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the
Mobility of Tool
and Die Makers

1940-1951

a Survey of the Work Experience, Training,
and Personal Characteristics of the Workers
in a Critical Occupation

Bulletin No. 1120
U N IT E D S T A T E S D E P A R T M E N T O F L A B O R

J. T
, Secretary
BUREAU OP LABOR STATISTICS
E
C
. Com m issioner

M a u r ic e

w an

o b in

lague

THE MOBILITY OF TOOL
AND DIE MAKERS
1940

1951

A Su rve y

off the W o r k E x p e rie n c e ,

T r a in in g , a n d

P e r s o n a l C h a r a c t e r is t ic s

o f W o r k e r s in a C r itic a l O c c u p a tio n

Bulletin No. 112 0
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Maarice J. Tobin, Secretary
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Ewan Clague, Com m issioner
Digitized for
ForFRASER
sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C.

Price 35 cents

Letter of Transmittal
United States Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Washington, D. C., November 14, 1952.
The Secretary of Labor:
I have the honor to transmit herewith a report on the mobility of
tool and die makers. This report is the first of a series of pilot
studies covering the work experience, mobility, training, and personal
characteristics of workers in occupations vital in defense mobilization.
It evaluates the findings of the study in terms of their significance
for manpower planning in a mobilization period.
The study was financed by the Department of the Air Force. It is
one of the industrial manpower research studies sponsored by the Air
Force under Project SCOOP (Scientific Computation of Optimum Programs)
to determine the manpower feasibility of military programs. The research
findings are the exclusive responsibility of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics and are not necessarily concurred in by the Air Force.
The study was conducted in the Bureau's Division of Manpower and
Employment Statistics under the supervision of Eichard H. Lewis. The
report was prepared by Sol Swerdloff and Abraham Bluestone with the
assistance of Chester F. Schimmel. The Bureau wishes to acknowledge the
generous assistance and cooperation received in connection with this
study from officials of other government agencies, trade associations,
labor unions, and the more than 300 industrial firms from whose pay
rolls the workers interviewed were selected. The Bureau wishes to ex
press its deep appreciation to the more than 1,700 tool and die makers
who gave their time and cooperation in furnishing the essential data
from which this report was prepared.

Ewan Clague, Commissioner

Hon. Maurice J. Tobin
Secretary of L- - r.

CONTENTS

Introduction..............

Summary of findings ......... ..................................... .
Mobility ........................................................
Training...............
Personal characteristics .........

4
4
9
9

Some manpower implications of the study .............................

Description and methodology of the s t u d y .............. ............

Findings ...........................................................
The work of the tool and die m a k e r ..............................
Personal characteristics .......
Factors affecting occupational choice ..........................
Training...........
Mobility ........................
Movement in and out of the occupation........................
Movement between employers ............
Movement between industries
................................
Movement from one geographic area to another .................
Reasons for changing jobs ....................................

22
22
22
24
27
31
32
33
39
39

Appendixes .......
A. Definitions used in this s t u d y ..............................
Job description..... .......................................
Job changes per month in the labor force after
qualifying as tool and diem a k e r ............
Job changes per man-year worked at given ages ...............
B. Statistical test of significance .............
C. Calculation of estimated separation of tool and die
makers because of death andretirement, 1951-1961 .......
D. Questionnaires used in the survey ...........................
Individual worker interview questionnaire ..........
Establishment information questionnaire ................
E. Tables ..............

44
44
Ml

Ml
45

47
48
48
52
55

TEXT TABLES
1.
2.

Educational level of tool and die makers, by age,
February-March 1 9 5 1 .......................................
Nativity of tool and die makers, by age, February-March 1951 ••••

iii

24
26

56.
7*
8.
9*

10.
11.

Length of apprenticeship of tool and diemakers .................
Distribution of tool and die makers, by number of
job changes, 19^-0 - 1 9 5 1 ...................... .............

Job changes of tool and die makers, by:
Type of job changes, 19^0-1951.................................
Age, February-March 1 9 5 1 ........
Age at time of change, 19^-0-1951...............................
Educational level, February-March 1 9 5 1 .........................
Industry of employment, February-March1 9 5 1 ............

33
35
36
38
38

Number of industries in vhich tool and die makers were
previously employed, by industry of employment,
February-March 1 9 5 1 .......................................
Job changes of tool and die makers, by nature of change
and reason for voluntary changes, selected periods,
19^0 - 1 9 5 1 .......................................... ......

1+0

APPENDIX TABLES
E-l.
E-2.
E-3.

E -k .

E-5.
E-6.
E-7E-8.
E-9.
E-10.
E-ll.
E-12.
E-13.
E-lto

Distribution of tool and die makers in the sample, by
industry, February-March 1 9 5 1 .............................
Number of workers and plants from which sample of tool
and die makers was taken, February-March 1 9 5 1 .............
Age of tool and die makers, by industry, February-March 1951 •••
Marital and veteran status, and dependents of tool and
die makers, February-March 1 9 5 1 ...........................
Educational level of tool said die makers, by
method of qualification ...................................
Nativity of tool and die makers, by city of
employment, February-March 1951 ...........................
Nativity of tool and die makers, by industry,
F ebruary-M arch 1 9 5 1 .......................................
Members of family who worked in the occupation, by age
of tool and die makers, February-March 1 9 5 1 ...............
Years of experience as tool and die makers, by industry,
February-March 1 9 5 1 .......................................
Years of experience in the occupation, by method of
qualification, February-March 1 9 5 1 ........................
Work level of tool and die makers, by method of
qualification, February-March 1 9 5 1 ........................
Occupations other than tool and die making in which
qualified tool and die makers worked, 19^-0-1951...........
Number of job changes of tool and die makers, by nature
and time of change, 19^0-1951.....................
Number of job changes of tool and die makers by exposure
to the labor force, 19^-0-1951.............................

55
55
56
57
57
58
58
59
60
6l
6l
62
62
63

E-15.

Number of tool and die makers changing jobs, by
city of employment, February-March 1951 ..................
E-l6. Number of job changes of tool and die makers by
marital status at time of change, 19^-0-1951..............
E-1 7 . Job changes involving changes in geographic area, by
marital status at time of change, 19kO-1951..............
E-l8. Percent distribution of tool and die makers, by city
of employment and geographic area of previous
employment, February-March 1 9 5 1 ..........................

63
6k
6k

CHARTS
1.
2.

More than half the workers did not change jobs .................
Mobility of tool and die makers was affected by
age and education....................................... .
3- Automobile workers showed greatest degree of employer
attachment ...............................................
k. Economic betterment was the main reason given by tool and
die makers for changing jobs, 19kO-1951 ..................
5 . Tool and die making jobs are concentrated in the industrial
centers of the midwest and northeast .....................
6. Estimated employment of tool and die makers by industry, 1951 •••
7* Tool and die makers are an older group than the male
labor force as a whole ................... ...............
8. Why workers entered tool and die m a k i n g ....... ................
9. Motor vehicles industry has highest proportion of
apprentice-trained tool and die makers ..................
10. Aircraft industry trained smallest proportion of
tool and die makers through apprenticeship ...............
11. Bate of job changes of tool and die makers highest
in postwar period ........................................

k
5
6
8
16
17
23
25
28
29
3k

THE MOBILITY OF TOOL AND DIE MAKERS
INTRODUCTION

For effective mobilization manpower
planning it is essential to have a
broad knowledge of the Nation's re
sources in critical key occupations#
When related to estimates of the man
power requirements in these occupations
under mobilization conditions, such in
formation can aid in determining how
many new workers must be trained and
the possible sources of recruitment of
these trainees#
Manpower policies de
signed to provide for a flow of workers
with scarce skills into the essential
activities where they are most urgent
ly needed should be based on knowledge
of the pattern of movement of workers
from job to job#
Plans for setting up
training programs can be guided by data
on how the workers in the occupation
qualified for their jobs# Possibilities
of augmenting the available supply of
fully qualified workers can be gaged by
the extent to which workers with par
tial or related skills have been able
to enter the occupation in the past#
A thorough understanding of the nature
of our resources in key technical and
skilled occupations and the balancing of
these requirements against the require
ments
for defense production and
essential civilian activities are also
vital in setting up policies governing
Selective Service deferments or reserve
call-ups of workers in these occupa
tions#
To provide information on these and
other points related to the measurement
and utilization of the Nation's occupa
tional resources, the Bureau of Labor

Statistics has undertaken a series of
pilot studies covering the work ex
perience, training, personal charac
teristics, and occupational, indus
trial, and geographic mobility of
workers in occupations vital to de
fense mobilization. Funds have been
provided by the Department of the Air
Force# Another basic objective was
the exploration of the problems con
nected with such surveys and the de
velopment of methods which can be
applied to similar research on other
occupations#
This report presents
the results of the first of these
studies,the mobility of tool and die
makers*
Future reports will cover
foundry molders and coremakers, and
electronic technicians# The Bureau
of Labor Statistics recently made a
study of the occupational mobility of
scientists,
with funds provided by
the Office of Naval Research 1/
The survey of work experience and
training of tool and die makers was
designed to provide specific answers
to questions concerned with the pro
vision of an adequate number of these
workers in mobilization and the most
effective utilization of the avail
able supply# To what extent do tool
and die makers move from job to job
and how freely do they transfer be
tween industries?
What is the pat
tern of their movement from city to
city and what are their reasons, for
making such geographic
shifts in
employment?
Do young men make more
job changes than older workers and

Occupational Mobility of Scientists, (Preliminary Report), U. S. De
partment of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, April 1952®

what kinds of changes do they make? Do
single men change jobs more often than
married workers? Does the kind of
training the individual receives affect
h is w illingness and a b ility to make job
changes? How many of the tool and die
makers were trained by apprenticeship?
How did those without apprenticeship
qualify for the trade and how long did
i t take them? What is the age d is tr i
bution of presently employed to o l and
die makers and what are the probable
lo sses due to death and retirement in
the next 5 or 10 years? These
questions illu str a te the types of in
formation which are provided by the
survey and are presented in th is report*
The present study is based p ri
marily on the analysis of 11-year work
h isto ries (lSAO-5 1 ) obtained by per
sonal interviews in the spring of 19 5 1
with more than 1,7 0 0 to o l and die
makers. In addition to providing a de
ta iled record of h is work experience,
each worker explained how he learned
the trade, answered a number of spe
c if ic questions on h is personal history,
and gave h is opinion of the occupation.
The names and addresses of to o l and die
makers to be interviewed were selected
from the payrolls of more than 3,00
metalworking plants located in seven
large metalworking centers* These
plants were so chosen that the selec
tion of workers would r e fle c t as far as
possible the national distribution of
to o l and die maker employment among in
dustries*
The selected tool and die
makers were then interviewed in th eir
homes by fie ld representatives of the
Bureau of Labor S ta tistic s using a
questionnaire form esp ecially designed
for the survey* In addition to data
obtained from the individual workers,
another questionnaire was f ille d out
for each plant providing information
on the personnel and training p o licies
of the firm*
Tool and die making was selected as
the f ir s t occupation to be studied be
cause of it s v ita l importance in a mo
b iliza tio n economy* Tool and die
makers are highly sk illed craftsmen who

make the cutting to o ls used on
machine tools to do the actual cut
tin g or chipping away of metal, and
the jig s,fix tu r e s, and other acces
sories which hold the work while i t
is being machined* They also make
gages and other measuring devices
needed for precision work. Some
make dies used in forging, stamping,
and pressing, and the metal molds
used in die casting and p la stic
molding* The precision which the
work demands requires a high degree
of s k ill which is obtained by long
training or experience, usually re
quiring four years or more* Quali
fied to o l and die makers are at the
top of the occupational ladder among
sk illed craftsmen, and are among the
highest paid workers in the metal
working field *
The estimated 100,000 to o l and
die makers employed in th is country
in early 1952 had jobs in some 9,000
d ifferen t plants in almost a ll metal
working in d u stries.
The largest
sin gle employer of to o l and die
makers was the automobile industry,
accounting for more than 17 percent
of a ll workers in th is occupation.
Tool and die jobbing shops, which
are usually small and which make
to o ls, d ies, jig s , and fix tu res, and
other machine to o l accessories for
other companies on individual' order,
employ nearly as many to o l and die
makers as does the automobile in
dustry. Many to o l and die makers
work in other machinery plants, in
cluding plants making farm machinery
and tractors, machine to o ls, and in
d u strial machinery and equipment.
Other large groups are employed in
plants making e le c tr ic a l machinery
and equipment, and fabricated metal
products, such as hardware and metal
stampings. During the present mo
b iliza tio n period, as in World War
II, the aircra ft industry and Gov
ernment ordnance plants are employ
ing increasing numbers of these
workers.
Geographically, the majority
2

of the tool and die makers are employed makers. Other States ranking high
in the fiv e Midwestern States of Michi in the employment of these craftsmen
gan, Ohio, Indiana, I llin o is , and Wis are New York, Pennsylvania, Con
consin. Michigan alone employs onenecticut, New Jersey, Massachu
fourth of the Nation's to o l and die
se tts , and C alifornia.

234998 0 — 53------2

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS

Mobility

The analysis of the mobility
of the workers included in the sur
vey was based on their work
histories during the period 19k01951- These 11 years included
successive periods of tooling-up
and wartime production and of post

war reconversion and prosperity:
a time of favorable employment
opportunities for tool and die
makers. Interpretation of the re
sults presented should be made with
this background in mind.

Chart 1. More Than Half the Workers Did Not Change Jobs
PERCENTAGE OF WORKERS
MAKING SPECIFIED NUMBER OF EMPLOYER CHANGES, 1940-1951
P e r c e n t of All Tool an d Die M a k e r s

N um be r of
Job Ch an ges

None

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

P e rc e n t of All Jo b C h a n g e s

Chart 2. Mobility of Tool and Die Makers
Was Affected by Age and Education
Jo b C h a n g e s P e r M a n - Y e a r
W o r k e d , 1940-1951

A v e r a a e N u m b e r of Jo b C h a n g e s
M a d e D u r in g th e P e r i o d , 1940-1951

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

MOVEMENT BETWEEN

MOVEMENT IN AND OUT
OF THE OCCUPATION

EMPLOYERS

These workers did not move in
or out of the occupation very fre
quently. During this 11-year period
more than 90 percent of the men
worked only as tool and die makers
after qualifying in the trade. Half
of those who did work in other occupa
tions were employed in related
machine shop jobs.

