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Hourly Earnings by Industry Selected W age Areas April 1949 to November 1949 [From the Monthly Labor Review of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, September, October, November, and December 1949, and February, March, April, and May 1950 issues] Bulletin No. 1005 UNITED STATES DEPARTM ENT OF LABOR Maurice J. Tobin, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Com m issioner Letter of Transmittal U nited States D epartment of L abor , B ureau of L abor Statistics, , Washington D. C., August 2 1 ,1 9 5 0 . The Secretary of L abor : I have the honor to transmit herewith a publication which contains brief summaries of straight-time hourly earnings for a limited number of occupa tions in manufacturing and nonmanufacturing industries. The studies were made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics during the period from April 1949 to November 1949 in the leading localities for the industries selected. They were part of the Industry Wage Studies program of the Division of Wage Statistics. The studies were conducted by ‘the Branch of Industry Wage Studies under the direction of Harry Ober. E wan C lague , Commissioner. Hon. M aurice J. T obin , Secretary of Labor. F or sale b y the Superintenden t o f D ocu m en ts, U . S. G overn m en t P rintin g Office W ash in gton 25, D . C. - Price 20 cents Contents Page Cotton, rayon, and silk textiles: Earnings in April 1949---------------------------------------Woolen and worsted textiles: Earnings in May 1949--------------------------------------------Ferrous foundries: Earnings in June 1949________________________________________ Office-building service: Wages in July 1949_______________________________________ Power laundries: Earnings in June 1949__________________________________________ Women’s coats and suits: Earnings in September 1949___________________________ W ood and upholstered furniture: Earnings in September 1949____________________ Hosiery manufacture: Earnings in October 1949__________________________________ Footwear manufacturing: Earnings in October 1949______________________________ Machinery manufacture: Earnings in November 1949____________________________ 1 5 7 9 11 13 15 18 21 23 Cotton, Rayon and Silk Textiles: Earnings in April 19491 45 Pennsylvania rayon and silk mills with estab lished minimum rates, 12 had a 97-cent minimum, 21 reported lower rates, and 12 had higher rates. The most common minimum plant rate in the South was 94 cents, reported by 22 of 95 cotton mills, and 18 of 44 rayon and silk mills, with established minimum rates. Most of the other southern mills had rates below 94 cents. Minimum plant rates for women did not differ appreciably from men’s rates in either industry. Employment in each of these textile industries had declined during the year. Among the areas surveyed, the greatest declines were indicated in New England. Second shifts were operated in April 1949 by nearly all mills, and fully threefourths of the mills studied in each industry operated a third shift. With the exception of third-shift operations in cotton mills (reduced somewhat in each area), the proportions of the work force employed on extra shifts was un changed from April 1948. Pay differentials for second-shift work were not common except in rayon and silk mills in the Allentown-Bethlehem area of Pennsylvania. For third-shift work, most of the southern mills (in both industries) paid 5 cents additional, New England mills generally paid a 7-cent differential, and most Pennsylvania rayon mills paid either a 10-cent or 10-percent differential over first-shift rates. Weekly work schedules were well below those of a year earlier. Although a majority of the mills in each region reported a 40-hour workweek for first-shift workers, most of the others had shorter schedules. Work schedules of more than 40 hours were common in April 1948, particularly in the South. Incentive systems of wage payment are common in the textile industries. Of the jobs listed in the accompanying tables, the following were entirely or predominantly on an incentive pay basis: weavers and winders in both industries; and doffers, spinners, and slasher tenders in cotton mills. A majority of the loom fixers in southern rayon mills were also employed on incentive systems; these skilled workers were typically paid time rates in southern cotton mills and in both industries in the North. A comparison of earnings of time and incentive workers, in those jobs in which substantial numbers of each were O ccupational earnings in cotton textile mills and in rayon and silk textile mills increased in the South, but showed little change in New England, between April 1948 and April 1949. Based on a comparison of straight-time average hourly earn ings in major mill jobs, increases of 5 percent or more were noted in earnings of a majority of the jobs studied in each of the two industries in the South. Similar increases in hourly earnings were indicated in the rayon and silk industry in Penn sylvania.2 These advances primarily reflect gen eral wage increases during the second half of 1948, following those granted in New England mills during the first quarter. April 1949 averages for some of the jobs in southern cotton and rayon mills were comparable with northern pay levels. Average hourly earn ings of weavers in cotton mills, varying by area, type of equipment, and sex group, ranged from $1.26 to $1.34 in New England, and from $1.13 to $1.36 in the South. In the rayon and silk industry averages for weavers ranged from $1.26 to $1.33 an hour in New England, $1.20 to $1.40 in Penn sylvania, and $1.24 to $1.33 in the South. In both industries, hourly earnings of women office workers in southern mills were generally higher than New England averages for the same jobs. Earnings of inskilled workers in mill jobs were highest in New England, however, reflecting the higher minimum plant rates adopted by mills in that region. A minimum plant rate of 97 cents for experienced nen workers (other than custodial workers) was 'eported by 35 of 37 cotton mills and 22 of 31 'ayon and silk mills studied in New England. Of i Prepared by Toivo P. Kanninen of the Bureau’s Division of Wage Analysis. Data for a limited number of occupations were collected by ield representatives under the direction of the Bureau’s regional wage malysts. Greater detail on wages and wage practices for each textile inlustry and wage area presented here is available on request, a The study in the cotton textile industry covered 3 New England and 5 Southern areas, accounting, as a group, for 190,000 workers or two-fifths of he employment in the industry in April 1949. The rayon and silk industry 7as studied in 2 New England areas, 2 Pennsylvania areas, and 4 Southern ,reas; about 63,500 workers, or three-fifths of the employment in this industry, rere concentrated in the covered areas. For a report on the earlier studies, ee Textiles Manufacture: Earnings in April 1948, in Monthly Labor Review, September 1948. 1 2 employed, indicated that the latter group had higher earnings. In half the cases, the earnings advantage held by incentive workers amounted to 15 cents or more per hour. Few southern mills in either industry, among the major production areas studied, had contracts with labor unions in April 1949. By contrast, nearly all of the cotton mills and three-fifths of the mills in the rayon and silk industry surveyed in New England operated under union agreements. The proportion of union mills in the Pennsylvania rayon and silk areas was somewhat lower than in the New England industry. Cotton Textile Wages Loom fixers, the highest-paid men’s job group studied, averaged $1.47 or more an hour among the three New England areas. Straight-time average hourly earnings for this job ranged from $1.39 to $1.43 among the five Southern areas (table 1). Men janitors, the lowest-paid job group, averaged 97 cents in northern New England and a cent more in the Connecticut-Rhode Island and Fall River-New Bedford (Mass.) areas. In contrast to the minor differences in earnings in this and other jobs among the New England areas, janitor averages in the South ranged from 84 cents in east central Alabama to 93 cents in northwest Georgia. Women spinners had aver ages of $1.10, $1.12, and $1.14 in the New England areas and from $1.01 to $1.07 among the five Southern areas. In a few of the men’s mill jobs, earnings in one or more of the Southern areas exceeded the highest New England average. Card grinders, for example, averaged from $1.27 to $1.29 among the New England areas and $1.29 or more in three of five Southern areas. Variations in pay levels in the industry may reflect, among other factors, differences in type of mill and products made. The great majority of the New England cotton mills are of the integrated type, i. e., both spinning and weaving operations are carried on. In the Charlotte and Statesville areas of North Carolina, by contrast, yarn mills predominate. Women spinners in these areas averaged $1.01, the lowest area average recorded T a b l e 1 .■— Straight-time average hourly earnings 1 for selected occupations in the cotton textile industry, by selected area. A pril 1949 New England Occupation and sex South Connecti Fall River- Northern villecut and New Bed New Eng Charlotte, East central Green Statesville, Spartan- Northwest Rhode ford, Mass. land N. C. Alabama burg, N. C. S. C. Georgia Island Plant occupations Men: Card grinders................................................................. Card tenders................................................................ Doffers, spinning frame................................................ Janitors (excluding machinery cleaners)—................. Loom fixers, box............................................................ Loom fixers, Jacquard.................................................. Loom fixers, other than Jacquard and box................. Machinists, maintenance............................................. Mechanics, maintenance.............................................. Shearing-machine operators......................................... Slasher tenders.............................................................. Slubber tenders................................... ......................i Truckers, hand (including bobbin boys).................... Weavers, dobby............................................................ Weavers, Jacquard...................................................... Weavers, plain automatic............................................ Women: Battery hands............................................................... Doffers, spinning frame................................................ Spinners, ring frame...................................................... Weavers, box................................................................. Weavers, dobby............................................................ Weavers, Jacquard....................................................... Weavers, plain automatic— ....... .............................. Winders, cone, high speed, automatic....................... Winders, cone, high speed, nonautomatic................... Winders, filling, automatic.......................................... Winders, filling, nonautomatic.................................... $1.29 1.13 1.18 .98 (*)1.47 1.38 (*) (*)1.31 1.25 1.00 (*) (*)1.28 1.01 (*)1.14 (2) (*) (’)1.29 1.18 (2) 1.15 (*) $1.27 1.11 1.24 .98 (*) (*)1.49 1.39 (*)1.23 1.37 1.27 .98 (2) (2)1.29 1.10 1.01 1.05 1.10 (2)1.11 1.00 (2)1.10 (*) (2 (*)1.26 (*) (2)1.13 1.17 $1.28 1.10 1.17 .97 (*)1.56 1.48 1.40 (2)1.20 1.35 1.30 .99 1.34 (2)1.34 1.01 1.16 1.12 (*) (2) (*)1.27 1.18 1.08 (2) (2) $1.19 .97 1.03 .89 1.42 1.42 1.43 1.38 1.14 1.13 1.26 1.09 .91 1.36 (?) 1.25 .97 (*)1.01 1.25 (2)1.13 1.21 .98 .92 1.12 .93 $1.29 1.07 1.15 .84 (2) (2)1.40 1.34 1.27 1.04 1.20 1.17 .92 (2) (2)1.20 (2)1.04 (2) .96 (2)1.02 (2) (2) (2)1.19 1.02 (2) .99 .99 1.06 1.03 1.04 1.11 (2)1.14 1.13 1.12 1.30 1.12 1.03 1.20 .96 (2)1.07 (2) (2) (2)1.20 $1.32 .98 1.12 .92 (2) (2)1.39 1.37 1.33 .98 1.10 1.14 .94 1.24 (2)1.22 $1.31 1.01 1.25 .93 (2) (2)1.39 1.44 1.28 (2)1.24 1.19 .97 (2) (2)1.20 $1.19 1.01 1.10 .91 (*) (2) 1.41 1.40 1.18 1.20 1.22 1.16 .95 1.27 (2) 1.24 .97 (2)1.07 (2) (2) (2) (2)1.03 (2) (2) (2) .93 (2) 1.01 (2) 1.28 (2) 1.24 (2) .98 1.07 (2) 1.14 1.13 1.16 1.03 .99 1.16 O ffice o c c u p a tio n s Women: Clerks, pay roll....................................................... Clerk-typists................................ ................................ Stenographers, general.................................................. 1 Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. 1 Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average. 3 for the job in the study. Spinners in the Charlotte area, however, averaged $1.10 in integrated mills and 96 cents in yarn mills. Incidentally, indi vidual mill averages for this job in Charlotte ranged from less than 80 cents to $1.12 among yarn mills, whereas averages in individual inte grated mills ranged from 96 cents to $1.27. average of $1.33 was recorded in GreensboroBurlington, the only other area providing a com parison. The greatest differences in area earnings were found in the slasher tending job for which the $1.44 average in the New England areas exceeded the highest average in Pennsylvania by 15 cents and in the South by 10 cents an hour. Women employed in spinning, winding, and cloth inspection operations generally averaged a few cents more than men janitors and hand truck ers. Averages for cloth inspectors ranged, among the 8 areas, from 96 cents in Scranton-WilkesBarre to $ 1.10 in Greensboro-Burlington. Women winders in New England averaged about 10 cents an hour more than did workers in similar jobs in Pennsylvania and the South. Among the women’s jobs studied, the highest earnings were made by weavers. With the exception of the ScrantonWilkes Barre area where lower earnings were recorded, the hourly averages of women weavers were grouped in the $1.24 to $1.32 range. Rayon and Silk Textile Wages Southern pay levels in some of the skilled jobs matched or exceeded averages recorded in New England and Pennsylvania areas. Men plainloom fixers, for example, averaged $1.49 in the two New England areas, $1.46 in the ScrantonWilkes-Barre area of Pennsylvania, and $1.55 and $1.56, respectively, in western Virginia and the Greensboro-Burlington Yea of North Carolina (table 2). Similarly, men weavers tending plain automatic looms averaged $1.28 in both New England areas and in two Southern areas; an T able 2.'— Straight-time average hourly earnings 1 for selected occupations in the rayon and silk textile industry, by selected area, April 1949 New England Occupation and sex Middle Atlantic South Northern Southern Allentown- Scranton- Charlotte, Greens boro- Greenville, Western New Bethlehem, Wilkes New S. C. Virginia England England Pa. Barre, Pa. N. C. Burlington, N. C. Men: Janitors............................................... ......................... Loom fixers, box loom................. ............................... Loom fixers, plain loom..................................... .......... Machinists, maintenance............................................ Mechanics, maintenance......................... ................. Slasher tenders............................................................ Truckers, hand, general............................................. Weavers, box, automatic.............................................. Weavers, box, nonautomatic....................................... Weavers, dobby.......................................................... Weavers, plain automatic....................................... Women: Inspectors, cloth, machine................. ...................... Spinners, 5-B .................... ........................................ Weavers, box, nonautomatic________ ___________ Weavers, dobby........................................................ . Weavers, plain automatic.......................................... Winders, cone, high speed_______ _________ ____ Winders, filling, automatic................ ......... .............. Winders, filling, nonautomatic.................................... $0.97 (2)1.49 1.54 (2)1.44 .99 (2) (2)1.33 1.28 1.02 (2) (2)1.30 1.29 (2)1.13 1.16 $1.00 1.51 1.49 1.43 1.39 1.44 1.09 1.26 (2)1.29 1.28 1.04 1.11 (2)1.27 1.28 1.19 1.13 1.12 $0.95 1.57 (2) (2)1.23 1.12 1.04 1.36 1.40 (2) (2) 1.01 1.00 1.32 (2) (2)1.13 1.06 1.02 $0.91 1.47 1.46 1.42 1.25 1.29 .96 (2) (2) (2) (2) .96 1.02 1.21 (2)1.20 1.00 1.01 1.04 $0.91 1.50 (2)1.31 1.21 1.20 .94 (2) (2)1.27 1.28 .98 (2) (2)1.27 1.27 1.03 (2)1.05 $0.91 1.57 1.56 1.44 1.28 1.34 .97 1.33 (2) (2)1.33 1.10 1.08 (2) (2) (2)1.11 (2)1.07 $0.91 (*) (2)1.37 1.30 1.21 .96 (2) (2)1.32 (2) 1.03 (2) (2)1.32 (2) (2) (2)1.04 $0.90 1.39 1.55 1.44 1.21 1.26 .96 (2) (2) (2) 1.28 1.00 (2) (2) (2) 1.24 (2) (2) 1.01 Women: Clerks, pay roll.............................................................. Clerk-typists............................ i.................................. St enographers, general................................................. 1.07 1.01 1.17 1.01 .96 1.22 1.10 .95 1.01 1.01 .95 1.03 1.12 1.11 1.09 1.12 1.00 1.10 1.18 1.16 1.14 1.06 1.01 1.07 P la n t occu p a tio n s Office o c cu p a tio n s 1 Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. Paid Vacations and Holidays Paid vacations were granted to employees with a year of service by all the New England mills and the great majority of the mills in Pennsylvania and the South. Mill workers with a year of service * Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average. qualified for a 1-week vacation.3 Office workers with the required service were granted a 2-week vacation by a great majority of the New England cotton mills and by more than half the mills in • Vacation pay in New England cotton mills typically amounted to 2 percent of the annual earnings of the eligible worker. 4 the rayon and silk industry in this region. In the South, office workers in cotton mills generally received a week, whereas the more common prac tice in the rayon and silk industry provided 2 weeks of vacation leave. Pennsylvania mills typically granted 1 week to office workers with a year of service. Paid holidays, generally 6 in number, were pro vided mill and office workers by nearly all New England mills. Few southern mills in either industry provided paid holidays to mill workers, but the majority provided from 1 to 6 paid holi days to office workers. Paid holiday provisions in Pennsylvania rayon and silk mills were some what less liberal than in the New England industry* Woolen and Worsted Textiles: Earnings in May 19491 the following jobs and areas included in the accompanying table were on an incentive pay basis: weavers in all areas; winders, except cone winders in Rhode Island; frame spinners in Lawrence and northern New England; mule spinners, except in Rhode Island; doffers in Law rence; fuller tenders (woolen) in Virginia-North Carolina; fuller tenders (worsted) in Lawrence; loom fixers (automatic, woolen) in Philadelphia; and loom fixers (automatic, worsted) in Lawrence Straight- time average hourly earnings of loom fixers exceeded $1.60 in each of the five northern production areas studied in May 1949.2 These were the highest paid workers included in the study of job earnings in woolen and worsted mills conducted by the U. S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. On automatic equip ment used in weaving woolens, loom fixers aver aged $1.24 an hour in the Virginia-North Carolina area. Men weavers tending automatic box looms averaged $1.61 an hour in Rhode Island, $1.58 in the Lawrence area of Massachusetts and in Phila delphia, $1.49 in Northern New England, and $1.14 in Virginia-North Carolina. Weavers tend ing nonautomatic box looms had substantially lower averages. Hand truckers, among the lowest paid men workers in the industry, averaged $1.18 in Philadelphia, $1.10 to $1.14 among the New England areas, and 89 cents in the southern area. Women weavers generally averaged a few cents less per hour than men workers tending similar equipment in the same areas. Average hourly earnings of frame spinners, the largest women’s job group, ranged from $1.31 for workers on the woolen system of production in Lawrence to $1.08 for workers on the Bradford system in Philadelphia; averages for spinners could not be presented for Paterson, N. J., or Virginia-North Carolina. Earnings of women office workers in the Virginia-North Carolina segment of the industry were comparable with northern pay levels. Incentive systems of wage payment are com mon in the industry. The proportion of workers paid on an incentive basis varied, however, from area to area. All or a majority of the workers in Straight-time average hourly earnings 1 for selected occupa tions in the woolen and worsted textile industry , in selected areas , M ay 1949 New England Occupation and sex P la n t O ccu p a tion s Men: Card finishers: Bradford system............ $1.15 (2) $1.11 $1.14 Woolen system............... 1.16 $1.08 1.36 (2) Card strippers, woolen sys tem................................... 1.26 1.15 (2) (2) Comber tenders, worsted system------------ ----------- 1.22 (2) 1.23 1.16 Dyeing-machine tenders: Cloth, woolen________ 1.17 1.16 1.22 1.26 Cloth, worsted..... ......... 1.25 (2) 1.27 (2) Fuller tenders: Woolen ......................... 1.19 1.15 1.25 1.23 Worsted...... ................... 1.33 (2) 1.33 1.48 Loom fixers, automatic: Woolen 3____________ 1.71 1.61 1.70 1.67 Worsted 3____________ 1.80 1.61 1.74 1.71 Machinists, maintenance__ 1.52 1.41 1.53 1.54 Mechanics, maintenance__ (2) 1.32 1.51 1.51 Spinners, mule, woolen sys tem__________________ 1.63 1.49 1.48 (2) Truckers, hand-........... ........ 1.14 1.10 1.14 1.18 Weavers: Box, automatic 3______ 1.58 1.49 1.61 1.58 1.24 1.53 1.33 Box, nonautomatic 3___ (2) Plain, automatic3_____ 1.60 1.55 1.67 1.58 Women: Comber tenders, worsted system________________ 1.19 1.13 (2) Doffers, frame, Bradford (2) system________________ 1.13 1.07 1.07 1.01 Spinners, frame: Bradford system L-. ... 1.19 1.12 1.19 1.08 Woolen system 4 ____ 1.31 1.20 1.21 (2) Weavers: Box, automatic 3______ 1.62 1.45 (2) (2) Box, nonautomatic 3___ 1.50 1.11 (2) (2) Plain, automatic 3 ____ (2) 1.47 1.47 (2) Winders: Cone, high speed, worsted__________ . 1.17 1.06 1.17 (2) Filling, nonautomatie, worsted_____ ____ 1.20 (2) 1.24 (2) 1Prepared by Toivo P. Kanninen of the Bureau’s Division of Wage Statistics. Data for a limited number of occupations were collected by field representatives under the direction of the Bureau’s regional wage analysts. Greater detail on wages and wage practices for each area presented here is available on request. 2 The study covered woolen and worsted mills in 6 areas that accounted, as a group, for nearly 74,000 workers, or two-thirds of the employment in the industry. Establishments with fewer than 21 workers were not studied. The areas studied were Lawrence, Mass. (Collinsville, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, North Andover, and North Billerica); Northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Rhode Island; Paterson, N. J. (Bergen and Passaic Counties); Philadelphia, Pa. (Philadelphia and Delaware Counties, Pa., and Camden County, N. J.); and Virginia-North Carolina 903603 0 - 50 -2 Vir Phila ginia North and delphia, North Law ern Pa. Caro rence, New Rhode Mass. Eng Island lina land (2) $0.95 .98 (2) .84 (2) 1.07 (2) 1.24 (2)1.30 1.13 1.11 / .89 1.14 (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) Office O ccu p a tio n s Women: Clerks, pay-roll__________ Clerk-typists____________ Stenographers, general____ 1.15 1.03 1.16 1.09 1.05 1.03 1.10 1.09 1.25 1.18 1.05 1.14 1.17 .98 1.23 1Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average. Excludes workers employed on Jacquard looms. 4 Excludes workers employed on American system. N .— Differences in operations among the mills in the Paterson area of New Jersey limited the presentation of hourly earnings data to the following jobs: Men dyeing-machine tenders (worsted cloth), $1.33; men loom fixers (automatic, worsted), $1.90; and women pay-roll clerks, $1.24. 2 2 o te 5 6 and Northern New England. In those few cases where substantial numbers of time and incentive workers were employed in the same job and area, permitting a comparison of earnings by method of wage payment, incentive workers held an earnings advantage. Comparisons of May 1949 occupational earnings with those reported for April 1948 (the date of a previous wage survey) indicated that job averages had increased somewhat in Philadelphia and Virginia-North Carolina but showed little change in New England. Weekly work schedules in woolen and worsted mills in May 1949 were below those recorded in the earlier study. Although a majority of the mills in each area reported a 40-hour workweek for first-shift workers, as in April 1948, 12 of 90 New England mills and 6 of 30 Philadelphia mills reported work schedules of 32 hours or less. In April 1948, none of the mills had schedules of less than 40 hours and a few worked longer hours. Employment in the industry had declined during the 13-month period in each of the northern areas.3 Second shifts were operated by three-fourths of the mills, however, and a third of the establishments operated third shifts. The most common dif ferentials paid for work on extra shifts were 4 cents for the second shift and 7 cents for the third shift. Three-fifths or more of the workers in each of the northern areas studied were employed in mills that had contracts with labor unions in May 1949. 3 Based on reports made monthly by employers, Bureau data show that, for the industry as a whole, production-worker employment declined about 32 percent and average weekly hours declined by 9 percent between April 1948 and May 1949. The proportion of union mills and the proportion of workers employed in union mills in the Pennsyl vania and New Jersey areas were higher than in the New England industry. Approximately a fourth of the woolen and worsted workers in the Virginia-North Carolina area were employed in union mills. Related Wage Practices Vacations with pay were received by mill and office workers in all except a few of the establish ments. Mill workers with a year of service typically received 1 week with pay; many of the New England mills reported that vacation pay amounted to 2 percent (and in a few cases 3 percent) of the employee’s annual earnings. Three-fifths of the establishments employing office workers reported a policy of granting a 2week vacation to such workers after a year of service. Vacation policies relating to office work ers were more liberal in New England than in the other areas. Paid holidays, generally 6 in number, were provided mill workers by nearly all establish ments in Rhode Island and the Lawrence and Paterson areas, and by a substantial majority of the mills in northern New England and Phila delphia. Six of 13 mills in the southern area provided paid holidays to mill workers, 3 of which granted 5 or fewer holidays with pay. Nearly all northern mills and most southern mills provided paid holidays to office workers. Although 6 days were most commonly paid for in each area, many New England n^lls provided 8 or more holidays, and 7 paid holidays were re ported by a group of Philadelphia mills. Ferrous Foundries: Earnings in June 1949 1 more than two-thirds of the cities, generally av eraged from $1.50 to $1.85 an hour. Although numerically less important than molders among the estimated 64,000 foundry workers employed in the 24 cities, wood patternmakers generally had the highest earnings levels; their averages ranged from $1.53 to $2.35 and were above $2.10 in 4 of the 10 cities for which data are presented. Hand truckers, the lowest paid of the eight key job groups surveyed, averaged from 93 cents to $1.37 an hour. M achine molders in ferrous foundries had aver age hourly earnings in June 1949 ranging from $1.26 to $2.01. Earnings in this occupation, usually based upon incentive methods of pay, average $1.75 or more in approximately half of the 24 large cities included in a Bureau of Labor Statistics study.2 Hand bench molders and floor molders, who were typically paid time rates in Average straight-time hourly earnings 1for men in selected occupations in ferrous foundries in 24 cities, June 1949 City Baltimore............................................................... .......... Birmingham........................................... . . ....................... Boston....... ........................................................................ Buffalo.............................................................................. Chicago............ ..................................... .............. ............. Cincinnati...................................................-....................... Cleveland....... ........................... ................................ . Denver___ ____________ ______ _________________ Detroit..................... ................................................ .......... Hartford..................................................... ....................... Houston_____________ ______ ______ ____________ _ Indianapolis------------------------------------------------ ----Los Aneeles....................................................................... Milwaukee..-................................... .............................. -. Minneapolis-St. Paul............................................ ............ Newark-Jersey City.-________ _______ ____________ New York____________________ _________ ______ Philadelphia. ................................................................. Pittsburgh......................................................................... Portland (Oreg.)............................................................... St. Louis.......... .................................................................. San Francisco......... ......................................................... Seattle_____________________ ______ _______ _____ Toledo.................................................................................. Chippers Core and grind makers, hand ers .93 1.24 1.49 1.50 1.32 1.55 1.21 1.66 1.30 1.11 1.58 1.30 1.67 1.35 1.21 1.29 1.52 1.49 1.51 1.63 1.46 1.45 1.71 $ 1 .1 2 $1.40 1.16 1.67 1.70 1.82 1.71 1.83 1.53 1.91 1.53 1.57 1.75 1.67 1.88 1.58 1.62 (2)1. 