupation was coal
mining are considered separately, the average rises to over 5 years.
Unemploym ent and the Family
The fam ily is an economic as well as a social unit. Its economic
resources, as far as employment is concerned, depend upon the num
ber o f workers it contains. Under ordinary circumstances two per
sons looking for work are more likely to find a job than one; there
fore, the more workers a fam ily has the better are its chances o f
having some income from employment. In the seven coal towns
about two-thirds o f the families had only one worker, one-quarter
had two or more, and nearly one-tenth had no worker at all.
Unemployment hits the one-worker fam ily hardest. O f course,
the distress o f families with no workers is equally bad i f not worse,
but families without any workers present a problem that is not the
immediate result o f unemployment.
It is the families with one or more workers, but with none o f these
employed, that represent the central problem o f unemployment. In
6 This was defined as a jo b lasting at least 2 weeks with SO hours or more employment
each week. Duration o f unemployment could not, o f course, be computed for the large
proportion (38 percent) o f new workers who had never held a full-tim e job in private
employment.
197
PROBLEMS OF A STRANDED POPULATION
the seven coal towns somewhat more than one-third of the families
with workers had no one employed. The statement below shows,
for each of the seven towns, the percent of families with one or more
workers which had no workers in private employment.
Percent of families
without private employment
All 7 towns_____________________________________________ 35
Bush ,_____________-_____________________________________
Johnston City______________________________
Carriers Mills__________________________________________
Herrin__________________________________________________
West Frankfort_________________________________________
Zeigler_____________________________________________ ,-----Eldorado_______________________________________________
74
54
39
33
31
31
28
Am ong the families o f the seven coal towns, as elsewhere in the
country, those with more than one worker available for employment
had a distinct advantage; 40 percent o f the families with only one
available worker were without private employment compared with
only 25 percent among families with two or more workers available
for jobs.
*+#####+
Problems of a Stranded Population: Brazil, Ind.1
The defense program has focused attention on problems o f in
creasing productive capacity and the supply o f certain types o f
skilled labor required to produce aircraft, machine tools, and other
essentials o f the program. These developments need not obscure the
continued existence o f depression and unemployment in various indus
tries and areas, for their problems are not solved even temporarily
by expansion o f defense industries. W orked-out mining regions,
cut-over timber lands, and declining centers o f the manufacture of
specialized products for which there has been a failing market have
left stranded populations and grave economic and social problems,
untouched in many instances by expansion o f the defense industries.
Studies o f some o f these problem areas were made by the National
Research Project o f the W ork Projects Administration, and among
these was a survey o f Brazil, Ind.2 The study includes a background
o f the industrial history o f the community and a special analysis o f
conditions in 1936, a recovery year.
The region o f Brazil, Ind., was at one time the center o f a flourish
ing lumber industry. Before 1890, lumbering, supplemented by agri
culture, formed the main basis o f the prosperity o f the region. D ur
ing the last decade o f the nineteenth century, lumbering there lost
its importance because of the prevailing method o f rapidly cutting
1 From the M onthly Labor Review for September 1940 (p. 588).
2 U. S. W ork P rojects Administration. National Research P roject. Studies o f the
Effects o f Industrial Change on Labor Markets, Report No. L -9 : Employment and Unem
ploym ent in a Depressed Labor Market, Brazil, Ind., by Miriam E. West, Edward J. F itz
gerald, and George L. Bird. W ashington, 1940. This report is one of a series by the
National Research Project, under the direction o f David Weintraub, on Reemployment
Opportunities and Recent Changes in Industrial Techniques.
328112— 42— \\>l . i ------ 14
198
EM PLOYMENT CONDITIONS
over the area and making no provision fo r production on a sustainedyield basis. W hile the lumbering industry was declining, coal min
ing was expanding and was the main basis o f the prosperity o f the
community up to about 1910. The coal-mining industry after that
date began to decline, as did the metalworking industries that had
grown up with coal mining. In the meantime, however, the clay
deposits o f the area were being developed, and the clay-products
industry in part took the place o f coal mining and the metalworking
industries. The clay-products industry maintained a considerable
degree o f prosperity during the twenties, but the depression begin
ning in 1929 forced a great contraction o f this industry. W ith its
decline, unemployment increased rapidly, and in the absence o f
industries to take its place, the community was confronted by de
pression problems that failed to yield to the general stimulus o f
recovery.
The coal mines o f Clay County, in which Brazil is located, pro
duced 1,370,402 tons o f coal in 1920, and employed 1,633 workers.
The amount produced in 1936 was 1,077,917 tons, 21 percent less than
in 1920, and the number o f workers employed was 886, 46 percent less
than in 1920. In the manufacture o f clay products, Clay County,
with establishments located in Brazil and Carbon, employed 1,481
wage earners in 1929, and this number fell to 140 in 1933, rising
slightly to 263 in 1935. There were 10 clay-products establishments
in 1929 and 6 in 1935. The rise o f the clay-products industry in the
Brazil area after the W orld W ar was an accompaniment o f the
building and construction boom o f the twenties. The plants in
Brazil made face brick and building tile, widely used in modern
steel-framed, concrete-floored structures. The excellent railroad
transportation facilities o f the area enabled the establishments that
made these products to expand their markets beyond the local area.
The manufacture o f clay conduits fo r telephone lines, much in de
mand during the twenties, maintained the local clay-products indus
try until 1929, after the passing o f the peak o f demand for face brick
and building tile. When the demand for clay conduits fell off,
Brazil was confronted by a grave situation, in which its main indus
try was subject to the extreme effects o f the depression, without
alternative industries to take up the slack.
Although Brazil is a small community, its experiences may be
viewed as typical o f many communities, large and small, in every
section o f the country where depression and the long-term decline o f
industries have combined to leave stranded populations. The main
results and conclusions o f the survey o f conditions in Brazil are sum
marized as follow s by the Assistant Commissioner in his letter o f
transmittal o f the study to the Commissioner o f W ork Projects.
This report shows that during a recovery year like 1936 unemployment was
widespread in the community of Brazil. More than a third of the employables
were unemployed, and almost half of the households with some employables had
at least one member unemployed or employed only part time. This widespread
unemployment and underemployment covered a variety of situations, each of
which presents different problems for a relief administration.
In the first place, the lack of employment opportunities in the region had led
to the creation of a large, untapped reservoir of labor— new workers who had
never succeeded in finding even a first job. These constituted 6 percent of the
BOOTLEG MINING OF ANTHRACITE
199
employables in the community but accounted for almost a fifth of its unemployed.
Further, there was evident a tendency toward the emergence of a sizable group
of chronically unemployed persons. This was reflected in the high proportion of
the unemployed who had been out of work for long periods. Of those previously
employed in the community, who were unemployed in 1936, more than threequarters had been without jobs for a year or more. A third had been continu
ously out of work for 5 years or more. Many of these were older workers. A
large number of them were former clay workers who had been unable to find
other employment in a labor market of restricted opportunity and large reserve
forces, and had not been recalled to the clay-products industry. Others, from
other industries, were workers whom the decline of the community’s industrial
life had gradually pushed into the unemployed group. The continued low level
of activity in their own industries and their inability to find other work were
transforming them into chronically unemployed persons.
In addition to these persons, there was a group who remained attached to one
industry, even one plant, throughout their employment and unemployment.
Because of an age, skill, or experience advantage these were the ones who were
recalled whenever activity in their plant was resumed or expanded, but continued
inactivity in a number of the plants meant heavy records of unemployment for
many of the group.
Still another group in the community consisted of those workers, mostly the
young, who had succeeded in entering actively into the labor market, but who
had not made permanent connections with any one industry. Their youth en
abled them to shift from one industry to another, and, as a result, they consti
tuted a constantly fluctuating reserve for many industries. The continued low
level of activity was, however, reducing their chances of making any stable
connection, and many of their number were chronically underemployed.
Finally, many workers, upon becoming unemployed, turned to self-employment,
mostly in agriculture, small-scale mining, and trucking. The limited oppor
tunities for gaining more than a bare subsistence by such, attempts meant that
this recourse to self-employment was for many workers a less than satisfactory
adjustment.
In all, the situation that had developed in this depressed community— the
widespread unemployment and underemployment, the inability of the younger
workers to find places in the crowded labor market, and the increasing chronic
unemployment of the older workers— presented a wide variety of social problems.
Short of a tremendous expansion of local industrial activity, these problems can
be met only by a relief and public work program calculated to care for the
■various types of unemployment that cannot be handled by existing security
legislation.
Bootleg Mining of Anthracite 1
During recent years, the illegal mining o f coal from properties o f
the large producing companies in the anthracite region o f Pennsyl
vania has become a problem o f country-wide interest. Particular
significance attaches to this depression-born activity because it has
been attended by the break-down o f ordinary legal processes in the
region. Recognizing the plight o f large numbers o f unemployed min
ers, local judges and juries have frequently refused to convict for
“bootlegging” o f coal, or have imposed nominal sentences.
The Anthracite Coal Industry Commission, appointed by Governor
Earle o f Pennsylvania, made a comprehensive inquiry into the subject
o f bootleg mining.2 The report o f the commission is based primarily
1 From the M onthly Labor Review for December 1937 (p. 1323).
2 Pennsylvania. Anthracite Coal Industry Commission. B ootlegging or Illegal M ining
of Anthracite Coal in Pennsylvania : A Census and Survey o f the Facts. Harrisburg,
1937.
200
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
on the results o f a survey o f bootleg holes and bootleg breakers, made
in May and June 1937.
Because o f lack o f funds, it was not possible to get a complete
coverage o f all bootleg operations; but from direct observation, in for
mation obtained locally, and the results o f an airplane survey, the
commission’s staff was able to gage accurately the total number o f
bootleg holes and breakers in southern Pennsylvania fields. The com
mission estimates that its detailed survey covered 57 percent o f all
bootleg holes and 46 percent o f all bootleg breakers. The results ob
tained from such large samples are believed to represent adequately
and fairly the situation in the bootleg industry as a whole.
In 1936-37, according to the report’s estimates, the bootleg-mining
industry produced and sold anthracite at the rate o f 2,400,000 tons a
year. This was nearly 5 percent o f the total output o f all legal an
thracite mines in Pennsylvania. In the year o f peak activity, 1935,
the bootleg output probably did not exceed 2,900,000 tons. In 193637, final consumers paid roughly $16,000,000 a year fo r illegal coal.
During 1936-37 an average o f 7,000 men were employed in bootleg
mining operations proper, 2,000 in picking over old culm and refuse
banks, 1,300 in the bootleg breakers, and about 2,700 in trucking (many
o f whom, however, also performed other kinds o f trucking). The
total number engaged in bootlegging was hence about 13,000.
O f the 8,300 men working in bootleg holes and breakers, over 5,000,
or 60 percent, had form erly worked around legal mines. Most o f the
remainder were young men and boys who came from miners’ fam ilies;
and 99.5 percent o f the total had lived in the anthracite regions for at
least 10 years. Most o f them were also permanent residents o f the
southern Pennsylvania fields alone; few had come in from other anthra
cite fields. Including the families o f the total o f 13,000 men engaged
in bootlegging, and after allowing for those having other sources o f
income, some 45,000 persons were wholly dependent on the bootleg
industry in the middle o f 1937.
Characteristics o f the Industry
Anthracite bootlegging has been confined almost entirely to the
southern fields— in Schuylkill and southeastern Northumberland
Counties. This concentration is explained partly by the fact that in
the southern fields the coal outcrops are more numerous and more
easily worked from the surface than in the middle and northern fields;
partly by the entire lack o f any means o f support other than mining
in many o f the communities in the southern fields; and partly by the
fact that the effects o f technological improvements, concentration of
legal mining and breaking operations, and complete abandonment of
high-cost legal mines have all been especially marked in the southern
fields. Some 65 percent o f all bootleg miners were working on the
lands o f one company alone, the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron
Co.
The typical bootleg-mining operation was found to be carried on by
a group o f 3 to 5 men (the average number was 3.6) working in part
nership ; very few holes employed men on wages. The average output
BOOTLEG MIKING OF ANTHRACITE
201
in the bootleg holes was 1.3 tons per man per day (less than half that
o f legal m ines), and the average rate o f profit per man was about $19.70
per week. Both output and profits, however, varied widely. Some
workers, for short periods o f time, earned as high as $79 per week.
A t the time o f the survey, it was estimated that 1,965 bootleg mines
or holes were in active operation. But the average length o f active
life o f any one hole was only about 7.5 months. The bootleg miner
was therefore always having to move on. In some regions whole
mountain sides were dotted with abandoned holes.
Some o f the bootleg miners had built their own crude breakers and
made a practice o f preparing their coal for the market on the spot, but
the greater number sent their run-of-mine coal to larger and more
centrally located bootleg breakers, which were operated as separate
business enterprises.
It was estimated that there were 342 such
bootleg breakers, or one fo r every 5.7 bootleg holes. The average boot
leg breaker handled 119 tons o f run-of-mine coal per week, employed
approximately 4 men, and made a profit o f $77 a week for its owners.
Most o f the men working in the bootleg breakers, however, received
wages and not profits. The wages o f the breaker employees average
$14 a week.
T o some extent the bootleg breakers sold their coal to final con
sumers from their own trucks. But the larger part o f the bootleg
output, especially that which is shipped to more distant points, was
sold to independent truckers and retailers who came in from outside
the anthracite fields, bought coal at the bootleg breakers, and sold it as
far away as Baltimore, New York, and Connecticut. None o f the
bootleg coal moved by rail.
Future Prospects
Anthracite bootlegging has been engaged in, on a large scale, since
the early thirties. No later study than the one o f 1937, referred to
above, has been made, but it is known that bootleg mining was still
going in 1940. As to how long it will continue, opinions differ. At*
the time the commission’s report was prepared, bootlegging was at
low ebb. On the other hand, a cold winter with its consequent increase
ill the demand for coal, or an augmentation o f the existing economic
pressure on unemployed miners, might easily produce a very substan
tial expansion o f this activity.
From a longer-run point o f view, however, the gradual exhaustion
o f the coal deposits that are easily accessible from the surface, the
increasing severity both in Pennsylvania and in other States of legal
restrictions on trucking and sale o f bootleg coal, and the im proving
prospects for a genuine revival o f the whole legitimate anthracite
industry, seem to forecast a gradual natural decline in bootlegging in
future years. Moreover, the employment in other occupations o f the
four thousand and odd workers in bootleg holes who have had previous
legal-mine experience would, at any time, bring bootlegging to an end
overnight by removing most o f the men who have the technical skill
necessary to carry it on.
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
202
Employment Conditions Among Indians 1
The Indian Reorganization A ct o f 1934, which gives preference to
Indians for employment in the Indian Service staff, brought about
an increase in permanent Indian employees from a few hundred in
1933 to 4,682 in 1940. On June 30, 1940, Indian superintendents
numbered 8, while 251 Indians had professional positions, 935 had
clerical jobs, and about 3,475 held other skilled jobs. These figures
and the follow ing data are taken from the annual report o f the
Secretary o f the Interior for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1940.
The Indians in regular and temporary positions constituted more
than 50 percent o f the Indian Service personnel.2 Furthermore,
thousands o f Indians were working intermittently, building roads,
dams, wells, hospitals, schools, community buildings, and homes on
their reservations. Through the Indian division o f the Civilian Con
servation Corps and the extension o f the P W A and the W P A funds
and other emergency relief, various requisite physical improvements
were made on 200 reservations while at the same time thousands o f
Indians have been provided with jobs and training opportunities in
skills which had never before been available to them.
When the report under review was being prepared there were
more mechanics, painters, carpenters, machinists, radio operators,
surveyors, draftsmen, and engineers among the Indian population
than in any preceding year.
Only 10 years ago difficult trails and bypaths on the Indian reser
vations restricted travel and consequently retarded social and eco
nomic progress. D ay schools were almost impossible; doctors and
nurses were able to reach the sick in their homes only after protracted
delays and hindrances and sometimes not at a ll; large tracts o f land
remained inaccessible; and home and farm* services were only par
tially effective.
During the past year 263 miles of new roads were completed, 184 miles of
road were regraded to adequate standards, 278 miles of road were gravel
surfaced, and 118 miles resurfaced; 87 major bridges were built. There are
now 5,232 miles of serviceable graded roads on 200 reservations in 24 States.
There still remain, however, numbers of Indians in inaccessible locations
reached only occasionally by the Federal Government’s services. Improve
ments must be made on 6,150 miles of old and nearly impassable roads and
trails before urgent requirements are met.
Many of the reservation roads constructed during the past 7 years are
connecting links between important Federal and State highways. They form
part of the major network of roads available for military transport and pro
vide access to material defensive resources.
Indians are coming to be recognized as competent road builders
and a substantial number have recently secured skilled jobs with private
contractors and other road-building agencies. The Indian Service
road and bridge construction alone has afforded work fo r as many as
1 From the M onthly Labor Review fo r A pril 1941.
, 1 T he Indian population under the jurisdiction o f the United States Office o f Indian
A ffairs numbered 361,816 (partly estimated) at the beginning o f 1940, according to a sup
plement to the annual report o f the Commissioner o f that Office, dated January 1, 1940.
EM PLOYMENT CONDITIONS AMONG INDIANS
203
14,000 Indians in the course o f a single season. As a consequence, on
June 30, 1940, in this field alone, well-trained Indian mechanics num
bered over 1,300. Numerous road projects were manned entirely by
Indian laborers.
In constructing buildings on Indian reservations from 1933 to 1939,
about 80 percent o f the funds expended for labor was paid to Indians.
During these years the earnings o f Indians for constructing schools,
hospitals, and agency quarters carried on by the Indian Service, are
estimated at $7,926,000.
During the past fiscal year, 21 schools, 42 cottages, 12 dormitories, 7 barns,
and 4 office buildings were among th'e 107 Federal structures constructed on
reservations. This brought the number of modernized Federal buildings, spon
sored by the Construction Division during the past 7 years, to a total of
approximately 500.
On the basis of estimates submitted by various superintendents, about 570
more administrative buildings will be needed during the next 6 years, including
62 schools, 35 employees’ buildings, 13 hospitals, 224 cottages, and 129 dormi
tories.
Rehabilitation Measures
The Rehabilitation D ivision’s projects provided under the Em er
gency R elief A ppropriation Acts o f 1935, 1937, 1938, and 1939 have
been o f first importance to the Indians. Although the funds
provided not over an average o f 6 months’ employment for 2,000
Indians annually, the use o f the funds in connection with the coordi
nated activities o f other divisions o f the Indian Service has been farreaching.
In aiding the Indians to support themselves, in certain regions the
Federal Government faces the problem o f complete resettlement o f
Indian families. In illustration, numerous Blackfeet Indians moved
to Browning, Mont., as there were no job opportunities for them on
their outlying reservation lands. Under the rehabilitation program
50 families were settled on irrigated tracts on reservations where they
constructed houses and barns, engaged in gardening, and acquired
livestock. Additional land for grazing was allotted to them. Some
o f the families, who had been established for 2 years at the time the
report was prepared, had been unusually successful. They had kept
their homes in good condition, added to their herds, and fulfilled
their credit obligations.
During the fiscal year 1939-40, 449 new houses for Indians were
built, making a total o f 2,482 in the period the rehabilitation program
had been in operation. Old houses repaired during the fiscal year
covered numbered 872, making a total o f 4,540 such houses. Twentyfour community self-help buildings were being constructed and 21
others were being repaired, bringing the total number o f Indian, selfhelp buildings aided through emergency funds to 241. During the
same year work was undertaken on 65 canning and sewing centers
and many other community projects were in operation.
204
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
Michigan Population and Unemployment Census, 1935 1
A census o f population and unemployment in Michigan as o f Jan
uary 14, 1935,2 was carried on in the early part o f that year as a
special work project o f the Emergency R elief Administration o f that
State. The census showed that approximately one-fifth (18.8 per
cent) o f the employable population3 o f the State o f 15 years o f age
and over was unemployed at the time o f the census and an additional
4.2 percent were unpaid fam ily workers, including boys assisting their
parents with farm work, women and children helping in an office
or store operated by the fam ily, wives supplementing the fam ily in
comes by having boarders or lodgers, and other workers who were
adding to the fam ily income without themselves being in receipt o f
wages. A m ong other facts brought out in table 1 is the difference
between the employment status o f employable males and females 15
years o f age and over, the percentage o f the former unemployed be
ing 19.9 percent and o f the latter 14.4 percent. However, only seventenths o f 1 percent o f the employable females were on work-relief
jobs as compared with 2.7 percent o f the employable males.
T a b l e 1 .— Em ploym ent status o f persons 15 years of age and over in M ichigan,
by sex, Jan. 14, 1935
Employment status
Total
Males
Females
Sex distri
Percent distribu bution
(per
tion by employ
cent of
ment status
total)
Fe Males Fe
Total Males males
males
Total population of State 15 years of age
and o v e r __________ ______ ______ _
3,392,525 l, 742,513 1,650,012 100.0 100.0 100.0
Not seeking w o rk ___________ _____ 1, 571,991
285,923 1,286,068 46.3 16.4 77.9
Employable (working or seeking
work) ____ _____________________ 1,820,534 1,456, 590
363,944 53.7 83.6 22.1
Total employable population__________ 1,820, 534 1,456, 590
Gainfully employed_______________ 1,398,678 1,121,195
Unpaid family workers________ . . .
77,233
43,759
Not working due to illness, injury,
industrial dispute_______________
1, 731
1,339
Unemployed, total i_______________ 342,892
290,297
Total unemployed with previous
work experience. _ _______
272,080
233,331
On work relief or temporary
made-work projects ... ______
42, 335
39,789
Total unemployed with no pre
vious work experience_______
28,477
17,177
363,944 100.0 100.0 100.0
277,483 76.8 77.0 76.2
33,474
4.2
3.0
9.2
51.4
18.2
48.6
81.8
80.0
20.0
80.0
80.2
56.7
20.0
19.8
43.3
77.3
84.7
22.6
15.3
14.2
392
52,595
.1
18.8
.1
19.9
.1
14.4
38, 749
14.9
16.0
10.6
85.8
2,546
2.3
2.7
.7
94.0
6.0
11,300
1.6
1.2
3.1
60.3
39.7
1 Persons on work relief or made-work projects are included in the unemployed.
1 From the M onthly Labor Review for November 1936 (p. 1157) and M ay 1937 (p. 1158).
2 Michigan. State Emergency W elfare R elief Commission. Michigan Census o f Popu
lation and Unemployment. Employment and Unemployment Statistics, F irst S eries:
Age, Sex, and Employment Status o f Gainful W orkers in Five Types o f Communities.
Lansing, 1936.
3 The designation “ employable persons” (or “ employable population” ) in this report is
applied to those persons whom the United States Bureau o f the Census classifies as “ gain
ful workers.” Only persons actually w orking or looking for work were regarded as
“ em ployable.”
205
MICHIGAN UNEMPLOYMENT CENSUS, 1935
Unem ploym ent According to Population o f Com m unity
The percentage o f employable persons unemployed was heaviest in
small towns and villages having under 3,000 population. In these
small communities 25.6 percent o f the employables were reported as
unemployed as compared with 17.8 percent in the first-class cities
(over 40,000 population). It will be noted, however, from the figures
in table 2 that almost half o f the total unemployed in the State were
reported in cities o f the first class.
T a b l e 2 . — E m ploym ent status of persons working or seeking work in M ichigan ,
Jan. 14, 1 9 3 5 , by type of com m unity
Type of community
Total
number
of persons Gainfully
working employed
or seeking
work
Not
Unem working,
Unpaid ployed
or
due
to
family
made illness,
workers onwork
injury,
etc.
First-class cities (over 40,000 population)_________
Second-class cities (3,000 to 40,000 population)____
Towns and villages (under 3,000 population)_____
Metropolitan townships_______ ________________
Rural townships___________ _______________ __
961,675
273,306
106,012
93, 440
386,101
770,239
210,849
76, 243
70, 536
270,811
19,876
3,830
2, 525
3, 218
47, 784
170,701
58,369
27,107
19,602
67,113
859
258
137
84
393
State total_____ _____________ _________
1,820, 534
1,398, 678
77, 233
342,892
1, 731
Percentage distribution
First-class cities (over 40,000 population)_________
Second-class cities (3,000 to 40,000 population)____
Towns and villages (under 3,000 population)___
Metropolitan townships_________________ ______
Rural townships____ __________________________
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
80.0
77.1
71.9
75.5
70.1
2.1
1.4
2.4
3.4
12.4
17.8
21.4
25.6
21.0
17.4
0.1
.1
.1
.1
.1
State total_____ _________________________
100.0
76.8
4.2
18.8
.1
Percent of total in each type of community
First-class cities (over 40,000 population)_________
Second-class cities (3,000 to 40,000 population) _____
Towns and villages (under 3,000 population)____
Metropolitan townships________ ___ _ __
Rural townships._____
_______
State total._______________ _____ ______
52.8
15.0
5.8
5.1
21.2
55.1
15.1
5.5
5.0
19.4
25.7
5.0
3.3
4.2
61.9
49.8
17.0
7.9
5.7
19.6
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Intensity o f Unemploym ent by Sex and Age Groups
W hile 18.8 percent o f all employables 15 years o f age and over in
the State were wholly unemployed, 34.3 percent o f the 15 to 19 years
age group and 27.3 percent o f the 60 to 64 years age group were un
employed. The percentages fo r males alone were even higher, being
35.3 percent in the 15 to 19 years age group and 29.1 percent in the
60 to 64 years age group, while in the 30 to 34 years age group the
percentages were as low as 13.0 for both sexes and 14.0 for males
alone.
The figures fo r other groups are reported in table 3, which indicates
that unemployment was not so severe among woman workers as
among employable men. In the 15 to 19 years age group, however,
the difference was slight.
206
EM PLOYM ENT CONDITIONS
T a b l e 3. — P e rc e n t o f u n e m p lo ym en t in M ic h ig a n , J a n u a r y 1 9 3 5 , b y sex a nd age
g ro u p s
Unemployed as percent of all gainful workers
Age group
Total
All ages_______ _____ _______________________________
15 to 19 years_________ ______________________________
20 to 24 years_______________________________________
25 to 29 years_______________________________________
30 to 34 years___________________ _________ _______
35 to 39 y e a rs____ _ _ ___________________ _______
40 to 44 years ___ ___ - ____________________________
45 to 49 years_____________ ________________________
___
_____________________________
50 to 54 years
55 to 59 years________ _______ _______________ ________
60 to 64 y e a r s .__
_______________________________
65 years and over___________________________________
_______________________________________________ £------
Males
18.8
34.3
24.0
15.1
13.0
13.2
14.2
16.8
19.7
23.0
27.3
24.5
Females
19.9
35.3
27.3
16.6
14.0
14.0
15.1
17.9
21.3
24.5
29.1
25.7
14.5
32.5
17.3
10.3
8.7
9.2
9.0
9.5
10.1
12.5
16.0
17.1
Unem ploym ent in Selected Industries
The relative incidence o f unemployment among workers attached
to various industries may be shown by the ratio o f unemployed
workers to the total number o f workers who are engaged or usually
engaged in the individual industries. The proportion o f unemployed
workers in the manufacturing and mechanical industries was 15.3
percent, a little above the average fo r all industries; this was the
result o f the widespread unemployment among building and construc
tion workers. In agriculture, trade, public service, and domestic and
personal service, the ratio o f unemployment was below the average
fo r the State, and among professional and semiprofessional workers
only 6 percent were unemployed. Over a third (34.6 percent) o f the
workers classified under “ extraction o f minerals,55 a third (33.1 per
cent) o f the forestry and fishing group, and almost a fourth (23.5
percent) o f those who were reported in the transportation and com
munication group were unemployed, as disclosed in table 4.
T a b l e 4 .— Percent unemployed in selected industries in M ichigan , Jan. 14, 1 93 5
Percent unem
ployed
Industry
Fe
Total Males males
Total—Industry ascertained. __ 14.4
15.4
9.7
Agriculture_________________ 12.6
Forestry and fishing........... .
33.1
Extraction of minerals.............. 34.6
12.8
33.3
34.9
6.5
i 19.8
15.8
15.3
45.4
15.9
45.6
10.5
27.6
8.6
16.3
9.1
15.8
5.2
18.8
13.1
13.2
12.7
13.3
13.4
13.0
9.7
9.9
9.0
20.1
21.0
9.8
9.6
11.9
9.5
12.7
10.5
9.7
Manufacturing and mechani
cal industries______________
Building and construction.
Chemical and allied indus
tries_____ . . . __________
Food and allied industries .
Iron, steel, amchinery, and
vehicle industries. _____
Automobile factories...
Other_______ ______
Lumber and furniture in
dustries_______________
Paper, printing, and allied
industries______________
Other manufacturing_____
Percent unem
ployed
Industry
Transportation and comunication. ___________________
Construction and mainte
nance of streets_________
Steam and street railroads.
Truck, transfer, and cab
companies_____________
Other___________________
Trade. ___________________
Wholesale and retail_____
Banking, brokerage, insur
ance, and real estate____
Other___________________
Public service (not elsewhere
classified)________ _______
Professional and semiprofes
sional service _____________
Domestic and personal service.
Hotels, restaurants, etc.3. . .
Domestic and personal
service (n. e. c.)________
1 Base figure less than 500 and more than 200.
3 Base figure less than 200.
3 Includes boarding houses, laundries, cleaning, dyeing, and pressing shops.
Fe
Total Males males
23.5
24.9
7.3
49.0
14.1
49.0
14.2
(2)
10.4
16.8
15.1
17.1
17.3
6.1
6.6
11.1
11.7
11.2
11.7
10.6
11.7
8.0
9.7
8.2
11.0
7.6
7.2
11.7
12.2
8.9
6.0
12.7
12.9
7.6
13.9
15.0
4.3
12.1
10.7
12.6
12.3
12.7
207
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
Unemployment in Nebraska, 1932-39 1
The unemployed group in Lincoln, Nebr., constituted 14.3 percent
o f those enumerated in 1939 as compared to 25.2 percent o f those
covered in a similar canvass in 1933. However, among the unem
ployed many were unable or unwilling to work. The jobless who
were able and willing to work in 1939 constituted only 6.0 percent o f
all the persons enumerated as compared with nearly 20 percent o f
those covered in the 1933 survey.
Full-time employment in 1939 was 78.5 percent; in 1933, only
slightly over 64 percent. The proportions o f part-time employment
fo r thgse years were, respectively, 7.2 percent (1939) and 10.8 percent
(1933).
It was not possible to conduct an employment census o f the more
than 32,300 gainfully occupied persons in Lincoln, so 10 city acres were
selected, the population o f which was considered representative; the
same sections have been used in a series o f 4 surveys, the first being
made in 1932. Employment data were secured for every person over
16 years old, except students and women not usually gainfully
employed.
In all o f the 4 years in which surveys were made, the percent
employed full time was greater fo r household heads than for all
persons surveyed. Am ong the household heads in 1939 the unem
ployed able and willing to work made up 4.8 percent, as against 6
percent for the whole group o f workers studied.
Some o f the findings o f these surveys, made under the auspices o f
the University o f Nebraska,2 are given in the table following.
E m p lo y m e n t status o f all p erson s enum erated in L in c o ln , N e b r ., by sex , 1 9 3 2 - 8 9
Number
Percent
Employment status
1937
1933
Total, both sexes....................... ................... 4,173 4,009
Employed—
Full time________ ______ __________ 3, 278 3,043
300
401
Part time____________________ ____
56
60
Y but less than full_______ ____
127
159
Yi but less than % _____________
43
48
% but less than y<\_____________
40
69
Less than Y ______ __________
34
Not reported__________________
'65
595
565
Idle_________________________________
251
253
Able and willing to work__________
324.
304
Unable or unwilling to work_______
20
8
No report
__ _ _
Total males______________________________ 3,080
E m ployedFull time............................................ 2,429
188
Part time________________________
43
% but less than full____________
77
Yi but less than %_____________
25
Y but less than Y _____________
23
Less than Y __________________
20
Not reported__________________
463
Idle_________________________________
Able and willing to work__________
179
271
Unable or unwilling to work..... ........
13
No report_____ _____ _____________
1939
1From
1932
1939
1937
1933
1932
3, 684
4,026
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
2,358
398
64
171
60
67
36
928
725
193
10
2,466
491
91
229
57
76
38
1,069
721
348
78.5
7.2
1.3
3.0
1.0
1.0
.8
14.3
6.0
7.8
.5
75.9
10.0
1.5
4.0
1.2
1.7
1.6
14.1
6.3
7.6
.2
64.1
10.8
1.7
4.6
1.6
1.8
.9
25.2
19.8
5.2
.2
61.3
12.2
2.3
5.7
1.4
1.9
.9
26.5
17.9
8.6
2,968
2,718
3,021
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
2, 256
265
40
107
31
44
43
447
179
264
4
1,699
291
52
130
39
48
22
728
550
170
8
1,800
343
68
171
35
44
25
878
563
315
78.9
6.1
1.4
2.5
.8
.7
.6
15.0
5.8
8.8
.4
76.0
8.9
1.3
3.6
1.0
1.5
1.4
15.1
6.0
8.9
.2
62.5
10.7
1.9
4.8
1.4
1.8
.8
26.8
20.2
6.3
.3
59.6
11.4
2.3
5.7
1.2
1.5
.8
29.1
18.6
10.4
Monthly Labor Review for April 1940 (p. 8 5 9 ).
2 University of Nebraska. Eight Years of Unemployment in Lincoln, Nebr., 1932-39, by Cleon Oliphant
Swayzee. Lincoln, Nebr., October 1939, pp. 1-6. (Nebraska Studies in Business, No. 45.)
208
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
E m p lo y m e n t status o f all p erson s en um erated i n L in c o ln , N e b r ., by sex , 1 9 3 2 - 3 9 —
Continued
Percent
Number
Employment status
1933
1932
1939
1937
1933
1932
1,041
966
1,005
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
787
136
20
52
17
25
22
118
74
40
4
659
107
12
41
21
19
14
200
175
23
2
666
148
23
58
22
32
13
191
158
33
77.7
10.2
1.2
4.6
1.6
1.5
1.3
12.1
6.6
4.8
.6
68.2
11.1
1.2
4.2
2.2
1.9
1.4
20.7
18.1
2.4
.2
66.0
15.0
2.4
5.8
2.3
3.3
1.3
19.0
15.7
3.3
1939
1937
Total females_______ ___________________ 1,093
E m ployed849
Full time_________________________
112
Part time_____ _________________
13
% but less than full____________
but less than % _____________
50
H but less than A _____________
18
17
Less than A _________ _______
14
Not reported__________________
132
Idle_________________________________
72
Able and willing to work__________
Unable or unwilling to work_______
53
7
Not reported _ ___ _ ________
75.6
13.1
1.9
5.0
1.6
2.4
2.1
11.3
7.1
3.8
.4 ,
Unemployment in Cincinnati, 1929 to 1940 1
Statistics covering employment and unemployment in Cincinnati
have been obtained since 1929 by the board o f education in connec
tion with the regular school censuses, with the exception o f the year
1935 when a special census was taken. However, in that year there
was enough similarity, in the questions asked, to make some o f the
findings comparable with other years.
The rep ort2 for M ay 1940 was based on 171,771 individuals
covered by the interviews— a number which is not much less than
the entire “ employable” population o f the city. A ccording to the
report, approximately 5,600 persons who were unemployed in May
1939 had secured jobs by May 1940, while over the 2-year period
from M ay 1938 to May 1940, nearly 14,000 o f those out o f work on
the earlier date had been placed in employment. In May 1940,
13.31 percent o f the employable persons in Cincinnati were unem
ployed, as compared with 16.08 percent in May 1939 and 30.43
percent in May 1933, which latter year represented the peak o f un
employment during the 12-year period. The number o f part-time
workers represented 8.05 percent o f the employables in May 1940,
as compared with 7.04 percent in 1939 and 17.90 percent in 1933.
The percentages o f full-tim e, part-time, and totally unemployed
workers are shown fo r each year from May 1929 to May 1940 in
table 1.
a From the M on th ly Labor Review for December 1940 (p. 1367).
2 Cincinnati, City of. Twelfth Annual Employment Census, May 1940.
graphed.)
(Mimeographed.)
209
UNEMPLOYMENT IN CINCINNATI, 192 9 - 4 0
T a b l e 1 . — P ercentage distribu tion o f em p lo ya b le w ork ers in C in c in n a ti , b y
em p lo ym en t status , 1 9 2 9 to 1 9 4 0
Percent employed—
May—
Full
time
1929 k ____ _______
1930_____________
1931_____________
1932_____________
1933_____________
1934________ ____ _
88.56
81.89
62.83
52. 55
51.67
62. 58
Part
time
5.27
9.83
18.38
19. 38
17. 90
12. 22
Percent einployed—
Percent
unem
ployed
5.94
8. 28
18. 79
28.07
30.43
25. 20
May—
Full
time
1935 2____________
1936______________
1937_____________
1938_____________
1939______________
1940_____________
Part
time
67.80
72. 67
84.44
67. 27
76.88
78. 64
9. 70
6.53
5.20
12. 58
7.04
8. 05
Percent
unem
ployed
22.50
20.80
10.36
20.15
16.08
13. 31
10*27 p«eceafe of employables not listed by employment status in the 1929 census.
2 The 1935 census was more extensive than that of any other year and was undertaken through the joint
efforts of the Cincinnati Board of Education, the Regional Department of Economic Security, and the
Works Progress Administration.
Unemployment, by Race
Since 1933 the inform ation collected has been tabulated separately
for white and colored employables. In securing the data, enumera
tors were instructed not to list fam ily members who were unem
ployed because o f old age, illness, retirement, or mental or physical
handicaps. It was regarded as probable, however, that some o f the
persons listed were actually unemployable, since the question o f em
ployability was left to the judgment o f the person interviewed rather
than to that o f the enumerator. O f the 171,771 individuals classified
as employable, 153,270 were white and 18,501 colored. Seventy-one
workers o f other races were not included in the figures. Persons
listed as unemployed included all persons who were on W P A , F E R A ,
C W A , or any other work-relief programs which were in operation
at the; time the censuses were taken.
The percentages o f employment and unemployment by race are
shown in table 2.
T a b l e 2 . — E m p lo y m e n t and u n e m p lo ym en t in C in c in n a ti , by race, 1 9 3 3 to 1 9 4 0
White
May
1933_______________________
1934_______________________
1935________________________
1936________________________
1937_______________________
1938_______________________
1939________________________
1940_______________________
Percent employed—
Full time
Part time
53. 97
65.89
69.80
75. 91
87.09
70. 87
80.16
81.34
17. 99
12. 92
12. 50
6. 57
4.91
12. 78
7.05
7. 97
Colored
Percent un
employed
28. 04
21.19
17. 80
17. 52
8.00
16. 35
12. 79
10. 69
Percent employed—
Full time
32.83
32. 75
37. 90
44.49
55.69
36. 42
47.81
56. 24
Part time
12. 85
13.85
11.10
6.06
8.34
10. 8Q
6.94
8.71
Percent un
employed
54.32
53.40
51.00
49.45
35.97
52.69
45.25
35. 05
The figures show a much higher ratio o f unemployment among
colored than among white employables. In May 1933, 54.32 percent
o f the Negro workers were totally unemployed, as compared with
28.04 percent o f the white, while in May 1940 only 10.69 percent of
the white workers, but 35.05 percent o f the colored, were without
employment.
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
21 0
Estimated Trend o f Employment
F or purposes o f comparison, it was assumed in estimating the
number o f unemployed persons at the time each census was taken
that the employable population remained the same from year to year.
This assumption was criticized on the ground that it did not take
into account increases in the population o f Cincinnati after the 1930
Federal census. Preliminary figures fo r the 1940 census, however,
indicate that the change over the 10-year period has been less than
one-half o f 1 percent. Because o f this slight change, therefore, the
number o f persons employed full time and part time, and the num
ber o f unemployed persons, have been computed by applying the per
centages o f employment and unemployment shown by the annual
censuses against the 1930 Federal census figures, according to which
203,030 persons had gainful occupations.
On the same base, the figures fo r May 1940 for Hamilton County,
in which Cincinnati is situated, would b e : Employed full time, 202,359; employed part time, 20,714; unemployed, 34,250.
T a b l e 3 . — E m p lo y m e n t and u n e m p lo ym en t in C in c in n a ti , by ye a rs , 1 9 3 1 to 1 9 4 0
Number em
ployed—
May—
Full
time
1931______________
1932______________
1933........ ................
1934______________
1935______ ____
127,564
106,692
104,906
127,056
137,654
Part
time
37,317
39,347
36,342
24,810
19,694
Number
unem
ployed
38,149
56,991
61, 782
51,164
45,682
Number em
ployed—
May—
Full
time
1936_____ ____ __L
1937______________
1938______________
1939______________
1940______________
147,542
171,438
136,578
156,094
159,663
Part
time
13,258
10,558
25,541
14,300
16,344
Number
unem
ployed
42,230
21,034
40,911
32,636
27,023
Unemployment in Philadelphia, 1938 1
In the summer o f 1938 approximately one-third (32.5 percent) o f
the employable persons in Philadelphia were unemployed and 6.2
percent were working part time, according to a report prepared by
the Pennsylvania W P A .2 The corresponding percentages for 1937
were 24.4 and 5.1. However, in 1933, as table 1 indicates, 46.0 percent
were unemployed and 19.9 percent were on part time.
1From Monthly Labor Review for October 1939 (p. 8 3 8 ).
3 University of Pennsylvania, Industrial Research Department,
co-sponsor, in cooperation
with Pennsylvania Department of Public Assistance.
Special Report No. 7 : Employment
in Philadelphia, July-August 1938, by Gladys L. Palmer. Philadelphia, 1939.
(Penn
sylvania Works Progress Administration Projects, 17,444 and 2 0,576.)
211
UJSTEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA, 1 9 3 8
T a b l e 1 . — Employment status o f employable persons in Philadelphia unemployment
census samplet 1929-38
Employable persons
Number
of house
holds
enumer
ated
Year
1929___ ________________
1930____________________
1931____________________
1932____________________
1633____________________
1934____________________
1935____________________
1936____________________
1937____________________
1938____________________
31,551
36,665
36,410
35,471
35,820
40,931
43,997
44,817
45,928
45, 715
Employed—
Total
Full time
Num
ber
Per
cent
Num
ber
58,866
69,884
67,150
66, 854
66,454
78,121
78, 524
79,822
79, 610
75,402
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
52,756
55,788
40, 766
24, ^82
22,630
38,420
41,489
48,669
56,150
46,231
Per
cent
89.6
79.8
60.7
37.1
34.1
49.2
52.8
61.0
70.5
61.3
Part time
Num
ber
Per
cent
0)
3,648
9,243
13,887
13,256
11,437
11,125
7,086
4,007
4,641
(9
5.2
13.8
20.8
19.9
14.6
14.2
8.9
5.1
6.2
Unemployed
Num
ber
Per
cent
10.4
15.0
25.5
42.1
46.0
36.2
33.0
30.1
24.4
32.5
6,110
10,448
17,141
28,185
30, 568
28,264
25,910
24,067
19,453
24,530
i Figures for part-time employment not available.