Although few of the tool and die
makers had worked in other occupa
tions after qualifying in this trade,
many of them had worked for more than
one employer. The 733 workers who
changed jobs (42.8 percent of the
total in the survey) averaged nearly
three employer shifts each, but among
these tool and die makers there were
considerable differences in the amount

Chart 3. Automobile Workers Showed Greatest
Degree of Employer Attachment
PERCENT OF TOOL AND DIE MAKERS IN SELECTED INDUSTRIES
WHO DID NOT CHANGE JOBS
PERCENT OF W O R K E R S
In d u s t ry of E m p lo y m e n t
F e b .- M a r . 1951

100

ALL INDUSTRIES

Motor vehicles

Machinery (except
machine tool accessories)
Fabricated metal products

,'7 / / / / A

////

^
v % yy

/ / /
// y /x

y / / / / / / v /y /y
/ / / / / / y < //// a

M b

Electrical machinery
Aircraft

Machine tool accessories

All other industries

T7777777/'yy^//// '-y/y
yy/'V/y
/'//^y
?/////// yyyyy//////
'yyyyy.yyyy/yyyy,
y /y y

VM
/

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

makers who changed Jobs had been laid
o ff; in the next 5-1/2 years the
number of la y -o ffs had increased
four times and constituted twofifth s of a ll Job changes.

of movement. More than half of them
had changed Jobs only once or tw ice.
On the other hand, 229 workers changed
employers
four or more tim es, and
made nearly th ree-fifth s of a ll the
employer s h ifts .
About two-thirds of the move
ment between employers occurred in the
second h alf of the 11 years, a period
of reconversion and postwar c iv ilia n
production. Most of the increase in
the amount of movement during the
la tte r period was due to a sharp
rise in the number of la y -o ffs. Dur
ing the f ir s t h alf of the period, the
prewar and wartime years, about one
out of fiv e of the to o l and die

The amount of movement between
employers was affected by such fa c
tors as age, education, and length
of time in the labor force during
th is period. I t also varied by the
industry and c ity of employment. On
the other hand, some other character
is tic s of these to o l and die makers
did not appear to a ffec t th eir pro
pensity to change Jobs. Married
workers changed employers about as
readily as sin gle workers. Tool
6

and die makers trained by apprentice
ship and those qualifying by other
methods had the same rate of move
ment. Likewise, the foreign-bom
to o l and die makers sh ifted pro
portionately as much as did those
bom in th is country.
Younger workers were more mobile
than the older workers. A higher
proportion had worked for two or more
employers, and those who had changed
jobs made many more changes. Workers
changed jobs more than twice as often
when they were under the age of
as they did after they were years
of age or over.
A grouping of to o l and die makers
by the number of months they were in
the labor force in the period covered
by the survey showed differences
in m obility. Workers with fewer
months in the labor force after
qualifying as to o l and die makers
made proportionately more moves in
relation to the length of th eir work
experience. While age differences
were an important factor, there were
differences even for workers in the
same age group.
There was a direct relationship
between educational le v e l and amount
of job changing. Tool and die makers
with the fewest years of schooling
were le a st mobile, and the average
number of changes of eajployer per
worker increased as the educational
le v e l rose. This was not completely
a resu lt of the fact that the younger
men went to school longer; even within
each age group, the to o l and die
makers with more schooling made more
job changes.

and machinery industries had fewer
mobile workers.
The percentage of to o l and die
makers who had changed employers
was sim ilar among the c itie s surveyed
with
the exceptions of Hartford
and Los Angeles, both wartime a ir
craft manufacturing centers, where
more than h alf the workers had changed
employers at le a st once as com
pared with an average of h i percent
for the other fiv e c it ie s . Among
the workers who had changed employ
ers, the average number of changes
varied from a high of 3.6 each for
the workers in Los Angeles to a low
of 2.2 each for the workers in
Hartford.
As part of th eir work h isto r ie s,
the to o l and die makers also gave
th eir reasons for changing jobs. Two
out of three of the changes of em
ployer were made voluntarily; of the
733 workers who made employer s h ifts ,
605 ( 8 2 .5 percent) had made at le a st
one voluntary move. The reason re
ported for more than h alf of the
voluntary sh ifts was to obtain better
jobs, eith er in terms of pay or
p o ten tia lity for advancement. The
desire to improve working conditions
or better job location prompted
another large group of voluntary
sh ifts Most of the remainder of the
changes were made for various personal
reasons not apparently connected with
the job. Unmarried men moved more
often for b etter pay than did married
men who appeared to have been more
concerned with promotional opportuni
tie s and improved working conditions.
Between workers in various age groups,
there were no apparent marked d iffe r
ences in reasons for changing jobs,
and those trained by apprenticeship
and those trained otherwise gave
sim ilar reasons for changes of employ
er. The reasons given for job changes
which also involved changes in industry,
were substantially the same as for
a ll employer changes. On the other
hand, personal reasons not connected
with jobs were given more often than

The rate of job movement varied
according to the industry in which
the to o l and die makers were employed
at the time of the survey. Rela
tiv e ly more workers in the aircraft
and machine tool accessories indus
tr ie s had changed jobs than the
average, whereas the motor vehicles

Chart 4. Economic Betterment Was the Main Reason Given
by Tool and Die Makers fo r Changing Jobs, 1940-1951
R E A S O N S G IV E N FOR
C H A N G I N G JO B S

PERCENT OF AL L V O L U N T A R Y J O B CH A N G E S

100
▼

More pay, promotional
opportunities etc.

Wdrking conditions

Location of iob

Return to former
employer
Differences with
foreman

All other reasons

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

a l l, about one-third of the to o l
and die makers worked in more than
one industry during the 11-year
period covered by the survey. As
was true of employer s h ifts , a
small number of workers did the bulk
of sh iftin g between industries. It
is usually assumed that a compre
hensively trained worker, esp ecia lly
one apprentice trained, has greater
a b ility to move from one industry to .
another than does one who has learned
his trade without apprenticeship.
The survey showed, however, that
nonapprenticed tool and die makers
crossed Industry lin es as frequently
as those who were trained by that
method.

any other reason for job changes
vhich also involved moving from one
geographic area to another.
MOVEMENT BETWEEN INDUSTRIES

An important conclusion obtained
from analysis of the work h isto ries
was that those to o l and die makers
who changed employers had no strong
industry attachments and that they
were able to cross industry lin es
freely . When a worker changed em
ployers there was a b etter than
even chance that his new emplqyer
was in a d ifferen t industry. In

MOVEMENT BETWEEN GEOGRAPHIC
AREAS
The number of tool and die mak
ers who moved from one area to
another was small; less than 9 per
cent of these craftsmen had changed
their city 2/ of employment during
the 11-year period- Of those who
had changed cities, 86 percent had
Biade only one or two such moves,
although some workers had made as
many as six. As might be expected,
Los Angeles had the highest p e rc e n tage of tool and die makers who had
worked in other areas. Although
married tool and die makers changed
jobs about as frequently as single
workers, they moved much less often
from one geographic area to another.

In the past, the United States
has been able to count on immigra
tion of workers trained in their
craft in the Old World. She can no
longer do this. Foreign-bom tool
and die makers (most of whom were
trained abroad) are a diminishing
source of new workers in this s k ille d
o c c u p a tio n .
Nearly half of the
tool and die makers in the survey
who were k-5 years of age or older
were foreign-bora, but less than
10 percent of those under k-5 were
born in other countries.

Training
Two out of three of the tool and
die makers entered the trade via the
apprenticeship route. The propor
tion of tool and die makers with
apprenticeship training differed
among the employing industries.
More than four-fifths of those em
ployed in the motor vehicles industry
at the time of the survey had served
apprenticeships as compared with only
about one-third in the aircraft
industry.
The proportion of those
trained by apprenticeship was gen
erally the same for all age groups.
One exception was in the age group
that entered the labor market dur
ing the depression of the early
1930's in which group a somewhat
lower percentage served apprentice
ships. The apprenticeship period
generally lasted 4 years, threefifths of the tool and die makers
reporting this duration of training.
2/

About one-third of the tool
and die makers in the survey had
not served an apprenticeship. How
ever, nearly half of the tool and
die makers who entered this trade
during the war years were not
apprenticed. Most of the men who
did not serve apprenticeships
"picked up" the trade while working
in tool rooms or machine shops,
usually as machine tool operators;
only about one-fifth of this group
learned the trade through some more
or less formal on-the-job training
other than apprenticeship. In most
cases, those tool and die makers not
apprenticed reported a longer time
to learn the trade than those who
qualified through apprenticeship.

Personal Characteristics
The median age of the tool and
die makers in the survey was kk.
Less than 1 percent were below the
age of 25 and about 5 percent were
65 years of age or older. About
one-fourth of the workers were in
each of the age groups 25-3^> 35 ~^k>
and k-5~5k. The workess in the machine
tool accessories and electrical

Standard Census Metropolitan Area.

See p.19 for further discussion.

See pp. 29-30 f o r a d is c u s s io n o f q u a lif ic a tio n p e rio d f o r men who die.
n o t se rv e an a p p re n tic e s h ip .

machinery industries vere somewhat
younger than the average tool and die
maker, whereas those in the motor ve
hicles and nonelectrical machinery
industries vere somewhat older.

Relevant to the possible effect
of military service calls on the
members of the craft are the follow
ing facts: of all the tool and die
makers interviewed, 91 percent were
married; 65.9 percent had dependents
other than wives, and about IT per
cent were veterans of World War II.

Somewhat more than two-fifths of
the tool and die makers vere high
school graduates and 6 percent had
some academic training beyond high
Slightly less than a third of the
school. On the other hand, nearly
workers reported that other members
29 percent of these workers had eight, of their families were in the tool and
die making trade- Somewhat more than
or fewer years of schooling. The
10 percent’ of the men interviewed
younger tool and die makers had more
reported
that their fathers bad been
schooling than the older men; the
tool and die makers, and about 15 per
proportion finishing high school was
cent that their brothers worked in
twice as high for those under ^5 as
the
occupati«n.
for those H5 years or older.

SOME MANPOWER IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

estimate for the next 10 years is
23,000 replacements. In addition to
these losses, an unknown number of
workers leave the occupation each year
for other fields of work, thus increas
ing the replacement requirements.

Tool and die makers are of key
importance in mobilization production
because they make the tools, dies,
jigs, and fixtures essential to largescale metalworking activity. They are
needed in the first stages of any de
fense production program because of
their vital importance in the task*of
tooling-up for volume production of
aircraft, tanks, and other military
items. These workers were in short
supply during the tooling-up stages
of World War II and there have been
serious shortages of them in the current
mobilization period. Tool and die
making is on the Department of
Labor's List of Critical Occupations.
Therefore, the problems of the tool
and die makers' training, recruit
ment, mobility, and obligations#for
military service are important to
Industry and to the responsible
Government agencies.
One of the most important elements
in determining the number of tool and
die makers who must be trained is an
estimate of the number of -tool and die
makers who will be needed to replace
those leaving the labor fo^ce because
of death or retirement. The data ob
tained from the survey, on the age dis
tribution of tool and die makers, can
be used to make such estimates. By
applying specific death and retirement
rates k/ to each age group in the tool
and die maker labor force, it is esti
mated that nearly 11,000 workers will
be needed to replace those tool and die
makers who can be expected to die or
retire in the next 5 years. A similar

If Selective Service deferment
policies in the mobilization period
are similar to those of World War II,
the tool and die maker occupation
will not be particularly vulnerable to
losses to the Armed Forces. The age
distribution of the workers in the
trade is such that a relatively smaller
proportion are in the age groups sub
ject to Selective Service calls than
in the male population as a whole. A
very high percentage of the tool and
die makers in the survey were married
and most of them had dependent children.
^Gnly about 1 percent of the workers
interviewed were nonveterans, 26 years
of age or younger, and without depend
ent children^/ In addition to'defer
ments because of age and dependency
status, it is likely that many tool
and die makers will receive occupation
al deferments because of the key
importance of their work. The ex
perience of World War II points to
relatively small losses of tool and
die makers to the Armed Forces.
A major aspect of manpower
planning is to insure a sufficient
number of workers to be trained in
key occupations to meet mobilization
^requirements, including the expan
's ion of employment and to provide for

Tables of Working Life, U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics Bulletin 1001. See Appendix C, p. ^ 7 .

http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/
3
234998 0 — 53
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

replacement losses. After require
ments have been balanced against the
prospective supply of workers, special
training programs must be set up to
•provide the additional skilled workers
needed. Survey data on how tool end
die makers qualified for the occupa
tion can guide the establishment of
effective training programs. A major
finding of the study was that twothirds of the tool and die makers
qualified through apprenticeship.
Training authorities agree that, in
general, apprenticeship programs offer
the best way of learning the trade.
The survey results showed that the
men who served apprenticeships learned
the trade at earlier ages and they
required fewer years to qualify than
did those workers who qualified by
other means. As a result, apprentice
ship-trained tool and die makers have
longer working lives in the occupa
tion.

experience. Assuming that there
will be a continuous flow of work
ers into the occupation who have
qualified by means other than
apprenticeship, this will repre
sent a substantial contribution
to the meeting of mobilization re
quirements.
Because the informal method
of qualification is important in
meeting manpower requirements,
more attention should be given to
it and to insuring that the work
ers who are gradually learning
the trade through this process are
given maximum opportunity to im
prove their skills as soon as
possible. This informal on-thejob training is an important source
of new workers, especially when
mobilization is actually under way.
During World War II many employers
filled their tool and die maker
needs without expanding apprentice
ship programs. Half the workers
included In the survey who had
qualified in the trade during the
war years had not served apprentice
ships . Some tool and die making
requirements were met by upgrad
ing partially trained men and by
intensively training inexperienc
ed workers. Men with machine
shop or tool room experience,
usually as machine tool operators,
were the men most usually upgraded
or selected for training. Instead
of utilizing only fully qualified
tool and die makers, many plants
"broke down" the job and used avail
able journeymen as supervisors.

The expansion of apprenticeship
training programs is, therefore,
essential in setting up any long-range
programs to provide for additional
tool end die makers who will be needed
in tooling up for mobilization produc
tion.. Because of the long training
period required for the tool and die
maker apprenticeship, it is important
that mobilization requirements be
established well in advance and that
the expansion of training activities
not be delayed until full mobiliza
tion Ja Imminent or in effect.
In addition to insuring that
effective tapprenticeship training
programs are set up and carried
through to provide for the necessary
flow of workers qualifying by this
means, it is also important to con
sider the large proportion who
customarily enter the occupation
without serving an apprenticeship.
In past periods, a significant
part of the training requirements
has been met by workers entering
the trade through these more in
formal methods, e.g., by picking
up the trade through machine shop

Many of the men who entered
tool and die making work during
the war never reached the level of
fully qualified tool and die makers
because they were not given the
opportunity to learn all parts of
the job. Many were not able to
hold jobs in tool and die making
work after the war when the short
age of tool and die makers became
less acute. They were still out
side the occupation when the survey

was made in early 1951 and there
fore were outside the scope of
the study.

tries in such a way that the essen
tial activities are adequately
staffed by workers with the re
quired skills. This can be
accomplished, in part, by direct
ing the movement of workers from
job to job 'so that they move to
the plants where they are most
urgently needed for mobilization
production.

An estimate of present train
ing levels can be derived from a
special survey made by the Bureau
of Labor Statistics in April 1952.
It was found that there were about
9 apprentices for every 100 journey
men tool and die makers employed
in the metalworking industries. Not
all these apprentices will finish
their training and enter the occupa
tion. If apprenticeship training
continues at these levels, the
number of workers trained will not
be sufficient to offset losses to
the occupation. However, since it
was found that about one of every
three tool and die makers interviewed
had not been apprenticed, considera
tion must also be given to workers
entering the trade without such
training. If this ratio continues
and apprentice training remains at
its present levels, the total
number of new entrants to the
occupation would be enough to re
place the tool and die makers- who
leave the labor force or the occu
pation. However, it would not
provide enough new entrants to
meet present shortages end allow
for future growth.

The amount of such movement
needed depends upon the way in
which defense production is organi
zed. To expand production in World
War II, most metalworking plants
converted their facilities to a
war footing and thus were able to
use their existing force of tool
and die makers on defense work
without any change in employer
being involved. The extent to which
this factor would operate in future
mobilization periods depends partly
upon how much of the military
production will be carried on in
new plants rather than in existing
plants converted to war production.
In the present mobilization period
there has been, as yet, only a
relatively limited amount of defense
conversion, and much of the mili
tary output is being produced either
in new plants or in reopened World
War II plants.

