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Salary Trends F IR E M E N A N D 1 9 2 4 - 6 P O L IC E M E N 4 Bulletin No. 1445 rg~ r UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR W. Willard Wirtz, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan C lag u e, Commissioner Salary Trends FIREMEN AND POLICEMEN, 1 9 2 4 -6 4 Bulletin No. 1445 April 1965 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR W. Willard Wirtz, Secretary burea u o f la bo r s t a t is t ic s Ewan Clague, Commissioner For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 2 0 4 0 2 - Price 25 cents Preface This report traces salary trends for firemen and policemen for the period 1924—64. It includes materials previously published as Wage Movements: Salaries of Firemen and Policemen, A Quar ter Century Review, Series 3, Number 2, and six sup plementary reports from the Monthly Labor Review of June 1950, January 1952, July 1953, July 1955, Octo ber 1958, March 1962, and February 1965, which brought the original study up to date through 1964. This revised report is intended m erely to incorporate the information for the entire period into one document rather than to pre sent any information not previously published. The appendix explains the coverage, methodology, and source of data used for the studies. A brief des cription of the calculation of the indexes is also included. The salary trends program is directed by Lily Mary David, Chief of the Division of Wage Economics under the general direction of L. R. Linsenmayer, Assistant Commissioner for Wages and Industrial Relations. This report was prepared under the supervision of Albert A. Belman. The analysis for the period 1961 to 1964 was prepared by Arthur Sackley. iii Contents Page Salary tren ds: F irem en and policem en , 1924—50 ------------------------------------------------ 1 1 9 5 0 - 51 ____________________________________________________________________________ 1 9 5 1 - 52 ____________________________________________________________________________ 1 9 5 2 - 54 ____________________________________________________________________________ 1 95 4-5 8 ______________________________________________________________________________ 1 958-61 ______________________________________________________________________________ 1 9 6 1 -6 4 ______________________________________________________________________________ 5 7 11 15 19 25 Salary changes: Appendix: Scope and method of survey 31 Salary Trends: Firemen and Policem en, 1924—50 Salary sc ales of the firemen and policemen employed in United Statescitiesh ave increased more than 80 percent over the past quarter cen tury. The sharpest advances occurred in the past decade when salary sc a les rose by about 50 percent. There was some increase in sa la ries during the latter 1920’ s, followed by a no ticeable decline in the early 1930’s (table 1). The net effect of this reduction in salary scales and the succeeding recovery in the late 1930’ s 1 was an 8-percent rise from 1929 to 1939* T a b l e 1. these years. However, the increase in salary scales of firemen and policemen from 1939 to 1950 did not equal the increase in the cost of consumers* goods and services, as measured by the Bureau’s Consumers’ Price Index. This index rose by 69 percent between January 1939 and January 1950 compared with the 52-percent rise in salary sc a le s of firemen and policemen. The rise in salaries of these workers was also considerably smaller than the increase in wage rates or annual earnings of manufacturing wage earners many of whom, however, have experi enced le ss stable employment than have munici pal workers. (See chart.) Both the level and trend of earnings were practically the same for firemen as for police men.2 The slight variations that appear in the indexes (table l)m ay be due to lags in granting pay changes to one group or the other or to a delay in reporting retroactive increases. In d e x e s o f a v e r a g e s a la r y r a te s 1 fo r fir e m e n an d p o lic e m e n ' in c itie s o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la t io n or m o re , 1 9 2 4 - 5 0 In d ex (1 9 3 9 = 1 0 0 ) Y ear2 1924 ----------------------------------1929 ----------------------------------1932 ----------------------------------1934 ----------------------------------1938 ----------------------------------1939 ----------------------------1940 -----------------------------1 9 4 1 --------------------1942 ----------------------1943 ----------------------------------1944 — ----------1945 ----------------------------1946 ----------------------------------1947 ----------------------------------1948 — -------- ---------------1949 -------------- -------------------1950 ----------------------------------- F ire m e n an d p o lic e m e n F ire m e n P o lic e m e n 84 93 96 94 100 100 100 100 101 104 110 117 119 128 137 148 152 87 96 99 93 100 100 100 100 103 106 111 117 118 130 139 149 153 82 92 94 94 100 100 100 100 101 103 109 116 121 126 136 Intercity Variations There was no marked variation in wage move ments among different-sized cities, although those with 250,000 but le ss than 500,000 popu lation showed somewhat greater average in creases in salary sc a le s than either smaller or larger communities. Among individual cities, however, there was considerable variation in the proportionate increases in salary scales, particularly from 1945 to 1950 (table 2). In creases varied from about 10 to 50 percent or more, although cities employing over a fourth of the policemen and firemen raised salary scales between 20 and 25 percent. Increases of at least 40 percent were reported in cities employing a fifth of these protective workers. 147 151 1 F ro m 19 2 4 to 1938 b a se d on a c t u a l an n u al s a la r ie s p a id ; su b se q u e n tly b a s e d o n m a x im u m o f s a la r y s c a le in e a c h c ity . 2 D a ta fo r 193 9 to 1950 re fe r in g e n e r a l to ra te s e f fe c t iv e on Ja n u a ry 1; d a ta for e a r lie r v e a rs r e fe r to v a ry in g p e rio d s th ro u g h o u t the y e a r. Practically the entire increase during the past decade has occurred since 1942. For the entire war period (1941 to 1945) the increase was 17 percent, as compared with 26 percent for the period 1945 to 1949- During the past year, an additional increase of 3 percent has been recorded. Salary rates for these workers responded to the same general forces that lifted the whole wage and salary structure of the country during * Th is s a l a r y re c ove ry occurred somew hat later than in manufacturing. 2 In I960 maximum annual pay s c a l e s in the c i t i e s c o v ered in this report av e r a g e d about $8,550 for firemen and about $ 8 ,6 0 0 for policem en. 1 2 Average Salary Rates of Firemen and Policemen in 91 Large Cities Average for 1939 » IOO INDEX INDEX 3 T a b l e 2. P e r c e n ta g e d istrib u tio n o f f ir e m e n a n d p o l ic e m e n 1 in l a r g e c i t i e s 2 a c c o r d in g to i n c r e a s e in s a la r y s c a le s , 1 9 4 5 - 5 0 T a b l e 3. P e r c e n ta g e d istrib u tio n o f f ir e m e n an d p o l i c e m e n 1 in la rg e c i t i e s 2 a c c o r d in g to p e rc e n t o f in c r e a s e in s a la r y s c a le s , 1 9 3 9 - 5 0 P e rc e n t o f— P e rc e n t o f — In c r e a s e T o t a l ----------------------------------------E x p re sse d in p e r c e n ta g e te rm s: 10 an d u n d er 15 -------------------15 a n d u n der 20 -------------------20 an d u n der 25 -------------------25 an d u n d er 30 -------------------30 an d un d er 35 -------------------35 an d u n d er 40 -------------------40 an d u n der 45 -------------------45 an d u n d er 50 -------------------50 an d u n d er 5 5 -------------------5 5 an d o v e r --------------------------N o t re p o rte d ------------------------E x p re sse d in d o lla r s p e r y e a r: $ 2 0 0 an d un d er $ 3 0 0 ------------$ 3 0 0 an d u n d e r $ 4 0 0 ------------$ 4 0 0 an d u n d e r $ 5 0 0 ------------$ 5 0 0 an d u n der $ 6 0 0 ------------$ 6 0 0 a n d u n d er $ 7 0 0 ------------$ 7 0 0 an d u n d e r $ 8 0 0 ------------$ 8 0 0 an d u n der $ 9 0 0 ------------$ 9 0 0 an d u n der $ 1 ,0 0 0 --------$ 1 ,0 0 0 an d un der $ 1 , 1 0 0 -----$ 1 , 100 an d un der $ 1 , 20 0 -----$ 1 , 2 0 0 an d o v e r ------------------N o t re p o rte d ------------------------- P e rc e n t o f in c r e a s e F ir e m e n an d p o lic e m e n F ir e m e n 100 100 1 10 28 8 15 14 9 6 3 2 4 - 1 9 4 6 34 12 4 17 5 4 4 1 12 29 5 16 14 9 6 3 2 3 - 1 10 3 5 34 14 2 20 5 3 3 P o lic e m e n 100 - 8 28 12 14 13 8 6 3 3 5 - ( 3) 7 5 7 35 10 7 14 5 5 5 P o lic e m e n T o t a l -------------------------------------- 100 100 100 1 1 28 4 5 12 21 4 2 9 2 1 3 3 4 1 26 3 6 11 21 4 2 10 2 1 4 4 5 1 1 32 4 4 12 21 4 2 9 2 1 2 2 3 1 B a se d on t o ta l e m p lo y m e n t in f ir e an d p o l ic e d e p a rtm e n ts in c itie s w ith s p e c if ie d i n c r e a s e s . 2 A ll c it ie s o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 o r m o re p o p u la tio n e x c e p t R e a d in g , P a. T a b le 4. P e r c e n ta g e d is trib u tio n o f p u b lic w orkers 1 9 4 0 - 4 9 P e rc e n t o f e m p lo y m e n t in — T y p e o f w orker T o t a l ---------------------------------- F ir e m e n U n d e r 3 0 -------------------------------30 an d u n d e r 3 5 ---------------------35 an d un d er 4 0 ---------------------40 an d un d er 4 5 ---------------------45 an d un d er 5 0 ---------------------50 an d u n d er 5 5 ---------------------55 an d un d er 6 0 ---------------------60 an d un d er 6 5 ---------------------65 an d un d er 7 0 ---------------------7 0 an d u n der 7 5 ---------------------75 a n d u n d er 8 0 ---------------------80 an d u n d e r 8 5 ---------------------85 an d u n der 9 0 ---------------------90 a n d o v e r --------------------------N o t re p o rte d -------------------- ■----- * B a se d on t o t a l e m p lo y m e n t in f ir e an d p o l ic e d e p a rtm e n ts in c itie s w ith s p e c if ie d in c r e a s e s . 2 A ll c itie s o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la tio n o r m o re e x c e p t R e a d in g , P a. 3 L e ss th a n 0 . 5 p e r c e n t. On the whole, there is little relationship be tween the size of pay increases since 1945 and salary levels in the city at the beginning of the period; the largest increases were not found consistently in cities with either the lowest or the highest pay sc ale s. Between 1939 and 1950 pay sc a le s in cities with over a fourth of these protective workers rose by 35 to 40 percent while nearly half were increased by 40 to 65 percent (table 3)« New York City, which employed more than a fifth of all police department and almost a fifth of all fire department employees in cities of 100,000 or more, granted a smaller percentage increase in salaries from 1924 to 1950 than did all other cities considered as a group. Exclu sion of the lower wage changes for New York City would have the effect of raising by 7 per cent the salary changes for cities of 100,000 population and over from 1939 to 1949- In both 1924 and 1950, the pay scale in New York City for firemen and policemen was higher than thac for other large cities. F ir e m e n an d p o lic e m e n F e d e r a l c i v i l i a n -----------------S t a t e an d l o c a l -------------------S c h o o l --------------------------N o n sc h o o l ------------------- — S t a t e ------------------------C i t y --------------------------C o u n ty ---------------------O t h e r ------------------------- Ja n u a r y 19 4 0 Ja n u a ry 1941 100 100 100 100 23 77 32 45 13 20 8 4 25 75 33 42 12 19 7 4 48 52 /23 29 8 13 5 3 33 67 28 39 11 17 7 4 Ja n u a ry 1945 Ja n u a ry 1949 Hours The rise in salary sc a le s was accompanied by a gradual reduction in the length of the work week tor both groups of workers. Between 1934 (the first year for which data on hours were available) and 1950, cities employing threefifths of all policemen reduced their scheduled hours. Averaged over all cities studied, the decrease amounted to about 6 percent. For fire fighters, hours on duty were reduced by cities employing almost nine-tenths of all firemen studied. The average decrease in hours for firemen amounted to about 25 percent. Salary Changes of Firemen and Policemen, 1950—51 were distributed in increases below 5 percent and above 12.5 percent. (See table 2.) Salary scales in communities employing 7 out of 10 policemen were increased during the year. Nearly half of these, whose rates were adjusted, received from 5 to 7.5 percent— also the most common increase for firemen. Salaries of a fifth of the policemen were increased from 7.5 to 10 percent and an equal proportion received more than 10 percent. Rates for the remainder rose less than 5 percent. M a x i m u m s a l a r y r a t e s for firemen and police men combined, in cities of 100,000 and over, increased an average of 5.5 percent between January 1950 and January 1951. Percentagewise and in terms of dollars, firemen received greater increases— 5.7 percent or $201— than policemen, who gained an average 5.3 percent or $190 over the year.1 (The indexes reflecting these percent age changes are shown in table 1.) Nevertheless policemen maintained a slightly higher salary level— an annual average of $3,794 compared with $3,702 for firemen. About three-quarters of all firemen included in this study were located in cities that made salary adjustments during 1950. The remainder were employed in one-third of the cities. Of the fire men whose salaries were raised, nearly two-fifths received annual salary increases of between 5 and 7.5 percent; a fifth received increases between 10 and 12.5 percent. Annual pay scales of 17 per cent were raised 7.5 to 10 percent. The remainder T a b le 1 . — Indexes o f average salary rates T 1947-49=100 Y ear2 F irem en 84 93 96 94 100 100 100 100 101 104 110 117 119 128 137 148 152 160 87 96 99 93 100 100 100 100 103 106 111 117 118 130 139 149 153 162 P o lice m en F irem en and p o lice m en F irem en 82 92 94 94 100 100 100 100 101 103 109 116 121 126 136 147 151 159 61 67 70 68 72 72 72 72 73 75 80 85 86 93 99 107 110 116 63 69 71 67 72 72 72 72 74 76 80 84 85 94 100 107 110 117 P olice m en P ercent of— P ercen t of— P ercent of— T o ta l T o t a l____________________ 100.0 100.0 N o c h a n g e __ U nder 2.5_____________ 2.5 and u n der 5.0_____ 5.0 and u n der 7.57.5 and un der 10.0____ 10.0 and un der 12.5___ 12.5 and u n der 15 0 ___ 15.0 and u n der 17.5___ 17.5 and un der 20.0___ 20.0 an d o v e r . 