The above tabulation is based on the findings o f surveys o f be
tween 8 and 9 percent o f the estimated population o f Philadelphia;
each year the same selected blocks in 10 school districts have been
covered, but the enumerative facilities have varied from time to
time. Employable persons were defined as “ those 16 years o f age
and over, working or seeking work.” P rior to 1935 full-time em
ployment was reported in terms o f the practice o f the industry. In
subsequent studies, work o f less than 30 hours per week was defined
as part-time employment. F or the purpose o f these annual censuses
persons on work-relief projects were regarded as unemployed. A l
though the field work for most o f the preceding sample surveys were
conducted in May, estimates from various 1938 employment indexes
show that the general employment and unemployment rates were
approximately the same fo r the period o f the survey June 15August 31 as they had been for May.
Table 2 shows the employment status o f employable persons in the
summer o f 1938, by sex. O f the 54,005 males 16 years o f age and
over, 31.2 percent were unemployed, and o f 21,397 females, 36.0
percent were reported in the jobless group.
T a b l e 2 , — Employment status of employable persons in Philadelphia sample, by sext
summer of 1938
Total
Employment status
Total number of employable persons_______________
Employed_______________________________________
40 hours or more per week.____ __________ _____
30-39 hours per week__________________________
Less than 30 hours per week i__________________
__________________
Unemployed________________
Previously employed.
____
_____ _ __ _
Not previously employed________________ _____
Employed on emergency works program projects.
Previously employed __ _ _ __ . . .
____
Not previously employed. . . .
. . . ______
Not employed on emergency works program
projects_________ __ _______ _____ . . . . . .
Previously employed. __ ________ _______
Not previously employed. ______ ___________
i Considered part-time employment.
Males
Females
Num
Num Percent Num
ber Percent
ber
ber Percent
75,402
50,872
41, 366
4,865
4, 641
24, 530
19,193
5, 337
2, 524
2,108
416
100.0
67.5
54.9
6.4
6.2
32.5
25.4
7.1
3.3
2.7
.6
54,005
37,171
31, 278
2,889
3,004
16,834
14, 053
2,781
1,975
1, 703
272
100.0
68.8
57.9
5.3
5.6
31.2
26.0
5.2
3.7
3.2
.5
21,397
13,701
10,088
1, 976
1,637
7,696
5,140
2,556
549
405
144
100.0
64.0
47.1
9.2
7.7
36.0
24.0
12.0
2.6
1.9
.7
22, 006
17,085
4, 921
29.2
22.7
6.5
14,859
12, 350
2,509
27.5
22.8
4.7
7,147
4,735
2,412
33.4
22.1
11.3
212
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
A s indicated in table 3, the rate o f unemployment among Negroes
was considerably higher than among white workers. Over 50 per
cent o f the Negroes were unemployed. Nearly 30 percent o f the
native-born white males and 33.5 percent o f the native-born white
females were unemployed, while the proportions o f unemployed in
the foreign-born white group were 24.1 percent o f the males and 22.6
percent o f the females.
T a b l e 3 . — R a ce and n a tio n a lity o f em p lo ya ble p erson s in P h ila d elp h ia sa m p le, by
sex and em p lo ym en t status, su m m er o f 1 9 3 8
Unemployed *
Employed
Total i
Sex, race, and nativity
Num
ber
Percent
Num
ber
Percent
Num
ber
Males______________________________________
Native-born white_______________________
F oreign-born white_____________ _______
Negro and all other______________________
54,004
35,601
11,451
6,952
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
37,171
25,074
8,691
3,406
68.8
70.4
75.9
49.0
16,833
10,527
2,760
3,546
31.2
29.6
24.1
51.0
Females... ________________________________
Native-born white_______________________
Foreign-born white_______________ _______
Negro and all other______________________
21,397
15,476
1,859
4,062
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
13, 701
10, 288
1,439
1,974
64.0
66.5
77.4
48.6
7,696
5,188
420
2,088
36.0
33.5
22.6
51.4
Percent
1 Excludes 1 man who did not report nativity.
2 Includes persons employed on Emergency Works Program projects.
*#####+#
Employment and Unemployment in Rhode Island, 1936 1
Slightly over 16 percent o f the 279,988 gainful workers and 13,671
job seekers without occupational experience in Rhode Island in
January 1936 were unemployed, and an additional 4.7 percent were
on relief projects, according to a census o f the population o f the
State. The percentage employed part time was 5.1, and the sick,
physically handicapped, those not reported, etc., constituted 2.3 per
cent, as shown in table 1. The census was conducted by use o f
relief funds, and the results were published by the Department of
Labor o f Rhode Island under the title, “ The Story o f the 680,712.”
T a b l e 1 .— E m p lo y m e n t status o f g a in fu l w orkers and jo b seekers w ithout o ccup a
tional ex p erien ce, J a n u a r y 1 9 3 6
Employment status
Males
Total
P ercen t
Employed full time _______________ - _ - _ _______
Employed part time___________________ ___________
Employed on relief projects._ _______________________
Unemployed 1______ _ _ __ ___________ ________ ____
Sick, physically incapacitated, not reported, etc_______
71.9
5.1
4.7
16.1
2.3
1 Includes those without occupational experience but seeking work.
1From
Monthly Labor Review for November 1937 (p. 1 1 1 6 ).
Females
P ercen t
71.7
4.4
6.1
15.3
2.5
P ercen t
72.5
6.8
1.5
17.3
1.9
EMPLOYMENT
W
213
RHODE ISLAND, 1 9 3 6
A n analysis o f employment status by age groups (table 2) discloses
that the heaviest unemployment in Rhode Island in January 1936 was
in the lower and upper age groups. Since the group under 16 years
o f age is relatively unimportant numerically, the most serious problem
was presented by the 16 to 25 age group, in which 26 percent are re
ported unemployed. Although the 66 to 75 and the 76 and over age
groups had only slightly less full-time employment than the 16 to 25
age group, this situation was not wholly the result o f unemployment
but was due in a substantial degree to the higher proportion o f sick,
physically disabled, and unreported, as well as o f those on relief
projects. In almost every way the age groups 26 to 35 and 36 to 45
were found to be in a more favorable position, their full-time employ
ment being highest and their unemployment lowest. The age groups
46 to 55 and 56 to 65 are recorded, however, as having slightly heavier
percentages on relief.
T a b l e 2 . — E m p lo y m e n t status o f g a in fu l workers and jo b seekers w ithout o ccu p ation al ,
exp erien ce, J a n u a r y 1 9 3 6 , by age groups
Percentage in specified age group
Employment status
Un
der
16
Both sexes:
Employed full time______
____ ____ ______ 40.1
5.1
Employed part time___ _ _ . _ _____ _ . . . .
1.5
Employed on relief projects_ ___ ___
Unemployed1.____
_ ______ ______ _ 47.8
Sick, physically incapacitated, not reported, etc._ 5.5
Males:
Employed full time________ ____ ______ ____
Employed part time___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Employed on relief projects_________ __ __ __.
Unemployed1.-.
____ ____
_____ _
Sick, physically incapacitated, not reported, etc__
Females:
Employed full time___ __ _ _.
_____ _
Employed part time_______ ______ - _________
Employed on relief projects___ _____ _____ _
Unemployed1-- _____ ___________________ _
Sick, physically incapacitated, not reported, etc_-
16-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66-75
76
and
over
63.7
6.1
2.6
26.0
1.6
78.6
4.9
4.5
10.2
1.8
77.7
4.8
5.9
9.4
2.1
73.8
4.8
6.2
12. 7
2.5
69.1
4.5
6.2
16.6
3.6
63.1
4.3
5.9
19.6
7.1
59.3
4.0
4.4
16.8
15.5
42.3
5.6
2.3
43.4
6.3
61.2
5.3
4.0
27.7
1.7
78.2
4.1
6.0
9.8
1.9
78.0
4.1
7.1
8.6
2.1
73.7
4.3
7.0
12.4
2.6
68.0
4.2
6.9
17.1
3.8
62.1
4.0
6.3
20.2
7.4
57.9
3.9
4.7
17.5
16.0
37.5
4.6
.6
52.8
4.5
66.9
7.1
.8
23.8
1.4
79.4
6.6
1.2
11. 1
1.7
76.7
7.1
2.0
12.1
2.1
74.2
6.5
2.9
14.0
2.4
74.5 69.6
5.8
6.0
2.8 . 3.6
13.9 15.5
3.0
5.3
68.0
5.1
2.0
12.2
12.7
1Includes those without occupational experience but seeking work.
The returns also show that those who reported “ no work” at the
fime o f the census had been without jobs for varying periods o f time.
Table 3 shows in terms o f percentages the severity o f unemployment
by selected periods o f unemployment for each sex. Approximately
one-half o f all males reporting no work had been without work fo r
a year or longer; slightly less than one-fourth had been unemployed
for more than 1% years.
Measured by the time idle, unemployment seemed to have been
less severe among women than men, although there was little differ
ence between the sexes in the proportion unemployed for 6 months or
less.
328112— 42—
vol.
i ---------
15
214
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
T a b l e 3 .— S everity o f u n e m p lo y m e n t , by selected period s and by sex
Unemployed
Unemployed
Period of unemployment
Period of unemployment
2^ years or longer_________
1 % years or longer..... .............
1 year or longer_______ _____
Males
Female
Percen t
Percen t
i 12.3
22.8
51.2
8.0
16.3
46.7
9 months or longer__________
6 months or longer__________
3 months or longer_____ ____
Males
Females
P ercent
P ercen t
61.2
76.8
89.8
59.1
75.4
87.8
1 Disregards those reported as ‘ ‘unknown.”
W hile the self-employed and employers constitute only a small pro
portion o f the gainful workers, unemployment was not so heavy
among them as among the wage earners. O f the male gainful work
ers, 8.5 percent were self-employed and 2.9 percent were employers.
The corresponding percentages for female gainful workers were 2.9
and 0.5. A t the time o f the January 1986 enumeration 80.5 percent
* o f the self-employed males and 90.1 percent o f the male employers
were reported employed full time as compared with 83.4 percent o f
the female self-employed and 90.3 percent o f the female employers.
In table 4, gainful workers are classified on an industrial, business,
and service basis. The figures presented disclose that only 46.2 per
cent o f the male workers reporting building construction as their
occupational field had full-time employment January 1936, and that
the percentage o f full-time employment among males in silk mills was
as low as 62.3. On the other hand, the statistics indicate 89.4 percent
full-tim e employment for male professional and semiprofessional
workers.
T a b l e 4 .— G a in fu l workers in R h od e I s la n d , J a n u a r y 1 9 3 6 , by in d u s tr y , em p lo ym en t
sta tu s , and sex
Employment status
Industry i
Total
Full time
Unem
ployed 2
Part time
Not work
ing 3
Fe Males Fe Males Fe
Fe
Fe
Males males
males
males Males males Males males
Total........... .............. ...................__ 197,957 82,031 147,682 63,465 9,120 5,942 35,897 10,966 5,258 1,658
Manufacturing and mechanical in
dustries:
Building construction________ 12,646
Chemical and allied products.. 1,699
564
Clay, glass, and stone________
Clothing_________________ . . .
222
Electrical, machinery and sup
ply—
773
Furniture, woodworking, fin
ished lumber_________ _____
939
Independent hand trades_____
915
Iron and steel_____________ .. 2,805
Jewelry.. . . . ______ ______ 7,929
Machines and machine tools__ 8,092
Other m e ta l..______ . ______ 4,869
Paper and allied products_____
976
Printing, publishing, and en
graving—
2,475
R ubber... __________________ 2, 531
Shoe and leather_____________
540
Miscellaneous manufacturing.. 3,001
See footnotes at end of table.
242
280
41
646
5,842
1,481
314
167
171
243
33
466
953
39
34
14
154
660
127
25
80
218
189
5,402
568
1,005
480
649
715
2,118
5,189
6,495
3,927
786
59
170
165
3,410
512
826
336
545
2,031
255
1,062
2,111
1, 773
342
2,321
461
1, 541
163
841
10 5,437
141
11
2
203
60
32
54
26
6
105
414
38
13
9
22
11
2
63
26
156
641
347
257
50
6
12
200
19
144
26
8
457
15
607 1,962 1, 339
17 1,051
34
66
548
95
52
126
84
27
30
74
137
199
137
14
3
3
1
46
5
18
8
110
77
19
151
36
180
19
98
34
95
36
76
10
41
10
16
3
77
220
586
143
453
38
269
63
107
7
15
215
EMPLOYMENT IN RHODE ISLAND, 1 9 3 6
T a b l e 4 . — G a in fu l w orkers in R h od e Is la n d , J a n u a r y 1 9 3 6 , hy in d u s tr y , em p lo ym en t
status, and sex —
Continued
Employment status
Industry 1
Total
Full time
Unem
ployed 2
Part time
Not work
ing 3
Fe Males Fe Males Fe Males Fe Males Fe
Males males
males
males
males
males
Textile industries:
Cotton._ . _________ _ . . . .
Woolen and worsted_________
Silk_________________________
Textile dyeing, printing, finishing, bleaching. _________ _
Thread and braid____________
Other textile_________________
Trade:
Wholesale and retail_______ _
Auto agencies________________
Advertising. __
Banking and brokerage. . . . __
Insurance___ _ ____________
Real estate
_________ _. _
Miscellaneous... __
. _
Transportation and communication:
Air transportation__
___ _
Construction,
maintenance,
streets, roads, sewers_______
Express trucking, bus, and cab
companies____ _____ _ __
Garages and filling stations___
_______
Postal services__ ._
Steam railroads___________ __
Street railroads___ ________ _
Telephone, telegraph, and radio.
Water transportation__ ___
Other service__
Food industries:
Bakeries____________ . . . .
Breweries, distilleries, and bev
erages . ______
Slaughter and packing houses. _
Other fo o d ... ______ ..
Public service:
City________________________
State___________________ .
Federal______ __ _________
Electric light and g a s __ _____
Domestic and personal service:
Hotels, restaurants, cafes, sa
loons, apartments. _ __ ___
Laundries, cleaning, pressing...
O th e r .___
_ ... Professional and semiprofessional
service___
________
... . _
Recreation and amusement___ _
General:
Farming____ ________ _____
Fishing_____________________
Forestry...
. . . _____ . . .
Quarrying, mining, sand, and
gravel ._ _ ____________ ..
Other industries___________ ._
Industry not reported_____ ____ _
10,898 6,391 7,441
14,836 11,312 11,643
4,47C 4,000 2,787
7,588
2, 375
2,787
26, 058
1,438
464
1,705
1,841
686
1,182
4, 568
8,850
2,473
378
859
530
322 2,830 1,352
952 1,846 1,204
640 1,068
812
249
488
85
149
306
6,176
1, 797
2,269
972
2,305
1,416
399
248
143
80
618
135
111
494
153
174
37
47
2&
8,814 21, 310
188 1,161
85
356
812 1, 581
1,113 1,650
560
159
289
924
6,871
167
65
758
991
139
195
909
40
22
9
11
15
43
533 3,311 1,288
182
13
3
10
10
77
77
35
8
135
104
12
90
8
12
186
73
17
528
55
9
38
45
21
29
122
5
5
69
1
10
12
6
2
1,189
3,472
1,738
839
293
328
41
2
34
2
2,017
26
671
18
113
2 1,164
3, 538
4, 508
888
2, 214
1,097
1, 002
1,313
201
110
105
70
38
28
1,176
27
18
2,438
3, 558
829
1,748
911
864
841
167
97
86
58
36
28
1,056
22
17
183
150
18
106
21
19
153
13
3
5
4
2,459
351
2,032
290
56
736
340
739
55
49
222
605
253
586
51
33
167
35
20
32
6,815
2,283
5,127
2,820
4,350
735
303
395
5, 374
1,889
4,911
2,509
4,005
668
275
372
4,736 2, 276
1,443 1, 351
5,260 10, 512
3, 717
1,177
4,050
6,503
1, 456
6,163
285
6, 445
1,138
618
453
118
4, 345
75,
55;
34
11
6
4
7
843
703
20
293
126
98
287
19
69
3
1
74
97
21
67
39
21
32
2
19
325
41
46
1
2
6
15
66
59
101
2
8
38
30
8
20
2
2
265
15
15
35
106 1,031
254
8
5
137
221
7
184
51
21
13
145
125
64
55
55
8
2
3
1,832
1,106
8.049
140
47
211
100
85
744
760
309
176
143
878 1,541
119
43
121
35
17
178
5,812
926
5,443
208
122
117
189
39
401
378
395
34
168
35
136
4
184
22
21
4,962
712
319
161
19
20
202
94
19
3 1,031
296
1
264
8
1
1
250
36
16
12
1
8
3
386
250
33
959
6
3
43
46
5
3001
147
78
25 2,692
2
no
10
2
394
40
2
2
2
11
208
1 According to this classification, patterned after one used by the U. S. Bureau of the Census, all gainful
workers (laborers, operatives, skilled craftsmen, clerks, or executives) are included under the industry or
service in which engaged.
2 Includes those on relief projects.
3 Because of industrial disputes, sickness, or physical incapacity.
F a r m
L a b o r : S p e c ia l
P r o b le m s
U. S. Bureau o f Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics: 1941 Edition.
217
Farm Labor: Special Problems
In this section are summaries o f articles on some special phases o f
farm labor. A n outstanding difference between farm labor and in
dustrial labor is the predominance on farms of a group commonly de
scribed as fam ily workers as distinguished from hired workers. The
proportion o f farm labor that is employed for wages varies regionally
to an extreme degree, and seasonal variations in employment also de
pend to a significant extent on location. The most obvious difference
between agricultural and industrial labor is the extent of concentration,
farm labor being much more widely distributed. These differences
affect public policy and administration, such as the question o f cover
age o f farm workers by social-security legislation. The nature o f farm
ing operations and the extent o f opportunity for nonagricultural em
ployment o f farm workers give rise to a varying amount o f part-time
farm ing in different sections o f the country. Throughout most o f the
country the growth o f farm tenancy has created problems which were
the subject o f study and recommendations by the President’s Commit
tee on Farm Tenancy. Another phase o f farm labor discussed in this
section is the comparative status o f wage workers and sharecroppers in
the South.
The more general phases o f farm labor are treated in other sections
o f this volume. Farm wage rates are summarized in the section on
wages and hours. Employment and total wage payments are given in
the section on employment and pay rolls. Various phases o f migration
o f farm workers are presented in the section on migratory labor.
There are summaries o f information on the productivity o f farm labor
in the section on labor productivity. Some information on public policy
relating to farm wages is presented in the section on regulation o f
wages and hours.
Hired Workers and Family Workers on Farms1
Characteristics o f Family ^Worker and HiredAVorker Groups
The group classified as fam ily workers includes farm operators and
members o f their families, when working on their farms without wages.
Tenants o f all types, as well as owners and part owners, are classed
as farm operators. Thus, farms worked by southern sharecropper
tenants in 1935 numbered 716,256, and the sharecroppers and their
families numbered about 3,120,000 persons, divided almost equally
1 Summary of an article on Farm Employment, 1909 to 1938, in Monthly Labor Review,
June 1939.
(Reprinted as part of Serial No. R. 976.)
219
22 0
FARM
L A B O R ----- S P E C IA L
PROBLEM S
between whites and Negroes.2 Sharecroppers depend wholly on their
landlords for capital and receive a share o f their crop as compensation
fo r their labor. They are nevertheless defined by the Bureau o f the
Census as farm operators and are here classified not as hired workers
but as fam ily workers.
The above figures for hired farm workers include hired managers
and foremen. In 1935, the number o f farms operated by managers
as distinguished from owners and tenants was 48,104 and the acreage
o f farms operated by managers in that year was 5.8 percent o f all farm
acreage.
Farm ing in the United States remains largely a family type o f
enterprise. This is apparent from the small number o f hired farm
workers as compared to fam ily workers and also from the concentration
o f hired workers on relatively few farms in restricted areas.
T a b l e 1 .— D istrib u tio n o f hired fa r m laborers in p rin cip a l fa r m in g a reas, b y n u m ber
o f laborers em p lo yed p er fa r m , J a n u a r y 1 9 8 5
Area
United States
______________________
Corn___ _____________________________
Eastern dairy ___ _____. . . ______ _
Western dairy________________________
Middle eastern____________________ _
Eastern cotton _________ __ _______
Delta cotton___ ______________________
Western cotton.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Small grain_________________ __ _____
Range
_________ __ ______________
Northwestern_____________ ________
Miscellaneous 3_______________________
1
Percentage of hired
laborers on farms
reporting—
Number of
Number of
farms report farms report
ing hired
ing no hired
laborers
laborers
Total num
ber of hired
laborers2
5,844, 756
967,594
1,645,602
31.4
17.6
767,108
367,327
492,906
1,055,043
593,761
685,615
626,421
465,681
149,746
169,612
. 473,536
142,171
112,989
106,790
144,885
95,742
51,297
87,921
60,997
25,969
24,708
114,125
181,433
171,347
130,389
226,304
192,670
131,932
163,036
81, 561
61,806
41,667
263,457
11.9
22.1
8.0
23.1
40.9
54.5
36.1
14.1
50.3
28.9
49.7
5.3
10.7
3.0
8.3
19.2
37.4
20.0
4.9
33.9
12.3
34.0
4 or more 8 or more
1 Data are from Monthly Labor Review, September 1937: Distribution of Hired Farm Laborers in the
United States. The information was derived from the special Agricultural Census of 1935. Employ
ment during most of the year is normally larger than in January.
2 Excludes hired managers and foremen who are included in the other tables.
3 Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Florida, Missouri, California.
The number o f farms in the United States in 1935, according to
the Census o f Agriculture o f that year, was 6,812,350. In January
1935 (the date o f the census), hired workers were employed on less
than 1,000,000 o f these farms, and even in July, during the peak o f
employment, the estimated number o f farms on which workers were
hired was less than 1,500,000. There was thus a significant concen
tration o f hired labor on a comparatively small number o f farms. In
2
U. S. Bureau o f the Census. Census o f Agriculture, 1935, vol. 3. Washington, 1937. The
other principal sources o f inform ation here utilized relating to the characteristics of the
family-worker and hired-worker groups are U. S. Works Progress Administration, National
Research Project, Report No. A -8 ; Trends in Employment in Agriculture, 1909-36, by Eldon
E. Shaw and John A. Hopkins, Washington, 1938 ; U. S. Congress, Senate, Special Committee
to Investigate Unemployment and R elief (75th Cong., 3d sess.). Hearings pursuant to S. Res.
36, vol. 2, pp. 1043-1085, 1099-1171, 1520-1612, Washington, 1938 ; U. S. Farm Security Ad
ministration, Social Research Report No. 8, Disadvantaged Classes in American Agriculture,
by C. C. Taylor, H. W. Wheeler, and E. L. Kirkpatrick, Washington, 1938 ; U. S. Department
of Agriculture, Income Parity fo r Agriculture, part 2, section 1, The Cost of Hired Farm
Labor, 1909-38 (prelim inary), Washington, 1939; and articles in the Monthly Labor Re
view, especially an article in the September 1937 number by Julius T. Wendzel on “ Distri
bution o f Hired Farm Laborers in the United States” (reprinted as Serial No. R. 625).
WORKERS ON FARMS'
221
addition, these farms were located mainly in limited areas o f the
country. In January approximately one-third o f hired laborers as
reported to the Bureau o f the Census were on farms with 4 or more
laborers, and about one-sixth were on farms with 8 or more laborers.
The areas o f largest concentration o f farms with groups o f hired
workers, as distinguished from a single hired hand, were the Delta
cotton and range areas, and in the group o f miscellaneous States
(table 1), Florida and California. In California 59.1 percent o f hired
workers were on farms employing 4 or more and 42.0 percent were
on farms employing 8 or more. Corresponding figures fo r Florida
are 60.9 percent and 45.6 percent. In Arizona the concentration was
even greater. In that State 68 percent o f hired workers were em
ployed on farms with 8 or more. These figures follow the census
classification o f sharecroppers as farm operators and not as hired
workers. Their inclusion with hired workers would significantly
affect the figures, especially for the Delta cotton area.
Seasonal V ariations 3
Estimates o f seasonal variation in total agricultural employment
fo r the United States as a whole indicate that January is the month
o f least employment and June the month o f greatest employment.
The amount o f employment in the high month has usually been about
43 percent greater than the amount in the low month. Variations
in some areas have been much greater. In the area o f least variation,
the corn area, the amount o f employment in the high month has been
only about 24 percent greater than the amount in the low month.
In the area o f greatest variation, the eastern cotton area, there has
been about 86 percent more employment in the high month than in
the low month. Variations in the employment o f hired workers are
much more extreme.
Seasonal variation in the employment o f fam ily workers is com
paratively unimportant because the agricultural income o f fam ily
workers is in the form o f the product o f the entire year’s work, and
the converse o f employment on farms is not necessarily unemploy
ment. Hired farm workers, on the other hand, depend on the wages
they receive while actually at work. Seasonal variation in the em
ployment o f hired farm workers is therefore vastly more serious than
the seasonality o f work done by fam ily workers.
The seriousness o f seasonal variation in the employment o f hired
farm workers is the more apparent in view o f the fact that the varia
tion is much greater than in the case o f fam ily workers. (See
table 2.)
3
The data here used on seasonal variation are from Eldon E. Shaw and John A. H op
kins, op. c i t . ; and U. S. Works Progress Administration, Seasonal Employment in Agriculture,
hy Benjamin J. Free, Washington, 1938. The sources, methods of computation, and serious
lim itations o f available data are discussed in these volumes.
222
T
FARM LABOR— SPECIAL PROBLEMS
able
2 , — In d e x es o f seasonal variation in agricultural em p lo ym en t, 1 9 2 5 to 1 9 3 6
All workers
Family workers
Area of—
Month
Hired workers
Area of—
Area of—
United
United Greatest Least
United Greatest
Greatest Least
States variation Least
States variation
States variation variation
variation
variation
(north (middle
(eastern (corn)
(eastern (corn)
cotton)
cotton)
western) eastern)
12-month average..
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
January__________
February________
March___________
April_____ _
Mav_ . _ _______
June____ _______
81
84
88
96
107
116
70
74
82
97
116
130
89
89
91
100
104
106
84
87
90
98
107
115
71
74
81
96
116
129
95
96
97
101
104
104
70
72
80
94
108
119
61
63
77
93
106
114
73
74
84
96
105
117
July_____________
August__________
September. _
_
October______ . . .
N ovem ber.______
December________
113
104
106
114
103
88
116
93
109
130
107
76
110
109
100
102
103
96
111
102
104
111
102
89
116
96
109
131
107
77
106
104
100
99
99
96
120
111
111
122
107
84
135
136
159
108
86
62
121
108
107
120
106
89
Percentage variation —high
month from low
month. _______
43
86
24
37
84
12
74
161
66
1 Data are from U. S. Works Progress Administration, National Research Project, Report No. A-8: Trends
in Employment in Agriculture, 1909-36.
The hired workers employed in January 1935, totaling somewhat
more than 1,500,000, according to the Census of Agriculture, were for
the most part regularly employed workers, although special condi
tions call occasionally for extra workers even in January. The winter
lull that begins in September extends into February. In February,
however, there is some demand for additional labor for such work as
plow ing in the cotton area and work on the truck farms and in the
fruit-grow ing regions o f the South. From May to July, high sea
sonal employment is general, although in many o f the fruit sections
the summer decline begins in July. There is a general decline in
August, except in the truck areas, where operations connected with
canning require additional labor. The fall upturn reaches its peak
in the various regions at different times extending from September
to November. In November the winter decline sets in, except for
corn husking and cotton picking in limited parts of these crop areas.
E m ploym ent b y R egions
D uring the past three decades, agricultural employment has varied
widely in the different farm ing areas. The decline in number o f
workers was greatest in the eastern dairy, eastern cotton, corn, and
middle eastern areas. In the northwestern and range areas, increases
in the number o f farm workers were accounted for mainly by the
increased acreage in these areas. There were also increases both in
acreage and in agricultural employment in California. In the other
main farming areas (the western dairy, Delta cotton, western cotton,
and small grain areas), the average number o f farm workers under
went few significant changes.
223
W O R K E R S ON FARM S
T
able'
3 . — Estimated number of farm workers in principal farm ing areas of the
U n ited States in 1 9 3 6 1
Hired workers
Family workers
Total
(thou
sands)
Area
Number Percentage Number Percentage
of total
(thousands)
of total
(thousands)
23
2,494
_______________
10,997
8,502
77
Corn area------------ -------------------------------Eastern dairy area_________ ___________
Western dairy area____________ _______
___
Middle eastern area __________
Eastern cotton area_____________________
Delta cotton area. __ __________________
Western cotton area____________________
Small grain area_____
___
. _______
Range area___________________________ Northwestern area______________________
Miscellaneous 2_________________________
1,235
737
922
1,904
1, 383
1, 342
1,145
742
308
292
987
950
502
714
1,576
1,091
1,099
909
606
196
212
647
77~
68
77
83
79
82
79
82
64
73
66
Total_________________
23
32
23
17
21
18
21
18
36
27
34
285~
235
208
328
292
242
236
136
112
80
340
1 Data are from U. S. Works Progress Administration, National Research Project, Report No. A-8:
Trends in Employment in Agriculture, 1909-36.
2 California, Missouri, Florida, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maine.
The areas with highest percentages o f hired farm workers in 1936
were California and “Florida, among the miscellaneous States, and
the eastern dairy, the range, and the northwestern areas. In Cali
fornia the problem o f estimating farm employment has been com pli
cated, especially in recent years, by the high proportion o f migratory
workers, but even in January 1935, when comparatively few mi
gratory workers were employed, the number o f hired workers was
about 43 percent o f total agricultural employment. The correspond
ing figure for Florida was 38 percent. The area with the smallest
percentage o f hired farm workers in 1936 was the middle eastern,
with 17 percent. (See table 4.) The cotton areas also* had compara
tively small percentages o f hired workers, but comparisons o f these
areas, especially the Delta cotton area, with other regions must take
account o f the fact that sharecropping there is widely prevalent, the
sharecroppers frequently having a status essentially below that o f
hired workers in many other parts o f the country.
T a b l e 4 . — H ire d fa r m w ork ers as percentages o f total fa r m w orkers in the U n ited
States and in p rin cip a l a reas , in selected yea rs
Year
1909_________
1918_________
1927_________
1936_________
1
United Corn Eastern Western M iddle Eastern Delta Western Small
North
dairy eastern cotton cotton cotton grain Range western
dairy
States
.23
24
26
23
26
28
29
23
35
35
35
32
23
25
29
23
20
21
20
17
18
18
23
21
19
19
17
18
19
23
23
21
23
23
27
18
40
41
40
36
33
32
28
27
1 Data are from U. S. Works Progress Administration, National Research Project, Report No. A-8:
Trends in Employment in Agriculture, 1909-36; and TJ. S. Department of Agriculture, Crops and Markets,
January 1939.
The proportions o f hired workers in the several areas and the
changes in these proportions during the period since 1909 have been
affected by the changing size o f farms and types o f production, and by
technological changes tending to reduce the amount o f labor required
per acre or per farm. Changes in business conditions and public
policies have also affected the proportions, as when depression has
increased the number o f fam ily workers, especially those engaged in
subsistence farming.
224
FARM LABOR— SPECIAL PROBLEMS
Distribution of Hired Farm Laborers in the United
States 1
The belief that farm ing in the United States is largely a fam ily
enterprise in which the fam ily head is assisted by few i f any hired
laborers is not unfounded. Census figures for January 1935 show
that no hired labor was employed on 5,845,000 out o f a total o f 6,812,000 farms. The average number o f hired laborers for all farms was
0.24, and fo r farms reporting hired labor was only 1.7. These
averages, however, conceal the fact that a relatively large number o f
hired farm laborers were on farms employing hired labor in sub
stantial numbers, and that these hired laborers were concentrated
on a very small number o f farms.
In order to obtain more complete data on the number o f farms
employing various numbers o f farm laborers, the Social Security
Board requested the Bureau o f the Census to make a special tabula
tion o f the 1935 farm census data to show a distribution o f farms by
number o f hired laborers reported. The results o f this tabulation are
presented in table 1, by geographic divisions and States.
These data indicate that in January 1935 there were comparatively
few farms in the United States on which more than two laborers
were hired. Only 107,000 farms reported three or more laborers;
this is but 11.1 percent o f all farms reporting hired labor and 1.6
percent o f all farms. On the other hand, nearly 650,000 laborers,
or almost 40 percent o f the total number, were employed on these
farms.
T
able
1 .—
N u m b e r o f hired laborers on f a r m s reporting specified n u m bers o f hired
laborers, by geographic d iv isio n s and Sta tes, J a n u a r y 1 9 3 5 1
Division and State
Total
number
of farms
Number of hired laborers on farms reporting—
1 or
more
2 or
more
3 or
more
4 or
more
5 or
more
6 or
more
8 or
more
United States_________ 6, 812,350 1,645,602 922,957 647,617 517,207 427, 263 364, 598 289,168
10 or
more
244,132
New England_________
Maine . _ _ _ _____
New Hampshire___
Vermont. . ______
Massachusetts____
Rhode Island______
Connecticut_______
158, 241
41,907
17, 695
27,061
35,094
4, 327
32,157
63,440
11,440
6,067
10, 822
19, 247
2,536
13, 328
36, 724
5,284
3,082
4,333
13, 787
1,826
8,412
24, 548
3,158
1,836
2,043
10, 269
1, 356
5,886
18,623
2,195
1, 260
1, 344
8,196
1, 086
4, 542
14, 847
1, 523
912
992
6, 744
910
3, 766
12,407
1,123
712
792
5, 794
775
3, 211
9,491
677
558
513
4, 479
667
2, 597
, 7,790
478
432
397
3,708
481
2, 294
Middle Atlantic_______
New York ______
New Jersey _____
Pennsylvania_____
397, 684
177,025
29, 375
191, 284
139,065
67, 751
17,182
54,132
66, 352
30,007
11, 356
24,989
40,034
17,049
7,976
15,009
28, 727
11, 445
6, 275
11,007
22, 339
8, 521
5, 099
8, 719
18, 319
6, 661
4, 304
7, 354
13, 550
4, 611
3, 424
5, 515
10,848
3, 396
2,944
4,508
75, 516
19,143
11, 393
16, 648
13,117
15, 215
38, 936
11,157
5,989
8, 848
7,455
5,487
26, 219
8,112
3, 982
6,010
5,205
2, 910
20,087
6,416
2, 942
4, 670
4, 021
2, 038
16, 282
5, 366
2,332
3,860
3,156
1, 568
11, 515
3, 970
1,446
2,901
2,167
1, ,031
224,444
East North Central____ 1,083, 687
Ohio______________ 255,146
49, 537
34, 070
200,835
Indiana___________
49, 294
Illinois_______ ___ 231, 312
Michigan_________
196, 517
39,192
52, 351
Wisconsin__ ____
199, 877
i S o u rc e : Bureau of Research and Statistics,
tabulated at the request of the Social Security
8,948
3,142
1,026
2,459
1,591
730
Social Security Board. Prepared from unpublished data
Board by the Bureau of the Census.
1 A bstract o f an article by Julius T. Wendzel, Social Security Board, in the M onthly
Labor Review fo r September 1937.
225
HIRED FARM LABORERS
T
1 . — N u m b er o f hired laborers on fa r m s reportin g specified n u m bers o f hired
laborers, by geographic d iv isio n s and S tates, J a n u a r y 1 9 3 5 — Continued
able
Division and State
Total
number
of farms
Number of hired laborers on farms reporting—
1 or
more
2 or
more
3 or
more
4 or
more
5 or
more
6 or
more
8 or
more
West North Central, ... 1,179, 856
Minnesota ____ . 203, 302
221, 986
Iowa__ . . . . . . . .
Missouri.. . . . . __ 278, 454
North Dakota___ _
84, 606
South Dakota_____
83, 303
133, 616
Nebraska . . .
Kansas.. . . . ____
174, 589
196,158
38, 846
48, 532
40, 742
13, 495
8, 209
20, 300
26, 034
63, 521
9, 611
12, 582
17, 815
4, 319
2, 240
6, 597
10, 357
32, 283
3,933
5, 656
11, 223
1, 793
956
3, 239
5, 483
21, 087
2, 292
3, 508
7, 989
1, 076
563
2, 072
3, 587
14, 787
1, 520
2, 468
5, 757
668
415
1, 528
2, 431
10, 992
1,110
1, 873
4, 352
488
305
1,193
1, 671
7,133
671
1, 370
2, 913
267
197
730
985
5,037
470
1,148
1,937
58
146
557
721
South Atlantic______ _ 1,147,133
Delaware______. . .
10, 381
44, 412
Maryland______ .. .
District of Columbia
89
Virginia. __ . _
197, 632
104, 747
West Virginia_____
North Carolina____ 300, 967
South Carolina____
165, 504
Georgia. _______ _ _ 250, 544
72,857
Florida_______ . ..
358,175 232,113 168, 273 135, 045 109,865
3, 057
1, 577
1,073
866
746
22, 973 12, 998
7, 724
5, 564
4, 268
257
237
217
205
189
52, 310 29, 201 18, 389 13,151
9, 963
15, 032
7,102
4, 008
2, 628
1,792
59, 321 29, 841 18, 513 13, 233
9, 537
53,140 37, 640 27, 350 21, 893 17,117
91, 458 64, 961 49, 723 40, 567 33, 015
60, 627 48, 556 41, 276 36, 938 33, 238
92, 825
636
3, 403
184
7, 953
1, 222
6, 847
13, 737
27, 810
31, 033
71,341
543
2, 469
184
5,449
592
3, 944
9, 532
20, 983
27, 654
58,116
494
1,881
175
3,915
395
2, 375
6, 593
16, 649
25, 609
East South Central.._ . 1,137, 219
Kentucky ___
278, 298
273,783
Tennessee. ___ _
Alabama' _______
273, 455
Mississippi________ 311, 683
160, 025
36, 915
39, 496
48, 072
35, 542
37,135
6, 024
6, 434
12, 673
12,004
29,015
4, 544
4,909
9, 788
9, 774
20,103
2, 832
3, 210
6, 547
7, 514
14, 928
2,114
2, 242
4, 446
6,126
West South Central___ 1,137, 571
Arkansas___
253, 013
Louisiana. _ . __ 170, 216
213, 325
Oklahoma . . . . . .
Texas_____ _____
501,017
259, 426 177, 660 137, 394 116, 010 100,074
39, 974 29, 964 24, 576 21, 435 18, 923
56,416 46,357 39, 703 35,680 32, 512
31, 444 15, 517
9, 347
4, 607
6, 455
131, 592 85, 822 63, 768 52, 440 44, 032
88, 099
16, 873
30, 217
3, 267
37, 742
74,438
14, 706
27,152
2, 010
30, 570
66, 448
13, 201
25, 303
1, 303
26, 641
M ountain... _ .. .. .
Montana_________
Idaho. __ ________
Wyoming._ _ _
Colorado____ . ...
New Mexico.
Arizona___
Utah_____________
N e v a d a ..._____
271, 392
50, 564
45, 113
17, 487
63, 644
41, 369
18, 824
30, 695
3, 696
Pacific_____ _ ______
W ashington______
Oregon___ ____ _
California ___ . .
299, 567
84, 381
64, 826
150, 360
84, 141
13, 523
8,812
7, 001
15, 228
11,364
20, 964
. 5,183
2, 066
93,497
19,975
20, 857
28, 866
23, 799
63, 535
12,417
12, 659
20, 612
17, 847
48, 583
8, 508
8, 966
16, 337
14, 772
10 or
more
57,854
8, 025
4, 800
4, 819
8, 826
7, 670
18,613
3, 538
1,563
44, 574
5, 445
3, 076
3, 639
5, 822
5, 650
17, 213
2, 518
1,211
37, 584
4, 224
2, 269
2, 877
4,196
4, 663
16, 325
2. 041
' 989
32, 540
3, 268
1,741
2, 397
3, 004
3, 887
15, 693
1,721
829
28, 765
2, 673
1,351
2, 047
2, 244
3, 277
15, 083
1, 381
709
23, 656
1,853
870
1,486
1,250
2, 505
14, 212
948
532
21,124
1,513
622
1, 257
832
2, 129
13, 621
755
395
160, 728 119, 720
17, 568 10,187
15, 287
9, 084
127, 873 100, 449
98, 040
6, 843
6, 268
84, 929
85, 329
4, 947
4, 843
75, 539
75, 589
3, 767
3, 931
67, 891
67, 894
2, 952
3, 291
61,651
57, 941
1,990
2, 280
53, 671
50, 893
1,431
1, 725
47, 737
Geographical D ifferences
The January 1935 data exhibit striking differences among different
areas, as may be seen from table 2. The percentage o f all hired farm
labor on farms with three or more varied from 16.5 percent in the
West North Central to 61.0 percent in the Pacific division, and from
10.1 percent in Minnesota to 82.1 percent in Arizona. Not the least
striking fact is the large proportion o f hired farm labor employed in
groups o f eight or more in some sections o f the country. Thirty-six
percent o f all farm laborers working for wages in the Pacific division
and 68 percent in Arizona were employed on farms with eight or more
hired workers. In general, the relative extent to which farm laborers
are hired in relatively large numbers differs greatly from region to
region.
226
T
able
FARM LABOR----SPECIAL PROBLEMS
2 .— C um ulative percent d istribu tion o f fa r m s and hired laborers by n u m ber o f
hired laborers p er fa r m , f o r selected areas, J a n u a r y 1 9 3 5
United States
West North
Central division Pacific division
Minnesota
Arizona
Number of hired
laborers on farm Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent
of farm
of farm
of farm
of farm
of farm
of
of
of
of
of
farms labor
farms labor
farms labor
farms labor
farms labor
ers
ers
ers
ers
ers
1 or more......... ......
2 or more________
3 or more_________
4 or more_________
5 or more_____ _ _
6 or more_________
7 or more-— .......
8 or more_________
9 or more___ .
