Full text of Wages and Hours in the Glove Industry, 1941 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 702

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U N IT E D S T A T E S D E P A R T M E N T OF L A B O R
Frances Perkins, Secretary
B U R E A U OF L A B O R STATISTIC S
Isador Lubin, Commissioner (on leave)
A . F. H inrichs, A ctin g Commissioner

+

Wages and Hours in the
Glove Industry, 1941
By Edward B. Morris and Edyth M. Bunn
o f the D ivision o f Wage A nalysis
R O B E R T J. M YE R S, C hief

Bulletin 7\[o. 702
[Reprinted from the M o n th ly Labor R e v ie w , M arch 1942,
w it h additional data]

------------------------------------- NOTE -------------------------------------To economise in the use o f paper and printing during the
war, the Bureau o f Labor Statistics w ill discontinue the
practice o f placing heavy paper covers on its bulletins,
except where conditions require them.

UNITED STATES
G O V E R N M E N T PR IN T IN G OFFICE
W ASH ING TON : 1942

For sale by the Superintendent o f Documents, Washington, D. C




Price 10 cents

CONTENTS
P a ge

Summary___________________________________________________________
Definition__________________________________________________________
Description of the industry:
Growth of the industry__________________________________________
Imports and exports____________________________________________
Location of the industry_________________________________________
Wage trends____________________________________________________
Composition of labor force_____ i ________________________________
Home work in the glove industry_________________________________
Method of survey___________________________________________________
Methods of wage payment___________________________________________
Hourly earnings of factory workers in the industry as a whole__________
Hourly earnings by region and State_____________________________
Subminimum wages_____________________________________________
Hourly earnings by size of city___________________________________
Hourly earnings in various branches of the industry:
Fabric dress gloves______________________________________________
Seamless-fingered knitted gloves__________________________________
Leather dress gloves_____________________________________________
Fabric and combination leather and fabric work gloves------------------Leather work gloves__________________ __________________________
Weekly hours and earnings of factory workers:
Weekly hours___________________________________________________
Weekly earnings________________________________________________
Earnings of office and clerical workers________________________________
Average earnings reported for home workers___________________________
Net sales and wage and salary costs__________________________________
II




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Bulletin 7\[o. 702 of the
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
[R e p rin te d fr o m th e M o n t h l y

labor

R e v ie w , M a rch 1942. w ith new te x t and tab les a d d e d ]

WAGES AND HOURS IN THE GLOVE INDUSTRY, 1941
Summary
AVERAGE hourly earnings of factory wage earners in the glove
industry amounted to 49.1 cents in July 1941. Within the industry,
average earnings ranged from 40.0 cents an hour in the branch mak­
ing work gloves of fabric or of a combination of leather and fabric
to 62.7 cents in the leather dress-glove division. Factory workers in
the seamless-fingered knitted-glove branch averaged 43.9 cents an
hour; in the leather work-glove branch, 47.2 cents; and in the fabric
dress-glove division, 48.0 cents. Earnings of individual workers
in the industry as a whole varied widely; 33.8 percent received less
than 37.5 cents an hour, 44.4 percent were paid 37.5 cents and Jess
than 57.5 cents, and 17.6 percent were paid 57.5 cents and less than
97.5 cents. About 1 worker in 25 (4.2 percent) received 97.5
cents an hour or more. Factory workers were on duty for an
average of 38.1 hours in a representative week in July 1941, and had an
average pay envelope of $18.67. The average weekly earnings of
home workers, for whom data were tabulated separately, amounted
to $10.58 at that time.
These conclusions are drawn from a survey of hours and earnings in
the glove industry, made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at the
request of the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor,
for the use of an industry committee appointed by the Administrator
of the Fair Labor Standards Act to consider revision of the minimum
wage rates applicable to the industry.1
Definition
The products covered in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, survey of
the glove industry of July 1941 include fabric dress gloves, seamlessfingered knitted gloves, leather dress gloves, work gloves of fabric or
1 T he committee met January 27,1942, at Washington, D . C ., and recommended a new minimum of 40
cents an hour If this minimum is approved b y the Administrator, it will become mandatory for al!
branches of the glove industry covered b y the industry definition adopted b y the W age and H our Division.
This definition, as well as that used in the present wage study, does not cover the manufacture o f either
rubber or athletic gloves.




1

2

WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

a combination of leather and fabric, and leather work gloves. Fabric
dress gloves are made chiefly of warp-knitted fabrics, but are also
made of circular-knitted or woven fabrics. Rubber,2 asbestos, and
sporting and athletic gloves are expressly omitted from this study.
The present survey does not include the knitting3 or weaving4 of
fabrics entering into cut and seamed gloves, nor does it include the
tanning of leather.5 Plants having fewer than five wage earners w;ere
excluded from the survey.
The definition of the glove industry adopted for the purpose of this
survey agrees in all important respects with that used by the Census
of Manufactures for the glove-industries group. The Census reports,
however, combine plants manufacturing seamless-fingered knitted
gloves with those making cut and seamed dress gloves from their
own knitted fabrics.
Description of the Industry
G R O W T H O F T H E IN D U S T R Y

The leather-glove industry in the United States originated in
Colonial days, when Sir William Johnson brought a group of Scottish
families to Fulton County, N. Y., in 1760. These settlers included
glovers who had brought the tools of their trade with them to the
New World. At first their product took the form of leather mittens
for the use of farmers and woodcutters, and sales were restricted to
the immediate vicinity. By 1825, however, Fulton County gloves
had reached a market as far away as Boston. The high protective
tariff of 1862 encouraged the development of the domestic industry,
and the removal of the tariff on imported skins in 1872 paved the
way for the manufacture of fine gloves in this country. Domestic
fabric-glove production developed at a somewhat later date than
leather-glove manufacture.
The growth of the industry in more recent years is shown from the
Census data in table 1. In 1939 an average of 12,297 wage earners
was employed in the cloth-glove branch of the industry, 9,995 in the
leather-glove branch, and 5,574 in the knitted-glove division. In the
same year the combined product of these three branches was valued
at almost $70,000,000.
2 Covered b y the 40-cent minimum for the rubber-products manufacturing industry, effective July 28,
1911.
1 Covered b y the 40-cent minimum for the knitted underwear and commercial knitting industry, effective
Novem ber 24,1941.
< Covered b y the 37.5-cent minimum for the textile industry, effective June 30, 1941.
8 Covered b y the 40-cent minimum for the leather industry, effective September 16,1940.




3

WAGES AMD HOURS’, GLOVE INDUSTRY
T

1 . —Number of Establishments, Number of Wage Earners9 Wages, and Value
of Products in Specified Branches of Glove Industry, Census Years 1925-391

able

Wage
Number
of estab­ earners
(average
lishments for year)

Branch of industry and year

Gloves and mittens, cloth or cloth and leather
combined:
1925..............................................................................
1927...........................................................................1929.......................................... ...................................
1931............................................................................ .
1933............................................ .................................
1935............................................................................ .
1937..............................................................................
1939 2.................. ............ ..................................... — Leather gloves and mittens:
1925.......................................... ........ .........................
1927................................... .................. .......................
1929........................ ............................. ................... 1931— ....................................................................... .
1933.......................................... - ................................
1935................................... ...........................................
1937..............................................................................
1939 2...................................................................... .
Knitted gloves:
1937.............................................................................
1939 2...........................................................................

Value of
products

Wages

139
131
125
106
91
115
107
143

9,061
10,296
9,279
7,101
8,586
8,048
12,679
12,297

$5,709,401
6,669,708
5,914,275
3,319,338
3,547,475
4,487,794
7,847,025
7,960,663

$29,531,716
30,202,152
29,882,958
14,539,422
16,012,044
18,940,038
32,560,315
30,160,558

226
232
257
227
194
224
221
233

7,115
9,106
9,203
7,884
8,129
9,810
11,637
9,995

6,914,788
8,813,912
9,203,911
7,553,974
6,433,710
8,499,756
9,039,087
7,408,682

33,292,916
36,662,053
39,122,729
28,023,634
23,470,054
28,130,909
30,718,238
26,830,856

15
20

4,626
5,574

2,927,856
3,839,330

10,216,271
12,385,831

1 Data are from U . S. Bureau of the Census reports.
2 The data on average number of wage earners for 1939 are not strictly comparable with the data for the
earlier years, since the 1939 Census reports exclude employees actually engaged in distribution, construction,
and other activities from the group of wage earners engaged in manufacturing.

The further growth of the industry since 1939 can be traced in part
with the aid of monthly figures on employment and pay rolls collected
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As table 2 shows, employment in
the leather glove and mitten branch in July 1941, the period of the
present survey, was 44 percent greater than the average employment
in 1939. Although data back to 1939 are not available for the cloth
glove and mitten branch, table 2 indicates that employment increased
10 percent between December 1940 and July 1941.
T

able

2 . — Index

Numbers of Employment and Pay Rolls in Selected Branches of Glove
Industry, January 1939 to September 1941 1
Gloves and mittens,
cloth or cloth and
leather combined

M onth

January.....................................
February...................................
M arch........................................
A pril..........................................
M a y ...........................................
June...........................................
July............................................
August.......................................
September................................
October____________________
N o v e m b e r_________________
December__________________

E m ploy­
ment

P a y rolls

1941

1941

100.8
102.6
104.2
105.3
105.8
107.6
109.9
113.7
114.2

99.8
107.1
110.8
110.7
120.0
126.6
123.8
133.4
135.0

Leather gloves and mittens

E mployment

P ay rolls

1939

1940

1941

1939

1940

73.6
92.4
94.4
87.8
91.0
101.0
104.9
109.5
113.7
110.5
110.4
110.7

100.2
108.6
100.8
95.9
96.0
105.0
110.9
116.4
119.8
120.3
121.1
124.7

121.9
125.3
130.1
135.7
135.7
141.3
143.8
149.9
148.4

65.3
92.7
91.0
78.7
83.9
98.5
104.8
112.9
116.5
122.5
119.0
114.2

97.7
106.0
97.2
92.9
95.5
109.7
117.1
131.9
135.0
139.4
140.6
149.0

1 Index numbers for cloth gloves based on December 1940=100; for leather gloves, 1939*100.




1941
133.6
146.4
156.6
169.4
172.1
179.0
184.0
194.0
191.3

4

WAGES AX'D HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

The current outlook for the glove industry is good, although
shortages in raw materials and possibly in labor may interfere with
future production schedules. Rising domestic demand and virtual
elimination of foreign competition combine to provide a favorable
market situation. Seamless woolen gloves are used by our armed
forces, and Government requirements will become increasingly heavy
as war-service personnel expands. The demand for work gloves, both
leather and fabric, undoubtedly will continue at a high level as a
reflection of the rate of activity in the heavy manufacturing industries.
Dress gloves, whether fabric or leather, will presumably enjoy ready
sales because of the general rise in income.
Since the finer dress-glove leathers are largely imported, serious
shortages are in prospect after present stocks are exhausted. Woolenglove production for civilian consumption very likely will be affected
by an increasing scarcity of wool yarns for other than military uses.
The other types of gloves are manufactured almost wholly from ma­
terials produced within the United States, but their output may
conceivably be affected by military needs for yarns and leather.
IM P O R T S A N D

EXPORTS

Until recently, the dress-glove branches of the industry have been
subject to severe foreign competition. Women’s leather gloves from
France and Czechoslovakia and seamless woolen gloves from Japan
and China have furnished a considerable part of the total domestic
consumption. In 1929, when the United States imported nearly one
and a half million dozen pairs of women’s and children’s leather
gloves, imports amounted to 78 percent of the combined production
and import figures. By 1938, imports had declined to about 300,000
dozen pairs, or 36 percent of the combined imports and domestic
production. For the first half of 1941, only 4 percent of the total
consisted of imported gloves. War conditions should keep imports
at a very low level.
Imports of seamless-fingered knitted woolen gloves in 1935
amounted to 35 percent of the total of imports and domestic produc­
tion. This figure had declined to 15 percent in 1938 but rose to an
estimated 28 percent in 1940. The war in the Pacific has now un­
doubtedly ruled out the principal foreign competition in this branch
of the industry.
Another type of glove in which foreign competition has been im­
portant is the cotton knit-fabric glove. The ratio of imports to the
sum of imports and domestic production dropped from 82 percent in
1938 to 48 percent in 1940. Since this type of glove was supplied
chiefly by Czechoslovakia and Germany prior to 1938, and by Japan,
China, and the Philippines since that time, it is safe to assume that
this competition has been eliminated for the duration of the war.



5

WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE UNDTJStTRY

Glove exports have constituted a very small percentage of domestic
production, and hence the present disruption of trade relations has
not reacted significantly on the market of domestic producers.
L O C A T IO N

O F T H E IN D U S T R Y

With one important qualification, the data in table 3 on the number
of workers covered by the present wage survey show with reasonable
accuracy the relative importance of the various glove-producing areas.
In all of the areas except the South, the sample covers approximately
one-fourth of the workers; in the South, however, essentially complete
coverage was obtained.6 For comparative purposes, therefore, the
number of workers shown for the South should be reduced by 75
percent.
When allowance is made for the more intensive coverage in the
South, it becomes apparent that nearly half of the workers in the
industry are employed in New York. The Middle West stands next
to New York in importance. Wisconsin, with 1,182 of the 3,778
workers covered by the survey in that area, is the most important
State in the Midwest, followed by Illinois with 869 workers. About
5 percent of the workers, on a proportionate basis, are employed by
the southern sector of the industry.
T

able

3 . —Number of Plants and Factory

Workers Included in Survey of Glove Industry
by Region, July 1941
N um ber of workers

Region

Number of
plants
T otal

Males

Females

United States................ ........................................................

106

11,445

2,710

8,735

North........................................................................................
N ew York State..............................................................
New Y ork C ity .........................................................
Fulton C ounty....... ..................................................
Other New Y o r k ............................................. ........
M iddle W e s t . . . ..................................... ........................
Illinois........................ ...............................................
Indiana___________ _____ ________ _____________
Iowa, Minnesota, and M issouri1..........................
M ichigan............ ................................ ........... .........
Ohio...........................................................................
W isconsin...................................... ............................
Other Northern States2. ______ _____ ____________
S ou th 8........................... ................................................. ........

