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\1' Un: ANCET..Es
P-. 0 ? 1 ! 1943
Ll8RAR/
FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY
WORK
PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
DIVISION Of RESEARCH
Div:ision of Research
Woik Proiects Administration
Researc'h Monographs
I. Six Rural P,oblem Area,, Relief-Resourca-Reftabilitation
II. Comparative Study of Rural Relief arid Non-Relief Households
Ill. The Transient Unemployed
IV. Urban Worken on Relief
V. landlord and Tenant on the Cotton Plantation
VI. Chronology of the Federal Emergency Relief Adminimatlon,
May 12, 1933, to December 31, 1935
VU. Ue Migratory-Casual Work.tr
VIII. Farmers on Relief and Rehabilitation
IX. Part-Time Farming in the Southeast
X. Trends in Relief Expenditures, 1910-1935
XI. Rural Youth on Relief
XII. Intercity Differences in Costa of Living in Motch 1935, 59 Citiet
XIII. :Effects of the Works Program on Rural Relief
XIV. Changing Aspects of Rural Relief
XV. Rural Youth: Their Situation and Prospects
XVI. Farming Haxarcls in t!te Drought Area
XVII. Rural Families on Relief
XVIII. Migrant Families
XIX. Rural Migration In the United States
XX. State Public Welfare Legislation
XXI. Youth In Agricultural VIiiages
XXII. The Plantation South, 1934-1937
XXfll. Seven Stranded Cool Town•
XXIV. Federal Work, Security, and Relief Programs
XXV. Vocational Training and Employment of Youth
FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY
Major General Philip B. Flemln9, Ad•lnldrator
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
Georse H. Field, 1'epvty Co••lai-
DIVISION OF RESEARCH
Howard B. Myers, Dl,ector
VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND
EMPLOYMENT OF YOUTH
By
Selden C. Menefee
Under the Supervision of
John N. Webb
Chief, Labor Marlcet R..-c:h Section
Division of Raearch
•
RESEARCH MONOGRAPH XXV
1942
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON
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DEPOSITED BY THE
UNITED 5TAT~S OF AMERICA
APll27 '43
Letter of Transmittal
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION,
Washington, D. C., December 1, 1941.
SIR: I transmit herewith an analysis of public school vocational
training in relation to the employment of youth. The report ia based
upon interviews with more than 3,000 youth who had received some
full-time training under the provisions of the Smith-Hughes Act, the
ha.sic law providing for Federal assistance to vocational schools.
Vocational training has an essential function to perform in modem
society: the providing of trained workers for jobs in factories, shops,
and offices. The public school system ia not the only agency charged
with the responsibility of replenishing the Nation's supply of skilled
workers. Private schools, apprenticeship plans sponsored by unions
and employers, WPA defense training projects, and industrial training
plans of various sorts also make their contributions to the. skilled
labor supply. But as the apprenticeship system has declined in
recent years, and as new types of jobs have been created by modem
technology, the public vocational schools have played an increasingly
important part in supplying the need for trained workers.
The unprecedented demand for trained workers created by the .
defense program has already resulted in the enrollment of several
millions of persons in vocational training classes. The rapid expansion of defense training programs has been seriously handicapped,
however, by the lack of adequate research aimed at evaluating the
effectiveness of vocational training. In presenting such an evaluation
the present report makes an important contribution to the defense
effort.
This study, which was an offshoot of a more comprehensive survey
of youth in the labor market, was originally undertaken because of
the marked interest shown by educators, employers, and youth
themselves in vocational education and its results. An even greater
interest in vocational training has been manifested since the defense
program has created a demand for certain types of skilled labor. The
WPA has recently established a Division of Training and Reemployment in order to train its workers for, and place them in, defense
industries. The present report is designed to meet the need for
additional information through an appraisal of the results of federally
aided vocational training as it has operated in the past.
The data. presented in the report indica.te that vocational training
under the standards set up by the Smith-Hughes Act has had considerable effectiveness in cha.nneling the economic activities of youth
in the intended directions, but that it leaves much to be desired. Its
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IV • LEITTR OF TRANSMITTAL
shortcomings are suggested by the facts that a large number of
trained youth had never obtained jobs in their fields of training; that
there was great variation among programs (courses of study) in
terms of the proportions of youth getting jobs related to the fields in
which they had been trained; and that trained youth were at about
the same level as youth with no Smith-Hughes training as far as total
employment and earnings were concerned. The report not only
analyzes the accomplishments of full-time Smith-Hughes vocational
training, but also attempts to evaluate some of the factors underlying
the success or failure of trained youth in finding employment in their
fields of training.
The study is based on the status of trained youth on July 1, 1938,
and their experiences during the depression years prior to that date.
While a survey of the same youth made today might show somewhat
different results, it is felt that the general picture of the effects of
vocational training as presented in the report remains valid.
The report should be of value to all those who are interested in
vocational training in relation to youth, the public schools, and the
defense program. The Work Projects Administration is concerned
with this question not only because approximately one-tenth of all
project workers are youth under 25 years of age, and because of the
necessity for training or retraining persons of all ages who are still
dependent on work relief, but also becaus(i defense training projects
in which many WPA workers have been and a.re being trained use
public school facilities which were installed and used for Smith-Hughes
vocational courses of the sort under discussion.
The report should be of considerable interest to tt•achers in secondary institutions whore vocational training of the Smith-Hughes
type is offered. Vocational guidance counselors should also find the
study to be of value in their work, since it may help them to reduce
the length of the "floundering period" through which urban youth
often pass before making satisfactory occupational adjustments.
' The study was made by the Division of Research under the direction of Howard B. Myers, Director of the Division. The data were
analyzed and the report was prPpared by Selden C. :Menefee, under
tho supervision of John N. Webb, Chief of the Labor Market Research Section. Sp<•cinl acknowledgment is made to Wayne F.
Daugherty, who assistPd in planning the tabulation of the data, to
Beatrice Mathieson and Lucille Maupin, who assisted in prC'paring
the data for analysis, and to StanlPy L. Payn<' and Albert "\Vestefeld,
who read and criticized the manuscript.
RespPctfully submitted.
B. MYERS,
Director of Research.
lIOWARD
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Contents
Page
Introduction
XIII
Summary - Chapter
I.
XXVII
1
Vocational training: the problems involvecl
Selection of students for training _ _
2
The content of vocational instruction _
3
Vocational training in relation to labor-market neP<ls
Vocational placement _ . _ _ _
_ __ _
4
Research in the vocational field
7
Chapter II. Characteristics and training of the youth -
6
11
_ _ _
Characteristics of trained youth
11
Social and economic ba<"kgrounds _ _
12
Scholastic ability _ _ _ _ _
12
Education completed _ _
13
Composition of the group
14
Where· the youth were trained
15
The nature of the training _
16
Types of progru ms _ _
1fi
Completion of training
16
Occupation of father and type of training
18
Chapter Ill. Employment and earnings of trained youth
19
Labor-market status of trained youth _ _ _ _ _ _ _
21
Status in the labor market, 1929-1938 _ _ _ _ _
23
Employment and unemployment at time of int<'rview _
2ti
Eamings and hours of trained youth
28
Trained youth and other youth compnred
30
Employment and un<'mployment _ _ _ _ _
:30
The sex fnctor _ _
:~o
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
;31
Full-time empluynwnt only
V
VI • CONTENTS
Chapter 111.-Continued.
Trained youth and other youth compared-Continued.
Page
Youth with Smith-Hught•s and private school training
compared _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
32
The factor of amount of education
32
Duration of initial unemployment
Duration of jobs _ _ _ _ _ _
34
Proportion of time employed _ _
34
Earnings of trained and untrained youth
35
Sex and earnings _ _ _
Education and eamings _
36
37
Changes in wage levels
38
Hours of work
Summary __ _
38
34
38
Chapter IV. Employment in relation to specific types of training _ _
Employment in field of training_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
39
40
Occupations of youth in relation to training _ _ _ _
40
Method used in relating specific jobs to training
Vocational training in relation to types of employment _
41
42
Individual training programs in relation to types of
employment _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
44
Training and employment in St. Louis
Commercial programs _ _
45
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Industrial programs _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
46
47
Women's programs __
48
Arts programs _ _ _ _
49
Race differences in obtaining related jobs
49
Re.suits of training in cities other than St. Louis _
50
Seattle
50
Birmingham
Denver __
52
Summary and comparison of the four cities
53
53
I
CONTENTS • VII
Chapter IV. ---Continued.
Puge
Trends in related employment, 1930-1938
54
The class of 1929 _
54
The class of 1933 _
59
Reasons for increase in related employment
Jobs in relation to training _ _ _ _ _ _ _
First jobs and jobs held at interview
61
62
62
Duration of jobs
64
Earnings
_ _ _ _ _
65
Weekly earnings on all full-time jobs _ _ _ _ _
66
Earnings on first jobs and jobR held at time of interview _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
67
Earnings on related and unrelated jobs
68
Earnings and completion of training
69
Summary
70
_ _ _ _
Conclusions _ _
70
Chapter V. Vocational training outside the Smith-Hughes system _
Training in the regular high schools of Seattle
Labor-market status of youth
_
73
73
74
Employment in field of training
75
Duration of jobs and earniugs
Conclusions _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
78
79
Vocational training in private schools _
80
Who attended private s<'hools
Employment _ _
81
82
Earnings
83
Conclusions
85
Chapter VI. Guidance, placement, and attitudes of trained youth _
87
Vocational guidance
87
Vocational placement _
90
Difficulties in securing employment _
93
VIII • CONTENTS
Chapter VI.---Continued.
Page
Attitudes of youth rPgarding vocational training
94
Assistance in getting jobs
95
Assistance on the job __ _
97
Criticisms of programs
99
Expansion of vocational training _
101
Plans for the future _ _
101
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Conclusions _ _ _
102
Chapter VII. Conclu1ion1
103
Factors influencing tht• pffectivc>n<'ss of vocational training_
104
The larger problem of unemployment _ _ _ _ _
107
Appendix A. Tabla _ _ _
Appendix B. List of tabla
Index
111
145
147
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure
fl9urn
IA. Labor-market status of Smith-Hughes trained youth,
Pighth-grade graduates of 1929 in 4 citit•s, 1929-t9:-J8,
males _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
24
1B. Labor-market status of 8mith-Huglws trained youth,
eighth-grade graduates of 1929 in 4 cities, 1929-1938,
frmolPs _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
25
2A. Employment status of Smith-Hugh<'s trained labor-market
youth, eighth-grade grnduates of 1929 in 4 cities, 1930-1938, both st•xes
_ _ _ _ _
55
2B. Employment status of Smith-Hughes trained labor-market
youth, Pighth-grndt• graduntl.'s .of 1929 in 4 citiC's, 1930-t 9:~8, mnh,s
_ _ _ _
56
2C. Employment status of Smith-II11glws traiiwd labor-market
youth, eighth-grad<' grnd111ttl's of 1929 in 4 citiC's, 1930-1938, frmnlPs _ _ _ _ _ _ _
67
3A. Employment status of Smith-II11ghPs trained labor-market
youth, eighth-grade grn<l11ntes of 1933 in 4 cities, 193419:38, both srxes _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
59
3B. EmploymPnt stntus of Smith-Huglws trni,wd labor-market
youth, l'ighth-grnde grnd1111tPs of 19~13 in 4 cities, 1934t 938, mules _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
60
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CONTENTS • IX
Figure
Page
3C. Employment status of Smith-Hughes trained labor-market
youth, eighth-grade graduates of 1933 in 4 cities, 19351938, females _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
60
Photo9N1phs
the defense program has given new impetus to training
of the trade and industrial type." _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Facing
XXII
". . . a background of general knowledge . . . to lay the
groundwork for the acquisition of new skills . . ." _ _ Facing
4
" . . . youth who had been trained in commercial programs
had the best records in securing employment related to their
training." _ . _ . _______________ Facing
46
"
"
"
industrially trai.Jwd youth had the highest earnings ... "
Facing
an effective guidance program narrows the gap between
occupational preferences and actual realities . . ." _ Facing
66
90
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Vocational Training and Employment
of Youth
XI
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INTRODUCTION
THE NATIONAL defense program, with its far-reaching plans for
the training of skilled workers, has focused much attention upon our
public school system of vocational education. With shortages of certain types of skilled craftsmen reported in many localities, there is an
increasing demand for a large-scale training program for youth. The
form which such a program may take is of direct concern to WPA,
since its project workers comprise the largest single reserve supply of
employable labor, and since these workers must be prepared to fill the
needs of private industry for trained labor as rapidly as possible during the defense period.
Yet comparatively little is known about the actual results of vocational training in terms of its past effectiveness in fitting youth for
jobs. Are our present training facilities adequate for turning out the
skilled workers who may be needed in industry? And does vocational
training help youth to become adjusted in an overcrowded · labor
market? The best way of answering these questions is to examine the
work histories of youth who have had full-time training nnder the
federally sponsored program in the past few yea.rs, to determine how
many have actually used that training. The results of such an examination have an important bearing on the whole problem of unemployment among youth.
THE GENERAL PROBLEM
America's unemployed may, for purpost>s of analysis, be conveniently divided into three groups: youth under 25, who comprised 36
percent of all unemployed persons in 1937; workers supposedly at
their peak of efficiency, from 25 through 44, who made up 37 percent
of the unemployed group; and older work<'rs, 45 years of age or over,
who constituted 27 percent of the total number of persons un£'mployed.1 Of these three groups youth and older work,•rs face tlw
1 Dedrick, Calvert L. and Hansen, Morris H., Final Report on Total and Partial
Unemployment, 1.957: The Rnumeratfre Cherk Censu3, Vol. IV, CeusnR of Partial
Employment, Unemployment, and Occupations, Washington, D. C., 1938, tahlc 4,
p. 12.
XIII
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XIV• VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
)
)
most serious problems: youth because they lack maturity, experience,
and training, and older workers because their skills are outmoded or
because of the reluctance of industry to hire persons who may soon
reach the age of physical disability or retirement.
The question of jobs for unemployed youth is in some respects the
most pressing aspect of our unemployment problem. When almost a
third of all youth in the labor market are unemployed, as was the case
as recently as March 1940, 2 there is a danger not only that the strength
and energies of these youth may be wasted, but also that their morale
will suffer. Since productive roan power is one of our greatest and
most essential national re.sources, and since young men and women
are the source of the Nation's labor supply, it is essential that unemployment among youth be reduced to a minimum.
Prior to the depression the transition from school to employment
was often hampered by rapid technological developments in certain
industries, minor cycles of business activity, or seasonal variations in
employment. But in an expanding economy the great majority of
youth were able somehow to get a start in business or industry. For
the pQSt decade, however, youth have had great difficulty in bridging
· the gap between school and jobs. Contracting business activity has
resulted in the dismissal of many experienced workers, and young
people who have just left school have found it difficult to compete
with them for jobs. To make matters worse, the largest crop of youth
America has yet produced came of working age during the depression,
with the result that the labor force increased by a net total of about
6 million persons from 1929 to 1939.
Some youth stayed in school to postpone the discouraging task
of hunting employment under depression conditions. Those who
found a place in the economic structure were confronted by low wage
scales and limited opportunities for advancement. Enforced idleness
and dead-end jobs took their toll of youthful enthusiasm; marriage
and normal family life were postponed; and America began to hear
from all sidl·s that it had a "youth problem" on its hands.
2 "The burden of unemployment in March 1940 was especially heavy on youth
just out of school. Less than 70 percent. of the boys and girls 14 to 19 years old
who had joined the labor force were employed at nonrelief jobs, while 23 percent
of the boys and 26 percent of the girls were entirely without work and looking for
a job. The older youth, in the age class 20 to 24 years, fared better, no doubt
hecause they had more work experience and better training, but even at this age
20 percent of the male and 15 percent of the female workers were either out of a
job and looking for work or reported that they were on emergency work projects.
Unemployment rates for adult workers over 25 yeal"8 old were only about half as
11:reat.." Bureau of the Census, The Farts About Ymith as Portrayed in tM 1940
Census, Population &:rie!'l P-3, No. 19, U. 8. Department of Commerce, Washington. D. C., October 19, 1941, pp. 3--4.
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INTRODUCTION • XV
In this situation the idea of more vocational education was advanced,
not necessarily as a cure for unemployment, but as a factor which
would offset to some extent the inexperience which handicapped youth
when they sought jobs. This emphasis on education as a way out is
not surprising; Americans have always believed in education and selfimprovement as means of "getting ahead." And although the depression forced upon most people the realization that unemployment is
a social and economic rather than an individual problem, popular
faith in "practical education:' as one way out did not disappear.
Instead, the movement for expansion of our vocational training
facilities gained new impetus during this period.
THE BACKGROUND OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING
The need for some means of perpetuating the skills of trained craftsmen is as old as civilization itself. Always there have been methods
of training young workers to meet the needs of industry and commerce.
The roots of modem vocational education are to be found in the
guild system of medieval Europe, which provided for long-term apprenticeship of children to master craftsmen. While the working and
living conditions of apprentices in those days left much to be desired;
the system usually resulted in the thorough training of young workers
and their eventual attainment of the status of skilled craftsmen in
numbers generally consistent with labor-market needs. With the
Industrial Revolution and the rise of modem capitalism, however, the
guilds began to decline. They were finally abolished at the end of the
eighteenth century, after which time apprenticeship became optional
and regulations for the training of workers were made much less
rigid. 1
Remnants of the old guilds, in the form of strict systems of apprentice.ship, survived in certain industries under the sponsorship of
employers and later of labor unions. By the middle of the nineteenth
century, however, as the factory system expanded, so many new
functions and occupations requiring skilled and semiskilled workers
had made their appearance in the industrial process that some wellplanned, highly integrated mc•ans of supplementing the skilled labor
supply was clearly needed. In this situation many leaders of industry,
labor, and education turned to the public schools. During the closing
decades of the last century more and more of the European countries
established far-reaching vocational school systems operatc•d or n-gulated by the state.
1 "Vocational Training: Problems and Trends," International Labour Review,
Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, February 1938, p. 140.
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XVI • VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
In the United States the development of formal vocational training
was retarded because the Industrial Revolution reached this country
somewhat later than it reached Europe. As early as 1876 some persons
became disturbed by the apparent superiority of European craftsm.en
over those trained in America, as demonstrated by the exhibits at the
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.' In spite of sentiment in this
period for "practical" education, however, genuine vocational training
made little headway for many years. Such courses as were introduced
in the public schools in the last part of the nineteenth century were of
the "industrial arts" type, such as manual training, rather than specialized preparation for specific vocations. These courses were based on
the premise that training in the use of certain. tools would enable a
youth to learn how to use other tools more easily when he went to
work. With the increasing complexity of our industrial economy,
however, it soon became obvious that more specialized trainingtraining for particular vocations-was needed, and a majority of
educators began to favor training of the vocational type.
In 1906 the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial
Education was formed, to work for legislation providing Federal aid to
local vocational schools. This movement was supported by the National Education Association, as well as by the American Federation
of Labor, which had always worked for free public education, and which
saw in the new trend toward vocational training an opportunity to
substitute free public schools for private vocational schools.
At the same time certain business organizations joined the fight for
federally aided vocational training. As the need for skilled workers
in industry became more and more acute, the National Association of
Manufacturers, the National Metal Trades Association, and the
United States Chamber of Commerce backed the plan of the National
Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. The combination
of these business forces with those of the educators and trade unionists
was powerful enough to create wide public discussion of the whole
question of vocational education.
The time was most propitious for obtaining federally sponsored
vocational training in the years just before and during the first
World War. In 1914 Congress authorized the President to appoint a
committee to investigate the whole question. The committee's report
stressed the need for vocational education to prevent waste of labor
power, to increase earnings, to supplement apprenticeship, to meet
the increasing demand for trained workmen, and to democratize
education. It also maintained that the sharpness of competition
among nations for world trade made necessary the rapid building up
of a highly skilled labor force:
• Russell, John Dale and Associates, Vocational Education, Staff Study No. !l,
Advisory Committee on Education, Washington, D. C., 1938, p. 10.
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INTRODUCTION • XVII
The battles of the future between nations will be fought in the markets of the
world. The nation will triumph . . . which is able to put the greatest amount
of skill and brains into what it produces. Our foreign commerce, and to some
extent our domestic commerce, are being threatened by the commercial prestige
which Germany has won . . . France and England, and even far-off Japan,
. . . are now establishing national systems of vocational education. In Germany, within the next few years, there will probably be no such thing as an
untrained man. In the United States probably not more than 25,000 of the eleven
or twelve million workers in manufacturing or mechanical pursuits have had an
opportunity to acquire an adequate training for their work in life.
. . .•
The report recommended that a system of vocational education be
instituted in the public schools of less than college grade, with the
States to share e:,..-penses with the Federal Government.
Another argument that was heard in many quarters was that the
social unrest which prevailed at. that time was due to a lack of economic independence among the working people, and would decrease
if young people were able to get skilled work at higher wages. For
example, one educator remarked that:
The nation must . . . recognize the social significance of vocational education
. . . as a means of furthering the security of the established order. Undeniably,
social unrest pervades the land. Everywhere one finds evidences of unsound
conditions in the social fabric. They break out in the form of strikes and riots;
in the demand for legislation regarding hours and conditions of work; in the
propaganda of the socialist. . .. Vocational education . . . goes to the very
root of the causes of the discontent. By providing a means for each man to find
a way out and up it puts the divine spark of ambition in men.•
Perhaps the most important factor which helped to bring about
Federal support of vocational training was the growing shortage of
skilled labor which resulted from the preparedness program in the
years 1916-1917. The shipyards and munitions industries were
forced to develop their own supply of skilled laborers through hastily
organized systems of apprenticeship. With this combination of
circumstances, the proponents of Federal aid for vocational training
were finally able in 1917 to persuade Congress to pass a bill incorporating most of the features recommended to the House of Representatives by the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education in its report 3 years earlier.7 The bill was signed by President
Wilson on February 23, 1917.
The National Vocational Education Act (commonly known as the
Smith-Hughes Act) was the first and most important of several laws
• Report of the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Edur.ation, Together
With Hearing11 on the Subject, U. S. House of Representatives, 63d Cong., 2d
sess., Doc. No. 1004, 1914, p. 23.
• Lapp, John A., "National Aid for Vocational Education," Journal of Proceeding11 and Addressu, National Education Association of the United States, Washington, D. C., 1915, pp. 322-333.
7 See footnote 5 above.
450506°-42-2
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XVIII • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
providing for Federal support to secondary schools offering vocational
training courses of specified types. The act provided continuing
support on a rising scale, culminating in an appropriation of $7,167,000
in 1926 and every year thereafter. This sum was allocated among
the States which accepted the provisions of the act and designated
State boa.rds for vocational education to cooperate with the Federal
Board for Vocational Education. In line with the stated purpose of
the act, that of promoting education in agriculture and the trades
and industries (including home economics), these funds were to cover
a maximum of 50 percent of the salaries of ·teachers in courses meeting
Federal requirements in these fields, as well as part of the cost of the
training of vocational teachers. Work was to be given not only in
full-time day courses, but also in evening and extension classes to
adults and youth who were already employed.' This act is still in
opera.tion and furnishes the basis for supplementary legislation
providing for the further expansion of the federally aided system of
vocational training.
Employers welcomed the new training system as a source of skilled
labor during the war period. They demanded more and more
training, many of them paying their employees while they were
attending part-time trade schools. Vocational education under the
Smith-Hughes Act expanded rapidly as a result of these conditions.
After the war was over the vocational schools continued to receive
widespread support because of the small number of apprentices in
the various skilled crafts. In 1922 it was estimated that only 1 apprentice was being trained for every 100 workers in the building trades,
and only 1 for every 57 workers in all mechanical and manufacturing
industries. (These figures included students in the day, evening,
and continuation trade schools, as well as apprentices.)• Businessmen as well as educators therefore favored the expansion of the SmithHughes program. Enrollment in Smith-Jlughes programs increased
from 164,000 in 1918 to more than half a million in 1923 and more
than a million in 1929. (See appendix table 1.)
AB enrollment under the Smith-Hughes Act increased, as training
in the public schools bt>eame more and more specialized, and as the
vocational schools became more and more important as compared
with the apprenticeship systems sponsored by the trade unions, organized labor began to show some opposition to certain aspects of
the training system it had helped to sponsor many years before.
1 39 Stat. L. 929--936.
See Russell and Associates, op. cit., pp. 14 ff., for a concise summary of Federal legislation on vocational training and texts of the
Smith-Hughes Act and subsequent acts.
• Filbey, Emery, "Vocational Education: an Economic Necessity," Addre,aea
and Proceedings, National Education Association of the United States, Washington, D. C., 1922, pp. 1472-1480.
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INTRODUCTION • XIX
Several specific criticisms arose. In the first place, some labor unions
resented the fact that instead of developing Smith-Hughes training
programs for vocations which had no history of apprenticeship, such
as auto-repair work, the early Smith-Hughes schools had entered
fields where apprenticeship systems had long been established. 10 The
unions objected to this policy on the grounds that it released partially
trained workers to compete with craftsmen trained under the apprenticeship system, and tended to drive wages downward.
Labor orgenizations also charged that most vocational schools
oriented their programs of instruction toward filling the needs of employers rather than toward augmenting the welfare of the organized
workers in a trade. In 1935 the Metal Trades Department of the
American Federation of Labor convention passed a resolution which
said in part:
. . . tax funds have, in many instances, been given to schools located wholly
within private industrial plants and operated in a manner which seriously affected
wage earners, not only tending to overcrowd certain skilled trades, but in other
ways to lower the prevailing wages in these skilled trades thereby increasing
unemployment as well as lowering standards of living. . . .
Beginners are given a short course . . . and put to work . . . at wages much
lower than those prevalent, for that particular operation . . . while skilled
workers in these crafts remain unemployed.
It is ueither just nor reasonable that puhlic funds should be used to maintain
trairing schools for the exclu11ive benefit of a particular employer.
There are similar abuses in similar trades and industrial arts schools throughout
the country.II
Another criticism of vocational training under the Smith-Hughes
Act offered by labor organizations was that school authorities in many
places failed to consider the labor point of view in planning and developing the content of vocational programs. AB a result, said the
unions, not enough attention was paid in the vocational schools to
explaining the purposes and functions of labor unions and labor
legislation.
Employers also criticized the vocational schools, chiefly for not
turning out workers with well-developed skills in the trades and industries and for not providing training in many fields where trained
workers were needed. Retail selling was often cited as an example
of a field in which many youth found employment but for which
training was not available in the Smith-Hughes schools.
In the years 1932-1934 enrollment decreased sharply in the trade
and industrial programs, although it increased somewhat in the
agricultural p_rograms and held its own · in the home economics
10 Snedden, David A., "Whither Vocational Education?" Occu11at101111, Vol.
XV, No. 5, February 1937, pp. 389-394.
11 American Federation of Labor, Metal Trades Department, Proceedings of
the Twenty-seventh Annual Convention, Atlantic City, 1935, pp. 57-58, 79.
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XX • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
programs. This was a period marked by a general decline in the
amount of Federal funds expended for vocational training, a decline
due largely to the inability of certain communities to raise sufficient
funds for matching the Federal money that was ave.ilable under the
Smith-Hughes Act and supplementary legislation. 12
In 1929 the George-Reed Act had provided for a cumulative increase of $500,000 each year for Smith-Hughes training; and its successor, the George-Ellzey Act of 1934, provided $3,000,000 per year
over and above the basic Smith-Hughes appropriation for the years
1935-1937. 13 As the expiration of the George-Ellzey Act approached,
a new bill was prepared by the American Vocational Association to
increase Federal support for vocational education. It was finally
passed in slightly revised form and approved by President Roosevelt
in June 1936. Known as the George-Deen Act, it took cognizance
of the criticisms cited above and went a long way toward removing
the basis for them. It more than doubled the Federal funds ave.ilable
each year for vocational training, temporarily eased the "matching"
provision required of the States, prohibited the improper use of funds
in private factories for "training apprentices," and extended the
training programs to the distributive occupations (notably rete.il
trade). 1' This act, like the Smith-Hughes Act, is still in effect.
THE CURRENT STATUS OF SMITH-HUGHES TRAINING
;
By 1939 there were some 1,200 public vocational schools in the
United States (compared with about 29,000 "white-collar" high
schools). In the year ending June 30, 1939, the Federal Government
spent $19,433,000 for vocational training subsidies; and for every
Federal dollar spent, State and local governments furnished $1.71 in
order to maintain their vocational schools. 16
In 1939 enrollment in federally aided vocational schools and classes
passed the 2-million mark. It had doubled in the decade since 1929.
11 Deffenbaugh, W. S., EjJecu of the Depression Upon Public Elementary and
Secondary Schools and Upon College, and Universitiea, Bulletin, 1937, No. 2,
Office of Education, U. S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C., 1938,
p. 34.
11 Russell and Associates, op cit., pp. 18-19.
14 49 Stat. L. 1488-1490 (1936).
See Russell and Associates, op. cit., pp. 21 ff.
Commercial courses have never been included under the Federal plan because
existing secondary schools have provided ample training of this sort. The
Federal subsidy has been reserved mainly for those programs requiring expensive
shop equipment or technical instruction, and which would therefore have been
taught adequately in only a few communities if Federal assistance had not been
available.
15 Lloyd, John H., "Expanding the Office of Education," American Teacher,
Vol. XXIV, No. 8, April 1940, pp. 46-47. See also Time, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1,
No. 1, July 8, 1940, p. 38.
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INTRODUCTION • XXI
Most of the increase, however, was in agriculture and home economics
rather than in trade and industrial programs. (See appendix table I.)
Of the 2 million persons in vocational schools jn the school year
1938-39, just under half were in "all-day" (full-time) training programs. The full-time trainees, the group with which this study is
primarily concerned, increased by about 17 percent from 1937-38
to 1938-39.
The 196,000 youth in full-time trade and industrial programs are of
particular interest because of the reported shortages of skilled industrial labor in recent months. The number of youth enrolled in
such programs showed a smaller increase than did the number in
any other type of all-day program; but even so, it rose almost 7
percent from 1938 to 1939. (See appendix table 2.)
Besides the general trend toward expansion of vocational training
shown in the above figures, there are several other significant recent
and current trends in Smith-Hughes training in the secondary schools
which should be noted. First is a reaction against the extreme specialization of training advocated a decade or more ago. An increasing
number of authorities in this field have come to believe that since
occupational needs and technological processes change rapidly, there
should be more emphasis on general background material and less on
detailed skills in the vocational schools, particularly in the early years
of the training programs. 11
There is also a trend toward the diversification of training in the
larger urban centers, and toward the development of State or regional
trade schools established to meet the needs of smaller communities
which cannot afford separate vocational schools. 17 By these devices
the vocational training system is able to meet needs of youth whom it
had formerly failed to reach.
A third trend in recent years has been a gradual increase in the age
of youth who enroll in full-time Smith-Hughes classes. Formerly
many such youth were 14 to 16 years of age at entrance; today very
few are under 16, and many are 18 years of age or over. This has
been due partly to the fact that vocational schools in many cities
select older youth, or even high-school graduates, whenever possible.
Marked interest has also been shown recently in the development of
technical vocational courses in junior collegcs. 18
18 See Education for American Life, The Regents' Inquiry Into the Character
and Cost of Public Education in the State of New York, New York: The McGrawHilJ Book Co., Inc., 1938, p. 22; and RuSl!ell and Associates, op. cit., pp. 215-216.
17 Digest of Annual Reports of Stale Boards for Vocational
Education to the U.S.
Office of Education, Vocational Division, Fiscal Year Ended June SO, 1939, U. S.
Office of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington, D. C., 1940, pp. 36-37.
11 Ibid., p. 36.
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XXII • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
A final important_ trend in the development of secondary school
vocational training programs has been an increasing emphasis upon
cooperation with labor and employers in planning local programs and
policies. 111 This has helped to remove some of the causes of the criticism long directed by labor against the vocational training system.
Vocational training as it exists today in the public schools still
leaves much to be desired, especially if it is assumed that every individual should have some sort of occupational training .., A relatively
small minority of urban high schools offer Smith-Hughes courses, and
there are many lines of work for which no training is available in the
public vocational schools. Before extending the scope and changing
the content of present-day training, however, it is necessary to find
out to what extent our training system is successful and which types
of training have been and are most productive of success in securing
related employment, so that any expansion or development of vocational training may have the soundest possible basis.
VOC.ATIONAL TRAINING DURING THE DEFENSE PERIOD
It will be well, in passing, to describe briefly some of the special
types of vocational training which have been developed to meet the
short-term needs of the defense program.
Since the Battle of France, in May 1940, vocational training both for
youth and for older workers has received great impetus. During the
first 18 months of the defense effort, through November 1941, nearly
2½ million persons enrolled for specialized training in order to qualify
for jobs in defense industries. Some 1,200 public vocational and
trade schools, 155 colleges and universities, and 10,000 public school
shops assisted with this program. About 800,000 of these workers
received supplementary training, in order to enable them to advance
to more complex types of jobs than they were then holding; another
700,000 were in preemployment refresher courses, many of them
displaced workers from nondefense industries; the National Youth
Administration gave defense training to more than 400,000 youth; and
still others were trained by the CCC, Army, Civil Aeronautics Authority, Maritime Commission, and other agcncil'S. Most of these training courses lasted only a few months-as little as 8 weeks in the case
of some of the preemployment and supplementary training courses.
An additional 2 million persons, not included in the figures just
quoted, had received in-plant training in defense factories, under
Ibid., pp. 9-10, 41.
John Dale Russell expre,-;1<es this point of view 88 follows: " . . . on practical
as well as theoretical grounds, and from a social as well 88 from an individualistic
point of view, it is necessary to equip every young person for some occupation eo
that he may contribute effectively to the satisfaction of human wants." (Op. cit.,
p. 175.)
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INTRODUCTION • XXIII
arrangements made by employers with the OPM Labor Division,
during the first year and a half of the emergency.
One source of information on the nature and results of short-term
defense training is a monthly report of the Bureau of Employment
Security, Social Security Board, on preemployment refresher training.
For the first 11 months of 1941 the B. E. S. had data for 303,170
registrants in such courses. Of these, 53 percent were under 25 years
of age, and 97 percent were white. Over 31 percent of the entire
group were trained in machine-shop work, another 21 percent had
courses in aviation services, and welding and sheet-metal work were
next in order of frequency. The total number of workers leaving
their training courses and the total number obtaining employment
unfortunately are not known. But of 79,600 who were placed in jobs
by or whose jobs were known to public employment offices, 87 percent
obtained work utilizing their training. The proportion of skilled
workers getting jobs utilizing their training was 95 percent; of semiskilled workers, 94 percent; of unskilled workers, 64 percent; of clerical
workers, 28 percent; and of service workers, only 5 percent. 11
A somewhat more comprehensive report on preemployment refresher
training, available in unpublished form at the United States Office of
Education, shows that of approximately 250,000 persons whose preemployment training was completed by June 30, 1941, about 145,000,
or 58 percent, obtained employment; but the latter group contained
some duplication, and included some jobs of very short duration.
From these figures it may be estimated that not more than half of the
unemployed persons who had completed short-term training courses
had obtained jobs in their fields of training. These over-all results
were not dissimilar to those obtained in the 1938 youth survey,
described in the pre.sent report, in spite of the fact that the defense
training courses were of much shorter duration than full-time SmithHughes training programs. Short-term supplementary and preemployment training had proved quite adequate to fill the needs of industry even in periods of extraordinary emergency as late as June 1941.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT STUDY
It was with a view to supplying needed information as t-0 the results
of secondary school vocational training, as shown by the work histories
of trained youth, that the present study was undertaken. The
Division of Social Research of the Works Progrt>ss Administration
had initiated, in July 1938, a survey of some 30,000 young people in
7 representative cities in different sections of the country. Samples of
21 Bureau of Employment Security, Vocational Training
Aclivit~a of Public
Employment Offices, November 1941, Social Security Board, Washington, D. C.,
1941, Table J-5.
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XXIV • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
youth who graduated from the eighth grade in the years 1929, 1931,
and 1933 were selected so that youth of different ages, who had entered
the labor market at different periods of the depression, could be
studied. The principal results of this larger survey, in terms of the
employment status of youth and their experiences since leaving school,
are embodied in several reports of the Division of Research,11
While this survey of youth in the labor market was being conducted, local authorities in several cities expressed great interest in
seeing any data which would cast light upon tl:ie effectiveness of vocational training. The youth survey provided an unusual opportunity
to study the results of vocational training in terms of employment,
since it covered both the training and the subsequent work histories of
youth. This aspect of the larger survey was therefore singled out for
special study.
Because of difficulties in arriving at a uniform definition of what
constitutes vocational training, the present analysis of the results of
such training is for the most part limited to youth who had entered
full-time day training programs in the federally a.ided vocational
high-school system. The Smith-Hughes Act had established certain
basic standards: namely, uniform courses of study, methods of instruction, and minimum qualifications of teachers; a school year continuing
for at least 9 months; and instruction covering at least 30 hours per
week, with half of the attendance time devoted to practical work.
By studying the results of training acquired under these regulations,
it was possible to draw conclusions more widely applicable than would
have been the case if other less standardized types of occupational
training had been included.
In three of the seven cities in which the survey of youth in the
labor market was carried on, vocational instruction under the SmithHughes Act was not offered during all or part of the period studied.
:n The first of these, entitled Urban Youth: Their Characteri11tia and Eoonomic
Problems, was a preliminary report on the status of youth on July 1, 1938, based on
field tallies in the seven cities. (Series I, No. 24, Division of Research, Works
Progress Administration, Washington, D. C., 1939.) A second report, Dilladvantaged Youth on the Labor Market, by Stanley L. Payne, was a brief account of
the characteristics and labor-market activities of youth in the seven cities who
had been victims of long-time unemployment. (Series I, No. 25, Division of
Research, Work Projects Administration, Federal Works Agency, 1940.) Thirty
Thousand Urban Youth, also by Stanley L. Payne, is a brief, nontechnical summary of the results of the youth survey. (Social Problems Series No. 6, Work
Projects Administration, Federal Works Agency, Washington, D. C., 1940.) A
fourth report, Getting Started: Urban Youth in the Labor Market, by Albert Westefeld, is a more detailed analysis of the experiences of youth in the labor market
throughout the depression. (Monograph No. XXVI, Division of Research,
Work Projects Administration, Federal Works Agency, Washington, D. C., 1942,
in preparation.)
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INTRODUCTION• XXV
The study of vocational training in relation to employment was therefore limited to the remaining four citie&---St. Louis, Birmingham,
Denver, and Seattle.
The number of vocationally trained youth in the original survey
sample (which included on the average less than half of the youth in
the eighth-grade classes of 1929, 1931, and 1933) was too small to
permit detailed analysis of many individual training programs.
The sample of vocationally trained youth was therefore enlarged to
include all youth of the three eighth-grade classes studied who had been
enrolled in a full-time Smith-Hughes training program for one semester
or more. In addition, youth with full-time commercial training in
the vocational schools were interviewed, although this training was not
financed with the help of Smith-Hughes funds. Under this definition
the total number of vocationally trained youth who were interviewed
was just over 3,000, with more than 2,400 of these in St. Louis a.lone.
Because of the large number of trained youth in St. Louis, much of the
detailed analysis of specific training programs and their results had to
be confined to that city.
In the following report chapter I consists of a general discussion of
the problems involved in any evaluation of vocational training.
Chapter II includes a brief analysis of the background and characteristics of vocationally trained youth as contrasted with other youth,
and describes the types of training they acquired. Chapter III
presents a comparison of trained and untrained youth in terms of
economic status. Chapter IV is an analysi,;; of the relationship of
selected types of training which youth had undergone and their success
in getting the kinds of work for which they were trained. Chapter V
includes a study of employment in relation to vocational training in
t,he regular high schools of Seattle as compared with the Smith-Hughes
school in that city and a discussion of the comparative success in the
labor market of youth who had been trained in private vocational
8Chools in all four cities and those who had received Smith-Hughes
training in the public vocational schools. Chapter VI describes the
experiences of trained youth with regard to vocational guidance
and placement and their attitudes toward vocational training. The
concluding chapter is a discussion of some of the questions commonly
raised about vocational training, present.ed in the light of the data
supplied by the present survey.
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SUMMARY
THE PURPOSE of the present study is to supply information regarding the characteristics and work histories of youth who have received
full-time vocational training under the standards established by the
Smith-Hughes Act. The data presented below are based mainly on
interviews with 3,042 such youth in St. Louis, Birmingham, Denver,
and Seattle. Comparisons were also made between Smith-Hughes
trained youth and other youth who were interviewed in the same cities
in connection with the more comprehensive survey of youth in the
labor market.
CHARACTERISTICS AND TRAINING OF THE YOUTH
In spite of the prevalent belief that vocational school students as
a group come from poor social backgrounds, the data gathered indicated that they did not differ significantly in this respect from youth
who did not attend vocational school in the four cities where the
survey was conducted. Family occupational backgrounds and social
status, as measured by average rental values in the districts where the
youth lived, were much the same in the trained and untrained groups.
Nor were the trained youth markedly different from other youth in
scholastic ability, as measured by age at eighth-grade graduation.
In years of education completed, however, Smith-Hughes trained
youth in the four cities were clustered more closely about the average
for all youth than were those without Smith-Hughes training. Fewer
of the trained than of the untrained youth had dropped out of school
at an early age, and only a sixth as many had gone on to college. On
the average, trained youth were only 3 or 4 months behind untrained
youth in total amount of s~hooling completed.
A majority of the trained youth interviewed had been registered
in commercial programs operating under Smith-Hughes standards.
Youth trained in the trades and industries were second, followed by
girls with training in "women's programs" such as home economics,
power sewing, and beauty culture or cosmetology. Students trained
in the arts programs were fewer in number.
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XXVIII • VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
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There was a slight tendency for youth to acquire training in the
same general occupational fields as those in which their fathers usually
worked. The sons and daughters of clerical workers went into the
accounting and secretarial programs, for example, and the sons of
semiskilled workers into the machine-shop program, in a higher proportion of cases than would have been expected on a basis of chance.
But the youth did not follow very closely in their parents' footsteps.
Only a little over a third of all trained youth had completed their
training. Students of cosmetology and the more specialized commercial subjects completed their programs in the highest proportion of
cases. Those who dropped .out gave "preference for work" o.nd "lack
of funds" as their reasons for not completing their training in most
cases.
EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS OF TRAINED YOUTH
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More than nine-tenths of all trained youth had entered the labor
market at some time, and more than four-fifths were still working or
seeking work at the time of i11te1·view. The proportion of all trained
youth who were employed increased fairly steadily until 1937, when a
business recession caused a slight drop in employment. At the time
of interview, as of July 1, 1938, 82 out of every 100 trained youth in
the labor market had jobs, 75 of them in full-time work. The highest
proportion of employment was found among older, white, male youth,
and (except in St. Louis) youth with completed training. In each
city except Seattle, trained youth had slightly more employment than
did untrained youth. This advantage was most apparent among
yom1g men.
'\~lhen the factor of amount of education was taken into account
in the trained and untrained groups, it was found that labor-market
experience was wo1 th about, as much as an equal period of SmithHughes training, as far as assistance in getting jobs was concerned.
The average earnings of trained youth at the time of interview
ranged from $16 per Wl'ek in St. Louis to $18.90 in Denver (wherP
only male youth were included in the group studied). There was no
consistent difference in earnin1-,rs between the trained and untrained
groups as such. Young women had progressively higher earnings as
their period of Smith-Hughes training increnscd in length; but among
young men there wns no indication that Smith-Hughes training paid
dividends in increased earning powPr.
As the trained youth 1-,rrow older their position in the labor market
may compare more favorably with thnt of untrained youth. All
indications from the presPnt survey are, however, that future differences between trui1wd and untrained youth, in terms of employment
and wage status, arc likely to be very small.
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SUMMARY • XXIX
EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO SPECIRC TYPES OF TRAINING
In all but a few instances, the various types of training showed at
least a tendency to lead to employment of a related sort. In general,
trained youth were more likely to go into clerical, skilled, and semi~killed work, and less likely to enter professional, managerial, and
unskilled work, than were untrained youth. Commercially trained
youth went into clerical types of work in a higher proportion of cases
than industrially trained youth went into skilled or semiskilled work.
About three-fifths of all trained youth had at some time had jobs
with some degree of relationship to their training, in each city except
Denver. More young women than young men had worked at jobs
in which their t-raining was of some value to them. About threefourths of all youth with completed training had obtained related
employment, compared with only about half of the youth who did
not complete their training programs.
There were wide differences among the various programs in terms
of the proportion of trainees who obtained related employment.
This was due not only to the quality of the training received and the
state of the labor market, but also to the breadth of the different
fields for which youth were trained. In spite of the prevalent idea
that the schools are training too many youth in commercial oourses,
commercial students, particularly those from the more specialized
programs, proved better able to get related jobs after they left vocational school than did youth with other kinds of training. In St.
Louis almost two-thirds of the commercially trained youth, compared
with a little over half of the youth with training in the trades and
industries and in women's programs, had held jobs with some relationship to their training. The proportion of youth who had had jobs
directly related to their training ranged from 83 percent of the girls
trained in the cosmetology program down to 14 percent of the young
men trained in sheet-metal work.
A month-by-month analysis of the employment status of trained
youth over t,hc period 1930-1938 showed that the proportions employed in their fields of training increased fairly steadily, particularly in
times of rising business activity. The increase, which was especially
large among young women who had left the eighth grade in 1929, was
apparently due to the cumulative effect of trnining, to increasing
maturity and experience, and to the generally rising level of employment after 1933 which gave the youth more chance to choose their jobs.
Both the first jobs and the jobs held at time of interview by those
who had completed their trnining were twice as likely to he directly
related to the training received as were the jobs of those with uncompleted trnining. In St. Louis students with completed training in the
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XXX • VCX.A TIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
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cosmetology, machine-shop, and special commercial programs were
most likely to go into directly related work. Youth with completed
training had jobs of longer average duration than other youth; but
there was no consistent relationship between completion of training
and earnings.
Young men trained in the trades and industries and youth of both
sexes trained in the arts received the highest earnings of all groups of
) trained youth studied in St. Louis. The range of earnings on all
full-time jobs was from an average of $17.40 per week for former
students of drafting down to an average of $10.60 for former cosmetology students. In general, youth trained in women's and commercial programs (principally girls) received the lowest earnings.