28.4 1.1 8.9 30.3 13.7 13.0 2.9 .9 .5 .3 1.5 12.5 42.3 19.1 18.2 4.0 1.3 .7 .4 100.0 Expressed 60 68 69 69 74 74 74 74 74 76 80 85 89 93 100 108 111 117 T o ta l N um ber receiv ing in creases T o ta l 100.0 N um ber receiv ing in creases 100.0 100.0 100.0 26.5 1.2 9.9 27.4 12.9 16.8 3.5 1.2 .6 1.6 13.5 37.3 17.5 22.9 4.7 1.6 .9 29.8 1.0 8.3 32.2 14.2 10.4 2.5 .7 .4 .5 1.4 11.8 45.8 20.3 14.8 3.6 1.0 .6 .7 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 2.1 6 .0 10.5 10.8 38.7 12.1 2.1 14.6 2.0 1.1 26.5 2.1 5.9 5.7 8.2 25.7 11.1 1.6 9.8 2.8 .6 2.9 7.9 7.8 11.1 34.9 15.1 2.1 13.4 3.9 .9 29.8 1.0 3.2 8.8 7.5 29.1 6.9 1.5 10.8 .5 .9 1.4 4.6 12.5 10.6 41.5 9.9 2.1 15.4 .7 1.3 in dollars N o change U n d er $100. _________ $100 and u n der $ 1 5 0 .„ $150 and un der $200.— $200 and u n der $250— $250 and under $300— $300 and un der $350... $350 an d un der $400... $400 and u n der $450— $450 an d un der $500— $500 an d o v e r................. 28.4 1.5 4.3 7.5 7.8 27.7 8.6 1.5 10.4 1.5 .8 1 B ased o n total e m p lo y m e n t in fire and p olice departm en ts in cities w ith specified increases. 1 C urren t in d ica tion s are that the 1950 m o ve m e n t co n tin u ed and spread during the first half o f 1951. T hese changes, together w ith a n y occurring durin g the latter half o f the year, w ill be reflected in the report based on 1 F rom 1924 to 1938 data w ere based on actual annual salaries pa id ; subse q u e n tly on m ax im u m of salary scale in each city . 2 D a ta for 1939 to 1951 refer in general to rates effective on Jan uary 1; data for earlier years refer to va ry in g periods th rou gh ou t the year. P olicem en N um ber receiv ing in creases T o t a l_____________ ______ 1924......... .. 1929_______ 1932........... 1934............. 1938________ 1939________ 1940_______ 1941________ 1942________ 1943________ 1944________ 1945........ .. 1946............. 1947............ . 1948________ 1949________ 1950________ 1951........ .. F irem en Expressed in percentage terms 1 fo r firemen and In d e x F irem en and p olice m en F irem en an d policem en Increase policemen in cities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 population or more, 1 9 2 4 -5 1 1939=100 2 . — Percentage distribution o f firemen and policemen 1 in cities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 population or more, according to in crease in salary scales, 1 9 5 0 -5 1 ab le January 1952 m axim u m p a y scales. 5 6 In the present supplement to the basic study of trends in maximum salary scales ot policemen and firemen, the indexes for all years have been recomputed on a 1947 to 1949 base. A few changes in survey techniques were adopted in com puting the 1951 index: (a) the weighting procedure was slightly revised and (b) a new group of 15 cities was added to the index as a result of shifting from the 1940 to the 1950 Census of Population. The addition of cities, however, did not affect the index. Two series of indexes for firemen and policemen are presented in table 1. One is computed on a 1939 base for comparison with the indexes pre viously published. The other is based on an average 1947-49 base in accordance with the cur rent policy of changing Government indexes wherever possible to this new base. Salary Changes of Firem en and Policem en, 1951—52 percent in cities of 500,000 but less than a million down to 8.6 percent for cities of 100,000 but less than 250,000 population. scales in cities employing three-quarters of the firemen and policemen in all communities of 100,000 or more were raised during the year ending January 1952. On the average, annual salary scales of all protective employees covered by this survey were about $250 or 6.8 percent higher in January 1952 than in January 1951 (table 1). Over the 2-year period from January 1950 to January 1952 virtually all the cities raised maximum rates for firemen and policemen; less than 1 percent were employed where salary scales remained unchanged (chart 1 and table 2). Taking the entire postwar period (1945-52) the average salary scales for protective workers in creased by almost half—about 46 percent. (Trends since 1945 are presented in terms of indexes based on 1947-49 in table 3.) During the same period, the BLS Consumer Price Index rose by 49 percent. During 1951, the smallest average increase in salary scales was reported for communities with a million population or more, where the rise aver aged 4.2 percent. \ Among smaller communities, average changes in salary scales ranged from 10 Sala r y T able 1.— Occupational Comparisons Both in the year ending in January 1952 and during the entire period from January 1945 to January 1952, firemen showed slightly larger per centage increases in pay scales than did policemen. For the year ending in January 1952, increases averaged about 7.0 percent ($257) for firefighters and 6.8 percent ($256) for police. Considering the whole postwar period, the average increase 1 Substantial numbers of firemen and policemen within this city-size group have received increases since January 1952; the effects of these adjustments will be reflected in the January 1953 salary scales. Changes in m a x im u m sa la ry rates o f fir em en and po licem en in cities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la tio n or m o r e ,1 by c ity s iz e g ro u p , 1 9 5 1 - 5 2 Firemen Firemen and policemen Policemen Maxim um salary rates Maxim um salary rates Maxim um salary rates C ity size group Number Average, Jan. 1952 All size groups..................................................... 1,000,000 and over............... .......... .................... 500,000 and under 1,000,000........................ ....... 250,000 and under 500,000........... ............ .......... 100,000 and under 250,000....... - ......................... 153,243 $3,997 63, 557 35, 330 23,720 30,636 4,327 3, 971 3,786 3, 508 Percent increase, Jan. 1951 to Jan. 1952 6.8 4.2 10.0 8.7 8.6 Number Average, Jan. 1952 Percent increase, Jan. 1951 to Jan. 1952 Number Average, Jan. 1952 62, 407 $3, 940 7.0 90,836 $4,036 21, 434 14, 447 11, 213 15, 3.13 4,327 3,958 3, 765 3,511 4.2 9.4 7.9 42,123 20,883 12, 507 15,323 4,326 3,980 3, 804 3,505 8.6 Percent increase, Jan. 1951 to Jan. 1952 6.8 4.1 10.4 9.3 8.5 * Based on data in all cities of over 100,000 (with the exception of three for policemen and two for firemen in the 100,000 and under 250,000 population group). 7 8 Chart 1.— Distribution of Firefighters and Patrolmen in Cities of 100,000 or More Population for firemen was 48 percent compared with 47 per cent for policemen. Cities employing about a third of the firemen and a fourth of the policemen raised their maxi mum scales by 7.5 but less than 10 percent between January 1951 and January 1952 (table 3). Com munities with almost as many policemen and a sixth of the firemen adjusted scales of patrolmen and firefighters by at least 10 but less than 12.5 percent. About a fifth of the policemen and 1 out of 7 firemen were in cities where the increases amounted to less than 7.5 percent, while salary scales in the communities employing about 1 out of 12 policemen and 1 out of 8 firemen increased by 12.5 percent or more. In the remaining com munities, employing a fourth of the firemen and policemen, no changes in scales were made. The most common dollar increase for firemen (affecting about three-tenths of the total) was $300 but less than $350 a year; for policemen, it was $350 but less than $400. About a fifth of the policemen affected by salary increases were in cities where this was the size of the adjustment (table 4). 9 Chart 2.—Distribution of Firefighters and Patrolmen in Cities of 100,000 or More Population BY PERCENT INCREASE IN MAXIMUM ANNUAL SAURY SCALES JANUARY 1950- JANUARY 1952 F ir e fig h te r s and F ire fig h te rs P a tr o lm e n Percent of Total P a tr o lm e n 40 30 20 10 No Under Change 5 5 10 15 20 25 30 and under 10 15 20 25 30 and Over No Under Change 5 5 10 15 20 25 30 and under 10 15 20 25 30 and No Under Change 5 Over 5 10 15 20 25 and under 10 15 20 25 30 30 and Over PERCENT INCREASE IN MAXIMUM ANNUAL SALARY SCALES The differences in average salary changes be tween policemen and firemen, however, were not primarily the result of differential treatment of the two groups within the same community. In some communities, firemen received higher rates than policemen, while in other cities the reverse rela tionship existed. In both 1951 and 1952, about three-fifths of the cities studied had identical salary scales for the two groups of workers. Salary adjustments which equalized scales for the two groups were made in 18 additional cities dur ing the year. In less than a tenth of the cities, employing about 2 percent of all firemen and policemen studied, differences in salary levels ex ceeded $100 in early 1952. Average pay scale increases between firemen and policemen differed largely because propor tionately more police were employed in cities of 1,000,000 or more, where the increase in salary scales was below average. About one-half the total number of policemen in all cities of 100,000 or more were employed in these large communities compared with about a third of the firemen. Cities with less than 500,000 population employed 10 T a b l e 2 . — P ercen tage d istribu tion o f fir e m e n a nd p o lic e m e n 1 i n c ities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la tio n or m ore, according to dollar in crea se i n m a x im u m an n u a l s a la ry scales, 1 9 5 0 - 5 2 D ollar increase in maxi mum annual salary scales Firemen and policemen Firemen Policemen Percent of— Percent of— Percent of— Number Number Number To ta l receiving To ta l receiving To ta l receiving increases increases increases Noehanpft__ ___ Under $100..................... $100 and under $200....... $200 and under $300....... $300 and under $400....... $400 and under $500....... $500 and under $600....... $600 and under $700....... $700 and under $800....... $800 and over—.............. 0.6 .3 2.2 22.5 14.0 24.0 13.0 7.5 14.0 1.9 0.3 2.2 22.6 14.1 24.2 13.1 7.5 14.1 1.9 0.7 .4 1.9 19.7 16.4 20.9 16.9 6.0 13.5 3.6 0.4 2.0 19.8 16.5 21.0 17.0 6.1 13.6 3.6 0.6 .2 2.4 24.3 12.3 26.2 10.4 8.5 14.4 .7 0.2 2.4 24.5 12.4 26.3 10.5 8.6 14.4 .7 To ta l___________ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 1 Based on 1952 total employment in fire and police departments in cities w ith specified increases. more than two-fifths of the firemen but only three-tenths of the policemen^ In the largest and smallest cities studied there was little difference in the rise in firemen's and policemen's salary scales between 1951 and 1952: increases in cities of a million or more amounted to 4.2 percent for firemen and 4.1 percent for policemen; in the smallest cities, the increase for firemen amounted to 8.6 percent and 8.5 percent for policemen. Policemen received larger average increases in the two groups of cities where popu lation ranged from 250,000 to 1,000,000.3 Intercity Variation of Salary Levels In January 1952, maximum salary rates for patrolmen and firefighters varied among the cities1 T a b l e 3 . — I n d e x e s o f m a x im u m s a la ry r a t e s 1 f o r fir em en a n d p o lic em en i n cities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la tio n or m ore, 1 9 4 5 -5 2 Index (1947-49=100) Year 1045 _____ _ 104fi 1047 _________________ 1048 _____ 1040_____________________ _ 1950........................................................ 1051 ____ _ 1052____________________ _______ Firemen and policemen 85 86 93 >100 * 108 110 116 124 Firemen 84 85 >93 100 107 110 > 116 124 4 . — P ercen ta ge d istribu tion o f fir e m e n a n d p o lice m en 1 i n cities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la tio n or m ore, b y in crea se i n m a x im u m a n n u a l sa la ry scales, 1 9 5 1 - 5 2 T a b l e Firemen and policemen Increase Firemen Percent Per of num Per cent ber re cent of total ceiving of total increases Policemen Percent of num Per ber re cent ceiving of total increases Percent of num ber re ceiving increases Expressed in percentage terms No change...................... Under 2.5....................... 2.5 and under 5.0........... 5.0 and under 7.5........... 7.5 and under 10.0.......... 10.0 and under 12.5........ 12.5 and under 15.0........ 15.0 and under 17.5........ 17.5 and under 20.0........ 20.0 and over.................. 24.4 1.1 4.3 11.5 27.1 19.5 3.7 5.9 .7 1.8 1.4 5.6 15.2 35.9 25.8 5.0 7.9 .9 2.3 23.6 2.3 3.4 9.1 31.3 16.9 4.2 6.2 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.4 11.9 41.0 22.1 5.5 8.1 1.4 2.6 25.0 .2 4.8 13.2 24.2 21.3 3.4 5.8 .5 1.6 6.3 6.4 17.5 32.3 28.4 4.6 7.7 .6 2.2 To ta l.................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 No change...................... Under $100..................... $100 and under $150....... $150 and under $200....... $200 and under $250....... $250 and under $300....... $300 and under $350....... $350 and under $400....... $400 and under $450....... $450 and under $500....... $500 and under $550....... $550 and under $600....... $600 and over................. 24.4 1.9 2.0 3.3 6.0 8.8 15.9 14.7 12.3 2.5 5.6 .1 2.5 2.5 2.6 4.4 8.0 11.7 21.1 19.4 16.2 3.3 7.4 .1 3.3 23.6 2.3 1.7 5.1 3.2 8.3 21.4 11.9 11.0 2.9 5.6 .2 2.8 3.0 2.2 6.6 4.2 10.9 28.1 15.6 14.4 3.8 7.3 .2 3.7 25.0 1.7 2.2 2.1 8.0 9.2 12.2 16.5 13.1 2.2 5.5 0 2.3 2.3 3.0 2.8 10.7 12.2 16.2 22.0 17.5 2.9 7.3 0 3.1 To ta l.................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Expressed in dollars 1 Based on 1952 total employment in fire and police departments in cities w ith specified increases. protective workers were employed in cities where these maximum salaries were at least $4,400 but less than $4,600. More patrolmen than fire fighters (34.9 percent compared with 25.3 percent) were in cities with a maximum pay ranging from $4,400 to less than $4,600.