Another important implication
derived from the survey is that the
Nation can no longer, as in the past,
count on the immigration of trained
workers from other countries. Foreignborn and -trained tool and die makers
are a diminishing source of new
workers in this skilled occupation,
and the prospective flow of immi
grants under present conditions
indicates that there can be no
dependence on this source in the
future.
One of the main problems facing
manpower authorities in a mobiliza
tion period is the distribution of
the available supply of experienced
workers among the employing indus

A large proportion— more them
two-fifths— of the workers did change
jobs in the period covered by the
survey and some changed jobs several
times. It was concluded that work
ers were able to move freely from
industry to industry. This is
significant from the manpower point
of view, because it means that de
fense plants located in metalworking
centers have a potential pool of
experienced workers from which they
may be able to recruit additional
tool and die makers. The survey
also indicated workers’ reasons for
changing jobs. Better pay, promo
tional opportunities, and improved
working conditions were the most
frequently mentioned reasons. This

throws considerable light on the
motivations and inducements which
may facilitate such transfers, if
desirable, for the most effective
utilization of the tool and die
maker labor force.
Only a limited number of workers
moved from one geographic area to
another in the 11-year period covered
t>y
the survey. This has several
important implications for manpower
planning and policy formulation.
For example, the location of new
defense plants in areas without
concentration of metalworking plants
may be affected by the problem of
drawing experienced tool and die
makers from other areas. Experience
of the aircraft plants in Los
Angeles during World War II
illustrates this point. When
increasing numbers of tool and
die makers were needed in Los
Angeles, particularly in air

craft plants, employers Were able
to secure only a small percentage
of qualified tool and die makers
from other areas, and had to rely
mainly on training their own
workers as quickly as possible
or on breaking down the jobs.
A large proportion of the small
number of workers who did make
changes in location gave personal
considerations, rather than factors
directly connected with their jobs,
as the reason for changing the
city of their employment. This
indicates that the inducements,
such as better pay, which lead
workers to move from one employer
to another in the same area, were
not as effective in getting workers
to shift to other sections of the
country. Study should be given,
therefore, to the problems involved
in staffing new defense plants
outside of the established metal
working centers.

DESCRIPTION AND METHODOLOGY OF THE SURVEY
The basic objectives of this studyare to provide data needed for manpower
planning and to develop techniques for
the measurement and evaluation of mo
bility as it affects manpower require
ments in a mobilization period. A num
ber of other studies of mobility have
been made in the last two decades, but
by and large they have had different
emphases and approaches. Most of these
studies dealt with a cross section sam
ple of the labor force drawn from a
particular local area or a number of
different localities.
Thus, they in
cluded workers in a wide variety of oc
cupations and skill levels. A few
studies 2 / have analyzed the mobility
of workers in individual occupations.
In general, these studies emphasized
the relationship between mobility and
unemployment and reemployment.
Other
authors
have
studied mobility
of
workers in relation to wage theory. 6/
At the same time this survey of tool
and die makers was being made, the
United States Bureau of the Census and
six university research centers began a
study of mobility in six cities,2 / also

'2J

under the sponsorship of the United
States Department of the Air Force. The
objectives of this project were similar
to the objectives of this study of tool
and die makers and the studies were
made specifically to obtain information
for manpower planning.
In these sur
veys, samples were taken in each of the
six cities of the labor force,including
workers in all occupational groups. Of
all the individuals included in the
six-city sample, 2,578 who were skilled
workers at any time during the period
19^0-51 were selected and their work
histories were separately analyzed. 8/
The results of the six-city study can
be related more closely to the findings
of the Bureau of Labor Statistics mo
bility studies than any of the other
mobility studies which have
been
mentioned.

SCOPE OF SURVEY
This report on the mobility of
tool and die makers is based on infor-

For example, The Mobility of Weavers in Three Textile Centers, Gladys L.
Palmer, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 19^1, vol. LV, pp. ^60-^87 j Ten
Years of Work Experience of Philadelphia Machinists, September 1938, and Ten
Years of Work Experience of Philadelphia Weavers and Loom Fixers, July 1938,
Work Progress Administration, National Besearch Project and Industrial Besearch
Department, University of Pennsylvania.
6/ For example, the Structure of Labor Markets, by Lloyd G. Beynolds. New York,
Harper and Brothers, 1951*
The Mobility of Workers in Six Cities, 19^0-19^9* Survey of Occupational
Mobility conducted by cooperating university research centers and the Social
Science Besearch Council for the U. S. Department of the Air Force and the U.S.
Bureau of the Census.
8/ Patterns of Mobility of Skilled Workers and Factors Affecting Their
Occupational Choice, Six Cities, 19^0-1951, Industrial Belations Section,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., February 1, 1952.

ration obtained from 1,712 journeyman
tool and die makers. These workers
were selected from the payrolls of 315
metalworking plants. At the time of
the survey, the spring of 1951, these
plants employed 13,500 of the estimated
100,000 tool and die makers in the
country. For budgetary reasons, the
survey was limited to a few localities.
The plants in the sample were located
in seven cities containing large con
centrations of metalworking industries.
Four of the seven were in the Midwest
(Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and
Detroit) where the greatest concentra
tions of these industries are found.
To give some representation to the
other regions, the remaining cities
selected for study were Hartford,
Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.

THE SAMPLE
Selection of individual plants and
of the sampling ratio within each plant
was fixed so as to obtain a sample of
tool and die makers whose industry
attachment at the time of the survey
would be similar to the national distribution of employment in the occupa
tion by industry. (See Appendix tables
E-l and E-2, pp. 55 for industrial dis
tribution of the 1,712 tool and die
makers and for employment in the plants
from which the sample was drawn.) The
sample was not, however, designed to
give a representative geographic distri
bution of tool and die makers or even

Chart 6. Estimated Employment of Tool and Die Makers
By Industry, 1951

Number of Tool and Die Makers

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

1 --------------------------1-------------------------- 1---------------------------1---

MOTOR VEHICLES
AND EQUIPMENT

MACHINE TOOL
ACCESSORIES

MACHINERY
( Except Machine Tool
Accessories )

FABRICATED METAL
PRODUCTS

ELECTRICAL MACHINERY
AND EQUIPMENT

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

necessarily to represent the industrial
distribution of tool and die makers
within the seven cities covered. All of
the tool and die makers included in the
survey were male. The sample was drawn
from journeyman tool and die makers, in
cluding those working as foremen or leadmen. It included persons working as
tool makers, die makers, combination tool
and die makers, gage makers, and ‘
jig and
fixture builders. Apprentices and other
trainees were excluded. (See appendix A,
p.
for the job description used in
collecting the data).

working plants. The field agents checked
the employers' job descriptions for these
workers against standard job descrip
tions and their wage rates against the
"going" wage for tool and die makers in
that area. When each individual was
interviewed, he gave his current job
duties. This method of sample selection
and screening permitted the elimination
of apprentices, trainees, and other
persons who were not qualified tool and
die makers, but whose names might have
been inadvertently obtained from the em
ployers' payroll. It insured a more
precise occupational classification than
The sample was selected in such a
is possible in a household enumeration
way that only qualified workers in this
survey, in which the occupational classi
occupation were included. The names of
fication is made on the basis of state
tool and die makers were obtained by
ments of individual workers or members
field agents of the Bureau of Labor
of the household and can be verified
Statistics from payroll records of metal only indirectly.

from employer to employer, job changes
from industry to industry, and movement
from one geographical area to another.
Because this was a study of one skilled
occupation, the work history of the
individuals before they qualified as
tool and die makers was not considered
in the measurement of mobility.

DATA COLLECTION METHODS

Each tool and die maker was inter
viewed in his home by a Bureau field
agent who used a specially designed
questionnaire. 9/ Every worker re
ported his complete work history from
January 19k0 through January 1951. In
Occupational movement was defined
cluded in the work history was the
as a shift from one job classification
to another; that is, from tool and
reason for changing Jobs. A complete
die maxing to some other occupation or
record of training also was obtained
.vice versa, regardless of whether car
for each worker, including the method,
not a change of employer was involved.
length, industry, and location of his
training. The schedule also included
Employer changes were defined as a
questions relating to entry into the
job transfer from one establishment to
occupation and influences leading to
another. When a worker left his job
the selection of the trade. Data ob
to enter military service, it was not
tained on personal, characteristics of
the worker included age, marital status, considered a change or 'move; if he re
turned to the same job immediately
number of dependents, and place of
after his military service.
birth. Finally, the worker was asked
for his opinion of the trade as a career
for young persons.
In general, movement from one
broad industry group to another (i.e*,
2-digit group in the Standard Indus
At the same time that the names of
trial Classification system) was con
individual workers were obtained from
the employers, a special questionnaire
sidered an industry shift. There were
was prepared for each of the 315 plants
exceptions to this, however. The ma
from which the sample was taken. This
chine tool accessories industry was
questionnaire called for data on
considered separate from the machinery
personnel and training practices, both
industry group because the tool and die
in 1951 and during World War II, and
jobbing shops, which form a major part
for facts on production methods and job
of the machine tool accessories indus
organization as they affected tool and
try, employ many tool and die makers
die maker employment and utilization.
and have a somewhat different method of
These data provided background informa operation. Similarly, the aircraft and
tion with which to evaluate and assess
the automobile industries were con
the training experience and work
sidered separate from the remainder of
histories of the individual workers,
the transportation equipment group. A
and permitted some checks on the
tabulation of job changes involving
accuracy of worker responses.
changes in industry using a k-digit
SIC system breakdown was made to
determine whether any great amount of
inter-industry movement had been elim
DEFINITIONS (See also
inated by the broad classification
explained above. It was found that
Appendix A)
the k-digit system resulted in a gain
of only a few percent in the number of
industry changes made. It was felt
Four types of mobility were
measured in this study: movement in
that this small gain in detail did not
and out of tool and die making, shifts
justify the unwieldly number of indus2/

See Appendix D, pp. k8-51 for a copy of the questionnaire form.

tries it would have been necessary to
deal with.
Geographic moves were defined as
change of employment from one city
(standard census metropolitan area) to
another. Bureau of the Census standard
metropolitan areas were selected
because it was believed that they
correspond roughly to the local labor
markets the area within which it is
customary for workers to commute to
plants located in the central city or
its suburbs.

MEASURING MOBILITY
The mobility 'of the workers in the
survey was measured in two ways: the
proportion of the men interviewed who
made any moves, and the average
number of job changes made per worker.
The interpretation, of worker mobility,
.however, requires a more precise
frame of reference than is obtained
by these standards alone. Rate of
movement must be measured against
potential for movement; that is, the
number.of moves as related to ex
posure to the labor force during the
period of the survey. Thus, three job
changes made by a worker who was in
the labor force the entire 11-year
period would show much less mobility
than three job changes for a person
who was in the labor force only two
years. 10/

Manpower planning requires infor
mation not only on the amount of move
ment and factors affecting it, but also
on the range of movement. It is impor
tant to determine in what other occupa
tions, industries, and areas the
individuals had worked before the jobs
they held at the time of the survey,
and whether there was any pattern of
movement. For example, did tool and
die makers move only between particular
industries or were they able to move
freely between industries? This was
determined by comparing the worker's
location or industry at the time of the
survey with other areas and industries
in which he worked or received training.
Essential in a study of mobility
which is primarily concerned with ob
taining information for manpower
planning is a consideration of worker
motivation for changing jobs. Inasmuch
as manpower policy in past mobilization
periods has been predicated on the
absence of compulsory manpower controls,
getting workers to the most necessary
jobs can be done only by offering in
ducements to workers to change jobs.
Thus, on the questionnaire, each tool
and die maker was asked to give his

In relating age to mobility two
measurements were used. First, the
workers were grouped by their ages at
the time of the survey and differences
were observed in the average number of
job changes per person for each group.
It was felt that this technique was
inadequate. Inasmuch as this survey
covered an 11-year period, a grouping
by ages attained in 1951 indicated
the experience of each age group over
that time span but did not describe

10/ For
11/

the mobility behavior characteristic
of particular ages, nor did it
recognize that certain "ages" were
not in the labor force as many years
as others. A second technique was
therefore devised. This consisted of
grouping the job movements, not by
the age of each worker in 1951# but by
the ages at which the moves were made.
It was thus determined that more move
ment occurred at some ages than at
others. To allow for the unequal
representation of ages in the labor
force during the 11 years, the number
of job moves made at each age was re
lated to the number of years worked
at that age. Thus, the mobility
behavior of workers at specified agesy
with potential for movement considered
was obtained. 11/

explanation, see Appendix A, p.
For explanation, see Appendix A, p.

234998 0 — 53------4

bk.
b$.

reason for changing jobs (see question
naire, question 20, appendix D, p. 50),

CLASSIFYING REASONS FOR
CHANGING JOBS
The reasons given by the tool and
die makers were divided into two broad
groups:
job changes made as a result
of the worker's individual choice
(voluntary shifts),
and job changes
made as a result of factors over which
the worker had no control (involuntary
shifts).
There were two principal
groups of involuntary reasons: loss of
job due to lay-off because of lack of
work, shut-down of the firm,etc; and
loss of job due to discharge because
of unsatisfactory work performance or
for
disciplinary reasons.
The few
cases where workers reported they left
their jobs because their health did
not permit them to remain in their
positions were also included in the
group of involuntary reasons.

safety devices, kind of equipment in
the plant, etc.), or because of ob
jectionable or undesirable hours of
employment.
(A number of persons
moved because they wanted to work on
different shifts.) Another category
was "location of the job" which in
cluded job changes made because the
plant was too far from home or
because of transportation difficulties.
A number of tool and die makers re
ported "differences with foremen" as
their reason for changing jobs. The
miscellaneous group, "other reasons,"
included all vague replies such as
"fed up," "just quit," "wanted a
change," "tired of working there,"
as well as a variety of other spe
cific explanations too scattered to
be classified separately.
These in
cluded such reasons as "wanted to
enter defense work," "to visit
friends in Chicago," "to help in
family business," and others.

