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WORKS
PROGRESS
HARRY L. HOPKINS
Administrator
ADMINISTRATION
(X)RRINGTON GILL
Assistant Administrator
NATIONAL RESEARCH PROJECT
on
Reemployment Opportunities and Recent Changes
in Industrial Techniques
DAVID WEINTRAUB
IRVING KAPLAN
Associate Director
Director
In cooperation with
INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
WHARTON SCHOOL OF FINANCE AND COMMERCE
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
JOSEPH WILLITS
ANNE BEZANSON
Director
Director
Philadelphia Labor Market Studies
Gladys L. Palmer, Economist in Charge
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PHILADELPHIA LABOR IIARKET STUDms
GLADYS L. P.HMER, Research Associate, Industrial Research Department, University of
Pennsylvania; Consultant, National Research Project, directing studies of this
section
JANETH. LEWIS, Statistician
MURRAY P. PFEFFERMAN, Associate Statistician
MARGARET W. BELL, Assistant Statistician
VIRGINIA F. SHRYOCK, Chief Statistical Clerk
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RECENT TRENDS IN EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT
IN PHILADELPHIA
by
Gladys L. Palmer
Philadelphia Labor ~arket Studies
Report No. P-1
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Decembe,,- 1937
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WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
WALKER.JOHNSON BUILDING
1734 NEW YORK AVENUE NW.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
HARRY L. HOPKINS
ADMINISTRATOR
December 23, i937
Hon. Harry L. Hopkins
Works Progress Administrator
Sir:
I have the honor to transmit a summary report on
the studies of the Philadelphia labor market carried on
by our National Research Project in cooperation with
the Industrial Research Department of the University
of Pennsylvania. Of special interest to the Works Progress Administration are the findings of the nine successive censuses of unemployment which were taken in
Philadelphia annually beginning in i929,
The other
studies will be described in detail in forthcoming reports.
These studies are being conducted under the
supervision of Dr. Gladys L. Palmer.
Employers generally exercise as much discrimination in the selection of their labor force as the size
of the available labor reserve will permit.
This selectivity is exercised during periods of declining industrial activity when an effort is made to retain as
many workers as possible within the limits of profitable
operation.
It is also exercised during periods of rising activity when jobs are offered first to those who
meet the highest specifications for the jobs.
In the
latter instance, the existence of a large labor reserve
is conduciv-':! to the maintenance of job specifications
at so high a level that a "labor shortage" is sometimes
created in certain occupations simultaneously with general widespread unemployment.
Furthermore, the existence of a large volume of unemployment represents a pressure of human need which drives into the labor market many
who would not otherwise seek jobs.
The employers' limits for selectivity are thus widened even beyond the
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scope provided by declines in employment.
The effect
of the operation of these forces can be seen in the data
presented in this report.
It is apparent from these studies that during the
depth of the depression employers kept as many workers
attached to their plants as they could afford.
This
was usually accomplished by the device of part-time
employment.
A considerable proportion of the increased
production during the years i933-i937 therefore resulted
in more work for those already employed, that is, in a
decline of part-time employment rather than of unemployment.
Since there was a large labor reserve to choose from,
such additional jobs as became available represented
employment opportunities only for those who happened
to meet the re lat i vel y high standards of select ion.
Evidence of this is available in the specifications contained in the orders received by the Philadelphia State
Employment Office as well as in the Philadelphia unemployment census statistics.
The latter show that the
level of unemployment declined from 46 percent of the
total gainful workers in i933 to 25 percent in i937.
Yet, inexperienced young workers under 25 years of age
were unemployed to the extent of 37 percent of their
number, evenini937. The industriallyagedworkers too
received less than their share of the reemployment. The
combination of these factors resulted in a situation in
which declining unemployment was accompanied by an increase in the number of those persons who were unemployed
longest.
This indicates that so long as the volume of
unemployment remains at even its recent lowest level,
a certain number of those who were working in industry
prior to i929 have no reasonable expect at ion of ever
again being reabsorbed.
During the years of depression and recovery noteworthy changes took place in the proportions of women
who came into or left the labor market.
The entrants
and reentrants into the labor market were apparently
prompted to a considerable extent by the fact that during the depth of the depression and ear 1 y recovery there
were relatively more jobs available for women than for
men. The declines in the proportions that women are of
the total gainful workers, which took place in the second
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half of :1.936 and in :1.937, probably reflect declining
need resulting from increased employment among men.
The Philadelphia figures show that the earliest
increases in the proportion of women came from those over
40 years of age, and in the age group 20 to 24.
During
the years :1.933 to :1.936, the relative increase in the
availnbilityof jobs for women under 40 brought a sharp
increase of women between the ages of 25 and 40 who
were seeking work.
A considerable proportion of this
last group actually found jobs and remained in the labor
market, while the youngest, that is, those under 25, and
the oldest, that is, those over 40, were found in :1.936
and i937 to be dropping out of the labor market to an
appreciable extent. The net effect of these movements
was:
Discounting the change in the size of the population, there were :1.9 percent more women in the labor market in :1.937 than in i93i; a large number of them had actually found jobs; andat least so long as the level of
unemployment remains as high as it is, they will probably stay in the labor market, whether employed or unemployed.
Existing social security legislation is of little
value to many of the unemployed groups mentioned above.
Aside from those who are attached to occupations which
are not covered by the existing unemployment insurance
legislation, the unemployed youths remain outside the
protect ion of these laws so long as they are without
opportunity to start working in industry and to amass
credit toward unemployment insurance.
Neither can those
whose unemployment today is of long duration lay claim
to benefits from unemployment insurance funds.
Apparently, so long as unemployment remains as extensive as it has been during recent years of depression
and recovery, some system of assistance for those who
cannot qualify for unemp~oyment benefits will continue
to be needed not only to provide a measure of security
for these groups, but also to afford themanopportunity
to receive that training or to retain that training
wr,ich should help them eventually to find employment in
private industry.
In addition to the analysis of the unemployment
census data, this report also contains summaries of findings on the last ten years of employment and unemployment
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experience of selected groups of workers in such occupations as machinists, weavers, radio workers, and others.
The detailed reports on these and related studies will
be transmitted to you when completed.
Respectfully yours,
~7/2:
Corrington Gill
Assistant Administrator
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C ONT E NT S
Section
Page
PREFACE • • •
. xiii
INTRODUCTION
1
EMPLOYMENT TRENDS IN PHILADELPHIA PRIOR TO 1930
3
III.
UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA SINCE 1930 • •
7
IV.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF RELIEF TO UNEMPLOYMENT
14
JOB OPPORTUNITIES AND THE OCCUPATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF JOB SEEKERS IN PHILADELPHIA
DURING THE DEPRESSION.
18
THE EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE OF WORKERS IN SELECTED
OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES, 1926-1936
22
I.
II.
V.
VI.
Radio workers.
Machinists • •
Weavers and loom fixers.
Full-fashioned hosiery workers
Comparative experience
VII.
26
27
28
30
32
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS WITH RESPECT TO RECENT TRENDS
IN EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA.
35
APPENDIX.
39
CHARTS
Chart
1.
2.
3.
4.
Index of employment in manufacturing industries in
Philadelphia, 1923-1936. • • • • •
• • • • • •
4
Socio-economic group of usual occupation of gainful
workers in Philadelphia, 1910, 1920, 1930 • • • • •
6
Employment status of employable persons in the Philadelphia Unemployment Sample, 1929-1937 • • • • • •
9
Number of direct- and work-relief cases in Philadelphia, 1932-1936 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
16
ix
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CONTENTS
X
APPENDIX TABLES
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
1.
2.
3,
4.
5,
8.
7.
8.
9.
Table 10.
Table 11.
Table 12.
Table 13.
Monthly index of employment, Philadelphia manufacturing industries, 1923-1938. • • • •
40
Number of establishments, wage earners, and
value added by manufacture, Philadelphia manufacturing industries, 1923-1935 • • • • •
41
Socio-economic groups of usual occupation of
gainful workers, by sex, Philadelphia 1910,
1920, 1930. • • • . • • • • • • • • • • •
42
Number of households by number of employable
persons per household, Philadelphia Unemployment Sample, 1931-1938. . . . • • • •
43
Employment status of households by number of
employable persons per household, Philadelphia Unemployment Sample, 1931-1936. • • • •
44
Employment status of persons in the Philadelphia Unemployment Sample, 1929-1937. . .
48
Employment status of employable persons by
sex, Philadelphia Unemployment Sample,
1931-1937. • • . • • . . . • • • . • . .
47
Employment status of employable persons by
race, nativity, and sex, Philadelphia unemployment sample, 1931-193e. • • • • • • •
48
Median age of employable persons, by employment status and sex, Philadelphia Unemployment Sample, 1931-1936 . . • . • • • •
50
Employment status of employable persons, by
sex and age, Philadelphia Unemployment
Sample, 1931 • . • • • . . • • • . • •
51
Employment status of employable persons, by
sex and age, Philadelphia Unemployment
Sample, 1932 • • . • • • • • • • . • •
52
Employment status of employable persons, by
sex and age, Philadelphia Unemployment
Sample, 1933. • • . • • • • • • • • •
53
Employment status of employable persons, by
sex and age, Philadelphia Unemployment
Sample, 1935 • • • • • • • • • • • • ,
54
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xi
CONTENTS
APPENDIX TABLES-Continued
Table 14.
Table 15.
Table 18.
Table 17.
Employment status of employable persons, by
sex and age, Philadelphia Unemployment
sample, 1938 •
• • • • • • • • •
55
Usual industrial group of usual occupation of
unemployed persons, Philadelphia Unemployment Sample, 1931-1938
• • • • • • •
58
Duration of unemployment since last regular
job for previously employed workers and
since date of entering labor market for
new workers by sex, Philadelphia Unemployment Sample, 1931-1938 • • • • • • • • •
57
Number of direct- and work-relief cases in
Philadelphia at the end of each fiscal
month, 1932-1938 . • • . • • • • • • • •
58
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PREFACE
The Philadelphia industrial area is one of the oldest manufacturing centers in the country, with highly diversified industries
requiring a variety of skills. It has heavy as well as light industries; they produce durable as well as nondurable goods, producers' as well as consumers' goods; they include such old industries as foundries and textiles and such new industries as
radio manufacture and automobile bodies, declining industries
like c~rpet weaving, and growing industries like themanufacture
of television equipment and industrial instruments. As a metropolitan center, Philadelphia affords all types of employment in
trade, clerical, andservice occupations. The size and diversity
of Philadelphia add to the results of the studies described in
this report an interest which extends beyond their locale,
These studies cover a number of approaches to the analysis of
labor market problems in Philadelphia. The series of unemployment censuses are designed to measure changes in the volume of
unemployment and the change in the composition and characteristics of the employed and unemployed populations which have attended the successive changes in industrial conditions. Closely
related to this analysis is the study of job openings and placements in the local public employment office, designed to throw
light on the kinds of opportunities available foremployment, the
type of personnel requisitioned by industry, and the relationship
of these specifications to the characteristics of persons who are
able to find employment at different times. Of special interest
in these studies are the differences in the sex, age, and prior
occupational or industrial experience of those who are employed
and of those who are unemployed at different times, as they reflect
the trend of changes in industrial conditions and the operating
requirements of industry, and the characteristics of those who
have been suffering relatively long periods of unemployment or
have become "frozen" on the relief rolls.
Changes in industrial conditions are not, of course, uniform
for all industries during any period of time, and each industry
has, to a greater or lesser extent, groups of workers attached
to it whose fortunes depend in varying degrees upon the work requirements of the industry. The more intimate relationship of
the employment and unemployment experience of the labor supply
of selected industries has therefore been an additional subject
xiii
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PREFACE
xiv
of study. The groups selected are representative of the 1936
labor supply of the radio industry and of certain specialized
textile industries - upholstery, woolens and worsted, and carpet
weaving - and of the occupational group of machinists. The radio
industry represents an expanding industry with several large
plants located in the Philadelphia area; the specialized textile
industries repre~ent declining industries in an old center for
these industries; and the machinists represent a skilled craft
in an old center of the metalworking industry. In addition to
the above, the labor force of recently shut-down mills in the
hosiery industry, which has been declining in the area, has been
a subject of study. These studies are based upon analyses of
ten years of employment and unemployment ex_perience of the workers
selected.
Established governmental and private research agencies have accumulated a great deal of information on employment and unemployment in Philadelphia. Much of this information is without parallel in other parts of the country. With the cooperation of
these agencies, it was possible to arrange the series of studies
which are described in this report.
The Philadelphia studies have been carried out in cooperation
with the University of Pennsylvania's Industrial Research Department. This Department not only made available to U:5 its records
and the goodwill which it has earned in the community through
years of useful research, but through the loan of the services
of Dr. Gladys L. Palmer it has made possible a task which could
not otherwise have been done. We welcome this occasion to express our deep gratitude to Drs. Joseph Willi ts and Anne Bezanson,
Directors of Research of the Industrial Research Department of
the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
DAVID WEINTRAUB
IRVING KAPLAN
PHILADELPHIA
December 18, 1937
ninili7Arl h\l
Cooo r(>
SECTION I
INTRODUCTION
This report summarizes the findings of a program of studies of
the Philadelphia labor market and outlines the contents of subsequent publications which describe these findings in greater detail. The program was initiated by the Industrial Research Department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1923 and was continued in 1936 by the National Research Project of the Works Progress Administration in cooperation with the former agency. It
has been the opinion of the sponsors of the program that a fairly
intensive analysis of conditions in one labor market over a period
of years might throw considerable light on problems of unemployment, occupational and industrial shifting, and occupational reabsorption during depression and recovery.
Several approaches to the analysis of recent trends in the
Philadelphia labor market have been followed in this series of
studies. The original studies of the Industrial Research Department of the University of Pennsylvania_1 included an unemployment census of a sample of lJ.5 ,ooo households in Philadelphia
which has been taken in the spring of each year since 1929. This
sample covered 10 percent of the city's employable population in
1929. Annual surveys of job openings, of applications filed by
job seekers, and of placements made by the Philadelphia State Employment Office were started in 1932. Data for a monthly index
of help-wanted advertising in Philadelphia newspapers are available from 1922 to date. Special studies of employment in selected
industries in the Philadelphia area were also undertaken as a part
of this program.
Beginning in 1936, the National Research Project of the Works
Progress Administration cooperated with the Industrial Research
Department of the University of Pennsylvania in bringing certain
of these studies down to date and in expanding the program in
other directions. The taking of the annual Unemployment Census
for the years 1936 and 1937 and the survey of employment-office
1Tne wr1 ter wlshes to acknowledge her indebtedness to the Directors and rormer members or the starr or the Industrial Research Department or the Unlversl tY or Pennsylvania ror thelr contrlbutlons to the present series or studies.
Among present employees or the Department, the contrlbutlons or Charlotte
Evans and Ellzaoeth Geary should Oe noted.
l
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2
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
records for 1936 were a part of this program. In addition,
special studies of the occupational characteristics of relatively
immobile parts of the city's labor supply on relief rolls were
undertaken. These studies were supplemented by the work histories
of approximately 2,500 persons usually employed in selected important occupations or industries in the city, The latter included machinists, millwrights, and tool makers in metalworking
trades, workers of all grades of ski 11 in the radio industry,
knitters, toppers, seamers, loopers, and menders and examiners
in the full-fashioned hosiery industry, and weavers and loom
fixers in certain specialized textile industries. The writer is
deeply indebted to the Director and Associate Director of the
National Research Project for their assistance at all stages of
the work in this part of the broader program of studies.
A number of community agencies and individuals have cooperated
with the sponsors of the studies of the Philadelphia labor market. The Bureau of Compulsory Education of the School District
of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania State Emergency Relief Administration, the Pennsylvania State Employment Service, the Pennsylvania Works Progress Adll\inistration, and Area Statistical
Office No. 2 of the Works Progress Administration have cooperated
in furnishing information. Many of the city's workers, employers,
and government officials have given data of basic value to this
program and their cooperation has been appreciated. Special
acknowledgment should be made to the Philadelphia County Relief
Board, to the Philadelphia State Employment Office, and to the
local Works Progress Administration for coo~eration in the present
as well as in the earlier program of studies, 2
2 Acknowledgments have already been made in earlier publications or the Industrial Research Department or the University or Pennsylvania tor assistance
!ram local Emergency Relier or Works Progress Adm1n1strat1on proJects, with
one exception. The 1936 Unemployment Census was collected and coded by workers on WPA ProJect 66-23-6883 and was partly tabulated and analyzed l>y workers
on WPA ProJect 6014, Acknowledgment 1s hereby made to Charlotte Evans ror
supervision or the work. or WPA ProJect 6014 and to her assistants.