* Policemen 85 89 > 92 100 108 111 117 125 1 Data in th is and subsequent tables and charts refer to maximum rates for patrolmen and firefighters effective on January 1 of each year. > Revised. studied from less than $3,000 to $4,600 a year. Those communities employing about 1 in 30 policemen and firemen paid maximum annual salaries of less than $3,000 a year for this type of police and fire work (chart 2). A third of the * The difference in average salary levels of policemen and firemen is also explained in part by the fact that dollar salaries are higher in large communi ties where relatively more policemen aie employed and that in consequence average salaries for the entire group of cities are higher for policemen. There fore, a given dollar increase amounts to a somewhat lower percentage in crease for policemen than for firemen. t Policemen received the larger increase in each of these two size groups because in one city w ithin each group they received a pay increase to compen sate for an earlier lag. In S t. Lo uis and Newark, policemen's maximum salaries were increased to the equivalent of firemen's scales by January 1952. Salary Changes o f Firem en and Policem en, 1 9 5 2 —54 all cities of 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 or more population advanced salary scales of policemen and firemen between January 1952 and January 1954; only 4 percent of the patrolmen and firefighters were employed where scales remained unchanged. Dur ing this period the increase in maximum annual scales for these city employees averaged $422, or 10.5 percent (table 1). During 1952 the increases were larger on the average and more widespread than they were dur ing 1953, with the salary scales for all firemen and policemen rising an average of 6.7 percent in 1952 and 3.6 percent in 1953.1 The increase in the lat ter year was proportionately smaller than in any previous postwar year except 1950 (table 2). The total increase in average scales of firemen and policemen from 1939 to the beginning of 1954 1 f o r firem en a n d po licem en in cities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la tio n or m ore , 1 9 3 9 —5A T a b l e 2 .— In d e x e s o f m a x im u m sa la ry rates N early Index (1947-49=100) Year 1939........................ ............ ...... 1940............................................ . 1941. ........................... ............... 1942............................................. 1943. .......................................... . 1944.............................................. 1945.............................................. 1946............................................ . 1947............................................ 1948.............................................. 1949.............................................. 1950.............................................. 1951.............................................. 1952............................................. 1953.............................................. 1954............................................. 72 72 72 74 76 80 84 85 93 100 107 110 116 124 132 137 Policemen 73 73 73 74 76 80 85 89 92 100 108 111 117 125 133 138 amounted to about 90 percent (table 2). This may be compared with an advance of less than 80 percent in average salary rates of Federal Gov ernment (Classification Act) employees and a rise in average salaries of urban public school teachers of 96 percent between the 1938-39 and the 195253 school years.2 Average weekly earnings of factory production workers tripled from 1939 to early 1954. 1.— A v era g e increases in m a x im u m sa la ry rates o f firem en and po licem en in cities o f 1 0 0 ,6 0 0 p o p u la tio n or m o r e,1 b y c ity s iz e grou p , 1 9 5 2 - 5 4 Firemen 73 73 73 2 74 76 80 85 86 93 100 108 110 116 124 132 137 Firemen 1 Data refer to changes in maximum rates for firefighters and patrolmen effective on January 1 of each year. !* Revised. T a b le Firemen and policemen Firemen and policemen Policemen Period and city size group Per cent D ol lars Per cent Dol lars $422 10.5 $421 10.7 $423 10.5 Variation in Increases, 1952-54 451 394 459 371 10.3 9.9 12.1 10.6 445 425 448 365 10.3 10.8 11.9 10.4 455 373 470 378 10.4 9.4 12.5 10.8 268 6.7 260 6.6 273 6.8 388 158 220 189 8.9 4.0 5.8 5.4 393 183 209 190 9.1 4.6 5.6 5.4 387 142 231 189 8.9 3.6 6.1 5.4 A ll size groups......................... 154 3.6 161 3.8 150 3.5 1,000,000 and over_______ 500,000 and under 1,000,000. 250,000 and under 500,000.. 100,000 and under 250,000.. 63 236 239 182 1.3 5.7 6.0 4.9 52 242 239 175 1.1 5.9 6.0 4.7 68 231 239 189 1.4 5.6 6.0 5.1 The most common salary increases for patrolmen and firefighters from January 1952 to January 1954 amounted to 7.5 but less than 12.5 percent, with three-fifths being employed in cities where changes of this size were put into effect (table 3). Measured in dollar terms, increases ranging from $300 to less than $500 went into effect in cities employing 3 out of every 5 firemen and policemen; in communities employing about 1 of every 8, the gain was $500 but less than $600 a year. D ol lars Per cent 1952-51 A ll size groups..... ................... 1,000,000 and over________ 500,000 and under 1,000,000. 250,000 and under 500,000 100,000 and under 250,000. 1952-53 A ll size groups......................... 1,000,000 and over............. 500,000 and under 1,000,000. 250,000 and under 500,000. 100,000 and under 250,000. 1953-54. * Based on data in all cities of over 100,000 (w ith the exception of 2 com m unities of 100,000 but under 250,000 population). Data refer to changes in maximum rates for fire fighters and patrolmen effective on January 1 of each 1 Changes in scales between January 1952 and January 1953 are referred to as 1952 increases and those between January 1953 and January 1964 as 1953 increases, even though some of the new scales may have gone into effeot on January 1 of the following year. 2 See also S a la ry T r e n d s ; F e d e r a l C l a s s i f i e d E m p l o y e e s , 1 9 3 9 —6 0 (BLS Report 200, 1961), and S a la ry T r e n d s : C it y p u b l i c S c h o o l T e a c h e r s , 1 9 2 6 —59 (BLS Re port 194, 1961). In these tables, average increases were computed by m ultiplying the rise in maximum scales for fire fighters in each city by total employment in the entire fire department in that city, adding these, and then dividing the aggregate rise by the total number of fire department employees in all cities studied. Fo r patrolmen, data were computed in the same manner, using scales for patrolmen and^total^employment in the police department of each city. In was also used. li 12 T a b l e 3 . — P ercen tage distribution o f firem en a n d policem en 1 in cities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p op u lation or m ore, b y percentage a n d dollar in crea ses in m a x im u m a n n u a l sa la ry scales, 1 9 5 2 - 5 4 Increase Firemen and policemen Firemen Policemen Percent of— Percent of— Percent of— Number Number Number To ta l receiving To ta l receiving To ta l receiving increases increases increases Expressed in percentage terms No change................ . CJnder 2.5...... _.............. 2.5 and under 5.0........... 5.0 and under 7.5........... 7.5 and under 10.0......... 10.0 and under 12.5........ 12.5 and under 15.0........ 15.0 and under 17.5........ 17.5 and under 20.0........ 20.0 and under 22.5........ 22.5 and over.................. 3.9 0 4.0 7.2 35.4 24.5 12.1 5.2 1.5 2.2 4.0 0 4.1 7.5 36.8 25.5 12.6 5.5 1.5 2.3 4.2 3.1 0 4.4 8.2 36.2 21.8 11.0 6.4 2.0 2.4 4.5 0 4.5 8.5 37.4 22.5 11.3 6.6 2.1 2.5 4.6 4.5 0 3.7 6.4 34.8 26.4 12.9 4.4 1.1 2.1 3.7 0 3.8 6.8 36.4 27.7 13.5 4.6 1.1 2.2 3.9 To ta l.................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Under $100..................... $100 and under $200....... $200 and under $300....... $300 and under $400....... $400 and under $500....... $500 and under $600....... $600 and under $700....... $700 and under $800....... $800 and over................. 3.9 0 5.1 7.6 33.4 23.3 12.6 8.4 .8 4.9 0 5.3 7.9 34.8 24.2 13.1 8.8 .8 5.1 3.1 0 6.3 8.1 34.2 21.9 12.2 7.9 .9 5.4 0 6.5 8.4 35.3 22.6 12.6 8.1 .9 5.6 4.5 0 4.3 7.2 32.9 24.2 12.8 8.8 .7 4.6 0 4.5 7.5 34.5 25.3 13.5 9.2 .7 4.8 To ta l.................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Expressed in dollars N o change i Based on 1954 total employment in fire and police departments. but less than 1,000,000 population, however, the gain in salaries in 1953 exceeded that in 1952. Almost 2 out of 5 policemen and firemen were employed in areas where salary scales were raised in both years; in some cases one of these adjustments was described as a cost-of-living increase and was for a relatively small amount. The average increase over the 2-year period in cities that adjusted scales twice was 13.4 percent— distinctly higher than in communities that gave a single increase during this period. Intercity Variation in Salary Levels Maximum salary scales for patrolmen and fire men in 1954 ranged from less than $3,000 to more than $5,000 a year, with about 4 out of 10 of the patrolmen and 3 out of 10 firemen being employed in communities with maximums of $4,600 but under $4,800. (See chart.) In the 5 cities of more than 1 million population—Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York City, and Philadelphia— no maximum rate of less than $4,400 was reported. Two-thirds of both the policemen and firemen T a b l e 4 . — P ercen tage d istribu tion o f firem en a n d p olicem en Comparison of 1952 and 1953 The average salary increase was smaller in 1953 than in 1952, not only because the proportion of firemen and policemen in cities making salary adjustments declined from four-fifths to a little more than one-half, but also because the increases were smaller in amount (table 4). In 1953, 46 percent of the workers were employed by cities which did not change their salary scales, as compared with 19 percent in 1952. In commu nities where scales were advanced during the year, the average increase was 7.0 in 1953 compared with 8.2 in the earlier year. Most of these differences between the 2 years occurred in the 5 cities of more than a million population. In the year ending January 1953 all 5 had granted salary increases, which averaged 8.9 percent. During the following year only 2 out of the 5 gave pay increases. Salary advances in the smallest communities averaged 5.4 percent in 1952 compared with 4.9 percent during the following year. In communities with 250,000 1 i n cities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la tio n or m ore, b y percentage in crea se in m a x im u m a n n u a l sa la ry scales, 1 9 5 2 - 5 3 a nd 1 9 5 3 -5 4 Year and percentage increase Firemen and policemen Firemen Policemen Percent of— Percent of— Percent of— Number Number Number To ta l receiving To ta l receiving To ta l receiving increases increases increases 1952-58 No change____________ Under 2.5....................... 2.5 and under 5.0______ 5.0 and under 7.5______ 7.5 and under 10.0......... 10.0 and under 12.5........ 12.5 and under 15.0....... 15.0 and under 17.5........ 17.5 and under 20.0........ 20.0 and over................. 19.0 1.1 12.3 18.7 28.4 9.6 7.3 2.9 .4 .3 1.4 15.2 23.1 35.0 11.9 8.9 3.6 .5 .4 18.8 1.4 14.5 19.2 25.5 9.3 7.3 3.0 .7 .3 1.7 17.9 23.7 31.3 11.5 9.0 3.7 .8 .4 19.2 .9 10.7 18.4 30.4 9.8 7.2 2.9 .2 .3 1.1 13.3 22.7 37.6 12.2 8.9 3.5 .3 .4 To ta l.................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 No change r _ _ Under 2.5....................... 2.5 and under 5.0______ 6.0 and under 7.5........... 7.5 and under 10.0......... 10.0 and under 12.5........ 12.5 and under 15.0........ 15.0 and under 17.5........ 17.5 and under 20.0........ 20.0 and over.................. 46.4 .2 14.7 17.3 10.5 9.2 .9 .6 0 .2 0.3 27.4 32.3 19.6 17.3 1.6 1.1 0 .4 44.6 .4 14.8 14.9 13.4 9.6 1.1 .9 0 .3 0.8 26.7 26.8 24.3 17.4 1.9 1.7 0 .4 47.6 0 14.6 19.0 8.5 9.0 .7 .4 0 .2 0 27.8 36.3 16.2 17.2 1.4 .7 0 .4 To ta l.................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 1958-51 i The 1952-53 distribution is based on 1953 total employment in fire and police departments and the 1953-54 d istribution on 1954 employment. 