93 1. 78 1.79 1.81 1. 77 1.75 1.79 1Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work, but includes inceu* tive pay. Molders, hand, bench Molders, machine $1.55 1.19 1.67 1.60 1.72 1.72 1.78 1.53 1.84 1.81 1.67 1.69 1.82 1.75 1.59 1.69 1.69 1. 75 1. 75 1.77 1.67 1.77 1.76 $1.52 1.16 1.68 1.66 1.70 1.56 1. 72 (2)1.87 1.60 (2)1.61 (2)$1.26 1.62 1.90 1. 76 1.67 1.78 (2)1.93 1.79 (2)1.91 (>) 1.66 1.57 1.58 1.73 1.66 1.67 1.58 1.79 1.73 1. 76 1.74 1.71 1.98 1.87 1.60 1.76 1.68 1.84 1. 73 (2)1.65 1.75 (2)2.01 Pattern Shake-out Truckers, makers, men hand wood $1.53 (2) (2)1.79 2.12 (2) 2. 21 (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) 2.35 1.66 (2) (2) (2)1.93 1.77 (2)1.95 2.19 (2) (2) $1.18 .95 1.25 1.48 1.43 1.29 1.50 1.15 1.52 1.10 1.23 1.39 1.31 1.41 1.47 1.27 1.20 1.27 1.32 1.57 1.27 1.39 1.34 1.43 (2) .93 (2) (2) 1.29 (2) 1.20 (2) 1.37 (2) (2) 1.14 (2) 1.15 1.20 1.14 (2) (2) (2) (2) 1. 14 (2) C2) 1.24 2 Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average, makers, and shakeout men in about half the cities, including most of the larger foundry centers. In these comparisons, the differential in favor of incentive workers most frequently was between 20 and 40 cents an hour. Comparisons of earnings in the jobs studied with those recorded in November 1947, the date of the last similar Bureau study, showed increases in most cities for practically all jobs. These in creases ranged from 5 to 15 percent in nearly twothirds of the job averages and exceeded 15 per cent in one-seventh. The few declines noted generally reflected lower earnings for incentivepaid workers. There was little evidence of a uni form pattern of wage change either by city or by individual job, partly because of variations in the proportion of incentive workers employed in each job in each of the two studies. In general, earnings levels were highest in the Great Lakes and Pacific Coast cities, although there were exceptions among individual jobs. Philadelphia, for example, had the highest earn ings for hand coremakers ($1.93), and floor mold ers in Hartford (at $1.81) averaged only 3 cents less than in Detroit, the city ranking highest in this job. The lowest earnings levels among the 24 cities were in Birmingham. Earnings of time and incentive workers could be compared for chippers and grinders, hand core 1Prepared by Louis E. Badenhoop of the Bureau’s Division of Wage Statistics. Field representatives of the Bureau obtained the data from company rec^ds and classified the workers on the basis of uniform job descriptions. Greater detail on wages and wage practices for each city presented here is available on request. 2 The study covered foundries manufacturing castings from gray iron, malleable iron, or steel and employing 21 or more workers. Hourly earnings include incentive pay, but exclude premium pay for overtime and night work. Molders, floor 7 8 R elated W age P ra ctice s Weekly work schedules reported in June 1949 were below 40 hours in 118 of the 264 foundries surveyed; practically all others studied reported 40 hours. Only in Portland (Oreg.) and Seattle were schedules of at least 40 hours reported by all firms visited. Work schedules in foundries reporting less than 40 hours varied from 16 to 36, although nearly two-thirds of these reported 32 hours. Second shifts were operated by approximately half, and third shifts by one-eighth, of the found ries surveyed in June 1949. Most of those oper ating extra shifts paid shift differentials. The amount of the differential varied considerably; 5 cents in addition to the first-shift hourly rate was most common for second-shift workers, and be tween 5 and 10 cents for third-shift workers. Formalized paid-vacation policies applying to plant workers were reported by all but 13 of the foundries studied. After a year of service, prac tically all these workers were entitled to 1 week's vacation with pay; in Detroit about half the foundries granted 2 weeks. Most firms granted 2 weeks after longer service, the additional service requirements varying from 2 to 5 years. Paid holidays were also provided by more than two-thirds of the firms. The usual practice in Cincinnati was 4 holidays with pay, whereas in New York and Seattle 7 holidays were usually allowed. A great majority of the other firms with paid holiday provisions allowed 6 days. Foundries with no paid holidays were in the ma jority in Birmingham, Cleveland, Denver, De troit, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Portland, Oreg. in the 29 cities, for example, less than a fifth were paid rates below 75 cents, and nearly two-fifths received $1 or more. All of that category in Chicago, Oakland, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco, and more than half of those in New York City received $1 or more aix hour. Rates paid to individual workers in this job were found to have the narrowest ranges in those cities in which most of the establishments operated under written agreements with labor unions. A high degree of concentration of cleaners in a narrow range of rates was particularly noticeable in Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, and Seattle; in each of these cities, all or a great majority of the workers are employed in union establishments. Wages of office-building service workers in July 1949 had increased substantially compared with those in January 1947, the date of an earlier similar study conducted by the Bureau. A comparison of occupational averages in the two studies revealed that nearly half had increased by 25 percent or more over the 30-month period. More than a third of the 67,000 office-building service employees within the scope of the Bureau's survey were cleaners; of these about 12 of every 13 were women. Operators of passenger elevators represented about half as many wqrkers. In this category as a whole, men outnumbered women 3 to 2, but these proportions varied greatly by city; no women elevator operators were employed in the buildings covered in Chicago, and relatively few in New York, but, in approximately a third of the cities, women outnumbered men in the job. Men cleaners were employed in appreciable numbers in only a few cities. However, about 11,000 men were employed as janitors. The number of stationary engineers and firemen differed greatly by city, partly because of the differences in heating requirements; in many buildings, heating by purchased steam eliminated the need for such workers. Paid-vacation policies for building-service workers were reported by all but 6 of the 544 establishments studied. After a year of service, half of them granted a week and approximately two-fifths allowed 2 weeks. After 5 years, about four-fifths of the establishments granted 2 weeks or more. Holidays with pay were also granted by more than 9 of every 10 establishments. Although the number allowed varied from 1 to 15 among Office-Building Service: Wages in July 19491 W omen employed as cleaners in office buildings in 29 large cities had average hourly earnings in July 1949 ranging from 43 cents to $1.16.2 In 10 of the cities, the average was less than 75 cents an hour and in 5, it was $1 or more. Women operators of passenger elevators, whose city-wide level of earnings ranged from 47 cents to $1.26, earned more than cleaners, in about two-thirds of the cities, but they earned the same amount as the cleaners or even less, in the other cities. Men's earnings in the jobs studied were highest for stationary engineers; average earnings in this occupation ranged from $1.03 to $1.84, and in about a third of the cities exceeded $1.50. Jani tors, the largest group of men service employees in office buildings, had earnings levels ranging from 54 cents to $1.29. In 8 of the 29 cities, these workers averaged less than 75 cents an hour, but, in an equal number of cities, they were paid $1 or more. Earnings of janitors and of men employed as cleaners, elevator operators, and watchmen were quite similar in a large majority of the cities. Chicago, New York, and San Francisco had the highest levels of pay for office-building service workers. Oakland, Calif., Pittsburgh, Portland, Oreg., and Seattle ranked next in most occupa tions. The lowest levels of earnings were in cities of the Southeast and Southwest. Among these, Dallas and Houston generally ranked above Atlanta, Birmingham, and New Orleans (see table). Because of the heavy concentration of office building service workers in the larger, higher-wage cities, a greater proportion of all workers studied were receiving rates of $1 or more than is apparent from an array of the job averages by city.3 Of approximately 23,000 women cleaners employed 1Prepared by Louis E. Badenhoop of the Bureau’s Division of Wage Statistics. Field representatives of the Bureau obtained the data from company records and classified the workers on the basis of uniform job de scriptions. Greater detail on wages and wage practices for each of the 29 cities is available on request. 2 The study covered buildings operated by owners, lessees, or managers, and employing eight or more workers. Owner-occupied office buildings with no additional space rented on a commercial basis were omitted from the study. • Two cities, New York and Chicago, accounted for over half of the service workers employed in office buildings in the 29 cities. 9 10 individual establishments, almost half had pro visions for 6 holidays. M ost establishments that granted 10 or more were in Boston, Newark, and New York, and most of the relatively small proportion allowing less than 6 were located in southern cities. Straight-time average hourly earnings 1for selected occupations in office buildings in 29 cities , July 1949 Women City Elevator Elevator Engineers, Firemen, Cleaners operators, Cleaners operators, stationary stationary Janitors passenger passenger boiler Northeast: Boston8.............................................. ...................Buffalo *................................................... .............. Newark...................................................... ............ New York......................................... .................... Philadelphia.............................................. ............. Pittsburgh8............................................................ Providence................. .......................................... Border States: Baltimore 8.____________ _______ _________ Louisville_____________ _____________ _____ Washington 8_____________________________ South: Atlanta8................................................................. Birmingham 8...... ............................... .................. Dallas 8........................................................... ........ Houston 8................................................................. New Orleans8......................................-................. Middle West: Chicago.......................................... ......... .............. Cincinnati....... ................................................. Detroit__________________________________ Indianapolis____ _________________________ Kansas City___ __________________________ Milwaukee________________ ______________ Minneapolis....... .........-...........................-........St. Paul................................................................... Pacific and Mountain: Denver 8........................................-......................... Los Angeles................................................... ........ Oakland................................................................. Portland—............................................................. San Francisco......................................................... Seattle8................................................................... 1 Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. 8 Data relate to a June 1949 pay-roll period. Men $0.87 .86 .76 .96 .81 .88 .84 .61 .65 .66 .43 .45 .51 .59 .48 1.08 .71 .82 .64 .77 .80 .90 .78 .75 .87 1.05 1.00 1.16 1.03 $0.89 .82 .75 1.20 .93 .96 .91 .71 .48 .67 .61 .47 .63 .59 .60 (3) (3) .77 .73 .75 .78 .90 (3) .76 .90 1.11 1.05 1.26 1.03 $0.94 (3) (3) (3) (3)1.11 .95 (3) (3) (3) .61 (3) .61 (3) .58 1.32 (3) (3) (3) .86 (3) (3) (3) .74 .92 (3)1.06 1.22 1.07 $0.92 (3)1.00 ‘1.27 1.01 1.14 .90 .68 ..68 .68 .67 .55 .68 .66 .61 1.29 .82 .91 .77 .77 .93 1.02 .85 (3) .94 (3)1.09 1.23 1.03 $1.35 1.34 1.57 1.72 1.27 1.55 (3) 1.35 1.03 1.37 (3) (3)1.25 1.13 1.23 1.84 1.35 1.57 (3)1.33 (3)1.55 1.34 1.24 1.41 1.57 (3)1.63 1.62 $1.07 1.04 1.07 1.39 1.11 (3)1.16 .91 .68 .91 (2) (3) (3) (3)1.06 1.57 1.06 (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) 1.10 1.15 (3) (3) (3) (3) $0.93 .93 .95 1.26 .93 1.11 .91 .69 .67 .69 .60 .54 .68 .67 .57 1.29 .82 .96 .83 .89 .92 1.02 .88 .83 .93 1.15 1.16 1.25 1.19 Watch men $0.95 .90 .90 1.31 .94 1.12 .93 .70 .57 .71 .71 .60 .71 .62 .62 1.01 .88 .91 .80 .89 1.02 1.02 .87 .73 .87 (3)1.06 . 1.22 1.06 * Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average. Window washers (3)$1.20 (3) (3) (3) 1.26 (3) .65 (3) .71 .67 (3) (3) (3) .65 1.65 1.01 1.19 (3) (3) (3) 1.40 (3) (3) 1.20 1.68 (*) 1.84 1.44 Power Laundries: Earnings in June 19491 T he level of earnings for women workers employed on flatwork-finishing machines in June 1.949 ranged from 37 cents to 99 cents an hour among 32 cities included in a study of wages in the power-laundry industry, by the United States Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.23 In 15 cities, earnings in this occupation averaged less than 65 cents an hour; in 7 cities, the average was less than 50 cents (table 1). Among other women’s jobs studied, bundle wrappers typically averaged a few cents more than flatwork-fmishing machine operatives, and, in about two-thirds of the cities, shirt pressers (machine), who were i Prepared by Louis E. Badenhoop of the Bureau’s Division of Wage Sta tistics. Field representatives of the Bureau obtained the data from com pany records and classified workers on the basis of uniform job descriptions. Greater detail on wages and wage practices for each of the 32 cities included in the study is available on request. 3 Hourly earnings include incentive pay but exclude premium pay for over time and night work. Approximately 106,000 workers were employed in power laundries in the 32 cities in June 1949, exclusive of establishments with less than 21 workers, which were not included in the study. paid predominantly on an incentive basis in most cities, averaged at least 10 cents more than the flatwork-finishing operators. Earnings of women retail receiving clerks ranged from 54 cents to $1.15 an hour. Men washing-machine operators had hourly earnings ranging from 75 cents to $1.56, and averaged $1 or more in 21 cities. For extractor operators in a majority of the cities, averages were recorded ranging from 15 to 25 cents an hour less than those of washing-machine operators. Earn ings of retail routemen (table 2) ranged among 30 cities from $57.62 to $95.23, on a weekly basis, with commissions. In half the cities, averages for these employees ranged from $68 to $75. Pacific Coast cities included in the study (Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle) bad the highest earnings levels. Those of women were above 90 cents an hour in each of these cities, with the exception of an 83-cent level for flatwork finishers in Los Angeles. Among men’s jobs, only extractor operators in Los Angeles and Portland averaged less than $1.25. Earnings levels were generally lowest in 7 cities surveyed in the South east and Southwest (Atlanta, Birmingham, Dallas, T a b l e 1.