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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
ROYAL MEEKER, Commissioner
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES )
j WH OL E \ A (2
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS) * * * (NUMBER I t O
W AGES
AND
HOURS
OF
LABOR
S E R IE S :
N o.
8
WAGES AND REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT AND
STANDARDIZATION OF PIECE RATES IN THE
DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY: NEW YORK CITY
APRIL 28, 1914
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1914
CONTENTS.
Pago.
Fart I.—W ages and regularity o f employment in the dress and waist industry
o f New York City........................................................................................................... 7-187
Introduction and summary..................................................................................... 7-19
E ffect of the protocol on wages....................................................................... 9-16
Wages in association and nonassociation union shops........................ 9-12
Wages of week workers provided for in the protocol......................... 12-15
Wages of week workers not provided for in the protocol.................. 15,16
Earnings of pieceworkers........................................................................
16
Effect of the protocol on hours of work........................................................ 16-18
A ll shops c o m b in e d ................................................................................. 16,17
Association and nonassociation shops.................................................. 17,18
Regularity of employment............................................................................... 18,19
Effect of the protocol on subcontracting......... ............................................
19
Scope of the investigation....................................................................................... 20-22
Comparison of association and nonassociation union shops.............................. 22-26
Number of workers in different occupations....................................................... 26-30
Week work and piecework.......................................................................................30-39
Extent in different occu pation s................................................................... 30-34
Relation of sex to week work and piecework.............................................. 34, 35
Relative advantages of week work and piecework..................................... 35, 36
Extent of week work and piecework prior to the protocol......................... 36-39
W ages........................................................................................................................... 39-43
Method of obtaining wage data....................................................................... 39,40
Method of presentation of wage data............................................................. 40-43
Operators................................................................................................................... 43-104
Occupations of operators.................................................................................. 43,44
44
Number and classes covered by the report.................................................
Wages of operators..................................................................... ....................... 44-68
Comparison of wages of men and women operators in the industry
as a w hole................................................................................................ 45-48
Comparison of wages of men and women operators in association
and nonassociation shops...................................................................... 49-53
Comparison of wages of men and women operators in shops making
cheap and high-grade garments.......................................................... 53-63
Comparison of wages in 1912 and 1913.................................................. 63-68
Buttonhole makers............................................................................................ 68-70
Button sewers........................................ .............................................................70, 71
Closers and hemmers......................................................................................... 71-73
Dressmakers........................................................................................................ 73-75
Hemstitchers...................................................................................................... 75-77
Lace runners....................................................................................................... 77, 78
Sample makers.................................................................................................. 79,80
Skirt operators.................................................................................................... 80-83
Sleeve makers.................................................................................................... 83-85
Sleeve setters.......................................................................................... : ......... 85-87
Trimmers............................................................................................................. 87-89
Tuckers................................................................................................................ 90-93
Waist operators................................................................................................... 93-99
Operators, not specified................................................................................. 99-104
3
4
C0KTE3TTS.
Part I.— W ages and regularity o f employment in the dress and waist industry
o f New York City— Concluded.
Page.
Employees other than operators......................................................................... 104-143
Assorters........................................................................................................... 104,105
Cleaners............................................................................................................ 106-109
Cutters.............................................................................................................. 109-115
Drapers............................................................................................................. 115-120
Embroiderers.................................................................................................. 120-123
Examiners.................................................................... ................................... 123-126
Finishers.......................................................................................................... 126-132
Ironers and pressers....................................................................................... 132-141
Joiners............................................................................................................... 141-143
Markers............................................................................................................. 143,144
Slopers..................................................................................................................
145
Subcontracting and partnership.................................................................,___ 145-157
Advantages of subcontracting to manufacturers..................................... 146,147
Disadvantages of subcontracting................................................................ 147,148
Decline of subcontracting.......................................................................... ....
148
Size of sets....................................................................................................... 149-152
Sex of workers in sets.................................................................................... 152-154
Earnings of sets.............................................................................; ............... 154-157
[Regularity of em ploym ent.................................................................................. 157-176
Seasonal rise and fall in number of employees and in wages.............. 162-172
Em ploym ent among week workers and pieceworkers........................... 172-176
Hours of labor......................................................................................................... 176-181
Hours during busiest week in the y ea r.................................................... 176,177
Overtime.......................................................................................................... 177-180
Hours of work of pieceworkers.................................................................... 180,181
Conclusion............................................................................................................... 181-187
Graduated scale of weekly wages............................................................... 182,183
Registration of apprentices..............................................................................
183
Trade school........................................................................................................
184
Uniform pay roll................................................................................................
185
White protocol label...................................................................................... 185,186
Uniform piece rates...................................................................................... 186,187
Part II.— Standardization o f piece ra te s................................................................. 189-308
Adjustment of piece rates under the protocol................................................. 189,190
Scope of the investigation.................................................................................... 190-193
Basis for piece-rate compensation...................................................................... 193-197
Tucking................................................................................................................... 197-216
Strip tucking.................................................................................................. 198-206
Chiffons versus cotton........................................................................... 201-204
Singer 4-needle machine..........................................................................
205
Singer 5-needle machine..........................................................................
205
Singer 8-needle machine..........................................................................
206
Short tucking.................................................................................................. 206-216
W ilcox and Gibbs machine.......................... ....................................... 208-211
Double tucks...........................................................................................211,212
Single-needle Singer m achine.................................................................
213
Short tucking on a multiple-needle Singer machine..................... 213-216
Lace running........ ................................................................................................. 217-222
Lace on top ...... ..................................................................................................
218
Cloth on top........................................................................................................
218
Joining lace to lace........................................................................................ 218-222
Joining voile and net strips.............................................................................
222
COXTENTS.
5
Part II.— Standardization o f piece rates—-Concluded.
Lace running— Concluded.
Page.
Joining ruffled lace edging to lace insertion................................................
222
Joining lace to sleeves......................................................................................
222
H em m ing................................................................................................................. 222-225
Closing...................................................................................................................... 226-230
Closing sides and sleeves.............................................................................. 229,230
Closing sid e s........................................................................................... 229,230
Closing sleeves............................................................................................
230
Sleeve setting b y sleeve setters.......................................................................... 230-233
Buttonhole making.............................................................. ................................. 233-244
Singer machine............................................................................................... 233-243
Number of buttonholes to a waist...................................................... 234-240
Size of buttonholes....................................................................................
240
Material........................................................................................................
241
Size of the bundle.................................................................................. 241-243
Reece machine................... ............................................................................ 243,244
Button sewing........................................................................................................ 244-249
Flat pearl buttons.......................................................................................... 244-248
Crochet buttons.............................................................................................. 248,249
B ody making.......................................................................................................... 249-284
Joining parts of shoulders with lace beading between them ............... 251,252
Joining yokes to fronts or backs with insertions..................................... 252,253
Joining yoke beading to backs.......................................................................
254
Joining yokes with lace beading to open fronts or backs, with a
shirred seam................................................................................................ 255,256
Joining yoke sleeves to fronts or backs with beading between........... 256,257
Joining parts of back with French seam, forming tuck at the same
tim e............................................................................................................... 257,258
258
Joining side pieces to fronts............................................................................
Joining lace to standing collars................................................................... 259, 260
Joining “ little skirts ” to waists................................................................. 260-266
Centers............................................................................................................. 267-270
Ruffles and centers........................................................................................ 271-273
Vests and flies................................................................................................ 273-275
Tacking fronts and backs............................................................................. 276,277
Shirring........................................................................................ .................. 278,279
Setting high collars....................................................................................... 279,280
Sleeve setting b y body makers................................................................... 280-282
Joining belts to waists................................................................................. 282-284
Loss of tim e....................................................................... .................................... 284-292
Conclusion............................................................................................................... 293-298
Appendix A.— Protocol o f peace in the dress and waist Industry................ 299 -304
Appendix B.—List o f firms in the dress and waist industry o f Greater New
York covered by this rep ort............ ................................................................ 305-308
LIST OF CHARTS.
Chart 1.—Proportion of association and nonassociation shops in tho industry,
of em ployees in each class of shops, b y sex, and of week workers and piece
workers among operators, 1913....................................................................................
Chart 2.—Wages of female operators in association and nonassociation shops,
1913: Per cent of week workers receiving each classified weekly rate and of
pieceworkers earning each classified amount during busiest week...................
10
52
6
CONTENTS.
Page.
Chart 3.—Wages of female operators (week workers) in association and non
association shops making low and high grade garments, 1913: Per cent receiv
ing each classified weekly wage rate and over........................................................
Chart 4.—Wages of female operators (pieceworkers) in association and nonasso
ciation shops making low and high grade garments, 1913: Per cent earning
each classified amount and over during busiest w eek...........................................
Chart 5.— Wages of male and female operators in association shops making low
and high grade garments, 1913: Per cent of week workers receiving each
classified weekly rate and ofa pieceworkers earning each classified amount
during busiest week.......................................................................................................
Chart 6.—Wages of female operators (week workers) in association and non
association shops, 1912 and 1913: Per cent receiving each classified weekly
rate.....................................................................................................................................
Chart 7.—Wages of female operators (pieceworkers) in association and non
association shops, 1912 and 1913: Per cent earning each classified amount
during busiest week of each year...............................................................................
Chart 8.—Per cent of sample makers, female (week workers), receiving each
classified rate of wages per week, 1912 and 1913..................... ...............................
Chart 9.— Per cent of cleaners, female (week workers), receiving each classified
rate of wages per week, 1912 and 1913......................................................................
Chart 10.—Per cent of cutters (week workers) receiving each classified rate of
wages per week, 1912 and 1913...................................................................................
Chart 11.—Per cent of drapers (week workers) receiving each classified rate of
wages per week, 1912 and 1913...................................................................................
Chart 12.— Per cent of examiners (week workers) receiving each classified rate of
wages per week, 1912 and 1913...................................................................................
Chart 13.— Per cent of finishers (week workers) receiving each classified rate of
wages per week, 1912 and 1913...................................................................................
Chart 14.— Per cent of ironers, female (week workers), receiving each classified
rate of wages per week, 1912 and 1913......................................................................
Chart 15.— P ercen t of pressers and ironers, male (week workers), receiving each
classified rate of wages per week, 1912 and 1913....................................................
Chart 16.— Per cent of joiners, female (week workers), receiving each classified
rate of wages per week, 1912 and 1913.................................................................. ...
Chart 17.— Seasonal fluctuations of employm ent and wages in whole industry
and in 6 high-grade shops, 1912..................................................................................
Chart 18.— Seasonal fluctuations of wages in 6 low-grade shops, 6 high-grade
shops, and the whole industry, 1912.........................................................................
Chart 19.— Seasonal fluctuations of employment in 6 low-grade shops, 6 highgrade shops, and the whole industry, 1912..............................................................
56
60
62
65
67
81
107
116
119
127
130
136
137
144
163
169
170
[This report was prepared for and under the direction of theWageScale Board of the Dress and Waist Industry, by
I. Stone,
Chief Statistician.]
BULLETIN OF THE
U. S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
WHOLE NO. 146.
WASHINGTON.
APRIL 28, 1914.
WAGES AND REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT AND
STANDARDIZATION OF PIECE RATES IN THE DRESS
AND WAIST INDUSTRY OF NEW YORK CITY.1
BY
N.
I.
STON E.
PART I.— WAGES AND REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT.
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY.
The investigation covered by the present report was made under
the direction of the wage-scale board in compliance with the provi
sions of article 8 of the protocol of peace entered into on January 18,
1913, between the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union
and the Dress and Waist Manufacturers’ Association. Article 8
calls for “ a complete and exhaustive examination into the existing
rates paid for labor, the earnings of the operatives, and the classifi
cation of garments in the industry.”
The investigation was started at the end of March and completed
in August, but the presentation of the report and of the summary of
the findings has been delayed until the present time, owing to the
necessity of taking up the second investigation ordered by the wagescale board under the provision of article 7 of the protocol, “ with
a view to establishing as nearly practicably as possible a scientific
basis for the fixing of piece and week-work prices throughout the
industry.”
As this new investigation, requiring the timing of various opera
tions in the manufacture of dresses and waists, could be carried on
only while the factories were busy and as the fall season is very
short, it was necessary to concentrate all efforts on that work and
to postpone the writing of the report as to the first investigation
1The author is under obligations to the officers of the wage-scale board, particularly Mr. I. B. Hyman,
chairman of the board, and Mr. S. Polakoff, chief clerk of the board for the union, for assistance ren
dered; also to Mr. A. H. G. Baron, Mr. Sigmund Hairnan, and Miss Eva JoSe of the stall cf the board.
8
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOK STATISTICS.
until after the closing of the fall season. The results of the second
investigation, dealing with the standardization of piece rates, will be
reported separately.
The investigation constituting the subject of this report covered
520 shops employing about 31,500 people (not counting designers,
foremen, forewomen, packers, and office force) who constituted nearly
nine-tenths of all the workers known to be employed in the dress
and waist industry in Greater New York. Of the 520 shops, 289 were
association shops and 231 nonassociation shops having individual
agreements with the union identical with the protocol in so far as
wages and hours were concerned.
Although the number of the nonassociation union shops was not
much less than that of association shops, they employed only 6,690
people as against 24,795 in the association shops. This is due to
the fact that most of the association shops are large, while most of
the nonassociation shops are small. With few exceptions, it may be
said that all the large and important shops of the industry are affili
ated with the association and subject to the conditions of work pre
scribed in the protocol. The two groups combined employ about
nine-tenths of all the workers engaged in the dress and waist industry
of Greater New York, leaving only about one-tenth of the workers to
the 200-odd nonassociation nonunion shops.
The investigation disclosed the fact that more than $9,300,000 was
paid out in wages in 1912 in shops employing 20,524 workers in the
busiest week of that year, the busiest week as used here and elsewhere
throughout the text of this report, unless otherwise noted, meaning
the week in which the maximum number of persons were employed.
From this it is estimated that the total wages paid to nearly 37,000
workers in the dress and waist industry of Greater New York in
1913 exceeded $17,000,000 and represented an output of dresses
and waists of a wholesale market value of close to $100,000,000.*
Of the 29,439 persons found working in the dress and waist shops
in 1913 whose sex and occupation were ascertained, 24,728 were
women and 4,711 were men, making the proportion of women to
men over 5 to 1, or, putting it in a percentage form, 84 per cent of
all the employees were women and 16 per cent were men. Of the
16,418 operators, 13,993 were women and 2,425 were men, making the
proportion of men and women practically the same as above. Some
of the occupations outside of operating are almost entirely monopo
lized by women, while others are filled exclusively by men. Among
those in which women are exclusively or almost exclusively employed
are assorters, cleaners, embroiderers, examiners, finishers, drapers, and
i For an explanation of this estimate see pages 20,21.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
9
joiners. Among the ironers—i. e., those working with a, light iron—
the number of women is about twice as large as that of men. Pressers, meaning those who work with a heavy iron, are exclusively men;
so also are the cutters.
The following statement gives a summary of the employees covered
by the investigation according to sex and showing the number
employed in association or nonassociation shops. It also shows the
number of operators of each sex employed as week workers and as
pieceworkers. These figures include only employees for whom sex
a n d o c c u p a t i o n w e r e a s c e r t a in e d :
Shops............................ ......................................................................................................
520
Association.......................................................................................................... .....
289
N onassociation..........................................................................................................
231
Persons em ployed............................................................................................................ 29,439
In association shops................................................................................................ 23,304
Females.............................................................................................................. 19,773
Males...................................................................................................................
3,531
In nonassociation shops.........................................................................................
6,135
Females..............................................................................................................
4, 955
Males...................................................................................................................
1,180
Total fem ales........................................................................................................... 24, 728
Total males................................................................................................................
4, 711
Operators em ployed........................................................................................................ 16,418
Females...................................................................................................................... 13,993
Week workers........................................ .............. .......... ......................... .
6,936
Pieceworkers.....................................................................................................
7,057
Males..........................................................................................................................
2,425
917
Week workers..................................................................................................
Pieceworkers.....................................................................................................
1, 508
Total week workers.......................................... _ ...................................................
7, 853
Total pieceworkers................................................... ..............................................
8, 565
The accompanying chart (No. 1) shows in graphic form the figures
just presented, together with corresponding percentages.
EFFECT OF THE PROTOCOL ON WAGES.
WAGES IN ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION UNION SHOPS.
In summing up the* results of the investigation, the most salient
as well as the most important fact alike to the employers and the
employees in the dress and waist industry is the general increase in
wages in practically every branch of the industry and every occupa
tion in which its workers are engaged. The increase took place in
association as well as in nonassociation union shops. In some cases
the increase is more pronounced in association shops, in others in the
nonassociation shops. As a rule, the difference in wages as between
these two classes of shops has been found to be determined not by
the affiliation or nonaffiliation of the shops with the association, but
Ch 4kt 1 PROPORTION OP ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS IN THE INDUSTRY, OF EMPLOYEES IN EACH CLASS
OF SHOPS, BY SEX, AND OF WEEK WORKERS AND PIECEWORKERS AMONG OPERATORS, 1913.
2S 3*S 6%
2 3 l*+ 4 %
Tcu! 5Z0-
Shtfs
& »■ »
ws*zr%
.55304 = 7 3
Total
fersons Cnp'J
Oale'5,25i=l5°/»
Female 19,713 = SSJ,
fentle „
24,7.58 «■8?%
19%
Tor»f ,te,m
CO.ale Z$%S*iSY<>
fenale,i$$93*85%
Tot*!
Operajorg
O nu
Oak *711*/&
Persons Gop'tt
C Oee/t a6rrt«i’S
F. 4 3 5 5 e ?)!*/•
« ,« 9.
fi'ege aorifeff. ?}0$ 1
Piece %jS65 = 6Z%
e624^
/6/fra
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY".
11
by the character of the goods manufactured. Shops making the
better grade of garments require workers of higher skill, who naturally
command higher rates of wages than the less skilled workers employed
in the shops making cheap garments. The group of shops making
cheaper garments is designated in this report by the letter A and
those making the higher-grade garments by the letter B. The
general rule found to prevail with regard to wages is that the asso
ciation and nonassociation union shops in the B groups pay higher
wages than the association and nonassociation A shops. Unless this
fact is borne in mind, one can just as easily prove that the association
shops pay higher wages than the nonassociation by comparing asso
ciation B with nonassociation A shops, as the contrary fact, namely,
that the nonassociation union shops pay higher wages than the
association shops by comparing the nonassociation union B with the
association A shops. In other words, association B shops pay higher
wages than association A or nonassociation A shops; nonassociation B
shops pay generally higher wages than association A or nonassociation
A shops. When, however, we compare association B with non
association B, or association A with nonassociation A shops, there is no
general rule, sometimes one, sometimes the other paying higher wages,
the difference between the two being comparatively small. Thus
the wages of cleaners have been found to be higher in the nonassocia
tion A than in the association A shops, and in turn higher in association
A than in association B shops. This is due, as explained elsewhere
in the report, to the fact that the large shops employ a considerable
number of errand girls who carry work from one part of the shop to
another and do other errands, and work on cleaning when they have
nothing else to do. These girls are naturally paid lower wages than
girls who do cleaning exclusively, which is the case in smaller shops
where there is no call for errand girls. Because the nonassociation
shops are mostly small and the association shops are mostly large,
the former make a better showing in the case of the wages of cleaners
than the latter.
On the other hand, in the case of women, operators, whether working
by the piece (Table 23) or by the week (Table 21), no uniform tend
ency can be discovered in comparing association A shops with non
association A shops or association B shops .with nonassociation B
shops, the proportion of workers in different wage groups being some
times greater in the association shops and sometimes in the nonasso
ciation shops.
In the case of finishers working by the week, the association B
shops had a higher proportion of girls getting from $9 a week down
and from $12 a week up than the nonassociation B shops and a
smaller proportion of those getting from $9 to $12, while in the A
12
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
shops the nonassociation group was above the association in the
proportion of girls receiving the minimum rate of $8 a week and up,
except those earning $16 a week or more of whom there were a few
in the association B shops.
The earnings of the finishers working by the piece were, on the
whole, higher in the association A shops than in the nonassociation
A shops and in the association B shops than in the nonassociation B
shops.
These instances are sufficient to indicate that neither the associa
tion nor the nonassociation shops as such can be said to be paying
uniformly higher rates than the other, the difference being principally,
between shops making higher and lower grade garments, respectively,
regardless of their affiliation or nonaffiliation with the association.
WAGES OF WEEK WORKERS PROVIDED FOR IN THE PROTOCOL.
As stated above, there has been a general increase in wages in the
industry since the protocol went into effect. This is especially true
and lends itself to clear demonstration in the case of all occupations
for which a minimum rate is provided in the protocol. Table 1,
which follows, presents a summary of the wages for such occupations:
T able 1.—SUMMARY OF W AGES IN OCCUPATIONS FOR WHICH MINIMUM RATES
A R E F IXE D B Y THE PROTOCOL, SHOWING PERCENTAGE OF W ORKERS RECEIVING
LESS THAN THE PROTOCOL MINIMUM, AND IN THE GROUPS RECEIVING THE
MINIMUM AND OVER, 1912 AND 1913.
1
1912
1913
In
crease
(+ )o r
de
crease
(-)
per
cent.
60.3
18.9
20.8
37.3
29.9
32.7
-3 8.1
+58.2
+57.2
100.0 .......... 1........... 100.0
100.0
i
Association
A.
Nonassocia
tion A.
Association
B.
Nonassocia
tion B.
1912
1913
1912
1913
1912
1912
59.1
20.3
20.6
47.3
35.4
29.3 j! 20.9
35.3 I 31.8
25.9
38.0
36.1
67.6 ' 48.9
15.3
25.8
17.1
25.3
Total................... 100.0 |100.0 |100.0
100.0
100.0
1
15.6 ;! 28.8
25.5 i 45.5
22.7
48.8
3.0
10.1
21.7
18.4
47.4
12.5
24.5
29.2
37.2
9.1
100.0
100.0
100.0
Occupation and classi
fication of weekly
wages.
Cleaners:
Under W 1..............
$6 to $6.99..............
$7 and over............
Drapers:
Under $12..............
$12 to $13.99...........
$142 to $15.99.........
$16 and over..........
30.1
33.8
31.0
5.1
Total................... 100.0
Examiners:
Under $102
$10 to $11.99...........
$12 and over..........
Total
100.0
46.7
31.4
21.9
38.4
39.5
22.1
36.1
27.5
36.4
100.0
100.0
100.0
1913
8.3
20.4
56.6
14.7 ;
1913
!
j
100.0 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
|
19.8 1
34.1 |
46.1 ..........
100.0 i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
i.........
Total.
27.5
32.6
32.8
7.1
13.0
22.9 j—40.3
51.5 +57.0
12.6 +77.1
100.0
100.0
42.2
29.9
28.0
29.7
37.7
32.5
100.0
100.0
-2 9 .6
+26.1
+16.1
* No minimum wago for cleaners is provided for in the protocol, but an understanding was reached
between the conferees who signed the protocol that no cleaner be paid less than §6 per week. This under
standing was later confirmed in a formal decision at one of the early meetings of the board of grievances.
2 Minimum protocol rate.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
13
T able 1.—SUMMARY OF W AGES IN OCCUPATIONS
FOR W HICH MINIMUM RATES
A R E F IX E D B Y T HE PROTOCOL, SHOWING PERCENTAGE OF W O R K E R S RECEIVING
LESS THAN TH E PROTOCOL MINIMUM, AND IN TH E GROUPS RECEIVING THE
MINIMUM AND OVER, 1912 AND 1913—Concluded.
Finishers:
Under $81..............
$8 to $8.99..............
$9 and over............
1912 1912
1913
1913
1912
1913
1912
1913
1912
1913
-52.1
+66.5
+39.3
Nonassocia
tion A.
Association
B.
N onassociation B.
Total.
54.0
21.3
24.7
28.8
34.1
37.1
51.4
19.7
28.9
25.3
34.9
39.8
47.1
20.3
32.6
18.6
38.2
43.2
36.5
27.0
36.5
21.4
26.1
52.5
49.3
21.2
29.5
23.6
35.3
41.1
Total................... 100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Ironers:
Under $121............
$12 to $13.99...........
$14 and over..........
75.7
14.5
9.9
52.5
32.4
15.1
61.0
27.1
11.9
49.6
23.3
27.1
69.8
19.6
10.5
51.2
29.7
19.1
Total................... 100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
41.0
36.4
22.6
20.7
50.3
29.0
44.3
27.9
27.8
34.0
38.9
27.1
43.0
30.0
27.0
26.4
42.6
31.2
Total................... 100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Sample makers:
Under $14i............
$14 to $15.99...........
$16 and over..........
100.0
100.0
Joiners:
Under $121............
$12 to $13.99...........
$14 and o^er..........
55.7
39.4
4.9
47.0
44.6
8.4
Total...................
100.0
100$0
-2 6 .6
+52.0
+81.9
-3 8 .6
+42.0
+15.6
++ 1
Occupation and classi
fication of weekly
wages.
In
crease
(+ )o r
de
crease
(—)
per
cent.
Association
A.
1 Minimum protocol rate.
According to this table there has been in every case a decided
reduction in the percentage of persons receiving less than the mini
mum protocol rate, and in every instance there has been a very
marked increase in the proportion of those in the group receiving the
minimum protocol rate and a similar, though smaller increase in the
proportion of those in the group receiving the higher rates. Thus, the
proportion of cleaners receiving less than the minimum of $6 a week 1
has been reduced from 60.3 per cent of the total in 1912 to 37.3 per
cent in 1913. The percentage of drapers receiving less than the mini
mum protocol rate of $14 a week has been reduced from 60.1 per cent in
1912 to 35.9 per cent in 1913. The percentage of joiners receiving less
than the minimum protocol rate of $12 a week has been reduced from
55.7 per cent in 1912 to 47 per cent in 1913. The percentage of ex
aminers receiving less than the minimum protocol rate of $ 10 a week has
been reduced from 42.2 per cent in 1912 to 29.7 per cent in 1913. The
percentage of finishers receiving less than the minimum protocol rate
of $8 a week has gone down from 49.3 per cent in 1912 to 23.6 per
cent in 1913. The percentage of women ironers receiving less than
i No minimum wage for cleaners is provided for in the protocol, but an understanding was reached
between the conferees who signed the protocol that no cleaner be paid less than $6 per week. This under
standing was later confirmod in a formal decision at one of the early meetings of the board of grievances.
14
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
the minimum protocol rate of $12 a week has gone down from 69.8 per
cent in 1912 to 51.2 per cent in 1913. The percentage of sample
makers receiving less than the minimum protocol rate of $14 a week
has been reduced from 43.0 per cent in 1912 to 26.4 per cent in 1913.
The proportion of cutters receiving less than the minimum protocol
rate has been reduced from 81.3 per cent in 1912 to 56 per cent in
1913. These 56 per cent in 1913 include, to a large extent, cutters
of various degrees of apprenticeship, for whom the protocol provides
rates of $6, $12, and $18, according to the length of service. The
proportion of cutters receiving these rates has increased in each case.
Thus, those getting $6 to $6.99 a week increased from 2.7 per cent
in 1912 to 3.8 per cent in 1913. Those getting $12 to $13.99 a
week formed the same percentage both years, namely 8.5 per cent,
and those getting $18 to $19.99 a week increased from 8.8 per cent
in 1912 to 10.9 per cent in 1913. On the other hand, the percentage
of those receiving odd rates, that is, rates below $25, other than the
three mentioned, has been reduced from 61 per cent in 1912 to 32.8
per cent in 1913.1
Corresponding to this general reduction in the relative number of
persons receiving less than the protocol rate, there has been an in
crease in the percentage of those receiving the minimum protocol rate
and more than that rate. A good deal has been said in the trade
about the tendency of the minimum to become the maximum. It
is, therefore, interesting to compare the proportion of those receiving
the minimum rate with those receiving more than the minimum in
each occupation for which a minimum rate has been provided in the
protocol. Thus, in the case of cleaners, the number of those in the
group receiving the minimum of $6 a week constituted 29.9 per cent of
all the cleaners, while those receiving $7 and over was 32.7 per cent,
the number of those receiving more than the minimum thus exceed
ing the number of workers receiving the minimum. It should be
noted that, in the case of cleaners here quoted, the table gives the
number of those receiving $6 to $6.99. While the great bulk of
workers in that group were getting the minimum of $6 a week, there
were a number receiving $6.50 and a few receiving $6.75, which should
have been added to the group of those receiving more than the mini
mum. This would involve, however, so much additional clerical labor
that it could not be undertaken in the closing days of the completion
of this report. This remark applies likewise to the percentages of the
other occupations which follow: In the case of drapers, the propor
tion of those receiving from $14 (the minimum) to less than $16 was
51.5 per cent, while those receiving $16 or more constituted 12.6 per
cent of the total. Of joiners the proportion receiving from the mini
mum rate of $12 to less than $14 a week was 44.6 per cent and the
i For rates paid cutters see Table 51, pages 114,115.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
15
proportion receiving $14 and over was 8.4 per cent. In the case of
examiners, 37.7 per cent received from $10 (the minimum) to $11.99
a week and 32.5 per cent received $12 a week or more. If the
number of those who received from $10.50 to $11.50 could be
separated, it would in all probability show as large a number of
examiners receiving more than the minimum rate of $10 a week as
of those who received the exact minimum rate. In the case of fin
ishers, the proportion of those receiving from $8 (the minimum) to
$8.99 a week was 35.3 per cent, and of those receiving $9 or more
the proportion was 41.1 per cent. In this case, the number of those
receiving more than the minimum exceeded that of the workers re
ceiving the minimum rate. In the case of ironers those receiving
from the minimum of $12 to $13.99 a week made up 29.7 per cent
and those receiving $14 or more a little over 19 per cent. If the
proportion of those receiving $12.50, $13, and $13.50 were added
to the group receiving more than the minimum rate of $12 a week,
the percentages of those receiving the minimum and more than the
minimum would probably be about equal. The percentage of sam
ple makers receiving from the minimum rate of $14 to $15.99 a
week was 42.6 and of those receiving $16 and over the percentage
was 31.2. Here too, the proportion of those receiving the minimum
or more than the minimum would probably be about equal if those
receiving $14.50, $15, and $15.50 could be added to the proper
group.
Summing up the effect of providing minimum rates in the protocol,
it may be said that in all the occupations thus provided for the
proportion of those receiving less than the minimum protocol rate
was reduced one-fourth to one-half of what it had been before the
signing of the protocol; but that about one-fourth of the workers
for whom minimum rates were provided are still getting less than the
minimum rate.
WAGES OF WEEK WORKERS NOT PROVIDED FOR IN THE PROTOCOL.
The increase in wages was not confined to the occupations for which
minimum rates have been provided in the protocol. Practically
every occupation shows the same tendency, though the increase, as a
rule, is not so large and not always so uniform as in the case of the
occupations with protocol rates. Thus, among the assorters, the
per cent of those receiving less than $8 a week declined from 30.2 to
27.2 w?/;]i a corresponding increase in the percentage of those receiving
$8 a week or more. In the case of embroiderers there has been a
decline in the proportion of those receiving less than $8 a week from
nearly 25 per cent of the total in 1912 to less than 13 per cent, or
about one-half, in 1913. In the case of male pressers and ironers
there has been an increase in the percentage of those receiving $20
16
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
a week and over from 11.3 in 1912 to 28.1 in 1913. Taking the
operators as a whole, we find that among the wo™en working by
the week, there has been an increase among those receiving $14 a
week and more from 16.6 per cent of the total in 1912 to 23.5 per
cent in 1913, among the men working by the week those receiving
$16 a week and up increased from 26.8 per cent in 1912 to 38.2 per
cent in 1913. The same is true of all the important branches of
operating in which the work is done by the week. Thus, among the
hemstitchers, the percentage of those receiving $12 a week and more
increased from 30.1 in 1912 to 51.4 in 1913. The women lace run
ners earning $9 a week or more increased from 53.8 per cent in 1912
to 78.3 per cent in 1913. The women trimmers receiving $12 a week
or more increased from 30.5 per cent in 1912 to 46.8 per cent in 1913.
The women tuckers receiving $14 a week or more increased from
22.0 per cent in 1912 to 56.5 per cent in 1913, while the percentage of
men tuckers receiving the same wage increased from 52.8 in 1912 to
75.6 in 1913.
EARNINGS OF PIECEWORKERS.
What has been said about the week workers is likewise true of the
pieceworkers. Thus, among the women ironers working by the
piece, the per cent of those earning $20 a week or more during the
busiest week of the year increased from 13.4 in 1912 to 24.6 in 1913.
While among the men there has been no such marked uniformity,
some wage groups showing increases and other groups showing
reductions, on the whole there has been an improvement, the per
centage of those earning $16 and up having increased from 62.7 in
1912 to 65.9 in 1913. Among the operators the women pieceworkers
earning $14 a week or more during the busiest week of the year
increased from 33.7 per cent in 1912 to 49.9,per cent in 1913. Among
the men, the per cent of those earning the same amounts increased
from 69 to 77.1. Skirt operators working by the piece and earning
$16 a week or more increased from 53.3 per cent in 1912 to 68.9 in
1913. Women trimmers working by the piece and earning $14 a
week or more increased from 18.9 per cent in 1912 to 19.8 per cent in
1913. Men tuckers earning $14 a week or more increased from 52.8
per cent to 75.6 per cent.
EFFECT OF THE PROTOCOL ON HOURS OF WORK.
ALL SHOPS COMBINED.
The figures given in Table 2, which follows, show that the protocol
was no less effective in shortening the hours of work than it was in
increasing the pay of the workers in the dress and waist industry.
This table relates to week workers in the entire industry.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
17
T able 2 .— NUM BER AND P E R CENT OF W E E K W O R K E R S E M PLOYED EACH CLAS
SIFIED NUM BER OF HOURS DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF THE Y E A R , FOR
THE E N TIRE IN D U STRY , 1912 AND 1913.
Number.
Hours employed
Cutters.
1912
Under 10 hours....................
10 and under 20 hours.........
20 and under 30 hours.........
30 and under 40 hours.........
40 and under 60 hours.........
50 hours................................
51 and under 53 hours.........
53 and under 55 hours.........
55 and under 60 hours.........
60 and under 65 bours.........
65 and under 70 hours.........
70 and under 73 hours.........
73 and under 75 hours.........
75 hours and over................
6
3
8
27
106
205
299
207
188
146
94
13
Total..........................
1,311
Other employees.
1913
1912
12
9
15
26
155
969
178
165
131
34
13
1
124
151
309
529
1,778
1,352
2,428
1,923
2,635
1,135
339
47
6
2 29
1,708
12,785
19
i Highest, 78 hours.
Per cent.
1913
117
205
356
534
2,980
5,352
1,677
1,646 ]■
1,106
248
38
4
14,263
Other employ
ees.
Cutters.
1912
1913
1912
1913
11.4
12.7
22.6
29.4
15.6
38.6
56.7
20.1
10.6
34.0
37.5
23.3
34.3
10.5
32.8
9.8
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
2 Highest, 82£ hours.
The normal hours of work which varied, from 52 to 54J hours per
week in 1912 have been reduced to 50 in 1913. Overtime has been
limited to 4 hours per week and not more than 2 hours in one day.
As shown in the above table, the report bears ample testimony to
the enforcement of these provisions. Comparing the figures for
1912 with those for 1913 it was found that for the industry as a
whole the number of persons working more than 50 hours a week
has been greatly reduced, while the number working 50 hours or
less has increased. Excluding cutters, all of whom are men, the
proportion of week workers employed 51 hours or more has been
reduced from 66.8 per cent in 1912 to 33.1 per cent in 1913. Of
those working 50 hours a week the proportion has increased from
10.6 per cent in 1912 to 37.5 per cent in 1913. The proportion of
those working less than 50 hours also has increased from 22.6 per
cent in 1912 to 29.4 per cent in 1913.
The same tendencies are observed in the case of the cutters, the
proportion of those working 51 hours and over decreasing from 72.9
per cent in 1912 to 30.6 per cent in 1913, while those working 50
hours increased from 15.6 to 56.7 per cent and those working under
50 hours increased from 11.4 to 12.7 per cent.
ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS.
In both association and nonassociation shops the proportion of
persons employed over 50 hours a week has been greatly reduced,
as is shown in the section on “ hours of labor.” 1 In association shops
the percentage of employees, excluding cutters, working 51 hours or
over was reduced from 68 per cent in 1912 to only 33 per cent in 1913,
while in nonassociation shops the reduction was from 61 to 34 per
i See Table 74, page 178.
42132°— Bull. 146— 14------ 2
18
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
cent. The proportion working 50 hours increased from 11 per cent
in 1912 to 39 per cent in 1913 in association shops and from 10 to 30
per cent in nonassociation shops, while those working less than 50
hours increased from 22 to 28 per cent in association and from 28 to
37 per cent in nonassociation shops.
The proportion of cutters working 51 hours or over was reduced
from 73 per cent in 1912 to 33 per cent in 1913 in association shops
and from 72 to 20 per cent in nonassociation shops. Those working
50 hours increased from 16 to 55 per cent in association and from
15 to 65 per cent in nonassociation shops. In 1912 11 per cent and
in 1913 12 per cent of the cutters worked less than 50 hours in asso
ciation shops and in nonassociation shops the proportions were 12
and 15 per cent, respectively, for the two years.
REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT.
The dress and waist industry is no exception to the rest of the
garment industries in being subject to extreme seasonal fluctuations.
There are about six months of activity, four in the spring and two in
the fall, half of them carried on under extreme, almost feverish,
pressure, followed by an equal period of subnormal activity with
almost complete stagnation for one month in the year.
The report shows that there are more extreme fluctuations in the
wages from month to month than in the number employed. That is
to say, there is a tendency to retain as many employees engaged during
the busy season as possible and to keep all of them partly employed
during the slow season. This is especially true of the pieceworkers,
as it is to the interests of both the manufacturer and his employees—
the manufacturer because it enables him to maintain his organiza
tion intact ready to respond to the demands of the market at a
moment’s notice; the workers, because it enables them to earn what
little money they can during the dull season instead of remaining
totally idle. In the case of week workers this is less true, the manu
facturers preferring to keep busy all the time whatever workers they
can retain. But here, too, there is a tendency to accede to the desires
of the union and keep as many people on the pay roll as possible by
dividing the force into two or more groups which report for duty
at the factory by turns on alternate days or weeks, and at the same
time are kept fully employed while at the factory.
It is significant to note that even during the busiest week of the
year (which is the period covered by this report), 28 per cent of all
the workers other than cutters in the association shops and 37 per
cent of those in the nonassociation shops were employed less than
50 hours during that week.
Taking the wages paid out in the industry during the busiest week
of the year and expressing this as 100, the investigation has shown
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
19
that the average weekly wage earned by all the workers during 1912
was equal to 73 per cent of that of the busiest week of the year.
That is to say, if a worker’s wage during the busiest week of the year
was equal to $15 a week, his weekly average throughout the year
would amount to $10.94. This average is found to vary considerably
in the four branches of the industry into which it has been divided,
being 53 per cent in the nonassociation A shops, 44 per cent in the
nonassociation B shops, 67 per cent in association. A shops, and 71
per cent in association B shops.
Taking the association and the nonassociation union shops together,
as showTi in Table 2, it was found that, excluding cutters, 117 persons
worked less than 10 hours during the busiest week of the year, 205
worked 10 and under 20 hours, 356 worked 20 and under 30 hours,
534 worked 30 and under 40 hours, and 2,980 worked 40 and under
50 hours a week. One cause for this idleness during part of the week
is to be traced to the workers themselves who lose a part of their
working hours through illness, tardiness in reporting for work, and
other causes which may make it impossible for a worker to be at the
shop. Another class among the part-time workers is made ap of
new employees who started to work during the week, or old employees
who left before the end of the week. A third group consists of
workers who are obliged to remain idle part of the time, owing to the
inability of the manufacturer or the foreman to keep the working
organization in smooth running order in all its parts. The failure of
the cutting department to cut a certain lot of material on time or to
cut up certain parts or trimmings may throw into temporary idleness
one or more departments or some workers in one or more departments.
The failure to provide a proper proportion of body makers, sleeve
setters, tuckers, etc., may likewise cause a congestion at one stage
of the work and idleness at another. Idleness due to these causes
may be at a minimum during the height of the season and is much more
frequent at other times in the year, when it is felt that it is not so
important to maintain a strict balance between the different depart
ments, since there are more workers at the factory than can be kept
busy all the time. While this is true, it seriously interferes with the
efficiency of the shop both among the workers and those responsible
for its maintenance, as shown in Part II of this report, dealing with
the standardization of piece rates.
EFFECT OF THE PROTOCOL ON SUBCONTRACTING.
The prohibition of subcontracting in the shops, called for in the
protocol, has had a marked effect on that practice, causing a very
decided falling off in the number of people working for subcontractors.
Apprentices, however, are employed as assistants to skilled opera
tors, only one apprentice being allowed to one operator, the practice
having the sanction of both the union and the association.
20
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION.
It was aimed to cover as far as possible every shop engaged in the
manufacture of ladies’ dresses or waists in Greater New York. The
investigation covers all the available shops operating under the
protocol or under individual agreements with the union which are
identical with the protocol in all the essential provisions.
The investigation of the joint board of sanitary control carried out
in March, 1913, revealed the existence of 707 shops, employing 36,858
persons. As there were at that time 310 shops affiliated with the asso
ciation and 259 nonassociation union shops, this would leave 140 shops
not subject to the jurisdiction either of the association or of the union.
Of the 310 association shops, 6 refused to furnish information to the
agents of the wage-scale board, and 15 shops were found to lack the
necessary books or records to enable the agents to obtain the infor
mation required, leaving 289 association shops from which detailed
information as to wages was obtained. In the investigation of the
259 nonassociation union shops 18 firms refused information, while
in the case of 8 the books were found in such poor shape that they
could not be utilized for the purpose of this study; 231 shops were
found with available records. The total number of shops thus
covered by the .investigation was 520.
Information as to individual earnings was obtained for 29,439
employees working in the spring of 1913. In addition to these,
wage data were obtained for people working in teams or “ sets,” as
they are called in the trade, of two or more persons, of which at least
1,704 were known to be working in these 520 shops in the spring of
1913, although their number must have been larger, as explained
more fully in the part of this report dealing with this subject. (See
p. 148.) This makes the total number of employees for whom
wages were obtained not less than 31,485, as compared with 36,858
persons found by the joint board of sanitary control. However, in
this investigation, designers, foremen, foreladies (unless actually
working at the machine), packers, and office force were not included,
all of whom, except office force, were included in the figures of the
joint board. It would be a conservative estimate to assume that the
520 shops investigated employ at least 1,500 people engaged as
designers, foremen, forewomen, and packers, which, added to 31,485,
would bring the total employed by the shops investigated to not less
than 32,985, or nearly nine-tenths of the employees in the entire
industry.
As will be seen from Table 68 (p. 159), more than $9,300,000
was paid out in wages during 1912 in the 260 shops which had records
for that year. The number of people employed by the 260 shops
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
21
during the busiest week was 20,524, as shown in Table 67 (p. 158).
Since the number of people found employed during the busiest
week in 1913 was 31,485 and the wages were, on the average,
about 10 per cent higher than in 1912, the wages paid out in 1913
must have aggregated more than $15,700,000, in round numbers.
Adding to that an additional one-tenth of the above amount for the
nonunion shops, it is found that the total wages paid out in the dress
and waist industry during the past year in Greater New York must
have amounted to more than $17,000,000. As the wages constitute
from 10 to 20 per cent of the selling price of the garments, the value
of the output of the dress and waist industry in Greater New York
is probably close to $100,000,000.
As will be shown further, the shops investigated cover a wide
range—from the very smallest to the largest known to exist in the
industry—and since they employ nine-tenths of all the people work
ing in the industry in Greater New York, the data submitted in
this report may be accepted as conclusive for the entire industry.
This is especially true of the wages for 1912 presented in this report,
which prevailed in the industry prior to the conclusion of the protocol,
when wages were adjusted in all shops as a result of individual
arrangements between the employers and their employees.
While it may be presumed that in 1913 wages in the shops free from
protocol conditions did not follow the same course as in the remaining
nine-tenths of the industry, it is very likely that they did not differ
very materially in the two groups. For this there are two reasons:
In the first place, the nonunion shops comprise not only the smallest
shops, but also a number of high-grade shops in which wages are
known to be just as high as in the protocol shops, if not higher;
in the second place, as far as the shops manufacturing low-grade
garments are concerned, it is reasonable to assume that a general
increase of wages among nine-tenths of the people working in the
industry would automatically compel an advance in wages of the
remaining one-tenth, especially during the busy season of the year,
when the demand for labor exceeds the supply and when the inde
pendent manufacturers would be obliged to raise the wages paid in
their shops to the level of the other nine-tenths of the industry or be
in danger of losing their help.
The number of people whose individual earnings were covered by
the investigation is shown in the table following.
22
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T able 3 .— NUMBER AND PER CENT OF PERSONS EM PLOYED IN D IF FE R E N T OCCU
PATIONS IN THE DRESS AND WAIST IN D U STRY , 1912 AND 1913.
Number.
Per cent.
Occupation.
1912
1913
1912
1913
Cleaners...............................................................................
Cutters................................................................................
Drapers...............................................................................
Examiners..........................................................................
Finishers.............................................................................
Ironers and pressers...........................................................
Joiners.................................................................................
All other..............................................................................
1,637
1,397
979
640
4,352
816
69
326
2,086
1,701
1,321
852
5,363
1,119
207
372
6.8
5.8
4.1
2.7
18.1
3.4
.3
1.4
7.1
5.8
4.5
2.9
18.2
3.8
.7
1.3
Total, nonoperators.................................................
Operators............................................................................
10,216
13,771
13,021
16,418
42.6
57.4
44.2
55.8
Grand total...............................................................
23,987
29,439
100.0
100.0
As seen from the table, the total number of workers as to whose
individual earnings information was obtained was 23,987 in 1912 and
29,439 in 1913. The difference of 5,452 people does not represent an
actual increase in the number of people employed in the industry; it
is due largely to the absence of records of wages paid during the year
1912 in a number of shops for which information was obtained for
1913. The figures have been arranged in the above table to show
what proportion of the total employees in the industry are engaged in
each occupation. Thus it will be seen that the largest single group
are the operators, who constituted in 1913 nearly 56 per cent of all the
employees. In this group have been included all employees who
operate sewing machines. All the other trades combined comprise
less than one-half of the employees, namely, 44.2 per cent. The
largest single group among these are the finishers, who form 18.2 per
cent, or a little less than one-fifth of all the employees, followed by the
cleaners, who constitute 7.1 per cent of the total.
COMPARISON OF ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION
UNION SHOPS.
All the data collected indicate that most of the large shops are affili
ated with the association and are thereby parties to the protocol, while
the bulk of the nonassociation shops are of a comparatively small size.
Table 4, which follows, has been prepared to facilitate ready compari
son of the two groups. Both the nonassociation and the association
shops are divided into nine groups, each according to the number of
people they employ, as follows: (1) Shops employing less than 25
persons, (2) those employing from 25 to 49, (3) from 50 to 74, (4)
from 75 to 99, (5) from 100 to 199, (6) from 200 to 299, (7) from 300
to 399, (8) from 400 to 499, (9) from 500 to 600.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T
23
4.—NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS
EMPLOYING EACH CLASSIFIED NUMBER OF EM PLOYEES, AND NUMBER AND PE R
CENT OF EM PLOYEES IN SUCH SHOPS, 1913.
able
NUMBER.
Association.
Classified number of employ
ees in each shop.
Shops.
Nonassociation.
Employees.
Shops.
Employees.
Total.
Shops.
Employees.
Under 25...................................
25 to 49......................................
50 to 74......................................
75 to 99......................................
100 to 199...................................
200 to 299...................................
300 to 399..................................
400 to 499...................................
500 to 600...................................
17
85
67
47
59
6
4
2
1
337
3,352
4; 217
4,199
8,425
1,427
1,338
972
528
119
86
19
6
1
1,905
2,975
1,169
500
141
136
171
86
53
60
6
4
2
1
2,242
6,327
5.386
4,699
8,566
1,427
1,338
972
528
Total...............................
1288
24,795
231
6,690
1519
31,485
PER CENT.
Under 25.............. ...................
25 to 49......................................
50 to 74......................................
75 to 99......................................
100 to 199...................................
200 to 299...................................
300 to 399...................................
400 to 499...................................
500 to 600...................................
5.9
29.5
23.3
16.3
20.5
2.1
1.4
.7
.3
1.4
13.5
17.0
16.9
34.0
5.8
5.4
3.9
2.1
51.5
37.2
8.2
2.6
.4
28.5
44.5
17.5
7.5
2.1
26.2
32.9
16.6
10.2
11.6
1.2
.8
.4
.2
7.1
20.1
17.1
14.9
27.2
4.5
4.2
3.1
1.7
Total...............................
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
i In one case two shops have been tabulated as one.
As will be seen from Table 4, only 17 shops, or 5.9 per cent of all the
association shops were found employing under 25 persons each, while
in the nonassociation group 119 shops, constituting 51.5 per cent, or
more than one-half of all the nonassociation shops, were found to be
employing under 25 persons each. The most prevalent type in the
association shops comprises the two'groups employing 25 and under
75 people, the number of shops in these two groups constituting 52.8
per cent, or more than one-half of all the association shops. This
type of shop is almost as prevalent among the nonassociation shops,
constituting 45.4 per cent of the total. On the other hand, shops
employing 100 people or more are found almost entirely in the asso
ciation group, there being only 1 shop of that size in the nonassocia
tion group, and 72 in the association group, constituting one-fourth
of the entire group.
The contrast between association and nonassociation shops appears
still more striking when we compare the total number of people em
ployed by the respective groups. Of the 31,485 persons accounted for
in Table 4, 24,795 were found employed in the 289 association shops,
while only 6,690 were working in the 231 nonassociation shops. In
other words, although the nonassociation shops constituted 44.4 per
cent, or nearly one-half of all the shops, they employed only 21.2 per
cent, or a little over one-fifth of all the people. This shows that the
24
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
majority of the nonassociation shops are small shops. Looking at
some of the separate groups, we find that more than half (51.2 per
cent) of all the employees in association shops were working in shops of
100 or more employees, while in the nonassociation group only 2.1 per
cent of all the employees fall in that class, which contains only 1 shop.
The very opposite is true when the smallest shops are considered,
namely, those employing under 25 persons each, which gave employ
ment to 28.5 per cent of all the workers in the nonassociation shops
and to 1.4 per cent in the association group. In the nonassociation
group nearly three-fourths of all the employees (73.0 per cent) worked
in shops haying less than 50 employees, while in the association group
shops of that size gave employment to only 14.9 per cent of all the
workers.
Not only does the association contain the largest shops; it also em
braces most of the shops manufacturing the higher grades of dresses
and waists. Table 5, which follows, shows the proportion of highgrade and of low-grade garment shops in the nonassociation and the
association groups. While there is a very wide range in the grade
of goods manufactured in the dress and waist industry, varying from
waists retailing for less than one dollar apiece to expensive gowns, the
prices of which run into hundreds of dollars, it was found very difficult
to arrange the shops in several groups, owing to the overlapping of the
groups, very few shops confining themselves strictly to one grade of
goods. It was therefore found necessary to divide the industry into
two large classes as follows: (1) The class marked B, consisting of
shops manufacturing cotton waists at not less than $16.50 per dozen,
silk waists at not less than $27 per dozen, and dresses at not less than
$5 apiece; (2) those marked A, manufacturing garments selling at
prices below those mentioned above. Included in class A are the
shops manufacturing exclusively $9-a-dozen waists which are indi
cated separately in a footnote in Table 5. The reasons for the adop
tion of the classification in Table 5 are given on page 41 in discussing
the subject of wages.
T able
5.—SHOPS AND EMPLOYEES IN ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION GROUPS
ACCORDING TO THE CLASS OF GOODS MANUFACTURED, 1913.
NUMBER.
Association.
Group.
Shops.
!1
Employees.
Nonassociation.
Shops.
Employees.
Total.
Shops.
Employees.
A (low grade)1..........................
B (high grade)..........................
184
105
14,821
9,974
196
35
5,479
1,211
380
140
20,300
11,185
Total................................
289
24,795
231
6,690
520
31,485
i This group includes §9-a-dozen waist shops, as follows: Association, 21 shops, employing 1,935 persons;
nonassociation, 38 shops, employing 1,125 persons; total, 59 shops, employing 3,060 persons.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DBESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
25
SHOPS AN D EM PLOYEES IN ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION GROUPS
ACCORDING TO THE CLASS OF GOODS M ANUFACTURED, 1913—Concluded.
T a b le 5 .—
PER CENT IN EACH GRADE.
Association.
Nonassociation.
Total.
Group.
Shops.
Employees.
Shops.
Employees.
Shops.
Employees.
A (low grade)1.........................
B (high grade).........................
64
36
60
40
85
15
82
18
73
27
64
36
Total...............................
100
100
100
100
100
100
PER CENT OF ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS AND EMPLOYEES.
Employees.
Shops.
Associa
tion.
A (low grade)...........................
B (high grade)..........................
Entire industry........................
48
75
56
Nonassocia
tion.
52
25
44
Total.
100
100
100
Associa
tion.
73
89
79
Nonassocia
tion.
27
11
21
Total.
100
100
100
i This group includes $9-a-dozen waist shops, which constituted 7 per cent of the association shops, em
ploying 8 per cent of the association employees; 10 per cent of nonassociation shops, employing 17 per cent
of nonassociation employees. Taking all the shops under investigation, they constituted 11 per cent of all
the shops, employing 10 per cent of all the employees.
As will be seen from this table, of the 31,485 persons employed at the
height of the season in the spring of 1913, 20,300, or 64 per cent, were
employed by the A shops manufacturing the lower-grade garments,
and 11,185 persons, or 36 per cent, worked in the B shops making
the higher-priced garments. The 380 A shops included 59 shops
manufacturing exclusively $9 a dozen waists and employing 3,060
persons, or less than 10 per cent, of the total employees in the shops
under investigation. The table shows that a larger proportion of
association shops consisted of the higher-grade shops than was the case
in the nonassociation shops. In the former, 36 per cent of the shops,
employing 40 per cent of the employees, were in class B, while in the
nonassociation group, only 15 per cent of the shops, employing 18 per
cent of the employees, were in that class. Taking all the A shops
investigated, more than half , or 52 per cent, were in the nonassociation
group and only 48 per cent in the association, while in the B group, 75
per cent, or three-fourths of all the shops, were in the association and
only one-fourth in the nonassociation group. Taking into account
the number of employees, we find that the association shops employed
nearly three-fourths (73 per cent) of all the people working in A
shops, and nearly nine-tenths (89 per cent) of all those working in B
shops.
It is evident from Tables 3, 4, and 5 that the association shops
occupy a commanding position in the dress and waist industry in
the city of New York, including practically all of the shops employ
ing more than 100 people, giving employment to four-fifths of the
28-
b u l l e t in
OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
people working under union conditions of labor; between two-thirds
and three-fourths of all the workers employed in the industry, and
nearly nine-tenths of all the people employed in shops manufacturing
the better-grade garments.
NUMBER OF WORKERS IN DIFFERENT OCCUPATIONS.
The number and per cent of people employed in each occupation
in the association and the nonassociation shops is shown in Table 6,
which follows. The group, operators, includes all those who work
on sewing machines.
T able
6.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES IN ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCI
ATION SHOPS, B Y OCCUPATIONS, 1913.
Number.
Occupation.
Associa
tion.
1,652
1,422
Cleaners....................
Cutters......................
Drapers.....................
Examiners...............
Finishers..................
Ironers and pressers.
Joiners......................
All others1...............
434
279
Total.
750
4,193
946
169
345
1,170
173
38
27
2,086
1,701
1,321
852
5,363
1,119
207
372
10,578
2,443
13,021
108
116
104
406
172
107
506
37
145
155
134
440
180
113
580
399
344
139
634
875
5,825
6,455
1,101
Total, nonoperators.
Buttonhole makers........
Button sewers................
Closers and hem m ers...
Dressmakers...................
Hemstitchers..................
Lace runners...................
Sample makers...............
Skirt operators...............
Sleeve makers.................
Sleeve setters.................
Trimmers........................
Tuckers...........................
Waist operators..............
Operators, not specified.
Nonassocia
tion.
Per cent.
220
102
239
97
587
588
4,671
4,685
74
59
105
42
47
287
1,154
1,770
Total, operators.
12,726
3,692
16,418
Grand total.......
23,304
6,135
29,439
310
Associa Nonasso
tion.
ciation.
Total.
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
19
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
79
21
100
1Includes assorters, embroiderers, markers, and slopers.
A comparison of the proportion of association and nonassociation
workers in each occupation, as shown in this table, will help to
show the varying character of the association and the nonassociation
shops. When the total number of employees is considered, 79 per
cent of these work in association shops and 21 per cent in non
association shops. This percentage is not the same for the different
occupations; thus, in the case of cutters, only 16 per cent were
employed in nonassociation shops while 84 per cent worked in associa
tion shops. Similar percentages apply to drapers. This may be
explained by the fact that the association group, having a greater
proportion of large shops and shops making high-grade garments,
requires more cutters, since in the case of high-grade garments only
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
27
one garment or a few garments are cut at a time, while in cheap gar
ments as many as 200 layers of cloth are cut at once, requiring
naturally a smaller number of cutters in proportion to the rest of the
operators. Furthermore, several of the larger shops included in the
association have outside contractors working for them whom they
supply in some cases with material already cut. These shops will,
therefore, have a larger number of cutters in proportion to the
operators employed on the premises than the small shops which
are included in the nonassociation group. Another indication of the
great proportion of high-grade shops in the association is the propor
tion of examiners, of whom there were 12 per cent employed in the
nonassociation shops and 88 per cent in the association shops. The
examining must naturally be done with greater care in the case of
high-grade garments than it is in cheap garments, hence the large
proportion of examiners, as compared with other employees, in the
association shops.
Table 7, which follows, shows the number of men and women
employed in the association and the nonassociation shops in the
years 1912 and 1913, arranged according to their occupations,
while Table 8 shows the percentage of men and women in each
occupation for association and nonassociation shops combined:
T able 7.— NUM BER OF MALES AND FEMALES IN EACH OCCUPATION IN ASSOCIATION
AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS, 1912 AND 1913.
FEMALES.
1912
Occupation.
Nonasso Associa
tion.
ciation.
1913
Total.
Nonasso Associa
ciation.
tion.
Total.
Assorters.......................................................
Cleaners.........................................................
Cutters..........................................................
Drapers.........................................................
Embroiderers...............................................
Examiners....................................................
Finishers.......................................................
Ironers and pressers.....................................
Joiners...........................................................
Markers.............................. ..........................
Slopers...........................................................
1
193
128
1,444
129
1,637
9
434
138
1,652
147
2,086
112
19
57
628
8
1
865
148
583
3,724
529
63
7
9
977
167
640
4,352
537
64
7
9
219
15
102
1,170
30
33
2
1,096
168
740
4,193
552
163
13
6
1,315
183
842
5,363
582
196
15
6
Total, nonoperators...........................
1,019
7,500
8,519
2,014
8,721
10,735
Buttonhole makers.....................................
Button sewers..............................................
Closers and hemmers...................................
Dressmakers.................................................
Hemstitchers................................................
Lace runners.................................................
Sample makers.............................................
Skirt operators.............................................
Sleeve makers...............................................
Sleeve setters................................................
Trimmers......................................................
Tuckers.........................................................
Waist operators............................................
Operators, not specified..............................
5
1
7
33
4
3
42
1
49
22
22
105
607
688
58
87
77
312
94
92
500
231
160
44
524
411
3,982
3,967
63
88
84
345
98
95
542
232
209
66
546
516
4,589
4,655
10
33
17
19
6
3
67
22
95
25
43
211
958
1,432
56
103
87
331
164
100
492
206
205
61
569
416
4,103
4,159
66
136
104
350
170
103
559
228
300
86
612
627
5,061
5,591
Total, operators.................................. .
1,589
10,539
12,128
2,941
11,052
13,993
Grand total.........................................
2,608
18,039
20,647
4,955
19,773
24,728
28
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T able 7 .—NUMBER OF MALES AND FEMALES IN EACH OCCUPATION IN ASSOCIATION
AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS, 1912 AND 1913—Concluded.
MALES.
1912
1913
Occupation.
Nonasso Associa
ciation.
tion.
Assorters.......................................................
Cleaners.........................................................
Cutters..........................................................
Drapers.........................................................
Embroiderers...............................................
Examiners....................................................
Finishers.................................... i ................
Ironers and pressers.....................................
Joiners...........................................................
Markers.........................................................
Slopers..........................................................
Nonasso Associa
ciation.
tion.
Total.
Total.
1
1
4
4
168
1
1,229
279
1
2
1,397
2
2
1,422
5
1
10
1,701
6
1
10
44
3
235
2
279
5
143
5
537
11
3
13
1
10
11
1
394
6
3
12
Total, nonoperators...........................
217
1,480
1,697
429
1,857
2,286
Buttonhole makers......................................
Button sewers..............................................
Closers and hemmers...................................
Dressmakers.................................................
Hemstitchers................................................
Lace runners.................................................
Sample makers.............................................
Skirt operators.............................................
Sleeve makers..............................................
Sleeve setters................................................
Trimmers......................................................
Tuckers.........................................................
Waist operators............................................
Operators, not specified..............................
12
1
3
5
4
9
4
40
67
164
41
15
15
31
2
7
12
76
25
27
8
115
495
440
53
15
20
51
2
8
15
81
29
36
12
155
562
604
52
13
17
75
8
7
14
134
34
36
18
172
568
526
79
19
30
90
10
10
21
171
44
53
22
248
764
864
Total, operators..................................
334
1,309
1,643
751
1,674
2,425
Grand total........................................
551
2,789
3,340
1,180
3,531
4,711
9
434
279
15
102
1,170
173
38
2
1
142
1,652
1,422
1,101
169
750
4,193
946
169
16
18
151
2,086
1,701
220
1,321
184
852
5,363
1,119
207
18
19
5
20
27 1
6
13
15
2
3
7
37
10
17
4
76
196
338
TOTAL MALES AND FEMALES.
1
129
Assorters.......................................................
1,444
Cleaners.........................................................
193
168
1,229
Cutters..........................................................
Drapers.........................................................
866
150
19
Embroiderers...............................................
57
583
Examiners....................................................
628
3,724
Finishers.......................................................
52
764
Ironers and pressers.....................................
4
65
Joiners...........................................................
7
Markers.........................................................
1
19
Slopers...........................................................
130
1,637
1,397
979113
169
640
4,352
816
69
7
20
Total, nonoperators...........................
1,236
8,980
10,216
2,443
10,578
13,021
Buttonhole makers......................................
Button sewers......... ....................................
( ’losers and hemmers...................................
Dressmakers.................................................
Hemstitchers................................................
Lace runners................................................
Sample makers...........................................
Skirt operators.............................................
Sleeve makers...............................................
Sleeve setters................................................
Trimmers......................................................
Tuckers.........................................................
Waist operators............................................
Operators, not specified...............................
17
1
12
53
4
4
45
6
53
31
26
145
674
852
99
102
92
343
96
99
512
307
185
71
532
526
4,477
4,407
116
103
104
396
100
103
557
313
238
102
558
671
5,151
5,259
37
39
30
34
8
6
74
59
105
42
47
287
1,154
1,770
108
116
104
406
172
107
506
340
239
97
587
588
4,671
4,685
145
155
134
440
180
113
580
399
344
139
634
875
5,825
6,455
Total, operators..................................
1,923
11,848
13,771
3,692
12,726
16,418
Grand total........................................
3,159
20,828
23,987
6,135
23,304
29,439
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
29
T able 8.—NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF MALES AND FEMALES, B Y OCCUPATIONS,
1912 AND 1913.
1912
Number.