13 D istribu tion o f Firefighters a n d P atro lm en in C ities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 or M o r e P o p u la tio n , b y M a x im u m A n n u a l S a l a r y S c a le s a n d o f C ity S iz e , J a n u a r y 1 9 5 4 PATROLMEN IN CITIES OF . . . FIREFIGHTERS IN CITIES OF Percent of Total Annual Salary 0 10 20 30 40 50 Percent of Total 60 70 1 ------------ 1--------------1--------------1--------------1--------------1--------------1--------------1 UNDER $3,000 3.000 and under 3,200 3.200 and under 3,400 3.400 and under 3,600 3.600 and under 3,800 3.800 and under 4,000 4.000 and under 4,200 4.200 and under 4,400 1,000,000 and OVER 4.400 and under 4,600 4.600 and under 4,800 4.800 and under 5,000 $5,000 and Over 500,000 and under 1,000,000 UNDER $3,000 3.000 and under 3,200 3.200 and under 3,400 3.400 and under 3,600 3.600 3.800 4.000 4.200 4.400 4.600 4.800 500,000 and under 1,000,000 and under 3,800 and under 4,000 and under 4,200 and under 4,400 and under 4,600 and under 4,800 and under 5,000 $5,000 and Over l-------------- 1------------- 1--------------1--------------1--------------1--------------b UNDER $3,000 3.000 3.200 3.400 3.600 3.800 and under and under and under and under and under 3,200 3,400 3,600 3,800 4,000 4.000 and under 4,200 4.200 and under 4,400 4.400 and under 4,600 4.600 and under 4,800 4.800 and under 5,000 $5,000 and Over UNDER $3,000 3.000 and under 3,200 3.200 and under 3,400 3.400 and under 3,600 3.600 and under 3,800 3.800 and under 4,000 4.000 and under 4,200 4.200 and under 4,400 4.400 and under 4,600 4.600 and under 4,800 4.800 and under 5,000 $5,000 and Over 14 were employed where the top salary in their rank ranged between $4,600 and $4,800; this group included employees of New York and Chicago. In the 5 largest cities, scales for firemen and policemen were identical. Of all cities studied, only 6 reported salary differences of $100 or more in 1954. Salaries became progressively lower in each smaller city size group. In communities of 500,000 but under 1 million population, almost two-fifths of the firefighters and a third of the patrolmen were employed where maximum scales ranged from $4,000 to less than $4,200. Among the smallest cities studied, scales ranged from less than $3,000 a year to more than $5,000. Occupational Comparisons Variations among the proportion of policemen and firemen employed by the communities of different size, rather than differences in pay within the same community, explain the difference in average salary levels and salary trends between the two occupational groups. Employment for both groups, by city size group, was as follows in January 1954: City size group All size groups 1____________________ 1,000,000 and over__________________ 500.000 and under 1,000,000_________ 250.000 and under 500,000__________ 100.000 and under 250,000__________ Firemen 65,347 21,727 15,256 11,651 16,713 Policemen 95,097 43,877 21,765 13,107 16,348 smaller communities, the average salary level in all cities combined for policemen is somewhat higher than for firemen. Hence, an almost iden tical dollar rise in pay amounted to slightly less in percentage terms for policemen than for fire fighters: from January 1952 to January 1954, an nual salaries of firemen rose $421, or 10.7 percent, while policemen’s scales increased $423, or 10.5 percent. The smallest relative increase over the 2 years in firemen’s salaries—10.3 percent—was recorded for the largest cities. For policemen, however, maximum scales in communities of between 500,000 and 1 million population rose less than in any other group.3 The smallest dollar increase in firemen’s salaries occurred in the smallest cities studied, but the percentage increase in communi ties of this size was practically the same as that in the largest size communities. Salaries in popu lation centers of 250,000 but under 500,000 showed the highest gains for both firemen and police men—11.9 and 12.5 percent, respectively—and the dollar increases were also greatest for these cities. The advance in salaries for firemen was slightly smaller than that for policemen in 1952 but was slightly greater in 1953. This minor reversal in relationship again is traceable to employment of policemen in proportionately greater numbers in the largest communities which gave most of their salary increases in 1952. 1 Based on all cities of over 100,000 (with the exception of 2 communities of 100,000 but under 250,000 population). Greater proportions of patrolmen are employed in the larger communities. Since salary scales in the larger cities tend to be higher than in the 3 No increase in maximum scales of patrolmen was recorded for one city (St. Louis) in this group, although the city raised scales for firefighters. Pay of St. Louis police is determined by the State legislature, whereas fire fighters’ rates are set by the city. Salary Changes of Firem en and Policem en, 1 9 5 4 —58 I n the 4-year period between January 1954 and January 1958, maximum annual salary scales of firefighters and patrolmen in cities of 100,000 or more population increased by an average of 18.6 percent, or about $820 (table 1). In only one of these cities did salary scales remain stationary. The rate of increase in maximum salary scales of firemen and policemen was slightly lower during this 4-year period than during earlier postwar years; between 1945 and 1954, salaries rose at an annual rate of about 5.5 percent, compared with slightly less than 4.5 percent between 1954 and 1958 (table 2).x The most rapid advance in maximum pay scales during these 4 years occurred in 1956 in cities of all sizes except the smallest ones studied—those with fewer than 250,000 inhabitants.2 Except in cities of a million or more, the smallest average increase took place in 1954. The increase in all cities studied averaged 5.7 percent ($269) in 1956 and 3.3 percent ($144) in 1954. The larger increase in 1956 was traceable to two factors: (1) Proportionately more workers were T able 1. in cities where scales were raised than in any of the other 3 years, and (2) the raises that went into effect were also greater. In that year, salary scale increases went into effect in communities that employed 82 percent of all firefighters and patrolmen studied (table 3), and the increase in maximum scales in these cities averaged 6.9 percent. On the other hand, in 1954 approximately twofifths of all workers were employed in cities where scales were not altered. Intercity Variations in Increases The increases in maximum scales put into effect during the period 1954-58 varied among areas 1 Because in most cities pay scales for firefighters and patrolmen are identi cal, the text of this article does not discuss the two groups separately. Variations in the proportion of policemen and firemen among different communities rather than differences in pay within the same community largely explain the differences in average salary levels and salary trends be tween the two occupational groups. 3 Changes in scales between January 1, 1954, and January 1, 1955, are re ferred to as 1954 changes, between 1955 and 1956 as 1955 changes, etc., although some of the new scales may have*gone into effect on January 1 of the following year. A v er a g e in crea ses i n m a x im u m sa la ry scales o f firem en a nd p o licem en in cities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la tio n or m o re,1 b y c ity siz e grou p , 1 9 5 4 - 5 8 Occupation and city size group 1954-58 Dollars 1955-56 1954-55 Percent3 Dollars Percent Dollars 1956-57 Percent Dollars 1957-58 Percent Dollars Percent Firemen and Policemen All size groups------ ----------------------------- $822 18.6 $144 3.3 $180 3.9 $269 5.7 $229 4.6 1,000,000 and over............ ..................... ............ 500,000 and under 1,000,000__________________ 250,000 and under 500,000................................... 100,000 and under 250,000................................... 909 852 742 675 19.0 19.7 17.9 17.3 195 142 80 92 4.1 3.3 1.9 2.3 181 181 161 195 3.6 4.1 3.8 4.9 300 270 302 176 5.8 5.8 6.9 4.2 233 259 199 212 4.3 5.3 4.2 4.9 Firemen * All size groups................................ -....................... 811 18.6 144 3.3 172 3.8 268 5.8 227 4.6 1,000,000 and over______________ _______ ___ 500,000 and under 1,000,000....... ........ ........ ...... 250,000 and under 500,000.......... ............. ........... 100,000 and under 250,000----- ------ --------- 917 872 731 671 19.2 20.2 17.6 17.3 194 176 82 92 4.1 4.1 2.0 2.4 179 152 153 194 3.6 3.4 3.6 4.9 308 293 298 171 6.0 6.3 6.8 4.1 236 251 198 214 4.3 5.1 4.2 4.9 Policemen * All size groups............................. ............................ 832 18.6 144 3.2 188 4.1 269 5.6 231 4.6 1,000,000 and over................................. ............ 500,000 and under 1,000,000.................... ............ 250,000 and under 500,000....... .......... ................ 100,000 and under 250,000—----- -------------- 906 841 749 679 19.1 19.4 17.9 17.3 195 118 76 92 4.1 2.7 1.8 2.3 182 203 167 195 3.7 4.6 3.9 4.9 296 255 307 182 5.7 5.5 6.9 4.3 233 265 199 210 4.3 5.4 4.2 4.8 slightly above or below the changes for both groups considered separately because of weighting methods. 3 For an explanation of the difference in average salary levels and salary trends between the two occupational groups, see footnote 2 of the text. i Based on data In all cities of over 100,000 (with the exception of 1 city of 100,000 but under 250,000 population). Data refer to changes in the maxi mum rates (excluding longevity rates) for firemen and patrolmen in effect on January 1 of each year. * The percent change for policemen and firemen combined Is in some cases 15 16 from 1.9 to 44.4 percent, but about 3 out of 10 of the policemen and firemen were employed in cities where the gain was 22.5 but less than 25 percent and almost 1 in 5 were employed where increases averaged 12.5 but less than 15.0 percent (in 1 city scales did not change) (table 4). Maximum scales in cities employing more than four-fifths of all firemen and policemen rose by at least 12.5 per cent; more than one-half were in cities where increases amounted to 20 percent or more. Measured in dollars, the increases between January 1954 and January 1958 ranged from $75 to $1,623. More than 3 out of 10 firemen and policemen were employed where the increase was $1,100 but below $1,200, while cities employing almost 1 in 5 raised maximum salary scales by Distribution of Firefighters and Patrolmen by Maximum Salary Scales and City Size, January 1958 PERCENT Cities of 250,000 and Under 500,000 T 2. In d ex es o f m a x im u m sa la ry scales 1 f o r fir em en a nd 'policemen in cities o f 1 0 0 .0 0 0 p o p u la tio n or m o re . 1 9 3 9 -5 8 able Index (1947-49=100) Year 1939....... .......................... 1940......... ........................ 1941_____________ _____ 1942....................... .......... 1943.................................. 1944.................................. 1945.................... ............. 1946.................. ............... 1947.................................. 1948................................. 1949.................................. 1950.................................. 1951.................................. 1952____ _______ ______ 1953................................. 1954..................... ........... 1955.................................. 1956............ .................... 1957.................................. 1958................................. Firemen and policemen Firemen 73 73 73 74 76 80 85 86 93 100 108 no 116 124 132 137 142 147 156 163 72 72 72 74 76 80 84 85 93 100 107 110 116 124 132 137 142 147 156 163 Policemen 73 73 73 74 76 80 85 89 92 100 108 111 117 125 133 138 142 148 156 164 1 Data are based ^n maximum rates (excluding longevity rates) for firemen and patrolmen in effect on January 1 of each year. $600 but less than $700. More than three-fourths of these municipal employees were in cities where scales were increased by at least $600. At least 2 annual increases went into effect in cities employing 7 out of 8 firemen and policemen, and of the total studied, a substantial proportion, almost 2 out of 5 of these employees, were in cities where salaries were raised each year. Although relatively few cities (1 in 6) gave the 4 annual increases, those that did so included NewYork, Chicago, and Detroit, where large numbers of firemen and policemen were employed. The average increase in maximum salary scales between 1954 and 1958 was greater, in both percentage and absolute terms, in the 18 cities of 500,000 or more population than in the smaller city size groups. The 19.7-percent gain for cities of 500,000 to 1,000,000 was proportionately the highest recorded and the 17.3-percent gain in areas of fewer than 250,000 population was the lowest. The largest average dollar increase ($909) was in cities of 1 million or more and the smallest ($675) was in those of less than 250,000. Intercity Variation in Salary Levels a n d U nder 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARIES (H undreds of D ollars) an<* 60 62 O ver Not only the magnitude of pay increases from 1954 to 1958 but also the level of salaries in 1958 varied among cities. In 1958, maximum annual salary scales for firemen and policemen ranged from $3,312 tok$6,215. However, almost three- 17 T able 3. P erc en t d istribu tion o f fir em en and p o licem en 1 in cities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la tio n or m ore b y the in crea se i n m a x im u m a n n u a l sa la ry sca les , b y ye a r , 1 9 5 4 - 5 8 1955-56 1954-55 Percent increase Firemen and police men Fire men Police men Firemen and police men 1957-58 1956-57 Fire men Police men Firemen and police men Fire men Police men No change................. Under 2.5................... 2.5 and under 5.0........ 5.0 and under 7.5........ 7.5 and under 10.0...... 10.0 and under 12.5__ 12.5 and under 15.0.... 15.0 and under 17.5__ 17.5 and under 20.0__ 20.0 and over__ __ 40.4 .5 38.3 15.9 1.0 .7 1.8 .2 1.2 41.9 .3 34.2 17.6 1.4 .8 2 3 .2 1.3 39.3 .7 41.3 14.6 .6 .6 1.4 .2 1.1 29.8 13.6 12.9 30.2 7.1 3.4 1.2 1.5 .3 32.2 11.0 15.2 28.8 7.6 3.0 1.5 .4 .3 28.1 15.6 11.2 31.2 6.8 3.6 1.0 2.3 .2 18.0 1.2 15.3 35.6 13.1 10.9 4.7 .7 19.3 2.2 14.4 32.5 13.1 11.7 5.3 .9 17.0 .4 15.9 37.8 13.2 10.3 4.2 .5 .6 .7 .5 Total................ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Firemen and police men Fire men Police men 23.0 1.0 20.5 42.9 3.1 6.3 24.2 1.7 18.5 40.8 4.7 7.2 22.0 .5 21.9 44.4 1.9 5.7 3.0 .3 2.4 .4 3.4 .2 100.0 100.0 100.0 1 The 1954-55 distribution is based on 1955 total employment in fire depart ments and total number of uniformed patrolmen, the 1955-56 distribution on 1956 employment, and so forth. N ote: Because of rounding, sums of individual items do not necessarily equal 100. fifths of these workers were in cities where maxi mum scales were at least $5,200. (See chart.) Salary scales tended to increase with size of city. They ranged from $4,500 to $6,192 in cities of 500,000 or more population, with twothirds of all firemen and policemen in these cities employed where maximum scales of at least $5,400 were in effect. These included employees in New York City, where a maximum scale of almost $5,900 was in effect, and San Francisco and Los Angeles, with maximums of $6,192. In the smallest communities studied, salary scales varied from $3,312 to $6,120. About three-fifths of the workers within this population group were employed where maximum salaries of $4,200 but less than $5,000 were in effect, and almost another fifth were in cities where these salaries ranged from $3,600 to less than $4,200. The highest salary scale in each city size group was paid by a California city. The cities of 100,000 but less than 500,000 that paid over $6,000 were in the metropolitan areas of Los Angeles-Long Beach and San Francisco-Oakland. T able 4. Comparisons with Other Trends From 1939 to 1958, maximum salary scales of firemen and policemen have increased by almost 125 percent—more than the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index or pay scales of Federal white-collar workers, but somewhat less than urban teachers’ pay and much less than factory workers’ earnings as measured by the BLS monthly series. Over approximately the same period, the CPI advanced by only 105 percent, and basic pay scales of Federal employees P e rc e n t d istrib u tio n o f fir em en and p o li c e m e n 1 in cities o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la tio n o r m ore b y the in crea se i n m a x im u m an n u a l sa la ry sca les , 1 9 5 4 - 5 8 Percent increase No change Under 2.5____ __ _ ___ _______ 2.5 and under 5.0.