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SECTION II
EMPLOYMENT TRENDS IN PHILADELPHIA PRIOR TO 1930
Philadelphia is a metropolitan community of two million population with widely diversified manufacturing and commercial interests. It is an old industrial center, particularly in the
fields of manufacturing specialized textile, metal, and chemical
products and machinery and transportation equipment. A surprisingly large number of its firms are over 100 years old, and
the city has retained much of its initial leadership even though
recent expansion of typically Philadelphia industries has taken
place in other geographical areas. In 1930 about half of the
gainful workers in the city were attached to the manufacturing
and mechanical industries, in which various types of metal and
machinery manufacturing, textile manufacturing, and building construction predominated. One-fifth of the gainful workers in 1930
were employed in trade and the remainder in other types of industries. 1
The importance of the manufacturing industries to the Philadelphia labor market cannot be overestimated, A general decline
in manufacturing employment in the city since 1923 has created
a large labor reserve of persons formerly employed in the manufacturing industries. The lowest points in manufacturing employment were reached in 1932 and 1933, Considerable improvement occurred in the years from 1933 to 1936 but the peak of
manufacturing employment attained in 1923 has not beenduplicated
since that time (chart 1, Appendix table 1). Although there
have been some industries like radio manufacturing which have
expanded in this area, a considerable number of textile and
other plants have moved out of the city,
Some idea of the decline of Philadelphia's manufacturing industries is indicated in the summary of data from the Census of
Nanufactures presented in Appendix table 2, A 10-year comparison shows that the number of Philadelphia manufacturing establishments in 1935 had declined to 79 percent of those reporting
in 1925, the average number of wage earners employed in manu1ntteenth Census of the United States, 1930, 1 UnemplOY111ent• (U. S. Dept.
Com., Bur. or Census, 1932), Vol. I, table 9, p. 868.
3
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~
1.-INDEX OF EMPLOYMENT IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
NOS.
INDEX NOS.
IN PHILADELPHIA, 1923-1936
CHART
INDEX
1923-1925=100
130
1923-1925= 100
---
T
i
L__
120
·r-···----r-
·r- -
I
i
i
--i
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I
I
I
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I
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Cl:!
·--i----,----,---1
z
120
>-i
I
I
J-j--l
110
0
I
J_I
- - , - - - - + - - - , - - - - ,I----~-___
i
3:
"'d
I:""'
130
T---7---,
Cl:!
z►
110
i:::,
=
z
l:;z;I
100
100
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I
80
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tzl
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i
See Appendix table l
1924
for
=
50
50
1923
1925
data.
1g29
I
Jg2J
>-i
....z
1928
1935
~
1938
>
Phi ladelphla labor Market Studies
lndustr la I Research Department University of Pennsylvania and
WPA - National Research Project
P-1
EMPLOYMENT TRENDS PRIOR TO 1930
5
facturing had declined to 82 percent of the 1925 average, and
the value added to products by the manufacturing process had
declined to 66 percent of the 1925 level.
The city has always been noted for its highly skilled labor
supply experienced in specialized types of work. In earlier
years many workers trained abroad came directly to Philadelphia,
particularly from the textile and metal-producing centers of
Great Britain and Germany. Nevertheless American-born workers
have always predominated in the city's industrial population.
The great majority of them are white. Although the Negro population of Philadelphia has increased during recent decades, Negro
workers constituted only 13 percent of the city's gainful workers
in 1930. 2 The ratio of gainful workers to the city's total
population, as reflected in the data of the United States Census,
shows no marked change from 1900 to 1930. Nor did the proportion of women to men among gainful workers change much during
this period.
Some changes occurred, however, in the types of employment
reported by workers in each Census of Occupations taken since
1900.
The extent and character of these changes are reflected
in the socio-economic grouping of occupations reported by the
city's gainful workers in 1910, 1920, and 1930 (chart 2, Appendix
table 3 l. These data show that the most significant change which
has taken place during these years is a sharp increase in the
relative importance of clerical occupations and a decline in
the relative importance of semiskilled occupations. These occupational changes have been relatively greater forwomen than for
men, During the years under consideration, the relative importance of employment in professional pursuits increased although
the proportion of proprietors and managers among the gainful
workers declined. The importance of the skilled occupations increased from 1910 to 1920 but declined to the 1910 levels in
1930.
Unskilled occupations and domestic and personal service
also declined slightly in importance between 1910 and 1930.
Despite these changes, the Philadelphia labor supply in 1930 was
still characterized by the high degree of skill for which it was
noted in earlier years.
2
Ibid., •Population,• Vol. IV, table 9, p, 1404,
Digitized by
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C)
CHART 2.-SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUP OF USUAL OCCUPATION OF
PERCENT OF
TOTAL
GAINFUL
WORKERS
GAINFUL WORKERS IN PHILADELPHIA, 1910.1920,1930
(RANKED IN ORDER OF SIZE OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUP IN 1930)
PERCENT OF
TOTAL
GAINFUL
WORKERS
5
C;,::J
X
'1:t
t""4
0
-<
:x
z
c,.,
,0
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z►
5
t::,
tLZ3MEN
c:::
-WOMEN
t;,;I
z
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1110
1920
11>0
SEMISKILLED
WORKERS
1110
1120
1130
CLERICAL
WORKERS
See Appendix table 3 for data.
1110
1120
1130
SKILLED
WORKERS
1910
1920
1830
UNSKILLED
WORKERS
1910
1120
INO
DOMESTIC
SERVANTS
1910
1120
1130
PROPRIETORS,
MANAGERS
1110
1120
t""4
"'d
1130
PROFESSIONAL
PERSONS
t:tl
H
►
Philadelphia Labor Market Studies
Industrial Research Department -
University of Pennsylvania and
WPA - National Research Project
,-2
SECTION III
UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA SINCE 1930
No comprehensive survey of recent changes in population or in
the geographic mobility of workers attached to the Philadelphia
labor market has been made. The city's vital statistics show a
natural increase in population but estimates differ as to the
extent of migration into and out of the city, 1 Even if workers
left the city during the depression years to secure cheaper housing in suburban areas, the chances are that they continue to be
a part of the city's labor supply despite a change in legal residence. It is probable that the number of people who live in
Philadelphia and work outside of the city's limits, in such places
as Chester, Wilmington, and Camden, is balanced or more than
balanced by the group who live outside of the city and work within
the city's limits. Both groups of workers appear to be a part
of the actual or potential labor supply of the community.
Although there is a difference of opinion concerning changes
in the number of employable persons in the city since 1930, there
is no doubt concerning the fact that there have been significant
changes in the employability composition of households and in
the employment status of the individuals who composed the labor
supply between 1930 and 1937. The nature of these changes is
indicated in a comparison of the findings of the surveys of the
Philadelphia Unemployment Sample of 45 ,ooo households for the
years 1929 to 1937. 2
1The State Emergency Relier Adm1n1strat1on 1n a census or employable workers
in urban and rural nonrarm areas or Pennsylvania and in a survey or Philadelphia real property (both or which were made in 1934) round !ewer persons and
!ewer employable persons in Philadelphia 1n 1934 than were round by the
United States Census 1n 1930, Other evidence, however, would 1nd1cate that
although there was considerable migration out or the c1tY rrom 1931 to 1933,
this loss was counterbalanced by persons entering the city 1n later years.
2rh1s survey covers a selected sample or blocks 1n the ten school districts
or Philadelphia. It covers about one-tenth o!the c1ty•s employable population. Al though the exact number or households enumerated each year has varied
with the enumerating rac111tles ava11able, there 1s every reason to believe
that the r1nd1ngs are comparable rrom year to year. !i'urther details concerning der1n1t1ons used on schedules w111 be presented 1n later publications.
The data relating to the Unemployment Sample or Philadelphia ror the years
1929 through 1932 have been published 1n the rollow1ng reports: J. Frederic
Dewhurst and Ernest A. Tupper, Social and lcono,aic Ohaf'actef' of Une•ploy•ent
in Philadelphia, Apdl, 1929 (U. S. Dept. Labor, Bur. Labor Statistics, Bull.
No. 620, •Employment and Unemployment Series,• June 1930); J. Frederic Dewhurst
and Robert R. ~athan, Social and lcon0111ic Oha,,-acte,,. of Une•ployaent in Phi lade lphia, Apdl, 1930 (U. s. Dept. Labor, Bur. Labor Statistics, Bull. No. 666,
•Employment and unemployment Series,• Mar. 1932); Special Reports 11-6 wr1 tten
and published oyindustr1al Research Department, University or Pennsylvania,
Ph1la., Pa., under !ollow1ng titles: Unemploy•ent in Philadelphia fa•ilies
7
Digitized by
Goog Ie
8
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
From 1929 to 1932 the average household consisted of 4.4 persons. The average number of employable persons per household
was 1 .9 in most of the years between 1929 and 1933. In 1935 and
1936 the average household consisted of 3 .9 persons, and the
number of employable persons per household had declined to 1.8
persons. The proportion of households with no member 16 years
of age or over working or seeking work increased during the period
for which data are available (Appendix table 4 l. The proportion
of households with one, two, and three employable members remained
more or less stationary. Households with five orrnore employable
members increased at the depth of the depression, particularly
in 1932 and 1933, but declined in later years.
About half of the households in the Philadelphia Unemployment
Sample have only one employable member. Variations in the employment status of these households are of importance to relief
agencies. In 1931, 83 percent of such households reported employment of their only employable member and 17 percent reported unemployment. In 1933, the full- or part-time employment
of the only employable member had declined to 66 percent and
unemployment had risen to 31J. percent. In 1936, 76 percent of
the households with one employable member reported employment
and 24 percent reported unemployment. (See Appendix table 5.)
The employment status of all employable individuals has also
varied from year to year during the depression (chart 3, Appendix table 6 l. In 1930, for example, 80 percent of the employable persons 16 years of age and over who were working or seeking work were employed full time, 5 percent were employed part
time, and 15 percent were unemployed. The peak in the volume
of unemployment occurred in 1933 when almost half of the employable population (IJ.6 percent) were unemployed, a fifth we-reworking part time, and only a third had full-time employment. By
1936 the percentage of persons employed full time had increased
to the 1931 level of 61 percent, although the percentage of
unemployed persons had declined only to 30 percent. Initial
tabulations of the results of the 1937 survey indicate that
the percentage of persons employed full time had increased to
Footnote 2 (Continued)
- APdl 1931, 11 (revised, m1meo., Oct. 31, 1931); Social Cha.,.-actedstics of
Une11ploy11ent inPhdadelphia, Apdl 1931, 12 (mtmeo., Feb. 6, 1932); Du.,.-ation
of Une11ploy11ent inPhHadelphia, Ap.,.-Hl931, 13 (m1meo., Mar, 1, 1932); Industrial and Occupational Cha.,.-actedstics of Une11plo111ent in Phi lade lPhia, Apd l
1931, #4 (m1meo., May 2, 1932); la11ily Conditions inPhiladelphia, Nay 1932,
15 (mtmeo., Feb. 23, 1933); Une•P lo111ent in Philadelphia la•i lies, Kay 1932,
#6 (mtmeo. ).
Digitized by
Goog Ie
CHART
3 . - EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF EMPLOYABLE PERSONS IN
THE
PERCENT
100
PHILADELPHIA
UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, 1929-1937
PERCENT
100
90
90
80
80
70
70
I
c:::
z
tzJ
:x
>i::t
80
60
I
50
50
I
40
40
I
30
30
I
0
20
20
I
<D
t""'
0
><
:x
tzJ
z
>-i
en
.....
z
tzJ
,_.
0
co·
N.
""
10
I
10
w
0
(D
Q_
cr
'<
0
1929
(v
1930
c::::J EMPLOYED FULL TIME
0
~....-
0
0
See
App en oix
taole
6
for
data.
In 1929 part-time employment
was
included I n full-tlme.
1931
1932
1934
1933
fZ2'Z:I EMPLOYED
1935
1936
PART TIME
-
1937
UNEMPLOYED
Philadelphia labor
Market
Studies
I naust, i al Research Oepar tment
Univer s ity
WPA -
of
Na t i o nal
Pennsylvan, ia
Resea r ch
-
and
Ptoject
P-3
CO
to
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
71 percent and the percentage of unemployed persons had declined
again to 25 percent, or to about the 1931 level. Business recovery in Philadelphia was accompanied by a rapid increase to
full-time employment and coincided with a decrease in part-time
employment. This resulted in a much less rapid absorption of
the unemployed into jobs than would be expected from an inspection of the changes in full-time jobs alone. Part-time employment appears to be primarily a management device which is
adopted in dull times and abandoned when business improves.
A check of the Unemployment Sample findings with estimates for
the city derived from independent sources indicates that the
unemployment level reported in the Sample is close to total city
estimates in all years except 1932 and 1933. For those years,
the Sample results are considerably higher. These differences
reflect primarily differences in the definition of an unemployed
person. 3
When the Sample data for the employment status of employable
persons are analyzed by sex (Appendix table 7), interesting differences are observed. The percentage of part-time employment
is higher for women than for men in every year for which these
data are available. The proportion of full-time employment is
greater for men than for women in every year except 1931, when
the proportions are about the same. Women appear to seek or to
find part-time jobs to a greater degree than men in years of
relative prosperity as well as depression. With regard to the
incidence of unemployment, there seems to be evidence in the
Census Sample that in 1931, 1932, and 1933 men were out of a job
in greater relative numbers than women. In 1935, 1936, and 1937,
however, a higher proportionofwomen thanofmen were unemployed
but this relationship is reversed if only unemployed persons who
were previously employed are considered. This resulted from
an increase in the number of women seeking work as the result of
depression forces, particularly the number of inexperienced women.
The number of persons working or seeking work in the labor
market of Philadelphia, whowere enumerated in the annual surveys,
has varied each year from 1929 through 1937 although the quota
3Tne est1mates ror tile ctty as a whole are based on a labor supply wll1Cll
takes 1ntoaccount prevtously employed persons enumerated 1n the 1930 Census
and new entrants to tile labor market as or tile rate or entrance 1n 1930.
Tile Unemployment Sample Und1ngs tnclude among tile unemployed au persons
16 years or age and over able and w1111ng to work whether prev1ous1y employed
or not. Tile unemployed 1nthe Sample, thererore, tnclude all persons rorced
tnto the labor market to look ror work because or depresston 1nr1uences.
Digitized by
Goog Ie
UNEMPLOYMENT SINCE 1930
11
of households to be covered has remained the same. 4 The number
of women has increased more rapidly than the number of men. The
number of employable men remained approximately the same from
1931 through 1933. Increases in the numbers of both men and
women in 1935 and 1936 over the earlier years are attributable
to an increase in the size of the Sample as the result of more
intensive enumeration. It is significant, however, that withmore
intensive enumeration in the last two years, the number of men
working or seeking wo·rk declined between 1935 and 1936 whereas
the number of women increased. The higher proportion of women
who were new workers or re-entrants to the labor market explains
this increase. In 1937 this trend was reversed. The proportion
of workers in the labor market without previous experience increased considerably during the period from 1930 to 1936. In
1931 less than 1 percent of the employable population of the
Sample were without previous occupational experience. By 1936
they constituted 6 percent of the total of employable persons
and 21 percent of the total unemployed. The majority of these
were under 20 years of age and there was twice as high a proport ion of women as of men in the group.
These and other data for the Philadelphia Unemployment Sample
reflect changes in the composition of the labor supply of the
city as a result of depression and recovery influences. The
most noteworthy of these changes is the increase in young persons seeking work as new entrants to the labor market and of
older persons, particularly women, forced into the labor market
to look for jobs.