It is significant that youth trained in some of the programs which
had the best records for placements on related jobs worked long hours,
had below-average earnings, and showed little increase in earnings
from first job to job held at time of interview. Girls trained in
cosmetology were an outstanding example of this. At the other extreme, young men trained in several programs with low records of
placement in related fields, such as woodwork and sheet-metal work,
earned about as much as the average industrially trained youth.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING OUTSIDE THE SMITH-HUGHES SYSTEM
1
ls vocational training under the Smith-Hughes system superior to
training in the regular high schools and the private vocational
schools? To get at the answer to this question, data were obtained
concerning training of a vocational type in regular high-school classes
(those not under Smith-Hughes standards) in one city. Some data
on the labor-market status of youth trained in private vocational
schools were also gathered in all four cities.
Seattle was the only city where it was possible roughly to compare
the results of Smith-Hughes training with those of other types of
training. Youth who had completed certain minimum requirements
in regular high-school vocational courses there were classed as vocationally trained; and these youth were better off than Smith-Hughes
trained youth in Seattle, both with respect to the proportion having
employment and in terms of the average wages they drew. They
reported less employment that was related to their training, however,
than did youth with Smith-Hughes training at Seattle's Edison
Vocational School. When the Smith-Hughes group was divided into
persons with completed and uncompleted training, the regular highschool trainees fell in between these two groups as far as success in
obtaining related employment was concerned.
A wide variety of private vocational schools were available to
youth in all four cities. On the whole, these schools apparently
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SUMMARY • XXXI
enabled their students to get jobs more readily than youth trained in
the Smith-Hughes schools. The earnings of private vocational school
graduates, however, were no "higher than those of youth in the four
cities who had received no training a.t all. Private vocational schools
tend to attract older, more mature, and more experienced students
than do the public ·schools. This may account in pa.rt for the high
proportion of their graduates who found employment.
GUIDANCE, PLACEMENT, AND ATTITUDES OF TRAINED YOUTH
Only one-sixth of the trained youth who were interviewed reported
having received at school any occupational guidance which led to
their entering Smith-Hughes training programs. In spite of widespread discussion of the need for guidance, in each of the four cities
studied there was too little personnel available to permit extensive
individual counseling. A large majority of youth decided upon their
vocations through the inexpert advice of pa.rents or friends, or because of various chance factors.
Over he.If of all trained youth reported that their vocational training had helped them in getting jobs, and three-fifths said that their
school work had been of assistance to them in working on the job.
These figures were very similar to those obtained from the analysis
of the actual work histories of the youth. Those who were employed
full time at the date of interview, those who had completed their
training programs, girls, white youth, and youth with commercial
training all attributed to their vocational training more than an
average a.mount of assistance in getting jobs.
Of every 20 youth, 19 believed that vocational training should be
expanded in the public schools. A supplementary questionnaire in
Seattle showed that almost a.s high a. proportion of youth outside the
Smith-Hughes school and of the pa.rents of a.II youth held the same
belief.
When asked if they had any criticisms of the vocational training
they had undergone, ha.If of the youth simply said, "It was worth
while." The most common specific criticism, particularly among
youth with completed training, was that the programs offered in
Smith-Hughes schools were incomplete.
Only 8 trained youth in every 100 reported that they had located
1 job or more through the schools, and another 6 said that they had
found work through public or private employment agencies. While
these ratios were twice as high as those which obtained among other
youth, they showed that only a small minority of the youth had been
able to find work through the schools or placement agencies.
When questioned as to their plans for the future, more than threefifths of the trained youth showed their preoccupation with economic
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XXXII • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
problems by stating that they hoped to secure employment, retain or
advance in their present jobs, or get better jobs.
.
CONCLUSIONS
The results of the present study indicate that there is a need for
more adequate vocational guidance for youth, to make possible the
selection of those who are best qualified for training. In addition, the
instruction and equipment used in training programs should be the
sort best calculated to prepare youth for actual conditions on the job.
Specialization of training should be encouraged in fields where no
system of apprenticeship exists, and in other fields the content of the
training programs should be worked out cooperatively by the schools
and the agencies sponsoring apprentices.
The wide differences among youth with various types of training,
as far as their experiences in the labor market were concerned, suggest
that the utmost care should be taken to adjust vocational training
to labor-market needs of the present and the immediate future. This
applies both to the number of youth trained and to the types of training offered. If such an adjustment is not achieved, the skills of trained
youth may be lost through inability to get jobs of thl' sort for which
they are trained.
Placement facilities for youth should be expanded, in order to
minimize unemployment and to place youth in employment in fields
related to training. Finally, on the basis of the experiences of placement agencies and of constant research into labor-market needs,
vocational educators should continually readjust tlwir methods and
their curricula so as to meet the changing ncc-ds of our modem
industrial c-conomy.
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Chapter I
VOCATIONAL TRAINING: THE
PROBLEMS INVOLVED
PueLIC SCHOOL vocational training of a specialized type is a comparatively recent development in this country. Within the space of
a single generation it has evolved from rudimentary "manual training" to an extensive and well-organized system with some 2 million
students registered in federally aided Smith-Hughes vocational schools
alone in 1939.
Because of its newness and the rapidity of its growth, vocational
training is still a highly controversial subject. It means many things
to many people. To the educator it means an opportunity to round
out the school curriculum with practical training of a sort that appeals
to certain types of youth; to the employer it means a source of trained
labor; and to the trade unionist it means on the one hand a valuable
means of obtaining free supplementary training, and on the other a
competitor of the apprenticeship system which may produce an oversupply of trained or partly trained workers to compete with skilled
craftsmen in certain fields. These points of view meet in a common
desire for free public school training which would produce efficient
skilled or semiskilled workers in fields where apprenticeship training
facilities are inadequate to meet labor-market needs.
Most of the issues which arise in discussing and attempting to
evaluate vocational education may be reduced to a few fundamental
problems. Some of these are discussed briefly bclow. 1 The results
of the present survey of vocational trainiug in four cities have considerable bearing on these questions.
1 For a more detailed treatment of the issues involved in vocational training see
Russell, John Dale and Associates, Vocational Education, Staff Study Number 8,
Advisory Committee on Education, Washington, D. C., 1938; and Norton,
Thomas L., Education Jor Work, The Regents' Inquiry Into the Character and
Cost of Public Education in the State of New York, New York: The McGraw-Hill
Book Co., Inc., 1938.
1
45or.06°-42-s
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2 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
SELECTION OF STUDENTS FOR TRAINING
If vocational training is to attain a maximum of efficiency, students
with some aptitude for and interest in the work must be selected for
the various training programs. From the days when industrial arts
and manual training courses were first installed in our public schools,
however, it has been a common practice in many places to send youth ·
who could not make passing grades in academic work into vocational
classes. This was done on the theory that if a youth cannot learn to
use his brain effectively, at least he can learn to use his hands so as to
become a self-supporting member of society. The result has often
been that the brightest students have entered college preparatory
courses, and the next brightest commercial courses, while "industrial
courses were given to pupils who were not able to pass any of the other
courses regardless of their aptitude for industrial work." 1 Several
studies have shown students in vocational schools to be lower in
scholastic aptitudes than students in regular high schools.1 There
is little evidence that this was a serious problem, however, in the
four cities covered by the present study.
·
In some places an attempt is being made to overcome the tendency
to consider vocational training as being primarily for dull students.
In N cw York State only the more capable students are encouraged to
apply for training in the skilled trades.' Another example of a
restrictive policy is to be found at the Thomas A. Edison Vocational
School in Seattle. The forerunner of this school, the Broadway
Opportunity School, was attended mainly by students of low scholastic
achievement. Gradually, however, standards were raised until by
1938 a rigid selection of students was being made by the Edison school,
and a majority of its full-time day students were high-school graduates.
Under this policy the level of vocational training is raised; but youth
who cannot qualify for trade programs are forced to take commercial
courses or no vocational work at all.
If it be admitted that vocational training is most valuable when it
is given to youth who are best equipped by ability and temperament
to profit by it, selection of candidates for such training is necessary,
even though some less able youth are excluded from the vocational
schools. This implies an efficient system of vocational guidance to
gauge the abilities of youth and to counsel them regarding opportunities in the various fields of work to which they are attracted.
1 Eckert, Ruth E. and Marshall, Thomas 0., When Youth Leave School, The
Regents' Inquiry Into the Character and Cost. of Public Education in the State
of New York, Kew York: The McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1938, p. 314.
1 Norton, op. cit., p. 65.
'Ibid., pp. 60-61.
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VOCATIONAL TRAINING • 3
Various studies indicate, however, that only a. minority of students
receive any vocational guidance a.t a.ll. 6
THE CONTENT OF VOC.ATIONAL INSTRUCTION
A debate has long been raging over the question of genera.I versus
specific types of vocational instruction. Should our vocational schools
try to tum out finished craftsmen? Or should courses on the secondary school level be limited to giving a. genera.I background of information about a group of related courses, leaving the acquisition of manipulative skills until the youth is further advanced, either in school or on
the job?
Proponents of the former policy, mainly employers, argue that vocational training is of little practical benefit unless it enables youth to go
directly into skilled employment. Their opponents, chiefly labor
groups, claim that youth cannot learn real skills under classroom conditions, but only on the job. The secondary school, they say, should
give the youth a. cha.nee to study and sample various types of work
open to him; and once he has made a. tentative choice of occupations,
it should give him a general social and economic background in his
field-a phase of training which has often been neglected. He should
also become acquainted with labor and social legislation which may
affect him when he goes to work. Under such a system, in the la.st
year or two of his vocational program he would be taught certain
basic skills which would a.id him in getting his first job. The more
difficult skills would be learned either on the job or in a.n advanced
training course extending beyond the secondary school level.8
These two viewpoints can, of course, be reconciled. In trades
where a.n apprenticeship system exists, the schools can cooperate with
the employers or unions sponsoring such a system. As long as it
operates efficiently in supplying the labor-market need for skilled workers, the schools could give only general background or supplementary
training to help in turning out well-educated, expert workers. This is
desirable because it means a closer coordination of training with labormarket needs, and because physical skills can best be learned by actual
practice on the job.
In fields where no adequate system of apprenticeship is in operation,
specialize. tion of training is necessary for best results. This is particularly
6 For example, of 13,000 Maryland youth interviewed in 1936, less than a fourth
of all youth (less than a third of all urban youth) had received vocational guidance.
(Bell, Howard M., Youth Tell Their Story, American Council on Education,
American Youth Commission, Washington, D. C., 1938, p. 74.)
• See Education for American Life, The Regents' Inquiry Into the Character and
Cost of Public Education in the State of New York, New York: The McGraw-Hill
Book Co., Inc., 1938, p. 22.
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4 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
true outside the industrial training fields, where there are no apprenticeship systems. General training should not he neglected, however, in
any case. A background of general knowledge and scientific theory
should he a part of every trained youth's schooling, in order to lay
the groundwork for the acquisition of new skills on the job. If this
aspect of training is neglected, the trained worker will be less able
to adapt himself to changing economic and technological conditions.
It should be recognized that training in vocational school probably
will never be able to replace actual experience on the job in turning
out skilled industrial workers with well-rounded practical training.
There a.re several reasons for this. First, conditions in the school
shop will never be the same as conditions in the workshop or factory;
the school, with its limited finances, can hardly hope to equal the
variety of processes and the complexity of machinery used on the job.
Second, the youth in vocational school is younger and le.ss experienced
than the average young worker. He must also he protected from
certain of the dangers which exist on the job, for an accident in the
vocational school shop might reflect discredit on the school. In some
trades, such as machine shop, the scope of his training is therefore
limited to the simplest and lea.st dangerous types of work.
The present study casts some light on this whole issue by evaluating
the results of various sorts of training. The results of general and
specialized training, as well as of the different programs and types of
programs, will be compared whenever possible.
VOC.ATIONAL TRAINING IN RELATION TO LABOR-MARKET NEEDS
The number of trained youth tumed out by a particular program
should correspond closely to the number of job openings in that field,
if labor-market needs are to be met and if at the same time all trained
youth a.re to have at least a good cha.nee of getting employment that
is related to their vocational school work. Complaints from employers
and from labor indicate that the vocational schools frequently fail to
regulate the number of youth trained so as to bring a.bout this close
relationship.
In one conference of educators, employers, and labor unionists, for
instance, employers of labor in the needle trades and in the printing
industry claimed that they needed more skilled labor. Union representatives maintained, on the other hand, that many skilled clothing
workers were unemployed, and that in the printing industry sufficient
apprentices were being trained to meet labor-market needs. 7 In one
of the cities covered by the present survey the auto mechanics' union
complained in 1938 that the local Smith-Hughes school was training
7
"Iutcgration of Occupational T~aining and Emplofillent" (Report of Conference on Employment and Guidance, Wclfar<' Council of New York City, November 19, 1937), Occupations. January 1938, pp. 3-10 345.
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Public l\'orka Admi11iatrutio11.
" ... a barkground of gPneral knowledge . . . to lay lh<' groundwork for the
arquisition of new ski//.<; ... "
•
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VOCATIONAL TRAINING •
5
too many auto mechanics, who entered the labor market with little
practical experience and took low-paid jobs at a time when many
skilled union members were unemployed.
In part this sort of conflict is unavoidable. Employers and labor
representatives are nearly always in disagreement as to the number of
new workers needed at a given time. Furthermore, the need for labor
fluctuates, so it is usually impossible to tell more than a. few months
ahead how many workers will be able to find jobs. For example, in
1938 and 1939 there were tens of thousands of unemployed machinists,
toolmakers, and dieme.kers; but in 1940 the supply of highly skilled
workers in these fields was running very low.
There seems no doubt that expansion of public school vocational
training is desirable in fields where no adequate apprenticeship training
is available or where there is a shortage of trained workers. It would
be particularly useful in lines of work for which there has been, until
recently at least, no formal training. For example, in the field of
domestic service, standardized training, such as that given on Work
Projects Administration and National Youth Administration training
projects, tends to raise the efficiency and ea.ming power of the workers.
Expansion of training for many types of skilled jobs in the defense
industries was also necessary in 1940 and 1941.
The extension of vocational training beyond the high-school level
is certainly desirable in order that mature, highly skilled technice.l
workers may be turned out. Severe.I educational surveys have recommended that provisions be made for giving advanced vocational training at the thirteenth and fourteenth grade levels in technical institutes
or postgi:aduate courses, to train technice.l assistants and highly
skilled workers. 8 Such a plan would provide valuable training on a
higher level than is now available in Smith-Hughes vocational schools,
in such fields as laboratory research.
The public vocational schools still reach a comparatively small
minority of youth. In 1930 only about 8 percent of the high schools
in urban centers offered vocational training in trades and industries
under the Smith-Hughes plan. Today the proportion is somewhat
larger, especially since the defense program has given new impetus to
training of the trade and industrial type. The New York Regents'
Inquiry me.into.ins, however, that vocational adjustment should be the
schools' responsibility to all youth, and that democratic education
must give every child "the opportunity to pursue that type of education which will best advance his own welfare in ways consistent with
the welfare of society." ' Such a policy would en tail the expansion
8 Norton, op. cit., p. 142.
See also A Survey of the Common School System of
Washington, Washington State Planning Council, Olympia, Sept. 24, 1938, p. 56.
• Norton, op. cit., p. 141.
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6 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
of training facilities in the schools on the basis of long-range planning
rather than one of immediate needs, and also considerable revision
of the curricula of vocational and other secondary schools.
The ~chools have a responsibility to the employers to supplement
the labor supply witli skilled workers where they are needed; a responsibility to labor not to flood the labor market with too great a
supply of partly skilled workers and thereby drive wages down; and
a responsibility to the students not to tum out trained youth in such
numbers that many cannot find jobs, with the result that they lose
their skills and their morale suffers. Whether these three obligations
can be reconciled by a process of planning the training programs in
cooperation with labor and industry and providing for rapid expansion
of training facilities when new needs arise, is a problem of major
importance in the vocational field.
VOCATIONAL PLACEMENT
The training of youth for useful occupations is only a part of the
problem of vocational adjustment. It must be preceded by effective
vocational guidance and followed by efficient placement to insure that
knowledge and skill, once acquired, will be used .
.The placement of youth is a more difficult problem than the placement of more mature workers, because many youth have had no specialized training or work experience. For this reason specialized
placement agencies catering to the youth group are desirable-agencies
which can offer youth advice and counsel as well as opportunities for
placement. In the last few years junior placement services embodying these functions have greatly increased in number. Three principal
agencies have participated separately or in cooperation with one
another in the extension of junior placement facilities: the United
·states Employment Service, the National Youth Administration, and
the public schools. In addition to public placement agencies open to
all youth, most vocational schools take some responsibility for the
placement of their graduates.
Many cities, however, still have no special placement offices for
youth. Where such offices exist many unemployed youth do not take
advantage of them, and only a minority of those who do apply are
successfully placed on permanent jobs. This failure of junior placement offices to serve a majority of youth may be attributable in individual cases to depressed labor-market conditions, lack of guidance
and training prior to application for employment, inadequately staffed
placement offices, lack of cooperation between schools and public
employment services, or any combination of these factors.
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VOCATIONAL TRAINING • 7
RESEARCH IN THE VOCATIONAL AELD
An efficient system of vocational adjustment depends in large part
on the development of an adequate research program. Some research
on occupational trends has been done by Federal agencies, but for the
most part it has remained for private organizations to popularize this
research and to make the current facts about vocational opportunities
available to the educator and the youth in need of guidance. 10 A few
local communities have made surveys of job opportunities for youth,
but the technique of such surveys is rudimentary as yet.
Follow-up studies to assess the actual value of vocational training
are almost completely lacking. Many vocational schools keep records
of the number of their graduates who obtain first jobs, but few .schools
check on them again once they have been placed. Several schools
and school boards have made cursory surveys of employment and
unemployment among youth. 11 But for the most part these have
been limited to high-school graduates, ignoring students who have
dropped out. Some of these surveys have been based on mail questionnaires, with only partial returns; and as a rule they have been
aimed only at determining the general situation as to employment and
unemployment, without regard to vocational training.
In only a few cases have local surveys attempted to compare youth
with vocational training in the public schools with other young people
as to employment and earnings. In 1937 the Regents' Inquiry surveyed 1,641 graduates of regular high schools in New York State and
324 graduates of specialized vocational schools, all of whom had
graduated from 6 to 11 months before. It was found that only 11
percent of the male vocational school graduates were jobless, compared with 26 percent of the boys without training. Corresponding
figures for the girl graduates were 37 and 46 percent. The boy vocational school graduatl's earned an average of $18.50 per week, compared with $14.63 for the boy graduates of regular high schools. About
63 percent of the boy vocational school graduates and 79 percent of
the girl graduates who were employed were working at the types of
jobs for which they had been trained. A third of the boy graduates
and two-thirds of the boy withdrawals from vocational schools said
that they were not even partly trained for the jobs they held. 12
10
See, for example, the magazines Occupation& and Vocational Trendll; also
Occupational Outlines of America'a Major Occupaliona, 1940, and the series of
occupational monographs published by Science Research Associates, Chicago, Ill.
11 See particularly studies made by school authorities in Baltimore, Md.;
Minneapolis, Minn.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Denver, Colo.; and Springfield, Mo.; also
Jessen, Carl A.; and Hutchins, H. Clifton, Youth: Community Survey11, Bulletin
No. 18-VI, U. S. Office of Education, U. S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C., 1936.
11 Norton, op. cit., pp. 16-24.
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8 • VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Another study, made in Philadelphia, disclosed that less than twothirds of the graduates from trade and industrial courses were working in occupations related to their training. •a A survey made in Essex
County, N. J., in 1935 indicated that of the trained white youth 16
to 24 years of age who had jobs, two-thirds of the girls but le.ss than
half of the boys were working in occupations for which they were
trained. 14
A survey of working youth under 18 years of age in six States, made
by the Children's Bureau of the United States Department of Labor
in 1936, showed a still smaller proportion of employment in field of
training on the last jobs of vocationally trained youth. Only 19
percent of the young trained workers 16 and 17 years of age, and 8
percent of those under 16, were working at jobs in which they used
their training. Of the 16- and 17-year-old workers who had had
some training but had failed to complete any definite course, only 13
percent were employed on jobs related to their training, compared with
43 percent of those who had completed their training. 16 But the fact
that this group consisted only of youth under 18 makes it hardly comparable with the group studied in the present survey, which comprised
for the most part young workers 18 to 24 years of age.
Very little has been done either by private or by Federal agencies,
however, to determine the result.s of specific vocational training programs in terms of actual employment. According to the report of the
Advisory Committee on Education:
Research of an evaluative type has been very limited in the Federal program
of vocational education, and yet this type of r!'scarch is a fundamental necessity
to sound development. . . . Little or no evidence has been gathered regarding
the results or effectiveness of the instruction given.1 6
In order to aid in the planning of vocational training programs,
frequent surveys should be made, not only to measure trends in employment in various localities and regions, but also to determine the
relative succpss of graduatl's from each program in obtaining jobs
11 Pavan, Ann, "A Follow-up Study of Philadelphia Public School Graduates,
1935," Occupatiorui, Vol. XVI, No. 3, December 1937, pp. 252-259. See also
How Fare Philadelphia Public School Graduates, Junior Employment Service of
the School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania State Employment Service,
affiliated with U. S. Employment Service, Philadelphia, Pa., February 1939.
14 Coming of Age in Eaaex County, Essex County Superintendent of Schools and
lJniverRity of Newark Re!<<>arch Center, Newark, N. J., 1939, pp. 16-20, 31-32.
1a Wood, Helen, Young Workera and Their Jobs in 1936: A SurtJey in Su Statu,
Publication No. 249, t:. 8. Departm!'nt of Labor, Children's Bureau, Washhigton,
D. C., 1940, p. 25.
11 Russel, op. cit., p. 49.
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VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING • 9
related to their training. An annual survey of employment opportunities and of the employment status of trained youth by school
authorities in each community where Smith-Hughes training is
offered would help to provide the information necessary for evaluating
the various programs and for planning their expansion or contraction,
locally and nationally.
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Chapter II
CHARACTERISTICS AND TRAINING
OF THE YOUTH
BEFORE ATTEMPTING to evaluate the results of Smith-Hughes
vocational training in terms of employment and earnings, it is necessary to discuss briefly the characteristics of the youth who received
training and the types of training they received.
CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAINED YOUTH
The characteristics of youth may be conveniently divided into four
categories: their social and economic backgrounds, their scholastic
abilities, the education they have completed, and their sex and racial
composition as a group. The present study showed practically no
difference in social-economic status between Smith-Hughes trained
youth and other or "untrained" youth; 1 nor were there any significant
differences between trained and untrained youth in scholastic ability,
except possibly in Birmingham. A comparison of the two groups as to
sex and race showed some differences, however. The trained group
showed a marked preponderance of girls (in St. Louis and Seattle),
and an underrepres('Iltation of Negroes. Apparently such selection
as had occurred was based mainly on sex and race, rather than on social
backgrounds and abilities.
1 Unle88 otherwise specified, the terms "vocationally trained" and "SmithHughes trained" are used interchang<>,ahly throughout this report to signify youth
with one semester or more of full-time training under Smith-Hughes standards,
whether or not that training was actually financed by Smith-Hughes funds, and
whether or not it was completed. "Untrained," unless otherwise specified,
means those without as much as one semester of Smith-Hughes type training,
although "untrained" youth may have had coul'BCB of a vocational nature in regular
high schools or in private schools.
11
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12 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Social and Economit: Badc9rounch
There were no important differences between the youth with and
without Smith-Hughes training as far as their parents' occupations
were concerned. Half of both the trained youth and the untrained
youth in St. Louis said that their fathers were skilled or semiskilled
workers. 2 The only consistent difference between the two groups was
that the trained youth wAre a little more likely than the untrained
youth to have fathers who were skilled workers. This was true in each
of the f(?ur cities. (See appendix table 3.)
The youth who took vocational training came from poorer homes
than the average in Denver and Seattle; but in the other two cities
fewer Smith-Hughes trained youth came from low-rental areas, and
more from medium-rental areas, than was true of youth as a whole.1
(See appendix table 4.)
Scholastic Ability
There was no statistically reliable evidence that the trained youth
were markedly inferior as studm1ts to the other youth. One measure of
scholastic ability is age at the time of eighth-grade graduation. By
this criterion trained youth were approximately eqnnl to untrained
youth in average ' age in three of the four cities. The only notable
variation was in Birmingham, where trained youth were on the average
6 months older than other youth when they completed grnde school.
(See appendix table 5.) This difference might have been accentuated
if Negro youth hnd been eliminated from the untrnined group, to
render it more fully comparable with the trnined group. since SmithHughes training was not available to Negro youth in Birmingham.
Another check on school aptitudes, availuble only iu Birmingham,
wns a tabulation of the results of the 10 Stanford Achievement Tests.
This showed that vocationally trained youth in thnt city were about
equal in average scholastic achievement to other youth of the snme ngPs.
But when tlw trained and m1trained groups were made compnrnhle
by the elimination of the N cgroes from the untrained group, there wus
2 In determining the father's occupational classification, the occupation followed
longest during the previous 10 years was choRen. There was probably a tendency
on the part of the youth to report a higher percentage of fathers' jobs as being in
the occupations with the greatest amount of prestige, and a lower percentage in
semiskilled and unskilled occupations, than was actually the case.
1 Low-rental areas were defined as those inhabited by approximately the bottom
25 percent of all youth (in terms of average rentals paid by their families). The
medium-rental group included roughly the middle 50 percent, and the high-rental
group the top 25 percent, of all youth in terms of the rent paid by their parents.
• Unless otherwise specified, the term "average" refers to the median throughout
this M'port when data gathered in the present survey are under consideration.
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CHARACTERISTICS AND TRAINING • 13
11. siguificaut difference between the two groups. All white youth in
Birmingham had an average score of 8.72 on the battery of tests,
compared with 8.13 for the trained (white) youth only, on a scale
where 8.8 (representing the eighth month of the eighth school grade)
was the expected average. The principal difference between the
trained and untrained groups lay in the range of scores rather than in
the averages. The trained youth seemed to be clustered more closely
about the average, with fewer very bright or very dull students, than
the untrained youth. 6
Although the.re seems to have been at one time a tendency to send
Birmingham youth of comparatively poor abilities to vocational
school, this seems largely to have been corrected. According to one
youth trained as an auto mechanic in that city:
In the 2 years I was at Paul Hayne, the school had the reputation of being a
catchall for misfits-boys who couldn't make the grade in regular academic
classes or who couldn't adju"t to high-school discipline. But the auto mechanics
teacher was a fine man and the students in that course were mostly high-school
graduates so it was a good course. The other courses seem to be pretty good now,
too-at least the school has a better reputation these days.
Taking the four cities together, trained youth tended to approximate the average for the whole youth group in scholastic abilities,
as well as in social and economic backgrounds.
Education Completed
The youth were divided into three groups of roughly equal sizethe eighth-grade graduating classes of 1929, 1931, and 1933. (See
appendix table 6.) This basic prerequisite for inclusion in the sample,
together with the fact that trained youth were defined as those who
had completed at least one semester of secondary school study in a
Smith-Hughes vocational program, explains the fact that few of the
trained youth had received less than 9 years of schooling.
Vocationally trained youth were slightly below untrained youth
in average amount of schooling completed in three of the four cities.
This was only natural, since fewer of the trained youth took college
preparatory work in high school and fewer went on to college.0 On
1 Of the trained youth, 18 percent received scores below 7 and only 6 percent
rated 10 or more on the Stanford teRts, which was over a year in advance of the
"normal" attainment. Of the untrained youth, 28 percent received scores below
7, and 15 percent rated 10 or more.
6
In St. Louis, for example, only 3 percent of the trained youth interviewed
had completed l year or more of college, compared with 10 percent for untrained
youth. It should be explained, however, that Smith-Hughes work was never
tabulated in the present study as extending beyond the twelfth grade, so that
youth who took postgraduate work in full-time Smith-Hughes programs would
be shown as having completed only 12 years of school, unless they went on to
college.
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14 • VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
the other hand, only 3 percent of trained youth in St. Louis dropped
out of school before completing the ninth grade, as compared with
28 percent of untrained youth in the same city. Thus the trained
youth were predominantly an "average" group in amount of schooling, with few cases of extremely high or low educational atta.inment. 7
(See appendix table 7.)
Youth who completed their vocational training went further in
school than those who failed to complete their programs. The former
group averaged over 12 years of school completed, compared with
only 11 years for those who dropped out of vocational school.
Composition
of the Group
Most of the trained youth studied-57 percent-were young women.
This compares with about 52 percent of young women among all
youth interviewed in the same cities.8 The actual proportions of
young men and women varied greatly from city to city, however,
according to the types of training offered. (See appendix table 8.)
In Denver only boys had received training, because the only full-time
Smith-Hughes programs offered at West High School were industrial
in nature. In Binningham 30 percent of the trained youth interviewed were girls, compared with 60 percent in St. Louis and 66
percent in Seattle. These differences in the sex composition of
various trained groups_ must be kept in mind in all comparisons between trained and untrained youth, between trained youth in the
different cities, and between youth in the various types of training
programs. The sex factor is particularly important where earnings
are under discussion.
Nearly all the youth studied (96 percent) were of the white race.
In St. Louis about 13 percent of all white youth interviewed, compared
with 10 percent of the Negro youth interviewed, had had SmithHughes work. No Smith-Hughes training was available to Negroes
in the Birmingham secondary school system, in spite of the large size
of the Negro group there. N egrocs were therefore unde1Tepresented
in both St. Louis and Birmingham.
' In St. Louis well over half of the trained youth left school before completing
the twelfth grade. An even greater proportion of untrained youth dropped out of
school before finishing high school, however-58 percent as against 53 percent in
St. Louis. As a result, trained youth in that city had, on the average, 7 or 8
months more education than untrained youth. In other words, although a larger
proportion of untrained than of trained youth went to college, the average
level of education in St. Louis was so low that in the process of attending vocational schools, the average trained youth passed the average level of educational
attainment of untrained youth.
' Sec Payne, Stanley L., Thirty Thousand Urban Youth, Social Problem Series
No. 6, Work Projects Administration, Federal Works Agency, Washington,
D. C., 1940.
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CHARACTERISTICS AND TRAINING •
15
The average age of the vocationally trained youth varied from just
under 21 to just over 22 yea.rs in the four cities at the time of interview
(July 1, 1938). Ninety-seven percent of the trained group ranged
from 18 to 24 years of age. (See appendix table 9.)
In summary, the characteristics of vocationally trained youth were
not very different from those of other youth in the four cities covered
by the present study. Such variations e.s did appear suggested that
trained youth clustered more closely a.round the average than did
other youth in terms of social backgrounds, scholastic aptitudes, and
amounts of education. The principal differences between the two
groups were that more of the trained than of the untrained youth
were girls and were white youth.
WHERE THE YOUTH WERE TRAINED
There were wide variations among· the four cities included in this
survey in terms of the age, size, and scope of their respective vocational
school systems. St. Louis had the oldest and largest system of vocational training of the four cities. Courses of a vocational nature were
first introduced into the public schools of that city in 1907, and they
ca.me under the Smith-Hughes Act in 1922. In 1927 the present Hadley Vocational School we.a established for white students, and 2 years
later the Booker T. Washington School was opened for Negroes, both
under the Smith-Hughes plan. All full-time, day training programs
have been given in these schools in recent yea.rs.
Denver had Smith-Hughes training as early e.s 1917, but only for
evening and pa.rt-time work. From 1929 to July 1938, the period covered by the study, full-time Smith-Hughes industrial courses were given
in West High School (where the Denver youth studied here were
trained), but these courses have since been dropped. Seattle and Birmingham opened their present vocational schools in 1930.
A much higher percentage of all youth in St. Louis (all those interviewed in the survey of youth in the labor market) had had some
full-time vocational work than had youth in the other cities.
The number hauing
Of _,-y 100 youth interviewed in
full-time vocational
the original youth 11ur11ey in:
training wa11:
St. Louis_______________________________________________ 12
Birmingham_ _____ ______________________________________ 3
Denver_________________________________________________
Seattle_________________________________________________
1
3
The number of vocationally trained students actually interviewed
in St. Louis was 2,461, compared with 293 in Seattle, 217 in Birmingham, and only 71 in Denver. St. Louis therefore bulks much larger
in the present study than the other three cities combined.
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16 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
THE NATURE OF THE TRAINING
There were considerable differences in the types of full-time programs
offered under Smith-Hughes standards in the four cities. St. Louis
offered the largest number of training programs, with Seattle and
Birmingham next. Denver's West High School offered only three
progra.ms-----auto mechanics, electricity, and machine shop-the only
programs which were offered in all four of the survey cities.
Typa of Pro9ra1U
Over ha.If of the trained youth had been registered in clerical or
other white-collar programs. (The great majority of these were in
St. Louis; the proportion of youth with such training was lower in the
other three cities.) Most of the programs in this field were not fine.need
with the help of Federal funds; but all were taught under regulations
similar to those which prevailed in the federally aided programs. About
a third of the youth were in trade and industrial programs, and the remainder were in women's trades and the arts. (See appendix table 10.)
There was a sharp cleavage between the sexes in types of training.
Girls made up the great majority of commercial students. Labormarket entrants with training in the industrial programs were males,
with one exception; and those who had been in women's programs
were females, with one exception. Students of both sexes were found
in all of the principal commercial courses as well as in all of the arts
programs. (See appendix table 11.)
C-pletlon of Tralnln9
Only a little over a third of the trained youth ' had actually completed their vocational studies. Failure to complete a program, however, did not necessarily denote le.ck of success in that field. Vocational training is training for jobs; and if youth were able to get jobs
in their particular fields before finishing their programs, as was sometimes the case, they may perhaps be counted among the most successful.
Of the labor-market entrants, more girls than boys completed their
training in the four cities combined-43 percent of the girls as age.inst
32 percent of the boys (appendix table 11). The margin of difference
in this direction was large in Seattle and St. Louis; but in Birmingham
more boys than girls had completed their programs.
Of el/f/ry 100 boya, the number
with completed trainAmong youth trained in:
ing wa.,:
St. Louis_______________
28
Binning ham_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
52
Denver_________________
Seattle_________________
42
Of every 100 girla, tk number
with completed training waa:
40
38
29
67
• See footnote 1, p. 11.
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CHARACTERISTICS AND TRAINING • 17
The youth who completed their training were, on the average,
almost half a year younger at the time of their eighth-grade graduation
and at the time of interview than the youth with incomplete training. 10
Negroes stayed with their training more frequently than whites; the
smaller number of jobs available for Negro youth may have lessened
the temptation for them to leave school.
There was a wide variation by program in the proportions of students following the training through to completion. Heading the list
were students in cosmetology or beauty culture, 94 percent of whom
completed their programs in St. Louis. Students in highly specialized
courses, such as secretarial work and accounting in the commercial
field, were more likely to complete their training than youth in less
specialized programs. There were great variations among cities in
the proportions of students completing comparable programs, probably
because of conditions in the local labor markets-the demand for
workers in certain fields, and the number of trained or partly trained
workers available to fill that demand. Likewise there were great
variations in proportions of youth completing different types of
programs. In St. Louis 40 percent of the youth in commercial
programs had completed their training, compared with only 24 percent of those in industrial programs. (See appendix table 12.)
The reason cited most of ten by youth for failure to complete their
training programs was "preference for work."
Wa,giHn
Of er,ery 100 youth who left oocational 1chool before
by t/&il
completing their program,, the following rea,on:
number:
Preference for work _______________________________________ 32
Lack of funds ____________________________________________ 28
Lack of interest __________________________________________ 22
Preference for other types of education___ ______________ _____ 6
Physical disability__ ______________________________________ 2
Marriage________________________________________________
Other ___________________________________________________
1
9
The proportion of youth leaving vocational school before completing
their programs because of "preference for work" was twice as large
in St. Louis as in Denver. Financial reasons accounted for about a
fourth of all withdrawals in every city.
Tbe intermediate age group (1931 eighth-grade class), most of whom
came into the labor market during the worst depression years (19321935), left school because of financial difficulties more frequently than
did the youngest and oldest groups. Boys left school more of ten
10 In Birmingham, where Stanford Achievement Test ratings were available,
however, the youth who were 1 year below the norm in their scores proved most
likely to complete their training. Over half of this group, compared with only a
little more than a third of those who had scores above normal, finished their
programs.
450506'-42-4
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18 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
because of preference for work, and less often because of lack of
interest, than girls. (See appendix table 13.)
Occupation
of Father and Type of Tralnln1
The type of training acquired by youth was influenced to some
extent by family occupational backgrounds. Youth whose fathers
were professional or clerical workers were more likely to enroll in
commercial training programs, and male youth from skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled workers' families were more likely to go into
trade and industrial programs, than the average. In St. Louis
for example:
Thi11 number entered
Of every 100 trained male 11outh whose
track and indu11trial
father, were:
programs:
Professional persomL ____ _ __ __ ___ __ ___ _ ____ __ _ _ __ __ _ __ _ 41
Proprietors, managers, anrl officialA _____________________ 71
Clerical workers_ __ ___ __ __ _ __ __ __ __ ____ _ __ __ _ ___ ___ _ _ _ 58
Skilled workers _______________________________________ 73
Semiskilled workers ___________________ - __ - ____________ 78
Unskilled workers ________________ - _ - - - - - - - - - _- _______ 77
Families in which the fathers were engaged in clerical occupations
produced more than their share of accounting, secretarial, and drafting
students-in fact, a greater number of such students than came from
any other occupational group. Skilled workers' sons went in for
woodwork and aeromechanics most frequently, supplying more
students in these programs than did any other occupational group.
The children of semiskilled workers were most likely to go in to the
machine-shop, electricity, aeromechanics, and clerical programs.
Youth from unskilled workers' families tended to register for the
sheet-metal, general commercial, cosmetology, and industrial s,iwing
courses most frequently. (See appendix table 14.)
The importance of these differences may, however, be overemphasized. The most significant thing is that there was not a very strong
tendency for youth to choose training similar to the occupations of
their parents. The fact that almost half of the youth from semiskilled and unskilled workers' families registered for commercial
courses, for example, indicates that our system of free public vocational education leaves the door at least part way open for shifts in
occupational status from generation to generation.
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Chapter 111
EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS OF
TRAINED YOUTH
No
OBJECTIVE evaluation of the results of vocational education is
possible until the nature and purposes of such training are clearly
defined. Vocational education, in its broadest meaning, includes all
training and experience which help an individual to find a job and
make a living. All education is vocational in this sense. But for
practical purposes it is necessary to distinguish between general
education and training aimed at fitting youth for specific types of
work. Vocational traiQing of the sort covered by the Smith-Hughes
Act and other Federal legislation has been defined by the United
States Office of Education simply as "training for useful employment." 1 If this definition is accepted, the results of training may
best be stated in terms of the amount and types of useful employment obtained by vocationally trained youth.
The primary purpose of this chapter is to study the work histories
of trained youth to determine the extent to which they have succeeded
in getting and keeping jobs, and to compare trained youth with other
youth with respect to their status in the labor market.
There are several difficulties to be overcome, or taken cognizance
of, in any discussion of the results of vocational training. First, what
criterion of "success" in the labor market is to be used? If employment is the criterion, should it be employment status at the time of
the survey, or percent of labor-market time spent in employment
during the entire period covered? Should principal stress be placed
upon first jobs, jobs held at the time of interview, or all jobs? Should
earnings be considered as approximately equal in importance to
employment in measuring success in the labor market?
1 Office of Education, Statement of Poticie11 for the Administration of Vocational
Education, Vocational Education Bulletin No. 1, General Series No. 1, Revised
Edition, U. 8. Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C., February
1937, p. 6.
19
20 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Because of the inadequacy of any single one of these criteria, a
multiple approach to the question is utilized in the following discussion.
Both employment and earnings a.re examined from several different
angles in order to obtain as complete and accurate an appraisal of
the results of vocational training as possible.
A further question arises: Have the youth surveyed had time to
make a satisfactory adjustment in the labor market? Most of them
had been working or seeking work for several yea.rs at the time of
the survey; but the unfavorable economic conditions which prevaile4
during the depression undoubtedly retarded them in getting jobs,
especially jobs of the sort they desired. Many youth will make more
satisfactory adjustments, particularly with regard to wages, as time
goes on. This is true even in more prosperous times, however; and
since untrained youth graduated from the eighth grade at the same
time and were roughly of the same age as trained youth, comparisons
between these two groups as to general employment status a.re valid.
It should be remembered that only one type of federally sponsored
vocational training-full-time day-school training in Smith-Hughes
programe-is under discussion in the present report. Several kinds
of training are included in the program of the United States Office
of Education.
Vocational education . . . may be given to boys and girls who, having selected
a vocation, desire preparation for entering it as trained workers; to youths who,
having already entered employment, seek greater efficiency in that employment;
and to adult workers established in their trade or occupation who wish through
increase in their efficiency and wag~rning capacity to advance to positions of
·
responsibility. 1
The first category of training referred to is that available in the
regular day programs of the vocational high schools; the second and
third types are represented by part-time, apprentice, and evening trade
extension programs, which have a larger attendance than the day
programs, especially in the industrial field. Data available from the
present survey were limited to the first type of training mentioned.1
The conclusions tentatively outlined below would therefore apply
principally to this group.
It is possible that youth or older persons with part-time or extension
training might have made a bett~r showing than former day-school
students in terms of employment, earnings, and relationship of jobs
to training, because of their greater age and experience. Such persons
were already in the labor market and at work before starting their
1
Ibid., p. 6.
1
A minor exception is the inclusion of a few Seattle and Birmingham youth
with training in distributive or business education programs which, although
nominally on a part-time basis, are actually on a level fully comparable to fulltime programs.
ogtiZ"dbyGoogle
EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS • 21
part-time training, and most of them had gone back to vocational
school with the definite objective of improving their status on the job.
Older pa.rt-time students in particular are a selected group, most of
whom know rather specifically what they want to gain from additional
schooling. Day-school students, in contrast, are often young, immature, and lacking in practical work e:iq>erience to serve as a backg-round for their vocational studies.
This section of the report, then, should be read with the realization
that it does not presume to give complete or final answers to the whole
question of the value of vocational training. Rather, it tells what
happened during the depression to a representative group of youth
with full-time training in four cities, and compares their work histories
with those of youth without such training. Such differences as appear
between trained and untrained youth do not necessarily mean that
one type of education is superior to the other in preparing youth for
the labor market. Too many factors are involved to permit such a
generalization. Differences occur because a combination of several
factonr-notably the composition of the particular groups studied,
the nature and quality of the education they received, and the state
of the labor market-operates to the advantage of some youth and to
the disadvantage of others in terms of employment and earnings.
The figures presented below, then, may be taken as indications of
the results of full-time, day training programs operating under SmithHughes standards. Where trends are similar in all four cities, tentative
generalizations may be made; but where the data are not in agreement, as is often the case, they are significant only as representing
the city or cities where they were obtained.
LABOR-MARKET STATUS OF TRAINED YOUTH
In three of the four cities studied well over nine-tenths of all trained
youth had entered tbe labor market at some time since leaving school.
Of every 100
This number this number had
Thill number
had entered entered the labor
were intBT- the labor market
market at
Among trained youth in:
vietoed:
at some time:
11ome time:
All 4 citieR ______________ _ 3,042
2,857
94
St. Louis__
_ ___________ _ 2,461
2,354
96
Birmingham ________________ _ 217
204
94
Denver ________________ - - - - - 71
68
96
Seattle _____________________ _
293
231
79
There were two reasons for the rein tively small proportion of labormarket entrants in Seattle: (1) Seattle youth went further in school
than youth in any of the other three cities, and therefore bad entered
the labor market in fewer cases, on the average, thu.n youth in the
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22 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
other cities. This was particularly true among youth with SmithHughes training because many students at Edison Vocational School
had previously graduated from the regular high schools. (2) Seattle
had a larger proportion of women among its trained youth than did the
other cities; and in each city the proportion of women entering the
labor market was somewhat lower than that of men.
In each of the cities except Seattle, youth with Smith-Hughes training not only entered the labor market, but also -remained in the market
in a much higher proportion of cases than was true of other youth.
This was in spite of the fact that the trained group included a greater
preponderance of young women.
This number
had entered the
labor market
Of every 100 youth:
al some time:
With Smith-Hughes training _______________ 9f
Without Smith-H uithes training ____________ 85
This number v,cu
still in the labor
market on
July 1, 1988:
81
67
There were sharp differences in the number of months spent in the
labor market by trained youth in the four cities. In Denver they had
spent almost twice as much time in the labor market as had youth in
Seattle. There was no consistent difference between trained and untrained youth in total time spent in the labor market.
The average (mean) number of month,
spent in the labor market by youth with
Smith-Hughes No Smith-Hughes
Among youth in:
. trai11i11g was:
training v,cu:
St. Louis_ _ ___ __ __ _ __ __ __ __ _ __ _ __ __ __ _ _ __ 42
f9
Birmingham_ _ _ __ _ ___ _ __ __ __ _ __ _ ___ __ __ _ _ 37
33
Denver____ _ ____ __ __ _ ___ _ ___ _ __ _ __ __ _ __ _ _ 4 7
36
Seattle____ __ ___ _ __ __ __ __ _ __ ___ _ __ ___ _ __ _ 25
32
These differences in amount of labor-market experience, among cities
and between trained and untrained youth, must be kept in mind in all
comparisons of youth in the various cities or in the trained and untrained groups within the cities.
A smaller proportion of trained thun of untrainC'd youth were still in
school at the time of interview, in three of the four cities. 1 Of SmithHughes youth 6 percent were in school, compared with 13 percent of the
untrained youth, in the four cities combined.
Fewer Smith-Hughes youth than other youth were listed as "not
seeking work," and therefore out of the labor market, in each city.
Only one Smith-Hughes youth in eight was in this category, while the
proportion was one in five among other youth. (See appendix
table 15.)
• More of the trained than of the untrained group were in school, however, in
Seattle.
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EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS • 23
Status In the Labor Marlcet, 1929-1938
To get a clear picture as to when Smith-Hughes trained youth
entered the labor market, it is necessary to examine the proporUons of
youth in school and in the labor market over a period of years. For
this purpose the oldest group of trained youth, the eighth-grade class
of 1929, was selected, since members of this class had been out of school
longest and therefore the class presented the most comprehensive data
on the transition from vocational school to employment or unemployment. (Figures IA and lB illustrate this process of transition. See
also appendix table 16.)