95
50
17
24
9
31
7
4
6
3
4
7
14
11

9,310
4,615
1,570
1,956
1,089
3,778
869
515
601
114
497
1,182
917
2,135

2,342
1,247
237
843
167
899
237
77
170
27
82
306
196
368

6,968
3,368
1,333
1,113
922
2,879
632
438
431
87
415
876
721
1,767

i Includes 2 plants in Iowa, 3 in Minnesota, and 1 in Missouri.
* Includes 5 plants in California, 1 in Massachusetts, 1 in N ew Hampshire, 1 in N ew Jersey, 1 in Oregon,
4 in Pennsylvania, and 1 in Washington.
s Includes 1 plant in Georgia, 2 in K entucky, 3 in North Carolina, 1 in South Carolina, 3 in Tennessee, and
1 in Virginia.
• T he figures for this region were used in all calculations with a weight of one-fourth to put it on the same
basis as the other regions. The number of workers shown in all tables except 3 and 4 reflects the weight
which these workers had in the sample.




6

WAGE'S AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

New York has the bulk of the employment in the fabric dress-, seam­
less knitted-, and leather dress-glove branches (table 4). The
Middle West employs the greater part of the work-glove operatives.
The South manufactures only work gloves of fabric or a combination
of leather and fabric.
T

able

4 . —Number of Plants

and Factory Workers Included in Survey of Glove Industry,
by Region and Branch, July 1941

Fabric dress
gloves

Seamless-fin­
gered knitted
gloves

Leather dress
gloves

Region
Plants

W ork­
Plants
ers

United S ta tes...............

18

2,794

N ew Y ork State______
N ew Y ork C ity ___
Upstate N ew YorkM iddle W est__________
Other Northern States.
South____ _____ ______

14
8
6

2,037
1,184
853

4

757

i5

Fabric and com­
bination leather
and fabric work
gloves

W ork­ Plants W ork­ Plants
ers
ers
760

33

2,596

29
7
2 22

1,754
101
1,653
842

34

Leather work
gloves

Workers Plants W ork­
ers

31

4,339

19

956

15
5
11

1,792
412
2,135

10
9

629
327

* Includes 4 plants in N ew York and 1 in Wisconsin.
2 Fulton County.
* Includes 1 plant in California.
W AG E TRENDS

Wages in the glove industry have been influenced in recent years
by the adoption of various legal minimum rates. The Public Con­
tracts Division of the United States Department of Labor set a
minimum of 35 cents an hour, effective August 2, 1937, for the manu­
facture of work gloves on Government contracts amounting to over
$10,000. The statutory minima of 25 and 30 cents an hour imposed
by the Fair Labor Standards Act became effective on October 24,
1938, and October 24, 1939, respectively. The Wage and Hour
Division set minima of 32.5 cents an hour for work gloves and 35
cents for dress gloves, which became effective July 15, 1940.
The evidence on the actual wage changes in the glove industry is
rather fragmentary. A survey of the men’s work-glove and knitglove industries made by the United States Women’s Bureau in a
period extending from 1936 to 1937 revealed an average of 33.3 cents
an hour.7 This may be compared with averages of 40.0 cents in
fabric work gloves, 47.2 cents in leather work gloves, and 43.9 cents
an hour in seamless-fingered knitted gloves found by the present
survey for July 1941.
Earnings in the knitted-glove branch were 39.9 cents an hour in
1937 and 39.1 cents in 1939, according to a special tabulation of cen­
sus data.8 The average for a comparable group of plants in July
1941 was 45.6 cents an hour.
7 U . S. W om en’s Bureau. Bulletin 163-6: Hours and Earnings in Certain M en's Wear Industries.
8 See M an-hour Statistics for 105 Selected Industries, 1937; and Man-hour Statistics for 94 Selected Indus*
tries, 1939 (joint studies b y Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of the Census).




WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE HN’DTJSrPRY

7

Further comparisons are available for female workers from surveys
of earnings in New York State in 1938, 1939, and 1940, made by the
New York State Department of Labor.9 Median earnings of 32.2
cents an hour in October 1938 and 36.2 cents in February 1940 were
obtained in the case of female factory workers in the fabric dress-glove
branch of the industry in New York State. The comparable median
was 43.4 cents in July 1941. For leather dress gloves, the medians
were 37.1 cents in October 1938, 39.6 cents in November 1939, and
48.0 cents an hour in July 1941. For seamless knitted gloves, the
median hourly earnings of women were 33.2 cents in October 1938,
34.9 cents in November 1939, and 36.8 cents in July 1941.
Information on file in the Bureau of Labor Statistics for a sample
of plants different from that used in this survey indicates that hourly
earnings rose 3.8 percent between December 1940 and July 1941 in
the cloth- and combination-cloth-and-leather-glove branch. Over the
same period, hourly earnings in the leather-glove branch increased
by 10.3 percent.
C O M P O S IT IO N

OF LABOR FORCE

About three-fourths of the factory workers in the glove industry as
a whole are females (table 7). Males are employed chiefly in cutting
and immediately related operations and in supervisory positions, while
females are employed in large numbers in most of the other occupa­
tions, notably stitching, examining, and packing.
Semiskilled workers predominate, 71.9 percent of the workers
covered by the Bureau’s survey being classified in that group. Skilled
workers make up 16.7 percent of the labor force, and unskilled account
for the remaining 11.4 percent. Semiskilled females (64.9 percent)
and skilled males (15.3 percent) are the most important groups, con­
sidered on a sex and skill basis.
The various branches of the industry separate into two distinct
groups with respect to the composition of the labor force.10 In the
leather branches, a little over 40 percent of the workers are males;
skilled workers constitute 31 percent of the force in the dress gloves,
and 24 percent in work gloves; semiskilled workers account for 61 and
69 percent, and the unskilled for 8 and 7 percent, respectively. In the
remaining branches about 15 percent of the workers are males.
Roughly 10 percent are skilled, 80 percent semiskilled, and 10 percent
unskilled in the fabric dress- and fabric work-glove branches; and 7
percent are skilled, 62 percent semiskilled, and 31 percent unskilled
in the seamless-fingered glove branch.
• N ew Y ork Department of Labor. Division of W omen in industry and M inim um Wage. Hom e
W ork in the Glove Industry in N ew Y ork State.
10 Inclusion of home workers would have increased somewhat the relative prominence of semiskilled workers
in the leather dress-glove branch and of unskilled workers in the seamless-fingered knitted-glove branch.
However, the difference would not be great enough to alter the general nature of the comparison made here.

452270— 42------- 2




8

WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

Most of these differences can be accounted for readily by the oc­
cupational differences among the various branches of the industry.
The higher percentage of skilled workers employed on leather gloves
reflects the larger proportion of cutters required, since only one thick­
ness of leather is ordinarily cut at a time, as compared with many
thicknesses of fabric. The fact that the cutters are men also accounts
for the differences in the proportion of the two sexes.
The employees were unionized in 32 plants employing over a fourth
(27.9 percent) of the workers in the glove factories studied. The
extent of unionization was greatest in the leather dress-glove branch,
in which 85 percent of the workers studied were employed in plants
with union agreements. About 33 percent of the workers in the
leather work-glove branch of the industry were employed in union
plants. Only one each of the seamless-fingered and fabric work-glove
plants studied had a union agreement. The unions which had
agreements with plants in the sample were the Glove Workers’ Union
of Fulton County, which is not affiliated with either the A. F. of L.
or the C. I. O.11; the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
affiliated with the C. I. O.; and the International Glove Workers’
Union, affiliated with the A. F. of L. The first of these unions is
confined to the leather dress-glove field, and the last two are active in
both the dress- and work-glove branches of the industry. The basic
strength of the International Glove Workers’ Union lies in the workglove branch.
HOM E

W ORK

IN

THE

GLOVE

IN D U S T R Y

It is interesting to note that the area in which home work is most
prevalent is that in which the industry had its origin. As previously
noted the majority of the home workers covered by the survey were
employed in Fulton County. The nature of glove-making processes—
hand work originally, relatively clean, and with small objects to
handle—made it feasible to carry on the industry in the homes of the
workers. The invention of a sewing machine capable of stitching
gloves did not drive the sewing operations out of the home entirely.
The machine investment required was not so great as to prohibit
individual ownership, nor was the machine so large as to prevent its
use in the home. Electric power became readily available to the
worker’s residence. Furthermore, the sewing machine, being a com­
mon appurtenance in the American home, did not present glaring
evidence of the industrial activity performed by its owner.
11 The layers-off local is affiliated with the Amalgamated Clothing W orkers, but participates, together
with the independent Operators* Branch and Cutters’ Branch, in the joint council of the G love Workers*
(Jnion of Fulton County.




WAGE'S AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

9

Altogether, 1,046 home workers were reported by 46 of the 107 plants
covered in the present survey.12 Of these, 870 worked for Fulton
County employers, 141 were employed by other factories in New York
State, and the remaining 35 were found in Indiana, North Carolina,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Only 8 of the home workers
were men. The leather dress-glove industry employed 820 of the
1,046 home workers, while 157 were engaged on seamless-fingered
gloves, and only 69 were employed on other types of gloves.
The advantages to employers in continuing the practice of home
work are that capital investment is reduced; certain items of overhead
(power, oil, repairs) are avoided; a large supply of labor is kept avail­
able for the busy season but causes no inconvenience in the slack
season; new persons are trained in the home at the expense of the
workers; and the workers are not readily organized by labor unions.
Prior to August 15,1941, lower piece rates could be paid for the stitch­
ing of table-cut and pattern-cut leather dress gloves in Fulton County.
The advantages to the home workers are that they work at their
own convenience with respect to time and place, can care for children
or invalids in the home, and can avoid what some of them may con­
sider the stigma of factory employment. Those who work only as a
means of supplementing the family income can work as little as they
like; and workers whose age or nervous constitution does not permit
them to maintain the usual factory pace can work at a speed of their
own choosing.
The belief that the home-work system gives scope for exploitation
and reacts unfavorably on the wages and conditions of factory em­
ployees has resulted in several efforts at control. The NRA code for
the leather and woolen-knit glove industry . (November 1933) under­
took to reduce home work by 25 percent within 6 months and by
another 25 percent within a year from the effective date of the code.
These provisions were not satisfactorily carried out and the invalida­
tion of the NRA in May 1935 left the home-work situation substanti­
ally unaltered.
The New York State Department of Labor promulgated in 1941 a
set of regulations designed eventually to eliminate home work in the
glove industry in the State. The more important regulations follow:
(1) Home workers* certificates and permits of employers to distribute home
work were revoked as of August 15, 1941, with provision for the issuance of spe­
cial permits to employers and home workers who held permits prior to April 1,
1941. This provision automatically prevents any future increase in the number
of home workers.
(2) After May 1, 1942, home-work employment is confined to those unable to
accept factory employment because of age, mental or physical disability, or the
presence in the home of an invalid requiring the home worker’s presence.
12 One manufacturer em ployed no factory wage earners. In this case, all operations not performed b y
hom e workers were done b y members of the proprietor’s family or on contract.




WAGES AX'D HOURS', GLOVE INDUSTRY

10

(3) The number of certificates issued for each employer must not exceed the
number of home-work certificates outstanding for such employer as of April 1,
1941.
(4) After May 1, 1942, the maximum number of home workers permitted any
one employer shall not exceed one home worker to each factory worker employed
in the same calendar week doing identical work.
( 5 ) Only a limited number of pairs of gloves may be given to a home worker
in each week, in accordance with a schedule fixing the number of pairs for each
type of operation. This provision serves to limit the workweek for the average
worker, and indicates a recognition of the difficulty of limiting the hours of work
by direct regulation.
(6) After May 1, 1942, the maximum amount of work which may be given to
any home worker in any week shall not exceed the average amount produced by
persons working in. the same week on identical operations in the factory of the
employer.
(7) A home worker shall be paid at least the same piece rates as those paid to
workers on identical operations in the factory of the employer. Previously, fac­
t o r workers had commonly been paid piece rates 10 percent higher than those
paid to home workers. The former difference was supposed to cover the expense
of distribution.
(8) Each home worker is to be permitted to work for only one employer and is
prohibited from doing factory work while holding a home-work certificate.

The reduction of home work raises a question as to the ease with
which home workers can avail themselves of factory employment.
Among the factors that determine whether a home worker can readily
enter the factory is the distance of the worker’s home from the factory.
Of the 746 workers for whom full information was secured in the pres­
ent survey, 586 resided in the community where the plant was situated,
63 lived outside the community but within 6 miles of the plant, 33
lived 6 but under 12 miles away, 23 lived 12 but under 18 miles away,
and 41 lived 18 miles or more away (table 5). Seventy of the Ful­
ton County workers lived in a “ glove town” but worked for a factory
in another town.
T

able

5 . —Number of Home

Workers Included in Survey of Glove Industry, by Location
of Plant Supplying Work and Residence of Workers, July 1941
N um ber of home workers whose address was reported

Location of plant sup*
plying work

e

N um ber
Other communities at speci­
T otal
for
Fulton County, N . Y.»
fied distances from plant
number whom
of home residence
workers was re­
6 and 12 and
18
surveyed ported
Johns­ G lov- M a y­ North- Under under under miles
12
ville 6 miles
18
and
town ersville field
miles miles over

A ll com m unities..

1,046

.746

184

Johnstown, N . Y . .
Gloversville, N . Y
M ayfield, N . Y . . .
N orthville, N . Y__
Other N ew Y o r k Other States..........

229
551
55
35
141
35

199
409
52
31
55

160
24

27

47

20

41

33
328
5
45

i The 4 communities in Fulton County are reached b y the same road. T he distances along this road
northward from Johnstown are as follows: Gloversville, 4 miles; M ayfield, 10 miles; N orthville, 21 miles.