The incidence of unemployment, as reflected in the Unemployment
Sample from 1931 to 1936, also varies for each race and nativity
group (Appendix table 8). Negroes in Philadelphia have been out
of work in higher proportions than white persons. Among white
workers, foreign-born men were out of work in higher proportions
than native-born men in the earlier years of the depression,
although the ratio for foreign-born women was lower tha11 that
for native-born women. In 1935 and 1936, native-born workers,
both men and women, were out of work in higher relative proportions than foreign-born workers. These ratios are dependent
primarily upon the incidence of unemployment in the occupations
4 Employable persons were det1ned as persons 16 years or age and
over working
or seeking work, including workers not previously employed. There was no
cnange in this detinition during the years in which the surveys were made.
Digitized by
Goog Ie
12
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
and industries in which Negroes, and/or native-born or foreignborn workers predominate among those usually employed.
The average age of employable persons in the Unemployment Sample
has increased slightly during the years studied (Appendix table
9). The average employable man was 37 years old; the average
employable woman, 27 or 28 years of age. Employed workers were
slightly older than all employable persons and three or four years
older than unemployed workers. The inclusion of new workers
among the unemployed accounts for this difference. If new workers
are excluded from consideration in the years for which such a
distinction can be made, the results are different. The age of
the average employable man remains approximately the same from
year to year, although the average employable woman in 1936 was
older than in 1933. The average age of unemployed workers who
had been previously employed, both men and women, increased from
1933 to 1936. Women tend to be from seven to ten years younger
than men in each employment status group throughout the period
studied,
The ratio of unemployed to employable persons ineach age group
shows certain persistent trends in the years for which the Sample
data are available (Appendix tables 10-14). For men the incidence of unemployment is highest in the two youngest groups and
next highest in the oldest group. In general, unemployment is
lowest among men 40 to 45 years of age. For women the highest
rate of unemployment is also found in the lowest age group, but
the ranking of all other age groups from year to year is less
consistent than for men. The small number of women in the labor
market in the older age brackets may account for this difference.·
A much higher proportion of all unemployed women than of all
unemployed men is found in the younger age groups.
Perhaps the industry from which workers have been laid off is
the most important single factor in the number or proportion of
unemployed persons (Appendix table 15). In this respect manufacturing industries have been the most important. They accounted
for about half of all unemployed persons in 1931, for one-third
in 1935, and for over one-third in 1936. While total unemployment declined chiefly because of increased employment in manufacturing, the proportion of unemployed persons who had been
formerly employed in building and construction rose from 13 to
16 percent between 1931 and 1936. There was a considerable variation in the proportion of unemployed persons whoconsidered trade
Digitized by
Goog Ie
UNEMPLOYMENT SINCE 1930
13
to be their usual industry in the years surveyed. Governnient
agencies, public utilities, and business and professional off ices
were much less important with respect to the incidence of unemployment. The proportion of all unemployed persons who had formerly
been employed by private families or in institutions remained
approximately the same from year to year. Various types of service industries, on the other hand, showed an increase in their
relative contribution to unemployment during the period under
consideration.
The average duration of unemployment, as measured from the
date of loss of the last regular job for previously employed
persons and the lapse of time after entering the labor market
for new workers, increased in the years from 1931 t~rough 1935
(Appendix table 16). In the case of men, the average duration
of unemployment rose from 6 months in 1931 to 25 months in
1935, and dropped to 21 months in 1936. Women as a group were
seeking work for shorter periods of time than men. The average
duration of unemployment for women rose from 5 months in 1931
to 16 months in 1935 and remained the same in 1936. If new workers are excluded from consideration, in the years where such a
distinction can be made, the average duration of unemployment is
higher than that for the total unemployed in each year for both
men and women. The trend, however, remains the same. Despite a
decrease in the average duration of unemployment reported by
previously employed men and women after 1935, the proportion of
the total group who had been unemployed for the longest periods
of time steadily increased.
A more detailed description of the occupational characteristics of employed and unemployed workers and an analysis of the
incidence and duration of unemployment in different occupations
as well as for different age, race, and sex groups in the Sample
in 1936 and 1937 will be given in later reports of this series.
Digitized by
Goog Ie
SECTION IV
THE RELATIONSHIP OF RELIEF TO UNEMPLOYMENT
Because of the diversified character of its industries the unemployment and relief problems of Philadelphia during the depression have been relatively less severe than in some other large
cities and in many smaller specialized industrial centers. Of
the ten largest cities in the country 1 Philadelphia ranked third
in population in 1930 but fifth in the incidence of unemployment
among gainfully occupied persons in 1930 and 1931. 2 When an
Unemployment Census of Urban Areas was taken by the State Emergency Relief Administration of Pennsylvania in 1931l-, Philadelphia
County, which is coextensive with the City of Philadelphia, had
one-third of its employable population out of a job and, in the
incidence of unemployment, ranked third among all counties surveyed in the State. 3 In the next year (March 1935), when a
Nation-wide inventory of all persons on relief was taken, Philadelphia ranked third, with New York, in the ratio of persons on
general relief ( including direct and work relief l to the total
population as of 1930. 4 Among the ten largest cities Pittsburgh
and Cleveland had a higher proportion of their 1930 population
on relief in 1935 than New York or Philadelphia.
Although the volume of unemployment in Philadelphia reached a
peak in 1933, the average number of cases on general relief rolls
increased each year from 1933 to 1936. At the peak of the relief load, however, less than half of the unemployed population
of Philadelphia was on relief. The gradual increase in the size
of the relief load during these years may be due to the fact that
there is a less close relationship between fluctuations in employment and the number of cases on relief rolls in Philadelphia
1When ranked in order or size or population, these are New York, Chicago,
Phtladelphla, Detroit, Los Angeles, Cleveland, St. Louts, Baltimore, Boston,
and Pittsburgh.
2 combining Class A and Class B unemployed, Philadelphia had 9.5 percent unemployed in 1830 and 27.7 percent in 1931. Cities with a higher incidence
or unemployment were Cleveland, Detro! t, and Chicago in both years, and also
Boston in 1930 and Pittsburgh in 1931. fifteenth Census of the United States,
1930, •unemployment• (U. s. Dept. Com., llur. orCensus, 1932), Vol. II, table
5, pp. 197-200 and table 9, pp. 427-30.
3 Fayette and Northumberland Counties had a higher ratlo or unemployment.
Census of l•Ployabte liorken in Urban and Rural Non-fa.,.., Areas of Pennsylvania - 193/J (Harrisburg, Pa.: Pa. State Em_!!rgency Reller Adm1n1stration,
Division or Research and Statistics, 1936), table 1, p. 1.
4 Data rurnished by the Social Research Divislon or the Works Progress Administration.
14
Digitized by
Goog Ie
RELATIONSHIP OF RELIEF TO UNEMPLOYMENT
15
than in many cities in which the industries are more highly specialized, The relationship between relief standards and prevailing wages in the major industries of a community, as well
as policies in the administration of relief, also affects the relationship of relief loads to fluctuations in employment, Perhaps the most significant factor in Philadelphia is that with
improvement in business in 1935, 1936, and the first half of
1937 there came a considerable increase in full-time employment,
but a much more gradual decrease in total unempl0yment. It is
only the latter which has a significant effect on the relief case
load, It should also be noted that in Philadelphia the relief
load has absorbed many types of categ0rical relief cases in add it ion to strictly unemployment relief cases, In other cities such
cases were frequently cared for by other public funds. It is estimated that 25 percent of the direct relief load are unPITJployable
cases.
A citizens' committee on unemployment relief which was organized in Philadelphia in the fall of 1930, operated a work-relief
program that continued until the snrnmer of 1932, Some 35,000
applicants registered for employment on the work-relief program
sponsored by this committee, and, of this number, 15,515 were
employed. 6 In the fall of 1932, the Philadelphia County Relief
Board started operations with the assistance of State appropriations and later of State and Federal (emergency relief) appropriations.
The monthly averai!e of the
11 umber
0f cases on general
relief rolls rose from 62,063 in 1933 to 74,305 in 1934, 99,857
in 1935, and 101,896 in 1936 (chart 4, Appendix tah1e 17), At
the end of December 1936 there were 96,260 cases on re1 ief rolls
of whom 57,305 were on direct relief and 38,955 on work relief,
The average number of new cases on relief rolls increased during
1934 and the first half of 1935, but declined in 1936. The County
Relief Board estimates that in the years from 1934 to 1937, 38
to 42 percent of the unemployed population were on public relief
rolls. 6
A special study of the incidence of relief in the 45,000 households included in the Philadelphia Unemployment Sample indicates
that, when the survey was made in April and May of 1936, over
half of the households with unemployment were known to the Phila5 Ewan Clague and Webster Powe::. Ten Thousand. Out of liork (Ph11'i., Pa.:
Un! vers1 tY or Pennsyl van1a Press, 1933), pp. 135-7.
6 Data supplied by Saya S. Schwartz or the Research D1v1s1on or the Ph1ladelph1a County Reller Board.
Digitized by
Goog Ie
....
Ql
CHART
THOUSANDS
or
4. -NUMBER OF DIRECT- AND WORK- RELIEF CASES
CASES
IN
110
THOUSANDS
CASES
or
PHI LA DELPHI A, 1932 - 1936
110
t:z::I
::s::
100
100
'"Cl
t""'
0
>-<
::s::
90
90
t:z::I
z
80
80
1-3
70
70
c::,
60
60
>
z
c::::
z
t:z::I
::s::
'"Cl
50
40
t""'
50
0
40
::s::
t:z::I
z
--<
1-3
~
0
co·
20
......
z
30
30
WOAK-RtLIEF
"D
. . OIRECT-R[Ll[f"
:::0
20
......
t""'
N.
""
>
c::,
(D
Q_
cr
10
10
0
0
t:z::I
t""'
'<
0
0
~....(v
'"Cl
See Appendix
table 17 f o r
data.
Ph i l a delphia Labor
Market
~--~
Studiea
Industrial Research Department of Pennaylvanla a nd
University
WPA -
National
Research Project
P-~
ttl
......
>
RELATIONSHIP OF RELIEF TO UNEMPLOYMENT
17
delphia County Relief Board. Forty percent of such households
were "active" or. home or work relief at the time the Census was
taken. Although there are some discrepancies which must be recognized between the re1 ief case name and the "household" of the
Unemployment Sample, 44 percent of the unemployed persons in the
Sample in May 1936 were living in ho1Jseholds in which some member was on relief ro1ls. 7 There is pre1iminary evidence that
the size of households with "active" re1 ief status was about
the same as the size of non relief households with unemployed
members. The average number of emp1 oyah le persons per household, however, was larger for nonrelief than for relief households, A more detailed analysis of the size and employabi1ity
composition of relief and nonrelief households with unemployed
members and the occupational characteristics of heads of such
households will be given in a later report presenting the general findings of the 1936 survey in more detail.
The occ:11pationalcharacteristics of p<'rsons on dir~ct- andworkrelief rolls differ from the characteristics of the nonrelief
unemployed and their own composition varies over a period of
time. No exhaustive analysis of this problem is undertaken in
this series of reports, but studies are in progress in which
two special groups of persons on genera] relief rolls, who appear
to be relatively immobile in the city's labor market, will be
described in some detail. One of these studies concerns the employability composition of 20,000 cases (relief households) having
employable members on Philadelphia direct- or work-relief rolls
continuously for two years or more prior to August 1936. The
employment characteristics and previous work experience of the
first priority workers in such cases will also be examined. Another study analyzes the occupational characteristics of 23,000
employable persons certified for Works Program emn1oyment who
had not been absorbed by private industry or the Works Program
by March 1937. The characteristics of this group are compared
with those of other joh seekers in the city's labor market, and
with thOSl' of persons placed in private industry through the
activities of the State Employment Office. The purpose of these
studies is to test whether the occupational characteristics of
the selected groups offer any explanation of their relative immobility in the labor market.
7 Only bousebolds in which there were •,nemployed employable memoers were cleared
tor relier status. A •household" was defined as a •group or persons living
together in on~ housekeeping unit.•
Digitized by
Goog Ie
SECTION V
JOB OPPORTUNITIES AND THE OCCUPAT.IONAL CHARACTER.IST.ICS
OF JOB SEEKERS IN PHILADELPHIA DURING THE DEPRESS.ION
The relative employability of the average unemployed job seeker
in the current labor market depends, in large measure, upon the
number and kinds of jobs available, the number and characteristics of other people looking for work at the same time, and the
employment qualifications of the person himself. Studies have
therefore been made of job openings in Philadelphia and of the
occupational characteristics of persons looking for work and of
those placed in private employment through the activities of a
public employment bureau. A later publication in this series
will develop the findings of the most recent of these studies
in greater detail.
The number and character of jobs which were open during the
depression are reflected in the help-wanted advertising columns
of Philadelphia newspapers and in job openings in private employment cleared with the Philadelphia State Employment Office,
Data from these sources have been examined in order to learn
what changes have occurred in the demand for labor in this area
since 1930, and which occupations or types of occupations have
offered relatively the best employment opportunities to men and
women each year.
Throughout the period under consideration, employment opportunities cleared with the Philadelphia State Employment Office
were relatively less numerous for men than for women. 1 Considerable improvement occurred in the employment opportunity for
men, however, when the NA program was developed in Philadelphia
in 1934 and when manufacturing employment in the city increased
during 1935 and 1936. Job opportunities have varied for different occupational groups and for different sex and age classifications within the occupational groups during this period.
1F1nc11.ngs on surveys or State Employment orr1ce Joi> openings ror the years
1932-1934 are pul>l1Shed 1n the ronowlng l>ulletlns l>Y Gladys L. Palmer: Dep-ression Jobs. .I Study of Job Openings in the Phi lade !phi.a K11p !oy,,.ent Office,
1932-1933 {Phlla., Pa.: Univ. or Pa., Spec. Report A-1, mimeo., May 14, 1934);
trends in the PhUade Zphi.a Labor Narket in 1931/ ( Ph1la,, Pa.: Univ. ot Pa.,
Spec. Report A-6, m1111eo., Aug. 1936).
18
Digitized by
Goog Ie
JOB OPPORTUNITIES AND JOB SEEKERS
19
Those who register for work at a public employment bureau are
among the most significant groups of unemployed persons tostudy,
Under conditions of completely voluntary registration, such as
prevailed in Philadelphia prior to the end of 1935, they tend to
be the group most actively seeking work in the labor market at
any one time. It is estimated by the Philadelphia State Employment Office that over half of the unemployed in the city as of
any one date are registered in the "active" files at the bureau.
In March 1937, for example, there were 148,000 registrations in
the "active" files, and 220,000 registrations were in the "inactive" files, 2 at a time when the number of unemployed persons
in the city was estimated as 224,000.
The employment or occupational characteristics of applicants
at the Philadelphia State Employment Office in the years from
1932 through 1934 have been described elsewhere, 3 A detailed
description of the employment characteristics of new applicants
and of persons placed in private employment in1936 will be given
in a later report of this series. In this report only a few
points need to be summarized. The records of applicants studied
concern persons 21 years of age and over, 4 Despite a great
variety in the types of occupations found in the applications
on file at the Philadelphia State Employment Office, the registration work of the bureau tends to be concentrated in a few
occupations. Persons registering in these occupations account
for from 40 to so percent of the total number of registrants,
In all five years from 1932 through 1936, for example, the following occupations were among the 15 largest: laborers, deliverymen and truck drivers, domestic servants, office clerks,
2The •active• r11e Is made up or tnose registrants, not yet placed by tne
oureau 1n pr1 vate Industry, who nave had contact with the orr1ce wl tn1n a
3-months' period. Data quoted above were supplied by the Philadelphia State
Employment orr1ce.
3For rurther details see the ro11ow1ng reports by Gladys L. Palmer: Is the
J.ve-rage fio-rke-r "K•ployable"? J. Sttld.l of J.pp!icants in the fifteen La-rgest
Occupations, Philadelphia Ksptoysen Office, 1933 (Ph1la., Pa.: Univ. or
Pa., Spec. Report A-2, m1meo., liay 14, 1934); The J.pplicants at fhTee Pennsylvania State K•ploysent Offices in1933 (Ph1la., Pa.: Univ, or Pa., Spec.