— Straight time average hourly earnings 1 for selected occupations in power laundries in 32 cities , June 1949 Women Men City Atlanta........ ......................... ............................... -..........Baltimore---------------------- ----------- -------- -- - --Birmingham------- --------------------------------------- ------Boston.......................................... ....................................... Buffalo.............................................................................. Chicago.----- ----------------------- ----------- -------- -------Cincinnati........... .............-......... ........................-......... Cleveland........................... ......... ...................................... Dallas_______________ __________ _________ _____Denver_____________________ _______________ Detroit_______________ _________________ _______ Houston-------------------------------------------------------Indianapolis. ...................................................................... J acksonville------------------- ----------- ----------------------Kansas City...................................................................... Los Angeles.................................................. -......... -........ Louisville......... ................................ -................................ Memphis............................................................................ Milwaukee............... .......... ......... .........................-.......... Minneapolis-St. Paul......................................................... Newark-Jersey C ity...----- ---------- -----------------------New York............. ............................................................. Philadelphia................................................ .................... Pittsburgh......................................................................... Portland, Oreg............................................................ ........ Providence------------------------------------- -----------------Richmond--------------- ----------------------------------------St. Louis-------------- ----------------------- --------- -........... San Francisco...................................................................... Seattle___________________________ __________ Toledo-------- ---------------------------------------------------Washington....... ................. ......................... .................... Firemen, Washers, Clerks, Finishers, Extractor stationary flatwork Markers retail operators boilers machine receiving machine $0.69 .76 .61 .97 .96 1.09 .80 .86 .71 .81 1.01 .76 .91 .69 .75 1.11 .80 .66 1.01 .96 .97 1.09 .84 .93 1.23 .82 .68 .81 1.35 1.39 1.03 .81 $0.70 1.01 .65 1.09 1.06 1.25 1.26 1.14 (*) .98 1. 41 .95 .97 .83 1.23 (*) 1.10 (*)1.28 1.10 1.31 1. 58 1.12 1.27 1. 79 1.05 .80 .86 <*)1.72 1.26 .85 $0.59 .62 .54 .73 .75 (s) .67 .84 .64 .64 .84 .62 .73 .64 .78 .95 .63 .59 .72 .76 (*) (2) .80 . 7i 1. 01 .69 .65 .67 1.10 1.15 (’) .76 $0.39 .55 .37 .67 .71 .75 .69 .68 .44 .59 .75 .43 .64 .39 .55 .83 .59 .42 .73 .72 .72 .77 .64 .67 .91 .67 .47 .56 .99 .94 .79 .64 $0. 54 .57 .52 .68 .75 .88 .71 .75 .60 .69 .85 .63 .75 .57 .64 1.00 .66 .50 .79 .77 .88 .85 .72 .75 .95 .86 .47 .66 1.17 1.09 .82 .75 $0.50 .63 .48 .87 .82 .98 .73 .85 .55 .65 .92 .55 .72 . 45 .62 .97 .74 .48 .79 .78 .88 .92 .77 .77 .94 .96 .59 .69 1.09 .97 .83 .72 3Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average. i Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. $0.80 .98 .79 1.06 1.02 1.29 .99 1.05 .90 1.00 1.26 1.02 1.12 .85 .83 1.26 1.08 .75 1.25 1.09 1.10 1.37 1.06 1.13 1.41 1.13 .75 .99 1. 42 1.56 1.39 .96 Pressers, Wrappers, shirt, machine bundle 11 $0.41 .55 .37 .69 .71 .78 .73 .64 .50 .65 .77 .52 .73 .42 .56 .95 .58 .42 .74 .74 .77 .82 .68 .68 .93 .82 .46 .59 1.15 (2) .86 .64 12 Houston, Jacksonville, Memphis, and Richmond). In each of these cities, women flatwork finishers averaged under 50 cents an hour. The wage ad vantage held by receiving clerks and markers over flatwork finishers was noticeably greater in south ern cities than in most other cities studied. Re ceiving clerks, for example, in the South, averaged T able 2.— Average weekly earnings of retail routemen em ployed by power laundries in SO cities x June 1949 City Aver age weekly earn ingsi City Average weekly earn ings $64.53 Memphis..................... $63.09 Atlanta......... 83.43 Milwaukee___ _____ 68.79 Baltimore__ 72.99 Minneapolis-St. Paul. 69.82 Boston.......... 72.85 Newark-Jersey C ity78.71 Buffalo......... 72.38 New York........ ......... 94.89 Chicago....... 74.88 Philadelphia.............. 74.46 Cincinnati. . 74.74 Pittsburgh................. 75.43 Cleveland... 74.77 Portland, Oreg........... 57.62 Dallas......... 59.21 Providence................. 60.63 Denver........ 71.32 Richmond_________ 95.23 Detroit........ 68.59 St. Louis..................... 68.85 Indianapolis 80.39 San Francisco............ 62.44 Jacksonville. 77.01 Seattle....... ..........— 75.19 Kansas City. 80.97 Toledo........................ 72.73 Los Angeles. 73.66 Washington............... 71.87 Louisville—. i Insufficient data to justify presentation of averages for Birmingham and Houston. 38 percent or more above the pay level of flatwork finishers; the wage advantages held by this clerical group in Boston, Detroit, and San Francisco, amounted to only 9, 12, and 11 percent, respectively. A comparison of June 1949 data with those of a similar Bureau study made in July 1948 3 showed that increases had occurred in more than twothirds of the occupational averages. About half of the increases amounted to less than 5 percent, and a large majority of the others were under 10 percent. Almost a third of the job averages remained unchanged or showed slight declines over the period. Scheduled weekly hours varied considerably among the plants studied. The most common workweek—40 hours— was reported by approxi mately two-fifths of the establishments. Although schedules in other laundries usually exceeded 40 hours, relatively fe w reported 48 or more. Sched ules tended to be longer in the larger laundries. Portland, Oreg., San Francisco, and Seattle were the only cities which had 40-hour schedules in all the laundries that were visited. Formal provisions for paid vacations had been established by all but about an eighth of the laundries. After a year of service, practically all laundry workers in establishments with such pro visions were allowed 1 week off with pay. After 5 years of service, 2 weeks were granted by about three-fifths of these establishments. Paid holidays were granted to plant workers in about three-fourths of the 508 laundries studied. The number allowed in a year varied from 1 to 9; about two-fifths of the plants provided 6 paid holidays. Women’s Coats and Suits: Earnings in September 1949 1 in Los Angeles. The earnings of section system operators ranged from $1.23 in St. Louis to $2.29 in Los Angeles and were from 5 cents to $1.24 below the wage levels of single-hand (tailor) system operators in cities having both types of sewing-machine work. Earnings levels for finish hand sewers, numer ically the largest single group of workers in the industry, were $1.50 or more an hour in half of the areas studied. These workers averaged as low as $1.04 in Kansas City and $1.17 in St. Louis, and as high as $2.02 in Los Angeles and $2.13 in New York. Cutters and markers, and pressers, predom inantly men workers, were among the highest paid in the industry. Earnings of cutters and markers exceeded $2.00 an hour in 9 of the 12 cities, and ranged from $1.56 in Kansas City to $3.34 in Los Angeles. On pressing operations, earnings were above $2.00 in 6 of 11 cities for hand pressers, in 9 of 11 cities for machine pressers, and in 9 of 10 A verage earnings of workers engaged in manu facturing women’s coats and suits 2 amounted to more than $1.50 an hour3 in 11 of 12 leading gar ment centers, in September 1949. Hourly earn ings, on the average, ranged from $1.17 in Kansas City to $2.60 in Los Angeles. New York and Chicago, with averages of $2.27 and $2.05, re spectively, were the only cities beside Los Angeles in which average earnings exceeded $2.00 an hour. Men workers, who constituted almost half of the labor force, earned considerably more than women workers. In 11 cities, the differences between the two groups ranged from 52 cents in Baltimore to $1.45 in Los Angeles. In Kansas City, which had the smallest proportion of men workers (15 per cent), they earned, on the average, 22 cents an hour more than women. M en’s earnings aver aged at least $2.00 an hour in 9 of the 12 cities studied; average earnings of women were $1.50 or more in 7 cities, but in no city exceeded $1.95 an hour. cities for workers who performed both hand and machine pressing. In 4 of the 9 cities having all of the three categories of pressing, average earn ings were highest for the third group. Earnings of thread trimmers were lowest of all jobs studied in each locality except Kansas City. Average earnings ranged from 66 cents in St. Louis to $1.19 in Newark-Jersey City. Of the 61,000 workers engaged in the manufac ture of women’s coats and suits in the 12 cities in September 1949, 37,000 were employed in New York City and an additional 9,000 in the adjacent areas of Newark-Jersey City and Paterson. Earn ings levels in New York City were above $2 an hour for all occupations studied except that of thread trimmers in which the average was 98 cents. New York City earnings were typically higher in regular shops than in contract shops. Average earnings of workers in Newark-Jersey City and Paterson, who were primarily employed in contract shops, were generally below those of contract shop workers in New York City. Of the. other cities studied, occupational averages in Los Angeles were among the highest and in Kansas City among the lowest. Comparisons of earnings in September 1949 with those reported in a similar study in July 1946 showed increases averaging over 10 percent for workers in half of the 12 cities. A slight de cline of earnings in one city did not reflect a reduc Sewing-machine operators classified in two major groups—section system and single-hand (tailor) system—accounted for almost 40 per cent of the total plant employment in the cities studied. Under the section system, an operator usually specializes in a limited number of opera tions, and under the single-hand system he per forms all standard sewing-machine operations, either alone or paired with another worker in a team. Earnings of the single-hand (tailor) sys tem operators, found in all cities except Kansas City, averaged under $2.00 an hour in Paterson, N. J., and Newark-Jersey City ($1.67 and $1.99 respectively). In the other cities, average earn ings varied from $2.10 in San Francisco to $3.29 1By Charles Rubenstein of the Bureau’s Division of Wage Statistics. Data were collected by field representatives under the direction of the Bu reau’s regional wage analysts. More detailed information on wages and related practices for each of the cities studied is available on request. 2 The industry as defined for this study includes regular and contract shops employing 8 or more workers and producing women’s coats (except fur coats) or suits. Also included are jobbing establishments employing 4 or more workers and operating cutting rooms or performing other parts of the opera tions in the manufacture of women’s coats or suits. Shops primarily engaged in producing skirts are excluded, except for contract shops producing skirts for suit manufacturers or jobbers. 3 Earnings data exclude premium pay for overtime and night work. 13 14 tion in wage rates, but probably resulted from changes in work flow and other related factors under incentive methods of wage payment. agreements, employers in most of the cities studied made contributions, based on a fixed per centage of their pay rolls, to a union-administered health and welfare fund, from which vacation pay ments were made to union workers. The amounts of contribution and the conditions of eligibility for vacation payments varied. In New York City, Newark-Jersey City, and Paterson, em ployers contributed 3 percent of their weekly pay rolls for workers covered by the union agree ments. Workers with 6 months’ union member ship became eligible for vacation-pay benefits, and after a year’s service received amounts rang ing from $35 to $50 ($60 maximum in New York City), depending upon their occupations. In some cities, the distribution of vacation pay was based on a fixed percentage of the worker’s annual earnings. Other benefits, such as sick and death benefits and hospitalization, were also disbursed from the union health and welfare funds. Related Wage Practices A large majority of the plant workers in the cities studied were covered by agreements with the In ternational Ladies’ Garment Workers Union of America (AFL). Provisions in union agreements on paid holidays and vacation pay differed among the areas studied. In New York City and in New Jersey cities, paid holidays were granted to time workers only. Other cities in which union agreements did not specify paid holidays for incentive workers were Chicago, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. Time workers in these cities were granted 4, 3, and 5 paid holidays, respectively. Union agreements in San Francisco stipulated one paid holiday for incentive workers and tw o for time workers. Pro visions in other cities were identical for time and incentive workers, and ranged from three paid holidays in Boston to six in Baltimore. In Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, and St. Louis, workers were granted paid vacations di rectly by the employers and received 1 week with pay after 1 year of service. In accordance with the terms of the union Straight-time average hourly earnings,1 selected occupations in manufacture of women’s coats and suits, in selected areas, September 1949 Occupation and sex Balti Bos Chi Cleve more ton cago land, Ohio New York Kan Los New arkPater Phila St. Sansas An Jersey del Louis FranCity, geles Citv, All Con Regu N.son,J.2 phia cisco lar Mo. tract N. j.2 shops shops shops3 A ll plant occupations All workers..........-.................................................... $1.69 $1.86 $2.05 $1.87 $1.17 $2.60 $1.80 $2.27 $2.13 $2. 51 $1.52 $1.85 $1.52 $1.84 M en.......................................................... ......... 1.99 2.14 2.64 2.42 1.36 3.40 2.18 2.54 2.43 2.69 2.03 2.29 1.95 2.72 W omen.......................................................... . 