Occupation.
Per cent.
Fe
Total.
males. Males.
Assorters............................
Cleaners..............................
Cutters................................
Drapers...............................
Embroiderers.....................
Examiners, r _____ --Finishers.............................
Ironers and pressers..........
Joiners................................
Markers
........................
................................
Total, nonoperators.
Buttonhole makers...........
Closers and hemmers__
Dressmakers......................
Hemstitchers.....................
Lace runners......................
Sample makers..................
Skirt operators...................
Sleeve makers....................
Sleeve setters.....................
Trimmers...........................
Tuckers...............................
Waist operators.................
Operators not specified___
129
1,637
1
1,397
2
2
977
167
640
4,352
537
279
64
5
7
9 Slopers
11
8,519
1,697
1913
Number.
Per cent.
Fe
Fe
males. Males. males. Males. Total.
130
1,637
1,397
979
169
640
4,352
816
69
7
20
99
100
10,216
83
1
147
2,086
4
100
‘ i'fo i*
100
" 1,315
6
1
99 . ( ,) !
183
100
842
10
100
5,363
582
66
34
537
11
93
196
7
100
3
15
45
55
6
13
54
63
53
116
103
88 Button
15 sewers....................
85
84
104
81
20
345
396
51
87
2
100
98
98
95
103
92
8
542
15
557
97
232
81
313
74
209
238
88
29
102
66
36
65
546
12
558
98
516
155
671
77
562
5,151
89
4,589
604
89
4,655
5,259
151
2,086
1,701
1,321
184
852
5,363
1,119
207
18
19
Fe
males. Males.
97
100
3
100
0)
i
i
100
99
99
100
52 ....... 48
95
5
83
17
32
68
17
10,735
2,286
13,021
82
18
46
15
19
13
2
8
3
26
12
35
2
23
11
11
66
136
104
350
170
103
559
228
300
86
612
627
5,061
5,591
79
19
30
90
10
10
21
171
44
53
22
248
764
864
145
155
134
440
180
113
580
399
344
139
634
875
5,825
6,455
46
88
78
80
94
91
96
57
87
62
97
72
87
87
54
12
22
20
6
9
4
43
13
38
3
28
13
13
Total, operators.......
12,128
1,643
13,771
88
12
13,993
2,425
16,418
85
15
Grand total............
20,647
3,340
23,987
86
14
24,728
4,711
29,439
84
16
1Less than 0.5 of 1 per cent.
It will be seen from these two tables that of the total of 29,439
workers for whom individual earnings were ascertained, 24,728, or
84 per cent of the total, were women, while only 4,711, or 16 per
cent, were men. That is to say, for every man there were more than
five women employed in the industry. The proportion of men and
women is not the same in each occupation. In some occupations,
like cutters, men are the only workers. In others, like finishers,
women are exclusively employed. Among drapers, embroiderers,
and examiners, the number of men is so small as to be negligible. Of
cleaners women constitute 100 per cent, and the majority of these
are young girls who have just entered the trade.
Although ironing and pressing is work which calls for great physical
endurance, as it must be done standing up all day and working with
hot irons, the proportion of men and women is almost the same, the
women slightly predominating, there being 52 per cent women and
48 per cent men.
Taking the operators as a whole, there were 13,993 women as
against 2,425 men, there being thus 6 women operators for every man
30
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
working at a machine. In some of the departments of operating,
the women have the field entirely to themselves. In general, it may
be said that where speed and quantity of output count for most,
men, on account of their greater strength and endurance, are preferred.
On the other hand, wherever the nature of the work calls for patience,
delicate touch, and nimble fingers, women will be found holding the
field. Thus trimming, which calls for deft and delicate handling of
the lace and other trimming material, is almost exclusively done by
women, the number of men being only 22, or 3 per cent, of a total of
634 trimmers. Sample making and hemstitching, also show a very
small proportion of men, namely, 4 per cent in the case of sample
makers and 6 per cent in the case of hemstitchers.
The largest proportion of men among operators is found in the case
of buttonhole makers, where men outnumber women, 55 per cent
being men, 45 per cent women. This is due to the fact that in
many shops the value of a buttonhole maker who has the ability
to take care of the machine in its frequent breakdowns is greatly
appreciated, and in this respect men naturally have the advantage
over women. Another group of operators in which men are present
in large numbers is that of skirt operators, in which the women
constitute 57 per cent and the men 43 per cent. In skirt oper
ating long seams are the rule and speed is the chief requirement.
Another group in which men are employed to a considerable extent
is sleeve setting, in which their number exceeds one-third, there being
62 per cent women and 38 per cent men. In the group of tuckers
28 per cent are men and 72 per cent are women, and of the group of
closers and hemmers men constitute less than one-fourth.
WEEK WORK AND PIECEWORK.
EXTENT IN DIFFERENT OCCUPATIONS.
The number of people working in the different occupations is given
in detail in Table 9, and the extent to which week work and piecework
prevailed among men and women in 1912 and 1913 is given for each
occupation. In this table the number of operators working on differ
ent kinds of work is likewise given in detail, the operators being
divided into 14 distinct occupations, as follows: Buttonhole makers,
button sewers, closers and hemmers, dressmakers, hemstitchers, lace
runners, sample makers, skirt operators, sleeve makers, sleeve setters,
trimmers, tuckers, waist operators, and operators not specified.
In connection with Table 9, which gives figures for the industry as
a whole, is presented Table 10, giving similar figures for shops making
cheap waists sold to retail stores at $9 per dozen.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
31
T able 9 .— NUMBER OF W E E K W O R K E RS AND PIECEW ORKERS, B Y SE X, IN EACH
OCCUPATION, 1912 AND 1913.
FEMALES.
1912
Occupation.
_____ _
A ssortfirs,.
Gleaners........................................................
.........................................................
Drapers
Embroiderers...............................................
Examiners....................................................
Finishers................................... ....................
Ironers and pressers.....................................
Joiners...........................................................
Markers.........................................................
Slopers...........................................................
Week
Piece
workers. workers.
Total.
Week
Piece
workers. workers.
Total.
129
1,637
977
167
640
4,352
537
64
7
9
147
2,066
20
1,268
47
86
97
842
3,334 '**’ 2,'029*
407
175
188
8
15
6
1,946
8,519
8,359
2,376
10,735
Buttonhole makers......................................
46
17
Button sewers...............................................
69
19
40
44
Closers and hemmers...................................
68
277
Dressmakers.............................................
Hemstitchers................................................
93
5
78
17
Lace runners.................................................
540
2
Sample makers.............................................
52
180
Skirt operators..............................................
144
65
Sleeve makers...............................................
Sleeve setters................................................
55
11
286
260
Trimmers......................................................
229
287
Tuckers.........................................................
2,263
2,326
Waist operators............................................
2,429
2,226
..............................
Operators, not
specified
63
88
84
345
98
95
542
232
209
66
546
516
4,589
4,655
45
113
64
56
148
83
551
69
173
57
343
360
2,488
2,386
21
23
40
294
22
20
8
159
127
29
269
267
2,573
3,205
66
136
104
350
170
103
559
228
300
86
612
627
5,061
5,591
Total, nonoperators...........................
129
1,592
952
93
640
2,784
305
62
7
9
1913
6,573
45
25
74
i,568*
232
2
147
2,086
1,315
183
842
5,363
582
196
15
6
Total, operators..................................
6,189
5,939
12,128
6,936
7,057
13,993
Grand total.........................................
12,762
7,885
20,647
15,295
9,433
24,728
MALES.
1
1
4
.....
1,397
1,397
. ..
1,701
1
1
2
5
Drapers..........................................................
1
2
2
Embroiderers..........................
............
Examiners...............................
............
10
213
66
279
355
Ironers and pressers.....................................
2
3
5
Joiners...........................................................
7
Markers.........................................................
3
Slopers...........................................................
11
11
13
Assorters.................................
Cutters.................................
1
182
4
4
1,701
6
1
10
537
11
3
13
Total, nonoperators...........................
1,627
70
1,697
2,099
187
2,286
Buttonhole makers......................................
Button sewers...............................................
Closers and hemmers...................................
Dressmakers.................................................
Hemstitchers................................................
Lace runners.................................................
Sample makers.............................................
Skirt operators..............................................
Sleeve makers...............................................
Sleeve setters................................................
Trimmers......................................................
Tuckers.........................................................
W aist operators.......; ...................................
Operators, not specified..............................
24
12
11
7
2
8
14
37
11
16
8
83
277
245
29
3
9
44
1
44
18
20
4
72
285
359
53
15
20
51
2
8
15
81
29
36
12
155
562
604
31
14
14
15
7
7
21
64
12
25
9
109
332
257
48
5
16
75
3
3
107
32
28
13
139
432
607
79
19
30
90
10
10
21
171
44
53
22
248
764
864
Total, operators.................................
755
888
1,643
917
1,508
2,425
Grand total.........................................
2,382
958
3,340 j
3,016
1,695
4,711
32
T
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
able
9 .—NUMBER OF W E E K W O R K E RS AND PIE CE W O R K E R S, B Y SE X , IN EACH
OCCUPATION, 1912 AND 1913—Continued.
TOTAL MALES AND FEMALES.
1912
1913
Occupation.
Week
Piece
workers. workers.
Assorters.......................................................
Cleaners..,_____ _____ _
.
....
Cutters...........................................................
Drapers.........................................................
Embroiderers...............................................
Examiners....................................................
Finishers..,................... „ ........
Ironers and pressers.....................................
Joiners...........................................................
Markers.........................................................
Slopers...........................................................
Total, nonoperators...........................
130
1,592
45
1,397
953 .......... 26*
74
95
640
2,784
1,568
518
298
64
5
7
20
8,200
2,016
Total.
. 130
1,637
1 397
979
169
640
4,352
816
69
7
20
10,216
Week
Piece
workers. workers.
151
2,066
20
1 701
1,273
48
87
97
852
3,334 "'*2*029'
762
357
195
12
18
19
Total.
151
2,086
1,701
1,321
184
852
5,363
1,119
207
18
19
10,458
2,563
13,021
Buttonhole makers......................................
70~
46
116
76
Button sewers..............................................
22
81
127
103
Closers and hemmers...................................
53
104
51
78
Dressmakers.................................................
75
321
396
71
Hemstitehers................................................
95
5
155
100
Lace runners.................................................
86
17
103
90
Sample makers.............................................
554
3
572
557
224
Skirt operators..............................................
89
313
133
155
Sleeve makers...............................................
238
185
83
Sleeve setters................................................
102
71
31
82
294
264
Trimmers......................................................
558
352
312
Tuckers.........................................................
359
671
469
Waist operators............................................
2,540 , 2,611
5,151
2,820
Operators, not
specified...............................
2,471
2,788
5,259
2,643
69
28
56
369
25
23
8
266
159
57
282
406
3,005
3,812
145
155
134
440
180
113
580
399
344
139
634
875
5,825
6,455
Total, operators..................................
6,944
6,827
13,771
7,853
8,565
16,418
Grand total.........................................
15,144
8,843
23,987
18,311
11,128
29,439
T able 10.— NUMBER OF W E E K W O RKERS AND
PIECEW ORKERS, B Y SEX, IN EACH
OCCUPATION IN SHOPS MANUFACTURING WAISTS WHICH SELL AT $9 PER DOZEN
TO R E TA IL STORES, 1912 AND 1913.
FEMALES.
1912
1913
Occupation.
Week
Piece
workers. workers.
Total.
Week
Piece
workers. workers.
30
36
316
41
52
73
1
1
319
72
51
68
6
417
66
483
517
5
15
8
3
10
52
14
21
27
782
1
6
15
11
3
10
64
17
21
28
947
8
36
19
5
17
68
23
25
35
986
Assorters......................................................
Cleaners.........................................................
Examiners................................................. .
Finishers.......................................................
Ironers...........................................................
Markers......................................................
316
41
22
37
1
Total, nonoperators...........................
Buttonhole makers......................................
Button sewers..............................................
Closers and hemmers...................................
Lace runners...............................................
Sample makers.............................................
Sleeve makers...............................................
Sleeve setters................................................
Trimmers......................................................
Tuckers.........................................................
Waist operators............................................
3
12
3
1
165
5
39
33
77
6
5
2
13
6
12
234
Total.
1
319
77
90
101
6
594
8
42
24
7
17
81
29
25
47
1,220
Total, operators..................................
937
185
1,122
1,222
278
1,500
Grand total.........................................
1,354
251
1,605
1,739
355
2,084
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
33
10.—NUMBER OF W E E K W O R K E R S AND PIE CEW ORKERS, B Y SE X, IN EACH
OCCUPATION IN SHOPS MANUFACTURING W AISTS WHICH SELL A T $9 PE R DOZEN
TO R E T A IL STORES, 1912 AND 1913—Concluded.
table
MALES.
1912
Occupation.
1913
Piece
Week
workers. workers.
Total.
Week
Piece
workers. workers.
Total.
17
112
59
143
69
3
26
143
95
3
154
17
171
215
26
241
4
6
6
1
1
9
7
11
14
135
14
68
28
203
10
6
8
3
1
5
8
1
13
178
16
2
9
1
6
15
6
9
1
1
10
13
26
8
17
3
1
14
22
1
25
307
Total, operators..................................
183
103
286
233
191
424
Grand total.........................................
337
120
457
448
217
665
Cutters..........................................................
Ironers..........................................................
Markers.........................................................
112
42
Total, nonoperators...........................
Buttonhole makers......................................
Button sewers.............................................
Closers and hemmers...................................
Lace runners.................................................
Sample makers.............................................
Sleeve makers...............................................
Sleeve setters................................................
Trimmers......................................................
Tuckers.........................................................
W aist operators............................................
3
9
14
12
129
TOTAL MALES AND FEMALES.
Assorters.......................................................
Cleaners........................................................
Cutters.................... .....................................
Examiners....................................................
Finishers.......................................................
Ironers...........................................................
Markers.................... 1..................................
316
112
41
22
79
1
30
53
316
112
41
52
132
1
1
319
143
72
51
137
9
5
39
59
1
319
143
77
90
196
9
Total, nonoperators...........................
571
83
654
732
103
835
B uttonhole makers......................................
Button sewers............................................
Closers and hemmers...................................
Lace runners.................................................
Sample makers.............................................
Sleeve makers...............................................
Sleeve setters................................................
Trimmers......................................................
Tuckers.........................................................
W aist operators............................................
9
21
14
4
11
61
21
21
41
917
12
21
21
20
4
11
74
30
21
56
1,150
18
42
27
8
18
73
31
26
48
1,164
16
8
14
2
34
50
41
10
18
95
51
26
72
1,527
Total, operators..................................
1,120
288
1,408
1,455
469
1,924
Grand total.........................................
1,691
371
2,062
2,187
572
2,759
6
13
9
15
233
22
20
24
363
It is unfortunate that the figures representing the numbers of
employees for each of these occupations do not represent the actual
number employed therein. The reason for this is that the pay rolls
of the different concerns are not kept in a uniform manner; some con
cerns describe separately each class of operators, such as buttonhole
makers, closers and hemmers, hemstitchers, etc.; other concerns desig
nate every employee who works at a machine as an operator. The
only way to overcome this difficulty would have been to interview per
sonally each employee in the shop. Apart from the reluctance on the
42132°— Bull. 146—14------ 3
34
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
part of moot employers to admit agents of the wage-scale board to
the shops for that purpose, on the ground that it would interfere
with the work of the employees, it would have greatly delayed the
investigation and materially increased its cost. Even then a large
number of cases could not have been investigated because a con
siderable number of the employees found on the books would not
have been found working in the same shops at the time of the
investigation.
The classification of the different kinds of operators is described in
detail under the respective heads in the section devoted to wages of
operators of different kinds.
The figures given in Table 9 for operators must, therefore, be con
sidered correct only when taken for the operators as a whole, of
whom 16,418 were found in 1913 as against 13,771 in 1912. For the
separate subdivisions of operators, the figures are of value princi
pally for comparative purposes, such as showing the proportion of
week workers and pieceworkers in each group, relative numbers of
men and women, comparative wages in 1912 and 1913, and as
between one group of operators and another group.
RELATION OF SEX TO WEEK WORK AND PIECEWORK.
Table 9 throws an interesting light on the relation of sex to piece
work and week work. On comparing the number of men and women
engaged in piecework and week work in those branches of operating
where the piecework system is employed to a considerable extent,
it will be found that with the exception of dressmakers and skirt
operators, men are engaged on piecework to a much greater extent
than women. As there is particular interest in the conditions exist
ing since the protocol went into effect, the 1913 figures will now be
considered. Among buttonhole makers, the women had approxi
mately one pieceworker to two week workers, while the men had
three pieceworkers for every two week workers; in other words, the
ratio of pieceworkers to week workers was three times as large
among men as among women. Among closers and hemmers, the
women had one and one-half week workers for every pieceworker,
while the men had more pieceworkers than week workers; among
sleeve makers, the women had one and one-third week workers to
every pieceworker, while the men had nearly three pieceworkers to
every week worker; among sleeve setters, the women had more than
two week workers for every pieceworker, while the men had more
pieceworkers than week workers; the same is true of the tuckers;
among waist operators and operators not specified, the proportion of
pieceworkers is much greater among the men than among the
women. This is easily explained when what has been said on the
preceding pages is borne in mind, namely, that men excel the women
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
35
in speed and in endurance, while women show greater aptitude for
work requiring patience and delicate handling. In the former case,
piecework is more remunerative, while in the latter compensation by
the week is frequently preferred both by the employer and by the
worker.
RELATIVE ADVANTAGES OF WEEK WORK AND PIECEWORK.
Whether workers are to be compensated on a piece or a week basis
depends to a large extent on the nature of the work. It is well known
that, in adopting the protocol, the dress and waist industry upset a
number of time-honored precedents and established new ones. One
of these concerns the respective attitude of employers and employees
to piecework and week work. The usual attitude of manufacturers
in other industries is in favor of piecework, while the workers show
a decided preference for week work. The manufacturer is guided
in his attitude by the obvious desire of paying only for work done,
since under the piecework system the pay of the worker is automat
ically cut off for every minute or second that he fails to turn out work.
The workers object to the system on many grounds, chief of which
are: (1) That the piecework system tends to speed up the worker to
the limit of physical endurance, leading to a premature exhaustion of
his strength and injuring his or her health generally; (2) that it de
prives him of pay at more or less frequent intervals, due not only to
lack of work but also frequently to lack of system in the distribution
of work between the various departments, resulting in enforced
idleness on his part, while he is obliged to remain at the factory
waiting for work; (3) that it furnishes opportunities for foremen and
subforemen to make favorites of some employees and to discriminate
against others by keeping the favored workers as constantly at
work as possible and giving them the best paying work, while the less
favored are obliged to get along with what is left; (4) the fourth
and chief objection of employees to the piecework system is based on
what is a common practice in many industries, the tendency to reduce
the piece rate as the workers gain in speed and find new “ short cuts”
in turning out the same work.
The idea on the part of the management is to keep the earnings of
the employees within certain limits recognized as adequate under a
standard set for different occupations or trades. The worker thus
finds that, as soon as his earnings exceed the recognized limit, all
additional exertion on his part not only will fail to bring him addi
tional reward, but on the contrary will lead to a curtailment of the
rate of pay for himself and his fellow workers. This feeling on the
part of the worker, engendered by the attitude of his employers,
leads frequently to an intentional limitation of output after it reaches
the limit beyond which he has reason to expect a reduction in the
36
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
rate of pay. This in turn engenders friction between the employers
and employees and lias, therefore, led to the general hostility to the
piecework system on the part of workingmen and workingwomen.
The workers’ union in the dress and w^aist industry has upset this prec
edent along with many others. It was the workers who were insistent
on the adoption of the piece-rate system for the industry at the
time of concluding the protocol, while a large part of the manufac
turers showed preference for the week-w^ork system.
EXTENT OF WEEK WORK AND PIECEWORK PRIOR TO THE PROTOCOL.
The preference for week work among employers was confined
chiefly to manufacturers of cheap garments, since the piece-rate
system was already in vogue to a greater or less extent in shops
manufacturing higher-grade garments before the protocol had gone
into effect. This can be readily seen on comparing the figures in
Tables 11 and 12, which follow:
T able
11.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF W E E K W ORKERS AND PIECEW ORKERS, B Y
OCCUPATIONS, 1912 AND 1913.
1912
Occupation.
Number.
1913
Per cent.
Number.
Per cent.
1
Week! Piece- Week PieceWeek PieceWeek Piecework work Total. work work work work Total. work work
ers.
ers.
ers. ers.
ers.
ers.
ers. ers.
Assorters.......................................
Cleaners........................................
Cutters.........................................
Drapers........................................
Embroiderers..............................
Examiners...................................
Finishers......................................
Ironers and pressers....................
Joiners..........................................
Markers........................................
Slopers..........................................
130
1,592
45
1,397
26
953
95
74
640
2,784 i,568
518
298
64
5
7
20
130
1,637
1,397
979
169
640
4,352
816
69
7
20
100
97
100
97
56
100
64
63
93
100
100
3
3
44
36
37
7
151
2,066
20
1,701
1,273
48
87
97
852
3,334 2*029*
762
357
195
12
18
19
151
2,086
1,701
1,321
184
852
5,363
1,119
207
18
19
100
1
99
100
96 .......4
47
53
100
62
38
68
32
94
6
100
100
Total, nonoperators..
8,200 2,016
10,216
80
20
10,458 2,563
13,021
80
20
Buttonhole makers.....................
Button sewers.............................
Closers and hemmers...................
Dressmakers................................
Hemstitchers...............................
Lace runners................................
Sample makers............................
Skirt operators............................
Sleeve makers..............................
Sleeve setters...............................
Trimmers.....................................
Tuckers.........................................
Waist operators...........................
Operators, not specified..............
70
46
81
22
51
53
75
321
95
5
86
17
554
3
224
89
155
83
71
31
294
264
312
359
2,540 2,611
2,471 2,788
116
103
104
396
100
103
557
313
238
102
558
671
5,151
5,259
60
79
49
19
95
83
99
28
65
70
53
46
49
47
40
21
51
81
5
17
1
72
35
30
47
54
51
53
76
69
127
28
78
56
71
369
155
25
90
23
572
8
133
266
185
159
82
57
352
282
406
469
2,820 3,005
2,643 3,812
145
155
134
440
180
113
580
399
344
139
634
875
5,825
6,455
52
82
58
16
86
80
99
33
54
59
56
54
48
41
48
18
42
84
14
20
1
67
46
41
44
46
52
59
Total, operators.................
6,944 6,827
13,771
50
50
7,853 8,565
16,418
48
52
Grand total..................... 15,144 8,843
23,987
63
37
18,311 11,128 29,439
62
38
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
37
T able 1 2 .— NUMBER AND PER CENT OF W E E K W ORKERS AND PIECEW ORKERS B Y
OCCUPATIONS, IN SHOPS MANUFACTURING WAISTS WHICH SELL AT $9 PER DOZEN,
TO R E T A IL STORES, 1912 AND 1913.
1912
Number.
1913
Per cent.
Number.
Per cent.
Occupation.
Week Piece- Week ■PieceWeek Piece
Week Piecework work Total. work work work 1work Total. work work
ers.
ers.
ers.
ers. ers.
ers. ers.
ers.
Assorters.......................................
Cleaners........................................
Cutters..........................................
Examiners...................................
Finishers......................................
Ironers..........................................
Markers.........................................
316
112
41
22
79
1
30
53
316
112
41
52
132
1
100
100
100
42
60
100
87
Total, nonoperators..........
571
83
654
Buttonhole makers......................
Button sewers..............................
Closers and hemmers .
Lace runners................................
Sample makers............................
Sleeve makers..............................
Sleeve setters...............................
Trimmers....................................
Tuckers.........................................
Waist operators...........................
9
21
11
4
11
61
21
21
41
917
12
21
21
20
4
11
74
30
21
56
1,150
Total, operators.................
1,120
288
1,408
80
Grand total........................
1,691
371
2,052
82
6
13
9
15
233
58
40
i !i
319
143
72
51
137
9
5
39
59
1
319
143
77
90
196
9
100
100
100
94
57
70
100
6
43
30
835
88
12
18
16
42
8
14
27
8
2
18
22
73
31
20
26
48 ” *24*
1,164
363
34
50
41
10
18
95
51
26
72
1,527
53
84
66
80
100
77
61
100
67
76
47
16
34
20
20
1,455
469
1,924
76
24
18
2,187
572
2,759
79 *
21
13
43
57
100
70 ***30*
100
100
82
18
70
30
100
73 *27*
80
20
732
103
23
39
33
24
Table 11 shows the extent of piecework and week work in each
occupation for the industry as a whole, while Table 12 gives similar
figures for the shops making cheap waists selling wholesale at $9 per
dozen. Taking all employees, we find that while in the so-called $9
shops only 18 per cent of the employees worked by the piece in 1912,
they constituted over one-third, or 37 per cent, of all the employees in
the industry as a whole. In the case of operators, the difference was
even more striking, the proportion of pieceworkers being 20 per cent
in the $9 shops and as much as 50 per cent in the entire industry.
A clearer idea of the extent of piecework and week work in the
different parts of the industry can be obtained by comparing shops
which make cheap garments with those manufacturing high-grade
garments.
Tables 13 and 14, which follow, contain tlie figures for six large
shops in each class of the industry, respectively.
38
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T able 13.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF W E E K W ORKERS AND PIECEW ORKERS IN 6
SHOPS MANUFACTURING HIGH-GRADE
1913.
GARMENTS, B Y OCCUPATIONS, 1912 AND
1912
Occupation.
Number.
1913
Number.
Per cent.
Per cent.
Week Piece- Week PieceWeek Piece
Week Piecework work Total. work work work work Total. work work
ers. ers.
ers.
ers.
ers. ers.
ers.
ers.
56
8
41
15
24
60
9
16
69
31
173
50
223
78
22
50
100
100
50
1
4
80
4
5
4
80
20
100
100
80
2
1
95
254
3
95
310
67
56
33
100
82
Cleaners........................................
Cutters.........................................
Embroiderers...............................
Examiners...................................
Finishers......................................
Drapers.........................................
Ironers..........................................
9
32
14
20
50
6
17
22
9
32
14
20
93
6
39
Total, nonoperators..........
148
65
213
Buttonhole makers.....................
Hemstitchers...............................
Sample makers............................
Skirt operators.............................
Tuckers........................................
Waist operators...........................
Operators, not specified..............
1
3
82
1
34
11
75
208
2
3
82
34
13
75
233
11
100
85
100
89
43
2
25
100
100
100
100
54
100
44
15
46
50
8
41
15
24
110
9
16
100
100
100
100
55
100
100
18
45
Total, operators.................
113
329
442
26
74
143
354
497
29
71
Grand total........................
261
394
655 1
,0
60
316
404
720
44
56
T able 1 4 .— NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF W E E K W O R K E RS AND PIECEW ORKERS IN 6
SHOPS MANUFACTURING LOW -GRADE
1913.
GARMENTS, B Y
OCCUPATIONS, 1912 AND
1912
Occupation.
Number.
1913
Number.
Per cent.
Per cent.
Week Piece- Week PieceWeek Piece
Week Piece
work work-! Total. work work work work Total. work work
ers.
ers. ers.
ers.
ers.
ers.
ers. ers.
Cleaners........................................
Cutters..........................................
Examiners....................................
Finishers......................................
Ironers..........................................
Markers........................................
229
45
38
4
68
1
Total, nonoperators...........
385
32
417
8
397
Buttonhole makers.....................
Button sewers..............................
Closers and hemmers...................
Hemstitchers...............................
Lace runners................................
Sample makers............................
Sleeve makers..............................
Sleeve setters...............................
Trimmers.....................................
Tuckers........................................
Operators, not specified..............
13
11
12
3
16
5
18
7
46
50
644
124
13
11
12
3
16
5
18
7
46
50
768
100 1
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
84
16
8
13
20
5
17
7
20
14
51
39
566
Total, operators.................
825
124
949
87
13
760
Grand total........................
1,210
156
1,366
89
11
1,157
5
27
229
45
38
9
95
1
100
100
100
44
72
100
92
56
28
169
42
41
28
113
4
22
13
35
169
42
41
50
126
4
100
100
100
56
90
100
44
10
432
92
1
137
8
13
22
5
17
7
20
14
51
40
703
100
100
91
100
100
100
100
100
100
98
81
2
19
140
900
84
16
175 j 1,332
87
13
2
8
9
A comparison of the figures in the two tables is striking. It shows
that in 1912, prior to the enactment of the protocol, 60 per cent, or
not far from two-thirds, of all the employees in six large high-grade
garment shops (Table 13) were paid by the piece, while in six large
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
39
low-grade garment shops (Table 14) only 11 per cent, or about onetenth, were pieceworkers. In the case of operators, the percentage
of pieceworkers in the high-grade shops was still larger—namely, 74
per cent, or practically three-fourths of all the operators—while in the
low-grade shops it was only 13 per cent.1 When the special occupa
tions of the operators are considered, it is found that there were no
pieceworkers whatever among buttonhole makers, closers and hem
mers, sleeve makers, sleeve setters, or tuckers in the six cheap-garment shops, while in the six high-grade shops, pieceworkers numbered
as high as 85 per cent of the tuckers, 50 per cent of the buttonhole
makers, 89 per cent of the operators not specified, and 100 per cent
of the waist operators. Not all the shops, of course, manufacturing
low-grade garments had such a percentage of pieceworkers, as has
already been shown in commenting on the figures in Table 12, but
the significance of the above figures lies in the tendency they disclose
for the prevalence of week work in the shops manufacturing lowgrade garments and the predominance of piecework at the other end
of the industry.
In insisting, therefore, on the adoption of the piece-rate system
throughout the industry, the union attempted to raise the conditions
at the lower end of the industry to what they had already been at the
higher end before the signing of the protocol.
WAGES.
METHOD OF OBTAINING WAGE DATA.
The ideal way of ascertaining the wages of workers in any industry
is to find out their total earnings for an entire year. This is especially
true of the garment industries which fluctuate with the seasons,
alternating between periods of highest activity and weeks of absolute
stagnation. The technical difficulties, however, in the way of
obtaining the data as to the earnings of each of the 30,000 workers for
an entire year proved no less serious in this case than in all wage
investigations in which such an attempt has ever been made, and the
investigation as to individual earnings had to be confined to those
during the busiest week of the year, that is, the week showing the
maximum number of employees. In order to obtain a comparison
of the wages prevailing before and after the protocol, the figures
were taken for the busiest week in 1912 and 1913, respectively.
The investigation for 1913 was confined to the spring season, so that
in every case the busiest week in 1913 means the busiest week in the
i The figure of 60 per cent for the six high-grade shops was obtained in spite of the fact that in the six
shops was included one high-grade nonassociation shop, which is an exception to the rule, inasmuch as it
employs week workers exclusively. If a typical high-grade association shop were substituted in its place,
the proportion of pieceworkers would probably amount to at least 75 per cent of all the workers and to a
still higher percentage of the operators.
40
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
spring of 1913,1while for 1912 the busiest week of the year was taken,
whether spring or fall. In a great many eases there were no records
of individual earnings for the spring of 1912 and those for the fall
had to be taken.
The object of taking the busiest week was to secure information
for the largest possible number of workers employed in the industry.
It is well known, however, that earnings at the height of the season
are much greater than at other times of the year. It would, there
fore, be erroneous to draw the conclusion that the annual earnings
of the workers are approximately equal to 50 times the earnings
during the busiest week. Apart from the weeks when the workers
are entirely idle, there are months when the weekly earnings are
considerably less than during the busiest week of the year. In the
case of week workers, an attempt has been made to overcome this
difficulty by presenting in this report the wTeekly rates of wages
rather than their earnings. But even these rates are in many instances
higher at the height of the season than at other times of the year.
But in the case of pieceworkers, there being no regular weekly
rates and no record being kept at the factories of the hours they are at
work, total earnings during the week, including overtime, had neces
sarily to be taken.
There was but one means left to get at an approximate estimate of
annual earnings and that was by ascertaining the regularity of em
ployment in the industry. This was done and the results are dis
cussed in detail on pages 160 and 161. As already pointed out the
principal conclusion from the figures relating to regularity of employ
ment, as shown by Table 68, is that the average weekly earnings of
workers in the entire industry is 73 per cent of their earnings during
the busiest week of the year and for the different branches of the
industry is as follows: Association A, 67 per cent; association B, 71
per cent; nonassociation A, 53 per cent; nonassociation B, 44 per cent.
This furnishes the key to an approximate estimate of the annual
earnings of the various groups of workers from the earnings given
in the following pages for the busiest week of the year.
METHOD OF PRESENTATION OF WAGE DATA.
As has already been pointed out in discussing Table 9, there are
some occupations in the industry in which only women or only men
are employed; cleaners or finishers furnish an illustration of the for
mer, cutters of the latter. In most of the occupations, however,
both men and women are employed. The same is true as to piece
workers and week workers. As in the same occupation wages will
differ according to sex and according to whether the workers are paid
by the week or the piece, the wages are presented under each of these
i In a few cases there were no records for any week of 1913 and the manufacturers concerned were
asked to keep a record for the ensuing week, which may not have been the busiest week. But the
number of such cases did not exceed 10, all of them small shops.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY-.
41
four heads: (1) Pieceworkers, male; (2) Pieceworkers, female; (3)
week workers, male; (4) week workers, female.
But few averages will be found in connection with the wage statis
tics in this report. This is due to the fact that averages are very
misleading in cases where there is a wide range of figures. An
illustration will make this clear. If wages in a certain occupation
varied from, say, $10 to $15, an average of $12.50 would not be very
far from either extreme; for the $12.50 worker, while better off
than the $10 worker and not so well to do as the $15 worker, would be
found maintaining a standard of life not differing very much from
either of the other two. But where, as in the dress and waist industry,
the range of wages takes in a great variety of standards varying all
the way from $3 to $30 a week, an average of, say, $16 a week would
be utterly misleading both as to the $3 as well as to the $30 a week
workers. A better way, therefore, of summing up the wage data
for the different occupations, it was thought, would be found by divid
ing the wage data for each occupation into a number of groups and
by showing the number of people in each group and the percentage
they form of the total. As it is important both to the employers
and the employees to have the information in as much detail as prac
ticable, the number of groups has been made quite large, namely,
18. The lowest group is that of workers getting under $3 a week;
the next includes those earning from $3 to less than $4; the next
from $4 to less than $5 and so on by $1 steps until $10 a week is
reached, when each group is made to cover a range of $2. From
$20 on, the groups advance by $2.50 each until $30 a week is reached,
all workers earning $30 a week or over being put together.
These data are presented for the association and the nonassociation
shops separately. Moreover, in view of the wide range of goods
manufactured in the dress and waist industry, it was found necessary,
as already stated, to divide the industry into at least two groups;
one, called A, representing the shops manufacturing the cheaper
garments; the other, called B, comprising the shops which turn out
the higher grade of garments. While there are a great many more
distinct kinds of shops, it was found impracticable to divide the in
dustry into more than two groups, owing to the fact that but few
shops confine themselves to the manufacture of one grade of garments,
the number of grades being usually so large that any attempt to
divide the industry into more than two groups would result in so
much overlapping in individual shops as to make classification impos
sible. The line of demarcation adopted for the two groups is as
follows: (1) Group B, which consists of shops manufacturing cotton
waists selling at wholesale for not less than $16.50 per dozen, silk
waists selling at not less than $27 per dozen, and dresses selling at
not less than $5 apiece; (2) Group A, which includes shops man
ufacturing garments which sell at prices below those mentioned
42
BULLETIN OF THE BUEEAU OF LABOE STATISTICS.
above. Even under this broad classification, a good deal of over
lapping has proved unavoidable. Thus, if a shop devotes itseif
exclusively to $9-a-dozen waists, it clearly belongs in Group A,
while one manufacturing waists selling from $16.50 to $24 a dozen
would clearly belong to Group B. On the other hand, a shop manu
facturing waists selling from $9 to $24, though it has a range
which takes in both classes, has been classed with Group A. The
reason for this classification is that the cheapest garment made usu
ally determines the character of the work done in a shop. If a con
siderable quantity of cheap garments is made in the shop, the char
acter of the help employed will be of a different kind from that
employed in a shop in which no cheap garments, or very few of them,
are being made. A shop making chiefly $9 and $16.50 waists has
its help trained to pay more attention to quantity of output than to
quality. If it adds a $24 line to its products, the character of the
work on the $24 a dozen waists will not differ from that on the $16.50
or $9 waists, the difference between the two being solely that of
material, a greater amount of lace, embroidery, and other trimmings,
requiring in turn a greater amount of labor, though not a higher
grade of workmanship. On the other hand, a shop which special
izes on waists selling from $24 to $48 or $60 a dozen may manu
facture also some of the cheaper kind to supply a limited demand
from the stores which buy chiefly the high-grade garments. This
shop will not employ special help for the cheaper garments, and,
therefore, the workmanship on its $16.50 waists will be the same as
on the higher-priced garments, the difference being in the quality of
the material, in the elimination of most of the trimmings, saving
cost of material and labor, etc.
From what has been said, it will be seen that the overlapping
between the A and B shops, due to the fact that shops in either group
are found to manufacture garments selling at the same price, is more
apparent than real, the fundamental distinction being that of the
character of the workmanship which is but roughly reflected in the
selling price, the latter being unfortunately the only tangible criterion
by which we can distinguish between the two.
The breaking up of the wage data first into 25 distinct groups
according to occupation; then, into two groups according to sex,
where more than one sex is employed; then again into piecework and
week-work groups in occupations where both methods of compen
sation are in vogue; and then again into four groups, association A,
association B, nonassociation A, and nonassociation B, while securing
a very detailed presentation of the wage data, may be open to the
criticism of failing to give a comprehensive and easily understood
presentation of the wage situation in the industry. The need of such
presentation has been recognized by providing general summaries
both in the tables, where this was possible, and throughout the text
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
43
in discussing the wages of each occupation and in the summary
chapter of this report.
OPERATORS.
OCCUPATIONS OF OPERATORS.
By an operator in the dress and waist industry is meant any person
working on a sewing machine. Operating work is not done with any
uniformity in the industry. In the shops making cheap waists the
work is divided to an extreme, each operator working on some small
part of the garment and frequently specializing 011 only one particular
seam in the garment, one closing the sides of the waist, another one
doing the hemming, a third sewing lace (lace running), a fourth
closing the shoulders, etc. Sometimes even this work is further sub
divided. Thus, if a French seam is used in closing the sides of a
waist, one operator will make the first seam, joining the front and
back parts of the waist on the right side, while the other operator
will trim off the raw edge and turn over the waist to put in the second
seam on the wrong side. Sometimes a girl is employed especially to
do the work of cutting oil the raw edge. Subdivision of work in the
other parts of the garment is also practiced to a great extent.
In shops making medium-priced garments or cheap garments on a
piece-rate basis, it is customary to have “ body makers/9 These are
operators who make up the body of the waist (joining the shoulders,
tacking the fronts and backs, making the centers, i. e., the button
hole and button pieces, and sometimes sewing on the collar). In
that case, there will still be considerable subdivision of labor, since
the closer and hemmer will close the waist on the sides and hem the
bottom; the sleeve maker will make the sleeves; the sleeve setter will
set the sleeves into the waist; the tucker will make the tucks; the
buttonhole maker will make the buttonholes; the button sewer will
sew on the buttons; the hemstitcher will do the hemstitching; the
skirt maker will make the skirt (if dresses are made in addition to
waists), and the joiner will join the waist and skirt into a dress.
Moreover, all the finer work which goes to set off the waist, the sewing
on of the trimmings, laces, and embroideries will be done by “ trim
mers,” so far as it is not simple enough to be done by lace runners.
In the high-grade shops where dresses and gowns are made, the
subdivision of labor is still less, the operator or dressmaker making
practically the entire garment in so far as sewing on the machine
is concerned, and in addition to that in many cases doing her own
draping instead of having that part of the work done by a draper.
The hemming of the bottom of the skirt, the sewing on of the hooks
and eyes, belts, and trimmings—in fact, all of the work that is to
be done by hand—is done in these shops by finishers.
From what has just been said it will be clear why the designation
of operators lacks uniformitv on the pay rolls in the different shops.
44
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
In some shops everybody who works at a sewing machine is called
an operator, and the term will include the entire range of workers
from $4 or $5 a week beginners to the highest grade dressmakers.
In other shops, usually those in which the subdivision of labor is
greatest, the operators are designated separately according to the
special work they do, but even in these shops it will frequently happen
that in the case of some of the workers, say, lace runners, half will be
designated as such and the other half as operators. In view of this
fact, the numbers of the various classes of operators given in this
report should not be taken as complete. But the combined number
of operators of all kinds may be considered as fairly accurate. This
makes it necessary to combine the earnings of all the operators
into one group and discuss the changes which have occurred, con
sidering in one group workers of such widely differing degrees of
skill as distinguish a lace runner from a high-class dressmaker. At
the same time, these figures will be helpful for comparative purposes
both as between 1912 and 1913 and as between the different branches
of the industry. Below is presented, therefore, an analysis of the
wages of operators as a whole, followed by a separate presentation
for the different divisions of operators mentioned above.
NUMBER AND CLASSES COVERED BY THE REPORT.
As shown by Table 8, records were found for 16,418 operators
in 1913 and 13,771 in 1912. This does not mean that there were
2,647 more operators in 1913 than in 1912, but that information
as to wages was available for so many more operators in 1913 than in
1912. Of those found in 1913, 2,425 were men and 13,993 were
women, the number of men constituting 15 per cent and of women
85 per cent of all the operators. This shows that the overwhelming
majority of the operators are women, who outnumber the men
more than 5 to 1, the men specializing only in a few trades, such as
buttonhole making, skirt operating, sleeve setting, and tucking.
As regards pieceworkers and week workers, Table 9 shows that the
division is about even among the women, there being 7,057 piece
workers and 6,936 week workers, or practically the same number
in each class. Among the men, however, the number of pieceworkers
greatly exceeds that of week workers, being 1,508 for the pieceworkers as against 917 for the week workers.
WAGES OF OPERATORS.
In presenting the wages of operators the same general plan has
been followed as for other workers employed in considerable numbers,
the figures being shown separately for week workers and pieceworkers.
Under each of these general classes tables are given showing for
each sex the number and per cent of operators receiving each classi
fied rate of wages, both in the industry as a whole and in shops
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND W’ AIST INDUSTRY.
45
making cheap garments. Similar tables are next presented for
operators employed in association and nonassociation shops. A
further subdivision shows the wages of female operators and of male
operators in each of the four classes of shops—namely, shops desig
nated as association A, association B, nonassociation A, and non
association B.
COMPARISON OF WAGES OP MEN AND WOMEN OPERATORS IN THE INDUSTRY AS
A WHOLE.
Week workers.
As explained elsewhere in this report, the figures of the wages of
week workers given in the tables which follow represent weekly
rates. They take into account neither the time lost during the
week nor the extra work done during overtime. In other words,
wrhen an operator is placed in the $9-a-week group it means that this
is his or her regular weekly rate of pay, although during that par
ticular week he may have worked only four days and earned $6
or have worked overtime and earned more than $10. On the other
hand, the wages of pieceworkers reported are the actual earnings
during the busiest week of the year.
The number and per cent of male and of female operators, week
workers, receiving each classified rate of wages in 1912 and 1913
are shown for the industry as a whole in Table 15, which follows:
T able 1 5 .— NUMBER AND PER CENT OP MALE AND FEMALE OPERATORS,
W EEK
W O R K E RS, IN THE IN DU STRY AS A W HOLE, RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED R ATE
OF WAGES PER W E E K , 1912 AND 1913.
Per cent receiving each classified
rate.
Number.
Classified rates of wages per week.
Females.
Males.
Females.
1912
1913
9
53
204
299
432
541
564
615
1,160
1,136
672
196
93
24
6
4
1
1
15
121
228
457
621
633
606
1,284
1,264
1,056
362
136
47
4
4
2
2
1
6
13
32
30
36
34
74
139
199
143
111
69
17
6
3
1
Total........................................... 36,010
36,840
3733
3914
Under $3...............................................
$3 to $3.99..............................................
$4 to $4.99..............................................
$5 to $5.99..............................................
$6 to $6.99..............................................
$7 to $7.99..............................................
$8 to $8.99..............................................
$9 to $9.99..............................................
$10 to $11.99..........................................
$12 to $13.99..........................................
$14 to $15.99..........................................
$16 to $17.99........................................
$18 to $19.99..........................................
$20 to $22.49..........................................
$22.50 to $24.99......................................
$25 to $27.49..........................................
$27.50 to $29.99......................................
$30 and over.........................................
1912
3
10
15
12
18
33
34
84
146
181
83
61
37
9
5
1913
1912
1913
Males.
1912
1913
0.1
.9
3.4
5.0
7.2
9.0
9.4
10.2
19.3
18.9
11.2
3.3
1.5
.4
.1
2.1
0.2
1.8
3.3
6.7
9.1
9.3
8.9
18.8
18.5
15.4
5.3
2.0
.7
i.l
0.4
1.4
2.0
1.6
2.5
4.5
4.6
11.5
19.9
24.7
11.3
8.3
5.0
1.2
.7
.3
0.1
.7
1.4
3.5
3.3
3.9
3.7
8.1
15.2
21.8
15.6
12.1
7.5
1.9
.7
.3
.1
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1 Including $22.50 and over.
2 Including $25 and over.
3 Not including a number of week workers. These are indicated in Tables 26 to 48, showing the num
ber of week workers and pieceworkers in different wage groups for each occupation.
46
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
Taking the figures in Table 15, the remarkable fact is noted that
although the number of men operators was only 914 as against 6,840
women in 1913, making a ratio of more than 7 women to 1 man, yet
there were a great many more men earning $20 a week and over than
there were women, namely, 96 men as against only 57 women. The
disparity in numbers is even more striking when expressed in per
centages of each class of workers; the number of women receiving
$20 and over constituted 0.8 per cent of all the women week workers,
while the men in the corresponding groups formed 10.5 per cent of all
the men week workers. If the line is drawn at $14 a week, it is found
from the table that in the case of all the workers receiving less than
$14 a week the percentage of women exceeds that of men, the lower
the wages the greater being the excess of women over men. From
$14 and up the relation between the two is reversed, the proportion
of men exceeding that of women and increasing as the weekly rates
advance. Thus the number of those receiving $12 to $13.99 consti
tuted 18.5 per cent of the women and 15.2 per cent of the men. The
next lower group, $10 to $11.99, included 18.8 per cent of the women
and only 8.1 per cent of the men.
Starting with the group of $14 to $15.99 a week, it is found that in
1913 the women formed 15.4 per cent of all the women week workers,
while the men comprised 21.8 per cent of male week workers.
Employees getting $16 to $17.99 a week comprised 5.3 per cent of
the women and 15.6 per cent of the men; those getting from $18 to
$19.99 formed 2 per cent of the women and 12.1 per cent of the men;
those getting from $20 to $22.49 a week comprised 0.7 per cent of the
women and 7.5 per cent of the men.
The preceding figures may be summed up as follows: The propor
tion of workers in 1913 receiving wages of less than $6 a week formed
over 5 per cent among the women and over 2 per cent among the
men. Those earning $6 and less than $10 a week constituted nearly
34 per cent, or more than one-third of all the women, and over 14 per
cent, or one-seventh, of all the men. Nearly 53 per cent, or more than
half of all the women week workers, received wages of $10 and less
than $16 a week, the proportion of men in the corresponding wage
groups being a little over 45 per cent, or less than one-half, while 8
per cent of all the women and 38.2 per cent of the men received $16
and over per week.
Table 16, which follows, gives similar figures for operators working
by the week in shops manufacturing garments of a cheap grade
exclusively.
47
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T
16.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF MALE AND FEMALE OPERATORS, W E E K
W ORKERS, RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES PE R W E E K , IN SHOPS
MANUFACTURING GARMENTS SELLING TO R E T A IL STORES AT $9 PER DOZEN EXCLU
SIVELY, 1912 AND 1913.
able
Per cent receiving each classified
rate.
Number.
Classified rates of wages per week.
Feirtales:
1912
Under $3...............................................
$3 to $3.99.......... ..................................
$4 to $4.99..............................................
$5 to $5.99..............................................
$6 to $6.99..............................................
$7 to $7.99..............................................
$8 to $8.99..............................................
$9 to $9.99..............................................
$10 to $11.99..........................................
$12 to $13.99..........................................
$14 to $15.99..........................................
$16 to $17.99..........................................
$18 to $19.99.....................................
$20 to $22.49..........................................
$22.50 to $24.99......................................
$25 to $27.49..........................................
2
15
70
80
142
158
121
119
145
57
23
1
1
Total...........................................
934
Males.
1913
1912
6
24
58
156
229
187
153
252
94
50
5
1
8
8
6
8
12
13
28
36
43
15
2
3
1
Females.
1913
2
3
7
13
20
16
13
18
48
37
40
8
8
1912
Males.
1913
1912
0.2
1.6
7.5
8.6
15.2
16.9
13.0
12.7
15.5
6.1
2.5
.1
.1
0.5
2.0
4.8
12.8
18.8
15.4
12.6
20.7
7.7
4.1
.4
.1
0.5
4.4
4.4
3.3
4.4
6.5
7.1
15.3
19.7
23.5
8.2
1.1
1.6
100.0
100.0
100.0
1913
0.9
1.3
3.0
5.6
8.5
6.8
5.6
7.7'
20.5
15.8
17.1
3.4
3.4
1
1,215
183
234
.4
100.0
.
Pieceworkers
It is interesting to see how the difference in the earnings of men and
women week workers compares with that of pieceworkers. Table 17
contains an answer to this question.
17.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF MALE AND FEMALE OPERATORS, PIECE
W ORKERS, IN THE IN DU STRY AS A W HOLE, EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT
DURING THE BUSIEST W EE K OF THE Y E A R , 1912 AND 1913.
T able
Number.
Classified earnings per week.
Under $3...............................................
$3 to $3.99..............................................
$4 to $4.99..............................................
$5 to $5.99.............................................
$6 to $6.99............................................
$7 to $7.99..............................................
$8 to $8.99..............................................
$9 to $9.99..............................................
$10 to $11.99..........................................
$12 to $13.99..........................................
$14 to $15.99..........................................
$16 to $17.99..........................................
$18 to $19.99..........................................
$20 to $22.49..........................................
$22.50 to $24.99.....................................
$25 to $27.49..........................................
$27.50 to $29.99.....................................
$30 and over..........................................
Females.
1912
1913
195
105
142
181
242
292
384
467
912
1,134
684
444
362
231
.178
75
45
45
160
83
101
136
166
236
310
374
974
1,044
968
865
590
491
321
159
96
79
Total........................................... i 6,118 1 7,153
!
Per cent.
Males.
1912
14
8
7
11
10
22
32
31
76
71
90
88
86
94
65
72
51
82
Females.
1913
8
14
13
6
17
17
32
31
97
112
157
170
167
186
170
114
65
135
i 910 il,511
1912
1913
Males.
1912
1913
3.2
1.7
2.3
3.0
4.0
4.8
6.3
7.6
14.9
18.5
11.2
7.3
5.9
3.8
2.9
1.2
.7
.7
2.2
1.2
1.4
1.9
2.3
3.3
4.3
5.2
13.6
14.6
13.5
12.1
8.2
6.9
4.5
2.2
1.3
1.1
1.5
.9
.8
1.2
1.1
2.4
3.5
3.4
8.4
7.8
9.9
9.7
9.5
10.3
7.1
7.9
5.6
9.0
0.5
.9
.9
.4
1.1
1.1
2.1
2.1
6.4
7.4
10.4
11.3
11.1
12.3
11.3
7.5
4.3
8.9
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1 Including a number of week workers for whom earnings but not rates of wages could he ascertained.
These are indicated in Tables 26 to 48 showing the number of week workers and pieceworkers in the
different wage groups for each occupation.
While the same general rule holds good of the pieceworkers as
of the week workers, that a greater proportion of men than of women
are employed in the higher-paid wage groups, and that a higher
proportion of women than of men are employed in the lower wage
48
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
groups, the line of demarcation among the pieceworkers begins at
$18 a week instead of $14, as was found to be the case among the
week workers. Thus the group of $18 to $19.99 a week contained 8.2
per cent of the total number of women in 1913 and only 11.1 per cent
of the men, the difference between the proportion of men and women
increasing as the wages increase. Below $18 the contrary was the
case. The proportion of women employed in the $16 to $17.99 group
was 12.1 per cent of all women as against 11.3 per cent for the men;
in the $14 to 15.99 group, 13.6 per cent of all women and 10.4 per cent
of all men, and so on down the scale of wages. The percentage of
women earning $18 a week and over was 24.2 per cent, while for
men the percentage was 55.4 per cent. That is to say, while more
than half of all the men operators working by the piece earned $18
and over during the busiest week of 1913, the proportion of women
earning the same wages was less than one-fourtli. The number of
women pieceworkers earning less than $6 a week formed 6.6 per cent
. of all the women pieceworkers, while among the men it amounted to
2.7 per cent; 15.1 per cent of the women pieceworkers earned $6 and
less than $10 a week, while the number of men in the corresponding
group constituted only 6.4 per cent; 53.8 per cent, or more than half
of the women, earned $10 and less than $18 a week, while the number
of men in the corresponding group was 35.5 per cent, or about onethird of all the men.
Table 18, which follows, gives similar figures showing number and
per cent of pieceworkers earning each classified amount in shops
manufacturing a cheap grade of garments:
T a b l e 1 8 .— NUMBER
AND PER CENT OF MALE AND FEMALE OPERATORS, PIECE
W O R K E RS, EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF
THE Y E A R , IN SHOPS MANUFACTURING GARMENTS SELLING WHOLESALE AT $9
PER DOZEN EXCLUSIVELY, 1912 AND 1913.
Per cent earning each classified
rate.
Number.
Classified earnings per week.
Female.
1912
1913
1912
Under $3...............................................
$3 to $3.99.............................................
$4 to $4.99.............................................
$5 to $5.99.............................................
$8 to $3.99.............................................
$7 to $7.99.............................................
$8 to $8.99.............................................
$9 to $9.99.............................................
$10 to $11.99..........................................
$12 to $13.99..........................................
$14 to $15.99..........................................
$16 to $17.99..........................................
$18 to $19.99..........................................
$20 to $22.49..................................... .
$22.50 to $24.99......................................
$25 to $27.49..........................................
$27.50 to $29.99......................................
$30 and over.........................................
8
1
8
7
9
17
24
26
37
27
10
7
4
1
1
1
12
4
4
8
11
10
21
22
47
42
45
21
14
10
5
4
2
2
1
2
5
3
2
2
3
4
10
9
U
10
9
13
4
3
5
7
Total...........................................
188
284
103 I
1
Female.
Male.
1913
1
4
2
1
4
7
8
10
15
19
18
16
20
32
9
11
14
191
1912
1913
4.3
.5
4.3
3.7
4.8
9.0
12.8
13.8
19.7
14.4
5.3
3.7
2.1
.5
.5
.5
4.2
1.4
1.4
2.8
3.9
3.5
7.4
7.7
16.5
14.8
15.8
7.4
4.9
3.5
1.8
1.4
.7
.7
100.0
100.0
Male.
1912
1913
1.0
0.5
1.9
2.1
4.9
1.0
2.9
.5
1.9
2.1
1.9
3.7
2.9
4.2
3.9
9.7 ....... 5*2
7.9
8.7
9.9
10.7
9.4
9.7
8.4
8.7
10.5
12.6
3.9
16.8
2.9
4.7
4.9
5.8
6.8
7.3
100.0
100.0
49
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
COMPARISON OF WAGES OF MEN AND WOMEN OPERATORS IN ASSOCIATION AND
NONASSOCIATION SHOPS.
Week Workers
.
What has been said of the comparative weekly rates of wages of
men and women operators, week workers, in the industry as a whole
is likewise true if the association and nonassociation shops are con
sidered separately. The figures for these are given in Table 19,
which follows:
1 9 .— NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF MALE AND FEMALE OPERATORS, W E E K
W O R K E RS, IN ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS, RECEIVING EACH CLAS
SIFIED RATE OF WAGES PE R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913.
T a b le
NUMBER.
Association shops.
Females.
Classified rates of wages per week.
1912
Nonassociation shops.
Males.
1913
1912
Under $3................................................
$3 to $3.99..............................................
$4 to 4.99...............................................
$5 to $5.89..............................................
$6 to $6.99.............................................
$7 to $7.99..............................................
$8 to $8.99..............................................
$9 to $9.99..............................................
$10 to $11.99...........................................
$12 to $13.99...........................................
$14 to $15.99...........................................
$16 to $17.99...........................................
$18 to $19.99...........................................
$20 to $22.49...........................................
$22.50 to $24.99.... .................................
$25 to $27.49..........................................
$27.50 to $29.99......................................
$30 and over..........................................
9
46
186
276
354
445
456
488
939
960
588
168
78
17
4
3
1
1
11
93
167
328
424
443
412
888
922
840
286
114
28
2
1
1
2
Total............................................
5,019
4,960
583
3
8
12
8
15
29
25
63
122
141
64
53
25
9
4
Females.
1913
1912
Males.
1913
1
4
6
22
23
20
26
48
79
142
91
66
39
7
5
3
7
18
23
78
96
108
127
222
176
84
28
14
7
2
1
4
28
61
129
197
190
194
396
342
216
76
22
19
2
3
582
991
0.2
.7
1.0
3.8
4.0
3.4
4.5
8.2
13.6
24.4
15.6
11.3
6.7
1.2
.9
.5
100.0
1912
2
3
4
3
4
9
21
24
40
19
8
12
1913
1
2
7
10
7
16
8
26
60
57
52
45
30
10
1
1,880
150
332
0.7
1.8
2.3
7.9
9.7
10.9
12.8
22.4
17.8
8.5
2.8
1.4
.7
.2
.1
0.2
1.5
3.2
6.9
10.5
10.1
10.3
21.1
18.2
11.5
4.0
1.2
1.0
.1
.2
1.3
2.0
2.7
2.0
2.7
6.0
14.0
16.0
26.7
12.7
5.3
8.0
.6
0.6
2.1
3.0
2.1
4.8
2.4
7.8
18.1
17.2
15.7
13.6
9.0
3.0
.3
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1
1
PER CENT.
Under $3................................................
$3 to $3.99..............................................
$4 to $4.99..............................................
$5 to $5.99..............................................
$6 to $6.99.,...........................................
$7 to $7.99..............................................
$8 to $8.99..............................................
$9 to $9.99..............................................
$10 to $11.99...........................................
$12 to $13.99...........................................
$14 to $15.99...........................................
$16 to $17.99...........................................
$18 to $19.99...........................................
$20 to $22.49...........................................
$22.60 to $24.99......................................
$25 to $27.49...........................................
$27.50 to $29.99......................................
$30 and over............. . ...........................
0.2
.9
3.7
5.5
7.1
8.9
9.1
9.7
18.7
19.1
11.7
3.4
1.5
.3
.1
2.1
Total............................................
100.0
0.2
1.9
3.4
6.6
8.5
8.9
8.3
17.9
18.6
16.9
5.8
2.3
.6
i.l
0.5
1.4
2.1
1.4
2.6
5.0
4.3
10.8
20.9
24.2
11.0
9.1
4.3
1.5
.7
.3
i Including $22.50 and over.
100.0
100.0
.3
2 Including $25 and over.
Taking again as the dividing line those receiving $14 a week and
over, Table 19 shows that in 1913 in the association shops the num
ber of women receiving the above rates constituted 25.7 per cent of
42132°— Bull. 146— 14------ 4
50
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
all the women, while the men in the corresponding wage groups
formed 60.6 per cent of the total number of men. In the nonasso
ciation shops the women receiving $14 a week or more comprised 18
per cent of all the women, and men 59.1 per cent of all the men,
showing but a small difference in the proportion of men in the asso
ciation and the nonassociation shops and a somewhat larger differ
ence in the case of the women, the difference being in favor of the
women in the association shops. The reason for this difference is
that as already explained the association shops include a larger per
centage of shops manufacturing higher-grade garments in which
women operators must possess a greater skill than in the shops manu
facturing the cheaper garments and therefore command higher rates of
wages. In the case of men, however, the chief factor in determining
their wa'ges is their speed, which is equally valued wherever men
operators are employed. This will be further confirmed by the
figures and the charts referred to below.
Pieceworkers
.
What has been said about the difference in the earnings of men and
women pieceworkers in the industry as a whole is likewise true if
they are compared in the association and the nonassociation shops
separately. This is brought out in Table 20, which follows:
T able 2 0 .—-NUMBER AND P E R CENT OF MALE AND FEMALE OPERATORS, PIECE
W O R K E RS IN ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS EARNING EACH CLAS
SIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF THE Y E A R , 1912 AND 1913.
NUMBER.
Association shops.
Classified earnings per week.
Females.
1912
Nonassociation shops.
Males.
1913
1912
]
1912
1913
Under $3................................................
$3 to $3.99..............................................
$4 to $4.99..............................................
$5 to $5.99..............................................
$6 to $6.99..............................................
$7 to $7.99..............................................
$8 to $8.99..............................................
$9 to $9.99..............................................
$10 to $11.99..........................................
$12 to $13.99..........................................
$14 to $15.99..........................................
$16 to $17.99..........................................
$18 to $19.99..........................................
$20 to $22.49..........................................
$22. £0 to $24.99......................................
$25 to $27.49..........................................
$27.50 to $29.99......................................
$30 and over..........................................
174
93
125
149
213
255
337
422
810
1.054
614
399
328
214
173
71
44
45
129
67
87
116
140
192
264
311
817
8f.6
828
756
l03
428
291
148
85
74
10
5
2
5
6
17
24
23
63
£5
71
70
70
74
53
62
41
75
6
3
7
3
8
11
22
24
64
73
113
122
128
143
119
89
47
110
Total............................................
5,520
6,092
726
1,092 |
Females.
1
!
i
!
Males.
1913
1912
1913
21
12
17
32
29
37
47
45
102
80
70
45
34
17
5
4
1
31
16
14
20
26
44
46
63
.157
188
140
10)
87
63
30
11
11
5
4
3
5
6
4
5
8
8
14
14
18
18
17
21
12
10
10
7
2
U
6
3
9
6
10
7
33
39
44
48
39
43
51
25
18
25
598
1,061
184
419
|........
51
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T able 2 0 .—NUM BER AND P E R CENT OF MALE AND FEMALE OPERATORS, PIECE
W ORKERS, IN ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS EARNING EACH CLAS
SIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W EE K OF THE Y E A R , 1912 AND 1913-Con.
PER CENT.
Association shops.
Classified earnings per week.
Females.
1912
1913
Nonassociation shops.
Males.
1912
Females.
1913
1912
1913
Males.
1912
1913
Under $3................................................
$3 to $3.99..............................................
$4 to $4.99.............................................
$5 to $5.99..............................................
$6 to $6.99..............................................
$7 to $7.99..............................................
$8 to $8.99..............................................
$9 to $9.99..............................................
$10 to $11.99...........................................
$12 to $13.99...........................................
$14 to $15.99..........................................
$16 to $17.99...........................................
$18 to $19.99..........................................
$20 to $22.49...........................................
$22.50 to $24.99......................................
$25 to $27.49...........................................
$27.50 to $29.99....... ..............................
$30 and over..........................................