10 or m ore........ _
100.0
25.3
11.1
6.6
4.3
3.0
2.1
1.7
1.3
1.2
100.0
56.1
39.4
31.4
26.0
22.2
19.2
17.6
15.7
14.8
100.0
14.7
4.6
2.2
1.2
.7
.5
.3
.2
.2
100.0
32.4
16.5
10.8
7.5
5.6
4.4
3.6
2.9
2.6
100.0
36.6
19.8
13.3
9.5
7.1
5.5
4.7
3.9
3.4
100.0
74.5
61.0
53.1
47.0
42.2
38.4
36.0
33.3
31.7
100.0
11.5
2.9
1.2
.6
.4
.3
.2
.1
.1
100.0
24.7
10.1
5.9
3.9
2.9
2.3
1.7
1.4
1.2
100.0
45.3
29.0
22.1
18.4
15.6
13.5
12.4
11.1
10.7
100.0
88.8
82.1
77.9
74.9
71.9
69.4
67.8
65.6
65.0
Seasonal Fluctuations
The data so far considered relate to the single month o f January
1935, the month in which the Census o f Agriculture was taken. It is
obvious that data fo r a single winter month cannot be accepted as
representative, since total farm employment in summer far exceeds
the January level. Moreover, the use o f January data may distort
regional differentials, since the relative level o f January employment
is different in different areas.
Unfortunately, data for other months are not available, and esti
mates which can be derived from existing material are subject to
serious limitation as to accuracy. In order to give a rough idea o f
the nature o f the bias in the January data, however, tentative esti
mates for July have been prepared and are shown in table 3.2
Table 3 permits comparison between July estimates and the census
figures for January. The total number o f farms with hired labor in
July is estimated at 1,482,000, as compared with 967,0000 in January;
while the total number o f hired laborers for July is estimated at
2,680,000, as compared with 1,645,000 in January. The July estimates
show nearly 184,000 farms with three or more hired laborers, and
more than 1,156,000 hired laborers on these farms, whereas the cor
responding census figures for January were 107.000 farms and 648,000
hired laborers.
T
able
3 .—
C u m ulative d istribu tion o f fa r m s and hired laborers by n u m ber o f hired
laborers per fa r m , J a n u a r y and J u ly 1 9 3 5
Farms
Number
Hired farm laborers
Percent
Number of hired laborers
Janu
ary
1 or more_____________ — 967, 594
2 or m o r e --____ _______ 244, 949
3 or more_______________ 107, 279
4 or more________________ 63.809
5 or more________________ 41, 325
28, 790
6 or more---------- ------------7 or more
------ ------------ 20, 570
16, 840
8 or more----------------------15,006
9 or more................. ...........
11, 410
10 or more_______________
Number
Percent
July (esti
mate)
Janu
ary
July
(esti
mate)
January
July (esti
mate)
Janu
ary
1, 482, 697
408, 299
183,880
109, 535
70, 994
49, 700
36,129
29, 598
23, 269
20,122
100.0
25.3
11.1
6.6
4.3
3.0
2.1
1.7
1.3
1.2
100.0
27.5
12.4
7.4
4.8
3.4
2.4
2.0
1.6
1.4
1,645,602
922, 957
647, 617
517, 207
427, 263
364, 598
315, 278
289,168
258, 496
244,132
2, 679, 340
1, 604, 942
1.156,104
933,069
778,905
672, 435
591,009
545, 292
494,660
466, 337
100.0
56.1
39.4
31.4
26.0
22.2
19.2
17.6
15.7
14.8
2 The methods used in making these estimates are given in the original article.
July
(esti
mate)
100.0
59.9
43.1
34.8
29.1
25.1
22.1
20.4
18. 5
17.4
PART-TIME FARMING
227
From the July estimates, it appears that the census data understate
by a wide margin the number o f farms with a relatively large number
o f hired laborers as well as the number o f hired laborers on such
farms. They appear to understate by a similar margin the total num
ber o f farms with hired labor and the total number o f hired laborers.
Throughout the foregoing discussion, the census practice o f con
sidering sharecroppers as farm operators has been followed. There
is, however, a strong basis for considering them as hired employees of
the plantation owners. It is usually considered that a primary con
dition o f an employer-employee relationship is the ownership o f the
tools o f production by the employer, and that this condition is funda
mental to employee insecurity. B y this criterion, it is clear that
sharecroppers should be regarded as employees rather than inde
pendent farm operators. When it is noted that the 1935 Census o f
Agriculture reported well over 700,000 sharecroppers, it becomes
obvious that, should sharecroppers be considered as employees, many
o f the figures given above would be greatly modified.
Part-Time Farming in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and
Indiana 1
Part-time farm ing in the past commonly arose from the need o f
farm families to supplement their income by means o f outside work.
In recent years, and especially since the end o f the W orld 'W ar, parttime farming has been the result of a movement of city people, mostly
industrial and white-collar workers, onto small parcels o f land
adjacent to the cities or industries in which they are employed, in
order to add to their incomes and to obtain greater security and more
healthful surroundings for their families. The automobile, good
roads, and more leisure time, because o f shorter working hours in
industry, have facilitated this movement back to the land.
The present article is based on surveys made in Pennsylvania, Con
necticut, and Indiana.2 The three studies are not entirely com
parable, as the definitions of a part-time farm adopted in these studies
varied,3 but the findings therein are of interest as representing condi
tions in different States.
E xtent and R ela tive Im portance o f P art-T im e Farming
Part-time farming in Pennsylvania is found in greater concentra
tion near industrial centers, in coal-mining and slate and cement areas,
and near car-repair shops. The average size of 887 part-time farms
1 From the M onthly Labor Review for September 1939.
2 Pennsylvania, State College : School of A griculture and Experiment Station, Bull. No.
361 : Part-Tim e Farming in Six Industrial Areas in Pennsylvania, State College, 1938 ;
Connecticut, State College, Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station, Bull. No. 201, PartTime Farming in Connecticut, by I. G. Davis and L. A. Salter, Jr., Storrs, 1935 ; and two
studies of suburbanization in Connecticut— Bull. No. 212, Windsor, A Highly Developed
A gricultural Area, by N. L. Whetten and E. C. Devereux, Jr., Storrs, 1936 ; and Bull. No.
226, Norwich, An Industrial Part-Tim e Farming Area, by N. L. Whetten and R. F. Field,
Storrs, 1938; Indiana, Purdue University, Agricultural Experiment Station, Bull. No.
4 1 0: Part-Tim e Farming in Indiana, Lafayette, 1936.
3 A part-time farm was defined as fo llo w s : Pennsylvania: (1 ) A t least three-quarters
of an acre under cultivation or $100 worth o f produce raised ; (2 ) 50 days’ work off the
place or $150 income from nonagricultural sources. Connecticut : Farms o f 3 or more
acres with total farm production representing substantially less than full-tim e yearly
employment for 1 man. Indiana : One-half acre or more producing considerable portion
of fam ily living, the operator of which spent part o f his time in a m ajor occupation other
than farming, or received other income, such as pensions, annuities, rents, or interest.
22 8
FARM LABOR----SPECIAL PROBLEMS
in six industrial areas surveyed in 1936 was 20.8 acres, and 46 percent
o f the land was cultivated. The' most common products o f these
farms were corn, potatoes, grain, hay, fruit, and garden crops. L ive
stock (a cow, hogs, a horse or mule, and poultry) was kept by the
farmers. The average investment in lands, buildings, equipment, and
livestock was $2,587.
In Indiana, according to the 1930 census, 7.9 percent of the approxi
mately 182,000 farms were part-time farms, and they contained 2.6
percent o f the total farm acreage. The part-time farms were located
in greater numbers near industrial centers and in the limestone and
the coal-mining districts. The average purchase price was $2,228 per
farm. Less than 1 percent o f the farm products marketed in Indiana
was from part-time farms.
Sixty percent o f the more than 30,000 farms in Connecticut in 1935
were worked on a part-time basis. Although these farms were in all
parts o f the State, the greatest concentration was in urban and indus
trial areas. Part-time farms included 35 percent o f the total farm
acreage but sold less than 3 percent o f the total farm products
marketed in the State.
Characteristics o f P art-T im e Farmers
The majority o f the part-time farmers studied in the three States
were native-born. In Pennsylvania only 16 percent were foreign-born
and in Connecticut 29 percent. Approxim ately 80 percent o f those in
Pennsylvania were between 35 and 64 years o f age and 50 percent
were between 45 and 64 years. In Indiana the average age was 44
years, and in Connecticut it was 57 years. The average size o f the
part-time farm fam ily in the industrial areas in Pennsylvania was 4.8
persons. In Indiana there was an average o f 4.44 persons per family.
The average fam ily had 2.54 persons over 18 years o f age and 1.9
persons under 18 years. In 28 percent o f the families in Connecticut
there were children under 16 years and in 29 percent there were
children over 16 years.
The tenure o f part-time farmers on their farms averaged 9.4 years
in Indiana, 12 years in Pennsylvania, and 19 years in Connecticut,
though 35 percent o f the farmers in Connecticut had lived on their
farms less than 10 years. Seventy-eight percent o f the farmers in
Pennsylvania owned their farms, as compared with 79 percent in
Indiana and 87 percent in Connecticut.
Eightv-five percent o f the part-time farmers in Pennsylvania had
been brought up in the country. In Indiana, on the average, parttime farmers had had several years o f farm experience, and in Con
necticut the m ajority o f the farmers had had previous experience in
farming.
N on agricu ltu ra l O ccupations o f P art-T im e Farmers
In Pennsylvania 39 percent o f the part-time farmers studied were
in manufacturing and mechanical occupations, 17 percent in mining,
12 percent in transportation, 13 percent in Federal relief employment,
and 19 percent in other occupations. Over half (53.8 percent) of
those in Indiana were employed in industry (including coal miners
and stone workers) ; 15 percent were in business for themselves; 30
percent were in other occupations; and 1 percent were unemployed.
PART-TIME FARMING
229
More than 300 different outside occupations were represented by
the part-time farmers surveyed in Connecticut. Twenty percent o f
them were craftsmen or factory workers, and others were industrial
executives, public-service employees, doctors, lawyers, small retailers,
etc. A considerable proportion (41 percent) were retired or unem
ployed but presumably had resources outside the farm. In an esti
mated 11 percent o f the farm families both operators and children
were working away from the farms.
Incomes and Expenses o f P art-T im e Farmers’ Families
The average income from their farms o f the selected part-time
farmers5 families in Pennsylvania in 1935 was $621, which included
$222 from the sale o f farm products, $242 as the value of farm prod
ucts consumed by the family, $11 increase in the farm inventory, and
$146 for use o f farm dwelling. The average farm expenses were
$432, and the average net farm income was therefore $189. The sum
o f $773 was earned in outside occupations, 85.7 percent o f which was
earned by the farm operator and 14.3 percent by other members o f
the family. Miscellaneous receipts averaging $67 raised the total
income per fam ily to $1,029. I f the cost o f commuting be deducted,
the total income would be $952. Forty-four percent o f the work done
on the farm was done by the operator, 26 percent by the housewife,
26 percent by the children, and 4 percent by other members o f the
household.
In Indiana 84 percent o f the cash income o f the part-time farmers
surveyed was derived from outside occupations, 10 percent from the
sale o f farm products, and 6 percent from other sources. The aver
age total cash income in 1933 4 was $577. Eighty-seven percent of the
cash income from outside work was earned by the head o f the family,
11 percent by the wife and children, and 2 percent by other members
o f the household. The average value o f all the products of the farm
was $201 and o f those consumed by the family, $141. Approxim ately
31 percent o f the real income o f the family came from the farm. The
total income of owners o f farms was $823 and total expenses were
$725, the surplus being $98. Renters had a total income o f $627,
total expenses o f $557, and a surplus o f $70.
The main income o f the selected part-time farmers’ families in Con
necticut came from the outside work o f the members o f the fam ily;
this amounted to $738 or 69 percent o f the total income in the year
covered (1933). The value o f the food and fuel produced for home
use was $243, or 23 percent o f the total income. The sale o f farm
products was a negligible source o f income, forming only 4 percent
o f the total. The gross income was $1,074 and the total expenses,
including farm and living expenses, were $977, leaving a surplus
of $97.
Standard o f L ivin g o f P art-T im e Farmers’ Families
F ifty-six percent o f the homes o f the selected part-time farmers in
Pennsylvania were lighted by electricity, 33 percent had a furnace,
4
It is stated in the report that as agricultural, econom ic, and industrial conditions were
below normal in that year, normal incomes can be assumed to be higher.
3281^2— 42— vol. i----- 16
230
FARM LABOR— SPECIAL PROBLEMS
20 percent had hot water, and 20 percent had a bathroom. Over
three-fourths (75.6 percent) o f the families had automobiles, and
almost as many (71.5 percent) had radios. Seventeen percent had
telephones.
In Indiana the housing and living conditions o f the part-time
farmers’ families studied varied somewhat with the region, but on the
average, compared favorably with the average in, their respective
communities. Almost all o f the houses (95 percent) were o f frame
construction, and they averaged 4.64 rooms per house or about 1 room
per person. About one-sixth o f the houses (17 percent) needed con
siderable immediate repair. Most o f these were in the coal-mining
area.
Automobiles were owned by 77 percent o f the families in the indus
trial area, 72 percent in the limestone area, and 70 percent in the
coal-mining area. Forty-five percent o f all the families had radios.
In Connecticut, 28 percent o f the part-time farmers’ families lived
in comfort, their houses being neatly painted and decorated and in a
good state o f repair. The living conditions o f the m ajority (60 per
cent) were those usual in their sections. Only 5 percent o f the
families did not have essential sanitary facilities, comfortable furni
ture, and weatherproof houses.
########
Part-Time Farming in the Southeast 1
The long depression in agriculture, and later, the depression in
industry had an important influence on the growth of part-time
farm ing in the Southeast. In recent years industrial workers have
sought to supplement their reduced wages in industry with part-time
farming, farmers were induced to supplement their reduced farm in
comes with off-the-farm employment, and many persons already en
gaged in combined farming-industrial employment extended their
farming activities. One-half o f the families surveyed in a study by
the W orks Progress Administration had been carrying on part-time
farming for 6 continuous years prior to 1935, however, indicating that
part-time farming enterprises were not undertaken purely as a result
o f the depression.
Part-time farming in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina was
carried on by workers in all o f the major industries o f the region—
cotton-textile manufacturing, lumber, naval stores, and coal and iron
mining— as well as by workers in other manufacturing and mechanical
industries, in transportation and communication industries, in trade,
and in public service.
The survey o f combined farming-industrial employment in five major
subregions of the Southeast showed that economically the part-time
farm was an advantage. It required in investment in house and land
little more than ordinarily would be spent in housing; it required only
a small amount o f capital for equipment or livestock; and the expendi
ture for seed, fertilizer, or hired labor was negligible.
1Extract from U. S. Works Progress Administration, Resenrch Monograph IX : Part-Time
Farming in the Southeast, Washington, 1937.
(In Monthly Labor Review for M^rch 1938.)
PART-TIME FARMING
231
A part-time farm enterprise undertaken on as small a scale as those
found in the eastern Cotton Belt, however, did not give the operator
and his fam ily economic self-sufficiency.
A t best, it only supple
mented a cash wage from employment in industry, and the possibility
o f carrying on part-time farm ing activities successfully was contingent
upon possession o f off-the-farm employment.
In all o f the subregions, the part-time farms surveyed were small,
and the enterprises were conducted mainly to produce food for home
consumption. Most o f the farms surveyed had less than 5 acres o f
cropland, and almost half o f them had less than 2 acres. The small
acreage was sufficient, however, for the farm to produce a definite
contribution to the fam ily living— not only fresher and more abundant
products for the diet, but also a monetary saving in grocery bills
during the summer months that ranged from a few dollars to as much
as $20 per month.
The value o f products consumed by typical part-time farmers
during the year ranged from about $70 by part-time farmers who
had only a garden to about $400 by those with a garden, a cow,
several hogs, and a small flock o f poultry. Since the majority o f the
part-time farmers surveyed made less than $500 a year at their
principal off-the-farm employment, the farm ’s contribution to family
living was an important one.
Although most o f the part-time farmers kept a cow, a hog or two,
and a flock o f chickens, a vegetable garden was the activity that was
most general. Most part-time farm families were obviously unfam il
iar with winter vegetables, but some garden products, such as sweet
and Irish potatoes and corn, were stored by two-thirds o f the families,
while vegetables were canned by three-fifths o f the households, thereby
prolonging the period o f the garden’s usefulness through the winter
months.
From 3 to 5y2 hours a day were required in farm work from
A pril through August on the white noncommercial part-time farms.
Although in some cases the head o f the fam ily did all o f the work
alone, the farm tasks were usually shared by members o f the family.
Few o f the part-time farmers spent as much as $15 for hired labor in
1934.
The part-time farmer’s investment in farm buildings and land was
small, amounting to less than $2,000 in over one-half o f the cases
surveyed. Investment in implements and machinery was practically
negligible, most o f the farmers owning only a few simple hand tools,
such as hoes and rakes.
In order to carry on farm ing activities, part-time farmers on the
average were forced to live slightly farther from their places o f work
than were the nonfarming industrial workers. But residence at a
greater distance from an employment center placed the workers in
only one subregion at a disadvantage in securing work, as was shown
by a comparison o f part-time farmers and nonfarming industrial
workers with respect to rates o f pay, total earnings, and number o f
days employed.
Housing cost part-time farm families who lived in the suburbs
or open country less than it would have in town. Since families of
part-time farmers were larger than those o f nonfarming industrial
workers, the lower rents, especially for large families, were one o f
232
FARM LABOR— SPECIAL PROBLEMS
the advantages that accompanied part-time farming. Nearly onefourth o f the part-time farm families consisted o f seven or more
persons. Part-time farmers’ homes were larger than those o f non
farm ing industrial workers, but because o f the larger families, there
was slightly more overcrowding in the farm group.
Lack o f modern conveniences was one o f the disadvantages that
frequently accompanied part-time farming, because power lines and
water mains were not generally extended into sparsely settled rural
areas. Electric lights, running water, and bathrooms were often
lacking.
Home ownership was more common among part-time farmers than
among the nonfarming industrial workers, but a large proportion o f
tenancy existed even among part-time farmers, and especially among
Negro part-time farmers.
From the social viewpoint, too, the part-time farmer’s life had its
advantages and disadvantages. In general, more part-time farm
than nonfarming industrial families participated in organized social
and community life. Also, the extent o f participation o f part-time
farmers was greater than that o f nonfarmers in almost every type o f
activity available to them, which was surprising in view o f the greater
distances many o f them had to go to attend meetings. More members
o f part-time farm than nonfarm families were in positions o f leader
ship as represented by officeholding, and enumerators in more than
one area remarked that the part-time farmers enjoyed a higher social
status than that o f the nonfarming industrial workers.
Fewer social organizations, however, were available to part-time
farmers. Inasmuch as such groups stimulate social intercourse and
interest in community affairs, the lack o f social organizations was par
ticularly disadvantageous to young people in part-time farm families.
Part-time farm ing cannot be a solution for unemployment in the
eastern Cotton Belt, because possibilities o f increased industrial ac
tivities which would provide the necessary cash wage are slight.
Consequently, part-time farm ing as an activity can be encouraged
only where industry has sufficiently recovered from the depression to
offer satisfactory wages and hours to its workers, or where future
prospects for an industry’s development are promising.
W
W W
Report of President’s Committee on Farm Tenancy 1
Owing to the increase in farm tenancy, the decrease in farm
ownership, and the insecurity o f those who still hold their farms but
with only small equities, the report o f the President’s Committee on
Farm Tenancy, published in 1937, concluded that the time had come
when action must be taken to protect the resources o f man-power,
natural resources, and investment in agriculture.2 The Committee
was o f the opinion that responsibility rests with both the State
governments and the Federal Government and that a start should
be made on a small scale, expanding the scope as experience points
the way and personnel is trained.
1From Monthly Labor Review for May 1937.
2National Resources Committee. Report of the President’s Committee on Farm Tenancy,
Findings and Recommendations. Washington, 1937.
REPORT ON FARM TENANCY
233
Farm ownership has been regarded throughout the history o f the
United States as a means o f attaining security. However, for the
past 55 years the proportion o f operating owners in relation to ten
ants has declined. The tenant farmers increased from 25 percent o f
all farmers in 1880 to 42 percent o f the total in 1935. Moreover,
among owners it was estimated that many have equities o f little more
than one-fifth. The Committee concluded that one farm family out of
four is in a precarious situation socially and economically.
The tenancy system contributes to the unsatisfactory farm situa
tion. About two-thirds o f the tenants and sharecroppers are located
in the South, and in that area two-thirds o f this class o f labor are
white and one-third are Negroes. Southern sharecroppers operate
716,000 farms, which represent 10 percent of all farms in the United
States. These sharecroppers, working principally in the cotton and
tobacco belts, constitute 48 percent of the total o f sharecroppers and
farm laborers combined, and 39 percent o f all southern tenants.3
Since sharecroppers supply only their labor they are usually the most
insecure class o f tenants.
Hired farm laborers, which class made up one-fourth o f all per
sons gainfully employed in agriculture in 1930, are most secure when
paid by the month on a yearly contract and living on the farms o f
their employers.
The descent o f agricultural workers from one class o f tenure to
a lower status and the grow ing difficulty in rising to a higher status
have been associated with the general economic depression o f recent
years.
T o prevent wastage o f lands through erosion o f soils and thus pre
serve national resources, the condition o f farm labor must be amelio
rated. The report states: “ Tenancy has contributed to soil depletion;
soil depletion has in turn contributed materially to the expansion ox
tenancy and the further impoverishment o f tenants and croppers.”
Numbers o f farm tenants are moving from farm to farm each year.
One-fifth to one-fourth o f the farm population live in extreme pov
erty in two- or three-room houses o f poor construction. Many of
these families are chronically undernourished and subject to pellagra,
malaria, and hookworm.
The Federal program, it is believed, should facilitate farm-home
ownership and help existing owners to keep their farms. It should
further improve the condition o f laborers, aid families stranded on
submarginal land, take such land out o f cultivation, and discourage
speculation in farm land. As no agency with adequate powers to
correct conditions has attacked these problems, the Committee re
garded it as highly important that there be unified and well-integrated
leadership. Regular appropriations by Congress for this work were
recommended, the work to be expanded as the wisdom o f the new policy
is demonstrated.
F or States, the Committee recommended measures to improve lease
contracts and landlord-tenant relationships, modification o f the system
o f taxation on farm lands, and the safeguarding o f the civil liberties
o f tenants. The report states that although it is believed the Federal
Government “ can do much to improve conditions o f tenant farmers,
8For the purposes of this report the term “tenant” includes both the sharecroppers and
the group commonly known as tenants.
234
FARM LABOR----SPECIAL PROBLEMS
some o f the most fruitful fields o f endeavor are under the jurisdiction
o f State agencies.” In connection with taxation o f farm lands, a d if
ferential was recommended favoring family-size, owner-operated
farms. A policy o f complete or partial tax exemption o f small home
steads has been favored in various parts o f the country in recent years
and at least seven States have already adopted the principle.
Wage Laborers and Sharecroppers in Cotton Production
In 1935 there were 716,000 sharecropper families in 16 Southern
States and 537,000 in the 8 principal cotton-producing States. In
these 8 States the average number o f hired farm workers or wage labor
ers in 1935 was 737,000, and the total number o f workers in share
cropper families, assuming 3 workers per family, was 1,611,000.
These comparisons were given in a statement, here summarized, by
Ernest J. Holcom b, o f the United States Bureau of Agricultural
Economics, presented before a subcommittee o f the Senate Com
mittee on Education and Labor.1
Some o f the wage laborers are regularly employed workers, and
many o f these live on the employers’ farms, and, like sharecroppers,
receive payment in part in the form o f certain perquisites, such as
a cabin, a garden plot, and fuel from the owner’s woodlot. I f a regu
larly employed wage laborer is the} head o f a fam ily, members o f his
fam ily are frequently employed at certain times o f the year and are
thus in a sense resident seasonal laborers. In addition to seasonal
laborers o f this type, there are large numbers o f seasonal workers who
do not reside on the employer’s farm. Such laborers may come from
nearby communities, but in many areas there is a large body o f m i
gratory labor in cotton production during the peak seasons o f cotton
chopping and picking. As early as 1930, according to the census o f
that year, one-third o f all hired farm workers in the 16 Southern
States lived elsewhere than on farms. Even the hired workers who
live on their employers’ farms while employed may have long inter
vals o f unemployment.
T ypes o f Labor
There are several types o f share laborers as distinguished from
wage laborers. In the Southeastern States there are hoecroppers,
whose work is limited to hoeing and chopping and the nonmechanical
parts o f the harvesting. W idow s and children o f sharecroppers
sometimes become hoecroppers. These share laborers usually pay
one-fourth o f ginning charges and one-fourth o f the cost o f fer
tilizers, and usually receive one-fourth o f the crops grown. In
western Texas, and to some extent in the bottom-land areas o f
Arkansas, there are patch-croppers who produce the crops but do not
1U. S. Department o f Agriculture. Bureau of A gricultural Economics. 3?he Share
cropper and Wage Laborer in Cotton Production, by Ernest J. Holcomb. Presented before
a subcommittee o f the Committee on Education and Labor, U. S. Senate, Pursuant to S. Res.
266, Washington, 1940. (Mimeographed.) The summary here given is from the Monthly
Labor Review, November 1940. Some o f the data presented appeared later in a study by
E. J. Holcomb and G. H. Aull, Sharecroppers and Wage Laborers on Selected Farms in
Two Counties in South Carolina (Bulletin 328, June 1940, Clemson Agricultural College
and Agricultural Experiment Station, Clemson, S. C .).
LABORERS AND SHARECROPPERS IN COTTON
235
harvest the owner’s part and who receive the crops on specified tracts,
which they must harvest as their compensation. The patch-croppers
may also be provided with housing facilities by the owner. These
and other types of share laborers are derivatives, however, of the
sharecropper type, which is the basic type recognized by the Bureau
of the Census.
The sharecropper of the prevailing type supplies all the labor in
the production and harvesting of crops and receives a portion, usu
ally one-half, of the product. The owner usually supplies the equip
ment, the work stock and their feed, and the seed for planting. Such
costs as fertilizers and the ginning and bagging of cotton are usually
shared. There are numerous variations of these basic arrangements.
Sharecroppers are classified by the Bureau of the Census as ten
ants. The basis of this classification is the element of risk involved
on the part of the sharecropper in depending for his compensation on
the uncertain amount of crop harvested and on the uncertain prices
received for the product. It is pointed out, however, in the statement
here summarized, that the sharecropper’s resources are so limited
and his relation to the landowner is so dependent as to reduce him to
a status not significantly different from that of the wage earner.
Sharecroppers customarily depend upon credit advances from land
lords for their shares of crop expenses and even for a large part of
their living expenses between harvest seasons. The net returns to
sharecroppers usually do not differ significantly from the incomes of
wage earners.
Trends in Employment o f Various Types o f Labor
In geographical distribution, sharecroppers are prevalent in the
eastern cotton area, including South Carolina, Georgia, and Ala
bama, and wage laborers are more commonly employed in the west
ern cotton area, including Texas and Oklahoma. In many areas,
both forms of labor are in extensive use. In most areas there is much
flexibility in the arrangements for labor, with frequent shifts from
one status to the other. There is evidence that in many areas there has
been a marked tendency toward wage labor. Ordinary tenancy* as
distinguished from the sharecropping arrangement, exists in many
areas and in some is prevalent.
The censuses of 1920 and 1930 show increases, which in most in
stances were large, in the number of sharecroppers in all of the
cotton States. There was a decline from 1930 to 1935 in the number
of sharecroppers in all of the major cotton areas, although not in
all of the eight States comprising these areas. Special studies in
certain counties indicate a continuation after 1935 of the decline in
number of sharecroppers, especially on the larger plantations.2
These studies also reveal the economic basis of the shift in the
status of labor in cotton production. Particularly significant is the
evidence of instability, which is illustrated by the experience of
sharecroppers and wage families in Laurens and Florence Counties,
2
This conclusion was borne out by the Census of 1940, the results o f which became avail
able after the data here summarized were presented to the subcommittee of the Senate Com
mittee on Education and Labor. The number of tenants classified as sharecroppers in the
Southern States as a whole declined from 776,000 in 1930 to 541,000 in 1940.
236
FARM LABOR-- SPECIAL PROBLEMS
S. C. Among the workers who had the status of sharecroppers in
1937 in Laurens County, 75.7 percent had been sharecroppers in 1930,
8.6 percent had been wage laborers, and 15.7 percent had had some
other status. In Florence County, among the workers with a share
cropper status in 1937, 67.1 percent had been sharecroppers in 1930,
10.1 percent had been wage laborers, 6.3 percent had been renters,
and 16.5 percent had had some other status. The status of wage
earners showed even greater instability. Among the wage laborers
o f Laurens County in 1937, 38.6 percent had been wage laborers in
1930, 22.6 percent had been sharecroppers, 19.4 percent had had some
other status, and 19.4 percent were not at work in 1930. Among
the wage laborers in Florence County in 1937, 61.4 percent had been
wage laborers in 1930, 6.8 percent had been sharecroppers, 4.5 percent
had had some other status, and 27.3 percent were not working in 1930.
A study of tenure experience in four counties of Arkansas indicates
extreme instability of tenure and of economic status on the part of
both wage earners and sharecroppers. In this area the net change was
decidedly in the direction of wage labor. The number of share renters
per 10,000 acres of cropland fell from 143.1 in 1932 to 104.5 in 1938,
and the corresponding number of sharecroppers fell from 798.1 to
581.2. In contrast, the number of wage families per 10,000 acres
of cropland rose from 247.2 in 1932 to 293.6 in 1938, and the corre
sponding number of wage hands rose from 27.5 to 39.5.
It is particularly significant that the total amount of labor per
10,000 acres of cropland was 16 percent lower in 1938 than in 1932.
This fact reflects a major change in methods of farming in the direc
tion of mechanization, which in turn has had a tendency not only to
reduce the total amount of labor but also to bring about a shift from
sharecroppers to hired laborers.
Instability o f Residence
The instability of tenure and economic status is illustrated by the
frequent changes in location on the part of both sharecropper and
wage-earner families. In Laurens and Florence Counties, S. C.,
sharecroppers and wage laborers lived, on an average, on the same
farm between 3 and 4 years. Some families moved back to the same
farms two or more times during their lives. In the three bottom-land
counties of Arkansas, 4 out of 10 sharecropper and wage-earner
families were residing on their 1937 farms for the first year and 3 out
of 5 had lived there for 2 years or less. Three out of four had lived
on the farms of their 1937 residences 4 years or less. The average
length of residence on the same farm in 1937 was less than 2 years.
Economic Status
The economic status of both sharecroppers and wage workers, as
indicated by special studies in South Carolina and Arkansas, ap
peared to undergo some improvement between 1933 and 1937, but
the income figures for 1937 reveal remarkably small resources for
the support of a family. Sharecroppers in Laurens County, S. C.,
owed the landlord, at the “ settlement” date, an average of $214 as
advance payments or other debts and received in cash an average of
WAGE WORKERS AND SHARECROPPERS IN MISSISSIPPI
237
$71— a total o f $285. In Florence County, S. C., the advances made
by the landlord and owed by the sharecropper plus the cash settle
ment paid to the sharecropper averaged $329. The average income
of wage-earner families in Laurens County was $250, and in Florence
County, $258. In three bottom-land counties of Arkansas, the cash
settlement and advances combined averaged, for sharecropper fami
lies, $229. There was usually a significant amount of additional
income in the form of perquisites, particularly home-grown foods,
not counted in the advances made to sharecroppers or in the wages
paid to hired workers.
Studies of the comparative advantage to farm operators, under
specified conditions, of using sharecroppers and wage laborers were
made in several cotton-producing areas. It was estimated that in
Laurens County, in the Piedmont area of South Carolina, the opera
tors’ cash returns over variable expenses, excluding farm-benefit pay
ments, were $9.78 per acre under the sharecropper system, and $10.80
under the wage-labor system, and including farm benefits with rates
and divisions between owners and sharecroppers as in 1939, $14.25
per acre under the sharecropper system, and $19.80 under wage labor.
Similar figures for Mississippi County, Ark., indicate operators’ cash
returns under variable expenses, excluding farm-benefit payments,
as $20.87 under the sharecropper system, and $23.18 under wage labor,
and including farm-benefit payments, $27.48 under the sharecropper
system, and $36.41 under wage labor. Estimates for Lamb County,
Tex., in the High Plains area, indicate that when farm-benefit pay
ments are excluded, the operators’ cash returns over variable expenses
were $9.46 under the sharecropper system and $14.26 under wage
labor, and the corresponding figures when farm-benefit payments are
included are $13.08 and $21.50.
Wage Workers and Sharecroppers on Mississippi
Plantations 1
Recent developments in many sections of the country indicate an
increased use on farms of hired workers in place of tenants. In the
plantation regions of the South, sharecroppers have formed a dis
tinctive group of farm workers, but in addition to sharecroppers in
these areas there have been considerable numbers of hired farm work
ers. Evidence of a trend toward hired labor in one of the principal
areas of sharecropping is presented in a recent study by the United
States Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Mississippi
Agricultural Experiment Station.2
In this region, the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta area, large cotton plan
tations prevail, ranging in size from 400 to several thousand acres.
These plantations are operated largely by tenants. The area com
prises about 4,200,000 acres in northwestern Mississippi and includes
all o f 10 counties and parts of 9 others. In 1934 about 69 percent
1 From the M onthly Labor Review for November 1939.
2 U. S. Department o f Agriculture. Technical Bulletin No. 682 : Plantation Organization
and Operation in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Area, by E. L. Langsford and B. H. Thibodeaux.
W ashington, May 1939.
238
FARM LABOR---SPECIAL PROBLEMS
o f the farm land in the 10 counties wholly within the area was in
plantations o f 400 acres or more, and 62 percent was operated by
tenants, only 13 percent of whom were white. Fluctuations in cotton
prices, the advantages of mechanization, and other influences dur
ing the past decade led planters to make readjustments in plantation
organization and operation for maintenance of earnings. These
adjustments included an increased use of wage labor. Because of
the fact that all share-rental leases on plantations are verbal agree
ments that may be terminated at the end of the year either by the
plantation operator or by the tenant, shifts from one employment
status to another are easily made.
During recent years, there has been indication that a plentiful supply of labor
and the increased use of large-scale equipment in production have been asso
ciated with a rapid increase in the use of wage labor as compared with share
labor. The use of large-scale machinery in cotton production, associated with
the availability of a plentiful and relatively low-priced labor supply for hand
operations like hoeing and picking, has proved much more remunerative to plan
tation operators than production on a share basis. Together with this ad
vantage in large-scale production methods are the attendant reduction in the
number of laborers used and hence the decreased risks in furnishing credit
advances to tenants.
A study of 12 plantations on which detailed records were kept
indicates that the proportion of cropland operated wdth wage labor
rose from 30 percent in 1933 to 47 percent in 1936. The proportion
operated by sharecroppers fell from 52 percent in 1933 to 43 percent
in 1936, and the proportion operated with share tenants3 fell from
18 percent in 1933 to 10 percent in 1936. A more intensive survey
of plantations in one county indicates an increase of cotton acreage
operated by wage labor from 27 percent in 1934 to 42 percent in 1936;
a decline of the acreage operated by sharecroppers from 58 to 48
percent, and a reduction of the acreage operated by share tenants
from 12 to 9 percent.
Census data for the 10 counties wholly within the area indicate a
similar trend between 1930 and 1935. The acreage in cropland har
vested per farm operator by full owners, part owners, and managers
increased from about 55 acres in 1930 to 81 acres in 1935. The
number of full owners, part owners, and managers increased from
4,084 in 1930 to 5,150 in 1935, and in contrast the number of share
croppers and other tenants decreased from 75,988 in 1930 to 63,113
in 1935. The total farm land increased from 2,284,000 acres in 1930
to 2,459,000 acres in 1935, and the cropland harvested underwent a
slight reduction from 1,684,000 acres in 1930 to 1,658,000 acres in 1935.
The relative costs of the different types of labor to plantation opera
tors, and the comparative incomes of sharecroppers, share tenants,
and wage workers, afford explanations of these changes.
In 1932, sharecroppers earned an average net return of 45 cents per workday.
In effect, this was the average rate, excluding perquisites furnished sharecrop
pers, that the plantation operator paid for a day of sharecropper labor. If
wage labor had been used, the labor cost to the operator would have amounted
3
In the study here reviewed a sharecropper is defined as a tenant who furnishes all of the
labor, bears one-half o f the expenses for fertilizer, poison, and ginning, and receives one-half
of the crop. The sharecropper is sometimes locally referred to as a “ half hand” or “ half
tenant.” A share tenant is defined as a tenant who furnishes all of the labor,, power and
equipment, and seed, and bears three-fourths o f the expenses for fertilizer, poison, and
ginning, in return for three-fourths o f the crop. A local term for share tenant is “ fourth
tenant.”
WAGE WORKERS AND SHARECROPPERS IN MISSISSIPPI
239
to 60 cents per day. Thus wage-labor rates were relatively high as compared
with crop incomes in 1932, and the plantation operator benefited more that year
from using sharecroppers than wage laborers. This income-wage relationship
was reversed, however, during the next 4 years. In each of these years, the
average net earnings per day of sharecropper labor were substantially above
the average rate per day for wage labor; hence, on the average, the plantation
operator benefited more from using wage labor than sharecropper labor during
these 4 years.
It is probable that the policy of substituting wage labor for share
cropper and tenant labor will be continued and extended, for wage
labor can be adapted most readily and economically to mechanization
now in progress. The extent and rapidity of the change will depend
on the relative levels of crop incomes, labor costs, and power costs.
These in turn will be vitally affected by the degree of success attained
in mechanizing the hoeing and picking of cotton. Another factor of
unforeseeable importance is the bargaining power of the workers re
garding wages and the tenure status they prefer.
H ousing and Building Operations
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics: 1941 Edition.
241
Sources and Character of Information on Construction
and Housing
Monthly reports on the value of building permits are the chief
source of information on the volume of construction in the United
States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the value of build
ing permits for all types of building and separately for new resi
dential construction, nonresidential construction, and additions, alter
ations, and repairs. Reports are also published showing the value
of construction financed from Federal and State funds.
Data on the value o f building permits are available beginning with
the year 1920. Coverage, which was at first limited to the larger
cities, has gradually been extended to include places having a popu
lation of 1,000 or more. In 1940, the monthly statistics of building
permits included returns for each of the cities with populations
of 50,000 or more; for cities from 1,000 to 50,000 population the
number reporting increased directly with the size of city.
Reports are collected by the Bureau directly from local building
officials except in the States of Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, where State depart
ments of labor collect and forward the data to the Bureau. In
addition, the Bureau receives notifications of the value of construc
tion contracts awarded by Federal and State Governments.
The permit-valuation figures represent estimates of construction
costs made by prospective builders when applying for permits to
build, in the case of privately financed construction, and the value
o f contracts awarded, in the case of construction financed with Fed
eral or State funds. No land costs are included.
Only building construction within the corporate limits of the
reporting cities is included. Thus, the figures do not give an over
all picture of the total volume of construction for which permits are
issued in the country at any one time. Moreover, the actual cost of
construction is almost always greater than the permit valuation.
Nevertheless, by comparing the dollar value of permits issued, a
rough approximation of building trends over short periods is ob
tained, as the number of cities reporting varies relatively little from
month to month. For the purpose of making long-term comparisons
index numbers have been computed.
Other contributions of the Bureau of Labor Statistics to the avail
able information on the status of construction are the annual reports
on union wages and hours in the building trades (see vol. II, p. 46); the
quarterly estimates of residential building; and the weekly and
monthly indexes of wholesale prices of building materials.
243
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
244
Special studies of housing and construction are made periodically
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the results of the more im
portant of these, published during the past few years, are summar
ized in this section. This is also true of reports made from time
to time by other Governmental agencies on various phases of con
struction such as those contained in the Decennial Census, and those
made by the FH A , the HLBB, and the TJSHA.
The status of construction is vital to labor owing to the large body
o f workers engaged directly and indirectly in erecting buildings and
because all workers are concerned with obtaining suitable dwellings
at reasonable costs. From 1935 to 1940 residential and nonresidential
construction expanded. A large factor in this growth wTas the pub
lic-works program, started in 1933 under the terms of the National
Industrial Recovery Act, extended by other laws, and not reaching
its full effectiveness until some years later, because of the lapse in
time between planning and executing construction work. Although
an increasing volume of building was fostered originally by the Federal Government as a means of furnishing as much work as possible
to the large body of unemployed, there has also been a revival in
private construction activity, particularly in residential building.
The latest development is the combined public and private effort to
fulfill defense requirements for both plant and residential units.
>#++#+##*
BU IL D IN G C O N S T R U C T IO N
Trends in Building Construction, 1929 to 1941
Index numbers of building-permit valuation in all reporting cities
are shown in table 1 for the years 1929 to 1940 and by months for 1941.
The year 1929 is used as the base or 100 and the figures through 1940
are averages of the monthly indexes. The large volume of contracts
awarded for defense construction beginning in the second half of 1940
pushed the index for October 1940 to 82.0, the highest level recorded
since 1929. Monthly indexes through September 1941 were well above
those for the corresponding months of 1940. The lowest point in con
struction activity was in 1933 and 1934, for which the respective in
dexes amount to 12.2 and 12.5 percent of the 1929 level.
Residential construction, which reached the lowest level of the three
branches of building during the early thirties—5.3 percent of the
1929 average in 1934— showed the most pronounced recovery.
TRENDS IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION, 192 9-41
245
The index numbers of building construction in table 1 are based
on the changes in the volume of building construction in cities which
have reported in two successive months. For example, the monthly
indexes of permit valuations are computed by multiplying the index
for the preceding month by the ratio of permit valuations in the
current month to those in the preceding month. In this way, com
parable historical series are obtained which incorporate the maxi
mum amount of information from an increasing number of reporting
cities.
T a b l e 1 .— In d e x n u m bers o f p erm it valuation o f building con stru ction , 1 9 2 9 —41
[B ased on p e rm its issued.