1.47 1.41 1.51 1.53 1.14 1.95 1.60 1.91 1.85 2.10 1.34 1.50 1.27 1.60 Selected plant occupations Cutters and markers................................................. Men................................................................... W om en._______ ______________________ Inspectors, final (examiners)__________________ M en__________________________________ Women __________________________ ____ Pressers, hand . ________________________ Men ____ . ___ ____________________ Wome^ - ____ _______________ _________ Pressers. " a.chine _ _______________________ M en__________________________________ Women ___________ ___________________ Pressers, hand and machine. ________________ Men ________________________________ Women______ _______________ _________ Sewers, hand (finishers)------------------------ -----Men....................................................... ............. Women............................................................... Sewing-machine operators, section system ............ Men_____________________ _____________ Women............................................................ Sewing-machine operators, single-hand (tailor) sys tem.............................. ......................................... Men__________________________________ Women.._______ ________________________ Thread trimmers (cleaners) __________________ Men.................................................................... Women__________ _____ _______________ 1.95 1.95 1.14 1.51 1.02 2.13 (4) (4) 2.57 2.57 1.51 (*) (*) 1.56 1.50 1.56 2.80 3.20 2.16 .71 .71 2.39 2.54 2.49 2.39 2.54 2.49 ______ 1.00 1.76 (4) (4) (4) (4) 1.94 3.53 2.29 1.94 3.53 (4) (4) 2.37 2.87 2.48 2.37 2.87 2.48 2.62 2.89 2.53 2.62 (4) 2.53 (4) 1.58 1.75 1.43 1.74 1.92 (4) 1.57 1.73 (4) 2.18 2.47 1.96 2.22 2.84 2.83 (4) 3.16 2.87 2.24 (4) 2.02 .91 .89 .91 .89 1 Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. * Industry primarily composed of contract shops. Regular shops are pre dominant in other areas except New York. 1.56 1.74 .98 .88 .88 1.22 (4) (4) 1.65 1.72 1.27 3.34 (4) (4) 1.26 2.16 1.07 4.23 4.23 1.04 2.02 (4) (0 (4) (4) 1.32 2.29 (4) (4) (4) (4) 3.29 3.58 2.60 i. i3 .84 1.13 .84 2.81 2.81 I. 72 1.96 1.44 2.40 (4) (4) 2. 20 2.20 2.18 2.18 1.63 2.10 1.59 1.86 2.36 1.76 1.99 2.58 1.68 1.19 1.19 2.95 2.95 2.07 2. 27 1. 40 2.75 (4) (4) 2.86 (4) (4) 3.19 3.19 2.13 2.44 2.04 2. 09 2.39 1.95 2.68 2. 78 2. 25 .98 1.26 .97 2.93 2.93 1.86 2.18 1.33 2. 57 (4) (4) 2. 73 2. 73 3.01 3.01 1.99 2. 31 1.93 2.07 2.39 1.92 2.47 2.55 2.23 .98 (4) (4) 2.96 2.96 2.29 (4) (4) 3.16 3.16 3.59 (4) (4) 3.36 3.36 2 34 2. 53 2.24 2.23 2.40 2.14 3.01 3. 04 2.39 .98 (4) (4) 2. 53 2.53 L 52 1.87 1. 27 2.14 (4) (4) 2.47 2.47 1.75 1. 75 1.33 (4) (4) 1.62 2. 31 1.49 1.67 (4) (4) .94 .94 2.50 2.50 1*48 (4) (4) 1.90 1.90 3.11 3.11 2.72 (4) (4) 1.47 1.75 1.46 1.95 2.93 1. 73 2.41 (4) (4).80 1.76 (4) (O 1.00 1.00 1.84 (4) (4) 1.97 (4) (4) 2.23 2. 23 " l.l7 1.30 1.16 1.23 (4) (4) 2. 20 2.54 1.92 .66 .80 .66 2.78 (4) (4)1.24 1. 24 1.77 1.96 1. 68 2.92 2. 95 2. 79 (4)2 63 (4) 1.47 (4) (4) 2.10 2. 97 1.96 3 Includes jobbing establishments performing cutting operations, in addi tion to those performing all manufacturing operations. * Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average. Wood and Upholstered Furniture: Earnings in September 19491 tion of increases than declines for all areas com bined; however, relatively few of these changes were greater than 5 percent. September 1949 averages2 for wood-furniture plant workers among 10 areas ranged from 88 cents an hour in the Winston-Salem-High Point, N . C., area to $1.45 in Los Angeles (table 1). Other southern areas had slightly higher averages, with 90 cents in Martinsville, Va., and 92 cents in Morganton-Lenoir, N . C. Wage levels were similar in Chicago, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Rockford, 111.; although they were next in rank to Los Angeles, the averages were considerably lower. The Jamestown, N . Y ., average was $1.17— about 10 cents above the area levels of Jasper-Tell City, Ind., and Firchburg-Gardner, Mass. Plants producing upholstered furniture, which employed a high proportion of skilled workers, had averages in 4 areas ranging from $1.04 in Winston-Salem-High Point to $2.02 in New York (table 2). Since plant workers in both branches of the industry were predominantly men, their earnings in each area were comparable to the all-worker averages. Women’s earnings were, typically, con siderably lower than men’s earnings in most of the areas. Only in Los Angeles and Jasper-Tell City C omparatively little change occurred in the level of hourly earnings in the furniture industry between September 1948 and September 1949. Studies made by the U. S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that among 10 leading wood-furniture production areas, differ ences between wage levels for the 2 periods ranged from a decline of less than 1 percent in the JasperTell City, Ind., area to an increase of 4.8 percent in the Fitchburg-Gardner, Mass., area. Among 4 upholstered-furniture centers, increases in plantworker wage averages ranged from 1 percent in New York to 3.5 percent in Chicago. In selected occupations, changes in average earnings in both branches of the industry showed a greater propor- 1 By Louis E. Badenhoop of the Bureau’s Division of Wage Statistics. Data were obtained from company records by Bureau field representatives who classified the workers on the basis of uniform job descriptions. These studies included plants with 21 or more workers in the wood household and office furniture industry, and plants with 8 or more workers in the uphol stered furniture industry. Greater detail on wages and wage practices for each area surveyed is available on request. *Average earnings include incentive payments but exclude premium pay for overtime and night work. T a b le 1 .— Wood-furniture establishments: Straight-time average hourly earnings 1 in selected areas, September 1949 Occupation and sex A l l p lant occu p a tion s 3 All workers_____ ________ ______ _____ _____ Men................................... ................................. Women...................... ............................___.......... Selected plant occupations Men: Assemblers, case goods________________ ____ Assemblers, chairs_______ _____________ •___ Cut-off saw operators................._....................... Gluers, rough stock.............................................. Maintenance men, general utility____ _____ Off-bearers, machine........................................... Packers, furniture..... ............................. ......... Rubbers, hand.................... ............................ Sanders, belt_____ _______ _______________ Sanders, hand........ ............................................. Shaper operators, hand, set-up and operate___ Sprayers_________ _______ ______________ Women: Off-bearers, machine.......................................... Sanders, hand........................ ............................. Women: Bookkeepers, hand_______________ _______ _ Clerk-typists.................................... ......... ........ Stenographers, general........................................ WinstonFitch Grand James JasperRock SalemLos Martins Morgan tonChicago, burg- Rapids, Tell Angeles, town, ville, ford, High 111. Gardner, Mich.3 N. Y. City, Calif. Va. Lenoir, 111.3 Point, N. C. Ind. Mass. N. C. $1.23 1.25 1.01 $1.09 1.11 .98 $1.20 1.24 .99 $1.17 1.20 .98 $1.07 1.07 1.02 $1.45 1.45 1.40 1.40 1.30 1.13 1.36 1.00 1.19 1.19 1.35 1.18 1.44 1.37 1.15 1.17 1.16 1.04 1.19 1.20 .89 ,98 1.20 1.22 1.12 1.17 1.34 .78 1.09 1.41 1.34 1.28 1.17 1.38 .91 1.18 1.31 1.40 1.14 1.37 1.39 .92 1.00 1.41 1.57 1.26 1.13 1.25 .95 1.10 1.42 1.31 1.24 1.34 1.44 .90 .86 1.19 1.13 1.10 1.05 1.08 1.01 1.06 1.17 1.10 1.12 1.12 1.13 1.08 1.02 1.42 1.45 1.58 1.39 1.68 1.19 1.37 1.41 1.48 1.26 1.68 1.59 <4)1.27 1.32 1.01 1.18 1.09 .79 .91 1.33 .86 1.18 (4).75 .97 1.17 .82 .86 1.57 1.02 1.27 (4) (4) $0.90 .90 .72 $0.92 .92 .75 $1.23 1.29 .98 $0.88 .89 .81 .99 (4) (4)1.10 .77 .83 .84 1.03 .84 1.04 .95 .97 1.00 1.09 .92 1.09 .78 .85 .85 1.02 .85 1.06 1.38 (4>1.29 1.15 1.34 .96 1.14 1. 26 1.42 1.27' 1.50 1.45 .92 .90 .95 .85 1.12 .78 .83 .83 .93 .80 1.02 1.03 (4) .81 1.02 (4) 1.09 ' .78 1.03 (4) .99 .73 (4) (4) (4) (4)1.00 1.21 (4) (4)1.01 (4) .95 Selected office occupations 1 Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. * Earnings data presented for Grand Rapids and Rockford are based upon September 1948 surveys adjusted to September 1949 on the basis of general v/age changes in identical plants. (*) 3 Includes other occupations in addition to selected plant occupations shown separately. 4 Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average. 15 16 wood-furniture plants were their average hourly earnings within 5 cents of the average for men. Individual workers in both branches of the industry rarely earned less than 75 cents an hour, except in southern areas. There the proportion of wood-furniture plant workers below the 75-cent level varied from about 6 percent in MorgantonLenoir to nearly 13 percent in Winston-SalemHigh Point. Approximately 15 percent of the upholstered-furniture plant workers in the latter area earned less than 75 cents. Rankings of average earnings in selected occu pations generally were similar to those of the gen eral levels for all plant workers, in respective areas. T able 2.— Upholstered-furniture establishments: Straighttime average hourly earnings 1 in selected areast September 1949 Occupation and sex WinstonAn New SalemChicago, Los High geles, ID. Calif. York, N. Y. Point, N. C. Allplantoccupations* All workers_____________________ $1.46 Men_______________________ 1.49 Women____________________ 1.26 Selectedplantoccupations Men: 1.34 Cut-off saw operators_________ Cutters, cover_______________ 1.70 Frame makers_____ _________ 1.47 Gluers, rough stock----- ----------- 1.26 Maintenance men, general utility. 1.37 Packers, furniture______ _____ 1.27 Upholsterers, chairs...................... (3) 1.82 Upholsterers, complete work___ Upholsterers, section work_____ 1.89 Women: Cutters, cover----------------------Sewers, cover________________ (3)1.29 Selectedofficeoccupations Women: Bookkeepers, hand___________ 1.20 1.02 Clerk-typists________ ______ 1.24 Stenographers, general________ $1.66 1.70 1.41 $2.02 2.02 1.80 $1.04 1.06 .88 1.63 1.94 1.60 1.56 (3) 1.41 (3)2.23 1.98 1.70 1.46 1.81 2.53 1.95 1.55 (3) 1.60 (3) 2.45 2.38 (3)1.98 .96 1.38 .97 .94 1.26 .86 1.27 1.47 1.38 1.03 .96 1.38 1.11 1.18 1.51 l3) (3) 1.15 .81 (3) 1Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. *Includes other occupations in addition to the selected occupations shown separately. * Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average. In Los Angeles wood-furniture plants, men’s earn ings in 12 occupations ranged from $1.19 for offbearers to $1.68 for both shaper operators and general maintenance men. In Chicago, off-bear ers and shaper operators averaged $1.00 and $1.44, and in Winston-Salem-High Point, 78 cents and $1.02, respectively. Women employed as hand sanders had the lowest earnings in MorgantonLenoir, with a 73-cent level, compared to $1.15 in Chicago and $1.27 in Los Angeles. In Los An geles and Winston-Salem-High Point, women earned 1 cent more than men in that job. The ranking of areas differed for some occupational averages because of varying proportions of in centive-paid workers, whose earnings in most comparisons were substantially above those of time workers. For instance, in Jamestown, where a high proportion of the men hand rubbers, sand ers, and sprayers were paid incentive rates, earn ings were higher than in Chicago, where most of these workers were paid time rates. Earnings of general maintenance men also tended to compare more favorably in the South with earnings in other areas than did earnings of production workers. The same was apparent as to office workers’ earn ings in southern areas, in the limited number of comparisons that could be made. In upholstered-furniture plant jobs, earnings for men cover cutters in New York were highest, averaging $2.53 an hour. Upholsterers of com plete suites, numerically the largest group, and among the highest paid, averaged $2.45 in New York, $2.23 in Los Angeles, $1.82 in Chicago, and $1.47 in Winston-Salem-High Point. More than half the women in these plants were employed as cover sewers, whose earnings ranged from 96 cents in the North Carolina area to $1.98 in New York. Related W age Practices The scheduled workweek was 40 hours in more than half the wood-furniture plants surveyed in September 1949.3 Schedules were usually longer in the other plants, ranging from 44 to 52}i hours, with 45 the most common. Upholstered-furni ture plants usually had schedules of 40 hours, except for about three-fourths of the New York plants that had a 35-hour workweek. Paid vacations were granted to plant workers with a year of service, in practically all wood- and upholstered-furniture plants studied, with the exception of a number of those in the two North Carolina areas. The same policy existed, how ever, in approximately half of the wood-furniture plants in the Morganton-Lenoir and WinstonSalem-High Point areas, and in almost a third of the upholstered-furniture plants in the latter area. Plant workers were typically granted 1 week in areas other than New York. Half of the upholstered-furniture plants in New York allowed 2 weeks. Office workers with a year of service * For Grand Rapids and Rockford, September 1949 data on hours and related wage practices were not obtained. 