3.2
1.7
2.3
2.7
3.9
4.6
6.1
7.6
14.7
19.1
11.1
7.2
5.9
3.9
3.1
1.3
.8
.8
2.1
1.1
1.4
1.9
2.3
3.2
4.3
5.1
13.4
14.1
13.6
12.4
8.3
7.0
4.8
2.4
1.4
1.2
1.4
.7
.3
.7
.8
2.3
3.3
3.2
8.7
7.6
9.8
9.7
9.7
10.2
7.3
8.5
5.6
10.3
0.5
.3
.6
.3
.7
1.0
2.0
2.2
5.9
6.7
10.3
11.2
11.7
13.1
10.9
8.2
4.3
10.1
3.5
2.0
2.8
5.4
4.8
6.2
7.9
7.5
17.1
13.4
11.7
7.5
5.7
2.8
.8
.7
.2
2.9
1.5
1.3
1.9
2.5
4.1
4.3
5.9
14.8
17.8
13.2
10.3
8.2
6.0
2.8
1.0
1.0
.5
2.2
1.6
2.7
3.3
2.2
2.7
4.3
4.3
7.6
7.6
9.8
9.8
9.2
11.4
6.5
5.4
5.4
3.8
0.5
2.6
1.4
.7
2.1
1.4
2.4
1.7
7.9
9.3
10.5
11.5
9.3
10.3
12.1
6.0
4.3
6.0
Total............................................
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
This table shows that among the pieceworkers, as was found to
be the case among the week workers, there is a larger percentage
earning a high rate of wages in the association shops than there is
in the nonassociation shops. Thus, the women pieceworkers earning
$18 a week and over in 1913 constituted 25 per cent of all the women
in the association shops and 19.5 per cent in the nonassociation shops.
The percentage of men operators earning $18 a week and over was
58.3 in the association shops and 48 in the nonassociation shops.
Among the week workers, as shown in Table 19, the women earning
$14 a week or more constituted 25.8 per cent of all women week workers
in the association shops and only 18 per cent in the nonassociation
shops, while the percentage of men of the same groups was 60.7 in the
association shops and 59 in the nonassociation shops. The reverse is
evidently true of those earning the lower rates of wages who constituted
a higher percentage in the nonassociation shops than they did in the
association shops. These facts are brought out in Chart 2, the
upper section of which shows the rates of wages of women operators,
week workers, in nonassociation and association shops. As will be
seen from that portion of the chart, the solid line representing the
association shops is above the broken line representing the non
association shops in all wage groups of $12 a week and over except
one, and is generally below that line for wages below $12 a week.
The lower section of the chart shows a similar condition for women
pieceworkers— the line representing the workers in the association
52
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
shops being above the nonassociation-shop line in all wage groups
above $14 a week, and below that line in nearly all wage groups
below $14 a week.
The figures just stated as to the difference in wages for operators
in association and nonassociation shops are of the highest moment
to those concerned in the industry, both employers and employees.
The question will naturally arise: Are these differences due to a
higher standard of wages being enforced in the association shops than
in the nonassociation shops, a condition which would be equivalent
to discrimination against the interests of manufacturers belonging to
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WTAIST INDUSTRY.
53
the association; or are they due to economic differences prevailing
in the association and the nonassociation shops, respectively, as a
result of the difference in the character of the garments they pro
duce? It will be recalled from what was said in the first section of
this report, that the association shops are chiefly large shops, while
the nonassociation shops are mainly small shops; also that the
association shops have a much larger percentage of shops manu
facturing high-grade garments than have the nonassociation shops.
If the differences in wages shown to exist in the association and non
association shops, respectively, are due merely to their affiliation or
nonaffiliation with the association, then we should find the wages
in association A and B shops more or less the same and considerably
higher than in the nonassociation A and B shops, which likewise
should not differ much from each other. On the other hand, if the
difference between the wages which we have found prevailing in
the association and nonassociation shops is due to the fact that the
association has a much larger percentage of shops manufacturing
high-grade garments than the nonassociation shops, then we should
find nearly the same rates prevailing in the association B and non
association B shops, which should be considerably higher than those
in the association A and nonassociation A shops.
COMPARISON OP WAGES OF MEN AND WOMEN OPERATORS IN SHOPS MAKING CHEAP
AND HIGH-GRADE GARMENTS.
Week workers.
In Tables 21 and 22, which follow, are shown the differences in the
wages of female and male operators, week workers, in four classes
of shops designated as association A, association B, nonassociation A,
and nonassociation B. As already explained, the A shops are those
making the cheaper grades of garments and the B shops those making
the higher grades.
54
T
BULLETIN' OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
2 1 . — NUMBER AND TER CENT OF OPERATORS, FEMALE, W E E K W O R K E RS,
R ECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RA TE OF WAGES PE R W EE K , 1912 AND 1913, IN ASSO
CIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS MAKING THE CHEAPER AND THE HIGHER
GRADES OF GARMENTS.
able
NUMBER.
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
Under S3.......
$3 to $3.99....
$4 to $4.99....
$5 t o $5.99....
$6 to $6.99....
$7 t o $7.99....
$8 to $8.99....
$9 to $9.99....
$10 to $11.99..
$12 to $13.99..
$14 to $15.99..
$16 to $17.99..
$18 to $19.99..
$20 to $22.49..
$22.50 to $24.9
$25 t o $27.49..
$27.50 to $29.9!
$30 and over..
4
43
156
219
294
362
354
381
620
464
252
52
17
5
Total...
3,225
2
1913
11
72
149
261
374
355
332
645
479
345
102
34
13
2
3 ,1 7 4
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
Association B.
1912
5
3
30
57
60
83
102
107
319
496
336
116
61
7
18
21
72
84
89
102
155
103
43
14
4
2
126
188
174
182
347
269
164
43
7
12
2
1
1
1913
Nonassociation i
B.
1912
1,595
243
443
495
184
80
15
1,794
1913 ; 1912
9
53
204
2
2 i! 299
432
3 !
541
9
564
16
12
615
1,161
49
73
1,136
52
672
33
196
15
92
24
13
2
6
3
4
1
1
1
3
714
Total.
277
285
6,010
0.7
2.2
4.3
6.8
9.0
24.2
26.4
14.8
5.1
3.6
1.8
.7
.4
0.7
.7
1.0
3.1
5.6
4.2
17.2
25.6
18.3
11.6
5.3
4.6
.7
1.0
.4
0.1
.9
3.4
5.0
7.2
9.0
9.4
10.2
19.3
18.9
11.2
3.3
1.5
.4
.l
.1
(i)
C1)
100.0
100.0
100.0
1913
15
121
228
457
621
633
606
1,284
1,264
1,056
362
136
47
4
4
2
6,840
PER CENT.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99 ..............
$4 to $4.99................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
0.1
1.3
4.8
6.8
9.1
11.2
11.0
11.8
19.2
14.4
7.8
1.6
.5
.2
(l)
Total...............
100.0
0.3
2.3
4.7
8.2
11.8
11.2
10.5
20.3
15.1
10.9
3.2
1.1
.4
C1)
100.0
1.0
2.5
2.9
10.1
11.8
12.5
14.3
21.7
14.4
6.0
2.0
.6
.3
100.0
0.3
1.6
3.7
7.9
11.8
10.9
11.4
21.8
16.9
10.3
2.7
.4
.4
100.0
0.3
.2
1.7
3.2
3.3
4.6
5.7
6.0
17.8
27.6
18.7
6.5
3.4
.7
.1
.2
.1
.1
100.0
1.2
1.0
3.8
2.8
4.9
4.5
13.6
24.8
27.7
10.3
4.5
.8
.1
.1
100.0
i Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.
0.2
1.8
3.3
6.7
9.1
9.2
8.9
18.8
18.5
15.4
5.3
2.0
..7l
.1
C1)
100.0
55
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
2 2 .—NUM BER AND PE R CENT OF O PERATORS, MALE, W E E K W O R K E R S , R E
CEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED R A T E OF W AGES PE R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, IN ASSO
CIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS MAKING THE CHEAPER AND TH E H IGH ER
GRADES OF GARMENTS.
NUMBER.
TABLE
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
Total...............
1
8
8
6
11
21
13
41
87
86
42
39
16
5
1
2
387
1913
1
4
5
16
20
13
18
24
51
84
69
45
28
1
4
3
386
Nonassociation
A.
1912
2
3
4
2
4
8
19
21
33
15
5
12
1
129
1913
Association B.
1912
1913
N onassociation
B.i
1912
1913
Total.
1912
1913
1
2
1
6
13
32
30
36
34
74
139
199
143
111
69
17
6
3
1
31
733
914
1.5
10.7
5.6
3.1
.5
0.4
1.4
2.0
1.6
2.5
4.5
4.6
11.5
19.9
24.7
11.3
8.3
5.0
1.2
.7
.3
0.1
.7
1.4
3.5
3.3
3.9
3.7
8.1
15.2
21.8
15.6
12.1
7.5
1.9
.7
.3
.1
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
2
2
7
10
5
15
8
25
55
51
49
41
25
7
1
301
4
2
4
8
12
22
35
55
22
14
9
4
3
1
6
3
1
7
8 .........i '
24
2
28
3
58
7
22
4
21
3
11
6
1
196
196
21
1.0
2.0
1.0
2.0
4.1
6.2
0.5
3.1
1.5
3.6
4.1
2
1
1
5
6
3
4
5
3
3
10
15
12
18
33
34
84
146
181
83
61
37
9
5
PER CENT.
$3 t o $3.99....
$4 to $4.99....
$5 to $5.99....
$6 to $6.99....
$7 to $7.99....
$8 to $8.99___
$9 to $9.99....
$10 to $11.99..
$12 to $13.99..
$14 to $15.99..
$16 to $17.99..
$18 to $19.99..
$20 10 $22.49..
$22.50 to $24.9
$25 to $27.49..
$27.50 to $29.9!
$30 and over..
Total...
0.3
0.3
5.4
3.4
1.3
4.1
5.2
3.4
4.7
2.1
2.1
1.6
2.8
10.6
22.5
22.2
10.9
10.1
4.1
1.3
.3
1.0
6.2
13.2
21.8
1.6
2.3
3.1
1.5
3.1
6.3
14.7
16.3
25.6
17.9
11.7
7.3
.3
11.6
100.0
100.0
3.9
9.3
1.0
0.7
2.3
3.3
1.7
5.0
2.7
8.3
18.3
16.9
16.3
13.6
8.3
2.3
.3
11.2
12.2
17.9
28.1
14.3
29.6
11.2
7.1
4.6
2.0
11.2
.5
100.0
100.0
i Percentages for nonassociation B not computed on account of small number of employees.
Taking first the wages of women week workers as shown in Table 21,
it is found that there is a greater difference between the high-grade
and the low-grade garment shops, whether inside or outside of the
association, than there is between the association and the nonassocia
tion shops manufacturing the same grade of garments. Thus in 1913
the percentage of women earning $10 a week and over was as follows
in the separate branches of the industry: Association B shops, 81.8
per cent; nonassociation B shops, 84.7 per cent; association A shops,
51.0 per cent; nonassociation A shops, 52.5 per cent. In other words,
the figures for the association B and the nonassociation B shops are
almost the same, but greatly different from those for the association
A and the nonassociation A shops, which are very close to each other.
Ch art
3.—WAGES OF FEMALE OPERATORS (WEEK WORKERS) IN ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS MAKING LOW
AND niG n GRADE GARMENTS, 1913: PER CENT RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGE RATE AND OVER.
57
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
This difference is made clear to the eye in Chart 3, where the
association B and the nonassociation B lines lie very close to each
other, entirely coinciding in some parts and where, on the other
hand, the association A and the nonassociation A shops likewise lie
close to each other, coinciding in some parts but lying at a considerable
distance from the B lines. It will be interesting to note at the same
time that of the two curves, representing the B or high-grade gar
ment shops, the one representing the nonassociation shops lies above
that representing the association shops, showing that the proportion
of workers receiving the higher wages is larger in the nonassociation
than in the association shops, while in the A shops (manufacturing
the lower-grade garments) the proportion of the higher-paid workers
is higher in the association shops than in the nonassociation shops.
This furnishes additional proof that there is no strict line of demarca
tion between the association and the nonassociation shops but that
there is always a very marked difference between the. A and B shops
irrespective of their affiliation or nonaffiliation with the association.
Piecew orkers.
The differences in the wages of female and male operators working
by the piece are shown for the four classes of shops in Tables 23 and
24 which follow:
T
S3.—NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF OPERATORS, FEMALE, PIECEW ORKERS,
EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF THE
Y E A R , 1912 AND 1913.
NUMBER.
able
Classified earnings
per week.
Association
A.
1912
1913
N onassociation
A.
1912
1913
Association
B.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
B.
1912
1913
Total.
1912
1913
Under S3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $f).99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
90
52
78
81
118
155
185
231
422
668
268
178
117
58
78
24
15
13
78
47
49
76
85
123
163
182
463
463
454
352
202
164
112
55
33
30
20
9
14
22
25
29
39
36
76
60
43
27
22
3
3
1
30
13
12
16
20
34
35
54
114
131
105
72
54
41
17
7
4
4
84
41
47
68
95
100
152
191
388
386
346
221
211
156
95
47
29
32
51
20
38
40
55
69
101
129
354
393
374
404
301
264
179
93
52
44
1
3
3
10
4
8
8
9
26
20
27
18
12
14
2
3
1
1
3
2
4
6
10
11
9
43
57
35
37
33
22
13
4
7
1
195
105
142
181
242
292
384
467
912
1,134
684
444
362
231
178
75
45
45
160
83
101
136
166
236
310
374
974
1,044
968
865
590
491
321
159
96
79
Total...............
2,831
3,131
429
763
2,689
2,961
169
298
6,118
7,153
1.7
.7
1.3
1.4
1.9
2.3
3.4
0.6
1.8
1.8
5.9
2.4
4.7
4.7
0.3
1.0
.7
1.3
2.0
3.4
3.7
3.2
1.7
2.3
3.0
4.0
4.8
6.3
2.2
1.2
1.4
1.9
2.3
3.3
4.3
PER CENT.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $0.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
3.2
1.8
2.8
2.9
4.2
5.5
6.5
2.5
1.5
1.6
2.4
2.7
3.9
5.2
4.7
2.1
3.3
5.1
5.8
6.8
9.1
3.9
1.7
1.6
2.1
2.6
4.5
4.6
3.1
1.5
1.7
2.5
3.5
3.7
5.7
58
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
2 3 . — NUMBER AND TER CENT OF O PE R ATO R S, FEM ALE, PIECEW ORKERS,
EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W EE K OF THE
Y E A R , 1912 AND 1913—Concluded.
P E R CENT—Concluded.
T
able
( lassifled earnings
per week.
Association
A.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
Association
B.
1912
Nonassociation
B.
1912
1913
1913
Totaj.
1912
1913
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
8.2
14.9
23.6
9.5
6.3
4.1
2.0
2.8
.8
.5
.5
5.8
14.8
14,8
14.5
11.2
6.5
5.2
3.6
1.8
1.1
1.0
8.4
17.7
14.0
10.0
6.3
5.1
.7
.7
.2
7.1
14.9
17.2
13.8
9.4
7.1
5.4
2.2
.9
.5
.5
7.1
14.4
14.4
12.9
8.2
7.8
5.8
3.5
1.7
1.1
1.2
4.4
12.0
13.3
12.6
13.6
10.2
8.9
6.0
3.1
1.8
1.5
5.3
15.4
11.8
16.0
10.7
7.1
8.3
1.2
1.8
.6
3.0
14.4
19.1
11.7
12.4
11.1
7.4
4.4
1.3
2.3
.3
7.6
14.9
18.5
11.2
7.3
5.9
3.8
2.9
1.2
.7
.7
5.2
13.6
14.6
13.5
12.1
8.2
6.9
4.5
2.2
1.3
1.1
Total...............
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
T
2 4 . — NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF OPERATORS, MALE, PIECEW ORKERS, EARN ING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W EE K OF THE Y E A R , 1912
AND 1913.
NUMBER.
able
Classified earnings
per week.
Association
A.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
Association
B.
1912
Nonassociation
B.i
1913
1
1912
1913
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
8
2
2
4
5
13
19
19
49
40
49
54
51
55
33
42
29
38
5
3
5
2
8
9
17
20
56
61
86
102
106
124
99
63
34
78
2
3
5
6
4
4
5
7
14
13
15
15
14
19
11
9
7
7
2
11
6
3
9
6
10
5
30
38
41
43
36
34
43
20
16
20
1
1
4
5
4
14
15
22
16
19
19
20
20
12
37
2
5
4
8
12
27
20
22
19
20
26
13
32
1
3
1
1
3
3
3
2
1
1
3
Total...............
512
878
160
373
214
214
24
0.5
2.9
0.9
1.4
0 .5
.8
2.4
“ *.'5
.5
1.9
2.3
1.9
6.5
7.0
10.3
7.5
8.9
8.9
9.3
9.3
5.6
17.3
2
3
2
Total.
1912
1913
2
3
1
3
5
.3
9
8
5
2
5
14
8
7
U
10
22
32
31
77
69
89
88
87
95
65
72
51
82
8
14
13
6
17
17
32
31
97
112
157
170
167
186
170
114
65
135
46
910
1,511
15.0
1.5
.9
.8
1.2
1.1
2.4
3.5
3.4
8.5
7.6
9.8
9.7
9.6
10.4
7.1
7.9
5.6
9.0
0.5
.9
.9
.4
1.1
1.1
2.1
2.1
6.4
7.4
10.4
11.3
11.1
12.3
11.3
75
4.3
8.9
100.0
100.0
100.0
2
1
PER CENT.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99...............
$5 16 $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to S19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99....... .
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
Total...............
1.6
.4
.4
.8
1.0
0.6
.3
.6
.2
.9
1.0
l.S
2.5
3.7
3.7
9.6
7.8
9.6
10.5
11.6
10.0
12.1
10.7
14.1
11.3
7.2
6.4
8.2
5.7
7.4
100.0
2.3
6.4
6.9
9.8
1.3
1.9
3.1
3.8
2.5
2.5
3.1
4.4
8.8
8.1
9.4
9.4
8.8
11. €
6.5
8.9
5.6
4.4
4.4
100.0
100.0
3.9
1.6
1.6
2.7
1.3
8.0
10.2
11.0
11.5
9.7
9.1
11.5
5.4
4.3
5.4
100.0 100.0
2.3
1.9
3.7
5.6
12.6
9.3
10.3
8.9
9.3
12.1
6.1
1 Percentages for nonassociation B not computed on account of small number of employees.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
59
The same tendency is observed in the wages of women operators
working by the piece as in the wages among the week workers. The
percentage of women pieceworkers earning $10 and over during the
busiest week in 1913 was 78.2 per cent for'the industry as a whole.
Taking the separate branches of the industry, it is found that in the B
shops the percentage was 84.4 per cent for the nonassociation shops
and 83.0 per cent for the association shops, while in the A shops it was
71.9 per cent in the nonassociation shops and 74.5 per cent in the
association shops. As in the case of the week workers, there is found
here a close similarity of conditions in the shops manufacturing the
same grades of garments, whether they belong to the association or
not, and a considerable difference between the shops manufacturing
high and low grade garments, respectively, both among those affiliated
with the association and those outside of it; but there is a much
smaller difference between the A and B shops’ figures among the
pieceworkers than there is in the case of the week workers. Thus, as
will be recalled, Table 21 showed the percentage of those earning $10
a week or more to be from 82 to 85 per cent for the B shops, and from
51 to 52 per cent for the A shops; whereas, as shown by Table 23, the
number of the same class of workers among the pieceworkers is from
83 to 84 per cent for the B shops, and from 72 to 74 per cent for the A
shops (disregarding decimals). This is apparently due to the fact
that, among week workers, the differences in rates of wages between
A and B shops are due largely to difference in skill, the B shops
requiring operators capable of turning out high-grade garments, who
can therefore command a considerably higher rate of wages than the
less skilled and more recently apprenticed workers in the low-grade
garment shops. Among pieceworkers on the other hand, the differ
ences in the high-grade and the low-grade garment shops, are more
nearly equalized. In the high-grade garment shops the rate per
garment is higher, but the garment can not be made so rapidly as a
low-grade garment. The result is that what a less skilled worker in
the low-grade garment shop loses on the rate per garment, she makes
up, to a large extent, on the speed with which she can turn it out and
the earnings of the pieceworkers in the two types of shops come
close together.
This fact is likewise shown in Chart 4. It will be observed that,
as in the previous chart, the two lines representing the B groups
lie near one another and that the two lines representing the A
groups constitute the other pair; but unlike the showing in Chart 3
there is not the same close coincidence between lines of each pair,
and, on the other hand, the two pairs come closer to one another
than they do in Chart 3, for the reasons just explained.
In Tables 22 and 24 the wages of the men operators are shown in
the same detail as are those of the women operators just considered.
O
o
C h a r t 4.— WAGES OF
Ob'
THE
BUREAU
OF
LABOR
STATISTICS,
BULLETIN
FEM ALE O PERA TO R S (PIECEW ORKERS) IN ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS MAKING
LOW AN D H IG H G RAD E GARM ENTS, 1913: P E R CENT EARNING EACII CLASSIFIED AMOUNT AND O VER D URIN G BUSIEST
W EEK.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
61
Table 22 shows the wages of the week workers and Table 24 the
wages of the pieceworkers. The same general tendencies will be
observed in the case of the men week workers as in the case of the
women week workers. The number of workers being very small, the
percentages were not wTorked out for the nonassociation shops at all
and are less conclusive in the case of the other shops than they are
in connection with the women week workers. In 1913 the male
operators, pieceworkers (Table 24), earning $14 a week and over, con
stituted 77.1 per cent of all such operators in the industry as a whole,
and in the four branches of the industry the percentages were as fol
lows: Nonassociation B shops, 87 per cent; association B, 83.6 per
cent; nonassociation A, 67.9 per cent; association A, 78.9 per cent.
Again, there is found to be a close resemblance of conditions in the
association B and the nonassociation B shops on the one hand, and
in the association A and the nonassociation A shops on the other,
and also it is noted that the wages are somewhat higher in the non
association shops in the B group 1 and in the association shops in
the A group.
The difference in the earnings of men and women operators is illus
trated in Chart 5. This chart consists of diagrams, illustrating the
difference between men’s and women's earnings in the A (those manu
facturing lower-grade garments) and B (those manufacturing highergrade garments) shops, respectively. The upper section of the chart
shows the wages of week workers and the lower section those of piece
workers. Since the majority of the workers are employed in associa
tion shops, this chart has been prepared to illustrate the difference
between the high-grade and low-grade garment shops belonging to
the association.
In both sections of the chart the contrast between the lines repre
senting the A and B shops is remarkable. Taking, first, the upper
section relating to week workers, it is found that in the A shops the
two curves representing the wages of men and women, respectively,
run almost parallel to each other except at the point near the middle,
where they intersect, while in the B shops the two lines come very
close to one another, the line representing men's wages showing an
appreciable excess of men over women only in the upper ranks, begin
ning with $18 a week, in which there is a comparatively small number.
The same thing is true of the lower section relating to pieceworkers.
Here, too, the women’s earnings are seen to lag behind those of the
men in the A shops except at the point of intersection above $16,
while in the B shops there is no such uniformity, although on the
whole men's earnings are seen to be above women's. The reason for
this is clear. In the A shops, where the lower-grade garments are
i It must be pointed out, however, that the percentages for the nonassociation B group are based on too
small numbers to warrant comparison in fine detail.
62
BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
manufactured; quantity of output is the chief requirement, and the
men, therefore, have a distinct advantage over the women, with the
result that there is a larger percentage of men in the higher-paid wage
groups, which begin with $12 to $13.99 a week for week workers, and
C h a r t 5 — W AGES OF M ALE AND FEM ALE O PERA TO R S IN ASSOCIATION
SHOPS M AK IN G LOW AND H IG H G RAD E GARM ENTS, 1913: P E R CENT
OF W E E K W O R K E R S RE CEIV IN G EACH CLASSIFIED W E E K L Y R A TE
AND OF PIEC E W O R K E R S EA R N IN G EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT D U R
ING BU SIEST W EE K .
in the group of $16 to $17.99 among the pieceworkers. In the highergrade shops skill and quality of work is as important and frequently
much more important than quantity of output, and in these cases
men have frequently less of an advantage over the women than in
the lower-grade shops and in some cases have none.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
63
It is also interesting to compare the wages of week workers and
pieceworkers in the same branch of the industry, as brought out by
this chart. In the upper section, representing the week workers, the
curves for both A and B shops are seen to rise to points between 20
per cent and 30 per cent, while in the lower section, representing the
pieceworkers, the high points do not rise above 15 per cent. That is
to say, while from 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the week workers
receive a certain rate of pay, the number of pieceworkers earning the
same amount does not exceed 15 per cent of the total. This shows
that in all branches of the industry, irrespective of the grade of goods
manufactured, the tendency under the week-work system is for weekly
rates of wages to concentrate about a certain rate which may be called
the customary, if not the standard, rate of pay to workers of average
skill; hence the rise of the curve representing weekly rates to a more
or less high point. This is less the case among pieceworkers. While
here, too, workers of average skill should earn similar wages under
similar conditions, conditions as between shop and shop and between
worker and worker in the same shop are never exactly alike, and each
individual variation, whether in the physical condition of the workers
at any moment or lack or accumulation of work or condition of each
worker’s machine, etc., is automatically reflected in his or her earn
ings, which is not the case with workers paid by the week. Hence
the curves for the pieceworkers, whether in the A or B shops and
whether male or female, do not rise to as high a point as in the case of
week workers, thus indicating a wider variation in individual earnings
and less uniformity among pieceworkers than among week workers.
COMPARISON OF WAGES IN 1912 AND 1913.
The effect of the protocol on the wages of operators will be seen by
comparing the wages in 1912 and 1913. The usual course will be
followed, comparing first the wages of week workers during the two
years, taking the female and male workers separately, and then the
earnings of the pieceworkers.
Week workers
.
Table 15 shows the wages of all the operators working by the week
in the entire industry, their number in 1913 being 6,840 women and
914 men, which constitutes about a thousand more workers in 1913
than in 1912. An examination of the figures showing the percentages
of workers in the different wage groups shows that there has been a
uniform increase in the proportion of women operators earning $14 a
week and over and a corresponding reduction in the number of opera
tors earning less than $14. In the case of the men operators, the
dividing line begins at $16. It must be borne in mind, however, that
the number of both men and women receiving $22.50 and over is too
64
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
small to warrant a discussion of percentages. The increase in the
number of higher-paid workers is showrn by the following figures:
The proportion of women receiving $14 a week and over increased
from 16.6 per cent in 1912 to 23.5 per cent in 1913. Although there
was a much larger increase in the percentage of women earning $14 a
week and over than of men, the fact still remains that there were only
23.5 per cent of the women receiving $14 a week and over as against
60 per cent of the men.
It is interesting to see to what extent this increase affected the
nonassociation and association shops, respectively. Table 19 and
Chart 6 contain the answer to this question. The wages of women
only are shown on the chart, since the number of men is comparatively
small. Looking at the upper section of Chart 6, in which the solid
line represents the wages in association shops in 1913 and the broken
line the wages in 1912, the 1-913 line is seen to be higher than the 1912
line for the groups of $12 a week and upward, showing the increase
in the proportion of workers receiving the higher rates of pay. Cor
responding to this, the 1912 line is a little above the 1913 line for the
wage groups below the $12 rate. The lower section of the chart shows
practically the same state of affairs in the nonassociation shops with
some variation in details. The 1912 and 1913 lines meet in the group
of $12 to $13.99, and the 1913 line is above the 1912 line for the wage
groups above that figure. For the wage groups below the $12 rate,
the 1912 line is in some cases above and in others below the 1913 line,
the two lines alternating as they pass from group to group. This
shows that, as the number of people in a lower group was reduced, it
caused an increase in the next higher group in excess of the number
of people transferred from that group to the next higher one. The
details as to the exact number of people in each wage group, both
men and women in the association and nonassociation shops, will be
found in Table 19, but they may be briefly summed up here: Thus,
in the association shops, the percentage of women operators, week
workers, receiving $14 a week and over increased from 17.1 per cent
to 25.7 per cent, and in the nonassociation shops, from 13.7 per cent
in 1912 to 18 per cent in 1913. The percentage of men operators,
week workers, receiving $14 a wreek and over in association shops
increased from 51.1 per cent in 1912 to 60.6 per cent in 1913, and in
the nonassociation shops from 53.3 per cent to 59.1 per cent. All of
these figures show a fairly uniform increase in wages since the protocol
went into effect both in association and nonassociation shops.
P iecew orkers.
The protocol had no less an effect in causing an advance of wages
among the operators working by the piece than it had among the
week workers. Table 17 shows what has happened among the piece
workers in the industry as a whole, giving the wages of 7,153 women
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
65
and 1,511 men operators working in 1913, and showing an excess of
over 1,600 workers in 1913 over those for whom data were obtained
for 1912.
As in the case of the week workers, so with the pieceworkers, the
increase in percentages begins with the $14 group, while for those eamC h a r t 6.—WAGES O F FEM ALE O PERA TO R S (W EE K W O R K E R S) IN ASSO
C IATIO N AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS, 1912 AND 1913: P E R CENT
RE CEIV IN G EACH CLASSIFIED W E E K L Y RA TE.
19 !Z
—
—
--------------------------
//
//
x
.\
\
fr
-
>
'
£3 * 4
tS $6 S7 $8 $9 S/O'
$12
S/4
S/6
S/8
$2d$d*er.
ing under $14 a week there is a decline in every wage group among the
women, and in most wage groups among the men, some of the groups
of men operators showing the same percentage as the groups of
women operators. Thus, the number of women operators receiving
$14 a week and over increased from 33.7 per cent of the total in 1912
42132°— Bull. 146— 14------ 5
66
BULLETIN OF THE BUKEAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
to 50.0 per cent in 1913. In the case of men, the number of those
receiving $14 a week and over increased from 69 per cent in 1912 to
77.1 per cent in 1913. That is to say, one-half of all the women
operators and more than three-fourths of all the men operators earned
$14 and over a week during the busiest week of 1913.
As in the case of the week workers, so among the pieceworkers the
increase in the proportion of workers receiving $14 a week and over
was greater among the women than among the men, amounting to
nearly 50 per cent among the women and to less than 12 per cent
among the men, but the proportion of men receiving these higher
rates of wages greatly exceeds the proportion of women, being, as
stated above, 77.1 per cent among the men and 50 percent among the
women. In actual numbers, this represents 3,570 women and
1,164 men.
Increa se in earnings o f p iecew ork ers in associa tion and non associa tion sh op s.
Again, it will be interesting to compare the increase in earnings
among the operators employed in association and nonassociation
shops, respectively. The figures are shown in Tables 20, 23, and 24,
and are reproduced graphically in Chart 7. As in the case of the
week workers, only the earnings of the women are shown on the
chart, the number of men being too small to justify the preparation
of special charts. Looking first at the upper section of the chart,
showing the changes in wages from 1912 to 1913 in association shops,
it is seen that the two lines, representing 1913 and 1912 earnings,
cross in the group of $14 and under $16 a week, the 1913 line being
higher than the 1912 line in all of the wage groups above $14. Below
the $14 rate, the 1912 line is in all cases above the 1913 line, showing
a reduction in the percentages of women pieceworkers receiving
wages below $14. The most striking feature in this section of the
chart is the great change which has occurred in the groups $12 and
under $14 on one hand, and $14 and under $18 on the other; in the
former there is a very sharp drop from 1912 to 1913, and in the latter
there is a corresponding rise, showing that most of the changes
affected the workers earning between $12 and $18 a week during the
busiest week of the year.
The lower section of the chart shows the changes which have
occurred among the women piece operators employed in the nonasso
ciation shops. Here the same general tendency is shown as in associa
tion shops. The increase of 1913 over 1912 occurs in the group
$12 and under $14 a week, but is not so great as in the association
shops. Both sections of the chart show a decline in the percentage
of workers receiving under $12 a week.
The changes in wages brought out in Chart 7 are shown in detail
for each wage group in the tables. A summary of all the tables quoted
67
WAGES AFD EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY'.
points to one conclusion which constitutes the most salient finding
of the investigation covered by this report, namely: A general increase
in the proportion of those earning the higher rates of wages and a
reduction in the proportion of those earning the lower rates. How
0 e
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general this change was will be seen from the following summary.
The proportion of women week workers receiving $10 a week and
over in 1912 and in 1913 and the proportion of women pieceworkers
earning $10 and over in the busiest week of the years 1912 and 1913
follows.
68
T able
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
2 5.—PER
CENT OF WOMEN W E E K W O RKERS AND PIECEW ORKERS
RECEIVING $10 A W E E K AND OVER 1912, AND 1913.
Week- workers re
ceiving $10 or
more per week.
1912
Industry as a whole........................................ i ..............................
Association A ..................................................................................
Nonassociation A ..... .....................................................................
Association B ..................................................................................
Nonassociation B ............................................................................
1913
Pieceworkers earn
ing $10 or more
per week.
1912
1913
Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.
54.8
60.8
67.1
78.1
43.8
51.1
65.0
74.4
45.0
52.4
54.8
71.9
75.1
81.9
71.1
83.2
76.9
84.6
72.8
84.6
Similar changes have occurred in the earnings of the men operators.
BUTTONHOLE MAKERS.
Buttonholes are made on a special buttonhole machine. In the
majority of shops one buttonhole maker is sufficient to do the work
on all the garments in the shop. In most of the shops it is impossible
to keep a buttonhole maker busy all the time and he is employed on
other work when there is no buttonhole making to do. The largest
shops employ from one to three buttonhole makers.
There are two types of buttonhole-making machines, one made by
the Singer Co. and the other known as the Reece machine. The
Reece is a very rapid machine and is used on the cheaper garments.
The skill of the buttonhole maker lies not only in operating the
machine and in being able to space properly the buttonholes on the
garment, but in his ability to do the necessary repairing of the
machine, which is subject to frequent breakdowns. Where girls are
employed they are not expected to attend to this part of the work,
which fails on the machinist employed in the factory. In several
shops the buttonhole maker acts also as a machinist and attends to
the ordinary repairing of all machines on the premises.
The total number of workers found recorded as buttonhole makers
on the pay rolls of the different firms was 145 in 1913. Although a
considerable proportion of the 520 shops do not employ any button
hole makers at all, there are, on the other hand, shops which employ
two or three buttonhole makers. It is probable that the total number
of buttonhole makers in the industry is double the above number,
those not reported as buttonhole makers being included in the group
“ operators not s p e c i f i e d i n this group were included all workers
designated on the pay rolls as “ operators” but concerning whose
particular work the agents of the wage scale board could obtain no
information. Since in the majority of shops the buttonhole maker
is employed on other work also, it is but natural that he should be
entered on the pay roll as “ operator” instead of buttonhole maker.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
69
SEX.
As will be seen from Table 9, of the 145 buttonhole makers reported
in 1913, 79 were men and 66 women, this being one of the few occu
pations in the dress and waist industry in which the number of men
exceeds that of women.
WAGES.
As will be seen from Table 11, the extent of piecework has been
increased considerably among buttonhole makers; in 1912 the week
workers constituted 60 per cent and the pieceworkers 40 per cent,
while in 1913 the pieceworkers were nearly one-half of the total or
48 per cent, and the week workers 52 per cent.
Week workers.—Among the buttonhole makers working by the week,
as will be seen from Table 26 which follows, the wages in 1913 ranged
from $6 to $14 and over among the women, and from $8 to $25 a week
and over among the men. Of the 31 men working by the week the
great majority earned $12 and less than $20 a week. Of the 45
women more than half earned $9 and less than $14 a week. Among
both men and women there was an increase in the number of people
receiving the higher rates of wages and a reduction in the number of
those receiving the lower rates.
Pieceworkers.—Among women pieceworkers the lowest earnings
•during the busiest week in 1913 were less than $3 while the highest
were in the group $22.50 and under $25; the men earned from less
than $3 a week to $30 a week and over; 25, or over one-half of
the men, earned $18 a week and over; 15, or about one-third of
the men, earned $10 and under $18 a week. About half of the
women earned $9 and under $14 a week. The same tendency toward
an increase in the number of those receiving higher rates of wages
since the protocol went into effect is noticeable among the piece
workers as among the week workers. In view of the small number
no conclusions can be drawn as to the difference in wages in the
nonassociation and association shops.
70
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
26.—NUMBER OF BUTTONHOLE M AKERS (W E E K W O RKERS AND PIECE
W O R K E RS) RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED R A TE OF WAGES OR EARNINGS PER
W EE K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y SEX.
T able
Week workers receiving each
classified rate of wages.
Classified rates of wages or earnings
per week, and classes of shops.
Females.
1912
Pieceworkers earning each classi
fied amount during busiest
week of year.
Females.
1913
1912
1913
1912
Males.
1913
1912
Under $3..........
$3 to $3.99.........
$4 to $4.99.........
$5 to $5.99.........
$6 to $6.99.........
$7 to $7.99.........
$8 to $8.99.........
$9 to $9.99.........
$10 to $11.99....
$12 to $13.99....
$14 to $15.99....
$16 to $17.99....
$18 to $19.99....
$20 to $22.49....
$22.50 to $24.99.
$25 to $27.49....
$27.50 to $29.99.
$30 and over.. .
Total.
1913
5
1
5
4
7
5
8
2
1
2
46
45
24
31
17
21
48
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A .......
Association B .......
Nonassociation A .
Nonassociation B .
33
9
24
15
6
21
3
22
3
6
10
14
3
12
25
2
21
BUTTON SEWERS.
What has been said about the number of buttonhole makers applies
also to button sewers. Only 155 persons were found on the pay rolls
under the latter designation. Button sewing is a much easier opera
tion to learn than buttonhole making. The women predominate in
this, there being 136 women and only 19 men button sewers, and the
rates of wages are less than for buttonhole making. Week work is
much more common than piecework. In 1912, 78.4 per cent of the
women button sewers were week workers and 21.6 per cent piece
workers. In 1913 the proportion of week workers was still greater,
being 83.1 per cent as against 16.9 per cent of pieceworkers. This
was due to the fact that the number of week workers increased much
faster than that of pieceworkers, the week workers having increased
from 81 in 1912 to 127 in 1913, while the pieceworkers increased
from 22 to only 28 during the same period.
WAGES.
As will be seen from Table 27, which follows, the largest single
group of button sewers were the women week workers, who in 1913
numbered 113 out of a total of 155, or 72.9 per cent. The wages of
71
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
these women week workers ranged from $4 to less than $16 a week;
15 per cent of these earned less than $6 a week; 41.6 per cent earned
$6 and less than $9 a week, and 43.4 per cent earned $9 a week and
over. There was a noticeable increase in 1913 over 1912 in the pro
portion of those earning $9 a week and over and a corresponding
decrease in the proportion of those receiving less than $9 a week.
The earnings of the women pieceworkers do not differ much from
those of the week workers. The wages of the few men employed in
this trade are larger than those of the women.
T
37.—NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF BUTTON SEWERS (W E E K W O RKERS AND
PIECEW ORKERS) RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES OR EARNINGS
PE R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y SEX.
able
Week workers receiving each classified rate of
wages.
Classified rates of
wages or earnings
per week, a n d
classes of shops.
-Females.
Number.
Under $3...................
to $3.99.................
$3
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $0.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
9
7
10
15
14
5
7
2
Females.1
Males.1
Males.1
Per cent.
1912
1912
Pieceworkers earning each classi
fied amount during busiest
week of year.
1913
13
4
9
17
21
20
17
11
1
1912
13.0
10.1
14.5
21.7
20.3
7.2
10.1
2.9
1913
1912
1913
1912
1913
1913
11.5
3.5
8.0
15.0
18.6
17.7
15.0
9.7
.9
1
1
1
5
2
1
2
.6
2
3
1
1
3
1
1
4
1
2
1
1
2
4
3
6
3
3
3
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
Total...............
69
113
Association A ..........
Association B ...........
Nonassociation A . . .
Nonassociation B
68
85
1
27
1
100.0
100.0
28
*11
19
23
47
,5 8
8
6
11
8
9
9
4
1
6
1
6
1
1
5
1 Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
2 Not including 4 for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
3 Not including 3 for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
4 Including 4 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
6 Including 3 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
CLOSERS AND HEMMERS.
The operation of closing consists in sewing together the front and
back parts of the waist, forming the seam on each side of the waist.
On cheap waists this work is done on the Union Special machine.
This machine works very fast, and since it automatically cuts off the
raw edge and finishes off the seam on the wrong side all in one opera
tion, it offers the least expensive way of doing this work. Another
machine is the Metropolitan, which automatically puts on a binding
72
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS,
on the wrong side of the waist. On the better grade garments the
so-called French seam is used, which involves three operations: First,
the sewing together of the two parts of the waist on the right side;
second, the cutting off of the raw edges; third, the turning over and
sewing of the second seam on the wrong side. Some machines are
equipped with a knife which automatically cuts off the raw edge,
but most of the factories still do without the automatic knife, and
scissors are employed instead.
The hemming consists in hemming the bottom of the waist by
means of an attachment known as “ the hemmer,” which automat
ically turns the garment so that the turning in of the hem and the
stitching it over is all done in one operation.
The number of closers and hemmers in 1913 is given in Table 8 at
only 134, which is manifestly less than the total number employed
in the shops, the majority of the closers and hemmers being included
in the group “ Operators not specified,” for reasons explained under
that head. The number of pieceworkers was practically the same
both years, being 53 in 1912 and 56 in 1913 (Table 11). Week work
ers, on the other hand, increased from 51 to 78, which makes the pro
portion of pieceworkers smaller in 1913 than in 1912, namely, 42 per
cent in 1913, as against 51 per cent in 1912. Of the 134 closers and
hemmers reported, 104 were women and 30 were men.
SEX.
Most of the closers are women, while most of the hemmers are men,
since speed is the chief consideration in hemming. Where the Metro
politan machine is used for closing, men are preferred because the
machine is a very fast and complicated one and requires the handling
of the binding tape at the same time when the sewing proper is being
done.
Prior to the conclusion of the protocol, most of the closing and
hemming was done by subcontractors. Since subcontracting has
been prohibited under the protocol, the work is being done as a rule
by two partners, who frequently have one assistant. Under this
system one of the partners attends to the hemming and the other to
the closing. If an assistant is employed in addition, the partner who
does the closing puts in the first seam, leaving the assistant to cut off
the raw edge and put in the second seam.
WAGES.
As will be seen from Table 28, in 1913, of the 64 women closers
working by the week, 35, or nearly 55 per cent, received $10 and less
than $18 a week; 28, or nearly 44 per cent, received less than $10; onefourth of all the women received $6 and less than $9 a week; one-fourth
received $12 and less than $18 a week. A little less than one-half
received $9 and less than $12.
73
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
A slight change is noticeable in the earnings between 1912 and
1913, the most noticeable increase occurring in the proportion of those
receiving from $9 to $9.99 a week.
The number of men workers and women workers working by the
piece was too small to warrant any general conclusions. Details will
be found in Table 28.
T a b l e 2 8 . — NUMBER
OF CLOSERS AND HEMMERS (W E E K W ORKERS AND PIECEW ORK- .
ERS) RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RA TE OF WAGES OR EARNINGS PER W E E K . 1912
AND 1913, B Y SEX.
Week workers receiving each
classified rate of wages.
Classified rates of wages or earnings
per week, and classes of shops.
Females.
1912
Under $3..........................; ....................
$3 to $3.99..............................................
$4 to $4.99.............................................
$5 to $5.99........................... .................
$6 to $6.99..............................................
$7 to $7.99..............................................
$8 to $8.99..............................................
$9 to $9.99.............................................
$10 to $11.99..........................................
$12 to $13.99..........................................
$14 to $15.99..........................................
$16 to $17.99..........................................
$18 to $19.99..........................................
$20 to $22.49..........................................
$22.50 to $24.99.....................................
$25 to $27.49..........................................
$27.50 to $29.99.....................................
$30and over
........................... .
Total...........................................
Females.
Males.
1912
1913
Pieceworkers earning each classi
fied amount during busiest
week of year.
1913
1912
Males.
1913
1912
1913
1
2
3
5
2
3
12
6
6
2
5
2
9
10
19
7
8
1
1
1
1
1
2
4
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
3
2
4
3
6
4
7
7
3
4
1
2
3
4
4
6
4
6
5
1
1
3
1
139
64
11
14
2 45
40
1
1
3
1
1
2
9
16
1
4
4
1
4
11
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A .......................................
Association B .......................................
Nonassociation A ................................
Nonassociation B ................................
26
9
4
35
15
10
4
10
1
10
2
2
19
23
3
17
20
3
1 Not including 1 for whom earnings but not weekly rate of wages could be ascertained.
2 Including 1 week worker for whom earnings but not weekly rate of wages could be ascertained.
DRESSMAKERS.
Dressmakers are operators of the highest skill, for they are
required to make an entire dress including both the hand and machine
sewing as well as the draping. Dressmakers are employed on highgrade dresses and gowns only. Most of the dressmakers employed
have learned their trade in Europe. Those who have learned the
trade in this country come into the industry fully apprenticed
outside. Good dressmakers are promoted to positions of highclass examiners at wages running from $16 to $20 a week and of highclass drapers at similar wages.
74
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
Of late years, since cheap dresses have come to be produced in
large quantities, operators engaged in making lingerie and cheap
dresses have also come to bo known as dressmakers. This class of
dressmakers likewise works on the entire dress, but confines its work
chiefly to machine operating, the band sewing being done by the
finishers and the draping by the drapers.
If we are to understand dressmaking in this broader sense, there
are probably a few thousand of these workers, most of them appear
ing in Table 8 as “ operators not specified,” of whom 6,455 are
given in that table (these are discussed more fully on pp. 99-104),
while only 440 were found described as dressmakers on the pay rolls
of the factories investigated.
SEX.
Women predominate among dressmakers. Of the 440 dress
makers reported for 1913, 350, or 80 per cent, were women and 90, or
20 per cent, were men. In high-grade dressmaking men are employed
mostly on dresses of heavy material, such as velvets, serges, woolens,
ratines, etc., while the women are employed on light materials,
such as silks, chiffons, voiles, etc.
WAGES.
Of the 440 dressmakers found on the pay rolls for 1913, 369, or
84 per cent, worked by the piece and only 71, or 16 per cent, worked
by the week. The percentage of pieceworkers in 1912, before the
protocol went into effect, was somewhat less—namely, 81 per cent.
As will be seen from Table 29, the largest single group of dressmakers
consisted of women pieceworkers, of whom there were 294, or 67 per
cent of the total. Of these 4.1 per cent were found earning less
than $6 a week in 1913; 5.8 per cent earned $6 and less than $9 a
week; 22.8 per cent, or almost one-fourth, earned less than $12;
19.7 per cent, or almost one-fifth, earned $20 a week and over;
57.5 per cent, or more than one-half, earned $12 and less than $20 a
week.
The men pieceworkers’ earnings are, as usual, much higher than
those of the women. Thus, there were no men dressmakers earning
less than $6 a week, 2.7 per cent earned $6 and less than $9 a
week, or nearly one-half of the percentage of women. Of those
earning $9 and less than $14 a week there were over 9 per cent among
men as against more than 27 per cent among women. While only
20 per cent of the women pieceworkers earned $20 a week and over,
72 per cent of the men earned that amount. Both the men and the
women pieceworkers show a higher percentage of workers in the
higher-wage groups in 1913 as compared with 1912 and a lower per
centage in the lower-wage groups.
75
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DEESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
The number of week workers both in 1912 and 1913 is too small
to serve as the basis of any general conclusions. The details will be
found in Table 29, which follows:
39.—NUMBER AND PE R CENT OP DRESSMAKERS (W E E K W O RKERS AND PIECE
W OR K E RS) RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED R A TE OF W AGES OR EARNINGS PE R
W EE K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y SEX.
T able
Week workers receiving
each classified rate of
wages.
Classified rates of
wages or earnings
per week, and
classes of shops.
Females.1
Pieceworkers earning each classified amount during
busiest week of year.
Males.1
Number.
1912
Under S3
$3 to $3.99...............
$4 to $4.99
$5 to $5.99..............
$6 to $6.99 . .
$7 to $7.99 ..........
$8 to $8.99
$9 to $9.99
$10 to $11.99............
$12 to $13.99............
$14 to $15.99............
$16 to $17.99............
$18 to $19.99............
$20 to $22.49............
$22.50 to $24.99
$25 to $27.49............
$27.50 to $29.99
$30 and over............
Total.............
1913
1912
Males.
Females.
Per cent.
Number.
Per cent.
1913
1
1
1
1
3
4
18
17
8
8
3
3
1
3
2
2
10
18
7
10
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
i
11
2
68
56
7
15
1913
5
1
2
7
7
4
11
17
40
43
41
36
24
18
14
4
2
1
5
3
4
5
8
11
27
42
50
44
33
33
17
3
3
2
1.8
.4
.7
2.5
2.5
1.5
3.9
6.2
14.4
15.5
14.8
13.0
8.7
6.5
5.0
1.5
.7
.4
1.7
1.0
1.4
1.7
2.7
3.7
9.2
14.3
17.0
15.0
11.2
11.2
5.8
1.0
1.0
.7
1
1
2
1
2
2
3
2
6
2
6
3
13
277
294
100.0
100.0
44
4
1912
1912
1912
1913
1913
1912
1913
1.4
i
1
1.3
1.3
5
2
1
4
7
13
8
8
7
18
2.3
2.3
4.5
2.3
4.5
4.5
6.8
4.5
13.6
4.5
13.6
6.8
29.5
6.7
2.7
1.3
5.3
9.3
17.3
10.7
10.7
9.3
24.0
75
100.0
100.0
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A .........
Association B .........
Nonassociation A . .
Nonassociation B . .
34
14
13
7
37
11
7
1
4
5
3
10
69
195
10
3
132
151
1
10
12
15
14
3
49
21
2
3
i Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
H EM STITCHERS.
The hemstitching machine is one of the most difficult to operate.
Instead of the one needle which the operator has to watch in an
ordinary sewing machine, there are two needles and the so-called
“ plunger/' which makes the holes in the material that is hemstitched.
It requires great skill and patience to operate the machine and to
handle the material. At every turn and change of direction the
threads easily get tangled, and the machine breaks down frequently.
As hemstitching is always done for decorative purposes, it generally
takes the form of intricate designs, curves, and other figures, which
are frequently carried out on the edge of laces or fine embroideries.
Most of the hemstitchers graduate into that work after they have
been operating a machine or doing simpler kinds of work, such as
76
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
repairing, lace running, etc. In some cases, girls who show sufficient
intelligence are put to work on a hemstitching machine from the very
start and are taught the trade. It takes about a week to train a
worker to handle a hemstitching machine. The skill of the worker,
however, naturally increases as time goes on, resulting in an increase
of output as well as in better work.
Only a few shops, comparatively, employ hemstitchers. In most
shops, there is insufficient work to keep a hemstitching machine busy
all the time, and the hemstitching is contracted out to special shops,
SEX.
The peculiarity of the hemstitchers occupation, as just explained,
makes it distinctly a woman’s trade, for, as explained before in
discussing the work of operators, men, as a rule, are more adapted
for work which requires either greater physical endurance or speed.
Of the 180 hemstitchers reported for 1913 only 10 were men.
WAGES.
The nature of the hemstitcher’s work is not favorable to compen
sation on a piece basis. It is impossible for an operator to do the
work any faster than the machine and the character of the work
will permit. Patience and skill are the chief requirements. There
is, therefore, a general consensus of opinion in the trade, both among
the workers and the employers, that hemstitchers should be paid
on a weekly basis. Therefore, although no provision has been made
in the protocol for a minimum weekly rate, more than eight-tenths
of all the hemstitchers were employed on a weekly basis, the exact
proportion in 1913 being 86 per cent of week workers and 14 per
cent of pieceworkers. Of the 180 hemstitchers, only 8 were found
employed in nonassociation shops. Of the 172 hemstitchers employed
in the association shops, 155 were week wrorkers (including 7 men)
and 25 were pieceworkers (including 3 men). The bulk of the hem
stitchers were, therefore, women week workers whose wages will now
be considered.
As will be seen from Table 30, the largest single group among the
women week workers wTere those receiving $12 and less than $14 a
week, who constituted 33.8 per cent, or one-third, of all the women
week workers. Over one-fourth of the women received $10 and less
than $12 a week; over 9 per cent of the women received $9 and less
than $10 a week; over 12 per cent received $6 and less than $9;
2 girls received less than $6 a week, and 26 women, constituting less
than 18 per cent of the total, received $14 a week and over.
As in the case of most other workers, the hemstitchers show a
decided improvement in wages since the protocol went into effect.
The percentage of those receiving $6 and less than $10 a week
declined from 25.9 per cent to 21.5 per cent; and of those getting
from $10 to $11.99 from nearly 39 per cent to less than 26 per cent.
77
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
On the other hand, the percentage
$13.99 increased from 21.5 per cent
receiving $14 a week and over from
Further details as to the earnings of
Table 30.
of those getting from $12 to
to 33.8 per cent, and of those
8.6 per cent to 17.6 per cent.
hemstitchers will be found in
3 0 . — NUMBER AN D P E R CENT OF HEMSTITCHERS (W E E K W O R K E RS AND
PIECEW ORKERS) RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF W AGES OR EARNINGS
PER W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y SEX.
Table
Pieceworkers earning each clas
sified amount during busiest
week of year.
Week workers receiving each classified rate of
wages.
Classified rates of
wages or earnings
per week, and
classes of shops.
Males.1
Females.
Number.
Per cent.
1019
1912
1913
1912
1010
1019
iyi4
1913
1Q10
1913
1913
1
Under $3...................
53 to $3.99.................
2
$4 to $4.99....... .........
3
$5 to $5.99.................
5
$6 to $6.99.................
4
$7 to $7.99.................
9
$8 to $8.99.................
6
$9 to $9.99.................
36
$10 to $11.99..............
20
$12 to $13.99..............
7
$14 to $15.99..............
1
$16 to $17.99..............
QQ
*20 to *22 49_______ I ...........
$22.50 to $24.99.........
1
1
4
5
9
14
38
50
20
5
1
93
148
Total...............
Males.*
Females.1
2.1
3.2
5.4
4.3
9.7
6.5
38.7
21.5
7.5
1.1
100.0
0.7
.7
2.7
3.4
6.0
9.4
25.7
33.8
13.5
3.4
.7
100.0
1
1
1
2
3
2
1
7
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
6
2
4
1
2
1
5
22
3
6
16
3
2
1
1
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A ..........
Association B .......
Nonassociation A . . .
Nonassociation B ...
14
75
1
3
27
115
1
5
2
1
4
1
4
2
1 Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
LACE RUNNERS.
Lace running is one of the least skilled occupations among the
operators. It is the first work given to young girls who are put to
work at a machine. The work of “ lace running” consists in joining
strips of lace to strips of cloth or other lace of various widths. Most
lace running is done in long strips which may run into the hundreds
of yards, but there is also considerable work done on short pieces
which go into individual waists. The skill of the lace runner con
sists in handling the lace carefully and running the material and the
lace in such a manner that the machine is operated steadily without
a break and so that the unraveling of the lace and the cloth, which
are wound up in rolls, takes place almost automatically without
requiring the stopping of the machine on the part of the operator.
78
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
Although it takes only a few days to learn lace running, the operator
acquires greater skill and therefore greater productive capacity in
the course of time, which accounts for the fact that the wages of
lace runners vary all the way from $5 to $16 a week and over.
SEX.
Practically all the lace running is done by girls. Of the 113 lace
runners reported in Table 8, only 10 were men, the remainder being
girls.
WAGES.
Most lace runners are paid by the week. Of the 113 reported, as
will be seen from Table 11, four-fifths were week workers in 1913.
In 1912 only 17 per cent were pieceworkers.
As will be seen from Table 31, which follows, more than one-half
of the 83 women lace runners paid by the week received $10 and less
than $14 a week. More than one-tenth received $14 a week and over.
Nearly one-fifth of the workers received $6 and less than $9; 2 lace
runners received less than $6 a week. Of the 7 men lace runners,
1 received from $8 to $8.99 a week and 6 received $14 and less than
$18 a week. The earnings of the pieceworkers as well as further
details as to the week workers will be found in Table 31.
Both the week workers and the pieceworkers show a marked increase
since the protocol went into effect in the number of those earning $9
and less than $20 a week, with a corresponding decline in the number
of those receiving less than $9.
T able 31.—NUMBER OF LACE RUNNERS (W E E K W ORKERS AND PIECEW ORKERS)
RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES OR EARNINGS PE R W E E K , 1912 AND
1913, B Y SEX.
Week workers receiving each
classified rate of wages.
Classified rates of wages or earnings
per week, and classes of shops.
Females.
1912
$3 to $3.99..............................................
$4 to $4.99..............................................
$5 to $5.99..............................................
$6 to $6.99..............................................
$7 to $7.99 ..........................................
$8 to $8.99___........................................
$9 to $9.99 ..........................................
$10 to $11.99..........................................
$12 to $13.99..........................................
$14 to $15.99............................. u...........
$16 to $17.99..........................................
$18 to $19.99..........................................
$20 to $22.49..........................................
Total...........................................
Males.
1912
1913
3
1
13
12
7
8
8
19
7
1
1
2
7
7
14
21
21
6
3
8
83
Pieceworkers earning each classi
fied amount during busiest
week of year.
Females.
1913
1912
Males.
1913
1912
1913
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
3
2
1
1
1
4
2
1
2
3
1
1
3
5
4
1
2
2
1
8
7
17
20
2
1
1
1
3
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A .......................................
Association B .......................................
Nonassociation A .................................
52
23
3
57
25
1
1
6
1
3
2
2
14
3
18
2
2
1
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY*
79
SAMPLE M AKERS.
Sample makers are operators who are engaged in making samples
of new garments from models furnished by the designer. They also
assist the designer in the preparation of new models. This work
naturally calls for operators of the highest skill. Most of the sample
makers are experienced dressmakers or waist operators and are drawn
from those classes of workers. Sample makers who have acquired con
siderable experience in their work and have a bent for original
designing graduate into designers.
SEX.
Practically all sample makers are women. Of the 580 sample
makers reported in Table 9 for 1913, only 21, or 3.6 per cent, were
men.
WAGES.
The nature of the sample maker's work makes the piece-rate sys
tem impractical. Of the 580 sample makers only 8 were found to
be doing piecework in 1913. As will be seen from Table 32, the
largest single group of sample makers were those receiving $14 and
less than $16 a week, most of whom received the minimum protocol
rate of $14. This group constituted more than 42 per cent of the
total. Those getting $16 and less than $20 a week exceeded 27 per
cent of the total. The number of those receiving less than the
protocol rate of $14 a week exceeded 26 per cent of the total. The
number of those receiving less than $6 a week was very small, amount
ing to 1.5 per cent of all the sample makers. The number of those
receiving $20 a week and over was nearly 4 per cent of the total.
An examination of the figures showing the wages of sample makers
in the four branches of the industry shows that, in each case, the
largest number falls in the group of $14 and less than $16 a week with
the exception of the nonassociation B shops in which the largest
number is in the group of $18 and less than $20 a week. However,
the number of sample makers in the nonassociation shops is so small
as hardly to warrant any general conclusions.
The figures in the two columns of Table 32 showing the percentage
of the total number of sample makers receiving different rates of
wages in 1912 and 1913 and Chart 8 which presents these figures in
graphic form are very instructive. The largest group both in 1912
and 1913 consisted of employees receiving $14 and under $16 a week,
the minimum protocol rate being $14, but the percentage in this group
was much larger in 1913 than in 1912, being nearly 43 per cent in
1913 and only 30 per cent in 1912. In 1912 the percentage receiv
ing $12 and under $14 was almost as high as for those receiving
$14 and under $16, being nearly 28 per cent, but fell to a little over
15 per cent in 1913. Beginning with the $14 rate the figures, in all
cases but one, show a larger percentage of sample makers receiving
80
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
tlie higher rates in 1913 as compared with 1912. The reverse is
true of those receiving rates below $14 a week where the 1913 per
centages are in nearly all cases below those in 1912.
T
32.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF SAMPLE MAKERS, FEMALE, W E E K WORKERS,*
RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES PER W EEK, 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS
OF SHOPS.
able
NUMBER.
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99
$6 to $6.99...............
$7 to $7.99. .
$8 to $8.99. ..
$9 to $9.99 .
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49
$22.50 to $24.99.
$25 to $27.49..............
Total..............
1913
Nonassociation
A .2
1912
1913
Association B.
1912
i
4
4
1
1
7
13
20
95
91
50
32
7
2
29
327
1
2
1
6
11
43
56
22
10
2
1
154
1
2
2
9
25
94
30
19
5
1
1
5
6
4
5
1
1
20
5
2
.... ...1........
i
:
187
24
1913
3
4
3
1
3
13
17
55
113
48
25
5
Nonassociation
B.2
1912
1913
Total.
1912
1913
3
5
3
1
5
15
28
83
232
91
57
16
2
4
1
1
6
3
2
2
1
1
1
2
5
8
11
6
2
3
4
4
2
4
9
21
36
145
157
80
45
11
2
3
291
18
38
3 523
4 545
.3
0.8
.8
.4
.8
1.7
4.0
6.9
27.8
30.0
15.3
8.6
2.1
.4
.6
0.6
.9
.6
.2
.9
2.8
5.1
15.3
42.6
16.7
10.5
2.9
.3
.7
100.0
100.0
100.0
34.0
38.9
27.1
43.0
30.0
27.0
26.4
42.6
31.2
100.0
100.0
100.0
1
1
PER CENT.
$4 to $4.99___
$5 to $5.99....
$6 to $6.99....
$7 to $7.99....
$8 to $8.99....
$9 to $9.99....
$10 to $11.99..
812 to $13.99..
$14 to $15.99..
$16 to $17.99..
$18 to $19.99..
$20 to $22.49..
$22.50 to $24.9!
$25 to $27.49..
T otal..
1.3
.6
3.9
7.2
28.0
36.4
14.2
6.5
1.3
1.0
1.0
4.8
13.4
50.3
16.1
10.2
2.7
1.2
1.2
.3
.3
2.1
4.0
6.1
29.1
27.9
15.3
9.8
2.1
1.0
1.3
1.0
.3
1.0
4.5
5.9
19.0
38.9
16.5
8.6
1.7
.6
100.0
100.0 100.0 ................. 1
00.0
SUMMARY OF PERCENTAGES.
Under $14.................
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 and over.............
41.0
36.4
22.6
Total..............
100.0
|
44.3
i
27.9
!
27.8
............ i.............
I
100.0
100.0
............ 1............. I
20.7
50.3
29.0
1 In addition to the week workers shown in this table there were 2 pieceworkers, female, and 1 piece
worker, male, in 1912, and 8 pieceworkers, female, in 1913.
2 Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
8 Not including 17 week workers, female, and 14 week workers, male, for whom weekly rates of wages
could not be ascertained.
4 Not including 6 week workers, female, and 21 week workers, male, for whom weekly rates of wages
could not be ascertained.
SKIRT OPERATORS.
The work of skirt operators consists chiefly in sewing together
parts of skirts in long vertical seams and, the work being quite
simple, the quantity of output is the chief consideration. This ena
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DEESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
81
bles men to compete to a large extent with women in this trade,
especially in making skirts of heavy materials. In lingerie dresses,
where the material is light and where there is a good deal of lace
inserting to be done, women are fully as competent as men and in
many cases are preferred. A skirt operator is apprenticed usually by
worldng as assistant to an experienced operator. He is first shown
how to make the simpler seams on the wrong side of the skirt and
C h a r t 8.— P E R CENT OF SAMPLE M AKERS, FEM ALE (W E E K W O R K E R S)
R E C E IV IN G EACH CLA SSIFIED R A T E OF W AGES P E R W E E K , 1912 AND
1913.
45%
40
35
30
ZS
20
/S
/0
5
0%
$4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9 $10
$12
$14
$16
$18
$20
$22
$24
$26
$28
gradually is taught the more difficult parts of the work. It takes
about the length of a season to train a fairly skilled skirt operator.
SEX.
Of the 399 skirt operators reported for 1913, 228, or a little over
57 per cent, were women and 171, or almost 43 per cent, were men.
WAGES.
Speed being the chief factor in making skirts, it is natural that the
work should be paid by the piece. During 1913 two-thirds of all
the skirt operators reported were paid by the piece. In 1912 the
percentage of piece workers was slightly larger, namely, 72 per cent.