Year 1and month
M o n th ly averag e, 1929= 100]
Total
building
construction
New
residential
buildings
New nonresidential
buildings
Additions,
alterations,
and repairs
1929_______________________________________
1930_______________________________________
1931_______________________________________
1932_______________________________________
1933_______________________________________
100.0
57.2
40.4
14.8
12.2
100.0
42.7
30.5
7.5
6.3
100.0
73.0
49.8
20.3
14.1
100.0
65.1
48.7
24.0
24.2
1934_______________________________________
1935_______________________________________
1936_______________________________________
1937_______________________________________
1938_______________________________________
1939_______________________________________
1940_______________________________________
12.5
21.4
34.1
37.7
38.2
45.2
52.4
5.3
13.1
26.0
27.9
32.2
42.2
47.1
14.0
21.8
31.7
35.3
33.3
34.5
44.4
31.2
42.2
53.3
62.1
52.4
57.1
56.9
45. 8
43.8
50.2
68.1
62.9
69.1
63.1
57.1
55.1
48.3
36. 7
36.9
38.4
40.0
50.9
68.2
62.7
70.1
66.9
66.0
62.2
51.0
41.6
32.3
43.6
37.7
36.0
52.7
46.2
50.8
42.5
31.3
32.6
28.1
20.6
29.1
46.7
46.7
58.1
67.1
72.3
75.0
70.4
67.2
60.1
69.9
44.7
4&5
m i
January...
_____
..
_.
. . _ _ .
February
______ ______ _ ..
------------M arch ... _ . . . . _
. . .
__
. __
April
.
. . .
.
.
M ay__________ ______ ___________ _______ _
June------------------------- --------------------------------July_______________________________________
August. ----- -------------- -------------- ---------September...
_
.. . .
October.. . . . ______
. ... _
November___
....
------December . . .
_. . . .
1 F ig u res for 1929 to 1940, are averages of m o n th ly index n u m b e rs .
T ype o f Buildings Constructed, 1939 and 1940
All building construction undertaken in 2,397 cities in the popula-.
tion class of 1,000 and over which reported to the Bureau in both
1939 and 1940, is classified in table 2 according to the type of build
ing to be erected. The quantity unit for all types of buildings in this
table is the number of buildings. An alternative unit for new house
keeping structures is the number of dwelling units provided in them.
This distinction is most significant for multifamily dwellings. I f
permits were issued for a preponderance of small apartment houses
in any year, there could be a substantial increase in the number of
buildings of the multifamily type without a corresponding increase
in permit valuation.
328112— 42— vol . i— — 17
246
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
T a b l e 2 , — P e rm it valuation and n u m ber o f various ty p e s o f buildings f o r w hich
perm its were issu ed in 2 ,3 9 7 identical cities, 1 9 3 9 and 1 9 4 0
P e rm it v a lu a tio n
A m ount
T y p e of b u ild in g
1940
1939
_ ------ $2, 710, 393, 208 $2,149, 959, 230
B u ild in g s
N um ber
P e rc e n t
of
change
1940
1939
P e rc e n t
of
chan g e
+ 2 6 .1
847, 327
784,030
+ 8 .1
N e w b u ild in g s ____ __
_ _ - _
R es id e n tia l b u ild in g s .. -------------1-fam ily d w e llin g s___
.. .
2 fa m ily d w e llin g s .. . _. . . .
1- a n d 2-fam ily dw ellings w ith
stores c o m b i n e d . . ___ . ..
M u ltifa m ily d w e llin g s. _ ____
M u ltifa m ily dw ellings w ith
stores c o m b in e d .. . . ____
H o t e l s . . ____ __ ___________
L odging h o u ses. __ . . .
. ..
A ll o th e r __________ _________
2, 362, 362, 390
1 ,3 11 ,8 26 ,8 36
1,003, 559, 290
71,878, 314
1, 796,152,137
1,175, 341, 275
835,862, 761
5 6,866,278
+ 3 1 .5
+ 1 1 .6
+ 2 0 .1
+ 2 6 .4
4 2 6 ,111
283.197
260,654
14,119
371, 421
235,476
217,156
10,817
+ 1 4 .7
+ 20. 3
+ 20. a
+ 3 0 .5
4, 756, 387
208, 098, 301
4 ,1 61 ,6 45
256,647, 534-
+ 1 4 .3
- 1 8 .9
909
6 ,899
922
6, 012
- 1 .4
+ 1 4 .8
-3 0 .6
+ 6 .6
+ 7 3 .6
+ 2 8 .7
119
151
83
263
174
114
56
225
-3 1 .6
+ 3 2 .5
-1-48.2
+16. &
N o n re sid e n tia l b u ild in g s .. . . . . .
A m u s e m e n t b u ild in g s ._ . ....
C h u rc h e s ________ ________ .
F acto rie s a n d w o rk sh o p s___
P u b lic g a ra g e s .. . . .
_ _ .
P r iv a te garag es____ _
S ervice s ta t io n s .. . .
_.
In s titu tio n s __________________
Office b u ild in g s ___ . . .
P u b lic b u ild in g s _____________
P u b lic w orks a n d u tilitie s ____
Schools a n d lib r a r ie s ..
. ...
S h e d s___________ . . ________
S tab les a n d b a r n s __________ .
Stores a n d w a re h o u s e s .. . . . .
A ll o th e r _____ ______________
1,050, 535, 554
29, 913, 657
18. 561,805
373,811,273
9,196, 302
23, 743, 763
20,65 1,00 3
53, 907, 380
35, 549,911
229, 319, 934
69, 373,438
55, 641, 916
5 ,1 63 ,0 63
825, 751
121, 200,969
3,675, 389
620,8 10 ,8 62 + 6 9 .2
25, 446, 389 + 1 7 .6
16, 303, 797 + 1 3 . 8
47, 773, 560 + 682. 5
8, 535, 329
+ 7 .7
22, 026, 575
+ 7 .8
18, 403, 828 + 12.2
4 4,829,855 + 2 0 .2
20,491, 339 + 7 3 .5
105, 998. 068 + 1 1 6 .3
57,493, 576 + 2 0 .7
145, 465. 589 - 6 1 . 7
5, 281,147
- 2 .2
728,098 + 13.4
99, 597,844 + 2 1 .7
2, 435,868 + 5 0 .9
142,914
1, 732
1,161
3, 531
1,207
92, 733
5, 326
293
715
873
964
566
15,460
568
13,965
3 ,820
135,945
1,644
1,014
2, 740
1,131
87,805
4. 858
306
513
573
787
942
17,315
684
12. 406
3, 227
+ 5 .1
+ 5 .4
+ 1 4 . 5.
+ 2 8 .9
+ 6 .7
+ 5. a
+ 9 .0
—4 . 2
+ 3 9 .4
+ 5 2 .4
+ 2 2 .5
-3 9 .0
-1 0 .7
- 1 7 .0
+12. 6
+ 1 8 .4
A d d itio n s , a lte ra tio n s, a n d re p a irs ___
O n re s id en tial buildings:
H o u sek eep in g d w e llin g s___ .
N o n h o u se k e e p in g d w e llin g s ..
O n n o n re s id e n tia l b u ild in g s ______
348,030,818
353,807,093
-1 .6
421, 216
412, 609
+ 2 .1
141,030, 229
• 4, 733, 301
202,267, 288
132,991,100
4, 551, 381
216, 264,612
+ 6 .0
+ 4 .0
- 6 .5
316,811
1,979
102,426
304, 713
2,258
105,638
+ 4 .0
-1 2 .4
- 3 .0
A ll ty p e s of b u ild in g s ____
3, 315, 570
8 ,8 07 ,4 40
503, 052
10,908,482
4, 779,608
8,259, 312
289,840
8,474, 297
Residential Building in Nonfarm Areas, 1920 to 19411
Estimates of the number of dwellings upon which construction was
started in nonfarm areas have been compiled for each year begin*
ning with 1920. This has been a period of great fluctuation in the
construction of residences. After a boom which reached its maxi
mum in 1925, when 937,000 units were erected, new residential con
struction dropped to a total of 54,000 units in 1933 but has since been
expanded markedly. Indications are that building activity in 1941
will exceed the level of any recent year. With 540,000 new dwelling
units provided for nonfarm families, residential construction during
1940 continued the upward climb of 5 years. The 1940 total is more
than twice the annual average of 220,000 units for the preceding
decade, but falls short of the 703,000 average for the decade of the
1920’s. The last year of greater activity was 1928, when new family
accommodations totaled 753,000 units. From that point it dropped
to 509,000 in 1929 and then fell to a depression low of 54,000 units
in 1933.
1 See Monthly Labor Review for April 1941 for fuller information.
247
RESIDENTIAL BUILDING, 192 0-41
The “ nonfarm area” of the United States can, in general, be
defined as consisting of all urban and rural nonfarm places. The
urban group includes all incorporated places with a population of
2,500 or more and also a small group of towns specially classified as
urban. Incorporated places of less than 2,500 population, as well as
unincorporated areas excluding farms, are designated as “ rural non
farm.” The classifications used here and also the groupings by size
of city are based upon the 1930 census.
The recovery in residential construction is even more marked when
1- family dwellings alone are considered. O f the units provided in
1940, 425,000 were of the 1-family type, a number which compares
favorably with the 436,000 1-family units built in 1928. Trends in
2- family and multifamily units do not follow closely movements in
volume of new 1-family houses. Thus although recovery in con
struction of 1-family dwellings has proceeded so well, 1940 totals for
2-family and apartment units are still less than half the comparable
1928 figures. The great fluctuations from year to year in number of
new dwelling units provided in nonfarm areas since 1920 are shown
in table 1.
T able
1.—
N u m b e r o f n ew d w elling u n its in n o n fa rm a reas, 1 9 2 0 to 1 9 4 1 1
Area
Year
Total
nonfarm
Urban
Type of dwelling
Rural
nonfarm
1-family
2-family 2
Multi
family 3
1920_______________________
1921____ ___________________
1922________________________
1923________________________
1924________________________
1925________________________
1926________________________
1927________________________
1928___ ____________________
1929________________________
1930________________________
247, 000
449,000
716,000
871,000
893, 000
937, 000
849,000
810,000
753,000
509, 000
286,000
196, 000
359,000
574, 000
698, 000
716,000
752, 000
681, 000
643. 000
594,000
400, 000
224,000
51,000
90,000
142, 000
173, 000
177, 000
185, 000
168, 000
167, 000
159, 000
109, 000
62,000
202,000
316,000
437,000
513,000
534,000
572, 000
491,000
454,000
436,000
316,000
185, 000
24,000
70,000
146,000
175,000
173,000
157, 000
117,000
99,000
78,000
51,000
28,000
21,000
63,000
133, 000
183, 000
186,000
208, 000
241,000
257, 000
239, 000
142,000
73,000
1931________________________
1932________________________
1933________________________
1934________________________
1935________________________
1936________________________
1937________________________
1938________________________
1939________________________
1940________________________
1941 (first half) 4___ _________
212, 000
74,000
54,000
55,000
144, 000
276, 000
286,000
347, 000
465,000
540,000
319, 000
164, 000
56,000
40, 000
41,000
106, 000
199,000
205,000
246,000
342, 000
386, 000
228, 000
48, 000
18,000
14, 000
14, 000
38,000
77,000
81,000
101, 000
123, 000
154, 000
91, 000
147,000
60,000
39,000
42,000
111,000
203, 000
219,000
261, 000
351, 000
425,000
262, 000
21,000
7,000
4,000
3, 000
7,000
13,000
15,000
17,000
28,000
37,000
18,000
44,000
7,000
11, 000
10,000
26,000
60,000
52,000
69,000
86,000
78,000
39,000
1 Data for 1920-35 are from National Bureau of Economic Research, data for 1936-41 from Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
2 Includes 1- aDd 2-family dwellings with stores.
3 Includes multifamily dwellings with stores.
4 Urban and rural nonfarm classifications based on 1940 census.
Although 1- and 2-family dwellings made great gains during 1940
as compared with 1939, units in new apartments in the nonfarm area
showed a decrease of nearly 8,000 units, or 9 percent. The 1-family
type, with 73,000 more new units, increased 21 percent, and tho
2-family type, 33 percent. For privately financed units alone, the
1- and 2-family types were 19 and 38 percent greater, respectively;
the multifamily type, 14 percent smaller.
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
248
Except for cities of over 500,000 population, all urban population
groups, and the rural nonfarm group as well, shared in the increase
from 1939 to 1940. O f the urban groups, the most important gains
were made in cities of population between 100,000 and 500,000 and
between 10,000 and 25,000. In cities of 500,000 and over, the upward
trends in 1- and 2-family units were overweighted by the 11,000 drop
in apartment units. A contributing cause of this drop was the fact
that applications filed by private persons for permits in New York
City during 1940 provided for 19,835 apartment units, 9,478 fewer
than in 1939. In table 2 are presented the estimates for 1939 and
1940 by population group and type of dwelling.
T a b l e 2 . — N u m ber'J o f n ew d w ellin g u n its i n n o n fa rm areas, 1 9 3 9 and 1 9 4 0 , by
p o p u la tio n group and ty p e o f dw elling
All types
1-family
2-family 1
Multifamily 2
Population group
Total nonfarm________________
Percent of change, 1940 as com
parer! w ith 1929
1940
1939
1940
1939
1940
1939
1940
540,000
465, 000
425,103
351,641
36,865
27,655
78,032
+ 2 0 .9
+ 1 6 .1
Total urban___________________ 385,878
500,000 population and over.. 100,016
85,931
100.000500,000 population. _.
31,088
50.000- 100,000 population__
38,442
25.00050,000 population______
60,329
10.000- 25,000 population........
39,084
5.000- 10,000 population____
30,988
2,500-5,000 population______
Rural nonfarm________________ 154,122
342,107
104,676
72,239
28,067
31,221
48,252
32,018
25,634
122,893
284,564
51,231
61,338
24,939
32,123
53,015
33,409
28,509
140,539
+ 3 3 .3
237,268
47,900
49,690
21,849
25,440
41,363
27,600
23,426
114,373
30,925
7,639
9,863
3,141
3,744
3,644
1,691
1,203
5,940
1939
85,704
- 9 .0
23,737
4,509
8,614
3,211
2,572
,577
1,216
1,038
3,918
2
70,389
41,146
14, 730
3,008
2,575
3, 670
3,984
1,276
7,643
81,102
52,267
13,935
3,007
3,209
4,312
3,202
1,170
4, 602
i Includes 1- and 2-family dwellings with stores.
* Includes multifamily dwellings with stores.
Source o f Funds
In 1939 and 1940 residential developments financed with public
funds were an important part of the new housing supply. Projects
o f this kind which got under way in 1940 were designed to accommo
date 73,533 families, an increase of 30 percent over the 56,542 family
capacity of 1939 projects. These totals represent 14 percent of all
new units in 1940 and 12 percent in 1939.
Most important in the public housing field has been the role of the
United States Housing Authority. The U SH A itself builds no
homes, but lends money to local housing authorities "and aids with
subsidies. The primary purpose of the program has been to supply
low-rent housing for families previously able to afford only sub
standard homes. However, as a measure of national defense, Con
gress late in June 1940 authorized the U SH A to use its regular funds
for provision of homes in areas where defense needs were urgent.2
For the duration of the emergency subsidies and low-income require
ments for occupants are suspended on such projects. With a return
to normal conditions they will revert to regular U SH A status. Dur
ing 1939 U SH A projects for 56,302 low-income families were started
in nonfarm areas of the United States. Projects in 1940, including
2 Public, 76th Cong. No. 671.
249
PERM IT VALUATION PER DWELLING UNIT
5,110 dwelling units allocated fo r defense purposes, had a potential
capacity o f 51,345 families, a decrease o f 9 percent from the 1939
number.
The distribution o f new dwelling units by source o f funds is shown
in table 3 fo r each population group.
T a b l e 3 . — N u m b e r o f n ew dw elling u n its in n o n fa rm a reas , 1 9 3 9 a nd 1 9 4 0 , b y sou rce
o f fu n d s and p o p u la tio n group
Total
Private funds
Public funds
Population group
1939
1940
1939
1940
1939
Total nonfarm______________________________ 540,000
Percent of change, 1940 as compared with 1939... +16.1
465,000
466,467
+14.2
408,458
73,533
+30.1
' 56,542
Total urban. ___________ _________________ 385,878
500.000 population and o v e r ________ _____ 100,016
100.000 to 500,000 population______________
85,931
50.000 to 100,000 population________ _____ _ 31,088
25.000 to 50,000 population _____ __________ 38,442
10.000 to 25,000 population _______________
60, 329
5.000 to 10,000 population ............ ...... .........
39,084
2,500 to 5,000 population____________ _____
30,988
Rural nonfarm.______ _____ _________________ 154,122
342,107
104,676
72,239
28,067
31,221
48,252
32,018
25, 634
122,893
321,528
84,476
57,875
25,390
31,102
55,136
38,042
29,5Q7
144,939
286,654
87,278
47,650
22,035
26,332
45,857
31,868
25, 634
121,804
64,350
15,540
28,056
5,698
7,340
5,193
1,042
1,481
9,183
55,453
17, 398
24,589
6,032
4,889
2,395
150
0
1,089
1940
The permit valuation o f the 540,000 new nonfarm dwelling units
provided in 1940 is estimated at approximately $1,847,000,000. O f
this total $1,622,000,000 was fo r privately financed units and $225,000,000 fo r publicly financed. During 1939, the estimated permit
valuation corresponding to the 465,000 new units was $1,591,000,000,
including $1,406,000,000 private funds and $185,000,000 public.
>########<
P erm it V a lu a tio n P er N e w D w e llin g U n it, 1921 to 1940
Variations in the average permit valuation per dwelling unit in
257 identical cities are available from 1921 through 1940. The ac
companying table does not show the change in the cost (as indicated
by permit valuations) o f erecting identical dwelling units in these
cities, but it does show the changes in average permit valuations o f
such units as were erected.
The average value o f building permits fo r all types o f dwellings
was materially lower in 1940 than in the period 1921 to 1931, in
clusive. In 7 o f the 9 years 1932-40, the index numbers based on the
average o f 1935-39 have been less than 100, the index for 1933 being
91.5, and for 1940, 93.2. One-family, two-family, and m ultifam ily
dwellings all show the same tendency, tnat is, toward a lowering o f the
permit valuation in recent years. The 1940 index numbers for 1and 2-fam ily units (92.6 and 92.8, respectively) were almost identi
cal, but fo r m ultifam ily dwellings the reduction was greater, the in
dex fo r 1940 being 89.6.
Although there has been a reduction in the permit valuation o f
dwellings in recent years this does not necessarily mean a lower
standard o f housing. Other factors are involved, including erection
o f smaller units and more economical methods o f building.
250
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
P e r m it valuation p er n ew dw elling unit in 2 5 7 id en tica l cities, 1 9 2 1 to 1 9 4 0
[
Revised. This table does not show change in cost of erecting identical buildings, but does show change in
estimated costs of such buildings as were erected. Does not include land costs]
numbers of permit valuation per new
Permit valuation per new dwelling unit Index
dwelling unit (average, 1935-1939=100)
Year
All types
of dwell
ing
1-family
dwell
ings
2-family
dwell
ings i
$3,947
4,016
4,127
4,361
4,445
4,422
4,449
4,407
4,565
4,385
4,226
3,705
3,495
3,572
3,779
4,002
4,009
3, 644
3,673
3,562
$3,972
4,259
4,189
4,342
4,593
4,763
4,830
4,937
4,919
4,994
4,836
3,943
3,845
4,071
4,228
4,355
4,352
4,105
3,970
3,891
$3,762
3,568
4,185
4,350
4,422
4,465
4,368
4,064
4,011
3,924
3,607
3,250
3,112
3,338
2,953
3,058
3,110
2,862
2,868
2,757
1921_______________
1922_______________
1923_______________
1924_______________
1925_______________
1926_______________
1927_______________
1928_______________
1929_______________
1930_______________
1931_______________
1932_______________
1933_______________
1934_______________
1935_______________
1936_______________
1937_______________
1938_______________
1939_______________
1940_______________
Multi
family
dwell
ings 2
$4,019
3,950
4,004
4,395
4,271
4,103
4,170
4,129
4,400
3,857
3,644
3,010
3,040
2,716
3,245
3,679
3,641
3,217
3,359
3,073
All types
of dwell
ings
1-family
dwell
ings
2-family
dwell
ings i
103.3
105.1
108.0
114.1
116.3
115.7
116.4
115.3
119.5
114.8
110.6
97.0
91.5
93.5
98.9
104.7
104.9
95.4
96.1
93.2
94.5
101.4
99.7
103.3
109.3
113.4
114.9
117.5
117.1
118.8
115.1
93.8
91.5
96.9
100.6
103.6
103.6
97.7
94.5
92.6
126.7
120.1
140.9
146.5
148.9
150.3
147.1
136.8
135.1
132.1
121.4
109.4
104.8
112.4
99.4
103.0
104.7
96.4
96.6
92.8
Multi
family
dwell
ings 2
117.2
115.2
116.8
128.2
124.6
119.7
121.6
120.4
128.4
112.5
106.3
87.8
88.7
79.2
94.7
107.3
106.2
93.8
98.0
89.6
1 Includes 1- and 2-family dwellings with stores.
2 Includes multifamily dwellings with stores.
C o n stru ctio n P rojects F inanced F rom Federal Funds,
1939 and 1940
The value o f all construction work, including public roads and ship
building, undertaken by the Federal Government in 1939 and 1940
is shown in the follow ing table, by type o f project. Governmental
agencies awarded contracts for part o f this construction and the re
mainder was to be done with force-account employees, i. e., employees
engaged for a specific construction, repair, or maintenance job which
a governmental agency does itself.
V a lu e o f contracts aw arded and force-a ccou n t w ork started on con stru ction projects
fin a n ced f r o m F ed eral f u n d s , 1 9 8 9 and 1 9 4 0 1
Regular Federal appropria
tions
Total
Type of project
1940
All types of projects... . ________ _
Airports5____________________ ______
Building:
Residential______________________
Nonresidential. _____ ____ ____
Electrification________ ________ _ . . .
Forestry_______________ ____ ________
Heavy engineering. ________________
Hydroelectric power plants__________
Public roads 7___________ . . . ______
Reclamation.. _______ _ _________
River, harbor, and flood control______
Ship construction and repair:
Naval vessels______ _________ . . .
Other.__ __________ _____ . . . . . .
Streets and roads 8___________________
Water and sewerage systems. . . ______
Miscellaneous. . _____ . . . _______
See footnotes at end of table.
1939 2
1940
. 8$6, 296,527, 048 4 $2, 282,137, 504 $6,016, 267, 754
19392
$1, 296, 454,079
113,313, 230
4, 752,921
111, 913,406
873, 891
8 246,940,818
1, 065, 864, 605
97,923, 095
4,156, 684
13, 917,855
7, 060, 274
339,132,054
68,994,015
140, 907, 493
* 231, 070,689
438,150, 755
130,044, 708
13, 640,920
94, 296, 737
22,804,087
266, 573, 425
115, 612, 233
109, 811,338
73, 396, 873
1,031, 538,803
88,993, 995
0
2, 588,354
0
336,833,955
60,084,687
140, 701, 269
1, 038,119
124, 460, 721
100, 616,066
11,950
22,093
0
230, 246,090
85,096, 726
105,039, 781
4,050, 710, 394
86, 774,981
25, 778, 901
16, 219, 321
18,833,328
385, 307, 643
209, 955, 459
89,128, 444
118,131, 218
52, 856,927
4,050, 710, 394
86, 774,981
11,804,612
4, 401,681
16, 524, 744
385, 207,643
209,875,448
7,757, 730
1, 560, 978
44, 646,843
BTJILDING M ATERIALS, W A G E S AND REN TS,
1921-40
251
V a lu e o f contracts aw arded and fo rc e-a c c o u n t w ork started on con stru ction p rojects
fin a n ced f r o m F ed eral fu n d s , 1 9 3 9 and 1 9 4 0 1— Continued
Federal agency Work Projects
Administration funds
Type of project
1940
All types of projects____________
--_
Airports8______________ _______
Building:
Residential____ _____________ __
Nonresidential.
_______________
Electrification_________________ _____
Forestry____________________________
Heavy engineering__________________
Hydroelectric power plants... _______
Public roads 7____. . . _____ _ . . . __
Reclamation___________ _____ _______
River, harbor, and flood control______
Ship construction and repair:
Naval vessels___ ________________
Other_______________ ____ . . . . . .
Streets and roads 8______________ ____
Water and sewerage systems.. . _____
Miscellaneous______________ _______
1939 2
Public Works Administra
tion funds
1940
19392
$716,127,404
$38, 499, 869
$88, 464,858
$75, 054, 272
944, 731
2,305, 000
455, 093
1, 574,030
2,061, 306
18,836, 151
2,500
4,156,684
(9)
1, 722, 750
1, 334,444
6, 244,180
122,628
231, 357
35,425, 263
32, 076
13, 628, 970
(9)
620, 365
2, 484, 820
24, 219,857
1, 698, 504
4, 777,486
15,489, 651
8, 926, 600
0
11, 329, 501
5,337, 524
963,655
2, 665,148
83, 596
48,710, 050
278, 264, 771
29, 396, 566
0
94, 274, 644
22,183, 722
33, 842, 515
6, 295, 650
3, 073, 053
(9)
0
2, 263, 267
589, 918
4, 965,461
0
0
13,410, 355
11, 491, 643
124,020
100, 000
80, Oil
79,107, 447
115, 980, 322
3, 244,623
(9)
0
563,934
325, 997
2,184, 564
1 Preliminary subject to revision.
2 Revised.
3 Includes $166,705,153 in contracts awarded for housing projects under the United States Housing
Authority.
4 Revised. Includes $181,091,163 in contracts awarded for housing projects under the United States
Housing Authority.
5 Exclusive of hangars and other buildings which are included under building construction.
7 Grade-crossing elimination and roads.
8 Other than those for which contracts were awarded by the Public Roads Administration.
9 No appropriations made for this type of project.
O f the $6,297,000,000 awarded in Federal contracts during 1940,
$4,051,000,000 was for naval vessels and $1,066,000,000 for nonresidential building. In the previous year awards for these two types o f
construction were also the highest but were relatively small, as the
defense program had not been started. Nonresidential building rep
resented $438,000,000 and naval construction $385,000,000 out o f a total
value o f contracts amounting to approximately $2,282,000,000 in 1939.
W hile awards from regular Federal appropriations increased from
$1,296,000,000 in 1939 to $6,016,000,000 in 1940, those from funds of
the W ork Projects Administration declined from $88,500,000 to
$38,500,000 and the awards under the Public W orks Administration,
whose work was nearing completion, dropped from $716,000,000 to
$75,000,000.
#######*
Prices o f B u ildin g M aterials, Wages, and R e n ts, 1921
to 1940
Index numbers o f building construction in 257 identical cities from
which the Bureau has obtained building permit data since 1921 are
compared with movements in the indexes o f wholesale prices o f build
ing materials, union wage rates per hour in the building trades, and
residential rents in the follow ing table.
Permit valuations for building operations in these cities increased
substantially in both 1939 and 1940. The index o f 159.0 for 1940
was higher than in any year since 1929. The index o f wholesale
prices fo r building materials rose to 105.8 in 1940 which was close
252
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
to the level o f prices in 1929 when the index was 106.4. Union wage
rates with an index o f H0.8 in 1940 were the highest recorded, having
risen from 99.5 in 1937 to 108.4 in 1938 and 109.1 in 1939. The
previous peak was 106.1 in 1931 from which there was a drop to 88.2
in 1933. The Bureau’s index o f residential rents has moved upward
steadily since 1935 when it was 94.2. Bent increases were largest in
these 257 cities during 1937 and 1938. F or 1940 the index amounts to
104.6, which is well below the level o f the early thirties.
I n d e x n u m bers o f p erm it va lu ation s , m aterial p r ic e s, u n io n wage rates , and ren tsy
1 9 2 1 to 1 9 4 0
[Revised. Index numbers based on 5-year average, 1935-39=100]
Year
Permit
valuations
in 257
identical
cities
Wholesale
prices of
building
materials
Union wage
rates per
hour in
building
trades
Residential
rents
1921________________________________________
1922________________________________________
1923________________________________________
1924________________________________________
1925________________________________________
1926 _________________________________ _____
1927_______________________________________
1928________________________________________
1929________________________________________
1930________________________________________
166.0
250.0
307.0
316.9
363.8
345.7
314.2
298.5
264.9
153.3
108.7
108.6
121.3
114.1
113.5
111.6
105.7
105.0
106.4
100.3
77.8
72i 9
80.7
87.1
90.4
96.3
99.7
100.3
101.6
105.8
138.6
142.7
146.4
151.6
152.2
150.7
148.3
144.8
141.4
137.5
1931________________________________________
1932________________________________________
1933________________________________________
1934 _______________________________________
1935________________________________________
1936________________________________________
________________________________
1937
1938
________________________________
1939__ ____________________________________
1940________ _______________________________
111.8
43.5
34.6
37.3
62.4
97.0
107.2
107.1
126.3
159.0
88.4
79.7
86.0
96.2
95.2
96.7
106.2
100.8
101.0
105.8
106.1
90.7
88.2
88.8
89.8
93.1
99.5
108.4
109.1
110.8
130.3
116.9
100.7
94.4
94.2
96.4
100.9
104.1
104.3
104.6
P erm it Fees fo r R esid en tial C o n stru ctio n in th e
U n ite d States, 19401
Kecords o f building permits are one o f the most important indi
cators o f the volume and nature o f residential construction, but there
is little general knowledge o f the nature o f the permits required by
the various cities throughout the country. *A survey was made by
the Bureau o f Labor Statistics to determine the basis upon which
fee charges are made fo r residential construction.2
Cities were classified, according to their basis for charging fees,
into groups as follow s: (1) No fees charged; (2) flat fee; (3) fees
based upon valuation o f the construction; (4) fees based upon cubic
contents; and (5) fees based upon floor space. A further group was
established for those cities which did not fall into any o f the above
classifications.
O f 854 cities having 10,000 or more population, 155 or 18 percent
waive the collection o f a building-permit fee. A flat fee regardless
1 See Monthly Labor Review for December 1940, and for a more detailed report on this
subject, Serial No. R. 1188.
2 Many cities make charges in addition to permit fees in connection with residential
building. Only permit fees are discussed in this article.
EXAMINATION AND LICENSING OF CONTRACTORS
253
o f the cost or size o f the structure is charged in over 12 percent of
the cities. However, the majority of the cities (58 percent) base their
permit fees on the value o f construction. Cubic content serves as the
basis for fixing fees in 5 percent and floor space in 3 percent o f the
cities. About 4 percent o f the reporting cities were not readily classi
fiable into these general categories.
Regionally, there were wide variations in the types o f fees required.
In New England, 48 cities (almost 40 percent o f the 122 cities report
ing from that area) were found to require no payment o f fees, and all
but 2 o f the remainder had either a flat fee or a fee based on valuation.
B y contrast, 62 o f the 64 Pacific Coast cities reported fees based on
valuation and only 1 city issued free permits.
Cubic content and
floor space o f buildings were most frequently employed as a basis
fo r calculating fees in the cities o f the East North Central States
(Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and W isconsin). In Wisconsin, more than
h alf the cities having a population o f 10,000 or more provided for fees
based on the cubic contents o f the proposed structures.
Study o f the fees levied indicates clearly that these charges are not
a revenue-raising device. In many cases the permit charge in connec
tion with residential building is barely sufficient to pay for the mani
fold services rendered fo r the protection o f the builder. Before an
application fo r a building permit is approved, the office o f the building
inspector usually examines all plans and specifications to determine
that the building will be safe, sanitary, and built to last, and that it
will not lower the tone o f the neighborhood in which it is constructed.
A n example o f the function o f the office is described in the follow ing
quotation from part I o f the building code of the city of Louisville,
K y .:
S e c t io n 3. I n s p e c t o r o f bu ild in gs, g e n er a l p o w e r s , a p p o in tm e n ts, etc . — (a) The
inspector of buildings shall be the head of the Division of Buildings and of all
divisions and employees of same. * * *
(c) The Division of Buildings shall be charged with the survey and inspection
of buildings and with the enforcement of this ordinance, and of all laws and ordi
nances relating to the erection, construction, alteration, addition to, repairs of,
inspection, wrecking, razing, moving and safety of buildings, structures, signs,
elevators, boilers, heating and ventilating apparatus, gas-fitting, house drainage
and plumbing, electric wiring, fire escape and other protective devices, and shall
pass upon all questions relating to the strength and durability of buildings, struc
tures and materials, and examine and approve or disapprove, all plans and speci
fications therefor before a permit shall be issued, and shall promptly acknowledge
the receipt of all official communications, notices, and reports.
(d) The Division of Buildings shall cause the prosecution of any person violat
ing any of the building regulations of the city of Louisville.
(e) The Division of Buildings shall keep proper record showing the location,
value and character of every building, structure or other work for which a cer
tificate or permit is issued, and a copy of every report of inspection of a build
ing, structure or work with the name of the inspector making the inspection and
the date thereof.
*##+###*
L a w s R e q u ir in g E xa m in ation and L icensing o f
C o n tr a c to r s 1
In the class o f legislation designed not only for the protection o f
labor but also fo r the protection o f the public are those laws which
require the examination and licensing of-contractors. These laws
1 From Monthly Labor Review for February 1941.
254
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
specify qualifications as to general education, skill, and experience
which a contractor or subcontractor must meet before he may receive
his license to do business within the State. Practically all o f these
statutes have been enacted wdthin the past 10 years, and at present
are operative in 16 States.2
The majority o f these laws apply to contractors in general, but
several are more limited in their coverage, applying only to publicworks contractors (Idaho, Montana, and North D akota), highway or
street contractors (G eorgia), or residential-building contractors
(M ichigan). In a number o f the States the laws are applicable only
if the cost o f the work reaches a specified amount. F or example, in
Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina, only contractors
working on construction costing $10,000 or more are affected by the
law, while in Tennessee the cost o f the work must exceed $10,000. In
South Carolina the act relates only to contractors on work costing
$7,500 or more. The Georgia statute applies where the cost o f the
work is $15,000 or m ore; and in Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota,
where the laws cover only public-works contractors, the contract price
must exceed $5,000, $1,000, and $2,000, respectively.
Examinations and Fees
O f the 16 States having laws on this subject, 10 3 provide fo r the
examination o f the contractor by a State board before issuing a
certificate o f license. These States require a contractor to file with
the State board an application accompanied by a fee ranging from
$10 in California to $500 in Georgia. (It should be noted here that
the Georgia law covers only highway or street contractors, and ap
plies only to such contractors when the cost o f the project is $15,000
or more.)
In the remaining six States 4 having such statutes, the contractor
is not required to take an examination. The application must con
tain detailed information as to the contractor’s experience and quali
fications, his principal place o f business, the value and character o f
other contract work completed by him, and a complete financial
statement. In Arizona and New Mexico the application must also
contain a certificate o f recommendation o f two reputable citizens
o f the county in which the applicant resides.
License fees range from $3 to $250, and in Montana, New Mexico,
and North Dakota depend upon the value o f the contract work per
formed.
Licenses issued under the provisions o f these laws are good fo r a
period o f 1 year, and may be renewed upon the payment o f a renewal
fee ranging from $5 to $100.
Coverage Exemptions
There are numerous exceptions to those laws relating to general
contractors. A typical example is the Arizona statute which exempts
2 Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana,
New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota. South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia.
3 Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia.
4 Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Utah.
PUBLIC HOUSING,
1917-40
255
from its coverage the follow in g: (1) A n authorized representative or
representatives o f the United States Government, the State o f A ri
zona, or any county, incorporated city or town, irrigation district,
reclamation district, or other municipality, or political corporation
or subdivision o f the State; (2) any construction or operation inciden
tal to the construction and repair o f irrigation and drainage ditches
o f regularly constituted irrigation districts or reclamation districts,
or to farming, dairying, agriculture, viticulture, horticulture, or stock
or poultry raising; (3) trustees o f an express trust, or officers o f a
court, providing they are acting within the terms o f their trust or
office, respectively; (4) public utilities operating under regulations
o f the State corporation commission on construction work incidental
to their own business; (5) any construction or operation incidental
to the discovering or producing o f petroleum or gas, or the drilling,
testing, abandoning, or other operation o f any petroleum or gas well
when performed by the owner or lessee; (6) sole owners o f property
building structures on such property fo r their own use; and (7) work
on one project by contract performed directly or indirectly by one
contractor when the aggregate price, including labor, material, and
all other items is less man $500. Although similar exceptions are
contained in most o f the statutes, there are several laws in which they
are more limited.
H O U S IN G
P u b lic H ou sin g in th e U n ite d States, 1917 to 19401
Emphasis o f the public-housing program in the United States was
changed in 1940 to supply defense requirements rather than the needs
o f the lowest income families. U p to that time there had been two
other distinct periods o f development in the use o f public money to sup
ply housing. The first was o f short duration in the war period,
1917-18, when emergency buildings were erected to house workers
engaged in war industries. The second began in 1933 as a part o f
the works program to absorb the unemployed and at the same time
to demonstrate the possibilities o f low-cost housing which would be
both durable and o f good design. The present article traces public
housing progress in the first two periods. Defense housing policies
and progress from 1940 through the early months o f 1941 are de
scribed in the succeeding article (p. 262).
Early Experience
Experience with public housing in the United States began in 1917,
when this country entered the W orld W ar. As part o f its war p ro
gram the Government undertook a certain amount o f house building
in overcrowded industrial centers where large numbers o f men were
employed in producing war goods, such as munitions and ships. T w o
Federal agencies were concerned with this work.2
1 Summary of an article by Margaret H. Schoenfeld, in the Monthly Labor Review for
August 1940.
2 For a fuller description of this housing program, see Monthly Labor Review, July 1940.
256
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
One was the United States Housing Corporation in the Department
o f Labor, which carried out 40 housing projects in 26 localities. These
were owned, built, and managed by the Government, and provided
livin g accommodations fo r about 6,000 families and 8,000 single
men and women. A fter the war various Government agencies took
over 452 units and the remainder were sold to private individuals.
Wartime housing projects o f the United States Shipping Board—
the other agency concerned with such activities— were constructed
at 25 shipyards and 1 turbine plant. In all, 28,064 men were housed in
8,644 houses, 6 boarding houses, 849 apartments, 94 dormitories, and
5 hotels.
D uring 1917-18, great importance was attached to provision o f
adequate transportation to avoid the need for moving families from
areas where there were homes to workplaces where a shortage existed.
F o r example, the appropriation for housing shipyard workers was
$75,000,000 and that for transportation facilities $20,000,000. W here
it was necessary to construct new transportation facilities the pro
cedure follow ed was fo r the Emergency Fleet Corporation to make
contracts with the transportation companies to lend the capital
needed. The agreement usually provided fo r all work to be done by
the company, payment o f 5 percent interest on the full cost o f the
work fo r the duration o f the war, and payment for the value o f the
items furnished after the termination o f the war. In practically all
cases, the valuation was limited to a minimum o f 75 percent o f the
amount advanced. Additional transportation facilities were needed
h y yards having contracts for over 70 percent o f the deadweight
tonnage under construction.
Like the Emergency Fleet Corporation, the Housing Corporation
often succeeded in solving housing problems by securing improved
transportation. Local companies were assisted by loans or advances.
In one locality, for example, the Corporation chartered a ferryboat
system to get employees to their jobs, and in another special trains
were placed in operation at reduced rates, the Corporation making
up the deficit. A ddin g the loans and subsidies for the payment o f
reduced fares applied by the Government, it was estimated that the
cost fo r each workman per year amounted to about $35. A s against
housing workmen at an average capital cost o f $550 per man in a
dormitory and between $1,750 to $2,250 in a house, the subsidy was
considered an economy.
In the years follow ing the 1917-18 war period, the need for low-cost
housing, while recognized by certain groups, was in large part lost
sight o f because o f the boom in private-house construction.
Beginning in 1929 residential building construction began to lag.
W hen the Reconstruction Finance Corporation was created in 1932
new building was practically at a standstill, and to encourage such
building the Corporation was empowered to issue self-liquidating
building loans for limited-dividend projects subject to State or mu
nicipal control. The State o f New Y ork had created a housing
agency— the New Y ork State Housing Board— and Federal officials
believed that there would be a growing demand for funds as other
States and municipalities established similar bodies to promote house
construction under the limited-dividend principle.
PUBLIC HOUSING,
1917-40
257
But the anticipated demand for housing loans did not materialize
and no such loan was made until 1933. This was for the construction
o f Knickerbocker Village on a slum block o f the lower East Side o f
New Y ork City and under the authority o f the New Y ork State
Housing Board. Knickerbocker Village was built at a cost o f $9,500,000 (loan, $8,022,000) and consists o f 1,593 dwelling units. I t
was designed primarily fo r the use o f white-collar workers. Monthly
rentals average $12.50 per room, although a number o f 2 ^ -room
apartments rent for as little as $22.50.
Distress among home owners led to enactment o f the Home
Owners’ Loan A ct in June 1933. The Home Loan Bank System had
already been established to facilitate payment o f mortgage debts by
home owners, but the situation had become so critical that action
was required to prevent continuance o f mass foreclosures o f mort
gages and sales o f properties for taxes. This work was entrusted to
the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. Provision was made fo r
amortizing loans over 15 years at an interest rate o f 5 percent.
During the emergency the Corporation loaned $3,093,000,000, o f
which approximately $2,750,000,000 was disbursed in exchange fo r
defaulted mortgages and the balance was used for taxes, recondi
tioning, and loan costs.
A public subsidized low-rent housing program was also initiated in
1933 as part o f the public-works program. Provision fo r the “ com
struction, reconstruction, alteration, or repair under public regulation
or control o f low-cost housing and slum-clearance projects,” was
written into title I I o f the National Industrial Recovery Act. A
special division was formed in the new Public W orks Administration
o f the Department o f the Interior to promote house construction.
In an effort to create employment as quickly as possible, it was
decided to make loans to limited-dividend corporations to build lowcost dwellings. Am ong hundreds o f applicants only 7 qualified fo r
aid and the loan policy was soon abandoned. Direct construction by
the P W A was substituted and when the control o f subsidized housing
was transferred to the United States Housing Authority early in 1938,.
a total o f 51 large-scale projects, consisting o f nearly 22,000 dwelling
units, were either occupied or nearing completion.
. A s a pioneer agency, numerous unforeseen problems hampered the
P W A . In commencing slum-clearance operations, land was acquired
by condemnation proceedings, as authorized by the terms o f the
National Industrial Recovery Act. In a test case, however, it wa&
held that housing did not constitute a “ public use” and, therefore, the
right o f eminent domain could not be exercised. T o avoid the
inevitable loss o f time in assembling plots in slum areas by purchases
from owners selling voluntarily, the P W A then began to build onvacant sites. Also, assurance o f local support was necessary before
building in any community. Many additional questions arose as to
costs, design, and planning. Nevertheless, buildings o f high standard
in design and practicability were erected.