LIMITATIONS OF DATA

Reasons given for
changing jobs
voluntarily were classified according
to the worker's motivation*
One
classification was "better pay,"
This
group included job changes to obtain
higher base wage rates and those made
to obtain higher take-home pay because
of longer workweek. Many workers moved
from one employer to another to get
"better jobs,"
This term included
moves made to gain experience, promo
tion, or the opportunity for promotion.
The first two categories are closely
related, because promotion may include
a raise in pay,
"Working conditions"
was the third principal group of reasons
for shifting.
Under this heading were
placed
job changes which were made
because of the physical surroundings
of the job
(lighting, ventiliation,

One of the problems in studies
based on interviews is the accuracy
of responses made by individuals.Re
search on the reliability of worker
response indicates that work his
tories obtained by personal interview
are, by and large, reliable. 12/ In
addition, the questionnaire used in
this survey afforded the opportunity
to make some internal checks of con
sistency of the workers' answers.
For instance, the date of birth and
the year in which schooling was com
pleted were checked against the year
of first job.
Answers given to the
questions on training were compared
with the information reported for the
work history.
An indirect check on the repre-

12/ See, for example, the Reliability of Response in Labor Market In
quires, by Gladys L. Palmer. Technical Paper No. 22. U. S. Bureau of
the Budget, Division of Statistical Standards, July 19^2; and Validity
of Work Histories Obtained by Interviews, by Elizabeth Keating and C.
Harold Stone. Industrial Relations Center, University of Minnesota.

sentative nature of the sample was
made by comparing the age distribution
of the sample with information ob
tained from the employer questionnaire
(see appendix D, pp. 52-5^ for copy of
questionnaire). The 315 metalworking
plants reported the number of tool and
die makers they employed who were 55
years of age or older. The proportion
of the sample 55 years or older and
the proportion of the 13*500 tool and
‘die makers as reported by the employees
were similar.
The tabulations on which the
findings were based were tested for
statistical significance. 13/
Although the sample of 1,712 tool and
die makers represents one of the
largest numbers of workers in a single
occupation ever studied so intensively
and consequently offers an opportunity
for detailed analysis, some of the
tabulations resulted in very small
groupings. No conclusions were based
on cells where the number of workers
was very small lk/ even though the
differences may have appeared to be
statistically significant.
Aside from the statistical limita
tions of the data, it should be noted
that the conclusions offered are re
stricted in their significance because
the survey covered only tool and die
makers employed in this occupation at
the time of the survey. Those tool
and,die makers working outside the
occupation for any reason and those
unemployed or temporarily out of the
labor force could not have been in
cluded in the sample. If the work
experience or personal characteristics
of these workers should be signif
icantly different from those tool and
die makers in the survey, then their
exclusion may alter the conclusions of
the survey. However, it is unlikely
that any great number of fully
qualified tool and die makers who
might be expected to return to the

12/
iV

trade were working in other occupations
in February-March 1951* Tool and die
'makers had been in short supply for
the entire period following the out
break of Korean hostilities* Em
ployers had been intensively re
cruiting these skilled workers, and
newspapers in metalworking centers
carried large "help wanted" ads for
these workers. The United States Em
ployment Service reported about 1,000
clearance orders in March 1951. Any
journeyman, who in I95O -51 was working
at a lower-skilled occupation in the
metalworking field or who was working
outside the metalworking trades, could
easily have obtained a tool and die
making job. It would seem, therefore,
that those men who, in early 1951, were
still not in tool and die maklmg had
either left the occupation permanently
for other work or were not able to
.meet the requirements of employers,
even though these requirements had
already been lowered because of the
shortage of skilled workers. This was
probably the case with some men who had
had experience in the occupation during
the war when jobs were broken down.
Although persistent shortages of
qualified workers may eventually lead
employers to hire and retrain some of
these men, it does not seem justified
at the present time to consider them
members of this skilled occupation. In
addition, there is no reason to believe
that any great number of experienced
tool and die makers who had advanced to
higher rated jobs (such as tool
designer) would return to the trade in
the future. It should also be noted
that the definition of the occupation
•used in this study included workers in
the lower supervisory levels— leadmen
and foremen. When the above circum
stances are considered, it seems
certain that few tool and die makers
were missed because of the sampling
methods used in the survey.

Chi-square test of significance. See appendix B, p.lj.6 .
In general, a lower limit of 50 cases in a cell was set.

FINDINGS

The Work of the Tool and Die Makers
The tool and die maker makes tools,
dies, jigs, and fixtures by machiniqg
the metal with various machine tools
and by using hand tools and measuring
instruments. The "all-round man" is
able to plan and carry through all
operations concerned with turning out
a finished product. He must have *a
sound knowledge of the working prop
e r t i e s of metals. He works from
blueprints, rough sketches, or even
oral instructions. In some plants
tool and die makers do some of the
actual tool or die designing.
In the making of a product, the
tool and die maker plans the sequence
of the cutting and finishing opera

tions. He sets up and operates the
various machine tools needed in the ma
chining operations and selects the
appropriate cutting tools. After the
machining operations, he chips, files,
and shapes the surfaces of the machined
parts by hand, finishing them to very
close tolerances, and fits and
assembles the finished parts. He in
spects and checks the work for con
formity with original specifications
and, whenever necessary, makes altera
tions. Tool and die making is pre
cision work. Persons in this trade
must have a great deal of mechanical
ability and a liking for painstaking
work* No great physical strength, how
ever, is needed.

Personal Characteristics
Tool and die makers are sanewhat
older than the male civilian labor
force as a whole. (Chart 7) The
median age of the tool and die makers
interviewed was 44. This is about the
same median age as for all craftsmen,
foremen, and kindred workers in the
six-city mobility study. 13/ Because
this occupation requires a long
training period and because many of the
workers who have entered the occupa
tion in the last few years were
veterans and therefore older than the
usual apprentices, only a small number
of tool and die makers were below the
age of 25 (less than 1 percent).

15/

Slightly less than 20 percent were
between the ages of 55 and 64, and
about 5 percent were 65 years or
older. About one-quarter of the
workers were in each of the age groups
25-34, 35-^, and 45 -54. Six persons
who were
years or older were in
cluded in the survey. The machine
tool accessories and electrical ma
chinery industries were found to have
somewhat younger than average tool and
die makers, whereas those employed in
the motor vehicles and nonelectrical
machinery industries were somewhat
older (Table E -3 ).

The Mobility of Workers in Six Cities, oj^ cit., p. 8.

Chart 7. Tool and Die Makers Are an Older Group
Than the Male Labor Force as a Whole
PE RCE N T OF W O R K E R S IN EACH A G E G R O U P
U. S. M a le L a b o r F o r c e
Tool a n d Die M a k e r s

1 4 -1 9

2 0 -2 4

2 5 -3 4

45 -5 4

35-44

55 -6 4

AG E G R O U P S

So u rc e : I n f o r m a t i o n on U. S.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

m ale l a b o r f o r c e

f r o m U. S. B u r e a u of the C e n s u s .

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

There was a wide range of
educational attainment among these
workers. About two-fifths of them
had completed high school (table 1).
Six percent had some additional
academic training beyond high
school, whereas a total of about 29
percent of all the tool and die
makers in the survey had eight or
fewer years of schooling. The
younger workers had more schooling
than the older men. The percentage
of tool and makers who had completed
high school was twice as high for those
under
as for those ^5 years or
older. There were no important
differences in the educational back
ground of those tool and die makers
who had served apprenticeships and
those who had not (table E-5)•

About nine-tenths of the tool and
die makers were married and 7 out of
10 had dependents other than their
wives (table E-1*). The percent of
tool and die makers who were veterans
was considerably smaller than of all
males in the United States*. Of
these workers, 17*^ percent re
ported themselves as veterans of
World War II, compared with about
one-third of the employed male per
sons in the United States who are
veterans. Not only was the percen
tage of the workers in the survey
who served in the armed forces
small, but half of them became tool
and die makers after they returned
from military service.

65 and
O ver

Table 1 —

Educational Level of tool and die makers,by age, February-March 1951

Highest school grade completed

3
CVJ

Age
group

9th through 3
1-4

Total
workers... 22
Total
percent.•• 1.3

Total
edu
cation
not re
ported

Total

Some
college
edu
cation

490

1,088

117

202

166

603

100

28.6

63.5

6#8

11.8

9.7

35.2

5.9

22.2
15.9
12.6
12.3
10.9
9.8
7.4
4.5
3.3
2.4

55.6
51.6
59.5
✓/
*✓
47.2
31.7
21.2
22.2
15.6
22.3
16.9

22.2
9.0
7.7
9.2
4.8
4.6
2.3
5.5
1.6
2.4

5-8

Percent
20
25
30
35

45
50
55
60
65

— 2Lf.«......
- 29.......
- 3li.... .
- 39......
_ ),)J......
- 4 9 ......
- 54......
- 59......
— 6t|..... t<
and over...

-i--r.,w ^_l<rT
——
3.8
4.9
___
8.3
1.0 20.6
1.0 38.5
2.8 50.9
3.0 55.8
1.6 55.5
4.3 56.7

77.8
87.2
86.2
82.0

73.6
55.4
43.1
35.2
38.8
34.9

Tr6.1
4.6
8.4
12.5
8.3
5.6
5.0
5.8
6.0

13.6
9.5

13.6
18.5
16.1
7.9
10.1
7.4
9.6

-----1#2

.5
.9
.5
2.5
1.2

Factors Affecting Occupational Choice
Each worker was asked to
identify the influences leading him
to this occupation. About threequarters of them explained fairly
definitely why they entered the
trade. (Chart 8). The answers given
by the remaining workers indicated
that they had just drifted into tool
and die making. Of the 1,287 who
could give definite reasons, 621 said
they became tool and die makers
because they were mechanically in
clined and had looked for an occupa
tion in which they could use their
aptitudes. Three hundred and eightyfour reported entering the occupation
because of the advice or example of
their families or friends— "My father
wanted me to learn the trade and got
me into the apprenticeship program."
*1. s trade has always been in my
family so I took it up, too."

About 70 percent of those whose
fathers were in metalworking trades
reported that members of their
families had influenced them to entor
this occupation. Two hundred and
eighty-two reported entering the trade
because they expected it to provide
them a good income at once or in the
immediate future—
"I started off
doing machinist work but after a
while I saw I couldn't make much more.
The influences which led tool and die
makers to enter the trade did not
seem to be connected in any definite
way to age or educational level.
One-third of the tool and die
makers reported other members of their
family in the trade. Somewhat more
than 10 percent of the workers re
ported that their fathers were tool
and die makers and about 15 percent
reported that their brothers were tool

Chart 8. W hy W orkers Entered Tool and Die Making
PERCENT OF W O R K E R S G I V I N G SP E C IF IC
FOR ENTERIN G TRADE

M e c h a n i c a ll y
in clin ed

In f lu e n c e d by
f a m i l y or f r i e n d s

Economic
Considerations
O p p o r t u n ity o f f e r e d
for a p p r e n t ic e s h i p
or o th er tra in ing
M iscellaneous
reasons

No Sp ecific r e a s o n
g iv e n fo r e n te rin g
o c c u p a tio n

UNITED SJATES^ DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

More than half the tool and die
makers began their working lives in
the metalworking field. About twofifths of the workers who had not
served apprenticeships began their
working careers in metalworking jobs,
most of them as machine tool opera
tors. On the other hand, more than
two-thirds of the 1,135 tool and die
makers who had served apprenticeships,
had smarted their working lives in the
metalworking field. Five hundred and
ninety-nine of the workers reported
that after leaving school, their
first job was that of an apprentice.
Tool and die makers whose fathers'
usual or longest job was in metal
working had more often started their
working lives in metalworking occupa
tions than had those whose fathers
worked in other fields.

and die makers (table E-8). Many had
fathers and brothers or fathers and
other relatives in the trade. The
proportion whose fathers also were in
the trade or in related metalworking
occupations was highest for the tool
and die makers in the youngest age
groups. Somewhat more than onefourth of the tool and die makers
under
years of age had fathers
whose usual or longest job was either
tool and die maker, machinist, or
maintenance mechanic. Only about onesixth of the tool and die makers U5
years of age or older had fathers who
worked in these occupations. This
finding is not unexpected because all
the metalworking trades experienced
rapid growth since the turn of the
century.

Table 2.— Nativity of tool and die makers, by age, February-March 1951

Nativity

Total
Age group

mak:ers

Nunber

Nativ< b o m

Percent

Number

Percent

Foreign bora

Number

Percent

All age groups...

1,712

100.0

1,247

72.8

465

27.2

- 24........... .
- 29............
- 34............
- 39............
- W .......... .
45 - 4 9 ............
5 0 - 5 4 ............
55 - 59............
60 - 61+.......
65 and over...... .

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

132
325
250
184
193
216
199
121
83

123
305
231
146
104
118
102
65
44

100.0
93.2
93.8
92J+
79.3
53.9
54.6
51.3
53.7
53.0

9
20
19
38
89
98
97
56
39

6.8
6.2
7.6
20.7
46.1
45.4
48.7
46.3
47.0

20
25
30
35

side the United States; Chicago
followed with 30.^ percent (table
E-6 ). The lowest percentages were
in Hartford and Los Angeles where
less than one-sixth of each city's
total were born abroad. The distri
bution of.foreign-born tool and die
makers by industry followed the city
pattern, with the highest proportion
in the motor vehicles and machine
tool accessories industries, both of
which are concentrated in Detroit
(table E-7); and the lowest propor
tion in the aircraft industry, which
in this study was represented by tool
and die makers in Los Angeles and
Hartford.

More than one-fourth of the tool
and die makers were foreign-born.
Foreign-born tool and die makers,
many of whom were trained in their
native country, are a diminishing
source of new workers in this
skilled occupation (table 2 ).
Nearly half the tool and die makers
who were
years of age or older
were born outside this country,
whereas less than 10 percent of those
under
were foreign-born. The pro
portion of foreign-born tool and die
makers differed among the industries
and cities of employment. Detroit
had the highest proportion, with 36.3
percent of them having been born out

centage for those 1*5 years of age or
older was twice as high. Because the
importance of foreign-born tool and
die makers is also decreasing, it
appears that the supply of new
workers to this occupation in recent
years has been coming principally from
the cities and towns of the United
States.

About one-sixth of all the tool
and die makers were raised on farms.
As can be expected from the general
shift of the United States population
to the cities, the proportion of tool
and die makers with farm backgrounds
has been decreasing. Of the tool and
die makers under 1*5, about 11 percent
were raised on farms, whereas the per

Training
learned the trade in the aircraft in
dustry.

The principal way in which tool
and die makers have learned the trade
has been through apprenticeship.
An apprentice is a worker who learns,
according to a written or oral agree
ment, a recognized skilled trade re
quiring two or more years of work
experience on the job through employ
ment, supplemented by appropriate re
lated trade instruction.
About two-thirds of the men inter
viewed (1,135) had served apprentice
ships, and 577 had become qualified
tool and die makers by other means.
The proportion of workers trained by
apprenticeships varied by industry
(chart 9). More than four-fifths of
the tool and die makers who were
working in the motor vehicles industry
at the time of the survey had been
apprentices. The lowest proportion
trained by apprenticeships was in the
aircraft industry, in which only onethird (33.B#):of the tool and die makers
had been apprenticed. This is
partially explained by the rapid
growth of the industry and by its
location away from other metalworking
centers. Much the same picture
appears when the tool and die makers
are grouped by the industry in which
they first qualified for their craft.
Again the motor vehicles industry was
highest and the aircraft industry
lowest (chart 10). Almost 85 percent
of the workers who qualified for the
trade while employed in the motor
vehicles industry had served appren
ticeships, as compared with less than
25 percent of the workers who had

The proportion of those trained
through apprenticeship was the same
for the various age groups. An ex
ception was the age group 35-50 in
which the proportion who had served
apprenticeships was lower. In all
probability, this exception was due to
the relatively little training offered
during the depression years when these
men entered the labor market. They
were able to get into the trade
during the war years, when there was
greater opportunity to enter through
means other than apprenticeship.

Table 3.— Length of apprenticeship of
tool and die makers

Workers
Tears
Number

All apprentice
ship periods....

2 years or less......
3 years........... ..
It years..............
5 years or more******
Apprenticeship period
not reported.......