42132°— Bull. 146—14------ 6
82
BULLETIN OF THE BUKEAU OF LABOE STATISTICS.
Of the 399 skirt operators, 340, or 85 per cent, were employed in
association shops and only 59, or 15 per cent, in nonassociation
shops.
Earnings o f pieceworkers.—As will be seen from Table 33, over 51
per cent, or more than one-half of the 170 women paid by the piece,
earned from $18 a week to $30 a week or over during the busiest
week of 1913; more than one-fifth of all the women pieceworkers
earned from $22.50 to $24.99; 17.5 per cent, or about one-sixth,
earned $9 and less than $14 a week; only 3 per cent earned less than
$9 a week.
The proportion of men earning the higher rates of wages was even
higher than that of the women. Nearly three-fourths (73 per cent)
of all the men pieceworkers earned from $18 to $30 and over during
the busiest week; the number of those earning less than $9 a week
formed less than 4 per cent of the total.
Comparing the earnings of men pieceworkers in 1912 and 1913,
there is a decline in the percentage of those earning less than $14 a
week. Those earning $14 and less than $18 a week show practi
cally the same percentage both years; those earning $18 and less
than $25 a week increased from over 34 per cent in 1912 to over 52
per cent in 1913. On the other hand, the number of those earning
$25 a week and over declined from 29.5 per cent in 1912 to 20.6 per
cent in 1913.
Among the women pieceworkers, similar changes in the earnings
occurred; that is to say, there was a decline in the proportion of
those earning the lower rates of wages and an increase in the number
of those earning the medium amounts and a decline in the number
of those earning $25 a week or more.
Wages o f week workers.—The number of week workers being com
paratively small, only 58 among the women and 64 among the men,
no general conclusions can be drawn. It is interesting to note,
however, that of the 64 men week workers, 38, or more than onehalf, received from $16 to $22.49 a week; 18, or more than one-fourth,
received $20 a week and over. Only 1 received $4 and less than $5
a week and 2 received $6 and less than $7 a week.
Of the 58 women week workers, 22 received $9 and less than $14;
15 received $14 and less than $18 a week; 4 girls received less than
$6 a week, and 14 received $6 and less than $9. Further details
as to the wages of skirt operators will be found in Table 33.
83
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DKESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
33.-N U M P.E H AND PEE CENT OF SKIRT OPERATORS (W E E K W O RKERS AND
PIECEW ORKERS) RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RA TE OF W AGES OR EARNINGS
PER W EE K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y SEX.
T able
Week workers receiv
ing each classified
rate of wages.
Classified rates of
wages or earnings
per week, and
classes of shops.
Females.1
Total..............
Females.
Males.1
Number.
1912
Under $3..................
$3 to $3.99................
$4 to $4.99................
$5 to $5.99................
$6 to $6.99................
$7 to $7.99................
$8 to $8.99................
$9 to $9.99................
$10 to $11.99.............
$12 to $13.99...........
$14 to $15.99.............
$16 to $17.99.............
$18 to $19.99.............
$20 to $22.49.............
$22.50 to $24.99........
$25 to $27.49.............
$27.50 to $29.99
$30 and over............
Pieceworkers earning each classified amount during
busiest week of year.
1913
1912
2
1
4
4
5
8
15
9
5
1
2
2
2
8
4
5
8
9
9
6
1
2
3
6
9
6
7
3
2 58
37
1
52
Males.
Per cent.
Number.
Per cent.
1913
1912
1913
11
1
1912
6.1
1913
1912
3
5
1
3
5
9
15
10
13
1
3
1
5
6
14
19
21
12
23
13
30
10
5
3
64
180
1
1
1
1
2
10
20
18
30
18
21
36
7
4
1
2.8
3.3
7.8
10.5
11.7
6.6
12.8
7.2
16.7
5.5
2.8
1.7
i.2
.6
.6
5.8
11.7
10.6
17.6
10.6
12.4
21.2
4.1
2.4
.6
2
3
3
4
5
7
3
7
4
2
3 170
100.0
100.0
2
1
1
1.7
2.8
1912
1913
0.9
1
0.6
1
2
1913
1.8
1
2.3
2.3
2.3
2.3
3
5
9
8
21
23
12
12
5
5
4.5
6.8
6.8
9.1
11.4
15.9
6.8
15.9
9.1
4.5
2.8
4.7
8.4
7.5
19.7
21.5
11.2
11.2
4.7
4.7
44
107 100.0
100.0
24
18
80
9
2
18
.9
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A ..........
Association B ..........
Nonassociation A ...
Nonassociation B
46
5
1
26
10
20
2
21
13
3
34
11
15
4
42
138
69
101
1 Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
2 Not including 11 for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
s Including 11 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
SLEEVE MAKERS.
It takes about the same kind of skill in making sleeves as in mak
ing waists. Sleeve makers and waist or body makers are regarded
as operators of equal skill and practically equal earning capacity.
It takes about the length of a season to train a sleeve maker, although
he or she, no doubt, continues to gain in skill as time goes on. The
chief skill of the sleeve maker is in sewing the lace and trimmings to
the material of which the waist is made. Experienced sleeve makers
sometimes graduate into waist makers and trimmers.
SEX.
Of the 344 sleeve makers reported for 1913, only 44 were men;
300, or 87 per cent, were women.
84
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
WAGES.
The sleeve makers work almost equally on a piece and a week
basis (Table 11). In 1913, 54 per cent, or a little over one-half of
all the sleeve makers, were week workers and 46 per cent were piece
workers. The number of pieceworkers increased considerably in
1913, for in 1912 they numbered only 35 per cent of all the sleeve
makers.
The largest single group of sleeve makers in 1913 were the women
week workers, who numbered 173. Of these, as will be seen from
Table 34, nearly one-fourth received $7 and less than $8 a week; a
little over 28 per cent received $8 and less than $10 a week; a
little over one-fifth received less than $7. Nine girls received less
than $6 a week.
In 1912 there were 23 girls receiving less than $6 a week. In
general, there was a reduction in the number of those receiving less
than $7 a week and a slight increase in the proportion of those receiv
ing $7 a week and over.
The next largest group wrere the women pieceworkers, who num
bered 127 in 1913. Of these, 21.3 per cent, or a little over one-fifth,
earned $10 and less than $12 during the busiest week in 1913; 21.9
per cent earned $8 and less than $10; and 23.6 per cent earned $12
and less than $16. The number of these receiving $16 a week and
over constituted 12.7 per cent; 9.5 per cent earned less than $6. As
compared with 1912, there was an increase in the percentage of those
earning $12 a week and over. The percentage of those earning $10
and less than $12 a week remained the same, and of those earning
under $10 a week declined from 57 in 1912 to 42 in 1913.
The number of male sleeve makers, both week workers and piece
workers, is too small to require any discussion of their wages. The
figures will be found in Table 34.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DPiESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
85
34.—NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF SLEEVE MAKERS (W E E K W ORKERS AND
PIECEW ORKERS) RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES OR EARNINGS
PER W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y SEX.
T able
Week workers receiving each classified
rate of wages.
Classified rates of
wages or earnings
per week, and
classes of shops.
Females.
Number.
Males.1
Under S3.................
$3 to $3.99...............
$4 to $4.99...............
$5 to $5.99...............
$6 to $6.99..............
$7 to $7.99...............
$8 to $8.99...............
$9 to $9.99...............
$10 to $11.99............
$12 to $13.99............
$14 to $15.99............
$16 to $17.99............
$18 to $19.99. .
$20 to $22.49.
$22.50 to $21.99
$25 to $27.49............
$27.50 to $29.99
$30 and over............
Total.............
1913
1
8
14
29
24
17
26
15
3
4
1
1
2
3
4
26
43
25
24
25
11
5
3
1
1
Females.
Per cent.
Number.
1912
1912
Pieceworkers earning each classified
amount during busiest week of year.
1912
1.2
1.7
2.3
15.0
24.8
14.5
13.9
14.5
6.4
2.9
1.7
1
1912
1912
1913
2
1
1
3
7
7
7
13
15
27
15
15
8
6
1
1
2
1
1
2
4
2
2
Per cent.
1913
1913
0.7
5.5
9.7
20.1
16.7
11.8
18.0
10.5
2.1
2.8
.7
.7
Males.i
3
3
1
.6
2
7
1
3
9
13
14
6
2
4
1
1
1912
3.1
3.1
10.8
1.6
4.6
13.8
20.0
21.5
9.2
3.1
6.2
1.5
1.5
.7
0.8
.8
2.4
5.5
5. 5
5.5
10.1
11.8
21.3
11.8
11.8
6.3
4.5
.5
1
1
144
173
100.0
11
12
65
127
2
2
1
4
2
1
3
1
4
100.0
100.0
1
4
5
5
3
6
4
2
.8
.6
100.0
1913
1913
18
32
12
4
20
3
9
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Assdciation A .......
Association B .
Nonassociation A ...
N onassociation B ...
96
14
31
3
93
14
61
5
8
1
2
10
1
1
35
15
4
11
79
19
18
11
2
i Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
SLEEVE SETTERS.
The work of the sleeve setter consists in sewing the sleeves to the *
waists. There are two ways of doing this work. In the waists
which were in style prior to 1913, the sleeves were closed by
the sleeve maker and set into the armhole of the waist by the sleeve
setter. The setting of the closed sleeve requires great skill. As a
rule, the sleeve is larger than the armhole and while it is being set
into the waist it has to be gathered into folds, the sleeve setter
knowing practically by instinct just how much to gather in so that
the sleeve will fit perfectly into the armhole and will ‘‘ hang right”
from the body of the waist. The work is usually done on a Union
Special machine, which with a knife attachment trims off the raw edges
on the wrong side as fast as the sleeve is sewed on to the waist and
then fells the seam. It is also done on a Metropolitan machine
which automatically binds the seam on the wrong side instead of
felling it.
86
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
In the style that has been in vogue since 1913 the sleeves are not
closed before being attached to the waist, being sewed on to the body
of the waist before being closed. The closer then closes the sleeves
and the sides of the waist in one operation. The change in style left
the sleeve setters with but little sleeve setting to do and they have
been employed mostly 011 other work requiring the use of the
Union Special machine.
SEX.
Of the 139 sleeve setters reported in 1913, 86, or 62 per cent, were
women and 53 were men.
WAGES.
Of all the sleeve setters reported, 59 per cent were week wrorkers
and 41 per cent were pieceworkers. The proportion of pieceworkers
has increased considerably , having constituted only 30 per cent during
the preceding year. Taking the sleeve setters as reported for the
entire industry for 1913, there were 57 women working by the week,
29 women working by the piece, 25 men working by the week, and
28 men working by the piece. These numbers are too small to
justify any detailed conclusions as to the trend of wages.
It is interesting to note, however, that of the 57 women week
workers, 40, or more than two-thirds of them, received $10 and less
than $16 a week. None received less than $7 a week, while during
the preceding year there were 4 girls receiving less than that amount.
There was a decided reduction in the number of those receiving less
than $10 a week and an increase from the preceding year in the
number of those receiving the higher rates of wages.
Among the men sleeve setters, week workers, the lowest wage group
reported in 1913 was $12 to $13.99 a week and the highest $27.50 to
*$29.99 a week, the men as a rule receiving higher wages than the
women. This is ven more noticeable of the pieceworkers, where
the men earned considerably in excess of the women. Further de
tails as to the wages of sleeve setters will be found in Table 35.
87
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T a b l e 3 5 . — NU M B E R O F
SLEEVE SETTERS (W E E K W ORKERS AND PIECEW ORKERS)
RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RA TE OF WAGES OR EARNINGS PER W EE K , 1912 AND
1913, B Y SEX.
Week workers receiving each
classified rate of wages.
Classified rates of wages or earnings
per week, and classes of shops.
Males.
Females.
1912
1913
1912
Pieceworkers earning each classi
fied amount during busiest
week of year.
Females.
1913
1912
Males.
1913
1912
Under $3..........
$3 to $3.99.........
$4 to $4.99.........
$5 to So.99.........
$6 to $6.99.........
$7 to $7.99.........
$8 to $8.99.........
$9 to $9.99.........
$10 to $11.99....
$12 to $13.99....
$14 to $15.99....
$16 to $17.99....
$18 to $19.99....
$20 to $22.49....
$22.50 to $24.99.
$25 to $27.49....
$27.50 to $29.99.
$30 and over___
Total.
1913
5
1
1
1
4
8
2
2
1
3
55
57
16
25
29
20
28
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A ___
Association B ___
Nonassociation A
Nonassociation B
30
5
24
12
18
3
12
11
5
16
23
13
3
4
14
6
2
1
TRIMMERS.
Trimmers form the group of operators of the highest skill. Their
work consists in sewing on the trimmings, laces, embroideries, silks,
etc. It requires delicate touch, patience, and skill in handling delicate
materials, such as laces, embroideries, chiffons, and nets. Girls are
promoted to be trimmers after they have proved to be good waist or
dress makers. It takes about the length of a season to learn trimming,
but the trimmer gains in skill as she goes on working from season to
season.
SEX.
The nature of a trimmer’s work is such as to give women a decided
advantage over men. Of the 634 trimmers reported for 1913, 612,
or 96.5 per cent, were women and only 22, or 3.5 per cent, were men.
WAGES.
Wages o f week workers.—The great majority of the female trimmers
were found employed in association shops, only 37 being reported in
the nonassociation shops, as will be seen from Table 36. Of the 333
women week workers the largest single group were those receiving $12
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
88
and less than $14 a week, these constituting about one-third of the entire
number; the next largest single group were those receiving $10 and
less than $12 who constituted a little less than 29 per cent of the
total, these two groups making up more than one-half of all the
women trimmers working by the week. A little over 14 per cent of
the women received $14 a week and over and nearly one-fifth re
ceived under $9 a week. Three girls received under $6 a week.
Earnings o f pieceworkers.— Of the 279 women pieceworkers, over 19
per cent, or nearly one-fifth, earned $14 and less than $16 during the
busiest week of 1913. Nearly 34 per cent, or a little over one-third,
earned $10 and less than $14 a week; over 16 per cent earned under
$10 a week; a little less than 9 per cent, or nearly one-tenth, earned
$18 and less than $20 a week, and the remaining 8.5 per cent earned
$20 a week and over.
Comparison o f wages in 1912 and 1913.—The wages of all classes
of trimmers show a marked improvement since the protocol went into
effect. In the case of the women trimmers working by the week,
there is a general increase in the proportion of workers receiving $12
a week and over, who constituted 30 per cent of all the women week
workers in 1912 and nearly 47 per cent in 1913, with a corresponding
decline in the relative number of women week workers receiving less
than $12 a week. In the case of women pieceworkers, a similar
change has occurred, except that the increase begins not with the $12
but with the $14 a week workers. The proportion of those earning
$14 a week and over was less than 19 per cent in 1912 and nearly 50
per cent in 1913, with a corresponding decline in the number of those
earning under $14 a week.
T
36.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF TRIMMERS, FEMALE,i W E E K W ORKERS,
RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES PER W EEK, 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS
OF SHOPS.
NUMBER.
able
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99
$6 to $6 99
$7 to $7.99
$8 to $8.99...............
$9 to $9.99
.........
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
Total...............
1913
3
9
7
8
11
17
43
23
4
i
2
3
9
11
13
43
44
14
3
1
1
126 |
143
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1
5
7
5
18
1913
2
1
3
9
16
5
Association B.
1912
1
4
4
8
14
1
54
29
6
6
2
37
128
1913
Nonassociation
B.
1912
1913
Total.
1912
4
13
11
16
25
18.
102
59
15
6
3
1
5
8
23
1
43
49
17
2
3
1
153
2 272
1 There were 8 trimmers, male, week workers, in 1912, and 9 in 1913.
2 Not including 14, for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
8 Not including 10, for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
1913
3
8
19
35
17
95
109
36
5
4
2
3333
89
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T A B L E 3 6 . — NUMBER
AND PER CENT OF TRIMMERS, FEM ALE, W E E K W O R K E RS,
R ECEIVIN G EACH CLASSIFIED R A TE OF WAGES PER W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS
O J SHOPS—Concluded.
PER CENT.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
Association A. Nonassociation
A .1
1912
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
2.4
7.1
5.6
6.3
8.7
13.5
34.1
18.3
3.2
Total...............
100.0
.8
1912
1913
1913
Association B
1912
0.8
3.1
3.1
6.3
10.9
1.4
2.1
6.3
7.6
9.1
30.1
30.8
9.8
2.1
42.2
22.6
4.7
4.7
1.6
.7
100.0
100.0
1913
Nonassociation
B.i
1912
1913
Total.
1912
1913
1.4
4.8
4.0
5.9
9.2
6.6
37.6
21.7
5.5
2.2
1.1
0.7
3.3
5.2
15.0
.7
28.1
32.0
11.1
1.3
1.9
.7
100.0
0.9
2.4
5.7
10.5
5.1
28.6
32.7
10.8
1.5
1.2
.6
100.0
100.0
37.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF TRIMMERS, FEMALE,2 PIECE W ORKERS, EARN
ING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT, DURING THE BUSIEST W EEK OF THE YE A R , 1912
AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
NUMBER.
T able
Classified earnings
per week.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22:49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
Total...............
Association
A.
1912
3
2
7
1
6
10
12
8
18
23
11
4
1
Nonassociation
A.i
1913
1912
1913
Association
B.
1912
2
2
3
3
4
6
21
21
27
24
18
9
7
2
1
164
152
1
1
1
106 ’
121
1
1
1913
4
3
3
3
9
8
11
22
38
27
10
7
6
6
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
3
6
9
24
23
26
13
6
2
2
Nonassociation
B.i
1912
1913
2
Total.
1912
1913
1
1
1
3
2
7
5
10
4
15
18
23
31
58
51
21
11
7
6
4
1
1
1
3
3
5
3 274
4 279
1.0
3
3
6
6
10
15
48
46
54
37
24
U
9
2
2
PER CENT.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22 50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99...
$30 and over.............
2.9
1.9
6.6
1.0
5.7
9.4
11.3
7.5
17.0
21.7
10.3
3.7
1.0
Total..............
100.0
0.8
.8
.8
2.5
2.5
5.0
7.4
19.8
19.0
21.5
10.7
5.0
1.7
1.7
.8
100.0
2.4
1.8
1.8
1.8
5.5
4.9
6.7
13.4
23.2
16.5
6.1
4.3
3.7
3.7
2.4
.6
.6
.6
1.3
1.3
2.0
2.0
2.6
3.9
13.8
13.8
17.8
15.8
11.8
5.9
4.6
1.3
.7
2.6
1.8
3.6
1.5
5.5
6.6
8.4
11.3
21.2
18.6
7.7
4.0
2.6
2.2
1.5
.3
.3
.3
1.0
1.0
2.2
2.2
3.6
5.4
17.3
16.5
19.4
13.3
8.6
3.9
3.2
.7
.7
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1.3
1 Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
2 There were 4 trimmers, male, pieceworkers, in 1912 and 13 in 1913.
3 Including 14 week workers, for whom-earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
* Including 10 week workers, for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
90
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
TUCKERS.
Tucking consists of folding certain parts of the waist or cloth into
plaits or tucks which are stitched down on the machine. Much of
the tucking is so-called strip tucking consisting of the making of
tucks on long strips of material which run sometimes into the hun
dreds of yards. The width of the tuck is regulated by the so-called
knife, which is an attachment put on the machine for that pur
pose. The skill of the operator is in getting the cloth under the knife,
guiding the cloth under the needle of the machine, in regulating the
spaces between the rows of stitching, and in knowing how to handle
the machine. More skill is required in “ short tucking,” which con
sists in making tucks of various lengths and widths on the body of the
waist. This requires frequent starting and stopping of the machine
and getting the waist under the machine, which can be easily dam
aged by an unskillful operator. Some of the tucking is done free hand
without any knife to regulate the width of the tuck. This is especially
the case with tucks on skirts which are made to taper from a con
siderable width at the waist line down to a point at the end of the
tuck. Tucking of this kind requires the highest skill. There are a
number of shops which do nothing but make tucking for other manu
facturers, for the reason that in shops of moderate size there is not
enough tucking to do to keep one or more tuckers busy continuously.
This was especialty the case in 1913, when tucking was not much in
demand on account of changes in style and when tuckers were unem
ployed much of the time.
SEX.
Men formed a considerable proportion of the tuckers in 1913. Out
of 875 tuckers, 248, or more than one-fourth, were men, and 627 were
women.
WAGES.
About half of the tucking is done at piece rates; but contrary to the
tendency observed in most of the other operating work, the propor
tion of pieceworkers has declined since the protocol went into effect.
Thus, in 1913, 46 per cent, or less than one-half of all the tuckers,
worked by the piece; while in 1912 the proportion of pieceworkers
among tuckers was 54 per cent, or more than one-half.
Wages o f week workers, women.—Among the women working by
the week, the largest group, which numbered 125 women and con
stituted nearly 35 per cent of the total, received $12 and less than
$14 a week; a little oyer one-fifth of the women received $14 and less
than $16, and a little over one-fifth received $10 and less than $12,
these three groups of women—that is, those receiving $10 and less
than $16 a week—constituting 75.5 per cent or more than threefourths of all the women. Less than one-fifth or nearly 19 per cent
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
91
received under $10 a week and three girls received under $6 a week;
nearly* 6 per cent received $16 a week and over.
Wages o f week workers, men .—The largest single group among the
109 men week workers were those receiving $14 and less than $16 a
week, constituting over 42 per cent of the total; nearly 14 per cent
received $16 and less than $18; over 10 per cent received $18 and
less than $20 and less than 5 per cent received $20 a week and over.
Only one boy tucker received under $6 a week and three received $6
a week. It will be seen from these figures that the men received,
on the whole, higher wages than the women. Thus, there were no
women receiving $20 a week, while nearly 5 per cent of the men re
ceived $20 a week and over. While the number of women receiving
$14 a week and over constituted only one-fourth of the total, the
number of men receiving these wages constituted nearly three-fourths.
Earnings o f pieceworkers— Sixty-one of the 267 women pieceworkers
constituting 23 per cent, or nearly one-fourth of the total, earned $18
a week and over during the busiest week of 1913; nearly 34 per cent
or more than one-third earned $14 and less than $18 a week; over
14 per cent earned from $12 to $13.99 a week; over 11 per cent
earned $10 and less than $12 a week, and over 18 per cent, or less
than one-fifth, earned under $10 a week. As is usually the case,
men earned much higher wages than the women. Over one-fourth
of the pieceworkers, male, earned $22.50 a week and over during
the busiest week of the year; over one-fiftli earned from $18 to
$22.49; over 30 per cent, or a little less than one-third, earned $14
and less than $18; more than 24 per cent, or nearly one-fourth, earned
under $14 a week. Of the men, less than 4 per cent earned under $6
a week.
Comparison o f wages in 1912 and 1913.— There was a noticeable
increase in the earnings of the tuckers, both week and pieceworkers,
from 1912 to 1913. An examination of Tables 38, 39, and 40 will
show that among the women week workers, those receiving $12 a
week and over constituted a larger proportion in 1913 as compared
with 1912, while those receiving under $12 a week were reduced in
numbers. The same is true of the men week workers except that the
line is to be drawn at $14 a week instead of $12 as in the case of the
women. Among the pieceworkers this is likewise true. Thus,
the number of women pieceworkers earning $14 a week and over has
increased from 21.9 per cent in 1912 to 56.5 per cent in 1913. Among
the men, the number of those earning $14 a week and over during
the busiest week of the year increased from 52.8 per cent in 1912
to 75.6 per cent in 1913.
No great differences appear in the wages paid to tuckers in the
different branches of the industry. The details as to the wages paid
in association and nonassociation shops will be found in Tables 38,39,
and 40.
92
T
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
3 8 . — NUMBER AND PER CENT OF TUCKERS, FEMALE, W E E K W OR KE RS, RECEIV
ING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES PER W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF
SHOPS.
NUMBER.
able
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per wee.v.
1912
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $r*.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
1
2
1
2
4
7
9
21
24
9
2
Total..............
82
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
3
6
3
8
30
43
20
6
2
127
Association B.
1913
2
1
1
4
5
7
12
11
7
3
53
1912 | 1913
L . -
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
3
4
5
3
27
12
25
27
23 !
30
2
3
1 I
1
!............ :
!
90
82
15
6
13
28
41
15
5
1
j
126
Nonassociation
B.i
1912
1913
Total.
1912
2
1
1
4
14
2
4
3
25
1913
3
3
4
7
10
17
26
59
59
36
4
1
1
1
1
3
23
13
25
74
125
73
18
3
229
360
0.3
.3
.3
.9
6.4
3.6
6.9
20.5
34.7
20.3
4.9
.9
100.0
PES CENT.
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $f>.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99............
$14 to $15.99............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99.........
1.2
2.4
1.2
2.4
4.9
8.6
11.0
25.6
29.3
11.0
2.4
2.4
4.7
2.4
6.3
23.6
33.8
20.5
4.7
1.6
0.8
3. <S
1.9
.8
1.9
7.5
9.4 ***ii.'9*
13.2
4.8
22.6
10.3
20.8
22.2
13.2
32.5
11.9
5.7
4.0
100.0
Total.
100.0
1
1
2.2
1.1
1.1
3.3
5.6
30.0
27.8
25.6
2.2
1.1
2.4
4.9
3.7
14.6
32.9
3G.6
3.7
1.2
1.3
1.3
1.7
3.0
4.4
7.4
11.3
25.9
25.9
15.7
1.7
.4
100.0
100.0
100.0
!
i Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
T
3 9 .* —NUMBER AND P E R CENT OF TUCKERS, FEMALE, PIECEW ORKERS, E A R N
ING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT, DURING THE BUSIEST W EE K OF THE Y E A R , 1912
AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS. .
NUMBER.
able
Classified earnings
per week.
1912
Under S3...................
$3 to $3.£9.................
$ 1to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99 ..............
$7 to $7.99.................
$3 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99 ..............
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to$15.C9..........
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49.
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
Total...............
Nonassociation
A.i
Association
A.
o
2
4
1
2
6
9
12
14
24
8
5
5
2
1913
1912
1
1
3
2
2
9
4
11
10
ID
17
8
3
1913
1
1
3
1
2
5
8
7
11
5
1
2
1
1
1
4
9
16
ft
6
Association
B.
1912
2
f.
1
3
4
7
10
10
29
33
i:t
7
6
5
1
1
______ i _____
i
94
44
93
54
142
1913
1
1
1
1
1
4
2
4
7
12
20‘
21
n
10
8
1
2
1
113
Nonassociation
B.i
1912
1913
1
1
1
1
1
5
1912
1
i
3
6
1913
5
9
5
5
8
IS
28
30
54
C2
27
14
12
8
1
1
4
2
2
5
4
7
12
12
3D
33
45
45
31
13
8
2
3
1
287
267
1
i Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
Total.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
93
T a b l e 3 9 . — NUMBER
AND P E R CENT OF TUCKERS, FEM ALE, PIECE W O R K E R S, E A R N
ING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT, DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF THE Y E A R ,
1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS—Concluded.
PER CENT.
Classified earnings
per week.
Association
A.
1912
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.09.................
$5 to $5.99..........
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..........
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
6.3
9.4
12.5
14.6
25.0
8.3
5.2
5.2
Total..............
100.0
2.1
2.1
1.0
2.1
4.1
2.1
1913
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
1.1
1.1
3.2
2.1
2.1
9.6
4.2
14.9
10.6
20.2
18.1
8.5
3.2
1.1
100.0
Association
B.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
B.
1912
1913
Total.
1912
1913
1.4
4.2
.7
2.1
2.8
4.9
7.1
7.1
20.4
23.3
12.7
4.9
4.2
3.5
.7
0.9
.9
.9
.9
.9
3.5
1.8
3.5
6.2
10.6
17.7
18.6
14.1
8.8
7.1
.9
1.8
.9
1.7
3.1
1.7
1.7
1.5
6.3
9.8
10.4
18.8
21.6
9.4
4.9
4.2
2.6
100.0
100.0
100.0
.8
.8
1.9
1.5
2.8
4.5
4.5
11.2
14.2
16.8
16.8
12.7
4.9
3.0
2.8
.3
.3
.8
1.1
.4
100.0
40.—NUM BER AND P E R CENT OF TUCKERS, MALE (W E E K W ORKERS AND
PIECEW ORKERS), RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES OR EARNINGS
PER W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, FOR THE IN DU STRY AS A WHOLE.
T able
Week workers (male) receiving
each classified rate of wages.
Classified rates of wages or earnings
per week.
Number.
1912
Under $3.................. ...........................
$3 to $3.99..............................................
$4 to $4.99..............................................
$5 to $5.99..............................................
$6 to $6.99..............................................
$7 to $7.99..............................................
$8 to $8.99..............................................
$9 to $9.99..............................................
$10 t o $11.99..........................................
$12 to $13.99..........................................
$14 to $15.99..........................................
$16 to $17.99..........................................
$18 to $19.99..........................................
$20 to $22.49..........................................
$22.50 to $24.99......................................
$25 to $27.49..........................................
$27.50 to $29.99......................................
$30 and over.........................................
2
1
3
5
17
30
12
5
4
2
1
Total...........................................
83
1
Per cent.
1913
1
3
2
1
8
17
46
15
11
4
1
109
1912
1913
1.2
2.4
1.2
3.6
6.0
20.5
36.2
14.5
6.0
4.8
2.4
1.2
1.0
2.7
i.’ 8*
1.0
7.3
15.6
42.2
13.7
10.1
3.6
1.0
100.0
100.0
Pieceworkers (male) receiving
each classified amount during
busiest week of year.
Number.
1912
Per cent.
1913
1912
1913
2
1
1
3
2
2.8
1.4
1.4
2.2
1.4
1
1
7
11
10
7
7
6
4
4
4
1
5
2
2
3
6
6
10
20
22
16
12
12
12
3
8
1.4
1.4
9.7
15.2
13.9
9. 7
9. 7
8.3
5.6
5.6
5.6
1.4
6.9
1.4
1.4
2.2
4.3
4.3
7.2
14.4
15.9
11.5
8.6
8.6
8.6
2.2
5.8
72
139
100.0
100.0
WAIST OPERATORS.
By “ waist operators” are generally meant operators who make a
complete waist. The work consists of the following processes: 1,
The preparation of the so-called trimmings, which includes the making
of the collars, the sewing on of laces or embroideries on the fronts,
94
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
the sewing on of the trimmings on the sleeves, etc.; 2, the joining of
the shoulders, that is, sewing together the front and back parts of the
waists along the shoulder lines; 3, “ collar setting,” that is, sewing
the collar on to the waist; 4, “ making facings,” that is, preparing the
buttonhole and button pieces which are narrow" strips of folded
cloth, on one of which the buttons are sewed and on the other the
buttonholes are made; 5, “ closing sides,” that is, joining the front
and back parts of the waist along the sides; 6, “ shirring” or “ tack
ing” the fronts and backs, that is, gathering the front and back parts
of the waist into folds and stitching these down along the waist line;
7, “ setting little skirts,” that is, sewing on at the waist line the
bottom part of the waist; 8, “ hemming,” that is, hemming the lower
edge of the waist; 9, “ setting sleeves,” that is, sewing the sleeves to
the waist.
As a rule, however, the work of making the waist is divided between
the “ body maker” and those who specialize in making certain parts,
such as sleeve setters, buttonhole makers, etc. The body maker is
practically a waist operator, relieved of certain of the processes in
the making of the waist. Where body makers are employed they
may do the trimming or the work may be done by “ trimmers.” The
same is true of setting the collars. The work of the “ body makers”
proper is confined to joining the shoulders, setting the collar, closing
the sleeves and sides, making the facings, shirring or tacking the front
and back, and setting the little skirt to the waist. Occasionally,
also, they may make some of the tucks on the waist. The change in
fashion in 1913, which did away with the seamed shoulders and
substituted kimono sleeves for the old style and did away with lace
trimming in most cases, resulted in the body makers’ making prac
tically the whole waist.
In Tables 41, 42, 43, and 44, which give the wages of waist opera
tors, it was found necessary to include not only the body makers and
waist operators as just defined, but also a number of other operators,
in view of the indiscriminate manner in which operators are described
on the pay rolls of the different shops. The following w'ere included
among “ waist operators” in classifying the different classes of
operators: First, all operators described as “ waist operators” or
“ body makers” on the pay rolls; second, persons described as opera
tors on the pay rolls of shops manufacturing waists exclusively.
These may include buttonhole makers, hemstitchers, tuckers, or any
other branch of operators, as well as w aist makers strictly speaking, so
long as they were found working in shops manufacturing waists
exclusivelj7, and wrere not described more definitely under any one of
the occupations mentioned in Table 7.
SEX.
The great majority of waist operators are women. Of the 5,825
waist operators reported in Table 9, 5,061, or 87 per cent, were women,
and only 764, or 13 per cent, of the total were men.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
95
WAGES.
As is shown in Table 11, the proportion of week workers and piece
workers among waist operators was practically the same in 1912
and 1913. The pieceworkers are slightly in excess of the week work
ers, the former constituting in 1913 51.6 per cent of the total and
the latter 48.4 per cent, as shown in the following table, which also
gives corresponding figures for each branch of the industry.
Number.
Week
workers.
Piece
workers.
Association A ___
Association B ___
N onassociation A
Nonassociation B
1,729
357
646
17
1,398
1,187
387
104
Total.........
i 2,820
13,005
Per cent.
Week
workers.
Piece
workers.
55.3 »
23.1
62.5
14.0
44.7
76.9
37.5
86.0
48.4
51.6
i The figures for association and nonassociation shops shown in this table are derived from Tables 41 to
44, which give the number of waist operators according to classified earnings or wage rates. In those
tables 71 week workers for whom eammgs but not weekly rates were ascertained were included among
pieceworkers. This accounts for the discrepancy between this total and the sum of the items.
The following table shows what per cent the week workers and the
pieceworkers in each branch were of all the waist operators in the
industry:
Piece
Week
workers. workers.
Association A ......................................................................................................................
Association B ......................................................................................................................
Nonassociation A ................................................................................................................!
Nonassociation B ............................................................................................................... !
Total..........................................................................................................................:
Per cent. Per cent.
30.8
22.9
20.4
6.1
6.5
11.2
.3
1.8
48.4
51.6
Wages o f week worlcers.—If we draw the line at $12 a week, we
shall find that in the wage groups of $12 and over, the percentage
of men waist operators exceeds that of women; below the $12 a week
line the relation is reversed. Thus, only a little over 20 per cent of
all women waist operators, week workers, received $12 a week and
over, while the corresponding group of men constituted over 59 per
cent of all the men week workers. In other words, only one-fifth of
the women week workers received $12 a week and over, while nearly
three-fifths of the men week workers received these wages. The
number of women week workers receiving under $6 a week in 1913
was 9.6 per cent of the total, while the number of men was 3.3 per cent.
Those receiving $6 and less than $9 a week included nearly 39 per
cent of the women and only a little over 19 per cent of the men;
those receiving $9 and less than $12 constituted over 31 per cent of
the women and 18.4 per cent of the men. While on the whole there
is a slight improvement over 1912 in the wages of waist operators
96
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
working by the week, the increase in the proportion of workers re
ceiving higher wages with a corresponding reduction in the number
of those receiving lower rates is not as clearly perceptible among the
waist operators as has been tne case in the other occupations noted
in this report.
Earnings o f pieceworkers.—As is the case with the week workers,
the earnings of the men working by the piece are greater than those
of the women, except that the line has to be drawn at $18 a week
among the pieceworkers instead of $12, as among the week workers.
The number of those earning §18 a week and over during the busiest
week of 1913 constituted 18 per cent of all the women pieceworkers
and nearly 49 per cent of all the men pieceworkers. The number of
those earning $16 and less than $18 constituted 12.5 per cent of all
women pieceworkers, and almost the same percentage of the men
pieceworkers. Below that wage group tne proportion of women ex
ceeds that of men in nearly every case.
The increase over 1912 in earnings among the waist operators
working by the piece was more perceptible than among those working
by the week; it was also greater among the women than among the
men pieceworkers. Thus, the proportion of women earning $16 a
week and over during the busiest week of the year increased from
less than 18 per cent in 1912 to 30.5 per cent in 1913, while among
the men it increased from 54 per cent in 1912 to nearly 62 per cent
in 1913.
Further details as to wages of waist operators will be found in
Tables 41, 42, 43, and 44.
41.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF W AIST OPERATORS, FEMALE, W E E K W ORKERS,
RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES PE R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS
OF SHOPS.
NUMBER.
T a b le
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $3.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99............
$16 to $17.99. .
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
3
29
115
148
202
213
202
181
225
119
48
3
1
Total...............
1,489
1913
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
Association B.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
B.1
1912
1913
6
45
117
182
255
221
184
314
145
69
19
1
2
1
4
11
8
41
46
37
42
80
35
18
1
1
3
13
25
55
59
74
70
127
80
48
11
3
14
27
19
33
29
41
60
92
35
3
2
13
10
40
13
30
15
37
61
43
7
3
2
4
8
8
17
14
1
4
3
7
1,561
324
566
355
274
51
16
1
Total.
1912
3
33
140
183
262
296
278
272
380
260
101
7
4
2 2,219
1 Percentages not computed, on account of small number of employees.
2 Not including 44, for wLom earnings but not weekly rates ci \>ages could be ascertained.
« Not including 71, for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
1913
9
71
153
277
328
329
272
485
286
158
37
7
4
1
3 2,417
97
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T able 4 1 .— NUM BER AND PE R CENT OF W AIST O PERATORS, FEMALE, W EE K W O R K
E R S, RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RA TE OF W AGES PE R WTEEK, 1912 AND 1913, B Y
CLASS OF SHOPS—Concluded.
PER CENT.
Nonassociation Association B.
A.
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
0.2
Under $3..........
$3 to $3.99.........
$4 to $4.99.........
$5 to $5.99.........
$6 to $6.99.........
$7 to $7.99.........
$8 to $8.99.........
$9 to $9.99.........
$10 to $11.99....
$12 to $13.99....
$14 to $15.99....
$16 to $17.99....
$18 to $19.99....
$20 to $22.49....
$22.50 to $24.99.
Total..
1913
1912
1913
1912
Nonassociation
B.
1913
1912
Total.
1913
1912
1913
1.1
0.1
1.5
6.3
8.3
11.8
13.3
12.5
12.3
17.1
11.7
4.6
.3
.2
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
100.0
1.9
7.7
9.9
13.6
14.3
13.6
12.2
15.1
8.1
.2
1.2
0.4
2.9
7.5
11.7
16.3
14.1
11.8
20.1
9.3
4.4
3.2
1.2
.1
.1
3.4
2.5
12.6
14.2
11.4
13.0
24.7
10.8
5.6
.3
.3
0.5
2.3
4.4
9.7
10.4
13.1
12.4
22.5
14.2
8.1
1.9
.5
3.9
7.6
5.3
9.3
8.2
11.5
16.9
25.9
9.9
.9
.6
4.8
3.6
14.6
4.8
10.9
5.5
13.5
22.3
15.7
2.5
.7
.1
0.4
2.9
6.3
11.5
13.6
13.6
11.2
20.1
11.9
6.5
1.5
.3
.2
0)
100.0
1 Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.
T able 4 2 .—W AIST OPERATORS, M ALE, W E E K W OR KE RS, RECEIVING EACH CLASSI
FIED RATE OF W AGES P E R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
Total.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
Association Nonassoci
ation A.
A.
Nonassocia
tion B.
Number.
1912 1913
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to 33.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22. u0 to $24.99.........
Total..
Association
B.
1912
1913
1912
1913
1912
1913
1912
8
8
7
7
22
7
12
18
18
39
48
79
18
10
4
11
5
8
11
7
37
38
13
168
25
80
75
83
1 273
1912
2.9
2.9
2.6
4.4
6.6
6.6
.9
1.8
6.0
6.9
6.3
6.0
100.0
100.0
i Not including 4 for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
42132°—Bull. 146—14------ 7
0.6
6.6
4.0
2.2
.4
332
1913
12.4
16.4
22.9
11.1
4.2
4.5
14.3
17.6
28.9
6
1
1
170
1913
Per cent.
98
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T a b l e 4 3 .— NUMBER
AND PE R CENT OF WAIST OPERATORS, FEMALE, PIECEW ORK
ERS, EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF THE
Y E A R , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
NUMBER.
Classified earnings
per week.
Association
A.
1912
1913
N onassociation
A.
1912
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99..............
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
19
14
32
29
45
51
56
80
165
420
107
49
33
16
10
5
5
31
22
19
31
39
42
76
71
195
190
173
125
66
37
21
17
9
4
9
3
6
11
9
8
19
13
27
23
18
10
4
1
Total...............
1,136
1,168
161
1913
11
6
5
5
5
11
13
24
47
41
40
30
16
17 *
5
1
1
1
279
Association
B.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
B.
1912
1913
Total.
1912
1913
31
13
13
23
38
36
73
84
143
152
135
73
69
42
36
12
10
19
13
12
15
11
17
23
47
63
165
177
127
165
108
72
39
17
13
16
1
1
1
2
1
6
4
4
11
10
11
9
6
2
1
1
3
3
2
2
21
22
13
11
8
4
2
2
60
31
52
65
93
101
152
181
346
605
271
141
112
61
47
18
15
19
56
43
39
47
64
79
138
160
428,
430
353
331
198
130
67
37
23
21
1,002
1,100
71
97 12,370
22,644
1
3
PER CENT.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $3.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $31.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
1.7
1.3
2.8
2.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
7.1
14.5
36.9
9.4
4.3
2.9
1.4
.9
.4
.4
2.6
1.9
1.6
2.6
3.3
3.6
6.5
6.1
16.7
16.3
14.8
10.7
5.7
3.2
1.8
1.5
.8
.3
5.6
1.9
3.7
6.8
5.6
4.9
11.8
8.1
16.8
14.3
11.2
6.2
2.5
.6
3.9
2.1
1.8
1.8
1.8
3.9
4.7
8.6
16.9
14.7
14.3
10.7
5.7
6.1
1.8
.4
.4
.4
3.1
1.3
1.3
2.3
3.8
3.6
7.3
8.4
14.2
15.1
13.5
7.3
6.9
4.2
3.6
1.2
1.0
1.9
1.2
1.1
1.4
1.0
1.5
2.1
4.3
5.7
15.1
16.1
11.5
15.1
9.8
6.5
3.5
1.5
1.2
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.4
2.8
1.4
8.5
5.6
5.6
15.5
14.1
15.5
12.7
8.5
2.8
1.4
1.4
3.1
3.1
2.1
2.1
21.6
22.7
13.4
11.3
8.2
4.1
2.1
2.1
Total...............
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1.0
3.1
2.5
1.3
2.2
2.8
3.9
4.3
6.4
7.6
14.6
25.6
11.4
6.0
4.7
2.6
2.0
.7
.6
.8
2.1
1.6
1.5
1.8
2.4
3.0
5.2
6.1
16.2
16.3
13.3
12.5
7.5
4.9
2.5
1.4
.9
.8
100.0
100.0
1 Including 44 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
2 Including 71 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
99
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T a b l e 4 4 .— NUMBER
OF WAIST OPERATORS, MALE, PIECEW ORKERS, EARNING EACH
CLASSIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF THE Y E A R , 1912 AND 1913, B Y
CLASS OF SHOPS.
Total.
Association Nonassoci
A.
ation A.
Classified earnings
per week.
1912
1913
1
2
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99
$30and over........ .
1
1
1
3
1
7
7
23
14
25
19
16
19
10
8
8
7
1
1
5
10
2
10
18
27
32
21
27
27
18
10
18
Total...............
170
230
Association
B.
Nonassocia
tion B.
1912
1912
1912
1913
1
3
3
2
3
1
1
1
6
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
5
2
1
3
2
5
1
9
16
15
12
8
11
11
2
4
1
1
1
1
5
5
9
7
9
7
9
7
6
13
1
2
3
6
6
9
U
15
5
8
6
3
10
30
108
80
87
1913
1913
1912
2
1
2
4
4
5
5
11
9
29
25
38
28
28
29
20
16
15
20
1
7
3
3
4
8
17
7
25
40
51
55
45
44
47
27
17
31
0.3
.7
1.4
1.4
1.7
1.7
3.9
3.1
10.0
8.7
13.1
9.7
9.7
10.0
6.9
5.6
5.2
6.9
0.2
1.6
.7
.7
.9
1.9
3.9
1.6
5.8
9.2
11.8
12.8
10.4
10.2
10.9
6.3
3.9
7.2
7
1289
432
100.0
100.0
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
9
Per cent.
1912
1913
2
Number.
1
1
1
1
1
1913
1 Including 4 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
OPERATORS, NOT SPECIFIED.
Under this heading were included all operators employed in shops
manufacturing dresses, who were found designated on the pay rolls
as “ operators.” This includes operators who can make an entire
dress, as well as any one of the 13 classes of operators enumerated in
Table 8, such as buttonhole makers, hemstitchers, tuckers, trim
mers, etc.
SEX.
Of the 6,455 “ operators, not specified,” reported in Table 8 for
1913, 5,591, or 87 per cent, were women and 864, or 13 per cent,
were men.
WAGES.
In 1912, 47 per cent of all the “ operators, not specified,” were
week workers and 53 per cent pieceworkers. The extent of piece
work has increased since the adoption of the protocol, the piece
workers in 1913 comprising 59 per cent and the week workers 41 per
cent.
Earnings o f pieceworkers,—As will be seen from Tables 45, 46,
47, and 48, the largest single group among the “ operators, not speci
fied,” were women pieceworkers, who numbered 3,205 in 1913. The
next largest group were the women week workers, who numbered
2,386. The men numbered 607 among the pieceworkers and 257
among the week workers.
100
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
Considering the earnings of the largest group, namely, the women
pieceworkers, we find a uniform increase in the proportion of those
earning $14 a week and over since the adoption of the protocol.
These constituted less than 39 per cent in 1912 and nearly 54 per
cent in 1913. The number of those earning $12 and less than $14
constituted about the same percentage both years, namely, over
13 per cent, while the percentage of those earning under $12 a week
declined from over 48 per cent in 1912 to less than 33 per cent in
1913. The percentage of men pieceworkers earning higher rates of
wages was larger than that of the women. Thus the number of
those earning $20 and over during the busiest week of 1913 consti
tuted 48 per cent, or nearly one-half, of all the men and less than
21 per cent, or a little over one-fifth, of all the women.
The changes in the earnings of men pieceworkers since the adop
tion of the protocol are not so conspicuous as in the case of the
women. Among those earning under $10 a week, there was a decline,
namely, from over 14 per cent in 1912 to nearly 8 per cent in 1913.
The proportion of those earning $10 and less than $16 a week increased
from 18 per cent in 1912 to 23 per cent in 1913. The number of
those receiving $16 and less than $20 a week formed practically
the same percentage of the total number of male workers both years,
namely, 20 and 20.3 per cent. Those earning $20 and less than $25
increased from a little over 19 per cent in 1912 to nearly 24 per cent
in 1913, while those earning $25 a week and over declined from more
than 28 per cent in 1912 to nearly 24 per cent in 1913.
Wages o f weeTc workers.—Among the women week workers there
was an increase in the proportion of those receiving $14 and over,
which constituted less than 22 per cent in 1912 and nearly 31 per
cent in 1913. The proportion of those receiving under $14 a week
declined during that period. The same is true of the men week
workers, except that the line has to be drawn at $16 a week, the
percentage of those earning $16 a week and over having increased
from 43.5 in 1912 to 56.6 in 1913.
Comparing the men's and women's earnings during 1913, the
general rule is observed here of the men receiving considerably
higher wages than the women. The number of those receiving $16
a week and over constituted less than 11 per cent among the women
and nearly 57 per cent among the men. That is to say, while only a
little over one-tenth of the women week workers received $16 a
week and over, considerably more than one-half of the men received
those wages. The differences between the earnings of operators
in the different branches of the industry have been fully discussed
in speaking of the operators as a whole. The details as to “ operators,
not specified," will be found in Tables 45, 46, 47, and 48.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
101
4 5 .— NUMBER AND PER CENT OF OPERATORS NOT SPECIFIED, FEMALE,
W E E K W OR KE RS, RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED R A TE OF WAGES P E R W E E K ,
1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
T a b le
NUMBER.
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
A.
1912
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
1
11
17
38
37
77
85
111
251
204
112
20
5
3
1
3
11
18
56
55
66
57
161
151
120
28
10
2
1
5
10
17
28
35
34
46
37
10
6
Total..............
973
738
1913
Association B.
1912
1913
1
12
31
50
86
71
73
157
117
66
19
1
3
2
3
8
14
20
25
37
37
108
221
167
54
25
6
2
1
1
230
686
730
757
0.3
.4
1.1
1.9
2.7
3.4
5.1
5.1
14.8
30.3
22.9
7.4
3.4
.8
.3
0.1
.1
1.1
1.6
1.9
4.4
12.0
24.6
32.4
14.9
6.1
.7
.1
.1
100.0
100.0
1
1
9
12
14
33
91
186
245
113
46
5
Nonassociation
B.
1912
1913
2
2
6
7
10
13
46
48
32
9
6
1
180
2
7
9
8
31
55
42
19
4
6
Total.
1912
3
15
30
64
80
137
167
195
451
510
321
89
36
11
3
1913
3
26
50
117
160
160
171
440
509
473
179
61
16
1
1
185 12,113
* 2,366
0.1
.7
1.4
3.0
3.8
6.5
7.9
9.2
21.4
24.2
15.2
4.2
1.7
.5
.2
0.1
1.1
2.1
4.9
6.8
6.8
7.2
18.6
21.5
20.0
7.6
2.6
.7
PER CENT.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..........
$^2 to $13.99..............
*14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over...........
Total..............
0.1
1.1
1.8
3.9
3.8
7.9
8.7
11.4
25.8
21.0
11.5
2.1
.5
.3
.1
0.4
1.5
2.4
7.6
7.5
8.9
7.7
21.8
20.4
16.3
3.8
1.4
.3
0.4
2.1
4.3
7.4
12.2
15.2
14.8
20.0
16.1
4.3
2.8
.4
1.7
4.5
7.3
12.5
10.4
10.6
22.9
17.0
9.6
2.8
.2
.5
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1.1
1.1
3.3
3.9
5.6
7.2
25.5
26.7
17.8
5.0
3.3
.6
1.1
3.8
4.9
4.3
16.7
29.7
22.7
10.3
2.2
3.2
100.0
100.0
(3)
100.0
i Not including 113 for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained,
a Not including 2J for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
3 Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.
(3)
100.0
102
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
46.—NUMBER. AND PER CENT OF OPERATORS NOT SPECIFIED, MALE, W E E K
W ORKERS, RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RA TE OF W AGES PER W E E K , 1912
AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
T a b le
NUMBER.
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
Under $3...............
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
Total...............
5
4
19
20
10
19
10
3
1
91
1913
3
1
• 2
3
2
5
9
10
17
6
1
1
60
Nonassociation Association B .1 Nonassociation
A.
B .1
1912
1913
1
3
2
2
3
4
8
13
16
8
4
6
1912
1
1
4
3
2
3
4
8
22
16
26
18
18
5
1
2
1
7
12
15
14
5
1
1
71
131
60
1913
1912
1913
Total.
1912
1
5
2
3
8
6
14
42
54
37
39
21
4
3
1
2
1
1
1
3
3
5
12
14
3
6
1
1
3
6
4
2
1
4
3
2
2
1
49
17
16
1
1913
1
5
6
4
7
7
14
34
33
50
51
28
12
2
1
1
1
239
3
•* Z1
.8
0.4
1.3
3.3
2.5
5.9
17.6
22.6
15.5
16.3
8.8
1.6
1.3
0.4
2.0
2.3
1.6
2.7
2.7
5.5
13.3
12.9
19.5
19.9
10.9
4.7
.8
.4
.4
100.0
100.0
2
256
PER CENT.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99 ..............
$6 to $8.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
Total..............
1
1
i
5.5
4.4
20.9
22.0
11.0
20.9
11.0
3.3
1.0
5.0
1.7
3.3
5.0
3.3
8.3
15.0
16.6
28.4
10.0
1.7
1.4
4.2
2.8
2.8
4.2
5.6
11.3
18.3
22.6
11.3
5.6
8.5
100.0
100.0
.i
1.4
1.7
!
100.0
0.8
3.0
2.3
1.6
2.3
3.0
6.1
16.8
12.2
19.9
13.7
13.7 ............i.............
1
3.8
.8
‘ _____1 *_____
1
i
100.0
1
i
1 Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
2 Not including 6 for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
3 Not including 1 for whom earnings but not weekly rate of wages could be ascertained.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
108
4 7 __ NUMBER AND PER CENT OF OPERATORS NOT SPECIFIED, FEMALE,
PIECEW ORKERS, EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST
W EEK OF THE Y E A R , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
T a b le
NU M BER.
Classified earnings
per week.
Association
A.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
Association
B.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
B.
1912
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99...............
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.90..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
60
29
28
45
63
79
86
107
189
173
122
102
71
35
40
18
10
15
36
22
22
33
34
64
55
76
178
185
191
168
95
106
49
35
21
26
9
5
8
10
13
15
9
15
36
31
23
11
14
2
1
1
13
7
6
9
12
19
17
24
47
74
56
35
28
24
*12
6
3
3
35
17
26
27
29
43
43
52
130
120
130
93
92
72
40
21
11
11
33
6
19
20
24
31
43
45
133
140
146
142
126
130
111
64
30
25
2
2
2
3
1
3
1
11
9
16
9
4
10
1
1
Total...............
1,272
1,396
203
395
992
1,268
75
2.6
.5
1.5
1.6
1.9
2.4
3.4
3.5
10.5
11.0
11.5
11.2
9.9
10.3
8.8
5.0
2.4
2.0
2.7
2.7
2.7
4.0
1.3
4.0
1.3
14.7
12.0
21.4
12.0
5.3
13.3
1.3
1.3
100.0
100.0
1913
Total.
1912
1913
104
53
64
84
108
138
141
175
366
333
291
215
181
119
82
41
21
26
82
35
48
65
70
119
121
147
372
429
415
369
271
277
183
107
60
55
166 12,542
2 3,225
3.0
3.6
1.2
8.4
18.1
13.3
14.5
13.3
10.2
6.6
1.2
3.6
.6
4.0
2.1
2.5
3.3
4.3
5.4
5.5
6.9
14.4
13.1
11.4
8.5
7.1
4.7
3.2
1.6
.8
1.2
2.5
1.1
1.5
2.0
2.2
3.7
3.8
4.5
11.5
13.3
12.9
11.4
8.4
8.6
5.7
3.3
1.9
1.7
100.0
100.0
100.0
1
3
5
6
2
14
30
22
24
22
17
11
2
6
1
PER CENT.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
4.7
2.3
2.2
3.5
4.9
6.2
6.7
8.4
14.9
13.6
9.6
8.0
5.6
2.8
3.2
1.4
.8
1.2
2.6
1.6
1.6
2.4
2.4
4.6
3.9
5.4
12.8
13.2
13.7
12.0
6.8
7.6
3.5
2.5
1.5
1.9
4.4
2.5
3.9
4.9
6.4
7.4
4.4
7.4
17.8
15.3
11.3
5.4
6.9
1.0
.5
.5
3.3
1.7
1.5
2.3
3.0
4.8
4.3
6.1
11.9
18.7
14.2
8.9
7.1
6.1
3.0
1.5
.8
.8
Total...............
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
3.5
1.7
2.6
2.8
2.9
4.3
4.3
5.3 13.1
12.1
13.1
9.4
9.3
7.3
4.0
2.1
1.1
1.1
100.0
0.6
1.8
1 Including 113 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
2 Including 20 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
104
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
48.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF OPERATORS NOT SPECIFIED, MALE, PIECE
W ORKERS, EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K
OF THE Y E A R , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
T a b le
NU M BER.
Classified earnings
per week.
Association
A.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
Association
B.i
1912
1913
Nonassociation
B.i
1912
1913
Under $3..........
$3 to $3.99.........
$4 to $4.99......
$5 to $5.99.........
$6 to $6.99.........
$7 to $7.99.........
$8 to $8.99.........
$9 to $9.99.........
$10 to $11.99....
$12 to $13.99....
$14 t o $15.99....
$16 to $17.99....
$18 to $19.99....
$20 to $22.49....
$22.50 to $24.99.
$25 to $27.49....
$27.50 to $29.99.
$30 and over.. .
Total.
1912
1913
3
3
10
11
10
19
20
28
35
38
40
30
34
27
42
4
4
6
2
6
5
7
17
35
46
60
63
61
74
70
50
26
72
*365
»608
2.7
1.4
0.7
.7
10
5
222
Total.
176
346
67
71
15
PER CENT.
Under $3..........
$3 to $3.99.........
$4 to $4.99.........
$5 to $5.99.........
$6 to $6 .99......
$7 to $7.99.........
$8 to $3.99.........
$9 to $9.99.........
$10 to $11.99....
$12 to $13.99....
$14 to $15.99....
$16 to $17.99....
$18 to $19.99....
$20 to $22.49....
$22.50 to $24,99.
$25 t o $27.49....
$27.50 to $29.99.
$30 and over....
3.6
.4
Total..
0.9
.3
.9
1.4
1.4
.3
.6
1.4
1.4
5.5
4.2
4.2
.9
.4
3.6
2.3
2.7
5.8
6.3
6.3
10.4
10.4
9.9
7.2
10.4
7.7
11.7
6.6
8.1
10.1
7.8
3.8
13.0
16.7
9.7
8.3
5.5
4.2
100.0
100.0
100.0
1.2
3.8
5.5
10.9
14.1
12.1
2.8
13.9
8.3
11.1
1.7
1.7
1.1
2.8
1.7
1.1
1.7
8.0
11.4
9.7
11.9
9.1
8.0
10.8
6.8
4.0
8.5
2.7
3.0
2.7
5.2
5.5
7.7
9.6
10.4
11.0
8.3
9.3
7.4
11.5
100.0 ................. 1.................. 100.0
1.0
.3
1.0
.8
1.1
2.8
5.8
7.6
9.9
10.4
9.9
12.2
11.5
8.2
4.3
11.8
100 0
1 Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
2 Including 6 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
8 Including 1 week worker for whom earnings but not weekly rate of wages could be ascertained.
EMPLOYEES OTHER THAN OPERATORS.
ASSORTERS.
Assorters are employed only in large shops. Their work consists
in the preparation of bundles of work for the operators. Taking up
a bundle (which consists of a certain number of parts that go to make
up the waist or dress) as it comes from the cutter, the assorter adds to
it all the necessary parts which the operator will require in his work,
such as laces, embroideries, belts, and other kinds of trimmings. The
assorters must be intelligent and understand all the parts that go to
make up a waist. They have to match the laces and understand
how to substitute a lace of a given kind when the supply of the origi
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
105
nal lace is exhausted. A mistake made by the assorter will result
in serious delay in the work of the operator and may also cause
serious loss through the sewing on of the wrong lace or trimmings.
SEX.
Assorters are usually girls. Out of the total of 151 assorters given
in Table 49, only 4 were men. The source of supply of assorters is
cleaners and “ cutting-out-lace” girls. The brightest among these
two classes of girls, those who show the most intelligence and the
keenest perception of color and lace design, are allowed to graduate
into the class of assorters
WAGES.
As will be seen from Table 49, wage records were obtained for only
151 assorters. There are probably more than that number of as
sorters employed in the industry, although the number is hardly much
larger, since only the large shops can afford to employ this class of
workers. Of the total number, 142, or 94 per cent, were employed
in association shops, leaving but 9, or 6 per cent, employed in the
nonassociation shops, which are mostly small shops. Assorters are
paid by the week. As will be seen from the table, the wages of as
sorters both in 1912 and 1913 ranged between $4 and $18 per week.
The number of those who received under $6 a week constituted over
8 per cent of the total number employed. More than one-fourth of
all the assorters received under $8 a week, and less than one-fifth of the4
workers (18.5 per cent) received $6 and less than $8 a week. A little
over one-half, or 51.8 per cent, received $9 and less than $14 a week.
Five women and one man were found receiving $14 and less than $18
a week. These workers, in addition to being assorters, acted as fore
women and foreman, distributing work as well as preparing it. In
general, the higher-grade assorters act as assistants to the foremen
and forewomen in distributing work to the operators.
T a b l e 4 9 . —NUM BER
AND PE R CENT OF ASSORTERS, W E E K W O R K E RS, RECEIVING
EACH CLASSIFIED RA TE OF W AGES PE R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y SEX.
Females.
Classified rates of wages or earnings, per
week, and classes of shops.
Number.
1912
1913
$4 to $4.99......................................................
$5 to $5.99......................................................
$6 to $6.99......................................................
$7 to $7.99......................................................
$8 to $8.99......................................................
$9 to $9.99......................................................
$10 to $11.99...................................................
$12 to $13.99...................................................
$14 to $15.99...................................................
$16 to $17.99...................................................
2
11
10
16
17
17
32
20
3
1
Total...................................................
129
Males.
Per cent.
1912
1913
2
10
13
15
26
18
37
21
3
2
1.5
8.5
7.8
12.4
13.2
13.2
24.8
15.5
2.3
.8
1.4
6.8
8.8
10.2
17.7
12.3
25.2
14.3
2.0
1.3
147
100.0
100.0
1912
1913
1
3
1
1
4
1
1
3
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A ...............................................
Association B ..............................................
Nonassociation A
.
............
Nonassociation B ........................................
51
77
1
64
74
9
106
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
CLEANERS.
Cleaning forms the lowest step in the industrial ladder in the dress
and waist shops. It is the first occupation of young girls without
industrial training. Their work consists in cutting off loose threads
with the aid of scissors. Very little skill is required, although care
lessness may result in great damage, since the thread has to be cut
close to the garment and an unskilled cleaner may cut into the waist
or dress in trying to cut off the thread. Cleaners who show aptitude
for more important work are graduated into other kinds of work, such
as finishing, assorting, operating, and even examining.
SEX.
Only girls are employed in this work, and 2,086 cleaners were found
working in the industry during 1913.
WAGES.
Table 50 gives the wages of cleaners in 1912 and 1913 in each of the
four branches of the industry and also for the industry as a whole.
As will be seen from that table, weekly rates were obtained for 2,006
cleaners in 1913. Of the remaining 80 cleaners, 20 were pieceworkers
and 60 were week workers for whom no wage data could be obtained.
As the number of pieceworkers is very small, only week workers
are considered in analyzing the earnings of the cleaners. Only a
little over 2 per cent of the cleaners were getting $3 and under $4 a
week in 1913, but those receiving under $6 a week exceeded one-third
of all the cleaners, or over 37 per cent. Nearly one-half of the girls,
over 47 per cent, received $6 and less than $8 a week; nearly 16 per
cent received $8 a week and over; and a few received $12.
Comparison o f wages in 1912 and 1913.—A comparison of the wages
earned during 1913 with those earned during the preceding year
before the adoption of the protocol shows a uniform decline in the
percentage of workers receiving less than $6 a week and an increase
in the percentage of those receiving $6 a week and over. In 1912
over 60 per cent of the cleaners received under $6 a week as com
pared with 37.3 per cent in 1913. On the other hand, those receiv
ing $6 and less than $8 constituted less than 29 per cent in 1912 and
over 47 per cent in 1913. Those earning $8 a week and over com
prised 11 per cent in 1912 and nearly 16 per cent in 1913. These facts
are brought out in Table 50 and are shown graphically in Chart 9, in
which the broken line (representing the percentage of workers receiv
ing specified wages in 1912) is above the solid line (representing 1913)
in the case of all wrage groups below $6 and is belowr the solid line
for wages of $6 and over, showing the shifting of the workers from
the lower to the higher paid groups.
Wages in association and nonassociation shops.— The figures in
Table 50 show the varying percentages of workers getting specified
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
107
rates of wages in the high-grade and low-grade shops belonging to
the association as well as in those not members of the association.