WAGES AN© HOURS’, GLOVE INDUSTRY

11

Method of Survey
The data for this survey were collected by the Bureau’s staff of
field representatives, who called at plants or central offices to obtain
for each worker information on hours worked and actual earn­
ings in a selected pay-roll period, the rate and method of wage pay­
ment, and the occupation and sex of the worker. Certain data
were also obtained for the plant as a whole, such as the type of glove
manufactured, the value of product, total wage and salary cost, and
volume of physical production for two recent years. Information
was also secured with respect to overtime practices, details of piece­
work or bonus plans, employer-employee relations, and similar matters.
The pay-roll period covered was, for most plants, one in the latter
part of July 1941. This period preceded the effective date (August
15, 1941) of the new regulations of the New York State Department
of Labor affecting home work. The season chosen was a fairly normal
one from the viewpoint of volume of production, since July is usually
near the beginning of the busy season.
The sample of plants included in the Bureau’s survey was carefully
selected to represent proportionately all States, types of product,
and scales of operation. It covered approximately one-fourth of the
workers in the industry. In order to give adequate representation
to all classifications, however, it was necessary to include somewhat
more than one-fourth of the larger plants in the industry. To avoid
giving these plants an undue weight in the sample, only a part of the
total labor force in some of these plants was surveyed. In each plant
where this procedure was used, care was taken to secure representa­
tion for each occupation and sex in the proportion in which it occurred
in the plant being scheduled.
Virtually all of the southern plants in the industry were included
in the survey. However, all wage figures and other descriptive data
for these plants were given a weight of one-fourth wherever they were
combined with figures for other regions.
The skill rating assigned to the various occupations was determined
on the basis of the consensus of the plant officials who supplied this
information and of a consideration of the actual duties involved in
each occupation.




12

WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE IXDTJSTRY

Methods of Wage Payment
Piece work is prevalent in the glove industry. Home workers are
paid almost without exception on a piece-work basis. This method
of payment also applied to 81.2 percent of the factory workers studied
and was used to some extent in 104 of the 106 plants in the sample
having factory workers. Not all operations, of course, can be adapted
to a piece-work basis, and hence time methods of payment are also
found in the industry. Time payments were used for 18.2 percent
of the workers and were found in 94 plants. Production-bonus sys­
tems occurred in only 5 plants and covered only 0.6 percent of the
employment in the sample.
No great differences were found among the various branches of the
industry with respect to methods of wage payment for factory work­
ers. For example, the proportion of workers paid piece rates was
84.0 percent for the fabric dress-glove branch, 72.4 percent for seam­
less-fingered gloves, 81.6 percent for leather dress gloves, 84.7 percent
for fabric work gloves, and 68.9 percent for the leather work-glove
branch.
The policy of most glove manufacturers was to pay an overtime
rate of time and a half after 40 hours. This policy was in force for
hourly workers in 81 of the 94 plants having such workers, and for
piece workers in 72 of the 104 plants employing that method of pay­
ment. The 5 plants having bonus workers also were under this plan.
Time and a half after 8 hours a day, as well as after 40 hours a week,
was the rule in 9 additional plants. Some plants reported that they
had not worked overtime and thus had no policy regarding payment
for overtime. This was the case for hourly workers in 4 plants and for
piece workers in 23 plants.13
Hourly Earnings of Factory Workers in the Industry as a Whole
As indicated at the beginning of this article, hourly earnings for
factory workers in the glove industry as a whole averaged 49.1 cents
in July 1941 (table 6). Average hourly earnings varied in the different
branches from 40.0 cents for fabric work gloves to 62.7 cents for
leather dress gloves.
wAdditional earnings due to extra rates for overtime were excluded from all figures shown in this report.
Inclusion of such earnings would have raised the industry average b y 0.7 cent an hour. The largest differ­
ences would have been in the seamless-fingered knitted-glove branch (1.5 cents) and the leather work-glove
branch of the industry (1.3 cents).




13

WAGES AND HOURS', GLOVE INDUSTRY
T

able

6 . —Average

Hourly Earnings of Factory Workers in Glove Industry, by Branch
and Sex9 July 1941
N um ber of workers1

Average hourly earnings

Branch
Total

Males

Females

Total

Males

Females

A ll branches................................................................

9,844

2,434

7,410

$0,491

$0,659

$0,432

Fabric dress gloves...................................................
Seamless-fingered knitted gloves............................
Leather dress gloves..................................................
Fabric and combination leather and fabric work
gloves ______________________________________
Leather work gloves.................................................

2,794
760
2,596

358
107
1,106

2,436
653
1,490

.480
.439
.627

.640
.546
.813

.452
.419
.484

2,738
956

472
391

2,266
565

.400
.472

.471
.536

.384
.425

i In order to give proportionate representation to all areas, data for the South are used in the totals with
a weight of one-fourth. The total number of workers appearing in this table, therefore, is somewhat smaller
than the number actually included in the Bureau’s survey.

The earnings of individual workers in the industry as a whole
covered a considerable range, with 4.4 percent receiving less than 32.5
cents an hour and 4.2 percent receiving 97.5 cents or more. (See chart
and table 7.) The distribution shows a marked concentration at the
lower end of the range. Over a fourth (29.4 percent) of the employees
had earnings in the interval 32.5 and under 37.5 cents. Included
in this interval were 7.6 percent at exactly 32.5 cents and 11.7 percent
at exactly 35 cents, the legal minima set for wages in the work-glove
and dress-glove sections of this industry. The distribution tapers
off in the upper ranges, but 9.0 percent of the workers received 77.5
cents an hour or more.
The hourly earnings of men were notably higher than those of women.
The former averaged 65.9 cents an hour, as compared with 43.2 cents
for the women. Only 19.2 percent of the males received less than 40
cents an hour, whereas the earnings of 49.6 percent of the female
workers were below that level. Very few (1.6 percent) of the female
workers were paid as much as 77.5 cents an hour, but 31.5 percent of
the males were paid that amount or more.
Skilled workers averaged over twice as much as unskilled workers.
The average hourly earnings were 73.9 cents for skilled workers, 45.1
cents for the semiskilled, and 35.4 cents for the unskilled. The pro­
portion of employees receiving less than 40 cents an hour was 7.5
percent for the skilled, 44.6 percent for the semiskilled, and 77.4
percent for the unskilled. The respective percentages of those who
were paid 62.5 cents or more were 59.7, 9.7, and l.l.




14

WAGES AN© HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF
FACTORY WORKERS IN THE GLOVE INDUSTRY
BY AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS ANO BRANCH OF INDUSTRY
JULY 1941
PERCENT
OF TOTAL

U.S. DEPT. OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS




PERCENT
OF TOTAL

15

WAGES AX© HOURS, GDOVE INIWSTRY

PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF
FACTORY WORKERS IN THE GLOVE INDUSTRY
BY AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS ANO BRANCH OF INOUSTRY
JULY 1941
PERCENT
OF TOTAL

PERCENT
OF TOTAL

40
35
30
25

20
15
10

5

0

452270—42--- 3




16
T

WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

able

7 . —Percentage

Distribution of Factory Workers in Glove Industry, by Average
Hourly Earnings, Skilly and Sex, July 1941
All workers

Semiskilled
workers

Skilled workers

Unskilled
workers

Average hourly earnings
(in cents)
Fe­
Fe­
Fe­ Total Male Fe­
Total Male male Total Male male T o ta l Male male
male
Under 32.5............................
Exactly 32.5.........................
32.6 and under 35.0.............
Exactly 35.0.........................
35.1 and under 37.5.............
37.5 and under 40.0.............
40.0 and under 42.5.............
42.5 and under 47.5.............
47.5 and under 52.5.............
52.5 and under 57.5.............
57.5 and under 62.5.............
62.5 and under 67.5.............
67.5 and under 72.5.............
72.5 and under 77.5.............
77.5 and under 82.5...........
82.5 and under 87.5.............
87.5 and under 92.5.............
92.5 and under 9 7.5______
97.5 and under 102.5..........
102.5 and under 107.5.........
107.5 and under 112.5.........
112.5 and under 117.5_____
117.5 and under 122.5.........
122.5 and under 127.5.........
127.5 and under 132.5
132.5 and under 137.5 _
137.5 and under 142.5 .
142.5 and over __ ___ ____
T otal..........................

4.4
7.6
3.4
11.7
6.7
8.3
7.9
11.5
9.8
6.9
4.6
3.6
2.6
2.0
1.5
1.2
1.2
.9
1.0
.5
.6
.5
.2
.3
.2
1
.2
.6

.

0.4
3.7
1.5
6.6
2.7
4.3
7.1
7.7
6.5
7.1
5.3
5.9
5.1
4.6
4.3
3.5
3.9
3.3
3.8
2.1
2.3
1.8
.9
1.1
1.0
.6
.7
2.2

5.7
8.9
4.1
13.3
8.0
9.6
8.2
12.7
10.9
6.8
4.4
2.8
1.8
1.2
.5
.5
.3
.1
.1
(0
-.1
0)
0)

(0

0.2
.9
.7
2.4
1.5
1.8
4.6
8.0
7.0
7.3
5.9
7.2
6.2
4.8
5.5
4.4
4.9
4.4
4.6
2.9
3.0
2.6
1.3
1.6
1.3
.8
1.0
3.2

0.2
.9 " '6 .'7
.7
2.3
3.0
1.6
1.1
1.6
4.2
3.9 12.5
6.3 26.6
5.8 20.1
7.2
8.5
5.7
7.7
7.2
7.0
6.4
3.7
5.0
2.8
6.1
4.7
.7
5.3
.7
4.8
5.0
3.1
3.3
2.8
.7
1.5
1.7
1.4
.9
1.1
3.5

0.6
9.6 " 7 .9
4.4
2.4
12.7 10.0
7.8
3.7
9.5
6.8
8.9 11.8
13.4
9.8
11.3
9.2
7.4
7.9
4.7
4.6
3.2
4.2
2.1
3.8
1.6
5.0
.7
1.9
.7
2.2
.5
2.0
.2
1.3
.4
2.4
1
.6
.2
1.0
.3
0)
.1
(0

.

0)
0)
0)

(0

0.7
9.8
4.6
13.0
8.2
9.8
8.6
13.7
11.6
7.3
4.7
3.1
1.9
1.2
.6
.5
.3
.1
.2
0)
.1

34.5
4.4
1.5
19.3
7.1
10.6
6.5
5.2
4.6
3.2
2.0
.5
.3
.3

2.6
9.3
3.5
24.2
6.9
14.6
14.1
9.5
3.8
4.3
4.3
2.1
.4
.4

43.0
3.2
1.0
18.0
7.1
9.6
4.5
4.1
4.7
2.9
1.4
.1
.2
.2

(0

.4

.1
.3
.3

0)

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

142 7,078
696 6,382 1,120
234
886
N um ber of w orkers2......... 9,844 2,434 7,410 1,646 1,504
Average hourly earnings.. $0,491 $0.659 $0,432 $0,739 $0.762 $0,508 $0.451 $0,528 $0,442 $0.354 $0,399 $0,341
i Less than a tenth of 1 percent.
* In order to give proportionate representation to all areas, data for the South are used in the totals with a
weight of one-fourth. The total number of workers appearing in this table, therefore, is somewhat smaller
than the number actually included in the Bureau’s survey.
HOURLY

E A R N IN G S

BY

R E G IO N

AND

STATE

There was considerable variation in the earnings of factory workers
in the principal glove-manufacturing areas, as table 8 indicates.
Earnings in the North averaged 49.8 cents an hour, or 13.8 cents more
than the southern average of 36.0 cents. Even within the North,
wage levels were by no means uniform. Among the highest State
averages was that paid by New York, 54.3 cents an hour. Wage
levels varied greatly, however, even within New York State. Hourly
earnings amounted to 63.0 cents in Fulton County, as compared with
49.7 cents in New York City. It should be mentioned that much of
the lowest paid work in New York—particularly in Fulton County—is
performed by home workers, whose earnings are not reflected in table
8. The remainder of New York State, the Middle West, and other
Northern States had about the same hourly earnings, the averages
being 45.4, 45.7, and 45.0 cents.




17

WAGES AX'D HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY
T

able

8 . —Average

Hourly Earnings of Factory Workers iri_Glove Industry, by Regum,
July 1941
Kegion

Total

Males

Females

United States1________________________________________

$0,491

$0,659

$0,432

N orth..................... ........................... ......................................
N ew York State _________ _______________________
N ew Y ork C ity— ____________________________
Fulton C ounty______ _________________________
Other N ew Y ork ______________________________
M iddle W est.............................................................. .......
Illinois____________________________________ ___
Indiana........................... ..................................... .......
Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri........__............ .
M ichigan.................... ......................... .....................
Ohio............................... ..............................................
W isconsin........ .......... ...............................................
Other northern States.....................................................

.498
.543
.497
.630
.454
.457
.447
.418
.433
.549
.407
.505
.450

.669
.764
.710
.820
.591
.571
.530
.492
.491
.664
.554
.661
.547

.437
.456
.456
.482
.425
.419
.413
.404
.409
.509
.375
.448
.421

South....... ............. .............................................. ..................

.360

.391

.353

i In order to give proportionate representation to all areas, data for the South are used in the totals with
a weight of one-fourth.

The Middle-Western States also showed some variation among
themselves, the averages ranging from 40.7 cents an hour for Ohio to
54.9 cents for Michigan. The State averages are greatly influenced
by the type of gloves manufactured. Thus, Ohio (40.7 cents) and
Indiana (41.8 cents) are represented chiefly by fabric work-glove
plants, while Wisconsin, with an average of 50.5 cents, has a large
proportion of leather dress-glove plants, which pay relatively high
wages.
The distribution of hourly earnings for individual workers reflects
a similar order of regional wage levels (table 9). Thus, workers re­
ceiving less than 37.5 cents an hour accounted for only 17.6 percent
of the total in Fulton County, 32.0 percent in New York City, 37.1
percent in the remainder of New York State, 36.5 percent in the
Middle West, 34.3 percent in the other northern States, and 73.2
percent in the South. At the other extreme, workers paid 52.5 cents
an hour or more included 52.4 percent of the total in Fulton County and
31.0 percent in New York City. The proportions in the remainder of
New York, the Middle West, and other northern States were 20.4,
23.6, and 20.9 percent, respectively. Only 1.9 percent of southern
employees reached or exceeded 52.5 cents an hour.




18
T

WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

able

9 . —Percentage

Distribution of Factory Workers in Glove Industry, by Average
Hourly Earnings, Region, and Sex, July 1941
United States *

N ew Y ork State

N ew York C ity

Fulton County,
N. Y.