Percent

1,135

100.0

78
222
699
128

6.3
19.6
61.6
11.5

Chart 9. Motor Vehicles Industry Has Highest Proportion
of Apprentice-Trained Tool and Die Makers
PERCENT OF WORKERS EMPLOYED IN SELECTED INDUSTRIES'
TRAINED BY APPRENTICESHIP AND OTHER MEANS
I n d u s t r y of E m p l o y m e n t

WWWj W o rkers Who Served
A p p re n tic esh ip

IV /7 J

^i/./<A

W o r k e r s W h o Did Not
Serve A p p r e n t i c e s h i p

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

Not all the apprentices had been
trained as tool and die makers.
Fifteen percent had had a machinist
apprenticeship and had "worked up" to
tool and die making. The proportion
was especially high among the older
workers.
The apprenticeship period usually
lasted k years, about three-fifths of
the workers reporting this length of
training. Slightly more than 11 per
cent (128) reported a 5-year training
period. More than twenty-five per
cent reported learning the trade in
three
or fewer years (table 3)• Some

of those men had been able to qualify
in shorter periods because they were
given credit for previous experience
in machine shop work or for vocational
school training. In other cases, the
workers were able to secure tool and
die making jobs without completing
their apprenticeships.
Many tool and die makers in the
survey had not been trained through
apprenticeship. For the group as a
whole, about one-third were not
apprenticed. However, during World
War II almost half the tool and die
makers who entered the trade had not

Chart 10. Aircraft Industry Trained Smallest Proportion
of Tool and Die Makers Through Apprenticeship
PERCENT OF WORKERS QUALIFYING IN SELECTED INDUSTRIES
THROUGH APPRENTICESHIP AND OTHER MEANS
I n d u s t r y of
Q ualifica tio n

ALL INDUSTRIES

Aircraft

Electrical machinery
Machine tool
accessories
Fabricated metal
products
Machinery (except
machine tool
accessories)
Motor vehicles

All other industries

fiSgSgg
nW W I

W orkers W ho Served
A p p re n ticesh ip

Y777X W ? r k e r s

Y/ / ' i

Serve

w h o Did N ot
A p p re n ticesh ip

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

served apprenticeships, because many
plants producing essential military
and civilian equipment could not ob
tain enough journeymen tool and die
makers, and there was not sufficient
time to train new workers through
apprenticeship. Tool and die maker
requirements were met by upgrading
partially trained men, or by inten
sively training untrained workers, as
well as by "breaking down the job" and
using the available tool and die
makers as supervisors.

Of the tool and die makers who
had not qualified by apprenticeship,
about 20 percent had some other moreor-less formal on-the-job training by
which they had progressively learned
the different parts of the trade in
cluding the operation of various kinds
of machine tools. These training pro
grams were generally not covered by
any formal oral or written agreement
as to the length or scope of the
training, but there was a definite
agreement for the employee to learn

the trade while working* The majority
of the men who did not serve appren
ticeships had learned the trade
either by "just picking it up" while
working in tool rooms or machine
shops, or had been upgraded from less
skilled machine shop occupations. It
is difficult to determine when this
"learning" process began for these
workers. Many of them had been in ma
chine shop work for a long time before
they had an opportunity to get into
tool and die making. In many cases
these men learned to operate machine
tools on production lines and became
familiar with tool and die making in
the tool rooms of the plants in which
they were working. Thus, when tool
and die makers were needed, these
workers were selected for immediate
transfer or were moved into the
occupation after a short training
period. For purposes of this study,
all time spent in machine shop or
tool room work before the individual’s
first job as a qualified tool and die
maker was counted as his qualifying or
training period. On this basis more
than half the men who had "just picked
up the trade" required 5 years or
more before they became qualified tool
and die makers; and of this number 87,
or 15 percent, required 10 years or
more from the time they started in re
lated work until the time they got
their first tool and die making job.
One-sixth reported 4 years of machine
shop or tool room experience before
qualifying as tool and die makers and
about the same proportion qualified
in 3 years or less. Ten percent of
all the men who had not served appren
ticeships had gained some knowledge of
the trade by previous attendance at
trade schools or vocational schools.
In general, the workers included
in this survey had had considerable
experience in tool and die making.
About 20 percent of the tool and die
makers in the survey reported 30 years
or more experience in the trade and
nearly half reported 15 years or more
(table E-9). In contrast, less than
one-seventh reported fewer than 5

years of experience. There were
differences in the experience level
of the tool and die makers employed
in the various industries. Twothirds of those employed in the motor
vehicles industry had 15 years or
more experience, whereas less than
one-fourth in the aircraft industry
had been active in the trade this
long, reflecting in part the recent
rapid growth of the aircraft indus
try.
Apprentice-trained tool and die
makers had more experience in the
occupation .than did those who
qualified by other means (table E-10),
although the age levels of the two
groups were not different. About 55
percent of these tool and die makers
who had been apprenticed had 15 years
or more experience in the trade, as
compared with one-third of the
workers who qualified by other means.
In large part this reflects the fadt
that apprenticed workers entered
training at earlier ages and qualified
in fewer years than did the men who
were not apprenticed.
Included among the 1,712 tool and
die makers in the survey were 2011workers (about 12 percent) who were
in supervisory tool and die making
positions (leadmen and foremen). The
work histories of these tool and die
makers differed somewhat from those
of the other 1,500 workers. Half
the leadmen had 20 years or more
experience in the trade, compared
with about 37 percent of the re
maining workers. The supervisory
workers had had more experience in the
trade even though their median age
was lower. This can be partially
explained by the fact that a higher
proportion of these men were
apprenticed and in general, those
tool and die makers who were appren
ticed had longer experience as tool
and die makers in relation to their
ages than did those who qualified by
other means* Apparently, an
apprenticeship gives a tool and die
maker a somewhat better chance to

reach the supervisory level. Less
than 10 percent of those who had not
served apprenticeships were in the
supervisory group whereas about 13

percent who had served apprentice
ships were supervisors at the time of
the survey (table E-H).

Mobility
The findings in regard to mobility
should be interpreted in the light of
the particular economic conditions
which affected tool and die makers
during the years covered by the sur
vey, 19^0-51. In general, this 11year period was one of favorable em
ployment opportunities for tool and
die makers. Tool and die making was
the first occupation to be declared
critical and to be subjected to wage
controls during the defense and war
production period of 19^1-^2. Tool
and die makers remained in short
supply throughout the war and were
also urgently needed in the postwar
reconversion period. Demands for
these skilled workers continued strong
during 19^7 und 19^8 because of high
levels of metalworking activity. The
outbreak of hostilities in Korea in
June 1950 once again emphasized the
importance of this occupation in
tooling-up for defense production.
The high level of tool and die maker
employment prevailing during the
period covered by the survey probably
influenced the amount and character
of job movement by tool and die makers.
Few were laid off. In fact, employers
were exerting every influence to re
tain their staffs during most of the
period. On the other hand, the wide
availability of jobs offered both the
inducement and the opportunity for
tool and die makers to change jobs
for higher pay or better promotional
opportunities or just to change when
working conditions, personal rela
tions, or plant location were not
entirely to their liking.

Tool and die makers can find jobs
in many places. They are employed in
more than 9,000 plants throughout the
country. They work in a large
variety of metalworking industries
and they are employed also in such
nonmetalworking fields as the
fabricated plastic products industry
which employs die makers to make the
metal molds. During World War II and
also since the outbreak of hostilities
in Korea government ordnance plants
have employed a substantial number of
these workers. Although the bulk of
tool and die makers are employed in
the midwe stern and northeastern sec/tions of the country where the metal
working industries are concentrated,
bool and die makers axe scattered
throughout the Nation and there are
some in every State.
The nature of the occupation
itself influences the mobility of
these workers. Qualified tool and die
•makers are at the top of the occupa
tional ladder of skilled craftsmen and
are among the highest paid workers in
the metalworking field. Thus, mem
bers of this occupation axe not
afforded much opportunity for trans
fer on the same skill level, and
because the period covered by the sur
vey was primarily one of full employ
ment, not many tool and die makers
would be expected to be working below
their highest skill level.
In general, tool and die makers
are limited in their occupational

movement. They can move downward to
other machine shop jobs requiring less
skill such as machinists or machine
tool operators. They can be promoted
to supervisory jobs in tool rooms. A
small number become tool or die
designers, and hence are no longer
members of the occupation. Some
workers establish small tool and die
shops of their own.

MOVEMENT IN AND OUT
OF THE OCCUPATION
The work histories of the tool and
die makers in the survey showed very
little movement in and out of the
occupation. During the 11-year period,
more than
percent of them worked
only as tool and die makers after be
coming qualified journeymen. Only
l68 had worked outside the occupation,
and th e s e w o rk ers had done so o n ly 209

each. Even when the tool and die
makers did move out of the occupation,
they tended to work in closely re
lated jobs. About half the jobs which
these men held outside the occupation
were either as machinists, machinery
repairmen, or machine tool operators
(table E-12). It should be noted
again that the analysis of the work
histories of these men began only
after they became qualified journey
men and that the occupational movement
involving a skill progression up to
tool and die maker has been considered
in this study as part of the training
experience for the trade but has been
excluded from the measurement of
mobility of fully qualified members
of this craft. As previously stated,
men who had worked as tool and die
makers during the 11 -year period but
were working in some other occupation
when the study was taken were not in
cluded in the study. Thus, this sur
vey does not fully reflect shifts to
other occupations.

tim e s , o r an av erag e o f 1 .3 tim es

Table 4«— Distribution of tool and die makers,
by number of job changes, 1940-51

Number of changes

Total tool and
die makers making
specified number
of job changes

Number
of changes made

Number

Percent

Number

2,127

Tool and die makers..........

1,712

100.0

No change............................
One change...................... .
Two changes............. ...........
Three changes....................... .
Four changes...... ................. .
Five changes............. .......... .
Six or more changes........... .

979

57.2

•m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
rn

216

12.6

216
386

193
95
83

62
84

11.3
5.5
4.8
3.6
5.0

285
332

1 Percent
100.0
________

10.2
18.1
13*4

310

15.6
14.6

598

28.1

Nearly three-fifths (979 of the

MOVEMENT BETWEEN EMPLOYERS

1,712 workers in the survey) had

In terms of manpower mobilization
planning, the importance of mobility
lies primarily in the amount of move
ment of workers to the plants and in
dustries where they are most needed
in a mobilization period. After the
general level of movement has been
determined, there must also be estab
lished the extent to which those
workers who do change employers are
also willing and able to move across
industry lines and from one geogra
phic area to another.
All of the industry and geogra
phic shifts made by the workers in
cluded in this study, as well as most
of the moves in and out of the occupa
tion, involved changes of employer
(table 5). Measurement of movement
between employers was, therefore* a
comprehensive measurement of all move
ment made by these tool and die
makers and offered the broadest
basis for analysis. Thus, movement
between employers was the principal
criterion of mobility in this study.
Table 5.~Job changes of tool and die
makers by type of job change, 1940-51

Type
of
job change

Workers

Number

Percent

All changes.••

2,127

100*0

Employer only.....
Employer and
industry........
Employer and
location..
Employer, industry,
and location.....

700

32.9

1,177

55.3

2.9

188

8.9

worked for only one employer (table
k). The 733 tool and die makers who
had changed employers one or more
times made 2,127 moves, or an average
of 2.9 per person. Even among those
who made employer changes there were
considerable differences in the
amount of movement. More than half
of those who had shifted made only
one or two moves. Three-fifths of
the movement between employers was
made by the 229 workers (about oneseventh of the total number of
workers in the survey) who made four
or more shifts each.
Of the 733 tool and die makers
who had made employer shifts 605 or
82.5 percent had made at least one
voluntary move. About two-thirds
(1 ,258 ) of the 2,127 moves between
employers'were voluntary. Manpower
planning officials are concerned with
the adequacy of voluntary movement as
a means of helping to insure that the
needs of defense production plants
for skilled workers are filled,
although they are aware that excessive
movement may hamper production.
Thus, the emphasis of this study
should be placed upon voluntary move
ment. Some idea of the amount of
voluntary movement which was found in
this study may be obtained by esti
mating the number of voluntary job
changes which might be made in a
single year. If the frequency of
voluntary movement between employers
of the estimated 100,000 tool and die
makers now employed was the same as
was found for the 1,712 tool and die
makers in the sample during the 11
years covered by the survey, it is
estimated that about 9,000 voluntary
employer shifts would be made annually
by the tool and die makers in the
country. Most of the Job changes
would involve a change of industry,
but less than 12 percent of the
shifts would involve a change of em
ployment from one labor market to

Chart 11. Rate of Job Changes
of Tool and Die Makers
Higher in Post-War Period
Num ber of
Job Changes

1600 r

N U M B E R A N D C H A R A C T ER OF J O B
C H A N G E S, W A R -T IM E A N D '
P O S T -W A R PE R IO D

1400 ►

1200

1000

►

Reason for C h a n g in g
N ot Reported

In vo lu n ta ry
Job C h an ge s

800 >

600 ►

400 -

200

V o lu n ta r y
Job C h an ge s

►

ol
Job C h a n g e s
M a d e Prior to
June 30, 1945

Job C h an ge s
M a d e after
June 30, 1945

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

euaother. 16/ It should he borne in
mind that 9,000 job changes does not
mean that 9>000 different tool and die
makers would change employers, since a
small number of men might change jobs
more than once during a given year.

It was found, however, that the
ratio of voluntary to involuntary
movement was about the same for all
workers no matter how they were
grouped, except in a few specific
cases which are noted in the following
analysis. Consequently, most of the
tabulations are presented in terms of
total movement. The conclusions based
upon these tables, however, are the
same as if the data were for voluntary
movement only.
As noted earlier, the 11 years of
the survey covered changing economic
conditions. For analytical purposes

16/

See pp.

3944.1

the period was divided into two parts-before and after June 30 > 19^5• The
first part roughly corresponded to
the tooling-up and war production
period, the second to the postwar con
version and prosperity period. A
comparison of the two periods shows
considerable differences (chart 11).
About twice as much movement occurred
in the second of the two periods; 722
moves were made before June 3®> 19**-5>
and 1,^05 were made after that date.
Also, the nature of the movement
differed. During the first 5 l/2
years only one-fifth of the total
moves were involuntary. The propor
tion of involuntary moves was twice
as great after June 30, 19^5* The
number of voluntary moves in the
later period was about 50 percent
more than in the first period. On
the other hand, the number of involun
tary moves was four times as great as
the first 5 l/2 years. The difference
in the amount of voluntary movement
between the two periods can be partly
accounted for by the 63 voluntary v
moves made in the later period to re
turn to former employers from whom
the workers had previously been laid
off.
The amount of movement between
employers was affected by such fac
tors as age, education, and length
of time in the labor force during
this period. It also varied by in
dustry and city of employment. On
the other hand, such other
characteristics as marital, status,
method of training, and nativity of
these tool and die makers did not
appear to affect the amount of move
ment.
Older workers did not change jobs
as often as the younger men. A
higher proportion had worked for only
one employer (table 6). Of the k03
workers who were 55 years of age or
older at the time of the survey, 289
(71.7 percent) had worked for only
one employer during this period. On
the other hand, 52*7 percent of those

for discussion of interindustry and geographic movement

workers under 55 had worked for only
To measure this, the number of moves
one employer. In addition, those in
made by workers when they were at
the higher ages who did change jobs
given ages was related to the number
made fewer shifts per person than
of years worked by all the workers in
those in the younger age groups. It
the survey at those same agesC~
should be noted, however, that the
(table 7). It was found that rela
above comparisons do not give a pre
tively more movement occurred at
cise measurement of the effect of age
lower ages and that the rate of
upon mobility, because they are a com movement diminished as the workers
parison of groupings of workers by age grew older. For example, almost
at the time of the survey. Such a
four times as many moves relative to
grouping gives only the experience of
the number of man-years worked at the
workers in each age group. It does
given ages were made by workers when
not describe the mobility behavior
they were between the ages of 20-29
characteristic of particular ages*
years as were made by workers when

Table 6.— Job changes of tool and die makers, by age, February-March 1950

Average number of
job changes made
by—

Age group

Total
tool
and
die
makers

make i's who
changedL emplqyers one• or more
<ti.mes

Number

All age groups...

PO „
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65

___

- 29.............
- 34.............
- 3 9 .............
- 4 4 ..... ...... .
- 4 9 ........ .
- 54.............
- 59.............
- 64.............
and over..........