17 were provided vacations with pay in most plants in all areas. Frequently they received longer vacations than those provided for plant workers; 2 weeks were granted them by more than half the upholstered-furniture plants studied and by slightly less than half the wood-furniture plants. Paid holidays were provided for plant workers in approximately two-fifths of the wood-furniture plants and in nearly three-fourths of the uphol stered-furniture plants. Chicago, Los Angeles, and Morganton-Lenoir were the only areas in which more than half the wood-furniture plants had this provision. The number of days granted to these workers varied considerably; Chicago had the high est number of wood-furniture plants granting as many as 6 days, whereas New York upholsteredfurniture plants had the most liberal policy, a ma jority providing 9 days. Office workers in most New York upholstered-furniture plants were pro vided between 7 and 12 paid holidays. In other areas covered they usually were granted either 5 or 6 days, in both branches of the industry. Group insurance plans covering plant workers, supported entirely or in part by the employers, were reported by approximately four out of five of the wood- and upholstered-furniture plants studied. Office workers also were covered by many of these plans, which typically included life insurance and various sickness and accident bene fits. Group plans, provided through a unionsponsored health and insurance fund, covering plant workers were reported by nearly all the upholstered-furniture plants studied in Chicago and New York, and in about half of these plants in Los Angeles. Employer payments to the union fund, commonly equal to 3 percent of the plantworker pay roll, covered the entire cost of this insurance. A small proportion of the woodfurniture plants also had this type of plan, in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Jasper-Tell City. Hosiery Manufacture: A scheduled workweek of 40 hours, in October 1949, was reported for virtually all the seamless hosiery mills and for about seven-eighths of those producing full-fashioned hosiery. Paid vacations of 1 week after 1 year of service were granted to mill workers by 68 of the 79 full-fashioned hosiery mills; in 38 of these establishments, 2 weeks' vacation with pay was provided after 5 years' service. Slightly more than half of the seamless hosiery mills studied (36 of 66) provided paid vacations for mill workers, typically 1 week after a year of service; in 14 mills, however, workers with 5 years of service received 2-week vacations. Paid holidays, usually five in number, were re ported for millworkers in 34 of the 79 fullfashioned hosiery mills; only 2 of the 66 seamlesshosiery mills provided paid holidays for millworkers. Holiday and vacation provisions for office workers were generally more liberal than for millworkers. All except 4 of the full-fashioned hosiery mills operated a second shift during the period studied; 35 granted extra pay for such work, typically 5 cents an hour. Premium pay for third or other shift work was also provided in 28 of the 53 mills operating more than two shifts. About ninetenths of the seamless-hosiery mills were reported as operating a second shift; in 8 establishments premium pay was received for such work. Extra pay was reported for 9 of the 40 mills operating third or other shifts. Comparisons of hourly earnings in October 1949 with those reported in a similar study in October 1948 indicate relatively little change, other than such variations as may be considered typical in an industry in which a large proportion of the workers are paid on an incentive basis. Incentive workers' earnings usually fluctuate from period to period in the absence of rate changes. They are affected by changes in individual effort, production flows, quality variations in materials, and other factors. Occupational averages in both full-fashioned hosiery and seamless-hosiery mills showed decreases as well as increases. For almost half of the full-fashioned hosiery occupations and about three-fourths of the seamless-hosiery jobs, changes in area job averages amounted to less than 4 percent. Earnings in October 19491 E arnings in full-fashioned hosiery mills in October 1949 were generally higher than in seamless hosiery mills. The two branches of the industry differ widely with respect to a num ber of factors which have a marked influence on their wage structures. Full-fashioned hosiery establishments are located to a greater extent in larger cities, and employ, on the average, larger numbers of workers than seamless hosiery mills. Full-fashioned ho siery is made principally for women and generally involves the use of more costly materials (prin cipally nylon). Greater skill is required in its processing. (The use in the accompanying tables of the same job titles for the two branches of the industry does not imply exact comparability.) Unionization is somewhat more prevalent in fullfashioned mills, although comparatively few mills in the South in either branch of the industry were unionized at the time of the Bureau's most recent study.2 Approximately two-thirds of the workers in the selected full-fashioned hosiery occupations were women; the percentage was slightly higher (about 71 percent) in seamless hosiery occupations. M ost knitters in full-fashioned hosiery mills were men, but a majority of the seamless-hosiery knitters, in 3 of the 5 areas studied, were women. About three-fourths of the mill workers in both full-fashioned and seamless hosiery mills were paid on an incentive basis. Knitting-machine adjust ers and fixers constituted the only selected occu pation for which pay was predominantly on a time-rate basis.* levels 1 By Fred W. Mohr of the Bureau’s Division of Wage Statistics. Data were collected by field representatives under direction of the Bureau’s re gional wage analysts. Greater detail on wages and wage practices for each area included in the study is available on request. * In the occupational study, the number of areas covered, and estimated employment in these areas in October 1949, were: Full-fashioned hosiery, 5 areas, 29,000 workers;, men’s seamless hosiery, 3 areas, 12,000 workers; and children’s seamless hosiery, 2 areas, 3,400 workers. Mills employing fewer than 21 workers were excluded from the study. A supplementary study was made to provide a distribution of hourly earn ings irrespective of occupation, in men’s seamless hosiery mills employing 21 or more workers. Eighty-four of the estimated 203 plants in the industry (accounting for 60 percent of the total employment) were covered. 18 19 Full-Fashioned Hosiery Occupational averages of the full-fashioned hosiery mill jobs for which comparisons could be made, were generally highest in Reading and lowest in the Hickory-Statesville area. Earnings in Philadelphia usually ranked next to those in Reading;' men's average earnings were typically higher in Charlotte than in Burlington-Greensboro, but for a majority of the selected women's occupations the relationship was reversed in those two areas. 1 T able .— Straight-time average hourly earnings 1 for selected occupations in the full-fashioned, hosiery industry in selected areas, October 1949 Occupation and sex Burling- Char Hickorytonlotte, StatesGreens- N .C . ville, boro, N. C. N. C. Phila Read del phia, ing, Pa, Pa. Plant occupations: M en Adjusters and fixers, knitting ma chine (4 years’ experience or more). Boarders, machine_____ ___________ Knitters, single-unit or backrack: 42 gage, 24 sections or less______ 45 gage,. 24 sections or less........... 45 gage, 26 sections or more_____ 51 gage, 24 sections or less.......... 51 gage, 26 sections or more....... . 60 gage, 26 sections or more......... Preboarders______________________ $1.98 $2.13 1.22 (?) $1.79 (2) $1.80 1.54 $1.96 1.77 (2) 1.73 (2) 1.85 2.19 (2) 1.30 (2) (2) 2.09 1.90 2.18 (2) 1.42 (2) 1.36 (2) 1.73 2.09 (2) 1.28 (2) 2.08 2.32 2.25 2.81 (2) 1.45 2.13 2.38 (2) 2.19 (2) 2.71 1.48 1.31 1.10 1.13 1.21 .97 1.11 1.23 .87 .95 1.60 1.07 .96 1.72 1.23 1.15 1.31 1.17 1.01 (2) 1.16 1.24 (2) 1.08 1.24 1.22 1.15 1.15 .93 (2) 1.03 1.34 1.25 X. 14 1.50 1.22 1.41 1.31 1.20 1.42 1.33 1.01 (2) 1.08 1.07 (») (2) .96 (2) 1.00 1.01 .94 1.14 1.00 .85 1.08 Plant occupations: Women Boarders, machine......... ................... Folders............................................... Inspectors, hosiery......... ................... Loopers, toe only (1 year’s experi ence or more)...... ............... .......... Menders, hand................................... Pairers--------------------------------- -----Preboarders...................................... Seamers------------------------------------- - the lowest-paid among the selected men's occupa tions in four of the five areas—ranged from $1.28 in Hickory-Statesville to $1.48 in Reading. Women seamers, the largest group studied in most areas, averaged $1.03 in Hickory-Statesville, $1.16 in Burlington-Greensboro, $1.22 in both Charlotte and Philadephia, and $1.33 in Reading. Pairers had the lowest average hourly earnings among the mill jobs studied in the BurlingtonGreensboro area ($1.01); folders, the lowest in Charlotte ($0.97) and in Hickory-Statesville ($0.87); inspectors had the lowest hourly averages in Philadelphia and Reading (96 cents and $1.15, respectively). In a majority of the areas, women machine boarders had the highest average earnings among the selected women's occupations, ranging from $1.21 in Charlotte to $1.72 in Reading. Seamless Hosiery Knitting machine adjusters and fixers were the highest-paid group of workers studied in seamlesshosiery mills in October 1949 (see table 2). Their average earnings ranged from $1.17 in children's hosiery mills in Chattanooga, Tenn., to $1.49 in men's hosiery mills in the Winston-Salem-High T a b l e 2 .— Straight-time average hourly ea rn in g s1 for selected occupations in the seamless hosiery industry in selected areas, October 1 949 Men’s hosiery Occupation and sex Office occupations: Women Clerks, p a y -r o l l____ ___ _________ Clerk-typists-------------------------------Stenographers, general_____ _______ 1 Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. 2 Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average. Hourly earnings of knitters of full-fashioned hosiery (on single-unit machines and those with back-rack attachments) varied in the five areas studied in October 1949. Men knitters, produc ing 45-gage hosiery, on machines having 24 sections or less, received average earnings of $1.36 in the Hickory-Statesville (N. C.) area, $1.73 in the Burlington-Greensboro (N. C.) area, $2.08 in Philadelphia, and $2.38 in Reading (Pa.). Knitters making 51-gage hosiery (26 sections or more) averaged $2.09, $2.18, and $2.19. in the three North Carolina areas, and $2.81 in Phila delphia. Average earnings of men preboarders— Children's hosiery W instonHickory- Read WinstonSalem- Chat SalemStates ta High High ing, ville, nooga, Pa. Point, Point, N. C. Tenn. N. C. N. C. Plant occupations: M en Adjusters and fixers, knitting machine (4 years’ experi ence or more)....................... Boarders, hand______ _____ _ Knitters, automatic............... $1.36 $1.28 .89 1.08 .87 .91 $1.49 1.10 1.08 $1.17 .90 (2) .75 (2) (2) .75 .71 .85 (2) .73 (2) .74 .82 (2) .72 .86 (2) (2) 1.00 (2) (2) .97 .90 1.00 1.04 (2) .77 (2) (2) .85 (2) (2) (2) .87 .81 .66 .73 .93 .80 .75 .99 .85 .87 .85 .76 .82 .97 .86 .93 .73 (2) .80 1.02 .93 .98 .93 .88 (2) $1.37 .94 .94 Plant occupations: Women Boarders, hand............. ......... Boxers_____________ _______ Folders_______________ ____ Folders and boxers 3- .......... . Inspectors, hosiery_________ Knitters, automatic________ Knitters, string____________ Knitters, transfer___________ Loopers, toe only (1 year’s ex-_ perience or more)_________ Menders, hand....................... Pairers................................... .79 (2) (2) (2) (2) 1 Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. 2 Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average. 3 Workers performing a combination job of folding and boxing. .86 .94 .69 .83 Office occupations: Women Clerks, pay-roll____ ________ Clerk-typists............... ........... Stenographers, general......... . .78 .79 (2) (2) (2) 2 0 Plant-worker earnings in the men’s seamlesshosiery industry averaged 89 cents hourly; nearly a third of the workers earned less than 75 cents. Women, representing about two-thirds of the workers in the men’s seamless-hosiery industry, and generally found in the less-skilled jobs, had average earnings of 82 cents an hour. About 83 percent of them earned less than $1 an hour, and about 40 percent earned less than 75 cents. Men averaged 22 cents more than women; over half of the men earned as much as $1 an hour. The Middle Atlantic and Southeast regions contained about three-fourths of the workers in the industry; the levels of wages paid to workers in the two regions differed very little. Plant workers averaged Q0 cents an hour in the Middle Atlantic region and 88 cents in the Southeast. Men averaged $1.06 in the Middle Atlantic region and $1.03 in the Southeast, and women 83 and 81 cents an hour, respectively. Point area of North Carolina. Men automatic knitters in men’s seamless hosiery mills earned, on the average, 87 cents an hour in Reading, and 91 cents in Hickory-Statesville. In WinstonSalem-High Point they averaged $1.08 in men’s hosiery mills and 94 cents in the children’s hosiery. Women loopers, the selected occupation which had the largest number of workers in both men’s and children’s hosiery mills, averaged 81 cents an hour in Hickory-Statesville, 85 cents in Chatta nooga,and 93 cents in Reading. In Winstoi>SalemHigh Point their averages were 94 cents in mills producing children’s hosiery and 99 cents in. those making men’s hosiery. Women operating auto matic knitting machines averaged from 1 to 8 cents an hour less than men operators in the same areas. Hand menders had average earnings ranging from 66 to 85 cents an hour, and were the lowest-paid group in each area except Reading where inspectors received the lowest average earnings. T able 3.— Percentage distribution o f plant workers in m en's seamless hosiery establishments by straight-time average hourly earnings 1 and sex, United States and selected regions, October 1 949 United States * Middle Atlantic Southeast Average hourly earnings1 All workers 40.0-42.4 cents.. 42.5-44.9 cents............... ............... ................. 45.0-47.4 cents........ ........................................ 47.5-49.9 cents____________________________ 50.0-52.4 cents.................. .............................. 52.5-54.9 cents____________________________ 55.0-57.4 cents............... .................................. 0.4 .1 .4 .2 2.0 .6 2.2 57.5-59.9 cents............ .................................. . 60.0-62.4 cents.......... ....................................... 62.5-64.9 cents....... .......................................... 65.0-67.4 cents.............................................. 67.5-69.9 cents....... ........................................... 70.0-72.4 cents____________ _______________ 72.5-74.9 cents............ ................................. Women Men (*) (3) All workers 1.7 .2 1.6 0.6 .1 .6 .3 2.2 .7 2.4 0.1 .3 .1 3.1 1.4 5.3 2.9 3.6 3.0 5.3 4.2 .3 ,2.4 .6 1.6 1.3 2.8 2.5 1.9 6.7 4.0 4.6 3.8 6.4 5.0 .7 8.5 3.4 5.1 3.8 4.4 2.4 75.0-77.4 cents....... ......................................... 77.5-79.9 cents......................... ........................ 80.0-84.9 cents....... ......................................... 85.0-89.9 cents.................................. .............. 90.0-94.9 cents......................... ............... ........ 95.0-99.9 cents.......... ........................ ...... ....... 100.0-104.9 cents............................................. 6.0 4.0 9.2 8.4 7.4 5.4 5.8 4.4 2.2 6.7 7.5 6.5 5.8 7.9 6.7 4.9 10.3 8.7 7.6 5.2 4.8 105.0-109.9 cents---------- ---------------- -----------110.0-114.9 cents....................................... . 115.0-119.9 ce n ts-............................................ 120.0-124.9 cents....... ........... .................... ...... 125.0-129.9 ce n ts-................. ................... — 130.0-134.9 cents............................................... 135.0-139.9 cents............................................... 4.1 3.5 2.6 2.2 2.2 1.5 1.4 4.9 5.5 4.0 4.3 5.0 3.1 3.7 140.0-144.9 cents............................................... 145.0-149.9 cents............................................... 150.0-159.9 cents............................................... 160.0-169.9 cents....... ............ ........... ............... 170.0-179.9 cents............................ ............ . 18ft ft-189 9 cents 190.0-199.9 cents_________ _ _______ 2flft ft cents and over 1.0 .6 1.4 .7 .5 .3 .1 .1 2.5 1.6 4.1 2.1 1.4 .8 .2 .6 (3) 0.2 Men Women All workers Men Women 3.3 0.2 .3 .1 3.1 0.8 .1 .4 .3 3.0 .9 2.4 .7 2.4 .9 2.3. 1.9 1.6 1.1 .8 10.9 4.4 6.2 4.5 5.6 2.9 1.5 4.7 3.0 3.2 3.3 5.1 4.0 .3 2.9 .6 1.4 1.5 3.5 2.3 2.2 5.6 4.3 4.1 4.2 5.9 4.9 5.0 3.0 7.4 9.1 8.3 6.3 6.7 4.6 1.2 4.5 7.6 8.6 6.9 8.1 5.1 3.6 8.7 9.5 8.2 6.1 6.2 6.2 4.6 9.2 7.4 6.7 4.8 5.7 4.5 2.6 7.3 6.8 5.7 5.1 8.4 7.1 5.6 10.4 7.7 7.2 4.7 4.3 3.8 2.6 2.0 1.3 1.0 .7 .3 4.3 3.5 2.4 1.9 1.4 1.7 2.4 4.6 4.2 3.7 2.1 2.8 4.1 7.3 4.2 3.2 1.9 1.8 .8 .8 .3 4.1 3.6 2.7 2.0 2.3 1.4 1.2 5.1 5.5 3.9 3.5 4.6 2.7 2.6 3.6 2.5 2.0 1.2 1.2 .7 .4 .3 .2 .2 .1 1.0 .7 1.6 .6 .3 .2 .2 1.0 .8 1.6 .8 .7 .3 .1 .1 2.3 1.8 4.3 2.3 1.9 .9 .2 .4 .3 .3 .2 .3 3.0 2.4 5.1 2.0 1.1 .5 .1 1.1 (3) (3) («) (3> 0.2 (3) .2 .1 .1 (3> .3 .1 2.6 .4 1.6 1.1 .2 .5 .4 3.2 1.2 2.8 0.1 (3) © (3) Total......... ................. .......................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Number of workers. ...................................... Average hourly earnings1............................... 29,946 $0.89 9,479 $1.04 20,467 $0.82 6,163 $0.90 1,771 $1.06 4,392 $0.83 16,738 $0.88 5,706 $1.03 11,032 $0.81 1 Excludes premium payment for overtime and night work. are included in these distributions. Learners * Includes data for other regions in addition to those shown separately, 1 Less than 0.05 of 1 percent. Footwear Manufacturing: Earnings in October 19491 those in Worcester by amounts ranging from 3 to 25 cents an hour but were from 1 to 15 cents below in five other occupations for which comparisons could be made. In jobs common to the various types of shoe manufacture, the level of earnings of workers pro ducing children’s stitchdown shoes in New York City was considerably below that for workers on women’s cement-process shoes in the same city. This level, however, was generally higher than those in the three men’s Goodyear-welt centers. The lowest wage levels in the study were found in the children’s welt shoe industry in southeastern Pennsylvania, where workers averaged from 78 cents an hour as floor boys to $1.27 as machine edge trimmers. With few exceptions, earnings levels of office workers were below those of women plant workers. Pay-roll clerks averaged from 74 cents in AuburnLewiston to $1.22 an hour in Los Angeles and general stenographers from 78 cents in AuburnLewiston to $1.20 in New York City. Average earnings in office occupations exceeded $1 an hour in only Los Angeles, New York City, and St. Louis. Comparisons of earnings in October 1949 with those reported in a similar study in October 1948 disclosed that about three-fifths of the area plant job averages changed less than 5 percent during the year. The proportion of incentive workers in the footwear industry is high and it is typical for the earnings of such workers to fluctuate from one period to another, even in the absence of interim wage adjustments. Some of the factors influencing incentive earnings are variations in the flow of work, style changes, changes in the quality of materials, and variations in labor effort. W age levels of shoe workers in women’s cement- process plants were generally higher in Boston and Haverhill than in other New England areas. Men employed as machine cutters had average earnings in October 1949 ranging from $1.50 an hour in Worcester to $1.69 in Boston. The levels of hourly earnings of men in other incentive jobs in the 6 New England areas studied, varied from $1.63 in Auburn-Lewiston, Maine, and South eastern New Hampshire to $1.96 in Boston for edge trimmers; from $1.59 in Worcester to $1.99 in Haverhill, Mass., for machine side lasters; and from $1.35 in Worcester to $1.64 in Boston for treers. In numerically important women’s jobs, remunerated on a piecework basis, fancy stitchers earned, on the average, from $1.09 in Lynn and Worcester, Mass., to $1.32 in Boston, and top stitchers from $1.12 in southeastern New Hamp shire to $1.62 in Boston. Average hourly earnings of floor girls, predominantly time workers, showed the narrowest spread among the selected plant jobs, ranging from 88 cents in Auburn-Lewiston, Maine, to 96 cents in Worcester. Earnings in the production of women’s cementprocess shoes were highest in New York City and lowest in Missouri (except St. Louis). Occupa tional averages in New York City ranged from 97 cents an hour for floor boys to $2.46 for women top stitchers and exceeded $2 an hour in 8 of 16 plant jobs. Average earnings of Los Angeles workers ranked second and were higher than those in New England areas. St. Louis workers had earnings which, on the average, were somewhat comparable to those in Auburn-Lewiston and Worcester. Of the three major centers in the manufacture of men’s Goodyear welt shoes, wage levels in Brockton, Mass., were highest in 9 of 15 plant jobs and varied from 88 cents an hour for floor girls to $1.89 for machine edge trimmers. In seven occupations average earnings in Illinois exceeded Related Wage Practices Paid holidays, ranging in number from 1 to 7 days a year, were granted to plant workers by almost four-fifths of the establishments studied. The most common practice, which provided for six paid holidays, applied to workers in over half of the establishments. Only 2 of the 18 shoe plants in the Brockton, Mass., area and 1 of the 11 in south eastern Pennsylvania had provisions for granting paid holidays to plant workers. Nearly 90 per cent of the plants in other New England shoe 1 By Charles Rubenstein of the Bureau’s Division of Wage Statistics. Data were collected by field representatives under the direction of the Bu reau’s regional wage analysts. More detailed information on wages and related practices for each of the areas studied is available upon request. The study embraced the manufacture of selected types of footwear in 13 major production areas. In October 1949 approximately 65,000 workers were employed in the industry divisions covered. Establishments employing fewer than 21 workers were excluded from the study. 21 22 centers and all the plants in New York City and St. Louis had established paid holiday policies. More liberal provisions for paid holidays applied to office workers; over 95 percent of the establish ments studied granted from 3 to 12 days a year. In half or more of the plants in Brockton, Haver hill, and Lynn, Mass., office workers received nine paid holidays. The most common practice, how ever, provided 6 days, similar to that for plant workers. Paid vacations for plant workers were reported by 188 of the 193 establishments included in the study. In all instances, 1 week of vacation was allowed after 1 year’s service. All establishments in the Brockton, Mass., New York City, and St. Louis areas and the majority of plants in Illinois, Los Angeles, and Missouri (except St. Louis) granted 2 weeks of paid vacation after 5 years of service. Office workers in virtually all plants received at least 1 week of vacation with pay after a year’s employment; in 70 establishments the length of paid vacation was 2 weeks. In some areas, these workers were allowed the second week of paid vacation after 2 or 3 years’ service. Straight-time average hourly earnings 1 in selected occupations in footwear manufacturing, by process and wage area, October 194 9 Chil Chil Men’s Goodyear welt dren’s dren's shoes welt stitchshoes down shoes Women’s cement process shoes New England Occupation and sex Mis Los New souri, St. Wor AuSouth An Brock York, Louis, geles, ton, cester, burn- Bos Haver Lynn, eastern Wor N .Y.a (except St. Mo. Mass. Mass. hill, New cester, Lewis- ton, Calif. Louis) ton, Mass. Mass. Mass. Hamp Mass. Maine shire Illi nois Southeast New ern Penn York, NY. syl vania Plant occupations, men Assemblers for pullover, machine___ Bed-machine operators....... _ _ ............. Cutters, vamp and whole shoe: H a n d .____ ___________ __________ Machine................ .............................. .. Edge trimmers, machine........................... Floor boys ______________________________________ Goodyear stitchers_____________ _____________ Mechanics, maintenance....... ................... Side lasters, machine............. ..................... Sole attachers, cement_____________________ Treers____________________________ __ ___ ____ ________ Vampers_______________ _ Wood-heel-seat fitters: Hand _________ ______________________________ Machine___________________________________ $1.78 1.55 $1.74 1.63 $1.78 1.86 $1.87 1.57 $1.50 1.67 $1.59 1.61 $1.94 1.97 $1.19 1.32 $1.57 1.61 (3) (3) $1.70 1.47 $1.46 1.48 $1.69 1.73 $1.05 1.15 (3) 1.54 1.63 (3) (3) 1.69 1.96 .86 (3) 1.63 1.93 .87 (3) 1.63 1.67 .98 (3) 1.52 1.63 .80 (3) 1.50 1.68 .92 2. 21 2.04 2.40 .97 1.35 1.26 1.33 .82 1.66 1. 52 1.72 (3) (3) $1.83 2.03 1.03 1.63 1.84 1.33 1.38 (3) 1.92 1.52 1.64 1.78 1.99 1.58 1.57 1.31 1.69 1.65 1.70 1.55 1.49 1.65 1.43 1.46 1.54 1.59 1.45' 1.35 1.93 2.17 2.20 1.91 2.23 1.31 1.30 1.05 1.32 1.48 1.61 1. 57 1.51 1.95 (3) 1.63 (3) 1.47 1.65 1.89 .91 1.65 1.58 1.55 (3) 1.54 1.71 .99 1.61 1.54 1.52 1.76 1.60 1.77 .84 1.60 1.47 1.51 1.00 1.09 1.27 .78 1.09 1.10 1.05 1.00 .96 (3) 1.45 (3) 1.67 (3) 1.53 1.81 1.75 (a) 1.39 (3) 1.51 1.90 2.23 1.15 1.09 1.62 1.64 (3) (3) 1.14 .88 1.32 .89 1.19 .93 1.09 .95 1.11 .92 1.09 .96 (3) (3) .87 .81 1.18 1.00 1.20 1.43 1.43 ____ ___ 1.46 1.28 $1.82 1.90 .79 1.91 (3) _ 1.13 1.87 Plant occupations, women Fancy stitchers___________ __ ______________ Floor girls_______________________________________ Sole attachers, cement Top stitchers............... ..................................... Treers __ _ _ ___ _ ______ Vampers_______ _____________ ____ 1.62 1.29 1.17 1.12 1.15 1.14 (3) 1.36 1.08 1.09 1.12 2.46 1.76 1.65 .90 1.03 .93 1.16 1.37 1.25 1.63 1.11 1 . 22 1.67 (3) (3) .74 (3) .78 .83 .76 (3) .83 (3) .90 .84 .78 .89 .79 .77 .87 .81 (3) (3) 1.10 1.01 1.20 .86 .68 .88 .84 .85 1.01 1.22 (3) (3) , 1.14 .85 1.04 .91 .94 .81 1.12 1.05 1.37 1.19 1.14 1.10 1.22 .92 .81 .95 1.48 1.00 1.41 .81 .71 .85 .83 (3) .84 (3) .87 (3) .89 .89 .86 1.09 (3) 1.16 1.17 .88 Office occupations, women Clerks, pay-roll............ ...................... Clerk-typists— ....... ........................... Stenographers, general....................... 1 Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. * Study limited to women’s street shoes, primarily of cement process manu facture. * Insufficient data to justify presentation of an average Machinery Manufacture: Earnings in November 1949 1 had average earnings ranging from 84 cents in Atlanta to $1.42 an hour in Seattle. Detroit had the highest average among the 28 cities for a majority of the occupations. Other areas ranking highest for 2 or more of the selected jobs were Cleveland and Milwaukee. The lowest job averages were most common in Atlanta, Providence, and Tulsa; however, Cincinnati and Dallas each ranked lowest in 2 occupations. Comparisons of average hourly earnings in November 1949, with those reported in a similar study in November 1948, showed increases for about two-thirds of the plant job averages. The increases in a majority of cases, however, amounted to less than 5 percent. Although women plant workers in the selected occupations were included in the study, the num ber of job averages which could be presented was too limited to justify their inclusion in the table. In a few cities, however, women represented a fairly high percentage of the workers employed in such occupations as class C assemblers, class C drill-press operators, and class C inspectors. Their average earnings were usually lower than the averages in comparable occupations for men. H ourly earnings of more than two-fifths of the tool and die makers were $2 or more in November 1949 in establishments manufacturing machinery 2 in 28 leading metalworking centers. A fifth of the class A machine tool operators (single and multiple spindle drill press, engine lathe, grinding machine, and milling machine) also earned at least $2 an hour. Only 3 percent of the tool and die makers and 12 percent of the class A machine tool opera tors received less than $1.50 an hour. Among the selected occupations, tool and die makers had the highest average hourly earnings in more than two-thirds of the cities. In Detroit jobbing shops, these workers averaged $2.25. Other cities in which average hourly earnings of jobbing shop tool and die makers were $2 or more were Chicago, Philadelphia, and St. Louis (tablel). The range in average earnings of class A assem blers was from $1.37 an hour in Tulsa, to $1.81 in Detroit and New York. Somewhat similar ranges prevailed for class A machine tool operators: single and multiple spindle drill press, $1.28 to $1.84; engine lathe, $1.40 to $2.08; grinding machine, $1.34 to $2.15; and milling machine, $1.44 to $2.05. Production machinists had average hourly earn ings ranging from $1.40 in Providence to $1.81 in Chicago. In at least half of the selected occupations average earnings were $1.50 or more an hour in all but 11 of the cities studied. In no city did more than half of the men’s occupational groups average less than $1.25 an hour. In only 5 cities were the average hourly earnings for men in any of the selected occupations less than $1; these included janitors, hand truckers, and class C drill press operators. Janitors, the lowest paid occupation in about four-fifths of the cities, Machine Tool Accessories The data for the machine tool accessory branch of the industry in 10 cities reveal a pattern similar to that for the industry as a whole. Tool and die makers were generally the highest paid work ers, and janitors the lowest. In only 4 cities were the average hourly earnings for any of the selected occupations less than $1, and a majority of the occupations in all except 2 areas show averages of more than $1.50 an hour. Detroit had the highest average earnings for 11 of 16 occupations. The lowest job averages were in Boston, Hartford, and Providence (table 2). Comparisons of city job averages for machine tool accessory plants with corresponding averages for the machinery industry as a whole indicate no consistent relationship. In Chicago and Detroit, for example, the job average earnings for the machine tool accessory branch were generally higher than the averages for the entire machinery industry, although the differences were usually relatively small. In Cleveland, on the other hand, average earnings for a majority of the selected occupations were somewhat lower in the machine * By Fred W. Mohr of the Bureau's Division of Wage Statistics. Data were collected by field representatives under the direction of the Bureau’s regional wage analysts. More detailed information on wages and wage practices for each of the cities studied is available on request. 2 The industry as defined for this study included machine tools and ma chine tool accessories. In previous studies these two branches were excluded from the machinery study, and in some instances were presented separately. Electrical machinery industries were excluded, as well as machine-tool accessory establishments employing fewer than 8 workers and other ma chinery establishments with fewer than 21 employees. Approximately 468,000 workers were employed in the industries surveyed in the 28 cities. A December pay-roll period was scheduled in a few cities. 