Report A-3, m1meo., Oct. 31, 1934); '!he KMployr.ent Cha-ractedstics of New
J.pp!icants at the Philadelphia State KMplo-:,sent Office, 193/J (Ph1la., Pa.:
Univ. or Pa., Industrial Research Dept. 1n cooperation with Pa. State Employment Service, Spec. Report A-6, mlmeo., Nov. 1936); The Incidence and Du-ration of Unesptoy•ent J.song NewJ.pplicants, Philadelphia State K•Plo-:,sent Office, 19311 (Phlla., Pa.: Univ. or Pa., Spec. Report A-7, mlmeo., liar. 1936);
'lhi-rty Thousand. inSea-rch of fio-rk (Harrisburg, Pa.: Pa, Dept. Labor and Industry, State Employment Commission, 1933).
4 Persons under 21 years or age are registered ror placement In private industry with tne Junior Employment Service or the Ph1ladelph1a Board or Public Education, tne records or wnlcn are not Included 1n tnlsser1es or studies.
Only persons over 20 years and 9 months or age may register at the State Employment orr1ce ror placement 1n private industry.
Digitized by
Goog Ie
20
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
day workers (domestic l, and painters. These occupations were also
a.nong the largest in the city's gainfully occupied population
in 1930. The relative importance of major occupational groups
has remained the same in the years surveyed although the occupational distribution of the bureau's rel:(istrations has varied
with employment trends in the city's industries and the occupational characteristics of the relief load since July 1935, when
the registration of e.nployable persons on relief was made compulsory. The placement activity of the bureau during the years
surveyed has also been concentrated in a few occupations: namely,
domestic servants, laborers, carpenters, machinists and tool
makers, and waiters and waitresses.
The occupational groups -which are most important for men applicants at the State Employment Office are the skilled and
semiskilled occupations in manufacturini;' and mechanical industries and unskilled labor. Throughout the period studied, women
have registered in larger numbers from domestic and personal
service occupations than from any other single occupational group.
Clerical workers were second in importance in numbers of registrants during the depression but in 1935 and 1936 women applicants
from manufacturing occupations rankedsecond in importance. Workrelief applicants have a higher proportion of persons whose previous experience has been in unskilled and domestic and personal
service jobs than other applicants. It should be noted that the
occupational composition of the applicants at a public employment bureau, while influenced primarily by the rate of unemployment in the community's occupations, is also influenced by the
service facilities of the bureau and its location, and by such
factors as the compulsory registration of persons from relief
rolls.
In the five years for which comparable data are available, the
average age of male job seekers at the Office has ranged from
35 to 37 years, while the average age of women applicants has
ranged from 29 to 32 years. Men placed by the bureau tend to be
the same age as the average male applicant. Women placed by the
bureau, on the other hand, are younger than the average woman
applicant. Applicants certified from public relief rolls tend
to be older than the average applicant.
Previous surveys of the Philadelphia State Employment Office
records indicate that although some workers register ata public
employment office the day they lose their jobs or even before,
Digitized by
Goog Ie
JOB OPPORTUNITIES AND JOB SEEKERS
21
most applicants have been out of work some time before they register. Men have been out of work longer on the average than
women and also in most occupations or occupational groups. Workrelief applicants in most occupational groups have been unemployed for longer periods than other applicants, 6 It is interesting to note that the persons placed by the bureau in private
industry have been out of work for shorter periods than the average registrant.
Some notion of the average job seeker's relative employment
opportunity emerges from a fuller analysis of the data outlined
in this summary, Nevertheless, there is no certainty that a job
opening plus a job seeker with apparently good occupational qualifications for the job will equal a job placement. One of the most
important characteristics of the Philadelphia labor market during
the depression has been the high standard of selectivity used
by employers in hiring workers, Definite specifications as to
age, sex, and race are usual at all times, but in many occupations physical appearance and even "type" of personality have
been important specifications in recent years.
In addition,
highly specialized experience requirements have been characteristic of the Philadelphia labor market in most manufacturing
and mechanical occupations and in some clerical jobs since 1930.
Although much has been said of labor shortages in some of the
manufacturing industries in recent months, it is apparent from
present and previous surveys that up to 1937 any significant
shortages in the Philadelphia labor market have been temporary,
usually seasonal in character, or have been largely the result of
the highly specialized character of the qualifications demanded.
Nevertheless, there appear to have been a few genuine labor
shortages in certain highly skilled occupations. In the case
of a special type of coppersmith, for example, the work had not
been done in this area since the period of the World War. These
shortages, however, do not represent any appreciable number of
job openings,
6 Pa1mer, Incidence and Duration of Une•PLoyrt1ent.
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SECTION VI
THE EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE OF WORKERS IN SELECTED
OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES, 1926-1936
The studies discussed up to this point present a _picture of
the volume and incidence of unemployment in Philadelphia as
measured at recurring intervals oft ime and of the characteristics
of the unemployed labor supply in relation to the demand for
labor as reflected in a cross sect ion of public employment office
records within certain periods. But in any given local labor
market there are more specialized occupational and industrial
labor markets. For this reason. four .,;tudies which describe the
employment and unemployment experience of individual workers in
selected occupations and industries were made for the 10-year
period from 1926 to 1936.
The groups selected for study represent important occupations
and industries in the Philadelphia labor market and, in addition, represent different types of unemployment and occupational mobility situations. .\lthough the workers may not have
been employed when interviewed, nevertheless in 1936 they were
attached to the labor markets of the selected occupations and
industries. The types of labor market situations selected for
this more intensive d.nalysis may be described briefly.
The
1936 Unemployment Sample was used as a basis for selecting workers for interview in three of the studies. A gruup of 686 workers
attached to the radio industry in 1936 were studied to see what
types of workers have Deen recruited to a relatively new and expanding industry in Philadelphia, and to examine the recent employment and unemployment experience of these persons. A second
group of occupations which was seriously affected by cyclical unemployment but which experienced fairly rapid recovery and is now
reputed to show signs of labor shortage is that of machinists,
millwrights, and tool makers. Work histories were obtained for
683 men who considered themselves attached to this laoor market
in 1936. The third group is composed of 357 skilled weavers and
loom fixers attached to the labor markets of the carpet and rug,
woolen and worsted, and upholstery-goods manufacturing industries.
During the past ten years, the employment opportunity in these
industries has been curtailed, not only by recent cyclical forces,
22
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WORKERS IN SELECTED OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES
23
but also by reason of a long-time downward trend. The emphasis
of this study has been on the work experience and pattern of shifting in a group of skilled workers who persist in their attachment
to the labor market of an occupation which is declining in importance in this area.
An additional study i3 concerned with the employment and unemployment experience of workers from certain full-fashioned hosiery
plants within the larger labor market of that industry. Work
histories were obtained from 673 workers laid off from three fullfashioned hosiery mills which had operated under union contract
and closed in 1933 and 193~. Four-fifths of the displaced workers
were rapidly reabsorbed into the industry. The work histories of
all of the workers laid off have been examined to discover factors
influencing the rate at which unemrloyed hosiery workers were
reabsorbed into jobs and to what extent experience after a shutdown reflects previous employment and unemployment experience.
It i3 recognized tha.t the employment data secured from the work
histories of persons attached to a given labor market in 1936 probably represent the employment and unemployment history of workers
with better-than-average employment in the 5elected occupation5
and industrie5. Only th,)5e who had remained on jobs, those who
had been reabsorbed after unemployment, and those who still sought
employment at the occupation in 1936, were included in the5e studies. It is, therefore, probable that the findings givearepresentative picture of the labor supply in selected situations in
1936, but that the prior work history of such person5 represent5
what may have been the "optimum" employment experience in the
local labor market at the occupation during the period covered.
In general, the workers studied are a. more stable group in the
occupations or industrie5 concerned than tho5e who left prior
to 1936 or those who remained in the occupation or industry for
5hort period5 only. In the case of an occupation which has been
declining in Philadelphia for some years, such as upholstery
weaving, this bias is more pronounced.
A general question posed by the studies of Philadelphia work
histories, therefore, is: Who secures employment when there is
competition for jobs? The an5wer to this question depends upon
the answers to a series of interrelated questions about a variety of factors which influence the chances of employment for
individuals. The relationship between the number of .iobs and
their work requirements and the size of the nnemoloyed labor
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24
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
reserve and its qualifications differs considerably in various
occupations and industries. The importance of such factors as
age, sex, skill, length of experience, and mobility must therefore be judged separately for each occupation and industry.
We know that age is a major handicap in securing employment in
certain jobs where physical strength and speed of operation are
important. Is it equally a handicap in the occupations where
training and experience are major qualifications? Was the comment
of a skilled weaver who had been born in Lyons, France, and had
come to Philadelphia to work as a young man correct? He said
that in Europe the "system" was different. There. a man's years
were respected because his training and experience were considered valuable, whereas in this country a man was "through" when
he was 40 or 45 years old.
In the process of reabsorption after
the longest experience get jobs first?
occupa'tion. laid off from the same mill
qualifications for work, vary in their
ployment? Is the person who has worked
lay-off, do workers with
Or do workers in a given
and with apparently equal
capacity to secure reemat one occupation all his
working life and with one employer most of that time at an advantage or disadvantage when competing for jobs with those who
have shifted many times? When unemployed persons are reabsorbed,
do they secure jobs at the same level of skill as their former
jobs? Do they go to related or totally different kinds of work?
Do workers displaced froln a declining industry get an op port unity
to work in a new and expanding industry, or is the labor supply
of the latter recruited from other sources?
Many questions in labor market research can
be answered only
by studies of individual work histories. At the present experimental stage in the use of this rese11rch technique, not all such
questions can be fully answered. We know that the demand for
labor in any given occupation is somewhat flexible both as to
numbers and qualifications required, and that the labor supply
varies both in terms of numbers seeking work and the qualifications
offered. It may be largely a matter of chance that at a time
of severe unemployment and large-scale lay-offs one person is unemployed and another employed. In a period of general business
recovery, however, the unemployed population is likely to consist of a residual group with attributes distinct from those of
the employed population. The characteristics of those not re-
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WORKERS IN SELECTED OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES
25
absorbed into jobs during a period of recovery tend to reflect in
a negative sense the longer-time changes in the demand for labor
as it relates to the labor supply in specific occupations in a
local area. These trends are of major significance in estimating the character of reemployment opportunity of groups of workers within a community.
There are several explanations concerning the mobility of labor in specialized labor markets. One is that worken tend to
stay in the same grade of skill and move from industry to industry. Another is that workers become attached to the raw material of their industry and remain in the industry but move
from one level of skill to another. According to this theory,
the feel of yarn and fabrics holds a worker in the textile industries and a knowledge of metals holds the man who expects
to be a machinist in the metalworking industries.
According
to a third theory, both occupational and industrial labor markets are constantly being fused as new technological changes
and improvements in process and product are introduced. Extremists with this view conclude from the leveling efiects of
changes in work reQuirements that all workers within very broad
classes are, or soon will be, interchangeable. The presence or
absence of mobility for individuals is therefore largely a matter of chance or temperament.
Work experience can be varied by four kinds of shifting: job
and employer shifting, and occupational and industrial shifting.
Each of these type3 of labor mobility has been considered in relation to the age and sex of workers attached to the occupations
and industries selected for study. And, since most of the shifting in a period of rapidly declining business activity is probably enforced rather than voluntary, work experience inaperiod
of relative business prosperity has also been studied for appraisal of inherent mobility in its relation to the reabsorption
of unemployed persons.
The four studies of the employment experience of workers in
selected occupations and industries will be described in detail
in subsequent reports. The emphasis of these reports will be
on a description of the employment characteristics of the labor
supply in the selected labor market situations in 1936 and on an
analysis of work experience prior to 1936. The sampling method
will abo be described in detail. At this point, only the major
findings of each of these studies will be outlined.
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EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
RADIO WORKERS
The local labor market for radio worker.3 has apparently offered job opportunities throughout the depres.3ion and early recovery years. One-half of the women and two-fifths of the men
attached to the radio industry in 1936 entered in the years
from 1933 to 1936. Although the majority of the workers had
been previou.3ly employed, one-fifth of the total labor .3upply in
1936 were new entrant.3 to the labor market when they .3ecured
jobs in this industry. The lroup uf radiu workers studied in
1936 was undoubtedly more st.1ble than any group which might have
been studied at an earlier date. This i.3 largely the result of
the building up of the 1936 labor ;;upply through the years covered by this study. Radio workers were relatively more mobile
than the machini.3t.3, full-fashioned ho~iery worker.3, or weavers
and loom fixers studied. fheir nack 5 ruund experience had oeen
varied rather than specialized in character, except in the case
of workers in the most skilled occup,ttions.
These, however,
con3tituted a minority. Rxperien,ed men for the skilled occupations came from the majur woodworking and metalworking industries in the city. Many of the women who had been previously
employed came from the textile and clothing industries.
Radio workers in 1936 were much younger th.1.n workers in other
industries. The average radio wurker in 1936, for example, was
33 years old if a man, and 2l!- years old if a woman.
Most of them
had been born in the United States and h.1.d lived in Philadelphia
many years. The largest number uf foreign-born workers were
Italian, and most of them were emplo;ved as cabinetmakers or
cabinet workers. Radio workers were relatively well educated as
compared with workers in other manufacturing industries. This
was partly attributable to the difference in their age and the
fact that some were new workers who had come into the industry
during the depression. A few workers in production occupations
had had a college education and many had been recruited from
such "white-collar" employment as clerical and selling jobs.
Unemployment for workers attached to the radio industry in
the ten years,
1926-1935, selected for special study. More persons, however,
reported some unemployment and the periods were of longer duration in the second half of the period .3tudied de:;;pite an increase in the labor force of one large plant during the later
1936 had been a recurring experience throughout
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WORKERS IN SELECTED OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES
27
years studied. At the time of this study in the spring of 1936,
recovery in the radio industry had taken place and the majority
of the workers studied were employed full time.
The average length of unemployment reported by unemployed workers was relatively short. Of the small group who were unemployed
in May 1936, a third had but recently lost their jobs, another
third had been permanently laid off from a plant discont ir:uiag
radio production, and the remainder constituted a group of persons unemployed for longer periods of time. The latter group
was, however, only 7 percent of the total studied.
From the point of view of general labor market conditions in
Philadelphia, an analysis of the background experience of radio
workers in 1936 offers interesting information concerning the
characteristics of the labor supply of a mass-production type of
industry. The large majority of the group studied worked at
semiskilled occupations requiring only short training periods.
Relatively large numbers oi women were employed. The average
age of both men and women was low. Many radio workers had not
been previously employed when they secured jobs in the radio industry. During the period of recent expansion in the industry
workers were recruited from the unemployed labor reserve of the
indu3tries of declining importance in the local area, but they
were a selected group from the point of view of age . They were
the younger workers in the dec lining industries.
MACHINISTS
Machinists present a contrast to the radio workers just described because all of the men studied were highly skilled and had
had relatively long experience of a specialized character. The
majority of this group were also native-born residents of Philadelphia, but their average ;-.ge wa;:; high. The average worker attached to the machini;:;ts' labor market in 1936 was q5 years old
if employed on that date; if unemployed, he was approximately three
years older. Four-fifths of the group studied were customarily
attached to industries manufacturing a great variety of metal
products, and one-fifth to government agencies) public utilities,
and miscellaneous industries.
The majority of the machinists studied had served a paid apprenticeship. Of these, some stayed with the same firm for the
rest of their working lives. Others had more varie ~ .xperience,
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EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
but two-fifths of them had served apprenticeships in the industry to which in 1936 they considered themselves customarily attached. Machinists were less mobile than radio workers in shifting from job to job or occupation to occupation. They spent most
of their working lives on jobs at their usual occupation and these
jobs lasted for relatively long periods of time.
Half of the machinists studied in 1936 had experienced no. consecutive unemployment for periods of one month or longer in the
ten years from 1926 to 1935. This group was even more stable
than the others as measured in terms of the number or type of
job changes made and their length of service on jobs and in the
occupation. They were also slightly older than other machinists
and their industrial backgrounds differed.
Unemployment for the machinists reporting periods of unemployment, on the other hand, was long-term rather than seasonal
or intermittent in character. The greatest volume of unemployment occurred during 1932 and 1933. Many machinists were rec.bsorbed as the trade picked up in the Philadelphia area in 19~
and 1935. By the spring of 1936, there were rumors of a labor
shortage in the occupation, although 85 of the 683 machinists
studied were unemployed at that time.