The proportion of youth of this class in school gradually fell during
the whole period covered, dropping from 100 percent in January 1929
to 5 percent or less from May 1936 on. The decrease was particularly
great in 1933 (the normal year of high-school graduation for this group)
and in 1934. Most of the youth first entered the labor market at the
end of each school year, in June, while smaller groups left school each
January.
It will be noted that there were surprisingly wide variations among
these youth in time of leaving school. Some went into the labor
market as early as 1929, although they had not had time to acquire
more than one semester of vocational training at that time; many
others stayed in school through 1934 or even later, although only 3
percent of all trained youth were recorded as having completed 1 year
or more of colll'ge work. These apparent inconsistencies are explained
by the fact that trained youth often entered the labor market for a
time before or during their vocational school courses. This tendency
to go back and forth between school and the labor market was much
more prevalent among trained youth than among untrained youth. 5
The principal difference between trained men and women of the
1929 eighth-grade class was the smaller proportion of young women in
the labor market throughout the period studied. From 1934 on (when
most of the girls had passed their eighteenth birthdays) the difference
was accentuated by the increasing number of young women who left
school or the labor market to become housewives.
The proportion of both sexes who were out of school but were
neither working nor seeking work remained small hut fairly constant
throughout the period studied. This group included those who were
physically unable to work, or those who, as in the case of many girls,
were helping with the housework at home, or engaged in other unpaid
family work.
1 See Westefeld, Albert, Getting Started: Urban Yo11th in the Labor Market, Monograph No. XXVI, Division of Research, Work Projects Administration, Federal
Works Agency, Washington, D. C., in preparation.
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~
Fig. I A - LABOR-MARKET STATUS OF SMITH-HUGHES TRAINED YOUTH, EIGHTH-GRA~E
GRADUATES OF 1929 IN 4 CITIES, 1929-1938, MALES
•
Percent
Percent
!
100 I
80
.
.-..•.-
-.-.I -.-.-,.
J.... , :-:-.- ,:-:-:•:-:-: :-:.-L :--:.-,,.,.-:,:-::-:-·,,:-:-.::.::::::::::::1--:-::·::::::::::::i:L:::·.-.-:-:-:':f':-:-:"·"·.·.:·:: -~ ::-:-:-:.£.. :-:-:-:-:-:-.-:.. ;,,a
I 100
'
§
0
!.
J..,.,;.__. ·~ - --
<
z
t
80
-- - ···
r►
;a
z►
z
G)
60
60
z►
0
,,,
~
~
40
40
,,,?
0
=g
;;;
(~
a.
0-
~
20
20
-<
C")
0
0
00
,-fv
§
o 1 · ·.·.-.·.--.,-.-➔12-WWmt:r-;»:i;z;;;:-:;gm•::?;;-a;;,,:?-;:•:'l,--..;4;:;;,~;g;;;?:;.:;;..,;;.:xm;,:;.¥•:~:;7;;:,fgffim;~w;;:1 :;:;1:;K~,....&.;~s;:;:~2;@~~~ ¥?-S?l~
1929
1930
Source: Appendix toble 16,
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
;iffi.~~-w!.i@l__J 0
1937
1938
.,,. 1151
Fig. I B - LABOR-MARKET STATUS OF SMITH-HUGHES TRAINED YOUTH, EIGHTH-GRADE
GRADUATES OF 1929 IN 4 CITIES, 1929-1938, FEMALES
Percent
100 I :
L-
~-
·!
_1·- : :.
Percent
I 100
··· ··4 ·· -----;i
-·-:·-r:---- -:-·-· ::::::-:_._-.:: ,:_:::::::r:-:.::::: :,..: : ::-Li - :::-f:.::: ,-:-~
-··-.t :_.
80
80
60
_:. r-·-~JinTo, ~---- -:- - - -~-::i~:~~~
r:
·
•
••
,
7
60
:l'~-❖~:iatil
z z
\Alnrlt
·.w.• :-
:-<f:~I-a4{-- ··;
I
l'T'I
?
"ti
40
~£~~:m~::::,'-'.;'.:::'.~~;'.;:'.'.;~;:;;~;~:%.,_~~~~~'.~'.;~ ~ ~ - -·I 4 0
- : - ~ -- -f-:..:-,.;-::.;;_.__ _____i-· ....,\ ..L ... ·•:W----JW".£?'~
!~
$- - ~~w.l;t
0
~
20
;;;
(&'
?
l'T'I
i,,$,
·:,,,,~
z-I
-
20
00
,.._
~
z
l'T'I
O'
)>
.,
'<
0
0
)>
0
0.
CJ
16-<
..
,c,
,,=··
0
1929
1930
Source: Appendix !obit 16.
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
0
1938
z
zC)
en
WPA 5151
•
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V1
26 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING ANO EMPLOYMENT
The proportion of all trained youth who were employed increased
fairly steadily during the period studied, at least until late in 1937.
The proportion who were unemployed also increased, but only until
1935. In the period from 1935 to 1937 improved business conditions,
combined with the increasing age and experience of the youth, produced a drop in unemployment among labor-market youth. From
1937 on, however, the downward trend in business activity caused a
slight increase in unemployment. These trends a.re discussed in
greater detail in the following chapter.
Trained youth of the eighth-grade classes of 1931 and 1933 followed
the same genera.I pattern as trained youth of the class of 1929, as far as
entrance into the labor market was concerned. The incidence of
employment and unemployment varied from class to class because
of differences in age and labor-market experience, and because the
impact of changing economic conditions came at slightly different
points in relation to their entrance to the labor market. But the ma4i
outline of the transition from school to labor-market activities was so
similar in the three classes that it is unnecessary to discuss the younger
groups in detail.
Employment and Unemployment at nme of Interview
More than 8 out of 10 labor-market youth with some vocational
training under the Smith-Hughes plan were working full or pa.rt time
at the time of interview (on July 1, 19:38).
Of every 100trained youth in the labor market on July 1, 1938, in the 4 citiu:
82 were employed
75 on full-time jobs,
7 on part-time jobs;
18 were unemployed
Denver had the largest proportion of young men employed, St.
Louis the largest proportion of young women. Among trained youth
in Birmingham and Seattle, young men had a definite advantage over
young women in obtaining jobs; but in St. Louis there was little difference between the sexes in proportion of employment as of July 1, 1938.
(See appendix table 17 .)
Ojl!l()ery 100malea,
Among trained youth in the labor
the number emmarket on July 1, 1988, in:
ployed was:
St. Louis______________________________ _ 83
Birmingham ____________________________ 78
Denver (males only)_____________________
Seattle_________________________________
88
81
or e11ery 100 ,,,_
malea, the number
employed wa,:
82
68
75
The oldest youth, who had been in the labor market longest, had
the most employment. The rising proportion of employment as
youth grew older was a reflection of increasing maturity and experience.
Youthful inexperience was apparently more of a handicap among
trained girls than among trained boys.
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EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS • 27
OJ every 100
OJ er,ery I 00 f eAmong trained labor-marut youth
male11, the number malea, the number
who graduated from the eighth
employed on
employed on
grade in:
July 1, 1938, wa8: July 1, 1938, wa8:
1933 (youngest group) _____________________ 75
59
1931 (intermediate group) __________________ 82
88
1929 (oldest group)________________________ 87
88
Trained Negro youth were unemployed and employed only pa.rt
time in a much greater proportion of cases than trained white youth
in St. Louis, the one city where it was possible to make a comparison
between the races. Less than half as many Negroes as whites had
full-time employment (30 hours or more per week). Four out of every
ten Negro youth were totally unemployed, compared with one out
of every six white youth. There can be little doubt that these differences in employment status resulted principally from the fact that
Negroes a.re definitely handicapped as compared with whites in the
search for jobs. (See appendix table 18.)
Completion of training was associated with a relatively high proportion of employment at the time of interview in Birmingham and
Seattle,6 though not in St. Louis.
Of every 100 witA OJ every 100 with
completed training uncompleted trainAmong trained youth in the labor
the number with
ing, the number
market on July 1, 1938, in:
job11 wa8:
withjobl! was:
St. Louis ___________________________________ 82
83
Birmingham________________________________ 80
73
Denver_____________________________________
•
**85
Seattle_____________________________________ 80
74
•Less than 25 youth with completed training.
••Less than 50 youth with uncompleted training.
The difference in job status between youth with completed and ·
nncompleted training was even greater when only full-time jobs were
taken into consideration. In Seattle, for example, 73. percent of the
youth with completed training, but only 57 percent of those with
nncompleted training, had full-time employment. (See appendix
table 18.)
Nearly all of the trained labor-market youth who were unemployed
were actively seeking private employment. Only a little more than
a fiftieth of all trained youth, and an eighth of all those who were
jobless, were on work programs-NYA, WPA, or CCC. In Denver,
however, the number on projects was almost 6 percent of all trained
youth (half of those without private employment). In St. Louis a
• A survey made by Seattle school authorities in February 1938 showed that 88
percent of the June 1937 graduates of day trade or industrial programs, and 72 percent of the graduates of the business training programs, were regularly employed.
(Fleming, Samuel E., The Story of the Thomas A. Edison Vocational School, Washington State Planning Council, Olympia, Wash., Sept. 24, 1938, p. 14.)
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28 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
sixth of all trained Negro youth-and almost half of those who werl.'
totally unemployed-were on work programs; but only 1.5 percent
of all trained whites were so engaged.
It is interesting to note in this connection that the proportion of
youth on work programs was almost twice as large among those with
uncompleted training as among those who were fully trained. This
was true in every city. Apparently many of the youth who ll'ft
vocational school for financial or other reasons before completing
their programs were from neP<ly familit•s Pligible for work relief.
Eamin91 and Houn of Trained Youth
The earnings of trained youth were very low during the depression
years covered by this study. One St. Louis youth who had studied
commercial art and sign painting at Hadley Vocational School told
the following story, which is quoted here to illustrate the effects of
poor business conditions and extensive unemployment upon the wage
levels of young workers:
Commercial art would be all right if you could land a job. The best way to do
that is to get experience, and that means some sort of an apprenticeship. After
I left Hadley I went to a fellow down on Delmar who's got a little art shop of
his own and asked him for some kind of a job so I could learn more about the
trade. Do you know what he said? He said he'd give me a job and pay me just
carfare and lunch money. He said that was the best he could do because there
was another fellow in the shop and business was so bad he was going to have to
lay him off. I said nothing doing. I needed money.
After that I got a job writing signs for a big chain of grocery stores. I worked
there 4 years, off and on, and always got $15 a week. I was in charge of siguwriting for 47 stores in St. Louis and over in Illinois, and I worked 60 hours a
week, but a lot of times I had to put in 70 hours, with no extra pay for overtime.
When I asked the boss, "Can't you do something about these long hours?" he
said, "Sure we can do something; we can get someoee to take your place if you
can't stand the gaff."
Avl'rage weekly earnin1-,,s for full-time jobs held at the time of
intl.'rview by youth with Smith-Hu~hcs training amounted to about
$16.20 per WC'ck. Enmin1,.,rs were hi~hest in SC'attlc for both mal<-s
and females and lowC'st in Rt. Louis for males and in Birmingham
for females.
Among trained youth with full-tim~
jobs on July 1, 1988, in:
St. Louis ________ . _______ _
Birmingham ______ _
Denver (males only)_
Seattle ______ _
/lvuage weekly
earnings of
,na[PI! were:
$18. 40
19. 00
18. 90
20. 20
D1gi' zed by
Average weekly
eaming3 of
female& were:
$1.'i. 00
13. 10
l.'i. 60
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EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS •
29
About one-twelfth of all trained youth with full-time jobs were
earning $10 or less, more than four-tenths $15 or less, and only 11
percent $25 or more per week.
Trained Negro youth in St. Louis earned much less than trained
white youth. Negroes earned an average of $10 per week on fulltime jobs held at interview, compared with $16 for whites. The
hourly earnings of the Negroes averaged 17 cents, compared with
37 cents for the whites.
Hours worked by all trained youth averaged about 43 per week on
full-time jobs. The greatest range among the four cities was for young
women, who worked an average of 42 hours per week on full-time jobs
in Seattle and 50 hours per week in Birmingham. Negro youth
worked much longer than white youth in St. Louis, averaging 60 hours
per week as a.go.inst 43 hours for the whites.
By far the largest number of trained youth-over half of all those
employed 15 hours or more a week-were working from 40 to 44 hours
per week. About 15 percent were working 50 hours or more per week.
It is interesting to note that maximum earnings were found in the
4Q-44-hour group. Many youth who worked less than 40 hours were
underemployed, while many of those working over 50 hours were in
lines of work where hourly wages were very low.
Completion of vocational training appeared to give youth a definite
advantage in terms of earning power in Birmingham, and a slight
advantage in Denver; but in Seattle youth who left school before
finishing their programs actually earned slightly more than other
youth. Completion of training made no difference in earnings among
St. Louis youth. (See appendix table 19.} The following figures
arc for all full-time jobs held at any tnne:
Average weekly earnings Average weekly earninga
among youth with com- among youth with uncomAmong trained 11outA in:
pleted training were:
pleted training were:
St. Louis_ _ _ __ ____ __ _ __ ___ _ _ __ _ __ $14. 70
$14. 70
Birmingham_____________________ 16. 00
15. 00
Denver__________________________ 15. 40
15. 20
Seattle_ _______ _________________ _ 15. 00
15. 30
The fact that more girls than boys completed their training in
Seattle and St. Louis, while the opposite was true in Birmingham, is
reflected in these figures. But in general it may be said that the
advantage of longer experience in the labor market held by those who
had left school before their programs were completed tended to offset
the advantage of additional training on the part of those who had completed their programs, as far as earnings were concc>rned.
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30 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
TRAINED YOUTH AND OTHER YOUTH COMPARED
In comparing youth with and without Smith-Hughes training, it
should be remembered that the Smith-Hughes group included many
youth-a majority of all those considered as "trained"-who did not
complete their training programs. Likewise, the group without SmithHughes training-usually referred to for the sake of convenience as
the "untrained" group-included some youth with vocational training
in the private schools or with vocational courses in the regular high
schools. It also included a few youth who bad attended Smith-Hughes
schools for less than one semester. The trained and untrained groups,
then, were not as sharply differentiated from ea.ch other as these terms
would indicate. Nevertheless, separation of youth with a semester or
more of Smith-Hughes training from all other youth provides a.t lea.st
some basis for estimating the r('sults of Smith-Hughes training as
compared with other types of schooling.
Employment and Unemployment
Trained youth appeared to have a small advantage over untrained
youth in terms of employment status as of July 1, 1938. In three of
the four cities Smith-Hughes trained youth bad a slightly higher
proportion of employment and a lower proportion of unemployment
than other youth. (In Seattle, where the opposite was true, trained
youth had been in the labor market for an average of only 25 months,
compared with 32 months for untrained youth.)
Of every 100 with
Of every 100 with no
Among youth in the
Smith-Hughes trainlabor market on July 1,
ing the number who
1938, in:
were employed wa8:
St. Louis ______________________________ 83
Birmingham_ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _ _ __ __ __ _ _ __ 76
Denver (males only) _ __ _ __ _ __ _ __ _ _ ___ _ __ 88
Seattle ________________________________ 78
Smith-Hughes training the number who
were employed was:
81
72
85
82
The Sex Factor
These variations were partly the result of differences in the sex
composition of the trained and untrained groups, especially in Denver
and Birmingham, where males predominated, and in Seattle, where
females predominated, in the trained groups. Ta.king the males only,
those with training were on the whole slightly better off than those
who were untrained. Seattle again was an exception, but the advantage of untrained youth there was narrower when young men Wl're
considered separately.
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EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS• 31
Of every 100 toitA
Of every 100 with
Smith-Hughu
Among young men in the labor market
training the numon Jul,y 1, 1938, in:
ber employed uxu:
St. Louis_ __ ___ ____ ___ ______ ____ __ ___ 83
Birmingham_ ____ _ ______ ________ __ __ __ 78
Denver ______________________________ - . 88
Seattle__________________ _____ __ __ __ __ 81
no Smith-Hughes
training the number empl-Oyed was:
81
74
85
83
A higher proportion of untrained women th1m of trained women
were employed in two of the three cities where programs were available
to women. In the third city, St. Louis, the opposite was true, but
the difference was negligible. (See appendix table 17.)
Of every 100 with
Smith-Hughes
Among young women in the labor market
training the numon Jul,y 1, 1938, in:
ber empl-Oyed was:
St. Louis_ _ ___ __ ___ _____ ___ ___ __ __ _____ 82
Birmingham ___________________________ 68
Seattle ________________________________ 75
Of every 100 with
no Smith-Hughes
training the number empl-Oyed was:
81
70
78
full-Time Employment Only
When only full-time jobs (those averaging 30 hours or more per
week) of youth of both sexes were considered, the difference in favor
of trained youth in Birmingham increased, while the difference in
favor of the Smith-Hughes group in Denver disappeared.
Of every 100 with
Smith-Hughes trainAmong youth in the labor market on ing the number with
July 1, 1938, in:
full-time jobs was:
St. Louis_ __ _____ ___ __ __ ____ _______ 76
Birmingham_______________________ 73
Denver ____________________________ 78
Seattle ____________________________ 67
Of every 100 toitA no
Smith-Hughes training the number with
full-time jobs was:
74
61
78
70
The fact that all of the trained youth in Birmingham were white,
while many of the youth without Smith-Hughes training were Negroes, was no doubt partly responsible for the wide difference in
that city. 7
Taking the four cities together, the chances of being employed at
some sort of full-time job were about 4 percent better in the SmithHughes group than among the untrained youth.
The number emOf every 100 labor-market youth in
The number employed full-time was: ployed part-time was:
the 4 cities on July 1, 1938:
With Smith-Hughes training __________ 75
Without Smith-Hughes training _______ 71
7
9
7 In Birmingham 39 percent of all Negro youth in the labor market, but only
23 percent of all whites (trained and untrained), were unemployed on July I, 1938.
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32 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Youth With Sllllth-Hu9ha and Private School Tralnln9 Compared
When the group without Smith-Hughes training was broken down
into those with some vocational training in private schools and those
with no training of a vocational nature whatsoever, the results were
extremely interesting. About 3 percent more of Smith-Hughes
trained youth were employed than of youth without any vocational
training in public or private schools. But the Smith-Hughes group
had somewhat less employment than youth with training in private
vocational schools.
The number employed on
Of every 100 labor-market youth with:
July 1, 1938, was:
Smith-Hughes training_ __ __ _ __ _ __ ___ _ _ __ _ __ _ __ _ _ ___ _ _ __ 82
Private vocational school training ________________________ 87
No vocational training of any type in either public or private
schools ______________________________________________ 79
This general picture was true in each of the four cities except Seattle,
where the Smith-Hughes trained youth were at the bottom of the
list in terms of employment.8 (See appendix table 17 .)
The most obvious conclusion would appear to be that as far as
enabling youth to get jobs is concerned, Smith-Hughes training is
better than no vocational training, but somewhat less effective than
vocational training outside the public school system. Such a generalization is premature, however, until differences in amount of education
in these groups are taken into account.
The Factor of A•ount of Education
The average level of education of the Smith-Hughes group,as pointed
out above, was definitely lower than that of other youth, with a much
smaller percentage going on to college. But the untrained youth were
a very heterogeneous group. Some of them had had professional training, which may have given them an advantage in qualifying for jobs.
On the other hand, many had dropped out of school soon after graduating from the eighth grade, and their small amount of education may
have put them at a disadvantage in getting jobs.
There are two major questions to be answered in connection with
the educational factor: First, which was more effective in helping youth
to get jobs, a period of vocational training or an equal period of experience in the labor market? Second, which type of schooling was the
most productive of employment, a period of vocational training or an
equal period spent in ordinary high school?
In order to provide tentative answers to these questions, St. Louis
youth we_re studied, both because their large numbt-rs enabled detailed
comparisons to be made and because nearly all of their training was on a
1 In Seattle, as mentioned above, Smith-Hughes trained youth had spent less
time in the labor market than untrained youth, and were preponderantly girls.
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EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS • 3 3
high-school rather than a postgraduate level. First, Smith-Hughes
youth were compared with untrained youth who had dropped out of
school upon graduating from the eighth grade. The trained youth were
divided into those with 10 or 11 years of education, many of whom had
not completed their training; and those with 12 years of education,
nearly all of whom had completed their vocational programs. A comparison of these two groups with the untrained youth who had dropped
out of school without completing more than eight grades indicated that
there was little difference in employment status between the trained and
w1trained youth, even though the latter had only a grade-school
education.
Thi11 many were
OJ wery 100 St. L-Ouill labor-market youth who were:
employed on July 1,
Smith-Hughes youth who had completed
1938:
12 years of school only ____________ . _ _ __ . _ _ __ __ __ __ _ __ _ 80
Smith-Hughes youth who had completed
IO or 11 years of school only_ _ _ _ _ __ __ __ _ _ _ __ __ __ ___ __ _ _ 83
Untrained youth who had completed 8 years of school only______ 82
Apparently labor-market experience was as valuable in terms of employment as vocational education, at least up to the time of interview.
In fact, the additional year or two spent in the labor market by trained
youth with only 10 or 11 years of school as compared with those with
12 years of school, appeared to give the trained group with the shorter
period of schooling a slight advantage in getting work-an advantage
which might easily have been overcome, however, as trained highschool graduates subsequently acquired more work experience. The
small advantage held by the group with 10 or 11 years of education may
also have arisen from the fact that some youth left school before they
finished their programs because jobs were offered them at that time.
To provide an answer to the second question, youth who had
completed 10 or 11 years of school and those who had finished high
school were again singled out, this time from both the trained and tlw
untrained groups. A comparison. of these youth indicated that at
the lower educational level, Smith-Hughes trained youth had the
most employment.
OJ every 100 St. L-Ouis labor-market youth who
The number who were
had completed 10 or 11 yearB of 11chool only,
and who had:
employed on July 1,
1938, was:
Smith-Hughes training__
_ ---------------------------NoSmith-Hughestraining ______________________________
83
79
At the level of high-school graduation, however, untrninc<l youth
had a slight advantage over trained youth with the same amount
of education. 9
1 Youth who went on to college were eliminated from both thf' trained and
untrained groups of high-school graduutes considered here so that the two group~
were fully comparable in educational level.
400fi90°-4~---5
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34 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Of every 100 St. Louu labor-market youth who
had completed 1t year11 of 11chool only, and
who had:
The number who were
employed on July 1,
19tJ8,
Smith-Hughes training __ --------------------------------No Smith-Hughes training ________________________________
W<U:
80
83
One reason for the slightly greater proportion of untrained highschool graduates than of Smith-Hughes trained graduates holding
jobs may have been that most employers of white-eollar workers
preferred high-school graduates. Youth who failed to graduate from
high school, and who also failed to acquire any vocational training,
were probably at a disadvantage as compared with Smith-Hughes
trained youth. Graduates of the nonvocational high schools, on the
other hand, were apparently able to get jobs, particularly office and
sales jobs, more readily than either untrained nongraduates or
vocational school graduates. Many of the jobs held by untrained
graduates, however, were in part-time, low-paid employment. 10
Duration of lt11ttal Une•ploy•ent
Smith-Hughes training made little difference in the amount of
unemployment experienced by youth before they obtained their first
jobs. In both the trained and untrained groups, one youth in five
was unemployed for 6 weeks or less, and one in four for a year or
more, before obtaining the first full-time job. Only in Seattle was
there any considerable difference between the two groups. In that
city only 12 percent of the trained youth, as against i9 percent of
those without Smith-Hughes training, were unemployed for a yPar
or more after leaving school before finding full-time jobs.
Duration of Jobs
Even aftt>r youth obtained tl1eir first jobs, the short duration of
these jobs showed that th(•re was a considerable "floundering period"
between graduation from vocational school and fairly permanent
placement. The average duration of first jobs of trained youth
ranged from 3 months in Seattle to 6 montl1s in St. Louis. About
I first job in 10 in Pach city lasted less than a month. There was
prnctically no diff<'rPnce bl'tWP<•11 Smith-Huglws trained youtli and
otlll'r youth as far as tlw averng(• duration of all jobs was concerned.
Proportion of Time Employed
When proportion of lubor-market time spt>nt in employment was
considered, the Smith-Hughes group foiled to show any considerable
advantage over other youth except in Birmingham.
10 There was a higher incidence of part-time employment among untrained
than among trained youth. 'When part-time jobs were excluded, the trained
and untrained high-~chool graduates were found to have had about the same
proportion of employment.
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EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS• 35
TM n1u11ber of monUaa
apml in employmfflt
OJ each 100 months 11pent in the
1,y Smith-Hughu
labor market by youth in:
trained youth was:
St. Louis______ ____ __ __ ___ ____ __ __ _ _ __ __ __ 79
Birmingham _____________________________ . 84
Denver ______________ . _ _ _ __ __ __ _ __ _ __ __ _ __ 87
Seattle ______________ , ____________________ 83
Other
youth
was:
80
76
86
81
In Birmingham the presence of many Negroes in the untrained
group probably accounted for most of the difference. In the other
three cities trained youth ha.d had a.bout the same proportion of employment as other youth. (See appendix table 20.)
Eamln91 of Trained and Untrained Youth
The earnings of trained and untrained youth are not necessarily a.
good measure of the effectiveness of vocational training-at lea.st not
so good a measure as a.mount of employment. Many of the lines of
work for which youth are trained in Smith-Hughes programs do not
pay high wages; and yet if youth trained in these programs get jobs,
particularly jobs in their fields of training, the main purpose of vocational training may be said to have been accomplished. In any
comparison of trained and untrained youth, however, earnings must
be taken into consideration if the picture is to be complete. Tho
inclusion of earnings on full-time jobs held at the time of interview is
particularly desirable, since they tell at lea.st something of the ability
of the youth to advance to more highly pa.id work after a considerable
period in the labor market.
In Birmingham and Denver youth with Smith-Hughes training were
ea.ming an average of $2 to $3 per week more than other youth on all
full-time jobs (those of 30 hours or more per week) a.t which they were
working at the time of the survey. In Seattle, however, the reverse
was true-Smith-Hughes youth were ea.ming less than other youth;
and in St. Louis there was practically no difference between the two
categories. (See appendix table 21.)
For Smith-Hughe11
Average weekly earnings on full-time job11
trained youth /!'or other youth
were:
were:
on July 1, 1938, in:
St. Louis _____________________________ _ $16. 00
$16. 10
Birmingham ________________________ .. _ 18. 20
15. 20
Denver _______________________________ _ 18. 90
16. 80
Seattle _______________________________ _
17. 90
19. 60
These figures do not take into account such important factors as
the racial and sex composition of the trained and untrained groups.
The high earnings of Smith-Hughes trained youth as compared with
untrained youth in Birmingham are due largely to the fa.ct that the
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36 • VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Smith-Hughes group there included only white youth, while a large
proportion of the other youth were Negroes. When Negroes were
eliminated from the untrained group, the average earnings of the
remaining whites rose to $17.10, or to within about a dollar of the
average earned by the white Smith-Hughes youth. 11 When the fact
that most trained youth in Birmingham were young men is taken into
account, the advantage held by trained youth decreases still further.
In Denver the higher earnings of Smith-Hughes trained youth were
due to the fact that all were young men, with a differential advantage
in earning power to begin with. When girls were eliminated from the
untrained group, average earnings for the remaining males rose to
about the same amount as the average for trained youth.
Sex and Eamlng1
A breakdown of earnings by sex shows not only the fact that there
was a sharp differential in average wages between the sexes but also
that training tended to benefit girls more than boys in terms of earnings. Trained males earned less than untrained males (except in
Birmingham, where the trained group were all white youth), \\hereas
trained females earned more than untrained females in St. Louis and
Birmingham (though not in Seat.tie).
On full-time jobs on July 1, 1938,
aoerage weekly Mrnings of
With Smith-Hughes
training were:
Young mm in:
St. Louis ___________________ $18. 40
Birmingham _ _ __ __ ___ __ _ __ __
19. 00
Denver_____________________
18. 90
Seattle_ __________________
20. 20
Young women in:
St. LouUJ ________ - __ - - - - __ - Birmingham _______________ _
Seattle _________________ - - __
15. 00
13. 10
15. 60
With noSmith-Hughu
training were:
$18. 60
18. 00
19. 00
23. 40
14. 40
12. 30
16. 40
In St. Louis the young men with no training had a 20-cent advantage
in average weekly earnings over those with training, while among the
young women, those with training earned an average of 60 cents per
week more than those without training. In Seattle untrained males
had an apparent advantage of more than $3 in weekly earnings over
trained males; but untrained females had an advantage of only 80
11 Average weekly earnings of all white youth, trained and untrained, on fulltime jobs held at the time of interview ($17.20) were twice as large as those of all
Negro youth ($8.50) in Birmingham. About one-tenth of all white youth were
earning $10 or less per week, compared with more than two-thirds of all Negroes.
Similarly, a tenth of all vocationally trained youth were earning $10 or less per
week, compared with a quarter of all youth without Smith-Hughes training.
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EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS • 37
cents per week over trained fcmalcs. 12 In Birmingham slightly higher
earnings were apparent among trained youth of both sexes. 11
Education and Earnings
Taking the combined factors of sex and amount of education into
account, it appeared that as far as earnings were concerned, in St.
Louis girls with Smith-Hughes training had a slight a.dva.nta.ge over
untrained girls who had left school upon completing the eighth grade.
Young female workers with Smith-Hughes training who had completed 12 years of education earned an average of $15.40 per week,
and those with 10 or 11 years of education earned an average of
$14.60. Young women with no Smith-Hughes training, and with
only an eighth-grade education, earned an average of only $13.80.
Among the young men, however, the reverse was true. SmithHughes trainees with 12 years of education earned an average of
$18.10 per week, and those with 10 or 11 years of education $18.40,
whereas untrained youth who had left school before completing the
ninth grade earned a.n average of $19.60. Apparently among the
young men 2 to 4 years of vocational education was of less value in
terms of earning power than a.n equal a.mount of time spent in the
labor market.
It should be noted that youth who did not go on to high school were,
on the average, older at the time of eighth-grade graduation tha.n other
youth. Since among all male youth, trained and untrained, 4 yea.rs'
additional age brought o.n average wage increase of more tha.n $6 per
week,1 4 age was an important factor in determining earnings-apparently more import.ant than training. Among young women, however, there was a much smaller average increment in weekly earning6
with age. Therefore the In'eater average age of the girls with the
lowest educational attainment did not offset the financial disadvantages associated with retardation in school, smo.11 total amount of
education, and lack of specific training.
When groups of trained and untrained youth of both sexes with equal
education were compared, this wage differential still persisted. Among
male youth who had completed 10 or 11 years of education, those with
Smith-Hughes training earned an average of $18.40 per week on o.11
full-time jobs hdd at the timP of intPrview, while those without training
11 As noted previously, the advantage held by untrained youth in Seattle may
have been attrihutahle partly to the longer period of time they had spent in the
labor market.
11 This advantage might be expected to disappear, however, if the factor of race
were taken into account.
H Cf. Payne, Stanley L., Thirty Thousand Urban Youth, Social Problems Seriflfl
Number 6, Work Projects Admini~tration, Federal Works A,rnnev Washington,
D. C., 1940, p. 9.
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38 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
earned $18.50. Among girls of the same educational level, those with
training averaged $14.60. and those with no training $14.20.
At the twelfth-grade level, however, the Smith-Hughes group
(nearly all of whom had completed their training) had a slight advantage over untrained youth of both sexes. The figures were $18.10 as
against $17.60 for the young men, and $15.40 as against $15 for the
young women.
Chan9a In Wa9e Levels
It might be argued that another survey of the same youth, made a
few years later than the present one, would show that Smith-Hughes
training gives men as well as women a definite advantage in earning
power. Industrial training may not have its full effect, for example,
until the youth with such training acquire some experience in their
special fields. The present survey indicated, however, that any
advantage ultimately shown as a result of training would probably be
small. In fact, a study of job shifts (changes either in employment
or in wage levels) showed that trained youth advanced to higher wage
levels at about the same rate as other youth.
Of every 100 changea in job11 or wage level.,
among youth with:
Smith-Hughes training __
No Smith-Highes training ___ .
The number
T~ number
re-1111lting in
resulting in
higher pay wa11: lowt"r pay waa:
61
60
25
28
Trained youth had a slight advantnge over untrained youth in
obtaining promotions to jobs paying higher wages in St. Louis and
Seattle. In Birmingham, however, only 51 percent of the trained
group improved their status when they made shifts in jobs, compared
with 62 percent of other youth; and in Denver there was little difference between the two groups.
Houn of Worlc
There wns practically no difference in working hours between
trained and untrained youth, or between those who did and those
who did not complete their training programs. In each of these
groups the average was about 43 hours per week.
Summary
Considering all the evidence with regard to both employment and
earnings, it can only be concluded that in the four cities studied
there were no sharp diff en•nces in economic status between youth with
Smith-Hughes vocational training and other yout,h.
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Chapter IV
EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO
SPECIFIC TYPES OF TRAINING
IF VOCATIONAL training is defined as "training for useful employment," then the purpose of specific training programs or groups of
training programs is to prepare students for successful employment
in the particular fields of work for which they have been trained.
The value of a given training program to vocational students may
therefore be appraised primarily in terms of their succe.ss in obtaining
employment that bears some relationship to their training. Other
criteria to be considered relate to the ability of the youth to hold
their jobs and to earn adequate wages.
In the present survey data were gathered on types of employment
and weekly earnings of youth trained in the various Smith-Hughes
programs. An examination of these data indicates that there were
wide variations among students trained in the different programs, in
terms of employment in relation to training as well as in terms of
earnings and duration of jobs. Some programs were instrumental
in enahling a large proportion of youth to enter the fields of work
for which they had prepared themselves; others were less successful
in this respect.
In discussing the results of specific training programs in terms of
related employment it is especially important that the factor of time
in the labor market be kept in mind. A survey of these same young
people in 1941 might show a somewhat higher proportion of them in
employment related to their training than in 1938, for several reasons:
their increasing age and maturity, their more complete orientation
in the economic world, and the more favorable conditions existing
in the labor market subsequent to the 1938 survey. But the job
status of trained youth in any given program in relation to that of
trained youth in other programs would probably be about the same
in 1941 as in 1938.
39
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40 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
More detailed information was available in St. Louis than in the
other three cities, because of the comprehensive nature of the St.
Louis vocational school system and the large number of youth trained
therein. Fortunately, St. Louis has a widely diversified economic
base, and therefore offers many types of employment to young people.
Since quality of training and labor-market conditions varied from
city to city, however, data for St. Louis programs were compared with
data for similar programs in Birmingham, Denver, and Seattle whenever possible. 1
EMPLOYMENT IN AELD OF. TRAINING
In order to estimate the extent to which youth obtained jobs in the
specific fields for which they were trained, a detailed study was made
of the types of jobs youth had held and of the relationship of such
jobs to their training in each of the four cities.
Occupations of Youth In Relation to Training
Youth with some Smith-Hughes training were in general less likely
to become unskilled workers on their first jobs, and more likely to be
skilled, semiskilled, or clerical workers than were other youth. This
is to be expected, since the function of vocational education is to
prepare youth for jobs in these fields. Following is the occupational
distribution of the trained youth on their first full-time jobs:
OJ every 100 trained you.th who obtained employment in the 4 cities:
2
1
48
5
33
11
were professional workers,
was a proprietor, manager, or official,
were clerical workers,
were skilled workers,
were semiskilled workeri;, and
were unskilled workers on t.heir first jobs.
In each of the four cities a comparison of the first jobs and jobs
held at the time of interview by trained youth showed that the number of youth in unskilled work decreased sharply with additional labormarket expcrience. 2 The number of youth in skilled work showed an
increase from first jobs to jobs hrld at the time of interview, as did
the number in scmiskilfod work in each city except St. Louis. (See
appendix table 22.) At the time of interview there were more skilled
· and fewer unskilled workers among trained youth than among other
youth in the four cities.
The large proportion of trained youth who went from school directly into clerical jobs is particularly significant. In spite of the
1 Programs with fewer than 25 labor-market entrants in a given city were
excluded from the detailed analysis.
1 There was some overlapping between first jobs and jobs held at the time of
interview (on July 1, 1938).
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING• 41
common notion that there is a great oversupply of clerical workers, a
large majority of the employed youth with commercial training were
successful in getting clerical or other "white-oollar'' work. In St.
Louis of every 100 youth with commercial training who got jobs, 72
became "clerical or kindred workers" on their first jobs. (See appendix table 23.) The proportion of commercial trainees who were in
clerical work increased to 76 percent on jobs held at time of interview.•
(See appendix table 24.) It should be mentioned, however, that not
all clerical.jobs.were related to the specific types of commercial training
the youth had acquired.
Among St. Louis youth with training in industrial programs
only 12 out of 100 first jobs were in skilled work, and 48 were in semiskilled work. The number in skilled work increased to 17 in 100, and
the number in semiskilled and unskilled work decreased slightly on
jobs held at interview.
Method UNCI In Relatlnt SpedRc Jobi
to
Tralnlns
To arrive at a fair estimate of the effect of vocational training in
enabling youth to get jobs in the specific lines of work for which they
were trained, it was necessary to make a more precise comparison of
training programs and individual jobs than was possible on the basis of
the broad occupational groupings cited above. The comparison of
each of the various jobs at which youth had worked since leaving school
with the training of these same youth required the tabulation of all
the various combinations of training and jobs. With both occupation
and industry taken into consideration, each job was then classified
as having {l) a primary or direct relationsip, (2) a secondary relationship, or (3) no relationship at all to the youth's training. For example, in the case of girls trained as stenographers, such jobs as stenographer, secretary, and dicta.phone operator were classified as directly
related to the training program involved. Other clerical jobs, such as
bookkeeper, comptometer operator, multigraph operator, mail clerk,
and file clerk, were classified as having only an indirect or secondary
relationship to stenographic training. Occupations such as beauty
operator, waitress, and housemaid were classified as having no
relationship to stenographic training.
In the industrial programs it was more difficult to determine the
precise relationship of jobs to training. Often the industry where the
youth worked, as well as his occupation, was taken into consideration.
In the case of a youth with training in auto mechanics such jobs as
apprentice mechanic, auto mechanic's helper, grease man, and filling
station proprietor were considered to bear a primary or close relationship
1
In Seattle, where a highly specialized business training course was given, 70
percent of all first jobs and over 90 percent of all jobs held at time of interview
by youth who had t.aken this course were in clerfoal occuoations.
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42 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
to the training the youth had received. Such jobs as chauffeur,
electrician, and machinist's helper, which involved work related to
some degree to a course or courses within the auto mechanics training
program, were considered to bear a secondary relationship to the same
field of training. Likewise, the proprietor of a used-car lot, although
not engaged in auto-repair work, was classed as working at a job indirectly related to his training as a mechanic. Ha youth worked as
grocery salesman, office clerk, messenger, bookkeeper, or in any other
nonmechanical type of work, however, his job was considered to be
unrelated to the auto mechancis training program.
After tentative decisions had been made as to each job's relationship
to the training of the youth who held that job, the entire list of
decisions was checked by experts on the subject of vocational training
in the United States Office of Education. Their modifications of the
original decisions were then incorporated into the procedure for classifying the jobs.
Vocational Tralnln9 In Relation to Typn of Employa..t
}1;ach youth's work history was classified according to the t,ypes of
employment he had had. It was found that almost three-fifths of all
trained youth who had been in the labor market had had one job or
more with at least some relationship to their training. In the other
two-fifths of the cases t.he youth had had no employment in their
fields of training or no jobs of 15 hours or more per week.
OJ every 100 youth with Smith-Hughe& vocational training who had
entered the labor market,
46
13
33
8
had
had
had
had
had
had
had
had
jobs closely related to their fields of training;
jobs with only a secondary relationship to their training;
only jobs with no relationship to their training; and
no jobs of 15 hours or more per week by July I, 1938.
These figures give only a general picture of what happened to trained
youth after they left school. The proportion of youth who obtained
related jobs varied from city to city, of course. (See appendix
t.nble 25.)
Thia number had Thia number had
hadjob1J with some had only jobs with
Of every 100 trained youth
relati0fl.8hip to
no relatiOflllhip to
in the labor market in:
their training:
their training:
St. Louis _________________________ _
59
33
Birmingham __________________________ 58
37
Denver _____________ ------------,------ 40
54
Seattle__ _ _ __ __ _ _ __ __ __ _ _ __ ____ _ _ __ _ 62
20
In every city e.xcept Seattle the proportion of trained labor-market
youth who had never had a job of 15 hours or more per week wa.s Jess
than 8 percent. In the Pncific coast city, however, 18 percent had had
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING • 43
no jobs. This was probably because Seattle .youth, as mentioned
above, had been in the labor market for a much shorter period than
had youth in the other three cities.
Young women with training had a slight advantage over trained
young men in getting jobs in their fields of training, in two of the three
cities where t,raining was offered to both sexes.
Of every 100 young men, the Of every 100 young wo,mn,
number who hod had emthe number who had had
Among traitU!d laborployment related to their
employment related to
mar~t youth in:
their training W(U:
training wa&:
St. Louis _____ . ___ _
56
62
Birmingham ___ _
58
58
Seattle __
60
63
Completion of training had a great effect on the type of work
obtained in each of the four cities. Three-fourths of all labor-market
entrants who finished their training programs got jobs with at least
some relationship to their training; but only half of those who had
dropped out of their training programs had ever held related jobs.
This was in spite of the fact that those who had dropped out were in
the labor market an average of 10 months longer than those who
stayed with their training to completion.
Of every 100 with completed training, the
Among labor-market
number who had reyouth in:
lated jobs W(U:
St. Louis____________________
74
Birmingham ______________ .
68
Denver____
60
Seattle__
78
Of every 100 with uncompleted training,
the number who had
had related jobs W(U:
51
49
31
40
Trained youth as a group had spent an average (mean) 'Of 40 months_
in the labor market, of which 14 months, or a little more than a third
of their labor-market time, was spent in employment related to their
training. Those who had completed their training programs, however,
had related jobs during more than half of the period when they were
in the labor market.
The number of months
spent in employment
Of every 100 months spent in
related to their trainthe labor market by:
ing was:
All trained youth in the 4 cities ____ . _____________ .
36
Youth with completed training __ .
54
Youth with uncompleted training ______ . _ __ . __
-------- 28
This greater success of youth with completed training in getting
appropriate employment may have been partly a reflection of the
fact that vocational schools assumed some responsibility for placing
their graduates in jobs, while nongraduates had to shift for themselves
in the labor market. It may also be a result of the fact that youth who
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44 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
were least interested, or who showed the least ability, in the training
programs they entered, were the ones who tended to drop out; these
youth could hardly have been expected to get jobs related to their
training as frequently as fully trained youth, since their occupational
preferences and abilities were apt to lie in other fields. But certainly
the greater adequacy of completed training had something to do with the
greater ability of youth with such training to get jobs in their respective
fields.
Young men appeared to benefit in terms of related employment as
a result of completion of training more consistently than did young
women in the three cities where training was given to both sexes on
a full-time basis. This may have been partly because most boys
went into industrial programs, and most girls into commercial programs. Completion of training was more closely associated with
success in obtaining related employment in the case of industrial
programs than in the case of commercial programs.
AfflOllf youth in:
Of every 100 young
men, the number who had had
related joba ioaa:
St Louis
With completed training_____ ___ _ __ _ _ _ _
With uncompleted training_ _ _ _ ____ _ _ __ _
Birmingham
With completed training_______ __ ____ _ __
With uncompleted training_____________
Seattle
With completed training___
_ _____ . _ _
With uncompleted training___ . _ _ _ _ ___
Of every 100 young
women, the numlier who had had
related joba wtu:
76
74
48
54
71
44
57
59
69
53
81
27
In Seattle and St. Louis young women apparently were greatly
aided in obtaining related employment by completion of training,
but in Birmingham no such tendency was apparent.
Individual Tralnln9 Programs In Relation to Types of Employment
There were wide differences, in terms of success in finding employment related to their training, among youth who had graduated
from the various training programs. The following quotation from
a St. Louis girl with commercial training illustrates this variation:
The school got me my first job, and I've always had work as a typist or stenographer. • . . Most of the people I know who went to Hadley have jobs now, hut,
of course, some of them don't have the kind of jobs they want. I know three
boys who graduated from Hadley at the same time I did. One of them took
drafting, and he's pressing pants in a cleaning shop. Another took auto mechanics, and he's labeling boxes in a big cigar 8tore. The other one took printing
and he's a printer now: He only makes $16 a week, but I guess that's all right;
he's learning the trade, and he'll probably go on up.
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING • 45
At the top of the list in terms of employment bearing some relationship to training were youth (all girls) trained in cosmetology or
beauty culture. More than eight-tenths of these girls, in both St.
Louis and Seattle, had found jobs in beauty parlors. At the other
end of the scale were St. Louis woodworkers, show-card writers, and
sheet-metal workers, of whom not more than a third had found work
with any apparent relationship to their fields of training. ·
Differences of this sort depend on several things. First, the number of jobs and the number of trained youth available to take themthat is, the state of the labor market-determine to a great extent
the success a youth will have in finding the type of job he wants.
(Sheet-metal work was scarce because of the drop in building and
other construction during the depression, while work in beauty
shops was relatively little affected.) Second, the d~ee of efficiency
attained by the vocational schools, and by teachers in those schoolsthe quality of instruction and equipment and the closeness of their
relationship to local industry and the local labor market-may
determine whether youth will be able to qualify for jobs in· their
fields.
A third factor also enters into any analysis of the relationship between training and employment. By definition, "related" jobs are
jobs in which youth can use to some extent the training they received
in their respective vocational programs. But some programs are
related to a larger number of occupations than others. For example,
a youth trained in show-card writing has a limited field of employment in which he can use his training, even if jobs bearing only a
secondary relationship to thi'l training-window-display work, for
example-are taken into account. But a youth trained in auto
mechanics may use some portion of his training not only in autoassembly plants, garages, filling stations, and auto-wrecking establishments, but also in any one of a large array of jobs bearing at least
a slight relationship to his training-including airplane construction,
electric repair work, Diesel engineering, machine-shop work, and truck
driving. The proportion of youth who had obtained jobs which were
related to their training therefore depended not only on the quality
of the vocational training received and on the state of the labor market during t,he period studied, but also on the scope of the related
employment field.
TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT IN ST. LOUIS
Since St. Louis, with 2,354 labor-market entrants among the
trained youth interviewed, bulked much larger than the other three
cities combined, most of the analysis of individual training programs
in relation to type of employment is of necessity based on data
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46 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
gathered there. For the sake of convenience in treating the data, the
St. Louis programs were divided into four main types: commercial
programs, industrial programs, those which for want of a better name
are termed "women's programs," and arts programs. (See appendix
table 26.} In order to make the relative effectiveness of the different
types of training stand out, the individual training programs were
analyzed with regard to employment directly related to training.
The following tables, unless otherwise specified, are based on the
work histories of all trained youth in the various fields, whether or
not their training was completed.
COM!Mfdal
Pro,-
ln St. Louis the 1,348 labor-market youth who ·had been trained
in commercial programs had the best records in securing employment
related to their 0-aining. Most of these youth (85 percent) were girls.
Of each 100 commercially trained youth who had entered the labor
market, 63 had held related employment, 50 in jobs closely connected
with their training. Of the remaining youth, 28 had had only unrelated employment, and 9 no jobs of 15 hours or more per week.
Among commercial students, the more highly specialized programs
seemed to be most productive of employment in the immediate field
of training.
OJ every 100 St. Louis labor-market
youth trained in:
Special commercial_ __ _
Secretarial work_
Accounting __ .
General bueine&1 __
Stenography __ .
General commercial
ClericaL ____ . _
The number who had held
jobs directly related to
their training waa:
64
58
•51
50
42
38
35
*More than 25 but less than 50 youth.
Special commercial training, which heads the list, consisted of
several short, intensive courses of a yeur or less each, stressing miscellaneous business-machine operations and ge11eral office procedure,
but including also accounting and secretarial work in some cases.
Because of the scope of the training and the large number of related
jobs, not only in general clerking and bookkeeping but also in stenography and the operation of office machinery, it was much easier
for students with special commercial training to get related jobs than
it was for those who had been limited to clerical trammg, which
included typing, bookkeeping, and office practice but not officemachine work.
Although the comparntivt>ly spceinlizc<l stenographic program
showed up as less dfcctivc than the gPneral business program in
DgtizedbyGooglc
Public Works .4dmi11islrulio11.
" . . . youth who had been trained in commercial programs had thr bf'.'11 rrcords
in .'lec11ri11g employment related lo their training."
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING• 47
fitting youth for directly related jobs, this is not true if all related jobs
are taken into account. The reason for this is obvious. Almost every
office or clerical job may be said to be closely related to the general
business program; in fact, only 3 percent of all youth with this training
had had jobs that could be considered to have a secondary but not a
primary relationship to their vocational studies. Among youth
trained in stenography, however, jobs had to include typing and
shorthand or dictaphone work to be classed as directly related to this
training, and only 42 percent had had such employment; but another
24 percent had held jobs with a secondary relationship to their training-as office clerks, bookkeepers, or office-machine operators, for
example. Including all related employment, then, two-thirds of the
youth with stenographic training who entered the labor market had
such work, compared with a little over half of those trained in the
general business program.
Completion of training was an important factor in enabling commercially trained youth to get related jobs. (See appendix table 27 .)
Of the 40 percent who had finished their programs, more than threefifths had at some time held directly related jobs; but of those who
failed to complete their training, only slightly more than two-fifths
had had such jobs. The differential was particularly great among
youth trained in stenography; 59 percent of those with completed
training, but only 32 percent of the others, had had employment in
which they were able to use their training to any marked degree.
lnclutlrlal Protra-
The 699 St. Louis labor-market youth with training in the trade or
industrial programs, all but 1 of whom were young men, did not fare
so well as the youth with commercial training in obtaining related
jobs.
Of every 100 labor-market entrants among youth trained in industrial
programs, 64 had had employment in which they used their training,
40 of these in work that was directly related to their programs.
Young men with training in the machine-shop program were most
likely to have done work that was directly related to their training,
even in cases where the training program was not completed. Printing and electricity came next. At the bottom of the list were former
students of woodworking and sheet-metal work, who for the most part
found employment only in unrelated fields. (Fewer youth completed
their training in sheet-metal work and woodworking than in any of the
other programs; the proportion was 5 percent or less in these two
programs.)
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48 • VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
OJ every 100 St.
Louil labor-market youth
The number wlw had
Mld directly related job, waa:
Machine shop_______________________________________ 63
Printing ____________________________________________ *58
Electricity __________________________________________ 48
Drafting ____________________________________________ 36
Aero mechanics _____________________________________ •28
Auto mechanics ____________________________________ .. 28
Woodworking _______________________________________ 19
Sheet-metalwork ____________________________________ 1,
Crained in:
• More than 26 but less than 50 youth.
Aeromechanics and auto mechanics fared somewhat better than
these figures would indicate, for youth in both of these groups found
considerable additional work that was indirectly related to their
training. For example, the auto mechanics had worked as chauffeurs,
machinists, air-conditioning and sheet-metal workers, coil winders,
and toolmakers and diema.kers; the aeromechanics had worked as
motor and carburetor inspectors in auto-assembly plants, molders' and
machinists' apprentices in metal shops, and in one case, as a businessmachine serviceman; and both aero mechanics and auto mechanics
had done bicycle and electrical repair work and had operated drill
presses. All of these jobs had at least an indirect relationship to the
training programs under discussion. Including all such employment,
61 percent of the youth trained as aeromechanics and 54 percent of
those trained as auto mechanics had had work related to their trainin~.
Again, youth who had completed their training had much better
records than other youth. Only 24 percent of the youth with industrial training had finished their programs; and of these, almost twothirds of all labor-market entrants had held directly related jobs by the
time of interview, compared with less than one-third of those with
uncompleted training.
Women'• "'°9ram1
Youth who had been trained in cosmetology, industrial sewing, and
similar programs had held jobs related to their training in about the
same proportion of cases as had youth with industrial training. All
but 1 of the 216 labor-market you th trained in such programs were girls.
Of every 100 young labor-market entrants with any training in
these programs, 54 had had related employment, 51 of these in jobs
closely associated with their training. If cosmetology, which had an
extremely high rate of related employment, is excluded, however, the
records of these girls show less employment that was associated to
some degree with their training.
The number who had held
OJ every 100 St. Louis labor-market youth trained in:
dirertly related jobs was:
Cosmetology___ __ __________ _______ __ ___________ _____ ___ *83
Industrial sewing__________________________ ___ ______ _____ 46
Cafeteria-tearoom._________________ ______________________ *30
*More than 25 but less than 50 youth.
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING • 49
It should be remarked that except for 15 percent of the youth with
cafeteria-te8J'Oom training, none of the young women trained in these
programs had held jobs with only a secondary relationship to their
training. In the cosmetology and industrial sewing programs the line
was sharply drawn between directly related and unrelated employment, and there were no borderline jobs.
About two-fifths of the youth with training in women's programs
had completed their training; and of these, 66 percent had had directly
related jobs, compared with 41 percent of those who had not completed
their programs.
Am Pro9ra1111
Youth with training in the arts programs, who numbered 91 labormarket entrants, had on the whole less related employment than any
major St. Louis group with Smith-Hughes training. Some 63 percent
of these youth were young men; almost nine-tenths of those who had
taken show-card writing, and close to half of the commercial arts
students, were males.
Taking all the former a.rt students together, whether or not they
had completed their programs, 52 percent had held related employment, 38 percent in jobs directly related to their training. Exactly
half of the 54 former commercial arts students had had jobs that were
directly related to their training; but only 6 of the 33 who had studied
show-card writing (18 percent) had found jobs in that line of work. In
the latter case, a few additional youth found jobs in window-display
work, but even including these, only a third had held related jobs.
A third of the youth trained in the arts programs (about half of
the commercial artists, but orily a tenth of the show-card writers) had
completed their training; of these, 55 percent had obtained directly
related jobs, compared with 28 percent of those with uncompleted
programs.
Race Dllferenca In Obtaining Related Jobs
Negro youth in St. Louis obtained employment related to their
training much less frequently than did white youth. Only a third of
the 104 trained Negroes interviewed had obtained employment of
the sort for which they had been specifically trained, compared with
almost half of the 2,250 trained white youth. Among the trained
Negro youth, 4 out of every 10 had never had jobs of 15 hours or more
per week, while only 1 white youth in 16 had been entirely without
such jobs. (See appendix table 28.)
Only 2 programs or groups of programs offered at Booker T.
Washington School for Negroes had more than 25 registrants among
the youth studied here, so that a detailed study of all programs was
impossible. Such figures as were available indicated that Negro
youth were at a severe disadvantage in the labor market compared
with white youth as far as obtaining white-collar jobs was concerned.
450596°-42 ---6
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50 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Of tvery 100 white youth,
the number who had
held directly related emAmong youth
trained in:
ploy1nenl uxu:
_____ 51
Commercial program11
___ 51
Women's program11_
Of e11ery 100 Negro youth
the number who had held
directly relaud employment IMI:
~
52
• More than 25 but hll!I! than 50 youth.
In the general commercial program 112 out of 225 white youth,·
but only 9 out of 39 Negro youth, had had related jobs. In the
women's programs as a group, however, there was little difference
between the races in ability to get appropriate jobs. In cosmetology
21 out of 23 white girls got jobs in beauty shops, compared with 18
out of 24 Negro girls.
The effects of the depression were felt more sharply by Negro youth
than by white youth. According to one St. Louis Negro boy:
Times are too hard to get a regular job. Lots of colored boys who finish
high school go to Booker T. Washington vocational school afterward because they
can't get jobs and there's nothing else to do. I got the notion to take printing
at Booker T. because my cousin works in a little printing shop around here.
He makes pretty good money, and I hung around the shop and got the idea I
wanted to be a printer, too. So I took a 4-year course at Booker T. There wasn't
much equipment in those days, but the teachers were fine. I learned to block out
copy, set type, and operate the flat presses and the hand presses; and I took
English, general science, math and history. I got my diploma in 1937.
But I couldn't get a steady job in printing or in any other kind of work. The
teachers try to place the boys, but there are never many requests for printers.
They did get me a part-time job at Goodwill Industries. For awhile I worked
there 1 or 2 days a week, 11etting up and printing letterheads and cards, but that
gave out. I put in applications at the State employment office and the Urban
League, the only places where colored folks can go for jobs. But nothing happened, so about a year ago I went up to the NY A people and they put me on.
I make $25 a month, working on a project at the "Y," and I've saved up $40.
I thought for a while I might go to Chicago; I've heard there are 20 printing
><hops there that employ colored workers, and there are only about 5 here in St.
Louis. But that would take a lot of money, and times are hard everywhere.
I'd rather save up enough money to set up a lit.tie print shop here some day.
RESULTS OF TRAINING IN CITIES OTHER THAN ST. LOUIS
In the other three cities there were only a few training programs
with asufficient number of youth to enable any detailed analysis to be
made of work histories in relation to training. The results of these
programs in tenns of employment in related fields may well be examined, however, to see how the figurl'S compare with those for St. Louis.
Seattle
The 231 labor-m1trkPt youth with Smith-Hughes training in Seattle
fared about as well Rs St. Louis youth. Of evrry 100 Seattle trained
youth who entPred the lul>or market, 62 had found employment in
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING• 51
which they could use their vocational education, 55 of these in jobs
directly related to their training.
In Seattle, as in St. Louis, students of beauty culture (cosmetology)
did comparatively well; 81 percent of them got directly related jobs.
There was little difference between the two cities in the proportion of
youth with business training who had held directly related jobs; the
figure was 52 percent in Seattle against 50 percent in St. Louis.
As in St. Louis, Seattle youth with commercial training, almost
nine-tenths of them girls, had slightly more employment that was
directly related to their training than had industrially trained youth.
But youth trained in the women's programs (including 11 young
men trained in the tailoring and dry-cleaning programs, but principally
girls trained in courses concerned with clothing, food, home service
and beauty culture) had had directly related employment in a larger
proportion of cases than youth in either of the other types of programs.
The number who had
Of every 100 Seattk labor-market
held directly related
joln wa,:
youth trained in:
Commercial programs_______________ 51
Industrial programs _____ -·___________ 47
Women's programs_________________ 62
The number who had
held only indirectly
related Job, Willi:
3
19
3
When indirectly related jobs were combined with those bearing a direct
relationship to training, both industrial and women's programs stood
out above commercial programs. But this was true only because
almost a third of the commercially trained labor-market entrants had
never had a job on which they worked 15 hours or more per week.
When these youth were eliminated in each group, commercially trained
youth had had related jobs in a greater proportion of cases than youth
in either of the other two categories of training.
There were sharp differences between Seattle and St. Louis with
regard to the work histories of youth trained in certain comparable programs. Of the 21 Seattle labor-market youth trained in auto mechanics, 15 had had employment related to their training, compared with
only 62 out of 114 St. Louis labor-market youth with similar training.
In power or industrial sewing, 18 out of 23 Seattle girls with this training who entered the labor market had obtained related employment,
compared with only 48 out of 103 St. Louis girls thus trained. In the
latter program the difference may be accounted for at least, in part by
the fact that three-fourths of the Seattle girls, but only a little over
one-fourth of the St. Louis girls, had completed the program. In the
case of the auto mechanics, however, the proportion of Seattle youth
with completed training was not much higher than that of St. Louis
youth.
These divergencies between Seattle and St. Louis youth in two
parallel programs may be due to diff crences between the labor markets
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52 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
in the two localities as well as to differences in number of youth
completing the programs. It is probable, however, that the highly
selective policy pursued in Edison Vocational School also reacted to
the benefit of the Seattle youth. The number of vocational students
trained there, as noted above, is rigidly limited to conform to estimated labor-market needs, and only the best equipped youth are
admitted to the vocational programs. Seattle had less than a fourth
as many youth as St. Louis in each of these two programs.
Blnaln9ham
On the average, the 204 trained labor-market entrants studied in
Binningham fell slightly below those in St. Louis in terms of success
in getting related jobs. Of every 100 who entered the labor market,
59 had found related employment, 42 of these in jobs directly related
to their training (appendix table 26).
In Birmingham young men trained in the industrial programs had
had directly related employment in a higher proportion of cases than
youth trained in commercial or women's programs. When indirectly
related programs were included, however, commercially trained youth
(most of them trained in retailing) had had the most related employment.
The number wlw
Of every 100 Birmingham
had held directly
youth trained in:
related job, waa:
Commercial programs•____________ 32
Industrial programs_______________ 44
Women's programs• ______________ 35
The number who had had
only indirectly related
job, waa:
38
13
19
• More than 25 but less than 50 youth.
Of the 31 Birmingham labor-market youth trained in retailing, 11
had had directly related employment. Another 13 had had employment of a sort indirectly related to their training-chiefly in retail
stores, at work other than salesmanship. l\fore than three-fourths of
all those trained in retailing had thus had employment with some
relationship to their training.
Of the 24 Birmingham youth trained in machine shop, 19 had obtained related jobs. This was a !urger proportion than in any other
program in the city, and was slightly high Pr than the proportion of St.
Louis youth trained in marhiiw shop who had found related employment. Only 7 out of 20 Binningham youth trained in printing, however, had held jobs in which thPy were able to use their training. This
was a much lower proportion thnn that which was obtained among St.
Louis youth with similar trniI1ing. In other Birmingham programs
too fow youth had bPen trained to permit even a tentative evaluation
of the results of training.
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING• 53
Denver
Vocational training in Denver's West High School was less productive of related employment than was the case in the other three cities.
All of the 68 trained labor-market entrants studied there were young
men, and only 20 had completed their training, which may help to
explain the low relationship between training and jobs. Of the trained
youth 27 got related employment, 17 in jobs directly related to
their training.
All of the Denver youth had received industrial training. The 36
trained auto mechanics had slightly better success than the average
trained youth in Denver in obtaining related jobs. The Denver
youth studied were so few in number, however, that no definite conclusion can be drawn from their work histories.
Summary and Compmllon of the Four Cltla
When the four cities arc compared many inconsistencies appear,
but a few general trends are worth citing. Girls, on the average,
had more success than young men in getting jobs associated with their
training, and programs in which mainly girls were trained had the best
records in this respect. Programs in which a large number of youth
completed their training also ranked high.
Topping the list in terms of related jobs was cosmetology in both
St. Louis and Seattle. Youth with commercial training fared surprisingly well in getting employment for which they were trained,
in view of the large number with such training and the prevalent view
that too many youth are preparing themselves for white-collar jobs.
They compared favorably with youth who had had other types of
training in all three cities where commercial programs were offered.•
Youth with relatively specialized commercial training, such as that
offered in the special commercial program in St. Louis, showed a high
degree of ability to get related jobs; those with commercial training
of a more general sort had the least success in this respect.
In the trade and industrial programs young men with training as
machinists seemed to have an advantage over other industrially
trained youth, particularly in St. Louis and Birmingham. Following are the figures on the three programs which were given in all four
cities:
I
t
In a recent study of Philadelphia public vocational school graduates similar
conclusions were reached. Of the business graduates of 1935 who were employed 2 years later; 80 percent were in clerical or sales work in which they
utilized the training they had received; of the employed graduates of thein<iustrial
curriculwn, only 63 percent were in jobs related to their training. (Pavan, Ann,
"A Follow-up Study of Philadelphia Public School Graduates, 1935," Occupatiom, Vol. XVI, No. 3, December 1937, p. 257.
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54 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Thia number had held
trained in thefollowi,ng programs: directly related jobs: onlyindirectlyrelatedjoba:
Machineshop _____________________
59
13
Electricity __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _
46
10
Automechanics ___________________
32
2f
Of every 100 youth in the four cities Thia 1mmber had held
Printing, which was offered in 3 of the 4 cities, was second only
to the machinist program in terms of directly related employment,
with 55 percent of all youth trained in this field having held directly
related jobs. Young men with training of the type associated with
building construction-woodworking in St. Louis and Birmingham,
sheet-metal work in St. Louis---had the smallest proportion of directly
related employment of all groups trained in industrial programs.
The percentage of youth completing specialized types of programs,
particularly in the commercial field, was much higher than the percentage completing the more generalized programs. The greater
chance of getting jobs in the more specialized types of work probably
encouraged these same students to finish their training; and once
they had graduated, they found that their completed training was
especially helpful to them. Youth in the more general training programs, on the other hand, were more likely to become discouraged at
the limited opportunities offered to them and to drop out of school.
This put them at an added disadvantage.
TRENDS IN RELATED EMPLOYMENT, 1930-1938
Thus far the analysis of vocational training and its results in
terms of actual jobs held has been based on the work histories of
trained youth,· in terms of whether at any time the youth had had
employment related to their training. If the problems of vocationally
trained youth during a depression period are to be understood, however, it is necessary to determine the employment status of such
youth at various times over a period of years. In order to accomplish
this, the activities of the trained youth on the first of en.ch month
were tabulated for the four cities together.
The Class of 1929
To standardize as far as possible the variable factors of age and
experience, youth who had graduated from the eighth grade in 1929
were first studied separately from the others. A majority of them
had left school between 1932 and 1934, when depression conditions
were at their worst. They had subsequently spent an average of
5 years in the labor market. The collective experiences of these
youth, who were on the average a little more than 23 years of age in
1938, form a significant index of employment among vocationally
trained youth during the depression years. (See figures 2A, 2B,
and 2C and appendix table 29.)
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Fig . 2 A - EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF SMITH-HUGHES TRAINED LABOR-MARKET YOUTH,
EIGHTH-GRADE GRADUATES OF 1929 IN 4 CITIES, 1930-1938, BOTH SEXES
: _:_/-: , ::j:\::/Jf./'' :\::-: . · L·,.... ·.
·t
80
60
z
40
,0
m
r
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~
0
0
z
20
-.
~
u5
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a.
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0
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00
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0
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z
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Sour ce · Append 1< loble 29.
WPA 17 ~ 9
•
V,
V,
I.II
Fi9. 2 B - EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF SMITH-HUGHES TRAINED LABOR-MARKET YOUTH,
EIGHTH-GRADE GRADUATES OF 1929 IN 4 CITIES, 1930-19~8, MALES
Percenl
100 ~1-
- . . .-.-.-:-:--:-:-.-.-. !~- - .-: : ---: :; -:-,;-- . .-:-:=-
,.....
-- ......-. · :"""'
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0.
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-<
C;
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~
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rv
0
1931
Sou,ce: Appendix table 29.
1938
WPA 1790
Fig. 2 C - EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF SMITH-HUGHES TRAINED LABOR-MARKET YOUTH,
EIGHTH-GRADE GRADUATES OF 1929 IN 4 CITIES, 1930-1938, FEMALES
Percent
10 0 I
::.::•:- .f·:· · -:·:-:•>-'' •:
I·
.-..::,V.: :.:-_,._·-::.-:-:-..:'::-: ..:::.: :I .·,· ·.•,. . ......
·. :-..:-_..,.f:::....-...... ·. _._..,,..-:--.;,:,._. :·.:i--.-:• ·.-. :-:Z.:-:..
-.i, .-
Percent
1100
- -
80
80
rn
~
60
bO
0
-<
~
rn
z
-I
40
40
z
,c
rn
r
)>
=
0
0
=g
20
20
;;;
(~
a.
0
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00
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0
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z
)>
oI
B:*-:.::;:m3;:~::,::*::~:;:;5:r:;;s.~~~~~~~S:}*~rf...~~~
19 30
1931
Source: Appendix toble 29.
1932
1933
~-,.;~...-.w
1934
1935
1936
1937
10
1938
WPA 1711
z
z
G)
•
UI
......
58 • VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
The first fact which stands out from these data is that the proportion
of labor-market youth whose employment was related to their fields of
training, both directly and indirectly, increased fairly steadily month
by month from 1930 through 1937, rising from a fourth to a half of all
such youth.' During the first few years the upward trend in related
employment was rather irregular; the proportion dropped slightly
each July, when a new group of youth left school to enter the labor
market. But the general tendency toward more employment of a
sort that was related, directly or indirectly, to training was definite
and unmistakable. The proportion of youth with employment that
was not related to their training, on the other hand, decreased slightly
in the first 4 years of the period studied, but stayed fairly constant
from 1934 on.
Unemployment among the trained youth ranged from 21 percent to
almost 40 percent during the period July 193o-July 1933. It dropped
steadily thereafter until the end of 1937, then increased slightly during
the first half of 1938. Unemployment thus reflected the general state
of business activity during the 8-year period, falling to a minimum of
10 percent of all trained labor-market youth in the relatively prosperous year 1937. Both total employment and employment related
to field of training reached their peaks in that same year, and more of
t.lie employed youth were working in related fields in 1937 than at any
other time.
Employment related to fields of training tended to increase at the
expense of unemployment during the period covered by these data,
while employment unrelated to training remained about the same.
This fact suggests that employment in related fields was dependent
upon general business conditions to a greater extent than were other
t.ypes of employment. In good times youth were best able to obtain
jobs of the sort which they desired and for which they were trained.
This was particularly true when the trend of the busines.."I cycle was
upward.
There was a sharp difference between young men and young women
in terms of employment related to field of training. A much higher
percentage of girls than of young men had related jobs throughout the
period studied. The percent of young men with r~lated jobs rose from
14 to 41, while the percent of young women in such jobs rose from
18 to about 61, from 1933 through 1937.
This difference is partly explained by variations in t.raining and in
job opportunities between the sexes. Not only is the range of jobs
that are related to specific industrial training programs somewhat
narrower than in the case of commNcial and womrn's programs, but
6 In a few cases youth obtained their first jobs before taking vocational coureee,
then returned to school for specialized training.
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING •
59
also the total number of occupations open to young men is much
greater than the number open to young women. Thus young men
had a greater chance of getting unrelated work. The apparent advantage held by young women in obtaining employment related to their
training throughout the period studied was therefore to some extent
the result of differences in types of training and in occupational opportunities opened to young men and young women.
The Cla11 of 1933
As a check upon the employment trends shown by the work histories
of the older youth (1929 eighth-grade graduates), similar time-series
data were compiled for the youngest group (the 1933 eighth-grade
graduates). The two groups showed marked similarity in that both
had an increasing amount of employment related to field of training
as they spent more and more time in the labor market; but there were
also sharp differences between them. (See figures 3A, 3B, and 3C and
appendix table 30.)
In the first place, fewer of the 1933 than of the 1929 eighth-grade
graduates left school at an early age to enter the labor market. This
was particularly true among the girls; only about half as many of the
1933 class as of the 1929 class had entered the labor market a year
after the date of their eighth-grade graduations.
Fig. 3 A - EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF SMITH-HUGHES TRAINED LABORMARKET YOUTH, EIGHTH-GRADE GRADUATES OF 1933 IN
4 CITIES, 1934-1938, BOTH SEXES
-,---,-- - -
so
,....,,..~~~ 60
40
--
~
20 -
-
~~lffl~m---
-~
40
20
0
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
Source: Appendix table 30,
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Source·· Appenclix toble 30.
~~:~s
Fig. 3 C - EMPLOYMENT
MARKET YOUT~TATUS OF SMITH4 CITIES, 1935_'1;~;HTH-GRADE
r;~cr----
.I'
801--- -
FEMALES
i
I
z
6
0
• ::~ s
1934
Soilrce: Append '
•
~,~
ai"e>
IX
~/
"&,~g"'
1936
table 30.
- ,.,
TRAINED LABOR-
TES OF 1933 IN
EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING • 61
A second difference was that fewer of the 1933 class members than
of the 1929 class members who left school after only a year or two of
secondary school training obtained employment related to their trainhtg. Evidently completion of training was more important as a
prerequisite to securing related employment in the years 1934 and 1935
than in 1930 and 1931. Again, this was particularly true of the girls;
2 years after their respective eighth-grade graduating dates, 25 percent
of the girls in the 1929 class who entered the labor market, but only
14 percent of those in the 1933 class, had related jobs. In the 1933
class, unlike the 1929 class, the girls had less related employment
than the boys during most of the period studied.
The younger group (the 1933 class) showed a sharper and more
consistent rise in proportion of related employment than did the older
group during their first few years in the labor market. The 1933 class
had 2 percent of its labor-market entrants in related employment in
July 1934 and 30 percent in July 1936, while the 1929 class had 16
percent in related employment in July 1930, but only 22 percent in
July 1932. The reason for this was that the younger group entered
the labor market at a more favorable period of the business cycle--a
time when general economic conditions combined with the increasing
training, experience, and maturity of the youth to give them a better
chance to secure jobs of the sort for which they were trained.
Finally, unemployment was more prevalent in the younger group
than in the older one at the depth of the depression, because of the
comparative lack of maturity and experience on the part of the 1933
graduates at that time. The recession of 1937-1938 hit the younger
group hardest for the same reasons. Some of them were entering the
labor market for the first time as late as 1937 and 1938, and new
labor-market entrants are particularly handicapped when jobs are
scarce. But there was no greater proportion of unemployment among
1933 class members in 1938 than there had been among 1929 class
members in 1934.
R._, for lncreaN In Related Employment
The generally upward trend in employment related to training in
both classes and both sexes was due to three main factors: First, the
training itself undoubtedly gave youth some advantage in securing
the particular types of work for which they had studied. As time
went on, youth tended to leave jobs which they looked upon as temporary stopgaps in order to get jobs in their fields of training. In other
words, the effects of training were cumulative, and were not fully
apparent until youth had had a chance to shift from makeshift jobs
into jobs more to their liking. Furthermore, youth who came into
the labor market several years after their eighth-grade graduation
were better trained, on the avernge, than youth who started working
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62 • Voe.ATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
or seeking work at an earlier date. Few members of the 1929 eighthgrade class who entered the labor market as early as 1930 or 1931
had completed their training, since most of the vocational programs
in each of the cities required at least 2 or 3 years of general and specialized work for completion. From 1933 on, however, most of the new
entrants into the labor market from this older group had finished
their programs. As the percent of youth with completed training increased in the labor-market group, the proportion with related jobs
also increased; this indicates that youth with completed training were
better prepared to enter related employment than were other youth.
Second, increasing maturity and experience also helped youth to
get jobs, especially jobs of their own choosing. Whether this factor
was as important as training is difficult to say; but certainly age and
experience were great assets to youth.
Finally, as noted above, improved business conditions had an
obvious beneficial effect on employment opportunities of youth,
whether or not they had received vocational training. In addition,
in relatively prosperous times youth were best able to get the specific
types of jobs for which they had been trained.
It is impossible to determine the extent to which each of these
factors was responsible for increasing employment in fields of training.
Probably all were important. Their combined effect, at any rate,
was to enable more and more trained labor-market youth to get
jobs appropriate to their training as time went on.
JOBS IN RELATION TO TRAINING
In order to determine more precisely the relationship between
training on the one hand and employment status, duration of jobs, and
earnings on the other, some of the data gathered in the present survey
were tabulated on a job basis. By this means it was possible to determine the proportion of jobs directly and indirectly related, or unrelated, to the training of the youth who had held them. It was also possible to compare first jobs with jobs held on July 1, 1938, to determine
trends, particularly with respect to earnings and duration of jobs.
First Jobs and Jobs Held at Interview
Since the time-series data in the previous section demonstrated that
a steadily increasing proportion of all trained youth tended to get
employment related to their vocationnl school work, a comparison of
first jobs and jobs held at time of interview 6 would be expected to
• Youth with one job only are included in both groupe--first jobs and jobs
held at time of interview-in this section of the report. The latter are defined
as all full-time jobs held on July 1, 1938. The number of jobs held at interview
was smaller than the number of first jobs because a number of youth had left the
labor market by July 1938.
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING • 63
show that a. larger proportion of the latter than of the former jobs
would be in fields related to the training of the youth. This was true,
although the difference was not very great. (See appendix table 31.)
It should be noted in this connection that the job data. were for all
three graduating classes combined. Thus the first jobs included not
only those held in the yea.rs 1930 and 1931 (by 1929 eighth-grade
graduates whose training programs were incomplete), but also many
jobs held as recently as 1937 by youth with completed training.
Youth with completed training showed a. greater increase in .proportion of related jobs from first job to job held a.t interview than
did those whose trainin~ was not completed. The proportion of
directly related first jobs was twice a.s high among youth who had completed their training as among those with uncompleted training in each
city. The same was true of jobs held a.t interview, in ea.ch city
except Birmingham.
OJ every 100 first jobs, OJ efJ6"r1I 100 jobs held at
Among youth in the 4 citiu
the number directly
intervieto, the number
whoae training was:
related was:
Complet.e ________________________ 53
Incomplet.e _____________ .. _______ 27
directly related was:
58
29
In Seattle, where the differences were greatest, well over ha.If of a.11
first jobs of youth with completed training were in directly related
fields, compared with only a. fifth of those held by youth who did not
finish their programs. Seven-tenths of all jobs held at interview by
Seattle youth with completed training, and less than two-fifths of
those held by youth who failed to complete their programs, were in
directly related fields.
The most precise method of analyzing jobs in relation to training
programs is to determine the proportion of the youth with completed
training programs who went into work directly related to their training. Only a. few programs, however, had 25 youth or more with
completed training who were recorded e.s holding jobs a.t the time of
interview. (See appendix table 32.) Following a.re the figures for
the more important programs in St. Louis:
OJ every 100 first jobs,
the number directly
Among St. Louis youth with
related was:
completed training in:
Commercial programs:
Special commerciaL ____ _ __ _ _ __ _ 71
SecretariaL _ __ __ _ _ ___ __ _ __ __ _ 48
Stenography _________________ 45
Industrial programs:
Machine shop _______________ _ *75
Electricity ________________ . __ *62
Women's programs:
Cosmetology ________________ _ *87
*More than 25 but less than 50 jobs.
Of every 100 jobs held at
interview, the number
directly related was:
78
58
50
*65
*63
*84
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64 •
VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
When only youth with completed training were considered, special
commercial training seemed to be more productive of directly related
employment than any other program except cosmetology, as would be
expected from the data previously presented Among the industrial
programs the machine-shop program again led, with three-fourths of
all first jobs of youth with this sort of training in machine-shop work,
tool- and die-making, operating drill or punch presses, BSSembling
motors or brakes, or other directly related .work.
St. Louis youth with commercial training showed a definite tendency toward more employment in their special fields as time went
on. This was not true, however, of industrie.lly trained youth. And
in the two programs with the largest proportion of initial employment
in field of training-cosmetology and machine shop-there was a drop
in directly related employment from first jobs to jobs held at time of
interview.
In nearly every St. Louis program completion of training proved to
be closely associated with success in obtaining related jobs. There
was one exception: Youth with secretarial training, regardless of
whether or not tlwir training was completed, obtained directly related
employment in about half of all first jobs and almost three-fifths of all
jobs held at time of interview. In other commercial programs, and
in all industrial programs, however, completion of training was highly
important as a prerequisite to obtaining employment of a nature
closely relatt.'d to that training.
DURATION OF JOBS
Average duration of first johs held by trained youth ranged from
3 to 6 months, and that of jobs at which the youth were still working on
July 1, 1938, ranged from 12 to 18 months in the various cities. Jobs in
the fields for which the youth were trained lasted longer on the average
than other jobs in each city except Birmingham, where there was no
difference between these categorit>s. Jobs of youth who had completed their training lasted slightly longer than those of youth who
had left school before completing their programs in St. Louis and
Seattle, but not in Binningham. (See appt>ndix table 33.) Youth
with completed training had, on the avt>rage, jobs of longer duration
than those of untrained youth; and youth with uncompleted training
had jobs of shorter duration than thosP of untrained youth. Again,
this was true in each city except Birmingham.
There were some varintions in terms of average duration of jobs
among the different types of training progrnms. Commercial students had shorter first jobs and longer jobs held at tin1e of interview
than any other group in St. Louis.
EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING • 65
The average duration of firat of S
Among St. Louis youtA
or more jobs in
trained in:
month& waa:
Commercial programs_ .
________ __ _
5
Industrial programs_
. _________
8
Women's programs___________________
7
Arts programs _______________ . _____ __ _
6
The average duration of last of t
or more joba in
months waa:
19
16
12
13
Young women with training in cafeteria-tearoom work and young
men who had been trained a& draftsmen had the longest first jobs.
Youth with general commercial and stenographic training had a
slight advantage, however, in average length of jobs held at interview.
A larger proportion of time was spent in employment by youth
trained in industrial programs than by youth trained in commercial
programs, as a glance at the more important programs of each type
will indicate.
The at'erage (mMn) percmt
Among St. Louia labor-market
of total labor-market time
spent in employment waa:
mtranu with training in:
Commercial programs:
Secretarial __________________________________________ 82
Stenography ________________________________________ 81
Special commercial_ _ ______ .. ___ ____ ____ ____ ___ ______ 76
General business__ ___ . __ __ ___ __ ___ ____ _____ _____ __ 76
General commercial_ ____ . _______________ . _________ __ _ 75
Industrial programs:
Printing__ ___ __ __ ______ ___ ___ __ ____ __ __ __ ___ ___ __ __ 86
Machine shop__ _________ . ___ . ___ ___ _ _ ________ _____ 83
Auto mechanics ____________________________________ . 82
Electricity_____ __ __ _ ___________ - __ .. ___ - _ __ __ __ __ __ _ 82
Woodworking_.
____________________ . ___ __ __ _ 79
Youth who bad been trainPd in the secretarial and stenographic programs were b<'tt.er abll' to hold jobs than were general commercial
trainees. This was in spite of the fact that youth with secretarial
training had been in the labor market for only a little over 2 years,
on the average, while those with general commercial training had
been working or seeking work for OVl'r 4 years-almost twice as
long. Among industrially trained youth students of printing and
machine shop had the best succPss in holding jobs. (See appendix
table 34.)
EARNINGS
Wages of youth trained in the various programs showed wide
variations. This was to be expected, since wage levels in the various
types of work for which they were trained varied greatly. A girl
who completed a course in cafeteria-tearoom work and who obtained
450Jn0°-42- --7
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66 • VO<.ATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
work in this field, for example, would hardly expect to earn as high
wages as a boy who graduated from the machine-shop program and
got a job as a skilled or semiskilled worker in industry. Both sex
and occupational wage differentials are involved here. Earnings
alone are not, therefore, a fair gauge of the relative effectiveness of
various types of training.
N evertlwless average weekly wages are worth considering as one
measure of success in the labor market. In this connection, although
wage differentials on al] jobs are given below, stress is placed upon
diffcrences between earnings on first jobs and jobs held at time of
interview, and on differences between earnings on jobs related to
training and other jobs, rather than on absolute fi'nU"es. The results
of such comparisons have at lc•ast some bearing on the relationship
of diffc•rent types of vo<·ational training to earning power.
Weclcly Eamlnp on All Full-nme Jobe
In St. Louis industrialJy trained youth had the highest earnings,
with youth trained in the arts programs taking second place, when
all full-time jobs were tabulated together.
Among St. Loui11 youth
Average wukl11 earninga
trained in:
all Jull-titM jok v,ere:
Indulltrial programs ___________________________________ $16. 20
Arts programs._. __ .__________________________________ 15. 10
Commercial programs_________________________________ 14. 20
Women's program11 _____ . ____________________ ... _____ . 12. 40
°"
These variations were largely the n•sult of sex differentials in earnings.
As nokd previously, with one exception, only boys entered the industrial programs, which had the highest average earnings; and except
for one boy, only girls were in the "women's programs," which had
the lowest earnings. The other groups of programs were intennediate
with n•spect to both sex composition and earnings.
Among industrially trained youth those trained as draftsmen
eariwd the highest average weekly wages ($17.40), with former studC'nts of electricity and auto mechanics coming next. Lowest earnings
in this group of programs were those of youth trained in printing, who
eunwcl an average of $14.90 on all jobs. (See appendix table 35.)
Among arts students, show-card writers, with average weekly
enrnings of $15.40, topped commercin.l artists, who averaged $14.60
on nil jobs.
Youth who had studiPd accounting did best among commercially
trni1wd workPrs, with earnings aw-raging $16.40 per week. Bringing
up tlw rc•nr in this cntegory were the youth with relatively unspeeializPd training-those from the genPral eommercial and clerical programs, who avcrugt•d only a little ovPr $13 per week.
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING• 67
The youth with the lowest earnings of all groups, significantly
enough, were young women trained in cosmetology. Although these
youth had the best record of all groups in securing jobs in their field
of training, their wages averaged less than $11 per week. (Similarly
low wages prevailed among girls trained in beauty culture in Seattle;
beauty opera.tors in that city reported earnings varying from $6 to
$15 per week.) St. Louis cosmetologists also had by far the longest
working hours of all trained groups studied. Their hours averaged
55 per week, compared with only 44 for the next highest group.
In Birmingham highest average earnings were found among youth
trained as machinists. In Seattle youth trained as machinists and
as auto mechanics had the highest wages. But these averages were
subject to a considerable degree of error because they were based on
jobs held by fewer than 25 youth in each case.
.
Eamln91 on Flnt
Jobs and Jobs Held
at
n...
of lntem-
When first jobs and jobs held at time of interview of youth with two
full-time jobs or more were considered, it was found that there was a
sharp rise in earnings from first jobs to jobs held at time of interview,
as would be expected. Part of this increase, however, was due to the
fact that the proportion of girls was higher on first jobs than on jobs
held at time of interview; many young women who had held two
jobs or more had left the labor market by 1938.
Average weekly
earnings on first of t
Amoftf1 trained youth in:
jobs or more were:
St. Louis_ _ __ _ _ __ ___ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ $12. 80
Birmingham_ _ _ _ _ _ __ ___ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ 12. 40
Denver____ _ __ _ _ _ ___ __ __ __ __ __ __ _ 13. 70
Seattle ___________ ------------·__ 13. 80
AHrage weekly
earnings on la4t of I
jobs or more were:
$16. 30
18. 30
. 19. 20
18. 60
These increases in average earnings did not, so far as could be determined, differ markedly from those of untrained youth. Exactly comparable figures are not available for youth with no Smith-Hughes
training; but among all youth in the seven cities where the larger
survey of youth in the labor market was conducted, average earnings rose from $14.20 on all first jobs to $17.70 on all jobs held at the
time of interview. This increase of $3.50 in average earnings was
the same as the increase which occurred from first to last of two jobs
or more held by trained youth in St. Louis, although less than the
increase in the other three cities. If the overlapping of first and
final jobs among all youth had been removed, however, as was done
in the case of the trained youth by eliminating youth who had held
one job only, the increase in average earnings for all youth would
probably have approximated the increases reported by trained youth
in the four cities.
68 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
In St. Louis the sharpest increases from first to last jobs were
among youth with training in the arts programs.
Average weekly
Average weekly
earnings on first of e earnings on uut of I
job, or more v,ere:
Among St. Louia youth trained in:
jobs or more were:
Art.a programs__ ___ _
$13. 60
$19. 90
Industrial programs___ _ ___ __ _ __ _ 14. 10
19. 10
Commercial programs_ _ _ ________ _ 12. 60
15. 40
Women's programs ________ -: ___ _ 11. 00
14. 00
Here again, youth trained in women's and commercial programs
were at a disadvantage. Not only did they receive a lower starting
wage, but also they had less to look iorward to in the way of increased
earnings as time went on, than did other trained youth. The fact
that most of those who had been trained in these programs were girls,
except for a small proportion of young men in the commercial programs, undoubtedly had much to do with this.
It is significant that youth trained in the commercial programs had
obtained related employment in a larger number of cases than had
youth with other types of training, yet showed the smallest increase
in earnings from first to last job. Furthermore, the largest wage
increases were among youth trained in woodworking, show-card
writing, and sheet-metal work, in the order named; and these were
the very programs with the smallest number of youth who had ever
had jobs in their fields of training. The smallest increase in average
earnings, on the other hand, was among young women trained in
cosmetology-the group who had hnd by far the greatest success in
finding places in their fields of training. They started work at an
average wage of $10 per week, and were earning only about $11.50
by the end of the survey period.
Eamin91 on Related and Unrelated Jobs
Wages of youth were not consistently higher in the lines of work
for which they had been trained than in other fields. Earnings on
all full-time jobs that were directly related to the training of the
youth holding them were slightly higher than earnings on other jobs
in both Birmingham and St. Louis; but, this was not true in the other
two cities.
Average weekly earnings on all jobs:
Directly related to With no relation11hip
Among trained you.th in:
training were:
to training were:
St. Lou is_ _ _ __ __ __ __ _ __ _ __ __ _ __ __ _ _ $14. 90
$14. 20
Birmingham _______________________ 16. 10
15. 30
Denver ____________________________ 13. 50
15. 30
15. 10
Seat.tie _________ ·_ __ __ _ __ __ _ __ _ _ __ _ 15. 00
· There was no consistent relutionship, t,hen, between high wages and
employment in field of training.
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING • 69
There were differences among the various types of programs in this
respect, however. St. Louis you th trained in the commercial and industrial programs derived a considerable financial advantage from employment directly related to their training as compared with employment in other fields, while girls trained in the various women's programs earned no more on jobs for which they had been trained than
on other jobs.
Average weekly earnings on all jobs:
Among St. Louis youth
with training in:
Industrial programs .... __ ._ .
Commercial programi< _. ____ _
Artsprograms .. ____ ----·---Women's programs._
Directly related
to training were:
$16. 90
14. 80
15. 10
12. 40
With no relationship
to training were:
$15. 40
13. 30
14. 70
12. 40
Former students of auto nwchanic.c;, eh•ctricity, and machine shop
showed the largest earnings of all groups on jobs within their fields
of training, and also larger earnings iu directly related than in unrelated types of work. Former students of cafeteria-tearoom work,
printing, and accounting, on the other hand, earned more when they
were working on jobs outside their training fields than they did when
they were on jobs directly related to their traini11g. In certain fields
the best earnings were from jobs with a secondary relationship to
training, rather than from those either with .a primary relationship
or with no relationship at all. This was true of the stenographic,
secretarial, and accounting programs in the commercial field; and of
the drafting, electrical, and auto mechanics programs in the industrial
field.
Eamin91 and Completion of Training
There was no consistent relationship between completion of training and average weekly earnings, from program to program. For
example:
Average weekly earnings of
St. Louis youlh trained iu:
lndu,;trial programi< ____ _
Arts programs ______ _
Commercial programs_
Women's programs. __
With completed
training were:
$16. 00
15. 00
14. 50
11. 30
With uncompleted
training were:
$16. 20
15. 10
14. 10
13. 00
Completion of training wa.s most valuable to youth in the auto
mechanics and stcnogmphic programs in St. Louis. Girls with completed training in the women's programs, on the other hand, earned
less than did girls who failed to complete these same programs, particularly in the cafeteria-tenroom and industrial sewing programs. One
explanation for this is that the latter are rdntively low-pai<l types of
work, and those who left school to take jobs in other fields were therefore likely to earn more than if they had completed their programs
and found work in their fields of training.
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70 • VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
According to the pr<'sent survey, Smith-Hughes trained youth
earned no more than oth<'r youth; their earnings increased during the
period covered by the survey, but probably no faster than those of
other youth; they earned little if any more on jobs directly related t-0
their training than they did on other jobs; and completion of training
programs made little difference in their earnings.
Binningham was the only city where the internal evidence on earnings suggested that vocational training might be productive of higher
wages. In that city youth with completed training ea.med more than
those who had attended only part of a program; all trained youth
increased their average earnings almost 50 percent from first to last
jobs; and they also ea.med a considerably higher weekly wage in jobs
with a primary relationship to their training than in jobs with only
a secondary relationship or no relationship at all. But it will be remembered that when trained and untrained youth were compared in
Birmingham, the difference in earnings was small after the factors of
sex and race had been taken into account.
In the other three cities vocational training did not have any consistent relationship to earning power. This was hardly surprising.
For one thing, vocational training on the secondary school level does
not pretend to train youth for high-paid jobs, but only for moderately
skilled and semiskilled work; the group with Smith-Hughes training
would therefore be likely to be limited to young people with medium
or low earnings. It must also be kept in mind that the state of the
labor market tended to dt>press the average earnings of trained youth,
as well as those of untr11.ine<l youth, during the depression.