23 24 T able 1.— Straight-time average hourly earnings 1 fo r men in selected occupations in machinery-manufacturing plants in 2 8 cities, November 1 949 Bos- Buffalo Chatta Chi Cincin Cleve Den De Hart Hous Indian noo ton cago nati ton land Dallas ver troit ford apolis ga Atlanta Baltimore Assemblers, class A _.................................................. $1.54 Assemblers, class B_.................................................. 1.10 Assemblers, class C.................................................... (2) Drill-press operators, single and multiple spindle, class A...................................................................... (2) Drill-press operators, single and multiple spindle, 1.16 class B - .................................................................... Drill-press operators, single and multiple spindle, class C „.................................................................... (») 1.40 Electricians, maintenance.......................................... Engine-lathe operators, class A.................................. (*> Engine-lathe operators, class B....................... .......... 00 Engine-lathe operators, class C................................. . (2) Grinding-machine operators, class A......................... (2) Grinding-machine operators, class B......................... (2) Grinding-machine operators, class O......................... (2) Inspectors, class A...................................................... (2) Inspectors, class B...................................... ................ (2) Inspectors, class C...................................................... (2) .84 Janitors........................................................................ 1.48 Machinists, production.............................................. Milling-machine operators, class A............................ (*) Milling-machine operators, class B............................ 00 Milling-machine operators, class C............................ (2) Tool and die makers (jobbing shops).......................... (2) 1.80 Tool and die makers (other than jobbing shops)....... .91 Truckers, hand............................................................ Welders, hand, class A __............................................ 1.44 1.16 Welders, hand, class B ............................................... $1.60 1.46 1.17 $1.62 1.44 1.32 (2) 1.19 1.12 1.53 1.50 00 (2) 1.71 (*) 1.03 1.51 1.38 1.21 1.01 1.44 1.61 1.53 (2) (2) 1.68 1.02 1.57 1.32 Occupation and grade $1.47 1.38 (2) $1.50 1.47 1.07 $1.69 1.52 1.33 1.67 (2) (2) 1.65 1.52 1.70 1.36 (*) 1.80 1.84 1.60 1.58 1.37 1.28 1.35 1.52 1.34 1.70 (2) 1.33 1.57 1.35 (2) 1.58 1.26 1.54 1.65 1.41 (2) 1.78 1.48 (2) 1.67 1.46 1.29 1.04 1.57 1.74 1.48 1.23 1.74 1.70 1.13 1.53 1.48 00 1.64 1.65 1.43 (2) 1.71 1.32 (2) 1.64 1.38 « 1.13 (2) 1.61 1.44 1.05 1.47 1.51 1.41 1.00 00 (2) 1.38 1.50 (2) 00 .93 1.53 (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) .97 1.61 1.36 1.34 1.70 1.72 1.56 1.36 1.79 1.63 1.36 1.72 1.48 1.32 1.13 1.81 1.78 1.62 1.48 2.05 1.94 1.20 1.68 1.51 1.05 1.44 1.51 1.31 1.08 1.59 1.54 1.11 1.48 1.32 00 1.02 1.42 1.52 1.41 1.05 1.74 1.64 1.07 1.48 1.27 1.28 1.72 1.74 1.65 1.33 1.86 1.71 1.38 1.73 1.61 1.47 1.23 1.71 1.77 1.63 1.31 1.85 1.90 1.31 1.80 1.55 .95 1.66 1.47 (2) (2) (2) 1.42 (2) 1.59 (2) (2) .94 1.50 (2) (2) (2) (2) 1.62 1.31 (2) (2) 00 (2) (2) (2) (*) 1.11 1.51 1.66 00 (2) (2) 00 (2) 1.72 (2) 1.44 1.95 2.08 1.73 (2) 2.15 1.71 1.55 1.98 1.64 1.45 1.39 1.79 2.05 1.73 1.58 2.25 2.08 1.44 1.81 (2) 1.33 1.47 1.62 1.40 1.23 1.62 1.49 1.27 1. 57 1.32 1.24 1.06 1.46 1.61 1.38 1.18 1.65 1.70 1.13 1.46 1.46 (2) (2) 1.76 1.65 (2) (2) (2) (2) 1.75 00 1.41 1.00 1.80 1.63 (2) (») (2) 1.89 1.06 1.76 1.76 1.12 1.61 1.57 1.38 (?) 1.77 1.75 (2) 1.63 1.40 Los- Mil Minne- NewarkJersey Ange- wau apolisCity les kee St. Paul Assemblers, class A ................................................... $1.62 $1.72 1.47 1.60 Assemblers, class B ................................................... 1.15 1.58 Assemblers, class C................................................... Drill-press operators, single and multiple spindle, 1.53 1.69 Drill-press operators, single and multiple spindle, 1.59 class B „ ................................ ................................... (2) Drill-press operators, single and multiple spindle, class C_.......................................... ......................... 1.11 1.43 Electricians, maintenance........................................... 1.85 1.64 Engine-lathe operators, class A . . . ............ ............... 1.69 1.65 Engine-lathe operators, class B ........................._____ 1.48 1.59 Engine-lathe operators, class C..............................— 1.35 1.49 Grinding-machine operators, class A ......................... 1.76 1.80 Grinding-machine operators, class B................. ........ 1.53 1.57 Grinding-machine operators, class C......................... 1.33 (2) Inspectors, class A ...................................................... 1.73 1.66 Inspectors, class B.... .................................................. 1.41 1.55 Inspectors, class C...................................................... 1.38 1.37 Janitors........................ ............................................. 1.17 1.17 Machinists, production............................................... 1.72 1.65 Milling-machine operators, class A............................ 1.72 1. 65 Milling-machine operators, class B............................ 1.55 1.56 Milling-machine operators, class C............................ 1.36 1.64 1.87 Tool and die makers (jobbing shops).......................... (2) Tool and die makers (other than jobbing shops)------ 1.81 1.74 Truckers, hand............................................................ 1.29 1.22 Welders, hand, class A ................................................ 1.74 1.68 Welders, hand, class B ._ ............................................ 1.43 1.58 1Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. $1.57 1.52 1.22 $1.76 $1.39 $1.63 $1.81 $1.58 1.61 1.31 1.57 1.40 (2) 1.33 1.48 1.23 (2) (2) Phila Pitts Port del land, phia burgh Oreg. $1.81 $1.63 1.55 1.49 1.29 1.44 (2) $1.66 1.36 $1.71 1.58 1.23 b (2) 1.67 (2) 1.36 1.25 $1.63 1.41 (2) $1.50 1.47 (2) (?) 1.69 1.65 <2) 1.63 1.49 (2) 1.12 1.65 1.62 1.55 (2) 1.78 1.84 (2) 1.59 1.58 Provi St. Seat Syra Worces dence Louis tle cuse Tulsa ter $1.41 $1.63 $1.79 $1.67 $1.37 1.28 1.35 1.53 1.20 (2) 1.09 1.16 1.52 1.12 (2) $1.57 1.67 1.11 1.61 1.53 1.76 1.52 (2) 1.61 1.30 1.62 (2) 1.81 1.28 1.62 1.47 1.43 1.48 1.35 1.60 (2) 1.19 1.41 1.56 1.54 1.19 1.45 1.16 1.57 1.65 (*) (2) 1.69 1.49 (2) 1.65 1.37 (2) 1.14 1.60 1.64 1.54 (*) (2) 1.77 1.18 1.58 1.53 1.39 1.69 1.67 1.50 1.30 1.74 (3) (2) 1.65 1.46 1.20 1.14 1.62 1.83 1.57 (2) 1.82 1.86 1.20 1.81 1.57 1.18 1.24 1.72 1.67 1.75 1.80 1. 51; 1.52 1.21/ 1.33 1.81 1.62 1.50 1.58 (2) (2) 1.82 1.77 1.45 1. 51 1.23 1.32 1.12 1.05 1.70 1.61 1.76 1.76 1. 55 1.67 1.28 1.42 1.93 2.00 1.91 1.77 1.25 1.23 1.83 1.83 1.68 (2) 1.14 (2) 1.70 1.56 1.37 1.68 (2) (2) (2) 1.77 (2) (2) 1.52 1.71 (2) (2) 00 1.81 (2) 1.63 1.51 (2) 1.82 1.72 (3) (2) 1.65 (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) 1.22 1.75 1.71 (2) (*) 1.19 1.46 1.40 1.23 (*) 1.43 1.32 1.25 1.48 1.32 1.11 1.01 1.40 1.44 1.28 1.22 1.73 1.60 1.00 1.48 (2) 1.11 1.72 1.64 1.49 1.20 1.67 1.58 00 1.54 1.37 (2) 1.02 1.74 1.68 1.50 (2) 2.08 1.96 1.17 1.89 1.50 (?) (2) 00 (2) (2) (2) (*) (2) 00 (2) (2) 1.42 1.79 (2) 00 (2) (2) 2.06 1.41 1.76 00 1.43 1.57 1.57 1.37 1.30 1.60 1.59 (2) 1.54 1.35 1.21 1.09 1.54 1.64 1.45 1.38 1.70 1.69 1.18 (2) 1.66 (2) 1.50 1. 51 (2) (2) 1.34 1.26 (2) 1.40 1.19 (2) .92 1. 55 1.46 (2) (2) (*) 1.71 1.03 1.57 1.45 .97 1.51 1.49 1.36 1.24 1.66 1.44 1.13 1.53 1.41 (2) 1.10 (2) 1.50 1. 51 (2) (2) 1.62 1.16 1.47 (*) (?) 1.78 (*) 1.72 00 6 1 Insufficient data to permit presentation of an average. tool accessory branch. In making comparisons of this type, however, consideration must be given to such factors as method of wage payment and size of establishment, which may tend to influence earnings. Office Workers Among 3 office jobs studied, women pay-roll clerks and general stenographers had somewhat $1.80 1.52 1.32 New York $1.47 1.34 1.06 higher earnings than clerk-typists. Average hourly earnings for these occupations in the various cities ranged from 94 cents to $1.32; 96 cents to $1.27; and 81 cents to $1.13, respectively (table 3). In only one city were the average earnings for pay-roll clerks and general stenog raphers below $1 an hour. The average earnings of clerk-typists were below that level, however, in a majority of the cities. 25 T able 2.— Straight-time average hourly earnings 1 fo r men in selected occupations in machine tool accessory manufacturing plants in 10 cities, November 1949 Hart Boston Chicago Cleve land Detroit ford Occupation and grade Electricians, maintenance_________________________________________ Enginp-lftthp. opp.rq.tnrs, olass A ■Rnginp-lat.hp. operators, olass B . . . Engine-lathe operators, class C.*.__________________________________ fi-rinrimg-mftphino operators, class A ___ ___________________________ Grinding-machine operators, class B _______________________________ Grinding-machine operators, class C________________________ „_____ Inspectors, class A ___ ______________ ___________________________ Inspectors, class B_______________________________________________ Inspectors, class C __ ________________ _________________________ Janitors__ _____ ___ ___________________ _______________________ Machinists, production___________________________________________ Milling-machine operators, class A _________________________________ Milling-machine operators, class B _________________________________ Milling-machine operators, class C _________________________________ Tool and die makers (jobbing shops)____ ___________________________ Tool and die makers (other than jobbing shops)_____________________ 1 Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. 0 (*) 0 0 $1.48 1.29 0 0 1.33 0 .86 1.42 0 0 1.06 1.74 0 Length of the normal workweek varied com paratively little among the plants studied. About four-fifths of the plants reported a 40-hour schedule for men. Only 6 percent of the plants normally worked less than that number of hours, and about 4 percent of the plants reported as many as 48 hours. Women in about seven-eighths of the plants worked 40 hours a week. T able 3.— Straight-time average hourly ea rn in g s1 fo r women in selected office occupations in machinery manu facturing plants in 2 8 cities, November 1 94 9 Atlanta.................................................. Baltimore ............................................ Boston_________ ____ ______________ Buffalo _____________ ____ _________ Chattanooga.................................. ...... Chicago-................................................. Cincinnati............................................. Clerks, pay roll $1.17 Clerktypists Stenog raphers, general 1.05 1.02 1.10 1.22 1.04 % .9 7 .93 .87 1.00 1.07 .89 $1.17 1.09 1.07 1.05 1.12 1.21 1.08 Cleveland............................... .............. Dallas.................................................... Denver.................................................. Detroit....... .......................... ............... Hartford............................................... Houston. .............................................. Indianapolis................................... ...... 1.19 1.15 1.16 1.32 1.08 1.32 1.19 1.05 .96 .97 1.10 .96 1.12 .96 1.20 1.13 1.06 1.26 1.10 1.22 1.19 Los Angeles......................................... Milwaukee............................................. Minneapolis-St. Paul_______________ Newark-Jersey C ity .................... ...... New York............................................. Philadelphia_______________________ Pittsburgh.......................... ............... 1.18 1.07 1.09 1.22 1.18 1.09 1.15 1.08 .95 .89 1.02 1.12 .99 1.18 1.05 1.09 1.15 1.27 1.09 1.21 Portland, Oreg Providence..................................... ...... St. Louis...................... ........................ Seattle . _ _ ■___ _____ _ Syracuse................................................ Tulsa..................................................... Worcester _ _ _ _ . ..... _ 1.24 .94 1.09 1.31 1.12 1.27 1.04 1.05 .81 .96 1.13 .95 1.02 .91 1.10 .96 1.07 1.22 (?) 0 1 Excludes premium pay for overtime and night work. * Insufficient data to permit presentation of an average. 0 $1.73 1.69 1.54 0 1.76 1.58 1.35 1.88 0 0 1.06 1.63 1.69 1.62 1.32 1.85 1.69 (2) $2.12 1.75 (2) 2.17 1.78 1.63 2.23 1.80 (2) 1.39 (2) 2.09 1.74 (*) 2.25 (2) $1.57 1.54 1.37 (2) 1.62 1.55 1.22 1.59 1.40 1.20 1.01 1.43 1.55 1.40 1.14 1.65 1.72 (2) $1.61 (2) (2) 1.80 1.49 (2) (2) (2) (?) 1.04 1.68 1.71 (2) (*) 1.78 <2) (2) $1.64 1.45 (2) 1.59 1.45 (2) (2) (2) (2) 1.08 1.66 1.64 1.41 (2) 1.87 (?) (2) $1.61 1.47 (2) 1.71 1.49 (2) 1.69 (?) (?) .90 1.63 1.60 (2) (») 1.82 (2) (2) $1.63 1.43 (2) 1.78 (2) 0 1.87 (2) 1.24 .90 1.70 1.59 1.42 (2) 1.93 (2) Provi dence $1.42 (2) <2) (?) 0 1.32 (?) (2) 1.32 (2) .99 1.37 (2) 1.26 (2) 1.73 1.45 * Insufficient data to permit presentation of an average. Related Wage Practices City $1.70 1.80 1.57 1.43 1.81 1.67 1.43 1.81 1.53 1.40 1.13 1.87 1.84 1.63 1.41 2.05 Indian M il NewarkNew York apolis waukee Jersey City 0 1.19 1.02 Second-shift operations in November 1949 were reported by approximately two-fifths of the plants. In all except about 5 percent of these establish ments, workers received extra pay for such work. The most common differentials were 5 cents, 10 cents, and 10 percent, each being reported in approximately a fifth of the plants operating sec ond shifts. About a ninth of the establishments reported third or other shift work for which premium rates were paid in nearly all cases. Paid vacations after a year of service were granted to plant workers in all except 7 percent of the establishments, and to office workers in all except 3 percent. Plant workers usually received 1 week, whereas office workers in a ma jority of the establishments were given 2-week vacations after a year of service. Plant workers with 5 years’ service received 2-week vacations in a majority of the plants in each city, and in about three-fourths of all establishments studied. Office workers with that length of service were granted 2 weeks in almost seven-eighths of the establish ments. Paid holidays were provided for plant workers in more than two-thirds of the establishments studied, and for office workers in all except 4 percent of the establishments which had office employees. The most common provision for both plant and office workers was 6 holidays; but approximately a ninth of all establishments re ported more than that number for plant workers, and almost a fifth of the establishments granted 7 or more paid holidays to office employees. U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : O — 1950
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