The machinists who were unemployed in the recovery period of
1936 were for the most part a residual group who had been out
of work for relatively long periods of time. They were, on the
average, three years older than the machinists who were employed
at this time and their industrial experience differed. Many of
them had last been employed in the transportation equipment industries, notably those manufacturing locomotives, ships, and streetcars. These industries were the slowest to experience recovery
in the Philadelphia area. Machinists trained in these industries
had found some difficulty in transferring to the precision work
characteristic of the lighter metal products industries where
recent job opportunities occurred.
WEAVERS AND LOOM FIXERS
The study of weavers and loom fixers throws into sharper relief some of the trends indicated in the other work history
studies. This is because the occupations of weaving and loom
fixing are declining in importance in the Philadelphia labor
market and have a relatively large unemployed labor supply. The
industries selected for study, i.e., carpet and rug-, woole111 and
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29
worsted, and upholstery-goods manufacturing, have been declining
in this area for some years. Depression influences, therefore,
only accentuated an unemployment situation which had started before 1930. Although there has been business recovery in these
industries since 1933, the production and employment levels of
earlier decades have not been attained. For such skilled wor~ers as weavers and machinists, age does not seem to be a handicap in retaining a job, but once an older worker becomes unemployed as the result of general lay-offs, his chances of securing work are less good in comparison with those of yo'.lnger
workers. Not only were unemployed weavers older than those who
had secured work in other occupations or were employed at weaving in 1936, but the length of time they had been out of work
increased with their age.
The group who were unemployed when this study was made (29
percent of the total) contributed about half of the aggregate
unemployment reported by all weavers and loom fixers within
the ten years from 1926 to 1935. In spite of the decline in
textile production and the clnsing of many mills, one-third of
the total group studied reported no unemployment during the
10-year period. Over half of the loom fixers were in this group.
The average amount of unemployment reported by all weavers ar.d
loom fixers in this period was approximately one and a half years
although this was unevenly distributed. Half of the residual
group of unemployed who had not secured work by the spring of
1936 had been out of work for one and a half years, and about 10
percent had been unemployed for s years ormore. Four-fifths of
those who were unemployed in the spring of 1936 had had no job
lasting one month or longer since the loss of their last job at
weaving or loom fixing.
The majority of the weavers and loom fixers who had obtained
jobs in other industries by 1936 were young, and most of them
had left jobs at weaving or loom fixing before 1930, although
they still considered these to be their usual occupations. Semiskilled jobs in various manufacturing industries offered employment to some of this group. Loom fixers occasionally secured
jobs as weavers, but older weavers who secured jobs a.t other occupations usually found work only at unskilled jobs.
The weavers and loom fixers in this study evidenced the characteristics pecuEar to the labor inarket for these occupations
in Philadelphia. Although the majority of the workers were
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30
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
native-born, one-half of the workers over 45 years of age were
foreign-born. These came predominantly from the textile centers
of Great Britain, Italy, Poland, and France, The average age
of the weavers was 44 and of the loom fixers 57 years, Most
of the workers had entered the labor market before 1910, A
negligible proportion had entered during the ten years covered
by this study. Paid apprenticeships are not customary even in
industries making fine-grade specialty textile products, so
the majority of the group studied had not served a formal apprenticeship. Many of them had been taught their trade by their
parents or other relatives. They had entered the textile industries because of the influence of family tradition or the
accident of location of mills in re lat ion to the location of
their homes. Most of this group resided in the textile areas of
the city, principally in Kensington.
The workers who considered themselves attached to the labor
market of weavers and loom fixers in the three selected industries in 1936 were a group who had had long experience of a
highly specialized type. They had worked almost exclusively
in the textile industries, except for the accident of first jobs
or the exigencies of seeking other work after prolonged unemployment. Men weavers averaged 18~ years at the occupation, and
women weavers 15 years. Loom fixers had spent, on the average,
24½ years at this particular occupation. These figures do not
include time spent at other occupations in the textile industries or what might be thought of as a lifetime of experience in
handling ormaking fabrics. The plight of the unemployed members
of this group was well expressed by one weaver interviewed. He
said, "I'm no bum. I've got a trade, but where am I going to
practice it?"
FULL-FASHIONED HOSIERY WORKERS
Another of the studies in this series deals with the work experience, in the 10 years, 1926-1935, of 673 workers who were
laid off when three full-fashioned hosiery mills closed in 1933
and 1934. The three plants selected were closed shops and, since
the source of information used for locating these persons in
1936 was the address file of the local branch of the American
Federation of Full-fashioned Hosiery Workers, these workers were
union members at the time of lay-off and when the study was made
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WORKERS IN SELECTED OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES
31
in 1936. Among those who remained in the labor market after layoff, 21.j. percent of the men and 30 percent of the women found
jobs in less tr.an one month. At the other extreme, 28percent of
the men and32 percent of the women who looked forwork immediately
after shut-downwe,eunemployed seven ormoreconsecutive months.
It took the average worker who did not find employment within a
month following his or he;:- dismissal, six months to find a job
lasting one month or longer. Compared with machinists and weavers
laid off during the same period, the hosiery workers secured
jobs relatively quickly.
The hosiery workers studied exhibit the characteristics specific to the labor market for full-fashioned hosi.ery workers in
Philadelphia and their experience reflects the fact that they
normally worked or sought work in a union labor market. They
were younger than machinists and younger than the weave:s and
loom fixers in the selected textile industries, but older than
the radio workers. The average age of both men and women in
1936 was 31 years. Over half of the women workers were married,
and their work experience showed intermittent periods of time
out of the labor market to a greater degree than other women
workers studied. More of this group of workers had entered
this industry between 1921 and 192.5 than in any other five years.
This was a period of great prosperity in the industry in Philadelphia during which it had the reputation of paying high wages.
The group st11died had worked almost exclusively in the hosiery or
textile industries and had worked two years, on the average, for
the mills from which they had been laid off in 1933 and 1931.j.,
The occupational characteristics of the group longest unemployed were not very different from those of all workers laid
off from the three mills. In only two respects, age and length
of service at the mill of lay-off, were important differences
found between the longest unemployed and the total group. Workers over .so years of age and under 30 were found in larger proportions among those longest unemployed than in the total group.
The older workers may have been refused jobs because employers
considered them slower than younger workers, and the youngest
because they lacked experience. Middle-aged workers, with greater
family respons ibi li ties, may have sought work more vigorously
or obtained it more readily because of their responsibilities.
With regard to length of service at the mill of lay-off, it was
found that those who had been employed in the largest of the three
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32
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
mills for the longest periods of time were the slowest in finding
jobs after lay-off. Apparently, long service with one employer
limits a hosiery worker's knowledge of conditions outside his
own plant and makes it difficult for him to make adjustments to
changes. In other employment qualifications orsocial characteristics, such as schooling, nativity, marital status, years of
service at the occupation or industry, the length of the longest
job ever held, and the number of occupations and industries
worked in, which are usually considered as playing a part in determining the ease or difficulty with which a person finds a
job, the longest unemployed and the total group showed only
minor differences.
It was found that the season of lay-off was important in determining the proportion of workers who found a job within a
month after lay-off and that the year of lay-off was important
in determining the average length of time between lay-off and
finding a job lasting one month or longer. A factor which affected employment conditions 1n the full-fashioned hosiery industry and aided unemployed workers in obtaining jobs was the
general adoption in union mills in Philadelphia in 1931 and 1932
and in nonunion mills in 1933 of a shorter workweek and of the
operation of certain machine equipment on a two-shift bas is. After
the invalidation of the National Industrial Recovery Act the union
was strong enough to have the shorter workweek generally maintained. Other factors of a technological nature, however, adversely affected employment opportunities in certain occupations
employing women. Loopers and menders and examiners were unemployed
in larger proportions and for longer periods of time after layoff than toppers and seamers. Knitters and knitters' helpers,
the only men in the study, were reemployed relatively quickly
after lay-off, particularly in the age group from 30 to so years.
COMPARATIVE EXPERIENCE
The four work history studies outlined demonstrate the need
for analyzing a local labor market in terms of the special occupational or industrial labor. markets which are its component
parts. No adequate picture of the character of a city's unemployment or reemployment problems is possible without this more
detailed picture. Recent job opportunities for radio workers,
hosiery workers, machinists, and weavers and loom fixers have
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WORKERS IN SELECTED OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES
33
differed in both number and character. If the unemployed labor
supply is large in relation to given job opportunities, more selective factors are obviously at work in the determination of
who secures the available jobs,
Although these studies are by no means conclusive, there is
important evidence that toospecialized a work experience or too
long a service with one plant may be a handicap in securing a
new job, once a skilled worker becomes unemployed. Age is apparently not a handicap in retaining a job in the skilled occupations but is a distinct liability after a permanent lay-off.
Radio factories, which are typical of mass-product ion industries,
hire only young persons. Even in the highly skilled occupations,
radio workers are younger than comparable workers in many other
industries. For such workers, therefore, age is a handicap in
obtaining as well as in holding a job.
Concerning the question of labor mobility the four work history studies have demonstrated that younger workers who came into
the labor market after the World War are decidedly more mobile
than those who were working before that time. The mobility of
labor, which was measured in terms of the number of job separations and the number of employer, occupational, and industrial
shifts reported by a worker in the ten years, does not appear
to be affected by age alone. It was found that the oldest workers, those q.5 years of age and over, are, in general, no less
mobile than those 30 to q.q. years old, but that workers under 30
are considerably more mobile by all four measures. The 30-year
age division point was especially important in the case of weavers, loom fixers, and machinists.
Radio workers were the most mobile and machinists the least
mobile of the four groups studied, as reflected in the average
number of shifts reported by each group. In all four groups,
job separations and employer shifts were more numerous than occupational shifts. Industrial shifts were more numerons than
occupational shifts except for textile workers. In the case of
weavers and loom fixers, an industrial shift usually accompanied an occupational shift, and in the case of hosiery workers,
occupational shifts outnumbered industrial shifts. The absence
of shift experience for significant proportions of the workers
in each group except radio workers should be noted. Perhaps the
work his tori es of any group of semiskilled or skilled workers
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EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
who might be studied at the end of a long depression would offer
evidence of relative stability rather than mobility.
The relationship of employment status in the recovery year of
1936 to labor mobility was also examined in three of the work
history studies. Clear-cut relationships did not emerge, however, except in the case of weavers and loom fixers. Here, those
unemployed in 1936 were less mobile than those employed in 1936
on all counts except the number of job separations which included separations to unemployment. Differences in mobility between the occupations studied and between age groups within the
occupational or industrial labor markets studied appear to be
more consistent than differences in mobility in relation to employment or unemployment in 1936.
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SECTION VII
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS WITH RESPECT TO RECENT TRENDS IN
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
The surveys of the Philadelphia labor market initiated by the
Industrial Research Department of the University of Pennsylvania
brought to light certain facts about the volume, incidence, and
character of unemployment in the city. Changes in the volume
of unemployment during the depression years, 1929-1933, were accompanied by very gradual changes in the incidence of unemployment among households of varying composition, and among individuals from different sex, age, race, and occupational groups.
Throughout this period the distribution of the occupational characteristics of the long-time unemployed differed from those of
the short-time unemployed, and the distribution of the characteristics of workers from relief rolls differed from those of other
unemployed job seekers. It has been one of the objectives of the
present series of studies to examine these relationships further,
and to see if observed differences are accentuated or diminished
in a period of business recovery. It has also been a purpose
of these studies to examine the relationship of age and other
employment factors to the chances of reemployment of unemployed
workers, and to discover whether the work histories of the unemployed differ from thoseof the employed as their occupational
characteristics at a particular date differ. In concluding this
report only a few major points need to be emphasized.
Manufacturing activity provides the chief key to the employment situation in Philadelphia. The recovery in manufacturing
employment after 1933 has not reached the levels attained in
1929 and earlier years. A large unemployed labor reserve has,
therefore, been characteristic of the local labor market in recent years. Business recovery has been accompanied by a rapid
change from part- to full-time employment but by a slow decline
in the number of unemployed persons. This has resulted in a
smaller decrease in the number of persons on relief rolls than
would otherwise have been anticipated. Despite this fact, it
is estimated that at any given time not more than ~2 percent of
the city's unemployed population were on relief rolls.
35
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EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
There was turnover in the unemployed population during the
depression, but the characteristics of the group as a whole remained fairly constant in the depression years. This was particularly true of the age and racial composition of the unemployed group. It was not until 1936 that the Philadelphia Unemployment Sample showed any appreciable decline in the average
length of time out of work reported by unemployed persons. It
was not until 1935 and 1936 that the industrial composition of
the unemployed population changed. The findings of these studies
indicate that the occupational characteristics of the unemployed
population differ from those of the employed, and that these
differences are accentuated in the group left unabsorbed in a
Feriod of general business recovery.
Throughout the years surveyed there have been consistent relationships evident in the incidence of unemployment for different age and racial groups. The same is true for the incidence of unemployment in households with varying numbers of
The number of employable persons in the
employable members.
Philadelphia Unemployment Sample has varied only slightly from
year to year when allowance is made for differences in enumeration facilities. In more recent years there has been an increase in the number of persons seeking work who have not been
previously employed, particularly in the number of women.
Although the incidence of unemployment has been higher for
men than for women among previously employed workers, the incidence of total unemployment was higher for women than for men
in 1935, 1936, and 1937. This is accounted for by the increase
of women seeking work in the city during the depression and early
recovery years and the higher incidence of unemployment among
inexperienced as compared with experienced persons. There were
relatively more job openings for women than for men in the local
public employment office during most of these years, but inexperienced women forced into the labor market as the result of
economic pressure were apparently not successful in securing
employment in proportion to their numbers. They have increased
the size of the unemployed labor reserve in the locality in the
recovery years and the effects of this trend may be more than
temporary.
The unemployed who may be considered to be most actively seeking work at anyone time are those who register voluntarily at a
public employment bureau. Although applicants at the PhiladelDigitized by
Goos Ie
SUMMARY OF RECENT TRENDS
37
phia State Employment Office have been employed in a wide range
of occupations and industries, both the registration and placement work of the bureau tend to be concentrated in a relatively
small range of occupations. These represent occupations of major
importance in the city's labor market. Persons placed through
the activities of the bureau tend to be younger than other applicants and have been out of work for shorter periods of time
prior to registration at the bureau. The composition of the
group of applicants certified from relief rolls for the years
from 1934 through 1936 shows a higher proportion of unskilled
workers, a higher average age, and a higher proportion of the
long-time unemployed than is found for applicants not on relief
rolls. A group of some 20 ,ooo applicants certified for Works
Program employment but not assigned to wrk projects or reabsorbed in private industry appears to be "frozen" in the bureau1 s "active" files.
Variations in job opportunities listed with the Philadelphia
State Employment Office and in placements made by the bureau
have been affected by seasonal as well as recovery factors in
business and also by changes in the service facilities of the
bureau. Perhaps the most outstanding characteristic of labor
demand during depression years as reflected in these data is the
high degree of selectivity which prevailed for the few job opportunities which were open.
Preliminary evidence indicates
that most of the labor shortages which have occurred during
recent years have been highly specialized in character or reported only at the peak of the "busy" season in an industry.
Such specialized or sporadic shortages did not represent an appreciable number of unfilled jobs in the city's labor market.
Preliminary findings in the fourwork history studies indicate
that the mobility of the labor supply varies with occupation,
industry, sex, and age. Workers attached to the occupations and
industries selected for study differ in the extent of job, employer, occupation, and industry shifting reported. These differences hold for periods which cover all phases of business
activity. Women report feweroccupational and industrial shifts
than men, even in occupations where job turnover is higher for
women than men. Olderworkers in most of the situations studied
are less mobile than younger workers. The employment and unemployment history of workers within a given occupation or occupational group and under specific conditions with regard to job
Digitized by
Goog Ie
38
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
opportunities also varies according to sex and age and industrial
experience. Perhaps the most significant results of these studies indicate that unemployed workers differ from the employed
not only in their occupational characteristics at a given time
but also in their work histories over a period of years.