__ r 5.0 and under 7.5.. _ _ . ___ __ 7.5 and under 10.0 10.0 and under 12.5.. ____________ 12.5 and under 15.0. _____ 15.0 and under 17.5__ _ _ _ 17.5 and under 20.0____________ _ 20.0 and under 22.5___ ___ __ 22.5 and under 25.0._ _ _ ___ ___ 25.0 and under 27.5 r __ ,. 27.5 and under 30.0 20.0 and over. _ Total___ __ ___ ___ Firemen and policemen Firemen Policemen 0.2 .2 0.3 .3 0.1 .2 1.5 9.7 1.8 9.9 19.3 3.0 7.3 10.3 304 5.9 2.7 2.9 16.2 3.1 8.2 12 2 27.4 7.1 3.5 2.3 1.3 9.5 5.8 9.0 32.5 5.0 2.2 3.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 6.6 7.8 21.6 2.9 6.6 1 Based on 1958 total employment in fire departments and total number of uniformed policemen. Dollar increase No change ___ _ __ Under $100____ _ ___ $100 and under $200_ _ _ ______ $200 and under $300_ _ _ __ __ $300 and under $400 $400 and under $500_______________ $500 and under $600 . _ _____ ___ $600 and under $700 T1_ $700 and under $800_ __ _ ___ __ $800 and under $900 _ __ _ ___ $900 and under $1 000___ $1,000 and under $1,100...................... $1,100 and under $1,200__ r $1,200 and over _ __ .... . Total __ ______ _ Firemen and policemen Firemen Policemen 0.2 .2 0.3 .3 0.1 .2 1.5 5.4 9.3 6.6 19.2 2 8 7.5 9.3 2.0 31.6 4.3 1.8 6.6 9.4 7 0 16.8 3.7 8.0 10.6 2 6 29 2 4.0 1.3 4.6 9.2 6.3 21.0 2.1 7.2 8.4 1.6 33.4 4.5 100.0 100.0 100.0 N ote: Because of rounding, sums of individual items do not necessarily equal 100. 18 under the Classification Act rose 79.1 percent.3 However, hourly earnings excluding overtime as well as average weekly earnings of factory produc tion workers more than tripled, and average salaries of urban public teachers by 1956-57 were 132 percent above those in effect during the 1938-39 school year.4 The 18.6-percent rise in patrolmen’s and fire fighters’ salary scales between January 1954 and January 1958 may be compared with a 7.6-percent increase in basic pay scales for Federal Clas sification Act employees (excluding the retroactive increase enacted in June 1958). Factory produc tion workers’ average hourly earnings went up 15 percent and consumer prices advanced 6.2 percent during the 4-year period. 3 T h e p e r c e n ta g e is b a s e d on th e B L S in d ex for “ g e n e r a l s c h e d u le * * e m p lo y e e s . In Ju n e 1 9 5 8 , th e C o n g r e s s ap p roved an in c r e a s e a v e r a g in g 1 0 .1 p e r c e n t, r e tr o a c tiv e to Ja n u a ry 1 9 5 8 , w h ic h w o u ld brin g th e in c r e a s e s i n c e 1 9 3 9 to 9 7 p e r c e n t. S e e a l s o S a la ry T r e n d s ; F e d e r a l C l a s s i f i e d E m p l o y e e s . 1 9 3 9 —6 0 (B L S R ep ort 2 0 0 , 1 9 6 1 ) . 4 S e e a l s o S a la ry T r e n d s ; C i t y P u b l i c S c h o o l T e a c h e r s , 1 9 2 6 - 5 9 (B L S R ep ort 194, 1 9 6 1 ) . Salary Changes o f Firem en and Policem en, 1 9 5 8 —61 The increase in salary scales during these 3 years was smaller than the 14.8-percent rise in the preceding 3-year period and was well below the record 25-percent rise that occurred between January 1946 and January 1949 (table 2). The annual rate of increase in maximum salaries between 1958 and 1961 was 4 percent, compared with an average of 5 percent over the entire period from the end of World War II to January 1958. Because most of the largest cities in the country raised salary scales in 1960 and salary increases were widespread among smaller cities, the rise occurring in that year was greater than in either 1958 or 1959. The average rise in salaries and a x i m u m a n n u a l s a l a r y s c a l e s of firefighters and patrolmen in cities with 100,000 or more inhabitants rose an average of $639, or 12.3 percent, in the 3-year period from January 1958 to January 1961 (table 1). Since most of the 175,000 firemen and policemen were already at the maximum of the salary range, an increase in maximum scales resulted in corresponding in creases in salaries actually paid to most of these city employees. More than 95 percent of the firemen and police patrolmen were employed in cities where salary scales advanced during this period. Seventy percent of them received in creases in at least 2 years, and 20 percent had their salaries increased each year. M T able 1. I ncreases in M aximum A nnual S alary S cales of F irefighters and P olice P atrolmen ,1 by C ity-S ize G roup and R egion, 1958-61 Percent8 1958-61 Firefighters and police patrolmen City-size group and region * All cities.............................. Dollars Fire fighters and police patrol men Fire fighters Police patrol men 1958-59 1959-60 12.3 12.0 12.5 3.0 4.1 4.7 12.4 12.4 12.4 11.8 12.6 12.2 11.9 11.5 12.5 12.2 12.9 11.9 1.4 5.1 4.6 3.3 5.2 2.2 3.6 4.2 12.0 11.9 12.2 14.1 11.8 11.0 12.3 14.2 12.1 12.6 12.1 14.0 1.6 5.2 3.3 4.5 4.0 2.3 4.2 6.3 Firefighters and police patrolmen 1958-61 Fire fighters 1960-61 and police patrol men Fire fighters Police patrol men 1958-59 1950-60 639 621 653 157 220 262 5.4 4.6 3.7 3.9 714 633 606 535 714 634 576 524 714 633 634 544 82 263 223 149 301 117 185 197 331 253 198 189 6.0 4.0 4.2 2.7 639 530 640 818 624 482 635 824 655 572 643 813 84 232 172 259 215 108 229 384 340 190 239 175 1960-61 City-Size Gboup 1,000,000 and over.......................... 500,000 and under 1,000,000—......... 250,000 and under 500,000_______ _ 100,000 and under 250,000.............. R egion Northeast...................................... South...................... ..................... North Central______ __________ West...................... ........ .............. 1 Based on data for all cities having a population of 100,000 or more (with the exception of 1 city of 100,000 but under 250,000 inhabitants). Data refer to changes in maximum salaries (excluding longevity rates) for firefighters and police patrolmen on January 1 of each year. * The regions used in this study are Northeast— Connecticut, Maine, Massa chusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont; Scwffc—Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Colum bia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia; North Central— Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minne sota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin; and West— Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming. 8 Because of weighting methods, the percent change for firefighters and police patrolmen combined may be slightly above or below the changes for both groups considered separately. Over the period 1958-61,4 cities provided salary increases for patrolmen but not for firefighters; 3 other communities increased patrolmen’s salaries by a larger amount than firefighters’ salaries. 19 20 T able 2. I n d e x e s of A n n u a l S a la ry S c a les of f i g h t e r s a n d P o l i c e P a t r o l m e n , 1 1 9 2 4 -6 1 F ir e [Index, 1957-59=100] Year Firefighters and police patrolmen Firefighters Police patrolmen 1924________ __________ 1929__________________ 1932__________________ 1934_______ ____ ______ 1938__________________ 1939__________________ 1940__________________ 1941__________________ 1942__________________ 1943__________________ 1944___________________ 1945__________________ 1946__________________ 1947__________________ 1948__________________ 1949__________________ 1950__________________ 1951--._______________ 1952__________________ 1953__________________ 1954__________________ 1955__________________ 1956__________________ 1957__________________ 1958__________________ 1959___________ ____— 1960__________________ 1961__________________ 38 42 43 42 45 45 45 45 46 47 49 52 53 57 61 66 68 72 77 82 85 87 91 96 101 104 108 113 39 43 44 41 44 44 44 44 46 47 49 52 52 58 62 66 68 72 77 82 85 87 91 96 101 104 108 113 37 42 42 42 45 45 45 45 46 46 49 52 55 57 61 66 68 72 77 82 85 87 91 96 101 104 108 113 i Based on data for all cities having a population of 100,000 or more (with the exception of 1 city of 100,000 but under 250,000 inhabitants). Data for 1939 to 1961 are based on maximum salaries (excluding longevity rates) for firefighters and police patrolmen in effect on January 1 of each year; data for earlier years are based on average salaries. the proportion of firemen and patrolmen em ployed where scales were increased during each of the 3 years1 were as follows: A v e r a g e p e r c e n t in c re a s e , a ll c it ie s __ P e r c e n t o f w o r k e r s w h e re s c a le s w ere in c r e a s e d ___________________________ I960 1958 1959 3. 0 4. 1 4. 7 44. 0 68. 3 76. 1 Intercity Variations in Pay Changes, 1958-61 While the pay scale increases put into effect during the 3-year period varied among cities from 2.6 to 30 percent, there were a few cities in which salary scales were not changed at all; two-fifths of the firemen and policemen were employed where salary rates advanced 10-12% percent.12 One out of eight protective workers was employed where salaries advanced 15-17% percent, almost as many 1Changes in scales are tabulated in the year in which they became effective, rather than the year in which the decision to change them was made. Changes in scales put into effect between January 1, 1958, and January 1, 1959, are referred to as 1958 changes; between 1959 and 1960, as 1959 changes; etc. 2 For ease of reading, in this and subsequent discussions of tabulations, the limits of the class intervals are designated, for example, as 10 to 12H percent and $700 to $800 instead of the more precise terminology “ 10 and under I2 \i percent’’ and “ $700 and under $800." where they rose 17%-20 percent, and slightly more where the raise was 5-7% percent. (See table 3.) Maximum Annual Salary Scales of Firefighters and Police Patrolmen, January 1961 21 T a b l e 3. P e r c e n t D i s t r i b u t i o n o f F i r e f i g h t e r s a n d P o l i c e P a t r o l m e n , 12b y the I n c r e a s e in M a x im u m A n n u a l S a l a r y S c a l e s , 1 9 5 8 -6 1 Increase in maximum annual salary scale Firefighters and police patrolmen P ercent No change ,........... _ ... . Under 2.5_______________________ 2.5 and under 5.0._____ _______ ___ 5 0 and under 7.5 7.5 and under 10.0________________ 10.0 and under 12.5_____ __________ 12.5 and under 15.0_______________ 15.0 and under 17.5_______________ 17.5 and under 20.0.............................. 20.0 and under 22.5 _ _ ___ 22.5 and under 25.0 __ ............. 25.0 and under 27.5 ...... . 27.5 and under 30.0 ... 30.0 and over Total ._ _ . _ __ Fire fighters 3.8 4.7 3.2 1.1 2.7 .6 1.9 12.1 7.2 3.9 6.5 11.4 30.9 4.4 12.4 1.5 8.6 7.6 2.4 6.2 11.9 36.2 2.9 14.6 .8 4.0 1.0 3.5 .6 4.3 100.0 Total............................... ........ 100.0 100.0 100.0 3.2 4.3 13.0 2.4 40.1 7.0 12.5 11.0 1.7 .1 1.2 2.2 .7 5.8 13.1 2.9 35.6 8.0 14.9 9.2 1.8 .2 1.3 1.5 .9 3.2 12.9 2.1 43.3 6.3 10.7 12.3 1.6 100.0 100.0 N ote: Because of rounding, sums of percentages may not equal 100. city-size groups. Maximum scales rose 12.4 per cent between 1958 and 1961 in each of the three largest city-size groups studied and 11.8 percent in the smallest size group. The dollar increase in salaries ranged from $714 in cities of 1 million or more to $535 in the smallest cities studied. The West recorded both the greatest percentage and P e r c e n t D is t r ib u t io n o f F ir e f ig h t e r s a n d P o l ic e P a t r o l m e n b y t h e I n c r e a s e S a l a r y S c a l e s , 1 C it y - S iz e G r o u p , a n d R e g io n , 2 1 9 5 1 -6 1 in M a x im u m A nnual Region City-size group All cities Police patrolmen 1.6 10.0 7.5 3.0 6.4 11.7 34.0 3.5 13.7 4.7 Measured in dollar terms, increases ranging from $700 to $1,000 went into effect for about half of these protective workers. In communities employing one-tenth of the firemen and patrol men, the gain was $200 to $300. Average salary increases in absolute and relative terms varied more among regions than among Increase in maximum annual salary scale Fire fighters D ollars No change______________________ Under $100_______ _____________ $100 and under $200____ __________ $200 and under $300................ ............. $300 and under $400______________ $400 and under $500.............. .............. $500 and under $600_______________ $600 and under $700______________ $700 and under $800_______________ $800 and under $900______________ $900 and under $1,000______ ______ $1,000 and under $1,100 — ______ $1,100 and under $1,200____________ $1,200 and over________ ________ 3.8 1Based on total employment in fire departments and total number of uni formed patrolmen in 1961. For city coverage and definition of salary scales, see footnote 1, table 1. T a b l e 4. Firefighters and police patrolmen Increase in maximum annual salary scale Police patrolmen North Central 1,000,000 and over 500,000 and under 1,000,000 250.000 and under 500.000 100,000 and under 250,000 Northeast 69.3 7.7 19.7 34.5 26.1 3.0 9.0 1.1 8.5 17.4 31.1 22.8 11.6 5.1 2.4 0.6 65.1 13.8 19.2 1.4 1.2 14.3 25.7 31.8 12.2 11.6 3.2 31.2 19.4 40.0 7.7 1.7 2.3 3.9 58.8 6.4 24.6 4.0 100.0 57.5 100.0 52.7 100.0 52.1 100.0 57.1 100.0 73.5 South West P ercent 2ft and under 30 ___________________ 30 and under 40 ____ _______________ 4ft and under 5ft .. 50 and under 60______________________ 60 and under 70________________________ 70 and under 80 _ ____________________ 80 and under 90 _____ __________________ 9ft and under 10ft 100 and over___________________________ 0.2 3.0 40.3 17.6 28.4 5.7 4.2 .5 30.7 22.7 25.3 31.2 12.9 8.0 Total....... ............. ........... ...................... Average change___________________ 100.0 56.5 100.0 53.9 100.0 60.4 100.0 57.5 6.1 7.9 27.3 17.7 20.1 7.7 3.6 12.7 18.6 11.0 13.1 14.6 6.7 3.0 D ollars $800 and under $1,000 __ _________ $1,000 and under $1,200 __ ______________ $1,200 and under $1,400__ _____ ______ $1,400 and under $1,600__________________ $1,600 and under $1,800__ _______________ $1,800 and under $2,000— . ____________ $2,000 and under $2,200__________________ $2,200 and under $2,400__________________ $2,400 and under $2,600—. ______________ $2,600 and under $2,800__ — _____ ___ $2,800 and under $3,000—. ______________ $3,000 and under $3,200 — . . . __ $3,2ftft and over .7 2.1 2.3 6.6 8.1 19.7 29.0 7.9 10.2 3.9 4.6 .3 3.6 19.5 49.7 Total. __________________________ Average change___________________ 100.0 $2,110 100.0 $2,246 1 See footnote 1, table 1. 