Average hourly earnings
(in cents)
Total Males Fe­ Total Males Fe­ Total Males Fe­ Total Males Fe­
males
males
males
males
U nder 32.5............................
E xactly 32.5-...................
32.6 and under 35.0.........
Exactly 35.0.....................
35.1 and under 37.5.........
37.5 and under 40.0.........
40.0 and under 42.5........
42.5 and under 47.5.........
47.5 and under 52.5_____
52.5 and under 57.5.............
57.5 and under 62.5____
62.5 and under 67.5____
67.5 and under 72.5____
72.5 and under 77.5____
77.5 and under 82.5. ..........
82.5 and under 87.5_..........
87.5 and under 92.5............
92.5 and under 97.5 ............
97.5 and under 102.5...........
102.5 and under 107.5.........
107.5 and under 112.5.........
112.5 and under 117.5....... .
117.5 and under 122.5.........
122.5 and under 127.5.........
127.5 and under 132.5....... .
132.5 and under 137.5.........
137.5 and under 142.5.........
142.5 and over.....................
T otal..........................

4.4
7.6
3.4
11.7
6.7
8.3
7.9
11.5
9.8
6.9
4.6
3.6
2.6
2.0
1.5
1.2
1.2
.9
1.0
.5

0.4
3.7
1.5

5.7
8.9
4.1
13.3
8.0
9.6
8.2
12.7
10.9
6.8
4.4
2.8
1.8
1.2
.5
.5
.3

3.4

1.0
1.4
15.1
6.2
7.2

0.5

1.1
.9
.5
.5
.5
.3
.4
1.2

.4
7.2
1.8
2.0
5.1
5.0
5.2
6.6
4.9
5.1
4.8
4.7
5.3
3.8
5.1
4.7
5.6
2.9
3.9
3.1
1.7
1.9
1.8
1.1
1.4
4.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

100.0

.6
.5

.2
.2
.1
.2
.3

.6

6.6
2.7
4.3
7.1
7.7
6.5
7.1
5.3
5.9
5.1
4.6
4.3
3.5
3.9
3.3
3.8
2.1
2.3
1.8
.9
1.1
1.0

.1

.1
(’ )
.1

(2)
(2)

.6
.7
2.2

(’ )

6.8

11.1

10.3
7.3
5.4
4.3
3.2
2.5
2.1
1.6
1.8
1.4
1.7

.8

4.5
1.3
1.8
18.1
7.9
9.1
7.5
13.3
12.2
7.5
5.6
4.0
2.6
1.7
.9

.1

.8
.5

.2
.3

.1
(*)
(a)

.1

3.8
2.6
3.4
16.5
5.7
8.5
6.3
-11. 5
10.7
7.7
5.5
3.6
3.1
1.8
1.8
1.3
1.2
1.0
1.0
.5
.7
.4

1.3
13.2
1.3
4.6
6.8
5.1
3.8
7.6
4.6
3.8
2.5
4.2
6.3
2.5
4.6
5.1
4.6
3.0
3.4
2.5

4.5
3.1
3.8
17.1
6.5
9.2
6.2

12.6
11.9
7.7
5.6
3.6
3.2
1.4
1.1
1.1

.6

.2

.3

.1

.2

2.1

.8

1.3
.4
4.6

(2)

3.2
.4
10.7
3.3
6.0
6.1
8.5
9.4
7.0
6.2
5.1
4.0
3.8
3.3
2.6
3.0
2.6
2.9
1.5

2.1
1.6
1.0
1.0
1.1
.6
.8
2.2

0.7

.2

5.3

.6
1.3
3.3
4.5
5.1
6.0
4.7
4.5
4.5
4.6
6.0
4.7
5.8
5.5
6.0
3.3
4.7
3.7
2.1
2.3
2.5
1.3
1.8
5.0

5.0
.4
14.9
5.3
9.6
8.2

11.8
12.8
7.9
7.4
5.6
3.6
3.1
1.3
1.0

.8
.4
.5

.1

.1

.1
.1

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Num ber of workers............ 9,844 2,434 7,410 4,615 1,247
1,570
237 1,333 1,956
1,113
Average hourly earnings. _ $0,491 $0,659 $0,432 $0.543 $0,764 $0,456 $0,497 $0.710 $0.456
$0,820 $0.482

Other N ew York

Under 32.5..........................
Exactly 32.5. ....................
32.6 and under 35.0...........
Exactly 35.0___.................
35.1 and under 37.5...........
37.5 and under 40.0...........
40.0 and under 42.5...........
42.5 and under 47.5...........
47.5 and under 52.5...........
52.5 and under 57.5...........
57.5 and under 62.5...........
62.5 and under 67.5______
67.5 and under 72.5______
72.5 and under 77.5...........
77.5 and under 82.5...........
82.5 and under 87.5...........
87.5 and under 92.5...........
92.5 and under 97.5 ..........
97.5 and under 102.5.........
102.5 and under 107.5.......
107.5 and under 112.5____
112.5 and under 117.5.......
117.5 and under 122.5____
122.5 and under 127.5.......
127.5 and under 132.5.......
132.5 and under 137.5.......
137.5 and under 142.5____
142.5 and over___________
T otal..........................

3.2
0.6
.5
.4
20.7 " 8. 4
12.3
8.4
1.8
7.3
9.0 11.4
7.2
14.8
7.8
11.4
8.4
7.1
6.0
3.9
9.5
3.7
9.5
1.9
1.2
6.0
.1
.6
1.2
2.4
5.4
.6
.6
1.2
1.8

3.8
.4
.4
23.1
13.0
8.4
8.6
16.3
12.0
6.8
3.6
2.6
.5

6.4

10.8
4.8
7.9
6.6
9.4
8.9

11.8
9.8
7.2
4.3
3.3
2.1

1.8

.1
.1

Other Northern
States

M iddle West

1.1
1.1

0.3
6.0
2.8
6.6
3.0
5.7
8.9
9.9
7.2
8.2
6.3
7.1
4.9
4.9
3.6
3.8
3.1
2.3
2.3
1.6
.4
.6

8.2
12.1
5.5
8.3
7.7

10.6

8.9
12.5
10.7
6.8
3.7
2.2
1.2
.9
.4

.2

.1

10.1
15.4
11.1

100.0

4.6
1.5
6.6

11.2

.3

.1

.5

.8
.2
.2

.1
(2)

5.6

14.4
11.7
7.7
4.6
8.2
9.7
4.1
3.1
2.0
1.0
1.0
.5
.5
1.5

7.3
3.7
3.3
2.9
1.2
.7

.1

.1
.2
.1
.1

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

2.5
8.3
1.7
16.2
5.6
8.2

100.0

3.2
9.0
2.2
19.3
6.7
8.6
9.8
15.7
11.0
7.2
3.5
1.9
1.1
.4

South

2.7
41.5
14.5
1.4
13.1
10.5
5.9
5.9
2.6
.9
.4

.2
.3

26.6
6.5
3.5
15.5
17.4
8.4
8.7
6.8
3.0
1.1
.8
1.4

.1

3.2
44.6
16.2
.9
12.6
9.0
5.4
5.3
1.7
.5
.3

.1

.1

.1

.4

100.0 100.0

100.0 100.0

100.0

922 3,778
2,879
917
721 2,135
1,089
167
196
1,767
Num ber of workers_____
$0,391
Average hourly earnings. $0,454 $0.591 $0,425 $0.457 $0,571 $0,419 $0,450 $0.547 $0,421
i In order to give proportionate representation to all areas, data for the South are used in the totals with
a weight of one-fourth. T h e total number of workers appearing in this table, therefore, is somewhat smaller
than the number actually included in the Bureau’s survey.
3 Less than a tenth of 1 percent.




WAGE©

Am

19

HOURS, GDOVE IHSTDUStrHY

S U B M IN IM U M

W AGES

It will be noted that in all distributions presented in this report
the hourly earnings of some workers fall below the minima set by the
Wage and Hour Division. Most of these subminimum workers were
learners, apprentices, or handicapped workers. Tins group included
389 of the 402 learners, 7 of the 9 apprentices, and 25 of the 33 handi­
capped workers found in the survey. Regulations of the Wage and
Hour Division permit employers holding certificates to employ a
limited number of learners at not less than 25 cents an hour for a 480hour learning period on hand- and machine-stitching operations on
leather dress gloves, machine stitching on knit-fabric or work gloves,
and finger knitting and finger closing on knit wool gloves. The sur­
vey included 30 finger-knitter learners and 12 finger-closer learners in
the seamless-knitted glove branch of the industry; in the remaining
branches, there were 354 learners on stitching jobs, with only 6 em­
ployed on other jobs. Certificates are also issued to permit payment
of subminimum wages to handicapped workers and to apprentices
working under an approved apprenticeship system. A 2-year appren­
ticeship training plan was found in operation in Fulton County, N. Y.,
for the training of table cutters. The percentages of workers receiv­
ing subminimum pay in July 1941 are shown in table 10.
T a b le

10.— Subminimum Workers in Glove Industry, by Hourly Earnings, Class of
Workers, and Branch, July 1941
Percent of total workers at—
35-cent minimum

32.5-cent minimum

Item
Fabric
dress
gloves
H ourly earnings:
Under 25 cents_______________________
Exactly 25 cents______________________
25.1 cents and under the m inim um ___
T o t a l ______________________________

0)

Seamless­
fingered
knitted
gloves

Leather
dress
gloves

Fabric
work
gloves

Leather
work
gloves

1.1
2.0

3.7
2.4

0.2
2.2
1.8

0.2
5.4
1.9

0.1
1.7
1.0

3.1

6.1

4.2

7.5

2.8

2.7

5.6

2.8
.3
.3
.8

6.6

1.8

.4
.5

.2
.8

4.2

7.5

2.8

Class of worker:
Learners___________________ _________
Apprentices__________________________
H a n d ica p p ed ________________________
O th ers_______________________________

( , ) .4

T otal........................................................

3.1

.5
6.1

i Less than a tenth of 1 percent.
H O U R L Y E A R N IN G S B Y S IZ E

O F C IT Y

There is some indication that average hourly earnings in the glove
industry increase with the size of the city in which the plant is situated.
Fabric dress-glove plants paid an average of 45.9 cents an hour in



20

WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

cities with less than 100,000 population, and 49.4 cents in cities of
250,000 and over. In the case of leather dress gloves, the averages
were 57.3 cents for communities with less than 2,500 population, 64.7
cents for those with 10,000 and under 25,000 population, and 81.3
cents for cities of 1,000,000 or more. The lowest averages, however,
were for two plants in cities of 500,000 and under 1,000,000. Various
sizes of communities under 250,000 population generally paid 36 to 40
cents an hour in the fabric work-glove industry, while those of 250,000
and over averaged 45 cents. The plants in the various size groups of
communities of less than 250,000 inhabitants averaged from 42.0 to
47.5 cents an hour in the leather work-glove industry; those in com­
munities of 250,000 or more paid their workers an average of 54.3
cents an hour.
Hourly Earnings in Various Branches of the Industry
F A B R IC

DRESS

GLOVES

Average hourly earnings of factory workers in the fabric dress-glove
branch of the industry amounted to 48.0 cents (table 11). About a
fifth of the workers (20.4 percent) were paid the 35-cent legal minimum.
Over a fourth (29.0 percent) received less than 37.5 cents an hour,
and 36.8 percent received less than 40.0 cents.
T

able

1 1 . —Percentage

Distribution of Factory Workers in Fabric Dress-Glove Branch,
by Average Hourly Earnings, Region, and Sex, July 1941
United States

Average hourly earnings
(in cents)

Under 3 5 .0 .......................
Exactly 35.0.........................
35.1 and under 37.5_...........
37.5 and under 40.0.............
40.0 and under 42.5.............
42.5 and under 47.5............
47.5 and under 52.5.............
52.5 and under 57.5.............
57.5 and under 62.5............
62.5 and under 67.5............
67.5 and under 72.5............
72.5 and under 77.5.............
77.5 and under 82.5
___
82.5 and under 87.5_______
87.5 and under 92.5______
92.5 and under 97.5 ____
97.5 and o v e r ......................

N ew York C ity

Upstate N ew York

Other States1

Fe­ Total Males Fe­ Total Males Fe­ Total Males Fe­
Total Males males
males
males
males
3.1
20.4
5.5
7.8
8.9
14.7
12.9
8.4
5.3
3.9
2.6
1.4
1.0
.8
.7
.4
2.2

0.3
12.8
.8
1.4
10.1
8.7
7.3
8.4
4.7
6.4
6.4
5.3
4.7
2.5
3.1
2.2
14.9

3.6
21.4
6.2
8.7
8.8
15.5
13.6
8.4
5.4
3.6
2.1
.8
.5
.6
.4
.1
.3

3.6
20.1
4.9
8.2
6.5
12.0
12.7
8.6
6.2
4.5
3.7
1.8
1.7
1.4
1.1
.6
2.4

0.7
19.1
2.0
2.0
9.2
5.9
5.9
10.5
3.9
5.3
3.3
3.9
5.9
2.0
3.3
2.6
14.5

4.1
20.2
5.3
9.1
6.1
12.9
13.7
8.3
6.5
4.4
3.8
1.5
1.1
1.3
.8
.3
.6

3.8
18.8
5.6
8.4
10.0
17.6
13.4
7.7
4.8
4.0
2.0
1.1
.1
.2
.4

.9
7.5
9.3
8.4
6.5
8.4
10.3
11.2
5.6
.9
1.9
1.9

2.1

16.0

11.2

4.3
20.0
6.4
9.5
10.3
18.8
14.1
7.9
4.3
3.1
.7
.4
.’ i
.1

1.7
22.1
6.3
6.5
11.6
15.5
12.2
8.9
4.6
3.0
1.6
1.2
1.1
.7
.5
.5
2.0

5.1
1.0
14.1
12.2
8.1
7.1
2.0
4.0
6.1
7.1
7.1
4.0
4.0
4.0
14.1

2.0
24.7
7.3
7.3
11.2
15.9
12.8
9.1
5.0
2.9
.9
.3
.2
.2
.2

T otal...................... — 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
152 1,032
853
358 2,436 1.184
107
746
757
99
658
N um ber of workers......... 2,794
Average hourly earnings._ $0,480 $0,640 $0,452 $0,493 $0,629 $0,471 $0,466 $0,639 $0,437 $0,473 $0,660 $0,440
1 Includes Illinois, N ew Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