CONCLUSIONS
There was little agreement among the various criteria of effectiveness of vocational training, with one or two exceptions. In the commercial field in St. Louis training in the more specialized programs,
such as secretarial and special commercial work, resulted in the largest
proportion of labor-mnrk<'t time employed, the largest proportion of
youth with employm<'nt in rdated fields, and the highest wages. In
the industrial field in St. Louis there was a slight positive relationship between employment in linc,s of work for which youth had been
trained and percent of labor-market time employed; but there was no
consistent relationship between related employment and duration of
jobs or earnings. (See appendix table 36.) In Denver trained youth
had less related employment than in any other city; yet they had
more total employment than in any other city, and their earnings were
r..Iativcly high.
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EMPLOYMENT IN RELATION TO TRAINING • 71
In summarizing the last two chapters, it may be stated that vocationally trained youth as a group did not differ appreciably from other
youth in amount of employment or in earning power. A detailed
examination of programs indicated that in a few fields of work prospects for employment and for relatively high wages were enhanced
by training, especially if that training was completed. Such variations depended to a great extent on local labor-market conditions.
Probably in more prosperous times more of the trained youth would
have found related employment. But in a depression labor market,
when jobs of all kinds were scarce, trained youth had about as much
difficulty in becoming adjusted economically as did youth with education of a less specialized sort.
D1g1
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Chapter V
VOCATIONAL TRAINING OUTSIDE THE
SMITH-HUGHES SYSTEM
THE FEDERALLY aided system of vocational education is the most
highly developed and carefully standardized type of vocational training available in public schools throughout the country. There are,
however, several other sorts of training of a vocational nature, both
in the public schools and elsewhere. Many regular high schools offer
orientation courses of a vocational or prevocational type. Parochial
schools in some cities have similar courses. Apprentice systems sponsored by unions and employers offer practical vocational training and
experience. Training of workers on the job, by a process of "upgrading" or by short-term training courses in private factories, has
become increasingly important since the defense program has created
shortages of certain types of skilled workers. Finally, in every city
there are numerous private schools and colleges which offer specialized
vocational courses. These latter range from business colleges and
trade institutes to schools and academies that offer professional
training, such as schools for artists, dentists,· and nurses.
In the present survey some data. were obtained on vocational
training of two types other than Smith-Hughes training: vocational
training in the regular high-school system (data obtained in Seattle
only), and training in private vocational schools (data obtained in all
four cities). Because of the limited amount of material available,
the analysis of these types of vocational training is of necessity less
detailed than the analysis of Smith-Hughes training. The general
results of regular high-school and private school vocational training
will be of interest, however, in connection with the analysis of the results of Smith-Hughes training prcsPntcd above.
TRAINING IN THE REGULAR HIGH SCHOOLS OF SEATTLE
In each of the four cities studied there were some "prevocational"
courses offered in the regular high schools, aside from Smith-Hughes
programs in the vocationn~ schools. In three of the cities this training
73
74 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
was not sufficiently specialized or extensive to be comparable to the
training offered under the provisions of the Smith-Hughes Act.
Accordingly, vocational training was limited by definition to SmithHughes training in these cities.
In Seattle, however, vocational courses were well attended and well
developed throughout the regular junior and senior high-school
systems. This resulted in part from restrictions placed upon admittance to Edison Vocational School, the one school where SmithHughes training was offered; these restrictions led many students,
who would otherwise have gone to Edison, to stay in the regular high
schools and register for vocational courses there. Graduates of
vocational-type courses in the regular high schools of Seattle were
classed by school officials as· "vocationally trained" if they had
received a specified number of semesters of training in a given field.
Thus, youth with only one or two semesters of woodshop were considered trained and ready to take jobs in this field; but in art, six
to eight semesters of work were required. Other courses, in the commercial and industrial fields, required a minimum of three or four
semesters of study before the training was considered on a level with
genuine vocational training.
It was therefore possible to measure the results of regular high.school vocational training in Seattle, and to compare them with the
results of Smith-Hughes training in the same city. The records of
the Seattle high schools were carefully checked to make sure that all
youth classed as vocationally trained had fulfilled the minimum
requirements set by the school officials. The same criteria of relationship between job and training were used as had been used in the case
of Smith-Hughes trained youth.
Of all Seattle youth who were interviewed in the survey of youth
in the labor market, 1,178 or 27 percent had completed one vocational
course or more of study in the regular high schools. (This figure did
not include many other youth who had taken one semester or more
of high-school vocational work but who had not completed the minimum requirements for completion of the various courses.)
Labor-Marlcct Status of Youth
Four out of every ten youth trained in the regular high schools were
young men. Nine out of ten had entNcd the labor market at some
time, and seven of these were still working or seeking work at the time
of the survey. This wns a higher proportion than was found in any
of the other groups in Seattle-the Smith-Hughes trained youth,
those trained in private vocntionnl schools, or those with no recorded
training of a vocntionnl nnture.
The proportion of lnhor-mnrket youth who were employed at the
time of the survey w11s higher in the regulur high-school group than
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OUTSIDE THE SMITH-HUGHES SYSTEM • 7 5
in the Smith-Hughes trained group. The comparatively short length
of time spent in the labor market by Smith-Hughes youth-an
average (mean) of 25 months, compared with 32 months for all other
Seattle youth-probably explains this fact. Graduates of vocational
programs in the regular high schools had less employment than
graduates of private vocational schools (which catered to an older,
more mature group of youth).
The number
100 Seattle youth in the labor market on
The number employed full
July 1, 1988, who had:
employed W<U:
time W<U:
Regular high-school vocational training_______
83
71
Smith-Hughes training_____________________
78
67
Private school vocational training_ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _
88
78
No training of a vocational nature__ __ __ __ _ _ _
82
69
OJ euery
Such small advantages in terms of employment as may have been
derived from vocational training in the regular high schools, as opposed
to no recorded vocational training of any sort, were entirely among
the young women; male youth with regular high-school vocational
training had no more employment than those with no training.
Employment In Field of Training
Of the 1,178 Seattle youth who had completed one vocational
course or more in the regular high schools, and who subsequently
entered the labor market, about half had obtained employment in
which they were able to use the training they had received. About
three-eighths had worked in jobs directly related to their training.
(See appendix table 37.)
Of every 100 Seattle labor-market youth with vocational
training in the regular high schools:
37
14
43
6
had
had
had
had
had jobs directly related to their training;
had jobs with an indirect relationship only;
had only jobs with no relationship to their training; and
had 110 jobs of 15 hours or more per week.
Fewer of these regular high-school trainees had had related jobs
than had Seattle youth with Smith-Hughes training; but also fewer
of them had had no jobs of 15 hours or more per week. 1
Even when the high-school youth had completed two vocational
courses or more in the regular high schools, as one in five did, their
chances of obtaining work related to any of their training courses were
not materially increased. Only 40 percent of such youth had obtained
jobs directly related to any of the types of training they had acquired.
1 See appendix table 26 for detailed figures.
The large proportion of Seattle
Smith-Hughes youth who had never held a full-time job was understandable in
the light of the fact that 32 percent of this group had been in the labor market
less than a year, as compared with only 19 percent of all other Seattle youth.
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76 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
It should be remembered that all youth included in the group with
regular high-school vocational training had completed their training
courses, according to the specifications established by Seattle school
authorities. Completed high-school vocational training probably
represented a level of training more closely comparable, on the average, to uncompleted than to completed Smith-Hughes training. 1
When a comparison is made on this basis, the youth trained in regular
high-achoo! courses are placed in a more favorable light.
TM number tolw had
Of every JO() Seattle labor-market entrants wlw had raeived:
held related job, wa11:
Regular high-school vocational training ______________ .
51
Uncompleted Smith-Hughes training __ . _______ . _ __ _ _ __ __ _ 40
Completed Smith-Hughes training_ ___ __ __ __ __ _ _ ___ _ __ __ __ _ 78
Eliminating from each group youth who had held no jobs of 1,5
hours or more per week, there was little difference between Seattle
youth with uncompleted Smith-Hughes training and youth who
completed their regular high-school training, in tenns of the proportions obtaining related employment. Just over half of the remaining
youth in each group had held jobs that were associated in some degree
with their training.
The most successful vocational courses in Seattle's regular high
schools were clerical in nature-notably retail selling ·and general
clerking.
The number who had held
jobs directly related to
OJ every JO() Seattle labor-market entrant,
with regular high-school training in:
their training wa,:
Retail sc11ing____ __ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ __ __ ___ _ ___ _
_ _______ *70
General clerking __________ .. __________________ . _ __ __ __ _ 49
Stenography_ __ __ ___ __ __ ___ __ __ ___ _ __ __ _ __ . _ __ __ __ __ _ 44
Bookkeeping and stenography ___________________ . __ . __ _ *40
Bookkeepinp; ______________________________________ . *39
Metal shop ____________________________ . _ __ __ _ ___ _ __ _ _ 32
Metal and wood shop___________________ __ _ _ ___ _ __ _ ___ _ 3~
Bookkeeping and general clerking_ _ ____ _ _ __ _ _ ________ . *28
Woodshop_ __ __ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _____________ . ______ . _ 13
Draftinp; ______ __ _ __ __ ___ ___ _ . __ ___ __ _ _.
• 10
Art________________________
* More than
. -----· __ - -- -- __ ...
8
25 but less than 50 youth.
It is particularly noteworthy that youth trained in retail selling,
which required only one or two semesters of training, obtained related
jobs in a large majority of cases, while youth trained in art, which
required the longest training pcriod--six to eight semesters of study1 Uncompleted Smith-Hughes training, it will be remembered, was defined as
at lea.~t one semester of full-time Smith-Hughes work, but not enough to enable
the student to graduate from the program. This degree of training was comparable to completed training in the rC'gular high schools, in terms of average number
of i<emC'Bter hours spent in vocational courses.
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OUTSIDE THE SMITH-HUGHES SYSTEM • 77
had related employment in the smallest proportion of cases. The fact
that some progra.ms are of longer duration than others, then, does not
necessarily mean that these progra.ms are more likely to be of assistance to youth in finding appropriate jobs.
Apparently high-school vocational coursP.,s had some value for youth
who intended to go into clerical work; but if they desired to enter the
trades and industries, or the arts, they could expect little in the way of
adequate preparation in the regular high schools. In the industrial
field the vocational programs given at Edison School under the SmithHughes system produced much better results, in general, than the
high-school programs, although the number of Seattle youth interviewed who had studied in individual Smith-Hughes industrial programs was too small to allow precise statistical comparisons to be made.
The only individual program at Edison School which was roughly
comparable to certain of the vocational programs in the regular high
schools, and which had more than 50 registrants, was the business training progra.m. The various high-school commercial programs are here
compared with completed and uncompleted Smith-Hughes business
training, in terms of the percent of youth who found jobs that were
directly related to their training.
Of every 100 Seattle labor-market
The number who had held
mtranu with:
jobs directly related to
Smith-Hughes busirwss training:
their training 10a4,:
Complete____
_ . __ . ___________________ . _ _ "66
Incomplete ____________ .. __ _ _ ____ . _ __ __ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ __ _ •39
Regular high---echool training in:
Retail selling ____ _
*70
General clerki1111:. _ _ .
49
Stenography __ _
Bookkeeping ____ _
•39
" More than 25 but less than 50 youth.
Of the regular high-school courses, only retail selling resulted in a
degree of employment in field of training comparable to that attained
by youth who had completed their Smith-Hughes training. This is
explained by several factors: the large demand for retail store salespersons, especially during the Christmas rush and at other busy
seasons; the selective policy pursued by the regular high schools in
filling classes in retailing; and the efficient relationship worked out
jointly by the schools and the large stores in Seattle for placing the
youth once they were trained.
Youth in the other regular high-school commercial courses, particularly general clerking and stenography, fell below the Edison youth
with completed business training in securing related employment.
They compared favorably, however, with the Edison youth who had
not completed their training. Apparently in these cases completed
Ogt1zedbyGoogle
78 • VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
training in re.gular high school was at least equivalent to uncompleted
Smith-Hughes business training in terms of enabling youthful labormarket entrants to secure appropriate jobs.
Duration of Jobs and Eamln91
The full-time jobs of youth trained in the regular high schools of
Seattle averaged 3.7 months in duration. Jobs in their fields of
training lasted 5 months on the average, and jobs with no
relationship to training lasted only 3 months. These figures were tht>
same as those for Smith-Hughes youth in Seattle.
Average earnings of Seattle youth with rl'gular high-school vocational training amounted to $18.90 per wel'k for full-time work at the
time of the survey. This was a dollar more than the average for
Smith-Hughes youth (two-thirds of whom were girls), but less than the
average for those with no. training of a vocational sort. (The latter
group included an especially large number of university-trained youth
in Seattle.)
Among Seattle youth with full-time job11
A11erage weekly
on July 1, 1938, who had:
earnings were:
Regular high-school vocational truining_ ______ _ ___ ___ __ _ __ _ $18. 90
Smith-Hughes vocational training_____
. _ ___ __ ___
! 7. 90
Private vocational training ______________________ .. __ . __ _ . 18. 60
No training of a vocational nature_________ _ ___ _
20. 10
On all full-time jobs they had h<'ld, St>attle youth with regular highschool training earned an average of $16.40 per week. On one
full-time job in every eight they earned less than $10 per week.
About one-fourth of all jobs paid more than $20 per week, but only
1 in 20 paid $35 or more. A maj01·ity of the jobs (60 percent) paid
from $10 to $20 weekly.
There were sharp differences in averagt• earnings of youth trained
in the various high-school training programs. (See appendix table 38.)
Highest earnings were those of youth with training in metal shop
and in drafting.
Among SeaUle youth u·ith regular high-school
Average wtekly earnings on
training in:
all full-time job11 were:
Metal shop_ _ _ _ _
_____ . _____________ . _____ $20. 00
Drafting_______
__ __ __ __ __ ___ _ __ ____ __ _
*20. 00
Metalandwoodshop_______ ___________ _ ___
19.60
W oodshop _ ___ __ __ _ ___ __ __ __ __ _ _ __ _
19. 60
Bookkeeping and general clerking____
_ ______ *17. 70
Bookkeeping ______ . _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _______ .
_ __ __ __ _ 16. 50
Art._________
______ ___ ___ __
__ __ ___ 15. 40
Bookkeeping and stcnoJ,1;raphy ___________ , _ _ . _ _ ______ _ *15. 20
Retail selling_____________
_ ________ . _____________ _ *15. 10
General clerking____
_ ________________ _ 14. 90
Stenography___
________________ _ 14. 90
* More than 25 but less than 50 youth.
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OUTSIDE THE SMITH-HUGHES SYSTEM • 79
Several facts stand out from these figures. First, industrially
trained youth had consistently higher earnings than youth with
commercial training, as was the case in the Smith-Hughes group, in
spite of the fact that they had had related employment in a smaller
proportion of cases. Again, this was largely a reflection of the sex
differential in earnings; the industrially trained youth were all young
men.
The comparatively small earnings of commercially trained highschool youth and the high proportion of such you.th who had work in
their fields of training are particularly notable in the case of the youth
trained in retail selling; more than two-thirds of these youth had had
jobs in their fields of training, but their earnings were among the
lowest in the regular high-school group. As in the case of SmithHughes training, the programs which were most successful in helping
youth to get jobs appropriate to their training apparently tended to
be in fields where wages were relatively low.
Finally, it should be noted that in the only type of training where it
was possible to compare Smith-Hughes and regular high-school trained
youth--eommercial training-the latter group proved to have a
consistent advantage in earning power. The youth with business
training at Edison Vocational School earned an average of only
$14.70 per week on all full-time jobs, while the earnings of graduates
from the commercial courses in the regular high schools ranged from
$17.70 for those trained in both bookkeeping and general clerking
down to $14.90 for those with stenographic training. The regular
high-school trainees included only a slightly smaller proportion of
girls than the Smith-Hughes group. Whether the composition of the
two groups was different in other respects, whether there was a difference in the quality of the training, or whether other factors were at
work, could not be detennined from the data at hand.
Conclulion1
Youth who received vocational training in the regular high schools
were less successful than Smith-Hughes trained youth in getting jobs
on which they were able to utilize their training; but they had at least
as much total employment as did Smith-Hughes trainees, and their
earnings were higher than those of the Smith-Hughes trained youth.
Commercial students in the regular high schools were more successful
than industrial students in obtaining jobs related to their training,
as was the case among Smith-Hughes trained youth, in spite of the
prevalent notion that there is an oversupply of labor available in the
clerical occupations. It must, of course, be kept in mind that the
comparison of the two types of training was limited to Seattle, and
80 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
therefore does not permit conclusions as to the relative merits of
Smith-Hughes and other public school training programs else\\here.•
VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS
The private vocational schools which were available to youth in the
four cities studied were many and varied. In all of the cities business
training schools had a larger number of registrants than any other type
of private school. Other sorts of schools which were found in every
city were beauty schools, barber "colleges," nursing schools, and arts
schools. Two of the four cities had YMCA-sponsored schools for
business and technical students. Three had large colleges or universities which offered professional courses.
St. Louis, the largest city studied here, had the greatest number
and variety of private vocational schools. They included schools of
advertising, aviation, brewing, chiropractic science, dressmaking,
emba.lming, insurance, laboratory technique, massage, music, pharmacy, and welding. In addition there was a privately operated trade
school with such courses as air conditioning, auto-repair work, carpentry, drafting, electricity, machine shop, painting, patternmaking,
plumbing, power-plant operation, and refrigeration. Many of these
subjects duplicated programs offered in the St. Louis public schools.
Only a small number of the youth classed as having completed
private vocational school were trained in professional types of work.
A very few of the oldest youth (the 1929 eighth-grade class) may have
completed collc•ge courses in accounting, social work, education, or
similar subjects. These would have been included in the sample
studied, but could not have been numerous enough to affect the results
very much. Most of the youth who were in training for the more
advanced professions, such as law, medicine, teaching, and research
had not yet completed their trnining at tho time of the survey.
It is difficult to determine the rclntive efficiency of private training
schools, or types of schools, in placing youth in jobs. Many business
colleges claimed practically 100-percent placement of their students.
1 The following statement by a St. Louis girl sug!,!;esta that the situation there
may have been somewhat similar to that in Seattle with respect to the greater
effectiveness of completed Smith-Hughes trainin11: in enabling youth to get related
jobs:
"If you're going into the bu~iness world, I think Hadley is much better than
high school. We get much more real training at Hadley. When girls get out
of high school they can take only about 80 words a minute in shorthand, where
we take 120 to 140 words. We can type about 20 words a minute faster than they
can, too. And then we take much more bookkeeping and extra courses like
comptometer operation . . . Some people go to Hadley because they think
it's easier, but it's not. We work much harrier than they do in high school because
at Hadley you have to have an average of 80 percent in all your subjects before
you can graduate, while in high school you just have to get a pa."Ssing grade."
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OUTSIDE THE SMITH-HUGHES SYSTEM • 81
In some cases the records bore this out; but the claims made by proprietors of other schools were sometimes exaggerated, as indicated by the
following statement of a Birmingham girl who had graduated from a
business college:
Of course the head of the school told me he couldn't absolutely guarantee that
I'd get a job, but he told me he could say that in all the years he'd been running
that school no girl had ever left without a job. Well, that was just a story. In
the 4 months I was there, only four girls got jobs, and two of them had to find
their own jobs. Some girls who have finished their courses practically live at
the school, waiting for jobs. Every time the telephone rings, everybody jumps.
In a few instances training had little relation to the state of the
labor market. In one of the cities studied there was a school devoted
exclusively to Diesel engineering. The expansion of Diesel-engine
work had been greatly exaggerated by this school in numerous advertisements, and the fact that most jobs operating Diesel engines are
held by persons with experience in gasoline-engine work was ignored.
In the summer of 1938 more than 50 students were paying a minimum
tuition of $230 for a 3-month course in this school, in spite of the fact
that very few of them could have been expected to get jobs in Diesel
work.
Several other types of private vocational schools have misrepresented the extent of labor-market opportunities in various cities. Airconditioning schools advertise widely that there are great opportunities in this field, in spite of the fa.ct that plumbers and sheet-metal
workers are employed as a rule to install air-conditioning units. Other
types of schools which have been found to be inaccurate in their
representation of job openings include "embalming" schools and
"civil service" schools.'
In some places there is State regulation of private courses in nursing
and of beauty and barber schools, to insure certain minimum standards of instruction and of efficiency at graduation. In most fields,
however, there is no such regulation to hinder the less scrupulous school
proprietors from misrepresenting the state of the labor market, the
quality of the instruction offered, and the probability of placement.
Regulation of private schools is clearly needed, not only in the interest
of youth, but also in the interest of the great majority of private
vocational schools which operate honestly and efficiently.
Who Attended Private Schools
Of the youth who had no vocational training within the framework
of the public school system, about one in every nine had completed
' See Marshall, Thomas 0. and Fleming, Ralph D., "Gyp Training Schools,"
Occupations, Vol. XVII, No. 3, December 1938, pp. 197-203.
f50596°-42-8
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82 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
training programs in private vocational schools.• The figures for the
four cities were as follows:
Of every 100 youth who had oo
The number who 1aad rompkled
1/0Cational progranu in priMU
110cational training in the public
11chool& in:
11claool& wa,:
St. Lou is . _ _ __ __ __ ___ _ __ __ __ _ __ _ __ _ __ _ __ _ __ _ _ ____ _ _ ___ 14
Birmingham___________________________________________ 6
Denver ________________________________________________ 12
Seattle
. . _______ - _ - - - _- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7
A much larger proportion of youth had completed vocational
programs in private schools than had entered programs in SmithHughes schools in every city except St. Louis, where because of the
well-developed system of federally aided training the Smith-Hughes
registrants were about equal in number to the private school graduates.
In Scn.ttle the graduates of private vocational schools were far outnumbered by the vocational graduates of the regular high schools, but
were twice as numerous as the Smith-Hughes registrants.
The privately trained group was, on the average, slightly older and
more mature tlmn the Smith-Hughes group. Almost three-fourths
of the private school graduates were young women, most of whom
had had conunercial training in business colleges. Seattle and
Denver had the larg<'st proportion of women among private school
youth, and St. Louis the smallest.
OJ every
100 youth trained
Ht.. Loui11 _____ ..
Birmingham
D.-nvPr.
&•attl.-
i11
private vorati01ial 11chools in:
7'he number of
females was:
65
77
78
78
Tht>sc figun•s n•pn•R(•llt a l1iglwr proportion of young women than
obtainl'cl among Smith-llugh1•s trai1wd youth in any of the cities or
among youth trairn•d in the r<'gular high schools of Seattle.
Once they had completcd thl'ir training programs, nine-tenths of
the youth from private vocational sehools entered the labor market
at some time or otlH•r. Almost three-fourths were still in the labor
force at the time of the survey. Tlwst• figurPs arc above the average
for all youth, although somewhat lowl'r than the corresponding figures
for Smith-Hughes youth.
Employment
In each of the four cities surveycd, youth with vocational training
in private schools had morc employment at the time of the survey
1 Youth with vocational training in the public school~ are excluded here because
an undl'termined number of them had had private vocational school training in
acidition to their public Hchool counies.
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OUTSIDE THE SMITH-HUGHES SYSTEM • 83
than youth with Smith-Hughes training or no training of a vocational
nature. Only in Birmingham and Seattle, however, was private
school training significantly more productive of employment than
Smith-Hughes training.
Of every
100 with priMle
110cational school training, the number empU>yed on July 1, 1938. waa:
Amo,ig labor-market youth in:
St. Louis___ _ _ ______ . ____
Birmingham_______________
Denver___________________
Seattle. _________ _________
Of every 100 with
SmithHughea training, the
number empU>yed on
July 1, 1938, Wa8:
86
85
89
88
83
76
88
78
Taking the four cities together, vocational training in the private
schools appeared to be demonstrably more effective in terms of
employment than Smith-Hughes training. And when youth with
private vocational school training were compared with youth having
no training of any sort, they showed from 1 to 10 percent more employment, and a third less unemployment, than the completely untrained group.
All of the privately trained youth included in this study had completed their training programs, as was the case with the youth who
had had regular high-school training of a vocational nature in Seattle.
But this did not explain the diffcrence in employment status between
youth trained in private and public vocational schools, since youth
trained in private schools had more employment than those with
completed training in the regular high schools in Seattle and more
than youth with completed Smith-Hughes training in each of the
cities except Denver, where the group with completed Smith-Hughes
training was too small for the difference to be statistically significant.
Eamlnss
Average earnings of youth trained in private vocational schools, on
jobs they were holding at the time of the survey, amounted to $16.70
per week in the four cities. This was almost exactly the same as the
average for youth who had no recorded training whatsoever. The
relative ea.ming power of private school and Smith-Hughes trainees
varied from city to city.
Among youth working at full-ti111e
jobs on July 1, 1988, in:
St. Louis ___________________ _
Birmi.ngham _____________ _
Denver ___________________ _
Seattle ____________________ _
Average weekly ea~
ings of those with
private vocational
school troinin{/ were:
Average weekly earnings of those with
Smith-Hughes
training were:
$16. 50
16. 90
16. 20
$16. 00
18. 20
18. 90
17. 90
18. 60
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84 •
VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
It should be remembered that the earnings of the Smith-Hughes
youth in Birmingham were relatively high mainly because this group
included only white youth, and that the high earnings of the SmithHughes group in Denver were those of male youth only. In St.
Louis and Seattle privately trained youth earned more than SmithHughes trained youth in spite of the fact that the first-named group
included a higher proportion of girls in both cities.
There was a slight tendency for the youth with private school training to advance to jobs with higher wages more frequently than other
youth. Taking the cities together:
The number reaultOJ every 100 shiftlJ in job or wage
ing in increased
&talus experienced by youth with:
earnings waa:
Private vocational training ______ ..
64
Smith-Hughes training __ .. _........ _. . . . . 61
No training of a vocational nature.. . . . . . 60
TM number ruwting in decre<l$ed
earnings waa:
22
25
28
Unfortw1a.tely, detailed information was not obtained regarding the
type of training acquired by each youth in private vocational school, so
individual work histories could not be analyzed· in the light of the
training received. In general, however, it may be said that private
vocational schools were more successful than public schools in enabling
youth to get jobs, though corresponding benefits in wages were not
consistently in evidence.
There a.re several probable reasons for the apparent superiority of
the private vocational schools over public schools in sending youth into
employment. First, the private schools tend to attract a selected
group of youth, who know what they want and who a.re serious enough
and prosperous enough to pay tuition for their training. Many of
these youth are high-scl~ool graduates who have gone to business college or other private schools after some experience in the labor market.
\-\11ile this is also tme of many youth trained in the Smith-Hughes
schools, the youth with private-school training are on the average an
older, more experienced group. One Birmingham business college
reported that the average educational level of its students upon
Pntrance was 1 year of college.
Second, private vocational schools often have more up-to-date
equipment than the public schools. Tlwy operate on a competitive
basis, so that they must make their programs as modern and efficient
as possible in order to attract students. In addition, the tuition fees
they collect make it possible for them to spend more for equipment
than mnny public schools which operate on small budgets.
Finally, the placC'ment services of the private vocational schools
are in many cases more closC'ly keyed to the labor market than those
of the public schools. Schools for bC'auty operators, for example, are
often run in conjunction with beauty parlors, and students are ac-
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OUTSIDE THE SMITH-HUGHES SYSTEM • 85
cepted only as fast as is warranted by the need for trained operators.
Officials of beauty schools questioned in several of the cities claimed
90- to 100-percent placement. The private schools are highly motivated to develop efficient methods of placing students, since their
very existence often depends on their ability to show results in return
for the money expended by their students on tuition.
Conclusiom
The figures presented in the foregoing section do not necessarily
mean that private schools are inherently superior to public schools in
fitting youth for jobs. They do suggest that the public schools could
be improved with regard to equipment, instruction, and placement
services. Differences in effectiveness which may be due to the fact
that a more advanced and serious group of students attend the private
schools, however, will probably persist.
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Chapter VI
GUIDANCE, PLACEMENT, AND ATTITUDES
OF TRAINED YOUTH
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION entails more than training in the
classroom and shop. Quite as important as the training program
itself is what comes before and after: vocational guidance, to steer
youth into lines of study and work for which they are best fitted and
in which there are job opportunities; and vocational placement, to
help youth find jobs in their fields of training when they leave school.
The best of vocational schools can do little to help youth unless they
get the right human material with which to work, and unless they
are in constant and close touch with the labor market so that trained
youth can be placed in jobs. All three sectors of the field of vocational
education-guidance, training, and placement-must be developed
together and closely coordinated with each other if a maximum of
benefit is to be derived by youth from their training.
In preceding chapters vocational training programs have been
discussed in some detail. Vocational guidance and placement, however, have been touched on only incidentally. It is the purpose of
this chapter to discuss briefly these remaining aspects of vocational
education, and to analyze the attitudes of youth toward the training
they have undergone.
VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE
Only one Smith-Hughes trained youth in six, in the four cities,
reported having received in the public school system any advice or
guidance which led him to enter vocational school. 1 This ratio held
1 The New York State Board of Regents' Inquiry similarly found that of male
vocational school graduates, 24 percent had received some vocational guidance,
but only 8 percent had been helped in this way in the public schools. (Norton,
Thomas L., E<i11cation for Work, The Regents' lmpiiry Into the Character and
Cost of Public Education in the State of New York, New York: The McGraw-Hill
Book Co., Inc., 1938, p. 27.)
87
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88 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
approximately true in St. Louis, Birmingham, and Denver. In
Seattle twice as large a proportion-a third of the trained youthhad received guidance. Slightly more of the unemployed group (18
percent) than of the employed group (16 percent) in the four cities
had received guidance before entering their training programs.
The reasons for the failure of vocational guidance to reach the
great majority of youth lie in the newness of the movement for individual guidance and in the shortage of trained counselors in the
schools. All of the cities had some provision for guidance in their
secondary schools, but in nearly every school the work fell on the
shoulders of one or two members of the teaching staff as an extra
duty or, at best, as a part-time responsibility.
In St. Louis the Division of Vocational Cow1seling, with three
full-time counselors, was established in 1925; but this meager provision for a city of nearly a million population was discontinued 10
years later, at the depth of the depression, because of its cost. Thereafter the duty of advising students in choosing occupations fell t-0 the
principals and vocational teachers of the various schools. Under these
circumstances no systematic approach to the guidance problem was
possible. The following comment by a St. Louis youth was fairly
typical:
When I was in high 11chool there just didn't 11eem to be anyone who could
take time to help me decide what I wanted to do. There ought to be more
vocational guidance in the schools. They ask you what you want to take, but
how does a 12-year-old boy know what he wants to be? And then t.here are so
many required subjects. They say, "Now you have to take this, and you have
to take that; and you have one period left over. What do you want to take?
If you want to be a doctor you should have Latin." How did I know whether
I wanted to be a doctor or not? They ought to find out what kid11 can do best
and then teach them to do that. Education ou11:ht to bring out what's already
in kids, not try to put 1mmething new in them.
Birmingham's largPst high school had two a.dvisns for boys and one
for girls. In the entire white secondary school system there were 13
advisers, all of whom c.ombined this work with pa.rt-time teaching.
ThPsc a.dvisPrs triPd t-0 assemble vocational information, brought
h•ading men in various fidds t.o the schools t.o talk to selected groups
of interested stud<•nts, and arranged trips through factories and stores.
But the number of advisPrs wns so small that only a minority of youth
recPived individual att1•ntion. ThPre was no organized system of
vocational guidntH'C in the N Pgro schools.
In Denver nnd S,,at.tll' Pach junior and senior high school had a
boys' adviser and a girls' adviser. In tlw former eity the number of
stlHknts per advisPr was so large that only the exceptional youth"gPniuscs" or "problem cases"-wcrP likely to rl'ct•ive much individual
at.tN1tion. In Seattle the advisers had fe,n'r students and were able
t.o devote at }past half of their time to guidance, with the result that
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GUIDANCE, PLACEMENT, AND ATTITUDES • 89
about twice e.s many trained youth had received guidance there as
was the case in any of the other cities. But in most of the schools
in the four cities individual guidance was given only to youth who
sought it; other youth had no personal contact with the advisers.
Many employers in the four cities criticized the failure of guidance
programs to reach a majority of high-school youth. Typical were
the remarks of a personnel official in a Birmingham department store:
I am thoroughly in sympathy with vocational training, and I believe there is
a great future for it. But in Birmingham it is still in its beginning stage. My
chief criticism is that the school has not yet adopted a method whereby students
can be selected for the courses according to their natural aptitudes. Every
person does not have the natural qualifications to sell . . . . But the classes in
retailing and salesmanship at the Paul Hayne School must accept anyone, regardless of his or her natural aptitude.
Numerous studies have shown that the great majority of youth
desire to enter the professions or to do white-collar work of some sort.
The New York State Regents' Inquiry found that a third of the highschool graduates of both sexes wanted professional jobs, and that
another 37 percent of the boys and 57 percent of the girls wanted
clerical, trade, or public-service jobs. 2 This is perhaps not unreasonable, since high-school graduates are a selected group to begin' with,
and a majority of them do go into clerical work or, eventually, into
the professions. 1 A study of the occupational preferences of 1,230
high-school juniors and seniors in a Mobile, Ala., high school showed
that 39 percent wanted professional work, 29 percent other whitecollar work, and 32 percent skilled or semiskilled work. Only one
individual desired domestic work, and none wished to work at unskilled
labor,• which was hardly surprising.
The occupational preferences of youth do not always square, however, with the actual opportunities open to them. The Maryland
study of the American Youth Commission showed that while twothirds of the youth (urban and rural, and of all levels of education)
preferred whit<'-collar occupations, only a little over one-third actually
obtained this type of employment. Over 38 percent wanted to do
professional or technical work, but less than 8 percent were able to
get such work. 6
1 Eckert, Ruth E. and Marshall, Thomas 0., Whe11 Youth Leave School, The
Regents' Inquiry Into the Character and Cost of Public Education in the State
of New York, New York: The McGraw-Hill Book Co., lnc., 1938, p. 219. The
proportions cited exclude those who did not specify their preferences.
1 About two-thirds of all youth-54 percent of the males, 79 percent of the
females--who had just 12 years of education in the seven cities covered by the
larger youth survey actually went into white-collar work. (See Westefeld,
Albert, op. cit.)
• Data from Mr. K. J. Clark, principal of Murphy High School, Mobile, Ala.
1 Bell, Howard M., Youth Tell Their Swry, Washington: American Council on
Education, 1938, p. 132.
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90 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
If youth had a knowledge of their own aptitudes, of the nature of
various occupations, and of the opportunities available in ditferent
fields, they would be able to choose their vocations more intelligently
than they can today. The majority of young people who choose their
occupations do so on the basis of inexpert advice offered by parents or
friends, or because of scraps of information or misinformation which
have come their way. Actually, occupations are more frequently
determined by chance than by choice; they depend largely on the
jobs youth happen to find early in their employment careers.
The function of an effective guidance program is to narrow the gap
between occupational preferences and actual realities-to encourage
more youth to prepare for the types of jobs which they are likely to
obtain. To accomplish this on a large scale it would be necessary to
(1) sponsor educational assemblies and hold individual conferences
which would explain the characteristics, advantages, and handicaps
in each of the important occupations; (2) discourage or prevent youth
from taking training for which they are not qualified; and (3) limit the
number to be trained to the number likely to be absorbed in the labor
market. Surveys of occupational opportunities would also need to be
conducted in the various communities, and the results made known
to teachers and students alike. Such studies, combined with the
guidance program outlined above, would add immeasurably to the
effectiveness of vocational training.
VOCATIONAL PLACEMENT
Of all jobs held by vocationally trained youth in the 4 cities, only
1 in 12 was obtained through the vocational schools. While the proportion of first jobs thus obtained was undoubtedly somewhat higher, this
figure indicates that such placement services as there were in the schools
where these youth received their training helped the youth to find jobs
in only a small minority of cases.
A m.ong youth with
time by youth in the 4 cities,
Smith-Hughea trainthe number located through:
ing was:
Friends ... ·---··---··-·--·-·----·· _ 27
Personal application~ ...... _ . ____ .... . .
22
Previous employer>' _ ....... _. _... _... _. 16
Relatives.............. -·-·-··-···- . 14
Schools_ ... _.. ___ .. _... _.... ___ .... _. _. 8
Employment agencies .....•. _... _.... _. _ 6
Want ads ..••.. ·-··-··•-·--·········•·· 4
Other means __ •...... _..• _._._ ..•..•. _. 3
Of every 100 jobs held at any
Among youth wit/a
no Smith-Hui/au
training waa:
29
25
15
16
•
3
3
5
Smith-Hughes trained youth located more jobs through schools and
employment agencies, and consequently fewer through friends, relatives, and personal applications, than youth with no Smith-Hughes
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GUIDANCE, PLACEMENT, AND ATTITUDES • 91
training. 6 As youth in both groups spent more and more time in the
labor market, they tended to locate an increasing proportion of jobs
through previous employers and a decreasing proportion of them
through relatives and friends.
Often a youth would use one device after another to secure jobs, as
exemplified by the statement of one Seattle youth:
After I got my certificate in auto mechanics in June '35, I looked for a job for
several weeks, but "nothing doing." Then I saw an ad in the paper for a mechanic,
and got the job. It paid $25 a week, but the trouble was it only lasted 2 weeks.
After that I was out again, and no luck, so in the fall I went east of the mountains
to pick apples. In November I came back to Seattle. The Edison School people
got me a job putting into shape new cars that had been brought by caravan across
the country for the auto show. But when the show opened in December, that was
the end of that. By the following February I was getting pretty desperate. Then
I remembered that I knew something about the care of trees from my high-school
years, when I used to help my brother, who did that sort of work. So I had a
brain storm and put an ad in the paper for work pruning and spraying trees. A
landscape gardening company answered the ad, and put me on as a general
laborer. I've been there ever since.
Of course, I want to get back into my O\\'Il line of work-auto-repair workbut there aren't many jobs open and the union has most of them sewed up. I
guess that's all right; the union has to look after its unemployed members. But
I think Edison should make some arrangement with the union to have its graduates
go right }nto union apprenticeships, so their training won't be wasted. Anyway,
I'm keeping my hand in by doing auto-repair jobs for my friends on Saturdays and
Sundays. And I know a fellow who runs a garage, and he says he'll give me a
regular mechanic's job as soon as business picks up a little more.
The low proportion of job placements through the schools was
partly a reflection of the fact that none of the vocational schools
covered by this survey in the four cities had adequate placement
services. In Denver the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, where
part-time evening and extension students received Smith-Hughes
training, had a placement service, and this was available to youth from
all public and parochial schools who cared to register there. West
High School, where the day-training programs covered by this survey
were given, however, had no placement service of its own. In the
other three cities such placements as were made through the vocational schools were the work of individual instructors, some of whom
maintained close contact with the labor market in their special fields.
In each of the cities there was some provision for placing out-of.
school youth through junior divisions of the State Employment
• The New York State Board of Regents' Inquiry found that only about 7
percent of all high-school graduates and 3 percent of those who failed to graduate, had been directed to their jobs by their schools. Less than 1 percent had
found their jobs through government placement agencies. (Spaulding, Francis T.,
Hif,h School and Life. The Regents' Inquiry Into the Character and Cost of
Public Education in the State of New York, New York: The McGraw-Hill Book
Co., Inc., 1938, p. 61.)
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92 •
VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Services, and the vocational schools maintained a clos(• relationship
with these agencies. In Dmver the National Youth Administration
contributed workers to the staff of the Junior Division of the Colorado
State Employment Service, and in St. Louis the Board of Education
furnished several interviewing cow1selors to the Junior Division of
the Missouri State Employment Service to aid in placing vocational
students and other youth. Supplem(•ntary placement work was done
by the vocational school in the latter city, but according to one youth:
The Hadley employment service has its advanta11:es but its disadvantages tooFor one thing, employers in St. Louis depend on Hadley and don't do much training in the factories. The factories use the school as an employment agency
because they know that boys just out of school will work for lower wages; most
of them have no dependents, and a good many of them don't even have to be
independent while they're living at home.
Seattle had a Public Schools Pin.cement Bureau from 1919 until
1938, when it became the Junior Employment and Counseling Service,
affiliated with the Washington State Employment Service. The
Seattle agency was the joint project of the Seattle School Board,
which furnished the quarters and equipment and paid the salaries of
two senior staff members; the State Department of Social Security,
which furnished other staff members and supervised the agency;
the State Employment Service, which furnished the forms used and
cooperated in other ways; and the NYA, which furnished some clerical
assistance. This type of cooperative arrangement was considered by
local officials to be very useful in keeping the schools in close touch
with the various government sPrvices and with the labor market.
Out of 4,170 youth who were registered in the Seattle agency during
the year 1937-38, approximately one-fourth (1,065) were placed on
jobs. But only 330 of these were sent to permanent, full-time jobs,
so that only 1 out of every 12 registrants could have been considered
as sntisfactorily placed.
A survey made by the Children's Bureau of the United St.ates
Department of Labor at the end of 19:16 showed that less than half
of all cities with a population of 100,000 or more in 1930 had junior
placement services in which one person or more devoted full time to
the placement of young people. Less than 10 percent of the cities
with a population of 2.'i,000 to 100,000 and less than 1 percent of the
cities under 10,000 hnd junior placf'ment offices. In 1936 the number
of placements made by junior placement officers in 67 cities was less
than half as great as the number of nt'W applicants; and about half of
all placements lusted less than a month. 7 As junior placement
agencies become more gPnernlly ll.CCt'pted and more adequately staffed,
7 Palmer, Jane, Junior Placnnem: .4 Survey of Junior-Placement Offices in Publ~
Employment Centers and in Public School Systems of the United States, Publication
No. 256, Children's Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor, \\'ashington, D. C.,
1940, pp. 7, 12, 95.
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GUIDANCE, PLACEMENT, AND ATTITUDES • 93
the number of youth finding johs through them may be expected to
increase.
Dlfflc:ulties In S.C:urin9 Employment
The extremes of good and bad fortune in securing related employment are typified by the experiences of two St. Louis youth, both
trained in the machine-shop program at Hadley Vocational School.
One received his diploma on a Friday and went to work in a machine
shop the following Monday; the other had been unemployed for months
at a time, and had never been able to find a job in the type of work for
which he had been trained. The latt.er youth described his difficulties
as follows:
There just weren't enough jobs to go around in those days. I followed the
papers and made the rounds, going from machine shop to metal shop to factory,
but everywhere I went they wanted fellows with 5 or 6 years of experience and
practical work behind them, or else someone who had specialized in one particular
machine-shop operation. I finally got a job driving a truck.
More than a quarter of all youth with Smith-Hughes training
reported encountering special difficulties in securing work. 8 The
proportion of trained youth reporting such difficulties was only slightly
lower than t.he corresponding proportion of untrained youth.
Of every 100 youth with:
Completed Smith-Hughes training__
Uncompleted Smith-Hughes training
No Smith-Hughes training___ _ _
The number reporting
special difficulties in
getting jobs was:
__ __ _ ___ __ _ __ _ _ ___ _ ___ 27
_ ___ _ _ __ ____ __ __ __ _ ___ 30
- ------------------- 31
There were sharp differences among these groups in the types
of difficulties most frequently encountered in the search for jobs. The
Smith-Hughes trained youth who reported special difficulties, especially those with completed training, said that they had been handicapped by lack of experience more frequently, and by lack of general or
specialized training less frequently, than other youth.
Of every JOO youth who reported
Among youth
Among youth
Among youth
special difficultieB in securing
with completed with uncompleted with no SmithjobB, the number whose chief
Smith-Hughes Smith-Hughu Hughes traindifficulty was:
training was:
training waB:
ing was:
Lack of experience ____________ 71
64
52
Lack of general training_______ 7
10
IO
Lack of specialized training _ __. 2
9
9
Insufficient education_________ 2
4
6
Too young_______________ ___ 3
4
5
"Lack of pull"_______________ 2
I
2
Physical defects____________ __ 2
2
3
Union restrictions_____________ 1
2
4
Other difficulties ______________ 10
4
9
8 "Special difficulties" are defined as obstacles to employment other than general
labor-market conditions such as unemployment-difficulties arising from per1mnal
characteristics or specific situationi; which handicap youth in the labor market.
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94 •
VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Youth with completed programs felt little need for more specialized training; but they were acutely aware of their lack of actual work
experience, in spite of the practical shop or office work done in the
Smith-Hughes schools. It may be assumed that they felt a greater
need for experience because the work which they sought was _more
likely to be skilled or semiskilled than in the case of untrained youth,
so that experience was more likely to be important.
Sometimes the need for actual work experience is so great that
youth volunteer their services free in order to obtain practice in their
chosP-n trades so that they can ~et paid jobs later on. One Birmingham girl reported as follows:
I went down to see a man who adverti<Jed for a bookkeeper, but riirht away he
a11ked me what experience I'd had. I told him I was a iuaciuate of the business
training course at Paul Hayne School, but he said it would take him 2 weeks to
teach me the job, and he had to find someone who could start right in. Bo I
&Rked him if I couldn't just work there for nothing till I could say I'd had some
experience. He just yelled at me and said that's why so many women are working
for such low wages today; too many of them want to work for nothing or practically nothing and take jobs away from people with families who need the money.
He said I'd never get paid, at least not much, once I started working for nothing.
As soon as I'd start talking about getting paid, he said, they'd start talking
about firing me. I guess he was right, but you have to get started somehow,
and I needed a job too.
It cannot be concluded from the n•sponses of the youth that shop
or office practice should be emphasized at the expense of general
training in the theoretical and social-economic fields. The fact that
lack of general training was also frequently mentioned as a special
difficulty in getting jobs suggests that such a policy would not solve
the problem. But the extent to which inadequate experience was
mentioned as a handicap indicates that Smith-Hughes training should
conc<•ntrate as much attention as possible upon practical work, in
office or shop, even though it be recognized that such experience cannot entirely take the place of experimce on the job.
ATTITUDES OF YOUTH REGARDING VOCATIONAL TRAINING
In order to determine the n.ttitudes of trained youth toward the
Smith-Hughes programs in which they had been registered, and toward vocational training in general, a supplementary schedule
or questionnaire was filled out for a representative cross section of
trained youth. The replies to this qul'stionnnire constituted an evaluation by youth of their own vocutionnJ training.