2 See footnote 2, table 1. 20.0 10.7 8.0 9.0 3.1 4.3 8.1 15.2 16.2 18.7 16.4 6.1 4.1 3.0 .9 1.5 2.4 100.0 $2,179 100.0 $2,004 100.0 $1,858 12.9 .6 1.3 3.7 4.4 13.2 64.4 11.8 .7 100.0 $2,066 3.4 9.6 7.6 21.7 11.1 32.7 1.3 2.0 10.6 1.0 2.0 15.5 29.4 6.6 7.4 32.2 6.0 100.0 $1,713 100.0 $2,143 N ote: Because of rounding, sums of percentages may not equal 100. 2.3 12.0 5.9 10.8 1.5 36.3 2.5 28.6 100.0 $2,801 22 dollar gains of any region—14.1 percent and $818. Maximum salaries rose less in the Southern region than elsewhere—11.9 percent and $530. Trends Over the Past Decade Over the decade from 1951 to 1961, increases in maximum scales varied among cities from 27 to 93 percent, but two-fifths of all firemen and policemen worked where the gain was 40-50 per cent, and over one-fourth where increases were 60-70 percent (table 4). As in the interval from 1958 to 1961, salary increases were more uniform on the average among different sized cities than among regions. Proportionately the greatest rise in salary scales— 60 percent—occurred in communities of 500,000 to 1 million inhabitants, and the smallest—54 percent—in cities of 1 million or more. The increase in salaries was the same—58 percent—in the two smallest city-size groups studied. The average increase in salaries was practically identical in the Northeast and South—52.7 and 52.1 percent, respectively, and not much higher in the North Central States—57.1 percent. In the Western cities, however, average salary scales advanced by about three-fourths—73.5 percent. In terms of dollars, the rise in salary scales from 1951 to 1961 varied from $1,850 in communities with a population of less than 250,000 to almost $2,250 in cities with 1 million inhabitants or more. The advance in salaries was over $1,700 on the average in the South and $2,800 in Western communities. More than one-fourth of the fire men and policemen in the Western cities studied were employed where salaries advanced at least $3,200. Scales of two-thirds of the firemen and policemen in the smallest cities rose less than $2,000, whereas four-fifths of those in the largest cities were employed where pay increased at least $2,000 but less than $3,000. Comparison With Other Workers From January 1939 to January 1961, maximum salaries of firemen and patrolmen rose about 150 percent, somewhat more than the Consumer Price Index and basic salary scales and average salary rates of Federal office workers but less than salaries of urban teachers and gross average hourly and weekly earnings of factory production workers. In the decade 1951-61, salaries of firemen and policemen rose much more than the Consumer Price Index, somewhat more than the pay of factory production workers, and more than basic or average salary rates of Federal office workers. They kept pace with the rise in urban teachers' pay, but the advance in overall average salaries of Federal office workers was somewhat greater. From 1958 to 1961, however, maximum pay scales of firemen and patrolmen increased more than earnings of factory production workers but less than the pay of Federal white-collar workers or of urban teachers, as shown below: Percent increase 1from— 1989 to 1961 1951 to 1961 1958 to 1961 F ir e m e n a n d p o lic e m e n : M a x im u m s a la r y s c a le s __________ 151 58 12 174 59 17 B a s ic s a la ry sc a le s 3______________ 112 125 40 42 19 A v e r a g e s a la r y r a te s 3___ __ 186 63 27 U rb a n teach ers: A v e r a g e a n n u a l s a la r ie s 2___ __ F e d e r a l C la s s ific a tio n A c t e m p lo y e e s : __ A v e r a g e sa la ries 3 _______________ 19 F a c t o r y p r o d u c t io n w o r k e r s : A v e r a g e h o u r ly e a r n in g s _______ 266 50 10 A v e r a g e w e e k ly e a r n in g s ________ 288 114 42 11 17 4 C o n s u m e r P r ic e I n d e x . __________ __ 1 Increases for urban teachers computed as of school years ending in June. All others computed from January to January of each pair of years, except 1939 data for Federal employees which relate to August. 2 Includes both changes in salary scales (including cost-of-living adjust ments) and changes in pay for individual teachers because of length of service, merit, or improved educational qualifications. Figures for 1961 are pre liminary. See also “ Salaries of City Public School Teachers, 1957-59,” Monthly Labor Review, March 1961, pp. 259-262, or B L S Report 194, Salary Trends: City Public School Teachers, 1925-59. « Basic salary scales reflect statutory changes in salaries; average salary rates show, in addition, the effect of merit or in-grade salary increases; and average salaries also include the effect of changes in the proportion of workers employed in the various pay grades. See also “ Federal Classified Em ployees’ Salary Changes, 1958-60,” Monthly Labor Review, May 1961, pp. 489-492, or B L S Report 200, Salary Trends: Federal Classified Employees, 1989-60. T a b l e 5. M a x im u m A n n u a l S a l a r y S c a l e of F ir e P o l ic e P a t r o l m e n in C i t i e s o f 5 0 0 ,0 0 0 I n h a b it a n t s o r M o r e , J a n u a r y 1961 f ig h t e r s a n d City San Francisco__________ Los Angeles..__________ New York__________ __ Washington, D.C___....... Minneapolis ................... Chicago________________ Milwaukee_____________ Detroit_____ ____ ______ Cincinnati_____________ Maxi mum annual salary scale $7,152 6.900 6,581 6,450 6,432 6,360 6,324 6,057 6,030 City Cleveland___ Pittsburgh_____________ Philadelphia____ ___ Boston____________ Buffalo________________ Baltimore______ ____ St. Louis Houston_____________ New Orleans.. _ __ i Maximum for patrolmen; maximum for firefighters was $5,571. Maxi mum annual salary scale $6,000 5,900 5,540 5, 500 5,300 5,250 i 5,200 5,136 4,680 23 Intercity Variations in Salary Levels, 1961 Maximum annual salary scales for patrolmen and firefighters in January 1961 ranged from $3,648 in Savannah, Ga., to $7,152 in San Fran cisco and Oakland, Calif. The mean salary was $5,847, and the median about $200 higher. Salary scales tended to be higher in large than in small communities (chart) and were highest on the average in West Coast cities and lowest in the South. In cities of 500,000 or more, maxi mum scales for patrolmen and firefighters ranged from $4,680 to $7,152 (table 5), with more than three-fifths of the firemen and policemen in these large cities employed where scales were at least $6,200. In the smallest communities studied, (those with 100,000 to 250,000 inhabitants), about half the protective workers were employed where the maximum scale was $4,800-$5,600 a year. In five cities of this size, including four in the South, maximum salary scales were below $4,000. Two-thirds of the policemen and firemen in Western cities were employed where salary scales for these jobs were at least $6,800. All eight of the California cities with 100,000 inhabitants or more had maximum scales of at least $6,600. In the South, half of the firemen and patrolmen worked where maximum salaries were below $5,000 a year. Salary Changes o f Firem en and Policem en, 1 9 6 1 —64 The level of compensation as well as working conditions of policemen was largely the result of the ability of the police administrator to convince the local authorities to enact appropriate legisla tion. Since this avenue for improvement was not always satisfactory, members of some departments formed fraternal organizations, which soon be came spokesmen for police personnel in matters of employment conditions. However, unioniza tion of policemen did not develop to the extent it has among firemen. Legal restrictions and public antipathy to police unionization have been major deterrents. Consequently, although police em ployee organizations fulfill certain of the functions of a union, they generally are not affiliated with organized labor.3 h e B u r e a u o f L a b o r S t a t i s t i c s yearly indexes1 of firemen’s and policemen’s salaries span four decades—a significant portion of the history of those public servants’ paid employment. The in dexes have increased 237 percent over the 40-year period (table 1). T Historical Background The first fire department in the United States with paid personnel was established in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1853. The chief and the operators of steam fire engines received compensation; unpaid volunteers provided the other necessary skills. During the latter part of the 19th century, other major cities recognized the necessity for trained firefighters and replaced volunteers with full-time paid employees. During this period, societies were organized among the firemen for social and benefit purposes. On the foundations prepared by these societies, local unions were later chartered by the American Federation of Labor.2 As associations of governmental employees whose work is essential to public safety, firemen’s unions do not have the collective bargaining and other rights normally enjoyed by labor unions in the private sector. Salaries and working condi tions of these employees are set by State and local legislation. Even where strikes are not illegal or discouraged, as a matter of policy, firemen’s unions do not engage in this activity to further their objectives. They concentrate their efforts on im proving their members’ economic position through negotiation with local authorities, the outcome of which is embodied in resolutions or ordinances. Urbanization proceeded rapidly in the latter part of the 19th century and early years of the 20th, bringing with it a movement for better orga nization and expansion of local law enforcement agencies. The village constable and town mar shal gave way to municipal police departments. Despite a longer history of paid public service, policemen have experienced more difficulty than firemen in organizing themselves into unions. 1 M ethods used in constru cting the indexes of salary scales are described in the appendix to , (B L S Report 233, 1962). T h is article extends the series to 1964, with p articu lar em p h asis on changes during the la st 3 years. The portion dealing with salary scales is preceded by a discussion of the evolution of in stitu tio n al arrangem en ts fo r determ ining sa la rie s of these protective employees. The series is based on salary tab ulation s prepared by the In tern ation al A ssociation of F irefighters, A F L CIO ( ), the In tern ation al City M anagers A ssociation ( ), and the F ra te rn a l Order of Police ( In addition, the B ureau obtains supplem entary d ata fo r some cities by direct inquiry. F o r the m ost part, th is article does not presen t separate an aly ses for firemen and policemen because, in m ost communities, pay scales fo r the two are identical. A t present, m ost firemen are represented by the In tern ation al A ssociation of F irefigh ters (A F U -C IO ), which w as founded in 1918 by 60 locals com prising 4,,000 members and whose member ship in the United S ta te s and C anada since has grown to 115,000. 3 The local police organ ization s th at have nation al affiliations are asso ciated with the F ra te rn a l Order of Police (which com prises 55,000 members in 560 local lodges and 17 S ta te asso c ia tions) and the N ational Conference of Police A ssociations (which acts a s a coordinating agency in m atte rs of concern to the 275,000 policemen it rep resen ts). In the S ta te s of New York and New Jersey, there are statew ide Police Benevolent A ssocia tions with local ch apters. In October 1964, the American F ed eration of State, County and M unicipal Em ployees (A F L -C IO ) reported 48 police locals with 4,500 members, chiefly in Con necticut and Illin ois. Collective bargain in g co n tracts between m unicipalities and these locals are still r a r e ; ooly 7 are recorded ip tjtie files of the parent union. men 1921— 61 Salary Trends: Firemen and Police Fire Department Salaries and Working Conditions in the United States and Canada Municipal Yearbook Survey of Salaries and Working Conditions of the Police Departments in the United States). 2 25 26 T a b l e 1. Indexes of A nnual M a x im u m Salary S c a l e s o f F ir e f ig h t e r s a n d P o l ic e P a t r o l m e n , 1 1 9 2 4 -6 4 [1957-59=100] Year 1094 1929___ 1932 „ 1934___ 1938 — 1939 — 1940___ 1941 1942........ 1943 — 1944........ . 1945 — KUfi 1947........ 1948 — 1949........ . Fire Police fighters patrol and Fire police fighters men patrol men 38 42 43 42 45 45 45 45 46 47 49 52 53 57 61 66 39 43 44 41 44 44 44 44 46 47 49 52 52 58 62 66 37 42 42 42 45 45 45 45 46 46 49 52 55 57 61 66 Year 1950........ 1951.......1952........ 1953_____ 1954...... . 1955........ 1956........ . 1957........ . 1958........ 1959........ 1960........ . 1961_____ 1962_____ 1963.......1964........ Fire fighters Police Fire patrol and police fighters men patrol men 68 72 77 82 85 87 91 96 101 104 108 113 118 124 128 68 72 77 82 85 87 91 96 101 104 108 113 117 123 127 68 72 77 82 85 87 91 96 101 104 108 113 118 124 128 i Based on data for all U.S. cities having a population of 100,000 or more (1960 Census) with the exception of Santa Ana, Calif.; Utica, N.Y.; and Honolulu, Hawaii. Data for 1939 to 1964 are based on maximum salaries (excluding longevity rates) for firefighters and police patrolmen in effect on January 1 of each year; data for earlier years are based on average salaries. Employment and Salary Trends, 1954-64 Over the past decade, employment of police patrolmen and firefighters in cities with a popula tion of 100,000 or more has increased by nearly one-fifth—to 193,000—with the rate of increase accelerating in the most recent 3-year period. From 1954 to 1964, the ranks of these protective employees grew at a rate almost twice that of all the working population but only one-third as fast as the number of all State and local employees. This increase generally paralleled the growth of the population in urban areas except in the largest cities, where their number increased much more rapidly than the general population. However, these increases in employment of urban policemen and firemen have been relatively less than those of other groups of municipal employees. The more rapid growth of other State and local employees reflects, in part, the growth in school age popula tion and the consequent increase in the number of teachers, the increased number of employees in State and local hospitals, and expanding public welfare programs. 