The wages paid in New York City averaged 49.3 cents an hour, as
compared with 46.6 cents in Upstate New York. The average for
all other States combined was 47.3 cents. The distributions of workers



21

WAGES AN© HOURS, GLiOVE INDUSTRY

by wage levels in the 3 areas exhibit considerable similarity. For
example, 20.1 percent of the workers in New York City were paid
exactly 35 cents an hour; 18.8 percent'of those in Upstate New York
and 22.1 percent of those in other States were paid the same rate.
Again, the percentages of employees receiving less than 40 cents an
hour were 36.8, 36.6, and 36.6, respectively. At the other end of the
distribution, the percentages of the workers whose hourly earnings
equaled or exceeded 52.5 cents were 32.0, 22.4, and 24.1, respectively.
Males averaged 64.0 cents an hour in July 1941, or 18.8 cents more
than the 45.2 cents paid to the average female worker. Although
13.1 percent of the males received 35.0 cents or less, only 15.3 percent
of them had hourly earnings of less than 40.0 cents an hour, as com­
pared with 39.9 percent of the female employees.
There were also pronounced differences in the wages of the three
skill classes. Hourly earnings were 70.3 cents for skilled workers,
46.0 for the semiskilled, and 37.6 for the unskilled. The differences
in hourly earnings were similar in the three areas, but the greatest
difference between the unskilled and the skilled workers occurred in
New York City.
Plants which manufacture fabric dress gloves may use fabric which
is a product of their own manufacture, or they may purchase their
fabric. Plants of the former type are referred to as “ integrated
plants,” and those of the latter type are designated as “ nonintegrated
plants.” The 1,371 employees surveyed in the 7 integrated plants
had average hourly earnings of 46.7 cents in July 1941, or 2.5 cents
less than those of the 1,423 workers found in the 11 nonintegrated
plants (table 12). The distributions of individual workers exhibit a
striking similarity.
T

able

1 2 . —Percentage

Distribution of Factory Workers in Fabric Dress-Glove Branch,
by Average Hourly Earnings and by Type of Plant, July 1941
Integrated plants

Nonintegrated plants

Average hourly earnings
Total

Males

Under 35.0 cents_________________________
Exactly 35.0 cents_______ _______________
35.1 and under 37.5 c e n ts ...---------------------37.5 and under 40.0 cents_________________
40.0 and under 42.5 cents___________ _____
42.5 and under 47.5 cents_________________
47.5 and under 52.5 cents_________________
52.5 and under 57.5 cents_________________
57.5 and under 62.5 cents_________________
62.5 and under 67.5 cents.............................
67.5 and under 72.5 cents........... ...................
72.5 and under 77.5 cents_________________
77.5 and under 82.5 cents___ ____ ________
82.5 and under 87.5 cents_________________
87.5 and under 92.5 cents_________________
92.5 and under 97.5 c e n ts _____ __________
97.5 cents and over_____________ _____ ___

2.8
20.6
5.3
9.4
10.7
15.9
12.4
8.2
4.4
3.6
2.1
1.2
.3
.4
.5
.3
1.9

12.0
.6
1.3
7.0
9.5
7.0
7.0
4.4
7.6
10.1
7.0
2.5
1.9
3.8
2.5
15.8

Total----------- ------------------------- ---------

100.0

100.0

Number of workers______ _______________
Average hourly earnings_________________

1,371
$0.467

158
$0.652




Females
3.1
21.8
5.9
10.5
11.2
16.7
13.1
8.3
4.4
3.1
1.1
.4

Total

Males

Females

.1

3.5
19.9
5.8
6.3
7.2
13.4
13.1
8.6
6.3
4.2
3.1
1.6
1.8
1.3
.9
.5
2.5

0.5
13.5
1.0
1.5
12.5
8.0
7.5
9.5
5.0
5.5
3.5
4.0
6.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
14.0

4.0
21.0
6.5
7.0
6.4
14.3
14.1
8.5
6.5
4.0
3.0
1.2
1.0
1.0
.7
.2
.6

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

1, 213
$0.438

1,423
$0.492

200
$0.631

1, 223
$0.467

.2
.1

22

WAGES AN© HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

Occupational Variations

The highest hourly earnings among the workers in individual
occupations in the fabric dress-glove branch were received by working
foremen, who averaged 99.3 cents an hour (table 13). Leather cutters
averaged 73.8 cents and fabric cutters 69.2 cents an hour. Semi­
skilled male workers as a group averaged 47.9 cents an hour, and
unskilled males averaged 40.4 cents.
Relatively few woman workers were classed as skilled; these aver­
aged 53.2 cents an hour. The group of semiskilled women included
all the stitchers, both machine and hand. Glove makers producing
the complete glove on their machines were paid 46.3 cents an hour.
The stitching of the fabric glove is more often divided into several
operations. The closers and thumb inserters, considered to have the
most difficult of the stitching jobs, received 50.0 and 49.4 cents an
hour, respectively. The lowest average for machine stitchers, 41.1
cents an hour, was for thumb seamers. Hand sewers, with an average
of 38.4 cents, earned less than any other occupational group among
the semiskilled females.
Female workers classified as unskilled include banders and packers,
who were paid an average of 42.5 cents an hour, and learners, who
averaged 28.3 cents.
13.— Average Hourly Earnings, Weekly Hours, and Weekly Earnings of Factory
Workers in Fabric Dress-Glove Branchy by Sex, Skill, and Occupation, July 1941

T a b le

Sex, skill, and occupation

Num ber of
workers

Average
hourly
earnings

Average
weekly
hours

Average
weekly
earnings

Males

Skilled workers:
Cutters, fabric____ _______________________________
Cutters, leather1________________ ________________
Foremen, working
_____________________________
Miscellaneous sk ille d _____________________________
Semiskilled workers, miscellaneous____________________
Unskilled workers, miscellaneous ___________________

89
91
15
38
76
49

$0,692
.738
.993
.784
.479
.404

43.3
39.0
40.6
43.5
43.1
40.8

$29.93
28.81
40.32
34.06
20.64
16.50

Females
Skilled workers, miscellaneous________________________
Semiskilled workers:
Binders and hemmers.................... ....................... ........
Closers___ ____________ ____ . ________ ___________ Examiners. ____________________________________ Fancy stitchers
_______________________________
Fourchetters or keilers .
____________________
Glove makers, complete___________________________
Hand sewers
__ ______________________
Pointers
______________________________________
Point finishers . .
_____________________________
Pressers
............... ....................................................
Stitchers, miscellaneous. - _______________________
Thum b inserters
. . ______________________
Thum b seamers __________ _______________________
Trimmers and turners
, ___________________ - ___
Miscellaneous semiskilled___________ ____ _________
U nskilled workers:
Banders and p a ck ers_____________________________
Learners. _______________________________________
Miscellaneous unskilled .
______________________
i Includes block, pattern, and table cutters who worked
dress gloves which were minor products.




58

.532

39.7

21.16

152
411
139
188
220
52
36
149
50
131
124
191
53
118
132

.441
.500
.426
.445
.470
.463
.384
.465
.421
.493
.438
.494
.411
.410
.420

37.6
35.3
35.4
37.0
35.8
37.4
32.7
36.4
36.0
34.1
37.9
35.4
35.4
36.1
37.7

16.58
17.62
15.10
16.49
16.84
17.31
12.58
16.93
15.15
16.80
16.59
17.49
14.53
14.81
15.83

109
79
44

.425
.283
.375

36.3
34.0
38.8

15.44
9.61
14.54

on leather or combination fabric and leather

23

WAGEiSI ANiD HOURS, GLOVE' IQSrDTJSlTRY
S E A M L E S S -F I N G E R E D K N I T T E D

GLOVES

Hourly earnings of factory workers in the seamless-fingered knittedglove branch averaged 43.9 cents in July 1941 (table 14). Nearly a
fifth (18.1 percent) of the employees earned the legal minimum of 35
cents an hour. Two-fifths (41.4 percent) were paid less than 37.5
cents, and over half (51.3 percent) received less than 40 cents an hour.
This branch of the industry is the lowest-paid of the three branches
operating under the 35-cent minimum.
T a b le

14.—Percentage Distribution of Factory Workers in Seamless-Fingered KnittedGlove Branch, by Average Hourly Earnings and Sex, July 1941
Average hourly earnings

Males

Total

Females

Under 35.0 cents_____ - _________________________________
Exactly 35.0 c e n ts _____________________________________
35.1 and under 37.5 c e n ts ______________________________
37.5 and under 40.0 cents_______________________________
40.0 and under 42.5 c e n ts ______________________________
42.5 and under 47.5 c e n ts ______________________________
47.5 and under 52.5 c e n ts ______________________________
52.5 and under 57.5 c e n ts ______________________________
57.5 and under 62.5 c e n ts ______________________________
62.5 and under 67.5 c e n ts ______________________________
67.5 and under 72.5 c e n ts ______________________________
72.5 and under 77.5 cents................. .....................................
77.5 cents and over_____________________________________

6.1
18.1
17.2
9.9
7.2
13.2
12.2
5.4
3.8
2.0
1.7
1.6
1.6

14.1
12.2
3.7
8.4
9.3
6.5
8.4
6.5
5.6
6.5
7.5
11.3

7.0
18.8
18.1
10.9
7.0
13.8
13.2
4.9
3.4
1.4
.9
.6

T otal................................................................................

100.0

100.0

100.0

N um ber of workers____________________________________
Average hourly earnings_______________________________

760
$0,439

107
$0,546

653
$0,419

Male workers in this small branch of the industry received an
average of 54.6 cents an hour, or 12.7 cents more than the average
wage for female workers. Whereas 30.0 percent of the men had
hourly earnings less than 40 cents, fully 54.8 percent of the women fell
below that level. The proportion of workers earning 52.5 cents
or more was 45.8 percent for the men, as compared with only 11.2 per­
cent for the women.
Skilled workers earned 61.0 cents an hour; semiskilled, 43.5 cents;
and unskilled, 39.5 cents.
Since only 5 plants were included in the sample for this type of
glove, it is not practicable to present tabulations by region.
Occupational Variations

Working foremen were paid 66.7 cents an hour, on the average, in
the seamless-fingered knitted branch of the glove industry (table 15).
The only other occupations in which the males were numerous enough
to be shown separately were those of hand and cuff knitters, who
earned 59.8 cents, and formers, who received 50.4 cents an hour.




24
T

WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

15.—Average Hourly Earnings, Weekly Hours and Earnings of Factory Workers in
Seamless-Fingered Knitted-Glove Branch, by Sex, Skill, and Occupation, July 1941

able

Number
of
workers

Sex, skill, and occupation

Average
hourly
earnings

Average
weekly
hours

Average
weekly
earnings

Males

Skilled workers:
Foremen, working________________ _______ _______
Hand and cuff knitters----------------------------------- ------Miscellaneous s k ille d ........ ........... ..........................
Semiskilled workers:
Formers ---------------------------- ---------------------------------Miscellaneous semiskilled-------------------------------------Unskilled workers, miscellaneous_________________ ___

8
26
11

$0,667
.598
.676

55.7
48.5
52.5

$37.11
29.00
35.46

28
18
16

.504
.422
.475

39.8
41.6
46.8

20.03
17.55
22.24

Females
Skilled workers, miscellaneous________________ _____
Semiskilled workers:
Examiners-------------------------------------------------------------Finger knitters_____________ _________ ____________
Miscellaneous semiskilled____________________ ____
Unskilled workers:
Finger closers_________________ _________ _________
Learners______________________ ____ ______________
Miscellaneous unskilled----------------------- - .................

10

.498

43.2

21.53

37
302
84

.397
.438
.423

39.7
41.8
*9.8

15.78
18.33
16.82

103
42
75

.410
.265
.421

37.8
36.1
39.3

15.48
9.59
16.55

Finger knitters, the most important occupational group from the
viewpoint of numbers employed, received the highest average hourly
earnings paid to women, 43.8 cents. Finger closers, next in import­
ance, averaged 41.0 cents an hour. Examiners, with 39.7 cents, and
learners, with 26.5 cents an hour, complete the short list of occupations
that can be shown for this branch.
LEATH ER

DRESS

GLOVES

The highest wages in the glove industry are paid by the manufac­
turers of leather dress gloves. Average hourly earnings of factory
workers in this branch of the industry amounted to 62.7 cents in July
1941, as table 16 shows. In spite of this comparatively high average,
15.5 percent of the workers were paid 35 cents an hour or less, and 24.4
percent were paid less than 40 cents. In striking contrast with the
other branches of the industry, 13.2 percent of the leather dress-glove
workers had hourly earnings in excess of 97.5 cents.
The average for the leather dress-glove branch would be lowered if the
earnings of home workers were included, or if all work were brought
into the factory, since the operations performed in the home are
primarily stitching jobs, while the higher-paid cutting and related
occupations are not represented among home workers to any appreci­
able extent. However, earnings in this branch would still exceed, by a
very appreciable margin, earnings in any other division of the industry.
An unusually marked difference is to be observed between the
earnings of male and female workers. The former had an average
of 81.3 cents an hour, or 32.9 cents greater than the average of 48.4




25

WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

cents paid to women. Only 8.6 percent of the males received less than
40 cents an hour, as compared with 35.9 percent of the female employees.
T

able

16.—Percentage Distribution of Factory Workers in Leather Dress-Glove Branch,
by Average Hourly Earnings, Region, and Sex, July 1941
United States

Average hourly earnings

N ew York

Total

Males

Fe­
males

Total

Exactly 35.0 cents____ ____ . _____35.1 and under 37.5 cents-------------37.5 and under 40.0 cents.................
40.0 and under 42.5 cents-------------42.5 and under 47.5 cents.................
47.5 and under 52.5 cents.................
52.5 and under 57.5 cents................
57.5 and under 62.5 cen ts ..........
62.5 and under 67.5 cents____ ____
67.5 and under 72.5 cents...... ..........
72.5 and under 77.5 cents........... .
77.5 and under 82.5 cents_________
82.5 and under 87.5 cents_________
87.5 and under 92.5 cents - .........
92.5'and under 97.5 cents_________
97.5 and under 102.5 cents________
102.5 and under 107.5 cents_______
107.5 and under 112.5 cents_______
112.5 and under 117.5 cents_______
117,5 and under 122.5 cents_______
122.5 and under 127.5 cents_______
127.5 and under 132.5 cents_______
132.5 and under 137.5 cents_______
137.5 and under 142.5 cents_______
142.5 cents and o v e r _____________

4.2
11.3
2.5
6.4
5.7
7.9
8.3
7.9
6.2
5.4
4.3
4.2
3.5
2.9
3.2
2.7
2.8
1.7
2.0
1.4
.8
.9
.8
.5
.6
1.9

0.7
5.2
.8
1.9
2.5
4.4
4.8
6.1
4.5
5.2
4.8
5.1
6.1
5.2
6.4
6.1
6.1
3.8
4.3
3.3
1.7
2.1
2.0
1.2
1.4
4.3

6.8
15.9
3.6
9.6
8.1
10.6
11.1
9.3
7.5
5.4
3.9
3.6
1.6
1.1
.8
.3
.4
.1
.2

1.7
9.8
2.2
5.1
5.4
7.5
8.6
7.5
6.2
5.5
4.3
4.3
4.0
3.1
3.5
3.3
3.5
1.8
2.8
1.9
1.1
1.2
1.3
.7
.9
2.8

T o t a l......................................