This report has attempted to give a background of recent employment trends in the Philadelphia labor market, as reflected in
data available from previous surveys, and an outline of the objectives of present studies. Against this background the findings of the Unemployment Sample for 1936 and 1937, the 1936 Employment Office record studies, and the surveys of selected
groups on relief and selected occupational and industrial labor
markets will be reported in detail in subsequent publications
of this series. It is recognized that certain aspects of the
Philadelphia labor market have not been covered in past or present studies. Themost important of these gaps in present knowledge of labor market conditions in Philadelphia concern questions of geographic and occupational mobility in the area, the
effects of the relief and social security programs on employment, unemployment, and occupational mobility, and the labor
market conditions surrounding occupations in which there are
alleged labor shortages. The studies of the work histo~ies of
workers in selected occupations and industries will shed some
light on questions of occupational and industrial mobility in
particular situations but the other problems must be left for
future research.
Digitized by
Goog Ie
APPENDIX
Unless otherwise noted, the data of the following Appendix tables are based on annual surveys of the Philadelphia Unemployment Sample made by the following agencies:
Surveys of 1929-1933 inclusive
Industrial Research Department
University of Pennsylvania
Survey of 1935
Industrial Research Department
University of Pennsylvania
in cooperation with
Pennsylvania State Emergency Relief Administration
and
Works Progress Administration
Surveys of 1936 and 1937
Works Progress Administration
National Research Project
in cooperation with
Industrial Research Department
University of Pennsylvania
Digitized
by
Goog Ie
Table 1.- MONTHLY INDEX OF EMPLOYMENT, PHILADELPHIA MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, 1923-1936a
~
0
(1923-1925
Month
= 100)
Year
1923
1924
1925
1926
192'7
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
103.6
10'7.9
110.4
110.6
112.1
113.6
114.2
111.0
108.5
109.3
10'7.5
104.5
96.0
95.4
94.6
92.'7
89.6
85.0
83.6
84.8
8'7. '7
92.3
92.3
93.5
93.'7
94.0
96.6
96.2
9'7. '7
99.4
100.6
101.5
103.4
106.2
104.'7
105.3
101. 0
102.'7
102.5
101.9
101.3
100.3
101.6
103.1
105.6
108.6
109.5
106.1
103.0
104.2
104.5
101.3
100.3
9'7.9
9'7.2
98.1
96.3
94.3
94.4
92.9
9'7.0
98.3
96.0
92.2
92.0
92.2
95.3
9'7.8
100.3
100.0
98.1
92.'7
94.0
98.8
9'7.8
99.4
101.4
102.0
104.4
108.3
105.6
101.9
9'7.4
95.4
95.0
93.6
92.3
92.0
91.6
89. '7
85.8
88.1
90.6
89.0
85.5
80.3
'76.5
'77.6
'7'7. 1
'78.4
'78.1
'78. 1
'76.2
'79.2
'79.4
'78. 1
'7'7. '7
'7'7. 3
'73.2
'73.0
'71. 3
6'7.5
66.3
64.3
61.9
62.3
65.5
68.6
6'7.6
65.0
62.9
63.0
61. 0
61. '7
65.0
68.5
'71. 2
'78.2
83.6
8'7.0
84.8
82.2
'78.4
81.4
83.9
84.5
83.3
82.9
82.3
83.8
82.1
84.6
86.2
88.4
8'7.0
8'7.2
88.'7
88.6
88.1
8'7.8
8'7.9
89.1
91.0
92.2
92.2
92.'7
90.5
90.8
91.8
91. '7
91.5
92.2
93.6
96.1
100.2
101.1
102.1
102.9
Average
109.4
90.6
99.9
103.'7
98.'7
96.0
100.5
89.5
'7'7. 8
6'7.2
'72.4
83.5
89.4
95.4
0
co·
N.
""
(D
Q_
cr
'<
0
0
~....(v
aFrom issues or Survey of Current B'IJ,Siness (U.S. De11t. Com.): Clatarorl923-29, Vol. 13, No. 9 (Sept. 1933), p. 19; rorl930-31,
Vol. 15, No. 3 (Har. 1936), p. 20; ror 1932-35, 1 1836 Supplement,• p. 32; ror 1936, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Har. 1'l37), p. 29.
>
'"d
>'d
t,rj
z
i::::,
.....
><
APPENDIX
41
Table 2,- NUMBER OF ESTABLISHMENTS, WAGE EARNERS, AND VALUE
ADDED BY MANUFACTURE, PHILADELPHIA
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
1923-1935a
Year
1935
1933
1931
1929
1927
1925
1923
Number of
\Average number of
establishments I
wage earners
Value added by
manufacture
Number
Percent
of 1925
Number
Percent
of 1925
Dollars
Percent
of 1925
4,428
3,903
5,097
5,567
5,860
5,636
6,399
78.6
69,3
90,4
98,8
104.0
100.0
113,5
202,225
166,906
190,974
246,908
243,608
246,680
273,980
82,0
67,7
77.4
100.1
98.8
100.0
111. 1
585,836,250
468,157,061
664,604,618
978,080,696
880,725,845
867,934,994
n. a.
66.0
52,7
74,8
110.2
99.2
100.0
-
-------
aData ror 1929, 1933, and 1935 rrom Census of Manufactures: 1935, •summary
ror Ph1ladelpllla, Pll1ladelpbia County, Pennsylvania,• released Feb. 12, 1937;
ror 1931, Biennial Census of Manufactures: 1933, •Pennsylvania, Summary ror
Cities Having 10,000 Inhabitants or More and ror Counties: 1933, 1931, and
1929, • released July 1, 1935, p. 8; ror 1925 and 1927, Biennial Census of
Manufactures: 1927, table IV, p. 1473; ror 1923, Biennial Census of Manufactures: 1925, table IV, p. 1431.
n.a.Data not available.
Digitized by
Goog Ie
Table 3,- SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUPS OF USUAL OCCUPATION OF GAINFUL WORIERS, BY SKX
PHILADELPHIA 1910, 1920, 1930a
1910b
Total
Socio-economic
group
Total
Number
1920c
Men
Percent
Number
Total
Women
Percent
Nwnber
Pl!rcent
Number
cent
Number
r,.,
1930d
Women
Men
Per-
~
Total
Per-
Num-
Per-
cent
ber
cent
Number
tzl
Men
Percent
Number
~
Women
'i:I
Per-
Num-
Per-
cent
ber
cent
711,169 100.0 510,871 100.0 200,298 100.0 819,000 100.0 603,237 100.0 215. 763 100.0 889,tl50 100.0 643,714 100.0 246,136 100.0
33,154
4.7
19,957
3.9
69,653
9.8
64,009
12,5
13 , 1J7
6,6
41,162
5.0
2. tl
'10,132
,J.6
24 . 5j6
4. 1
16.601>
7.?
54.091
6,1
l'9,69C
4,0
24,401
9,9
5,644
65,314
:0.8
4,blH
2.2
74,630
8-4
6\), 9<l2
10.9
4,668
1.9
""<D~;-
1214, 384
Q.
cr
'<
0
0
~,.......
(\)
workers
Do ■ estic
z
>
c=
z
t:i;:,
116,978
16.4
82,379
16.1
34·, 599
17,3 163,992
20.0
98,060
16.3
65,9:J2
30.6 200,552
22.5 120,620
18,7
79,932
32.5
17.6 121. 657
23,8
3,628
1,8 164.364
20.1 161,192
26.7
3,172
1.5 153,398
17.2 149,177
23.2
4,221
1.7
--<
~
tzl
30,2 120. 957
23.7
93,427
46,7 231,394
28.3 147,012
24,4
84.382
39.1 236,307
26.6 157,009
24.4
79,298
32,2
z
......
z
82,680
11.6
81,240
15.9
1,440
0.7
89,46-!\
10.9
tl7,742
14. 5
1,n2
0.8
90,847
10.2
69,634
13,9
1,213
0.5
69,035
9,7
20,672
4,1
48,363
24-1
58,492
7.1
19,361
3.2
39,131
18.l
80,025
9.0
27,622
4.3
52,403
21. 3
>-3
'i:I
8l>ata are converted to an adaptatlon or Dr. ldward1 1 aocto-economlc 1roup1n1 tor Census occupatlon&l returns. Jou-r-Ml of the A•ef"'ican. Stati.stical Association., XIVIll,
llo. 186 (Dec. IP33), ~7-87.
b.l'hlrt,.,.th Cens"3 of the United States, 1910, •Population• (U. 8. Dept. Com., Bur. Census, 1914), Vol. IV, table Ill, pp. 183-Q3.
•1o,wteenth
of the United States, 1920, 'Population,• Vol. IV, table 19, pp. 204-20.
4 1tft,.,.th C•nsus of the United Statss, 1930, 1 P0J)Ul&t1on,• Vol. IV, table 4, pp. 1384-91.
c,n.s,.,
'i:I
t--<
and
personal
service
workers
~
0
Unskilled
(Q
~
t:,
Skilled workers and
foremen
125,285
Semiskilled
0
--<
tzl
:z:
officials
Clerks and
kindred
workers
0
>-3
Pro fess ion al
persons
Proprietors,
mana~ers,
workers
t--<
=
......
t--<
>
t:,
t:i;:,
t--<
'i:I
=
......
►
Table 4.- NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS BY NUMBER OF EMPLOYABLE PERSONS PER HJUSEHOLD
PHILADELPHIA UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, 1931-1936a
Number of
employable
persons
per household
Total
1931
Percent
Number
Percent
36,410
100.0
35,471
100.0
35,820
100.0
43,997
818
17,565
9,710
4,935
2,192
800
249
87
38
2.3
48.2
26.7
13.6
6.0
2.2
0.7
0.2
0.1
865
15,672
9,287
5,046
2,298
857
307
91
25
8
15
2.4
47.0
26.2
14.2
6.5
2.4
0.9
0.3
0.1
934
17,271
9,245
4,781
2,266
900
276
100
27
10
10
2.6
48.2
25.8
13.4
6.3
2.5
0.8
0.3
0.1
1,839
21,164
11,695
5,462
2,413
983
289
93
31
15
13
5
0
N.
""
Number of households
1933
1935
PerNumNumPercent
ber
ber
cent
Number
0
1
2
3
4
co·
1932
6
7
8
9
10 and over
4
*
*
12
*
*
*
*
1936
Number
Percent
100.0
44,817
100.0
4.2
48.1
26.6
12.4
5.5
2.2
0.7
0.2
0.1
2,329
20,604
12,287
5,705
2,521
926
330
96
14
3
2
5.2
46.0
27.4
12.7
5.6
2.1
0.8
0.2
*
*
>
"d
t--c:1
t%J
:z:
t:,
H
I><
*
*
*
(D
Q_
cr
'<
0
0
~....(v
Average ( employable persons
per household)
1.8
1.9
1.9
1.8
1.8
aData ror 1934 not available. Employable persons are persons 16 years or age and over worklng or se?.klng work. Data lnclude
persons not seeklng work because or temporary lllness ror the years 1931. 11132, and 1933 but exclude such persons ln 1936 and
1936.
*Less than 0.06 percent.
~
Co)
~
~
Table 5.- EMPLOYMENT STATl 1S OF HOUSEHOLDS BY sm,1s1m OF ft:Ml'LOYABLE Pl<:llSONS PEit lltlUSIWOLI>
PHILADELPHIA l'NEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, rn31-1936a
-- - - - - = - - - - -
--=--=E--_----- ------==-==-~--:
--
Househul,.s
Employment sta.tus 0
I
.,, i
___
ti:
er.pc,>;;at,'-•~
perscri:.;
I
One em--
Two em-
rhree em-
ployable
!Jersoz,
ployable
persons
pl0yatJle
perso1,:-s
I
Num---oer
Per--
Per-=
Num---cent I ber
: Num-
23,841
7,493
4,252
~--0
co·
N.
""
(D
!17,056
9,3d2
::!. :".:b
I
I
----- 49.3
:::.7.1
23. 6
Q_
cr
'<
0
0
~.....(v
1932
1'<,T,al nwnoP.r cfh·:.useholdsel34,c:c6I
Complete employment
Partial unemployment
Complete unemployment
16,192
9,030
9,664
'
;_._,:,.o
46.4
25.9
27.7
-Nuni--ber__ _
4, 38.S
f
P~r---c..:i-.:-nt
I:_.._,.._ .• ,'
Five and
over employable
persons
Fc:1r em---p loyo1ol e
p"'r:;0ns
:◄ um-
bt}r
I
Per-- -suM~
·:e:1 t
\Je!'
2 , l ~: ·~ I _ j..,__. •._-,
rPec-
cent
.,190 100.0
6,048, 62.3
2,797 2s.a
-
8651
8.D
2,22;t 40. l
2,4081 4i:3.8
3031
8.1
66"
1,410
30-4
64.6
11')
5.C
.:::65
879
46
I
22.3
73.8
3.9
16,67:2.1100.()
9,2b'7.100.0
t""
--
: 3,744
I
I 3,615
I
4,947, 29.7
1,0%8
I
11, 46:J I 66. 4
5,8081 33.6
t%l
z
t-'3
>
:z:
~
c=
:z:
t%l
I
40.:J
38.J
~0.8
d"• 6
16. 3
;s.:,t, 11:C.8
1
9__._::~lOL.0
3,472· 37.6
3,430 , 37.l
2,343 26.3
1
1, 16C
3, U;.,5
2~!. l
I
8~;_;.
I~·_:"'~
'-cl
t-<
0
>-<
;x
t%l
'"•"l'-'·, t
5, >4e : .....\....:. --
-·-· - --
11, 725: 70. 3
1__?,~71~1~0.0
>-<
::;::
:z:
I
- - - t--
t-<
0
;x
I
1£l~j2
7<.;tsll number ofhouseholdsdj34,6Joi1CJO.O
~amplete employment
~'artial uziemployment
Complet,s unemplo,flllen:.
-
Per, cent
G,710 100.0
67.0 \14,637j 83.3
21.1 I
•
11.9
2.928; 16.7
I
7
+-- ____!______
cen~----+-b_er
I
1931
'
Total nwnoer ofhouseholiscl35,59:dlJCJ.O j 17, 56:5 : !JO. 0
Complete employment
Partial unemployment
C~mplete unemployment
t,:j
;x
'-cl
Househo~ds with -
31:,
1, Ci:;,:
1(,,).0
, , ,cu
9301 19.5
2,916 61.0
935
19.5
?,4.:,
1,637
380
I
: • :303 J 100.0
I
8.1
1061 78. (j
_!_,024
173
13.:J
_;_3_"
73. ;_j
ru.
t-'3
H
:z:
'-cl
=
H
t-<
>
_u__ l
1,3231100.0
11.01
781
72.2
1,047
16.8
198
~
t%l
t-<
5.9
79.1
15.0
'-cl
=
H
>
1935
Total nUD1ber ofhouseholdsr 42,158 100.0
Complete employment
Partial unemployment
Complete unemployment
24,790
9,460
7,908
58.8
22.4
18.8
1936
Total number ofhouseholdsg 42.488 100.0
Complete employment
Partial unemployment
Complete unemployment
Jg
25,453
9,796
7,237
59.9
23.l
17.0
21,164 100.0
16,062
-
5,102
75.9
24.1
20,604 100.0
15,725
4,679
76.3
-
23.7
11,695 100.0
6,055
3,782
1,858
51.8
32.3
15.9
12,287 100.0
6,660
3,920
1,707
54.2
31.9
13.9
5,462 100.0
2,413 100.0
1,424 100.0
1,903
2,957
602
566
1,609
238
204
1,112
108
34.9
54.1
11.0
23.4
66.7
9.9
5,705 100.0
2,521 100.0
2,188
3,086
451
655
1,714
152
38.4
53.7
7.9
2e.o
e0 .o
e.o
14.3
78.1
7.6
1,371 100.0
225
1,098
46
aData ror 1934 not avatlab l e. Data include persons not seeking work because or temporary illness ror the years 11131,
1933 but exclude such persons 1n 1935 and 1936.
bEmployment status:
Complete employment lncludes households with all workers employed on a ru11- or part-time basis.
Partial unemployment includes households wlth 1 or more workers employed and l or more workers unemployed.
Complete unemployment includes households with all workers unemployed.
cExcludes 818 households with no employable person.
dExcludes 885 households with no employable person.
eExcludes 934 households with no employable person.
!Excludes 1,839 households wlth no employable person.
gExcludes 2,329 households with no employable person.
16.4
80.l
3.5
1932, and
>
>d
>d
t_,z;j
z
0
~
I><
""
,;(1)
Q.