The most noticeable point in the table is the fact that 38 per cent of
the cleaners employed in nonassociation A shops, manufacturing the
cheaper garments, received $6 per week and under $7. The propor
tion receiving that rate in the nonassociation B shops was 26.9 per
cent. In the association shops the same situation is found, namely,
that the wages in the A shops are higher than in the B shops. Thus
the percentage of cleaners receiving $6 to $6.99 per week in the asso
ciation A shops was 29.3, while in the association B shops it was 25.8.
The percentage of cleaners receiving under $6 a week was nearly
C h a r t 9.— P E R CENT OF CLEANERS, FEM ALE (W E E K W O R K E R S ), R E
CE IVIN G EACH CLASSIFIED R A T E OF W AGES P E R W E E K , 1912 AND
1913.
26 in the nonassociation A shops and over 35 in the association A
shops. This indicates a higher percentage of cleaners receiving
less than the minimum rate in the association shops manufacturing
the cheaper garments than in the nonassociation shops. In the
B shops, i. e., those manufacturing the higher-grade garments, the
percentage receiving under $6 a week was 36.5 in the nonassocia
tion shops and 48.9 in the association shops. On the other hand,
for those receiving $7 and over per week, the percentages in the non
association A shops and in the association A shops were practically
the same. In the B shops, the percentage in the nonassociation shops
was less than 37 and in the association shops over 25.
108
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
In other words, the proportion of experienced cleaners getting more
than the minimum scale is about the same whether the shops are those
manufacturing high-grade or low-grade garments, whether belonging
to the association or not. The proportion of those receiving the
minimum scale of $6 a week is practically the same in all except the
nonassociation shops making the cheaper garments. On the other
hand the cleaners receiving less than the minimum scale are more
numerous in the association than in the nonassociation shops, irre
spective of whether high-grade or low-grade garments are manufac
tured. As the association shops include mostly large establishments
while the nonassociation shops are mostly of a small size, the difference
is apparently due to the fact that in large shops there are quite a
number of so-called floor girls and errand girls employed who are not
needed at all in the small shops. As the errand girls are not always
kept apart from the cleaners on the pay rolls and, moreover, are made
to work on cleaning when they have no errands to do, it was found
necessary to enter them all as cleaners. This may account for the
larger proportion of “ cleaners” receiving less than the minimum scale
in the association shops as compared with the nonassociation shops.
T
50 .—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF CLEANERS, FEMALE, W E E K W ORKERS,*
RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RA TE OF W AGES PER W EE K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS
OF SHOPS.
NUMBER.
able
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
Under $3...................
13 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
Total...........
1913
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
Association B.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
B.
19122
1913
I
5
81
212
247
188
81
68
18
17
8
30
141
198
305
198
94
55
16
4
21
28
30
35
25
22
4
1
1
4
30
62
141
57
52
16
8
1
65
116
116
67
46
21
6
2
ii
119
135
140
79
43
7
6
2
928
1,041
167
371
439
542
14.8
26.4
26.4
15.3
10.4
4.8
1.4
.5
2.0
22.0
24.9
25.8
14.6
7.9
1.3
i.l
.4
100.0 j 100.0 j........
1
8
3
1
1
14
Total.
1912
1913
5
171
356
401
293
152
112
28
21
9
46
292
411
600
344
193
80
32
8
52 3 1,548
<2,006
1.9
3.9
30.7
' 26.9
19.2
7.7
3.9
3.9
1.9
0.3
11.0
23.0
25.9
18.9
9.8
7.2
1.8
1.4
.6
2.3
14.5
20.5
30.0
17.1
9.6
4.0
1.6
.4
100.0
100.0
100.0
1
2
16
14
10
4
2
2
1
PER CENT.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
0.5
9.1
22.9
26.6
20.3
8.7
7.3
1.9
1.8
.9
2.9
13.5
19.0
29.3
19.0
9.0
5.3
1.6
.4
12.6
16.7
18.0
20.9
15.0
13.2
2.4
.6
.6
1.1
8.1
16.7
38.0
15.3
14.0
4.3
2.2
.3
Total...............
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1 In addition to the week workers shown in this table, there were 45 pieceworkers in 1912 and 20 in 1913.
2 Percentages not computed for the year 1912 on account of small number of employees,
s Not including 44, for whom weekly rates could not be ascertained.
* Not including 60, for whom weekly rates could not be ascertained.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
109
5 0 . — NUM BER AND P E R CENT OF CLEANERS, FEM ALE, W E E K W O R K E R S,
RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED R A T E OF W AGES PE R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS
OF SHOPS—Concluded.
SUMMARY OF PERCENTAGES.
T able
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
1913
Nonassociation Association B.
A.
1912
1913
1912
1913
Nonassociation
B.
1912
1913
Total.
1912
1913
Under $6...................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 and over........ .
59.1
20.3
20.6
35.4
29.3
35.3
47.3
20.9
31.8
25.9
38.0
36.1
67.6
15.3
17.1
48.9
25.8
25.3
36.5
26.9
36.6
60.3
18.9
20.8
37.3
29.9
32.7
Total...............
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
CUTTERS.
The occupation of cutter is one of the most skilled and most
responsible in the industry. Upon the cutter depends not only the
fit and appearance of the garment, but, also, to a considerable extent,
the cost of it. An error made by the cutter may result in the partial
or total damage of the goods cut. Apart from that, a slight error
or failure to cut the goods to the exact size required, sometimes
within a fraction of an inch, or the notching of the cloth a fraction of
an inch out of the way, may cause the operators endless trouble in the
sewing together of the different pieces and result in the necessity of
ripping the work already done and the duplication of the work on
the part of the operators as well as of the cutters. In a shop in
which operators are paid by the week this may entail a very serious
loss to the manufacturer. In those in which the work is done by the
piece this may likewise be the case, if the blame can be clearly placed
on the cutter, for in that case the pieceworkers would be entitled to
pay on the spoiled garments. It happens very frequently, however,
that the cutting or notching, while not distinctly wrong, is done in
so careless or crude a fashion as to cause much trouble without com
pensation for loss of time to the operator working by the piece.
The skill of the cutter also affects the cost of the garment so far as
the ability of the cutter to lay out his pattern economically is con
cerned; a cutter who is thoroughly familiar with his work will know
how to lay out his pattern on the cloth in such a way as to utilize
every available part of the cloth and reduce waste to a minimum; a
less skilled cutter will waste a great deal of the cloth, being unable to
utilize comparatively large pieces of cloth. This may account for
the seemingly long period of apprenticeship which the cutters' union
requires before admitting a worker to the class of full-fledged cutters.
It is the only trade in the industry for which the protocol has pro
vided a graduated scale of compensation.
Under the protocol cutters are divided into full-fledged cutters
and apprentices. The apprentices are divided into three grades,
110
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR ^STATISTICS.
thus making four grades in all. The three grades of apprentices are
known as: Grade A, to which are admitted apprentices of less than
one year’s standing; grade B, which includes apprentices of more
than one year and less than two years' standing; and grade C, con
sisting of apprentices of more than two years7 and less than three
years7 time. The protocol provides that on or about the 15th day
of June and November in each year the cutters7 union, known as
Local No. 10, shall hold an examination for the purpose of admitting
apprentices of grade C to the class of full-fledged cutters. The
protocol also provides that “ after January 1, 1914, the following
rule shall be adopted: In each shop there shall be not more than one
apprentice for each five cutters employed, but in case there shall be
less than five cutters employed one apprentice may be employed.77
It also provides that “ at least one cutter shall be employed in the
shops of members of the association.”
The method of cutting the goods varies with the character of the
garments manufactured in the industry. In shops manufacturing
high-grade dresses and gowns of silk in which one garment is made
at a time the cutter may cut only one or a very few garments of the
same style and uses shears for that purpose. W here cheaper garments
are manufactured, a knife or a cutting machine is employed instead
of shears. This is done to enable the cutter to cut as many as
400 garments at once. It is done by stretching out bolts of material
on a long table, placing one layer on top of another until the necessary
thickness has been reached. The number of layers or thicknesses of
cloth depends on the character of the material and on the size of the
order. In shops making a medium grade and a high grade of gar
ments where no stock is ever made up the amount cut will depend
entirely on the size of the order received, while in shops manufactur
ing cheaper waists and dresses made of lingerie and other light cotton
material, for which orders are usually received in large quantities
and where there is no hesitation in making up garments in excess of
the order so as to have stock in readiness, the cloth is piled high to
the limit of the capacity of the knife and to the limit of the ability of
the cutter to do his work without damage to the goods.
In the case of lawns, about 20 or 22 dozen layers are stretched
one on top of the other and cut with a long knife or machine. When
lingerie, cotton voile, and similar light cottons are used, the number
of layers may reach about 300. In heavy linens about four dozen,
sometimes eight dozen, layers are cut. In ratines, six to eight
dozen is the largest number. In case of silks, a short knife is
used because the number of layers that can be cut at once is much
smaller than in cotton. This is due to the fact that silk being very
slippery and very light, it is exceedingly difficult for the cutter to
keep the layers in a fixed, steady position. The highest number of
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
I ll
layers cut at one time does not exceed 90 when a cutting machine is
employed and 40 if a short knife is used. The long knife is never used
on silks.
Woolen goods are easier to handle than silks, but not so easy to cut
as cotton. The cutting machine is usually employed in cutting out
the cloth. In the case of heavy woolen cloths, about 60 layers are
usually regarded as the maximum. For light serges and worsteds,
as many as 96 layers are cut at a time.
In large shops, where more than one cutter is employed, there is
more or less division of labor. The assistants or apprentices do the
stretching of the cloth, other cutters do the cutting, while the most
responsible work, namely, the marking of the outline of the pattern
on the top layer of the cloth is done by the most experienced cutter,
who is also called the marker.
The apprenticing o f a cutter.—During the first year (grade A), the
cutter’s apprentice is taught how to stretch the cloth, preparing it for
the marker and the cutter. He is also taught to cut out small parts
such as cuffs and other odd parts with a short knife. An opportunity
is also given him to cut ‘ Repairs ” ; that is, to correct outlines in gar
ments which through an error of the cutter or the operator have to be
repaired. The repair cutting is done with shears on single garments.
During the second year (grade B) the apprentice gradually learns
to do more and more cutting. He assists the cutter in cutting out
those parts which do not have to be cut to the exact size but merely
in rough outline. These are parts that are cut much larger than the
final size, in order to allow for plaits, tucks, etc., and which are later
“ sloped” to the right size. He is also given smaller parts to cut and
odd parts like strips for tucking, binding, etc.
Sloping .—The grade B cutter also does the sloping which consists
in cutting down parts of the garment such as a front or back of a waist
to the exact size after the plaits, tucks, or insertions have been put in
by the operator.
During the third year (grade C), the apprentice assists in laying out
the patterns and marking out the lays. He also does the general
cutting under the supervision of the cutter. After the third year,
upon passing an examination, he is admitted to the standing of a fullfledged cutter.
SEX.
Only men are employed in cutting. In some shops, however,
women are employed as slopers. As will be seen from Table 8 only
6 women slopers were found employed in the 520 shops under investi
gation. It will also be seen from the same table that there were 13
male slopers. This does not mean that there were only 13 men slopers
in the industry; the other slopers were in all probability entered on
the pay rolls as cutters.
112
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
WAGES.
Information was obtained as to 1,701 cutters in 1913 and 1,397 in
1912. All of these were paid by the week. As will be seen from
Table 51, they were distributed among the four branches of the indus
try as follows: Association A (lower-grade garments) 830; nonassocia
tion A, 213; association B, 560; nonassociation B, 61, making a total
of 1,664. For the remaining 37 cutters no information was obtainable
as to their weekly rates of wages, but merely of their total earnings
during the busiest week.
Over 67 per cent or two-thirds of all the cutters in 1913 were in
those groups which included the protocol rates of $6, $12, $18, $25,
and over. In 1912 less than 38 per cent of all the cutters received
these rates. The proportion of cutters receiving these rates in the
different branches of the industry was as follows: Association B,
nearly 78 per cent; nonassociation B, over 72 per cent; association A,
over 62 percent; nonassociation A, over 56 per cent. It will be seen
from these figures that the enforcement of the protocol rates does
not depend so much on whether the shops belong to members of the
association or to nonmembers as on the grade of garments manu
factured in the various shops. The higher the grade, the greater
the skill of the cutter required, the higher the pay he can command,
and the greater, therefore, the proportion of those receiving protocol
rates. On the other hand, the detailed comparison of rates prevail
ing in association and nonassociation shops of the same grade which
follows, indicates that in some cases the association shops make a
better showing, while in other cases it is the nonassociation shops.
Comparing the figures in Table 51 showing the proportion of workers
receiving different rates of wages in association and nonassociation A
shops (those manufacturing lower-grade garments), we find a higher
percentage of cutters receiving $25 a week and over in the nonassocia
tion shops than in the association shops and a lower percentage of
cutters receiving under $25 a week. Thus, the number of cutters re
ceiving $6 and less than $7 a week constituted more than 5 per cent
of all the cutters in the association A shops and more than 3 per cent
in the nonassociation A shops. Those getting $12 and less than $14
a week*were nearly 11 per cent of the total in the association shops
and nearly 10 per cent in the nonassociation shops. Those getting
$18 and less than $20 a week constituted nearly 14 per cent in the
association and 8.5 per cent in the nonassociation shops, and those
getting $25 and less than $27.50 were almost 28 per cent in the asso
ciation and over 32 per cent in the non association shops.
The contrary is true of the B shops (those manufacturing the
higher-grade garments). Thus the proportion of cutters receiving
the highest protocol rate ($25) and over was 64 per cent in the asso-
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
113
eiation B shops and only a little over 49 per cent in the nonassociation
B shops. On the other hand, in the groups including two of the
protocol rates under $25 ($18 and $12) the nonassociation shops had
a higher percentage of cutters than the association shops. Thus, in
the group $18 to $19.99 were found 13.1 per cent of the cutters in
nonassociation B shops as against 7.4 per cent of those in association
B shops and in the group $12 to $13.99 were found 9.8 per cent of the
cutters in nonassociation shops as against 4.6 per cent of those in
association shops. In the group $6 to $6.99, that is, the group con
taining the lowest protocol rate ($6), there were only 11 cutters in
the association B shops and none in the nonassociation B shops.
In fact, there were no cutters in the nonassociation B shops receiv
ing under $8, while in the association B shops nearly 5 per cent of all
the cutters received $4 and less than $8 a week.
A comparison of Table 51 and Chart 10, showing the rates for cut
ters, with Tables 50, 52, 54, and 55, and Charts 9, 11, 12, and 13,
representing the wages of cleaners, drapers, examiners, and finishers,
respectively, shows the striking effect of providing only one rate
of wages, as has been done in the protocol for those occupations and
four different rates as is the case with the cutters. In the trades
mentioned there is always only one high peak showing that the
largest single group of workers is the group receiving the minimum
protocol rate, while in the case of the cutters there are four distinct
peaks showing that wages tend to concentrate at the rates provided
in the protocol.
Table 51 shows the difference in the wages paid in the two classes
of association shops, A and B. In the higher-grade *(B) ghops the
proportion of cutters receiving $25 a week and under $27.50 rises to
56.2 per cent, while for the line representing the lower-grade (A) shops
it goes up only to 27.8 per cent. In the lower wage groups, the rela
tive position of the percentages is reversed, that is to say, the pro
portion of cutters in the group receiving $18, $12, and $6 a week,
as well as of those receiving the intermediate rates not fixed in the
protocol, is in every case higher in the lower-grade shops than in the
higher-grade shops.
Wages in 1912 and 1918.—Table 51 throws an interesting light on
the changes which have occurred in the wages of the cutters since the
protocol has gone into effect. As will be seen from the last two
columns in the table, the percentage of those receiving the lower rates
of wages has uniformly declined, while the proportion of those
receiving $25 a week and over has increased from less than 19 per
cent of all the cutters in 1912 to 44 per cent in 1913/
This fact is shown even more strikingly when we look at the abso
lute numbers of cutters receiving different rates of wages as shown in
Table 51, for we find an increase in the number of workers receiving
42132°— Bull. 146— 14------ 8
114
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
protocol rates of wages and a decline in the number of those receiving
less than the protocol rates, in spite of the increase of the total number
of cutters from 1,328 in 1912 to 1,664 in 1913. Thus, the number of
those receiving $6 and less than $7 a week increased from 36 in 1912
to 63 in 1913, while the number of those receiving under $6 declined
from 27 to 20. The number of cutters receiving $12 and less than $14
a week increased from 113 to 142, while the number of those receiving
$7 and less than $12 a week declined from 210 to 165. The number
of those receiving $18 and less than $20 a week increased from 117
in 1912 to 182 in 1913, while those receiving $14 and less than $18 a
week declined from 223 to 196. Finally, the number of those receiv
ing $25 a week and over increased from 250 in 1912 to 731 in 1913,
while those receiving $20 and less than $25 declined from 352 to 165.
The changes in the rates of wages paid to cutters since the protocol
went into effect are shown in Chart 10, in which the broken line repre
sents the wages in 1912 and the solid line those for 1913. The great
rise in the number of those in the group receiving $25 a week is the
most conspicuous feature on that chart. The smaller increase in the
number of those in the groups receiving $18 and $6 a week and the
decline in the number of those receiving the intermediate rates is
likewise clearly shown.
T
5 1 . — NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF CUTTERS, W E E K W O R K E RS, RECEIVING EACH
CLASSIFIED R A TE OF W AGES PER W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
able
NUMBER.
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
Association B.
1912
1913
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99_____
$25 to $27.49..............
$27 50 to $29 99
$30 and over.............
1
3
9
21
24
25
24
65
68
72
57
63
115
28
53
3
29
1
3
4
45
27
20
25
37
89
67
39
115
67
22
230
7
32
1
1
2
7
4
6
5
13
16
12
9
11
17
2
9
2
4
3
2
7
4
6
4
10
21
25
16
18
18
5
69
1
4
4
6
8
6
9
10
16
28
30
37
33
118
64
114
3
24
3
4
11
10
2
5
10
26
28
17
41
33
12
314
8
36
Total..............
660
830
121
213
510
560
Nonassociation
B.
1912
i
1
1
i
3
3
10
4
4
4
5
37
1913
1912
1913
2
8
17
36
35
41
40
94
113
117
106
117
254
98
180
8
62
1
9
10
63
41
29
37
58
142
123
73
182
123
42
635
18
78
61 1 1,328
2 1,664
1
3
1
6
3
1
8
5
3
22
2
6
i Not including 69, for whom weekly rates could not be ascertained.
8 Not including 37, for whom weekly rates could not be ascertained.
Total.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T
115
51.—NUM BER AND PE R CENT OF CUTTERS, W EE K W O R K E R S, RECEIVING
EACH CLASSIFIED R A TE OF W AGES PE R W EEK, 1&12 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS—
able
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
1913
Nonassociation Association B.
A.
1912
1913
1912
1913
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99 .......
$30 and over.............
0.2
.5
1.4
3.2
3.6
3.8
3.6
9.9
10.3
10.9
8.6
9.5
17.4
4.2
8.0
.5
4.4
0.1
.4
.5
5.4
3.3
2.4
3.0
4.5
10.7
8.1
4.7
13.9
8.1
2.7
27.7
.8
3.9
0.8
.8
1.7
5.8
3.3
5.0
4.1
10.7
13.2
9.9
7.4
9.1
14.1
1.7
7.4
1.7
3.3
i.4
.9
3.3
1.9
2.8
1.9
4.7
9.8
11.7
7.5
8.5
8.5
2.3
32.4
.5
1.9
0.8
1.2
1.6
1.2
1.8
2.0
3.1
5.5
5.9
7.3
6.5
23.1
12.5
22.3
.6
4.7
0.5
.7
1.9
1.8
.4
.9
1.8
4.6
5.0
3.0
7.4
5.9
2.1
56.1
1.4
6.4
Total..............
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Nonassociation
B.
1912
1913
Total.
1912
1913
13.5
1.6
4.9
1.6
9.8
4.9
1.6
13.1
8.2
4.9
36.1
3.3
9.8
0.2
.6
1.3
2.7
2.6
3.1
3.0
7.1
8.5
8.8
8.0
8.8
19.1
7.3
13.6
.6
4.6
0.1
.5
.6
3.8
2.5
1.7
2.2
3.5
8.5
7.4
4.4
10.9
7.4
2.5
38.2
1.1
4.7
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
2.7
2.7
2.7
......
2.7
8.1
8.1
27.1
10.8
10.8
10.8
. ......
DRAPERS.
Draping is one of the most skilled occupations in the trade in con
nection with the making of dresses and waists. Most of the drapers
graduate into that class of work after having worked as dressmakers
or examiners.
The drapers are roughly divided into two classes, those working
on comparatively simple dresses and waists, and the high-grade
dressmaker drapers. A lower-grade draper through practice and
years of experience gradually works up to the higher grades. To do
this she must have, however, a native taste for the beautiful in dress.
The lower-grade drapers usually confine their attention to the simple
draping of waists, which consists in arranging the plaits, joining the
skirt to the waist with the aid of pins, seeing that the skirt hangs prop
erly from the waistline, and draping the skirt. Drapers of this class
are usually promoted to this work after they have been working as
examiners or as plain dressmakers. They receive about $14 a week.
The high-grade draper or dressmaker draper, as she is sometimes
called, works on high-class dresses and gowns. In many cases she
makes practically the whole dress. After taking the cloth as it comes
from the cutter, she joins the different pieces of cloth and, fixing
them by means of pins, she drapes the cloth around the figure in
graceful folds, sewing together with the needle the different parts
where necessary. In many such cases there is but little work left
for the operator to do after the draper removes the garment from the
figure, most of the remaining work being done by hand by the fin
isher. Drapers of this class get all the way from $14 to $20 a week,
although but few get more, than $18.
AND 1913.
116
C h a r t 10.— P E R CENT OF CU TTERS (W E E K W O RK ERS) RECEIVIN G EACH CLASSIFIED R A T E OF WAGES P E R W E E K , 1912
BULLETIN
OF
THE
BUEEAU
OF
LABOE
STATISTICS.
$3
$ 4 - $5
$6
$7
$8
$9
$10
$12
$14
$16
$18
$20
$ 2?
$24
$26
$28
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
117
SEX.
Women are employed almost exclusively in this work. As will
be seen from Table 8, out of 1,321 drapers for whom wages were found
on the pay rolls in 1913, 1,315 were women and only 6 were men*
WAGES.
Draping is done almost entirely on a week basis. The protocol
recognizes this fact by providing a weekly rate of wages which is fixed
at a minimum of $14. Out of 1,321 drapers (Table 11), 1,273, or 96
per cent of all the drapers, were found working by the week and only
48, or 4 per cent, were pieceworkers.
Table 52 gives the wages of drapers in 1912 and 1913 in each of the
four branches of the industry as well as for the industry as a whole,
and also the percentage of the workers receiving various rates of
wages. Of the 1,259 drapers for whom weekly rates of wages were
obtained, 1,058, or 84 per cent, worked in association shops and only
201, or 16 per cent, were found employed in nonassociation shops.
Taking the minimum rate of wages as fixed in the protocol, $14,
we find that in association shops producing low-grade garments (A),
nearly 49 per cent of all the workers were in the wage group including
this rate and in the corresponding nonassociation shops over 47 per
cent, or practically the same proportion. On the other hand, in the
high-grade shops (B) belonging to the association nearly 57 per cent
were in the group receiving the minimum protocol rate, while in
the corresponding nonassociation shops only about 35 per cent were
in the group receiving the minimum rate. It must be borne in
mind, however, that the percentages just quoted include not only
those receiving $14 a week but also those receiving from $14 to
$15.99, although the great majority of them were receiving $14.
Taking those receiving $16 and over a week, we find that in the highgrade (B) association shops less than 15 per cent belong to that class,
while in the high-grade nonassociation shops the percentage was
practically the same, namely, over 16. In the shops manufacturing
lower-grade garments (A), the proportion of drapers receiving $16
a week and over was over 10 per cent in the association and 12.5 per
cent in the nonassociation shops.
As will be seen from Table 52, the largest group after the $14 to
$15.99 was that of drapers receiving from $12 to $13.99 a week, which
constituted 25.5 per cent of all the drapers employed in the associa
tion (A) shops (manufacturing low-grade garments) and over 18 per
cent in the corresponding nonassociation shops, while in the B shops
it constituted more than 20 per cent in the association branch and
nearly 37 per cent in the nonassociation. A comparatively large
proportion of drapers receiving $12 a week and less than $14, as well
as the drapers receiving under $12 a week, consist of the lower-grade
118
BULLETIN OF THE BUEEAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
drapers and those whom the manufacturers regard more or less as
apprentices in this kind of work. A personal investigation after the
figures were compiled has also disclosed the fact that in some shops
little or no distinction is made between joiners and drapers; sometimes
those who do joining work are called drapers and are paid the wages
of joiners, while in other shops workers who do real draping are called
joiners.
An examination of Table 52 shows that association shops manufac
turing high-grade (B) and low-grade (A) goods employed 84 per cent
of all the drapers in the industry. As will be seen from the table, the
group of $14 to $15.99 workers is the largest of all, reaching nearly 57
per cent in the association B shops and nearly 49 per cent in the A
shops. Below the $14 rate it will be seen that the A shops in every
wage group have a higher percentage than the B shops. That is to
say, the proportion of workers receiving $5 and less than $14 a week
is greater in the low-grade shops than in the high grade. At $14 and
over the relative position is reversed.
Still more interesting is a consideration of the changes in the wages
of all drapers since the adoption of the protocol shown in the last two
columns of Table 52 and also in graphic form in Chart 11. The most
conspicuous fact is the high peak representing the $14 to $15.99 group
for 1913, at over 51 per cent, while in 1912 this group is less than 33 per
cent. In 1912, the percentage of workers receiving $12 and less than
$14 a week was almost as high as that of those receiving $14 and less
than $16, while in 1913, the $12 to $13.99 group was only about 23
per cent, or 10 points below the 1912 line. The shifting that has
occurred in the industry by way of the increase of the compensation
to drapers is shown very clearly in this table and chart. For wage
groups below $14 the percentages in 1912 are in almost all cases
above those for 1913, while at $14 and above the position is reversed,
showing that in every wage group from $14 to $22.50 there was a
greater proportion of drapers in 1913 than in 1912.
An examination of the summary part of Table 52, in which these
facts are brought out not only for the industry as a whole, but also for
the different branches of the industry, shows, first, for the industry
as a whole, that the number of drapers receiving under $12 a week
declined from 27.5 per cent in 1912 to 13 per cent in 1913. Those
getting $12 and less than $14 a week declined from 32.6 per cent in
1912 to less than 23 per cent in 1913. This makes the total number
of drapers receiving less than the minimum protocol rate in 1913, 36
per cent of all the drapers. On the other hand, those getting $14
and less than $16 increased from nearly 33 per cent in 1912 to 51.5
per cent, or more than half of the entire number of drapers, in 1913,
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
119
and those getting $16 and over increased from 7.1 per cent to nearly
13 per cent.
Taking the different branches of the industry, we find that the B
(high-grade) shops belonging to the association lead all the others in
the advance in wages for drapers, the proportion of those getting $14
and over in 1913 being 71.3 per cent, or nearly three-fourths of all
C h a r t 11.— P E R CENT OF D R A PE R S (W E E K W O R K E R S) R E C E IV IN G EACH
CLASSIFIED R A T E OF WAGES P E R W EE K , 1912 AND 1913.
the drapers employed in those shops, as against 46.3 per cent during
the preceding year. In the lower-grade association shops the per
centage of those receiving $14 and over was 58.9 per cent as com
pared with 36.1 per cent the year before, and in tne corresponding
nonassociation shops it was 59.9 per cent, as compared with 26 per
cent the year before.
120
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T able 5 2 .— NUMBER AND PER CENT OF D RAPERS, W EE K W O RKERS, 1 RECEIVING EACH
CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES PER W EEK, 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
NUMBER.
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99.............
$16 to $17.99.............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49.............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
Total...............
1
1913
3
13
13
19
67
132
121
16
3
1
1
2
4
5
13
10
45
131
251
46
2
4
391
514
2
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1
1
1913
Association B.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
B .2
1912
1913
1912
3
2
2
4
2
Total.
2
5
5
33
111
308
62
12
5
3
1
13
30
15
2
5
3
17
28
72
17
2
9
14
21
61
128
163
28
8
3
1
1
66
152
438
544
1
2
2
1
7
13
6
4
36
1
5
18
17
6
2
49
3
5
24
32
42
148
303
305
50
11
4
1913
1
4
8
10
23
18
100
288
648
131
18
9
1
1
8931
41,259
0.3
.3
.5
2.6
3.4
4.5
15.9
32.6
32.8
5.4
1.2
.4
0.1
.3
.6
.8
1.8
1.4
8.0
22.9
51.5
10.4
1.4
.7
PER CENT.
Under $3..........
$3 to $3.99........
$4 to $4.99.........
$5 to $5.99.........
$6 to $3.99......
$7 to $7.99.........
$8 to $3.99.........
$9 to $9.99.........
$10 t o $11.99....
$12 to $13.99....
$14 to $15.99....
$16 to $17.99....
$18 t o $19.99....
$20 to $22.49....
$22.50 to $24.99.
$25 to $27.49....
T o ta l.............
0.2
.5
0.2
.4
.8
.8
3.3
3.3
4.9
17.1
33.8
31.0
4.1
.8
.2
1.0
2.5
1.9
8.7
25.5
48.8
9.0
.4
1.5
1.5
"
4.6
1.5
19.7
45.5
22.7
3.0
0.5
1.3
2.6
1.3
3.3
2.0
11.2
18.4
47.4
11.2
1.3
.8
2.1
3.2
4.8
13.9
29.2
37.2
6.4
1.8
.7
.2
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
0.4
.9
.9
6.1
20.4
56.6
11.4
2.2
.2
.1
.1
100.0
100.0
100.0
SUMMARY OF PERCENTAGES.
Under $12...
$12 to $13.99.
$14 to $15.99.
$16 and over.
30.1
33.8
31.0
5.1
15.6
25.5
48.8
10.1
28.8
45.5
22.7
3.0
21.7
18.4
47.4
12.5
24.5
29.2
37.2
9.1
8.3
20.4
56.6
14.7
27.5
32.6
32.8
7.1
13.0
22.9
51.5
12.6
Total..
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1 In addition to the week workers shown in this table there were 26 pieceworkers in 1912 and 48 in 1913.
2 Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
*N ot including 21 females, 1 male, for whom weekly rates of wa^es could not be ascertained.
4Not including 9 females, 5 males, for whom weekly rates of wages could not be ascertained.
EM BROIDERERS.
The work of embroiderers is too well known to need any explana
tion. The embroiderers for whom information is given in Table 8
and Table 53 are all handworkers skilled in the use of the needle.
The majority of them are Italians. The skill of the embroiderer
calls not only for the deft use of the needle, but for keen perception
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
121
of colors and their different shadings, since colored thread is used to a
very large extent. The great majority of the embroiderers working
in the industry come with their skill previously acquired in their
home country. There is an increasing number of embroiderers
working on machines in some of the dress and waist making shops,
but no mention of them appeared on the pay rolls of 1913 and there
fore they are not included in these tables.
Only 184 embroiderers were found mentioned as such on the pay
rolls of the shops investigated. A much larger number are actually
employed in the industry. On the pay rolls, many of these are prob
ably described as finishers, since they do their work by hand, and a
great many are not mentioned at all, because the embroidery de
partment is frequently in charge of a subcontractor, who pays his
help directly and is compensated by the firm on a piece basis.
SEX.
Only 1 man was found among the 184 embroiderers covered by
this report.
WAGES.
Of the 184 embroiderers reported in Table 11, 87, or a little less
than one-half, were paid by the week, and 97 were paid by the piece.
In 1912 the proportion was reversed, more than half being paid by
the week and 74, out of a total of 167, being paid by the piece.
The 184 embroiderers were distributed as follows among three
branches of the industry: Association A, 36; association B, 133; non
association B, 15. From this it will be seen that 169, or more than
nine-tenths of all the embroiderers, were employed in association
shops, leaving less than one-tenth in the nonassociation shops. The
number being very small, no conclusions can be safely drawn as to
the wages for the separate branches of the industry. They are,
therefore, analyzed for the industry as a whole.
Wages o f week workers.—The largest single group of week workers
were those getting $8 a week and less than $9. These constituted more
than 29 per cent of all the week workers. Nearly one-half of all the
week workers received $9 and less than $14 a week. Only 1 girl
received under $6 a week. More than one-tenth of all the week
workers received $6 and less than $8 a week.
Earnings o f pieceworkers.—Of the 97 pieceworkers, 16.5 per cent
earned under $6 during the busiest week of the year. Nearly 29 per
cent earned $6 and less than $9 a week. Over 42 per cent, or a little
over four-tenths of the workers, earned $9 and less than $14, and
more than 12 per cent, or about one-eighth, earned $14 and less than
$18 a week.
122
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
Wages in 1912 and-1913.—No provision has been made in the pro
tocol in regard to the wages of embroiderers. So far as the week work
ers are concerned, there is no marked change in the rates of wages
from 1912 to 1913, with the exception of one group, namely, those
earning $8 and less than $9 a week, which increased from over 17 per
cent in 1912 to more than 29 per cent in 1913. The total number of
embroiderers working by the week declined from 95 in 1912 to 87 in
1913, showing a loss of 8 workers. On the other hand, the number of
pieceworkers increased from 74 to 97, an increase of 23 workers. A
dropping off is noticeable in the number of week workers receiving
under $8 a week, who numbered 23 in 1912 and only 11, or less than
one-half of the former number, in 1913. On the other hand, the
number of those receiving $8 and less than $9 increased from 16 to
25, showing a gain of 9, which may account for most of the decline
in the lower groups. From $9 and over there is also a decline in
every group except those getting $14 and less than $16 a week which
may be accounted for by their passing into the group of pieceworkers
where greater earnings are possible.
Earnings o f pieceworkers in 1912 and 1913.—The proportion of
pieceworkers earning under $6 during the busiest week of the year
declined from 20.2 per cent in 1912 to 16.5 per cent in 1913. Those
earning $6 and less than $9 a week formed practically the same pro
portion of the total both years, namely, 29.8 per cent and 28.9 per
cent, respectively. Those earning $9 and less than $14 a week declined
from 46 per cent in 1912 to 42.2 per cent in 1913, while those earning
$14 a week and over increased from 4 per cent in 1912 to 12.4 per
cent in 1913.
Summing up the changes in the wages of embroiderers, it may be
said that among the week workers the number of those receiving
under $8 a week declined; those receiving $8 to $8.99 increased
perceptibly, and the number of those earning $9 and over remained
practically the same. Among pieceworkers, while no radical changes
in earnings occurred, there was a general tendency upward.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
123
T a b l e 5 3 . — NUMBER
AND PE R CENT O F E M BROIDERERS (W E E K W ORKERS AND
PIECEW ORKERS) RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RA TE OF W AGES OR EARNINGS
PER W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y SEX.
Week workers receiving each classified rate of
wages.
Classified rates of
wages or earnings
per week, and
classes of shops.
Females.
Number.
Males.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99_______
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
Total...............
3
2
8
10
16
17
19
11
3
1
1
Females.
Per cent.
Number.
1912
1912
1913
1
2
8
25
16
15
10
6
1
1
Pieceworkers earning each clas
sified amount during busiest
week of year.
1912
3.2
2.1
8.6
10.8
17.2
18.3
20.5
11.8
3.2
1.1
1.1
1913
i .2
2.3
9.3
29.1
18.6
17.4
11.6
6.9
1.2
1.2
2
1
2.1
1.2
93
86
100.0
100.0
Per cent.
1913
1912
1
1
1
8
3
2
2
4
7
11
13
15
6
2
1
2
1
74
1913
1912
7
4
1
4
10
7
11
4
17
20
5
7
10.8
4.0
2.7
2.7
5.4
9.5
14.9
17.6
20.3
8.1
2.7
97
100.0
1.3
1913
7.2
4.1
1.1
4.1
10.3
7.2
11.4
4.1
17.5
20.6
5.2
7.2
100.0
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A ..........
Association B ..........
Nonassociation A
Nonassociation B . ..
8
72
6
66
13
14
1
1
15
53
30
66
i
*'■ i............
6
1
n
EXAMINERS.
The duty of an examiner consists in examining the garments after
they have been completely finished by the workers. There are two
distinct classes of examiners; first, those who examine the garments
on a figure; second, those who examine the garments without the
use of a figure. The former are the examiners of higher-grade
garments, the latter of the cheap and medium grades of waists.
The class 2 examiners are usually promoted from among the more
intelligent and capable cleaners and finishers. They very seldom
get more than $10 a week, which is the minimum rate fixed under
the protocol. Those among this class of examiners who show
capacity for better work are promoted to draping at which they
can earn higher wages. The high-grade examiners are engaged
on dresses and on waists selling at wholesale for $48 per dozen and
over. These garments have to be put on a figure in order to be
examined. It is the duty of the examiner to see that the garment
thoroughly fits the figure and that the measurements at the waist
line are correct. They carefully go over the entire garment to see
that the sleeves hang right, that the collar fits properly, and that the
laces on the corresponding sides of the garment u match” ; in other
124
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
words, that the garment is properly made as to fit, measurement,
and “ matching” of the corresponding parts and that there is no
flaw in the work of the different workers who made up the garment.
Examiners of tins class are promoted from draping and dressmaking
and receive all the way from $14 to $19.99 a week. It is seldom
that they are promoted to any other occupation, although occasion
ally a high-class examiner, in changing factories, may go into highclass draping. Once in a while one is promoted to the position of
forewoman.
SEX.
As a rule, only women are employed as examiners. Among the
852 examiners, reported in 1913, there were only 10 men, or but little
over 1 per cent of the total.
WAGES.
Examiners are always paid by the week. Of the 790 women
examiners (Table 54) whose weekly rates in 1913 could be ascertained,
the largest single group were those receiving $10 and less than $12
a week, who constituted nearly 38 per cent of the total. The next
largest group were those getting $12 and less than $14, who consti
tuted almost 18 per cent of the total. A little less than 12 per
cent received $14 and less than $16 a week, and only 3.2 per cent
received $16 a week and over. Only 3 examiners in the entire
industry were found receiving $20 a week and over. The number
of those earning less than the minimum protocol rate of $10 a week
was 235, or nearly 30 per cent of the total in 1913. Sixteen examin
ers, or 2 per cent, received under $6 per week.
Nearly one-half (370) of the 790 women examiners worked in
association A shops; 323 worked in association B shops, leaving
only 76 in nonassociation A shops and 21 in nonassociation B shops.
A comparison of the earnings of the women workers in the associa
tion A and nonassociation A shops in 1913 shows that the number of
those receiving $10 a week and over formed a larger percentage of
the total in the nonassociation shops than in the association shops,
namely, over 67 per cent as against nearly 62 per cent. This is
also true for each of the following separate groups: $10 and less
than $12, $12 and less than $14, $14 and less than $16, $16 and less
than $18. In the case of those earning $8 and less than $10, the
percentage is likewise larger in the nonassociation shops as com
pared with the association shops, being 25 per cent in the former
and less than 19 per cent in the latter. Those earning under $8 con
stituted nearly 8 per cent in the nonassociation A shops and nearly
20 per cent in the association shops of the same class.
Comparing the A and B association shops, the percentage of
those earning $12 a week and over is found to be larger in the B
shops (those manufacturing the higher grade garments), while of
125
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
those receiving under $12 a week there is a larger percentage in the
A shops. This is easily explained by the fact that the B shops
require examiners of greater skill, who naturally command higher
wages entirely apart from the protocol provision which specifies only
the minimum rate. The difference in the compensation of examiners
in the A and B shops can be clearly seen by reference to Table 54.
Both groups rise to a high point in the class of $10 to $11.99 a week
workers, which includes the minimum protocol rate of $10, the
percentage of those getting the minimum rate being higher in the
lower-grade shops than in the higher-grade. Above this rate, the
group percentages in the high-grade shops are in each case higher
than those in the lower-grade shops, while in the group below $9 a
week the reverse is true.
Comparison o f wages in 1912 and 1913.—A glance at Table 54 and
Chart 12 will show a uniform improvement in the earnings of examiners
which has taken place since the protocol went into effect. Although
during both years the $10 to $11.99 group forms the highest peak,
it does not rise as high in 1912 as in 1913. The 1913 percentages are
higher than the 1912 at all points representing wages of $10 and over,
while the reverse is true for wages below $10. The greatest rise,
however, occurred in the $10 to $11.99 group containing the rate
fixed by the protocol ($10), and a corresponding decline occurred
in the two groups from $8 to $9.99 a week. The percentage of
those receiving $10 a week and over increased from less than 58 in
1912 to over 70 in 1913 and correspondingly declined in the case of
those receiving under $10 a week.
a b l e 54.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF EXAM INERS, W E E K W O R K E RS, RECEIVING
EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES PE R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
NUMBER.
T
Nonassociation
A.
Association
A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
Under S3...................
$3 to S3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.69..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$°0 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.5<fcto $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
Total...............
5
4
9
22
38
39
79
38
15
1
1
1913
1
4
8
19
41
30
39
146
56
23
1
1912
1913
Association
B.
1912
2
2
3
7
13
15
3
2
1
2
2
2
9
10
32
12
5
2
3
4
7
14
32
37
74
56
35
6
1
48
76
269
2
251
370
1913
Nonassociation
B.i
1912
1913
1
1
6
14
42
110
68
61
11
8
1
1
4
2
4
10
4
3
323
8
21
1
Total.
1912
1913
1
4
11
22
49
53
95
298
140
92
14
8
3
8
10
19
39
77
90
172
99
52
8
2
2 576
3 790
1 Percentages for nonassociation B sho^s not computed on account of small number of employees.
2 Not including 64 females for whom weekly rates could not be ascertained.
* Not including 52 females and 10 males for whom weekly rates could not be ascertained.
126
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T a b l e 5 4 . — NUMBER
AND PER CENT OF EXAM IN ERS, W E E K W O R K E RS, R E C E IV
ING EACH CLASSIFIED R A T E OF W AGES PE R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF
SHOPS—Concluded.
PER CENT.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
Association
A.
1912
Under S3...................
$3 to $3.99................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99 ..............
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99.............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
T o t a l .............
2.0
1.6
3.6
8.9
15.1
15.5
31.4
15.1
6.0
.4
.4
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
0.3
1.1
2.2
5.1
11.1
8.1
10.5
39.5
15.1
6.2
.3
1913
Association
B.
1912
4.2
4.2
6.2
14.6
27.1
31.2
6.2
4.2
2.1
2.6
2.6
2.6
11.8
13.2
42.1
15.8
6.6
2.6
1.1
1.5
2.6
5.2
12.0
13.7
27.5
20.8
13.0
2.2
.4
100.0
100.0
100.0
.5
Nonassociation
B.
193.2
1913
100.0
1913
1912
0.3
.3
1.9
4.3
13.0
34.1
21.0
18.9
3.4
2.5
.3
i
100.0
Total.
100.0
1913
1.4
1.7
3.3
6.8
13.4
15.6
29.9
17.0
9.0
1.4
.3
0.1
.5
1.4
2.8
6.2
6.7
12.0
37.7
17.7
11.7
1.8
1.0
.4
100.0
1C0.0
!
SUMMARY OF PERCENTAGES.
Under $10
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 and over..*.........
46.7
31.4
21.9
38.4
39.5
22.1
Total..............
100.0
100.0
!
i
1
!
36.1
27.5
36.4
19.8
34.1
46.1
42.2
29.9
28.0
29.7
37.7
32.5
i
i
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
FINISHERS.
The protocol distinguishes between two kinds of finishers—dress
maker finishers and plain finishers. For the former, a weekly rate
of not less than $8 a week is provided; for the latter, piece rates
are established with a provision as to the minimum earnings of $8
a week if the worker is retained after one week’s trial.
Finishers do most of the sewing that has to be done by hand.
The plain finishers sew on hooks and eyes, buttons, belts; they
baste the bottoms of skirts, etc. Any girl who can use a needle
can be put to work as a finisher. Dressmaker finishers are employed
on the higher grade of dresses. In addition to doing the same work
as the plain finishers, they do the other work that has to be done
by hand on higher-grade dresses, such as sewing on the trimmings,
ornaments, sashes, rosettes, bows, ties, etc. This class of finishers is
obtained from among plain finishers and dressmakers who have
previously worked in custom dressmaking establishments in this
country or abroad.
SEX.
Only women are employed as finishers.
127
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
WAGES.
For 1913 5,363 finishers were reported (Table 11), while for 1912
records were obtained for only 4,352. Of those employed in 1913,
3,334, or 62 per cent, worked by the week and 2,029, or 38 per cent,
worked by the piece. That is to say, only a little over one-third
were pieceworkers.
Wages o f week workers.—Of the 3,249 finishers working by the
week (Table 55), those receiving the minimum rate of $8 a week
C h a r t 12.— P E R CENT OF EX A M IN E R S (W E E K W O R K E R S ) R E C E IV IN G
EACH CLASSIFIED R A T E OF W AGES P E R W E E K , 1912 AN D 1913.
* * --------------------------------------------------------------------------
40%
3$
30
Z5
20
t5
A0
5
0%
$4
$5
$6
$7
$8
$9
$10
$12
$14
$16
$18
$20
%ZVA
and less than $9 numbered 1,148, constituting the largest single
group, namely, over 35 per cent of the total. The next largest group
were those receiving $9 and less than $10 a week, who formed nearly
one-fifth of the total, the two together constituting more than 55
per cent of the total, or considerably more than one-half of all the
women finishers working by the week. Nearly 16 per cent received
$10 and less than $12 a week, and a little less than 12 percent received
$7 and less than $8 a week. The percentage of those receiving $12 a
week and over was 5.5. The percentage of those earning less than
the minimum protocol rate of $8 a week was less than 24, or nearly
one-fourth of all the finishers working by the week, and the number
128
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
of those earning under $6 a week formed a little less than 5 per cent
of the total.
A comparison of the wages of week-working finishers in the differ
ent branches of the industry can be made from the figures of
percentages given in Table 55. This table shows that the number
of those receiving more than the minimum protocol rate of $8 a
week is higher in the nonassociation B shops (high-grade garments)
than in the association B shops and is higher in nonassociation A
shops than in the association A shops. The only exception is in the
case of those receiving $12 and less than $14 a week, in which the
percentage of workers in the nonassociation B and association B shops
is practically the same, while of workers receiving $14 a week and
over there is only 1 person in the nonassociation B shops and only
4 in the nonassociation A shops. In the case of the A shops, the
percentages in nonassociation shops for groups receiving $8 and
over are in practically all cases above those for association shops,
though the difference between the two is very small. The relative
conditions are reversed for wages below $8 a week.
Earnings o f pieceworkers.—There was no such concentration of
workers receiving a single rate of wages in the case of the finishers
working by* the piece as we have seen in the case of the finishers
working by the week, where more than one-third of the workers
earned $8 a week. As will be seen from Table 56, six wage groups,
namely, those earning $6 and less than $7, $7 and less than $8, $8
and less than $9, $9 and less than $10, $10 and less than $12, and
$12 and less than $14, contributed each about 10 per cent in round
numbers to the total of finisher pieceworkers in 1913, together
embracing over 61 per cent of all. The number of those who earned
$14 a week or more during the busiest week of 1913 slightly exceeded
9 per cent, leaving about 30 per cent earning less than $6 during
the busiest week of the year.
A comparison of the earnings of pieceworkers in the different
branches of the industry can be obtained from Table 56. This table
shows that no such clear line of demarcation can be drawn between
the earnings of pieceworkers in the different branches of the industry
as in the case of the week workers. The nonassociation B shops
(higher-grade garments) contain the highest peak of all, 19 per cent
in the $8 and under $9 group, as against a little over 8 per cent for
the association B shops. In practically all the wage groups below
$9 the nonassociation B shops are above the association B shops; on
the other hand, above the $9 group the association B is considerably
above the nonassociation B, showing a larger percentage of the
higher-paid finishers in the association shops.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
129
The same is true in general of the association A and nonassocia
tion A shops, although the distinction between these two is not so
clear and so much in favor of the association as is the case with the
B shops. The highest peak in the association A shops reaches less
than 12 per cent in the $9 and under $10 group while the nonassocia
tion A shops reach the highest point at 16.5 per cent in the $10 and
under $12 group. If we draw the line at $10, the proportion of
finishers earning $10 a week or more in the association A shops is
less than 24 per cent, while in the nonassociation A shops it exceeds
29 per cent, showing a slight advantage in favor of the nonassociation
shops.
COMPARISON OF WAGES IN 1912 AND 1913.
Changes in wages o f weeTc workers.—A glance at the last two col
umns in Table 55 and at Chart 13 will show a uniform increase in
the number of week workers receiving $8 a week or more and a
reduction in the relative number of those receiving less than $8.
The percentage of those receiving the minimum protocol rate of $8
and under $9 rose from 21.2 to 35.3 -per cent. The percentage of
those receiving $8 a week or more increased from less than 51 in 1912
to over 76 in 1913. In every group below $8 a week there was a
larger percentage in 1912 than in 1913.
Changes in the earnings o f pieceworkers.—No such striking change
is seen in the case of the pieceworkers (see Table 56). The per
centage of finishers earning $8 and less than $10 during the busiest
week of the year was practically the same during both years, namely,
a little less than 20 in 1912 and a little less than 21 in 1913. The
percentage of those earning $10 and less than $12 declined from 14
in 1912 to nearly 11 in 1913. Of those earning $12 a week and over,
there was an increase from less than 15 per cent in 1912 to nearly 19
per cent in 1913. Of those earning less than $8 a week there was a
decline from 51.5 per cent in 1912 to 49 per cent in 1913. The drop
is clearly shown to be in the $4 and under $6 and $10 and under $12
groups, with a consequent increase in the number of those earning
$6 and under $9 and $12 and over a week.
Summary.—The figures in Tables 55 and 56 may be summed up as
follows: First, that there has been, on the whole, an increase in the
wages of finishers which was much more effective among the week
workers than among the pieceworkers; second, that there was a larger
percentage of higher paid workers in the high-grade shops than in
the low-grade shops; third, that in each of these classes of shops the
percentage of the higher paid week workers was greater in the nonassociation than in the association shops; fourth, among the piece421320— Bull. 146— 14------ 9
130
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
workers, the highest percentage of finishers earning $8 a week and up
was in the high-grade association shops, where they numbered 58
per cent, followed by the low-grade nonassociation, shops where they
numbered nearly 52 per cent, while in the high-grade nonassociation
shops and in the low-grade association shops it was practically the
same, nearly 46 per cent. In other words, where the wages were
paid by the week, they were determined, in the long run, by the skill
13.— P E R CENT OF FIN ISH ER S (W E E K W O R K E R S ) RE CEIV IN G
EACH CLASSIFIED R A T E OF W AGES P E R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913.
C h a rt
40%
35
30
Z5
20
J5
/O
0%
of the worker. The workers were enabled to command higher wages
in the shops manufacturing high-grade garments than in those manu
facturing low-grade garments and requiring less skilled workers. On
the other hand, where the work was paid for by the piece, the earnings
were determined not only by the skill but by the speed of the workers,
and the rates paid, not being uniform in the different shops, resulted
in great differences in earnings without regard to the character of
the goods manufactured.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
131
55.—NUMBER AND PER CENT OF FINISHERS, W E E K W O R K E RS, RECEIVING
EACH CLASSIFIED RA TE OF WAGES PE R W EE K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
T able
NUMBER.
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
1913
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99........... .
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
1
U
35
92
180
234
218
141
82
20
7
1
15
53
100
170
402
221
168
34
13
2
1
Total...............
1,023
1,178
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1
2
5
14
25
65
43
32
24
6
1
218
1913
Association B.
1912
1
5
17
40
58
166
89
76
21
4
1
23
61
160
295
233
165
163
34
9
3
477
1,147
1913
Nonassociation
B.
1912
1913
1
4
7
17
22
62
69
45
10
1
Total.
1912
1913
2
14
66
179
382
635
548
383
287
67
19
4
2
3
41
111
236
372
1,148
643
514
124
50
3
4
17
34
79
122
518
264
225
59
32
3
3
3
12
17
41
54
45
18
7
3
1,356
200
1.3
2.5
5.8
9.0
38.2
19.5
16.6
4.3
2.4
.2
.2
1.5
6.0
8.5
20.5
27.0
22.5
9.0
3.5
1.5
0.5
1.7
2.9
7.1
9.2
26.1
29.0
18.9
4.2
.4
0.1
.5
2.6
6.9
14.8
24.5
21.2
14.8
11.1
2.6
.7
.2
.1
0.1
1.3
3.4
7.3
11.5
35.3
19.8
15.8
3.8
1.5
.1
.1
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
238 12,588
2
3,249
PER CENT.
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99....... ; ........
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
0.1
1.0
3.4
9.0
17.6
22.9
21.3
13.8
8.0
2.0
.7
0.1
1.3
4.5
8.5
14.4
34.1
18.8
14.2
2.9
1.1
.2
.1
Total..............
100.0
100.0
0.5
.9
2.3
6.4
11.5
29.8
19.7
14.7
11.0
2.7
.5
100.0
0.2
1.0
3.6
8.4
12.1
34.9
18.7
15.9
4.4
.8
0.1
2.0
5.3
13.9
25.7
20.3
14.4
14.2
3.0
.8
.3
100.0
100.0
SUMMARY OF PERCENTAGES.
Less than $8.............
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 and over..............
54.0
21.3
24.7
28.8
34.1
37.1
51.4
19.7
28.9
25.3
34.9
39.8
47.1
20.3
32.6
18.6
38.2
43.2
36.5
27.0
36.5
21.4
26.1
52.5
49.3
21.2
29.5
23.6
35.3
41.1
Total..............
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1 Not including 196, for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
2 Not including 85, for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
132
T
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
56.— NUMBER AND PER CENT OF FINISHERS, PIECEW ORKERS, EARNING EACH
CLASSIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF THE Y E A R , 1912 AND 1913,
B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
NUMBER.
able
Classified earnings
per week.
Association
A.
Nonassociation
A.
Association
B.
1912
' 1912
1912
Under $3.............
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $3.99.................
$10 to $11.99...'......
$12 to $13.99.............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
125
38
46
70
64
79
78
76
104
54
26
14
4
Total..............
780
1913
122
59
54
66
95
96
91
106
55
86
55
17
3
18
7
13
16
15
20
28
18
28
7
8
4
1
1913
34
15
14
24
37
40
44
31
56
28
12
4
2
905
183
1913
117
41
57
46
55
68
66
73
114
79
42
10
3
1
1
76
41
37
38
56
69
63
75
117
85
55
24
14
4
773
754
339
Nonassociation
B.i
1912
1913
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
5
2
6
1
1912
1913
262
88
118
134
136
169
174
172
248
146
77
28
8
x
3
237
125
118
136
199
221
220
221
238
204
127
47
17
4
116 21,764
3 2,114
5
10
13
8
11
16
22
9
10
5
5
2
!
28 |
Total.
PER CENT.
Under S3............
$3 to $3.99..........
$4 to $4.99..........
$5 to $5.99..........
$6 to $6.99..........
$7 to $ 7 .9 9 .......
$8 to $8.99..........
$9 t o $0 .9 9 .......
$10 to $11.99.......
$12 to $13.99.......
$14 to $15.99.......
$16 to $17.99.......
$18 to $19.99.......
$20 to $22.49.......
$22.50 to $24.99..
16.0
4.9
5.9
9.0
8.2
10.1
10.0
9.7
13.4
6.9
3.3
1.8
.5
13.5
6.5
6.0
7.3
10.5
10.6
10.0
11.7
6.1
9.5
6.1
1.9
.3
9.8
3.8
7.1
8.8
8.2
10.9
15.3
9.8
15.3
3.8
4.4
2.2
.6
10.0
4.4
4.1
7.1
10.9
11.8
13.0
9.2
16.5
8.3
3.5
1.2
15.1
5.3
7.4
6.0
7.1
8.8
8.5
9.5
14.8
10.2
5.4
1.3
.4
.1
.1
10.1
5.4
4.9
5.0
7.4
9.2
8.3
10.0
15.5
11.3
7.3
3.2
1.9
.5
4.3
8.6
11.2
6.9
9.5
13.8
19.0
7.8
8.6
4.3
4.3
1.7
14.9
5.0
6.7
7.6
7.7
9.6
9.9
9.7
14.0
8.3
4.4
1.6
.4
.1
•2
11.2
5.9
5.6
6.4
9.4
10.5
10.4
10.5
11.3
9.6
6.0
2.2
.8
.2
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
.3
100.0
1 Percentages for 1912 not computed on account of small number of employees.
2 Including 196 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
* Including 85 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
IRONERS AND PRESSERS.
The protocol provided for different rates of wages for ironers and
pressers without defining what was meant by each. Considerable
difference of opinion has developed between the workers and the
manufacturers as to where the exact line is to be drawn between the
two classes of workers.
By pressers are meant those who work with a heavy flatiron, placing
a wet cloth between the iron and the garment that is pressed. By
ironers are meant those working with a light iron without the use of
a wet cloth. The heavy iron is used on serges and other woolen and
worsted cloths, heavy linens, ratines, and, sometimes, silks. The
light iron is used mostly on lingerie and light cotton cloth and most
silks. So far, there is complete agreement on both sides. The
difference arises in determining where the light iron ends and the
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
133
heavy iron begins. The workers are inclined to consider an iron
weighing 8 pounds or more as a heavy iron. Among the manufac
turers, some draw the line at 12 pounds. There is a tendency to an
agreement on 10 pounds as the line of demarcation.
In view of the contention as to the designation of pressers and
ironers, respectively, it was found impossible to account for each
separately. Several manufacturers call their workers pressers,
although they work with light irons; others call their people uniformly
ironers, although the majority of them may be pressers; while in some
shops the relative number of pressers and ironers changes with the
seasons and with the changes in the character of the garments manu
factured. It was, therefore, found necessary to combine pressers and
ironers into one class.
SEX.
With but rare exceptions pressers are all men, while ironers are
mostly women. Of the pressers and ironers, 1,119 are reported in
Table 8 for 1913 and 816 for 1912. Of those in 1913, 537 were males
and 582 were females.
WAGES.
Although the protocol provides for weekly rates of wages for
ironers and pressers, nearly one-third of all the ironers and pressers
found on the pay rolls of the shops investigated were working by the
piece (see Table 11). The exact percentage of pieceworkers was 32
per cent in 1913 and 37 per cent in 1912. Although the proportion
of pieceworkers declined from 1912 to 1913, the actual number of
pieceworkers increased, being 298 in 1912 and 357 in 1913.
Wages o f week workers, women.—The minimum rates of wages pro
vided by the protocol for ironers are $12 a week for women and $15
for men and $20 for pressers, who are all men. The number of
women week workers receiving a wage of $12 and under $14 a week
was 115 out of the total of 387, or nearly 30 per cent (Table 57).
Nearly 13 per cent of the women ironers received $14 and less than
$16; over 4 per cent received $16 and less than $18; 5 women ironers
received $18 and under $20, and 2 women received $20 a week and
over. That is to say, less than 49 per cent of all the women ironers
working by the week received $12 a week or more, while over 51 per
cent, or more than half, received less than the minimum protocol
rate. Of these, nearly 21 per cent, or more than one-fifth of all the
women week workers, received $10 and less than $12 a week, and
nearly 12 per cent, or more than one-tenth, received $9 and less than
$10. The remainder, over 18 per cent, received $4 and less than $9
a week. Of these, 4 workers received $4 and less than $5 a week and
5 workers received $5 and less than $6.
Wages o f week workers, men .—On the whole the men week workers
have fared better than the women in receiving the protocol rates.
134
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
The number of men ironers or pressers receiving $12 a week or more
constituted nearly 82 per cent of the total of 352 men ironers and
pressers (Table 58). Those in the groups getting $15 (the minimum
protocol rate of ironers) or more constituted more than 69 per cent of
the total; those receiving the minimum protocol rate of pressers ($20)
and more than that amount constituted over 28 per cent of the total.
This does not mean that 28 per cent of the pressers received the
minimum pressers7 rate of $20, since the pressers and ironers are
combined. On the other hand, there is no doubt that the number
of those who received $15 and less than $20 a week includes not only
ironers but also pressers.
Earnings o f pieceworkers, women.-—Since pieceworkers are pre
sumed to work harder than week workers, especially during the
busy season, and since the figures here given for pieceworkers cover
their total earnings, including overtime, while the figures for the
week workers are the weekly rates, not including overtime, it is
natural to expect that the pieceworkers7 earnings will exceed the
weekly rates of wages for the corresponding workers. A comparison
of the piecework earnings and the weekly rates bears this out for the
women, but not so strongly, if at all, for the men.
Earnings o f pieceworkers, men .—Thus, the proportion of men (Table
60) earning $12 a week and over by piecework was over 83 per cent
as compared with nearly 82 per cent of men receiving these rates by
the week (Table 58). The proportion of men earning $14 a week or
more was more than 74 per cent as compared with more than 69 per
cent receiving these rates by the week.
In the case of women pieceworkers (Table 59), nearly 67 per
cent earned $12 a week or more, while among the women week
workers less than 49 per cent received that rate, and the proportion
of women pieceworkers earning $14 a week or more was over 57 per
cent as compared with less than 20 per cent of women earning this
amount by the week. Among the women week workers, the highest
wage group was that of $20 and less than $22.50, while among the
women pieceworkers nearly 9 per cent earned $20 and less than $22.50
a week, over 9 per cent earned $22.50 and less than $25, nearly 3 per
cent earned $25 and less than $27.50, nearly 4 per cent earned $27.50
and less than $30, and 1 woman earned over $30.
The inference from these figures is clear that where women and
men are compensated strictly on their respective merits— that is, in
proportion to the work turned out, receiving the same compensation
for equal quantities of work—women come much nearer earning the
same wages as the men than where the compensation is fixed according
to the sex as is the case with the weekly rates.
While the proportion of men earning $12 a week and over is prac
tically the same among pieceworkers and week workers, namely, over
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
135
83 per cent in the former and nearly 82 per cent in the latter, the
difference between the two classes increases as the scale of wages
increases. Thus those receiving $16 a week or more constitute over
66 per cent among the pieceworkers and only 52.5 per cent among
the week workers; those receiving $20 a, week or more form nearly
49 per cent among pieceworkers and less than 29 per cent among the
week workers; those receiving $25 a week or more constitute over
29 per cent among the pieceworkers and less than 4 per cent among
the week workers.
A comparison of the wages in the high-grade and low-grade shops
is made in Table 57, giving the wages of the women ironers working
by the week, this being the largest group in the occupation of ironers
and pressers. This table shows for a few of the lower wage groups
an excess of workers in the low-grade shops as compared with the
high grade. Corresponding to this is an excess in the proportion of
workers in the high-grade shops over the low-grade for the next
group of higher-paid workers. Thus there is a greater percentage
of workers receiving less than $8 a week in the A shops than in the
B shops. In the next three succeeding wage groups ($8 and under
$12 a week) the percentage for the B shops rises slightly above that for
the A shops. Again, for the group $12 and under $14 a week there
is a high peak above 32 per cent for the A shops, while the percentage
for B shops rises to a little over 23 per cent; and for the group $14
and under $16 the percentage for B shops is higher than that for
the A shops, showing that there is a greater percentage of the higherpaid workers in the high-grade shops than in the shops manufacturing
the cheaper garments.
Wages in 1912 and 1918.—The effect of the protocol upon the
wages of female ironers, week workers, is shown in Table 57 and in
Chart 14. ,The usual high peak is shown for the group containing the
protocol rate ($12), as is the case with week workers in all occupations
for which there is only one protocol rate. The number of those
receiving $12 to $13.99 a week has risen from less than 20 per cent
of all the women ironers to nearly 30 per cent, and those receiving
less than $12 formed a much larger proportion in 1912 than in 1913,
while those receiving $12 a week or more are relatively more numer
ous in 1913. There is a clear shifting of the entire force from lowerpaid positions to higher-paid.