The Federal Government’s policy o f initiating, constructing, and
managing its own projects under P W A is explained by the situation
existing when funds were made available fo r housing in 1933. The
National Industrial Recovery A ct required that employment be-
258
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
furnished as quickly as possible. A t that time the United States
lacked experience with public housing and, as neither the States nor
municipalities had yet established their own housing authorities, there
was no possible way o f building speedily unless the Federal Govern
ment itself undertook the task. The position was greatly altered,
however, when a few years later the U S H A took over the P W A
projects and received Federal funds for future building. B y that
time it had become possible for the Federal Government to discon
tinue direct construction.
United States Housing A u th o rity
The United States Housing Authority was required by law to sell
the P W A projects or lease them as soon as possible. A t the end o f
1939, 32 projects had been leased to local public-housing agencies, 2
had been transferred to the Puerto R ico Reconstruction Adm inistra
tion, and the remaining 17 were being operated temporarily by the
U SH A . Under the P W A , rentals were required to be fixed on a basis
that would return to the Federal Government 55 percent o f the projject cost plus interest over a period o f 60 years. Follow ing an en
tirely different policy, the U S H A was authorized to establish rentals
at amounts necessary to pay management, operating, and main
tenance costs, plus only such additional amounts as would be con
sistent with maintaining the low-rent character o f the projects. I t
was also empowered to reduce the rates o f rental on P W A housing
units.
W hile the U S H A , created under the terms o f the United States
H ousing A ct o f 1937, was made responsible for the existing P W A
projects, its m ajor function was to administer a highly decentralized
program to rehouse families o f slum dwellers in the lowest income
third o f the population.
The U S H A does not buy land, construct projects, nor assist private
builders. I t does make repayable loans to public-housing agencies
which meet the requirements established under the law, up to 90
percent o f the total development cost o f housing projects. The
subsidy afforded is in the form o f annual grants-in-aid to bring rents
within the reach o f the families for which the houses are intended.
Introduction o f a procedure in 1937 requiring that the States and
municipalities should initiate, construct, and manage their own proj
ects shows the increasing recognition o f public responsibility for sup
plying adequate low-rent dwellings. P rior to the enactment o f the
Reconstruction Finance A ct o f 1932, New Y ork and Puerto Rico were
the only jurisdictions making provision for public aid to low-cost
projects. Ohio’s limited-dividend corporation law o f 1932 was the
next to be adopted. In mid-1940 a total o f 450 localities in 37 States,
the District o f Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii had housing
authorities engaged in investigating housing conditons and either
planning fo r or engaging in the betterment o f housing conditions.
A report, issued early in A pril 1940, showed that average monthly
shelter rents (the rent for accommodations without utility charges)
-established for 15,878 dwelling units in 41 U S H A projects are approx
imately the same as rents paid for living quarters in slum areas in the
same communities. For these 41 projects, in 26 communities, located
PUBLIC' HOUSING,
1917-40
259
in 12 States, the average shelter rent is fixed at $13.93 per unit per
month, as compared with a median rental o f about $1.50 per month
less fo r substandard housing in the same communities.
In establishing and maintaining low rentals the Federal subsidy
has amounted to $6 a month for each family, or about one-half o f
the maximum aid allowable under the United States Housing Act.
R ural Housing
House construction was initiated fo r rural workers by the R e
settlement Administratipn in 1935. Projects undertaken were o f
three types, o f which only one, consisting o f groups o f farms, was
rur^l in the strict sense. The remaining two were planned suburban
towns, known as “ greenbelt towns” ; and subsistence homesteads,
where families could supplement their incomes from regular employ
ment by raising garden produce, chickens, and even pigs.
A Federal program o f subsistence homesteads had been undertaken
before the Resettlement Administration was established, with funds
made available from the appropriation under the National Indus
trial Recovery A ct by the Subsistence Homesteads Division o f the
Department o f the Interior and by the Federal Emergency Relief
Administration.
The objectives of the Resettlement Administration went beyond
furnishing adequate housing at low cost, for, as the name of the
organization suggests, the task was one of resettlement and rehabili
tation of farm families.
The Farm Security Administration succeeded the Resettlement A d
ministration in 193y. Although its chief work consists o f making
loans to farmers and insuring mortgages, this agency took over
about 140 housing projects established by the Resettlement Adm inis
tration and other prior agencies, and has also constructed some
farmhouses.
A t the end o f 1939 a total o f 164 rural projects, consisting o f some
20,000 dwelling units, had been provided under the rural program.
This total includes the 3 greenbelt towns and 3 projects transferred
to the Farm Security Administration, which were developed by the
Federal Emergency R elief Administration and had previously been
administered by corporations under the general guidance o f the
W orks Progress Administration. Only 15 projects having 827 units
had been sold to individual clients or associations, but, in addition,
2,324 individual farms on projects developed by the Resettlement
Administration had been sold to homesteaders. In the spring o f 1940
plans were being made for the sale o f 12 more projects.
The Farm Security Administration and the Resettlement Adm inis
tration before it, followed, at the start, the procedure o f the P W A ;
that is, the direct building o f dwellings. Beginning in 1938, however,
the Farm Security Administration abandoned the construction o f
dwellings and gave contractors the benefit o f its experience in finding
means o f lowering costs on rural projects.
When the rural program was initiated— that is, under the National
Industrial Recovery A ct— dwellings o f a relatively expensive type
were constructed. The first 4,000 units built in rural areas averaged
$3,000 each. Later a $1,500 house was built that proved livable and
260
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
durable, and the cost o f houses o f this kind has subsequently been
reduced by as much as $300. Recent experience shows a progressive
reduction in dwelling construction costs.
The success o f the rural projects can only be measured in relation
to the operation o f the farm land supplied each tenant or owner, and
it is too early fo r this. However, the three greenbelt towns, having
been established primarily to house city workers, have now been
occupied long enough to make it possible to furnish some inform ation
regarding the status o f tenants.
In 1940, these greenbelt towns accommodated 2,259 families, o f
which 2,133 lived in apartments or houses and the remaining 126 on
adjoining farms. The three towns differ from any others in that they
were completely planned. They adjoin cities which were ascertained
to have had housing shortages. They are complete in every respect,
having parks, recreation areas, community buildings, and shopping
centers. As the lay-out is such as to permit future expansion in hous
ing facilities— roads, sewers, etc., were installed in the beginning— the
unit cost per building is unusually high at the present stage o f de
velopment. Greenbelt, Md., has been opened to private cooperative
groups and under the defense program for more building with public
funds.
Greenbelt, Md., was ready for occupancy in September 1937, Greenhills, Ohio, in A p ril 1938, and Greendale, W is., in May 1938. Rentals
at Greenbelt range from $18 to $41 per month, with an average rental
c f $31.23, including heat. W ater and electricity are billed separately
and are estimated to cost $3.90 a month per family. Units range from
1 room and bath to 7 rooms, bath, and full basement. A t Greenhills
the rental range is from $18 to $42 for a 4-bedroom single-family
house, and the average is $27.62. Greendale rentals start at $19 and
extend to $33.50 a month for a 4-bedroom house, and the average
monthly rental is $27.95.
Average incomes o f families in the three greenbelt towns are $1,500
to $1,700.
Mortgage Loan Agencies
Another objective o f the public-housing program is to lower mort
gage charges. W hile the various agencies described have rehoused a
substantial number o f the lowest-income families in subsidized dwell
ings, at the same time im proving housing standards o f beauty, con
venience, and durability, another group o f governmental bodies has
been developing machinery to promote mortgage credit under liberal
terms so that private industry could expand building operatipns and
the middle-income families might buy or rent houses.
The Federal Home Loan Bank Board administers the follow ing
agencies operating in the field o f home-mortgage finance, the primary
objects being to encourage and assist private agencies in making
adequate long-term home-mortgage credit available and to provide a
sound investment for savings o f persons investing small sums.
Under the B oard’s supervision the Federal Home Loan Bank Sys
tem, which has 12 regional banks, extends both short- and long-term
loans to member home-financing institutions, such as building and
loan associations, cooperative banks, savings banks, and insurance
companies. The Federal Savings and Loan System is responsible fo r
PUBLIC HOUSING,
1917-4 0
261
chartering and supervising privately managed local mutual-thrift and
home-financing institutions, known as Federal Savings and Loan
Associations, all o f which must be members o f the Federal Savings
and Loan System.
A special agency— The Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Cor
poration, which is also under the supervision o f the Federal Home
Loan Bank Board— insures the accounts o f individual investors in
all Federal Savings and Loan Associations and in approved Statechartered institutions o f the savings and loan type against loss up
to $5,000 on each account.
The functions o f the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation in aiding
distressed home owners to refinance their mortgages are described
above.
Existing mortgages may be refinanced under the R F C Mortgage
Co. and loans may be made for new construction where there is eco
nomic need to aid in establishing a normal market for sound mort
gages. Mortgages may be purchased at par on properties on which
dwellings were erected prior to January 1, 1936, and which are in
sured under title I I o f the National Housing Act. Applications for
loans made by distressed holders o f first-mortgage real-estate bonds
and certificates are considered. The R F C Mortgage Co. does not
refinance mortgages nor lend when credit is otherwise available from
private sources, and in no case does it enter into mortgage arrange
ments covering residential buildings with less than five apartments.
The Federal National Mortgage Association purchases F H A -in sured mortgages on new houses and rental-housing projects. It may
finance F H A mortgages on large-scale projects. FH A-insured mortages on dwellings on which construction was commenced prior to
anuary 1, 1936, are not purchased by this agency.
The operations o f the Federal Housing Administration are expand
ing steadily, and this organization, which insures loans but neither
lends money, clears slums, nor builds houses, is coming to be the key
factor in new-home financing and construction. Preliminary esti
mates show that about one-third o f the nonfarm dwellings con
structed in the United States during 1939 were financed with F H A insured mortgages.
The F H A was created under the National Housing A ct o f 1934.
Tile law has subsequently been amended and affords insurance o f
loans for the repair and modernization o f existing dwellings, as well
as on mortgages. Terms are liberal on loans for low-cost dwellings
(under $6,000) which are encouraged by reducing the required equity
o f the purchaser to 10 percent instead o f the 20 percent on houses o f
higher price and lengthening the period o f amortization from 20 to 35
years. Effective January 1, 1940, the loan regulations under the
F H A were revised to encourage further construction o f still lowercost units. Under this plan the borrower is only required to have
an equity o f 5 percent in the completed property. The maximum
loan is $2,500 to be amortized in 15 years and 5 months. No second
mortgage or other junior financing is permitted and the structures
must conform with F H A minimum standards.
A t the end o f 1939 more than 3 billion dollars’ worth o f home
financing insurance had been granted by the F H A for 465,000 small
houses, 2,330,000 property-improvement jobs, and 265 large projects,
J
3 2 8 1 1 2 — 4 2 — v o l . I--------18
262
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
with approximately 30,000 dwelling units. One-third o f the total
amount was insured in 1939. Nearly 12,000,000 persons are estimated
to have benefited under the program.
D efense H ou sin g P olicies and Progress, 1940 and 19411
In order to meet housing problems arising from an influx o f work
ers in centers o f defense activity, the Division o f Coordination o f
National Defense Housing was created in the Office o f Emergency
Management o f the Executive Office o f the President.- This division
has as its chief function the coordination o f the activities o f the
various governmental housing agencies and o f private industry to
meet defense housing problems.
A n initial appropriation o f $150,000,000 (Public, No. 849, 76th
Cong.) was made to the Federal W orks Administrator for defense
housing, and in A pril this amount was increased by another $150,000,000. In addition, the A rm y and Navy were given $100,000,000
(Public, No. 781, 76th Cong.) to provide fam ily housing in defense
areas; the powers o f the United States Housing Authority were broad
ened to permit it to undertake projects for defense workers (Public,
No. 671, 76th C o n g .); and a new agency, the Defense Homes Cor
poration, wTas created and provided with equity capital to develop
economically sound housing projects in defense areas where private
building is lagging.
The Urgency Deficiency Appropriation Act,
approved March 1, 1941, included an appropriation o f $5,000,000 to
provide temporary stop-gap housing in defense areas while perma
nent housing is being constructed. In addition to these direct author
izations for Government housing, the National Housing A ct was
amended to permit the Federal Housing Administration to insure up
to 90 percent o f the appraised value o f low-cost properties without the
restriction that such properties must be owner-occupied.
The defense housing program is divided into four parts. The first
covers the registration o f all vacant houses and rooms and the prom o
tion o f such other activities as will assure that the best use is made
of available housing in each area. The second is the determination
of the need for additional housing, the part that private enterprise
can and will play in meeting such need, and the amount which must
be provided by public agencies. The third is the planning and con
struction o f the programmed housing, and the fourth is the manage
ment together with the establishment o f policies respecting rentals
and tenant selection.
In the determination o f defense housing needs, a three-point re
search program has been developed. This program includes for each
defense community—
1. A survey of labor requirements and labor supply for the purpose of esti
mating the number and type of workers who will be imported.
2. A survey of vacant dwellings and rooms to determine the amount of avail
able housing.
3. A survey of the housing market to determine the prospect for private
building.
1 Summary of an article prepared by Theodore A. Veenstra, Labor Division, Office of
Production Management, in the Monthly Labor Review for May 1941.
2 This agency superseded the Office of Defense Housing Coordinator, appointed July 18,
1940.
DEFENSE HOUSING POLICIES, 1 9 4 0 -4 1
263
Planning the Defense Housing Program
There are four main steps in the planning of the defense housing
program. The purpose o f the first two is to prevent, or at least
minimize, the development o f a housing problem. Thus, insofar as
possible, the contracts are let and new production facilities allocated
in such a way as to promote the use o f locally resident workers and
to prevent the necessity o f large-scale migration of labor.
A fter contracts are let, efforts are made to make the best use o f
the available labor supply. The best use o f all available housing
is planned for, involving the registration o f all vacant houses and
rooms, the repair o f those not in condition to be occupied, and the
eon version, where feasible, o f existing structures to accommodate more
families. Finally when it appears that the demand for labor may
exceed the number o f resident unemployed and that the supply o f
vacant houses and rooms may be insufficient for incoming workers,
it must be determined i f additional housing is needed, and if so, how
much and what kind.
T o determine requirements it is necessary to know the number o f
workers to be brought in from outside the commuting area and their
classification, particularly by marital status and expected earnings;
and the amount o f existing available housing, its condition, and its
cost.
The Coordinator o f Defense Housing has requested the Labor D ivi
sion o f the Office o f Production Management to initiate surveys o f
labor requirements in a large number o f communities. These sur
veys have been conducted for the Labor Division by the Bureau o f
Labor Statistics in the Department o f Labor and by the Bureau o f
Employment Security o f the Social Security Board. The m ajority o f
the reports indicated an expected influx o f workers varying from a
few hundred to 50,000 or more in the major defense centers. The
full extent o f the shift required o f the country’s labor supply is
uncertain, but that it will involve large numbers o f workers seems clear.
T o obtain information on the supply o f vacant dwellings and rooms,
the W ork Projects Administration was requested to conduct surveys
o f vacancies in 111 communities. Completed surveys show that the
gross vacancy percentages, which include houses under construction,
those for sale only, and those unfit for habitation varied from 0.9 per
cent in Bridgeport, Conn., to 5.5 percent in Albany, N. Y. Net rental
vacancies, including only houses for rent and in good condition or need
ing only minor repairs, varied from 0.3 percent in Midland, Mich., and
Waterbury, Conn., to 4.2 percent in St. Louis, Mo. The number o f
vacant dwellings having all standard facilities was still lower in
practically all areas. O f 62 communities, 42 had net rental vacancy
percentages o f less than 1.5. Sinee in many o f these areas defense
.activity was only getting under way and would not reach a peak for
some time, substantial changes were expected in these percentages
and resurveys therefore might be needed.
Housing Procedure and Policies
However, when a defense housing program has been planned in a
locality, the Defense H ousing Coordinator circulates a proposed pro
gram among the various housing agencies, members, o f the Defense
264
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
A dvisory Commission, and officials o f the Office o f Production Man
agement. Changes are made in the proposed program if the com
ments received from these agencies and officials indicate the need,
and the program is then submitted to the President as a recommenda
tion o f the Defense Housing Coordinator. The President makes a
finding regarding the need for public defense housing and directs the
appropriate agency to proceed with the planning and construction
o f the required housing.
The agency to which responsibility is assigned for a given project
may reassign the construction work within the limits o f the authority
granted to it by its enabling legislation. Both the Lanham A ct
(Public, No. 849, 76th Cong.) and Public, No. 781, 76th Cong., permit
the negotiation o f cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts for the construction o f
defense housing. Practically all contracts let have been o f this type.
On the other hand, contracts under Public, No. 671, 76th Cong., have
been let on the basis o f advertised bids. Section 303 o f Public, No.
781, provides that “ wages * * * shall be computed on a basic
day rate o f 8 hours per day and work in excess o f 8 hours per day
shall be permitted upon compensation for all hours worked in excess
o f 8 hours per day at not less than one and one-half times the basic
rate o f pay.” The Lanham A ct, carrying the same provision with
respect to overtime work, also provides that not less than the prevail
ing wages shall be paid, and arrangements have been made for a de
termination o f prevailing wages by the Secretary o f Labor under
the Davis-Bacon Act. Projects under Public, No. 781, are automat
ically under provisions o f this act.
Defense housing will be built primarily in those localities where
the housing need is occasioned by an influx o f defense workers or o f
enlisted personnel. Housing needs occasioned by “ undoubling” of
families already resident may receive some attention, but localities
in which there is no importation o f workers will have difficulty in
getting defense housing projects, no matter how serious the local
housing situation.
The Defense Housing Coordinator has announced that private en
terprise will be given every opportunity to meet the defense housing:
needs before Government housing is planned. However, he has stated
that where private enterprise cannot meet the expected need in time
the Government will do so.
Use o f public-defense housing after the emergency is foreseen. A
plan involving the eventual ownership o f the homes by defense work
ers is being experimented with in at least one locality (Camden, N. J . ) .
The Farm Security Administration has been allocated a number
o f projects with the idea that such projects will be used after the
emergency to house low-income farm families now living in substand
ard housing.
It is not to be expected that public-defense housing will be dumped
on the market in wholesale lots at the termination o f the present
emergency as it was after the war o f 1914—18. Experiences follow ing
that war, when there was a rush to dispose o f wartime housing to
private investors, are in the minds o f those responsible fo r the pres
ent housing program, and it appears that every effort will be made*
to prevent the depressive effects on real-estate values and private
building which were felt by many o f the communities in which war-
DEFENSE HOUSING POLICIES, 1 9 4 0 -4 1
265
time housing was built. To insure use after the emergency the Hous
ing Coordinator has recommended the construction o f demountable
or high-salvage-value housing in a fairly large number o f localities
where, in his opinion, the community cannot absorb the projects,
either by sale to private owners or by conversion to slum-clearance
projects.
U p to June 1941 policies relating to tenant selection and manage
ment had not yet been definitely formulated by the Housing Coordi
nator’s Office. The Federal W orks Administrator has, however,
established rules and priorities as to the eligibility o f defense work
ers. E ligibility is confined to those families o f which the head is
engaged, or about to be engaged, in work connected with and essential
to the national defense. Those families which can be adequately
housed by private enterprise at rentals within their financial reach
will not be eligible except on a temporary basis i f private enterprise
at the time is not meeting their housing needs.
Rents and Standards for Defense Housing
The Federal W orks Administrator has also announced a policy
with respect to the rents to be charged for defense housing. This
policy provides that on projects fo r occupancy by enlisted and
civilian personnel o f the A rm y or Navy, the A rm y or Navy shall
establish rentals, subject to the approval o f the Federal W orks A d
ministrator. On projects intended fo r occupancy by industrial work
ers the applicants will be divided into a number o f household-income
groups and each group shall pay shelter rents based on approximately
20 percent o f the minimum income for the group.
The Division o f Defense Housing Coordination has adopted stand
ards which require that the minimum facilities fo r dwelling units
shall b e : Private toilet and bathing facilities; one bedroom ; one liv
ing room ; dining space in the kitchen or living room ; permanently
installed cooking facilities, or space fo r their installation; and outside
connections for water adequate to service yard spaces. Minimum
standards for room sizes are also given. Room arrangements are to
be such as to insure privacy o f individuals. Fairly detailed stand
ards are established regarding air and ventilation, ceiling heights,
closet and storage space, equipment, and facilities.
Status o f the Defense Housing Program
A s o f A p ril 19, 1941, funds had been allocated fo r 72,953 regular
fam ily dwelling units and 5,345 dormitory units to be built in 136
localities in 47 States. In addition, allocations for 2,035 trailers for
fam ily occupancy had been made. Contracts had been awarded fo r
construction o f 51,915 o f the fam ily units and fo r 3,801 o f the dormi
tory units, and 8,097 dwelling units were ready fo r occupancy.
The Federal W orks Administrator has a primary responsibility fo r
13,055 units allocated under Public, No. 781, 76th Cong., and for
33,470 units allocated under Public, No. 849, 76th Cong. (Lanham
A c t). A ll Public, No. 781, projects assigned to the Federal W orks
Administrator are being handled by the Public Buildings Adm in
istration, whereas allocations under Public, No. 849, have been
divided among six Federal agencies and a number o f local housing
26 6
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
authorities. The greater number o f these latter projects, however,,
have been assigned to either the Public Buildings Administration
or to the United States H ousing Authority, acting through local
housing authorities. Trailers and dormitories authorized under
Public, No. 9, 77th Cong., have been placed under the jurisdiction
o f Farm Security Administration with the exception o f ship dor
mitories, which were assigned to the Maritime Commission.
O f the 72,953 regular fam ily dwelling units planned as o f A p ril 19,.
approximately 37,000 are fo r civilian industrial workers employed
either in private industrial plants or in Government-operated plants;
approximately 10,000 are fo r civilian employees o f the A rm y and
Navy other than those in Government-operated industrial plants; and
approximately 26,000 are designed fo r use by enlisted personnel o f
either the A rm y or the Navy.
Overcrowded Housing in the United States 1
Although one room per person is generally believed to be a mini
mum housing standard, the United States Public Health Serviceestimates from its 1935-36 survey o f national health that 3,000,00(1
urban families have fewer rooms in their houses than there are per
sons, that 1,000,000 live in dwelling units having one and one-half
times as many persons as rooms, and that 700,000 have twice as many
persons as rooms.2 These findings are based on a survey o f 82.
representative cities3 covering 703,489 urban households. Over
crowding between different sections o f the country and between white
and colored families differed widely.
Room occupancy in the 82 cities actually studied showed that the
households having more than one person per room represented 16.1 per
cent o f the total households, those with over one and one-half persons
per room, 5.9 percent, and those with two or more persons per room,.
3.8 percent. In presenting these figures the report states that ade
quate interpretation is dependent upon further knowledge o f fam ily
characteristics, which was not then available.
In presenting the facts regarding room occupancy the U nited
States Public Health Service does not take account o f other factors
making housing deficient, but calls attention to them. Am ong these
are use-overcrowding, congestion in halls and on streets, inadequate
ventilation, insufficient sunlight, and poor lighting.
F or the purposes o f this survey the number o f persons per room
was the ratio o f the persons in the household to the total number o f
rooms in the dwelling occupied. Kitchens were regarded as roomsT
but baths, basements, and attics not used as living quarters were
excluded. Roomers were included as members o f the household, and
their rooms were included in determining the number o f rooms, in
the case o f rooming houses, nurses’ homes, dormitories, etc., but not
1 From Monthly Labor Review for July 1938.
2 U. S. Public Health Service. The National Health Survey, 1 9 3 5 -3 6 : Adequacy of Urban
Housing in the United States as measured by Degree of Crowding and Type of Sanitary
Facilities.
(Preliminary Reports, Sickness and Medical Care Series, Bull. No. 5.)
W ash
ington, 1938.
3 Baltimore, Md., excluded, although it was included in the study.
267
HOUSING AND HOUSING FINANCE
in the case o f apartments and hotels, The percentages showing the
degree o f crowding are presented, by geographic areas, in table 1.
T
able
1 .— P ercen tages o f households sh ow in g degrees o f cro w d in g, b y geographic area
Percentage of households with—
Geographic area
More than
1 person per
room
East______
________ _ ______ _________ __________
Central.________ _____ _____________ ______________
West ______________ ____________________________
South_______________
____- ______________________
14.6
15.4
10.2
24.9
More than
persons
per room
1H
2 or more
persons per
room
3.9
5.5
3.5
12.1
1.8
3.6
2.3
8.8
Contrary to the general belief, overcrowding was found to be a
problem o f small as well as large cities. For example, in the East
16 percent o f the households in cities o f 500,000 population or over
had more than one person per room, as compared with 10.1 percent in
cities o f under 25,000; in the Central States the percentages were 16.5
and 15.5 respectively; in the West 10.6 and 11.5 percent, respectively;
and in the largest cities o f the South (100,000 to 500,000 population)
23.1 percent o f the households had more than one person per room as
compared with 30.1 percent in cities o f less than 25,000 population.
The relation o f income to crowding is shown in table 2, classifying
relief and nonrelief households separately and segregating nonrelief
families by income.
T
able
2 .— P ercentages o f households sh ow in g various degrees o f crow d in g, by in co m e
o f f a m i l y and relief status
Percentage of households with—
Annual family income and relief status
All families______________________________ ________
Relief families- _______ ___________ _______ __________
Nonrelief families:
Under $1,000____________________________________
$1,000 and under $2,000__________ ___ ___________
$2,000 and over.. ______________________________
More than 1
person per
room
More than i n
persons per
room
16.1
34.2
5.9
16.0
3.8
10.2
17.0
11.8
7.7
7.1
2.9
1.4
5.0
1.5
.7
2 or more per
sons per room
*++###+#
Housing and Housing Finance in American Cities1
B y combining the results o f the Beal Property Inventory and the
Financial Survey o f Urban Housing, both conducted by the United
States Bureau o f Foreign and Domestic Commerce, those interested
in the betterment o f living conditions in the United States are fu r
nished with valuable data for planning purposes.2 Primarily cover1 From Monthly Labor Review for February 1938.
2 U. S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.
Real Property Inventory, 1934.
Summary and 64 Cities Combined, Washington, 1935, mimeographed; Financial Survey of
Urban Housing, Statistics on Financial Aspects of Urban Housing, Washington, 1937.
268
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
ing accommodations as they existed in 1933, these reports deal with
the predominant types o f housing, including substandard units, and
also show the ratio o f owner-occupied to rented dwellings, the p ro
portion o f income spent on rent, the importance o f mortgaged build
ings in housing finance and contract, as well as effective rates o f
interest on both owmer-occupied and rental properties. Statistics are
presented fo r 64 individual cities included in the inventory o f prop
erty and for 61 cities under the financial survey, in addition to
country-wide summaries. The date o f inauguration o f this survey
coincided with the time o f the broadening o f Federal policy in
housing questions.
Condition o f Housing 3
In investigating 2,633,135 dwelling units in 64 American cities the
Bureau o f Foreign and Domestic Commerce found that nearly 80
percent o f the structures were o f the single-family type, 2-fam ily
houses made up 13 percent o f the total, and the remaining 8 percent
were o f other kinds including apartment houses. The relatively low
proportion o f apartment houses is doubtless accounted for by the
omission o f the largest cities from the survey.
On the average, owner-occupied dwellings were larger than rented
units. Over 83 percent o f the single-family houses occupied by
owners had 5 or more rooms, as compared with 63 percent o f the
rented houses. One- and two-room units represented only 1.7 percent
o f the total owner-occupied dwellings and 5.2 percent o f those rented.
Owner-occupied houses had relatively more conveniences o f specified
types. F or example, 90.6 percent o f all the homes investigated had
electricity for lighting, but in rented houses the percentage was 87.5
as compared with 95.4 in the owner-occupied dwellings. Gas for
cooking was available in 69 percent o f all the houses, mechanical
refrigeration in 17.0 percent, indoor water-closets in 82.9 percent, and
baths in 76.7 percent. The report reviewed commented on the large
extent to which sanitary plumbing was absent in residential buildings
in the cities surveyed.
On the basis o f a standard o f occupancy o f one person to a room,
17.1 percent o f the dwellings were overcrowded. In 379,434 units,
making up 15.6 percent o f the total, the number o f persons to a room
was 1 to 2; in 29,283 (1.2 percent o f the total) it was 2 to 3; and in
6,120 (0.3 percent) it was over 3.
Owner-occupied single-family homes valued at $3,000 to $4,999
represented 29.1 percent o f the total on which valuation was reported;
41.6 percent w^re valued at less than $3,000, and the remaining group
at $5,000 and over. Eight percent fell in the lowest valuation class,
under $1,000, and 1.5 percent were valued at $20,000 and over. The
modal rental for all tenant-occupied units was $20 to $29.99 per
month (25.9 percent o f the total). O f single-family tenant dwell
ings, the classes at rental under $10, $10 to $14.99, and $20 to $29.99,
each accounted fo r over 20 percent o f the total and together made
up 63.2 percent. M ultiple-fam ily tenant dwellings brought a modal
monthly rental o f $20 to $29.99 (28.5 percent o f the total).
3
For a fuller description of the findings from the Real Property Inventory see Monthly
Labor Review, March 1935 (pp. 7 2 3 -7 2 9 ), or Handbook of Labor Statistics, 1936 Edition
<p. 2 4 0 ).
HOUSING AND HOUSING FINANCE
269
Thirty-nine percent o f the occupied dwellings were in good condi
tion, 44.5 percent in need o f minor repairs, 14.7 in need o f m ajor
repairs, and 1.7 unfit fo r use. No inform ation was obtained on 0.1
percent. O f the occupied units, 83.5 percent were either in good
condition or in need o f minor repairs, as compared with 67.7 percent
o f those that were vacant.
Financial Status
In choosing cities to be covered in the Financial Survey o f Urban
Housing, consideration was given to variety in size and location in
order to make the sample “ sufficiently representative to give national
significance to the results.” In the 61 cities covered, 163,059 families
made up the tenant sample, or 11.9 percent o f the 1,366,443 families
scheduled in the real-property inventory. The number o f owner
occupants in the sample was 133,478, or 14.9 percent o f the 897,903
families included in the real-property inventory. Material was tab
ulated fo r 52 cities; and the findings here discussed relate to that
sample. A considerable part o f the financial study was devoted to
fam ily income, the controlling factor in limiting expenditures for
housing. Tenants tended to spend 25 percent o f their income on
rent. Those with higher-than-average incomes required smaller pro
portions fo r rent, and those in the lower brackets spent a substan
tially higher proportion for rent. Values o f owner-occupied homes
averaged 2 to 3 times the annual fam ily income; and total incomes
o f owner occupants averaged nearly one-third above those o f tenants
in the same city. The difference in total income was roughly pro
portionate to the difference in values o f dwellings occupied in the
two groups.
A n average o f 58.3 percent o f the owner-occupied dwellings cov
ered were mortgaged, the ratio varying from 24 to 84 percent in the
52 cities. F or rented properties the proportion mortgaged was 42.8
percent. The outstanding debt on mortgaged properties averaged
more than half the value in most o f the cities. The average ratio
of, mortgage debt to value was 55.6 percent fo r owner-occupied units
and 60.4 for rented dwellings.
Contract interest rates on first mortgages averaged nearly 6.5 per
cent on owner-occupied houses; rates were lowest in the Northeast
and highest in the South and West. Effective rates o f interest—
that is, the total cost o f credit after adding financing charges inci
dent to loans— averaged about one-third o f 1 percent above the con
tract rate. In general the interest rates on owner-occupied houses
were lower than on those rented. O f the agencies lending money on
real estate, individuals made up 19.7 percent, followed by savings
banks (17.2 percent), commercial banks (16.5 percent), life insur
ance companies (15 percent), and building and loan associations
(13.6 percent). Mortgage companies,, the Home Owners’ Loan Cor
poration, title and trust companies, construction companies, and
other sources accounted for the remaining 18 percent.
A separate inquiry was made to determine the value o f various
furnishings and facilities included in rents. Information was col
lected on items such as electricity, gas, water, heating, garage, and
mechanical refrigeration in 11 cities. The figures disclosed that ap~
270
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
proximately one-fourth o f the gross apartment rental was due to
inclusion o f such items in the rent. In 1- and 2-family dwellings
this item made up about one-tenth o f the rent, notwithstanding that
m ultifam ily dwellings are o f smaller average size.
In the accompanying table summary and individual-city data are
given on the principal findings o f the financial survey.
V a lu e , in c o m e, ratio o f rent to in c o m e , m ortgages , and interest rates on d w ellin g s , by
cities
Average ratio
Effective
Aver
Percent of
of mortgage debt interest rates 6
properties mort to
age
value
of
prop
(percent)
gaged 3
ratio,
erty4 (percent)
(weighted)
rent to
income,
1933 2 OwnerOwnerOwnerOwner(per
occu Rented occu Rented occu Rented
occu Rented cent)
pied
pied
pied
pied
Average value
of 1-family
dwellings,
Jan. 1, 1934 *
City and geographic area
$4,447
$3,142
24.2
58.3
42.8
55.6
60.4
6.54
6. 76
New England__ _________
Portland, Maine______
Worcester, Mass______
Providence, R. I_._ - __
6,214
6,051
6,642
5,903
8,001
4,832
4,445
6,133
4,706
25.2
25.4
24.9
25.5
24.0
68.6
46.7
83.6
63.2
81.1
53.8
41.3
69.3
50.2
54.6
50.5
67.1
49.4
60.0
60.6
53.4
69.3
58.7
6.17
6.10
5. 71
6.45
5.84
6.20
6.11
5.76
6.40
6.06
Middle Atlantic.. _ _
5,223
6,163
5,901
4,200
4, 576
4,457
66.9
45.3
76.9
68.8
49.7
67.1
39.8
36.5
55.9
45.9
57.0
58.4
57.7
62.8
5,436
3,135
3, 786
27.5
23.4
27.3
30.3
28.6
55.9
Syracuse, N. Y _ _ _ ____
Trenton, N. J. ______
Erie, Pa______________
62.7
59.7
64.5
5.91
6.18
5.69
6.03
6. 36
6.03
6.18
5.83
6.29
6.48
East North Central____ ..
Cleveland, Ohio_______
Indianapolis, Ind. .. .
Peoria, 111.. ___
___
Lansing, Mich___ _ .
Kenosha, Wis ____ .
Racine, W is__________
5, 669
6, 249
4,890
4,405
3,813
5, 069
4,961
4,306
5,464
3,126
3,087
2,970
4,969
4,342
25.9
27.2
23.1
24.9
21.0
28.1
26.3
65.3
67.0
63.8
54.0
57.4
65.3
67.1
51.2
53.2
51.2
40.3
36.5
48.2
53.5
56.8
57.2
56.2
50.4
59.5
53.8
58.9
64.2
67.7
57.0
52.5
57.0
58.4
59.8
6.45
6.42
6. 52
6.88
6.41
6. 38
6. 34
6.46
6. 35
6.76
6. 76
6. 75
6. 69
6.47
West North C e n tr a l..____
Minneapolis, Minn____
St. Paul, M inn_____
Des Moines, Iow a.. _ _
St. Joseph, Mo
.
Springfield, M o_______
Fargo, N. Dak . . .
Sioux Falls, S. Dak. _ _
Lincoln, Nebr___
. .
Topeka, Kans___ _____
Wichita, Kans________
3, 662
4,204
3, 766
3,157
3,276
2, 651
4, 811
4,101
3,548
3,186
2, 722
.2,713
3, 375
3,285
2,486
2,483
1,940
24.5
26.0
27.6
24.2
19.9
20.2
25.8
24.3
23.2
22.6
19.3
51.5
55.9
48.0
49.5
42.9
50.1
58. 5
53.4
48.2
44.0
53.5
39.4
46.3
41.4
35.4
24.7
25.4
52.0
52.4
50.0
53.2
52.5
52.9
50.4
46.5
53.6
50.4
56.8
55.3
56.7
53.7
52.2
54.5
48.2
6.54
6.31
6. 46
6.48
6. 80
7.51
6. 40
6. 57
6. 52
7. 51
7.11
6.72
6.68
6.50
6.64
6.69
7.58
6.92
6. 71
6.66
6.99
7.23
South Atlantic____
Hagerstown, Md ._ ._
Richmond, V a . . ____
Wheeling, W. Va______
Asheville, N. C _ ._ ____
Greensboro, N. C .. __
Charleston, S. C _.
Columbia, S. C_ . . . _ _
Atlanta, Ga_______ ..
Jacksonville, Fla
4,323
4,601
5,218
3, 768
3,807
5,226
5,023
4,779
4,339
3,499
3,128
2, 535
3,640
3, 519
3,234
3, 382
2, 723
2,907
2, 793
23.3
25.2
22.2
24.4
20.6
16.3
24.0
22.8
22. 7
27. 5
50.5
49.6
40.7
35.3
46.9
56.8
32.9
58.4
58.3
47.6
34.5
26.2
34.2
21.9
14.5
29.3
23.6
33.7
40.7
56.6
60.9
59.4
49.4
66.3
61.9
50.3
57.4
57.3
52.2
65.5
67.4
62.6
51.1
79.7
61.2
51.9
62.6
70.0
6. 91
6.12
6. 72
6. 39
6. 39
6. 35
7.12
7. 39
7. 25
7. 35
7. 25
5.64
6.83
6.15
6. 35
7.75
6.87
6. 72
7.60
7.14
East South Central_______
Paducah, Ky_._ . . . __
Birmingham, Ala____ .
Jackson, Miss
3, 213
2,106
3,198
4, 462
2, 566
1,188
2, 703
20.3
21.5
19.6
25.4
52.4
30.7
52.4
61. 5
22.5
7.1
22.9
59.4
58.7
61.1
50.4
51.1
48.2
52.0
7. 09
7. 29
7.10
6. 93
7.17
6.70
7.19
7.11
West South Central _____
Little Rock, Ark______
Baton Ron pc, La
Oklahoma City, Okla...
Austin, Tex. ___
Dallas, Tex___________
Wichita Falls, Tex____
3, 643
3,230
3,806
3,833
3, 732
3,695
2,933
2, 488
1,794
21.8
20.3
22. 5
22.9
22.0
22.4
14.7
53.4
43.8
53.3
61.7
39.2
53.3
41.4
37.4
23.9
55.4
62.9
45.0
58.2
46.4
53.5
66.3
56.7
62.2
7. 45
6.88
7. 55
7. 38
7. 52
7. 63
7. 48
7.50
7. 34
7.61
6.98
9.16
7. 76
8.02
Total, 52 cities____________
See footnotes at end of table.
3, 291
2, 524
2, 258
2,066
2, 580
2,529
2, 796
1,970
40.8
36.5
26.2
38.8
43.1
30.6
39.6
21.2
48.8
63.3
52.0
57.4
55.5
50.9
56.7
72.4
271
HOUSING LEGISLATION
V a lu e , in c o m e , ratio o f rent to in c o m e , m ortgages, and interest rates on d w ellin g s, b y
cities — Continued
City and geographic area
Average value
of 1-family
dwellings,
Jan. 1,1934
Aver
Percent of
age
properties mort
ratio,
gaged
rent to
income,
1933
Owner(per Owneroccu Rented cent)
occu Rented
pied
pied
Mountain _____________ $2,956
Butte, Mont____ _____
2,355
Boise, Idaho.. _-3,147
Casper, Wyo _____
2,594
Pueblo, Colo__________ 1,830
Phoenix, Ariz_____ . _ 4,143
Sait Lake City, Utah-.. 3,224
Pacific___________________
Seattle, Wash_________
Portland, Oreg_____ __
Sacramento, Calif_____
San Diego, Calif-- ____
3,231
3,043
3,104
3,995
3, 568
$2,465
1,719
1,503
3,368
2,677
23.3
25.1
24.0
20.0
23.8
21.8
23.7
49.3
24.2
45.1
44.1
40.9
55.6
54.0
2,727
2,587
2,655
3,255
2,872
22.8
22.7
22.5
23.7
23.1
50.5
49.2
51.0
54.5
50.6
Average ratio
of mortgage debt
to value of prop
erty (percent)
Effective
interest rates
(percent)
(weighted)
OwnerOwneroccu Rented occu Rented
pied
pied
39.1
15.1
22.5
43.6
42.9
55.7
41.3 '
43. 2
56.9
59.2
56.3
58.0
37.1
36.4
33.8
45.0
38.3
55.9
54.7
56.6
61.8
54.4
57.5
52.2
58.9
53.3
59.8
6.60
8.32
7.91
7.31
7.08
7.60
5. 83
7.36
8. 71
8.17
7.05
7.16
7.94
6.97
57.4
57.2
54.9
64.2
57.6
6.92
6.95
6.45
7.14
7.48
7.06
6.79
7.10
7.23
7.66
1 Totals for 52 cities and geographic areas weighted by total number of 1-family dwellings in each city by
tenure.
2 Totals for 52 cities and geographic areas weighted by total number of tenant families in each city.
8 Totals for 52 cities and geographic areas weighted by total number of mortgaged properties in each city
by tenure.
4
Totals for 52 cities and geographic areas weighted by total value of mortgaged properties in each city by
tenure.
6
Totals for 52 cities and geographic areas weighted by total amount of first-mortgage debt in each city by
tenure.
Housing Legislation in the United States1
T h e primary purpose o f housing-authority legislation is to provide
fo r the construction and administration o f public low-rent housing
and slum-clearance projects. In contrast, limited-dividend corpora
tions that are formed under the laws o f the respective jurisdictions
are usually private bodies and organized to provide housing at a profit
which, however, is strictly limited. Because o f the profit feature,
limited-dividend corporations have not been o f much aid to the lowest
income group, but have been o f benefit to wage earners with incomes
ranging from $1,500 to $2,500.
Local Housing Authorities
P rior to 1933 there were no State laws providing public aid for lowcost housing projects. Under the impetus o f Federal legislation, how
ever, housing-authority laws had been enacted in 25 jurisdictions at
the end o f 1936. A fter the passage o f the United States Housing
A ct in 1937, a number o f the States immediately adopted enabling
legislation authorizing public agencies to undertake low-rent housing
and slum-clearance projects, and many o f the States already having
such laws enacted amendatory legislation. A t the present time 39
1 From the Monthly Labor Review for October 1940, with later data.
A tabular analysis
o f the State housing laws as of August 1, 1940, is given in the Review.
272
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
States,2 the District o f Columbia, Hawaii, and Puerto R ico have laws
o f this type.