Assistance in Getting Jobs
The first question, asked only of youth who had had some employment since leaving school, was, "Did your vocational training assist
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GUIDANCE, PLACEMENT, AND AmTUDES • 95
you in getting a job?" A little over half (52 percent) of all youth
queried on this point answered in the affirmative. (See appendix
table 39.) The proportion of "yes" replies in the four cities was 75
percent among youth with completed training, 39 percent among
those who did not complete their programs. These figures were
similar to those obtained from an analysis of the actual work histories
of the youth. 11
The percent of youth reporting that
Among youth with
their training had helped them in
completed traingeUing joba in the following citiu:
ing Ula3:
St. Louis ________________________ _
75
Birmingham _____________________ _
58
Denver __________________________ _
Seattle ___ ---~- __________________ _
87
•Less than 25 youth.
Among youth with
uncompleted
training waa:
•
40
31
25
37
In Seattle seven out of eight youth with completed training reported that their school programs had actually helped them to get
work. St. Louis, with three out of four answering in the affirmative,
had the next highest proportion. Birmingham and Denver youth
reported less assistance, although well over half of the youth with
completed training answered in the affirmative in the former city.
This statement by a St. Louis youth with training in architectural
drafting illustrates how vocational training may help youth to get
jobs:
When I graduated I went around to all the architects' offices but they didn't
have any openings. The only job I could find for a while was in a hardware store.
Then a friend of mine who works in a sash and door factory told me to apply for a
job in the drafting department there. The employment manager said no more
draftsmen were needed, but asked me if I knew anything about cabinetmaking.
I'd only had about 5 weeks of woodworking at Hadley, but I said "yes," and they
put me on. They promised to transfer me to the drafting department, and they
did in about 6 months. Over there I designed kitchen cabinets. But I quit
when work got slack and they asked me to report to the cabinet room again.
After I was out of work for a month, my cousin told me to apply at the refriger
ator factory where he worked. They di<ln't need any draftsmen right then,
either, but as soon as I told them I had done some sheet-metal work at Hadley
(13 weeks of it), they put me on as a metal polisher. After 6 weeks they transferred me to the drafting room, where I still work.
There were large differences among youth who were employed full
time at the time of interview and those who were employed only part
time or completc-ly unemployed, in terms of whether they thought
their training had helped them to get jobs. The difference was
further accentuated by compfotion of training. Almost four-fifths of
all youth with completed training who were working at full-time jobs
said that they had been benefited by their training in getting work,
compared with less than a quarter of those with uncompleted training
•Seep. 43.
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96 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
who had only part-time work. Following were the responses of trained
youth who had held jobs at some time, according to their employment
status at the time of the survey:
TM percn&t 11tati11{1 that they
had been helped in getti11{1
job11 by their training waa:
Am011{1 trained youth who on
With completed With uncomJuly 1, 1938 were:
traini11{1:
pleted traini11{1:
Employed full time _ __ _ ___ __ _ _ __ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ __ 78
42
Employed part time ____________________________ 47
23
Unemployed_ _ _ __ _ ___ ____ __ __ _ ____ _ ___ _ __ __ __ _ 68
32
More young women than young men among those who had had
some employment had found their training to be of some value in
obtaining jobs.
The percent of youth reporti11{1 that their traini11{1 had Am011{1 you11{1
helped them to get job11 in the following cities:
men waa:
St. Louis _________ . _ _
__ __ __ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ 46
Birmingham_ _ _ _ __ . _________________________ 42
Denver _______ -------------------------------- 29
Seattle ___ ---------------------------------- 63
• Les..'! than 25 youth.
Among you11{1
women toa11:
56
•
66
The racial factor also showed up clearly in the responses to this
question. In St. Louis well over half of all white youth said that
they had used their training in getting jobs, as compared with only 40
percent of the Negro youth interviewed.
In St. Louis it was also possible to break down the responses by
types of training. There were small differences among youth trained
in various programs, as shown by the following table:
The percent reporting that their trainin,
had helped them to get jobs waa:
With completed With uncompleted
Among St. Louis youth trained in:
training:
training:
Commercial programs _____________________ 76
46
Industrial programs _______________________ 77
35
Women's programs_ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ __ __ _ __ _ __ __ _ 73
30
Arts programs_____ __ ___ _ __ __ __ __ _ __ ___ _ _ _ 71
43
Again, these fl.gums were essentially similar to those derived from
the analysis of actual jobs, as shown in the work histories of youth
in relation to training. The main diffPrence was that youth with
uncompleted training reported a little IPss actual assistance in getting
johs than their employment 1w·ords indicated they might have
received.
As suggested by the analysis of work histories in chapter IV,
commercial programs in gPnPral, and tlJP more spPcialized ones in
particular, were of tlw grC'atest. amount of assistnnce in enabling youth
to get jobs, according to the youth themselves. Nine out of ten youth
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GUIDANCE, PLACEMENT, AND ATTITUDES • 97
with completed stenographic training said that it had helped them to
find jobs. In every program youth with completed training reported
more a.ssistance in getting jobs than did youth with uncompleted
training. This was particularly true in the case of industria.lly
trained youth. Considering only youth with completed training, the
young men with industrial training reported slightly more a.ssistance
from their vocational work in getting jobs than did those with commercial training.
It should be kept in mind that the sex composition of the groups in
the different types of programs varied greatly. The difference
between the commercial and industrial groups in a.mount of assistance
reported closely parallels the differential in the responses of the young
men and women.
A.lllance on the Job
A considerable majority of St. Louis youth who had held one job
or more reported that their training had been of some a.ssistance to
them in working on the job. Six out of every ten trained youth in
that city-eight-tenths of those with completed training, and over
ha.If of those who failed to complete their programs-replied in the
affirmative to the question," Has your vocational training been of any
help to you in working on the job in any employment you have ha.d7"
percent of trained youth reporting that
their vocational training had helped them
With completed
on the job in:
training waa:
St. Louis_ __ _ _ __ _ ___ __ __ __ ____ __ __ ___ _ 80
Birmingham __________ . ______ . _________ 78
Denver _______________________________
•
Seattle ________________________________ 91
~
~
With uncompleted training
IOa8:
51
57
48
54
than 25 youth.
Seattle youth again reported greater benefits from their training,
on the average, than did youth in the other cities. Both Denver and
Birmingham youth reported much more a.ssistance received from their
training once they were on the job than they had received in getting
employment. The same was true, although the difference was somewhat smaller, in the other two cities.
The margin between youth with completed and those with uncompleted training, in terms of proportions reporting assistance on
the job, was very wide in every city. Employment status at the
time of the survey was also associated with sharp differences in response to this, as well as to the previous, question. Over four-fifths
of all youth with completed training who were employed full-time
reported that they had been assisted on the job, compared with less
than a third of those whose training was incomplete and who were
employed only part time.
450506°-42-----9
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98 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
TM percent stating that they had been
helped on the job by their training wiu:
Among trained youth who
Among youth with Among youth with unon J11ly 1, 1988, were:
completed traini11{1:
completed training:
Employed full time __________________ 83
55
Employed part time_________________ 56
32
Unemployed ________________________ 73
39
As might be expected from their responses to the question regarding
assistance in getting jobs, more young women than young men reported
assistance on the job from their training programs in St. Louis. In
Seattle, however, there was practically no difference between the sexes.
The percent of trained youth reporting that vocaAmong youTl{I
men was:
tional training had helped them on the job fo:
St. Lon is_ _ ___ _ __ __ __ __ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ __ ____ __ _ _ _ . 55
Binningham _ __ __ __ _ _ __ __ __ __ _ __ _ _ _ ___ _ _ __ _ 62
Denver______ ___ __ _ __ __ ___ _ __ _ __ __ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ 52
Seat.tic __ --------------------------------*Less than 25 youth.
75
Among young
women wa.,:
63
•
74
There was a large difference betw<'en races in St. Louis, with 61
percent of the whites but only 43 percent of the N<'groC's reporting
that their training had assisted them on the job.
With respect to the various types of programs, more commercially
trained youth in St. Louis reported that they had been assisted on
the job by their vocational training than did youth with other sorts
of training.
The percent reporting that vocational training had helped them on the job waa:
With completed With uncompleted training
Among St. Louis youth trained in:
training:
Commercial programs____________________ 81
54
Industrial programs______________________ 80
48
Women's programs_ _ _ __ _ _ ___ _ __ _ ___ _ _ ___ 78
38
Arts programs___________________________ 62
46
A very high proportion of youth with completed training in cosmetology and stenography reported that vocational training had
helped them on the job. In these two groups, as well as among former
students of electricity, over nine-tenths of all youth who had finished
their programs said that their training had been of some assistance in
their work. The proportions of youth thus helped by the various
types of programs were similar to the proportions whose work histories
contained employment with some relationship to their training.
Thus, from the responses of the youth questioned as to whether
their vocational education had been of assistance to them in getting
jobs and in working on the job it is apparent that a majority of youth
felt that the time they had spent in vocational school had not been
wasted.
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GUIDANCE, PLACEMENT, AND ATTITUDES • 99
Critic:IIIDI of Progn::111111
When questioned as to whether they wished to express any criticisms
of vocational training as they had l'XpPrit>ncP<l it, only a minority of
youth had specific criticisms to offrr. (St'l' apprndix table 40.) LPss
than a fourth of all youth, whPthcr Pm ployed in thl'ir fields of trnining,
employed in other typt'S of work, or mrnmployed, expressed ddinite
opinions as to what was wrong with vocational training or how it
could be improved. The oth<>r three-fourths ritlu•r said that tlwy had
found their training worth while or could not formulate any definite
criticism of it.
OJ every 100 trained labor-market youth in the
48 said, "It was worth while;"
30 offered no criticism; and
22 offered definite criticisms.
4 citiu,
It should be understood that many of the youth who offered no
criticism may have b(•Pn apathetic, rather than favorabh•, toward
their vocational training; and that some of those who offrrl'd definite
criticisms felt that in general the program was worth while in spite of
certain shortcomings. Most of the youth felt that vocational school
compared very favorably with the nonvocational high schools.
According to one St. Louis boy who had studied to be a machinist at
the Hadley Vocational School:
A high-school education alone doesn't mean very much. I know boys who have
looked for jobs in downtown restaurants, and they found that even t.he dishwashers in the cafeterias have to be high-school graduates. The same thing is true of
a lot of the unskilled work in the factories. So I don't think a high-school diploma is much of an advantage, unless, of course, you can't get a job at all without
one. High-school graduates don't even know where to begin to look for jobs.
But if you have a trade and know what kind of a job you can do, you can just.
take a telephone directory, list the names and addresses of all the plants that do
that kind of work, and then begin looking for a job.
If you go to Hadley you are expected to work hard and take your work seriously;
in order to get a diploma you have to make an average of G-Good-not only in
the trade courses but in the classroom courses, too. Some of the boys who flunk
some of the classroom work are allowed to finish their shop work, but they aren't
given diplomas-just slips st.a.ting that they have completed so many hours of
shop work.
The first year they circulate you through all the departments-woodwork,
electricity, machine shop, and so on-and by the end of the year you're expected
to know what you want to do. They give you some vocational counseling, too.
Of course, they don't tell anyone that he can't take a certain course, but they
tell you if they think you aren't fitted for the trade you cho0,_<,e. The Hadley
Vocational School is a credit to St. Louis, and a boon to the people who can't
afford to send their children to college but want them to have skilled trades . . .
The standard of qualifications for the Hadley teachers is very high, too. In addition to being college graduates, they have to have 10 years of actual experience
in their trades.
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100 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Birmingham and Denver youth gave the largest proportion of
critical responses in evaluating their training, and St. Louis and
Seattle the smallest proportion.
The number r,xpreaaing defini~
criticism8 of their vocational
Of every 100 trained labor-market youth in:
training was:
St. Louis_
. __ __ _ _ __ __ _ __ _ _ 21
Birmingham __________________ - _- __ - - . - - - - - - - - - - 35
Denver _ ___ _ _______________________ . __ . ____ . _ 49
Seattle ________________________________________ - 26
Taking the four cities together, more of the youth with uncompleted
than of those with completed training-24 percent as compared with
19 percent-offered criticisms of their training. The most common
criticism was that the training programs were not adequate. Youth
with completed training voiced this criticism more frequently than
those whose training was incomplete, indicating that after they had
found jobs they folt a need for more specific types of training and
longer programs.
Among youth who offered definite critiWas mentioned by this
cisms of their training
percent of youth with
program8:
completed training:
Incompleteness____ ____ _
24
Lack of equipment_ __________ . 8
Too much theory_
6
6
Too low standards_ .
Lack of teachers____
3
Too short programs_
4
Miscellaneous criticism__
49
Wa, mentioned by thu
percent of youth with
uncompleted training:
13
13
8
4
5
2
55
The large size of the "miscellaneous" group was due to the fact that
many criticisms were either vague and general in nature or concerned
with particular aspects of specific programs, so that they could not
easily be classified under the general headings cited above.
The comments of one Birmingham youth trained in machine shop
are representative of the criticisms of many youth who felt that their
training had been incomplete:
I thought the course was prett.y well rounded when I was in school, but since I
got out I've learned that a fellow can't become a full-fledged machinist in 2 years.
At the end of the course he can look for a job as a helper or an apprentice, but there
aren't many of those jobs in Birmingham. If a fellow does get on as an apprentice, his 2 years of training at school only reduce his apprenticeship by 8 months.
Furthermore, the machine-shop equipment at school is inadequate. Boys who
have worked on the 12- and 14-inch lathes at school are scared to death when
they have to run a 25- or 32-inch lathe on a regular job. In school they work
with little old tool bits and they wouldn't even know how to sharpen a goodsized tool bit. I know the school can't install eYery type of machine you have
to operate on a job. But it seems like some kind of system where we could get
practice in a real machine shop part of the time would help a lot.
GUIDANCE, PLACEMENT, AND ATTITUDES• 101
Expansion of Vocational Training
In spite of the fact that a third of all trained youth reported that
vocational training had not helped them in getting jobs or in working
on the job, about 95 percent of them said that they were in favor of
expanding the vocational training offered in the public school system.
The number fawwing ezpamion
of vocational training wa.,:
Of eoery 100 youth
trained in:
St. Louis_ _ _ . _______________________ . _ _
Birmingham _ .. __ __ _ __ __ _ ___ __ ___ _ _ _ _
Denver_
. ___ _ __ .. __ _ __ _ _
Seattle_ .
___ . . _ _
96
96
89
95
Another questionnaire, filled out by 200 Seattle young people (a
cross section of all Seattle youth interviewed, regardless of vocational
training), showed that85 percent favored the expansion of the training
offered in the public schools of that city. The parents of these
youth favored the expansion of training in 92 percent of all cases.
Every trained Negro youth questioned on this point in St. Louis
favored expansion of the program in that city. More than 19 out of
every 20 trained white youth in St. Louis and Birmingham also held
this opinion, regardless of program or completion of training.
This overwhelm,ing majority in favor of the expansion of vocational education is probably a reflection of two factors: (1) the
belief that vocational training is the most effective means of equipping
youth for jobs; and (2) the realization, particularly on the part of
youth who have actually experienced vocational training, that presentday systems of vocational education are limited in scope, with regard
to both specialization of training and variety of programs offered.
Plant
for the
Future
When questioned as to their future plans, three-fifths of all youth
with Smith-Hughes training said that they intended to get jobs, retain
or advance in their present jobs, or get better jobs. Trained youth
were more concerned with their individual economic problems and less
concerned with obtaining further education than were other youth.
Among youth in the 4 cities who were
questioned a., to their future plans:
W a., mentioned by thu Was mentioned by thi11
percent with Smith- perant with no SmithHughes training:
Hughes training:
Continuance of education _______________ .
Securing of employment _________________
Retention of or advancement in present job
&curing better job ___________________ ._.
Entering business_______________________
Entering the civil service_______________
Getting married________________________
Continuance of household responsibilities__
Other plans ____________________________
18
14
30
17
4
l
6
7
3
29
12
23
14
3
2
4
10
3
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102 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Two-thirds of all trained youth who were unemployed were concerned primarily with getting jobs, while two-thirds of those who
were employed were chiefly interested in retaining or advancing in
their present jobs or in securing better jobs.
CONCLUSIONS
From the data presented in this chapter, it is apparent that, although
few trained youth reported having received assistance in the form of
guidnnce or placement in the schools, most of them reacted very
favorably to the training programs they had taken. A majority
stat~d that their programs had helped them in obtaining jobs and in
working on the job. Only a minority expressed definite criticisms of
the programs, and a great majority were in favor of expanding the
facilities for vocational training in their cities.
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Chapter VII
CONCLUSIONS
WHAT ARE the outstanding results of the present survey, and
what conclusion can be drawn from them?
In the first place, youth without any Smith-Hughes training fared
almost as well in terms of total employment and earnings as did trained
youth. This suggests that nonvocational education had about as
much value as vocational training for the youth interviewed in these
four cities.
It must be recognized, however, that vocational education aims at
fitting youth for specific types of jobs; if it accomplishes this to a satisfactory degree, it has achieved its primary purpose, even though
the jobs for which some youth have been trained are relatively low in
pay. The work histories of trained youth, as well as the testimony of
the youth themselves, indicate that vocational training helped a
majority of them to find and keep jobs. The proportion of youth who
had held jobs related to their training ranged from 30 to 83 percent of
those trained in various training programs. In every known instance
more youth obtained jobs in the fields for which they were trained
than would have been expected on a basis of chance.
On the other hand, vocational training failed to achieve its main
purpose in a sizable minority of the cases covered by this study.
Of youth who failed to complete their training, about half had never
held a job related to their training. This was perhaps to be expected.
But more surprising were the facts that a quarter of those who had
completed their training programs had never had related work, and
that less than three-fifths of the employed youth with completed
training were working at jobs directly related to that training at the
time of the survey. These facts indicate that vocational training
failed to meet the needs of a large number of trained youth.
103
104 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING
It would be too much to expect all youth with Smith-Hughes
vocational training to graduate directly into related employment. A
certain number of them a.re bound to find jobs in other fields--sometimes good jobs. In such cases their training is not necessarily
wasted; many of them may find it useful in connection with work at
home or in their avocations. Nevertheless when a large number of
trained youth do not use their training on the job, some explanation
is indicated. The reasons for such a phenomenon are important for
any appraisal of vocational training.
Several factors may have contributed to the failure of a quarter to a
half of all trained youth surveyed to profit by their training. One
hypothesis might be that the youth who entered vocational school
programs were inferior to other youth in social background and scholastic ability. There is considerable evidence from other surveys that
this has been the case in some places. The present survey, however,
showed that there was no significant difference between trained and
·untrained youth either in social status or in ability as students (as
measured by age at eighth-grade graduation). This explanation may
therefore be ruled out as an important factor in explaining the lack of
relationship between training and employment among many trained
youth.
A more likely hypothesis is that vocational training is less effective
than might otherwise be the case because of the lack of opportunity
for individual guidance in the public schools. Only one youth in si~
in the four cities reported having received any guidance prior to entering vocational school. The other five-sixths presumably drifted into
their vocational programs without benefit of vocational counseling.
Undoubtedly a more adequate system of guidance would have discouraged some of the youth who were least fitted for the types of
training offered under the Smith-Hughes plan from entering vocationaJ
programs. Other youth might have been persuaded to change from
one program to another so that their training would be more appropriate to their abilities and better adjusted to the needs of the labor
market. It is essential that more individual guidance be available to
all youth, and particularly t-0 youth desiring to enter specialized
vocational programs.
A third and perhaps the most obvious explanation for the partial
failure of vocational training to meet the needs of youth might be
that the quality and content of vocational training are not such as to
turn out well-trained workers. This is a charge often made, both by
employers and by labor unions. As far as quality of training was
concerned, however, there was no indication from the present survey
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CONCLUSIONS • 1OS
that this was an important shortcoming of the Smith-Hughes schools.
In a few instances in the four cities, it is true, the equipment used was
so outmoded that the skills learned by youth at school were of less
practical value than they should have been in helping youth to get or
hold jobs. Shop courses in one or two cities, particularly those available to Negroes, were criticized by several youth on this score. The
budget limitations of the f?mith-Hughes schools sometimes prevented
the schools from obtaining the best shop machinery. 1 To correct
such conditions, where they exist, funds should be available for the
purchase of new equipment so that training may at all times parallel
as closely as possible actual working techniques in the community.
There were some indications that the content of vocational instruction could be improved, both in scope and orientation. Even among
youth with completed training by far the most common criticism of
the Smith-Hughes programs was that they were incomplete. But
only a fifth of all youth with completed training offered any criticisms
whatever, and only a fourth of these-5 percent of all youth with
completed training-mentioned the matter of incompleteness.
Nevertheless data from the work histories of the youth indicate that
the most thorough and specific sorts of training were most effective.
Youth with completed training were far more likely than those with
uncompleted training, and youth with the most specialized types of
training (particularly in the commercial programs) more likely than
those with relatively unspecialized training, to obtain jobs related to
their vocational programs.
A fourth possibility is that the number of youth trained in various
occupations may have had little relationship to labor-market needs.
The present survey does not indicate that any great surplus of youth
was trained in most of the fields served by Smith-Hughes training
programs. It was, however, impossible to make any precise comparison of the number of youth trained in various specific lines of work
and the number of jobs available in the same fields on the basis of
the present survey.
There was some evidence that the types of training offered in the
Smith-Hughes schools did not always correspond closely with labormarket needs. One indication was the fact that there were wide
1 In one city covered by the survey of youth in the labor market, but not
included among the four studied here, the reverse qf the tendency cited above
was found. A new course in bakery work was of little benefit to its graduates
because the machines installed were too new. An investigation showed that the
bakeries in town all used older equipment, and probably would continue to use
it for some years. A similar situation prevailed in woodworking, where knowledge
of the operation of modem machinery was of little use to youth who went to work
in old-fashioned cabinetmakers' shops. In these instances the training programs
may have been a little too far in advance of labor-market conditions.
D1gi zed by
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106 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
variations in the amounts of related employment obtained by youth in
different programs. Other evidence took the form of complaints from
labor unions that too many workers trained or partly trained in SmithHughes programs were entering certain lines of work, or complaints
from employers that other occupations were being neglected by the
vocational schools. Both types of complaints suggest that greater
diversification of training programs is needed. The vocational school
system would undoubtedly profit by a closer and more cooperative
relationship among employers, labor unions, and school authorities
in planning the programs to be offered and the number of youth to
be admitted to those programs.
~
Still another reason which might be cited for the failure of many
youth to find the sorts of work for which they had been trained was
that the schools and public placement services helped a comparatively
small minority of them to get jobs. Adequate guidance and training
of youth are not enough by themselves. Efficient placement services
operated in close collaboration with the vocational schools are necessary in order to prevent the skills acquired by trained youth from
being lost through disuse. A weak link anywhere in this chain of
three principal vocational services seriously impairs the effectiveness
of the other two.
There is a definite need for expansion of the junior placement
agencies and for their closer cooperation with the vocational schools.
Efficient placement services could not only help youth to find the
sorts of jobs they desire, but also help the vocational schools in each
locality to gauge labor-market needs in various occupations.
All of these factors-lack of guidance, the unspecialized nature of
some of the training programs, failure to coordinate training with
labor-market needs in certain fields, and inadequate placement services-undoubtedly contributed to lowering the proportion of youth
who found jobs related to their training. Probably more important
than any single one of these, however, was a factor that was out of
the control of vocational educators: the difficulty faced by youth in
finding jobs during a period of depression. Not only were many
trained youth completely unemployed during the depression, but
many others took whatever jobs they could find regardless of their
training. Once started in a new line of wo1k, they tended to stay
there, and many of them lost such skills as they had acquired in vocational school.
·
With the expansion of industrial production which started in 1939,
more youth may be expected to graduate from vocational schools
into jobs appropriate to their training. This fact has caused many
persons to advocate the expansion of the vocational schools. Any
large-scale expansion of training, however, should be based on a care-
DIgi1zed by
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CONCLUSIONS • 107
ful analysis of labor-market needs, in order that the number of trainees will not far outrun the number of jobs available. Otherwise ov~rkeen competition for skilled jobs may undermine standards of wages
and working conditions which have been built up over ·many years;
and many youth" may have their training wasted and their morale
lowered by failure to find jobs which they had been led to expect
would be waiting for them.
THE LARGER PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT
Vocational education is, of course, no cure for unemployment. It
cannot put youth in jobs where no jobs exist. It can help some youth
to make a more effective and less painful adjustment to the labor
market by training them efficiently in fields where jobs do exist. And
it may relieve the pressure on the labor market to some extent by (1)
keeping youth in school who would otherwise be working or seeking
work, and (2) helping to prevent bottlenecks in production which may
occasionally arise from shortages of skilled labor.. The contraction
of the labor force, not only through the establishment of a higher level
of compulsory school attendance but also through the extension of
old-age retirement and pension legislation, would certainly tend to
result in decreased unemployment. Increased employment among
youth, however, must depend primarily upon the expansion of employment generally.
Eventually unemployment among youth may become less extensive
because of the expected drop in the proportion of young people in our
population and the decline in competition for jobs which may result.
But the problem cannot wait upon such a long-term solution. Youth
must have jobs here and now if their morale and skills are to be preserved. This is why the work programs-NYA, CCC, and WPA-have been of great value to youth. In them young people not only
earn modest sums, but also learn and practice new skills, and acquire
the work experience they so badly need if they are to obtain private
employment. Public projects for youth should therefore be continued
and expanded as long as there are unemployed youth desirousof
obtaining such work in the United States. Every youth who leaves
school and cannot get a job should be provided with an opportunity
to do useful work under public auspices. 2 It is important to devc>lop
and utilize the Nation's human resources in time of peace just as it is
in time of war; and it is almost as essential to maintain employm<'nt
and morale in consumers' goods industries as in war industries.
1 In this connection, see the American Youth Commi~sion bulletin, YouthTheir Jobs, Their Health, Their Schooli11g: A Program for Action, Washington,
D. C., 1939.
108 • VOC.A TIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
The federally sponsored system of vocational training has come to
be accepted as having two related functions in our industrial economy:
the preparation of youth for useful work, and the supplying of trained
workers for the needs of industry. To a considerable extent it has
fulfilled these functions. With further study and improvement,
vocational training can be of even greater value in the future than it
has been in the past, both to youth and to the Nation.
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Appendixes
109
D1g1 zed by
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DgtiwdbyGoogle
Appendix A
TABLES
To•le 1.-Enrollment in Vocational Schools in the United States Operated Under State
(Smith.Hughes) Plans, by Year and Type of Program, 1918-1939
Type of program
School year ending-
Total enroll•
ment
1-----.-----~----~---Agricultural
1918_ ···························1919_ ·••••••••••••••••••••••••••·
1920_ .•••••••••••••..••••••••••••
1921 •. •·•••••••••••••••••••••••••
1922_ •.••••••••••••••••••••••••••
164,123
194. 895
265,058
16. 450
19,933
31.301
324,247
475,828
43,352
60,236
5311, 528
71.298
690,055
811,640
Trade and
lndustriBI
117,934
136,548
184,819
217,500
Home
economics
296,884
30, 799
39. 414
48. 938
63,:195
118,708
139,341
171. 942
206,808
235,952
218. 406
792,424
885,276
111,585
1927 __ -·························
911. 626
1211. 032
32..~. 889
428. 473
490,791
537, 738
664,188
11128 __ ·-·························
999,031
1,047,976
1,064,536
147,481
171,466
193,32/i
237,200
257,255
619,548
627,397
6.13.153
602. 755
679. 591
232,002
249, 113
238,058
227, f,01
339,316
2M.978
346. 837
343. i21
381. 2'14
394,400
537, M2
48/l, 058
6.16. 932
679. 971
606. 212
460,876
6'!5. 804
538. 586
715,239
627, 3114
741,[,()3
1923_ •• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••
J9?4_ - •••••••••••••••••••••••••••
192.'L _····················-······
1926 __ ····················-·····
W"'--···························
l!l'.Ul_ - •••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1931-_ •.••••.•••••••••••••••••••.
11)32_. ••·•·•••••••••••••••••••••·
IP:13_ .•....••.••••.•••.•.•.•.•.•.
1934 __ ··························111.15_ .•••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1936_ .• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1937 •• ·························•·
!938_ - ... -...........•.•... -.....
1939 '··----·····-················
1,117,556
I. 1711, 162
1, Im, 327
1,119,140
1,247,523
1,381,701
1,496,837
1,810,082
2,08/i, 427
l>J, 766
289,361
329,367
347,728
Buslnel!S
education
454. 002
496. 2'l5
36, OOR
w.ow
• Figures suhJect to revision.
Soul'Ct': Diqral of Annrtal Rtport• of Slalt B'lflrd• (or VO<'ntimrnl F:d1w1tion lo IA, t'- S. 0/firt of Eduration,
VOOJ/ional Drri,ion, Fi.,cal Ytar Ended June 30, 1939, U.S. Office of Education, Federal Security A~ency,
Washingt<Jn, D. ('., 1940, p. 3.
111
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112 •
VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
To•le !.-Enrollment in Vocational Schools or Classes in the United States Operated
Under State (Smith.Hughes) Plans, by Type of School and Type of Program, Year
Ended June 30, 1939 1
Type or program
Total enroll•
ment
fypeolscbool
Acrlcultnral
Trade and
lndl18trial
Home
economics
Busln"811
edncatlon
All typee ••....••••••••.••.
2,086, t27
538, 15811
7UI, 239
741, li03
llfl,OIIII
E.-enillJ! ..•••••••.••.•••.•••••...
657,603
486,551
941,273
181,P62
IM,464
236,034
66,692
83,143
9,966
Part-time .•••••••••.•.•..•.••.•..
All-day .•.•••••••••••••.•...... -.
61,693
306,031
362,410
196,366
QQ,877
-
Increue or decra. over 11138
All types .•••••••••••••••••
276,346
77,710
211,434
114.109
M,091
Evening .••••••••••••••••••••••••
87,895
23,149
20,868
11,381
liO, 7311
All-day •.••.•..•••.••••••••••..••
47,658
139,892
-0.855
46,868
Part-time •.••••••••••••••••••••.
8,693
24,128
12,162
81,862
I.3M
-
Flgurea subject to revision.
Source: ~ut of Annual Reporu of Blau Boaru far Vocational Education lo tu U. 8. OJ1i« of Eduaztloll,
Voortlonal Dirinon, Fiacal Yeqr Ended Ju,u SO, 1~9, U. S. Office of Education, Federal Security Agency,
Washington, D. C., 1940, p. 2.
1
To•le 3.-Percent Distribution of Vocationally Trained Youth and Other Youth, by
Usual Occupation of Father and by City
Occupation or lather
Total voc,atlonally trained :,onth 1.·-···
St. Lou.la
Birmingham
2,128
a.we
Denver
es
211'1
100
100
1811
Percent distribution
Total.··························-·······
100
100
Professional.. .•••••••••••••..•••••.•••••••••••.• i - - - - a - i - - - - - 2 - t - - - - - 7 - t - - - - - l l
Proprietors, managers, and officials.............
Clerical........................................
Skilled.........................................
Semiskilled ••••..•.••••. :......................
Unskilled......................................
Total other Jout.b
1,______
UI
18
30
20
13
23
17
42
13
3
10
II
33
26
UI
JI
JI
11
JI
14
4, 9()()
3,087
3, 632
', 187
1====1====1=====1====
Pensit distribution
Total.·······-----Proret!l!lonal.. •••.•.•••••••••...•••••••••••••••.•
Proprietors, managen, and offlclala •••••••••••••
Clerical .••••••.••••••••••••••.•••••••••••••••.•
Skilled __ ....••.•.•..••.•.•.....•••..••••••••••.
Semiskilled ..•.•••.•.•.•.•••....•..••••••••..•.
Unskilled .••••••••••••••••.•.•.•.•••.•.••..•.•.
100
100
JOO
100
4
12
13
17
II
24
18
26
16
12
8
211
17
27
6
19
16
30
18
16
23
28
11
11
1 Excludes 400 youth whO(!e rathen were deoeaaed, absent, or with uaual occupations whldl were not
ucertalnable. Based on 100-peroent :,ample.
• Excludes 2,217 youth whose fathers were deoeaaed, absent, or with usual oocupatlom which were not
uoertalnable. Based on partial :,ample.
Ogt1zedbyGoogle
TABLES• 113
Tol,le .f.-Percent Distribution of Vocationally Trained Youth and Other Youth, by
Rental Value of Residence and by City
St. Louis
Rental value of realdenoe
Birmingham
2,461
Total vocationally trained youth ...
Denver
217
I
Beattle
70
293
Percent distribution
Total....................................
Low rental.....................................
Medium rental.................................
High rental....................................
100
100
100
100
19
56
13
67
~
1------11-----,-----1-----
62
40
M
26
35
3
16
l=====l=====cl=====I,====
4,006
4,6U8
Total other youth ...•..•............. __ ..
6,683
3,686
Peroent distribution
_____,______ _____,_____
Total.................................... ,__
Low rental.....................................
Medium rental.................................
High rental....................................
._
100
100
100
100
:16
60
24
26
26
26
49
64
21
:H
:16
61
Excludes 1 youth wh0118 place of realdenoe In terms of rental value WM not ~ b l e .
Nou.-Data for vocationally trained youth ere based on 100-peroent sample; data for other youth ere
bued OD partial sample.
1
Tol,le 5.-Percent Distribution of Vocationally Trained Youth and Other Youth, by
Age at Eighth•Grade Graduation and by City
Age • at eighth-grade graduation
St. Louis
Birmingham
2, -tel
Total vocationally trained youth.........
Denver
Beattle
n
217
293
Percent distribution
Total....................................
12 Y8U'I and under.............................
13 yean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .• . .. .. . .. . .. • . .
14 )'8U'I....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
16 yean............ .. . . . ... ....................
16 years and over..... . . . . . . . • . . • • • • • • •• • • • • • • . .
100
100
100
100
1------1-----1------4----6
Total other youth........................
g
34
36
6
3
18
38
18
30
33
33
42
3,686
4,006
1ft
18
24
ll)
5
7
4
l=====l=====l=====I=====
6,583
Percent distribution
Total •..... ··•·••••••••••••••••••••••••••
12 yeara and onder ........ ,....................
100
100
100
100
1------+-----1---------7
4
12
3
35
30
42
30
43
17
16
18
16
7
6
10
4
l=====l=====-=•l=====t,====
Median age, vocationally trained :,oath..
14. 2
14. 7
14.4
14. 3
14.3
Median age, other youth.................
14. 3
14. 4
14. 2
13 yean........................................
32
14 years. . • . • • • . . . • . • . • . . . . . • . . . . . . • • . • • • • •• • • ••
16 years.........................................
UI years and over...............................
Age at last birthday.
Non.-Data for vocationally trained youth ere
baaed OD partial sample.
32
37
I
~
on lOO•percent MIDple; data for other :routh ere
450596°-42--10
lJ fl lized by
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114 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Ta&le 6.-Year of Eighth-Grade Graduation of Vocationally Trained Youth, by City
Y ,•er of el~hth-grade graduation Total 4 cities
Total
vocationally
trained
youth
___________________
J929 ___ ------------------------- IIIJJ - - - -- - ----- -- --- ---- -------- I 0:1:l - - -- - - - - - ---------- ----------
St. Louis
Birmingham
Denver
Seattle
3,042
2, 4111
217
71
293
1153
781
1,012
668
84
24
27
20
87
142
I, l8i
902
81
72
M
Ta&le 7.-Percent Distribution of Vocationally Trained Youth, by Years of Education
Completed and by City
Years of education completed
Total
vocationally
trained _
youth
__________________
Total 4
cities
St. Louis
3,042
Birmingham
2, 4111
Denver
Seattle
71
2U3
100
100
6
13
11
18
46
I
8
7
8
217
Percent distribution
Tota!__ ___________________ _
8 yf'ars. ________________________ _
II y,•ars ________________________ _
10 years_ .. ____________________ _
II years .. _________ . ___________ ._
12 years __ .. ____________________ _
13 years __ . _____________________ _
H years __ . _____________________ _
IS years_. __ .. __________________ _
16 years_._ .. __ .. _. _____________ _
17 years and over _______________ _
100
100
3
3
12
I~
20
44
I
I
13
20
20
41
1
I
.
.
Median. _________________ _!=====!====
11.9
11. 7
100
8
20
37
33
.
77
.
3
I
1
2
2
3
11.6
12.0
12. 4
• Less than 0.5 pel'Cl'nt.
To&le 8.-Sex Distribution of Vocationally Trained Youth, by City
Sex
Total
,·oeatlonally
trained _
youth.
_________________
Male .. ____
--------------------- .Female
.. _______________________
Total 4 <'itles
St. Louis
Birmingham
Denver
Seattle
3,042
2,461
217
71
I, 308
1184
1, 4i7
152
6.~
71
I, ;J4
293
101
1112
Pel'Cl'nt distribution
Total _____________________ _
100
100
100
100
Male .. _. _______________ .----- --Female _________________________ _
43
5i
40
70
100
60
30
D1g1,zed by
100
34
96
Google
TABLES• 115
Tol,le 9.-Percent Distribution of Vocationally Trained Youth, by Ase at Time of
Interview
Age at time or Interview
Total vocationally trained
youth. ________ -----···-·
Total 4 cltlea
3,042
and by City
St. Louis
2, 4111
Birmingham
Denver
217
Beattle
71
293
100
Percent dlstrl butlon
Total __ ..••.•••••••••••••••
100
100
100
100
17 years and under .. ···---·--··.
18 years .•...•...... --···--··· ..
19 years ... -·-·····-·-········.
20 years .. _......•.....•........
21 years .....•••.••..•.••.•....
22 years ... ··············-··· ....
23 years - -- ------------------- - .
24years ........••...•••••••.•..
25 years and over ....•••.........
1
i
14
17
18
15
6
2
1
7
13
17
21
18
15
6
2
1
1
12
12
21
18
17
12
II
3
16
23
15
21
6
10
7
Median ..•...••••••..••.•.
21.11
21.6
22. 2
21.6
20
01gi
1
13
22
16
18
10
13
6
1
20.11
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116 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Tol,le 10.-Yovth Enrolled In Smith-Hughet Training Programs, by Program and City
Total 4 oltlM
All program1 _____________ _
~Bookkeeping_
~ : :....
:-----······
: :::::::
I
3,034
St. Loola
Birmingham
2,-&M
2111
1,426
311
Denver
8eaUle
119
2llill
1-----:-----·'--:-----1-----+-----l,MQ
CalculatlnK machlnM .....•••
Clerlcel .....................•
Distributive programs ......•
General bUBln-............ .
General commercial .... -···Secretarial...... - - . . . . . -... .
Special oommerdal ........••
Stenography .........•.....•.
Jnduatrlal prognma_ ••••••••·•••
Aeromechanlm. ··---·----·-·
40
211
2
40
26
I
62
62
"
34
14-4
136
2711
301
'4
m
283
301
316
343
1IIMI
703
311
Auto mecbanlm. ····--······
191
~;::~ti--.::::::::::::::: ::
General lnduatrlal •.....••.••
118
1111
Boatbuildlnc .. -• ······-···· -
Hortlcultun! ................ .
Machine mop .............. .
Painting 1111d deooratlnit .. .
Printing .•.................•.
Radlo .....................• Sheet metal.···••·••····-···
Woodworkl!ll .....•.•......•
Women'• program1 .•••••••••••••
Careterta-tearoom ••.••••••.•
Clothing ....•.••••.••••••••••
Colmeto)OI)' ••••• - ••••••••••
&1~::::::::::::
Home ecoaomlca... ......... .
Mlllinery ..........•.•.•••.•.
Tailoring ....•.....•...•.•..•
l~cnna::: :::::::::::
Ana
Commerdal art ............•.
Show-eard wrltlnl .......... .
ti
21
I
1114
26
!OIi
II
67
86
186
Ill
a
I
18J
316
343
311
I
I
117
119
_,
Ill
68 I
12
16
16
16
34
17
JI
147 i
10 '
u~ I
8
~I
ti
&
JO
17
21
80
3
:I)
67
76
10
232
211
48
II&
13
2
I 16
92
12
llO
•s
1111
Ill
23
II
ti
8
• au
12
126
•10
a
:I)
11,
,.,
116 I
17
4-4
I
86
21
911
II
7
76
4
67
II
86
S6
7
•
• E:rclud• 8 yomb wboae tnlnlne Pl'OITIUDI were not -IUlnable (6 ID St. Louis, I ID Blnnlnpam, and
2 In Denver).
·
I Retalllnc. 8ee table II.
• Bualnea training (normally on a part-time bula, but 1-UIII of the advanoed nature ol the work, lldeffii full•tlme tndnins for the purpc.- ot thll aurvey).
• Office practlre.
I Commerdal d ~ .
Beauty culture,
Power 111wln1.
• Home ■ervlce.
I
1
D1gli zed by
Google
TABLES• 117
Tol,le 11.-S.x and Completion of Training of Labor-Market Entrants, by Selected
Training Program and by City
CltJ'&ndJINlll'UI
Total
labormarket
en-
Malelwith
Pemalel
Malel
Femalel with
~~
C::C.T:1
PerPerNum- aental Nnm• cent al
ber
all
ber all 19malel
!Daiei
&rants
Nnmber
Peroent
Nnmber
2,867
I, 363
«
1,594
M
401
32
080
43
St. Loula. ____ ................ 12,a.w
Commercial programs .... 1,348
General commercial ...
2M
141
General bUlllnea......
217
Stenosra~J'..........
37
Aoooun
...........
61
Clerleal............•.•
llecnttarlal. ••...••••••
280
Special commercial. _.
2IIO
Indllltrlal l)l'Oll'aDIS ••••••
111111
Aeromechanlal ....••••
311
Drafting •••..••..•••••
M
Auto mechanics ..•.•••
11'
EleetrlcltJ'.••••••••.••
146
llll
Machine abop ••..•.••
80
Printing .•.••••.•.. --Sheet metal ......•••• _
67
Woodworking •...••••
74
Women's programs ....••.
21fl
Cafeteria-tearoom ..•••
4fl
Cosmetology ......••••
47
lnduatrlal sewing. ____
103
IN!l
41
16
8
17
6
80
1, 3113
1,143
lM2
117
226
4
43
611
268
86
112
81
116
IIO
2
7
38
Ml
40
4 cities ..
------------
Arta&l'Oll'l,IIIS·········--ommerclal art .... ___
Sbow-eard writing .•••
Blnnlngbam ..•..........•••• _
Retallfng - ••••••••••••••••
Denver •... ·········-···-··--·
Auto mechankll •• ····---Seattle..............•.••••.•••
Beauty culture .. ····---·Bllllw9 training .... ___ .•
111
M
33
20&
22
24
11
33
8
67
,1
H
114
146
112
100
100
100
100
100
100
711
1111
67
74
1
100
100
311
M
--
-67
24
211
:.H
1411
31
68
3fl
231
31
II
611
UI
20
68
3fl
86
-
7
.
-
-flll
«
221
:.KIi
1
-
---
--
1
216
4fl
47
103
3'
88
73
30
4
66
211
22
100
100
37
-12
Peroent
a
11
84
80
.
as
----
20
UIII
16
22
30
40
33
1
20
a
2
-
II
211
t
86
t
83
411
lM
38
311
•
28
211
26
6
--a
--
4112
38
II
87
87
11
46
118
lfl
M
33
20
12
8
1
27
71
77
112
t
211
83
30
fl
20
--
112
100
88
7
-2
111
42
-t
t
7
70
C
-----40
11
22
a
16
38
------
--
II
40
38
2
a
167
118
100
100
100
100
37
--
14&
31
18
2
38
«
lN
ao
86
fl1
2
21
t
38
--
12
7
•
28
211
-fl1
IIO
M
• i - Ulan 0.6 percent.
tPercent not ftsured on I>-. or leN Ulan 20 persons.
1 Exolodee • St. Loula youth whole stains with reprd to completion wu not -ialmble.
Non.-Procrazns with rewer than 211 labor-market entrants are excluded, ncept rrom totals and
subtotals.
D191• zed t:y
Goog Ie
118 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Ta&le J!.-Youth Completing Selected Vocational Training Programs, by City
City and program
4 citiPS
I
St. Louis.
. .............................. .
Commrrclal programs. _ ......... . .................... .
Oenpral commf'rcial ___________________________ . _.. _
Oennal business .
__________________ _
SknoRTsphy ...... - . .
· -- · -· · -· · · · ·· · · ·
Accountin~......
. ........... .
. . . ......... .
Bookkeeping and hilling machines....
Clerical ........•...................... . ............
Sreretarlal. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . .... .
S1><'dal coruml'rrlal _
............................. .
lndwtrial programs ...........•.................... . ......
Aeromechank'S .. ___________ . ___________________ . ____ ..
I>raltin~ .................. .-....................... _
Auto mecbanica..
. . . _........... .
Elcctridty __ .......... . . . ..... . . . .. ............... .
Machine shop ................... . . . . ..............•.
Printing ..............•..................•.........
Sheet metal_ . . _............. . .. . . ..... . .. . ........ .
Woodworkin~ .......•........ .. ..... . ...............
3,034
I, 131
37
I. 425
279
573
4-0
14
28
3i
53
- - -2.4/i6
-- - - - - - -----867
35
40
41
91
21
IH
243
40
26
.,2
301
315
8
31
5
208
10
69
47
148
703
39
liO
r>6
22
11.,
:IO
41
15
147
:13
20
112
lj()
57
24
38
39
26
28
211
25
. ___ .... ______ .... . ___ . _____ .. ____ _
75
3
2
Zl2
5
3
Cafeteria•U•sroom .......... _......... _............ .
Cosmetology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............. .
Industrial sewing. . ............. . .................. .
92
48
,o;o
Ill
12
47
33
40
96
32
57
28
4
103
\\"omen's program~
Artsd';~i:;;~lal art ::::: ::: :: ::: :: ::. ::: :· .: :: ::: ::::::
Show-card writing .................. . . . .. . .
Birmin~ham ..•.••........................... _. . . . .
Hrtailing ..••••••..••.........................
Denver __________________________ . ___ ... _.. ___ . __ .. _________ _
Auto moohanlca ....•.............. . ....... . .... . ........
Seattle .................................. . ...•........••••....
Beautyculture .......•..............•...................
Power sewin~ __ ....... . ...............•.....•............
BusineS!! training ........ . . ...........•............. . .. .
1
Youth complrtln2 trainin~
Total youth 1 - - - - - - · - - - - - enrolled
Sumlx-r
35
216
35
13
69
311
20
7
2113
39
141
25
81
29
I~
I
34
25
114
30
33
49
11
48
37
211
19
48
74
72
42
Exdudes 8 youth, the statu.• of l'ompletion of whoo,> training was not a.sccrtalnable.