Table 58 and Chart 15 show the changes in the wages of men pressers
and ironers, week workers, in the two years 1912 and 1913. The
change here does not show the same uniform movement upward as in
Chart 14. On the whole, however, it shows an improvement and a
decided increase in the number of those receiving $20 a week or
more and a slight increase in the number of those receiving $14 to
$15.99 a week. The $20 to $22.49 group forms the highest peak,
136
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
rising to nearly 22 per cent, as against only 4 per cent in the year
1912. All the other groups above $20 show an increase with the
exception of the group of those receiving $30 and over, which has
declined from more than 5 per cent in 1912 to a little more than 1 per
cent in 1913. This represents, however, only 11 persons in 1912 and
5 persons in 1913. With the exception of those receiving $7 and
under $8 a week, all the wage groups below $15 show a falling off
since 1912. The percentage of ironers receiving $10 and under $12
C h a r t 14.— P E R CENT OF IR O N E R S, FEM ALE (W E E K W O R K E R S ), R E C E IV
ING EACH CLASSIFIED R A T E OF WAGES P E R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913.
is practically the t o e for both years, namely, 8 and 7.4. All these
reductions have been accompanied by an increase in the number of
people receiving the protocol rate of $15, and especially in the number
of those receiving $20 a week and more.
Tables 59 and 60 show clearly the changes that have occurred
in the earnings of pressers and ironers working by the piece. Look
ing first at the figures of percentages of female pieceworkers in these
tables, an almost uniform decline is found in the proportion of those
C h a r t 15.— P E R CENT OF PRESSERS AND IRONERS, MALE (W E E K W O R K E R S ), RE C E IV IN G EACH CLASSIFIED R A T E OF
WAGES
AND
EMPLOYMENT
IN
DBESS
AND
WAIST
INDUSTRY.
137
WAGES P E R W E E K , 1912 AN D 1913.
138
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
earning less than $18 a week. The changos in the earnings of men
pieceworkers show the same tendency, though not with the same
uniformity as among the women ironers.
The only exception to this uniform decline in the proportion of
those earning less than $18 a week is in the case of those earning
$8 and less than $9, the proportion of whom increased from 2.3 per
cent in 1912 to 3.1 per cent in 1913 (representing 6 persons in 1912
and 6 in 1913), the proportion of those who earned $10 and less than
$12 a week remaining practically the same, namely, 14.5 per cent in
1912 and 13.4 per cent in 1913 (38 workers in 1912 and only 26 in
1913). This is also true of those earning $16 and less than $18 a
week, who constituted 13.5 per cent in 1912 and nearly 13 per cent
in 1913 (35 workers in 1912 and only 25 in 1913).
On the other hand, the proportion of those receiving $18 a week
and more increased from less than 19 per cent in 1912 to over 33
per cent in 1913. The inference from this would be that like the
week rates, the piecework earnings have advanced since the adop
tion of the protocol.
Further details as to the changes in the rates of wages of week
workers and earnings of pieceworkers among ironers and pressers,
both women and men, in each of the four branches of the industry
will be found in Tables 57, 58, 59, and 60, which follow:
5 7 __ NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF IRONERS, FEMALE, W E E K W O R K E R S, RECEIV
ING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES PER W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF
SHOPS.
NUMBER.
Table
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99 .. . $4 to $4.99 ..............
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99 ..............
$8 to $3.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99............
$20 to $22.49
. ..
Total..............
2
1
6
13
13
18
23
39
22
14
1
152
1913
Nonassocialion
A .1
1912
1913
Association B.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
B.a
1912
1913
1
4
2
11
14
17
27
50
77
24
9
2
1
238
1
1
1
2
2
3
2
8
2
4
8
13
12
32
32
11
3
3
4
5
9
17
28
31
25
8
2
1
1
2
118
133
3
1
5
1
1
8
Total.
1912
3
1
8
17
21
32
37
73
54
25
4
2 275
i Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
2Not including 30 for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
Not including 20 for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
1913
4
5
16
19
27
46
81
115
50
17
5
2
3 387
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T
139
5 7 ___ NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF IRON ERS, FEM ALE, W E E K W O R K E R S, RECEIV
ING EACH CLASSIFIED R A T E OF WAGES PE R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF
S HO PS—Concluded.
PER CENT.
able
Classified rates of
wages per week.
Association A. Nonassociation
A.
1912
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
i.3
.7
3.9
8.6
8.6
11.8
15.1
25.7
14.5
9.2
.7
Total...............
100.0
1913
1912
1913
Association B . Nonassociation
B.
1912
1913
1912
1913
0.8
1.7
.8
4.6
6.9
7.1
11.3
21.0
32.4
10.1
3.8
.8
.4
1.7
3.4
6.8
11.0
10.2
27.1
27.1
9.3
2.5
2.3
3.0
3.8
6.8
12.8
21.1
23.3
18.8
6.0
1.5
.8
100.0
100.0
100.0
Total.
1912
1913
1.1
.4
2.9
6.2
7.6
11.6
13.5
26.5
19.6
9.1
1.5
1.0
1.3
4.1
4.9
7.0
11.9
20.9
29.7
12.9
4.4
1.3
.5
100.0
100.0
SUMMARY OF PERCENTAGES.
Under $12.................
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 and over.............
75.7
14.5
9.9
52.5
32.4
15.1
61.0
27.1
11.9
49.6
23.3
27.1
69.8
19.6
10.5
51.2
29.7
19.1
Total...............
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
T a b l e 5 8 . — NUMBER
AND PER CENT OF PRESSERS AND IRONERS, MALE, W EE K
W ORKERS, RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES PE R W E E K , 1912 AND
1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
NUMBER.
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
1913
Nonassociation
A.i
1912
1913
1
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5 99 ...............
$6 to $6 99 .. . . . ___
$7 to $7 99 ............
$8 to $8 99 ...............
$9 to $9.99...............
$10 to $11.99............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22 50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27 50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
1
5
2
8
6
10
22
20
13
18
5
3
1
Total...............
3
5
3
6
1
1
6
5
11
9
4
17
24
38
28
18
45
7
5
1
2
120
214
20
Association B.
1912
1
2
2
1913
Nonassociation
B.i
1912
1913
1
1
2
2
2
4
11
11
16
8
2
5
3
43
66
85
5
12
17
17
4
18
2
2
1912
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
7
3
9
6
11
1
Total.
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
6
10
2
3
7
2
10
8
17
40
34
37
28
9
3
1
1
11
6
14
12
5
26
44
59
56
30
76
10
7
1
5
2 212
8 352
1 Percentages not computed on account of small number of employees.
2 Not including 1 for whom earnings but not weekly rate of wages could be ascertained.
• Not including 3 for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
1913
140
T
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
5 8 . — NUMBER AND P E R CENT OF PRESSERS AND IRON ERS, MALE, W E E K
W O R K E RS, RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED R A TE OF W AGES P E R W E E K , 1912 A N D
1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS—Concluded.
able
PER CENT.
Association A.
Classified rates of
wages per week.
1912
1913
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24,99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
0.8
4.2
1.7
6.7
5.0
8.3
18.3
16.7
10.8
15.0
4.2
2.5
.8
5.0
2.3
5.1
4.2
1.9
8.0
11.2
17.8
13.1
8.4
21.0
3.3
2.3
.5
.9
Total...............
100.0
100.0
Nonassociation
A.
1912
1913
Association B. Nonassociation
B.
1912
1.5
3.0
3.0
1913
1912
1913
Total.
1912
1913
0.5
.5
1.2
0.3
1.4
3.3
1.0
4.7
3.8
8.0
18.9
16.0
17.4
13.2
4.2
1.4
.5
1.2
1.2
2.3
7.6
3.5
5.2
1.7
4.0
3.4
1.4
7.4
12.5
16.8
15.9
8.5
21.6
2.8
2.0
.3
1.4
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
3.0
3.0
6.1
16.7
16.7
24.3
12.1
3.0
6.0
14.1
20.0
20.0
4.7
21.2
2.3
2.3
59 .—NUMBER AND PE R CENT OF IRONERS, FEMALE, PIECEW ORKERS, E A R N
ING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF THE Y E A R , 1912
AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
T able
NUMBER.
Classified earnings
per week.
Association
A.
1912
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99...............
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
Total...............
5
4
3
6
11
6
5
13
31
18
20
23
8
19
10
1
183
Nonassociation
A.i
1913
1912
2
2
1
1
4
5
13
18
11
12
12
11
13
15
5
6
131
1913
3
Association
B.
1912
4
Nonassociation
B.i
1913
1912
1913
2
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
4
1
15
7
8
11
12
6
1
1
1
3
10
76
1
1
2
8
7
6
11
5
4
2
1
2
2
1
1
50
2
4
Total.
1912
1913
7
9
4
4
8
11
10
6
29
38
28
31
35
14
20
10
2
3
2 262
2
1
1
5
6
17
26
18
22
25
17
17
18
5
7
1
8 195
1 Percentage not computed on account of small number of employees.
2 Including 30 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
» Including 20 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T
141
5 9 .—NUMBER AND P E R CENT OF IRON ERS, FEMALE, P IE C E W O R K E R S, E A R N
ING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT, DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF THE Y E A R ,
1912 AND 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS—Concluded.
able
PER CENT.
Association A.
Classified earnings
per week.
1912
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
2.7
2.2
1.6
3.3
6.0
3.3
2.7
7.1
17.0
9.8
10.9
12.6
4.4
10.4
5.5
.5
Total...............
100.0
1913
Nonassociation
Association B.
A.
1912
1913
1912
1.5
5.3
1.5
.8
.8
3.1
3.8
9.9
13.7
8.4
9.2
9.2
8.4
9.8
11.5
3.8
4.6
1.3
2.6
5.3
1.3
19.8
9.2
10.5
14.5
15.8
7.9
1.3
100.0
100.0
Nonassociation
B.
1913
1912
Total.
1912
1913
4.0
3.4
1.5
1.5
3.1
4.2
3.8
2.3
11.1
14.5
10.7
11.8
13.5
5.3
7.6
3.8
.8
1.1
2.0
2.0
4.0
16.0
14.0
12.0
22.0
10.0
8.0
4.0
1.3
3.9
1913
2.0
100.0
100.0
3.6
1.0
.5
.5
2.6
3.1
8.7
13.4
9.2
11.3
12.8
8.7
8.7
9.2
2.6
3.6
.5
100.0
6 0 . — NUM BER AND P E R CENT OF PRESSERS AND IRONERS, MALE, PIECE
W ORKERS, EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF
THE Y E A R , 1912 AN D 1913, B Y CLASS OF SHOPS.
T able
Total.
Classified earnings
per week.
Association
A.
1912
Under $3...................
$3 to $3.99.................
$4 to $4.99.................
$5 to $5.99.................
$6 to $6.99.................
$7 to $7.99.................
$8 to $8.99.................
$9 to $9.99.................
$10 to $11.99..............
$12 to $13.99..............
$14 to $15.99..............
$16 to $17.99..............
$18 to $19.99..............
$20 to $22.49..............
$22.50 to $24.99.........
$25 to $27.49..............
$27.50 to $29.99.........
$30 and over.............
T otal..............
1913
Nonassocia
tion A.
1912
1
1
2
1
1913
1912
1913
Nonassocia
tion B.
Number.
1912
1913
1
3
1
4
3
2
1
2
2
3
12
5
7
9
4
2
8
3
16
39
74
15
80
2
3
1912
1
2
2
1
2
1
2
4
3
2
7
2
1912
1
1.5
1
1
9
21
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
9
8
5
4
13
5
4
5
6
4
10
167
1
1
1
3
Per cent.
1913
1
1
1
1
2
5
2
3
4
1
1
3
3
5
6
5
15
3
5
5
13
2
5
3
4
3
9
Association
B.
2
1913
0.5
3
4
1.5
1
1.5
6
3.0
6
1.5
3
7 *3.0*
17 13.4
15 12.0
16
7.4
16
6.0
29 19.4
7
7.4
14
6.0
7.4
9
31
9.0
1.6
2.2
.5
3.2
3.2
1.6
3.8
9.2
8.0
8.6
8.6
15.7
3.8
7.6
4.9
16.8
185 100.0
100.0
1 Including 1 week worker for whom earnings but not weekly rate of wages* could be ascertained.
2 Including 3 week workers for whom earnings but not weekly rates of wages could be ascertained.
JOINERS.
In the dress and waist industry there are two classes of workers
known under the name of joiners. One is the class of operators who
join the waist to the skirt and stitch the belt over the two on the
142
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
sewing machine. The other class of workers known as joiners is
but one degree removed from that of drapers. Their work consists
in joining the waist, skirt, and belt together on the figure by means
of pins. They are not supposed to do any draping beyond seeing
that the skirt hangs right from the waist and that the waist is
properly pinned to the skirt so as to fit the figure uniformly.
The source of supply of joiners is dressmakers and examiners.
After joiners have attained sufficient skill through experience, they
are graduated into the class of drapers and high-grade examiners.
SEX.
Only women are employed as joiners on figures. Machine or oper
ator joiners are, as a rule, women, though a few men are found
among this class of workers. It was impossible to ascertain from the
pay rolls whether the joiners mentioned there were of one or the
other class. The overwhelming majority of them, however, are
undoubtedly of the class who work on figures, though a few may be
operators. This may account for the presence of 11 men among the
total of 207 joiners in 1913, for whom information was secured.
WAGES.
Most joiners are paid by the week, the minimum .weekly rate of
wages under the protocol being $12. As will be seen from Table 11,
out of 207 joiners for whom wages were obtained, only 12 were found
to be working by the piece.
The 207 joiners were distributed as follows among three of the
branches of the industry: Association A (lower-grade garments), 113;
association B (higher-grade garments), 56; nonassociation A, 38.
The numbers are too small to permit of analysis of the percentage
of workers receiving various rates of wages in the different branches
of the industry. Of the 166 women joiners (Table 61) whose weekly
rates were obtained, 74, or nearly 45 per cent, were in the group in
cluding the minimum protocol rate of $12 a week; 14, or over 8 per
cent of the total, received more than the protocol rate, so that the
proportion of those receiving the protocol rate and over was 53 per
cent, or more than one-half of the total.
Wages in 1912 and 1913.—Comparing the wages of joiners working
by the week in 1912 and 1913, a general reduction is found in the pro
portion of workers receiving the lower rates of wages and an increase
among those receiving the higher rates. Thus, the number of female
workers receiving less than the protocol rate of $12 a week declined
from nearly 56 per cent in 1912 to 47 per cent in 1913. Those in
the group receiving the minimum protocol rate increased from over
39 per cent to nearly 45 per cent; those receiving $14 or more in
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY,
143
creased from less than 5 per cent to over 8 per cent, so that the pro
portion of joiners receiving $12 and over was 53 per cent in 1913 as
against more than 44 per cent in 1912. Table 61, which follows,
shows the number of joiners receiving each classified rate, and Chart
16 presents the figures in graphic form.
T able 6 1 .— NUMBER AND PE R
CENT OF JOINERS, W E E K W O R K E RS, i RECEIVING
EACH CLASSIFIED RA TE OF WAGES PE R W EE K , 1912 AND 1913, B Y SEX.
Female.
Classified rates pf wages per week, and
classes of shops.
Number.
Male.
Per cent.
1913
1912
1912
1913
1912
1913
$6 to $6.99......................................................
$7 to $7.99......................................................
$8 to $8.99......................................................
$9 to $9.99......................................................
$10 to $11.99...................................................
$12 to $13.99...................................................
$14 to $15.99...................................................
$16 to $17.99...................................................
$18 to $19.99...................................................
6
6
3
11
8
24
3
16
6
16
14
26
74
13
1
9.8
9.8
4.9
18.1
13.1
39.4
4.9
9.6
3.6
9.6
8.4
15.8
44.6
7.8
.6
Total....................................................
.2 61
3 166
100.0
100.0
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
7
2
1
2
4
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A ................................................
Association B ...............................................
Nonassociation A .........................................
30
30
1
79
54
33
1 In addition to the week workers shown in this table there were 2 pieceworkers, female, in 1912, and 8 in
1913, and 3 pieceworkers, male, in 1912 and 4 in 1913.
2 Not including 1 for whom weekly rate of wages could not be ascertained.
s Not including 22 for whom weekly rates of wages could not be ascertained.
M ARKERS.
Markers are usually young girls who mark with a pencil the spot
opposite the buttonhole where the button is to be sewed on the waist.
There is no skill required for this work and any young beginner who
comes into the factory may be put to mark buttons.
As will be seen from Table 8, only 18 markers were found on the
pay rolls of the 520 shops during the year 1913. Of these, 15 were
girls and 3 were boys. There were, no doubt, a great many more
markers in the industry, but in all probability they were entered on
the pay roils as cleaners. This is quite natural, since a girl will be
put either on cleaning work or marking, according to the needs of the
shop.
As will be seen from Table 62, the lowest wage which markers
received in 1913 was $5 to $5.99 a week, as against $4 to $4.99 in 1912.
Altogether there were only 3 markers receiving less than $6 a week
during 1913, while 4 received $10 a week or more, the remainder re
144
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
ceiving $6 and less than $10 a week. Nine out of 18, or exactly
one-half, received $6 and less than $8 a week.
C h a r t 16.— P E R CENT OF JOINERS, FEM ALE (W E E K W O R K E R S ), R E C E IV
ING EACH CLASSIFIED R A T E OF WAGES P E R W E E K , 1912 AND 1913.
M
so%
)I
/
j
/
Weekly Rates of
' I
i
/
/
\
\ \\
\ \
V
\\
\ '
19/2 --------------------- —
IS/3 -----------------------------/
/ /
\
/
/
<7
y
/
/
-
\
T
able
/
6 2 . — M ARKERS,
30
\ \
Wages of Jotners.
/
35
/
25
\
\\\\
A
\\
\
V
\
0%
RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF WAGES PE R W EE K
1912 AND 1913, B Y SEX.
Females.
Males.
Classified rates of wages per week, and classes of shops.
1912
1913
$4 to $4.99............................................................................
$5 to $5.99............................................................................
$6 to $5.99............................................................................
$7 to $7.99............................................................................
$8 to $8.99.......... ................................................................
$9 to $9.99............................................................................
$10 to $11.99........................................................................
$12 to $13.99........................................................................
2
1
2
1
Total.........................................................................
7
1
1912
1913
2
4
5
1
1
1
1
15
1
2
3
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A .................................................... ...............
Association B .....................................................................
Nonassociation A ... "..........................................................
6
1
12
1
2
3
145
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
SLOPERS.
Slopers are assistant cutters, whose work is described under the
heading cutters (see, especially, that part entitled “ The apprenticing
of a cutter,” “ sloping,” and “ sex” ).
The wages of slopers, so far as they have been found designated as
such on the pay rolls, are given in Table 63.
T
able
63 .—SLOPERS, W EEK W ORKERS, RECEIVING EACH CLASSIFIED RATE OF
WAGES PER W EE K , 1912 AND 191.3, B Y SEX.
Females.
Males.
Classified rales of wages per week, and classes of shops.
1912
$6 to $6.99............................................... ............................
$7 to $7.99............................................................................
$8 to $8.99............................................................................
$9 to $9.99............................................................................
$10 to $11.99...................... ..................................................
$12 to $13.99........................................................................
$14 to $15.99........................................................................
$16 to $17.99........................................................................
$18 to $19.99........................................................................
Total.........................................................................
1913
1
1912
1
1913
1
1
1
4
2
1
3
1
8
2
2
3
4
1
3
9
6
11
13
Workers in specified classes of shops.
Association A .....................................................................
Association B .....................................................................
Nonassociation A ..............................................................
4
5
6
2
8
1
1
11
1
SUBCONTRACTING AND PARTNERSHIPS.
Article X V of the protocol reads as follows: “ All inside subcon
tracting shall be abolished.” No definition of subcontracting is given
in the protocol.
Subcontracting is practiced, as a rule, in shops in which workers
are paid on a piece basis. Manufacturers find it to their advantage
in certain cases to allow their skilled workers, mostly operators, to
employ assistants who are directly responsible to these workers and
who receive their wages from them. These assistants receive no official
recognition from the manufacturer and are not carried on the pay
roll of the factory. They receive their pay from the workers, who
employ them either on a weekly basis or on a basis of a percentage of
the earnings of their employer. The latter method is used only when
a worker employs but one assistant of sufficient skill to be acceptable
as a partner, though not necessarily an equal partner.
The term subcontracting does not apply to partnerships, by which
are meant combinations of two workers of practically the same skill
who divide their earnings equally, or nearly so.
42132°—Bull. 146— 14------ 10
146
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
ADVANTAGES OF SUBCONTRACTING TO MANUFACTURERS.
The advantages of subcontracting to manufacturers who maintain
such a system in their shops are as follows:
1. It reduces the work of supervision to a minimum; it is easier
to run a factory with, say, one hundred operators of whom ten or a
dozen are subcontractors and the remaining number working for these
subcontractors than it is to have a factory of the same size where each
worker is subject to the direct supervision of the manufacturer. In
the former case, he practically has 10 foremen who receive no wages for
this work of supervision and are at the same time responsible for the
work of their respective teams or “ sets, ” as they are generally called
in the dress and waist industry.
2. It does away with the necessity of hiring assistant foremen or
forewomen for the instruction of new and inexperienced help.
3. There is a further saving in the clerical work in the shop and in
the office. Instead of distributing work among a hundred workers
and keeping track of them in order to keep them busy, the work is
now given out to only 10 people, leaving it to them to look out for
the rest. This not only means less distributive handling of the work
by the supervisory and clerical force of the establishment, but also
saves loss of time on the part of the individual workers in the inter
vals when they have completed their tasks and are waiting for new
work, and to that extent it is a saving to the manufacturer in the
number of hours his plant is partly or wholly idle. This loss of time is
common in all shops to a greater or less extent.
4. The problem of securing help during the height of the season
is greatly simplified. During this period there is great rivalry among
manufacturers to secure necessary help, causing much annoyance
and a great deal of lost effort on the part of the management. Under
the subcontracting system, the subcontractors attend to the hiring
of their own help, and as they are workmen themselves and mingle
with the working people, they secure their assistants more readily
than the manufacturer. Frequently they enroll their relatives and
personal friends and thereby secure more personal loyalty and steadi
ness in employment among their assistants than is possible for the
manufacturer.
5. In a large number of cases, the subcontractors attend to the
repair of the machines used by their help and thereby save the manu
facturer the cost of employing machinists or of taking the time of the
foreman for that purpose.
6. Subcontracting secures a maximum of output from each worker.
As their own earnings depend directly upon the output of their as
sistants, it is to the interest of the subcontractors to get the greatest
possible output out of them. This is done in a number of ways:
(a) Extreme subdivision of labor is introduced, each worker in the
set doing only a small part of the work in which he quickly special
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTJ.U\
147
izes and attains great speed. (b) Under this system, the subcon
tractor, who is himself a skillful and very rapid worker, sets the pace
for his assistants, who must keep up with him in order to keep him
supplied with the parts which he needs for his work, (c) This system
coupled with the fact that the assistants in the sets are working under
the very eye of their employer, who is constantly with them, insures
an application to their tasks and intensity of labor such as can not
be secured under any other system. (d) The advantages set forth
above result in so great an output per worker that it enables the
manufacturer to reduce gradually the piece rate per garment. As
the assistants employed by the subcontractors are paid by the week,
they are not concerned in this matter, so that the manufacturer meets
only with the resistance of the few subcontractors, if there be any
resistance at all, instead of the workers of the entire shop. On their
part, the subcontractors are not greatly inclined to resist such reduc
tions of pay, expecting to be able to make up for the loss by further
speeding up their help and by introducing new devices for increasing
the output.
7. The system of subcontracting results in an indirect saving,
inasmuch as it does away with the necessity of paying a higher rate
for overtime and of paying wages to week workers for certain holidays,
since these provisions of the protocol, which are generally enforced
with regard to week workers employed directly by the manufacturers,
have not been enforced in the case of employees of subcontractors.
8. The great increase in output secured from each machine under
the subcontracting system results in further savings to the manu
facturer, inasmuch as the overhead expenses per garment are greatly
reduced thereby—first, through the saving in the supervisory and
clerical force already mentioned; and, secondly, through the fact that
the total overhead expense, such as rent, power, wear and tear of
machinery, office expense, etc., is now distributed over a much
larger number of garments than would otherwise be possible.
DISADVANTAGES OF SUBCONTRACTING.
Such were the advantages, from the point of view of the manu
facturer, which were responsible for the existence and spread of the
subcontracting system. On the other hand, it was but natural that
the workers should find it objectionable, since the speeding up was
frequently carried to a point that injured their health. Through the
extreme subdivision of labor which this system always carried with it,
it also reduced the opportunity for the workers of learning the trade
sufficiently to enable them to be graduated into shops manufacturing
a better grade of garments, and thus made it impossible for them to
work up to a higher standard of wages.
The workers were not the only ones injured by the subcontracting
system. The general interests of the industry as a whole were like
wise injured, for the system prevented the new recruits in the indus
try from becoming skilled operators, without a sufficient supply of
148
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
which the industry in New York can not retain its commanding posi
tion in the growing market of ready-made high-grade and mediumgrade women’s dresses and waists. The fact that 85 per cent of the
operators are women, most of them young, a very large portion of
whom (roughly estimated by those in the industry to amount to onefifth of the total) marry each year and leave the industry, calls for a
constant recruiting of new workers who must be taught the trade of
dressmaking as it is carried on in the shops. This may have fur
nished one of the reasons which prompted the association to agree
to the demand of the union in incorporating article 15 in the protocol
calling for the abolition of all inside subcontracting.
DECLINE OF SUBCONTRACTING.
One of the objects of the present investigation was to ascertain the
extent to which subcontracting has been abolished or reduced. The
only source of information was furnished by the pay rolls in the shops
investigated. The task, however, proved much more difficult than
was at first anticipated. The difficulty arises from the fact that there
is nothing on the pay rolls to indicate whether a worker has earned
the amount he is credited with by his own efforts or with the assist
ance of others. The only guide in this matter is the amount of the
worker’s earnings. When a worker appeared on the pay roll with
weekly earnings of $50 or $100 or more, such a figure at once attracted
the attention of the investigator and inquiries were made as to
whether the worker is an employer of additional labor. It happens,
however, especially at times when work is more or less slack, that the
combined earnings of a worker and his assistant may be below $25
or, in some instances, even below $20, and thus fail to attract any
attention. The agents of the board were instructed to inquire of the
manufacturer or his representative as to whether a worker had assist
ants, in all cases where the weekly earnings exceeded $20.
Supplementary inquiries, which were made after the figures for the
industry were tabulated, disclosed the fact that, in some cases, cor
rect information was not obtained, so that some of the individual
earnings of $20 a week and over appearing in the tables as earnings of
individual workers may in reality represent the earnings of two
partners or of a worker with one or more assistants.
The figures relating to subcontracting are summed up in Tables 64,
65, and 66, which are presented in the following pages. Table 64
gives the number of sets found working in 1912 and 1913. tabulated
according to the occupation of the workers and the number of workers
in each set, both for the industry as a whole and for the association
and the nonassociation shops separately. Table 65 shows the num
ber of individual workers employed in the s^ts tabulated by sex, so far
as known. Table 66 gives the earnings of vh^se sets in the busiest
week of 1912 and of 1913, arranged according to occupation, extent
of earnings, and character of shop.
149
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DBESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
SIZE OF SETS.
The *‘ setsv may be of three kinds: First, partnerships, pure and
simple, consisting of two workers dividing their earnings according
to their respective skill; second, two partners employing one or more
assistants; third, one worker employing one or more assistants. In
all cases of sets an effort was made to ascertain the exact number of
people employed in the set, but as the assistants are seldom entered
on the pay rolls, it was not always possible to obtain the information.
T able
6 4 .—NUMBER AND COMPOSITION OF PARTNERSHIPS AND SETS IN VARIOUS
OCCUPATIONS IN ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS.
Occupation and year.
Association shops.
Nonassociation shops.
Sets or teams having each specified number of
persons.
Sets or teams having
each specified num
ber of persons.'
2
Buttonhole makers:
Sets or teams—19]
191
Cleaners:
Sets or teams—19]
19]
Closers and hemmers:
Sets or teams —19]
19]
Drapers:
Sets or te
1913.
Finishers:
4
3
6 7 8 9 12 14 15 17 18 20 35 45 To
tal. 2
5
Sets or teams—19:
19:
Lace runners:
Sets or teams—1912..
5 6 7 8 To
tal.
1
I
8
8
1
9
1
2
4
6
4
9
1
3
1
4
1
21
12
3
10
19
12
1
1
1
1
2
3
i
|
!
i
1
1 1
2
2
238
427
8
9
6
3
4 2 1
1
!
39
32
33
17
10
4
5
5 *i
13
24
2
i
3
1
2
1
3 1
1
1
1
l 1 1
1
1
1
2
26
75
1
20
24
26
5
8
22
21
1
3
5
8
2
4
9
1
2
1
11
7
12
8
2
11 *i
1
1
|
1
j’ i
1
24
37
!
1 1 1 1 181 45
268 112
1
1
!
2
1 2
3 4
2 1 *i 1
!**
2
3
!
1
1
1
18
19
2
Operators—N. S.:
124
Sets or teams—1912.
242
1913.
Body makers:
fO
Sets or teams—1912.
68
1913.
Skirt makers:
15
Sets or teams—1912.
22
1913.
Dressmakers:
Sets or teams—1912..... 17
18
Sleeve makers:
2
Sets or teams—1912.
6
1913.
Sleeve setters:
3
7
Sample makers:
Sets or teams—1912.
1913.
Trimmers:
Sets or teams—1912.
5
1913.
Tuckers:
8
Sets or teams—1912.
8
1913.---Total:
Sets or teams—1912.
1913.
i4
6
Embroiderers:
Sets or teams —1912.
1913.
Joiners:
Sets or teams—1912.
1913.
Ironers and pressers:
1
3
8 1 2 1
8 1 1 1
57
123
1
1
21
2 1 1
5
12
1
3
1
6
1
20
2
17
3
1
1
1
1
7
1
1
1
1
1
4
4
2
59
41
20
1
16
3 1
1
A
1
2
1
5
2
1 1 1 1 357 73
15 9 2 4! 3 1
1
500 160
2 ' i 1 *i
4 3 1
2I
1
4
4
18 3 4 3 1 1 103
27 3 2 1
*! 224
1
150
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T able 64 .—NUM BER AND COMPOSITION OF PA RTN ERSH IPS AND SETS IN VARIOUS
OCCUPATIONS IN ASSOCIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS—Concluded.
Total.
Occupation and year,
Sets or teams having each specified number of persons.
i
2
Buttonhole makers:
Sets or teams—1912..
1913.,
Cleaners:
Sets or teams—1912..
1913.,
Closers and hemmers:
Sets or teams—1912..
1913.,
Drapers:
Sets or teams—1912..
1913.,
Finishers:
Sets or teams—1912..
1913.,
Embroiderers:
Sets or teams—1912..
1913.,
Joiners:
Sets or teams—1912..
1913.,
Ironers and pressers:
Sets or teams—1912..
1913.,
Lace runners:
Sets or teams—1912..
1913.,
Operators—N. S.:
Sets or teams—1912..
1913.,
Body makers:
Sets or teams—1912.,
1913.,
Skirt makers:
Sets or teams—1912.,
Dressmakers:
Sets or teams—1912.,
1913.,
Sleeve makers:
Sets or teams—1912.,
1913.,
Sleeve setters:
Sets or teams1913.,
Sample makers:
Sets or teams—1912.,
1913.,
Trimmers:
Sets or teams—1912.,
1913.,
Tuckers:
Sets or teams—1912.,
1913.,
Total:
Sets or teams—1912.,
1913.,
Earnings (num
ber of persons in
sets unknown).
4
3
8
1ft
5 !
6
7 8 9
i
i
12'14 15 17
To
High
a, 35 45 u nNo.
k n . tal. Lowest. est.
9
12
11
1
?,1
3
9
3
1
22
$69.48
1
2
4
6
90
$55.22
?,
?
?
2
1
1
1
1
5
9
23.79
1
3
4
58.53
2
30
24
44.65
360.81
4 15
1 12
56.70
445.12
126.32
42.93
81.17
23.55
30.41
196.40
118.92
43.82
57.03
I
1
1
16
20
6
4
6
41
25
11
5
5
3
21
88
5
6 '* i
1
20
30
2
2
l
4
3
1
18
21
1
2
1
2
6
2
1
2
3
13
1
3
31
43
2 2
1
1
4
4
2
169
354
67
73
2
1 2
5
2 *i 1
1 1 1 1
3
1
1
1
1
71 309
38 429
1
30
96
1 30
1 39
1 1 1
1
1
763.80
144.90
1
1
24
25
77.30
50.68
1
1
6
10
73.28
45.31
1
5
16
1
1
5
5
10
11
5
5
2
1
311
617
77
68
23
19
3
1
2
1
1
2
19 12 3 5 3 1
4 1 3
6
2
i
1
2
1
29
23
42.35
56.20
126.82
120.63
96 556
48 772
23.55
30.41
763.80
144.90
5
2
1 1 1 1
1
1
i
1Including 1 hemstitcher.
In many cases, the number of people in a set had to be estimated
with the aid of the manufacturer or the bookkeeper on the basis of
the earnings and his knowledge of the conditions prevailing in the
shop. In a number of cases, however, no reliable estimate could be
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
151
made, and these sets are entered in Table 64 in the column headed
‘ ‘ Number unknown.”
As will be seen from the table, the number of such sets was 96 in
1912 and 48, or exactly one-half that number, in 1913. Of the 48
sets, 38 were uoperators not specified,” 4 were pressers and ironers,
and the remainder were operators of various kin’ds, such as tuckers,
sleeve makers, hemstitchers, etc. Some indication of the size of
these sets may be obtained from their earnings, which are given in
Table 66.
As will be seen from Table 64, the total number of sets in the
industry increased from 556 in 1912 to 772 in 1913. These two
numbers would seem to imply that not only has the provision of
the protocol for the abolition of subcontracting failed to be carried
out, but the evil has grown in extent. As a matter of fact such is
not the case. An examination of the figures in Table 64 will dis
close the fact that the increase occurred almost entirely in the num
ber of sets consisting of two workers, while the number of sets con
sisting of three workers or more has been reduced. Thus, in the
association shops there were 238 sets of two workers each in 1912
and 427 in 1913. In the nonassociation shops the number of those
sets was 73 in 1912, and 190 in 1913. On the other hand, the num
ber of sets of three or more was reduced from 149 in 1912 to 107 in
1913. When each group of sets is taken up separately, it will be
found that the larger the number of workers in the group the greater,
as a rule, has been the decline in the number of such sets. Thus,
taking the association shops for an illustration, the number of sets
consisting of three persons was reduced from 59 in 1912 to 41 in 1913;
sets consisting of 4 each numbered 20 in 1912, and 16 in 1913; those
consisting of 5 each numbered 15 in 1912, and 4 in 1913; those con
sisting of 6 each numbered 9 in 1912, and 3 in 1913, etc.
The increase in the number of sets consisting of two persons is
explained by the following situation: After the adoption of the pro
tocol it was found in a great many cases that not only was it not prac
ticable to do away with the “ sets,” but permission had to be given
for the introduction of the system of operators with assistants in
shops where it had not prevailed before. This happened in shops in
which the piecework system was for the first time introduced to take
the place of week work which had prevailed before the signing of
the protocol. In these shops generally the system of extreme sub
division of labor prevailed, known as the “ section” system. The
introduction of the piecework system was accompanied by the doing
away with section work, most of the work being done henceforth by
the body makers, and only certain parts, which represented distinct
occupations, being left to separate workers, such as sleeve setting,
152
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
tucking, buttonhole making, etc. The sudden introduction of the
new system threatened many of the less skilled operators, who had
been accustomed to section work, with the loss of their positions,
since they were unable to do “ body making.,, To prevent this
hardship to many workers and to enable the manufacturer at the
same time to train his employees gradually to the new system, the
union officials joined the officials of the association in granting per
mission in such instances for the temporary introduction of the
subcontracting system, under which the less skilled workers were
enabled to remain in those factories as assistants to skilled operators?
receiving their pay from these operators. Under this arrangement,
the boss of the “ set” becomes the instructor of his employees and
derives his compensation for the services thus performed in the
profit ho makes on the work of his assistants.
Looking at the figures in Table 64 for 1913, it will be observed that
by far the largest number of sets occurs in the occupation of “ opera
tors not specified” in which there were 268 in the association shops
and 123 in the nonassociation shops. If to these be added the sets
entered under “ buttonhole makers,” “ closers and hemmers,” “ lace
runners,” “ skirt operators,” “ waist operators,” “ dress operators,”
“ sample makers,” “ sleeve makers,” “ sleeve setters,” “ trimmers,”
and “ tuckers,” all of whom are operators in the sense of operating
sewing machines, it will be found that the combined occupation of
operators totaled 666 sets. The other sets were distributed among
the following occupations: “ Ironers and pressers,” of whom there
were 32 sets in the association shops and 37 in the nonassociation
shops in 1913, as compared with 39 and 24, respectively, in 1912;
“ finishers,” of whom there were 12 sets in the association shops, all
consisting of two workers each, and in the nonassociation shops 12
sets, of which 10 consisted of two workers each and 2 of three workers
each. Those interested in further details as to the distribution of sets
by occupations and by the number of people in a set are referred to
Table 64.
SEX OF W O RK ERS IN SETS.
Table 65, which follows, gives the sex of the workers employed in
sets, so far as it could be ascertained.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTKY.
T a b le 6 5
158
— SEX OF EM PLOYEES WORKING IN PARTN ERSH IPS AND SETS.
Association shops.
Occupation and
year.
Number of persons.
Nonassociation shops.
Number of persons. !
------'Numiber of
Sex
T o -: sets, M.
un
tal.
known.
M.
Buttonhole mak
ers:
1912..............
1913.............
Cleaners:
191 2
191 3
Closers and hem
mers:
191 2
191 3
15
Drapers:
191 2
191 3
Finishers:
191 2
191 3
Embroiderers:
191 2
191 3
Joiners:
191 2
191 3
Ironers and press
ers:
191 2
123
191 3
83
Lt.ce runners:
191 2
191 3
Operators, not
specified:
181
191 2
369 570
268
252 582
191 3
Body makers:
26
191 2
60
191 3
170
Skirt makers:
191 2
10
191 3
Dressmakers:
191 2
191 3
Sleeve, makers:
16
191 2
191 3
Sleeve setters:
191 2
20
191 3
Sample makers:
191 2
191 3
---------------- ---------------- ---------------Trimmers:
191 2
10
191 3
Tuckers:
191 2
28
191 3
Total:
1912...
1913...
199
641 1,095
564 1,207
Total.
35'
500 175
Number of persons.
Num
ber of
Sex
Sex
To sets. M. F.
unf ,
un
known. tal.
known.! taL
2!
4
21 6
!
13'
..J
I
25;
26
12
106
92
44
76
134
263
413
328
123
12
29
103
171
2651
497|
103 348 268
2241 470
1,360
1,704
As will bo seen from the figures for 1913, out of 1/704 persons
known to have been employed in the sets, 470 were men and 499 were
women, the sex of the remaining 735 workers, who numbered nearly
one-half of the total, being unknown. The women are thus seen to
be in a majority in spite o f the fact that in most instances the heads
154
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
of sets are men. Were the sex of the remaining workers ascertainable,
there is no doubt that the women would have been found greatly to
outnumber the men.
EARNINGS OF SETS.
Table 66, which follows, shows the number of sets in the different
occupations earning certain amounts during the busiest week in 1912
and in 1913, both in the association and the nonassociation shops.
6 6 . — NUMBER OF SETS IN VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS EARNING CLASSIFIED
AMOUNTS OF WAGES IN THE BUSIEST W EE K IN 1912 AND IN 1913 IN ASSOCIATION
AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS.
T able
ASSOCIATION SHOPS.
Un
der
$20
Occupation and year.
Buttonhole makers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Cleaners:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Closers and hemmers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Drapers:
gets—1912...........
1913...........
Finishers:
Sets_i91 2 ...........
1913...........
Embroiderers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Joiners:
gets—1912...........
1913...........
Ironers and pressers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Lace runners:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Operators—N. S.:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Body makers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Skirt makers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Dressmakers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Sleeve makers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Sleeve setters:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Sample makers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Trimmers:
Sets—1912._____
1913...........
Tuckers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Total:
Sets—1912.
1913.
i $446.82.
1
1
$20
to
$29
$30
to
$39.
$40
to
$49
2
1
2
4
2
2
$50
to
$59
$60
to
$69
$80
to
$89
$70
to
$79
$90
to
$99
$100
to
$199
i
1
...... I......
1
1
$200 $300
and Total.
to
$299 over.
1
2
2
2
1
1
10
10
4
1
2
3
4
9
1
|
2
1
4
1
2
21
12
1
1
1
2
8
8
1
2
1
1
5
1
i
i
4
8
4
6
5
7
3
5
5
2
5
2
1
J
9
1
1
1
1
39
32
|
2
5
8
29
45
47
89
47
70
17
29
11
13
5
5
2
3
4
25
10
29
5
10
3
3
1
4
3
1
6
7
4
6
1
3
1
2
1
2
1
3
2
2
5
5
6
7
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
3
1
2
1
4
2
4
2
3
15
21
1
1
__ !__
4
2
%
2
2
31
1
1
181
268
26
75
24
26
22
21
5
8
1
!
I
2
2 |
4
1
1
1
8
7
4
9
1
1
1
4
1
2
2
2
3
4
1
2
3
2
1
1
1
1
5
3
1
1
53
91
83
154
75
115
34
50
22
29
15
9
12
7
8
6
32
14
6
1
5
2 $537.92 and $644.87.
3 $658.80.
U
2
3
* $443.06.
20
17
357
500
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T
155
6 6 . —NUMBER OF SETS IN VARIOU S OCCUPATIONS EARNING CLASSIFIED
AMOUNTS OF W AGES IN THE BUSIEST W EEK IN 1912 AND IN 1913 IN ASSOCIATION
AND NONASSOCIATION SnOPS—Continued.
able
NONASSOCIATION SHOPS.
Un
der
$20
Occupation and year.
$20
to
$29
$30
to
$39
$40
to
$49
1
1
1
1
$o0 i $60 : S70
to : tO i to
$59 ; $69 : $79
’’
$80 ! $90 [ $100 ! $200 S300
and Total.
to 1 to ; to i to
$89 I $99 j $199 |$299 over.
1
Buttonhole makers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Cleaners:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Closers and hemmers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Drapers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Finishers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Embroiderers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Joiners:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Ironers and pressers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Lace runners:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Operators—N. S.:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Body makers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Skirt makers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Dressmakers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Sleeve makers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Sleeve setters:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Sample makers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Trimmers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Tuckers:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
l
!
I
1
I
i
!
i
i
!
.........1......... j.........
1
i
1
i
1
.. .
1
3
2
6
1
6
14
i..
!
1
4
5
!
i
5
4
12
24
23
50
7
25
5
10
1
1
8
6
5
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
■
1
!
1
|
" 1
i
!
;
I
1
i
i
!
I
3 |
6
2
3
1
1
1
2
3
1
2
2
*
I
7
12
i
2
3
1
2
2
1
3
3
2
l
1
3
2
.........!
i
1
i
!
1 1
i
6
24
37
57
123
1
21
5
!
i
1
1
|
I
1
3
5
12
1
3
i
1
2
1
1
1
4
i
!
Total:
Sets—1912.
1913.
6
8
1
1
1
19
33
83
45
14
37
.
j
1
2
1
13
22
4
15
3
4
2
4
2
1
1
1
7
4
1
103
224
1
TOTAL.
Buttonhole makers:
Sets—1912...
1913...........
Cleaners:
Sets—1912...........
1913...........
Closers and hemmers:
Sets—1912.........
1913...
Drapers:
Sets—1912...
1913...........
2
2
1
1
1
2
5
3
3
1
1
1
10
11
i
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
3
1
1
1
1
2
i
!
j
4
9
2
4
156
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T A B L E 6 6 . — NUM BER
OF SETS IN VARIOU S OCCUPATIONS EARNING CLASSIFIED
AMOUNTS OF WAGES IN THE BUSIEST W EE K IN 1012 AND IN 1913 IN ASSOCIATION
AND NONASSOCIATION SIIOPS—Concluded.
T O T A L —Concluded.
Occupation and year.
Un
der
§20
Finishers:
Sets—1912..........
1913..........
Embroiderers:
Sets—1912......... .
1913..........
Joiners:
Sets—1912..........
1913..........
Ironers and pressers:
Sets—1912......... .
1913......... .
I,ace runners:
Sets—1912......... .
1913......... .
Operators—N. S.:
Sets—1912......... .
1913.........
Bodv makers:
Sets—1912......... .
1913.........
Skirt makers:
Sets—1912.........
1913.........
Dressmakers:
Sets—1912.........
1913.........
Sleeve makers:
Sets—1912.........
1913.........
Sleeve setters:
Sets—1912.........
1913.........
Sample makers:
Sets—1912.........
1913..........
Trimmers:
Sets—1912.........
1913.........
Tuckers:
Sets—1912.........
1913.........
Total:
Sets—1912
1913
$20 I $30 j $40 ; $50
to I to * to 1 to
$29 | $39 j $49
$59
$00
$70
$80
$90 : $100 $200 j $300
to
to
to
to
to i to j and jTotal
$09 j $79 | $89 | $99 $199 ! $299 over. I
12 i
It) I
28
24
‘.11
0'
10 i
22 i
12
3
4 I
70
11
4
ti !
3;
139
!
l ;......
22 j
03
09
238
391
27
90
29
38
23
24
24
1 i
2
i
72 1 11(»
136 ! 237
21
89
152
47 |
72 |
14 !
8:
10
10 j
460
724
No definite conclusions can be drawn from these figures, their chief
value being that they furnish an indication of the size of the financial
operations of the subcontractors and the changes that have occurred
therein since the enactment of the protocol. From this point of
view, it is significant to note in association shops the decline in the
number of sets earning $200 or more from 8 to 4, and of those earning
from $100 to $200 from 32 to 14, while the number has increased
among those earning under $20 from 15 to 21; among those earning
from $20 to $29, from 53 to 91, and among those earning from $30 to
$39, from 83 to 154, etc. The increase in the number of sets earning
less than $70 a week is undoubtedly due to the great increase in the
number of sets consisting of two workers each, while the reduction in
the number of sets earning from $70 a week up is due to the falling
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
off iii the number of large sets.
the nonassociation shops.
157
A similar tendency is observed in
REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT.
As already explained, the wages given in this report are for the
busiest week of the year.
These figures are of no value, however, as an indication of the
annual earnings of the men and women employed in the industry,
unless it is known to what extent they are employed throughout the
year. For the dress and waist industry, like other garment indus
tries, fluctuates with the seasons, and very few workers are employed
regularly throughout the year.
The reasons why earnings of individual workers could not be
obtained for a whole year are explained at length 011 page 39 and
need not be repeated here. In order to ascertain the extent to which
the factories are busy throughout the year, and thereby lay a founda
tion for an approximate estimate of the annual earnings of the
workers in the industry, the following method was employed: The
total wages paid out each week during the year 1912 and the number
of workers employed during those weeks were copied from the pay
rolls of the factories investigated. As in the case of the wages for
the busiest week, the wages paid to designers, foremen, forewomen,
and office help, so far as possible, were eliminated.
Table 67, which follows, shows for each week of the year 1912 the
number of employees in each branch of the industry and the total
number in the 260 shops covered, and the per cent that the total
number each week is of the number in the week showing maximum
number employed. Table 68 shows the aggregate wages paid each
week and the per cent these are of the maximum amount paid in
any week. These figures are given for each of the four branches into
which the industry has been divided, i. e.: (1) Association shops
manufacturing low-grade garments, designated as association A ;
(2) Nonassociation A, i. e., non association shops manufacturing lowgrade garments; (3) Association B, including shops manufacturing
high-grade garments; (4) Nonassociation B, manufacturing highgrade garments; and finally (5) for the industry as a whole.
158
T
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
able
67 .—NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED IN 260 SHOPS IN THE DRESS-AND W AIST
INDUSTRY IN 1912.
Number.
Total.
Group A.
Group B.
Week.
Associa Nonassoci Associa Nonassoci
tion shops. ation shops. tion shops. ation shops.
1 ..................................................
2...................................................
3...................................................
4..................................................
5..................................................
6..................................................
7..................................................
8...................................................
9..................................................
10..................................................
11 ............ .....................................
12..................................................
13....... ...........................................
14..................................................
15...................................................
16...................................................
17..................................................
18...................................................
19...................................................
20...................................................
21...................................................
22............... .*................................
23..................................................
24...................................................
25..................................... ............
26...................................................
27..................................................
28..................................................
29..................................................
30...................................................
31...................................................
32..................................................
33...................................................
34..................................................
35...................................................
36...................................................
37...................................................
38...................................................
39...................................................
40..................................................
41..................................................
42...................................................
43...................................................
4 4 ................................................
46..................................................
47..................................................
48..................................................
49...................................................
50..................................................
51...................................................
52..................................................
Total...................................
Average..............................
7,990
8,198
8,433
8,751
9,232
9,482
9,926
10,250
10,619
10,795
10,846
10,964
10,896
10,290
10,298
10,320
10,272
10,017
9,894
9,622
9,249
9,201
9,128
9,193
9,021
8,372
7,046
6,085
5,550
5,608
5,905
6,671
7,505
8,295
8,904
7,644
7.639
7,735
7,800
7,906
7,955
8,105
7,441
7,084
6,524
6,418
6,214
6,011
6,100
6,075
6. 2C0
6,065
697
787
859
934
1,034
972
1,025
1,144
1,141
1,183
1,218
1,227
1,201
1,135
1,134
1,113
1,166
1,151
1,120
1,086
1,002
1,011
1,028
1,002
988
862
775
611
512
512
596
656
908
962
1,015
399
372
382
428
373
370
382
368
357
323
295
296
268
225
250
277
260
5,704
6,266
6,553
6,940
7,213
7,469
7,791
7,822
8,010
8,017
8,033
7,916
7,818
7,496
7,496
7,328
7,154
6,968
6,743
6,455
6,225
5,976
5,894
5,995
5,647
5,008
4,224
3,871
3,989
4,751
5,648
6,347
6,906
7,267
7,365
9,262
9,030
9,426
9,653
9,759
9,886
10,002
9,778
9,326
8,968
8,736
8,685
8,567
9,027
9,206
9,272
8,981
Number.
159
192
345
335
370
406
404
417
413
414
424
417
459
392
370
384
382
342
321
338
285
321
300
324
305
272
247
249
253
276
280
271
358
364
402
1,058
1,066
1,117
1,149
1,161
1,177
1,197
1,108
1,024
954
979
1,183
1,021
982
1,073
1,070
984
14,550
15,443
16,190
16,960
17,849
18,329
19,146
19,633
20,183
20,409
20,521
20,524
20,374
19,313
19,298
19,145
18,974
18,478
18,078
17,501
16,761
16,509
16,350
16,514
15,961
14,514
12,292
10,816
10,304
11,147
12,429
13,945
15,677
16,888
17,686
18,363
18,107
18,6C0
19,030
19,199
19,388
19,686
18,695
17,791
16,769
16,428
16,378
15,867
16,334
16,604
16,879
16,290
j
Per cent
(busiest
week=
100).!
71
75
79
83
87
89
93
96
98
99
100
100
99
94
94
93
92
90
88
85
82
80
80
80
78
71
60
53
50
54
61
68
76
82
86
89
88
91
93
94
94
96
91
87
82
80
80
77
80
81
82
79
889,159
17,100
83.3
i The busiest week means the week having the maximum number of employees. The figures in this
column indicate the percentage which the number of employees each week constituted of the number
of employees in the busiest week of the vear.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T able
6 8 .—AMOUNT OF WAGES
PAID IN 260 SHOPS OF THE
IN DU STRY IN 1912.
DRESS AND WAIST
Per cent
(busiest week= 100),,i
Wages.
Group A.
Group B.
Group A. j Group B.
Week.
Total
Non- To
for the Asso Nonasso- Asso assoAssocia Nonasso Associa Nonasso industry.
cia cia- cia cia- tal.
ciation
tion
tion
ciation
tion tion tion tion
shops.
shops.
shops.
shops.
shops. shops. shops. shops.
1 ................
2................
3................
4 ...........
5................
6................
7................
8................
9................
10................
1 1 ................
12................
13................
14................
15................
16................
17................
18................
19................
20................
21................ !!
22................ 11
23................
24................
25................
26................
27................
28................
29................
30................
31................
32................
33................
34................ !
35................
36................
37................
38................
39................
40..............
41................
42................
43................
44................
45................
46................
47................
48................
49................
50................
51................
52................
$70,100
80,464
85,830
92,555
98,272
102,949
109,959
115,652
124,085
127,342
127,850
129,018
125,223
100,318
105,556
110,020
112,467
104,383
100,280
96,123
91,061
86,579
91,821
93,471
89,335
81,026
59,793
51,732
48,473
50,898
54,477
63,551
73,276
83,809
95,116
80,076
76,047
87,923
94,776
94,462
94,882
89,188
85,534
79,049
68,186
68,872
64,844
57,267
61,616
63,897
64,065
57,594
Total
4,521,142
Averages.
$5,526
7,046
7,598
8,975
10,175
10,313
10,675
11,292
12,713
13,033
14,068
13,579
12,688
10,575
11,173
11,908
11,925
11,597
10,777
10,695
8,921
9,753
10,411
10,114
9,497
7,381
6,118
4,615
3,813
4,204
5,151
5,707
8,443
9,537
10,675
4,128
3,694
4,374
4,384
4,621
4,269
4,503
4,035
3,580
3,141
2,970
2,963
2,558
2,475
2,425
2,339
2,014
159
$53,640
64,287
68,841
75,852
80,107
85,069
88,056
90,636
99,246
99,652
98,757
97,846
94,828
80,182
80,746
82,191
75,413
73,889
71,103
67,973
63,912
57,558
62,154
62,748
57,559
50,296
37,451
36,528
39,235
47,693
*52,919
66,271
73,964
80,485
86,409
97,040
81,113
94,324
105,315
104,255
108,907
110,458
101,692
95,908
86,024
86,903
85,020
80,086
89,165
92,208
93,922
82,091
$1,218 $130,484
1,801
153,598
165,549
3,280
3,291
180,673
192,382
3,828
4,175
202,506
4,282
212,972
4,349
221,929
240,614
4,570
4,954
244,981
245,494
4,819
4,734
245,177
4,212
236,951
3,508
194,583
3,796
201,271
3,934
208,053
3,790
203,595
192,435
2,566
3,475
185,635
3,326
178,117
166,905
3,011
2,973
156,863
2,998
167,384
169,487
3,154
3,143
159,534
2,703
141,406
2,197
105,559
2,404
95,279
2,628
94,149
2,495
105,290
2,832
115,379
2,807
138,336
3,639
159,322
3,971
177,802
3,767
195,967
10,727
191,971
9,665
170,519
10,844
197,465
11,521
215,996
215,151
11,813
12,751
220,809
12,477
216,626
10,887
202,148
9,578
188,115
8,385
165,736
167,753
9,008
9,475, 162,302
9,217
149,128
9,199
162,455
10,470
169,000
10,136
170,462
9,128
150,827
389,144 4,097,927
293,911 9,302,124
54
62
67
72
76
80
85
90
96
99
99
100
97
78
82
85
87
81
76
75
71
67
71
72
69
63
46
40
38
39
42
49
57
65
74
62
59
68
73
73
74
69
66
61
53
53
50
44
48
50
50
45
49
39
50
58
62
54
69
64
72
73
77
73
80
76
82
80
90
90
90
93
89
100
89
97
86
90
73
75
79
73
74
85
85
68
82
67
77 . 64
76
62
63
58
52
69
74 . 56
72
57
52
68
52
46
43
34
33
33
27
36
30
43
37
48
41
60
60
67
68
73
76
78
29
88
26
I3
31
85
31
95
33
94
30
99
32
100
29
92
25
87
22
78
21
79
21
77
18
73
18
81
17
83
17
85
14
74
67
53
71
10
53
14
63
26
67
26
74
30
78
33
82
34
87
34
90
36
98
39
100
38
100
37
100
33
97
28
79
30
82
31
85
30
83
20
78
27 I 76
26 1 73
24
68
23
64
24
68
25
69
25
65
21
58
17
43
19
39
21
38
20
43
22
47
22
56
29
65
31
72
30
80
84
78
76
69
85
80
90
88
93
88
100
90
98
88
85
82
75
77
66
68
71
68
74
66
72
61
72
66
82
69
79
69
72
61
44
73
Aver
age
weekly
wage
per em
ployee.
$8.97
9.95
10.23
10.65
10.78
11.05
11.12
11.30
11.92
12.00
11.96
11.95
11.63
10.08
10.43
10.87
10.73
10.41
10.27
10.18
9.96
9.50
10.24
10.26
10.00
9.74
8.59
8.81
9.14
9.45
9.28
9.92
10.16
10.53
11.08
10.45
9.42
10.58
11.35
11.21
11.39
11.00
10.81
10.57
9.88
10.21
9.91
9.40
9.93
10.18
10.10
9.26
10.46
i The busiest week in each of these columns means the week in which the maximum amount of wages
was paid. The figures in this column indicate the percentage which the wages each week constituted
of the wages in the busiest week of the year.
160
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
Table 69 which, follows summarizes for the industry the figures
presented in the two preceding tables and adds two columns show
ing the per cent of employees and of wages for each week as com
pared with the averages for the year:
T a b i .e
6 9 .—
FLUCTUATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN THE
WAIST IN DU STRY FOR 1912.
V/cek.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11
Number of
employees.
14,550
15,443
16,190
16,960
17,849
18,329
19,146
19,633
20,183
20,409
20,521
20,524
20,374
19,313
19,298
19,145
18,974
18,478
18,078
17,501
16,761
16,509
16,350
16,514
15,961
14,514
12,292
10,816
10,304
11,147
12,429
13,945
15,677
16,888
17,686
18,363
18,107
18,660
19,030
19,199
19,388
19,686
18,695
17,791
16,769
16,428
16,378
15,867
16,364
16,601
16,879
16,290
.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22 .
23.
21.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
37..
38..
39.
40..
41.
42..
43..
44..
45..
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
Average..
17,100 !
Amount of
wages paid
out.
Per cent (busiest
week= 100).1
Em
ployees.
DRESS AND
Per cent (average
for year= 100).2
i Emi ployees.
Wa
Wages.
$130,484
153,598
165,549
180,673
192,382
202,506
212,972
221,929
240,614
244,981
245,494
245,177
236,951
194,583
201,271
208,053
203,595
192,435
185,635
178,117
166,905
156,863
167,384
169,487
159,534
141,406
105,559
95,279
94,149
105,290
115,379
138,336
159,322
177,802
195,967
191,971
170,519
197,465
215,996
215,151
220,809
216,626
202,148
188,115
165,736
167,753
162,302
149,128
162,455
169,000
170,462
150,827
71
75
79
83
87
89
93
96
98
99
100
100
99
94
94
93
92
90
88
85
82
80
80
80
78
71
60
53
50
54
61
68
76
82
86
89
88
91
93
94
94
96
91
87
82
80
80
77
80
81
82
79
53
63
67
74
78
82
87
90
98
100
100
100
97
79
82
85
83
78
76
73
68
64
68
69
65
58
43
39
38
43
47
56
65
72
80
78
69
80
88
88
90
88
82
77
68
68
66
61
66
69
69
61
85
90
95
99
104
107
112
115
118
119
120
120
119
113
113
112
111
108
106
102
98
97
96
97
93
85
72
63
60
65
73
82
92
99
103
107
106
109
111
112
113
115
109
104
98
96
96
93
96
97
99
95
73
86
93
101
108
113
119
124
135
137
137
137
132
109
113
116
114
108
104
100
93
88
94
95
89
79
59
53
53
59
61
77
89
99
110
107
95
110
121
120
123
121
113
105
93
94
91
83
91
94
95
84
178,887
•83.3
73
100
100
1 In the column for employees the busiest week means the week in which the maximum number were
employed; in the column for wages it moans the week in which the maximum amount was paid.
2 Percentage which employees or wages each week constituted of average employees or wages per week
during year.
Taking the figures for the industry as a whole, it will be seen that
the average employment through the year as shown by the number
of employees each week was 83.3 per cent; expressed as a percentage
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DBESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
161
of the amount of wages paid out each week, the annual average was
73 per cent. That is to say, if the 20,524 people, the maximum
number employed in any week (Table 69), in the shops which had
records for the entire year,1 were all to be given an equal chance
they would have employment 83.3 per cent of the year, or over 43
weeks. That does not mean, however, that they would be fully
employed during those weeks; it means merely that they would
be on the pay roll for that length of time, but the actual amount
of work they would have an opportunity of doing is shown by
the average annual wage percentage, which, as will be seen from
Table 69, was 73 per cent. This percentage is based on the wages
actually paid out from week to week, and is necessarily smaller than
the percentage of people employed, because workers, especially those
paid by the piece, may be on the pay roll for a week, but be paid only
for the work actually done by them, which may last only a few hours
each day or a few hours for the entire week, especially when work
is not plentiful.
The highest percentage of employment is, of course, 100, and oc
curred during the twelfth week (end of March), while the lowest was
50, found during the twenty-ninth week (early in August). On the
other hand, taking the wages paid out (Table 68) it is found that
the highest amount, $245,494, was paid out during the eleventh week,
the lowest (in the twenty-ninth week) fell to $94,149, or 38 per cent
of the highest, and the average for the year was $178,887. That is to
say, if the work done during the year were spread out equally over
every week of the year, the wages paid out by these shops would
amount to $178,887 per week.
Another conclusion to be drawn from these figures is that employ
ment is more steady than earnings in the industry; that is to say,
when work slackens most of the people are retained at the fac
tories, but there is less work to go around and in consequence less
wages earned. For this reason the average wage per employee during
one of the busiest weeks (tenth) was $12, while during the twentyseventh week it dropped to $8.59, the weekly average for the year being
$10.46. Taking the average annual percentage that wages for each
of the four branches of the industry were of the maximum amount
of wages of any week, it will be found that they differ widely, the lowest,
44 per cent, being for the high-grade (B) nonassociation shops, and
the highest, 71 per cent, for the high-grade (B) association shops.
The fluctuations of employment in 1912, as expressed in the
amount of wages paid and the number of people employed, can
i A very small number of shops has been included above in which wage records were missing for a few
weeks. But the wages paid out for these shops constituted too small a fraction of the total to affect the
results to any appreciable degree.
42132°— Bull. 1 4 6 -1 4 ------ 11
162
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
be easily traced from week to week in the following charts pre
pared for that purpose.
Chart 17 consists of two separate diagrams, the upper one showing
the fluctuations in the industry as a whole, while the lower diagram
shows the same facts for branch B, which consists of shops making
high-grade garments. The solid line in each case represents the
number of people employed, while the dotted shows the wages paid
out. For the purpose of graphic presentation, the average number
of people employed weekly throughout the year and the average
weekly wages paid out in the industry for the whole year were
designated as 100; and the number of people employed each week
and the amount of wages paid out each week were expressed as
percentages of those numbers.
SEASONAL RISE AND FALL IN NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES AND IN WAGES.
Looking at the upper diagram in Chart 17, two high peaks are found
in the months of March and October, indicating the periods of greatest
activity, while the lowest point falls in the month of July, showing
the dullest month of the year for the industry. Between the high
and low points there are several fluctuations of a minor character.