100.0

100.0

100.0

N um ber of w orkers............. ......... 2,596 1,106
Average hourly earnings-------------- $0,627 $0.813

.1

100.0

Other States

Males

Fe­
males

0.9
4.0
.5
1.4
2.7
3.9
4.6
5.4
4.2
4.3
4.3
4.7
6.2
4.9
6.2
6.2
6.4
3.6
5.4
4.0
2.1
2.5
2.6
1.5
1.9
5.6

2.3
15.5
3.8
8.6
8.0
10.9
12.4
9.5
8.1
6.7
4.3
3.9
1.9
1.4
1.0
.4
.7
.1
.3

100.0

100.0

.

1,490 1,754
856
$0,484 $0,680 $0,854

Total Males

Fe­
males

9.5
14.7
3.0
8.9
6.3
9.0
8/1
8.8
6.3
5.0
4.2
4.0
2.5
2.4
2.5
1.5
1.3
1.3
.2
.2
.1
.2

9.2
2.0
3.6
2.0
6.4
5.6
8.4
5.6
8.4
6.4
6.4
5.6
6.4
.7.2
5.2
4.4
4.4
.8
.8
.4
.8

100.0

100.0

100.0

842
898
250
$0.506 $0,523 $0,682

592
$0.452

.1

13.5
17.0
3.4
11.1
8.1
10.1
9.1
9.0
6.6
3.5
3.2
3.0
1.2
.7
.5

.1

i Includes California and Wisconsin.

Earnings received in New York State averaged 68.0 cents an hour
and the small group of workers in New York City averaged 82.3
cents. Workers outside New York State averaged 52.3 cents. The
proportion of the labor force compensated at a rate of less than 40
cents an hour was about half as great in New York (18.8 percent)
as in the other States (36.1 percent).
The averages for workers classified on the basis of skill were 88.8
cents for skilled workers, 53.1 cents for semiskilled, and 34.6 cents
for unskilled workers. The latter average fell below the legal mini­
mum because about a third of this group consisted of learners, who
averaged 25.6 cents an hour.
Occupational Variations

The leather dress-glove branch exhibits a wide range of occupational
averages. Table cutters, considered the most highly skilled workers
in the glove industry, earned $1,036 an hour on the average (table 17).
Block cutters had the lowest average among the skilled males, 58.1
cents an hour.




26
T

WAGES AN® HOURS', GTjOVE INDUSTRY

1 7 . —Average Hourly Earnings, Weekly Hours, and Weekly Earnings of Factory
Workers in Leather Dress-Glove Branch9 by Sex, Skill, and Occupation, July 1941

able

Sex, skill, and occupation

N um ber of
workers

Average
hourly
earnings

Average
weekly
hours

Average
weekly
earnings

Males
Skilled workers:
Cutters:
Block cutters.............................................................
Clicking-machine operators....................................
Pattern cptt&rs,............................... ........................
fa b le cutters.............................................................
Foremen, working...........................................................
Miscellaneous skilled......................................................
Semiskilled workers:
Layers-ofL--.....................................................................
Slitter operators................................................................
Trim m ersand turners....................................................
Miscellaneous semiskilled..............................................
Unskilled workers:
Table-cutter apprentices................... - .........................Miscellaneous unskilled.................................................

92
89
162
378
35
27

$0.581
.697
.891
1.036
.813
.923

36.4
40.1
36.3
36.8
42.8
40.6

$21.16
27.92
32.37
38.12
34.82
37.50

122
15
18
106

.827
.625
.500
.549

35.6
37.9
39.2
40.3

29.45
23.70
19.61
22.15

9
53

.251
.422

38.7
42.5

9.72
17.94

Females
Skilled workers, miscellaneous...........................................
Semiskilled workers:
E nd pullers.......................................................................
Examiners.........................................................................
Hand sewers............................................................ ........
Makers:
Gauge makers............................................................
Inseam makers..........................................................
Osann makers............................................................
Outseam makers........ ............................................
Overseam makers.....................................................
Pique makers...............................................- ..........
Other m akers1.............................. ..........................
Stitchers, other than makers:
Binders and hemmers............. ................................
Silkers....................- .............................................. .
Other stitchers............................................ - ..........
Trimmers and turners............................ ......................
Miscellaneous semiskilled-------------- -----------------------Unskilled workers:
Banders and packers.. ........................ - .........- ..............
Learners........................ ..................................... ........ .
Miscellaneous unskilled.................................................

19

.500

40.6

20.32

60
147
23.

.508
.375
.435

33.8
38.1
36.3

17.16
14.31
15.78

130
41
39
30
59
160
195

.570
.521
.643
.522
.499
.502
.507

34.7
37..0
35.8
36.7
34.3
35.5
36.4

19.76
19.28
23.02
19.15
17.14
17.84
18.47

84
76
192
25
70

.555
.593
.496
.474
.445

35.0
33.2
37.3
38.1
38.4

19.43
19.71
18.48
18.07
17.06

36
72
32

.368
.256
.402

40.2
36.8
38.2

i

14.80
9.44
15.35

i Includes makers for whom type of stitch was not reported.

The average hourly earnings of semiskilled males ranged from
82.7 cents for layers-off to 50.0 cents for trimmers and turners.
The only average shown for any individual occupation among un­
skilled males was 25.1 cents an hour for table cutters’ apprentices.
The few skilled woman workers in this branch averaged 50.0 cents
per hour. Among the semiskilled women, the most important
workers numerically are the makers, who stitch the various parts
together to form the completed glove. This work is sometimes
broken up into several operations, but is just as often done by one
operator. The makers are classified here by the type of seam and
stitch which they use rather than by the part of the glove on which
they are working. Osann makers earned the highest hourly wage,
64.3 cents, while overseam makers had the lowest, 49.9 cents. The
averages for women in the other occupations ranged from 59.3 cents
an hour for silkers to 37.5 cents for examiners. Banders and packers




27

WAGES AN© HOURS', GLOVE HNDUSlT!RY

were paid 36.8 cents an hour, while learners, the only other job shown
separately for unskilled femaJe employees, received 25.6 cents.
F A B R IC A N D COM BIN ATION L E A T H E R A N D F A B R IC W O R K GLOVES

The average of 40.0 cents an hour paid to employees in fabric and
combination fabric and leather work-glove factories in July 1941
ranked that segment of the glove industry as the lowest-paid among
the five branches covered by the survey. The earnings of fully 30
percent of the workers, as shown in table 18, were at or below the
present legal minimum of 32.5 cents, and 61.8 percent of all workers
earned less than 40 cents an hour. Only 10.8 percent of the employees
earned as much as 52.2 cents.
18.—Percentage Distribution of Factory Workers in Fabric and Combination
Leather and Fabric Work-Glove Branch, by Average Hourly Earnings, Region, and
Sex, July 1941

T a b le

United States1
Average hourly earnings
(in cents)

Under 32.5............................
Exactly 32.5.......... ..............
32.6 and under 35.0__..........
35.0 and under 37.5........... .
37.5 and under 40.0.............
40.0 and under 42.5....... .
42.5 and under 47.5........... .
47.5 and under 52.5............
52.5 and under 57.5........... .
57.5 and under 62.5............
62.5 and under 67.5.............
67.5 and under 72.5.............
72.5 and under 77.5.............
77.5 and under 82.5__..........
82.5 and under 87.5_______
87.5 and over
T otal.........................

M iddle West

Other northern
States2

South

Fe­ Total Males Fe­ Total Males Fe­ Total Males Fe­
Total Males males
males
males
(3) males
7.5
22.7

0.4
12.4

9.0
25.0

10.8

5.5

12.0

11.4
9.4
8.5

11.5
9.3
12.4
11.7
7.3
7.8
7.0
4.0
3.2
3.2
1.5
1.7

11.3
9.4

11.6
7.3
4.6
2.5
1.3

.8
.7
.4
.3

.2

1.1

7.7
11.5
7.3
3.9

1.6
.8
.3
.1
.1

7.9
18.8
8.9

10.8
9.0
9.3
12.9
8.9
5.9
3.4
1.7

.9
.7
.3
.4
.2

0.6
9.1

5.5
10.3

6.1
14.1

12.2
7.9
9.4

8.8
4.6

3.3

3.6

1.2
2.1
1.2

9.6
20.9
9.7
10.9
9.6
8.3
13.0
9.1
5.1

2.2
1.0
.4
.1
.1

11.9
16.0
14.6
9.7
9.5
8.3
13.3

6.8
3.6
1.5

1.2
1.0
1.2
1.0
.2
.2

13.6
17.1
16.1

10.2
8.6
8.0
13.3
7.2

3.3
.8
.6
.3
.6
.3

2.7
41.5
14.5
14.5
10.5
5.9
5.9

2.6
.9
.4
.2
.3
.1

26.6
6.5
19.0
17.4
8.4
8.7

6.8
3.0

1.1
.8
1.4

.3

3.2
44.6
16.2
13.5
9.0
5.4
5.3
1.7

.5
.3
.1
.1
.1

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

412
368 1,767
472 2,266 1,792
51
361 2,135
329 1,463
N um ber of workers........... 2,738
Average hourly earnings $0,400 $0,471 $0,384 $0,411 $0,485 $0,394 $0,400 $0,518 $0,382 $0,360 $0,391 $0,353
1 In order to give proportionate representation to all areas, data for the South are used in the totals with a
weight of one-fourth.
The total number of workers appearing in this table, therefore, is somewhat
smaller than the number actually included in the Bureau’s survey.
2 Includes Massachusetts, N ew York, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
3 Num ber of workers insufficient to justify the presentation of a distribution.

The difference between the earnings of male and of female workers
was less pronounced in this branch of the industry than in the others,
but the men still enjoyed an advantage of 8.7 cents an hour, the two
averages being 47.1 and 38.4 cents. Earnings at or below 32.5 cents
an hour were paid to 12.8 percent of the men and 34.0 percent of the
women.
Middle-western manufacturers, who produce the bulk of fabric
work gloves, paid an average of 41.1 cents an hour, or only 1.1 cents
more than the 40-cent average wage in other northern factories.




28

WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

Somewhat lower wages prevailed in the South, where the average
compensation was 36.0 cents an hour. A remarkably heavy concen­
tration of southern workers, 41.5 percent of the entire labor force,
received exactly 32.5 cents an hour. This proportion may be com­
pared with 18.8 percent for the Middle West and 16.0 percent for
other northern States. However, the group of other northern States
had the highest proportion of workers paid less than the 32.5-cent
minimum. The percentages were 11.9 for other northern States, 7.9
for the Middle West, and only 2.7 for the South.
Skilled workers received an average of 53.6 cents an hour, while
the semiskilled group averaged 39.5 cents. The average for the
unskilled workers, 31.4 cents, was heavily influenced by the presence
of 191 learners, who averaged 26.0 cents an hour.
Occupational Variations

Hourly earnings of skilled males in the fabric and combination
leather and fabric work-glove branch ranged from 61.4 cents for fore­
men to 48.0 cents for block cutters (table 19). Workers in the largest
occupation in this group, that of clicking-machine operators, were
paid an average of 59.4 cents an hour.
a b l e 1 9 . —Average Hourly Earnings, Weekly Hours, and Weekly Earnings of Factory
Workers in Combination Work-Glove Branch, by Sex, Skill, and Occupation, July 1941

T

Sex, skill, and occupation

Num ber
of workers

Average
hourly
earnings

Average
weekly
hours

Average
weekly
earnings

Males

Skilled workers:
Cutters:
Block cutters, leather________ _____ __________
Clicking-machine operators, leather___________
Fabric cutters________________________________
Foremen, working_____ _____ _______ ____________
Machine fixers
Semiskilled workers:
Formers___________________ ________ ____________
Small-parts cutters.________ __ __________ ________
Trimmers and turners__________ _______ ____ _____
Miscellaneous semiskilled______________________ __
Unskilled workers, miscellaneous1_____ ______________

59
78
55
16
15

$0.480
.594
.533
.614
.553

40.3
40.6
42.2
42.9
44.8

$19. 33
24.14
22.50
26.30
24.76

50
22
27
75
75

.434
.362
.387
.414
.386

39.7
41.4
39.0
41.5
42.1

17.23
14.99
15.08
17.19
16.26

Females
Skilled workers, miscellaneous______ ___ _____ _______
Semiskilled workers:
Closers....... ................................................. ............ .........
Cuffers___________________ _______ _______________
Formers and examiners______________ ____________
Fingerers______________________________ __________
Glove makers, com plete_______________ __________ _
Miscellaneous stitchers_______ ____ _______ _______
T hum b inserters_______ _____ _______ ______ _____
Tippers___________ ______________________________
Trimmers and turners____________________________
Miscellaneous sem iskilled............ .......... .....................
Unskilled workers:
Banders and packers............. .......................... ..............
Learners__________ ________ ____ - ____ ____________
Miscellaneous unskilled____ _________ ____ ______ _
1 Includes 1 learner.