1,712

Total
number
of job
changes

Percent

Tool
and
die
All
makers
tool
who
and
changed
die
employ
makers i
ers one
or more
times

733

42.8

2,127

1.2

2.9

53
162
122
84
100
98
64
33
17

40.2

146
497
382
279
299
251
160
78
35

1.1
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.2
.8
.6
.4

2.8
3.1
3.1
3.3
3.0
2.6
2.5
2.4
2.1

132
325
250
184
193
216
199
121
83

49.5
48.8
45.7
51.8
45.4

32.2
27.3
20.5

years

they were 55
of age or older.
The foregoing analysis confirms the
thesis that as workers grow older they
tend to become less mobile. Among the
probable factors responsible are
seniority, pension rights, and a
greater desire for stability.
A grouping of tool and die makers
by the number of months they were in
the labor force in the period covered
by the survey showed differences in
mobility. Workers with fewer months
in the labor force after qualifying as
tool and die makers made proportionate
ly more job changes in relation to the
length of their work experience (table
E-l4). While age differences were an
important factor, there were
differences even for workers in the

same age group. The relationship
between months in the labor force and
degree of mobility tends to substan
tiate the belief that when workers
enter the labor market, either as new
workers, or as in this case, as new
journeymen, they look for "good" jobs.
In this search they move from job to
job until they find one that satisfies
their requirements, and once they ob
tain such a position, they are likely
to remain there,

lj/

The amount of movement varied with
the number of years of schooling. To
a considerable extent, the educational
level is also related to age. It was
found, however, that when years of
schooling were standardized by age,
the influence of education on mobility
persisted. There was a high correla
tion between the average number of
moves per person and educational level;
Table 7.— Job changes of tool and die
the average number of job changes in
makers by age at time of change,
creased with the number of years of
192+0-51
schooling (table 8). Those tool and
die makers who had not gone beyond the
eighth grade averaged less than one job
Total
Average
change per worker; those who had partial
Total
man-years
changes
or complete high school education had
Age
job
worked
per manmade an average of 1.3 changes. Men
changes
year
192+0-51
with some college training had the
worked
highest rate of movement, averaging
nearly two job changes each.

All ages

2,127

20-22+....
25-29....
30-32+....
35-39....
2+0-2+2+....
1+5-49....
50—52+....
55-59....
60 or more
1/

145
2+53
2+51
308
262
259
12+1
75
33

li+,987

719
2,12+3
2,218
1,872+
1,978
2,173
1,859
1,182+
839

.12+2

•202
•211

•203
.1&+
.132
.112+
.076
.063
.039

Excludes period before qualifying
tool and die maker.

17/

The rate of movement between
employers varied when the tool and
die makers were grouped by industry
of employment at the time of the
survey. Slightly more than a
quarter of the workers employed in
the machinery and motor vehicles in
dustry had changed employers; in com
parison, more than half the workers
employed in the aircraft industry
and about two-thirds of those work
ing in the machine tool accessories
industry
had changed jobs during the
as
period (table 9)» Although the
average age of the workers differed
by industry and was to some extent a

For example, see Reynolds, Lloyd G., op. cit, p. 111.

factor, the interindustry differences
in mobility still appeared when age was
held constant*
These differences may
be partially explained by the nature of
the industries, particularly their re
cent growth and the degree to which em
ployment has fluctuated*
For example,
only about half the tool and die makers
employed in the machine tool accessor
ies industry had qualified as tool and
die makers in that industry* Thus, the
other 50 percent would necessarily have
made at least one job (and industry)
move in order to be employed in
a
machine tool accessories plant* (Some
of these men may have come into the in
dustry before 19^0
hence, this move
ment into the industry would not have
been counted in this study*)

;

Differences in mobility appeared
also among the various cities in the
survey* These closely followed the pat
tern of interindustry variations* The
highest proportion of workers who had
changed employers was found in Hartford
and Los Angeles, both wartime aircraft
production centers where more than half
the workers had changed employers at
least once (table E-15)*
In Detroit,
the workers for example, had made about
the same average number of moves as had
all the workers in the survey*
This
city had concentrations of tool and die
maker employment in both the industry
with the highest rate of movement
(machine tool accessories) and in the
industry with the lowest rate
(motor
vehicles)* The average number of moves
for those workers who did change em
ployers varied among the cities*
The
average number of shifts per worker was
highest in Los Angeles, where the mobile
workers made an average of 3*6 moves
each*
Although more than half the
workers in Hartford had changed employ
ers, most of them had made only one
or two shifts*
Thus, in this city

the average number of shifts per
worker who changed employers at least
once was the lowest for all seven
cities*
This probably can be at
tributed to the fact that there are
relatively fewer employers of tool
and die makers in Hartford as com
pared to some of the other cities in
the survey*
Because of this, the
number of alternative employment op
portunities for tool and die makers
in that city was limited. 1
The effects of several other
factors upon mobility were investi
gated. Persons trained by appren
ticeship and those trained by other
methods showed no appreciable differ
ences in the rate of movement* The
percentage of men who had changed em
ployers at least once was about the
same for each group and the number of
moves per person was also the same*
Among the tool and die makers includ
ed In this study, married men changed
employers just as frequently as men
who were not married (table E-l6)*
The effect of marital status on mo
bility was measured by observing the
number of job changes which were
made by men married at the time they
moved and the number of job changes
made by men unmarried at the time
they changed employers, relative to
the number of man-years worked by
married men and unmarried men*
Foreign-bora tool and die makers
moved proportionately as much as
native-born tool and die makers,and
about the same percentage of each
group had changed employers one or
more times* The tool and die makers
who recommended this trade as a
career for young people had moved
relatively as much as those who did
not make this recommendation*

Table 8.— Job changes of tool and die rakers, by educational level*
Feb ruary-March 1951

All educational levels....

Total
number of
job changes

Average
number of
job changes

1,712

2,127

1.2

464
1,1+62

Total
tool and die
makers

Highest
school grade
completed

4 ...........................................................

5 - 8 ...........................

9 - 12....... . ...........................

.9
1.3
1.3

100
12

Total with some college education
Education not reported...*......

490
1,088

179

1.2

Table 9.— Job changes of tool and die makers,
by industry of enployment, Feb ruary-March 1951

Tool and die makers uho changed
employers one or more times

Industry

All industries....

Fabricated metal
products.............
Machinery (except ma
chine tool accessories)
Machine tool accessories
Electrical machinery. •• •
Motor vehicles.........
Aircraft and parts.....
All other........... .

Total
tool
and
die
makers

Number

Percent

Number
of
changes
made

Average
number
of
changes
made

1,712

733

1+2.8

2,127

2.9

159

35.2

170

3.0

284
1+1+6
260
358
151
51+

81
282
104
99
83
28

28.5
63.2
40.0
27.7
55.0
51.9

235
861
272
239
262
88

2.9
3.1
2.6
2.4
3.2
3.1

MOVEMENT BETWEEN INDUSTRIES
Even though the tool and die makers em
ployed in some industries had moved
less than those in others, it appeared
that all tool and die makers could
cross industry lines freely. Each of
the industries had drawn some tool and
die makers from each of the other indus
tries included in the survey. In fact,
in every industry studied at least onethird of the workers had not qualified
as tool and die makers in the industry
in which they were working at the time
of the survey. With one exception, no
pattern of movement from one industry
to another Was evident. This excep
tion wan due primarily to the geogra
phic concentration of particular indus
tries. The automobile and machine tool
accessories industries, both of which
have large concentrations in Detroit,
showed a higher than average interchange
of tool and die makers.

Although less than half the tool
and die makers made no Job changes,
those who did move had no strong in
dustry attachments. Of the 733
workers who changed employers, 553
had worked in more than one industry
and of the 2,127 job changes nearly
two-thirds involved a change in in
dustry. In all, about one-third of
the tool and die makers in the survey
worked in more than one industry
during the period covered by the sur
vey. A small number of workers
accounted for the bulk of the movement
between industries. Slightly more
than 10 percent of the tool and die
makers had made almost three-fifths
of the industry moves.
The tool and die makers employed
in some industries at the time of the
survey had made more industry shifts
than those employed in other indus
tries. For example, about 16 percent
of the tool and die makers employed in
the motor vehicles industry when they
were interviewed had worked in at
least one other industry, whereas ^3
percent of those employed in the ma
chine tool accessories plants had been
employed in other industries (table 10)i

The effect of various factors on
movement between Industries was the
same as in the case of employer
changes. In particular, it should
be noted that apprentice-trained
workers showed about the same rate of
industry shifting as did workers who
qualified by other means.

MOVEMENT FROM ONE GEOGRAPHIC AREA TO ANOTHER
There was relatively little move
ment from one geographic area to
another by the tool and die makers in
the survey. Only 1^3 (8
percent)
of the 1,712 men reported changing
their cities of employment 18/ during
the 11 years, and these men made only
250 such shifts in Job location or an
average of 1.7 moves each. Nearly
half of those who had changed their

cities of employment moved only once,
and five-sixths had made only 1 or 2
locational moves.

18/

Two-thirds of the movement
between geographic areas occurred in
the second half of this U-year
period, as was true for movement
between employers. The proportion of
moves between geographic areas which

"City of employment" refers to Census standard metropolitan areas.

Table 10.— Number of industries in which tool and die makers were previously
employed, by industry of employment, Februaiy-March 1951

Industry of
employment
at time of
survey,
FebruaryMarch 1951

Total tool
and di s makers

Nuntoer

Percent

Fabricated metal
products.........
Machinery (except
machine tool
accessories)......
Machine tool
accessories..... .
Electrical machinery
Motor vehicles.....
Aircraft and parts..
All other...... .

None

One

Two

Three

Four
or
more

Percerit

All industries..

All industries.•

Number of industries
previoiisly worked in

1,712

100.0

67.7

18.3

10.0

2.7

1.3

159

100.0

68.6

18.8

4.4

3.8

4.4

284

100.0

74*3

13.4

10.2

1.8

57.4

25.1
20.9
12.0
17.9
14.8

13.7
8.8
3*6
17.3

3.4
4*6
.6
2.0
7.4

.4
1.9
.3
2.0
7.4

kk6
260
358
151

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

63.8
83.5

60.3
50.0

20.4

which the survey was taken came from
the surrounding regions 19/ (table
E-l8). The one exception was found
in Los Angeles. Forty-five of the
160 tool and die makers interviewed
in Los Angeles had moved into the
city during the 11 years covered by
the survey* 20/ More than half of
these k5 workers had come from the in
dustrial centers of the Midwest, and
only 6 had come from any of the
Pacific Coast States. The relative
geographic immobility of these

followed losses of jobs increased in
the second half of the period, un
doubtedly because of the increased
importance of involuntary employer
shifts during the second half of the
period. In the earlier period, 19
percent of the geographic changes
followed losses of jobs whereas in
the later period 28 percent followed
job losses.
Most of the workers who moved
into the seven metropolitan areas in

19/ "Region," as used in this study, corresponds to standard Census
geographic divisions such'as Hew England and Middle Atlantic.
20/ These U 5 men were already qualified tool and die makers when they
moved to Los Angeles. In addition, a few workers moved to Los Angeles during
this period from other cities and qualified as tool and die makers through
their first job in Los Angeles.

i+0

workers is shown by the fact that
less than 5 percent of the tool and
die makers trained in this country
were working outside the region
where they were trained.

with more schooling changed their
city of employment relatively more
often. However, although marital
status did not affect the rate of
movement between employers, un
married tool and die makers changed
cities of employment proportionately
twice as often as did the married
workers (table E-17).

As was true of job changes
which involved only changes of em
ployer, younger workers and workers

Table 11.— -Job changes of tool and die makers, by nature of change and reason
for voluntary changes, selected periods, 1940-51

Period of change

Entire period
1940-51

Job changes

Before
June 30, 1945

After
June 30, 1945

1
Number

Percent

Number

Percent

100.0

1,405

100.0

70.2

53.4
38.8
7.8

100.0

Number

All job changes....*

2,127

100.0

722

Voluntary.............
Involuntary............
Season not reported....

1,258
675
194

59.1
31.7
9.2

130

18.0

11.8

751
545
109

Voluntary changes....

1,258

100.0

507

100.0

751

Better nav..... .
Better 1ob.............
Working conditions +.* *.
Location*............
Return to former
emnlover.............
Differences with
foreman*.............
Other*♦***♦**---*-*-**♦

27.5
24.9
11.6
5.1

507

30.0
27.6

25.8
23.0

12.8
6.1

10.8
4.4

8.4

5.0
3.3
22.6

Percent

3.4
20.1

3.3
24.3

Reasons for Changing Jobs
This discussion has centered,
so fax, on the extent and magnitude
of mobility, the proportion of
workers who changed jobs, and the
number of job changes* Those groups
of workers who changed jobs most
frequently have also been identified*
In manpower planning it is necessary
to know not only how much movement
might be expected and which workers
would be most likely to change jobs,
but also what inducements would
cause workers to change jobs if such
movement should be desirable in a
mobilization period.
The tool and die makers inter
viewed were asked to give their
reasons for changing jobs. The in
formation called for the entire ex
planation for changing employers
including both the reason for
leaving a particular job and for
taking the next one. The reasons
given were divided into two broad
groups: job changes made as a re
sult of the worker's own choice and
job changes made as a result of
factors over which the worker had no
control. Of the 2, 127 job changes
1,258 were voluntary, and 675 were
involuntary. In 19^ cases the workers
either gave no reason or the reason
was so vague as to be unclassifiable
(table 11). Of the changes made
voluntarily, 2 7.5 percent were due to
the desire for higher pay, including
a higher wage rate or higher take-home
pay because of a longer workweek.
This was the most frequently given
reason. The next largest category ac
counted for almost 25 percent of all
the voluntary job changes, and covered
a variety of responses which could be
summed up as a desire to get a "better
job." This included such reasons as
"to gain experience," "to get a pro
motion, " or "to take a job which would
lead to promotion."

The desire to improve working
conditions accounted for 12 percent
more of the voluntary changes made.
Included in this group were changes
made to secure different work shifts,
more desirable hours of work, or
better physical conditions in the tool
room or shop. Five percent of the job
changes were made because of plant
location or transportation difficulties.
In another five percent of the changes,
the workers left jobs to return to
plants where they had formerly worked
and from which, in most cases, they
had been laid off. More than three
percent of the job changes were made
because of "differences" with super
visors.
In about 23 percent more of the
voluntary job changes, vague reasons
or reasons not related to a particular
job were given. These included such
comments as "dissatisfied," "wanted a
change," "entered defense work,"
"quit to help out family business,"
and "wanted to live in California."
A large group said they "just quit"
and were unable or unwilling to give
more specific reasons, indicating that
they "just got tired of working at
that job."

The above enumeration of reasons
for changing jobs suggest the impor
tant conclusion that most of the
voluntary movement of tool and die
makers was for specific and rational
reasons calculated to Improve the
worker'8 job situation.
About one-third (675 ) of all
the job changes were involuntary,
resulting from factors over which
the worker had no control, All but
a small number of these job changes
were the result of lay-offs. The
remainder were due to the worker's

being discharged by the employer for
one reason or another or because the
worker's health did not permit him
to continue on the .job.
The reasons for voluntary job
changes made before June 30# 19^5
were compared with those given after
that date. The distribution of
reasons was about the same, except
that after June 30# 19*+5, 8.U percent
of the voluntary Job changes were
made to return to former employers.
This reason was not given for any
job changes occurring in the earlier
period. Thus, it appears that
although the amount of voluntary job
changing did vary, the reasons for
this movement were about the same
both in the wartime and postwar
periods.