Examining the lines closely, the first point that strikes the eye is
that while the two lines follow, as a rule, the same direction, they
rarely coincide. The broken line, denoting wages, rises to greater
heights and falls to lower depressions than the solid line, which
shows the fluctuations in the number of people employed. Thus, in
the month of March the wage line rises to 137 per cent, while the
employment line stops at 120 per cent. This means that while dur
ing the busiest week in 1912, which occurred in March, there were
20 per cent more people employed in the shops than the average
throughout the year, the wages at the same time rose to 37 per cent
above the average. This is due to the fact that when factories are
busy to their capacity, they can not increase the number of their
employees beyond a certain limit, which is determined, first, by the
number of machines at the factory, and, second, by the available
supply of help which at that time of the year usually falls short of
the demand. At the same time the people employed at the factories
are kept more steadily at work than at other times in the year, and
therefore the individual earnings per employee increase in greater
proportion. This is especially true of pieceworkers, but is also true
of week workers, who are able to command during those weeks
higher rates of wages, which are further increased through working
overtime.
A marked excess of the percentage of wages over the percentage
of employees will be found at the other high peaks, viz, in February,
in April, at the end of August (35th week), at the end of September
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
163
(39th week), and the middle of October. The only exceptions to this
rule occur in the months of June, November, and December, when
the employment peak is above the wage crest. These exceptions
C h a r t 17.— SEASONAL FLUCTUATIONS OF EM PLOYM ENT AN D W AGES
IN W H O LE IN D U STR Y AND IN 6 H IG H -GRAD E SHOPS, 1912.
serve to confirm the rule as will be explained below, after considering
the low points in the curves.
When the low points are examined it is found that here again the
wage line goes to greater extremes than the employment line and
164
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
therefore declines to lower points than the latter. Thus at the lowest
ebb of the industry in July, the total wages paid out in the industry
decline to 53 per cent of the average weekly wage paid through the
year, while the per cent of employment goes down only to 60 per
cent. The meaning of this is that when business drops off, the
workers, especially those paid by the week, are not laid off in pro
portion to the decline in business, which leaves less work for each
worker. In other words, while wages decline in proportion to the
dropping off in business, the number of workers is not reduced to the
same extent. What occurs in July will likewise be found at the other
low points, such as April (14th week), end of May (22d week), middle
of September, the three November points, and December. That the
high peaks of wages in June, November, and December did not rise to
the corresponding employment peaks was due to the fact that those
are three comparatively slow months when there are more people at
the factories than there is work to keep them all busy. When a tem
porary improvement in the situation occurs during those months,
the wages rise more rapidly than the number of employees, but not
sufficiently for the wage line to rise above the employment line. Thus
before the rise in June the wage line was 88 per cent while the employ
ment line was at 97 per cent, making a difference of 9 points between
the two; the wages then rapidly increase in two weeks to 95 per cent
(24th week), while the number of workers remains the same, at 97
per cent), making the difference between the two lines only 2 points,
but not enough to send the wage line above the employment line.
Exactly the same thing happened in November and December.
Following the rise and fall of the curves through the year, the first
week of January is found to be at the lowest point of the year, with
the, exception of July. This is natural; it coincides with the New
Year’s holidays and the beginning of and the preparation for the
new spring season. Wages are 73 per cent of the average, that is to
say, 27 per cent below normal; employment is 85 per cent of the
average, or 15 per cent below the normal. Both lines rise rapidly,
indicating that orders are coming in; additional workers are taken
on as fast as conditions warrant; wages are rising more rapidly than
the number of new workers, which means that the old hands have
more work to do; and at the end of the third week in January the two
lines cross each other at 97 per cent, which means that wages have
overtaken employment and the industry is nearly normal. The
wheels of industry are now going faster and faster, the wage line
mounts higher and higher, the employment line likewise rises but
can not keep up with the wage line. This represents the time of
the year when manufacturers complain of lack of skilled help and
when the union can not meet the demand from the employers for more
help. This keeps up for about two months, when the amount of
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN' DBESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
165
weekly wages paid out in the middle of March reaches 137 per cent,
that is to say, 37 per cent above normal; and the employment line is
at 120 per cent, which means that the number of workers in the
industry is 20 per cent above the average.
The highest point reached is maintained for two weeks and then the
decline sets in, slowly at first, with temporary ups and downs through
April, May, and June, but each subsequent rise finds the curves at a
lower point than the preceding one, while each succeeding point of
decline exceeds the preceding one. Noting now the course of the two
lines, the first drop, both in the employment and in the wage lines,
which occurs at the end of March, is much more precipitous than in
the next few weeks. Up to this point everything was strained to the
limit of endurance to meet the rush orders; workers were kept busy
every minute of the day and made to work overtime; all the machines
were in operation and anyone from outside the industry who could run
a sewing machine was put to work. As soon as the rush is over, the
last recruits and the less competent and the less desirable workers
from the manufacturer’s point of view are the first to go; hence the
sudden decline of the employment line from the 12th to the 14th
week (end of March and beginning of April). At the same time the
wage line drops much more sharply than the employment line,
because overtime is largely discontinued and th^re is less work during
the regular work hours to go around among those who remain on the
pay roll. After the line reaches bottom at the end of the first week in
April there is a new rise in wages, although the number of people
employed continues to decline slowly but surely. This temporary
improvement is due to the fact that the preceding slump affected the
entire industry, while from now on the factories making cheap waists
and dresses are able to find a market for staple summer goods among
the retail stores, and only those manufacturing fine dresses and gowns
have but little to do.
The contrast between the two branches of the industry can be seen
at a glance by looking at the lower diagram of Chart 8, which repre
sents six shops making exclusively high-grade garments. Here the
wage line is seen to decline much more rapidly in the months of April
and May than in the upper diagram. At the end of May the wage
line drops to 88 per cent in the upper diagram, while in the lower
diagram it reaches the lowest point during that month at 66 per cent.
In June and July the wage line for the whole industry (upper dia
gram) declines very rapidly, reaching bottom in the middle of July,
when wages decline to 53, i. e. 47 per cent below normal (only a little
over one-third of the wages paid out during the busiest week), while
the line for the high-grade end of the industry (lower diagram) con
tinues during the months of June and July (with some ups and
downs) at about the same level as it reached at the end of May. This
166
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
is due to the fact that after the slump in May the high-grade garment
industry recovers part of the lost ground by making up garments at
reduced prices offered at special sales in the stores and is thus able to
keep moderately busy, while the manufacturers of low-priced gar
ments, having satisfied the summer trade, are now only able to get
mostly small supplementary orders “ to fill sizes.” As they are selling
cheap goods regularly, they are not in the same position as the manu
facturers of high-grade garments to make up special garments at
reduced prices.
Having reached bottom in July, both branches of the industry
begin to pick up for the fall season. The fall season is neither as long
nor as active as the spring season, which a glance at the two diagrams
in Chart 17 will show. Taking up first the upper diagram for the indus
try as a whole, we see that the highest point reached by the wage line
is only 123 in October, as compared with 137 in March. While in
’ the spring nearly four months are above the average line, in the fall
only one and a half months are above that line. The rise in August
is rapid, but as it starts from the bottom in July, it does not reach
normal (100 per cent) until the last week in August. There is a big
slump in the middle of September, due to the Jewish holidays. This
explains why the solid line, representing the number of people
employed, continues to rise in spite of the fall in the wage line: The
people are all on the pay roll, but they earn but little on account of
the holidays.
Both the upper and lower diagrams show the same tendency; but
in the lower diagram (high-grade garment industry) the fall busy season
(represented by the area above the normal 100 per cent line) is twice
as large as in the upper diagram (representing the whole industry).
That is to say, the high-grade garment industry is busy three months
in the fall season as ag;ainst one and a half months in the industry as
a whole. Not only does the fall season last longer in the higher end
of the industry, but it develops to a greater extent, the wage line
rising to 134 per cent (beginning of October) in that branch and only
to 123 per cent in the industry as a whole. In both diagrams the
decline sets in during October, passing under the normal line in the
early part of November, but here a change occurs in the relative posi
tions of the high-grade branch o f the industry and of the industry
as a whole. In the former the wage line drops to 64 per cent at
the end of November, while in the industry as a whole it does not go
below 83 per cent. This is due to the fact that many of the shops
manufacturing cheaper garments begin to get busy at this time on
advance spring orders or are making up stock in anticipation of the
rush order demand of the early spring months and the advance Jan
uary sales, while the high-grade shops must still await the final
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
167
developments in the style adjustments for the coming spring, and
such a thing as making stock is entirely out of the question.
What has been said about the two branches of the industry is
showm in Tables 70 and 71, which follow, and is strikingly brought
out in Charts 18 and 19.
T
able
70.—FLUCTUATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN 1912 IN SIX SHOPS MANU
FACTURING HIGH-GRADE GARMENTS EXCLU SIVELY.
Week.
Number Amount paid
of persons
in wages.
employed.
Per cent (busiest
week=100).1
Em
ployees.
Wages.
Per cent (average
for year= 100).2
Em
ployees.
Wages.
30..........................................................
31..........................................................
32..........................................................
33..........................................................
34..........................................................
35..........................................................
36..........................................................
37..........................................................
38..........................................................
39..........................................................
40..........................................................
41................................................... : . . .
42..........................................................
43..........................................................
44..........................................................
45..........................................................
46..........................................................
47........................................................ .
48..........................................................
49..........................................................
50..........................................................
51..........................................................
52..........................................................
529
561
646
642
651
677
681
685
684
691
685
681
647
611
612
581
586
545
544
533
493
489
493
483
482
495
461
473
493
528
560
589
632
635
639
634
646
679
675
647
633
624
602
609
601
596
584
488
509
523
569
550
$4,701
5,107
6,647
7,181
7,216
7,999
8,114
8,050
9,185
9,907
9,885
9,216
8,332
6,846
7,030
6,953
6,659
6,024
5,525
5,117
4,467
4,676
5,218
4,364
4,253
4,804
4,073
4,927
5,496
5,738
0,216
6,742
7,405
7,878
8,582
8,183
7,845
8,764
9,043
8,777
8,217
8,195
8,017
7,588
6,863
6,386
5,858
4,284
5,062
5,199
6,149
5,360
77
81
93
93
94
98
99
99
99
100
99
99
94
88
89
84
85
79
79
77
71
71
71
70
70
72
67
68
71
76
81
85
91
92
92
92
93
98
98
94
92
90
87
88
87
86
85
71
74
76
82
80
48
52
67
72
73
81
82
81
93
100
100
93
84
69
71
70
67
61
56
52
45
47
53
44
43
48
41
50
55
58
63
68
75
80
87
83
79
88
91
89
83
83
81
77
69
64
59
43
51
52
62
54
90
95
no
109
111
115
116
116
116
118
117
116
no
104
104
99
100
93
93
91
84
83
84
82
82
84
78
80
84
90
95
100
107
108
109
108
110
115
115
110
108
106
102
104
102
101
99
83
87
89
97
94
70
76
99
107
107
119
121
119
136
147
147
137
124
102
104
103
99
89
82
76
66
69
77
65
63
71
60
73
82
85
92
100
110
117
127
121
116
130
134
130
122
122
119
113
102
95
87
64
75
77
91
80
Average.....................................
588
6,737
85.1
68
100
100
1 ..........................................................
2..........................................................
3..........................................................
4 . . . . ...................................................
5..........................................................
6..........................................................
7..........................................................
8..........................................................
9..........................................................
10.............................................. ...........
11..........................................................
12..........................................................
13..........................................................
14..........................................................
15..........................................................
16..........................................................
17..........................................................
18..........................................................
19................................................. .
20..........................................................
21..........................................................
22..........................................................
23..........................................................
24..........................................................
25..........................................................
26..........................................................
27..........................................................
28..........................................................
1 In the column for employees the busiest week means the week in which the maximum number were
employed; in the column for wages it means the week in which the maximum amount was paid.
2 Percentage which employees or wages each week constituted of average employees or wages per week
during year.
168
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T able 7 1 .
-FLUCTUATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN 1912 IN SIX SHOPS MANU
FACTURING LOW -GRADE WAISTS EXCLU SIVELY.
Week.
6..
7..
8..
9..
10
..
11..
12..
13..
14..
15..
16..
17..
18..
19..
20..
21..
22..
2 3 ..
24..
25..
26..
27..
29..
30..
31..
32..
33..
34..
35..
36..
37..
38..
39..
40..
41..
42..
43..
44.
45.
46.
47..
48..
49.
50.
51.
52.
Average..
Number
paid
of persons Amount
in wages.
employed.
Per cent (busiest
w eek=100).i
Em
ployees.
1,151
1,175
1,148
1,189
1,199
1.235
1,248
1,264
1,251
1,263
1,214
1.257
1,250
1,191
1,237
1,269
1.272
1.290
1.290
1,296
1,298
1,282
1.257
1.235
1,205
1,136
1,070
847
720
744
864
904
975
997
1,048
1,106
1,104
1,180
1,224
1,283
1,329
1,360
1,407
1,422
1,416
1.446
1,459
1.446
1)441
1.413
1.413
1.272
$9,616
10,752
11,333
12,112
11.847
12,204
12,548
12.768
13,411
13,497
13,129
13,701
14,260
11,092
11,944
13,002
13,604
13,083
13,066
12.848
12.768
11,151
11,664
11,504
10,646
9,322
7,154
5,275
5,250
5,270
6,018
6,917
7,915
8,905
10,044
10,389
8,049
9,584
11,956
12,930
13,633
13,940
13,881
14,256
13,907
14,528
14,291
13,If9
13,927
13,040
12,867
10.596
1,211
11,434 |
79
81
79
81
82
85
85
87
86
87
83
86
86
82
85
87
87
88
89
88
86
85
83
78
73
58
49
51
59
62
67
68
72
76
76
81
84
88
Per cent (average
for year= 100).2
Em
ployees.
74
78
83
82
84
86
88
92
93
90
94
98
76
82
89
94
90
90
88
88
77
80
79
73
64
49
36
36
36
41
48
54
61
69
72
55
66
82
89
94
96
96
98
96
102
103
104
103
104
100
104
103
98
102
105
105
107
107
107
107
106
104
102
100
94
88
70
59
61
71
75
81
82
87
91
91
97
101
106
91
93
96
97
97
99
100
99
99
97
97
87
98
91
96
90
89
73
116
117
117
119
120
119
119
117
117
105
83
78.7
100
100
110
112
84
94
99
106
104
107
110
112
117
118
115
120
125
97
104
114
119
114
114
112
112
98
102
101
93
82
63
46
46
46
53
60
69
78
85
91
70
84
105
113
119
122
121 .
125
122
127
125
3L15
122
114
113
93
100
1 In the column for employees the busiest week means the week in which the maximum number were
employed; in the column for wages it means the week in which the maximum amount was paid.
2 Percentage which employees or wages each week constituted of average emplojrees or wages per week
during year.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
169
In view of the fact that many of the shops manufacture a wide
range of goods and are therefore subject to conditions prevailing
both in the cheap and expensive shops in the industry, a clear view
of the conditions existing in each class of shops could be obtained only
by selecting a few shops manufacturing exclusively high-grade garments
and a few making exclusively cheap goods. The tables and charts
were prepared with this end in view. Chart 18 shows the fluctua
tions in wages prevailing in six high-grade shops (solid light lines),
six large shops manufacturing cheap waists (broken line), and in
the industry as a whole (heavy line). Chart 19 shows the fluctua
tion in employment for the same groups.
From these charts the contrast in the two ends of the industry
can be seen at a glance. A more rapid rise in wages during the
170
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
months of January, February, and March in the high-grade shops as
compared with the cheap shops is apparent. At the climax in March
the wage line for the high-grade shops rises to 147 per cent, while for
the cheap shops it stops at 125 per cent. In the latter part of March
both lines fall sharply and in the early part of April the line for the
low-grade shops drops to 3 per cent below normal and the line for
the high-grade shops to 2 per cent above normal. From this drop
the cheaper branch of the industry quickly recovers, rising to 120 per
cent by the end of April, while the recovery in the high-grade is but
slight (105 per cent), only 3 per cent above the low point and only
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
171
lasts one week, after which there is a steady decline during the
months of April and May. The line for the cheaper branch con
tinues to rise all through April and fairly holds its owij. during
May. In the latter part of May the low-grade line begins to decline,
and from that time on there is an almost uninterrupted drop until
it reaches the lowest point at 46 per cent, or 54 per cent below
normal in July, while the high-grade line, in spite of fluctuations,
practically holds its own through the month of June, for the reasons
explained above, and early in July starts on a rapid and steady
recovery.
This recovery, which marks the opening of the fall season, com
mences early in July in the high-grade line and a few weeks later at
the cheap one. The two lines move in the same direction during
August, which marks the period of rising activity, but while the highgrade line reaches the climax at the end of August at 128 per cent,
the high-water mark of the cheap line halts at 91 per cent, or 9 per
cent below normal. In September there is a perceptible drop in
the wage curves of both ends of the industry, due to the Jewish
holidays. That it is not due to a decline in business is shown by the
lines in Chart 19, in which the curves representing employment show
not only no decline, but on the contrary show a continuous increase.
The end of September marks the culmination of the fall season in
the high-grade line at 134 per cent, after which the curve takes a
sudden and swift drop, which continues without interruption for
two months, reaching bottom early in December at 64 per cent, or
36 per cent below normal.
The very opposite takes place at the cheap end of the industry.
At the end of September, when the high-grade curve reaches the
climax, the low-grade curve is at 105 per cent, or 29 points below
the high-grade. But instead of declining from this time on, as the
high-grade curve does, the low-grade continues to rise, overtaking
the high-grade in the middle of October at 122, from which it con
tinues to rise until it reaches the climax in the middle of November
at 128. During these two months the waist manufacturers, espe
cially at the cheaper end, have been busy supplying both an imme
diate fall demand and an advance spring demand, while the fine dress
and gown shops have had little to do. In December there is a rapid
decline both of employment (Chart 19) and of earnings (Chart 18),
and a moderate rise in the expensive branch, which is beginning to
work on sample orders for the early spring trade. A decline sets
in in both curves in the second half of December, due to the Christ
mas holidays and end-of-the^ear stock taking, in anticipation of
the starting up of the wheels of industry after New Year’s, as shown
by the rising curves during the month of January.
172
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
In one respect the shops making exclusively cheap garments and
those manufacturing high-grade garments are alike; both have a
fairly long fall season, lasting about three months (see Chart 18),
the only difference being that in the high-grade dress shops the season
starts and ends at earlier dates than in the cheap waist shops. It
seems strange, therefore, that the industry as a whole (represented
by the heavy curve on Chart 18) should have a shorter season, lasting
less than two months. One explanation for this is that the industry
as a whole includes a large number of shops making a medium grade
of waists and no dresses. These shops make too high a grade of
waists to venture to make stock for advance spring sales as the
cheap waist manufacturers do, and, on the other hand, have not
the same demand for immediate fall deliveries as the dress manu
facturers have. The result is a shorter season and a less active one
while it lasts.
EMPLOYMENT AMONG WEEK WORKERS AND PIECEWORKERS.
An important question to those engaged in the industry is that of
the comparative regularity of employment among pieceworkers
and week workers. In compiling the wages paid each week through
out the year in the several shops, it was found impracticable to segre
gate the earnings of the pieceworkers from those of the week workers.
This separation was made, however, in the case of two fairly large
shops manufacturing exclusively $9 waists and two shops manu
facturing a medium grade of waists ranging from $16.50 to $36 a
dozen. These four shops may be considered as typical of the classes
of shops which they represent.
The figures referring to these shops are given in Tables 72 and 73,
which follow:
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
173
FLUCTUATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES OF W E E K W O R K E R S AND
PIECEW ORKERS IN TWO SHOPS MANUFACTURING $9-PER-DOZEN W AISTS EXCLU
SIVELY.
TABLE 7 2 .—
Number of per
sons employed.
Amounts paid
in wages.
Week
work.
Week
work.
Piece
work.
$1,291
1,341
1,592
1,615
1,343
1,566
1,490
1,422
1,716
1,765
2,011
2,062
2,075
1,873
1,459
1,953
1,775
1,604
1,605
1,552
1,549
1,277
1,362
1,375
1,275
1,398
1,056
663
656
740
324
478
696
917
924
Week.
10..
11..
12..
13..
14..
15..
16..
17..
18..
19..
*20..
21..
22..
23..
24..
25.
26.
27.
28..
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36 .
37.
38..
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
Average.
Piece
work.
116
118
115
114
115
115
119
114
119
121
122
122
123
123
120
122
124
123
124
130
127
124
120
116
116
114
110
106
100
87
77
85
82
95
96
98
96
101
99
100
104
122
111
108
108
108
111
110
no
112
110
109
110
no
112
114
111
115
111
107
111
116
119
118
118
108
112
117
110
109
110
104
106
102
105
105
103
107
89
84
80
84
76
81
92
96
102
99
102
104
102
107
108
117
126
126
124
127
121
124
119
121
121
$835
990
1,021
1,046
987
1,098
1,061
1,077
1,190
1,289
1,320
1,462
1,362.
1,104
1,171
1,244
1,271
1,189
1,218
1,251
1,190
971
1,034
992
1,004
967
746
558
623
461
365
503
668
826
908
894
698
816
980
1,U 6
1,197
1,404
1,304
1,228
1,166
1,389
1,190
1,082
1,108
1,092
1,096
1,050
111
108
1,035
103
Per cent of per Per cent paid
sons employed
in wages
(busiest week = (busiest week=
100) .2
100) .i
Week
work.
Piece
work.
Week
work.
719
963
1,273
1,303
1,478
1,612
1,611
1,926
1,875
1.710
1,859
1,684
1,658
1,514
1,482
1,561
89
91
88
88
88
88
92
88
92
93
94
94
95
95
92
9.4
95
95
95
100
98
95
92
89
89
88
85
82
77
67
59
65
63
73
74
75
74
78
76
77
80
94
85
83
83
83
85
85
85
86
85
84
87
87
88
90
87
91
87
84
87
91
94
93
93
85
88
92
87
86
87
82
83
80
83
83
81
84
70
66
63
66
60
64
72
76
80
81
78
80
82
80
84
85
92
99
99
98
100
95
98
94
95
95
57
68
70
72
68
75
73
74
81
88
90
100
93
76
80
85
87
81
83
86
81
66
71
68
69
66
51
38
43
32
25
34
46
56
62
61
48
56
67
76
82
96
89
84
80
95
81
74
76
75
75
72
62
65
77
78
65
75
72
69
83
85
97
99
100
90
70
94
86
77
77
75
75
62
66
66
61
67
51
32
32
36
16
23
34
44
45
49
35
46
61
63
72
78
78
93
90
82
90
81
80
73
71
75
1,405
85
85
71
68
1,009
Piece
work.
1 The busiest week in each of these columns means the week having the maximum number of employees.
2 The busiest week in each of these columns means the week in which the maximum amount of wages
was paid.
174
T
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
73.—FLUCTUATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES OF W E E K W O RKERS AND
PIECEW ORKERS IN TWO SHOPS MANUFACTURING MEDIUM-GRADE WAISTS.
able
Number of per
sons employed.
Amounts paid
in wages.
Per cent of per Per cent paid
sons employed
in wages
(busiest week— (busiest week=
100)-1
100) .2
Week
work.
Piece
work.
Week
work.
Piece
work.
Week
work.
Piece
work.
Week
work.
6........................................................
7.........................................................
8.........................................................
9.........................................................
10.........................................................
11.........................................................
12.........................................................
13.........................................................
14.........................................................
15.........................................................
16.........................................................
17.........................................................
18.........................................................
19.........................................................
20.........................................................
21.........................................................
22.........................................................
23.........................................................
24.........................................................
25.........................................................
26.........................................................
27.........................................................
28.........................................................
29.........................................................
30.........................................................
31.........................................................
32.........................................................
33.........................................................
34.........................................................
35.........................................................
36.........................................................
37........................................................
38.........................................................
39.........................................................
40.........................................................
41.........................................................
42.........................................................
43......................... ........... ...................
44.........................................................
45.........................................................
46.................................................... .
47.........................................................
48.........................................................
49.........................................................
50.........................................................
51.........................................................
52.........................................................
125
124
128
130
138
136
135
133
137
140
142
147
149
150
153
155
151
158
150
148
143
136
132
141
148
127
86
100
106
104
103
107
112
120
125
127
122
121
123
130
137
148
141
142
145
150
150
152
158
165
167
164
205
209
214
210
209
202
210
199
214
201
205
220
222
187
213
209
216
214
209
201
194
173
190
181
148
145
74
80
96
122
135
145
157
155
158
159
129
160
165
161
170
190
177
170
159
178
183
180
197
186
199
187
$984
1,213
1,216
1,231
1,308
1,272
1,242
1,276
1,316
1,393
1,398
1,428
1,510
1,268
1,482
1,503
1,545
1,414
1,406
1,305
1,195
1,190
1,188
1,381
1,155
960
587
711
825
833
747
934
1,004
1,110
1,149
1,143
894
1,144
1,139
1,169
1,292
1,342
1,329
1,333
1,115
1,478
1,330
1,347
1,534
1,599
1,585
1,418
$1,620
2,134
2,230
2,368
2,388
2,453
2,510
2,354
2,567
2,536
2,623
2,950
2,916
2,154
2,489
2,741
2,827
2,623
2,451
2,073
1,636
1,108
1,641
1,531
1,025
1,091
273
176
690
813
1,017
1,145
1,432
1,457
1,588
1,324
1,024
1,614
1,830
1,792
2,030
1,981
1,728
1,718
1,430
1,980
2,085
1,670
1,923
1,944
2,168
1,875
75
74
77
78
83
81
81
80
82
84
85
88
89
90
92
93
90
95
90
89
86
81
79
.84
89
76
51
60
63
62
62
64
67
72
75
76
73
72
74
78
82
89
84
85
87
90
90
91
95
99
100
98
92
94
96
95
94
91
95
90
96
91
92
99
100
84
96
94
97
96
94
91
87
78
86
82
67
65
33
36
43
55
61
65
71
70
71
72
58
72
74
73
77
86
80
77
72
80
82
81
89
84
90
84
62
76
76
77
82
80
78
80
82
87
87
89
94
79
93
94
97
88
88
82
75
74
74
86
72
60
37
44
52
52
47
58
63
69
72
71
56
72
71
73
81
84
83
83
70
92
83
84
96
100
99
89
55
72
76
80
81
83
85
80
87
86
89
100
99
73
84
93
96
89
83
70
55
38
56
52
35
37
9
6
23
28
34
39
49
49
54
45
35
55
62
61
69
67
59
58
48
65
71
57
65
66
73
64
Average.....................................
137
178
1,228
1,840
82
80
77
62
Week.
1 .........................................................
2.........................................................
3.........................................................
4.........................................................
Piece
work.
1 The busiest week in each of these columns means the week having the maximum number of employees.
2The busiest week in each of these columns means the week in which the maximum amount of wages
was paid.
As will be seen from these figures the pieceworkers show practically
the same average percentage of employment for the year as the week
workers. The average weekly wage, however, forms a lower per
centage for the pieceworkers than for the week workers. In the $9
group (Table 72) the week workers’ average weekly wage is 71 per cent
of the highest weekly wage, while in the case of the pieceworkers it is
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY,
175
68 per cent. In the shops manufacturing medium-grade garments
the week workers’ average weekly rate is 77 per cent of the highest
weekly wage and that of the pieceworkers is only 62 per cent.
The shops to which the above figures refer are all conducted under
the piecework system. In all piecework shops there are several
occupations, however, that are paid by the week, such as cleaners,
finishers, examiners, cutters, etc. In these shops pieceworkers and
week workers do not compete with each other; on the contrary they
supplement one another. When the operators are busy there is
more work for the week workers; when the operators have little to
do there is but little finishing, cleaning, and other operations to
perform. How, then, is the f act to be explained that the average weekly
wage of the pieceworkers forms a lower percentage of the wages of the
busiest week of the year than in the case of the week workers ? Two
reasons may account for it: First, the manufacturers employ a rela
tively larger number of pieceworkers than they do of week workers in
proportion to the quantity of work to be done during the rush weeks
of the year. When work falls off the piecework operators are allowed
to remain in the shop and divide whatever work there is among
themselves. In the case of the week workers, one of the considerations
in fixing the weekly rate of wages is the steadiness of employment,
and it is to the interest of the manufacturer to have a smaller number
of experienced workers who will be given steady employment, in
consideration of which they will be willing to accept a smaller wage
than they would if the manufacturer employed a large number of
workers of various degrees of skill, a considerable part of whom
would have to be laid off when work slackens. Second, during the
busiest week of the year the pieceworkers work much harder, as
compared with the rest of the year, than the week workers. The
work is piled up beyond the capacity of the shop and, therefore, the
loss of time which usually takes place in the intervals between the
completion of one job and the beginning of another, is now reduced to
a minimum. Moreover, the pieceworker, knowing that another
“ bundle” is awaiting him as soon as he is through with the one he
has on hand, works much harder than at other times of the year and
has a much greater incentive to do so than the week worker. All
these facts combine to raise the pieceworkers’ earnings during the
busiest week of the year above the earnings during the rest of the
year to a much greater extent than in the case of the week workers,
and therefore make the average weekly earnings look much smaller in
comparison with the busiest week in the case of the pieceworker than
in that of the week worker.
The different policies in the treatment of pieceworkers and week
workers come even more clearly to light when shops in which the
piecework system prevails are compared with shops in which operators
176
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
work by the week. In the former the tendency is to have as large a
number of operators as possible during the rush season, most of whom
are allowed to remain throughout the year sharing in what little work
there is. In the week-work shops the tendency is to retain only the
best workers during the slow season, so as to give them steady em
ployment and thus retain a working nucleus throughout the year,
ready to be enlarged as soon as the demands of the season warrant it.
The policy of the union has been to oppose this system of employment
in the week shops and to attempt as far as possible to retain all of the
workers in the employ of the shops. In the shops manufacturing the
cheaper garments, and especially in the smaller shops, the union has
been fairly successful in having its policy adopted, and the week
workers in those shops work by turns during the slow period. The
workers are divided into two or more groups, which report for duty
on alternating days or weeks or whatever other periods are agreed
upon by the manufacturer and his employees.
HOURS OF LABOR.
It would have been interesting to secure information as to the
number of hours actually worked by the employees at different times
of the year. In some cases information on this point could not be
obtained at all, and in others would have been exceedingly difficult
and expensive to obtain. So far as pieceworkers are concerned, no
record is kept of the time they work except in a few shops. Even in
these shops a record is kept only of the time the workers spend in the
factory, which is not necessarily the time they are actually at work,
since pieceworkers frequently spend many hours a day in the factories
without doing any work, especially during the slow season. The only
employees for whom an accurate record of hours at work is kept are
the week workers, but in the majority of the shops this record is not
preserved throughout the year, and the time has to be recalculated
from the wages paid out each week.
HOURS DURING BUSIEST WEEK IN THE YEAR.
From the records obtained for the busiest week of the year in each
factory figures have been compiled as to the hours which the week
workers worked during that week. The hours worked by the cutters
have been separated from those worked by other employees, since the
limitation as to overtime does not apply to them on the one hand, and
on the other, cutters as a rule work more steadily than the rest of the
force.
As has been seen in Table 2 (p. 17), which represents a summary
for the entire industry, only a minority of the employees (not includ
ing the cutters), namely, 37.5 per cent, worked the normal number of
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
177
50hours; 29.4 per cent, or almost one-third, worked less than 50hours.
On the other hand, over 33 per cent worked overtime, so that over 70
per cent of all the week workers, not including cutters, worked 50
hours or more. Of those who worked under 50 hours nearly threefourths worked from 40 to 49 hours, leaving about 1,200 people, or
less than 10 per cent of the total number of workers working less than
40 hours. Among these, as will be seen from the table, are some who
worked less than 10 hours.
In the case of the cutters, more than 56 per cent worked the normal
number of 50 hours and more than 87 per cent worked 50 hours or
more, leaving but one-eighth of the people working less than 50 hours
and less than 4 per cent working less than 40 hours.
OVERTIME.
So far as overtime is concerned, it is interesting to compare the
figures of 1912 and 1913 when the protocol limited the overtime to
four hours a week and the normal hours to 50. Taking first week
workers other than cutters, in 1912, 66.8 per cent, or over twothirds, worked more than 50 hours; in 1913 the percentage of those
working more than 50 hours dropped to 33.1 per cent, or one-half
of what it was the preceding year. This was due to the fact that
during 1912 the normal hours in the various shops were from 50 to 54
per week. Taking the number of those working 55 hours and over,
the percentage declined from nearly 33 per cent, or about one-third,
of all the employees in 1912 to less than one-tenth in 1913.
In regard to the employees working overtime, it should be stated
that the number given for 1913 is not entirely accurate, being in all
probability an understatement of the actual facts. This was due
to the fact that under the protocol week workers are entitled to
double the regular rate when working overtime. In several instances
it was not clear from the books whether a worker paid for, say, 58
hours, actually worked 54 hours, being paid double for overtime,
or worked 58 hours, being paid for overtime at the regular hourly rate.
In all such cases, unless there was clear proof that the protocol
provision as to double rate for overtime was violated, the manu
facturer was given the benefit of the doubt. But even allowing
for this understatement, there can be no doubt that the number
working in excess of 50 hours greatly declined during 1913, especially
when it is borne in mind that the figures given here are for the busiest
week in the year, when the number of hours worked is as a rule
greater than at other times of the year.
Two tables follow, the first of which, Table 74, gives the number
and per cent of cutters and of other employees (week workers) work421320— Bull. 146— 14------ 12
178
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
ing each classified number of hours in the association and nonassoci
ation shops, while the second, Table 75, gives separate figures for the
factories manufacturing high-grade and low-grade garments in the
nonassociation and the association groups.
T
74.—NUMBER AND P E R CENT OP W E E K W O R K E R S EM PLOYED EACH CLASSI
FIED NUM BER OF HOURS DU RIN G THE BUSIEST W E E K OF THE Y E A R IN ASSO
CIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS, 1912 AND 1913.
able
NUMBER.
Association shops.
Hours employed.
Cutters.
1912
Nonassociation shops.
Other employees.
1913
1912
1913
Other employ
ees.
Cutters.
1912
1912
1913
1
Under 10 hours....................
10 and under 20 hours.........
20 and under 30 hours.........
30 and under 40 hours.........
40 and under 50 hours.........
60 hours................................
51 and under 53 hours.........
53 and under 55 hours.........
55 and under 60 hours.........
60 and under 65 hours.........
85 and under 70 hours.........
70 hours and over................
5
3
6
24
95
184
260
179
172
140
91
15
12
9
12
23
124
804
160
152
117
31
10
1
no
122
241
413
1,468
1,161
2,027
1,678
2,263
1,022
322
69
101
163
236
404
2,357
4,608
1,385
1,418
860
178
30
4
2
3
11
21
39
28
16
6
3
7
3
3
31
165
18
13
14
3
3
Total..........................
1,174
1,455
10,896
11,744
137
14
29
68
116
310
191
401
245
372
113
1913
17
16
42
120
130
623
744
292
228
246
70
8
253
1,889
2,519
!
1
1
!
j
i
j
i
!
13
P E R CEN T.
Under 10 hours....................
10 and under 20 hours.........
20 and under 30 hours.........
30 and under 40 hours.........
40 and under 50 hours.........
50 hours................................
51 and under 53 hours.........
53 and under 55 hours.........
55 and under 60 hours.........
60 and under 65 hours.........
65 and under 70 hours.........
70 hours and over................
11
12
22
28
12
15
28
37
16
37
55
21
11
34
39
24
15
49
65
12
10
34
30
21
36
11
34
9
23
8
27
13
Total..........................
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
179
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T
7 5 .—W E E K W O R K E RS EM PLOYED EACH CLASSIFIED NUMBER OF HOURS DURING THE BUSIEST W E E K OF THE Y E A R , IN LOW -GRADE AND HIGH-GRADE ASSO
CIATION AND NONASSOCIATION SHOPS, 1912 AND 1913.
able
Group A.
Association.
Nonassociation.
Other employees.
Hours employed.
Other employees.
Cutters.
Cutters.
Female.
1912
1913
1912
Male.
1913
1912
1913
1
2
1
5
8
60
189
38
31
17
25
2
Under 10 hours....................
10 and under 20 hours.........
20 and under 30 hours.........
30 and under 40 hours.........
40 and under 50 hours.........
50 hours................................
51 and under 53 hours.........
53 and under 55 hours.........
55 and under 60 hours.........
60 and under 65 hours.........
65 and under 70 hours.........
70 and over..........................
4
2
4
18
46
85
138
86
121
93
71
9
56
60
9
83
100
7
158
129
8
250 232
17
812 1,240
78
444
662 2,699
756
83 1,254
826
634
109
454
89 1,109
24
85
611
25
8 211
1
3
21
10
7
45
44
96
76
70
31
26
1
T ota l..........................
677
877 6,053 6,417
407
Female.
Male.
1912
1913
1912
1913
1912
2
2
5
20
23
23
14
4
3
3
3
3
24
124
14
12
12
1
3
8
20
56
85
241
163
254
119
174
36
10
12
13
28
107
85
469
272
229
179
137
40
4
4
1
11
15
13
39
11
28
26
3
378
99
196 1,178 1,563
151
1
3
1
4
39
104
28
18
11
1
1
6
5
11
20
53
15
103
110
166
47
4
51
1
9
7
29
123
304
44
36
75
15
4
541
647
1913
2
5
5
14
30
152
18
12
32
14
284
Group B.
Under 10 hours....................
10 and under 20 hours.........
20 and under 30 hours.........
30 and under 40 hours.........
40 and under 50 hours.........
50 hours................................
51 and under 53 hours.........
53 and under 55 hours.........
55 and under 60 hours.........
60 and under 65 hours.........
65 and under 70 hours.........
70 and over..........................
1
1
2
6
49
99
122
93
51
47
20
i6
3
2
4
6
46
360
77
43
28
7
2
53
38
38
59
71
101
153
160
590 1,018
443 1,616
650 563
752
735
995
378
370
67
82
3
2 41
1
1
2
3
21
12
27
24
89
10
3
36
Total..........................
497
578 4,238 4,739
198
1 Highest 76J hours.
2 Highest 82-1 hours.
3 Highest 75 hours.
4Highest 78 hours.
1
6
1
16
5
2
2
7
41
4
1
2
2
44
210
38
57
5
5
4
4
1
2
1
16
1
1
2
1
19
25
1
» Highest 73 hours.
Comparing the figures for 1912 with those for 1913, as shown
in Table 74, it is found that both in the association and the non
association union shops the number of persons working more than
50 hours a week has been greatly reduced, while the number of those
working 50 hours a week or less has increased. Excluding cutters, all
of whom are men, the percentage of employees working 51 hours or
more has been reduced from 68 per cent, or more than two-thirds, in
association shops in 1912, to 33 per cent, or only one-third, in 1913, while
in the nonassociation shops, the reduction has been from 61 per cent
in 1912 to 34 per cent in 1913. Of those working 50 hours a week the
proportion has increased in the association shops from 11 per cent to
39 per cent, and in the nonassociation shops from 10 per cent to 30 per
cent. The percentage of those working less than 50 hours in the
180
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
association shops has increased from 22 in 1912 to 28 in 1913, and in
the nonassociation shops from 28 to 37.
The same tendency is observed in the case of the hours of the cut
ters except that a much smaller proportion of persons were working
less than 50 hours, namely, only 12 per cent in the association and 15
per cent in the nonassociation shops in 1913, and a much higher pro
portion were working 50 hours in the week, namely, 55 per cent in
the association shops and 65 per cent in the nonassociation shops.
As will be seen from Table 74 there is no marked difference in the
percentage of employees working different numbers of hours in the
nonassociation and association shops. The difference is more marked
as regards cutters, the number of cutters working more than 50 hours
in 1913 constituting 32 per cent of the total in the association shops
and only 20 per cent in the nonassociation shops.
The reason for the greater extent of overtime among cutters in the
association shops as compared with the nonassociation shops lies in the
fact that during the “ rush ” weeks there is much greater activity in the
shops making the higher-priced garments than in those manufacturing
low-priced garments, the association having a higher percentage of the
high-grade garment shops than the nonassociation shops. This is
shown very clearly on Chart 18, where the high peak in March rises to
147 per cent for the high-grade garment shops, and only to 125 per cent
for the low-grade. The market demand may be just as great for the
low-grade garments as for the high-grade at that time, but the manu
facturers of the low-grade garments have been able to work during the
preceding months making up stock, while the high-grade garment
manufacturers are not in a position to do so on account of the frequent
changes in styles. The relative position of the curves representing
these two branches of the industry during the period from the middle
of October to the middle of December shows this state of affairs.
HOURS OF W O R K OF PIECEW ORKERS.
As already stated, very few shops keep records of the time spent at
the factory by pieceworkers.
Kecords were obtained from 22 shops for 333 pieceworkeis in 1913
and 98 in 1912. The figures for these are shown in Table 76, giving
separately the hours in association and nonassociation shops, as well
as the percentage for the two groups combined.
181
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
T
able
76.—HOURS OF W O R K OF PIECEW ORKERS IN 22 SHOPS DURING
W E E K OF THE Y E A R , 1912 AND 1913.
T IIE
BUSIEST
Total.
Association shops.
ITours worked.
Nonassociation
shops.
----------Per cent.
Number.
1912
Under 10 hours....................
10 and under 20 hours.........
20 and under 30 hours.........
30 and under 40 hours.........
40 and under 50 hours.........
5 0 ........................................
51 and under 53 hours .......
53 and under 55 hours.........
55 and under 60 hours.........
60 and under 65 hours .......
1
5
32
13
7
9
9
3
Total..........................
79
1913
2
6
12
19
123
62
18
6
248
1913
1912
1
1
9
8
19
2
4
8
12
16
41
2
85
1912
1913
1912
1
2
5
41
21
7
9
9
3
4
10
20 • 8.2
31
139
41.8
103
21.4
20 > 16.3
6
> 12.2
98
333
100.0
1913
19.5
41.7
30.9
7.8
1
100.0
The extent of overtime seems to have been much less among piece
workers than among week workers, those working more than 50
hours in 1913 being only 7.8 per cent of all the pieceworkers, as against
33.1 per cent among the week workers. Of those working less than 50
hours during the busiest week of the year, two-thirds worked from 40
to 49 hours; about one-fifth of all the workers worked from less than
10 to 39 hours during the busiest week in the year. No piecework
ers were found working more than 54 hours during 1913 among the 333
employees for whom records were obtained. While the number of
workers for which these figures are given is comparatively small, the
figures may be accepted as fairly representative of the industry, since
they were obtained from 22 factories employing a total of about 900
workers, two-thirds of whom were employed in 11 association shops
and one-third in 11 nonassociation shops. The significant fact about
these figures is that even during the busiest week of the year more
than 60 per cent of the workers were at work less than 50 hours a
week. Moreover, the figures show merely the number of hours they
spent in the factories and not those they actually worked.
CONCLUSION.
The protocol has provided definite minimum weekly rates of
wages for the following occupations: Drapers, joiners, examiners,
sample hands, ironers, pressers, finishers. There was also a supple
mentary understanding as to a minimum rate for cleaners. For
cutters, in addition to the rate for competent skilled mechanics, three
rates were provided for apprentices, according to the length of service.
No provision was made as to the rates of wages to be paid in other
occupations, except that a basis was provided for the adjustment of
piece rates for operators.
182
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
The report shows very clearly the effect of providing a single
minimum rate for an occupation. Looking at the charts for cleaners,
drapers, examiners, finishers, ironers, joiners, and sample makers on
the one hand and at those for cutters on the other, there is found in
every case in the first-mentioned group one high peak corresponding
to the minimum wage rate provided for in the protocol; in the cut
ters’ wages four peaks are found corresponding to the four rates pro
vided for in the protocol. In other words, there is a tendency for
a great many, if not most, of the workers in this trade to concen
trate about the minimum protocol rate. This explains the general
complaint on the part of the workers that the minimum tends to
become the maximum, and on the part of some employers that the
protocol has dealt unjustly with them in compelling them to pay
the minimum rate to apprentices by failing to provide a special rate
for the latter. The investigation has shown the contention of either
side to be extreme, though each has its justification in fact. The
figures show on the one hand that there are almost as many workers
receiving more than the minimum protocol rate as there are of those
getting the minimum, and on the other that from one-fourth to onehalf of the workers in each of the trades covered by the protocol
received less than the minimum rate provided therein.
GRADUATED SCALE OF WEEKLY W AGES.
The example of the cutters seems to point the way to a solution
of this difficulty by providing for reasonable rates to apprentices of
various degrees of skill. The large number of those who were paid
less than the protocol rate in the several trades is an indication
of the fact that it probably includes a considerable proportion of
apprentices who may not be able to earn the minimum rate pro
vided for. The fact that there is no school to teach these trades
and that the only means open to newly recruited workers to learn
the trade is by entering the shops at wages commensurate with the
value of the services they can render, while acquiring the necessary
skill, furnishes a further corroboration of the fact that the nonpay
ment of the minimum rate to a considerable number of workers was
not entirely due to a desire on the part of the manufacturers to
violate the provisions of the protocol. The fourfold rate for the
cutters points the way out of the difficulty for the other trades. At
least one rate, it seems, should be provided for apprentices in each
trade. One or more additional rates could probably be added for
workers of higher skill, the rate being made conditional either upon
the time the worker has spent in the trade or upon the skill to be
determined in a certain manner. The effect of providing these addi
tional rates on the one hand would be to do away with the im
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
183
proper payment below the protocol scale and thus meet the demand
of the manufacturers for a special rate of wages for apprentices, and
on the other it would provide for more than minimum rates to
highly skilled workers and thus meet the complaint of the workers
as to the tendency of the minimum rate to become the principal
rate for skilled workers.
While it is not within the province of this report to suggest a
detailed scheme and methods of grading the workers for such a pur
pose, it will unquestionably be recognized by every experienced
manufacturer and worker that the workers in the several trades of
this industry can be roughly divided into at least four groups: 1,
Apprentices; 2, workers who have graduated from the apprentice
stage but are of less than average skill; 3, workers of average skill;
4, workers of more than average skill. The four degrees of skill call
for four different rates of wages. As a matter of fact there are sev
eral gradations from one group to the next which are recognized in
actual practice by as many different rates.
In providing for the rates that it has, the protocol has made a
beginning in an attempt at collective regulation of wages in the
industry under the joint auspices of the two partners to the industry,
the employers and the employees, for the benefit of the industry as
a whole. This benefit extends to the workers, inasmuch as it helps
to protect the weak members and the recent recruits. It benefits
the manufacturers, inasmuch as it tends to put an end to unfair
competition between manufacturer and manufacturer through the
payment of wages in some shops below the current rates.
It is not to be presumed in what has just been said or in what
follows that definite recommendations are here made, beyond sug
gesting a number of measures for the purpose of discussion by the
two parties to the protocol. It is conceded on both sides that the
protocol has but made a beginning and that it needs further ampli
fication and modification in a number of vital points.
REGISTRATION OF APPRENTICES.
The adoption of a special rate or rates for apprentices in the different
occupations suggests the necessity of some method of controlling the
apprentice situation. Such registration of each individual apprentice
employed in the shops supervised by the association or by the union
as will enable the wage-scale board and other officers of the associa
tion and the union who are concerned in this matter to control the
situation and prevent possible abuse has been under consideration
by the wage-scale board and a registration card has even been
worked out for that purpose.
184
BULLETIN OF THE BUJREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
TRADE SCHOOL.
Another measure for dealing with the apprentice problem is the
establishment of a school for the training of skilled workers. It is a
question whether there is another industry that has so difficult a
problem in this respect as the dress and waist industry in New York
City. On the one hand, standing at the head of the industry in the
country, supplying the constantly growing demand for high-grade
ready-made women’s garments, it is in great need of workers of the
highest skill. The seasonal character of the market results in the
demand for such help usually outrunning the supply during certain
periods of the year. On the other hand, the fact that about 85 per
cent of its skilled operators are women, mostly young, of whom it is
calculated about one-fifth leave the industry each year to marry,
makes the problem of keeping up the supply of skilled workers a
very acute and difficult one. The apprenticing, as it goes on in the
shops, does not offer a very encouraging solution. As is pointed out
in the report, the new recruits enter the shops manufacturing cheaper
garments and are there given a training which does not fit them for the
work in the shops manufacturing the higher-grade garments. The
necessity of establishing a school for the purpose of training new
workers is so apparent that it has been suggested repeatedly by both
sides. It is to be hoped that means will soon be found for putting
into practice the idea here barely sketched.
Through a complete and intimate cooperation between the asso
ciation and the union it should be possible to establish the school on a
large scale, manned by competent instructors, taken preferably from
among the foremen and forewomen in the most successful shops, the
pupils or apprentices to be taught the trade by being given work of a
practical character, preferably on orders to be assigned to the school
by the manufacturers. The school could thus act as a contractor for
the manufacturer and in this manner would on one hand avoid com
peting in the markets with established shops, and on the other would
offer a ready means for manufacturers to call for assistance when their
shops were worked to capacity. Such an arrangement would have the
further advantage of enabling the pupils to earn a living while learning
the trade and would make the school practically self-supporting.
The registration of apprentices, already suggested, would serve as
the first step in determining the available material for such a school
and the extent to which the industry could at once utilize it. Such
registration could be used also as a means of controlling the admission
of apprentices to the school and their distribution in the industry at
proper minimum rates of compensation.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
185
UNIFORM PAY ROLL.
A graduated scale of weekly wages, involving as it does some control
by the wage-scale board over the matters of interpretation of the
degrees of skill possessed by different workers in cases of dispute
between manufacturers and their employees, implies the advisability,
if not the necessity, of a uniform pay roll to be designed by the wagescale board and supplied to all the manufacturers in the trade for the
purpose of securing a uniform record of wages paid throughout the
industry. The form for a uniform pay roll could easily be designed,
printed in large quantities by the wage-scale board, and supplied
to every manufacturer at a lower cost than the price now paid by
them for books of various descriptions bought at retail from stationery
stores. It would likewise facilitate future investigations of wages in
the industry when required. An investigation such as the present
could be carried out and completed in probably one-third the time
that it took if a uniform pay roll of the kind suggested were adopted
by the industry.
W HITE PRO TO CO L LABEL.
At the time of the signing of the protocol the desirability of adopting
a label which would serve as a joint guaranty by the union and by the
association, as well as by representatives of the outside public, of the
conditions under which the products of the industry are manufac
tured, was clearly recognized, and found expression in article 2 of the
protocol, reading as follows:
To make more effective the maintenance of sanitary conditions
throughout the industry, to insure equality of minimum standards
throughout the industry, and to guarantee to the public garments
made in the shops certificated by the board of sanitary control, the
parties agree that there shall be instituted in the industry a system
of certificating garments by a label to be affixed to the garment.
Recognizing the difficulties of working out the details of such a plan
at this time, but believing that the plan has been sufficiently developed
and considered in the cloak industry, they believe that a complete
lan can be worked out in the dress and waist industry within a year,
'o this end each party agrees to cooperate to the full extent of its
power in the formulation and effectuation of a system for the certifi
cation of garments adequately safeguarding the employers, the
workers, and the consuming public.
;
The difficulties attending the working out of the practical application
of the protocol during the first year of its existence have kept both
parties so busy that thus far little has been done toward the realization
of this promise. A beginning, however, has been made. It has been
recognized both by the representatives of the association and of the
union that the Consumers’ League would be an admirable ally in this
undertaking and the proper body to represent the public in this matter.
186
BULLETIN OF T H # BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
In turn, the National Consumers' League, at its last annual conven
tion in Buffalo, held in December, 1913, authorized its executive
officers to join hands with the association and the union whenever the
two parties are prepared to introduce the label, and as soon as the
Consumers’ League feels that the steps taken warrant the withdrawal
of its own label and the substitution of the protocol label instead.
The enforcement of the protocol rates of wages in the shops super
vised by the association and the union, side by side with the existence
of shops not so supervised (especially outside the city of New
York) and paying lower wages, readily offers a condition of unfair
competition to the manufacturers of New York City. If any argu
ment be needed for the earliest possible adoption of a label which
would insure the cooperation of a large part of the public with the
dress and waist industry of New York in a common effort to maintain
sanitary conditions and living wages in that industry, it is here
furnished. The existence of a new thought among the consumers
of the country, the great growth in numbers among such people
as a result of the agitation of organizations like the Consumers'
League and similar bodies offers great encouragement to the industry.
The next step is to provide efficient machinery and channels through
which fair-minded consumers can exercise intelligently their prefer
ence for goods manufactured under fair and wholesome conditions.
The taking of this step would be a measure of justice to the manu
facturer now paying wages higher than those paid by his competitors
outside of the city, and at the same time would tend to protect and
maintain the standard of compensation provided in the protocol.
Last, but not least, it would protect the public from the use of gar
ments made under insanitary conditions and by greatly underpaid
labor.
The adoption of the label would in its turn offer an additional cause
for the effective supervision by the wage-scale board or a similar body
over the wages paid in the shops desiring to use the label upon their
product, and the adoption of a uniform pay roll would furnish a basis
for efficient control.
UNIFORM PIECE RATES.
The question of the working out of a schedule of uniform piece rates
for work of similar character throughout the industry has been the
subject of serious consideration of the wage-scale board from its in
ception. A beginning has been made through an intensive study of the
processes of the manufacture of waists. This study was carried on
in a number of shops during the fall season of 1913. Owing to the
brevity of the season and the complexity of the problem, material has
been collected to furnish a basis for the adoption of uniform piece rates
for the $9-a-dozen waists only. This material forms the contents of
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
187
Part II of this report. By way of anticipation, it may be stated
here that the experiment has furnished an affirmative answer to the
question whether the standardization of piece rates in an industry
like the dress and waist industry in which the character of the gar
ments undergoes frequent and rapid changes decreed by fashion, is
practicable.
The standardization of rates, however, unavoidably carries with it
standardization of conditions. A uniform rate for the same kind of
work paid in a shop managed with the highest degree of efficiency,
where workers can turn out twice the product that is possible for
workers of equal skill in a shop suffering from lack of system and in
telligent management, would be obviously unfair to the efficient manu
facturer on the one hand and to the employees of the inefficient one
on the other.
It, therefore, follows that the adoption of uniform piece rates will
necessarily have to be preceded by the carrying out of plans such as
suggested above tending to lift the lower end of the industry to a
higher level and thus bring about greater uniformity throughout
the industry.
Without urging the adoption of the suggestions outlined above, and
offering them solely as a basis for discussion by the representatives of
the association and the union, it is hoped fervently that, having made
so promising a beginning in the adoption of the protocol, and having
weathered the storm of strife naturally concomitant with the first
attempt to bring into play a controlling power over the relations be
tween employer and employee, the industry will gather strength for
further progress. Through mutual cooperation and increased con
fidence of the two great partners in each other, it should proceed with
the work of upbuilding and general improvement and substitute
orderly and intelligent planning for the blind chance and groping so
conspicuously marking the days of the past.
PART II.— STANDARDIZATION OF PIECE RATES.
ADJUSTMENT OF PIECE KATES UNDER THE PROTOCOL.
The protocol adopted the following basis for the adjustment of
piece rates for new garments, which is set forth in the following para
graphs of Article X of the protocol:
c. In settling prices the price per garment shall be based upon the estimated num
ber of solid hours it will take an experienced good worker to make the garment without
interruption, m ultiplied b y the standard price per hour.
d. If the piece-price committee and the employer shall be unable to agree after a
conference, the work shall then be proceeded with, but the determination of the price
to be paid for the work shall be made as follows:
e. One or more workers shall be selected to make the test for the purpose of deter
mining the number of solid hours it w ill take an experienced good worker to make the
garment in question.
f. Both the employer and the piece-price committee shall agree upon the operative
who is to make the test, but in case they shall fail to agree the wage-scale board shall
make such designation.
This method of adjusting piece rates has been in effect for more
than a year since the adoption of the protocol. While it has helped
employer and employee to arrive at an agreement as to piece rates in
cases of disagreement, it has not proved an unqualified success and
has met with objections from both parties to the protocol. Although
paragraph “ e” states that “ one or more workers shall be selected to
make the test,” paragraph “ f ” speaks of only one operative who is
to make the test, and in actual practice only one has been selected
as a rule.
The expression “ an experienced good worker” is one that lends
itself to varied interpretations and as a result leads to dispute between
the employer and his employees or the price committee of his shop.
Even after an employer and the price committee have agreed upon
a worker who is to make the test, the result of the test is not always
accepted without objections on either side. If the employer's idea
as to what would be a proper price for a new garment differs very
widely from that of the price committee, and the result of the test
comes very close to his original offer, the workers are apt to find fault
with the test either on the ground that the operator chosen for the
test is an exceptionally fast worker, or they may charge speeding up
on the part of the manufacturer by holding out special inducements
189
190
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
to the test worker to get through with her test in the shortest possible
time. The claim is then made that it is impossible for an operator
to keep up such speed working day in and out, and that therefore at
the rate settled by the test they will not be able to earn an adequate
wage.
On the other hand, if the test results in a confirmation of the work
ers’ original demand, or very nearly so, the employer is apt to find
fault with it and to claim that the operator chosen for the test, being
one of the workers to be benefited by whatever rate may be adopted,
has deliberately “ soldiered” on the job and taken more time to com
plete the garment than was necessary.
In all such cases an appeal may be taken to the wage-scale board
and a new test ordered under the supervision of the representatives
of the union and of the association. All of this engenders friction
between the employer and his help, and interferes with the orderly
conduct of the business of the employer,- and on the other hand cre
ates a great deal of dissatisfaction among the workers on account of
the delay in the adjustment of claims for back pay.
While cases of this kind are by no means the rule, they are of suffi
ciently frequent occurrence to have caused considerable dissatisfac
tion with the test system, both among manufacturers and operators,
and both sides would welcome a method that would do away with the
defects inherent in the present method of adjusting piece rates.
Even before the method had been sanctioned by the protocol, the
desirability of working out a scientific piece-rate schedule was present
in the minds of the framers of the protocol, and found expression in
the following provision in Article VII of the protocol which charged
the wage-scale board with the duty of preserving “ data and statistics
with a view to establishing as nearly practicably as possible a scien
tific basis for the fixing of piece and week work prices throughout the
industry that will insure a minimum wage and at the same time permit
reward for increased efficiency.’ ’
SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION.
After the completion of the statistical investigation into wages and
hours in the industry, the results of which are set forth in Part I of
the present report, the wage-scale board instructed the writer to make
a study of the manufacturing processes in the dress and waist indus
try with a view to discovering, if possible, a basis for the construction
of a piece-rate schedule or schedules which could be applied through
out the industry or branches of the industry independently of changes
in the styles of garments.
This study was carried out during the fall season of 1913, lasting
between two and three months. It covered eight shops in which
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
191
the processes were studied in detail, in addition to several shops in
which a general study of the methods of manufacture and the organi
zation of the work was made without the timing of the separate
processes.
Of the eight shops investigated, five are exclusively shops making
waists to sell at $9 per dozen, the three remaining shops manufac
turing waists selling at $16.50 to $4.2 per dozen, and in a few instances
as high as $60 and $72 a dozen. Occasionally these shops also make
a few $9 styles to accommodate a special demand; but the bulk of
their production covers a range of $16.50 to $24. All the shops men
tioned, with the exception of one manufacturing $9 waists, employ
their help on a piece-rate basis. By saying that a shop employs its
help on a piece-rate basis it is not meant that all the work is paid
for by the piece. Certain processes are invariably paid for by the
week. Among these are cutting, examining, draping, and sample
making. When a shop is designated as a piecework shop, it is meant
that the operating is paid for by the piece, but even in that case
many of the operating processes are paid for by the week. Thus,
taking the $9 shops with which this part of the present report deals,
we find the following division of labor and methods of compensation
prevailing:
In shop No. 1232 body making, which is paid on a piece basis,
includes the following processes: Closing shoulders, making centers,
tacking fronts and backs, setting collars.1 All the trimming is done
by special operators called trimmers who are paid by the week. The
sleeve making is done by other operators, who are paid by the week;
the hemming is done by the piece; the closing and the sleeve setting
are done by a man operator, who is paid by the piece; the buttonhole
making is paid for by the week, as is also the button sewing.
In shop No. 1284 the body making is likewise done bv the piece,
but, unlike the preceding shop, the trimming is done by the body
makers on a piece-rate basis. The closing and hemming are done
by the piece, all being attended to by one operator having four
assistants. The same operator with his assistants attends to the
sleeve setting; the sleeve making is done by the body makers on a
piece-rate basis; the buttonhole making is paid for on a piece-rate
basis and is attended to by one operator, who employs two assistants
on a week basis. The same is true of button sewing. Tucking is
done by the week.
In shop No. 1230 body making is done by the piece; the trimming
is done by the piece by a man having an assistant; the sleeve setting
is done by the piece, while the sleeve making, tucking, lace running,
buttonhole making, and button sewing are done by the week.
1 For a description of these processes, see Part I of this report, pages 93, 94.
192
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
The method of compensation for the different operating processes
is shown in the following comparative statement for four of the prin
cipal shops investigated, all making waists selling at $9 a dozen:1
.
Shop No 1191.
Week work—$15 per
week.
Buttonhole making
Shop No. 1232
.
Week work — $18
per week.
.
Shop No. 1230.
Week work— $4.50
per week.
Shop No. 1284
.
Piecework— 1 man
with assistants.
B utton sewing.
Week work.
Week work.
Week work.
Body making .2
Work done b y a set of Work done b y an Work done b y an
operator (usually
operator working
3 to 5 persons work
singly or with an
a man) working
ing b y the week;
with an assistant
assistant. Of the
each person does
(either man or
bod y m a k e r s
one or more proc
woman); opera
whose work was
esses according to
timed, 6 were
tor paid b y the
his or her ability or
men w o r k i n g
piece; assistant
the requirements of
with 1 assistant
paid b y the oper
the shop at the
each; 2 w e r e
ator, usually on a
time.
women with 1 as
weekly basis.
sistant e a c h ; 4
were women
working in part
nerships of 2 each,
and 15 were wo
men w o r k i n g
singly. P i e c e work.
Piecework— 1 man
with assistants.
Work done b y an
operator working
singly or with an
assistant. Of the
b od y m a k e r s
under
observa
tion, 7 were men
working with 1
assistant each, 2
were men work
ing singly, 6 were
women working
in partnerships of
2 each, and 10
were w o m e n
working singly.
Piecework.
Trimming.
Done b y the body
makers paid b y the
week.
Done by “ trimmers ”
working
b y the week.
Done b y bod y makers on a piece ba
sis.
Done b y body mak
ers on a piece ba
sis.
Clos'ing and hemming.
This is the only work
paid b y the piece
in this shop.
Closing done b y a
male operator by
the piece; hem
ming done b y
another man like
wise b y the piece.
A ll the closing and
hemming d o n e
b y 1 man piece
worker with 1 ass i s t a n t who is
paid b y the oper
ator b y the week.
All the closing and
hem'ming d o n e
b y 1 man piece
worker with 4 as
sistants who are
paid b y the oper
ator b y the week.
Sleeve making.
Week work.
Week work.
Week work.
Done b y the body
makers; p i e c e
work.
Sleeve setting.
Week w o r k—girl,
$16; man, $11.
Piecework — 1
man.
Piecework — 2
men with 1 assist
ant each.
Piecework b y the
operator d o i n g
the closing and
hemming.
i In the fifth shop, designated as shop No. 1110, only a few operations outside of body making proper
were timed, as will appear from the following pages.
* Work includes closing shoulders, making centers, tacking (shirring) fronts and backs, setting high
collars.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
193
Tucking.
Week work— 10 women, $9 to $15; 3
men, $14 to $18.
Strip tucking b y
the week; short
tucking b y the
body makers b y
the piece.
Week w o r k — 3
men, $18 each; 1
man $6; 5 women
$7.50 to $14.
