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00CUMEN T8 ROOM No . 4--1743 T HE WORKS PROGRAM --Works Progress Ad.ministration-- For Release to Morning Newspapers Friday, August 5 , 1938 . VTPA WOP.z::ERS EXEMP'1 FROM SECL'1UTY '?!AGES DECL~N:G ; UNSKILLED GROUP INCREASES Marked d.ecrease in the number of WPA employes exempt from secur i ty earnings .schedules and a substantial rise in the proportion of unskilled workers on WPA rolls have made poss i bJe furthe r r egional equalization in the graduated wage rat es without increasi ng costs of the program above the level last fall, Earry L . Hopkins , Works Progress Administrator , announced today . Wage rat es were raised r ecently throut;~1out Southern Stat es , where the low est scales p r evailed.. Wage classification reports show that in Ju::ie 97 . 3 per cent of all project employes were paid security wa,ges, v-•hich provide varying monthly earnings for unskill erl , int 1ormediate , skilled, and. professional and technical work . The remainder , o::.· only 2 . 7 :i:ie r cent, were essential p r oject pe r sonnel not availab l e at the ra t e~, of pay provided wi thin the lim i ts of the securi ty aa.rni ngs s chedule . WPA originally allowed 10 per cent of its personnel in t he latter classification and i n November, 1936 , was employi ng 7 . 4 per cent at wages above t~.. security level. This percenta.ge had. dropped to 3 . 5 last Novembe r and. t he autho r ized limit has been set at 5 per cent . The Juna , 1933, per centage of exemp t personnel i s t he l owest i n the thr ee years of WPA operat i ons . Digitized by _ NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4--1743 - 2 - Unskil l e d wo rk, for which the l owes t r ::i.tes of pay are established , emp l oJed 72.9 per cent of all those on WPA p r ojects in June, an increase from 64 .7 per cent l as t Novembe r. The pro~o rti on of workers in other c l assifica t ions dec r eased to approxi mately the same l e v e l as in November , 1936 , when WPA employment was almost as h i gh as in June, 1938 . Mr . Hopkins pointed out that the r e duct i on in ~ropo rtion of p r ojec t worker s exempt f r om the security ear nings schea.ule had cont inued a.es p i te t he fact . that total 7vPA employment was i ncri.:,ased by 1 , 250 , 000 persons be t ween l'Jo vemb er , 1937 , a nd Jm1e of this year . T11e proport i on of WPA worke r s in 8ach of the secur ity wage c lass i f i - cations and the p r oportion of exem~u t ed w0rke r s in Novembe r, 1 936 , No v emb e r 1 937 and. J u m; 1938 aro shown b elow . Novemoo r June - ---- 1937 - -- - 1938 00 • 0·101 92 . 6 100 . 0% 96 . 5 100 . 0% 67 . 6 10 . 5 64 .7 12 . 8 14 . 0 5. 0 3. 5 Nove1,1ber 1 %6 Total p r o ject wo rk8rs Security wage worlw r s Unskil led Int e rm 0.d.i ate Skill ed Professional and t s ch :dcal Non-security workers 7•. n .o 3. 5 7. 4 97 . 3 ?2.9 11.2 10 .1 3 .1 2 .7 -- - 0000000 --- Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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