In general the legislation provides fo r the establishment o f State
or local housing authorities by cities and counties which are non
profit public corporations that must conform to limitations designed
to assure that the housing projects will be available only to persons
in the lowest income group. Conditions are established for raising
capital and accepting governmental aid in the form o f loans or grants.
The laws provide for the exercise o f the power o f eminent domain
in condemning property fo r public use, and grant tax exemptions on
the indebtedness and property o f low-cost building agencies.
The housing authorities established fo r a particular city or county
are usually composed o f five members appointed by the mayor or the
governing body o f the county, with administrative functions vested
in this group. In some States, however, there is a combination o f
local operation with some supervision by a State agency. Most o f
the laws empower the city council or other governing body to establish
the authority.
In most jurisdictions, municipalities are specifically forbidden to be
responsible fo r the bonds or other indebtedness o f the housing author
ities. However, in New Y ork, recent legislation has authorized the
making o f State loans and the granting o f periodic subsidies to cities
or local housing authorities. In addition, the municipalities are per
mitted now to make loans and grant subsidies to housing authorities
and to make loans to housing companies. Since January 1, 1939, a
special act o f the New Y ork Legislature is required to create any
housing authority.
Generally, the State does not contribute to housing projects or
make loans or grants to local housing authorities. In all o f the
States having housing legislation, the property o f housing au
thorities is exempt from taxation. Most o f the housing statutes
specifically provide fo r this exemption. In some States, how
ever, the property is exempt because o f other statutory or con
stitutional provisions. In addition to exempting real property from
taxation, more than two-thirds o f the States provide for tax exemp
tion o f bonds and other forms o f indebtedness.
Exercise o f the right o f eminent domain is provided for by all
housing-authority laws. However, in some States, including Arizona,
Michigan, New Mexico, and Rhode Island, this power is vested in the
city or county instead o f in the housing authority. Under many laws
the procedure follow s that laid down in the existing statutes, while
others provide for special methods to be used in the exercise o f the
right. Similarly, all laws make it possible for the housing authorities
to accept Government aid in the form o f loans and grants and provide
fo r the raising o f funds through special issues o f bonds, notes, deben
tures, etc.
2 Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida,
Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New
York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Caro
lina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, W est Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The
9 States without such legislation are Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, Oklahoma,
South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
HOUSING LEGISLATION
273
The general functions o f the housing authorities established by this
type o f legislation are extremely broad. Although the immediate
objective is to take advantage o f Government aid in order to make
housing available at low cost as rapidly as possible, many o f the laws
empower housing authorities to study long-term housing needs in
their respective jurisdictions, and to determine the extent o f over
crowding as well as to plan the course o f future development.
Defense housing laws have been enacted in 22 jurisdictions® au
thorizing housing authorities to exercise all o f their powers in
developing and administering housing projects for persons engaged
in national defense activities and in cooperating with the Federal
Government in undertaking such projects.
Limited-Dividend Corporations
In addition to the general laws authorizing public low-rent housing
and slum-clearance projects, 15 States 3 and the District o f Columbia
have enacted legislation authorizing limited-dividend housing corpo
rations under the supervision, regulation, and control o f State housing
boards or commissions to provide safe and sanitary housing fo r fam
ilies o f low income and to eliminate congested and insanitary housing
conditions. The profits o f such corporations are limited by statute.
They are usually authorized to acquire property by eminent domain
with the approval o f the board or commission.
In contrast with the housing-authority laws, administrative super
vision o f limited-dividend corporations is highly centralized, being a
function o f State boards o f housing especially established for this
purpose or o f existing agencies having a relation to housing matters.
State boards generally have the power to conduct hearings and to
study housing conditions to determine the need for housing projects,
to approve the area in which projects will be located, to approve the
financing o f projects, to fix the rents charged, and in general to super
vise all projects.
Federal Activities
The United States Housing Authority, which was established by
the United States Housing A ct o f 1987,4 is authorized to provide
financial assistance to legally constituted public-housing agencies, to
assist in the development o f low-rent housing and slum-clearance
projects which local authorities design, build, and operate on a rental
basis. The financial assistance which the Authority may render con
sists o f repayable loans which may equal 90 percent o f the total
development cost, and annual contributions for the purpose o f bring
ing rents within the reach o f families in the lowest income group
now living in slums.5
° Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Nebraska. New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North
Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, W ashington, and W est
Virginia.
3 Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia,
4 Supp. V to U. S. Code, 1934, title 42, secs. 1401-1430.
BFor a more detailed discussion of this program, see Monthly Labor Review, August 1940
(p. 273).
274
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
In an effort to expedite the building o f low-cost housing which is
needed in connection with the defense program, Congress later in 1940
passed acts permitting the W ar and Navy Departments and the
United States Housing Authority to cooperate in making necessary
housing available for persons engaged in national defense activities
(Public, Nos. 671 and 781, 76th C ong.). These acts authorize
the W ar or Navy Department to initiate projects to provide dwellings
on or near military or naval reservations, posts, or bases, for rental to
enlisted men with families and to persons engaged in national defense
activities. Such projects may be developed by either Department
or by the United States Housing Authority.
In order to assist home financing as well as to stimulate dwelling
construction and to create a sounder mortgage system, the National
Housing A ct was enacted in 1934.6 This act established the Federal
Housing Administration which was authorized to insure loans made
fo r home repairs and renovation. The act also provided for residen
tial mortgages on a long-term basis. In 1938 this act was amended
and provision was made fo r renewing the insurance on repair loans,,
for insuring mortgages up to 90 percent o f the value o f small-owneroccupied homes, and fo r insuring mortgages on rental property.
Other means by which the Federal Government aids in home owner
ship include the Federal Home Loan Bank Board.7 This Board,
which was created in 1932, supervises four separate agencies operating
in the field o f home mortgage finance— Federal Home Loan Bank
System, Home Owners Loan Corporation, Federal Savings and Loan
System, and Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. The
m ajor function o f the Federal Home Loan Bank Board is to encourage
and assist private capital to make available on an economical basis an
adequate volume o f long-term home mortgage credit, and to provide
at the same time means for sound investment o f small savings.
Constitutionality o f State Housing Legislation
A number o f decisions have upheld the constitutionality o f State
housing legislation and at the beginning o f August 1941 such legis
lation had been sustained in 27 States.8
A n analysis o f all relevant decisions clearly indicates the validity o f
housing legislation as an exercise o f the police power o f the StateThe courts have sustained the legislation generally, including the
tax-exemption features and the right o f housing authorities to exercise*
the power o f eminent domain.
Operations of Urban Home Builders9
About 75 000 builders divided the business o f constructing the*
167,000 urban one-family houses that were erected in 1938. The*
6 U. S. Code 1934, title 12, secs. 1 7 0 1 -1 7 3 J ; for amendments, see Supp. V to U. S. Code,
1934.
7 U. S. Code 1934, title 12, secs. 1 4 2 1 -1 4 6 8 ; for amendments, see Supp. V to U. S. Code,
1934.
8 Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Ken
tucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, N ew
Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
Virginia, and West Virginia.
9 For fuller information see the Monthly Labor Review for May 1941 and September 1940*.
OPERATIONS OF URBAN HOME BUILDERS
275
typically small scale o f operations, which is American practice in the
case o f home building, may be chiefly responsible for the fact that the
cost o f a house is high in comparison with the cost o f equally com
plicated fabrications o f mass-production industries in this country.
The study, based on building-permit data, indicated that two-thirds
of the builders erected only one house each. These included a large
number of owner builders, as well as individual craftsmen and special
trades contractors whose major income was derived from subcontract
work on construction credited to other enterprises. Only the person
or firm having the general contract, or the owner in the case of spec
ulative-built and of owner-built houses, was classified as a “builder.”
The average number o f city houses constructed per builder was 2.2
in 1938. F or the 24,000 who built 2 or more houses each, the average
was 4.8. The latter figure may more nearly represent the size o f
builders who depended on such construction for their entire livelihood.
In any case, it appears that urban home builders in 1938 either (1)
had sources o f income other than home building, (2) made a large
profit on each house, or (3) received very little income. The fact
that so many owners chose to act as their own general contractors
suggests that profits per house may have been high, although there are
other reasons contributing to this situation. In a few towns, prefer
ential treatment on building-permit fees is given to construction for
the builder’s own occupancy. In other cases, social-security tax sched
ules provided an incentive to eliminate the general contractor, in law,
if not in fact.
O p era tion s o f urban hom e bu ilders , 1 9 3 8 , b y size o f city
Number of houses built
Number of builders
Builders of—
Builders of—
Size of city
All cities. . . . ____
100,000 or m ore...
25,000 to 100,000..
Less than 25.000..
All
build
ers
74, 800
21, 800
15, 600
37, 400
house
10 or
2-4
5-9
more
houses houses houses
50, 900
13, 800
11, 000
26,100
17, 300
5,200
3, 400
8, 700
1
4, 600
1,700
900
2, 000
2.2
3.0
1.9
1.9
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
2.6
2.6
2.6
2.6
6.1
6.3
6.2
6. 0
All
build
ers
2,000 166,900
1,100 66,100
300 30, 400
600 70,400
Average number of houses per builder
All cities_________
100,000 or m ore...
25,000 to 100,000..
Less than 25,000..
1
21.6
25.5
17.0
16.7
house
1
2-4
houses
10 or
5-9
more
houses houses
50,900
13,800
11,000
26,100
44,700
13,600
8,700
22, 400
28, 200
10, 700
5,600
11, 900
43,100
28,000
5,100
10, 000
Percent of houses built on contract
53
42
61
59
55
56
61
53
61
60
60
63
60
50
64
68
36
24
60
59
i Includes only builders of 1-family houses within city limits.
Slightly over half the new urban 1-family houses were built on
contract in 1938. This is higher than quoted opinions o f informed
individuals sometimes suggest. There are several reasons for the
disparity. Possibly the most important is that the big builders in
metropolitan communities ordinarily build on speculation, and even
informed opinion tends to overweight their operations in appraising
the whole. Another reason is inherent in the data,, which include as
contract-built any house which is contracted for before the builder
276
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
begins construction. It is common practice for a developer to erect
several houses as a speculation and to sell copies o f these houses on
order. On the other hand, houses built by owner-builders are not
classed as contract-built, since the owner does not know how much his
structure will cost until it has been com pleted; in other words, he is
speculating. In view o f this fact, it is noteworthy that over half the
houses built even by 1-house builders in 1938 were erected on contract.
Only in the case o f builders o f 10 or more houses in cities o f 100,000
or larger was more than half the home-building activity speculative.
Builders o f 2-4 and 5-9 houses a year carried on most o f their opera
tions under contract, even in the large cities. The big builders in
cities under 100,000 population had construction or sales contracts
before starting the m ajority o f homes they erected.
In addition to the 167,000 urban 1-fam ily houses for which permit
data are available, it is estimated that about 94,000 were built
outside city limits, but not on farms, in 1938. Many o f these rural
nonfarm houses were built by city builders. No account is taken o f
this fact in the classification o f urban builders by size. Similarly,
there probably were builders whose operations were confined to the
areas outside city limits. The data presented herewith do not include
them.
Working Conditions of Maintenance Staffs on Federal
Housing Projects1
W orking conditions o f maintenance and other employees on hous
ing projects constructed with Federal funds are established by two
different procedures, depending upon whether the dwellings are
owned and administered by the Federal Government or leased or sold
to local authorities.2 I f the Federal Government retains the manage
ment o f dwellings the terms o f employment o f the maintenance and
managerial staff are determined under civil-service rules, but i f a
property is taken over by the local housing authority the working
conditions o f all persons employed on the project must conform with
those prevailing in the community for the same or similar kinds o f
employment. These principles are laid down in section 16 o f the
United States Housing A ct o f 1937.
Although the problems confronting managers o f federally and lo
cally operated projects are essentially the same, the methods o f dealing
with them are somewhat different. The employee on a federally
operated project receives the wages fixed by thei United States Civil
Service Commission for Federal employees, his working hours are
similarly regulated,, and he is entitled to compensation for injuries
received in the performance o f duty, under the Employees’ Compen
sation A ct o f 1916. Persons employed on locally operated projects
lack such Federal protection.
Maintenance and other employees on a Federal project are hired
directly by the United States Housing Authority through the project
manager. As Federal employees these workers are subject to pay1 From Monthly Labor Review for December 1938.
2 Public, No. 412, 75th Cong. ; United States Housing Act of 1 9 3 7 ; and U. S. Housing
Authority, press release No. 28364 H, 1938.
CONSTRUCTION COST'S OF SMALL HOUSES
277
ment at rates established by the Civil Service Commission. I f work
is done under contract, the wage rates must conform with the terms
o f the Davis-Bacon A ct, if the contract is o f a value o f $2,000 or over;
i f it is o f lower value, the contractor is free to fix the scale o f pay.
This means that the Housing Authority is not responsible fo r wage
conditions under either contract.
On projects turned over to local management, the wage rates o f
maintenance and other employees must be the local prevailing rates.
Unless there is a State or local law providing for establishing rates,
the United States Housing Authority must give final approval o f the
rates to be paid. The manager may be called upon by the local
housing authority to make the required study o f wages o f a com
parable nature fo r establishing prevailing wages, when no State law
or city ordinance provides minimum working standards. Hours o f
work are those established by the local housing authority, unless
fixed by a State or local law.
I t is likely that work other than that o f ordinary maintenance w ill
be required on every project at intervals. This will entail the mak
ing o f special rates for jobs such as painting. T o establish the pay
scale an investigation must be made, and the resulting rate may be
the union rate, i f that prevails, but will conform to whatever rate is
actually most often paid.
One o f the most important tasks facing managers is stated to be
the enforcement o f the hours standards that are established. Other
personnel questions will inevitably arise, such as lay-off policy, dis
charge, and rehiring.
Comparison of Construction Costs of Small
Houses, by Cities
Quarterly comparisons o f the costs o f building the same type o f
houses in various cities are issued by the Federal Home Loan Bank
Board.1 In publishing the actual costs o f building, beginning in Jan
uary 1936, the Board took the first action looking toward the de
velopment o f indexes o f small-house construction. The figures first
made available were for 27 cities in 4 o f the 12 Federal Home Loan
Bank districts. The coverage was later extended to cities in all 12
districts. Inform ation has been obtained as to the exact cost o f
materials and labor necessary to build a specified typical house.
W ide differences sometimes exist in costs between cities in the same
State.
1 From Monthly Labor Review for March 1936, with later data from the Federal Home
Loan Board Review for March 1941 (Statistical Supplement) and April 1941.
328112—42—VOL. i-----19
278
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS!
T able
1.—Total costs and cubic-foot costs of building the same typical house in
selected cities in March 1940 and March 1941
Cubic-foot cost
Total cost
Federal Home Loan Bank district, and city
March 1941 March 1940 March 1941 March 1940
No. 1.—Boston:
Hartford, Conn________________ ______ __________
New Haven, Conn__ _ ___________ ___ ________
Portland, Maine. . . . . . . _____________________
Boston, Mass.. ________ _ ___________________
Manchester, N. H . ____ ________________________
Providence, R. I _____________ __________________
Rutland, V t___________________ ______ __________
No. 4.—Winston-Salem:
Birmingham, Ala________ ______________________
Washington, D. C______________________________
Tampa, Fla____________________________________
West Palm Beach, Fla________ _____ ____________
Atlanta, Ga_______ '____________ _____ __________
Baltimore, M d______________________ _________
Cumberland, M d _____________________________ .
Asheville, N. C____ ____ ________ ____ ___________
Raleigh, N. C_________ ________________________
Salisbury, N. C ________________________________
Columbia, S. C_____________________ _____ _____
Richmond, Va_____________ ____________________
Roanoke, Va___________________________________
No. 7.— Chicago:
Chicago, 111_______________ ______________ ______
Peoria, 111________ _____________ _____________
Springfield, 111_____ _____________ ______________
Milwaukee, Wis________________________________
Oshkosh, Wis_____________ _______ _____________
No. 10.—Topeka:
Denver, Colo___________________ ____ ___________
Wichita, Kans____________________________ _____
Omaha, Nebr___ ____ _____________ ___________
Oklahoma City, O k la __________________________
$0. 268
.262
.224
.282
.242
.262
.245
$0. 247
.244
.219
.270
.225
.251
.222
$6,424
6,288
5, 369
6,760
5, 801
6,281
5,880
$5,937
5,850
5, 256
6, 490
5, 390
6,035
5,321
.266
.260
.258
.273
.244
.254
.252
.240
.228
.196
.231
.232
.251
.217
.239
.239
.243
.205
.198
.235
.208
.209
.203
. 197
.202
.217
6,392
6,236
6,189
6, 550
5,846
6,088
6, 058
5, 752
5,478
4,716
5, 540
5, 570
6,021
5,200
5,741
5,736
5, 824
4,921
4, 750
5,631
4, 998
5,009
4, 863
4, 730
4,848
5,199
.296
.303
.311
.292
.277
.283
.293
.295
.253
.246
7,093
7, 267
7,463
7,013
6,649
6,787
7,024
7,068
6,063
5,904
.271
.241
.256
.275
.259
.240
.257
.252
6, 500
5, 790
6,148
6,590
6, 222
5, 760
6,156
6,051
Specifications o f the standard house are sent every 3 months to all
those reporting This standard house is a detached dwelling having
a volume o f 24,000 cubic feet, and with living room, lavatory, dining
room, and kitchen on the first floor; three bedrooms and bath on the
second floor; open attic, which could be finished into one or two
rooms; and a one-room cellar containing heating and laundry facili
ties. The exterior finish is wide-board siding with brick and stucco.
The 1-car garage is attached to the house. It is assumed that the
house plot is level and that no unusual soil conditions are present that
would add to costs. Structural standards such as would meet m u
nicipal building codes are specified and the reports take into account
commonly used materials and methods. Reports are not based on
unusual materials or prefabricated walls, etc., but it is provided that
should such items come into common use they would be included in
the specifications. The house described might be placed in the
$6,000 class, the Board states.
The field worker, in addition to securing material costs, reports on
prevailing labor costs as reflected in hourly wage rates. “ The num
ber o f labor-hours required to build into this house each quantity o f
the items contained on the master materials list has been fixed on the
basis o f estimates which are known to be correct within narrow
limits,” the report states.
T o the labor and material cost is added a fixed amount to cover
overhead expenses, such as public liability and workmen’s compensa
tion insurance and a 10-percent profit item. The estimate does not
BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION®, 193 9
279
include planting, gas range and water heater, refrigerator, insect
screens, shades, wall decoration, lighting fixtures, or land.
The Board seeks to secure accuracy in the reports by requesting
prices on the same list o f materials and having the work done by the
same personnel every 3 months. It must not be assumed that the
cost o f any six-room house with bath constructed in a given city would
be the same as that reported. A ny change in house plan would
affect the price. The cost figures do, however, supply an exact
record o f the trend in house-building costs in each city.
Index numbers o f building costs fo r the standard house are shown
in table 2, by years from 1936 to 1940, inclusive, fo r materials and
labor separately, and for total costs.
T able
2 .—
In d e x n u m bers o f building costs f o r the standard house
[Average month of 1935-39=100]
Element of cost
Year
Material
1936_______________________
1937________________________
1938_____ __________________
1939________________________
1940______ ____ ____________
97.1
105.6
101.5
100.1
102.2
Labor
94.4
102.3
105.4
105.2
105.4
Total
96.2
104.5
102.8
101.8
103.3
Building and Loan Associations, 1939 1
Increases in total assets, in amount o f mortgage loans made during
1939, and in the surplus and undivided profits at the end o f the
year, as compared with 1938, were reported by the United States
Building and Loan League.2 The assets o f the 8,328 associations at
the end o f 1939 totaled $5,674,262,030. The number o f associations
and the membership both showed decreases from 1938 to 1939.
T able
1.—
State
Sta tu s o f bu ildin g and loan associa tio n s, end o f 1 9 8 9 , b y States
Number Number of
of asso
ciations members
Alabama
____________
Arizona _____ ___ _____
Arkansas______________
California._______
__
Colorado
____________
Connecticut__________ _
Delaware. _____________
Florida ._ __________
Georgia
____________
Idaho__________________ 1
36
3
42
180
56
50
44
82
67
13
19,416
3,319
9, 227
223,820
27,909
47,072
16,131
39, 238
29,457
14,794
Mortgage loans
Total assets
Made in
1939
Outstanding,
end of year
$13,907,409
$2,469, 562 • $8, 624,876
3, 661,900
i 1, 212, 340
3, 212,958
14, 584,417
4,144,109
12, 538,167
276,904,146 i 37,898,061
226, 730, 255
32, 275,009
9,182, 273
22,812,091
38, 685,325
8,086,914
35,138, 662
13, 649, 746
i 246, 800
11, 584, 216
55,185,709 1 16, 680,056
45, 661,098
28, 955, 743 i 6, 334, 717
26, 593, 327
11,190, 221
1, 605, 392
9, 389, 916
Surplus and
undivided
profits
$1, 502, 954
60,979
1,328, 645
2 18,088, 641
2,876, 355
2,078,448
408,053
1, 351, 218
1,053,064
465, 713
See footnotes at end of table.
1 From Monthly Labor Review for January 1941.
2 United States Savings and Loan League. Part 1 of Secretary’s Annual Report, by
H. F. Cellarius. Cincinnati, 1940.
280
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
T a b l e 1 . — S ta tu s o f bu ildin g and loan associa tio n s, en d o f 1 9 8 9 , b y States —Con.
State
Number Number of
of asso
ciations members
Mortg*ige loans
Total assets
Outstanding,
end of year
Made in
1939
Illinois_________________
Indiana. ________ ________
Iowa _.
_______ __ _
Kansas_________________
Kentucky_____________
Louisiana___________ _ _
Maine. ________________
Maryland_____ ________
Massachusetts__________
Michigan___________ ___
649
254
93
140
173
73
41
684
210
82
373,934
175,133
53, 295
85, 257
120,072
109, 648
* 24,927
3 193,305
421, 691
115, 690
$346,856,591 i$30, 368,893
169,864, 207 i 14, 748, 452
50, 519, 371
13, 327,579
73,066,895
10, 720, 620
113, 473,401 i 10, 646,102
93,818, 249
21, 370,482
23,918, 322
i 366, 789
188,894, 704 i 9, 952, 960
492,254, 576
76, 527, 627
118,178,131
15, 552,783
Minnesota.. ....................
Mississippi--- ---------------Missouri_______________
Montana____ _____ _ - Nebraska. _____________
Nevada---- -- --------- --New Hampshire------New Jersey-------------------New M e x ic o ...---------- -N e w Y o r k .._____ . . . .
76
41
213
22
69
4
30
1, 225
21
269
95, 830
7, 762
152,866
16,154
84,118
927
23,088
497, 787
4, 269
591, 791
75, 764, 655
9,029, 641
131, 496,877
11, 539, 377
66,186,169
875,887
19, 385,008
543, 713,964
5, 869, 655
422,334,142
North Carolina-------------North Dakota_________
Ohio____ . . . ------------Oklahoma. ________ _____
Oregon------ ------------Pennsylvania. . . . --------Rhode Island___________
South C arolina_____ . . .
South Dakota. ------ -----Tennessee------ ---------------
181
23
696
69
32
1,606
9
72
15
47
135, 580
14,379
1,438, 559
42,200
29, 503
465,981
55,871
22, 519
5, 867
22,969
98,471,931
11,545,293
827,015,918
64, 497, 218
30,477,081
481, 790,597
40,304,438
27, 299,839
4, 636, 665
26,948, 211
Texas__________________
Utah___________________
Vermont________ _____
Virginia__________ _____
Washington___ _________
West Virginia___________
Wisconsin. ._ ______ . . .
Wyoming______________
District of Columbia____
Alaska---------- ------------Hawaii_______ ____ - ........
153
21
14
80
68
61
186
14
29
1
9
86,478
30, 427
6,852
51,795
152,283
25,918
162, 538
4,906
152, 287
216
14,456
Total:
1939___________
1938___________
8, 328
8,951
6,499,511
6,829,167
Surplus and
undivided
profits
$242,073,900«
119, 961, 559
40, 529,243
46,494, 734
86, 656,851
77,803,962
20, 272,879
115, 734, 586
373, 685,098
64,066, 275
$20,673,716
13,307,878
2,190, 969
4, 934, 225
6, 671, 206
9,100,001
1, 541, 221
4 11, 785,036
30,140, 561
7, 682, 681
24,466,793
1, 677, 692
7, 876, 655
2,828,865
10,025, 753
i 99,460
2,105, 507
i 246,874
i 586,323
69, 263, 712
65, 545, 332
7, 781, 518
98, 523, 410
9,066,161
47, 412,065
624,980
17, 340,863
276,493,853
4,989, 555
325, 381,112
2, 547, 398
746, 698
9, 241, 588
884, 919
6, 671,188
62, 599
1, 210, 524
150,890, 236
481,852
29,046, 503
25,930,190
1, 315,175
i 46, 555,926
16, 277,183
8,046,434
53,768,141
9, 542,208
8, 355, 524
413, 266
6, 371,178
87, 620,800
9,042, 676
590,839,090
52,174, 288
23,730,195
351,151,791
34,438,410
24, 503, 377
3,793, 608
23, 684,996
7,431,237
774, 678
63, 508, 613
5, 968, 619
777,067
59, 649,031
1, 689, 638
1,468, 642
246,945
935, 566
95,194,076
27,005,961
27, 580,964 i 1,461, 565
6, 228, 599
1, 590,853
51, 637, 650 i 6,482, 611
68, 728,096 i 11,879,029
27,975,138
i 3,864,043
171, 792,195
20, 627,381
6,014,730
1,276,709
152,759,857
47, 742,163
214, 580
i 259, 513
7,109, 507
i 673,398
73,834, 514
15, 706, 452
5, 406,076
45, 219, 565
50,924, 662
19,892,427
102,406, 681
4,476,884
143,191,176
195,095
6,110,480
5,920, 684
4,024,995
472,995
4, 256,128
4, 515, 722
2,717,719
14, 767,829
651, 515
15,093,046
4,477
439,886
4,111,066, 745
3,918, 661,795
534,340,101
517,112,464
5, 674, 262,030
5, 629, 564,869
710,058, 596
571,161,951
1 Federal associations only; no data for State-chartered associations.
2 Not including (nonwithdrawable) guaranty capital stock of State-chartered associations.
3 Estimated.
* Partly estimated.
The relative importance o f the associations chartered under the
State and Federal acts is shown in table 2.
T a b l e 2 ,— M e m b e r s h ip and assets o f building and loan a ssocia tions under State a nd
F ed eral la w s , 1 9 3 8 and 1 9 3 9
1939
Type of association
Num
ber of Member
ship
associa
tions
1938
Total assets
Num
ber of* Member
associa
ship
tions
Total assets
State-chartered associations_______
Federal-chartered associations____
6,918
1,410
5,051,978 $4,096,978,221
1,447, 533 1, 577,283,809
7, 583
1, 368
5,167, 504 $4, 318, 357, 238
1,661,663 1, 311, 207,631
Total------- ------ --------- ------ -
8, 328
6, 499, 511
8, 951
6,829,167
5,674, 262, 030
5,629, 564,869
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ALLEY DWELLING AUTHORITY
28 1
Table 3 reveals a continuous decline in number o f associations
through 1939; and in total assets until 1939, when a slight increase
(less than 1 percent) occurred. Membership likewise fell except in
the 2 years 1937 and 1938.
T a b l e 3 . — D evelo p m en t o f building and loan a ssocia tio n s , 1 9 3 0 to 1 9 3 9
Year
Number of
associations
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
11, 777
11,442
10,997
10,727
10,920
10, 534
10,256
9,762
8,951
8,328
Membership
12,350,928
11, 338, 701
10,114, 792
9,224,105
8,370,210
7,059,567
6,125,971
6,233,019
6,829,167
6,499,511
Assets
$8,828,611,925
8,417,375,605
7, 750,491,084
6,977, 531,676
6,450,424,392
5,888,710,326
5, 741,935,430
5,711,658,410
5,629, 564,869
5,674,262,030
Work of District of Columbia Alley Dwelling Authority
The A lley Dwelling Authority for the District o f Columbia (which
is coterminous with the City o f W ashington) was authorized by an
act o f Congress on June 12, 1934. It was established as an inde
pendent Federal agency working with funds appropriated by Conress and therefore had a somewhat different status from other local
ousing agencies In recent years the Authority has obtained neces
sary funds under contract with the United States Housing Author
ity.1 Provision o f Federal assistance through the facilities o f the
U S H A follows the same principles as in other cities. In amending
the enabling legislation permitting Washington to share in the bene
fits o f the Federal housing law o f 1937, Congress also extended the
coverage o f the A lley Dwelling A ct so that operations might be ex
tended beyond alley squares. Defense housing activities are per
formed by the A lley Dwelling Authority as agent o f the Federal
W orks Agency.
Alleys reclaimed are in the old parts o f the city where most o f the
available land is in use. In securing land, condemnation is resorted
to only after making every effort to purchase from owners under an
equitable arrangement. Prices paid may in no case exceed the as
sessed land valuation plus 30 percent; the average purchase price to
date has been 12.25 percent above the assessment. Some purchases
have been made at less than the assessment, but in general the value
fo r tax purposes has been regarded as approximately the actual value.
The Authority is obligated to put the land acquired to productive
uses. On the plots secured it has provided for a variety o f needs—
automobile repair shop, storage garages, parking lot, row houses,
and reconditioned houses. Sites have also been sold.
From the beginning o f the Authority’s activity to March 31, 1941,
5 residential and 9 nonresidential projects had been constructed under
title I o f the A lley Dwelling Act, which provides that the projects
f
1 See Monthly Labor Review for January 1939.
282
HOUSING AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
shall be self-liquidating. O f the 5 residential housing developments,
1 is fo r white families, and 4 are fo r colored. In all they contain 112
units in 1-family and multiple dwellings. The lowest monthly rental
fo r a reconditioned house is $13.55. Rents range as high as $37.50
fo r a 4-room-and-bath apartment.
The program fo r subsidized housing, as o f March 31, consisted o f
10 projects equally divided between slum and vacant sites. O f these
projects 2 were for white families and 8 for colored. The appmoximate number o f dwelling units totals 3,100. A t the end o f March, 3
projects were being occupied and the others were either under con
struction or in the planning stage. Rents are graded on the basis
o f tenants’ 'incomes and range upward from $11 a month for each
size o f dwelling to top grades which may be fixed at $27 to about $33
a month.
#######^
Labor Involved in Various Types of Construction
In the use o f public construction as a means o f relieving unem
ployment it is highly important to know how much and what types
o f labor are benefited by the money spent. Clearly the amount and
character o f the labor assisted is influenced greatly by the choice o f
construction projects. F or instance, water and sewerage projects
would be expected to benefit primarily workers in the cast-iron pipe
industry, whereas street and highway projects would result in added
employment in the cement industry. The comparative degrees o f
mechanization in the two industries and the amounts o f labor re
quired at the construction sites as contrasted with that in the factories
are additional considerations in appraising the value o f different
types o f projects as means o f relieving unemployment.
When the P W A and other Federal construction undertakings
were initiated in the early 1930’s there was little or no information
as to the labor which would be required in such undertakings. T o
eliminate resort to trial-and-error methods in the event that a similar
large-scale public works program is undertaken in the future, it is
necessary in selecting among proposed projects to be able to evaluate
each project in terms o f several criteria. W hat types and numbers
o f workmen would be used at the construction site ? W hat types and
quantities o f materials would be used and what industries would be
most affected? H ow much labor would be employed in factories,
mines, and lumber camps, as well as on transportation facilities, in
furnishing material and equipment? W hat proportion o f the total
outlay would reach the workers, as opposed to that which would be
spent fo r materials? flo w are the proposed projects located with
reference to the available supply o f various types o f workmen for
whose benefit the program is designed ?
T o furnish such information the Bureau o f Labor Statistics made
a series o f studies designed to show the amount and types o f labor
involved in the manufacture o f important building materials and in
their transportation to the place o f construction. In addition, studies
were made as to the character and amount o f labor used at the con
struction site in various kinds o f buildings, such as a large apartment
house, a group o f small houses, public schools, and public roads.
LABOR INVOLVED IN CONSTRUCTION
283
A s a result o f these studies data were made available by which it
was possible not only to know, with a fair degree o f accuracy, the
amount and kind o f labor actually given employment by completed
projects, but also to estimate the labor requirements in contemplated
projects.
Because o f limitations o f space it is not possible to summarize
these studies in this Handbook. However, for reference purposes, a
list o f articles in the Monthly Labor Review presenting the results o f
the several studies is given below. Most o f the studies were made by
Bernard Topkis o f the Bureau o f Labor Statistics, under the direc
tion o f Herman B. Byer, chief o f the Bureau’s Construction and
Public Employment Division.
Labor involved in production and transportation of building
materials:
M o n th ly L a b or R ev iew
Cement------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 1936
Clay products--------------------------------------------------------------------------December 1937
Electrical products___________________________________________ March 1939
Iron and steel products---------------------------------------------------------- May 1935
Lumber and millwork------------------------------------------------------------ May 1937
Plumbing and heating supplies-----------------------------------------------June 1938
Sand and gravel______________________________________________ July 1939
Material used in houses built by TVA________________________ June 1937
Rail transportation of construction materials----------------------- October 1937
Labor involved in construction at site:
Large apartment building___________________________________ September 1935
Small houses________________________________________________May 1939
Road construction----------------------------------------------------------------- April 1939
School construction--------------------------------------------------------------- June 1939
Overhead labor in construction-------------------------------------------- February 1940
Im m igration, Em igration, and N atu ralisatio n
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics: 1941 Edition.
285
Immigration, Emigration, and Naturalisation
The immigration and naturalization laws o f the United States
are now administered by the Immigration and Naturalization Serv
ice o f the United States Department o f Justice. Previous to June
14,1940, that Service was in the United States Department o f Labor,
from which it was then transferred under the President’s Reorgani
zation Plan No. V.
The data on immigration and naturalization in this section are
taken from reports and statistical statements from the Immigration
and Naturalization Service.
Im m igration In to th e U nited States, 1820-1940
Records o f immigration into the United States began with the
year 1820. Table 1 shows the immigration, by periods, from 1820 to
1940 and by certain important geographical divisions and countries.
Over the whole period o f 121 years the total immigration was 38,290,443, o f which 18,530,787, or 48.4 percent, came from northern
and western Europe. The great influx from southern and eastern
Europe came during the years 1901-1914, since which time the im
m igration from that division has been greatly reduced.
The total immigration for the decade 1931-40 was only 528,431, as
compared with 4,107,209 in the decade 1921-30. A major influence
in restricting immigration has been the regulations in force since
1930, under which visas are denied to prospective immigrants if it
is believed they may become public charges in the United States.
The statistics on immigrant aliens admitted include not only quota
immigrants, but also nonquota immigrants (wives o f citizens, hus
bands who married citizen wives prior to July 1, 1932, children o f
citizens, etc.).
T a b l e 1 . — Im m ig r a tio n to the U n ited States f r o m specified sou rces , 1 8 2 0 - 1 9 4 0
From Europe
Total im
Period or year migration
Northern
and west
ern 2
Southern
and east
ern
Total
From
Asia
From
Canada From
and New Mex
found
ico
land 3
From
West
Indies
Total, 1820 to
1940_______ 38, 290,443 18,530, 787 14,093,848 32, 624,635 918, 539 3,005,728 778, 255 446,971
1820-30______
1831-40______
1841-50........
151, 824
599,125
1, 713, 251
3,389
5, 949
5,439
106, 508
495, 688
1, 597, 501
15
48
82
2,486
13, 624
41, 723
From
other
coun
tries 4
516,315
4, 818
3,998
33,999
6, 599 12, 301
70,865
3, 271 13, 528
57,146
1 No official records were made of the influx of foreign population to this country prior to 1820. Although
the number of immigrants arrived in the United States from the close of the Revolutionary War up to 1820
is not accurately known, it is estimated by good authorities at 250,000.
For 1820-67 the figures are for alien passengers arriving; for 1868-1903, for immigrants arriving; for 1904-6,
for aliens admitted; and for 1907-34, for immigrant aliens admitted. The years from 1820-31 and 1844-49,
inclusive, are those ending Sept. 30; from 1833-43 and 1851-67 those ending Dec. 31; and beginning with 1869
and thereafter those ending June 30. The other periods cover 15 months ending Dec. 31, 1832; 9 months
ending Dec. 31, 1843; 15 months ending Dec. 31, 1850; and 6 months ending June 30, 1868.
2 Northern and western Europe comprises Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Luxemburg
(1925-34), Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and United
Kingdom not specified. Southern and eastern Europe comprises the other countries on that continent.
3 From 1820-98 includes all British North American possessions.
4 Includes Central and South America, Africa, Australia, Pacific Islands, and countries not specified.
103,119
489, 739
1,592,062
1
287
288
IMMIGRATION, EMIGRATION, AND NATURALIZATION
T a b l e 1.— Im m ig r a tio n to the U n ited States f r o m specified sou rces, 1 8 2 0 - 1 9 4 0 — Con.
From Europe
Total im
Period or year migration
Northern
and west
ern
Southern
and east
ern
1851-60______
1861-70............
1871-80______
1881-90______
1891-1900____
1901-10______
1911-20______
1921-30______
1931-40______
2,598,214
2,314,824
2,812,191
5,246, 613
3.687, 564
8, 795, 386
5, 735, 811
4,107, 209
528,431
2,431,336
2,031,642
2,070,373
3, 778,633
1, 643,492
1,910,035
997, 438
1, 284,023
198,895
21,324
33,628
201,889
958,413
1, 915,486
6, 225, 981
3, 379,126
1,193,830
149, 394
1921................
1922.................
1923........ ........
1924................
1925_________
1926........ ........
1927-............ .
1928_________
1929_________
1930________ _
805,228
309, 556
522,919
706,896
294,314
304,488
335,175
307, 255
279, 678
241, 700
138, 551
79,437
156, 429
203, 346
125, 248
126, 437
126, 721
116, 267
114,469
97,118
513,813
136,948
151,491
160,993
23,118
29,125
41, 647
42, 246
44,129
50, 320
652, 364
216, 385
307,920
364, 339
148, 366
155, 562
168, 368
158, 513
158, 598
147,438
1931...........
1932____ ____
1933_________
1934_________
1935_________
1936_________
1937_________
1938_________
1939_________
1940_________
97,139
35,576
23,068
29,470
34, 956
36, 329
50, 244
67, 895
82, 998
70, 756
34, 719
7,762
4, 792
7,967
9, 564
10,491
16, 635
25, 291
44,154
37, 520
27,190
12,817
7,591
9,243
13, 214
12,989
15, 228
19, 204
18, 984
12,934
61, 909
20, 579
12, 383
17, 210
22, 778
23, 480
31,863
44,495
63,138
50,454
Total
From
Asia
2,452,660 41,455
2,065, 270 64,630
2,272,262 123,823
4, 737,046 68, 380
3, 558, 978 71, 236
8,136,016 243, 567
4, 376, 564 192, 559
2,477,853 97,400
348,289 15,344
From
Canada From
and New Mex
found
ico
land
From
West
Indies
From
other
coun
tries
59,309
3,078 10,660
153,878
2,191
9,046
383, 640
5,162 13,957
393,304
1,913 29,042
3,311
971 33,066
179,226 49, 642 107, 548
742,185 219,004 123,424
924,515 459, 287 74,899
108,527 22, 319 15, 502
31,052
19,809
13,347
16,928
20,002
79, 387
82,075
73,255
18,450
25,034
14, 263
13,705
22,065
3, 578
3,413
3, 669
3, 380
3, 758
4, 535
72, 317
46,810
117, Oil
200, 690
102, 753
93, 368
84,580
75, 281
66,451
65, 254
30, 758
19, 551
63, 768
89, 336
32,964
43, 316
67, 721
59,016
40,154
12, 703
13,774
7,449
13,181
17,559
2,106
3, 222
4,019
4,058
4, 306
5, 225
10, 981
5,098
7, 334
12,907
4, 547
5,607
6,818
7,007
6,411
6,545
3, 345
1, 931
552
597
682
721
1,065
2, 376
2,162
1,913
22,183
8,003
6,187
7,945
7,782
8,121
12,011
14,404
10, 813
11,078
3, 333
2,171
1,936
1,801
1, 560
1, 716
2, 347
2,502
2, 640
2,313
2,496
1,029
862
861
931
985
1, 322
2,110
2, 231
2, 675
3,873
1,863
1,148
1,056
1,223
1,306
1,636
2,008
2,014
2, 323
A comparison o f the numbers o f immigrant aliens admitted and
o f the numbers o f alien emigrants permanently departed in 1940
and the 4 preceding years, by countries, is given in table 2.
T a b l e 2 . — Im m ig r a n t aliens adm itted and em igrant a liens depa rted , yea rs ended
J u n e 3 0 , 1 9 3 6 to 1 9 4 0 , b y cou ntries o f last or in ten d ed fu tu r e perm a n en t resid ence
Immigrant
Emigrant
Last or future residence
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1936
1937
1938
1939
All countries.......................... 36,329 50,244 67,985 82,998 70, 756 35,817 26, 736 25, 210 26, 651
Europe............................... .
Albania.............................
Belgium................ ..........
Bulgaria_______________
Czechoslovakia................
Denmark................... ......
Estonia............................
Finland________________
France........ ....................
Germany_______ _______
Gleat Britain:
England___________
Scotland_____ ______
Wales___ ____ ______
Greece__________ ____ _
Hungary....... ...................
Ireland (E ire).................
Italy..................................
Latvia..............................
Lithuania.........................
23,480 31,863 44,495 63,138 50,454 19, 667 14,258 13,185 13, 770
1940
21,461
9,143
224
222
254
229 • 152
276
307
478
683 1, 713
91
93
123
129
87
1,052 1, 912 3,203 2,896 1,074
162
203
366
250
306
33
29
46
93
75
421
411
233
76
218
812 1,018 1,475 1, 907 2, 575
7,023 11,375 17,199 33, 515 21, 520
65
193
70
459
232
36
297
782
3,819
24
122
35
269
266
33
262
570
2,445
46
129
26
224
223
18
267
477
2,270
31
121
36
145
199
17
197
469
4,211
21
61
21
39
140
17
231
542
1,978
1,028
254
28
863
559
328
6, 774
58
129
2,862
1, 389
90
807
216
1,107
2,064
33
95
2,276
1,075
110
374
149
795
1,726
15
105
2,034
892
65
460
119
652
1,788
20
99
1,639
651
47
470
124
676
1,829
18
43
998
312
18
261
136
322
1,534
13
24
1,377
309
40
875
739
412
7,192
92
193
1,890
338
34
1,009
973
914
7, 712
125
305
2,739
277
42
907
1, 348
1,101
6, 570
168
290
5,850
263
45
811
1,902
749
5,302
288
262
289
IMMIGRATION, EMIGRATION, AND NATURALIZATION
T a b l e 2 . — Im m ig r a n t aliens adm itted and em igrant a liens d eparted, yea rs en ded
J u n e 3 0 , 1 9 8 6 to 1 9 4 0 , b y cou ntries o f last or in tend ed fu tu r e perm a n en t
dence — Continued
Immigrant
resi
Emigrant
Last or future residence
1936
1937
1938
1939
Europe—Continued.