4 T ext references to tab u lar classes, including city-size groups, are ph rased as, fo r example, “ GO to 70 percent” or “ 100,000 to 200,000” rath er than “6 0 to less than 70 percent” or “ 100,000 to under 200,000” a s used in tables. 5 All pay references in th is article pertain to maximum salary scales (excluding longevity rate s) for policemen engaged in gen eral police d uties (patrolm en) and firefighters (excluding drivers and engineers). 6 F o r definition of regions used in th is article, see footnote 1, table 2. Between 1954 and 1964, the communities where salaries of the protective workers increased 60 to 70 percent4during that period employed one-third of the employees; those where the advances were 40 to 60 percent employed two-fifths of the work ers.5 The pay scales of slightly more than 25 percent of workers were raised during the decade by $1,400 to $1,800; about an equal number of workers received pay scales in 1964 that were be tween $3,000 and $3,200 higher than 10 years earlier (table 2). At opposite ends of the pay scales, 0.1 percent received raises of less than $800, and 5 percent were paid under salary scales that rose $3,200 or more in the past 10 years. Variations by Size of City Both percentage and dollar increases were greater in large than small cities. About 38 per cent of the salary scales in effect in 1964 in cities of 1,000,000 inhabitants or more accrued over the past decade. The fact that, during the period, over three-fifths of the workers in cities of this size received increases of 60 to 70 percent or $3,000 to $3,200 reflects employment of half of the policemen and firemen in these categories in New York City. As might be expected, there was less concentra tion of increases in population groupings contain ing a larger number of cities—that is, in small communities. In the second largest population group—500,000 to 1 million—the pay scales of approximately 63 percent of the workers advanced during the 10-year period between 30 and 50 per cent ; a similar percent of those in the 250,000 to 500,000 group obtained salary raises of 40 to 60 percent. Percentage and dollar increases were more varied in cities of 100,000 to 250,000, but onethird of the policemen and firemen in these com munities were employed where maximum scales were raised 30 to 40 percent during the period. Variations by Region Over this decade, as in recent years, aver age increases varied more among regions6 than city size groups. Salaries in the West recorded the largest percentage increase, followed by the Northeast, South, and North Central regions. The average rise in salary scales in dollar terms was greatest in the West ($2,878) and smallest in North Central cities ($1,886). 27 T a b l e 2. P e r c e n t D i s t r i b u t i o n of F i r e f i g h t e r s a n d P o l ic e P a t r o l m e n ,1 b y t h e I n c r e a s e i n M a x i m u m S a l a r y S c a l e s , b y C i t y - S iz e G r o u p a n d R e g i o n , 1 9 5 4 -6 4 Increase in maximum annual salary scale P All cities 100,000 and over 500,000 and under 1,000,000 250,000 and under 500,000 100,000 and under 250,000 7.0 18.0 32.6 30.7 11.9 2.0 7.9 34.5 18.9 14.5 15.7 3. 7 2.8 1.1 29.0 10.6 3.8 55.0 61.6 13.9 39.5 23.1 14.1 9.4 100.0 53.4 100.0 50.6 100.0 47.3 100.0 46.5 100.0 52.1 0.4 6.0 17.5 26.2 13.5 32.9 3.0 .6 Total________________ Average increase_____ 100.0 50.4 D ollars .1 1.1 1.9 5.8 13.4 12.4 6.7 19.2 2.6 1.8 3.0 .5 26.4 5.0 Under $800---------------------$800 and under $1,000_____ $1,000 and under $1,200....... $1,200 and under $1,400___ $1,400 and under $1,600....... $1,600 and under $1,800...... $1,800 and under $2,000....... $2,000 and under $2,200___ $2,200 and under $2,400...... $2,400 and under $2,600___ $2,600 and under $2,800___ $2,800 and under $3,000...... $3,000 and under $3,200___ $3,200 and over___________ Total________________ Average increase______ 100.0 $2,216 8.2 11.1 19.1 1. 2 2.8 5. 5 9.3 23.8 20.3 12.0 7. 7 2.6 8.0 2.9 3.9 8.3 4.4 20.2 4.9 34.4 19.3 19.1 4.1 4.0 61.6 100.0 $2, 559 2.6 16.9 100.0 $1,950 100.0 $2,179 1 Based on data for all cities having a population of 100,000 or more in the 1960 census (with the exception of 3 cities of 100.000 but under 250,000 inhabitants). Data refer to maxium salaries (excluding longevity rate) on January 1 of each year. 2 The regions used in this study are Northeast—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont; South—Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Over half of the protective workers in the Northeast and nearly nine-tenths of policemen and firemen in western cities were employed during the decade where salaries for such workers in creased 50 to 70 percent in that time; fewer than 1 percent of the latter protective employees were em ployed where pay rose less than 30 percent. On T a b l e 3. Northeast South North Central West e r c e n t 20-------- ---------------under 30__________ under 40__________ under 50------- -------under 60__________ under 70---------------under 80__________ over______________ Under 20 and 30 and 40 and 50 and 60 and 70 and 80 and Region 2 City-size group 1,000,000 and over A nnual .7 4.8 7.1 14. 7 15.9 18.3 10.3 7.1 6.7 2. 2 3.3 .7 1.1 6.4 13.3 18.9 2.0 2.4 1. 7 1.1 1.7 3.6 5.2 51. 5 100.0 $1, 793 100.0 $2,363 0.6 4.4 16.3 29.6 32.7 6.7 10.0 1. 0 19.0 9.4 60.3 6.9 3.4 100.0 49.8 100.0 42.0 .6 2.2 4.7 10.4 12.8 14.8 17.1 21.6 1.4 0.9 4.4 22.0 65.4 5.3 2. 0 100.0 61.4 1.0 3.3 3.8 21.3 5.4 5.7 51.1 3.8 1.8 2.8 4.2 2.7 4.6 6.4 5.2 7.1 5.0 3.6 45.3 20. 2 10.0 100.0 $1,915 100.0 $2,878 100.0 $1,886 Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia; North Central—Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin; and West—Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming. N o t e : Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals , the other hand, only 1 in 10 firemen and patrolmen in the North Central region were in cities where there was more than a 50-percent increase over the decade. In western cities, about two-thirds of the work ers received pay raises of $3,000 or more, and over half the firemen and patrolmen in the Northeast P e r c e n t D i s t r i b u t i o n o f C i t i e s , F i r e f i g h t e r s , a n d P a t r o l m e n , 1 b y t h e I n c r e a s e in M a x i m u m A n n u a l S a l a r y S c a l e s , 1 9 6 1 -6 4 Increase in maximum annual salary scale Fire Firefighters fighters and police patrolmen Workers Cities Police patrolmen Workers Increase in maximum annual salary scale Cities P ercent 2.8 .2 2.6 14.1 20.8 10.1 6. 7 7.2 28.6 2.9 3.7 .2 2.3 .3 3.0 15.3 20. 6 11.1 7. 7 8.0 25.4 3.8 2.3 .2 2.4 .8 6.3 16. 5 17.3 13. 4 18.1 8. 7 9.4 4.7 1.6 .8 3. 2 .2 2.4 13. 2 20. 9 9. 3 5.9 6. 7 31.0 2.2 4. 7 .2 3.1 .8 7. 9 13.4 15. 7 17.3 15. 0 8. 7 10. 2 3. 9 2. 4 1. 6 No change ____ ________ Under $100.......... ................ $100 and under $200 _ _ $200 and under $300_______ $300 and under $400 $400 and under $500 $500 and under $600 $600 and under $700 $700 and under $800 $800 and under $900 $900 and under $1,000 $1,000 and under $1,100.. _ $1,100 and under $1,200____ $1,200 and over___________ Total......... ................ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Total____ __________ Police patrolmen Workers Cities D ollars No change_______________ Under 2.5________________ 2.5 and under 5.0.......... ...... 5.0 and under 7.5_____ ___ 7.5 and under 10.0________ 10.0 and under 12.5_______ 12.5 and under 15.0_______ 15.0 and under 17.5_______ 17.5 and under 20.0_______ 20.0 and under 22.5_______ 22.5 and under 25.0_______ 25.0 and over_____________ 1 See footnote 1, table 2. Firefighters Fire fighters and police patrolmen Workers Cities 2.8 2.3 2.4 3.2 3.1 1.3 4.5 5.9 25. 2 5.1 5.8 5. 5 3.9 6. 3 2.0 • 2.4 29.2 2. 0 5.3 8. 3 22.2 7. 0 6. 0 6.4 4.3 6. 5 3.0 2.9 23.9 4. 7 8.7 10. 2 15.0 11.8 10.2 10.2 6. 3 7.9 5. 5 2.4 4.7 .7 4.0 4.2 27.4 3.7 5.6 4.9 3. 7 6.2 1.3 2.1 33.1 3.1 8.7 10.2 15.7 11.0 7.9 11.0 7.1 9.4 3.9 2.4 6.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 N ote: Because of rounding, sum of individual items may not equal totals. 28 or 1962, when about 2 out of 3 were employed where salary scales were raised.8 Maximum salary scales of firefighters in three cities wTith 2.3 percent of all firefighters, and of patrolmen in four cities accounting for 3.2 percent of all policemen remained unchanged from 1961 to 1964. At the other end of the pay spectrum, two cities raised maximum salary scales of policemen 25 percent or more and one raised salaries of fire men over 25 percent (table 3). The majority of cities, 3 out of 5 for policemen and 2 out of 3 for firemen, raised salaries of patrolmen and fire fighters 5 to 15 percent, with a median increase of just over 11 percent for both groups. Three-fifths of the cities increased salaries at least twice during the 3-year period. About 3 out of 10 workers were employed where salary scales were raised 17.5 to 20 percent and 2 out of 10 worked where the advances were 7.5 to 10 percent. In dollar terms, the most common in creases were $1,200 or more and $400 to $500; these affected about 30 and 25 percent, respectively, of the policemen and firemen grouped together. New York City workers were among those whose scales rose over $1,200. Salary scale increases for patrolmen slightly ex ceeded those for firefighters in 1958-61 and 196164. In the latter period, police salaries increased 13.0, while those of firemen rose 12.7 percent. The comparable dollar increments were $780 and $726, respectively. and North Central regions had their pay scales advanced from $3,000 to $3,200 and $2,000 to $2,200, respectively. On the other hand, 86 per cent of the protective workers in the South were employed where increases were less than $2,400. Salary increases in the South, where there are more small communities than in other regions, were less uniform than in other parts of the country. Salary Trends, 1961-64 Maximum annual salary scales of firefighters and police patrolmen employed in cities with 100,000 inhabitants or more continued to move up from January 1961 to January 1964 at about the same rate as in the previous 3-year period.7 For firemen and policemen combined, the total dollar increase from 1961 to 1964 was $757, compared with $639 for the 1958-61 period—a difference that reflects a slightly larger average percentage in crease in the later period applied to higher salary scales. Primarily because of an increase of almost 10 percent in salaries for New York City firemen and policemen, average salaries rose significantly more—5 percent—in 1962 than either in 1961 or 1963, when the increases averaged 4.0 and 3.5 per cent, respectively. In 1963, more workers—3 out of 4—were affected by scale changes than in 1961 7 See “Salaries of Firemen and Policemen, 1 9 5 8 - 6 1 ,” M onthly Labor R eview , March 1962, pp. 2 8 2 - 2 8 6 . 8 Computations not shown in th is article. T able 4. I ncreases in M a x im u m A nnual Siz e Sa la r y G roup Scales and of F ir e f ig h t e r s R e g io n , and P o l ic e City-size group or region 2 C it y - Dollars Percent 3 1961-64 P a t r o l m e n ,1 b y 1 9 6 1 -6 4 Firefighters and police patrolmen 1961-64 Firefighters and police patrolmen Fire fighters and police patrol men Fire fighters Police patrol men 1961-62 1962-63 1963-64 Fire fighters and police patrol men Fire fighters Police patrol men 1961-62 1962-63 13.0 12.7 13.0 4.0 5.0 3.5 757 726 780 233 301 223 1,000,000 and over.......................__ 600,000 and under 1,000,000.......... . 250,000 and under 600,000..... ......... 100,000 and under 250,000........... 14.3 12.2 12.2 11.5 14.6 11.1 12.2 11.9 14.2 13.2 12.2 11.2 5.0 2.8 3.9 3.3 5.8 4.7 4.2 3.9 2.9 4.3 3.6 3.9 915 704 661 584 939 652 654 597 903 838 666 571 319 159 214 167 388 277 236 205 208 268 211 212 R egion Northeast................ ................... South................... .......... .......... . North Central....... ....... ............... West........... ................................. 14.5 14.7 8.6 14.6 14.0 13.2 9.3 14.5 14.7 16.0 8.4 14.8 4.4 3.4 2.0 7.2 5.9 7.0 2.1 4.7 3.5 3.7 4.3 2.1 864 735 511 963 827 639 546 961 887 815 499 975 261 170 118 471 371 361 128. 334 232 204 265 158 All cities........................... 1963-64 City-Size Group 1 See footnote 1, table 2. 2 For definition of regions, see footnote 1, table 2. 3 Because of weighting methods, the percent change for firefighters and police patrolmen combined may be slightly above or below the change for either group considered separately. 