~
0
0
~,...._
(v
~
QI
Table 6.- EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF PERSONS IN THE PHILADELPHIA UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, 1929-1937a
~
0)
Employable personsb
Year
Nwnber of
households
enwnera ted
Tot.al
number
of persons of
all ages
Number of
persons of
all ages
not seekiug work
t:<l
:::.:::
"d
Employed
Total
Full time
Unemployed
Part time
t""'
0
o-<
:::.:::
t:<l
Number
Percent.
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
·- - · -
Number
Percent.
58,866
6 9 ,884
67,150
66,854
66,454
78,121
78,524
79,822
79,606
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100. 0
100. 0
100.0
100. 0
5 2 ,756c
55,788
40,766
24,782
22,630
38,420
41. 489
48,669
56,142
89.6
79.8
60.7
37,1
34.1
49. 2
52. 8
61.0
70.5
( C)
-
3,648
9,243
13,887
13,256
11. 437
11, 125
7,086
4,007
5.2
13,8
20. 8
19.9
14. 6
14, 2
8.9
5.0
6,110
10,448
17,141
28,185
30,568
28,264
25,910
24,067
19, 457
10.4
15.0
25.5
42. 1
46.0
36.2
33.0
30.1
24 .5
:z:
~
>
:z:
0
0
'°
;:.c
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
31. 551
36,665
36,410
35,471
35,820
40,931
43,997
44,817
45,927
140,174
160,208
157,560
154,430
154,797
169,055
173,400
173,428
174,935
81. 308
90,324
90,410
87,576
88,343
90,934
94,876
93,606
95,329
N.
(1)
Q.
cr
'<
0
0
~,.......
(i;)
a.Thls table summarlzes the results or machlne tabulatlons ror the UnlYersltY or Pennsylvanla unemployment Census taken ln Aprll
or May or each year, wlth the erceptlon or 1934. For thls year Clgures were obtained rrom the Dlvlslon or Research and Statlstlcs or the State Emergency Reller Adlnlnlstratlon for the clty blocks approxlmatlng the Unlverslty Census Sample. These rlgures
lnclude lnstl tutlons as well as resldence households. For the cl ty as a whole, ln February 1934, the percentage or unemployed
employable persons was 32.6 and the percentage or part-tlme employed 14.1 . Thls table supersedes all previous reports based on
prellmlnary hand tabulations ror the years 1933-1937.
bEmployable persons are all persons 16 years or age and over worklng or seeklne work. Persons not seeklng work because or temporary illness are Included as unemployed employable persons from 1929 thro:.igh 1934 but are excluded from employable persons from
1935 through 1937. Persons not seeklng work because or terr,porary Illness numbered 258 ln 1935, 1,0Ul ln 11136, and 640 ln 1937.
Part-tlme employment was recorded according t<J the prcYa111ng practice or the Industry pr!or to 1935; In 1935, 1936, and 1937,
employment under 30 hours a week was ~ounted as part-time employment.
All persons employed on work relier have been treated as unemployed ln all years, but no count or them ls available prlor to
1936, In 1936, 4,912 persons and In 1937, 3,356 persons were employed on emergency work.
c rn 1929 persons employed part tlme were Included wlth those employed Cull time. The data are not avallable separately ror persons employed full tlme and part tlme.
c=
:z:
t:<l
:::.:::
"d
t""'
0
o-<
:::.:::
t:<l
:z:
~
t-1
:z
"d
=
I-<
t""'
>
0
t:<l
t-'
'"d
=
t-1
>
Table 7.- EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF EMPLOYABLE PERSONS BY SEX, PHILADELPHIA UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, 1931-1937a
Employable persons
Employed
Unemployed
Total
Full time
Year
I
Number
I
Percent
I
Number
I
Percent
Part time
Number
I
Total
Number
Percent
I
Percent
Previously
employed
Nwr.ber
I
Not previously
employed
Percent
Number
-
(ll)
I
Percent
Men
1931
1932
1933
1935
1936
1937
48,641
48,526
48,320
55,775
54,989
55,848
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
29,238
18,234
16,623
30,284
35,074
40,812
60.1
37.6
34.4
54.3
63.8
73.1
6,564
9,611
9,158
7,159
4,000
2,018
13.5
19.8
19.0
12. 8
7.3
3,6
12,839
20,681
22,539
18,332
15,915
13,018
( ll)
-
( ll)
-
21,309
15,877
13,330
10,827
44.1
28.5
24.2
19.4
1,230
2,455
2,585
2,191
2.5
4.4
4.7
3.9
23. 7
40.8
( ll)
-
(ll)
( ll)
(ll)
-
44.2
7,037
5,493
5,712
4,360
39. 3
24, 1
23 .0
18. 4
867
2 ,085
2 ,440
2,079
4.9
9.2
9.8
8.7
26,4
42.6
46.6
32,9
28.9
23,3
( ll)
>
"d
"d
t%J
z
....><
0
Women
0
<i5
""
;;;·
<1)
a.
~
0
0
a
,...._
(v
1931
1932
1933
1935
1936
1937
16,944
17,953
17,896
22,749
24,833
23, 758
100. 0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
10,372
6,388
5,918
11,205
13, 59.5
15,330
61.2
35.6
33.1
49.3
54.8
64. 5
2 ,553
4,243
4,074
3,966
3,086
1,989
15.1
23.6
22.7
17.4
12. 4
8.4
4,019
7 ,322
7,904
7,578
8,152
6,439
33.3
3 2 .8
27.1
aData ror 1934 not ava1laDle. Data presented 1n th1s table exclude persons whose employment status 1sltnown but whose sex ls unknown. They numbered 1,666 1n 1931, 375 1n 1932, and 238 In 1933. Data 1nclude persons not seeKlng worK because or temporary
1llness ror the years 1931 , 1932, and 1933 but exclude such persons rrom 1936 through 1937,
bThese data not separable In 1931 and 1932.
~
~
,+',>,
Table 8.- EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF EMPLOYABLl: PERSONS BY RACE, NATIVITY, AND SEX
PHILADELPHIA UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, 19al-1936a
---
-
---
tz:l
-- --
::s::
Employable persons
----
------
Total
Race and nativity
-
-
Unemployed
Employed
i-<
-Women
Men
Men
Women
------ -·- -----
Percent
"t1
t:-'
0
-----------
- -
---~
Number
a,
Num-
ber
---
-
-·-
-
Women
t-:3
Nuu,ber
Percent
Men
Percent
Nwn-
ber
----- - - - - -
Percent
---
Number
-
Percent
ber
--
- ------ -----
- - - - - -- .
--
Num-
Percent
---
1931
Native-born white
Foreign-born white
Negro and all other
46,259
100.0 15,880
100.0 34,036
29,513 100.0 10,818 100.0 22,339
1,507 100.0
7,829
10. 629 100.0
3,555 100.0
3,868
6,117 100. 0
I
73.6
12,059
75.9
12,223
75. 7
73.7
63. 2
8,362
1,273
2,424
77.3
84. 5
68.2
7,174
2,800
2,249
I
j
3, 821
24.1
24.3 I 2,456
26.3
234
36.8
1,131
22,7
15. 5
31. 8
26. 4
Total reporting
'<
Native-born white
Foreign-born white
Negro and all other
0
0
~....-
X
"t1
t'"'
0
i-<
::s::
tz:l
z
t-:3
1932
(D
Q_
cr
c:::
t:cl
0
N.
""
>
z
t::,
z
Tota 1 reporting
co·
::s::
t:cl
z
100.0 17,213
100.0 26, 964
57,3
I'30 •'77P,, 100.0 12,084
10,092 100.0 1,493
3,636
6,219 100.0
100.0 18,688
100.0 5,738
2,538
100.0
flO.
47,089
7
56.9
40. 8
10,189
,59. 2
20,125
42.7 ! 7,024
40,8
7,401
995
1,793
61.2
66.6
49.3
12,090
4,354
3,681
39.3
43.1
59.2
4,683
498
1,843
38.8
33.4
50.7
....z
"t1
....
:::i::
t:-'
:i:-
t::,
t;cl
t:-'
"t1
1933
....
:::i::
(v
Total reporting
Native-born white
Foreign-born white
Negro and all other
47,416
100.0 17,482
100.0 25,292
32,065
9,510
5,841
100.0 12,573
100.0
1. 465
100.0 3,444
100.0 17,834
100.0
5,184
100.0
2,274
53,3
9,753
55.8
22,124
46,7
7,729
44,2
55.6
54.5
38. 9
7,208
1,012
1. 533
57.3
69.1
44.5
14,231
4,326
3,567
44.4
45,5
61.1
5,365
453
1,911
42.7
30.9
55.5
----
)>
1935
Total reporting
Native-born white
Foreign-born white
Negro and all other
55,889 100.0 22, 893
100.0 37,443
67.0
15,171
66.3
18,446
33.0
7,722
33.7
37,129 100.0 16,461
11,568 100.0
1,941
7,192 100.0
4,491
100.0 25,813
100.0
8,346
100.0
3,284
69.5
72.1
45.7
11,423
1,577
2,171
69. 4
81.2
48.3
11,316
3.222
-3. 908
30.5
27.9
54.3
5,038
364
~~,320
30.6
18.8
51.7
55,406
100.0 2fi,407
100.0 39,066
70.5
16,668
65.6
16,340
29. 5
8,739
34.4
35,393
13,195
6,818
100. 0
100. 0
100.0
17,467
3,046
4,894
100.0 25,669
100.0 10,019
3,378
100.0
72.5
75.9
49. 5
11, 817
2,325
2,526
67.7
76.3
51. 6
9,724
3,176
3,440
27.5
24.1
50.5
5,650
721
2,368
32. 3
23.7
48 . 4
1936
Total re porting
Native-born white
Foreign-born white
Negro and all other
. --- ---
0
co·
N.
""
(D
Q_
cr
'<
-
aData tor 1'l34 not avallable. For clty as a whole 1n February 1934, the rat lo or unemployed to employable men ls 30.0 tor natlveborn, 29.0 tor rorelgn-born, and 49,5 tor Negroes and others; the ratio or unemployed to employable women ls 32.0 ror natlve-born,
25.4 tor rorelgn-born, and 45.7 tor Negroes and others. State Emergency Reller Admlnlstratlon, Census of EmP!oyab!e Tfo,,,-kef'"S in
Urban and Rural Kon-farm Areas of Pennsylvania - J93q (Harrisburg, Pa.: Pa. State Emergency Reller Artmlnlstratlon, Dlvlslon or
Research and Statistics, 1936), tables 2, 3, 4.
Data presented In this table exclude persons whose employment status ls known but whose sex Is unknown. They numbered 1,565 In
1931, 375 1n 1932, and 238 In 1933.
Data 1n thls table and all subsequent tables through table 16 Include, In all years, persons not seeking wurk ber'<use a: temp:r:1ry
Illness.
Total persons In thls table differ rrom total persons In t'lble 7 by the lnc:us!on or 258 persons not seeking wcrk because d
temporary Illness In 1935 and 1,019 such per-sons In 1936 and by the number ror whoIT' racP and nativity are not available. In 1£,31
there were 2,382 men and 1,064 women ror whom lnrormatlon regarding race and nativity was not available; In 1932, 1,437 men and
740 women; 1n 1933, 904 men and 414 women; and ln 1936, 14 men and 14 women.
>
'"'d
'"'d
t,;)
z
t::::,
,_,
><
0
0
~....(v
,;a.
co
50
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
Table 9.- MEDIAN AGE OF EMPLOYABLE PERSONS, BYEMPLOYMENT STATUS
AND SEX, PHILADELPHIA UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE
1931-1936&.
Employable persons
--
Unemployed
Year
Total
Men
--·
1931
1932
1933
1935
1938
36.8
36.3
37.5
37.7
37.5
Women
-· - --- ··-· ··-
26.6
28.3
27-0
28.4
28.7
Employed
-~-r-Men
Women
---- -
37.6
37.5
39.1
38.9
38.5
Previously
employed
Total
Men
Women
Men
Women
34.0
24.3
24.5
2.4.4
24.7
25.5
( b)
( b)
( b)
(b)
26.1
29.6
31.1
--
I
I
27.4
27.8
29. Q
29.7
29.8
34.4
35.1
34.6
34.2
36.4
37.9
38.4
l>.rhe distributions, except those ror persons unemployed wbo were previously
employed, rrom which these medians are derived are presented in tables 10
through 14. Data ror 1934 are not available.
b19al e.nd 1Q32 de.ta !or unemployment or previously employed persons not
available.
Digitized by
Goog Ie
Table 10.- EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF EMPLOYABLE PERSONS, BY SEX AND AGE
PHILADELPHIA UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, 1931
Employable personsa
years
Men
Number
0
~
~
~
m
rr
cr
~
0
0
0
00
....~
Employed
Total
Age in
Women
Women
Men
Percent Number Percent Number
Unemployed
Percent Number
Men
Percent Number
Women
Percent Number
Percent
Total reporting
43.907
100.0
14,635
100.0
31,905
72.7
10,941
74.8
12,002
27.3
3,694
25.2
16-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
3,358
5,370
5,633
5,408
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
3,015
3,521
2,378
1,570
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1,920
3,413
4,067
4,106
57.2
63.6
72.2
75.9
1,957
2,604
1,871
1,226
64.9
74.0
78.7
78.1
1,438
1,957
1,566
1,302
42.8
36.4
27.8
24.1
1,058
917
507
344
35.1
26.0
21.3
21.9
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
4,689
4,030
3,588
2,388
77.7
78. 1
77.5
76.0
1,124
768
608
333
79.7
79.3
80.4
78.4
1,349
1,132
1,042
755
22.3
21.9
22.5
24.0
286
201
148
92
20.3
20.7
19.6
21.6
100.0
100.0
100.0
1,819
1,058
827
75.6
70.6
65.6
244
118
88
78.0
74. 2
73.9
587
440
434
24.4
29.4
34.4
69
41
31
22.0
25.8
26.1
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
6,038
5,162
4,630
3,143
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1,410
969
756
425
55-59
60-64
65 and over
2,406
1,498
1,261
100.0
100. 0
100.0
313
159
119
------ -
>
'"d
'"d
t,;:t
zt:,
.....
><
--
aExcludes persons wbo d1d not spectty age.
...
01
~
Table
11,-
EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF EMPLOYABLE PERSONS, BY SEX AND AGE
PHILADELPHIA UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, 1932
QI
N
Employable personsa
Age in
years
Total reporting
Unemployed
Employed
Total
Women
Men
Percent Number
Number
t;z;I
Percent
Women
Men
Number
:x
Percent Number
Men
Percent Number
"'d
t'"'
Women
Percent Number
Percent
0
-<
:x
t;z;I
z
~
>
z
45, 0'71
100.0
16,214
100.0
25,611
.'56.8
8,492
58.5
19,460
43.2
6,722
41.5
t:::I
d
16-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
3,660
5,808
5,864
5,574 ,
I
100.0
100.0
100.0
100. 0
3,387
4,021
2,640
1. 620
100.0
100.0
100. 0
100.0
1,398
2,692
3,349
3,163
38.2
46.3
57.1
62.1
1,510
2,366
1. 690
1,022
44.6
58,8
64.0
63.1
I
I
I
2,262
3,116
2,515
2,111
61.8
53,7
42.9
3'7,9
1,877
1,655
950
597
55.4
41.2
36.0
36.9
2,269
1, 9.'59
1, 6.'58
1,168
3'7. 4
37.4
37. 4
37.6
567
373
286
176
36.5
34.6
35.3
38.1
1,044
669
689
42.5
44.2
50.8
133
63
45
38.9
36.8
34.6
I
I
0
co·
N.