Netherlands____ _____ _
Northern Ireland_______
Norway________________
Poland________ ____ ___
Portugal________ ______
Rumania______________
Soviet Russia__________
Spain__________________
Sw eden..._____________
Switzerland____________
Yugoslavia_____________
Other Europe__________
342
116
287
869
313
244
82
299
196
266
435
261
646
119
427
1, 212
301
349
97
315
341
462
632
356
698
171
635
2, 403
374
346
63
379
385
617
1,019
540
Asia______ ________________
721
1,065
China_________________
Japan.________________
Palestine.._ ___________
S yria_________________
Other Asia_____________
273
91
180
93
84
293
132
369
136
135
1940
1936
1937
1938
1939
1,259
88
527
3,072
422
421
59
257
342
1, 237
1,090
753
2,097
216
90
245
488
617
702
442
599
448
333
277
40
172
259
665
518 1,085
1,211 . 235
652
425
465
73
234
242
580
422
186
180
197
256
731
160
335
84
209
168
506
400
187
152
108
132
976
171
290
77
165
158
455
315
283
126
112
133
557
163
302
78
108
75
276
81
448
88
114
447
437
119
192
95
2, 376
2,162
1,913
2,979
2,826
1,665
1,627
2, 368
613
93
1,291
227
152
642
102
1,066
207
145
643
102
850
111
207
1,648
851
145
53
282
1, 808
763
60
31
164
672
726
70
47
150
524
804
62
42
195
998
1,078
66
29
197
Canada________ ____ ______ 8,018 11, 799 14, 070 10, 501 10,806
334
N ewfoundland.......................
212
312
272
103
Mexico.. _ _________ _____ _ 1, 716 2, 347 2, 502 2,640 2, 313
West Indies............ .............. .
985 1, 322 2,110 2, 231 2,675
484
582
Central America.............. ......
470
530
639
South America_____________
492
885
915 1,115
738
174
A frica ............. .............. . . . .
105
155
218
202
179
Australia__________________
159
156
118
106
121
Other countries.____ _______
188
192
153
211
1, 272
88
5, 218
1,788
465
1, 576
109
115
2,540
1,027
82
3,745
1, 379
376
745
138
142
2,018
1,018
58
3, 667
1, 919
453
980
97
88
2,080
965
69
5,117
1,453
425
922
101
66
2,136
769
35
4,584
1,300
470
1,004
93
126
1, 569
1940
The numbers o f immigrant aliens admitted and the numbers o f
emigrant aliens departed, by years, from 1936 to 1940, and by race
or people, are recorded in table 3.
T a b l e 3 . — Im m ig r a n t aliens adm itted and em igrant a liens departed, yea rs en ded
J u n e SO, 1 9 3 6 to 1 9 4 0 , b y race or peop le
Immigrant
Emigrant
Race or people
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1936
1937
1938
1939
All races.................... ............. 36, 329 50, 244 67, 895 82, 998 70, 756 35, 817 26, 736 25, 210 26, 651
Armenian . . . _____________
Bohemian and Moravian___
Bulgarian, Serbian,
and
Montenegrin_____________
Chinese.___ _ __________
Croatian and Slovenian_____
Cuban___ _ ___________
Dalmatian, Bosnian, and
Hercegovinian...............
Dutch and Flemish________
East Indian__________ ____
English___________________
Filipino______________ ____
Finnish____________ _______
French... ____________ _____
German.......... ........................
Greek _____________ _____ _
H e b re w ................ ............ .
Irish.......................................
Italian ____________ ______ _
Japanese________ ______ i __
1940
21, 461
163
105
172
165
226
269
193
264
181
188
27
133
13
82
5
56
10
41
7
22
172
42
351
224
301
59
365
356
431
90
506
457
397
124
457
558
276
106
292
548
201
1,605
148
761
185
1, 779
114
511
114
661
141
940
195
498
107
611
117
941
33
518
75
84
73
44
809
758 1,087
747
1
2
3
9
4,912 5, 733 5,076 4,889
56
55
50
59
266
459
298
439
2,249 2,815 2, 214 2, 363
6, 324 7, 743 5, 524 3, 556
992 1,049
1,004 1,130
11, 352 19, 736 43, 450 36, 945
2, 276 3,332 2, 968 2,548
7, 652 8, 383 6, 708 5, 512
93
43
57
48
54
386
143
3, 768
2,414
319
900
4,311
842
308
1,613
2,198
824
35
43
362
343
95
91
3, 093 2, 670
1, 937 2,000
267
242
682
668
2, 760 2,508
406 • 477
232
255
1, 245 1, 039
1,877 1,871
723
740
16
300
125
2,416
2, 057
201
604
4, 483
493
176
1, 013
1, 929
781
12
20S
114
1, 792
1, 483
240
669
2,225
280
150
495
1,617
1, 052'
54
581
3,610
48
131
1, 635
4, 689
1,002
6, 252
1, 556
7, 116
62
290
IMMIGRATION, EMIGRATION, AND NATURALIZATION
T a b l e 3 . — Im m ig r a n t a liens adm itted and em igrant aliens departed, yea rs en ded
J u n e SO, 1 9 3 6 to 1 9 4 0 , b y race or p eop le —
Continued
Immigrant
Race or people
Emigrant
1936
1937
2
Korean............................. ......
Lithuanian.............................
96
500
M agyar................... ............ .
272
Negro________ ____ ________
Polish......................................
489
336
Portuguese.................. ...........
Rumanian____________ ____
97
367
Russian___________________
Ruthenian (Russniak)..........
72
Scandinavian (Norwegians,
914
Danes, and Swedes)______
S cotch ..______ ____________ 1, 473
Slovak______________ ______
762
451
Spanish___________________
Spanish American.................
663
Syrian____________ _______ _
171
43
Turkish____________ ____ _
Welsh_____________________
120
153
West Indian (except Cuban).
All other 1_________________ 1, 308
2
247
6
136
663
275
732
316
117
512
134
1
229
934
397
1,109
433
153
666
200
3
131
614
304
868
509
98
840
198
2
99
561
'315
467
516
102
671
118
1, 392
2,208
1, 346
442
817
226
36
144
227
1,802
286
1,973
2,478
2, 344
547
857
340
61
127
394
1, 902
444
1, 563
1,968
991
428
826
282
34
134
292
2,145
460
1, 514
1,946
349
435
922
193
18
105
166
1,801
468
1938
1939
1940 * 1936
1937
1938
1939
27
103
259
502
443
651
237
231
5
29
103
176
433
413
212
160
228
7
16
107
118
422
409
242
149
129
4
29
40
171
337
322
333
118
158
7
9
28
155
283
93
470
73
172
1
2,024
1, 614
429
855
1, 668
86
69
123
214
5,097
225
1, 642
1,292
238
397
784
49
42
127
164
3, 669
179
1,813
1,104
253
279
1,123
62
48
100
243
3, 571
148
1, 270
829
168
252
1,042
65
43
77
224
4, 975
135
942
487
81
582
1,117
50
78
38
228
4, 471
128
1940
1 Chiefly natives of Mexico.
2 Albanian, Estonian, Latvian, Persian, Pacific Islander, etc.
In table 4 the sex, R,ge groups, marital status, and principal occu
pations o f immigrant aliens admitted and emigrant aliens departed
are reported fo r 1936 to 1940.
It will be noted that in 1939 and 1940 the numbers o f professional
and commercial immigrants admitted were larger than in the other
years included in this table.
T a b l e 4 . — Im m ig r a n t a lien s adm itted and em igrant a liens d eparted, yea rs ended
J u n e SO, 1 9S 6 to 1 9 4 0 , b y sex, age g ro u p s, m arital status, and p r in c ip a l o ccup a
tions
Sex, age, etc.
Immigrants admitted________________ __________
Sex:
Male. _______________ _____ ________________
Female____________ . . . ___________ _________
A ge:1
Under 16 years.__________________ _________
16 to 21 years_____ _________________________
22 to 29 years.____________ ___________ _____ _
30 to 37 years__________ _____________ ____ ___
3&to 44 years___________________ _________ .
45 years and over_________ _______ ___________
Marital status:
Single_________________ _______________ _____
Married__________ _____________ ___________
Widowed_________ ________________________
Divorced____________________________________
Occupation:
Professional.________________________________
Commercial_______________ ________ _________
Skilled____________________________ _______ _
Servants...___________________ _____ ____ . . .
Laborers__________________________ ______ _
Miscellaneous._ . . . . _____________ __________
No occupation 2______________ ____ ___________
See footnotes at end of table.
1936
1937
1938
1939
36, 329
50, 244
67,895
82,998
70, 756
14, 776
21, 553
21, 664
28, 580
29, 959
37,936
39,423
43, 575
33,460
37,296
6,925
4,923
8, 326
6, 998
12, 590
9,475
4,844
8, Oil
10,181
10,017
16, 912
13, 076
7, 063
10,646
12,204
16,874
16, 294
10, 786
16, 559
9,602
7,140
15,131
16, 724
6, 031
16,128
24,876
2,350
.406
34,942
29, 314
3, 019
620
38, 378
39,853
3,841
926
29,082
37, 60$
3, 278
788
4,162
3,655
6,007
3, 213
2,118
2, 292
28, 797
5, 463
5,813
8, 607
5, 919
2,817
3,264
36, 012
8, 634
6,651
3,183
6,013
17,775
16, 373
1,909
272
2, 588
1, 904
3, 936
1,944
1,420
1, 547
22, 990
22, 612
10, 281
7, 225
10, 268
10, 231
5, 420
2, 270
3,110
44,474
1940
6,679
8, 773
8,838
2,470
2,193
2, 394
39,409
IMMIGRATION, EMIGRATION, AND NATURALIZATION
291
T a b l e 4 . — Im m ig r a n t a liens adm itted and em igra n t a lien s d eparted , yea rs ended
J u n e 3 0 , 1 9 3 6 to 1 9 4 0 , b y sex , age g ro u p s , m arital sta tu s ,
tio n s — Continued
Sex, age, etc.
Emigrants departed____________ ___ _____ ________
Sex:
M a le .......... .......... .................... .........................
Female________ _______________ ____ _____ ___
A ge:1
Under 16 years._____ ________________________
16 to 21 years________________________________
22 to 29 years________________________________
30 to 37 years__________________ ____ _________
38 to 44 years.. ________________ ____________
45 years and over_______________________ _____
Marital status:
Single________ ____ _________________________
Married. ___________________________________
Widowed____ _____ ____ _____________________
Divorced____________________________________
Occupation:
Professional____________________ ___________
Commercial_______ _______ ______________
Skilled______________________________________
Servants____ _____ _________________ _______
Laborers____ _____ __________________________
Miscellaneous_______________________________
No occupation2____ _________________________
and
p rin cip a l occu p a
1936
1937
1938
1939
35,817
26, 736
25, 210
26, 651
21,461
21,778
14,039
16,434
10,302
15, 417
9, 793
16, 600
10, 051
13, 777
7,684
2,650
1,661
6, 731
8, 743
5, 347
10, 685
1,927
1,173
4, 480
6, 346
4,070
8, 740
1, 609
1, 096
4,007
6,032
3,913
8, 553
1,381
1, 502
4,072
6, 030
4, 443
9, 223
994
986
4,100
6,200
4,100
5,081
15, 419
18, 474
1, 787
137
11,616
13, 483
1, 539
98
10, 798
12,820
1, 438
154
10,952
13,961
1, 550
188
8,689
11,430
1,212
130
1,825
1,819
4,195
2, 770
9,285
1,860
14, 063
1, 426
1, 322
3, 211
2, 046
6,801
1, 419
10, 511
1, 502
1,121
3, 220
1,700
6, 606
1,162
9,899
1, 709
1,180
3, 508
1, 528
7,229
1,409
10,088
1,674
1,118
2,728
661
5,895
1,367
8,018
1940
1 Age groups for 1940 changed to under 16,16 to 20, 21 to 30, 31 to 40, 40 to 45, and 45 and over, in this order.
2 Chiefly women and children, and men of advanced age.
Quotas Allotted, by Countries
Table 5 shows the annual quotas allotted the different countries.
T able
5 . — A n n u a l quotas allotted u n d er 1 9 2 4 im m ig ra tio n la w , b y countries or
region o f birth
Nationality or country of birth
All countries_______
Albania.
________
Belgium. _ i________
Bulgaria___________
Czechoslovakia_____
Danzig, Free City of.
Denmark____ _____
Estonia____ _______
Finland____________
France____________
Germany i
Austria /
Great Britain and Northern Ireland
England_____________________
Northern Ireland_____________
Scotland_____________________
Wales________________________
Greece___________________________
Hungary_________________________
Annual
quota
153, 774
100
1,304
100
2,874
100
1,181
116
569
3,086
27,370
65,721
307
869
Nationality or country of birth
Ireland (Eire)_____
Italy_____________
Latvia____________
Lithuania_________
Luxemburg_______
Netherlands______
Norway___________
Poland___________
Portugal__________
Rumania_________
Soviet Union______
Spain_____________
Sweden___________
Switzerland_______
Yugoslavia________
Other Europe_____
Asia______________
American colonies...
Other quota regions.
Annual
quota
17,853
5,802
236
386
100
3,153
2, 377
6, 524
440
377
2, 712
252
3,314
1,707
845
1500
11,649
0)
i 1,850
3
Quota for colonies, dependents, or protectorates included with allotments for the European country to
which they belong.
292
IMMIGRATION, EMIGRATION, AND NATURALIZATION
D eportations
The number o f aliens deported from the United States, by years,
from 1936 to 1940, and by principal causes, are shown in table 6.
T a b l e 6.— A l i e n s deported f r o m the U n ited States d u rin g ye a rs ended J u n e SO,
1 9 S 6 to 1 9 4 0 , b y p rin cip a l cla sses , c ou n tries , races or p e o p le s , and sex
Classes, destination, race or peoples, and sex
Number deported________ ____ __________________
Classes:
Criminals.- _____. . . ___________ __________
Violators of narcotic laws_____________________
Anarchists and kindred classes______________ _
Immoral classes
. . . ______________________
Mental or physical defectives.._ _________ ____
Previously debarred or deported_______ ____ _
Remained longer than authorized______ ____ _
Entered without valid v i s a ..___ ___________
Unable to read (over 16 years of age)___________
Under Chinese Exclusion Act_____ ____ _____
Likely to become public charges______________
M iscellaneous...___________ ____ _____ _____ _
Destination:
Czechoslovakia_________________ _______ . . .
Germany______
__________ ______ _______
Great Britain and Northern Ireland___________
Greece_______ _____ . . . _ ______ ____ . . . . . .
Irish Free State__________________________ ..
Italy________________________________________
Norway_________________________________ . . .
Poland______________________________________
Portugal________________ _______ ____________
Yugoslavia__________________________________
Other Europe._____ _________________________
China_________ ____________________ ______
India______________________________________
Japan__________ ____________________________
Other Asia_______________________________ . . .
Canada______________________ __ __ _______
Mexico___________________ _
____________
Cuba___________________ _____ _______ ______
British West Indies______________________ . . .
Other America______ ____ ________ ___________
Other countries_____ ____ _______ ____________
Races or peoples:
Chinese______ _______________________________
English. __________________________________
French______________________________________
German. . . ________________________________
Greek_____________________________________ _
Hebrew____________ ________________________
Irish. ____________ _________________________
Italian________ ____ _________________ ________
Scandinavian........................................ ............ .
Scotch________ ____ _________________________
All others..................................... ...................... .
Male............................................................................
Female__________ ________________ _____ _______ _
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
9,195
8,829
9, 275
8, 202
6,954
1,727
154
47
407
533
1,048
850
3,181
502
53
50
643
1, 603
118
17
308
392
1, 000
702
3,294
550
47
40
758
1,662
81
8
318
401
1,085
748
3,545
676
30
24
697
1,638
82
1
270
326
1, 056
652
3,080
453
21
22
601
1, 514
91
164
362
1, 033
563
2,474
331
21
13
388
68
176
335
165
64
495
50
80
89
105
385
151
51
68
44
1,784
4,660
70
114.
165
76
78
150
251
109
53
449
55
68
75
83
277
134
50
62
25
1,833
4,764
56
67
140
50
40
120
297
144
43
391
79
73
67
38
282
134
63
56
12
1,941
5,113
63
88
160
71
17
172
228
131
42
320
39
52
53
54
213
85
69
38
23
1,915
4,415
80
91
111
54
2
41
202
114
23
228
28
10
35
68
255
100
61
32
19
1, 503
3,902
63
78
133
57
151
652
539
298
169
107
365
535
152
291
5,936
140
672
492
263
124
109
323
490
155
292
5,769
135
715
449
263
155
84
354
436
190
308
6,186
84
670
427
281
139
103
386
361
131
277
5,343
100
538
371
121
146
78
257
270
104
220
4,749
8,155
1,040
7,943
886
8,344
931
7,385
817
6,309
645
N aturalisation Statistics
bSection 8 o f the basic Naturalization A ct o f June 29, 1906, pro
vides that no alien shall be naturalized who cannot speak the English
language, unless physically unable to do so. The only exception tothis requirement is made in the case o f declarants who take up
Government homesteads. The alien who files his petition fo r citizen
ship must sign his petition in his own handwriting. However, there
is no requirement o f law that the alien sign his declaration o f
IMMIGRATION, EMIGRATION, AND NATURALIZATION
293
intention, and, under the regulation, the declaration may be signed
by mark i f the declarant is unable to write. The principal law
governing racial limitation o f naturalization in this country permits
naturalization in the case o f aliens who are free white persons, and
in the case o f aliens o f A frican nativity and o f persons o f A frican
descent.1 Certain other aliens who are W orld W ar veterans may
also become citizens.
The number o f naturalization certificates for the 6 fiscal years,
1936 to 1940, is shown in table T, by countries o f former allegiance.
T able
7 . — A lie n s naturalized {certificates o f na tu ra liza tion issu ed ) d uring ye a rs
ended J u n e 3 0 , 1 9 3 6 to 1 9 4 0 , by cou ntries o f fo r m e r allegiance and sex
Country
1936
1937
1938
1939
Number naturalized_____________________________
141,265
164,976
162,078
188,813
Albania ____ ____-___________________________
Belgium
_ _________________________ __ ____
British Empire____________ _____ ________________
Bulgaria
_ - ________ ___ _______ ___ _________
Czechoslovakia ________________________________
Danzig, Free City of__ __ __ ___ ______ __________
Denmark ________________
________________
Estonia ____________ ______________ - __ ___
Finland________________________ _______________
F r a n c e ..__ _______ _______ ________ ______ ___
Greece___ ______ ____________ _________ ____
Hungary_________________ __ ________________
Italy__________ ______ _ . ______ ______________
Latvia_______ ________ ______ ________ _________
Lithuania . . ______________ _________ _______ .
Luxemburg___ ___ ___ _______ _ _____________
Netherlands____
____
___ _ ________ ____
________ _
Norway
_ ____ ___ ___ ______ ___
Poland________ ___ ______________ ____ _______
Portugal____ ___________ __________
_______
Rumania _ _______ _ ________________ _______
Soviet Russia_______ ______________________ _. ._
Spain__ ______________ ____ ____________ ___ ___
Sweden ... _ _________ ________________________
_ ____ _
__ _
_ ____ _
Switzerland___
Yugoslavia... _. __ ______
__ ______ ______
Other Europe
______________ ____________ ___
164
708
42,231
175
4, 771
80
1,486
89
1,206
1,111
2, 274
19,622
2,015
2,352
17,781
293
2,147
59
1,368
2,307
14,745
1,304
1,918
7,836
837
4,413
1,169
3,525
13
Iran (Persia)___________________ ____________ . .
Palestine_______ _________ ____________ _______
Syria . _____ ___ _ _______
_ _ _________ _
T u r k e y ...____ ________ __________ _____ ___
Other Asia L . _______________ _________ _______
Mexico _________ _ _______ _
_____ ____ _____
West Indies L .. _____ _______ . . . _______ _
Central America 1_______
_________ _______ _ .
South America 1_____ _______ _
______ ___ _____
Africa L .. . . . ____
____________ ____ ________
Philippine Islands_______ _
__ ________ _______
78
55
502
1,117
195
623
184
91
322
28
71
113
64
488
1,336
292
903
286
129
392
46
Sex-jFem ale___________________________________
86,777
54,488
197
723
44,528
177
6,090
44
1,404
105
1,664
1,334
2,973 }
20,092
2,639
3,168
23, 534
356
2,168
71
1,627
2,617
19,013
1,476
2,560
10,604
1,262
4,433
1,265
4,453
17
223
917
47, 500
310
7,848
53
1,440
95
2,047
1,625
19,940'
3,540
4,347
31,933
379
2,986
68
1.955
2,810
21,585
2,725
2.955
11,499
1.955
4,718
1,397
5,916
23
280
1,082
59,680
364
9,059
51
1,874
116
2,610
2,104
25,802
4,378
6,291
37,357
574
3,809
105
2,618
3,413
26,964
2,889
3,935
15, 598
2,271
5,746
1, 735
6,908
10
163
45
735
1,938
125
1,643
415
175
476
46
263
170
89
873
2,140
114
2,669
472
226
563
333
143
49
567
1, 585
162
1,082
303
144
447
29
390
97,696
67,280
92,041
70, 037
113,934
74,879
132,406
102,854
S. Code 1934, tit. 8, sec. 359, Supp. V to Code 1934, sec. 392e.
328112— 42— VOL. i------ 20
235, 260
195
745
42,106
256
6,158
58
1,365
91
1,713
1,227
19,312
2,625
3,168
26,306
369
2,140
' 84
1,656
2,848
18,356
1,686
2,466
11,189
1,348
4,112
1, 216
4, 365
17
i Independent countries or regions.
1U.
1940
44
277
294
IMMIGRATION, EMIGRATION, AND NATURALIZATION
From the close of the fiscal year 1923 to the close of the fiscal year
1940, the number of persons naturalized was 2,939,190. The highest
percentages reported for any nationality or country of origin were
21.5 percent, British Empire; 17.5 percent, Italy; 13.4 percent,
Poland; and 11.0 percent, Germany, as recorded in table 8.
T
a b l e
8 .—
j
N u m ber and p ercen t xo f aliens naturalized d u rin g yea rs ended J u n e 3 0 t
1 9 2 3 to 1 9 4 0 , by cou n try o f o rigin or na tion a lity
Number Percent
natural of total
ized
Country
All countries
_.
_____
Belgium
_ ___ ___________
British Empire______________
Bulgaria
____ ____ ____
Czechoslovakia_____________ _
Denmark____________ _____ _
Finland
_ _ ____ ____ _
France__
__ _ _________
Germany
_ _ __
Greece
_ ___________ _
Hungary. _ _ ________________
Italy---------------- -------------------Lithuania._
_______________
2,939,910
100.0
13,948
632,035
3,821
114,060
27,383
24, 575
20, 574
324,672
71,940
70,160
512,463
31,008
.5
21.5
.1
3.9
.9
.8
.7
11.0
2.4
2.4
17.5
1.1
Country
Mexico____________________
N etherlands
Norway_____________________
Poland________ ____________
Portugal___________________
R u m a n ia ..._________ ___ ___
Soviet Russia_______ ____ _ ._
Spain____ . _______ ______
Sweden________ ________ _____
Switzerland___ ________ _ _
Turkey___ _________ ____ _
Yugoslavia _ _______ ________
Central and South America___
All other_______________ _____
Number
natural Percent
of total
ized
9,321
27,932
46’ 496
393,453
18, 543
57,118
220,915
14, 843
77, 268
22, 719
41, 741
77,103
7, 398
78,421
0.3
1.0
1.6
13.4
.6
1.9
7.5
.5
2.6
.8
1.4
2.6
.3
2.7
Registration of Aliens
The most far-reaching legislation affecting aliens ever enacted in
the United States is the Alien Registration A ct o f 1940.1 This act
strengthens the law relating to their admission and deportation. A t
the time President Roosevelt signed this act, a statement was issued
by him declaring that it should be interpreted and administered as
a “ program designed not only for the protection o f the country but
also for the protection o f the loyal aliens who are its guests.” He
pointed out also that the registration and identification o f the “ aliens
who are now within our borders does not carry with it any stigma
or implication o f hostility toward those who, while they may not be
citizens, are loyal to this country and its institutions.”
Under the provisions of the Alien Registration Act, 4,912,817 (pre
liminary) aliens registered.2 This figure includes the following:
Continental U n ite d States___________________________ 4, 74 1, 971
Registrations at consular offices_____________________
22, 677
A lie n seamen_:____________________________________
47, 658
A la s k a ____________________________________________
317
H a w a ii__________________________________________________
85, 080
Puerto R ic o _______________________________________
V irg in Islands_____________________________________
14 ,10 6
1 , 008
The alien registrations in each of the 48 States are reported in the
accompanying table.
1
54 U. S. stat. L. 670.
2United States Department of Justice.
14, 1941.
Press releases, Washington, Jan. 10, 13, and
295
REGISTRATION OF ALIENS
N u m b e r o f a lien s registered in continental
Total
registered
Geographic division and State
All divisions_____________ _________
4, 741,971
New England division__ ___ ________
651, 740
..... ...... ..............
Connecticut
152,664
Maine _______________ _____ _
45, 597
__________________
Massachusetts
356,028
New Hampshire______ __________
29,485
Rhode Island ____ _______ ___
52, 339
Vermont______ ________________
15, 627
Middle Atlantic division______ _ _
New Jersey.
________________
New York______ _______ ________
Pennsylvania________________ _
1,845, 070
270,973
1,212,622
361,475
East North Central d ivision __
Illinois ............... __'___________
_______ _______________
Indiana
Michigan_____________________ _
Ohio. _________________________
Wisconsin______________________
921,477
319, 385
42,220
290, 730
196,214
72,928
West North Central division________
176, 288
Iowa __ _________________ ___
24, 015
Kansas____ __________________
16,180
Minnesota
_ ______
58, 584
M issouri._______________ ___ _
42, 049
_________________ ___
Nebraska 18, 601
North Dakota. ____ ____ _______
9, 902
South Dakota
_____
6,957
South Atlantic division _ _ _ _
Delaware
_ _ _ _______ _
District of Columbia______ __ __
Florida________________________
Georgia____________ ____ _______
143, 998
6, 294
19, 111
38, 218
4,849
U n ited S ta tes , through J a n .
Geographic division and State
1 0 f 1941
Total
registered
South Atlantic division—Con.
"M"aryl an c\
North Carolina _ __ __ _ __ _ __
South Carolina____ _ ______ ___
Virginia _ ________________ ___
West Virginia___________ ____
36,446
5,331
725
9, 729
23, 295
East South Central division_____ ___
Alabama__________ _________
K entucky_________ ______ ___
Mississippi_____________ _______
Tennessee________ ____________
17,876
4,952
4,902
3,003
5, 019
West South Central division________
Arkansas___ _____________ ___
Louisiana________ ____ _____ ___
Oklahoma_______ ______ _______
Texas________________ ________
230,932
3,210
16,601
6, 671
204,450
Mountain division______________ ___
Arizona____________________ _
Colorado _________________
__
Idaho._ __________ ___ ________
Montana___ _______ _____ _ __
Nevada
________ ________ _
New Mexico________________ ___
Utah
__________ ______ __
W yom ing____
_ __________
111, 150
30, 699
26, 689
5,936
13,639
6,219
12,123
10,100
5, 745
Pacific division. __________ _______
California_____ __ __________
Oregon _ ________ ______ __
Washington____________________
643,440
526,937
33,859
82, 644
Legislation Regulating Employment of Aliens 1
Federal Legislation
In the United States, Federal legislation regulating the employ
ment o f aliens relates chiefly to employment by the Federal Govern
ment and its agencies, or by contractors performing work fo r the
Government. The follow ing kinds o f employment are covered:
Public contracts.— B y the provisions o f an act o f July 2, 1926, an
alien employed by a contractor who is furnishing or constructing aireraft or aircraft parts or aeronautical accessories for the United
States, may not be permitted to have access to the plans, specifications,
or the work under construction or to participate in the contract trials
without the written consent o f the Secretary o f the Department con
cerned. The recently enacted National Defense Act, approved on
June 28, 1940, contains similar provisions in relation to the perform
ance o f secret, confidential, or restricted Government contracts. V io
lation o f the provisions o f the latter act is punishable by a fine o f up
to $10,000 or imprisonment up to 5 years, or both. Punishment is
also provided for an alien who obtains such employment by a w illful
misrepresentation o f his alien status.
1From
Monthly Labor Review for August 1940, with later data.
296
IMMIGRATION, EMIGRATION, AND NATURALIZATION
Seamen,— An early act provides that all officers o f vessels o f the
United States who have charge o f a watch, including pilots, must be
American citizens. A later act requires that all licensed officers o f
vessels documented under the laws o f the United States must be citi
zens. Citizenship is required o f the entire crew of a cargo vessel and
o f 90 percent o f the crew o f a passenger vessel for which construction
or operating subsidies have been granted. Another act provides that
on United States vessels all licensed officers and pilots, as well as 75
percent o f the crew, must be American citizens, unless the Secretary
o f Commerce finds that qualified citizen seamen are not available.
Public employment,— The Emergency R elief Acts o f 1941 and 1942
provide that no alien shall be given employment or continued in em
ployment on any work project. Every employee must make an
affidavit that he is a citizen o f the United States.
In the civil service o f the United States employees are required to be
citizens or* to “ owe allegiance to the United States.” Unless specifi
cally forbidden by statute, however, Government departments and
agencies may employ aliens in non-civil-service positions. In the
1941 Labor-Federal Security Appropriation Act, also^ a limited num
ber o f interpreters who are not citizens may be hired m the Im m igra
tion and Naturalization Service under certain conditions.
The same act and the 1941 appropriations acts for the various other
Government departments and offices, as well as for the District o f
Columbia, prohibit the employment o f aliens by those departments
in the continental United States, except that persons already em
ployed who have filed a declaration o f intention to become citizens, or
who owe allegiance to the United States, may retain their positions.
The M ilitary Appropriations A ct and the W ar Department Civil
Appropriation A ct limit civilian employment in the Canal Zone in
skilled, technical, administrative, executive, or supervisory capacity
to citizens o f the United States or o f the Republic o f Panama.
Registration o f aliens,— The Federal Alien Registration A ct o f
1940 requires the registration o f all aliens and the fingerprinting o f
all aliens 14 years o f age and over.
State Legislation
In practically every State, laws have been passed barring aliens
from certain occupations or otherwise,discriminating against them.
In employment on public works, particularly, such provisions have
been upheld by the courts on the ground that governments may em
ploy or refuse to employ whomsoever they wish. Generally, the
State laws grant preference to citizens in employment on public
works, but in some cases preference is limited to residents o f the State.
In approximately 10 States (such as Kentucky, Michigan, New
York, South Dakota, and V irgin ia), architects must either be Am er
ican citizens or have filed a declaration o f intention. About the same
number o f States have similar requirements for engineers and sur
veyors, as in Nevada, New Jersey, New Y ork, North Carolina, and
W yom ing. In several o f the mining States, principally Arkansas,
Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, Pennsylvania, Utah, W est Vir-^
ginia, and W yom ing, supervisory employees (in mines) must be'
citizens. In a few States citizenship is required o f certain salesmen
(Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, W yom ing) and peddlers
297
EMPLOYMENT OF ALIENS
(Georgia, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania). Other
occupations and professions that have a citizenship requirement in
clude teachers, optometrists, barbers, undertakers, detectives, ajnd
insurance officers and agents.
*#+#####<
Restriction on the Employment of A liens1
The employment o f aliens in private industry on Government
contracts is restricted by law. “ In the manufacture o f aircraft
and parts fo r the Government and ‘in the performance o f secret,
confidential or restricted Government contracts,5 no alien ‘may be
permitted to have access to the plans or specifications or the work
under construction or to participate in the contract trials without
the written consent beforehand5 o f the .Secretary o f the Government
department concerned.55
Possibly under the impression that the legal restrictions are more
extensive than they are, employers have gone far beyond the legal
requirements.
Table 1 is based on data from 11,954 establishments employing
3,133,648 workers. O f the industries listed in this tabulation, cit
izenship is required legally only in “ aircraft and parts.” However,
certain individual plants making “ professional and scientific instru
ments55 and certain types o f machinery might also be covered by the
law. A s may be noted from the table, the citizenship requirement
is far more extensive than this.
T
a b l e
1.—
C itize n sh ip as a requirem ent f o r e m p lo ym en t in selected d efense in d u stries
i n hirings anticipated f o r period N o v . l y 1 9 4 9 , to J a n . 1 } 1 9 4 1 1
Industry
Fireworks__________________
Aircraft and parts 2_________
Motorcycles, bicycles, and
parts____________________
Industrial chemicals________
Petroleum refining________ ..
Ship and boat building______
Automobiles and auto equip
ment____________________
Primary allaying,.and railing
and drawing of nonferrous
metals (exclmsKhg alumi
num)____________________
Electrical machinery________
Aluminum products (includ
ing rolling and drawing)___
Machinery (excluding elec
trical) ____________________
Professional and scientific
instruments, photographic
apparatus,and optical goods.
Employers'
estimate
of number
of “ hires”
to take
place, Nov.
1 to Jan. 1
Per
cent of
“ hires”
requir
ing
citizen
ship
222
39, 847
100.0
99.9
290
5,404
1,400
6,003
99.3
94.7
94.5
94.1
9,079
93.5
331
7,128
93.4
88.7
382
86.9
16,404
76.9
564
69.1
Industry
Nonferrous metal foundries
(excluding aluminum)____
Fabricated plastic products
(n. e. c.)_____ __________
Iron and steel ____________
Industrial rubber goods.
Lighting fixtures . ________
Railroad equipm ent_______
Models and patterns (exclud
ing paper patterns)_______
Pressed or blown glassware
(n. e. c.), scientific, tech
nical, industrial, etc.......... .
Hardwood distillation, char
coal, and naval, stores____
Surgical supplies, equipment
and orthopedic appliances..
Other
Employers’
estimate
of number
of “ hires”
to take
place. Nov.
1 to Jan. 1
Per
cent of
“ hires”
requir
ing
citizen
ship
350
68.3
159
11,910
626
372
2,111
59.1
58.1
57.7
40.1
32.2
112
31.3
HI
26.2
327
19.6
50
66
4.0
1 As reported by 11,954 employers.
2 Includes data from one employer of 14,000 workers, who indicated he would require 20,350 workers for the
12-month period beginning October 1940, all of whom would require citizenship.
1From the Monthly Labor Review for July 1941. Data are from United States,
Federal Security Agency, Social Security Board, Bureau of Employment Security; Labor
Shortages and the Restriction of Employment to Citizen Workers, Washington, 1941.
298
IMMIGRATION, EMIGRATION, AND NATURALIZATION
In general, a survey of the State employment office reports shows citizenship
requirements are extensive in all industrialized areas. Throughout N e w Eng
land, in the tier of industrialized States from N e w York and N e w Jersey west
through Wisconsin, and on the Pacific coast, citizenship was generally specified
in both defense and nondefense industries. In other words, the restrictions
are operating precisely in those areas which have the greatest proportion of
aliens and naturalized citizens and which are experiencing the greatest demand
for labor, and where the supply of labor in certain occupations is approaching
exhaustion. In the South, in the midwestern agricultural States, and in the
Rocky Mountain area, where the number of aliens and naturalized citizens is
relatively small, there has been no special emphasis on citizenship.
The specifications of employers go much farther than the require
ment for citizenship, in some cases demanding that both parents be
American born. In Connecticut some establishments will hire nat
uralized citizens except naturalized Italians or Germans, but will not
hire first-generation American workers of Italian or German extrac
tion. In September 1940 Massachusetts reported that citizenship was
a requirement for hiring by many employers even when they were
not engaged in defense production.
Table 2 gives the estimated number of alien gainful workers in
the United States in 1940. Excluding those who were 65 years of
age and over, the number of noncitizens gainfully occupied was
1,983,000, of whom 1,715,000 were males.
T
a b l e 2 . — E s t i m a t e d a lie n p o p u l a t i o n 1 0 y e a r s o f a ge a n d o v e r
,
by sex and by nu m ber
g a in fu lly o c c u p ie d , 1 9 4 0
Sex
Number of
aliens 10
years of age
and over
Number of gainfully occupied aliens
All ages
Under
65 years
Under
60 years
Total aliens______________________________
4,668,000
2,322,000
1,983,000
1, 751,000
M ales._________________________________
Females_______ ___________________ ______
2, 497,000
2,171,000
2, 022,000
300,000
1,715,000
268,000
1,505,000
.246,000
Income, Production, and Occupation Statistics
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 694.
Handbook of Labor Statistics : 1941 Edition.
299
National Income, 1919 to 1940
Expansion of Income
The national income of the United States in 1940, as estimated by
the United States Department of Commerce, was $76,035,000,000—
more than $5,000,000,000 above the total in 1939.1 The increase in
the national income in 1940 was mainly in the latter half of the
year and was an accompaniment of the national defense program.
The uncertainties and disturbances abroad and the exigencies of na
tional defense at home brought about a halt in the comparatively
rapid expansion of nondurable-goods, consumer-goods, and service
industries but ultimately created a powerful stimulus to the expansion
of wartime exports and defense industries. Exports of such goods
as heavy iron and steel, nonferrous- metals, metalworking machinery,
aircraft, firearms, and chemicals more than doubled in 1940 as com
pared to 1939, and 55 percent of these exports were in the second half
of 1940. Defense expenditures also more than doubled.
The total national income in 1940 was 7.6 percent greater than in
1939, 90.1 percent greater than in 1932, and 8.8 percent smaller than
in 1929; but these figures do not take into account the significant
changes in price levels. It is estimated that real income, as com
puted by adjusting the dollar values to price changes, was 11 percent
larger in 1940 than in 1929 and 60 percent larger in 1939 and 1940
than 20 years earlier. In 1940, real income per capita was above the
1929 peak of per capita income.2
Nature and Components of the National Income Total
Estimates of national income vary in some degree with the defini
tion of income, with the data incorporated in the estimates, and with
the methods of computation. The concept of national income em
bodied in the estimates of income made by the Department of Com
merce is defined by that agency as follows:
National income is the measure of the value of the net output of commodities
and services produced b y the private and public enterprises of the economy. It
1U. S. Department of Commerce. Survey of Current Business, June 1941: National
Income Exceeds 76 Billion Dollars in 1940, by Milton Gilbert and Dwight B. Yntema.
This article gives revised figures for earlier years. Significant revisions have been made
possible by use of the figures of the Census of Manufactures for 1939, especially for the
adjustment of pay-roll data. Some of the industrial censuses for 1939 have aiso called
for revisions or income data. The components of national income have undergone some
revisions as a result of transfers, notably the shifting of shipbuilding from the construction
to the manufacturing group of industries. Data recently available from the Bureau of
Internal Revenue made possible improved estimates of entrepreneurial income. Estimates
for the years 1919 to 1929 made by the National Bureau of Economic Research were
linked to the Department of Commerce estimates on the basis of the 1929 relationships.
The income data as here presented are summarized from an article in the Monthly Labor
Review for July 1941 on National Income 1919 to 1940.
2
The use of price and cost-of-living indexes for adjustment of the income figures presents
serious difficulties and the resulting estimates of real income ape rough approximations.
The methods used by the Department of Commerce are described in the Survey of Current
Business for June 1941, p. 12, footnote 3.
301
302
I N C O M E , P R O D U C T I O N , A N D O C C U P A T I O N STATISTICS
includes the economic activities carried on by all producing entities— corpora
tions, partnerships, individual enterprises, and governmental agencies. In
practice, the development follows industrial lines so that measures are at once
provided for the segments of the national income that originate in each of the
several broad industry groups such as agriculture, mining, trade, etc. The
measure is net in the sense that the value of materials and supplies and of
plant and equipment consumed in the process of production is deducted from
the gross value of goods and services produced in order to obtain the value of
net production.
The private and public enterprises utilize personal services and capital pro
vided by individuals, who thus both contribute to the productive process and
share in the division of the net product. The net product is represented by
returns in the form of salaries and wages, net income of business enterprises,
interest, and rents and royalties. Salaries and wages, supplements to salaries
and wages, interest, and net rents and royalties are conceived as paid out by
enterprises. Net incomes of businesses, on the other hand, are transferred only
to the extent that dividend payments are made* by corporations and withdrawals
are made by owners of unincorporated businesses. The difference between net
income and the amount disbursed constitutes business savings, such “savings”
befog either positive or negative. Income actually disbursed by enterprises plus
business savings equals the national income. Thus, the national income is a
measure of the net value of goods and services produced and also of the claims
to these goods and services.
The concepts of national income as a measure of the net value of
goods and services produced and as a measure of the claims to these
goods and services are supplemented by another concept described as
“income payments to individuals” and used in the monthly income
estimates. The Department of Commerce also publishes a series
showing annual distributions by States. “Income payments to in
dividuals” may be either larger or smaller than the estimates of
national income.3
General Trends, 1919 to 1940
The Department of Commerce has made detailed estimates of
national income for the period beginning in 1929. The National
Bureau of Economic Research has made somewhat similar estimates
for the period going back to 1919. By linking comparable compo
nents of the two series on the basis of 1929 relationships, the De
partment of Commerce has constructed continuous estimates for the
period 1919 to 1940 for national income both by industrial origin and
by distributive shares.4 National income by industrial origin for
1919 to 1940 is given in table 1.
3 The Department of Commerce reconciles national income with income payments to
individuals as follows: “ Deduct (a) pensions and other contributions of employers (under
Social Security-Railroad Retirement Board, and governmental employee systems) ; (b)
pension and other contributions of employees (under the systems just noted) ; and (c)
business savings; and add (a) direct relief, including old-age assistance, aid to dependent
children, and aid to the blind; (b) Federal pensions to veterans, including payments on
adjusted service certificates ; (c) governmental retirement allowances; and (d) insurance
benefits under unemployment compensation, old-age insurance, and railroad retirement
programs.”