29 C h a n ges b y C i t y -S i z e . In the 3-year period, salary scales for firefighters and patrolmen rose most rapidly in cities with a population of 1,000,000 or more (table 4)—a reversal of the trend for the decade ending in 1961 but consistent with the prior 3-year period—1958-61. The average in crease from 1961 to 1964 ranged from 11.5 percent in the smallest city-size group to 14.3 percent in the 1,000,000 or more group—$584 and $915, re spectively. Differences between increases for policemen and firemen were significant only in the 500.000 to 1,000,000 group and were attributable to substantial raises in police pay scales that were not accorded firemen in a few southern cities. Increases in salary scales varied more among regions than among city size groups, as in the previous 3-year period. In both periods, the western cities led in terms of dollar increases in pay scales. These large increases are related to the relatively high salary levels in major California metropolitan areas and in smaller com munities surrounding them. The percentage in crease in salaries was practically identical in the West, South, and Northeast regions, and was markedly smaller in the North Central region. The rapid pay scale increase in southern cities during the past 3 years was concentrated in 196263, when the scales in these cities advanced 7 per cent, exceeding those in other areas. Firemen in some of these cities failed to share in the gains; southern police salaries rose 16 percent, those of firemen in the region increased 13.2 percent. During 1961-64, the North Central region re placed the South as the area with the slowest rate of increase in maximum salary scales for patrol men and firefighters. Salary scales in the North Central region rose only 8.6 percent or $511, al though the rate of increase in the last of the 3 years was about double that of the first or second year. R e g io n a l D ifferen ces. In cities with a population of 100.000 or more, maximum annual salary scales for firefighters and patrolmen in January 1964 ranged from $8,316 for policemen in San Fran cisco and Berkeley, Calif., to $4,080 for firefighters in Wichita Falls, Tex.; the average salary scale for both groups combined was $6,587. Salary scales were higher in heavily populated centers than in smaller communities. They were highest in the West and lowest in the South, where 196h Salaries. 7 out of the 10 cities with the lowest maximum fire men salary scales and 8 of the 10 lowest pay scales for policemen were located. Of the 10 cities with the highest pay scales for both firemen and police men, 9 were in California. Comparison Other Workers Over the quarter Cv. _^ury from 1939 to 1964, the 184 percent rise in maximum salary scales of patrolmen and firefighters outpaced the increase in the B L S Consumer Price Index and exceeded the rise in salary rates for Federal white-collar employees. However, it fell short of the rise in average annual salaries of urban public school teachers and the hours and weekly earning of fac tory production workers. The comparisons are made in the following tabulations: Percent increase 1from— 19S9 to 1964. Firemen and policemen: 184 Maximum salary scales_______ Urban public school teachers: Average annual salaries 2_____ 3 192 Federal Classification Act employees: Basic salary scales 6__________ 143 Average salary rates 6________ 158 Average salaries 6.... ........... ........ 253 Factory production workers: Average hourly earnings______ 301 Average weekly earnings_____ 336 121 Consumer Price Index___________ 1964to 1964 51 *49 46 48 76 41 42 15 1961 to 1964 13 <*> 14 15 22 10 12 4 1 Increases for urban teachers were computed for school years ending in June; those for all other workers are based on January of each year, except percentage increases for Federal employees which are derived from the August 1939, July 1954, July 1961, and July 1964 preliminary data. * Includes both changes in salary scales (including cost-of-living adjust ments) and changes in pay for individual teachers because of length of service, merit, or improved educational qualifications. 31939 to 1963. * 1953 to 1963. 8 1964 data not available. 8 Basic salary scales reflect statutory changes in salaries; average salary rates show, in addition, the effect of merit or in-grade increases; average sal aries also include the effect of change in the proportion of workers employed in the various pay grades. Much of the improvement in the relative position of firemen and policemen has taken place in the past decade when their salaries rose proportion ately more than earnings of factory production workers and salaries of urban teachers and more than three times as fast as the CPI. Over the 3 years ending in January 1964, the 13-percent rise in policemen and firemen salary scales fell short of the 14-percent advance in Federal classified pay scales, but was higher than the rise in hourly or weekly earnings of factory production workers. Appendix: Scope and Method of Survey T h e s e in d e x e s a r e d e s ig n e d to m e a s u r e t r e n d s in th e m o v e m e n t o f s a la r i e s o f an im p o r ta n t g r o u p o f w o r k e r s at th e l o c a l l e v e l . In th e a b s e n c e o f r e li a b le data f o r a ll m u n i c ip a l w o r k e r s , it is b e li e v e d that an a n a ly s is o f th e m o v e m e n t o f s a la r i e s f o r fi r e m e n and p o li c e m e n w ill b e v a lu a b le not o n ly in i t s e l f , but a ls o w i ll t h r o w s o m e lig h t on the m o v e m e n t o f m u n ic ip a l s a la r i e s g e n e r a lly . 1 I n fo r m a t io n r e f l e c t in g w a g e le v e l s o f m u n ic ip a l w o r k e r s h a s b e e n c o l l e c t e d f r o m t im e to t im e b y r e s e a r c h an d o th e r o r g a n iz a t io n s f o r the u s e o f c it y o f f i c i a l s , la b o r o r g a n iz a t io n s , p la n n in g a g e n c ie s , and o t h e r s in t e r e s t e d in p u b lic a d m in is t r a t io n . T h e r e h a s b e e n , h o w e v e r , no r e g u la r c o l l e c t i o n o f data f o r a ll c it y e m p lo y e e s su ita b le f o r the p r e p a r a t io n o f s a la r y in d e x e s . I n fo r m a t io n f o r e a r ly p e r io d s w a s u s u a lly lim it e d to s a la r y le v e l s o r s a la r y r a n g e s f o r m u n ic ip a l o f f i c e r s , m a n y o f w h o m a r e e le c t e d an d w h o r e p r e s e n t o n ly a s m a ll f r a c t io n o f th e c i t y - e m p l o y e e g r o u p . A stu d y m a d e b y th e B u r e a u o f L a b o r S t a t is t ic s in 1944 c o v e r in g s a la r i e s in 15 m e d i u m - s i z e c i t i e s h a s n ot b e e n r e p e a t e d . 2 S cope M u n ic ip a l e m p lo y e e s p e r f o r m i n g o th e r than e d u c a tio n a l fu n c tio n s c o n s titu te a s u b s ta n tia l p r o p o r t io n o f to t a l l o c a l g o v e r n m e n t e m p lo y m e n t . P o li c e m e n and f i r e m e n a r e h e a v ily r e p r e s e n t e d in the n o n s c h o o l e m p lo y e e g r o u p . In O c t o b e r 1 963, w o r k e r s e n g a g e d in p o l i c e and f i r e p r o t e c t i o n fu n c tio n s c o m p r i s e d a b ou t 22 p e r c e n t o f a ll m u n ic ip a l e m p lo y m e n t in c it ie s o f 100, 000 p o p u la tio n o r m o r e — a p p r o x im a t e ly the s a m e p r o p o r t io n as that o f 10 y e a r s e a r li e r .3 T h e s tu d ie s in c lu d e d in th is r e p o r t c o v e r 9 ou t o f 10 o f th e s e p r o t e c t i v e e m p l o y e e s ; i. e. , p o l i c e p a t r o lm e n and f i r e f i g h t e r s . In the d e c a d e f r o m 1954 to 1964* e m p lo y m e n t o f p o l i c e p a t r o lm e n and f i r e f ig h t e r s in c it ie s w ith a p o p u la tio n o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 o r m o r e i n c r e a s e d b y n e a r ly o n e - f i f t h — to 1 9 3 ,0 0 0 . T h e in d e x e s p r e s e n t e d h e r e a r e b a s e d on m a x im u m s a la r y s c a l e s (e x c lu d in g lo n g e v it y r a te s ) in c it ie s o f 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p o p u la tio n o r m o r e f o r p o li c e m e n e n g a g e d in g e n e r a l p o l i c e d u tie s in the p r e v e n t io n o f c r i m e o r in la w e n fo r c e m e n t , p a t r o lm e n a s s ig n e d to s p e c i f i c a r e a s , th o s e e n g a g e d in t r a f f i c c o n t r o l, and th o s e m a k in g c r i m e in v e s t ig a t io n s . C h a u ffe u r s , p o lic e w o m e n , and d e t e c t iv e s w e r e n ot in c lu d e d . In the f i r e d e p a r tm e n t, th e s a la r y d a ta w e r e lim it e d to f i r e f ig h t e r s and e x c lu d e d r i v e r s and e n g in e e r s . R a te s o f p r o b a t io n a r y w o r k e r s w e r e e x c lu d e d f r o m th e a v e r a g e s u s e d f o r e a r l i e r p e r io d s w h e r e v e r th e y c o u ld b e id e n tifie d . T h e p a y p e r io d c o v e r e d b y the data f o r 1924 th r o u g h 1938 v a r ie d f r o m y e a r to y e a r . S u b se q u en t d ata f o r p o li c e m e n r e f e r to the f i r s t o f the y e a r , o r in s o m e c a s e s to th e la s t o f the y e a r p r e c e d in g that f o r w h ic h in fo r m a t io n is sh o w n ; th o s e f o r f i r e m e n r e f e r to J a n u a ry 1 o f each y e a r. A l l in fo r m a t io n r e f e r s to annual s a la r y r a t e s , r a th e r than to annual e a r n in g s w h ich m a y b e in flu e n c e d b y a b s e n c e s , p r o m o t i o n s , and o th e r f a c t o r s . N o a tte m p t has b e e n m a d e to a d ju s t the in d e x e s to r e f l e c t th e e f f e c t on h o u r ly e a r n in g s o f the r e d u c tio n in h o u r s that h as o c c u r r e d s in c e 1924. 1 Indexes o f salary changes for urban school teachers and for Federal workers are presented in Wage Indexes: Long-Term Trend Data for Selected Occupations and Metropolitan Areas (BLS Bulletin 1427, 1965). z Monthly Labor R eview , August 1945, pp. 319-333. 3 U. S. Department o f C om m erce, Bureau o f the Census, Annual report, City Employment in 1963; City Employment in 1953. 31 32 Indexes fo r the y e a rs 1924 to 1938 a re b a sed on the a v e ra g e o f the sa la r ie s a ctu a lly paid, s in ce data fo r th ose y e a rs gave the num ber o f fir e m e n and p o lic e m e n actu a lly r e c e iv in g ea ch rate within the s a la r y ran ge. The indexes fo r subsequent y e a rs r e fe r to the m axim u m s a la r y s c a le s esta b lish ed fo r the two grou ps o f w o r k e r s . It is p o s s ib le that in som e p e r io d s , n otably during W orld W ar II, changes in a v e ra g e s o f ra tes m a y have d iffe r e d sig n ifica n tly fr o m changes in m axim u m s a la r y s c a le s b e ca u se o f changes in both the rate o f tu rn ov er and the rate o f advancem ent to the m axim u m s a la r y ra te. O v er co m p a ra tiv e ly long p e r io d s o f tim e, h o w e v e r, an index b a sed on m axim u m s a la r y s c a le s should p ro v id e a r e lia b le in d ication o f the trend o f a v e ra g e s a la r y ra te s. A co m p a r is o n o f changes in m axim u m rates o f fir e m e n and p o lic e m e n with changes in a v era g e rates fo r th ose p e r io d s fo r w hich both types o f in fo rm a tio n w e re ava ila b le in d ica tes that m ov em en ts o f the two types o f m e a s u re s g e n e ra lly w e re c lo s e ly p a r a lle l. This c lo s e rela tion sh ip is apparently due to the r e la tiv e ly sh ort tim e re q u ire d to q u alify fo r the m axim u m rate in m o s t m e tro p o lita n co m m u n itie s. A t any one tim e, th e r e fo r e , m o s t o f the p o lic e m e n and fire m e n in a c ity apparently r e c e iv e the m axim u m o f the s a la r y rate range. Any e ffe c t on the in d exes o f the sh ift fr o m u se o f a v era g e s a la r y ra tes to data on m axim u m pay s c a le s has been elim in ated b y linking the s e r ie s fo r 1924—38 and the 1939—50 s e r ie s . The s e r ie s is b a sed on actual annual sa la r y dates fo r 1924, 1929, 1932, 1934, and 1 9 3 8 ,4 and on s p e c ia l s a la r y tabulations p re p a re d b y the In tern ational A s s o c ia tio n o f F ir e F ig h ters (F ir e D epartm en t S a la rie s and W orking C ond ition s), the International C ity M an agers A s s o c ia tio n (M u n icipa l Y e a rb o o k ), and the F ra te rn a l O rd e r o f P o lic e (S u rvey o f S a la ries and W orking C onditions o f P o lic e ). In addition, the BLS obtained su p p lem en ta ry data fo r so m e c itie s fo r the 1958—64 p e r io d by d ir e c t in qu iry. M ethod Index C o n stru ctio n . In con stru ctin g the o r ig in a l in d e x e s, the e ffe c t o f la ck o f data fo r som e c itie s in ce rta in y e a r s was red u ced by the "c h a in " m ethod o f index co n stru ctio n . An a v era g e fo r a ll c itie s com b in ed was com puted fo r each p a ir o f s u c c e s s iv e y e a r s ; then the p e rce n ta g e rela tion sh ip betw een th ese o v e r a ll a v era g es was com puted and applied to the in dex fo r the p re ce d in g p e r io d . (In m aking the c o m p a riso n fo r each p a ir o f y e a r s , data w e re used on ly fo r th ose citie s re p o rte d in both y e a r s .) P r io r to the com putation o f the index fo r 1951, constant (1949) w eights w e re u sed in com binin g citie s in o r d e r to elim in a te the e ffe c t o f changes in the re la tiv e im p o rta n ce in te rm s o f em p loym en t o f p o lic e m e n and fire m e n . B eginning with the in dexes show ing the changes fr o m 1950 to 1951, the linking m ethod was re lie d upon to m in im iz e the e ffe c t o f such sh ifts. In obtaining the o v e r a ll a v e ra g e s fo r each p a ir o f s u c c e s s iv e y e a r s , the num ber o f p o lic e m e n and fir e m e n em p loyed in the la test o f the 2 y e a rs was used to w eight individual city a v e ra g e s. No m a te r ia l change in the in dexes was cau sed by the change in m ethod o f co m p u tation. The use o f the ch a in -lin k sy ste m m ade it e a s ie r to continue the index d esp ite changes in the lis t o f c itie s fo r w hich data w e re av a ila b le o v e r the en tire p e r io d . 4 Monthly Labor Review, October 1924, pp. 70-82; December 1929, pp. 124-140; January 1930, pp. 118-138; May 1933, pp. 1117-1150; June 1933, pp. 1336-1364; October 1935, pp. 857-863; November 1935, pp. 1159-1165; and BLS Bulletins 684 and 685. ☆ U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1965 O - 771-005 BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS REGIONAL OFFICES SAN FRANCISCO ____ £ R e g io n V — R e g io n V I — R e g io n W e stern 219 4 5 0 G o ld e n G a te A v e n u e T e L : T e l.: C a lif. IV — T e l.: N o rth C e n tr a l 2 4 1 -7 9 0 0 So u th D e arb o rn S tr e e t C h ic a g o , Box 36017 S a n F ra n c isc o , E ast C e n tra l 1 3 6 5 O n ta rio S tr e e t C le v e la n d , O h io 4 4 1 1 4 1 11. 60604 8 28- 7226 94102 1 S56-4678 R e g io n III— S o u th e rn 1 371 P e a c h tre e S tre e t, N E . A tla n ta , G a . 30309 T e l . : T R in it y 6 -3 3 1 1 c>
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