~OT~.--PrnRT•m• with fewer than 2.'I registrants among the youth studied are exclu<l~d, exe,>pt from the
totals and suhtolals.
0 g tiled by
Goog Ie
TABLES• 119
Ta&le 13.-Percent Distribution of Youth With Incomplete Vocational Trainin_g, by
Reason for Failure To Complete Training, by City, Sex, and Year of Eighth-Grade
Graduation
h
Total
City
Sex
Eighth-grad,• class
youth,--~--~--~--,---~--,---~-~-Reason for la!lure to compl~te
inromSt
Birtraining
with
'''"·" .....;• •h ,,,,.
tramIng
nm
I
Deo·
vcr 1 &•·
tie
-------~
Total youth
' 1,839
1,584
11a
--
51
M..
••
male
,.,.
""
--
""
---l!!l!I
91
970
593
715
531
Percent distribution
Total youth
Pn,fenmce for work _______ _
Lack of lunds ___ _
Lack of interest_ _ _
Preference for other type of
education __ . _
_____ _
Physical disability_
___ _
Marriage___ _______
_____ _
_____ _
Other______ __
-~1~1~~ 100 ~ 100 ,_1~1~1~
~I
~
22
22
e
s
~
1
9
8
12
~
~
~
u
~
v~
15
18
25
~
ffl
n
~
13
17
e
u
e
22
15
~
~
n vn wuf
n
26
241
5
•
!
f
-=
6
11
11
'I
I
21
7 ,
~
~
~
e
;j
1
8
8
I
1
'Less than 0.5 peroont.
I Excludes 72 youth, statw, of completion of whose training was not ascertainable.
DO tized by
Google
120 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Ta&le 14.-Percent Distribution of Vocationally Trained Youth, by City, Selected
Pro9ram, ond Usual Occupation of Father
Penmit distribution by usual oooapa&lon ol r.tber
City and procnm
Total
youth
Proprfe.
tors,
Total
Prof•
slmal
man-
agers,
and
offl•
clalll
Clerf• Bkflled 9elntUn•
oal
ltlDed ltmed
--- --4 oltlell••••••••.••••••..••..•••••• I 2, 1134
St. Loula •.•••••••••••.•...••........
Commerolal pro,rama ••••.•...•.
General commercial .........
Oeneralb~ .•....
,.~~~----::::::.:::::.:
Clerical ....•.•.•••••••.•.•...
Secretarial ••••••••••••••••...
S~al commercial •••••••...
Industrial proJl'lllll8 •••••••••.•.
Aeromecbanlcs .•••••••••••..
·Drafting ......••••••••••.....
Auto mechlllllcs ••••••••..•..
Electricity ....•••••••••......
Machine shop •••••.•........
Printing .......•.•.•••.......
Sheet metal .•.•..........•...
Woodworkln,: ...............
Women's programs.....•....•..
Cafeterla•tearoom ...•••.•••.
COIIIDetology ..........•.•...
Industrial aewtna ...........
ArtaJ;i:n~clai.,c::::::::::::
Show-and writing ...•.•••...
Birmingham ..•.....•...........•..
Retailing ..••••••••.....••.•.••.
Denver .........••••••.••...•..•.....
Auto mechlllllcs .••...••••...•...
Seattle .•••.••.•••••••••••.•••••.•...
Beauty culture •••••••••••.•.•.•.
Business training ..•.•.••...••.•.
2, 123
1,224
222
121
201
38
46
m
279
617
34
ts
911
1211
117
74
60
68
197
42
43
1111
86
49
33
188
211
66
34
26i
34
76
100
2
UI
18
11
:io
11
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
3
16
17
12
13
18
18
21
12
17
17
30
!!O
19
21
21
11
10
24
H
20
32
24
It
4
2
2
4
8
2
7
8
2
11
2
1
2
2
-
2
3
6
-4
6
11
8
2
-8
16
18
19
UI
12
10
19
8
19
22
18
16
II
It
UI
8
19
'IT
II
23
10
11
12
'IT
29
31
31
32
23
28
'IT
'IT
29
84
16
23
32
Ill
29
7
18
10
16
23
32
9
It
26
211
2
II
13
18
6
18
24
311
Ill
211
to
36
28
49
41
t8
8
81
9
11
9
84
6
12
6
16
12
24
16
33
20
20
29
23
20
8
28
12
18
21
1t
9
I
9
4
9
11
11
••
17
20
29
17
11
11
•
lM
19
18
:ti
21
21
12
21
It
8
18
13
10
26
28
16
16
13
1:t
10
11
M
19
11
fl
9
6
11
I
4
17
11
It
l:t
11
1 Excludes fo08 youth whoee lathers were decesaed, ablent, or with usual oocupatlo111 which were not
111eertalnable.
Non.-Programa with !ewer than 26 re,istranta whoaefatben' oocupatlona were IIICertalnable are excluded
exoept from t«all and subtotals.
0 g tiled by
Goog Ie
TABLES•
121
Tal,le 75.-Adivity Status on July 1«.1938, of oll Youth Interviewed, by Type of
Vocotionol !raining ond by City 1
Peroent dlatrlbutlon br activity atatua
City and type of vocational training
Total
Youth
Entt,red
labor
market
at some
lime
Total
8tatua OD July 1, 11138
In labor
market
Not
!!et'klng
In
school
work
- - - ·---- - - - - - - 4 cities .••••••••.•••••••••••••••••••.
19,116
100
-- - -100
Bmlth•Hughes train~ ....••••••••••••••
1,139
No Bmlth•Hutes t
Ing ....•.•.........
Regular h 1th•school vocational train·
Inv (Seattle only) ··-·········--····
Private school vocational training .....
No vocational training .•.·.•.....•.••..
Bt. Louil .•••••.••••••••.••••••••.••
Bmlth•H~es tralnlnir •••.••••.•••••••...
No Smith- ughl'!I tralnlnir ....•.•••••••...
Private school vocational training•. •.
No vocational training ..•.•••.•.....•.
Blrmlngham ......•........•..••••..
=
6ll
12
UI
94
81
67
6
13
20
71
74
67
11
17,977
100
~
1,326
1,768
14,883
100
100
100
92
6,429
846
5,583
808
,, 775
=
115
3,827
89
83
- -100
-==
=
91
=
100
100
100
100
100
~
91
94
90
115
&II
96
84
84
114
3,689
225
3,464
100
100
JOO
JOO
Denvllll' .............................
4,019
100
13
4,000
487
3, ~19
JOO
100
100
100;
82
100
4, 00\I
1,326
248
3, 125
Bmlth•Hughes training ..••.•••.•.•••.••••
No Smlth•Hughes tralnln1< ....•••.•••••••.
Private school vocational training ...• _
No vocational training ..•••••.•••••.•.
--
= 4,841
---Smith-Hughes training_ ....••••••••••••••
142
Beattle••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
No Smith-Hughes training __ ..••....••••••
Regular high•achool vocational train•
Ing _·----·---·--· .•...............•
Pri vare school vocal lonal training_ •••
No vocational training .•••••••.••••••
~
=
80
76
84
82
t
90
81
75
114
·--64
t
64
66
9
13
18
17
llO
'
13
Ill
13
- - -7 = =111
83
77
---=
Bmlth•Hnghes training. __ ..•••••••••.••..
No Smlth•HUl(hes training ....•.•.•••••••.
Private •chool vocational training._ ••.
No vocational training .••••••••••••• _
138
77
=
7
7
8
10
3
11
6
11
11
15
80
63
18
100
100
80
80
66
63
23
100
100
100
kV
71
86
6i
611
76
=
111
211
13
211
19
211
--- - -21
16
-16
t
21
64
---
Ill
23
21
- - -19
18
11
19
11
l&
18
22
18
111
t Percent not computed on base of leas than 211.
• B&!led on the partial sample of all youth In the 4 cities, excluding additional sample of vocationally
trained youth.
122 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Tat,le 16.-l.abo,-Marlcet Status of Trained Youth Who Graduated from the Ei9hth
Grade in 1929, by Month and by Sex, January 1929-July 1938
14 cltlellJ
Labor-lDU'ltet statwi ol tral.ned youth who graduated lrom th~ eighth ,rade lo 11129
Male
-------
Year and month,
Total
In
sebool
- -111211
January ..
··· - -.. ---· - ·
February
MRreh
- - · · ......
--- -- -- -U,rll
. ·-· -------ay _____________
___
June
July
--------- --Au,:W<t
···-··· -September -- ------October .. -- ------No,-ember
------Dl'O'mber
-----IWO
January.
-- -----February -- ------- March .
--------- Al:rll ... ·- ··- ---- -I\, ay_ .. . . ··· ··- -··· June .
---- ----- July _
-- -------Au1111st .. . .. . .. _. --- September ___________
October ..
·· ·-·· •
No,·emher .. -------.December
------11131
January ..
--- -· • · ·
February .. ....
March __
------ ---·
u.,11 ____ --------- -
8)' ... -June .. ...
-- ---- ----- -------
July .
········· ··
.. . ..
August
September . .. ..
. ...
October . . .. .
..
Novt•mlwr
.. .
Oroo•mher
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
ll6
ll6
95
94
113
113
90
90
90
90
90
89
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
JOO
100
JOO
JOO
100
90
88
87
87
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
lfXl
100
100
100
w
w
w
w
w
ll6
ll6
ll6
97
ll6
ll6
I
·- - - -
_
work
-·
·- -
-
-
..
..
..
.
-
---
-
I
I
I
I
I
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
6
6
6
6
9
9
9
9
9
10
86
83
--I
78
78
79
7V
7V
78
2
2
2
2
2
2
9
II
12
12
13
14
16
16
16
16
16
17
77
76
3
3
3
Ii
I~
...
Jttnmtry
Jo'ehruary
:\torch
April.
May
J11nt1
Jul y
\..Ut,!'USt
:,,,p1,•mtwr .
Octohcr .
~ovf'mh.-r
December ....
. ..
76
75
73
66
66
66
66
66
64
100
100
IIM,
64
57
57
IUO
56
56
54
I(~)
..
76
1m
---
100
10(1
38
39
38
40
..
100
40
..
·- - -
11•1
1()0
u.,
40
S•••• footnote,, at e nd of tnble.
Female•
Otben
0
not... _ Em- t.:nemEm- UnemH ou.- not
ID
Total
ployed ployed
ployed
acbool w lv1111 -11:Ing
Ing ployed
-
2
2
3 1
3 '
3
a:
3
4
3
3
3
3
3
ii
51
!I
16
17
-
.
I
I
-
I
--I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
2
4
4
3
3
3
3
4
5
4
18
19
4
IQ
5
24
24
24
24
24
7
7
7
7
6
6
27
26
31
33
34
34
34
43
44
44
41
40
42
work
-- - - --100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
117
117
117
96
96
96
91
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
ICO
100
100
1u;12
January.
· ·· ···
J,'rhnmry ..
.. ...
. . . . .. .
March
April
·· · -·· · · ·
May ..
-·-·-·-··
June
··---·- ·
. . . .. . .
July
.. . . ....
Au1msl
Srptrmlwr .
Octol••r
---- --·
~on•mht•r . .. -·· ·
Oec.•m her ..
-
4
7
9
7
7
7
8
13
12
12
13
14
13
l(J()
1()0
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
11IO
100
100
100
100
100
100
w
w
w
w
w
117
117
117
117
117
118
2
I
I
I
I
I
3
2
112
91
113
2
I
I
I
112
112
112
811
88
88
86
115
77
n
78
78
78
78
n
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
74
73
74
72
71
62
62
61
62
61
61
2
2
2
2
2
60
2
2
56
2
3
3
3
55
54
53
52
37
36
37
3
I
37
36 1
36
0 Q t1zed by
3
3
3
4
•
I
1
I
2
2
2
4
4
4
4
6
6
I
4
3
3
3
3
4
7
7
ti
6
6
6
7
7
10
10
Ill
4
4
6
12
12
12
4
7
7
7
6
ti
6
12
14
16
16
16
16
18
18
19
20
22
22
6
7
7
6
6
7
10
10
10
8
8
7
23
26
26
28
28
28
31
33
34
36
37
37
5
ii
6
Google
I
I
I
I
I
2
2
s
2
2
2
3
s
3
3
4
4
6
e
ti
6
ti
6
e
6
6
5
6
7
12
II
II
10
9
9
9
10
JO
9
10
10
19
18
16
16
16
16
TABLES•
123
To&le 16.-Labor-Marlcet Status of Trained Youth Who Graduated from the Eighth
Grade in 1929, by Month and by Sex, January 1929-July 1938-Continued
(4 cities]
Labor-market status or trained youth wbo graduated from the elehtb grade in 19211
Female•
Male•
YP&r an<l month
----·
1
Others
Others
not
not
Em- Unem- Total
In Houae- aeekIn
Em- Unem
Total school
-k- ployed
ployed
school wives
Ing ployed ployed
Ing
wort
wort
- - ----- - - - - - - -
--
-1934
January
February
Much . .
·--------
-- ------- ------~1: __ ---------June __ ------------July
·-·- ····-----AUgUst _. _. -- ------September ---- --- -October_ . __
---November_ ·-- -December_
--
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
311
31
31
5
43
6
48
50
30
6
29
'r1
4
4
15
15
15
IV
18
18
6
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
18
15
15
14
13
12
6
6
6
7
7
7
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
6
6
6
100
100
JOO
JOO
JOO
100
JOO
JOO
100
100
100
JOO
4
5
4
5
5
5
4
4
4
51
53
116
80
62
fl3
fl3
fl3
6.'I
4
5
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
8
8
8
8
7
8
8
8
6
6
6
38
38
39
311
41
43
48
48
8
8
8
II
9
9
g
g
10
10
5
5
5
5
5
5
6
6
6
6
5
4
64
116
56
58
58
59
62
fl3
62
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
116
71
10
10
10
10
9
8
7
7
16
16
17
18
18
18
19
19
19
19
IV
llO
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
71
72
71
70
ell
70
6D
6D
68
6D
6D
68
6
6
6
6
7
7
6
6
7
6
6
IS
llO
20
20
21
21
22
22
3
3
119
6
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
3&
33
32
16
18
17
17
16
15
18
16
15
14
15
15
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
18
16
16
14
14
12
7
6
6
7
7
7
11
15
14
13
II
10
10
9
8
II
9
8
8
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
7
6
6
5
6
5
4
3
3
4
4
4
12
12
13
13
14
14
14
14
15
15
15
9
JOO
JOO
JOO
100
JOO
JOO
100
JOO
100
100
100
100
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
13
UI
14
14
14
13
19
18
17
14
16
16
32
31
29
16
16
16
19
18
18
60
51
63
64
16
16
16
15
H
15
21
21
111
17
16
15
1935
January_
February
March . .
--------- -uru. -- ·
ay_ ·- - - -- --June .. ___ ----------July ___
---------Augu.st. _. ------- -September
--- --October. __
--- --November
-- -December_
--· -1936
January
----February __ ·--------·
March_
·-------
~--ay _____
June ______ .
July_
Angnst September
October._
November
December
-----·--·
------------ ------- ----- - ..
·-- •
--
·-
6
5
5
4
4
4
5
5
5
3
4
fl3
fl3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
I
I
I
M
116
68
70
74
76
2
77
78
711
81
83
83
86
2
2
2
2
2
I
2
2
I
I
I
77
78
77
77
86
85
85
86
86
100
1937
January.
February
M8PCh.
--- • - -·
--•·- •·
urn. ay -- -·
June _____
·· ----... - · ·
July.
August _
-· ·
September _ -·-·
October ___
-·
November
December
llfJ8
January_
Februar>·
March.
urn ..
ay_
June __ .
Jnly ....
I
·-
I
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
3
3
3
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
i
11
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
1
86
85
87
89
89
VI
90
90
89
89
89
88
1
I
I
I
I
I
1
85
8.1
85
84
85
:1
II
8
7
7
&
7
7
8
7
7
8
10
12
10
II
10
II
13
100
JOO
100
JOO
100
JOO
100 I
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
I
I
I
I
11
11
4
4
4
3
I
4
3
3
3
6.'I
M
M
116
66
67
67
67
68
119
70
ell
71
15
15
15
14
14
15
16
16
16
14
13
13
12
12
12
11
68
68
67
67
66
66
• Less than 0.5 percent.
Data as ol first of earh month.
• Base throughout period studied was 357.
• Base throughout period studied was 1167.
1
D1g1 zed by
Goog Ie
7
i
7
8
8
124 •
VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
To&le 17.-Employment Status of Youth in the Labor Market on July 1, 1938, by Sex,
Type of Vocotionol Training, ond City_ 1
Sex and type of vocetlonal tralnln,:
8t. Louis
Total youth In labor market...................
Birmingham
I
4,980
Denver
2,487
Seattle
2,587
3,044
PeJ'C('nt employed, 1uly I, 11138
--
--------------------
Total•.••.•••••••••••••••• --- -- ---- - - • - · · ·
81
72
114
82
Smlth-H~ee training ..........•••••.•.......
No Smith- ~bee training ....••••••••.•.•.....
83
81
76
72
88
114
78
82
811
83
88
82
;~r-ri~~--~~~~..~~~
~~le
Private scboo vocetlonal tmnlng ..........
No vocstloll.lll training ...............
86
89
80
71
83
----------------------------
81
74
85
83
Smlth-H~ee tralnlnr, .......................
No Smith- ~bee tra Ding...•.................
Regular
h-ecbool vocettonal training. _•.
Private !!Choo! vocetlonal tralnlng_ .•.......
No vocstlonal training ......•.....••.•.....
83
88
81
8.~
83
Male ..
Female......
...
------------------------
Smlth•H~bee tralnlng ........................
No Smith- ~es tralnlng ...............•....
Regular h h-ecbool vocetlonal tn.lnlng •....
Private IIChool vocetlonal training .••..•..•.
No vocetlonal tralnln,: .....••..•.•••••.....
81
78
i4
8ll
80
86
74
85
83
si·j
70
83
81
81
68
70
8ll
76
78
85
80
86
68
8ll
84
8D
78
82
82
87
86
81
• Bued on the partial ample of all yonth In the 4 cities, except for the Smith-Hughes group, peroentages
for which are hued on the expended JOO-percent sample of vocationally trained youth.
To&le 18.-Employment Status of Trained Youth in the Labor Market on July 1, 1938,
by Completion of Training ond by City, -4 Cities, ond by Race in St. Louis
Employment lltatUI, 1uly I, 1938
Total trained
youth In labor
market
Employed
Unemployed
---City and oompletlon of training
Number
Percent
Total
Full
Part
time
time
(under
(30
hOW'II
80
or more houn
per
week)
per
week)
70
3
-~
lleek-
Total
oron
la:volf
Work
pro,
gnllDI
--- ---- - - - --- --100
2,0f\4
!l3
76
7
17
15
2
- - - --- ---- --- --- --- - - --6
lR
Smlth-Hnghescomplete ... ..
759
100
82
76
17
I
---- 1,305
100
83
76
7
17
14
3
Smith-Hughes Incomplete
------ --- --- - - --- --- - --100
76
73
3
24
22
2
Birmingham .....
176
----------I
-----4 - -21.l- ----- ---8,1
76
19
Smith-Hughes complete .............
80
St. Louts:.
..
...
··•
1(10
Smith-Hughe!! Incomplete ....•......
92
100
73
27
24
3
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- --10
12
100
78
6
6
Denver........................
fl8
88
- - - - - - - - · --·- - - - - - --Smith-Hughes complete .... __ ...... _.
21.l
t
t
t
t
t
t
-9
;a
48
100
12
15
Smith-Hughes Incomplete. ------·-M
6
- - - - - - - - - - - - --- - - - = ~
100
11
22
21.l
2
Seattle .....
78
6i
---- ··-··--- - -178- - --- - - --- ----80
Smith-Hughe!! complete.
113
100
7
20
20
73
-------85
100
i4
17
21
Smlth-Hugbee Incomplete.
57
26
5
--------- --- --- =
--- =-= - - - =
--~
--
St. Louis:
WhluNegro
------
---- ----------
t Percent not computed on
1,972
92
100
100
84
78
6
60
36
24
16
40
15
23
base oC less than 25.
D191
ledu,Googlc
I
17
TABLES• 125
TolJle 79.-Avera9e Weekly Earnings on all Full-Time Jobs ol Smith-Hughes Youth,
by Completion ol Trainin9 and by City
Average weekly oorning, on all fnll-tlme
Jobs
------------------
C'lty
Total trained Y<>nl h wi th
youth
completed
tramlng
$14. 70
15.40
15. 30
15. 10
Louis ____ --·-····-···-·-······-··-·· _______ _
nirmini:ham_
---······-·--·-·····-·······--- ___ ..
Denver
1______ _______________________ . ____ . . __ . __ .. _. _____ • _.
~attle __________ .......................... -·· -- · --·····--···· ·
>II.
Youth with
incomplete
training
$14_60
16. 00
15. 40
!
$14. 70
15.00
15. 20
15. 30
15.00
, Males only.
TolJle !O.-Avera9e
I
Time in the Labor Market and Time Employed, Smith-Hu9hes
Trained Youth and other Youth, by City
Smith-Ilu~h ... trained youth
City
Aver8jll''
months in
labor
market
----
Other yo•1th
Pe=nt of Awrage•
Avern'?e 1
labor-mar- months In
months
kot time
lobor
employed employed•
market
A,·er.i~e 1
month!
employed
Percent of
labor-market time
employed'
St. Loub ....... _______ . ____ ...
Completed training _______
Incomplete training ..•....
79
79
79
--
80
47
33
25
37
39
32
-
-
Birmingham .• ___ .... _. _____ ._
Denver.----·····-·········-·Seattle ... ___ ... _....•..•. _._ •.
37
47
25
31
40
21
84
87
83
33
36
32
25
31
26
76
86
1
42
49
..
-
81
Mean.
• Computed from average! figured to I decimal point.
OgiizedbyGoogle
126 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Ta&le 21.-Percent Distribution of Smith-Hughes Trained Youth and Other Youth, by
Weekly Earnings on Full-Time Jobs, June 1, 1938, and by City
1
I
Birmingham
Denver
&-attle
St. Louis
Weeklyearnings 1 o n l - - - - - - - - - - - rull-tnne johs,
~mith- f
SmithRmith- :
SmithJune I, 19.18
llughes
Other
Hughes : Other
Hughes
Other
Huglws I Oth,•r
trained I youth
tralJll'd
youth j trairwd
youth
tru11wd I you I h
youth
youth
youth •
I yuuth
I
I
- - - - - - - - - - - _ _ _ I_ _ _ - - - - - - - - - - - Total youth_
I, Ml
f
3, 147
121 [
I, 446
52
I, 1187
I
ns
j
2. 044
"Less than 0. 5 perc,,nt.
Figure.s for "Other youth" are based on regular sample only. Figures for Smith-Hughes trained youth
ere hased on the expanded sample. Youth not working on full-time Jobs on July 1, 1938, are ex(lluded.
• Hounded to the nearest dollar.
• Rascd on more detailed distribution than that given lo table.
• Males only.
1
DIgi1zed by
Google
TABLES •
127
Ta&le 22.-0ccupations of Vocationally Trained Youth on First Full-Time Jobs and
of Vocationally Trained Youth and All Youth on Full-Time Jobs on July 1, 1938,
by City
Percent distribution
I
Smith-lln~h•s trained
youth only
City and O('('U!)atlon of youth
All youth
1
1
Full-time johs Full-timo job•
held on July held on July
First fulltime Jobs
I
1, 1938
I, IU38
-----------------------1-----1
St. Louis._. ____ ....
Professional.. ______ . ___
.
-••·····-·-------------·--Proprietors, managers, and ofllc-ials ... _. ____________________ . __
Clerics!.. ________ .. _. __ ._...... . ..... _________ . ___________ ..
SkillPd
.. ------------------------------------------------Semiskilled
______________________________________________
.. . ..
Unskilled .. _.. _..... _. ____ . __________ . ____ .. ___ .. _____ _
Birmingham ___________________________ .... __ . _.
Profes.sional.. ..... _.... _.. _. _.... _..... ______ .. ___ .. ___ ..
Proprietors, managers, and officials._ .. ___ ---· _________ ... _._.
Clerical.. ...... _. ___________ .......... ____________ .. __ .... __ .
Skiiil'd ... __________________________________________________ _
Semiskilled._. ____ . __ . _____ . _______________ ··-·------ ____ .. _
Unskilled ___ . _______ '. ____ ..... __ ... _.. ______ . ___ . __________ _
100
100
2
3
I
2
2
54
7
29
6
50
1
51
4
33
9
JOO
4
34
8
11
100
100
l - - - --)0-1------1------
2 •
tI
II
31
16
2
3
36
17
38
4
3
4
45
5
23
20
=====I=====
100
100
Denver_-------------------- --- -- ----- - - -- - ------ -. --- - ll)O I
------1----Professional.. _... ____ . _............ _.. ____ ... ______ . ____ . _____
5
JO
2
Proprict-0rs, managers, and officlals . .. __________________ . __ . _.
5
Clerics!.. ________ .......... ____ ------------------- - ---------.
29
17
37
Skill,•d . ________ .. __ ........ -· _. _____ ------------------- ___ ___
8
14
8
Semiskilled ______________ .. _______ ... ---· _____________ ._______
3f>
46
35
Unskilled ______________ .... -· .... __ . . . . --------------- _______ .
22
13
13
!====='=====,'=====
Seattle. ___________ .. _...... _____ .. _.. _________ . ______ ...
100 I
100
100
Professional ______ ._. __ . __ ... __ . _... ___ ·- __ . __________ ·------Proprirtors, managers, and officials ___ -----------------------ClPricsl. .. _______ . __ . __ ... ________ -------------------------- -.· ·-··-··--··-----··-----------------------------------Skilled
Semiskilled.
___ ... __ . _.. ____ . ________________________________ _
Unskilled _____________________ . ____________________________ . __
I'
I
- - - - - -I· - - - - -
r,
3
42
26
2
4
28
5
49
12
2
3
47
4
28
16
• Male youth only were Included In the Denver figures for "all youth" to malte them comparable to the
figures for trained youth.
D1g1tzed by
Google
128 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
To&le .23.-0ccupations of Smith-Hughes Trained Youth on First Full-Time Jobs, by
Selected Training Program ond by City
Total youth
wlth_llrst lulltime Johll
City and program
Number
Peroont
Proprie-
Pro1....
atonal
ton,
=!man-
Cieri•
cal
Skilled Bemi•
Unskilled skilled
llclala
-------------1--- --- --- --- ---·1---1---1--100
4cltleL -----------·2, 1411
St, Loula.---------··-···Commerclal programs_ .
I, 211
General commerclaL
235
General bustneoa_ . . . . . ... _
122
Stenography ......... _... __ .
223
Accounting .. - .............. .
36
411
ClericaL. __ ···--·-····---· __
Becretarlal... ___ . _-·------- ..
241
Special commercial .. - . __ . _.
261
Industrial programs_ ... _...... _.
667
Aeromechanlcs_ .. _- . - . -... 36
Drafting _____ . - --.. - .. -- ... 53
107
Auto mechanics_ .. ·---·-···Electrlclty _____ ... -· -·-· ..
135
Machine shop.--·--·-···-·-
Printing. __ - -- ..... --- -·. - ...
Sheet metal ... __ .. ·--···-·.
Woodworking ___ ··-·--··-· ·
Women's programs .. ··----·--.
Cafeteria-tearoom __ . ______ ..
Coemetology ____ . . - . - - - . - . Industrial 11ewlng ____ ··-·. __ .
Arta&~·art·:::::::::::::
Show-aird writing .. _. __ ... __
IOII
78
57
72
185
40
40
93
86
4g
33
Birmingham ____ ... ·-· __ .. ____ . -. __ .
Retailing ___________ - . -· ·-· ·-· ·-.
Denver _______ . ____ .. ________ ....• __ _
Auto
mechanics
--··-----·-·-Beattle_. ___
. ______ . _____
. ____
. _____ . _.. _
1111
27
Beauty oultum __ - - -.... ·-· ·- ··-Buslneaa training - - - - - - -- - . -- ...
:Ill
40
63
34
1115
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
JOO
100
100
100
JOO
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
JOO
100
2
48
6
33
2
51
4
33
.
72
56
64
8
I
I
2
3
74
73
47
87
;g
26
I
I
3
25
32
28
24
16
22
2
30
I
I
31
18
35
2
5
I
77
II
2
8
g
1
8
31
211
21
8
37
12
II
II
17
II
"
16
48
50
42
41
53
5
11
35
II
511
33
83
66
24
33
2
II
11
40
37
70
211
77
77
14
5
:ID
•
60
46
35
45
Ill
43
6
1
70
15
:ID
8
II
8
Ill
33
31
II
11
"
II
lS
II
5
s
'111
3
4
11
11
8
10
13
8
II
26
11
22
S2
10
15
8
8
12
72
111
111
22
ti!
311
14
12
18
36
32
42
• Lea than 0.5 percent.
Nou.-Prognma with fewer than 26 youth who bad held one job or more are excluded uoopt from
the totala and subtotals.
01('111ed
by
Google
TABLES• 129
Table 24.-0ccupations of Smith-Hughes Trained Youth on Full-Time Jobs Held on
July 1, 1938, by Selected Training Program and by City
T ot ftl vouth
wi th ful l-ti me
jr.b~ on July I,
1938
C lty and program
Proprle-
Profes,tonal
tors,
managel'I!,
Ccalerll•
Skilled sBekille
.mld•
offlrlals
- - - - - - - - -- - - - -- -- -- - - - - - - - - - 4 ritirs .
1,863
100
St.Louis . ... .
...
1,565
Commercial prO(trams ... .. . . . . . .
858
136
Oellt'ral commercial .. _. _. .. _
R7
General btllllne.. _. . . . . . . _. . .
f'tenography . . . .. ___ . · --· .. .
159
Accounting . __ . . ... __· · --·-- .
29
Clerical _______ ___._
30
203
Secret11rlaL. -- -· .. __ ....... .
Special commercial_ . . . __ . ___
186
l ndlllltrll\l programs _._
52:1
Aeromechanics . ..
26
Drafting .. . ... _ .. . ....... .
44
.~ut11 mechanics ___ _. _. ... . . .
79
Electricity .. _..•.... _...... .
lfl6
Machine shop .. . ... ....... . 86
Printing _ ··-··- __ . . ...... . .
M
Abeet metal. .. . ... . -- · __ _
46
Woodworking ._ .
M
114
Women'• p~ams · -· -- -- · · -• · C08mrtology . ... .. __ ____ ___
33
Indtllllrial !!llWing
58
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
3
Unskilled
Md
2
- -- ---
50
7
32
76
57
73
81
1
1
1
1
7
17
32
21
14
10
40
7
13
6
---------------,----,---4--M
7
29
6
J:~~Jai ·art·:::::::::::::
Show-card writing. _. . • _... .
Arts
Birmingham . . .. _. ..•... . __ ·- ---·· -·
70
36
28
IZ7
l)f' o\·er ______ ______ _____ __. - - - -- ---- .
52
Auto mechanics _____. ....... __.
Seattle. ____ .. . . ___ . __. ___ ... . ... . ..
25
1
119
7
7
f,9
43
88
84
I
I
3
2
26
19
18
5
I
·4
l
1
Z7
28
30
2
2
3
5
2
2
2
3
2
30
50
11
2
2
I
3
3
10
20
4
12
~
26
30
23
12
22
32
33
1
1
17
23
16
18
16
14
23
13
11
35
25
36
17
12
28
17
14
24
5
17
2
I
44
50
29
8
8
40
45
62
20
9
6
9
~
48
11
51
66
6
9
6
5
I
7g
16
6
4
10
5
4
71
20
8
25
38
46
36
49
5
4
4
13
8
12
Nou:.-Programs with few~r than 25 youth who w~re working on July I, 1938, are excluded except from
the t otals and subtotals.
D1g1·2ed by
Google
130 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
TofJle 15.--Pm:ent Distribution of Troined Labor-Market Entrants According to Relationship of Job to Training, by City, Sex, ond Completion of Training
Pettt>nt dl•tribution ol youth IIN'Ol'dlng to relationship of Joh
to training
C'ity, "'''• Md compk-tlon
of training
Total
IRbor·
market
entrants
W Ith related jobs
Total
Total
Primary
relat_lon•
ship
~~:
lion.ship
only
---- - - - - - - - - - - - 4 cltlee ................. .
Male .............•..•...•.....
Compk-te ....•..••.......
lnoomplete ..•...••........
•·•male . ..........•..•.••••.••.
Complete .••••••••••••.••..
lnoomplete .••..••..••..••..
St. Louis ...••••••••••....
No rela•
tlonahlp
- -aa - - - -
2, S.~7
100
69
46
13
I, 263
401
100
100
100
100
100
100
M
73
4i
62
74
52
40
16
61
31
51
63
42
40
12
16
21
49
11
10
27
14
38
100
69
47
12
33
100
100
100
100
100
76
62
64
32
51
62
48
38
!U\2
1,5114
680
914
It
- - - - - - ---- - - - - - - =
Mak- ..........................
2.354
No jobs
ol lfi
hoon or
m:,rr
8
5
6
4
11
12
10
- - -8
-------~---•----~----1---56
41
15
100
40
4
Complete..................
Incomplete................
Frmale ..... ...................
Complete . ................
lncomplrte.................
961
26M
611:1
1,393
561
ts."12
44
12
16
11
12
10
38
10
12
8
Birmingham.............
~
100
118
41
17
37
6
77
71
44
58
5i
12
17
25
24
2i
4
69
69
2i
33
33
32
26
34
100
100
100
100
100
31
33
29
11
10
12
ft8
100
40
25
15
54
6
100
31
15
16
61
8
100
62
M
7
:io
18
100
100
l00
100
100
fig
tlO
3.~
60
77
25
14
9
18
3
26
Bl
17
15
14
16
4
:io
8
35
118
Male ......................... .
Complete ................. .
lncomplrte ................ .
Female ..................... .
Compif'te ................ .
Incomplete .....•.....•.... .
0.-nVM (all male) ....... .
Complete ................. .
Incomplete ................ .
Seattle .................. .
Male .......................... .
Compl•te ................. .
J'e~:1~mplete.:::::: ::::: :::::
ComplPte ................. .
Incomplete ............... .
48
74
54
18
14
6
4
- -149
- - -100
- ·--------1-----1---118
44
14
40
2
72
M
21
56
--- --- --- ---· --- -----:a,
r,o
100
60
10
40
48
---
-
231
8b
36
49
146
118
48
- - - · ---·- - - - - - - - - - - ----·
------- - 46100
60
53
63
81
2i
D1g1 zed by
2
17
Google
11
TABLES• 131
Tobie 26.-Percent Distribution of Trained Labor-Market Entranh According to Relationship of Job to Training, by City and Selected Program
Percent distribution of youth according to relationship or
Job to training
Cit7 and pr()ll'llm
T 0 tal
labor·
market
entranl3
1---- - - - - - - - - - - -- -----With related Job
Total
Total
Beoond•
Primary ary
relarelation- tlonahlp
•hip
only
- - - - - - - - --- - - - - - - - -4 c ities __________________ .
St. Louls .. ...... --• ------ ---· · ·
Commercial programs ____ _.
Oeneral commercial_ ._ .
General bualDellS_. __
Stenogree,hy __ . ___ . ___:
Aeoount ng _____ ____ ____
Clerical. . . _____
----------Sectttarial
____ ____
Special commercial ____ _
Industrial programs _______ .
AeromechanlCll __ _. .. _. Drafting ___
Anto mechanlCll_ .... _..
Electricity .
Machine shop ________ -·
Printing . ______ ________
Sheet metal. . __. . .. ... .
Woodworking _____ _... .
\\romen's progrtlM!!L •.•• • •• .
Cafeteria-tearoom . . ....
Coemetology . . .. . __ ____
Industrial sewing . ... _. .
A r t 8 ~ • . ..... .. . . .
.ommerclal art. •... . . .
Show-<Jard writing . . _. . .
Birmingham .. . _. .. . . . . . . . __ ...
Commercial programs ___ ___
Retailing ____ . . __ _____
I ndustrlal programs . . __ ._ . .
Women'• programs _________
f>e n Vt-J" _
Auto tneehanlCll: : : :::::::::
~attle .
CommerelaY~ms::::::
Jluslnel!S Ira nlng _______
lnrlustrial p~m• . • . _.. _.
Women's programs_ . . _... __
Jleauty culture .. .. __ .. .
No rela•
tlonahip
No Job•
of
15 hours
or more
perweell:
- - -- - - - -
2,867
100
511
46
13
33
2,364
1,348
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
511
63
47
33
8
46
38
12
13
8
28
45
II
II
8
--------------------:Ml◄
141
237
37
61
280
211()
llW
311
56
114
145
112
80
57
74
216
46
47
103
Ill
54
33
~
34
31
136
:Ill
68
36
231
113
511
64
102
31
II()
M
II()
4
34
68
78
35
72
78
42
61
24
27
22
35
54
40
61
28
36
28
II()
54
57
76
58
64
63
14
14
33
14
13
42
36
45
14
14
116
48
II
12
1
18
11
3
15
511
58
14
19
51
30
-
63
32
M
45
83
46
52
511
83
411
33
18
30
38
--14
58
41
g
15
17
70
77
57
54
32
38
40
47
62
54
54
611
M
81
II()
35
44
35
25
25
55
61
52
47
62
81
211
42
13
Ill
16
22
7
3
2
19
3
-
41
38
23
311
68
12
5
-2
14
9
4
3
6
6
5
2
2
67
-3
33
13
44
11
11
6
44
46
37
67
31
18
13
u
38
54
47
:II
14
12
23
:II
16
10
2
-4
6
12
10
2
8
6
ti
18
32
34
11
15
3
Nou .- Programs with fewer than 25 labor-marlcet entrants among the youth surveyed are exclnded
e1l"t' pt fro m city totals.
.
OgtizedbyGoogle
132 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
TofJ'- 27.-Percent Distribution of Trained St. Louis Labor-Marlcet Entrants, by Seleded
Program, Completion of Training, and Employment Status in Relation to Vocational
Training
Youth with rompletcd training
Total
Program
Numb<,r
Percent
With
rt'lated
jobs
With
unrelated
Jobs
Training lncomplNe
With
Total
no
Jobs
ol 16
hours
or
Num- Permore
her
cent
per
week
With
related
Joba
With
unrelated
Jobs
8211
JOO
76
Commereial programs ........
Oeneral commercial ..••••
General husinem. ________
Stenography ...•••••.•••.
Recretarial .......••••••.
Special commerelal •..••••
Industrial programs ..••••••••
Auto mechanics ..••.••••.
Electricity ...•.••••••••••
Machine •hop ..•••••••••.
M2
38
100
JOO
JOO
JOO
100
100
100
100
100
76
66
\\'om('n·~ programs. __________
Industrial sewing .•••••••
Art•1:;~:•:~iai
·art::::::::::
40
00
JQ3
138
1611
30
40
33
100
87
31
31
28
100
100
100
100
60
87
75
80
76
70
Sh
82
69
46
81
64
16
JO
---13
11
21
20
3
16
7
24
20
10
JO
13
18
6
10
16
16
32
10
6
3
16
23
36
32
4
20
a
morf'
per
week
- - --St. l,0uhL .........•...
With
no
jobs
of 15
hours
or
1,626
100
61
48
6
806
226
IOI
147
87
152
JOO
100
100
JOO
JOO
100
JOO
100
100
100
100
100
100
JOO
66
37
48
8
630
84
105
711
1211
72
60
26
44
61
M
64
76
47
411
47
72
44
47
47
64
40
41
23
14
60
47
48
27
44
411
61
42
8
11
6
13
II
3
4
5
1
12
4
2
4
NOTE.-Programs with fewer than 2.~ youth In either sroup-oomplete or Incomplete tralnlnc-are
e1cluded e1e<>pt from the total• and subtotals.
TolJle 28.-Percent Distribution of St. Louis Trained Labor-Marlcet Entrants According
to Relationship of Job to Training, by Seleded Program and by Race
Work hlstorlM ol youth a('('()rdtng to relationship of Johe
to training (perwnt dlstributlon)
Program and race
Total St.
Louis
lahor-
Total youth. . - . - - . -... - White . ----------------------NPgro . ...................•.•••.
Commercial programs ..•.
White .....•........•.••••..•.•.
Negro .....•••.•.......••..•.•.
Women'• programs....••.
White . ..•.••••••.•.•.•...•••.•.
Negro .. ________ --------------·-
2.3M
Total
100
Primary
relnllonship
St'COndary rt'lationshlp
only
Ml
47
12
33
8
13
2
34
-- - -JOO- - - 2,250
60
104
100
35
47
33
I, 348
JOO
63
50
13
65
M
40
100
100
23
216
100
168
48
100
100
Norelatlonshlp
m~r:err
26
6
39
28
II
20
14
3
27
35
8
42
64
61
3
33
13
M
52
61
62
4
311
13
35
- - - - - - ---- - - - =
-l,3UR
No jobs
ofl6
hours or
Related
murkrt
entrants
--- ==
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ----
DO tized by
-
Google
e
TABLES•
133
TafJ/e 29.-Employment Status in Relation to Vocational Training, of Trained Youth Who
Graduated From the Eighth Grade in 1929,by Month and by Sex, July 1930-July 1938
Both aexes
.
. -.,
ii
.fl.S .fl~
30
1E-<
E-<
1930
February __ ·--······_
88
70
70
68
73
76
100
100
100
IOU
100
IOU
78
100
100
100
113
MBrch __ ----·-····••- IHI
100
ay _______ ·········- 110
June _______ -····----- 118
u:,11- -.-------------
11,0
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
July __ -----·······-·- Wl
August_ - ·- -·······-- 168
September
__ ••••••••• 100
Octoher ______________
November___________ 166
167
Decl'mber. ········-- 171
11132
~~::::::::::::
AprlL __ -·--······- -.
May.-·-·-···
••••••••.
1une
________________
July
.. ·------······-Augnst_
•• ___________
September ___________
October ... ___________
November. __________
Dl'eember ___________
171
190
189
192
207
214
277
279
280
278
282
100
100
IOI,
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
292
1933
January _____________
f'ebruary ____________ 2113
MBrch .. _____________ 344
344
100
100
100
100
100
353
360
June .. ··---···-----·· 3f,6
tr:_·.:::::::~~::::::
July_ --- ------------August. ___ ----·-·--·
September.
__________
October_ ... __________
November ___________
December .• _________
1934
Jsnuary _____________
484
486
-IS.~
484
488
4118
500
538
651
673
678
6TT
683
ay ...
....______________
---------- ••.
June
July ___ .. ·----------August_.-------·-··September
___________
October ___ ····--···· 6f,3
November ... ··- _____ 667
December ___________ ! 675
1
0.0
a
!al
UI
i
!al
!
t:>
E-<
E-<
!al
Percent
68
68
71
66
119
66
&I
M
52
52
62
18
16
17
Ill
10
18
24
24
23
211
26
26
31
30
30
28
30
31
37
37
36
33
29
:!8
70
75
75
78
112
87
109
lll
112
109
109
117
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
23
20
20
19
20
19
19
18
18
19
21
20
1K)
27
39
41
40
39
311
211
31
211
26
27
211
38
36
32
33
33
33
117
144
144
146
146
U9
l\l8
201
200
195
195
lll7
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Ill
18
19
19
20
20
20
21
21
68
65
57
60
119
57
80
51
52
49
47
49
40
37
37
38
3ll
39
36
36
37
39
39
311
32
36
33
32
31
31
35
36
33
29
28
28
:Ill
100
100
100
100
23
23
211
23
23
23
22
23
23
25
23
23
n
42
43
44
42
42
44
46
45
43
38
26
211
21
21
22
26
27
33
32
34
3!
31
30
36
36
36
34
34
37
38
44
46
47
80
66
70
70
711
227
228
233
240
247
283
I()()
100
100
I()()
I()()
284
287
276
j
100
~~it:
22
22
23
5!)
68
51
52
55
67
68
M
64
64
55
56
119
49
44
46
47
48
51
48
47
49
51
53
53
211
28
26
23
23
311
28
28
26
24
21
23
27
24
21
21
23
30
28
27
29
31
28
28
33
30
30
29
26
30
30
28
24
24
24
..,
I 'i~.a .9~
.fl
i!
91
1:1
ii
p
811
119
43
44
45
46
4S
46
41
41
33
33
0.
30 aC:,,0 a
l[,1
30
16
211
24
23
24
23
20
23
23
23
23
23
26
26
2S
26
26
24
100
!>,Cl
100
1(10
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
31
211
28
27
28
28
30
30
30
30
29
29
30
a2
'i~
ti
s- s
1:1
l.s
It
11
14
12
II
It
51
46
47
47
48
48
44
44
42
43
44
44
100
100
100
100
JOO
100
100
100
100
100
91
.fl.,
-
75
75
72
73
76
73
18
311
25
26
26
2S
23
24
24
311
25
26
211
EE
~
14
14
14
15
15
16
27
22
23
25
28
28
Iii
j
100
100
100
100
100
100
57
57
52
60
57
66
22
}
.!t
0
E-<
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
17
19
111
22
22
100
100
100
JOO
100
100
100
.fl
...
Female
Percent
..,
- i!
'i
'i] i.l i
f:: s
27
27
28
2R
28
24
25
27
27
28
28
100
February ____________ 635
March. ______________ 537
u.rn ________________
-50
~
1:1
11131
1a'luary _____________
"
:S!