For the monthly reries, see Monthly Income Payments in the United States, 1929—40,
by Frederick M. Cone. Revisions and extensions of data in this bulletin were given in
Survey of Current Business, July 1941. For data on income payments by States, see
Income Payments by States, by Frederick M. Cone, in Survey of Current Business, August
1941.
4 The term “ distributive shares” refers to the shares of income (salaries, wages, dividends,
etc.) transferred by business enterprises, which, with “ business savings” (either positive or
negative), are equal to total national income. The term formerly used for distributive
shares as transferred by business enterprises was “ income paid out.”
T a b l e 1. —
303
1919-40
NA T I O N A L INCOME,
N a tio n a l in c o m e , b y in d u s tr ia l o r ig in , 1 9 1 9 - 4 0
1
[In billions of dollars]
Year
Total
1919_______ ______
1920-....... .......... .
1921______________
1922-....... ..............
1923....... ................ .
1924............. ...........
1925.................... ...
1926-................. —
1927— ____ ______
1928-......................
1929— ...............
1930______ _______
1931........ ...............
1932______________
1933........................
1934............. ..........
1935______________
1936....... ......... ........
1937______________
1938_______ ______
1939— ____ ______
1940-____ ________
Agri
cul
ture
Manu
factur
ing
Con
struc
tion
Trans
porta
tion
17.3
18.4
10.7
13.9
17.4
16.0
17.4
18.0
17.6
18.7
20.4
15.1
10.3
1.9
2.5
1.9
2.4
3.2
3.3
3.5
3.6
3. 5
3.7
3.5
5.8
7.1
5.7
5.8
6.5
6.4
6.7
6.9
6.7
11.1
67.7
69.8
52.8
60.6
70.0
70.1
74.8
76.9
76.4
80.2
83.4
69.0
54.3
40.0
42.5
50.3
55.8
65.1
71.4
64.4
70.7
76.0
9.1
6.3
5.9
6.7
7.3
7.7
7.3
7.2
7.3
7.3
5.6
3.7
2.6
3.4
4.6
5.3
6.0
6.4
5.4
5.8
6.0
6.1
8.2
10.6
12.5
15.2
17.5
13.3
16.4
19.2
2.6
1.8
.8
.5
.7
.9
1.4
1.8
1.8
2.1
2.4
Trade Finance
11.2
9.7
7.1
9.1
10.3
10.1
10.7
10.9
6.8
10.6
11.0
7.1
11.1
6.2
5.0
3.7
3.6
3.8
4.1
4.8
5.2
4.4
5.0
5.3
9.0
7.2
5.1
5.9
6.8
7.5
8.6
9.6
9.0
9.6
10.1
5.7
6.1
6.0
6.7
7.2
7.7
8.1
8.4
8.7
9.6
9.4
8.0
6.5
4.9
4.4
4.7
5.2
5.9
6.4
5.9
6.1
6.2
Gov
ern
ment
Service
4.7
4.7
4.8
4.9
5.3
5.2
5.4
5.6
5.9
5.1
4.9
5.8
6.7
7.0
7.6
8.3
8.5
4. 5
5.2
6.4
6.5
7.0
7.7
7.4
7.6
8.4
7.1
5.8
4.6
4.5
5.2
5.6
6.3
6.9
6.5
7.0
7.3
6.0
8.8
6.1
9.4
9.9
8.9
7.5
5.7
5.4
6.3
6.3
6.5
6.5
6.5
6.6
7.6
7.9
9.2
9.0
9.8
9.9
6.8
7.7
8.6
8.3
8.3
9.8
10.2
Other
6.2
1Bata for 1919-28 derived from estimates prepared by Simon Kuznets (National Income and Capital
Formation, 1919-35, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc., New York, 1937), by linking the indus
trial components of each distributive share of the Kuznets’ figures to comparable elements of the Bepartment of Commerce data on the basis of 1929 relationships.
An outstanding development, as indicated by table 1, is the radical
change in the comparative amount of income from different main
segments of the economy. Although the national income in 1940
was much larger than in 1919, the income originating in agriculture
was reduced from 11.1 to 6.0 billions of dollars. Changes of this
nature indicate significant alterations in the national economy.
The national income by distributive shares from 1919 to 1940 is
shown in table 2.
T able
2 .— N a t i o n a l i n c o m e , b y d i s t r ib u t iv e s h a r e s , 1 9 1 9 - 4 0
1
[In billions of dollars]
Year
Total
national
income
1919_____________________
!°20_____________________
1921_______ _____________
1922_____________________
1923_____________________
1924______ ______________
1925_____________________
1926_____________________
1927_____________________
1928_____________________
1929_____________________
1930_____________________
1931_____________________
1932_____________________
1933_____________________
1934_____________________
1935_____________________
1936_____________________
1937_____________________
1938_____________________
1939_____________________
1940_____________________
1See table 1, footnote 1.
67.7
69.8
52.8
60.6
70.0
70.1
74.8
76.9
76.4
80.2
83.4
69.0
54.3
40 0
42.5
50.3
55.8
65.1
71.4
64.4
70.7
76.0
Net income of Total
incorporated net in
businesses
come of
unincor Interest
Salaries
Biviporated
and
dends
busi
Total
wages
only
nesses 2
only
Compensation of
employees
Total
38.0
44.7
35.6
37.6
44.2
43.8
45.8
48.5
48.6
50.1
52.7
47.9
40.3
31.5
29.6
34.2
37.2
42.6
47.8
44.9
48.1
51.8
37.7
44.4
35.3
37.3
43.8
43.4
45.4
48.1
48.2
49.7
52.2
47.4
39.8
30.9
28.5
32.4
35.4
39.6
44.6
41.1
44.3
48.2
5.9
4.4
.4
4.0
5.3
4.6
6.3
6.3
5.5
7.0
7.2
1.7
-1 .6
-3 .6
-.6
.6
1.7
3.8
3.9
1.7
3.8
4.8
3.0
3.3
3.0
3.0
3.8
3.7
4.4
4.7
5.0
5.3
5.9
5.6
4.3
2.7
2.2
2.7
2.9
4.7
4.8
3.2
3.8
4.2
18.1
14.4
10.2
11.8
12.7
13.5
14.1
13.6
13.7
14.1
14.2
10.7
7.5
5.3
7.2
8. 9
10.1
11.8
12.5
11.0
11.9
12.4
3.0
3.4
3.6
3.8
4.2
4.5
4.8
5.0
5.3
5.6
5.9
6.1
6.0
5.7
5.1
5.2
5.1
5.0
5.0
4.9
4.9
4.9
2Includes owners’ remuneration for personal services.
Net
rents
and
royal
ties
2.7
2.9
3.0
3.4
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.5
3.3
3.4
3.4
2.7
2.0
1.2
1.2
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.1
1.9
2.0
2.1
3 0 4
INCOME, PRODUCTION, A N D
O C C U P A T I O N STATISTICS
The fact of greatest significance apparent from table 2 is the large
increase in the proportion of the national income distributed as the
compensation of employees. Employee compensation was only 56.1
percent of total national income in 1919 but rose to 68.2 percent in
1940. The relative increase in salaries and wages only was also con
siderable, although less marked, namely, 55.7 percent in 1919 to 68.4
percent in 1940. Compensation of employees includes (table 2)
salaries as well as wages and also payments described as supplements
to salaries and wages. Some part of the latter is compensation to
persons not normally in the employee groups, as for example, pay
ments to farmers for emergency employment to supplement their
income from farm operations.
It is apparent, of course, that the increase in the proportion of the
national income going to employees was mainly a result of a trans
formation of the national economy in the direction of large-scale en
terprise operated by employed persons as distinguished from smallscale and even family-size farms and business enterprises. This trend
is indicated, for example, by estimates for the years 1920 to 1987 of
entrepreneurs and self-employed as compared to persons forming the
labor supply in the sense of persons employed or normally available
for employment.5 The estimated number of entrepreneurs and selfemployed persons increased from 12,876,000 in 1920 to 18,022,000 in
1987, a decline from 29.2 percent of the gainfully occupied popula
tion in 1920 to 28.9 percent in 1987. The estimated labor supply, on
the other hand, rose from 29,951,000 in 1920 to 41,447,000 in 1987, an
increase from 70.8 percent of the gainfully occupied population in
1920 to 76.1 percent in 1987.
Some of the increase in employee compensation as a proportion of
total income was caused by the comparatively large increase of em
ployment in those divisions of the national economy which normally
distribute a high proportion of income as employee compensation.
This trend is illustrated by some types of service industries and by
Government. Income originating in governmental activities formed
a much larger proportion of total income in 1940 than in 1919, and
77.5 percent of income ascribed to Government was distributed to
wages and salaries, not including work-relief compensation, whereas
wages and salaries as a whole were only 68.8 percent of the total
national income. The increase in the proportion of total income
going to the employed groups was accompanied by a decrease in
wages as a percentage of total income originating in certain important
and comparatively homogeneous fields of employment, notably man
ufactures, the minerals industries, and railroad transportation. In
these industries wages can be separated from salaries as well as from
other income. Wages in 1919 formed 64.6 percent of all income
originating in these three fields, and in 1939, only 59.5 percent.6
Wages and Salaries, 1929 to 1940
The detailed tabulations for 1929 to 1940 of the study here sum
marized include estimates of total salaries and wages and the average
6 U. S. Work Projects Administration. National Research Project. Labor Supply and
Employment: Preliminary Statement of Estimates Prepared and Methods Used (p. 142),
by Daniel Carson, assisted by Henrietta Liebman. Washington, 1939. (Mimeographed.)
6 U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monthly Labor Review, September 1940 (pp. 517—
544) ; Wages, Hours, and Productivity of Industrial Labor, 1909 to 1939, by Witt Bowden.
(Reprinted as Serial No. R. 1150.)
NATIONAL INCOME,
305
1919-40
compensation (salary-wage) of employees by industrial divisions.
These estimates for selected years are given in tables 3 and 4.
T a b l e 3 . — Total salaries and wages o f em p lo yees b y in d u stria l d iv is io n s , 1 9 2 9 - 4 0
[In millions of dollars]
Industrial division
Total salaries and wages_________________ ____
1929
1932
1933
1937
1938
1939
1
52, 246 30,888 28,490 44,615 41,089 44,349
1940
48,158
1,284
584
517
794
758
738
745
Mining, total _________________
_____________ 1,602
257
Anthracite___________ ____________________
636
Bituminous coal-_ ___ _______ ___ __________
212
Metal___ __ __ _ _______ _________ ____ _
151
Nonmetal______ __ ___________ _______ _____
346
Oil* and gas__________________________________
709
146
275
57
68
163
725
128
297
57
62
181
1,261
123
534
205
120
279
1,063
101
453
142
95
272
1,081
104
466
157
104
250
1,158
101
515
185
119
238
Manufacturing, total______ _________________ ____
Food and tobacco.__ . . . _____ ______ ________
Paper, printing, and publishing______________
Textiles and leather____________ ___________
Construction materials and furniture . . . _____
Chemicals and petroleum refining_____________
Metal and metal products__ __________ _
Miscellaneous and r u b b e r - . . . ___________ .
Central administrative offices_________________
15,870
1,550
1,615
2,898
1,811
858
5,947
591
600
7, 447
1,017
1.063
1,528
590
526
2,109
270
344
7,506 14,076 11,602 13, 260
1,044 1,572 1,544 1.595
950 1,420 1,323 1,347
1,676 2,421 2,139 2,472
608 1,292 1,079 1, 226
530
797
850
840
2,132 5,658 3,952 4,901
274
407
487
512
292
361
376
367
15,218
1,671
1,432
2,503
1, 346
923
6,360
572
411
Contract construction, total______________________
Agriculture, total_______________ ________________
2,947
806
481
1,403
1,402
1,689
1,907
Transportation, total___________
______________ 4,939
Steam railroads, Pullman and express. _ ______ 3. 228
472
Water transportation
____________ ____ 1
719
Motor transportation and public warehouses___
464
Street railways__________________________ _ .
6
Air transportation______ _____ _______
50
Pipelines_____ _ ___ _____ _ _ . . . _______
2,826
1, 685
285
500
312
13
31
2,603
1,560
297
435
268
13
30
3,825
2, 218
507
715
312
24
.49
3,412
1,961
417
653
308
27
46
3,659
2,090
481
700
312
32
44
3,838
2,156
522
759
316
43
42
Power and gas, total___ _____ ______ _________
_
Electric light and power________ _
. ...
Gas__________ ________ _____________ . . .
656
439
217
483
312
171
450
286
164
665
447
218
668
449
219
671
452
219
688
466
222
Communication, total________________________ ._
Telephone___ _________ _
__________ __ _
Telegraph___________________________________
706
589
117
534
458
76
461
393
68
606
517
89
610
530
80
622
539
83
652
566
86
8,085
4, 996
3,089
5,117
3,162
1,955
4,607
2,877
1, 730
6,818
4.150
2,668
6, 576
3,967
2,609
6,887
4,148
2,739
7, 265
4,400
2,865
Finance, total1_______________ _______ _ . . .
2,503
Banking___ ____
__ . . .
_________ _______
809
984
Insurance.. _______ ___ _ _____________ _
Security brokerage and real estate_____________
710
1,898
617
838
443
1,703
532
763
408
2,035
597
936
502
1,961
605
920
436
1,994
620
930
444
2,049
634
951
464
Government, total___________________ _ _______
Federal2 _____. . . _______________________ _
State____ _____ ________________ _ _______ _
City-----------------------------------------------------------County, township, and minor units______ ___
Public education________ . . . __________ . . .
4,950
1, 398
422
1,136
382
1, 612
4,911
1, 359
466
1,081
381
1,624
4,400
1, 222
908
336
1,490
5,657
1,908
629
1,072
403
1, 645
5, 927
1,931
683
1,171
423
1,719
6,197
2,078
703
1,182
454
1, 780
6,698
2,402
714
1, 235
473
1,874
Service, total_____ ______________________________
Professional service 3__________ ________ ___
Personal service 4. ___
___ _ __ ______ _
Recreation and amusements 5_________ _______
Business service 6___________ . _____________
Miscellaneous and domestic service 7________
6,506
1, 224
2,140
432
456
2,254
4,136
1,095
1,313
291
307
1,130
3,690
1,010
1,143
259
277
1,001
5, 615
1,213
1,988
401
381
1,632
5, 371
1,237
1,912
402
381
1,439
5,660
1,265
2,034
436
394
1, 531
5,937
1,292
2,161
443
414
1,627
Miscellaneous, total__________ ________ _______
2,198
1,437
1, 347
1,860
1,739
1,891
2,003
Trade, total._ ___________________ ___________
Retail trade______ _____ ____________ _____
Wholesale trade_______________
___________
444
1 Does not include certain miscellaneous financial institutions which have been included in “ Miscel
laneous.”
2 Does not include work-relief wages.
3 Includes religious, private educational, curative, legal, accounting, and engineering (consulting)
activities.
4 Includes hotels, restaurants, laundries, cleaning and dyeing establishments, apartment houses and office
buildings, barber and beauty shops, etc.
5 Includes motion-picture production and exhibition, radio broadcasting, and other activities primarily
providing entertainment.
6 Includes advertising agencies, trade associations, chambers of commerce, and other enterprises serving
business establishments.
7 Includes domestic service and various industries providing services on automobiles, radios, elevators,
watches, and other commodities.
306
INCOME, PRODUCTION, AND OCCUPATION STATISTICS
The estimates of total salaries and wages (table 3) indicate a
smaller total in 1940 than in 1929, but in terms of the purchasing
power of the dollar there was a significant increase. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics cost-of-living index (given at the end of table 4)
was 18.2 percent lower in 1940 than in 1929, whereas the total o f
salaries and wages was only 7.8 percent smaller in 1940 than in 1929.
Noteworthy shifts occurred in the proportions of total salaries and
wages in the different industrial divisions. There were sharp de
clines in combined salaries and wages in agriculture, in contract con
struction, in transportation (mostly in railroads), and in security
brokerage and real estate. Since there was a decline in the total, the
increases were less marked than were the reductions, but when the
lower cost of living in 1940 is taken into account, most of the indus
trial divisions, as classified in table 3, show some increase of -total
employee compensation adjusted by the cost-of-living index.
Estimates are also made of the average compensation of employees
by industrial divisions. Compensation per employee is described as
“ full-time equivalent” compensation.
It should be noted that full-time employment for the year as used herein is
an average of the number of persons working in the different reported pay
periods of the year. This is not to be confused with the total number o f
different persons working at some time during the year, nor does it represent
the equivalent of employment for the full number of working hours during the
reported pay periods or intervening periods.
(fu ll-tim e equivalent ), b y in d u stria l
d iv is io n s , 1 9 2 9 - 4 0
T a b l e 4 . — A verag e sa la ry-w a ge o f em p lo yees
Industrial division
1929
1932
1933
1937
1938
1939
All divisions_________ T_____ _____ _____ ____ ____ $1,472 $1,179 $1,089 $1,304 $1, 284 $1,318
1940
$1, 351
Agriculture, total l . - ....... . . ................ . ......... .............
828
471
434
606
583
588
582
Mining, total - _______ ________ _____ ____ _____ .
Anthracite. _______________ __________ ____ _
Bituminous coal___________ ______ ______ ____
Metal_________________ ______ ______________
Nonmetal----------- ------ ---------------------------------Oil and gas.......................................... ............ .
1, 492
1, 658
1,314
1, 631
1, 398
1, 756
992
1, 377
741
983
907
1, 552
976
1, 376
765
983
827
1,403
1,269
1, 309
1,117
1,434
1,224
1, 541
1, 230
1, 232
1,081
1, 279
1,172
1,591
1, 321
1,316
1, 223
1,342
1,209
1,603
1, 326
1, 278
1,206
1,412
1,368
1, 597
Manufacturing, total______________________ _____ 1, 542
Food and tobacco_________ ____ _____________ 1, 378
Paper, printing, and publishing_______________ 1, 835
Textiles and leather_____
_____________ .. 1, 239
Construction materials and furniture__________ 1, 354
Chemicals and petroleum refining_____________ 1,560
Metal and metal products________ ____ _______ 1,713
Miscellaneous and rubber___________________ 1, 539
2,885
Central administrative offices_______________
1,139
1,166
1, 556
875
932
1, 322
1,147
1,169
2,567
1,065
1,080
1,416
846
869
1, 210
1, 111
1,092
2,454
1, 358
1, 238
1, 585
997
1,131
1. 543
1, 573
1,387
2,870
1,289
1, 265
1, 596
956
1,093
1, 572
1,422
1, 304
2, 843
1, 347
1, 274
1, 637
990
1,117
1, 606
1, 556
1, 380
2,867
1,428
1, 293
1, 661
1,006
1,151
1, 648
1, 680
1,426
2, 978
Contract construction, total_____ _________________
1,904
1,450
1,116
1,419
1,368
1, 423
1, 473
Transportation, total . . . ______________ _______ _
Steam railroads, Pullman and express_________
Water transportation__. __________ '.................
Motor transportation and public warehouses___
Street railways- . __________________________
Air transportation____ ___ _______ ___________
Pipe lin es.................. ........... ................... ..........
1, 668
1, 748
1, 645
1. 357
1, 725
2,000
2,000
1, 370
1,459
1. 390
1,050
1,537
2,167
1, 722
1,309
1,439
1,314
933
1,433
2,167
1, 500
1, 613
1, 774
1, 779
1,172
1, 642
2, 182
1,885
1, 613
1,848
1,668
1,114
1, 692
2,250
1, 917
1,652
1, 878
1, 781
1,136
1, 733
2, 286
2,000
1, 671
1,915
1,717
1,177
1,765
2,150
1,826
Power and gas, total______________________ ______
Electric light and power.............. .......... ............
Gas___________________ _______ _____ ________
1, 604
1, 614
1, 584
1,429
1, 381
1, 527
1, 368
1, 349
1,402
1, 696
1,726
1, 639
1, 753
1,782
1,698
1, 766
1,801
1, 698
1,782
1,827
1,695
See footnotes at end of table.
NATIONAL INCOME,
307
1919-40
(,fu ll-tim e equiva lent), b y in d u stria l
d iv is io n s , 1 9 2 9 - 4 0 — Continued
T a b l e 4.— A v era g e sa la ry-w a g e o f em p lo ye es
Industrial division
1929
1932
1933
1937 .
1938
1939
Communication, total.............................. . ........... . $1,357 $1, 328 $1, 225 $1,485 $1, 544 $1, 563
1,382 1, 371 1,263 1, 553 1, 611 1,619
Telephone_____________________ ___________
Telegraph_____________________ ___________ 1,245 1,118 1,046 1,187 1,212 1,277
1940
$1, 590
1, 655
1,265
Trade, total-------------------------------------------------------- 1, 588
Retail trade------------- . . ------ . ------ ------------------ 1,384
Wholesale trade... .......... .................... ................ 2,084
1, 315
1,153
1,703
1,190
1,055
1,511
1, 378
1, 224
1,715
1, 390
1, 227
1,740
1,400
1, 235
1,757
1,411
1, 239
1,791
Finance, total2----- --------- ----- ------------ ----------------Banking--------- ------ -------------------------------------Insurance___________________________________
Security brokerage and real estate............ ..........
1,818
1, 740
1,864
1, 849
1, 656
1,719
1,572
1, 714
1, 595
1,632
1,502
1,744
1, 759
1,826
1, 759
1, 685
1, 717
1,850
1,701
1,591
1, 726
1,879
1,706
1, 586
1, 748
1,893
1,726
1,622
Government, total......... .......... ........... .......................
Federal3------------------------------------------- --------- State------- --------------------------------------- -----------City------------------------------------------------- --------- County, township, and minor units____ _____
Public education................ I...............................
1, 517
1,622
1, 298
1, 623
1, 399
1,463
1, 466
1, 573
1, 280
1, 623
1, 391
1, 374
1,344
1, 428
1, 220
1, 457
1,273
1,276
1,455
1,603
1,258
1,545
1, 326
1,371
1, 507
1, 627
1, 262
1. 668
1, 356
1,445
1,511
1,603
1, 274
1, 660
1,343
1,481
1,490
1,493
1,261
1,711
1,379
1,493
Service, total....... ......................................................
Professional service 4______________ ________ _
Personal service 5____________________________
Recreation and amusement6__________________
Business service 7_________
. -------------------Miscellaneous and domestic service 8__________
1,103
1,225
1,241
1,823
1, 974
833
881
1,128
939
1,712
1, 687
573
810
1,052
838
1, 560
1, 539
531
942
1,091
1,025
1, 736
1, 748
664
943
1,090
1,031
1, 682
1,814
638
959
1,099
1,062
1, 690
1,850
647
976
1,112
1,092
1, 672
1,873
662
Miscellaneous, total.................... ...... ........... .............. 1,462
1,131
1,054
1, 296
1, 219
1,293
1, 326
Memorandum:
Bureau of Labor Statistics cost-of-living index... 100.0
79.7
75.4
83.8
82.3
81.1
81.8
1 Does not include unpaid family labor.
2 Does not include certain miscellaneous financial institutions which have been included in “ Miscel
laneous.”
3 Does not include work-relief employees.
4 Includes religious, private educational, curative, legal, accounting, and engineering (consulting) acti
vities.
* Includes hotels, restaurants, laundries, cleaning and dyeing establishments, apartment houses and office
buildings, barber and beauty shops, etc.
6 Includes motion-picture production and exhibition, radio broadcasting, and other activities primarily
providing entertainment.
7Includes advertising agencies, trade associations, chambers of commerce, and other enterprises serving
business establishments.
s Includes domestic service and various industries providing service on automobiles, radios, elevators,
watches, and other commodities.
The average compensation of wage earners and salaried employees
was smaller in 1940 than in 1929, as was the total of salaries and
wages, the estimate for 1929 being $1,472, and for 1940, $1,351.
However, as in the case of the total of salaries and wages, this re
duction should be viewed in the light of the changes in the cost of
living. Such an adjustment indicates a significant increase in
average compensation. In a few of the industrial divisions, however,
there were such sharp reductions as to more than counterbalance the
effect of the lower cost of living. This is true, for example, of an
thracite mining and contract construction, the comparatively large
reductions in these groups being mainly attributable to reductions of
hours and a relatively large increase in part time. In agriculture
and in miscellaneous and domestic service, the reductions in average
compensation also exceeded the reduction in cost of living, but in
these groups the decline in average compensation was more largely
a result of the tendency in these groups for rates of pay to fall below
the general levels.
308
INCOME, PRODUCTION, AND OCCUPATION STATISTICS
Revised Index of Industrial Production1
The revised Federal Reserve Board index of industrial production,
published in 1940, was designed to provide a broader and more accu
rate measure of current changes in the physical volume of industrial
output. Over a long term of years the revised index indicates that
the growth in industrial output of manufactures and minerals has
been greater than was apparent from the series previously in use.
From 1919 to 1939, the new index shows a 50-percent rise in produc
tion, as compared with a 27-percent increase formerly shown for the
same period.
Two factors are important in accounting for the differences in rate
o f expansion between the present index and that which was formerly
issued by. the Board. In making the revision, weights were given to
production in many new and rapidly expanding industries, not pre
viously included, and adjustment was also made for growth in certain
other industries which were formerly included in the index but with
relatively less weight. In addition, the new index is more adequately
weighted for nondurable-goods industries. These industries have
contributed most heavily and consistently to national output, not
being subject to the extreme fluctuations which characterize durablegoods production.
Typical nondurable manufactures included in the index for the
first time are chemicals, rayon, textiles, alcoholic beverages, dairy
products, and certain other manufactured foods. Data for pulp and
paper production were improved. However, production of certain
important durable goods was also included for the first time, notably
machinery and furniture. Special upward adjustments were like
wise made for nonferrous-metal products and for stone, clay, and
glass products, to allow for the long-term movements of industries
not directly represented in these groups.
Trends in manufacturing before the national defense program
began called for a relatively heavier weighting for nondurable than
for durable goods. In recent years the standard of living has tended
to rise, bringing about a growing demand for nondurable consumer
goods. The demand for durable goods, especially in the field of
capital goods, did not keep pace. This, of course, was partly the
result o f the condition of business, as during the years of depression
new investment in capital goods was at a minimum. But the major
causes are of a more persistent nature. The slower rate of growth
of population and of cities and new communities reduced relatively
the need for new durable capital goods. In addition, the improve
ment in plant facilities and in methods of using them makes for
longer usefulness and greater efficiency. For example, machines are
being made of better steel; through careful design less material is
1 Board o f Governors o f the Federal Reserve System. New Federal Reserve Index of
Industrial Production (reprinted from Federal Reserve Bulletin, August 1940) ; General
Indexes of Business Activity, by Frank R. Garfield (reprinted from Federal Reserve
Bulletin, June 1940) ; Measurement of Production, by W oodlief Thomas and Maxwell R
Conklin (reprinted from Federal Reserve Bulletin, September 1940) ; and later numbers
o f the Federal Reserve Bulletin, particularly September 1941, containing an account of
the second revision o f the index of industrial production, and October 1941, giving revisions
of the seasonally adjusted figures for separate industries.
The summary here given is from an article in the M onthly Labor Review for November
1940, with revisions and extensions.
IN D E X OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION
309
required per unit; and the more efficient grouping of machines, coor
dination of processes, and management of labor have brought about
important economies in the use of capital goods.
The revision of the index of production gave added weight to
nondurable goods in closer conformity to normal peacetime produc
tion. Soon after the revision of the index, however, the national
defense program gave a renewed impetus to production in the dur
able-goods industries, such as machine tools, machinery, ships, and
airplane production. The weights of the index as revised in 1940
therefore tended to underemphasize durable-goods production during
the intensified period of defense activity. The weight given to dur
able goods in manufacturing industries for the base period (1935-39)
was 44.7 percent, and the weight to nondurable goods, 55.3. These
weights are practically identical with the proportions of employment
in durable and nondurable goods during the same period. In March
1941, however, durable goods employed somewhat more than half of
the total number of workers in manufacturing industries and in terms
of man-hours these industries employed considerably more than half
of the labor engaged in manufacturing.
Durable goods, during the varied and rapid expansion of the de
fense program, were somewhat underweighted and not fully repre
sented in the revised index. The durable-goods industries in this
period showed a vastly greater expansion than the nondurable-goods
industries. In March 1941, the seasonally adjusted index of durablegoods production was 70 percent higher than in the base period (193539), and the nondurable-goods index was only 27 percent higher.
The extremely rapid change in the composition of industrial pro
duction under the national defense program was in part a result of
work carried on by the Government. Production in manufacturing
arsenals, quartermaster depots, and shipyards had not been included
in the index as computed in 1940. A further revision in 1941 in
corporated the output of these, rapidly expanding establishments.
Another new series of great importance was electric steel. In ad
dition, the revision took account of the shift in the automobile
industry from the production of automobiles to defense items, and
changes were made in the aircraft series and in three of the nonferrous metals series. These additions and revisions materially raised
the level of the durable-goods index and had some effect also on the
index for all manufacturing industries combined. The additional
items of production were combined with the series already in the
index by means of a special device without recalculating all the
weights in the index as revised in 1940.2
As a measure of changes in production preceding the defense pro
gram, the revised indexes reveal a highly significant contrast in the
trends of durable-goods and nondurable-goods production. The in
dex o f industrial production was 3 percent higher in 1937 than in
1929. The same increase occurred in manufacturing production. The
index o f durable-goods production in 1937 was 8 percent lower than
in 1929; in contrast, the nondurable-goods index was 14 percent
higher. In 1939, nondurable goods formed a larger proportion of
the total than in 1937.
2Federal Reserve Bulletin, September 1941 (p. 880) : Revision in the Index of Industrial
Production.
328112— 42 —
v o l
.
i
•21
3 10
INCOME, PRODUCTION, AND OCCUPATION STATISTICS
The revised index numbers of industrial production are shown in
table 1 for specified years 1919 to 1939 and, adjusted for seasonal
variation, for June 1939, 1940, and 1941. The indexes are given for
industrial production as a whole, and separately for production o f
manufactures, durable and nondurable goods, and minerals.
T able
1.—
In d e x es o f in d u stria l p rod u ctio n , 1 9 1 9 to J u n e 1 94 1
[Average 1935-39=100]
Item
1919
1923
1929
1932
1937
June 1939
(adjusted
1939 for
seasonal
variation)
June 1940
(adjusted
for seasonal
variation)
June 1941
(adjusted
for seasonal
variation)
Industrial production...........
72
88
110
58
113
108
103
122
159
Manufactures___ _________
Durable goods...............
Nondurable goods.........
Minerals................................
72
84
62
71
86
103
72
98
110
132
93
107
57
41
70
66
113
122
106
112
108
109
108
106
103
99
106
105
122
133
114
119
164
195
139
133
After the recession of 1938, production as a whole returned by 1939
almost to the level of 1937. Production in many of the consumptiongoods industries was notably higher in 1939 than in 1929. This is
shown in table 2, which gives the index numbers on the new base for
selected industries for the years 1929, 1932, 1937, and 1939, and,
adjusted for seasonal variation, for June 1939, 1940, and 1941.
T a b l e 2 . — In d e x es o f in d u stria l p roduction in selected in d u stries, 1 9 2 9 to J u n e 1 9 4 1
[Average 1935-39=100]
Industry
1929
1932
1937
Glass containers_____ ___________ ____ _
Textile fabrics________________________
Cotton consumption__________ _____
Rayon deliveries______ _ _________
Silk deliveries-------- ------ ----------------Wool textiles_______________________
C arpet-wool consumption.......... . _
Apparel-wool consumption______
Woolen yarn___________________
Worsted yarn. _ _____ _________
Woolen and worsted c lo th ______
Shoes----------- ----------------------------------Manufactured-food products____________
Wheat flour _______ ________________
Cane-sugar meltings_______________
Ice cream . _ ________ _______ .
Butter____________________________
Cheese___________________________
Canned and dried m i l k ......... ...........
Meatpacking------- -------------------------Pork and lard__________________
Beef_____________ _____ _______
V eal__________________________
Lamb and mutton______________
Tobacco products______________________
Cigars------------- ------ ----------------------Cigarettes_________________________
Manufactured tobacco and snuff____
Pulp------------ -------------------------------------Paper_________________________________
Paperboard containers
Newsprint consumption__________ _____
Gasoline______________________________
Kerosene________________________ _____
Tires and tubes_______________________
Anthracite____________________________
75
101
105
42
148
97
120
90
96
93
91
89
101
114
120
103
96
73
82
115
143
88
74
78
96
131
76
110
81
92
65
107
81
90
135
144
59
75
75
46
131
60
43
67
60
68
63
77
79
100
94
61
101
73
76
108
133
81
74
98
79
89
66
102
61
67
59
79
73
71
77
98
114
106
111
97
103
103
111
98
104
97
104
102
103
99
106
109
96
98
99
94
90
97
110
98
103
104
103
99
111
107
105
107
105
105
104
101
June 1939 June 1940 June 1941
(adjusted
(adjusted
(adjusted
1939 for
seasonal for seasonal for seasonal
variation) variation) variation)
110
110
110
129
91
108
108
104
98
119
112
105
108
104
98
110
104
103
108
112
124
99
91
100
106
103
110
100
116
113
118
99
111
110
111
101
113
105
106
131
81
104
85
108
95
114
112
105
108
105
93
109
105
106
106
109
120
98
89
94
108
103
113
101
106
. 103
111
98
110
109
111
89
.
111
103
114
144
56
89
79
88
92
92
89
101
115
98
112
113
106
111
118
126
152
101
91
99
115
98
127
99
159
128
128
106
110
116
126
116
155
151
160
173
73
163
149
190
151
178
165
136
127
107
129
111
121
132
124
134
120
91
101
118
106
131
97
175
145
106
123
104
152
126
GROUPING OF GAINFUL WORKERS
311
These increases are particularly significant in their bearing on
the improved condition of wage earners as the largest group of con
sumers and on the shift of emphasis (before the defense program)
from capital goods and durable goods to ordinary consumption goods,
for the most part nondurable, in the maintenance o f employment and
business activity.
In many o f these industries (table 2), production per capita was
larger in 1939 than in 1929. The total population in 1939 was about
8 percent greater than in 1929. In contrast, the index for rayon
deliveries in 1939 was more than 200 percent higher than in 1929, and
that for paperboard containers, about 82 percent higher. There were
increases ranging between 40 and 50 percent in the indexes for glass
containers, cheese, cigarettes, and pulp production. A rise of 30 to
40 percent occurred in the same period for gasoline and for cannedana dried-milk production. The groups with a 20- to 30-percent in
crease consist of worsted yarn, woolen and worsted cloth, veal, lamb,
and mutton, and kerosene.
A number of industries showed decreases in production from 1929
to 1939, as, for example, anthracite, cigars, and silk. Compensatory
increases occurred in the production of substitute products—notably,
fuel oil and gas, cigarettes, and rayon. Tire and tube production de
clined, a decrease largely attributable to improved wearing qualities.
Most of the industries that are particularly important in ordinary
consumption, such as those in table 2, continued to expand after
the outbreak of war in 1939. The increases seem to have been ac
celerated by the war, but the possibilities of further expansion in
these industries, and especially in the production of durable consumer
goods, were restricted by the progressive intensification of the de
fense program requiring diversion of materials and plant facilities.
The general effect of the defense program is apparent from table 1.
Thus, the production of durable goods increased 97 percent from June
1939 to June 1941, in contrast to a rise of only 31 percent in nondurable
goods.
Social-Economic Grouping of Gainful W orkers1
In a report2 issued by the Bureau of the Census in 1938 the at
tempt was made, for the first time, to classify the gainful workers into
six main social-economic groups— (1) professional persons, (2) pro
prietors, managers, and officials, (3) clerks, (4) skilled workers, (5)
semiskilled workers, and (6) unskilled workers. The basic data are
from the 1930 Census of Occupations.
The report presents detailed tables, by State, city, color, nativity,
age, industry, and other factors. ^The accompanying summary table
shows the distribution for the major classifications, by sex.
1From the Monthly Labor Review for June 1938.
2U. S. Bureau of the Census. A Social-Economic Grouping of the Gainful Workers of
the United States, 1930. W ashington, 1938.
312
INCOME, PRODUCTION, AND OCCUPATION STATISTICS
G a in fu l w orkers i n the U n ited States classified i v t o socia l-eco n o m ic g r o u p s, b y sex,
1910 to 1930
Percentage distri
bution
Number
Sex and group
1930
1920
1910
1930
1920
1910
Males and females______________________________ 48,829,920 41,614,248 38,167,336 100.0 100.0
Professional persons______________ __________ 2,945,797 2,050,162 1,632,638
6.0
4.9
Proprietors, managers, and officials___________ 9,665, 540 9,180,583 8,579,746 19.8 22.1
Farmers (owners and tenants).___ _______ 6,012,012 6,387,360 6,132,380 12.3 15.3
Wholesale and retail dealers______________ 1,787,047 1,401,849 1,246,077
3.7
3.4
Other proprietors, managers, and officials.._ 1,866,481 1,391,374 1,201,289
3.8
3.3
Clerks and kindred workers_________________ 7,949,455 5,704,970 3,826,959 16.3 13.7
Skilled workers and foremen_________________ 6,282,687 5,570,602 4,364,060 12.9 13.4
7,977,572 6,638,615 5,512,344 16.3 16.0
Semiskilled workers__________ ______
Semiskilled workers in manufacturing____ 4, 557,993 4,357,451 3,674,302
9.3 10.5
Other semiskilled workers_______________ 3,419, 579 2, 281,164 1,838,042
7.0
5.5
Unskilled w orkers._________________________ 14,008,869 12,469,316 14, 251, 589 28.7 30.0
Farm laborers__________________________ 4,392,764 4,186,128 6,205,633
9.0 10.1
Factory and building-construction laborers___________________________________ 3,374,143 3,136,276 2,659,917
6.9
7.5
Other laborers__________________________ 2,903,065 2,890,738 2,821,526
5.9
6.9
Servant classes__________________________ 3,338,897 2,256,174 2,564,513
6.8
5.4
100.0
4.3
22.5
16.1
3.3
3.1
10.0
11.4
14.4
9.6
4.8
37.3
16.3
Males_________________________________________
Professional persons------------------------------------Proprietors, managers, and officials__________
Farmers (owners and tenants)___________
Wholesale and retail dealers______________
Other proprietors, managers, and officials...
Clerks and kindred workers_________________
Skilled workers and foremen_________________
Semiskilled workers_________________________
Semiskilled workers in manufacturing____
Other semiskilled workers_______________
Unskilled workers__________________________
Farm laborers__________________________
Factory and building-construction labor
ers___________________________________
Other laborers----- ---------------------------------Servant classes_________________________
38,077,804 33,064,737 30,091,564 100.0 100,0
1,497.934 1,061,791
913,866
3.9
3.2
9,159,896 8,757, 614 8,183, 563 24.1 26.5
5, 749,367 6,121,783 5,859,238 15.1 18.5
1,675,193 1,322,075 1,178,049
4.4
4.0
1, 735,336 1,313,756 1,146,276
4.6
4.0
4,877,235 3,511,808 2,744,488 12.8 10.6
6,201, 542 5,469,048 4,267,327 16.3 16.5
5,448,158 4,375,995 3,326,830 14.3 13.2
2,881,022 2,689,245 2,032,346
7.6
8.1
2,567,136 1,686, 750 1, 294,484
5.1
6.7
10,893,039 9,888, 481 10,655,490 28.6 29.9
3, 746,433 3,382,899 4,679, 926
9.8 10.2
100.0
3.0
27.2
19.5
3.9
3.8
9.1
14.2
11.1
6.8
4.3
35.4
15.6
3, 248,622
2,871, 744
1, 026, 240
2, 966,841
2, 859, 343
679,398
2, 571, 215
2,803, 596
600,753
9.0
8.6
2.1
8.5
9.3
2.0
Females_______________________________________
Professional persons_________________________
Proprietors, managers, and officials___________
Farmers (owners and tenants)___________
Wholesale and retail dealers_____________
Other proprietors, managers, and officials..
Clerks and kindred workers_________________
Skilled workers and foremen___ _____________
Semiskilled workers____ __________________
Semiskilled workers in manufacturing____
Other semiskilled workers_______________
Unskilled workers_________________________
Farm laborers---- -------------------------------Factory and building-construction labor
ers. _ _______________________________
Other laborers__________________________
Servant classes______________ ___________
10, 752,116
1,447,863
505, 644
262,645
111, 854
131,145
3,072, 220
81,145
2, 529,414
1,676,971
852,443
3,115,830
646, 331
8,549, 511
988,371
422,969
265, 577
79, 774
77,618
2,193,162
101, 554
2,262,620
1,668, 206
594,414
2, 580,835
803, 229
8,075, 772 100.0 100.0
718,772 13.5 11.6
396,183
4.7
4.9
273,142
2.4
3.1
.9
68,028
1.0
55,013
1.2
.9
1,082.471 28.6 2 5 . 7
96,733
.8
1.2
2,185. 514 23.5 26.5
1,641,956 15.6 19.5
543,558
7.9
7.0
3, 596,009 29.0 30.2
1, 525, 707
9.4
6.0
100.0
8.9
4.9
3.4
125,521
31,321
2,312,657
169,435
31,395
1, 576, 776
88, 702
17,930
1,963, 760
8.5
7.5
2.7
1.2
.3
21.5
2.0
.4
18.4
7.0
7.4
6.7
.8
.7
13.4
1.2
27.1
20.3
6.7
44.5
18.9
1.1
.2
24.3
The difficulties inherent in this attempt to classify occupations by
social-economic groupings are noted in the report:
A classification of all occupations according to skill, if it could be made, would
be very useful; but a complete classification by skill is impossible, since many
occupations do not lend themselves to such a classification. Indeed, none of the
professional, proprietary, official, managerial, or clerical pursuits lends itself
readily to a classification by sk ill; and it is doubtful whether any of them may
be properly so classified, since in none of them is skill or manual dexterity the
chief characteristic. In fact, it is believed that only those occupations in which
the expenditure of muscular force is an important characteristic can be properly
classified by skill. W hile it is plainly impossible to draw a hard and fast line
between those occupations characterized principally by the exercise of muscular
force or manual dexterity and those characterized chiefly by the exercise of
mental force or ingenuity— or between hand workers and head workers— such a
line of demarcation probably may be made sufficiently exact for our purpose.
GROUPING OF GAINFUL W O R K E R S
313
The grouping of the gainful workers here presented is not based on skill, except
in the case of groups 4, 5, and 6, in which most o
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