46

.477

41.1

19.60

574
154
219
320
254
134
133
57
90
29

.401
.397
.381
.367
.396
.413
.417
.421
.386
.358

38.6
38.6
38.4
38.0
39.0
38.1
39.8
39.2
37.0
40.6

15.48
15.32
14.64
13.94
15.45
15.75
16.56
16.49
14.26
14.52

38
190
28

.369
.259
.376

39.5
36.1
38.1

14.58
9.34
14.35

29

WAGE8 AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

The occupational averages of semiskilled males varied from 36.2
cents for small-parts cutters to 43.4 cents an hour for formers. No
separate averages could be presented for the occupations of unskilled
males, but such workers as a group earned 38.6 cents an hour.
Tippers, who averaged 42.1 cents, received the highest hourly com­
pensation among the semiskilled females, while thumb inserters aver­
aged 41.7 cents. Closers, representing the largest occupational
group, had average hourly earnings of 40.1 cents. The lowest pay,
36.7 cents an hour, went to fingerers.
Average hourly earnings of 36.9 cents for banders and packers and
25.9 cents for learners are the only separate occupational figures that
can be presented for unskilled woman workers.
L E A T H E R W O R K GLOVES

Average hourly earnings in this branch of the industry amounted to
47.2 cents in July 1941 (table 20). Only 13.9 percent of the workers
were paid 32.5 cents an hour or less; in fact only 15.8 percent received
less than 35 cents. However, the proportion below 40 cents
amounted to 42.2 percent.
T a b le

20.—Percentage Distribution of Factory Workers in Leather Work-Glove Branch,
by Average Hourly Earnings, Region, and Sex, July 1941
United States

M iddle West

Other States1

Average hourly earnings

Under 32.5 cents____ ____________
Exactly 32.5 cents________________
32.6 and under 35.0 cents_________
35.0 and under 37.5 cents_________
37.5 and under 40.0 cents_________
40.0 and under 42.5 cents_________
42.5 and under 47.5 cents_________
47.5 and under 52.5 cents_________
52.5 and under 57.5 cents_________
57.5 and under 62.5 cents_________
62.5 and under 67.5 cents........... .
67.5 and under 72.5 cen ts.............
72.5 and under 77.5 cents_________
77.5 and under 82.5 cents_________
82.5 and under 87.5 cents_________
87.5 cents and over____________ _
T otal_________________ ____

Total

Males

Fe­
males

2.8
11.1
1.9
15.3
11.1
9.6
10.3
10.0
7.5
4.4
5.6
3.7
1.9
1.4
1.4
2.0

0.3
8.2
1.8
7.7
7.9
10.5
10.5
9.9
7.9
5.4
9.7
6.6
3.3
3.1
2.3
4.9

100.0

100.0

N um ber of workers.................. .......
956
391
Average hourly earnings____ ____ $0,472 $0.536

Fe­
males

T otal Males

0.4
9.8
2.9
9.0
8.6
7.8
9.5
8.6
6.6
4.5
9.8
6.1
4.1
3. 7
2.5
6.1

6.0
8.3
2.1
20.2
14.3
8.8
11.2
10.4
7.8
3.9
3.4
1.8
1.0
.3
.5

0.9
15.3
5.4
1.2
14.1 ’ ""5.4
9.2
6.8
11.9
15.1
12.3
9.8
10.7
12.3
8.0
10.2
4.9
6.8
5.2
9.5
4.0
7.5
1.2
2.0
.9
2.0
1.5
2.0
1.2
2.7

100.0

100.0

Total

Males

4.6
13.1
2.1
20.5
13.3
9.0
10.1
10.1
7.3
3.7
2.8
1.6
.9
.2
.7

3.8
8.9
2.4
15.9
12.1
8.4
10.5
9.7
7.3
4.1
5.9
3.5
2.2
1.6
1.3
2.4

100.0

100.0

565
629
244
$0.425 $0,475 $0.542

__

100.0

Fe­
males
1.7
23,4
2.2
21.1
11.1
9.4
7.8
9.4
6.1
3.3
1.7
1.1
.6
1.1

100.0

100.0

385
327
147
$0.431 $0,464 $0,525

180
$0,411

i Includes California, N ew Hampshire, N ew Y ork, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.

The average earnings of male workers were 53.6 cents an hour,
while the average for females was 42.5 cents an hour. Only 10.3
percent of the males received less than 35 cents an hour, but 19.8
percent of the female employees earned less than this amount. At
the 40-cent level, the respective percentages were 25.9 and 53.6.
Average hourly earnings do not differ greatly in the two regions
shown in table 20, being 47.5 cents for the Middle West and 46.4 cents



30

WAGES AN© HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

for other States. The distributions of the earnings of individual
workers likewise are closely similar.
Skilled workers were paid 59.2 cents an hour, on the average, or
15.3 cents more than the average of 43.9 cents that the semiskilled
employees received; unskilled workers averaged 34.5 cents an hour.
Occupational Variations

Working foremen, who averaged 64.8 cents, received the highest
hourly wage of any occupational group in the leather work-glove
branch (table 21). Clicking-machine operators, who constituted the
largest occupational group, were paid 57.9 cents, the lowest average
for skilled males.
21.—Average Hourly Earnings, Weekly Hours, and Weekly Earnings of Factory
Workers in Learner Work-Glove Branch, by Sex, Skill, and Occupation, July 1941

T a b le

Num ber of
workers

Sex, skill, and occupation

Average
hourly
earnings

Average
weekly
hours

Average
weekly
earnings

Males

Skilled workers:
B lock cutters........... .......................................................
Clicking-machine o p e r a t o r s ................................. .....
Foremen, working_______________ ______ __________
Miscellaneous skilled.......... .........................................
Semiskilled workers:
L a yers-off........................................................................
Turners_____________ ___________ __________ ______
Miscellaneous semiskilled____________ _________ __
Unskilled workers, m iscellaneous.....................................

55
135
18
12

$0.607
.579
.648
.628

41.0
42.5
42.9
45.0

$24.92
24.59
27.81
28.25

66
17
56
32

.500
.405
.461
.380

37.6
38.0
41.6
40.2

18.80
15.42
19.19
15.29

123
43
96
85
82
15
31

.437
.456
.361
.443
.449
.408
.396
.434

39.1
40.5
39.4
37.5
39.4
38.2
37.0
39.1

17.10
18.45
14.21
16.63
17.65
15.59
14.64
16.96

18
20

.262
.359

37.9
38.6

9.95
13.86

Females

Semiskilled workers:
Banders and wristers______________________________
Closers.................. ......................... ...............................
Examiners............... ................................... .....................
Fingerers....................... ....................................................
Glove makers, complete............................... ..................
Stitchers, miscellaneous____________ ______ ________
Trimmers and turners............ ............................... .......
Miscellaneous semiskilled1............................................
Unskilled workers:
Learners...................... ......................................................
Miscellaneous unskilled...... ..........................................

52

1 Includes 9 skilled workers.

Layers-off and turners, the only semiskilled male occupations for
which separate data can be shown, had average hourly earnings of
50.0 and 40.5 cents, respectively.
Earnings of semiskilled female employees varied from 45.6 cents an
hour for closets to 36.1 cents for examiners. Glove makers who sewed
the entire glove averaged 44.9 cents.
Female learners, who were classed as unskilled, were paid an average
of 26.2 cents an hour.
Weekly Hours and Earnings of Factory Workers
WEEKLY HOURS

The full-time week in the glove industry in July 1941 was 40 hours.
This was the normal working time for 103 of the 106 plants which



31

WAGES AN'D HOURS’, GLOVE INDUSTRY

employed wage earners in the factory. The remaining 3 plants were
reported as working 39, 44, and 48 hours a week. In 11 of the
plants, certain small groups of workers had either longer or shorter
hours than the main body of workers.
The labor force as a whole actually worked an average of 38.1 hours
a week in July 1941 (table 22). Only 13.2 percent of the employees
worked fewer than 32 hours in the pay period covered, while 30.3
percent worked 32 and under 40 hours. One-third (33.9 percent)
worked exactly 40 hours, and the remaining 22.6 percent worked
longer than 40 hours. Males worked 39.9 hours, or 2.5 hours longer
than the average of 37.4 hours for female employees.
T

able

2 2 . —Percentage

Distribution of Factory Workers in Glove Industry, by Weekly
Hours Worked, Branch, and Sex, July 1941
A ll branches

Fabric dress gloves

Seamless-fingered
knitted gloves

Hours actually worked in 1 week
Total Males Females Total Males Females Total Males Females
Under 16 hours..................................
16 and under 20 hours......................
20 and under 24 hours____________
24 and under 28 hours____________
28 and under 32 hours......................
32 and under 36 hours......................
36 and under 40 hours......................
E xactly 40 hours...............................
40.1 and under 44 hours...................
44 and under 48 hours......................
48 hours and over..............................

2.1
1.1
1.6
3.0
5.4
10.2
20.1
33.9
5.2
13.1
4.3

2.3
.5
1.4
1.4
2.8
6.4
19.4
35.5
4.1
16.5
9.7

Total...... .................................

100.0

100.0

N um ber of workers.......................... 9,844
Average weekly hours...................... 38.1'

2,434
39.9

2.0
1.3
1.7
3.5
6.3
11.5
20.3
33.3
5.6
12.0
2.5

1.6
1.3
1.9
4.9
8.3
12.7
24.5
28.0
8.9
5.7
2.2

1.1
.3
.8
1.1
1.1
7.0
8.4
39.4
8.7
16.5
15.6

100.0

100.0

7,410
37.4

2,794
36.8

1.7
1.5
2.1
5.5
9.3
13.5
26.9
26.2
9.0
4.1
.2

2.0
.9
.4
.9
2.4
6.1
11.8
39.2
5.1
12.9
18.3

3.7
15.0
25.2
1.9
8.4
43.0

2.0
.9
.5
1.1
2.8
6.4
11.3
41.5
5.7
13.6
14.2

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

358
41.7

2,436
36.1

760
41.0

107
45.7

653
40.2

1.9
.9

Leather dress gloves

Fabric and com bina­
tion leather and
fabric work gloves

Leather work gloves

2.4
1.1
2.3
2.5
6.7
12.2
30.9
30.0
3.1
6.7
2.1

2.4
.9
2.1
1.7
5.0
9.3
31.9
34.6
2.3
5.5
4.3

2.2
1.1
1.0
2.1
3.2
9.1
10.1
41.7
3.3
22.6
3.6

1.6
.1
1.0
1.0
.7
3.1
6.2
44.1
4.1
30.5
7.6

2.3
1.3
1.0
2.4
3.8
10.3
10.9
41.1
3.1
21.0
2.8

2.4
.7
1.0
2.9
2.5
4.2
13.4
35.3
5.5
25.2
6.9

3.8
.3
.8
1.8
1.3
2.3
11.0
27.4
5.6
32.7
13.0

14.9
40.6
5.5
20.0
2.7

T otal......................................... 100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

2,596
37.0

1,106
37.8

1,490
36.4

2,738
38.9

472
41.2

2,266
38.4

956
39.8

391
41.0

565
38.9

Under 16 hours..................................
16 and under 20 hours......................
20 and under 24 hours......................
24 and under 28 hours......................
28 and under 32 hours......................
32 and under 36 hours......................
36 and under 40 hours......................
E xactly 40 hours...............................
40.1 and under 44 hours...................
44 and under 48 hours......................
48 hours and over..............................

N um ber o f workers..........................
Average weekly hours.....................

2.4
1.3
2.6
3.2
7.9
14.3
30.1
26.6
3.7
7.5
.4

1.4
1.1
1.2
3.7
3.4

5.5

Actual working time averaged 36.8 hours in fabric dress-glove
plants, 41.0 hours in seamless-fingered knitted-glove plants, 37.0 hours
for leather dress gloves, 38.9 hours for fabric work gloves, and 39.8 for
leather work gloves. The proportion of workers who spent more than
40 hours in the factory was greatest in seamless-fingered glove plants
(36.3 percent) and leather work-glove plants (37.6 percent).



32

WAGES AND HOURS, GLOVE INDUSTRY
WEEKLY EARNINGS

Average weekly earnings in the glove industry amounted to $18.67
in July 1941. Although the earnings of individual workers covered
a wide range, there was a concentration of 24.5 percent of the workers
in the interval of $12 and under $15 (table 23). It will be noted that
this interval includes the amounts of $13 and $14 which, on the basis
of a 40-hour week, were earned by workers at the 32.5- and 35-cent
minimum levels.
T

able

2 3 . —Percentage

Distribution of Factory Workers in Glove Industry, by Weekly
Earnings, Branch9and Sex, July 1941
A ll branches

Fabric dress gloves

Seamless-fingered
knitted gloves

W eekly earnings
Total

Males

Fe­
males

Under $3..................................
$3 and under $6......................
$6 and under $9......................
$9 and under $12....................
$12 and under $15_____ ____
$15 and under $18...... ............
$18 and under $21...................
$21 and under $24_____ ____
$24 and under $27...... ............
$27 and under $30..................
$30 and under $33...................
$33 and under $36............. .
$36 and under $39...................
$39 and under $42...................
$42 and under $45...................
$45 and under $48...................
$48 and under $51...................
$51 and over...........................

0.9
1.2
2.9
8.8
24.5
21.3
13.4
8.8
5.2
3.6
2.6
1.7
1.5
1.1
.7
.5
.4
.9

0.8
.7
1.2
2.0
10.6
13.3
10.9
9.6
8.5
8.8
7.4
5.8
5.7
4.2
2.9
2.2
1.6
3.8

0.9
1.3
3.4
11.1
29.0
23.9
14.3
8.6
4.1
1.9
1.0
.3
.1
.1
(0
0)
(i)

T otal.............................