.fl
July-------------·--AU!!UJlt ______ --- --September __ -----· ___
Ortober ___ ---········
Novo.mber_ -········December_-·········
I
Peroent
i
Year and month
Male
1E-<
iis- i.:J-a
0.0
a
!al
a
rall
...
i
!
t:>
33
311
36
34
311
311
100
100
100
100
100
100
18
20
23
24
28
28
3ll
40
34
47
41
311
43
40
43
211
31
33
4Q
20
26
311
37
33
31}
38
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
lllO
100
101
116
114
114
12S
127
168
108
168
HIii
173
176
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
176
200
200
208
215
217
286
285
285
289
293
301
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
49
ro
5.1
60
62
88
88
llO
08
1111
2911 100
308 100
309 100
305 100
311 100
326 100
39,\ 100
393 100
300 100
3871100
388 JOO
, 394 100 ,
28
2i'
2S
211
211
28
26
26
28
28
30
211
31
211
28
24
26
27
30
32
33
36
34
32
34
34
36
'O
28
30
30
32
38
33
34
36
32
38
3ll
38
av
38
39
39
40
36
36
31
32
32
33
36
34
34
40
41
311
42
34
36
SIi
33
34
31
32
211
36
37
4-~
43
41
37
33
33
12
33
32
34
36
33
36
30
31
32
44
41
37
36
34
35
35
33
29
31
33
34
34
32
33
32
32
33
35
36
36
34
34
36
38
40
33
32
32
31
31
31
29
28
28
29
30
30
40
43
41
35
36
35
34
33
34
37
38
36
33
30
30
See lootn<Jtc at ond ol table.
lJ fl tized by
Goog Ie
134 •
VOC.ATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Tobie 29.-Employment Status in Relation to Vocational Trainin9, of Trained Youth Who
Graduated from the Eighth Grade in 1929, by Month and by Sex, July 1930-July
1938-Continued
Both sexes
j
Male
j
Percent
.!I
.!I
Yeer and month
. ...,
.
..e.9 ..e~
..e
:2
:l
.! ...
E :0
"E
"
1e-,
1111116
Januar, •.•.......... ft7fl
F~bruary .•.•••••.... 003
March ......•••••••.. 694
tra:.~:::::::::::::::
lune ...••••••.•••.•..
1199
713
723
July ...••••••••••••.. 774
770
AUl?UM .••••••••••••.
&>ptember .•••••..... 7118
Octoher .....•.•..•... 765
November•.•.•••••.. 7116
December ..••..••... ?GS
30
E-o
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
If)()
100
100
100
100
((JO
776
771
100
June ......•..•....... 773
July ...••.•.•....... 7K.1
JOO
7R2
100
100
100
Alll(USt. •••••.•.•...
S,,ptem her .......... ?RI
773
Octoh<-r .
Novemht,r: ::::: ::: : . 777
December ...•....•.. m
.c
~
'i..e
l>,e i~
.....
11136
JRnuar, ..••••••••••. 771
FebruarJ ..••.•••••.. 7611
March .......•..••... 771
:rai'. :::::::::::::·:
g;
((JO
((JO
.s
..s.::
c.o C.
8
r,.i
8
r,.i
-
'i...
a.8
"
p
. ...,
..e
,!-"'
8 :a
::,8
"
30
e-,
40
27
282
33
39
40
40
39
28
28
2112
34
36
295
36
22
22
38
38
38
3)
328
:ll
3T/
3211
3.11
38
37
37
3V
41
41
42
37
411
411
200
302
300
328
3T/
328
329
328
327
38
42
42
43
43
45
45
26
u
38
37
37
37
39
39
39
39
24
26
u
24
22
19
18
16
16
15
15
Percent
i.
.c
~
..e ..
. .,
-'i ,!-"'
8 :a
..s.::
c.o
.sC.
8
r,.i
r,.i
30
8
e-,
23
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
22
21
22
24
Tl
26
Tl
28
30
30
31
332
3.14
3.19
33i
33.~
3.11\
3.15
337
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
31
31
31
31
33
34
33
((JO
48
100
48
3U
13
13
100
100
100
100
100
48
40
12
3¥)
100
49
40
39
39
39
39
39
39
38
38
37
37
II
II
II
IOil
1()0
11
10
II
11
12
II
11
12
338
340
341
342
343
348
348
346
341
341
39
39
39
41
40
40
40
37
13
3311
37
37
37
38
14
14
14
14
340
341
341
341
340
347
14
14
:Sl
8
!l
p
"
1e-,
35
3.~
394
30
E-o
53
50
24
28
403
52
51
52
51
27
402
404
24
411
417
100
100
100
100
100
100
WI
JOO
21
21
443
Ill
436
3)
438
441
100
100
100
100
100
50
52
51
51
50
4V
l50
50
51
54
54
54
56
55
114
27
22
24
3)
440
IV
Ill
443
18
15
13
12
ffl
II
444
10
445
442
445
439
439
WI
36
53
II
11
36
37
54
10
437
442
53
10
440
36
54
52
52
52
10
10
438
38
ti
" ~ a..e .!:!~ 'i
-.,
...
r... !l 'i.i
.sC.
,..c,
oC ..
"" ..e .. ... ,,e
~~
..... 'i~
..... .sC.
39
39
38
39
47
48
Percent
.!I
g;
-a,o
8
r,.i
-- -- -- -- -- -- , _ --
33
32
--
Female
.
.8
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
.sC.
a
11111
I-
40
40
40
43
44
45
45
45
46
48
l50
l50
61
51
52
52
53
54
56
56
67
511
~:~I.::::::::::::::
·----··------------·--·----·
AUl!tl<l .•.•..•••.••..
June.
July.
t'lt•ptember •..••••••..
O<•loher ..•..••••..••
November ..•••••.•••
December ..••••.•••.
778
776
779
775
i74
770
7f\8
7r,9
768
11138
January ....•........ 7113
February .•••••••.... 764
March ......••..•.... 7114
tr::•.·_:::::::::::::::
June ..........•......
762
762
758
765
((JO
100
100
100
llWl
100
100
100
](JO
100
((JO
100
100
100
50
50
50
51
50
50
50
51
52
61
50
49
49
49
48
47
46
38
15
342
JOO
JOO
1()0
1()0
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
July ••..........•....
39
15
JOO
..
1 Includes youth employed less than 16 hours per week.
I
I
40
41
40
I
53
11.1
62
51
51
52
51
411
g
9
8
6
8
ll
II
8
8
II
440
438
437
434
436
427
426
424
427
428
426
15
13
34
50
50
52
52
14
424
424
423
421
421
418
33
62
15
418
37
37
36
35
351
50
48
13
15
14
100
100
100
100
100
100
1()0
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
30
29
28
28
28
28
27
27
28
28
211
28
28
27
27
27
27
27
-211
29
28
:Ill
:Ill
:Ill
27
27
:Ill
24
23
23
21
21
:io
:io
111
Ill
18
18
Ill
17
15
57
28
1111
211
16
117
ao
ao
13
11137
J11nuary ..•••..••.••• 778
FebruarJ ..••..•..... 778
March ...•••.••..... 77~
31
31
32
31
ag
p
511
58
511
511
511
58
511
511
69
00
61
00
511
511
69
58
58
67
ogtiZ"dbyGoogle
30
29
28
28
211
28
27
71
71
:Ill
71
27
27
311
27
27
27
II
12
12
13
13
14
13
14
14
13
13
11
14
14
16
15
15
16
TABLES•
135
Tat.le 30.-Employment Status in Relation to Vocational Training 1 ol Trained Youth
Who Graduated From the Ei9hth Grade in 1933, by Month and by Sex, July 1934July 1938
14 Cltfn)
Both eex•
.8.!!
Y-1111d
month
.9
Percent
:S!
~
i.:
s:, 8:a
a
•~
:i ..
!!
..,~
:.J
2J
so
so "'-
.9.9
'i...iia
_i!:
c.-
"'1
"'1
- - --
11184
JulJ . . .. . .....
Au11115t . . . . .. .
Septemher .. ..
October .. .. ..
November ...
J)eopmher
--
46
46
45
37
311
41
2
2
4
6
5
5
44
4-1
40
411
54
411
1.si 1=
91
Q,
~a
-
::,
54
M
&8
46
a
30
...
2l'
29
28
26
27
27
36
36
30
..
:S!
~
.a.a
..,:g
~~
,::,.-
so
o'"
-;.,S
so
"'1
"'1
:i ..
'i.9
----
41
46
.8.!!
Percent
.!!
a
..
Female
Male
.
.B
---
.,.....
48
48
46
66
Ml
511
Percent
- t.
.9
..,-
~
.siQ,
ag
::,
52
52
64
44
41
44
j.:
...
17
17
17
12
12
14
1113.~
January
..
February .:
!.tareh .. . . ..
~rt! -· ·· ..
RY
Jun
~-~ -::~_::
July
.\ugust ...
:;.-pt,,mber
October
No,·,moor :
nro,mber ..
44
62
67
76
'Ill
102
154
166
156
161
1611
182
5
13
18
17
16
UI
16
17
17
ill
ill
611
51
51
47
52
47
40
311
40
40
20
42
44
22
21
22
43
41
41
36
36
3,1
37
44
44
43
41
311
88
42
4.1
49
5U
87
11$
11G
116
101
108
1111
-14
14
16
14
18
18
20
21
23
22
24
03
37
60
60
53
57
54
45
46
46
14
211
:ii
20
24
,::,.ao
~
"'1
fail
8
a
::,
0 ..
so
i..SI
.
Q,
----
... ... ...
... ... ...
... ... ...
31
2U
27
Ill
37
30
44
17
3(l
35
14
40
5U
611
GI
14
14
12
12
13
18
43
114
31
29
:r.
36
38
441
31
48
30
48
-
§!
·r
a
.sil
30
~
..,~
.. .i
......
_.,
.!!.E
28
60
61
ea
211
30
31
36
52
66
67
.'19
58
511
62
1936
J anuary . .. ..
F•bruary . . .
March . .
..
~ ril
ay
..
J une
J uly
August . .
S<- pt,•m ber
October .
November . . :.
December .
1811
211
221
241
25ft
283
342
344
345
348
356
382
24
40
26
41
41
27
30
32
32
36
34
36
38
41
40
44
45
46
36
38
37
36
34
32
32
27
28
21
21
20
122
1311
145
1511
111!1
Ill-~
210
212
213
214
217
221
26
23
24
26
28
30
34
3,\
35
3(1
36
3.~
45
42
43
42
43
44
43
45
44
47
48
47
30
36
33
32
29
:ii
23
20
21
17
17
18
M
72
76
8&
88
115
132
132
132
134
138
141
14
17
17
Ill
Ill
311
311
40
38
38
21
3(1
,t
211
34
36
27
27
34
38
34
311
34
43
47
44
48
43
43
43
47
311
37
211
27
23
1937
January . . . .
February ..
March
~ ,rll
. ay
Juno
Jul y .
Aui:u,t
--..
:188
35
405
406
35
36
37
414
424
430
[«I
45
43
44
43
222
244
2~
20
~
44
UI
241!
254
38
36
38
39
45
17
38
26
37
38
26
23
21
23
267
320
321
322
321
323
23
32'J
23
:lcptember
-~
.167
.1611
41
n,,remb.-r
572
573
40
40
37
37
40
Ot,tober
Novem ber . . .
20
22
20
311
37
36
38
3S
40
41
41
42
41
43
42
42
47
48
46
46
47
48
43
44
4.1
4.1
43
42
16
18
16
16
13
II
16
14
16
14
16
16
211
31
33
261
34
32
33
34
35
32
30
33
36
37
38
38
30
32
2411
JS
31
36
27
26
31
37
146
161
160
U,G
170
173
240
243
246
24i
2411
41
41
42
40
40
40
30
28
31
32
26
27
26
26
25
28
40
311
33
193!!
J anuary ..
February ..
March _.. . ...
Aj"il. .....
'.\ ay . . .. . ..
J une
J uly . : ·: :
572
~
37
33
211
323
334
3~
34
28
337
311
311
27
3311
311
26
342
34U
382
38
35
33
fi02
610
:w
ol~
37
7 IR
34
39
34
35
36
31
• Pr rtY n ta~t•s not c..· nkula ted on ba.~
1
41
f,116
5116
T,
35
or less than 25.
Includes yout h employed less tban 15 hours per week.
42
38
311
40
42
43
41
17
23
22
21
262
259
:Ml
20
2118
22
26
267
3-16
38
311
u
40
35
27
27
25
21
36
34
32
3-~
44
136 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Taf,/e 31.-Fint Full-Time Jobs and Full-Time Jobs Held on July 1, 1938, by Vocation·
ally Trained Youth, According to Relationship of Job to Training, by City and
Completion of Training
City and completion of
training
Flnit full-time Jobst
Final full-time Jobe
Percent distribution or Jobe
acoordlug to relationship
of Job to tralnlug
Percent distribution or Jobe
according to relatlonahlp
of Job to training
Number
Total
Secondary
relatlon•
ship
Prlmary
relatlonship
NnmNorelatlonship
--
bee
Total
1
Prlmary
Seeondary
tlonship
&Ionship
rela-
rela-
Norelatlonship
4 rltles ....••••••••••••• 2, Ml9
100
36
13
61
1,862
100
n
14
411
Smith-Hughes complete .••••
1158
Smith-Hughes lnoomplete .••• 1,641
100
100
113
14
12
33
fl]
738
I, 124
100
100
68
29
16
13
27
GS
70
64
100
22
18
M
60
27
-- - -100
---= 44
411 1,5611
41
16
- - - - - --- -23
-575
i30
JOO
/16
100
Smltb-Bup:hP'I compl<'te ..•••.
16
29
61
16
100
100
Smith-Hughe!! Incomplete ..•. 1,419
28
12
60
000
30
14
66
- - - - - - --- - - - - - - -- - -1111
- -100
Birmingham .••••••••••
25
16
60
12i'
100
26
12
62
- - --- - - - -- - - -JOO
Ill
3f
17
49
JOO
Smith-Hughes complete ...•.•
63
30
16
-=
- - -100
St. Louis ..•..•••••••••• 2, 1411
38
100
100
16
63
-8mlth-Ilu11:hes complete ..••••
20
100
16
100
100
&
7
Smith-Hughes Incomplete ....
Denvf!l' ..•••••••••••••.
Smitb-Bu~hes Incomplete••••
- - --- =
43
=
13
14
---= 100 - =
71
52
13
15
16
12
50
81
18
34
-
100
100
28
9
-----JOO
- ---11111
- -100
= 7 -=
118
fl
62
61
Seattle .••••.•••••••••••
---- - - - - - -- - Smlth-Hu,:hea oomplete .. ____
/16
82
100
117
100
6
39
71
Smith-Hughes lnoomplete. __ .
1
79
100
20
9
71
36
100
31l
8
G
9
II
- -77
=
7
14
Youth with I Job only are Included iu both ~roups.
Dlgl"Zed by
Google
116
82
30
22
47
TABLES•
137
Ta&le 32.-First Full-Time Jobs and Full-Time Jobs Held on July 1 1938, by St. Louis
Vocationally Trained Youth1 According to Relationship of Job to Training. by Selected
Training Program and Completion of Training
City, program, and oompletlon or training
First full•tlme Jobs'
Final lull•tlme Jobe
Prn:ent distribution of Jobs
8CCOrding to relatlonsht1,
of Job to training
Peroont dlstribntlon of Jobs
11COOrding to relationship
of Job to training
Numher
Total
8flc.
ond•
ary
rrlatlon•
ship
Prl•
mary
rela·
tlon·
ship
!I.orelatlon·
ship
Num•
her
Total
1
Secondary
rela·
tlon•
ship
Nore•
latlonship
15
44
49
73
3
II
48
78
10
AA
11
58
23
24
12
21
19
18
Pr!•
mary
rela•
tlon•
ship
- - - - - - - - --- - - - - - - - - - 100
. . · · · - -· -·· 2,149
38
- - --- - 100
General btLsim,s,; .. . ---· . .
12:?
.'IO
13
49
611
44
3
fi
31
24
57
71
18
13
22
17
21
9
28
50
25
186
16
98
33
36
31
88
30
25
26
1G
9
38
St. Louis
Complete . . ..............
Inrompletc __. . .......... .
Special rommercial. ..........
Complete . .... . .•••••....
Inromplete . ............
Secretarial ............•.••.. .
Complete ..........•.••..
Inromplete. -----------Stenography_ -------------Compl1•tr . . ........•.....
Inromplete
Jl!achlne•hop . . . ... ......... .
C'omplet,, .............. .
Inromplete --------- --Electricity . . __.............. _
Complet.• __.. .....••••.. .
lnlX'mplete
Au to m..chanles .......... . ..
Complete
Inromplete ··--------- --C-osmetoloey ... . . . ........ . . .
Complete . . - - --- · - ---lnC'11mph•lf>
.. . ... .
------------ -
32
90
261
126
135
241
164
77
224
87
137
109
32
7i
135
37
98
107
26
81
40
38
2
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
45
47
48
47
31
45
22
46
75
34
27
62
13
25
l00
42
20
100
100
85
87
t
l,r.1\5
----5
45
87
I
44
41
!i2
16
47
63
203
144
59
159
iO
89
811
26
19
7
8
7
18
66
30
100
AA
23
35
16
64
t
13
I
76
79
21
5R
33
31
-
57
,.~
fl()
30
?
100
-100
41
--- - - - -39
56
5
t
t
t
t
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
I
100
100
100
t
5~
Jfj
58
IQ
23
38
29
31
27
17
3:1
19
4
23
31
r,o
50
2!I
38
6.~
27
34
63
22
I~
t
10
82
!<4
t
9
13
8
23
t
28
-
-
t
4-~
4,;
57
24
70
SR
I
1\2
18
lfi
t
tNu m tH:•r ton small for peret'nlage distribution.
1 You th
wit,h 1 Job only are Included in both grouP5.
Nau;.- Programs with fewer than 25 youth In ftr,,t Jobs ar,• ncluded exeept from the totals.
D g tized tly
Goos le
1 38 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Tobie 33.-Average Duration of Full-Time Jobs, b_y Relationship of Job to Training
and by Completion of Training, Selected Training Programs, by City
Average duration of Jobs In months
City and program
All Jobs
Relationship of Job
Smith•Hughea
to training
training
First of 2 Last of 2 , - - - ~ - - - - , - - - - - - - Jobs or Jobs I or
mon!I
more
Primary No relsComlncom•
relat_lon• tlonship
plete
plete
ship
--------------------------------St. Louis ......•••........
Commercial programs .......•..
General commercial .......
General business ...........
Steoografnhy ...............
Account og ............... .
Clerical ........•.•.•.......
Secretarial ....
Special commerolal ••.•.....
lnclustrial prOl(r&ms ......•.....
Aeromechanlcs.....•....•..
Drafting ............••.....
Auto mechanics .....•......
Electricity ...•...•••.••...
Machine shop.•...•........
Printing .........•.........
Sheet metal ................
Woodworking ..............
Women's pro,uams __ ------· ___
<'afeterla•tearoom ..........
<'osmetology ......•••......
Industrial sewing ..........
=
8
6
17
0
6
8
7
5
19
6
4
23
II
10
12
10
8
10
g
12
g
5
6
6
i
10
6
5
4
8
4
9
g
7
7
7
8
14
6
6
6
8
--- --- --- ---------
art::::::::::::
8
7
7
8
10
7
8
8
8
4
g
8
8
8
II
10
10
6
7
7
6
7
6
9
6
3
g
Birmingham .............
5
5
13
18
Arta~~Ji.i
Show-card writing .........
Retailing.......................
=
2
5
16
21
6
4
5
8
17
16
I~
t
t
t
t
t
t
11
8
8
g
8
9
g
7
11
7
18
15
17
16
17
20
15
12
6
13
13
t
11
12
7
3
6
II
II
10
7
t
t
t
5
ti
10
8
7
7
10
10
10
6
10
II
6
t
t
t
6
t
8
5
8
8
t
0
7
6
6
i
II
II
II
6
10
10
12
t
t
8
8
t
7
6
5
4
5
t
7
4
8
t
6
ti
ti
ti
5
5
4
6
6
5
6
- - - - - - - - - - - -3 - - -2 =
Denver ..................
5
6
AtJto mechanics ................
5
6
Beattle ..••••••••••••••...
4
3
Beauty culture ....••.••••.•••..
Business training ..•.••••••.••
4
3
5
12
2
--- =
6
5
3
4
a
3
2
3
ll
--------- -----6
3
5
t
t Median duration not computed for fewer than 25 Jobe.
' Includes only Jobe held on July 1, 11138.
with fewer than 25 registrants or with less than IIO Jobe held by youth trained therelD
are excluded except from the totals and subtotals.
~ on.-Programs
Tobie M.-Average
I
Time in the Labor Market and Time Employed, St. Louis Youth
Trained in Selected Smith.Hughes Programs
Program
AveraFe 1
Number of
monbts In
labor-market
youth
labor market
Average 1
months
employed
Percent of
labor•market
tlmeem•
ployed•
St. Louis ..•••..•..•....•.••.......•......
I, 73i
42
33
79
Secretarial _..••.•....•....•........••..........
Stenogrnphy ..................•.••.••.•........
Special commercial.. ............•..••.•.••••...
General business .............•••.•••••••••.•...
Oennal commercial .....•....•.•...•.....•.•...
Printing ........•••••......••.•.•.....•••.•....
'.\faehlne shop ....•••.•.•.....•.....•.••........
.i\nto 1m~chanics_. _____________ . _______________ _
Electricity .......•••.......••....••.•••........
Wood work Ing .....•............................
280
23i
200
141
26-4
29
44
38
34
53
82
81
76
76
75
80
411
42
46
49
53
24
36
211
26
40
42
36
37
40
42
112
114
145
i4
~!~an.
• Base<I on a,·erages carried out to one decimal place.
1
D191
ed by
Google
811
83
82
82
79
TABLES•
139
To•le 35.-Averagc I Weekly Earnings of Youth on Full-Time Jobs, by Relationship
ol Job to Training and by Completion ol Training, Selected Training Programs, by City
A TI'nlllt' • wrekly earnings or yonth on all rull•tlme Jobs
City and program
Total
JMatlomhlp or
nwn•
Job to tralnmg
tx-r or
F!l'!lt
Lll.'lt
full•
or
2
time All Joht or 2
Prl·
No
Jobs or Jobs 1 or mary
Jobs
rela•
more
more
n'la•
tlon•
tion•
abip
ship
Smlth•Hughes
trainin1
Com•
ph,te
Incom•
plete
- - - --- --- ------ - - -
5, 2ZI
SH.70
607
258
535
79
114
500
551
I, 781
87
145
194
104
81
13.20
14.20
14. JO
16. 40
13.30
14.80
l-l 60
16. 20
16.00
17.40
16. 70
16.80
16.20
14. 90
15.90
16.30
12. 40
12. 70
10. 60
13.00
15.10
14.60
15.40
Retailing ......................... ...
82
13.00
t
t
t
15.00
13.60
10. 70
Denver .••••••••••••••••••.....
211
15.30
13. 70
19. 20
13.50
15.30
15.40
15. 20
592
15.10
13.80
18. 60
15. 00
15. 10
15. 00
15.30
89
14. 70
l
l
15. 30
13.30
14.80
l-l 60
St. Louis .•.•••••••••••••••.••.
Commercial programs ......•••••••..
General commercial •....•.......
General busln-.•..............
!~~;t·::::::::::::::::::::
Secretarial .....•..•..............
Special commercial •.............
Jnduatrlal programs .................
Aeromecbanlce .•....•.•.•...•...
Drafting ..•.....••.........•.•...
Auto mechanics ••.•.............
Electricity ...•..••..••.•....•...
Machine shop ...................
Printing ......••••....•.....•....
Sheet metal .••••.•••••.•••.•....
Woodworking ...................
Women's programs ..................
Cafeteria-tearoom ••.....••......
Cosmetology .•..•••....•..•....•
Industrial sewlnc. ...............
$16. 30
S12.80
S14. 90 S14. 20 $14. 80 $14. 70
- - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - 2,752 --14. 20
15. 40
12. 60
14. 80
13.30
14. 50
14.10
296
377
310
199
138
173
4116
112
88
292
11. 70
12. 90
11.90
14. 80
JI.SO
13. 70
12. /j()
14. JO
14.90
15.00
H.50
14.60
14. 40
13. 20
13. 40
12. 80
11.00
12. 10
10. 00
11.20
13.60
13.20
14.50
14.80
15. JO
15. 40
l
15.80
15. 40
19.10
t
111.90
17.90
20. JO
18. 70
18.60
20.00
21.50
14.00
t
t
14. JO
19.90
14.50
14.80
14. 60
15.30
13.20
J-l 90
14.90
16. 90
t
t
18. JO
18. 40
17.30
13.60
t
t
t
12. 40
10.40
14.00
15.10
15. 20
12. 80
13. 40
13.00
16. 80
13.30
13.90
14. 30
15.40
15. JO
16.10
15. 50
15.90
15. 20
l.~.40
15.50
15. 70
12.40
13. 50
11.60
H.00
14. 30
16. 70
t
10. 70
II. 70
1.5.00
15. JO
12. 10
l-l 70
13. 70
15.10
t
14. 80
14.60
16.00
15.40
16. 70
Ii. 70
16. 70
16. 20
l-l 70
l
11.30
t
13.40
14. 30
13.90
17. 70
13.30
15.00
14.60
16.20
16.40
17.80
16.50
16.90
16.30
15. 10
15.90
16. 20
13.00
13. 10
t
13. 20
15.10
13. 70
15.50
t
21.50
t
t
--- --- --- --- --- =
--- =
Birmingham ..................
614
15.40
12.40
18.30
16. 10
15.30
16. 00
15.00
------------ =
------
Artst::1ai·.:its~::::::::::::::::
Sbow-card writing ...............
Auto mechanics ............•........
Seattle •.•.•......•••••••••••..
88uty culture ..•••••••••••••••••...
Businel!S training .•••••••••••.••••••.
- - - - - - - - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - 15.30
126
13. 00
15.30
t
t 15. 30
t
- - - - - - - - - - - - --- - - - =
--13. 20
II. 70
13.80
13.00
79
t
fAverage not computed for fewer than 25Jobs.
Median, to n~arest 10 cents.
• Includes only jobs held on July I, 11138.
1
Non:.-Programs with !ewer than 25 registrants are exeluded except from the totals and subtotals.
lJ fl tized by
Goog Ie
140 •
VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
TafJle 36.-Comparison of Criteria of Measuring Succe,s of Vocationally Trained
Youth in the Labor Market, Selected Programs in St. Louis
8elected criteria or success
Pt'reent of
Pt'rc,,ntor labor-market
labor-market youth ever
employed
time
employed
In related
Duration or
all full-time
Jobe (In
months)
field
Average
weekly
earnings on
all full-time
Jobe
St. Louis_________________________________
79
SH.70
511
7
1=====1====
St'cretarlal. _____ .. __ ________________________ ___ 1=====1,====
82
H.80
72
7
H.10
66
8
Stenography_ ....... -------------------··-----81
H.60
78
8
H.20
114
7
General commercial. .• _________________________
75
13. 20
46
7
It. 90
511
II
Printing __ ------------------------------------86
16. 20
Machine shop ..• -----------·-----·-____________
83
75
8
Auto merhanlcs________________________________
82
114
16. 70
3
57
7
16. 80
Electricity. __ ---·-··--···--·-··---------------·
82
79
W oodworklng _____________________ --- _--------30
16. 30
II
~g
c,c;:~~~~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
TafJle 37.-Percent Distribution of Seattle Labor-Market Entrants With Regular HighSchool Vocational Training, by Selected Training Program and by Relationship of
Job to Training
Proenm
Percent distribution or youth acrordlng to relatlomhlp of Job
Total
to training
labormarket
entrants
One related Job or more
with
Jobe
regular
No Jobe No
of15
high•
related
hours or
Primary Secondschool vo- Total
to
trainaryl'l"more
cational
relationTotal
Ing
latlonper week
ship
training
ship
Beattle. __ ·-···--- __ ·-·· __
1,178
1 program onli--··-······----·Retail sell
General
cler Ing ____________
Stenography_. _____________
Bookee~•ng.
_··----··-··--Metals
op _________________
W oodshop. _. ______________
ll20
44
182
365
31
nt·--·--··--·---
50
122
49
62
100
51
37
14
43
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100'
100
50
77
37
70
49
44
39
32
13
10
8
43
40
13
7
5
18
16
16
13
111
8
13
40
20
32
18
114
112
6li
48
26
29
Drafting .. ----------------·
Art. .• -----··---···------·.
2 programs
_____________________
Bookkeeping and stenog-
232
M8:t~~~toji aii<i-;;O<XI,iiop:
26
50
100
100
60
50
u
100
100
32
28
4
58
3S
23
Bookkeepmg and general
cl!'fking_ .... _____________
3 programs or more ...•• ________
26
16
53
21
37
30
6
7
2
II
8
42
I
46
6
4
4
70
67
74
42
36
46
64
42
NOT&.-Programs with rewer than 25 registrants are excluded except from totals and subtotals.
Og11zedbyGoogle
10
5
4
4
-'
TABLES• 141
Table 38.-Average Weekly Earnin~ on Full-Time Jobs Held by Seattle Youth With
Regular High-School Vocational Training, by Selected Training Program and by
Relationship of Job to Training
Full·tlme Jobs hPld by Seattle youth with
regular high«hool vocational training
Program
Full•time Jobs:
Number ................•....•.•••.•.
Percent . . __________ ...•...••••••• ____
Total
number of
full-time
Jobs
3, 1211
100
Relationship of Job to tralnln1
All full•
time Jobs
I
3, 129
100
Primary
relation•
•hip
Seoondary
relation•
ahlp
720
23
382
12
No relatlombip
2, Ot7
116
Average • weekly eemlnp
Seattle. __ -·-·-···-··-·-········-·- ..
1
prliFe~~l~ilii/:::::::::::::::::::::
Steoography ....•...•..•.....•••••••.•.
Bookkeeping .....•.•.•....•.•••••...•.
Metal ahop ..•••....•......•••.•.•••.••
Woodabop ••••....•.••.•....•••••••..•.
Drafting ..•••..•. ·•··•·•· .....•. -··--··
Art ....••.•....•.• ·.•. . . •. ...•. ... .....
2 progrBIDI .• •••••••••••••. - •.•••• • - - - - .•••
Bookkeeping and stenography_ . __ __•. .
M et al
and woodshop ... ___ ____ ..•
Bookkeep ng and general clerking_ ....
3 programs or more. _.....•.....•...•... _.•
•hor,
3,129
116.40
$16. 30
$16. 10
$16. 60
2,389
15. 90
15.10
14. 90
14. 90
16. 60
20.00
19. 60
20.00
15.40
18. 00
15. 20
19.60
17. 70
Ill. 70
16.10
16. 20
15. 40
15. 90
16. 60
t
15. 90
14. 20
I
14.00
17.60
19.80
19.50
20.00
15. 60
18. 30
98
4M
802
68
190
421
160
137
649
59
164
63
91
t
16. 90
16.10
20.00
21. 60
l
16. 70
t
t
19. 50
l
l
14. 60
14. 70
19. 00
17. 110
111.90
t Averages not computed for fewer than 25 Jobs.
• I ncludes 31 Jobs with earnings not 8!1Certalnable and 19 Jobs with no earnin,zs, which are excluded from
all tl~ure., on average earnings.
'MPd ian, rounded to nl'&rest 10 cents.
Non:.- Progn,ms with fewer than 25 labor-market entrants are exrluded except from the totals and
•ubtotals.
D1g1tzed by
Google
142 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
To&le 39.-Evaluation of Assistance Received From Vocational Training by St. Louis
Youth, by S.leded Training Program
Percent or youth a.•ist,id by vocational tralnl111
Program
St. Loul•--·•·············
Comm..-dal programs . _......
General commercial_ . . .. _
General business ..
Stenograf'nhy •••.... ::::::::
Account g_ .••••..........
Clerical. ...•••••.......•...
Se<ntarial. . _..............
8 J)('Cial commercial.._ ... _..
Industrial programs ...• _•••....
Aeromechanlcs_ .... _.......
Drafting_ ........•.........
.,uto mechanics .•.........•
Electridty .................
Machine shop ..............
Printing ..••....•..........
She-et metal. ...............
Woodworking ......•••••...
Women's programs .........•...
Cosmetology_ ..............
Industrial sewing_ .........
Arts&:i:iai
·ai-i::::::::::::
lDl!leCUrlDgJob
Total
youth
t~::::-.i
1
On the Job
All
youth
who had
held Jobe
Youth
with
completed
training
1,472
62
75
tO
60
80
829
57
711
tll
114
81
1t8
38
l
88
l
311
49
60
69
80
154
29
tO
1118
45
62
611
25
73
186
67
457
29
44
76
91
41
47
81
38
69
Ml
37
41
45
M
24
17
t8
128
liO
33
91
47
61
58
32
53
63
Ynoth
with
UDCOm•
pleted
tralnl111
All
youth
who bad
held Jobs
34
«
t
69
40
74
70
75
77
79
35
73
M
29
M
28
53
53
i
f
60
36
32
53
62
24
15
73
Ill
30
52
45
43
n
t
Youth
with
UDCOm•
pleted
training
------------
22
91
Youth
with
completNI
training
t
t
54
74
118
38
37
l
112
l
81
80
80
J
I
114
78
114
53
52
57
82
Ml
63
t
61
lit
40
53
58
t
38
74
117
48
48
«
48
41
68
r.
38
35
38
t
SI
441
t
t Percent not calculated on bUI' or less than 25.
Excludes 141 youth who had ne,·er held Jobs and 2 youth whose answers to questions regardlns """191ance
from vocational training were not ascertainable.
1
NoTJ:.-Ba.SM on" J)81'tial sample of tht> trained youth who wert> lntervlewNI. .,11 proirrams with fewer
than 2.~ youth responding to these questions &re excluded except from the total• nnd subtotals.
D191· zed by
Google
TABLES• 143
Taf,le .fO.-Criticisms of Vocational Trainin9 by Trained Youth, by Completion of
Training, and by City
Smlth•Hogbea
training
Crltlci!lm or training received
Total
Uncom-
Com•
pleted
Youth questioned •••••...
Worth while
No criticisms·:::::::::::::::::
With definite t'l'ltlcll!IDS ........
I
St Louis Blrmlng•
ham
Denver
Seattle
pleted
1, 71111
82'l
1,171
1,MO
7'2
611
116
861
642
400
343
161
118
l!08
713
619
318
42
1W
211
6
'II
1
'II
381
282
17
30
Percent distribution
Youth questioned ........
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Worth while ...................
No critlclsma .......•..........
With dell.nlte criticisms ...... _
48
M
211
43
33
46
as
ff
69
2
30
22
19
"
13
21
7
311
ff
16
2ll
Percent distribution
Yooth with deftnlte critlcisms ...................
Incompletene..s ............•...•
Lack or equipment ..........•..
Too much theory .....•...... __
Standards too low ..............
Lack of teachers ........ ___ .. _..
~:iu:b~-r~::::: :::::::::
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
16
11
3f
16
10
12
22
11
23
30
7
6
13
13
8
4
11
2
M
4
4
16
3
7
6
4
a
M
8
6
3
4
411
30
16
6
-4
12
36
2
1111
7
11
4
ao
-7
tO
Excludes 6 youth whose training status wu oot ucertalnable.
Non.-Bued on a partial sample of the trained youth who were Interviewed.
1
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LIST OF TABLES
Table
Page
1. Enrollment in vocational schools in the United States operated under
State (Smith-Hughes) plans, by year and type of program, 19181939__________ __ __ ___ _________ _ __ _ ______ ____ __ ___ _ __ _ __ ____ _
Ill
2. Enrollment in vocational schools or classes in the United States oper3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
ated under State (Smith-Hughes) plans, by type of school and type
of program, year ended June 30, 1939___________________________
Percent distribution of vocationally trained youth and other youth,
by usual occupation of father and by city______________________
Percent distribution of vocationally trained youth and other youth,
by rental value of residence and by city_ __ __ __ __ __ ___ _ __ __ __ _ __
Percent distribution of vocationally trained youth and other youth,
by age at eighth-grade graduation and by city__________________
Year of eighth-grade graduation of vocationally trained youth, by
city________________________________________________________
Percent distribution of vocationally trained youth, by years of education completed and by city _________________________________ ~ _
Sex distribution of vocationally trained youth, by city______________
Percent distribution of vocationally trained youth, by age at time of
interview and by city________________________________________
Youth enrolled in Smith-Hughes training programs, by program and
city________________________________________________________
Sex and completion of training of labor-market entrants, by selected
training program and by city_________________________________
Youth completing selected vocational training programs, by city_____
Percent distribution of youth with incomplete vocational training, by
reason for failure to complete training, by city, sex, and year of
eighth-grade graduation_______________________________________
Percent distribution of vocationally trained youth, by city, selected
program, and usual occupation of father________________________
Activity status on July 1, 1938, of all youth interviewed, by type of
vocational training and by city_______________________________
Labor-market status of trained youth who graduated from the eighth
grade in 1929, by month and by sex, January 1929-July 1938_ ____
Employment status of youth in the labor market on July 1, 1938, by
sex, type of vocational training, and city________________________
Employment status of trained youth in the labor market on July 1,
1938, by completion of training and by city, 4 cities, and by race in
St. Louis____________________________________________________
Average weekly earnings on all full-time jobs of Smith-Hughes youth,
by completion of training and by city___________________________
112
112
113
113
114
114
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
124
124
125
145
450596"-42--12
D191
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146 • VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Table
Page
20. Average time in the labor market and time employed, Smith-Hughes
trained youth and other youth, by city_________________________
125
21. Percent distribution of Smith-Hughes trained youth and other youth,
by weekly earnings on full-time jobs, June 1, 1938, and by city____
126
22. Occupations of vocationally trained youth on first full-time jobs and of
vocationally trained youth and all youth on full-time jobs on July 1,
1938, by city________________________________________________
127
23. Occupations of Smith-Hughes trained youth on first full-time jobs, by
selected training program and by city__________________________
128
24. Occupations of Smith-Hughes trained youth on fu11-time jobs held on
July 1, 1938, by selected training program and by city____________
129
25. Percent distribution of trained labor-market entrants according to
relationship of job to training, by city, sex, and completion of training ___________________________________________ .------------130
26. Percent distribution of trained labor-market entrants according to
relationship of job to training, by city and selected program________
131
27. Percent distribution of trained St. Louis labor-market entrants, by
selected program, completion of training, and employment statua in
relation to vocational training_________________________________
132
28. Percent distribution of St. Louis trained labor-market entrants
according to relationship of job to training, by selected program,
and by race_________________________________________________
132
29. Employment status in relation to vocational training of trained youth
who graduated from the eighth grade in 1929, by month and by sex,
July 1930-July 1938 ________________________________ . _ _ __ ___ __
133
30. Employment status in relation to vocational training of trained youth
who graduated from the eighth grade in 1933, by month and by sex,
July 1934-July 1938__________________________________________
135
31. Finat full-time jobs and full-time jobs held on July 1, 1938, by vocationally trained youth, according to relationship of job to training,
by city and completion of training_____________________________
136
32. First full-time jobs and full-time jobs held on July 1, 1938, by St.
Louis vocationally trained youth, according to relationship of job to
training, by selected training program and completion of training___
137
33. Average duration of full-time jobs, by relationship of job to training
and by completion of training, selected training programs, by city__
138
34. Average time in the labor market and time employed, St. Louis youth
trained in selected Smith-Hughes programs______________________
138
35. Average weekly earnings of youth on full-time jobs, by relationship
of job to training and by completion of training, selected training
programs, by city____________________________________________
139
36. Comparison of criteria of measuring success of vocationally trained
youth in the labor market, selected pro11:rams in St. Louis________
140
37. Percent distribution of SC'attlc labor-market entrants with regular
high-school vocational training, by selected training program, and
by relationship of job to training_______________________________
140
38. Average weekly earnings on full-time jobs held by Seattle youth with
regular high-~chool vocational training, by selected training program
and by relationship of job to training___________________________
141
39. Evaluation of assistance received from vocational training by
St. Louis youth, by selected training program_~-----------------142
40. Criticisms of vocational training by trained youth, by completion of
training and by city__________________________________________
143
D ll tized oy
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Index
147
DgtizedbyGooglc
og11 .ad by
Google
INDEX
Age of trained youth:
Page
At eighth-grade graduation _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
12
At time of interview
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
15
American Federation of Labor _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ xvi, xix
American Vocational Association
_ _ _ _ _
xx
American Youth Commission _ _ _ _ _ _
_ 89, 107n
Average, defined
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
12n
3n, 89n
Bell, Howard M _ _ _ _ - - - - - - - - • •
Birmingham, employment related to training _ _
52
Booker T. Washington School _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _______ 15, 49, 50
Broadway Opportunity School. See Edison Vocational '.School.
Bureau of Employment Security
_ _ ___ _
xxiiin
Census, Bureau of
Civil Aeronautics Authority _ _ ___ _
Civilian Conservation Corps
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Clark, K. J _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Commission on Nationzl Aid to Vocational Education _
Completion of training (see also Earnings; Employment) _
xivn
xxii
xxii, 27, 107
89n
xvii
16-18
Dedrick, Calvert L _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
xilin
Deffenbaugh, W. S _________________ _
xxn
Denver (see also Emily Griffith Opportunity School; West High School),
employment related to training _
53
Duration of jobs:
High-school trained youth _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____ _
_ 78-79
Related to training
- 64--65
Earnings:
And completion of training
And education _ _ _ _ _ _
And private school vocational training
Race differences __ , _ _
_ ___ _
Related to training _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____ _
Sex differences _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Trained and untrained youth compared
Eckert, Ruth E _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _
Edison Vocational School _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Education of trained youth (see also Earnings; Employment) __
Emily Griffith Opportunity School • • • • • • _ • _ _ - _ - _
_ 29,69
_ 37-38
_ 83--85
29
_ 65--69
28, 36-38
_ 35--38
2n, 89n
2,52
13----14
91
149
OgtizedbyGoogle
150 • INDEX
Employment (see also Unemployment; Vocational training) :
Page
And completion of training _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 27,43--44
And education _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
- 32-34
_ ________ 74-78
And high-school vocational training _ _ _
And private school vocational training _ _
_ 82-83
Difficulties in securing _ _
_ _ _ _ _
- 93-94
Duration ______ _
34
Methods of securing _
_ 90-94
_ _ _ _ _
27, 49-50
Race differences_ _ _
Related to training _ _ _ _ _ _ _
- - - - - - - - - 42-64
Sex differences _ _ _
_ 26, 27,30-31
Trained and other youth compared
- _ 30-35
Essex County Superintendent of Schools _ _ _____ _
Sn
_ xviiin
Filbey, Emery _ _
Fleming, Ralph D_
Fleming, Samuel E
Sin
27n
George-Deen Act _
George-Ellzey Act_
George-Reed Act _
xx
xx
xx
15
xiiin
_ 73-80
_ 29,38
7n
Hadley Vocational School
Hansen, Morris H _________ _
High-school vocational training _
Hours of work _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Hutchins, H. Clifton ____ _
International Labour Review_
ZVD
Jessen, Carl A _ _ _ _ _ _ _
7n
Labor-market entrants, number_
Lapp, John A_ _ _ _ _ _
Lloyd, John H _ _ _ _ _ _
Low-rental areas, defined_
21-22
xviin
xxn
12n
Maritime Commission _ _ - - - - - --------xxii
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2n, 81n, 89n
Marshall, Thomas O _ _ _
Mental aptitudes of youth. See Stanford Achievement Tests.
National Association of Manufacturers __________ _
xvi
National defense program. See Vocational training, and defense.
National Education Association _____________ _
xvi
National Metal Trades Association ___________ _
xvi
National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education _
xvi
National Vocational Education Act. See Smith-Hughes Act.
National Youth Administration __ _
_ xxii, 5, 27, 92, 107
New York State Regents' Inquiry
xxin, 3n, 5, 7, 89
Norton, Thomas L ______ _
_ __ ln,2n,5n,7n,87n
Occupation of fathers and types of training
Occupational classification, defined ___ _
Occupational distribution of trained youth _
18
12n
40
D g tized by
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INDEX• 151
Page
Palmer, Jane___________________
_ _ _ _ _ _ 92n
Pavan, Ann _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - Sn, 53n
Payne, Stanley L
____________________ xxivn, 14n, 37n
Pennsylvania State Employment Service _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sn
Preemployment refresher courses _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ xxii-xxiii
Ptivate school vocational training
_ 80-85
Public Schools Placement Bureau, Seattle _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
92
Race differences (see alao Earnings; Employment; Unemployment)
14
Relation of job to training. See Employment.
Russell, John Dale ___________ xvin, xviiin, xxn, xxin, xxiin, ln, Sn
St. Louis (see alao Booker T. Washington School; Hadley Vocational
School):
88
Division of Vocational Counseling
______ 45-50
Employment related to training
_ __ xxv, 15
Sample, size of _ _ _ _ _ _. _ _ _ _ _
Science Research Associates _ _ _ _ _
7n
Seattle (see also Edison Vocational School; High-school vocational training), employment related to training
___________ 50-52
Sex differences (see alao Earnings; Employment)
14
Smith-Hughes Act ____ _
_ xvii-xviii, xxiv
Smith-Hughes trained, defined _______ _
lln
- - - - Snedden, David A ____________ _
xixn
Social Security Board. See Bureau of Employment Security.
Spaulding, Francis T _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
91n
Stanford Achievement Tests
_ _ _ _ _ _
12-13
State Employment Services
______________ - __ 91, 9
2
Types of training (see all.o Employment, related to training; High-school
vocational training; Private school vocational training)
16
Unemployment (see also Employment; Vocational training) ____ 26-28, 58
Duration _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
34
Race differences
_ _ _ _ _
31n
U. S. Chamber of Commerce _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
xvi
U. S. Children's Bureau _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
92
U.S. Office of Education
_ xxin, xxiin, xxiii, 19n, 20n, llln, 112n
University of Newark Research Center
Sn
Untrained, defined _ _
lln
Vocational guidance_ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ 87-90
Vocational placement _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
90-94
Vocational schools, enrollment ___________________ xx-xxi
Vocational training (see also Earnings; Employment; High-school vocational training; Private school vocational training):
Aid in securing employment _
94-97
And defense _ _ _ _
xxii-xxiii
7
And earnin!P:S _ _ _ _
_ 7, 107-108
And unemployment _ _
___ 97-98
As~istance on job _ _
Criticisms of ___ _
xviii-xix, 99-100, 103--107
D ll tized oy
Google
152 • INDEX
Vocational training (see also Earnings; Employment; High-school vocational training; Private school vocational training)-Continued.
Page
Defined _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
19
Financing _ _ _ _ _ _ _
xx
Trends _______ _
ui-xxii
lln
Vocationally trained, defined _
Welfare Council of New York City
_ _ _ _ _
4n
West High School, Denver _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 15, 53, 91
Westefeld, Albert _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ ___ xxivn, 23n, 89n
Wood, Helen _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sn
Work programs. See Civilian Conservation Corps; National Youth Administration; Works Progress Administration.
Work Projects Administration. See Works Progress Administration.
Works Progress Administration _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 5, 27, 107
0
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