In general, the importance of
the reasons for changing jobs was
similar for the various groups of
tool and die makers. There were no
significant differences in distri
bution of reasons between appren
tice-trained men and those who
qualified by other methods,
between younger men and older
workers, between experienced workers
and. relatively new workers, or
between native-born and foreign-bora

men. There was one exception—
marital status. Married men were
apparently more concerned than un
married men with working conditions
and with ’"better jobs" in terms of
opportunity for promotion or experi
ence, and had changed jobs relatively
more often to return to former ememployers. On the other hand, un
married men moved more often for
better immediate pay#for a different
working location, or because of
differences with their supervisors.
The distribution of reasons for
making industry changes was the same
as the reasons for changing employers.
The reasons for job changes involving
movements between geographic areas,
however, were considerably different.
Of the 250 geographic changes, 5*+
occurred after the worker was laid off
or discharged. The geographic changes
which did not follow lay-off or dis
charge were grouped by the reasons
given for making the job change. More
than two-fifths were made for personal
reasons not apparently related to the
job; three-eighths were for better pay,
better jobs, and more desirable work
ing conditions. (This compares with
more than 60 percent of all voluntary
changes of employers in which these
reasons were given).

APPENDIXES

Appendix A:

Definitions Used in This Survey

Joh description of tool and die maker (Die maker] jig maker;
tool maker; fixture maker; gage maker)

Constructs and repairs machine shop tools, gages, jigs, fixtures
or dies for forgings, punching, and other metal-forming work. Work in
volves most of the following: planning and laying out of work from
models, blueprints, drawings or other oral or written specifications;
using a variety of tool and die maker's hand tools and precision
measuring instruments; understanding of the working properties of com
mon metals and alloys; setting up and operating of machine tools and
related equipment; making necessary shop computations relating to
dimensions of work, speeds, feeds, and tooling of machines; heat-treating
of metal parts during fabrication as well as of finished tools and dies
to achieve required qualities; working to close tolerances; fitting and
assembling of parts to prescribed tolerances and allowances; selecting
appropriate materials, tools, and processes. In general, the tool and
die maker's work requires a rounded training in machine shop and tool
room practice usually acquired through a formal apprenticeship or equiva
lent training and experience.

Job changes per month in the labor force
after qualifying as tool and die maker

A test was devised to measure the relationship between exposure to
the labor force and mobility. In essence, this consisted of dividing
the number of months each worker had spent in the civilian labor force
as a tool and die maker by the number of job changes he made. The result
is the changes per month in the labor force, (in actual computation the
data were grouped as shown in table E-lk, and man-years rather than manmonths were used). The amount of movement for each grouping of tool and
die makers was determined. For example, it was found that those tool and
die makers who were in the labor force 5 years or less made an average of
about one more every 5 years. On the other hand, those who were in the
labor force as tool and die makers the entire 11 years made on the
average about one move every 9 years. Thus, the figures shown have an
advantage over a simple tabulation of the number of changes made by men
in each grouping, inasmuch as they relate the amount of movement to the
potential for movement.

Job changes per man-years worked at Riven ages

Although a grouping of workers by their ages at the time of the
survey and by the number of job changes they made during the 11 -year
period covered by the survey gives an approximation of the effect of
age on mobility, it has certain weaknesses. The first of these is that
it tends to give the impression that the older workers moved more often
than was actually the case. This impression is given because the older
workers in general were in the labor force longer during the period
covered by the survey than were the younger workers. Thus, if the
mobility rates of the various age groups were equal, the older workers
would have made more moves. The second weakness is that a grouping of
workers by ages attained at the time of interview does not recognize
that the job changes were made in the past and therefore were made at
lower ages; in some cases as many as 11 years lower than the ages at
the time of the survey. A better measure of the effect of age on the
rate of movement is the average number of man-years worked at specified
ages.
To isolate the effect of age, the movements of workers were
grouped by the ages at which the movement occurred. Thus, of the
2,127 job changes, IU5 were made by workers who were 20-2^ years old
when they moved, ^53 by workers who were 25-29 when they moved, and
so forth. Following this, the man-years worked at given ages were com
puted. For example, a worker who qualified as a tool and die maker
before
and who was 25 years of age on January 1, 19^0* would have
worked five man-years in the age group 25-29, five man-years in the age
group 3O-3H, and one man-year in the age group 35*39* After the manyears were accumulated for each age group, they were divided by the
number of moves made at those ages. The result, moves per man-year
worked at specified ages, describes the mobility characteristic of a
particular age.

19kQ,

Appendix B: S ta tistic a l Test of Significance
The following form of the Chi-square formula was used to test the
significant differences of the data in this study:

where fQ = observed frequency
and ft s hypothetical frequency
The value of Pr0.05 was used to define the level
of significance.

Calculation of estimated separations of tool and die makers because of retirement and death, 1951-61

Five-year pe:riod,

Ten-year period,
1951-61

1951-56

Age

Estimated
employment
1951

(1)

All age groups...,

k
3k

20 - 2 ..............
25 - 29..............
30 ..............
35 - 39..............
2+0 — i+U..............
1+5 - 1+9..............
50-5 1+ ..............
55 - 59..............
6 0 - 6 1 + ..............
.......................
7fi _
..............
75 and over......... .
Appendix Cs

Separation ratei/
per 1,000 in
the labor force
(estimated)
(2)

Number of
separations
(estimated)
(1) X (2)
(3)

100,000

107.6

10,758

500
7,700
19,000
li+,600

11.3
12.6
20.7
32.5
1+7.9
75.6
106.7
160.5
351+.7
501.8
5U+.5
1,000.0

6
97
393
1+75
513
851+
1,31+1+

10,700
11,300
12,600
11,600
7,100
5.600
900
1+00

Separation ratei/
per 1,000 in
the labor force
(estimated)

Number of
separations
(estimated)
(1) x (1+)

(1+)

(5)

229.1+

22,939

23.8

12
251+
998
1,152
1,283
1,968
3,150
5,316
i+,817

33.0
52.5
78.9
119.9

171+.2
250.0
1+58.3
678.5

1,862

2,518
1,806

Ji90

1+00

i+,900

—

-------811+.1

—

3,989

1/ Based on separation rate for total males adapted from abridged table of working life for 1947, in
'•Tables of Working life," Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 1001.

No. 2208
A p p e n d ix D: Q u e s t io n n a ir e s u se d i n th e s t u d y
Date of interview__________

bls

UNITED

STATES

DEPARTMENT

Budget Bureau No. 44-5047.1
Approval expires 6-30-51

L A B OR

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Wa s h i n g t o n 25. d . c .

Confidential

OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY OF TOOL AND DIE MAKERS

Name

Address

Marital status

Number of d e p e n d e n t s ______ 5.

Soc. Sec. No.

( G I V E

O A T E S

FOR

OT HE R

THAN

Es t a bl i s hme nt I d e n t 1f 1 rati on*'
l
,Firm name
i
,City

S I N G L E )

Year of b i r t h ____________________ 6.

S t a t e , or f o r e i g n c o u n t r y ) ___________________________________ 7.
8.
11.

Year c o m p l e t e d ________ F i r s t f u l l - t i m e j o b :

P l a c e of b i r t h ( C i t y or c o u n ty and

E d u c a ti o n :

Y e a r ______ 10.

H ig hes t grade completed

O c c u p a t i o n _________________________

I n d u s t r y ( or p r i n c i p a l p r o d u c t ) _______________________________________________________________________________

How di d you l e a r n to be a t o o l a n d / o r d ie maker? (For th os e who s er v ed any a p p r e n t i c e s h i p , complete ques
t i o n 12; f o r th os e who d id n o t , complete a p p l i c a b l e q u e s t i o n s under 1 3 .)
12.

Served a p p r e n t i c e s h i p ________________

What o c c u p a t i o n .

Firm name________

I n d u s t r y ________

13.

S p e c i f y in which of the f o l l o w i n g ways you q u a l i f i e d
t o be a t o o l a n d / o r d ie maker:
(o r

p r i n c i p a l

p r o d u c t

L o c a t io n

Number of yea rs s e r v e d ______________________

Did you complete a p p r e n t i c e s h i p ______________

Date c o m p l e t e d ____________________

I f a p p r e n t i c e s h i p was not com pl et ed, r e l a t e
s t e p s take n to q u a l i f y as a t o o l a n d / o r d i e
maker:

(c i t y

f o re ign

c o u n t r y

More or l e s s formal o n - t h e - j o b t r a i n i n g ( o t h e r
t h an a p p r e n t i c e s h i p , e . g . , l e a r n e r or t r a i n e e ;
g iv e d e t a i l s ) :

Upgraded from m a c h in is t or s i m i l a r jo b with a d
d i t i o n a l t r a i n i n g in p l a n t . (Give d e t a i l s i n c l u d
ing o c c u p a t i o n from whirh " ft(Trarto( l ) :

)

I f a p p r e n t i c e d in an o c c u p a t i o n o t h e r th an
to o l a n d /o r d ie maker, r e l a t e s t e p s ta ke n
to q u a l i f y as t o o l a n d / o r d ie maker:

a.
)

Did not s e r v e a p p r e n t i c e s h i p ________________________

c. Picked up t o o l a n d / o r d i e t r a d e wh ile working as
a machine t o o l o p e r a t o r , m a c h i n i s t , e t c . (gi ve
d e t a i l s ) : ________________________________________________

Other

Number o f y ea rs to q u a l i f y as a t o o l a n d / o r d ie
maker ____________________

( Turn to pag e 4 )

- 217.

Work h i s t o r y , 1940 to 1950. ( L i s t p r e s e n t jo b f i r s t and e n t e r l e n g t h o f t i n e in ea ch o c c u p a t i o n on a sep<
d a t e , i n c l u d i n g p e r i o d s in sal 11 t a r y s e r v i c e and th e p e r i o d s o f unemployment.)
a.
Employment
i
or
i
i
unemployment
i
From
|
To
Mo.
Yr. t Mo. Yr. i______

b.
Firm name, C i t y and S t a t e

18.

Longest jo b w it h one fi rm in any p e r i o d :

19.

Number of weeks out of work i n 1949 ______________

Notes:

Give r e a s o n s f o r each p e r i o d

(Use where a d d i t i o n a l sp ac e i s needed f o r work h i s t o r y )

i
i
i
i
i
i

c.
Industry
(or p rin c ip a l product)

- 3 -

i r a t e l i n e even though th e e n p lo y n e nt was in th e sane f i r n or p l a n t ; ac co u n t f o r a l l months, J a n u a r y 1940 to

Occu pa tio n
(Job t i t l e a n d / o r b r i e f
d e s c r i p t i o n of d u t i e s )

R en ark s: ( E x p la in re a s o n f o r cha ng in g e n p lo y n e nt or
s t e p s r e s u l t i n g in cha nging o c c u p a t i o n )

I n d i c a t e s p e c i a l i z a t i o n f o r p r e s e n t jo b only

LABOR

- D.

(BLS

51- 2059)

- 4 -

14. F i r s t job as a f u l l y q u a l i f i e d t o o l a n d / o r d i e m a k e r __________ _
(year)

15.

Number of y ears e x p e r i e n c e working as a t o o l a n d / o r d ie maker
(Exclude p e r i o d s when not working as t o o l a n d / o r d i e maker)

16.

T e c h n ic a l s c h o o l i n g o t h e r th a n t h a t ta k e n as p,art o f a p p r e n t i c e s h i p :
Name of scho ol

Name of c o u r s e s

(COMPLETE

PAGES

AND

BEFORE

Mo.

FILLING

From

Yr.

Mo.

Y r.

REMARKS)

2 0 . Remarks: Inc lu d e r e s p o n d e n t ' s s t a t e m e n t as to what i n f l u e n c e s led to th e s e l e c t i o n o f t h i s tr a d e
and h is o p in io n about th e t r a d e as a c a r e e r f o r young p e o p l e . Also s p e c i f i c a l l y i n d i c a t e :
1. Whether t h e r e a r e o t h e r members o f h i s r e s p o n d e n t ' s immediate f a m il y in t h i s t r a d e , 2 th e oc c u
p a t i o n and i n d u s t r y of h is f a t h e r ' s lo n g e s t or u su al j o b , and 3. whether re s p o n d e n t was r a i s e d on
a farm.

Field Representative:

BLS No. 2209

Budget Bureau No. 44-5046.1
Approval expires 6-30-51

UNITED

STATES

DEPARTMENT

L AB OR

BUREAU OF LABOR S T A T I S T I C S

WASHINGTON 2 5 . D. C.

OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY OF TOOL AND DIE MAKERS

C o n fid e n tia l

ESTABLISHMENT INFORMATION

C o n fid e n tia l

Firm name

Plant address

Ci t y and State .

Names and titles of officials i n terviewed

Principal p r o d u c t s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Employment: a. T o t a l _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ b. Numb e r of pr o d u c t i o n (plant) w o r k e r s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ,

(IDENTIFY
(STREET

and

n u m b e r

PLANT)

)

Date

Industry_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

c. N u m b e r of workers in tool and/or die d e p a r t m e n t _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
d. N u m b e r of fully q u alified tool and/or die makers in tool and/or die d e p a r t m e n t ___
e. N u m b e r of fully q u alified tool and/or die makers in p l a n t _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
f. Num b e r of fully q u alified tool and/or die makers in plant over 55 years of a g e ___
g. Sp e c i f y pay period apply i n g to empl o y m e n t data _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
8.

What is the princ i p a l use of the tool and/or die d e partment (indicate proportions, if
possible, or order of importance):

a. M a k i n g tools and/or dies for sale _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

b. Maki n g tools and/or dies for own use in p r o d u c t i o n _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ c. R e c o n d i t i o n i n g and
repair of tools and/or d i e s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ d. Other ( s p e c i f y ) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
9.

What is the job o r g a n i z a t i o n in tool and/or die room (indicate proportions, if possible
or order of, importance):

a. A tool and/or die maker produces a complete u n i t _ _ _ _ _ _ _

b. Q u a l i f i e d tool and/or die maker acting as lead man s u pervises crew producing tfomplete
u n i t s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ c. Tool and/or die maker in charge of job, routes operat i o n s through
machine o p erators and other s p e c i alists and fits and asse m b l e s final product
d. Jobs b roken down so that foreman s u p e rvises workers other than fully q u alified tool
and/or die mak e r s who repe t i t i v e l y perform a separate o p e r ation such as mac h i n i n g on a
turret-lathe_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

e. Some other arran g e m e n t ( s p e c i f y ) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

10.

Usual sources of o b t a i n i n g tool and/or die makers for plant (indicate proportion, if
possible, or order of importance):

a. H i r i n g e x p e r i e n c e d tool and/or die makers

from outside the p l a n t _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ b. A p p r e n t i c e s h i p p r o g r a m _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ c. O n - t h e - j o b
tr a i n i n g in tool and/or die making, other than a p p r e n t i c e s h i p _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

If c, what

is the average length of time requi r e d to q u a l i f y ? _ _ _ _ _ _ d. U p g r a d i n g other machine
shop or related workers from within the p l a n t ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

From what occup a t i o n s are

such people d r a w n ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
e. Hiri n g machine shop or related workers from outside the plant to be trained or
u p - g r a d e d for tool and/or die maker j o b s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
11.

App r e n t i c e s h i p :

f. Oth e r ( s p e c i f y ) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

a. Is there an a p p r e n t i c e s h i p program for tool and/or die makers

in the p l a n t ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

b. If "yes", is the p r ogram r e g i s t e r e d (with Federal

C o m m i t t e e on A p p r e n t i c e s h i p or State A p p r e n t i c e s h i p C o u n c i l ) ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
c. N u m b e r of tool and/or die maker appre n t i c e s now in t r a i n i n g _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
d. Number of tool and/or die makers c o m p l e t i n g a p p r e n t i c e s h i p in the plant in:
1947 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1948 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1949 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1950 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

e. N umber still work i n g in the plant of those who c o m p l e t e d a p p r e n t i c e s h i p in:
1947 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
12.