""
(D
Q_
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
6,066
5,232
4,434
3,108
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1. 553
1,078
810
462
100. 0
100.0
100.0
100.0
3,797
3,2'73
2,776
1. 940
52.G
62.6
62.'3
62.4
986
705
524
286
63.5
65.4
64.7
61.9
55-59
60-64
65 and over
2,457
1,513
1, 3.'55
100.0
100.0
100.0
342
171
130
100.0
100.0
100.0
1,413
844
666
57.5
.'5f,. 8
4\=l. 2
209
108
85
f31. 1
63.2
65.4
I
cr
'<
0
0
~~ aExcludes persons wbo dld not specify age.
zt;z;I
:x
"'d
t'"'
0
-<
:x
t;z;I
z
~
~
z
"'d
=
~
t'"'
>
t:::I
t;z;I
t'"'
"'d
=
~
>
EMPLOYABLE PERSONS, BY SEX AND AGE
PHILADELPHIA UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, 1933
Table 12,- EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF
Employable personsa
Age in
years
Total reporting
Women
Men
Number
Unemployed
Employed
Total
Percent Number
Women
Men
Women
Men
Percent
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
48,390
100.0
18,848
100.0
24,554
52.9
9,2'73
55.0
21,838
4'7. 1
'7,5'75
45.0
18-19
20-24
25-29
30-34,
3,415
5' '7'7'7
5,'739
5,344
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
3,135
4,258
2,529
1,892
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
98'7
2,3'75
2,963
3,088
28,9
41. 1
51.6
5'7.8
1,001
2,398
1,553
1,068
31.9
56.3
61.4
63.1
2,428
3,402
2. '7'76
2,256
'71. 1
58.9
48,4
42.2
2,134
1,862
9'76
624
88.1
43.'7
38,6
36.9
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
5,925
5,'71'7
4,8'78
3,90'7
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1,552
1,29'7
892
'728
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
3,493
3,509
2,'781
2,2'7'7
59.0
61.4
59.0
58.3
983
826
55'7
448
63. 3
63.'7
82.4
61.4
2,432
2,208
1,91'7
1,830
41.0
38,6
41. 0
41, '7
569
4'71
335
280
36.'7
36.3
3'7.8
38.8
55-59
60-64
85 and over
2,345
1,915
1,828
100.0
100.0
100.0
342
2'74
151
100.0
100.0
100.0
1,318
1,051
'734
56.1
54.9
45.1
194
158
93
58.'7
58.9
81.8
1,029
884
894
43.9
45, 1
54.9
148
118
58
43.3
43.1
38,4
>
0
co·
N.
""
(D
"d
"d
t;r;I
zI::)
H
~
Q_
cr
'<
0
0
~....(v
I
aExcludes persons who did not spec1ry age.
Cl1
c-=
Table 13.- EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF EMPLOYABLE PERSONS, BY SEX AND AGE
PHILADELPHIA UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, 1935
-
Age in
years
Total
jNumber
Employed
------- ------- ---
---- --
.
--------· -··
- ----
--------
--------
Men
-----------
-·
- - ---
-<
-
Women
-
Percent
Percent Number
------ -- -- ---- -,-' ---- -
-
::.::
tr:l
z
>-,3
Number
Percent
----
·-·-----
tr:l
..,,3:
I:""'
0
Unemployed
Percent Number
Percent Numberl~~~
Number
------
T_______
--- ________Women
Men
-----
Percent
,i:,.
Employable personsa
-----
Women
Men
'11
>
z
Cl
Total reporting
55,691
100.0
100.0
22,763
I
37,286
67.0
lfi,066
66.2
36.7
67.3
74.6
2,417
2,996
2,249
73.8
1,263
3,686
2,728
1,820
7:::.5
1. 680
72.8
73.5
72.4
72.5
1,607
1,348
912
777
6<1.7
74.1
71.4
74.4
1,890
1,742
1,596
1,298
16-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
3,607
6,995
7,039
6,405
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
3,439
5,479
3,656
2,509
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1,190
3,999
4,790
4,725
33.0
57.2
68.0
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
6,937
6,576
5,784
4,726
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
2,305
I
1,819 j 100.0
1,277 , 100.0
100.0
1,044
5,047
4,834
4,188
3,428
33.0
18,405
I
7,697
33.tl
67.0
42.8
32.0
26.2
2,1'76
1,793
928
689
63.3
32.7
25.4
27.5
27.2
26.5
27.6
27.5
698
471
30.3
25.9
28.6
25.6
c::
z
tr:l
3:
'i:l
r
0
-<
:x
tr:l
:z
>-,3
0
co
;;;·
""
<D
Q_
I
:.ms
267
'<
0
~.......
(v
..,,
0::
I:""'
cr
0
:z
55-59
60-64
65 and over
3,104
2,444
2,074
100.0
100.0
100.0
521
398
316
100.0
100.0
100.0
----- -
&Excludes persons who did not specl!Y age.
2,150
1,628
1,307
69.3
66.6
63,0
381
294
250
73.1
73.9
79.1
954
tll6
767
30.7
33.4
37.0
140
104
66
26.9
26,1
20.9
>
Cl
tr:l
t'"'
>,:I
::c
>
Table 14.- EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF EMPLOYABLE PERSONS, BY SEX AND AGE
PHILADELPHIA UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, 1936
Employable personsa
Age in
years
co·
N.
""
(D
Q_
Men
Women
Men
Percent Number
Unemployed
Women
Men
Women
Percent
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
38. 774
70.4
16,378
65.4
16,270
29.6
8,677
34. 6
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1,512
4,478
5,114
4,742
38.6
63.2
72.9
76.6
1,527
3,877
2,903
1,965
39.4
67.3
74.0
72.0
2,402
2,602
1,900
1,450
61.4
36.8
27. 1
23.4
2,345
1. 886
1,020
763
60.6
32.7
26.0
28.0
2,516
2,088
1.519
1,114
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
5,061
4,859
4,236
3,435
76.1
76.3
75.5
74.8
1,756
1,466
1,048
796
69.8
70.2
69,0
71.5
1,593
1,512
1,375
1,156
23.9
23.7
24, 5
25.2
760
622
471
318
30,2
29.8
31. 0
28.5
665
498
369
100.0
100. 0
100.0
2,337
1,617
1,383
73.5
67.9
67.3
451
335
254
67.8
67. 3
68.8
843
765
672
26,5
32.1
32.7
214
163
115
32.2
32.7
31.2
Number
Percent
Number
55,044
100.0
25,055
100.0
16-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
3,914
7,080
7,014
6,192
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
3,872
5,763
3,923
2,728
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
6,654
6,371
5,611
4,591
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
55-59
60-64
65 and over
3,180
2,382
2,055
100.0
100.0
100.0
Total reporting
0
Employed
Total
►
"'d
:;g
z
t:::I
~
~
cr
'<
0
0
~....- &Excludes persons who did not spec1ry age.
(v
01
01
Cl!
Ol
Table 1~.- USUAL INDUSTRIAL GROUP OF USUAL OCCUPATION OF UNEMPLOYED PERSONS
PHILADELPHIA UNEMPLOYMENT SAMPLE, 1931-1936a
I
1931
Industrial group
I
Number
I
1932
Num~P~~~cent
cent
Percent
t
1933
----Num-1-p~;~-r
cent
oer
Manufacturing
auilding and construction
Trade
Public utilities
Government
Business and professional
officesb
Institutions
Service industriesc
Private families
0
~
11,144 I 100. o
5,390
1,416
1,475
725
389
48-4
12.7
1::i. 2
6.5
3.5
24,109 I 100.0
17,7251 100.0
I
I
7,9491
2,099
2,933 ,
I
I
44.J
11.a
16,f\
e.o
1,~:~i
3.1
I
I
I
112
70
454
1,113
LO I
0,6 I
4001
190 1
I
983J
1,473
I
4. 1
I
10.oj'
-- - --
-
I
11,243
3,3891
2,bo7 1
1,634 :
6351
1,.2,.
20,5091 100.0
46.6 ;
,
14,1,
11. 0
6.1::l
2.6
6,878.
'
3,3501
3,338
1,553 I
647i
l
2.3
3. 2
'!72 •
1.1 '
1.6
3841
5.2
5. 4 , 1,2441
8.3
i__2. _1s1J ____0_. ~-
- - - -- --
J ;J
------if-----1-----+-----1-----
---------------+----------11------1--
Total reporting
t:z::l
1936
-~2_35_ -- - 1 Num-TPerNum- \ Percent
cent
ber
ber
33.5 I
I
10.3 I
16.3
7,6
3.1
I
I
7, 3131
3,010
2,833
I
1,310
469
i
100.0
31::l.O
15.6
14.7
6.6
2.4
I
567
295 ,
3.0
1.5
13. 0
1,5451
10.0
1,916
2_~100 _ _1_0_.3------'~-----'----6721
2171'
1,746
3. 3
1.1
8.5
I
~ aData ror 1934 not available. Excludes se1r-emplcyed, new wcrkers, and a small grcup or persons rormerly employed in other miscellaneous industries. Industry ot iast rather than usuai Job was recorded tor unemployed persons in 1935 . For details or indus~
cr try code used, see Bulletin #4, Industry Code, Works Progress Administration, National Research ProJect !n cooperation with Industrial Research Department or the University or Pennsylvania (mimeo. April 1936), and previous codes used oy the latter agency.
-<
(') bincludes Insurance and Finance.
Q cservice Industries include oarber and beauty shops, laundries, hotels, boarding houses, restaurants, dyeing and cleaning estabO lishlllents, and shoe repair shops.
00
,..._
(v
:x
"u
t'"'
0
><
:x
t:z::l
z
~
>
zc:,
c:::
z
t:i::I
:x
"ti
t'"'
0
><
:x
t:z::l
z
~
.....
z
"u
::r:
......
t'"'
>
c:,
l,::t]
t'"'
"u
::r:
......
>
Table 16.- DURATION OF UNEIIPWYIO!iNT SINCE LAST R.EGUUR JOB FOR PREVIOUSLY EMPLOYED WORDRS
AIID SINCE DATE OF ENTERING LABOR llARIET FOR NEW WORKERS BY SEX
PHILADELPHIA UNl!IIPLOYKENT S.llfPLE, 1931-1936&
1931
Duration of
unemployment
Men
in months
Total reporting
24-35
36--47
48-59
60 and over
0
""
;;:;(1)
Nwo-
Per-
ber
cen't.
Number
Percent
Men
Number
1933
Women
Percent
Number
Percent
Men
Number
1935
Men
Women
Percent
Number
Per-
Num-
cent
ber
1936
Women
Percent
Number
Percent
Men
Number
Women
Per-
Nwn-
Per-
cent
ber
cent
ll,902 100.0 3. 501 100.0 18,331 100 .0 6,073 100.0 20. 835 100 .0 6,762 100.0 13. 739 100.0 5. 397 100.0 15,947 100.0 8,455 100.0
0- 2
3- 5
6- 8
9-11
12-23
<i5
1932
Women
2,629
3,205
1. 891
1,636
1,844
358
156
74
109
22. 1 1. 155
26,9
939
403
15 . 9
429
13,8
435
15. 5
::: I
0.6
0.9
76
30
12
22
33.0
26.8
11.5
12,3
12,4
2.2
0.9
0.3
0.6
2,885
2. 970
1,928
3,324
5,256
1. 368
338
120
142
15. 7
16.2
10. 5
10.1
28.7
7.5
1.8
0.7
0.8
1,648
1,237
538
1,098
1.142
274
80
32
24
27 ,1
20.4
8.9
18. l
18.8
4.5
1.3
0.5
o. 4
2.022
1. 760
1,639
3,000
7,081
3,683
1,041
353
256
9.7 l. 205
9.4
826
7.9
744
14.4 l, 160
34.0 1,775
17.7
5.0
1. 7
1.2
724
198
73
57
17.8
12. 2
11 .0
17.2
26.2
10.7
2.9
1. 1
0.9
803
5.8
443
1. 375 10.0
817
1,015
7.4
439
1.037
7.6
661
2,520118.3 1,160
2,201
1,941
1. 438
1 409
16.0
14, 1
10. 5
10. 3
820
454
290
313
8.2
15,1
0.1
12,3
21. 5
15.2
8.4
5.4
5.8
2,091
l. 618
1.122
1.123
2.595
13. 1 1,434
10. 1 1,018
7.0
559
7.0
779
16.3 1,447
1,92 1 12.1
909
1,689 10. 6
651
9,1
1,451
494
2. £~7....._!_4_. 7 1,164
17.0
12.0
6. 6
9.2
17,1
10.8
7.7
5.8
13.8
>
"d
"d
t:z;i
:z:
....><
0
Median (unemployment
in months)
Q.
~
Total
6.2
4.9
10.2
6.8
15,4
10.6
24,7
15.5
21.3
15. 6
0
Previously
employed
( b)
( b)
{ b)
{ b)
15.5
10.0
26,4
16.8
22,6
16,0
0
a
,..._
•oata not available In lQM. WorK-relter employment exc1uc1ec1 as •regular• emplo111ent ln &11 years except 1932 when tor a. negllglble proportion at the total employablt
persona work-re11er jobawere counted as •regular• Jobs. A •regular• Job ta dertned aa a Job, on otber than emergency or reuer "Ork, wb.lcb laated one month or more.
DThlae data are not separable In 1931 and 1Q32.
(v
01
~
58
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PHILADELPHIA
Table 17.- NCMBER OF DIRECT- AND WORK-RELIEF CASES IN
PHILADELPHIA AT THE END OF EACH
FISCAL MONTH, 1932-1936a
~ases
2ases
Year
>-------
and
month
Total
---
Direct- Workrelief reliefb
1935
1932
9,935
.3ept.
-
9,935
27, 01~~
38 • 7'2 0
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
~o.
27,012
38,?20
11"- ' 50,115
I
1933
Jan.
F·eo.
Mar.
5 7, 1 '7"7
62,699
6F,33P
57,177
63,699
60, 3:38
Apr.
May
June
"70, 41.'i
~9. 2 'c,-;
60, PG9
70,44t
6i.,290
66,b69
July
Au~.
cie pt.
64 .:~01
64,201
59,014
.'i3, P9'3
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
h:~, 91.: I 52,818
5-'5, 1'78 II 55,1"8
63,?:C4
o0,5:.ie
f'i>',011
.c-<~ , e ~•r;
-T
I
I
: 90,014 81,056 14,958
1100,552 s5,604 14,948
3,881
104,535 !100, 654
I
I
I
I
11u5, 696 ; 100,700
101, ;315 ! 96, 188
I
tH), ~lt.i
92,960
!
iI
!
-Jc, 02~· 91,635
I
110(;, Ql() I 100,599
1012, 445 I 90,708
5,196
5,727
6,358
385
20
737
98,i:)8'7 96,889
2,048
98,520: 87,007 11,521
89,50d: 80,560 18,948
1936
I
3,188
6b,203
71,141
75,2b7
59, \:l4'7
63,407
64,7b8
8,256
7,734
10,499
Apr.
75, 4\J\l , 615, Ot,2
72,0:e:3 t:.:3,737
69,755 I 03,850
10,417
8,286
6,405
I
July
Aug.
Sept.
70,119: 66,653
74,123
74,015
3,466
2,652
108
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
75,331
79,847
88,152
74,123
70,364
74,909
1,208
9,483
13,243
72, 178J 69,526
I
I
,,pr.
May
June
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
1934
June
Jan,
I Feb.
I Mar.
July
Au~.
i Sept.
Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
May
Ye-ar ~ · and
-\Direct- Workmonth Tot.al
relief reliefb
Jan.
Feb,
Mar.
10.:,23ts 72,385 29,953
1oe, ::ieJ. 69,895 36,474
106,733 ! 68,679 38,054
ttp r.
May
June
10c;, .:l':2 ' 58,857 48,115
1c1 u, 902 I 58,843 48,059
102, ".702 5d,190 44,512
'
July
Au~.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
99, 134
;,)·.),206
!100,--1".73
~lb, 477
97,180
96,20\.J
II
I
I
57, 714 41,420
55,274 43,932
55,666 44,807
55,073 43,404
54,535 42,645
57,305 38,955
aData subm1tted by tlle D1v1s1on or Research or the Ph1ladelph1a County Reuer Board.
bThere was no work re11er 1n the c1ty rrom September 1932 to December 1934,
work re11er was adm1n1stered by the C1v11 Works Adm1nlstrat1on rrom December
1933 to Apr11 1934, by the Local works D1v1s1on or the Emergency Rel1ef Adm1n1strat1on rrom Aprll 1934 to July 1936, and by the Works Progress Adm1n1stratlon rrom July 1936 to date. From September 1936 through May 1936 the
r 1gures represent the net cumulat1ve number or cases transferred to WPA, and
from June 1936 through December 1936 the tlgures represent G e number t f certU1ed relief persons working on the WPA program.
000
Digitized by
C)
e
@FedFRASER