100.0

100.0

N um ber of w o rk e rs ............. 9,844
Average weekly earnings___ $18.67

2,434
$26.29

Total

Males

0.6
1.1
2.8
8.9
25.6
24.4
15.0
8.3
4.9
2.8
1.8
1.0
.6
.8
.4
.3
.3
.4

0.8
.3
.3
2.5
6.7
14.3
11.7
9.2
9.2
10.9
9.5
5.0
4.2
5.3
3.1
1.7
2.2
3.1

100.0

100.0

100.0

7,410
$16.17

2,794
$17.67

358
$26.71

Leather dress gloves

Under $3.................. ................
$3 and under $6......................
$6 and unker $9....................
$9 and under $12....................
$12 and under $15............... .
$15 and under $18...................
$18 and under $21...................
$21 and under $24...................
$24 and under $27...................
$27 and under $30...... ............
$30 and under $33............... .
$33 and under $36...... ............
$36 and under $39........... .......
$39 and under $42..................
$42 and under $45...................
$45 and under $ 4 8 .................
$48 and under $51__________
$51 and over_______________

0.6
1.0
2.6
5.4
16.7
14.9
11.4
10.0
7.4
5.9
5.4
3.9
4.0
3.0
2.1
1.5
1.2
3.0

0.2
.7
1.7
1.6
6.5
5.9
8.0
8.0
7.7
9.3
8.7
8.3
9.0
6.5
4.8
3.5
2.6
7.0

0.9
1.3
3.2
8.2
24.3
21.6
13.9
11.5
7.2
3.5
2.9
.6
.4
.3
.1

T otal..............................

100.0

N um ber of workers...............
Average weekly earnings___

2,596
$23.19

i Less than a tenth of 1 percent.




Fe­
males

Total

Males

0.5
1.2
3.2
9.9
28.4
25.9
15.5
8.2
4.2
1.6
.7
.4
.1
.2

1.4
.8
2.0
7.4
23.7
24.8
15.5
10.8
5.4
3.7
1.1
1.6
.5
.7

0.9
.9
.9
2.8
13.2
10.3
10.3
12.2
10.3
9.3
4.7
11.2
3.7
4.7

.1
.1
.4

.9
.9
2.8

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

2,436
$16.34

760
$17.97

107
$24.99

653
$16.82

(0

Fabric and combination
leather and fabric
work gloves

Fe­
males
1.5
.8
2.1
8.1
25.4
27.2
16.4
10.6
4.6
2.8
.5

Leather work gloves

1.0
.5
1.3
2.1
21.6
25.0
16.4
9.2
8.6
5.9
3.7
1.7
1.3
.4
.4
.6
.3

1.1
1.7
4.1
16.4
33.7
21.5
12.4
6.3
1.6
1.0
.2
(0

1.5
.9
2.8
4.4
21.9
24.3
13.3
11.2
6.4
4.6
3.7
1.8
1.7
.5
.5
.4

.1

1.1
1.5
3.6
14.0
31.6
22.1
13.0
6.8
2.8
1.9
.8
.3
.2
.1
.1
.1
(0

.1

.3

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

1,106
$30.74

1.490
$17.59

2,738
$15.55

472
$19.41

2,266
$14.75

956
$18.77

391
$21.98

565
$16.54

2.6
1.3
.8
2.3
11.7
19.6
11.0
14.0
9.5
9.0
7.4
3.1
3.8
1.3
1.3
1.0

0.7
.7
4.2
5.8
28.9
27.fi
14.9
9.2
4.2
1.6
1.1
.9
.2

WAGES AN)D HOURS, GTjOVE JNDUStDRY

33

Males averaged $26.29, while $16.17 was the average paid to female
workers. The average weekly earnings of all workers in the various
branches of the industry varied from $15.55 in the fabric work-glove
branch to $23.19 in the leather dress-glove branch.
Earnings of Office and Clerical Workers
The discussion in the preceding sections has not taken into account
the earnings of clerical workers employed in plant offices, central
administrative offices, or in the plants themselves. Data were secured,
however, for clerical workers in the central administrative offices of a
few of the larger companies, and in the plants or offices of about threefourths of the remaining companies. A few of the plants, for the
most part very small, employed no full-time office force, the necessary
clerical work being done by members of the firm. Clerical workers
were usually paid on a salary basis. Their full-time hours ordinarily
coincided with those of other workers in the plant, and consequently
amounted to 40 in most cases.
The average hourly earnings of the 308 office and clerical workers
covered in the survey were 49.4 cents in July 1941, as shown in table
24. Somewhat more than a fifth (21.6 percent) of the employees were
found in the interval 42.5 and under 47.5 cents an hour. About a
fourth (24.2 percent) received less than 40 cents an hour.
T

able

2 4 . —Percentage

Distribution 'of Office Workers1 in Glove Industry, by Average
Hourly Earnings, July 1941

Average hourly earnings
Exactly 32.5 cen ts..______ _____________
32.6 and under 35.0 cents.... .......................
Exactly 35.0 cents........................................
35.1 and under 37.5 cents............................
37.5 and under 40.0 cents............................
40.0 and under 42.5 cents................... ........
42.5 and under 47.5 cents
47.5 and under 52.5 cents................. ..........
52.5 and under 57.5 cents...........................
57.5 and under 62.5 cents...................... .....
62.5 and under 67.5 cents............................

Percent of
workers
1.7
.6
10.7
1.5
9.7
10.1
21.6
15.2
6.7
5.2
6.4

Average hourly earnings

Percent of
workers

67.5 and under 72.5 c e n t s ...____ ________
72.5 and under 77.5 c e n t s ...____ _______
77.5 and under 82.5 cen ts................ ..........
82.5 and under 87.5 c e n ts .........................
87.5 and under 92.5 cents...........................
92.5 cents and over_____________________

2.4
2.6
1.6
.4
1.3
2.3

Total............................................... ...

100.0

Number of workers............ ................. .......
Average hourly earnings..................... .......

308
$0,494

1 Includes all clerical workers whether in the office or in the plant.

Average Earnings Reported for Home Workers
It will be recalled that most of the home workers surveyed were
found in New York, particularly in Fulton County. Home-work
employment is found principally in the leather dress-glove branch,
and to a less extent in the seamless-fingered knitted-glove branch.
Practically all home workers are women.
Although the weekly payments to home workers are believed to
have been reported accurately,14 there is reason to believe that home
M There is evidence in some cases, however, that workers share their work with others and report the
entire production as their own.




34

WAGES AND HOURS', GLOVE INDUSTRY

workers' hours of work are commonly understated, with a consequent
exaggeration of hourly earnings.
The understatement of hours may be due in part to the difficulty
of calculating working time. However, there is also evidence of inten­
tional and systematic understatement of hours of work, prompted by
the fear on the part of slow workers that the employer will send his
work elsewhere if he has to pay “ make-up” under existing minimumwage standards.
On the basis of factory records, the hourly earnings of the 927 home
workers for whom information was available averaged 52.7 cents in
July 1941. The average of 41.6 cents an hour for seamless-fingered
knitted-glove home workers compares closely with the average of 41.9
cents for female factory workers in that branch. In the case of leather
dress-glove workers, the average for home workers, 57.0 cents an hour,
was 6.4 cents above the average for female factory workers in the
branch in New York State. That the difference cannot be attributed
to a different balance of occupations is apparent from a comparison
of the occupational averages shown in table 25 with those for factory
workers (table 17). Home workers showed higher averages in a
number of occupations. In no case did factory workers attain the
10-percent higher wage which might be expected, in view of the lower
piece rates permitted to home workers by union agreement in Fulton
County plants making table-cut and pattern-cut gloves.
T

a b l e 2 5 . —Average Hourly Earnings, Weekly Hours and Earnings Reported for Home
Workers in Leather Dress-Glove Branch, by Sex, Skill, and Occupation, July 1941

Sex, skill, and occupation

Num ber
of
workers

Males

M iscellaneous workers________ _____________ _______

Average
hourly
earnings

Average
weekly
hours

Average
weekly
earnings

8

$0,829

25.6

$21.23

9
78

.485
.428

16.1
16.5

7.81
7.05

87
50
23
92

.548
.563
.806
.548
.627
.606
.675

21.5
17.3
17.6
17.8
22.7
20.1
25.9

11.79
9.75
14.15
9.75
14.23
12.16
17.49

.512
.442
.588
.480
.466
.612

19.2
13.4
14.7
18.7
16.1
23.8

Females

Semiskilled workers:
End pullers_______________________ - ............ ..............
Hand s e w e rs ____________________ _____ __________
Makers:
Gauge makers____________________ ______ _____
Inseam makers..........................................................
Osann makers_________________________________
Outseam makers______________________________
Overseam makers_____________________________
Pique makers_________________________________
Other makers *_............. ...................... ..................
Stitchers, other than makers:
Binders and hemmers_________________________
Buttonhole makers........... .............................. ........
Silkers. _____________________________________
Stitchers, other................................................... .....
Miscellaneous semiskilled _______________________
Unskilled workers: Black edgers______________________

44

162
32
31
43
15
9

13
10

9.81
5.91
8.66
8.99

7.51
14.59

i Includes makers for whom type of stitch was not reported.

Finger knitters in the seamless-fingered glove industry were reported
as earning 44.3 cents an hour in their homes, as compared with 43.8
cents for factory workers. Finger closers averaged 40.5 cents or 0.5
cent less than factory workers in the same occupations.



35

WAGE’S AND HOURS, GLiOVE INDUSTRY

Average weekly earnings of the 1,008 home workers for whom data
were available amounted to $10.58. Fully 46.6 percent of the home
workers earned less than $9.00 in the week covered in July 1941.
About a third (33.1 percent) received $9.00 and less than $15.00.
The remaining 20.3 percent were paid $15.00 or more. In the leather
dress-glove branch of the industry, weekly earnings of home workers
averaged $10.89 (table 26) as compared with $17.59 for female factory
workers in this branch. The corresponding figures in the seamless­
fingered knitted-glove branch were $9.54 and $16.82.
T a b le

26.—Percentage Distribution of Home Workers in Glove Industry, by Weekly
Earnings and Branch, July 1941

W eekly earnings

Total

Seamless­
fingered
knitted
gloves

Under $3........................................................ .................... .
$ 3 and under $6......................................................... .............
$6 and under $9........ ................................. ....................... .....
$9 and under $12....................................................... .............
$12 and under $15_______ *____________________________
$15 and under $18........................................... ...................
$18 and under $21............ ......................................................
$21 and under $24_____________________________________
$24 and under $27.......... .........................................................
$27 and under $30............ ......................................................
$30 and over.............................................................................

7.8
21.0
17.8
19.2
13.9
7.4
6.2
2.4
1.3
.8
2.2

5.1
19.1
21.0
24.2
19.7
4.5
4.5
1.9

T otal...............................................................................

100.0

Num ber of workers................................. .............................
N um ber of plants............. ............................. ........... ..........
Average weekly ea rnings________________________ . ___

1,008
44
$10.58

Leather
dress
gloves

Other

8.2
21.2
17.1
18.3
12.6
7.9
6.5
2.7
1.7
.9
2,9

10.4
22.4
18.7
17.2
14.9
8.2
6.7

100.0

100.0

100.0

157
4
$9.54

784
29
$10.89

67
11
$9.38

1.5

Net Sales and Wage and Salary Costs
To indicate the relative importance of wage and salary costs in the
glove industry both before and after the setting of the legal wage
minima which became effective on July 15, 1940, cooperating firms
were asked to supply data on the value of their products and on wage
and salary payments for the years ended June 30, 1940 and 1941.
Figures on net sales were more often available than those on produc­
tion; where figures on sales were used an attempt was made to adjust
for differences in inventories at the beginning and end of the periods
covered.
The 48 plants for which data on sales and costs were secured con­
stitute a much smaller sample than was used for the study of wages,
and one which is less representative with respect to plant characteris­
tics. The data presented in table 27 must consequently be considered
as only suggestive of actual relationships in the two periods. Even
a comparison of the data reported by identical establishments for the
two 12-month periods must be made with caution, since several firms
reporting amounts of sales were unable to indicate the extent of the
changes in their inventories. Changes in volume of production, cost
of materials, and type of product also affected the comparative picture.



36
T able

WAGES AXD HOUiRS, GLOVE INDUSTRY

27.—Net Sales and Wage and Salary Cost of 48 Plants in Glove Industry, Years
Ended June 30, 1940 and 1941, by Branch
Year ended June 30, 1940

Branch

N um ­
ber of
plants

Total wage and
salary cost

Fabric dress gloves......................
S e a m le s s -fin g e r e d knitted
gloves.........................................
Leather dress gloves..................
Fabric and combination leather
and fabric work gloves............
Leather work gloves....................

Total wage and
salary cost
Net sales 1

Net sales *
Amount

A ll branches..................................

Year ended June 30,1941

Percent
of net
sales

Am ount

Percent
of net
sales

33.8 $14,154,324

$4,956,745

8

3,516,560

1,143,951

32.5

3,427,814

1,237,444

36.1

4
8

2,772,290
2,235,630

995,767
830,025

35.9
37.1

4,059,222
2,896,389

1,346,882
1,267,737

33.2
43.8

18
10

1,950,735
1,053,664

625,218
296,910

32.1
28.2

2,406,065
1,364,834

744,262
360,420

30.9
26.4

48 $11,528,879 $3,891,871

35.0

i Adjusted for differences in inventory where possible.

It seems clear from table 27 that these plants enjoyed a healthy
increase in business from 1940 to 1941, since net sales increased from
$11,528,879 to $14,154,324, or by 22.8 percent. Although the relative
increase in the industry as a whole may have been somewhat larger
or smaller than this, there seems little doubt that the movement of
value of production was upward, since gains were registered in four
of the five branches of the industry. The relative gain was greatest
for the four plants in the seamless-fingered knitted-glove branch
(46.4 percent) while a decrease of 2.5 percent was reported by the 8
plants in the fabric dress-glove branch.
The relative increase in payments for wages and salaries was some­
what greater than in value of product. In consequence, the propor­
tion of wages and salaries to value of product, which was 33.8 percent
in the year ended June 30, 1940, rose to 35.0 percent for the following
year. The importance of labor costs in the different branches in the
latter period varied from 26.4 percent for leather work gloves to 43.8
percent for leather dress gloves. The changes in relative expenditures
were also far from uniform. Thus, in the leather dress-glove branch
the proportion of wages to net sales increased from 37.1 to 43.8 per­
cent, while in three other branches the proportion decreased.
In view of the many factors that influenced the industry during
the 2-year period covered, no positive conclusions can be drawn with
respect to the effect of the wage minima. It may at first appear
significant, for example, that two of the three branches in which a
35-cent minimum had been established showed relative increases in
labor cost, while both of the branches with a lower minimum (32.5
cents) showed relative decreases. In the leather dress-glove branch,
however, where the greatest relative increase in labor cost occurred,
it appears doubtful that the minimum wage was solely responsible
for important wage increases.