1948

__________

1949 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1950 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

In t e m p o r a r y slack periods in the tool and/or die room, are tool and/or die makers
usually—

a. Laid o f f ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

or, b. Gi v e n other w o r k ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

If the

latter, what occup a t i o n or type of work is us u a l l y assigned? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
13%

In the past when it was nec e s s a r y to increase pr o d u c t i o n of tools and dies sharply,
how were the additional m a n p o w e r r e q u i rements met, aside from i n c r easing hours of
work? (Indicate p r o p o r t i o n if possible, or order of importance):
e x p e r i e n c e d tool a nd/or die m a k e r s ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
appren t i c e s ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

a. Hiri n g

b. Incr e a s i n g the n u mber of

c. U t i l i z i n g less skil l e d workers s u p e r v i s e d by the

skilled men already e m p l o y e d ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

d. Intensive tra i n i n g prog r a m for tool and/

or die makers other than a p p r e n t i c e s h i p ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

e. O t h e r ( s p e c i f y ) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

f. Were tool and die makers o btained from the local labor market?
g. If not, where did they come from?

________________ ____________________

Indicate p eriod applicable to question

1 3._______
(
)
y e a r

In the event of a future sharp increase in tool and die r e q u i r e m e n t s to meet defense
p r o d u c t i o n schedules, w ould the manpo w e r r e q u i r e m e n t s *be met, in general in the same
manner as indicated above?

(Explain)_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

If not, how would the a d ditional man p o w e r r e q u i r e m e n t s be met?

Notes:

(Use this space for c o m p l e t i n g answers)

Remarks:

F ield r epresentative:

LABOR - D. C. (BLS 51-2060)

Appendix E> Tables

Table E -l.—D istribution of tool and die makers in the sample, by industry,
February-March 1951
Tool and die makers
in the sample
Industry
Number

Percent

All industries....... ...................

1,712

100.0

Fabricated metal products................ ........
Machinery (except machine tool accessories).......
Machine tool accessories................ ..........
Electrical machinery......... .................... •
Motor vehicles...... .............. ............ .
Aircraft and p a r t s . ..... .
o th e r ....... ...............
t
.

159
284

A ll

kk6

260
558
151

9.3
16.5
26.1
15.2
20.9
8.8
3.2

Table E-2.— Number of workers and plants from which sample of tool and die makers
was taken, by industry, February-March 1951

Employment in plants of sample
Industry

Number
of
plants

Total
workers

Total
production
workers

Total
tool and
die makers

Total..........

315

649,381+

1+97,31+8

13,551

Fabricated metal products.
Machinery (except machine
tool accessories).....
Machine tool accessories*.
Electrical machinery.....
Motor vehicles.......
Aircraft and parts.......
Railroad equipment.......
Instruments and related
products.............. .
Government installations••

18,614+

16,270

717

87
79
33
58
15
3

95,533
7,598
86,165
306,597
107,703
9,1+72

75,126
6,1+77
58,214
255,092
65,200
6,828

1,689
1,493
1,381
5,666
2,387
87

2
2

2,206
15,666

1,210
12,931

63
68

Table E-3.—Age of tool and die makers, by industry, February-March 1951
Industiy of employment

Age group

All
in
dus
tries
Total

Fabri Machinery
Machine
cated
(except
tool ac
metal
machine
tool ac
pro
cessories
ducts cessories)

Electri
cal ma
chinery

Motor
vehicles

Aircraft
and
parts

All other
industries

Percent

20-24 years.......
25-29 years.......
30-34 years.......
35-39 years.......
i+0—Aii+ years*......
45-49 years.......
50-54 years*......
55-59 years.......
60—6£+ years.......
65 and over..... . •
Total......

Median age*.......
Total number of
workers....... ..

.6
8.2
17.6
I8.3

__________________

14.3
8.3
4*3
2.5

1.2
7*3
22.2
19*6
11.9
10.8
10.8
6.5
6.2
3.5

.3
5.3
13.1
12.3
9.5
11.2
13.1
16.5
10.6
8.1

5.3
17.9
21.2
11.9
18.5
8.6
10.6
3.3
2.7

9.3
27.8
16.7
13.0
3.7
3.7
18.5
3.7
3.6

.7
10.5
23*3

10.7
11*3
12.6
11.6
7.1
4.9

10.7
9.4
12.6
13*2
5*7
3.7

.4
7*4
16.1
9.5
11.3
7*7
14.8
13.7
11.3
7.8

100.0

1,712

159

284

446

260

358

151

♦5
7.7
19.0

14.6

13.0

10.1

13.0

Table £-4.—Marital and veteran statu s, and dependents^of tool and die makers,
February-March 1951
Marital
and
dependency status

All workers

1,712

Married............
With dependents#..
Without dependents

1,558

Not married........
With dependents...
Without dependents
1/

Veteran status

Total
tool and die
makers

Veterans

Nonveterans

299

1,413

261+

1 ,0 7 k

219
45

1,294
855
439

154
54
100

119

43
76

11
24

Other than wives.

Table £-5•— Educational level of tool and die makers by method of qualification

Method of qualification

Highest
school grade
completed

Total
tool and die
makers

Number

All educational
levels..........

1 - 4 ...............
5 - 8 ...............
9 - 12..............
Total with some
college education...
Education not reported

Apprenticeship

Percent

Number

Percent

Other than
apprenticeship

Number, Percent

1,712

100.0

1,135

100.0

577

100.0

22
490
1,088

1.3
28.6
63.6

10
326
726

.9
28.7
64.0

12
164
362

2.1
28.4
62.8

100
12

5.8
.7

64
9

5.6
.8

36
3

6.2
.5

Table B-6 .— Nativity of tool and die makers,
by city of employment, February-March 1951

Nativity
City
of
employment

Total tool
and die makers
Native born

Number

Percent

Foreign born

Number

Percent

Number

Percent

All cities....

1,712

100.0

1,21*7

72.8

1*65

27.2

Chicago, 111........
Cincinnati, Ohio....
Cleveland, Ohio.....
Detroit, Midi.......
Hartford, Conn......
Los Angeles, Calif••
Philadelphia, Pa....

519
35
219
650
127
160
20l*

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

222
25
17/
iiii*
106
135
169

69.6
75.8
80.1*
63.7
83.5
8i*.i*
82.8

97
8
1*3
236
21
25
35

30.1*
2t*.2
19.6
36.3
16.5
15.6
17.2

Table E-7.— Nativity of tool and die makers, by industry, February-March 1951

Nativity
Total tool
and die makers
Industry

Native born

Number

All industries.••

Fabricated metal
products..........
Machinery (except
machine tool
accessories)......
Machine tool
accessories..••*.•
Electrical machinery
Motor vehicles.....
Aircraft and parts••
All other..... .

Percent

Foreign born

Number

Percent

Number

Percent

1,712

100.0

1,21*7

72.8

1*65

27.2

159

100.0

120

75.5

2l*.5

281*

100.0

211

74.3

25.7

1*1*6
260
358
151
51*

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100 JO

297
201*
236
132
1*7

66.6
78.5
65.9
87.1*
87.0

H*9
56
122
19
7

33.1*
21.5
3l*.l
12.6
13.0

Table E - 8 . — Members of family who worked in the occupation,
by age of tool and die makers, February-March 1951

Members of family in the occupation
Total tool
and die makers
Age group
Fathers
only
Number

Percent

Fathers
and
others

Brothers
only

Brothers and
relatives
other than
fathers

Other
relatives
only

No
relatives
in trade

Percent
All age groups.« . 1,712

100.0

O
132
325
25a
181+
193
216
199
121
83

100.0
JL W # V
100.0
100.0
100.0

PO - P J i........................ ...................
25 - 29............
3 0 - 3 4 ............
35 - 39............
ho - 1+2;.......... ...
1+5 - 1+9............
50-51+............
55 - 59............
60 - 61+............
65 and over..........

100+0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

7.2

3.5

r *u•-*“i
11.1;
6.1;
10.9
5.7
3.2
1+.5
1.7
1.2

1.2

6.7

.8
.9
1.2
1.6
1.6
1.9
.5
.8
1.2

7.6
1+.3
1+.1+
2.7
6.2
6.9
10.6
13.2
13.3

2 2 .2

11+j +

11.8

5.3
1+.0
6.0
3.3
1.6
3.2
2.5
1.7
2.1+

12.1
13.5
9.2
13.0
13.5
10.6
10.6

u+.o

7.2

69.6

66*7

59.8
65.9
72.8
68.5
71.1+
71+.2
71.3
68.6
71+.7

Total
tool and die
makers

H -P
Pi

Years of experience

Industry

Number

Percent

Less
than
5

10m

1519

20-

2529

ence not reported

Table E-9.— Years of experience as tool and die makers, by industry, Febraary-March 1951

30-

35-

Percent
All industiles............

Fabricated metal products...... .
Machinery (except machine tool
accessories)..................
Machine tool accessories........
Electrical machinery...... .
Motor vehicles.................
Aircraft and parts...........
All other industries.......... .

1,712

100.0

14.7

22.8

15.1

9.2

8.7

9.9

10.0

5.1

k»3

159

100.0

18.2

21.5

19.5

7.5

6.3

10.1

3.8

5.0

28k
lib.6
260

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1C0.0
100.0

10.9
liwl
22.7
8.7
19.9
16.7

22.6
21.8

12.0
17.7

10.6
9.6
6.5
12.3
6.0
5.6

7.7
12.1
6.2
9.5
3.3
11.1

8.5
10.3
8.8
15.8

llj-Ji 5.6
7.6 k .9
8.1 5 ok
12.8 7.3
6*6 1.3
3.7

7.7

,r.m

358

151

2k.2
ik .o

m.2

12.6
17.2
kO.h
35.1 11.1

k*o

5.6

7 .k

l.k

3.5
7.0
1.3
3.7

•k

omoommmm

—

Table E-10.— Years of experifence in the occupation,
by method of qaalification, February-March 1951

Method of qualification
Total
tool and die
makers

Years
of
experienc e

All experience
levels........
Less than 5 ........
5 - 9 .............
io - ll*............................
15 - 19...........
20 - 2i*...........
25 - 29...........
30 - 31*...........
35 - 39...........
ilO or more..........
Experience not
reported.... .

Apprenticeship

Other than
apprenticeship

Number

Fercent

Number

Percent

Number

Percent

1,712

100.0

1,135

100.0

577

100.0

252
388
258
158
11*9
169
172
88
71*

11**7
22.8
15.1
9.2
9.7
9.9
10.0
5.1
1*.3

156
197
151*
116

96
191
101*

13.7
17.1*
13.6
10.2
9.3
11.8
12.2
6.1
5.6

1*3
35
31*
19
10

16.6
33.1
18.0
7.3
7.5
6.1
5.9
3.3
1.7

106
131*
138
69

U2.

Table E-ll.— Work level of tool and die makers,
by method of qualification, February-March 1951
Method of qulalification
Total
tool cm d die
maleers
Apprent.iceship

Work level

Number

Other than
apprenti ceship

Percent

Number

Percent

Number

Percent

All work levels..

1*712

100.0

1,135

66.3

577

33.7

Foremen and leadmen.

201*

100.0

11*7

72.1

27.9

All other work
levels .......... .

1,508

100.0

988

65.5

520

31*.5

Table E-12.— Occupations other than tool
and die making in -which qualified tool
and die makers worked, 1940-5li/

Nunber of
jobs held

Occupation

All occupations................................ .

209

Machinist or machine repairman*..........
Machine tool o
p
e
r
a
t
o
r
.
..... .
Lay-out or set up man.
Self-enployed ................. ..... ........................ .
All other occupations
1/

52
13
28
3
113

Excludes work history before qualifying as tool and die maker.

Table E-13.— Number of job changes of tool and die makers,
by nature and time of change, 1940-51

Time of change
Nature
of
change

Total
job changes
1940-51

Before
June 30, 1945

After
June 30, 1945

Number

Percent

Number

Percent

Total........

2,127

100.0

722

100.0

1,405

100.0

Voluntary..... .
Involuntary......
No reason given...

1,258
675
194

59.2
31.7
9.1

507

130

70.2
18.0
11.8

751
545
109

53.4
38.8
7.8

Number 1 Percent

Table

Months in the
labor force
after qualify
ing as tool
and die maker

Number of job changes of tool and die makers,
by exposure to the labor force 1940-51

Number of manyears in labor
force as a tool
and die maker

Average number
of changes made
per man-year
in the labor
force

Total
tool and die
makers

Total job
changes,
1940-51

All periods.

1,712

2,127

14,987

.342

0-30 months....

107
178
171
264

35
139
233
494

129
691
955
2,267

.271
.201
.243
.217

992

1,226

10,945

.112

31-60 months...
61-90 months...
91-120 months..
121 months
and over.....
1/

Excludes periods before qualifying as tool and die maker.

Table E-15.— Number of tool and die makers changing jobs,
by city of employment, February-March 1951

Tool and die makers
who made one or more
job chaages

Total
tool and die
makers
Cities
Number

Percent

1,712

733

42.7

2,127

2.9

319
33
219
650
127
160
204

136
13
97
268
65
85
69

42.7
39.4
1<4.3
41.3
5l.l
53.2
33.e

403
,28
294
764
142
310
186

3.0

Number

All cities........

Chicago, 111.........
Cincinnati, Ohio.....
Cleveland, Ohio.....
Detroit, Mich.......
Hartford, Conn.......
Los Angeles, Calif....
Philadelphia, Pa....

Average
Number
of
changes
made

Number
of
changes
made

2.2
3.0

2.9
2.2
3.6
2.7

Table E-16.--Number of job changes of tool and die makers,
by marital status at time of change, 191+0-51

Marital status
at
time of change

Number of job
changes made
by men in
specified mari
tal status at
time of change

Number of manyears worked
during period
by men in
specified mari
tal status

Job changes per
man-year made
by men in speci
fied marital
status

All tool and
die makers......

2,127

li+,987

.U+19

Married...............
Not married...........

1,828
299

12,891*
2,093

.11+17
.11+28

Table E-17*— Jcto changes involving changes in geographic area,
by marital status at time of change, 191+0-51

Marital status

Number
of changes

Number
of man-years
worked
during period

Changes
per man-year

Total tool and die makers.

250

li+,987

.0166

Married .....................................
Net. married ....................................... . . .

201
1+9

12,891+
2,093

.0155
.0231+

Table 5-18, — Percent distribution of tool and die makers, by city of employment and geographic area of previous employment, Feb ruary-March 1951

Geographic areas from which tool and die makers moved
City of
employment
at time of
survey

All cities

Chicago, 111.....
Cincinnati, Ohio..
Cleveland, Ohio...
Detroit, Mich ....
Hartford, Conn....
Los Angeles, Calif
Philadelphia, Pa..

Total
tool
and
die
makers

Total

Nun*ber

1,712

110

319
33
219

1
11

650

127
160

201*

32
18

45
13

Percent

100,0

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

New
England

Middle
Atlantic

East
North
Central

West
North
Central

9.8

1*2,6

4.9

4.3

56.6

8.8

88.8

18.2
6.3
5.6

7.7

53.8

3.1

4.4

2 .2

6^.6

2.8

East
South
Central

West
South
Central

2.8

4.3

Mountain

Pacific

11,2

5.6

13.1

4.3

18.8
5.6

15.6

13.3
15.4

2 .2

9.1
3.1

51.2

8.9

2 .2
15.4

Other
coun
tries

4.9

100.0

53.1

7.7

South
Atlantic

9.1

8.9

6,7

O c c u p a t io n a l

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THE

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