Strip tucking by
the week; short
tucking b y the
bod y makers b y
the piece.
Lace running.
W eek w o r k —girls.
$10 to $13 a week.
Week work—$10 to
$16 a week.
Week work— d o n e
b y the tuckers,
$15 to $18 a week.
W eek work—$9 to
$15 a week.
In the three shops making medium-priced waists the following
conditions were encountered:
In one shop an opportunity was furnished to study only a few
processes. In each of the other two factories the investigators
spent about three weeks. As a result of the study it was discovered
that one of the two shops was undergoing a transformation, owing
to a radical change in its system of work, which resulted in con
siderable disorganization during the time the processes were being
studied, and therefore yielded data which can not be taken as typical
for an average factory. This leaves more or less complete data for
only one shop of the class manufacturing medium-priced waists.
Some of the processes in this class do not differ from those employed
on $9 waists, and therefore have been combined with the figures
obtained from the other shops. A large number of the processes,
however, are either different from those employed in the $9 shops
or are carried on with materials not used in $9 shops, such as chiffon,
nets, and laces, and therefore are not embodied in this report, except
in the part relating to buttonhole making.
BASIS FOR PIECE-RATE COMPENSATION,
The chief difficulty with a piece-rate schedule for the making of
garments is in finding a satisfactory basis that will meet the varying
conditions under which the products of the garment industry are
made. Styles of garments change very radically, and the amount
of work necessary to produce two garments selling at the same price
may differ 100 per cent, and sometimes a great deal more. In one
case there will be comparatively little labor and finer material, and
more or better trimmings. In the other case there will be relatively
more labor with a consequent saving in the cost of material and trim
mings. The selling price of the garment can not be used, therefore,
as a basis in fixing the piece rates for labor, as is, for instance, the
case in the coal industry, and in certain branches of the iron and
steel industry producing the cruder products. The price of the
garment does affect the character of the labor in a broad way, in so
far as labor of a higher skill is required in the higher-priced garments
42132°— Bull. 146— 14------ 13
194
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
and the work has to be done more carefully and therefore more
slowly than in the garments of the cheaper grade. It is, therefore,
necessary to time separately the operating processes in the $9 shops
and in the shops manufacturing the higher-grade garments. But
there is no fixed relation between the price of a garment and the piece
rate paid to the operator for making the garment. It would not be
practicable, therefore, to fix separate rates of compensation for
different garments according to their selling prices. In a shop
manufacturing waists selling from $16.50 to $42 per dozen, the same
operators are usually employed on all the garments except that if
only a small quantity of garments of the higher price is produced it
will be natural for the foreman to assign them to the best workers in
the shop. The greatest differences in the rates of pay according to
the price of the garment will occur in connection with body making,
since in addition to the work of mere sewing there is a good deal of
labor involved in the handling of the waist, which takes more time
in the higher-priced garments. Moreover, the higher-priced garments
are made in smaller quantities, and it takes an operator more time
to turn out a given garment working on a small quantity of gar
ments than on a large one.
In the case of separate processes, however, outside of body making
proper, such as closing, hemming, tucking, lace running, buttonhole
making, button sewing, etc., the work does not differ much, if at all,
as between waists of different prices in the same shops. As between
different shops, it may be stated, as a rule, that a smaller stitch is
used on the finer garments and a larger one on the cheaper garments,
but even that, as will be shown further on, does not seem to have
an appreciable effect on the time it takes to do the work.
The amount of time taken for the same processes will differ a great
deal with the material used: Silks, such as Japanese or China silk,
crfepe de Chine, and messaline are more difficult to handle than cottons
like voiles and lawns. In turn, chiffons, nets, and laces are more
difficult to handle than the solid silks just mentioned. Each of these
groups of materials would therefore require a different rate of com
pensation and, as the prices of waists would vary with these materials,
it may be said in that sense that the price for labor differs with the
price of waists, although the relation between the two is but an
indirect one.
From the foregoing it will be clear that the price of a garment
could not serve as a basis for a piece-rate schedule. The outlook
seemed more promising if attention were turned to the discovery of
an irreducible unit of work common to all operating processes and
to all garments, irrespective of style or materials of which made.
A study of the processes of dress and waist manufacture led to the
conclusion that the stitch would furnish such a basis. The operating
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
195
work on all garments, from the cheapest cotton waist to the most
expensive silk gown trimmed with fine lace and embroideries, is
reduced to one common denominator—the stitch made by the
needle of the sewing machine operated by the dress or waist maker
known as operator. The single stitch produced by two successive
movements of the machine needle forms the irreducible unit in the
operating processes corresponding to the atom in the chemical
composition of matter.
A further study of the manufacturing processes, however, showed
that the stitch would form too fine a basis on the one hand and not
an entirely accurate one on the other. The time it takes to do a
certain amount of machine sewing will depend not only on the number
of stitches, but also on the number of stops the operator will have to
make. With the machine making 3,400 revolutions per minute, an
operator on a Wilcox & Gibbs machine for one minute can produce
a seam containing 3,400 stitches if allowed to work without a. stop.
If the sewing of the particular garment is made at the rate of 16
stitches to the inch, which is done on fine work, the operator will
stitch a seam equal to 212J inches or nearly 6 yards long. This
theoretical standard is more or less approximated on work in which
sewing can be carried on in straight seams extending over yards of
cloth, although even in this case the work accomplished will fall short
of the theoretical estimate on account of unavoidable causes, such as
the gradual working up of the speed of the machine at the start, the
slowing down of the machine before each stop, the fixing or replacing
of the thread, the feeding of the cloth, etc. The only processes in
which such work can be done are strip tucking, strip hemming, and
lace running, in which work is done on long runs of cloth and is paid
for by the yard or 100 yards. , In most of the other work the length
of a seam can not exceed the length of a waist or a skirt, and is
measured in inches and not yards, which means that the operator is
obliged, as a rule, to stop the machine at frequent intervals after
operating it for a fraction of a minute. That being the case, the
time lost in stopping and starting the machine and shifting the mate
rial under the needle exceeds the time spent in the productive work
of making a seam of ordinary length. An illustration will make this
clear:
Taking, for example, two seams on a waist, one 6 inches (the
length of a shoulder seam) and the other 10 inches long (length of a
side seam from the armhole to the hem), 12 stitches to the inch, the
theoretical time required to do each on a Union Special machine
making 3,000 revolutions per minute is 1.4 and 2.4 seconds, respec
tively. But the time it will take the operator to fix the garment in
position under the needle, start the machine, stop the machine after
the seam is made, take out the garment so as to change its position
196
BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
for the next process, or to replace it with the next garment, will
amount to anywhere from 10 to 25 times that interval, making the
time spent in stitching the seam so small a fraction of the total as to
render the number of stitches or the length of the seam within certain
limits immaterial. The number of stitches contained in a given seam
would therefore fail to furnish an accurate basis for estimating the
time it would take to do the work, and hence would not be suitable
as a basis for a piece-rate schedule.
The seam of a waist, irrespective of its length, within certain limits,
which will be considered elsewhere, is therefore more suitable as a
unit of measure than a stitch. As a matter of fact, some manufac
turers have been in the habit of fixing the rate per garment roughly
on a seam basis, calling it “ a stitch rate.” The term “ stitch” when
used in connection with piece rates in the dress and waist industry
is always meant in the sense of a seam. To bring the terms used in
this report in close consonance with the trade terms, while avoiding
at the same time the erroneous use of the trade term of “ stitch,”
the expression “ row of stitching” has been adopted in this report.
This term has the advantage of having the sound of “ stitch” when
pronounced without conveying any other meaning than the word
“ seam.” At the same time it has the advantage over the term
“ seam” since it can be applied to any kind of sewing, while “ seam”
usually conveys the idea of the joining of two pieces of cloth.
The conclusion anived at as to the adaptability of the row of
stitching as a unit of measure of an operators work has met with
the approval of all the manufacturers who have either given a study
to the question or have tried it out in their own practice, as well as
with the approval of experienced operators.
So far as actual practice goes, the row of stitching has been used
only in a crude way, workers being paid at the rate of 6, 7, or 8
“ stitches for a cent,” as the phrase goes in the dress- and waist
industry. No distinction is made as to the kinds of stitching or the
part of the garment on which they are made.
Here again the study of the processes and the timing of the
thousands of operations in various shops have shown the great differ
ence in time it takes to do the different kinds of stitching. As will
be shown in connection with the discussion of the different processes,
an operator may earn as much money by being paid at the rate of
10 rows of stitching for 1 cent on some processes as he will at the
rate of 2 rows for 1 cent on others. In a crude way this has been
recognized by manufacturers, who pay the body makers a fixed
amount for the “ body” and an additional amount for the other
parts of the garment at the rate of so many rows for 1 cent. The
body making proper consists of the closing (i. e., joining) of the
shoulders, the making of the center pieces or facings (the parts of the
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
197
waist holding the buttonholes and buttons), the shirring of the
fronts and backs of the waist at the waistline, and the setting of the
collar. It consists of 14 to 16 rows of stitching per waist, and is
paid at the rate of 45 to 80 cents per dozen waists, which is equiva
lent to about 2 i to 4 rows of stitching for a cent. For the remaining
work the body maker is paid at the rate of 6 to 8 rows for 1 cent.
In this way some measure of discrimination between the different
processes is introduced, though in a very crude manner, since some of
the processes paid for at the rate of 7 rows for a cent are more difficult
and require more time than those included in the “ body” at the rate
of only 3 to 4 rows for a cent.
The necessity of timing each process separately and fixing a standard
of compensation for each, therefore, appeared very clear. The
method adopted for this purpose was as follows: In each shop inves
tigated groups of three to five operators each were placed under the
observation of an agent of the wage-scale board. The time of starting
and completing each operation was carefully noted on a card. All
interruptions in the work and the number of minutes they lasted
were noted as well as the causes of such interruptions, the causes
being grouped under three heads: (1) Waiting for parts, (2) machine
fixing, and (3) personal needs.
The work under each process has been reduced to the number of
rows of stitching per hour, which may serve as a basis for fixing the
compensation for each process in terms of rows of stitching for 1 cent.
The details are given below under each process.
TUCKING.
As explained on page 90, the work of tucking consists of making
folds or plaits of varying widths, and stitching them over on a machine.
Although the work is comparatively simple, some of it requires great
skill, and most of the tucking is done by operators called “ tuckers”
who specialize in this work. Occasionally tucking is done by body
makers, especially when a waist contains but a few short tucks, when
it does not pay to interrupt the work and turn it over to a tucker.
Tucking is divided into two broad classes—strip tucking and short
tucking. By strip tucking is meant tucking done on long strips of
cloth, sometimes hundreds of yards long, paid for at the rate of so
many cents per hundred yards, if done by the piece. Short tucking
consists of making individual tucks of varying length or width on the
waist or parts of waist or skirt. In strip tucking, once the strip of
cloth has been started going under the needle and the so-called knife
attachment has been adjusted to produce a tuck of a given width,
the operator has but little to do besides feeding the cloth under the
needle. There is no occasion for stopping the machine except when
the needle breaks, or the thread breaks or gives out. In short tuck
198
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
ing the operator must be constantly on the lookout and the machine
is started and stopped at intervals of a few seconds, as the tucks are
short, and there is nothing but the operator's watchfulness and skill
to regulate the operation of the machine.
From this it follows that, all things being equal, it requires greater
skill to do short tucking than strip tucking. Short tucking is done
only by body makers, or experienced tuckers, while strip tucking is
frequently done by beginners who are learning to do tucking. Even
if there were no difference in the wages paid to those who do strip
tucking and the operators who do short tucking, strip tucking would
naturally be cheaper. In short tucking more time is consumed in
stopping and starting the machine and adjusting the material under
the needle for each tuck than in the actual process of making the
tuck; in strip tucking this loss of time is largely eliminated. For this
reason, on all cheap waists and on a large part of the medium-price
waists, the effort is always made to arrange the tucking in such a
manner as to make it possible to produce it in the form of strip
tucks, which are then cut up into the required lengths and fitted
into the waists according to the design. This greatly reduces the cost
of tucking.
It is not always possible, however, to do the tucking of a waist in
this manner. Where the tucks on a waist or part of a waist, such as
a sleeve or a cuff, are arranged so that they run through the entire
length of that part, strip tucking is possible; on the other hand,
where the tucks are arranged in clusters in which the individual
tucks are of varying lengths and cover only a part of the length or the
width of a waist, sleeve, or cuff, strip tuclring is not possible, and the
tucks must be made separately on each waist. In some shops an
attempt is made in such cases to save time through the process known
as “ double tucking,” which consists of joining together two parts of a
waist having similar tucks, such as two fronts or two backs, and
making the tuck on the two in one process; the two parts are then
cut apart. In spite of the loss of time which is caused by joining the
two pieces together and cutting them apart, the time saved in not
having to stop and start the machine for each tuck is more than suffi
cient to result in a net saving of time. The tables following show the
average time required to do tucking of various kinds.
STRIP TUCKING.
Strip tucking was timed in 6 shops. Of these, 4 shops, namely,
Nos. 1191, 1230, 1232, and 1284, were shops making exclusively $9-adozen waists, while shops Nos. 1090 and 1116 manufactured mediumpriced waists, selling from $16.50 up. The total number of persons
under observation for strip tucking in these 6 shops was 23. The
total number of yards tucked, on which these tables are based, was
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
199
69,527J, representing a total expenditure of time equivalent to 373
hours and 21 minutes for one person. It is therefore believed that
the figures here presented are based upon a sufficiently broad scale
to yield a fair average. While these averages represent quite a wide
range, they have the merit of representing conditions as they are.
Moreover, all the averages are weighted averages; that is to say, the
work of each person and of every shop has been given a weight in
proportion to their respective output. An illustration will make
this clear: If there were two tuckers in a shop, one turning out 50
yards per hour and the other 500 yards per hour, this would represent
an average of 275 yards an hour; but if the shop employs only five
workers producing 50 yards per hour and 25 workers producing 500
yards an hour each, the true shop average is a weighted average,
which is obtained in the manner shown in the following figures:
Number of
workers.
Hourly output
per worker.
Total output
per hour.
5 ........................................
25 ........................................
50 ..............................................
500 ..............................................
250
12,500
30 ........................................
550 ..............................................
12,750
Weighted average hourly output per worker— 12,750^30 = 425.
In other words, while the simple average would be 275 yards, the
weighted or true average is 425 yards. This method has been used
throughout these calculations, both in getting the average output
of each worker from the several jobs for which he was timed, as well
as in getting the shop average from the several workers’ averages,
and, finally, the average for the industry from the several shop aver
ages. In this way extremes, whether in the form of very high or
very low output, do not appreciably affect the average, since they
are given a weight proportional to the extent to which they occur
in the shops or in the industry.1
The output per hour on strip tucking varies with—
1. The skill of the individual worker.
2. The machine on which it is done.
3. The number of needles on the machine.
4. The width of the tuck.
5. The width of the material.
6. The fineness of the stitch.
7. The material on which the tucking is done.
8. The size of the job; that is to say, the number of yards the
operator can work on without a stop.
1.
That the skill of the worker will affect his output needs no expla
nation. Unfortunately, there is no direct way of tracing the connec
tion between the skill of the worker and his output as shown in the
i Figures of exceptionally low output due to the fact that they represented the work of apprentices or
beginners were discarded.
200
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
tables, except in so far as the wages of the week workers give an
indication of this, for in a general way it is true that the more skillful
workers command higher wages. However, there is no strict pro
portion between the skill and the wages of the worker, and it will
frequently be found that workers of fairly equal skill will be getting
different rates of wages, depending on the length of service of the
workers in the shop, their ability to bargain for better compensation,
and other more or less incidental causes.
2. The machine used is an important factor in determining the out
put of the operator. The two machines in general use for tucking are
the Wilcox & Gibbs and the Singer, the former being the faster of the
two. The Wilcox & Gibbs machine makes about 3,400 revolutions
per minute, while the Singer makes all the way from 1,600 to 2,400
revolutions, according to the way in which the shafts and pulleys
are arranged in the different shops.
3. Much of the tucking is done in clusters of from 2 to 10 tucks each?
and sometimes even more. In order to save time, machines are made
with more than one needle. The multiple-needle machine most in
use in the dress and waist industry is the 5-needle machine, though 8
and 10 needle machines are also to be found. If a cluster of less
than 5 tucks has to be made, one or more needles is taken out for the
time being. By the use of a 5-needle machine a cluster of 5 tucks can
thus be made in one operation, where five operations would be needed
if an ordinary single-needle machine were used. However, owing
to the more complicated character of the machine, it can not be
operated as fast as the single-needle machine, and the greater the
number of needles the slower the operation.
4. On tucks not exceeding half an inch in width, the difference in
width does not affect the output. On wider tucks, the greater the
width the more difficult for the operator to keep the material from
creasing under the “ foot,” and therefore the smaller the output.
5. The wider the material the more difficult it is to handle it in the
machine, and therefore the less will be the output of the operator.
6. All other things being equal, the finer the stitch—that is, the
greater the number of stitches to the inch—the less will be the number
of yards stitched in a given period of time. This is especially true of
work like strip tucking, where the machine can be kept in continuous
operation over a great many yards of cloth without stopping.
7. The output on cotton material, like voile or lawn, will be
greater, all other things being equal, than on material like chiffon,
which easily stretches and therefore must be handled with great care
and at a lower speed.
8. Other things being equal, the larger the j ob given to the worker at
a time the greater will be the output, since he will be enabled to work
longer without interruption. On strip tucking, whether done by a
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
201
single-needle or nmitiple-needle machine, there may he more than
one tuck or more than one cluster on a given strip of cloth. If the
work calls for, say, 5 tucks on a single-needle machine, or 5 clusters
on a multiple-needle machine, the operator will have to make 5 runs
on a strip furnished to him before he is through with the job. As the
machine must be stopped at the beginning and end of each run, the
question is not so much as to the number of yards to the job as of
the number of yards to each run. This is indicated in the last column
of Tables 77A and 77B.
The results given in Tables 77A and 77B were obtained on the basis
explained above. The figures appearing in the column headed ‘ ‘ yards
per hour,” represent in each case an average of two or more jobs com
pleted by the same person, this average being obtained on the same
basis as the shop average and the average for the industry—-that is
to say, each job being given a weight corresponding to its size.
Taking first the work done on a single-needle Wilcox & Gibbs
machine, we find a fairly umform output if we compare the average
output of three shops, of which two make $9-a-dozen waists, while
one, No. 1116, manufactures a medium grade of goods. This shop
shows the lowest output per hour of the three, namely, 239 yards
per hour (line 11), while the highest, in shop No. 1230, is only
258 yards per hour (line 4), and the average for the three shops is
247 yards per hour (line 12). On the other hand, the average for
shop No. 1090 is only 176 yards per hour (line 14). This is due
chiefly to the fact that the tucking in shop No. 1090 was done on a
Singer machine. These figures were therefore not included with the
average representing the output of the shops mentioned above on a
Wilcox & Gibbs machine.
CHIFFONS VERSUS COTTON.
A small amount, 175| yards of strip tucking, was done on chiffon
in shop No. 1090 on a single-needle Singer machine while the inves
tigation was in progress, showing an output of 92 yards per hour.
The operator was under observation for 115 minutes, or nearly 2
hours. As this operator earned practically the same amount of
money as the one who showed an output of 176 yards per hour on
the same machine on cotton material, the two figures seem to offer
a fair basis for adjusting the rate on chiffons, which should be higher
than the rate on cotton on the same machine.
Line
No.
Shop No. and operator No.
202
T a b le
77A.—STRIP TUCKING: WILCOX & GIBBS SINGLE-NEEDLE MACHINE.
Material.
Width of
tuck.
Stitches Number
per inch. of yards.
Time
Number
Yards
worked
(min per hour. of jobs.
utes).
Number
of yards
per run.
Number
of runs.
11,000
2,552
259
1
440
25
9
10
396
252
102
57
233
265
1
1
36
36
11
7
OF
9 to 10
11,648
2,711
258
3
19-WAIST SHOPS.
1
2
3
Shop No. 1230:
Operator No. 7 1 ..............
Operator No. 8 ...................
4
6
Shop No. 119i:
Operator No. 13
Operator No. 14.................
Week work..
M.
....... do..........
M.
Week work.
Pin and £
inch.
Pin.........
18.00 .......do.......... ___d o............
$18.00
18.00
Lawn..........
Lawn..........
Pin and 1
inch.
1,500
4,098
457
864
Voile...........
P in ..............
14 to 15
5,598
1,321
Lawn and
voile.
Pin and I
inch.
Pins
F.
Week work.
12.00
(2)
\vera"e 2 persons
8
Shop No. 1116:
Operator No. 15..................
F.
Piecework...
10
Operator No 16
Operator No. 17.................
F.
F.
....... do..........
....... d o..........
(2)
(2)
11
Average, 3 persons.........
F.
Piecework..
(2)
Lawn and
voile.
12
Average, 3 shops............ F. and M. Week work
and piece
work.
12.00 to
18.00
Voile a n d
lawn.
■
254
1
2
3
■
7 to 25
___________
100
84 to 234
15
7 to 15
84 to 234
7 to 15
■ -■.
MEDIUM-PRICE WAIST SHOPS.
9
13
Shop No. 1232: Operator No. 22
F.
Week work.
14
15
Shop No. 1090:5
Operator No 19
Operator No 21
F.
F.
....... d o..........
....... do..........
. ...
9.50
4,960
1,198
248
5
5,813
7,818
1,529
1,933
228
243
47 to 2C8
4
5 128 and 159
Pin and I
inch.3
11 to 12
18,591
4,660
239
14
12 to 268
5 to 30
Pin and i
inch.
9 to 15
35,837
8,692
247
20
12 to 440
5 to 30
2
....... do.......... ....... d o . . .
Embroidered Pin and T
inch.
strip.
Voile............
Chiffon........ .......d o .. .
1 Including 3 partners.
2 Earnings not reported.
a One job of 1,225 yards had 245 yards long (one run), §-inch tuck.
12 to 36 0,10,11,12,14,
22 and 24
5, 0, 20
9,11,12,20.
25 and 30
12
11
11
9~
14
7
800~
2,200
175*
313~
153~
2~ 4 ICO to 240
748
115
176
92
1
1
* 10-yard pieces.
5 Singer single-needle machine was used.
220
29J
10
6
STATISTICS,
7
197
285
=
LABOR
14
15
Week work.
....... d o .........
=
OF
P in..............
12.00 Voile.
12.00 .......do.......... .......do..........
F.
F.
36 to 440
=
BUKEAU
5
M.
THE
9
BULLETIN
Wages or
Sex of Piecework or earnings
operator. week work. per week.
T a b le
Shop No. and
operator No.
Sex of Piecework or Wages or earn
operator. week work. ings per week.
Material.
Width
of tuck.
Stitches Number
per inch. of yards.
Time
worked
(min
utes).
Yards
Number
per hour. of jobs.
Number
of yards
per run.
Number
of runs.
AND
4-n e e d l e m a c h i n e .
16
14 to 16
14 to 16
1,678
4,712
3,773
636
1,826
1,445
158
155
157
11
16
10
27 to 66
44 to 200
63 to 400
2,3
1. 2.3.4
1. 2.3.4
14
13 to 16
1,474
3,428
766
1,170
115
176
6
11
30 to 120
48 to 675
3,4
1,2
EMPLOYMENT
13 to 16
15,065
5,843
155
54
27 to 675
1 to 4
IN
12
12 to 15
12
12
1,356
2,976
1,392
90
580
899
648
70
140
199
129
77
5
6
3
1
24 to 198
50 to 168
68 to 120
15
1,2,4
3,4,6
3,6
6
DBESS
12 to 15
5,814
2,197
159
15
15 to 198
1 to 6
AND
$9-waist shops.
1
2
3
Shop No. 1230:
Operator No. 4___
Operator No. 3 ___
Operator No. 2___
F.
F.
F.
Week work.
....... d o ..........
....... do..........
4
5
Operator No. 5___
Operator No. 6___
F.
M.
....... do..........
....... do..........
6
7
8
9
10
11
Average, 5 per
sons ................. M. and F. Week work.
Shop No. 1284:
Operator No.
Operator No.
Operator No.
Operator No.
F.
F.
F.
F.
Week work.
....... do..........
....... do..........
....... do..........
Average, 4 per
sons .................
F.
Week work.
M.
Piecework
6.00 to 14.00
Voile and lawn........
Pin
7.00 Voile and lawn......... Pin
11.00 .......do....................... . . . d o . . . .
13.00 .......do....................... ...d o ___
8.00 .......do....................... ...d o ----7.00 to 13.00
Voile and lawn......... Pin
Average, 3 shops. M. and F. Week work
and piece
work.
Pin
12
850
462
110
3
105 to 213
2
V oile........................ Pin
12 to 16
21,729
8,502
153
72
15 to 675
1 to 6
Voile.........................
* Earnings not reported.
INDUSTEY. 2 0 3
13
Shop No. 1116:
Operator No. 1 8 ...
WAIST
9___
10. . .
11. . .
12. . .
$7.50 Voile......................... Pin
10.50 .......do....................... . . . d o . . . .
12.50 Voile and embroi . . . d o . . . .
dery.
14.00 Voile......................... . . . d o . . . .
6.00 Lawn........................ __do__ _
Medium-price waist
shops.
12
WAGES
Line
No.
77B.—STRIP TUCKING: SINGER MULTIPLE-NEE DLE MACHINE.
Material.
Width
of tuck.
Stitches Number
per inch. of yards.
Time
worked
(min
utes).
2,110
695
20
182
258
64 to 501
3 to 4
2,196
715
184
64 to 501
1,4
Yards
Number
per hour. of jobs.
Number
of yards
per run.
Number
of runs.
BULLETIN
5-needle
Sex of Piecework or Wages or earn
operator. week work. ings per week.
THE
Shop No. and
operator No.
OP
Line
No.
77B.—STRIP TUCKING: SINGER MULTIPLE-NEEDLE MACHINE—-Concluded.
204
T a b le
m achine .
$9-waist shops.
F.
F.
Week work,
___ do........ .
Average..............
F.
Week work.
Shop No. 1281:
Operator No. 12. . .
Shop No. 1232:
Operator No. 2 3 ...
F.
Week work.
8.00
F.
----- do........ .
10.50
Week work.
8.00 to 13.50
Average, 3 shops.
513.50 Voile ..
12.50 .......do.
12.50 to 13.50
P in ..
...d o .
P in.
16
Lawn.
P in ..
13
Voile..
...d o .
V oile.
Voile and lawn..
P in.
1
1,040
857
73
260
4
5,100
2,274
135
250 to 1,110
1,2,4
9 to 16
8,336
3,846
130
64 to 1,110
1 to 4
14
450
185
146
225
BUEEAU
Shop No. 1230:
Operator No. 1 ___
Operator No. 2___
8-NEEDLE MACHINE.
OF
Medium-price waist
Shop No. 1090:
Operator No. 20 . .
Piecework..
0)
Lawn.
^5-mch
i Earnings not reported.
STATISTICS.
F.
LABOE
20
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
205
SINGER 4-NEEDLE MACHINE.
The average output per hour on a 4-needle machine in two $9-adozen waist shops was 155 and 159 yards per hour, respectively.
The hourly output of the individual workers in these shops on this
class of work varied from 77 to 199 yards per hour. This variation
was due not only to the differences in the speed of the different
operators, which is reflected in their weekly wages shown in the fifth
column of Table 77B, but also to the differences in the size of their
jobs, and more particularly the number of yards to the run. Thus
the lowest output of 77 yards per hour (line 10 of Table 77B) was on
a job having the smallest number of yards per run, namely, 15; the
highest output of 199 yards per hour was by a worker who had from
50 to 168 yards of tucking per run. It is true that the output per
hour is not directly proportional to the length of the run so far as it
can be seen from the table, but that is due to the presence of other
factors affecting the output, mentioned elsewhere. The average
output on a 4-needle Singer machine in shop No. 1116, which is
outside of the $9-a-dozen group, was 110 yards per hour. Though
lower than the figures for the $9-a-dozen shops, it has been included
in the general average—first, because there is no reason why the
work on the same machine should be any more difficult in this shop
than in $9-a-dozen waist shops, there being no essential difference
in the stitches per inch, width of the material, width of the tuck, or
length of the run; second, because the total quantity timed in this
shop (850 yards) is so small, as compared with the total of the other
two shops (20,879 yards), as to have no appreciable effect upon the
general average.
SINGER 5-NEEDLE MACHINE.
The average output per hour on the 5-needle Singer machine was
found to be 130 yards. This average was based on timing the tuck
ing of 8,336 yards in three $9-a-dozen waist shops, and represents a
range in individual production of from 73 to 258 yards per hour, the
lowest output being that of a girl receiving $8 a week (line 17) and
the highest of one receiving $12.50 a week (line 15). It should be
noted, however, that the same girl had an output of only 157 yards
on a 4-needle machine. The output of 258 yards must therefore be
regarded as exceptional and may be partly explained by the fact that
it was achieved on a very small job of 86 yards, which lasted only 20
minutes. The output on small jobs of this kind can never be taken
as reliable, and is apt to be either too large or too small, as will be
seen from the tables in this report. The operator may be fortunate
in making a short run under very favorable conditions which could
not last if she continued to work for a considerable length of time,
and the output will appear very large; or the contrary may be the
case, and the output will turn out very small.
206
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
SINGER 8-NEEDLE MACHINE.
Only one worker in shop No. 1090 was found to operate an 8-needle
machine in the course of the investigation. The job on which she
was timed consisted of two runs of 225 yards each, showing an output
of 146 yards per hour.
SH O RT TUCKING.
Short tucking was timed in the same shops as the strip tucking.
The total number of persons under observation for short tucking in
these six shops was 54. Of these 22 were men and 32 were women.
These people tucked 282f^ dozen waists while under observation,
which took the equivalent of 449 hours and 27 minutes for one per
son. The same method was used in calculating the averages in the
case of short tucking as in the case of strip tucking, and in fact this
method has been used throughout this part of the report, unless
otherwise stated. The output of a worker engaged in making short
tucks will depend, apart from the individual speed of the worker and
of the machine, (1) on the length of the tuck, (2) the width of the
tuck, (3) the fineness of the stitch, (4) the material of which the gar
ment is made, (5) the number of tucks to the waist, (6) the size of the
bundle which the worker receives, (7) on whether the tucks are of
uniform or various widths, and (8) on whether they are arranged
singly or in clusters.
1.
All other things being equal, the longer the tuck the more time
it will take to make it. That is true, however, only when we speak of
tucks differing considerably in length, such as a tuck of 5 or 6 inches
as compared with one of 21 to 24 inches. It would not be true of
tucks differing by a few inches. Within certain limits the length of
the tuck is not material because the time lost in starting and stopping
the machine and shifting the material far exceeds the time taken to
make the tuck, and as the making of a tuck 4 inches long or 9 inches
long is a matter of seconds in either case, the difference in time taken
to do the different tucks within those limits is so small as to be negli
gible for practical purposes. Moreover, as the same worker makes all
the tucks on a waist, no matter what their length, the average rate
finds its counterpart in the average time it will take to do*the average
tuck representing different lengths. For purposes of comparison,
the data have been tabulated separately in two groups so far as the
length of the tucks is concerned, namely, those 9 inches or less and
those over 9 and up to 24 inches long, 24 inches being the extreme
length of a waist. Occasionally tucks exceed that length when made
across the waist, in which case they may reach the length of 36 inches
or more.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
207
2. The width of the tuck will affect the output on short tucks in
the same manner as on strip tucking as explained above.
3. The number of stitches per inch naturally affects the output, but
it is of less practical importance on short tucking than on strip tucking,
for reasons already explained.
4. The effect of the material on output has been explained under
strip tucking.
5. The number of tucks per waist is of great importance in determin
ing the output. The more tucks a waist contains, the fewer waists an
operator must handle to turn out a given number of tucks, and as the
handling of the material takes up a considerable part of the total
time at work, this is an important factor in affecting the output.
6. The size of the bundle—that is, the number of waists contained
in a single job—is of great importance in determining the output of an
operator. The larger the job, the longer the operator can carry on
his work without interruption. The mere stopping of work to fold
the waists and tie up the bundle and take it to the foreman in order
to get the next bundle, results in the loss of at least five minutes.
If, in addition to that, the operator must wait for his next job because
the foreman is too busy to attend to him at once, the time lost
between the completion of one job and the commencement of the
other may be increased very materially. If the bundle given to the
worker is large the time lost in tying up the bundle and getting the
next bundle will constitute a much smaller percentage of the time
actually spent at work than in case the bundle is small.
7. If the tucks are all of uniform width, the gauge which regulates
the width of the tuck has to be set only once. On the contrary, if
the tucks are of varying widths, the gauge has to be reset every time
that a tuck of a new width has to be made.
8. If tucks are arranged in uniform clusters—that is to say, clusters
in which the distance between the tucks is the same, and in which the
tucks are of uniform width—it is much easier for the operator to
handle them than if the distance between the tucks varies and the
width of the tucks varies at the same time.
The only way in which to obtain conclusive data as to the effect
of each of these factors on output would have been to test the same
worker on jobs of the same character, varying only one of these
factors at a time. As the tests had to be conducted in shops without
disturbing their routine and merely timing the work of the operators
under such conditions as were found to exist at the time, such a
procedure was impossible. For this reason it will be difficult to
analyze in detail the causes of the difference in output in the different
shops given in the tables, though in a general way the connection
between the causes mentioned and the output may be seen.
208
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
WILCOX & GIBBS MACHINE.
Comparing lines 1 and 2 of Table 77C, we find that both have 34
tucks to a waist, but while the tucks in line 1 are of uniform length
and width, 3£ inches long and XV inch wide, the tucks in line 2 vary
in length from 5 to 7^ inches. This makes it more difficult for the
operator, who must watch the length of each tuck. The result is a
smaller output, 183 tucks per hour, while in the former case it is 219
tucks per hour, in spite of the fact that the smaller output was pro
duced on a Wilcox & Gibbs machine and the larger on the slower
machine.
Line 3 shows an output of only 48 tucks per hour. In this case
there is only 1 tuck to the waist against 34 tucks to the waist in
lines 1 and 2, and the width of the tuck is 1 inch as against ^ inch
and J inch in the jobs given above. As already explained, the fewer
tucks to the waist the greater the proportion of time lost on each
tuck in handling the work. Likewise the width of the tuck, especially
when it reaches 1 inch and over, makes the work more difficult for
the operator to handle and reduces the output. Similar causes
account for the great difference in output in the other jobs given in
the following lines of Table 77C, although it is difficult to point out
in each case the particular cause or causes responsible for the result,
in view of the fact that frequently two or more causes combine to
affect the output. Thus the output in line 5 is 237 tucks per hour,
while in line 6 it is 200 tucks. As the number of tucks to the waist
in line 5 is 12, and in line 6 it is twice as large, and as there is no
essential difference in other respects, the output in line 6 should ha\e
been considerably greater than in line 5 ; instead of that, it is smaller.
The reason is that line 5 represents the work of four of the best
operators in the shop, receiving $12, $14, $15, and $18 per week,
respectively, two of them being men, while the work in line 6 repre
sents the output of two girls receiving $10 and $11 per week who are
slower workers than the others.
The same observations can be made with reference to tucks exceed
ing 9 inches in length. Line 10 shows an output of 123 tucks per
hour when there are 18 tucks to the waist.
Line 11 shows an output of 134 tucks per hour with the number
of tucks per waist increased to 20.
Line 12 shows an output of 252 tucks per hour with the number of
tucks per waist rising to 52.
The number of tucks per waist drops to 42 in line 13, and the out
put drops to 225 tucks per hour.
T a b le
77C.—SHORT TUCKING: WILCOX & GIBBS SINGLE-NEEDLE MACHINE.
Width
of tuck.
Stitches
per inch.
Num Size of Tucks
ber
job
per
(dozen hour.
of
jobs. waists).
AND
Time
Num Tucks Num
ber of Waists Total work Length
ber of per tucks
ed
(doz
of tuck
clus clus
(min (inches).
per
en). tucks. utes).
ter.
ters.
waist.
WAGES
M. F
Piecework..
.......d o ..........
.......do..........
$10.61
13.33
12.05
13.33
Crftpe.
Lingerie
.......do..........
7.78
Voile__
.......d o..........
___ do..........
..... d o .........
\
Piecework..
Operator No. 192.
Average..
....d o ..
.d o .........
Do..
----- d o..........
Do.
.......do.........
6
JNet.......
9.71
[Linen...
8.06
9.71 }..d o ......
7.78 to 13.62
Voile___
7.78 to 10.29 ...d o ......
7.78 to 13.62
.do..
10.58 •Net..
11.92
1 This work was done on a Singer machine.
23A
3,696
860
6J to 8
83V
3f
25
2,328
900
600
700
141
245
4
7
7
6
8
864
470
1,728
845
12
52
h
in
{10}22
169
2,880
{ in}22*
{ >
1,290 { 23}19
m
27,040
6,429
8tV
4,242
1,129
18'
23 •18
241
u 21
24]
7J
11
1,936
700.
2,904
678
21
{ Ift22*
is inch
£ inch.
1 inch.
1 /j to 2
4|
P in ...
3*
/P i n ...
V&inch
P in ...
& inch
Jinch.
J inch,
fin ch ,
/ f inch,
t& inch
P in ...
..d o ...
..d o ...
£inch.
P in ...
..d o ...
jin ch .
J-inch.
P in ...
fin ch .
I inch ,
i inch.
2 Single tucks.
10
196
1219
183
48
11 to 13
21 to 5
237
13 to 15
13
14
1& to 4
3f
25
383
147
200
12
110
16
123
16
2i and 9^
134
11 to 12
2*to6|
252
11
lf|to4£
225
1A to 2iV
166
3 to 4
257
11 to 12
11
209
I
552
31
5 to 7£
5
INDUSTKY.
Do.
- .- .d o .........
3|
635
150
WAIST
Average...
Shop No. 1116:
10
2,278
1,938
120
AND
Week work.
Average..............
Operator No. 185.
Operator No. 186.
Shop No. 1090:
o ile
12.00.14.00, [ Vand
15.00, 18.00 I crSpe,
10.00, 11.00 Voile....
14.00 ...d o ......
16.00
do......
4f
DBESS
Average...............
5r?
IN
Shop No. 1090:
Average....
Operator No. 190.
Operator No. 191.
Shop No. 1116:
Operator No. 196.
Shop No. 1191:
EMPLOYMENT
42132°— Bull. 146—14-
Num
ber and
sex of
Line Shop No. and opera opera Piecework or Wages or earn
tors.
No.
tor No.
week work. ings per week. Material.
77C.—SHORT TUCKING: WILCOX & GIBBS SINGLE-NEEDLE MACHINE—Concluded.
M.
Time
Num Tucks Num
of Waists
Length
of per ber
Total work
(doz
Material. ber
tucks
of tuck
ed
clus clus
per
en). tucks. (min (inches).
ters. ter. waist.
utes).
Width
of tuck.
Stitches
per inch.
Num Size of
Tucks
ber
job
per
(dozen
of
jobs. waists). hour.
11 to 12
1 to 2i
F.
BULLETIN
Num
ber and
sex of
Line Shop No. and opera opera Piecework or Wages or earn
tors.
No.
tor No.
week work.
ings per week.
210
T a b le
Shop No. 1116—Con.
7.78
9.08 ‘•-.do......
.d o........
.d o ........
Week work
D o.......
___ d o........
fV o i 1 e
and
[ crdpe.
9.00 to 12. CO Voile___
Do.......
___ do........
10. 00, 12.00
9.00 to 18.00
[Voile
Operator No. 182.
.. . . d o ........
and
I crGpe.
12.00 V oile....
Operator No. 186.
___d o........
16.00 ...d o ......
651
42
12
10
4f
2,394
577
20 is ch
SI16
840
1,920
205
265
fin ch
' fin ch
4
16
14*
2,752
819 21 to 22
Pin____
11 to 15
2A to 4^2
4
12
1,368
623 19 to 21
A inch.
12 to 14
IA to 5
132
2
14
6
i2
2
14
8
1,344
395
21
Pin____
9 to 12
3A to 4-]2<r
204
}
40
11
880
165
}
26
V
260
59
{
{ ih i
Pin.
371
(Pin
f
J
1 This work was done on a Singer machine.
11
11
Pin.
9
Pin.
11
249
2J to
10
1!
246
435
202
320
204
STATISTICS.
4,026
11.92 ...d o ......
10.58 ...d o ......
Average..
66
LABOK
.......do...........
J
BUREAU
Operator No. 197.
Operator No. 200.
Shop No. 1191:
13.62 |Voile___j.
THE
Do.
Piecework.
OF
Average.........
OF
16
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
211
In line 14 the number of tucks per waist drops further to 22 with
the result that the output per hour goes down to 166. But in line
15, with the same number of tucks per waist, the output rises to 257
tucks per hour, which is accounted for by the fact that in this case
the tucks are all of uniform width, namely, \ inch, whereas in the
preceding cases there were tucks of three different widths: Pin
inch), | inch, and f inch.
In line 16 the number of tucks per waist rises to 66 and all of them
are of uniform width, namely, pin-tuck size, and as should be
expected, the output per hour increases very materially, namely, to
371 tucks.
Enough has been said in explanation of the figures to show the
effect of the different causes on the output per hour.
DOUBLE TUCKS.
As already explained (p. 198), it is customary in many shops to
join together two parts of a waist having similar tucks, such as two
fronts or two backs, and thus make the tucks on the two waists in
one process. In spite of the loss of time in joining the two pieces
together and cutting them apart, there is a considerable saving of
time, because it does not take much more time to do a tuck of double
length than it does to do a single tuck. Table 77D shows the out
put on double tucks. It will be seen that the output on these double
tucks does not differ much from that on single tucks. Thus the
output on double tucks of the total length of 10 inches (that is, 2
tucks of 5 inches each), 12 tucks to the waist, is 214 tucks per hour.
Line 2 shows the output to be only 111 tucks per hour when the
length of the tucks on the waist is 14 inches and 54 inches.
Line 3 shows an output of 100 tucks per hour when the length of
the double tuck is 36 inches and there are only 7 tucks to the waist.
Line 4 shows the output of 154 tucks per hour with the length of
the double tuck only 13 inches and the number of tucks to the waist
being 9.
In line 5 the output per hour drops to 62 because the length of
the double tuck increases to 42 inches, the number of tucks to the
waist drops to 6, and the total number of tucks to the job drops to
only 144.
Finally, line 6 shows an output of 91 tucks per hour on the same
length of tuck with the number of tucks per waist increased to 8.
Lines 8 to 10 show the time it takes to join the two similar parts of
a waist in order to make a double tuck. This work was timed only
in shop No. 1230, which is a typical $9-a-dozen waist shop. The output
of one operator, receiving $18 per week, was 189 rows of stitching per
hour; that is to say, 189 pairs of parts. The output of the other
operator, also receiving $18 per week, was 206 rows of stitching per
hour, the average of the two being 202. Both operators were men.
212
Table 77D.—DOUBLE TUCKS: WILCOX & GIBBS SINGLE-NEEDLE MACHINE.
Shop No. and operator
No.
Wages or
Week work
earnings
or piecework. per
week.
Fe
Male. male.
Average.................
$16 Voile..
12 to 18 ...d o ...
12 . ..d o...
12 Lawn.
12‘ Voile..
10 Cr&pe.
3
....... d o . . . . . .
fV oile)
18 { and }
jlawn.|
3
3
4
7
3
2
2
3
3
4
12
21
7
9
6
8
8
81
65
H
H
2
1A
50
10
1,260
1,596
154
360
144
152
353
865
92
140
140
100
36
13
42
42
4,800
1,424
14
P in ... 13 to 14
.. .d o . . 11 to 15
12
...d o ..
14
...d o ...
12
...d o ...
...d o ...
15
48L}
9 to 10
2
1*
H
2
1*
214
111
100
154
62
91
7 1* to 13
202
3
1
1
1
1
3| to 5
H to2|
Shop No. and operator No.
Week work
or piecework.
Num Size of Rows
Time Length
Num
Rows of Waists Total
of
job
stitch (doz rows of worked seams Stitches ber
Mate ber of Tucks
per
(dozen stitch
stitch (min (inch per inch. of
rial. clus cluster. ing per en).
ing
per
jobs.
waists).
ing.
utes).
waist.
ters.
hour.
es).
8
9
Shop No. 1230:
Operator No. 7......... ...........
Operator No. 189................
1
1
Week work.
.......d o..........
$18 Voile
18 ...d o ...
1
1
5
20
60
240
19
70
11
11
9
9 to 10
1
3
5
5 to 8
189
206
10
Average.............................
2
Week work.
18 Voile
1
25
300
89
11
9 to 10
4
5 to 8
202
STATISTICS,
Fe
Male. male.
Weekly
rate of
pay.
LABOR
Line
No.
Number
and sex of
operators.
OF
Joining p
‘ arts o f waist fo r making double tucks.
BUREAU
7
,
Week work.
1
1 Week work.
1 ....... d o . . . . . .
1 ....... d o..........
1 ....... d o..........
1
2
THE
4
5
6
Shop No. 1191:
Operator No. 186..
Average..................
Operator No. 183
D o ....................
Operator No. 13
Operator No. 178.
Shop No. 1230:
Num
Num Size of Tucks
Time Length
ber of Waists Total worked of tuck Width Stitches ber
job
per
tucks (dozen). tucks. (min (inch of tuck. per inch. of
(dozen hour.
per
jobs. waists).
es).
utes).
waist.
OF
1
2
Num
Mate ber of Tucks
per
rial.
clus cluster.
ters.
BULLETIN
Line
No.
Number
and sex of
operators.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
213
SINGLE-NEEDLE SINGER MACHINE.
Table 77E shows the output on a Singer single-needle machine.
The same causes which affect the output on a Wilcox & Gibbs ma
chine will also affect work done on a Singer machine. Thus the
output in line 1 on a job in which there are 84 tucks per waist (J
inch wide) is 125 tucks per hour, and in line 2, representing similar
work by another operator, the output is practically the same, namely,
122 tucks per hour. In line 3 the production drops to 104 tucks
per hour on the same class of work, but with only 2 dozen waists to
the job instead of 3 dozen as in the preceding case. It should be
noted that in each of the above cases the tucks exceeding 23 inches
in length were “ cross-tucks,” i. e., tucks running across the waist,
which had to be stitched over the tucks covering the waist length
wise. This makes the work somewhat more difficult, and therefore
takes more time than ordinary tucking. As the cross tucks could
not be timed separately from the other tucks, the output is given
for the entire job. The average for the three jobs was 118 tucks
per hour.
The same operator shows an output of 110 tucks per hour in line
4, although the number of tucks per waist is only 18 instead of 84
as in the preceding case, and although the width of the tuck is f
inch, but in this case the operator had the advantage of having tucks
of only two different lengths, whereas in the preceding case she had
six different lengths of tucks to look out for; also there Were no cross
tucks to be made in this case.
The output in line 5 drops to 76 tucks per hour on exactly the same
kind of work as that shown in line 4. This work was done by an
operator who, on the average, earned more money than the operator
in line 4, and who, in line 1, shows a bigger output than the other
operator. The only reason which may account for it, so far as it
appears from the table, is that the job in line 5 consists of 1 dozen
waists whereas in the preceding case it consists of 2 dozen.
Finally, the output in line 6 is only 55 tucks per hour on exactly
similar work as in line 5 except that the tucks, instead of being of
one width of f inch, are of two widths, namely, | inch and 1 inch,
respectively, which makes the job more difficult on account of the
necessity of adjusting the gauge twice and of the greater difficulty
of handling tucks of greater width.
SHORT TUCKING ON A MULTIPLE-NEEDLE SINGER MACHINE.
The work on a multiple-needle machine is necessarily slower than
on a single-needle machine: First, because it requires more careful
handling on the part of the. operator in looking after more needles
and threads at the same time; second, because the multiple-needle
Shop No. and operator
No.
Sex of
Week work
operator. or piecework.
Weekly earn
ings of piece
workers.
Width
Size of Tucks
Num Tucks Num
Time
of Waists Total worked
Length
Of Stitch Num
job
ber of per ber
per
(doz tucks. (min
tuck es per ber of (dozen
of tuck
clas- clus tucks
per
en).
(inch inch. jobs. waists). hour.
ter. waist.
ters.
utes). (inches).
es).
Mate
rial.
Shop No. 1090:
4
Piecework..
2
Operator No. 190...
F.
....... do..........
$13.33
Lawn.1
i
12.05 ...do...|
i
3
Operator No. 193...
F.
....... d o ..........
10.61 ...d o ...1
Piecework . .
12.00
Lawn.
Piecework . .
Linen.
4
Operator No. 191—
F.
....... do..........
13.33 ...d o ...
4
6
Operator No. 194...
F.
....... do..........
5.71 ...d o ...
4
10.61
3,024
1,485
16
1
3
125
ft
16
1
3
122
2
2,016
23
21
21£
27 21
17
1,160
ft
16
1
2
104
. 201
4|
F.
5
3
ft
|
27¥
84
8
8,064
4,093
.
{ i l l 18
4 { i s } 18
4 { m l 18
18
21
27 21
16J
19
16
ft
3
2 to 3
118
i
2
432
235
19
i
16
1
2 i
1
216
170
19
1
16
1
1
1
216
235
21
16
1
i t t
{
23}
{
\
}
110
76
55
STATISTIGS,
4
Shop No. 1090:
Operator No. 193.. .
F.
84
2741
18
21 21
27
16£
19
21ft]
23
21
27 21
17
LABOR
Average, lines 1
to 3.
1,448
84
4
3
2
4
4
3,024
20}
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
OF
2
#4
4
4
4
3
2
4
4
4
4
3
2
4
4
84
BUKEAU
F.
THE
Operator No. 191. -.
' 4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
OF
1
4
3
BULLETIN
Line
No.
77E.-SHORT TUCKING: SINGER SINGLE-NEEDLE MACHINE.
214
T a b le
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
215
machine works more slowly than a single-needle machine; third,
because the adjusting of the material under the foot takes longer
than on a single-needle machine. Table 77F shows in detail the
output on such a machine.
Taking first shop No. 1090, we find the output to vary from 78
to 88 clusters per hour, making an average of 84 clusters (line 4).
As will be seen from the figures in lines 1 to 3, it does not make
much difference as to whether the machine contains 5 or 6 needles.
Lines 5 to 10 show the output per hour in shop No. 1116. In this
case the output varies more owing to the greater variation in the
character of the work, although it is all done by one operator.
Lines 5 and 6 show practically the same output, namely, 101 and
103 clusters per hour, under similar conditions of work, such as the
number of tucks per cluster, and the length and width of the tucks.
Line 7 shows an output of only 83 clusters per hour under prac^
tically similar conditions, except that the tucks are slightly longer.
Line 8 shows an output of 192 clusters per hour by the same opera
tor when all the clusters are of the same length.
Line 9 shows the output to be only 110 clusters on the same kind
of clusters of uniform length when the number of clusters per waist
is reduced from 8 to 4.
As the output in lines 5 to 9 represents the woik of the same opera
tor, and tiie work is of a fairly uniform character, an average of the
above may be of practical value. Line 10 shows the average output
on the above work to be 109 clusters per hour.
Lines 11 to 13 show the output on double clusters in shop No.
1230. In this case similar clusters on similar parts of different waists
are made in one operation. That is to say, 2 backs or 2 fronts are
joined together, the clusters in both are made in one operation, and
the two parts are later cut apart. The work of making a double
cluster is, however, a much more difficult operation than making a
double tuck. As the cluster does not extend through the entire length
of the waist (theNlength in this case being 11 inches for the double
tuck, or 5i inches for each cluster) the operator must pull the material
through the foot until she reaches the point where the cluster is to
start. As she has nothing to guide her but her eye, she frequently
discovers, after the cluster is completed, that it has not ended at
the proper point, with the result that it has to be ripped and the
work started over again. At best, the work has to be done slowly
in order to make sure that the tuck will be started and finished at
the right point. The result is a very low output as compared with
the preceding figures, namely, 43 clusters per hour in the case of
one operator, and 28 in the case of another, the average being 37
clusters per hour with 3 clusters to the waist.
Shop No. and operator
No.
Sex of
Week work
operator. or piecework.
Wages or
earnings
per week.
Mate
rial.
Piecework..
$14.47
Lawn.
4
F.
Piecework..
14.47
Lawn
Average, 1 person.
8
16
4
12
10
12
1,152
1,920
576
885
1,311
405
5 to 8 * inch
7 to 11 re inch
5 to 7 V* inch |
4 to 16
3-1
3,648
2,601
5 to 11
64
38
72
42
n
Shop No. 1116:
78
88
85
84
M.
Piecework. .
{
5
{V
5
Voile..
(*)
8
9
[{
10
Average, 1 person.
M.
Piecework
11
12
Shop No. 1230:
Operator No. 187...
Operator No. 2.......
F.
F.
Week work.
....... do..........
13
Average, 2 persons
F.
Week w ork.
*
l }
*
5* }
8
i
i
3
16J
5 4 to 8
20
13.50 Voile..
12. o0 ...d o ...
4
4
3
3
27£
Hi
Voile..
1
3
39
Voile..
12.50 to 13.50
{
52
{
20
425
S b
P in ...
...d o ...
101
>
...d o ...
§ }*
21 ...d o ...
21 ...d o ...
19 to 22
P in ...
12
I
12 I
1
103
12
12
12
i
l ■
1
I |
3 3-H to 7* ;
83
192
110
12
7 j
109
4 i 5 to 9’, i
4 | 21 to 4' |
43
28
| 2£ to 94 |
37
1,048
577
990
414
1,380
885
11 P in ... ; 16 to 17
11 ...d o ... , 16 to 17
1,404
2,265
11
P in . .. , 16 to 17
i
8
S
1 to 73
STATISTICS.
1 Not reported.
72
64
776
{
LABOR
5
i i}
OF
6
{
BUREAU
5
,1, inrh 1J 1.n 16
1
12
3 I, 2 to 4
11
12
5 : 2 to 12
Clus
ters
per
hour.
i
5
Operator No. 18___
10
Size of
job
(dozen
waists).
Num
ber of
jobs.
THE
F.
Time
Total worked
Length Width Stitches
clus
of tuck
per
(min
(inches). of tuck. inch.
ters.
utes).
OP
Shop No. 1090:
1
Operator No. 195 . ..
2 |
3
Num
Tucks ber of Waists
per clusters (doz
en).
cluster. per
waist.
BULLETIN
Line
No.
77F.—SHORT TUCKING: SINGER MULTIPLE-NEEDLE MACHINE.
216
T a b le
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
211
LACE RUNNING.
The work of lace running consists of joining strips of lace to strips
of cloth, or to other strips of lace of various widths. Most lace run
ning is done in long strips which may run into hundreds of yards, but
there is also considerable work done on short pieces which go into
individual waists. The skill of the lace runner consists of handling
the lace carefully and running the material and the lace in such a
manner that the machine is operated steadily without a break and so
that the unwinding of the lace and of the cloth which are in rolls takes
place almost automatically and without requiring the stopping of the
machine on the part of the operator.
Although it takes only a few days to learn lace running, the oper
ator acquires greater skill in the course of time, which accounts for
the fact that the wages of lace runners in the dress and waist industry
vary all the way from $5 to $16 a week and more. The difference
between the $16 and $5 lace runners is accounted for by the great dif
ference in output of the two classes of workers, determined by the
skill with which they can fill the requirements described above.
There are two methods of joining lace to cloth. In one the lace is
put on top of the cloth; in the other the cloth is put on top of the
lace. In either case the operator holds the lace in one hand and the
cloth in the other, running the two simultaneously under the needle*
taking care that the lace is stitched onto the cloth at a uniform distance
from the edge of the cloth. In either case the cloth is run through
an attachment which turns in the edge of the cloth so that it will not
be seen under the lace.
The “ cloth on top” method is the more difficult because when the
cloth is put on top of the lace the operator can not see readily the posi
tion of the lace, and must stop frequently to make sure that the lace
is being stitched to the cloth at a uniform distance from the edge.
When the lace is put on top, the entire work is in plain view of the
operator who can therefore handle it with greater ease.
The work of lace running was timed in five shops with 9 persons,
involving a total expenditure of time equivalent to 103 hours and 39
minutes for one person, and covering 14,680 yards of lace. The out
put per hour, apart from the individual skill of the worker, will differ
with the machine, the character of the material, the width of the
material, the number of stitches per inch, and according to whether
the lace or the cloth is stitched on top. In the work which was timed
the stitches per inch differed so little, running mostly from 9 to 11 to
the inch, that no distinction can be made on that score. The same is
likewise true of the material, which consisted, in all cases, of cotton
goods such as voile, lawn, and crfepe, which do not differ materially
from each other so far as their effect on output is concerned. All the
218
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
work timed was done on Wilcox & Gibbs machines. There are, there
fore, only two factors to be considered in determining the output of
the work that was timed, namely, the width of the material and the
relative positions of the cloth and the lace.
LACE ON TOP.
Taking first the work with the lace on top, we find the average out
put per hour, with the width of the material from
to 6 inches, to
have been 157 yards in shop No. 1284, 151 yards in shop No. 1235,
143 yards in shop No. 1232, and 206 yards in shop No. 1116. Shop
No. 1116 thus shows the highest output, although it makes a higher
grade of waists than the others; at the same time it is the only shop in
which the work was done on a piece-rate basis, lace running being
done by week workers in all the other shops reported in the table.
The average output for the above shops on the above widths was 162
yards per hour.
On material running in width from 16 to 26 inches the output was
naturally less, since the wider the material the more difficult the
handling of it. The output for the different shops was 100 yards
per hour for shop No. 1284 and 118 for shop No. 1191, the average
being 111 yards per hour.
The output of the individual worker in each of these shops is like
wise given in Table 78 and shows the variation in output due to differ
ence in individual skill.
CLOTH ON TOP.
Tn this class of work three different widths of material were used:
(1) Material ranging in width from 1| to 4 inches, the average output
on this in shop No. 1284, representing the work of two operators
working on 856 yards, being 146 yards per hour; (2) material ranging
in width from 9J to 12 inches, representing the work of one operator
working on 425 yards for a period of 3^- hours, the output per hour
being 121 yards; (3) with the width of the material running from 16
to 30 inches, the average output for the same shop for the same two
operators as above on a total of 655 yards being 81 yards per hour.
JOINING LACE TO LACE.
This work was timed in two shops. In shop No. 1191 (a $9-a-dozen
waist shop) a girl receiving $13 a week and timed for a period of 1 hour
and 35 minutes showed an output of 126 yards per hour. In shop
No. 1116 (manufacturing medium-price waists), a girl working by the
piece and timed for a period of 4 hours and 50 minutes, showed an
output of 184 yards per hour, the average for the two shops being 170
yards per hour. Either the average or the output of the individual
workers can be taken as a basis in determining the rate by taking a
corresponding rate per hour in connection therewith.
T a b le
NTo.
| Sex of
Week work Wages or earn
! operator. or piecework. ings per week.
lor No.
Material.
!
12
13
....... do..........
Average, 2 per- '
sons.
Week work.
9 to 15.00 ...................................... j Lace on top.......................
i
Voile and lawn............ Lace on top ......................
!
10.00 Embroidery................ i .......do.3..............................
12.00 .......do........................... ....... do.3..............................
.......do.a..............................
13.50
Shop No. 1235:
Operator No.
Shop No. 1232:
Operator No.
Operator No.
Operator No.
F.
Week work.
F.
F.
f.
....... do..........
....... do..........
....... do..........
Average, 3 per- ji
sons.
|
F.
Week work.
F.
Piecework...
F.
6 week work
ers, 1 piece
worker.
Shop No. 1116:
j!
Operator No. 8 7 ...!!
15
Shop No. 1284:
Operator No. 81...
88__11
81 ...'
88.
82.. J1
Average, 3 per
sons.
Week work.
....... do..........
....... do..........
....... do..........
.......do..........
F.
Week work.
1Two jobs, width unknown.
2ft to 4ft
9 to 11
180 !
400
302
163
156
960
ioi
151 '
90
114 ,
72
295
107
156
201
86
130
195
1
1
4
1
1
1
2,161
826
157
9
11
552
219
151
4 to6
4 to 6
4 to 6
9
8
9
1,772
1,073
720
797
480
221 !
133
134
1«J5
2
8
3
4 toO
8 to 9
3,565
i,4<;s
143
IS
806
206
7
3,349
102
36
1
15.50
(a)
10.00 to 13.50 ...................................... i Lace on top .......................
i
!
;
Voile and lawn............'
(a)
i Lace on top.........
I
9.00 Lawn and embroid- |Lace on top......................
ered voile.
i
15.00 Lace on piping............!
9.00 CrSpe...........................
15.00 .......do........................... ....... do................................
15.00
....... d o ................................
9.00 to 15.00 !
iL
..
i
2 Not reported.
5 !
2ft to 6 1
|
i
16
8 to 11 | 9,041
9
740
414
100
2
16
16
26
9
9
9
9
12
100
30
210
5
80
24
118
1.41
75
75
122
1
1
1
1
16 to 26
9
1,122
671
100
6
(2)
!
i
1
2,763 j
<,
5Beading was used.
219
F.
F.
F.
F.
F.
9
11
9 to 11
9
9
9
INDUSTRY*.
Operator No.
Operator No.
Operator No.
Operator No.
2ft
» 2h to 3h
4
4
4
WAIST
83...:
jj
8 4 ...i
85 ...'1
8 0 ...j!
Average, 4 shops.
20
F
Operator No. 82...'
11
16 !
17
18
19
F
AND
10
11
$9.00 Embroidered crepe__ Lace on lop ......................
/Embroidered voile___!!....... do................................
15.00 \Voile............................
9 00 \Lawn........................... ;.......d o................................
15.00 .......do........................... !....... d o................................
IN
8
0
|
Week w ork.
DSESS
0
Time :
Num
Total worked Yards
ber
per
yards. (min- ! hour.
of
utes).
jobs.
i
EMPLOYMENT
3
4
5
Shop No. 1284:
!|
Operator No. 8 1 ...;
Operator No. 82.. J
i
Operator No. 81.. J!
Stitches
per inch.
AND
|
1
2
Width of
material
(inches).
Kind of work.
WAGES
iine
78.—LACE RUNNING.
Line
No.
Shop No. and opera
tor No.
Sex of
Week work Wages or earn
operator. or piecework. ings per week.
78.—LACE RUNNING—Concluded.
Material.
Week work.
....... do..........
23
Average, 2 per
sons.
F.
Week work.
11.00 to 13.00
24
Average, 2 shops
F.
Week work.
9.00 to 15.00
25
Shop No. 1284:
Operator No. 88...
Operator No. 82...
F.
F.
Week work.
....... do..........
27
Average, 2 per
sons.
F.
Week work.
15.00
Voile...........................
28
Shop No. 1284:
Operator No. 88...
F.
Week work.
15.00
Voile and lawn...........
29
30
Operator No. 82...
Operator No. 88...
F.
F.
....... do..........
....... do..........
31
Average, 2 per
sons.
F.
Week work.
32
F.
Week work.
33
Shop No. 1191:
Operator No. 89...
Shop No. 1116:
Operator No. 87...
F.
Piecework..
34
Average, 2 shops
F.
Week work
and piece
work.
35
Shop No. 1116:
Operator No. 87...
F.
Piecework..
(l)
C1)
1
|
11
11
280
1,638
200
778
84
126
1
5
Voile...........................
Lace on top......................
0)
!
!
n
1,918
978
118
6
Voile...........................
I,ace on top ....................
16 to 26 |
9 to 11
3,040
1,649
111
12
15.00 Voile............................ Cloth on top.....................
15.00 ....... do.......................... ....... d o...............................
26
l i to 4
H 1
9 to 11
11
700
156
281
70
149
134
5
2
Cloth on top ....................
1£ to 4
9 to 11
856
351
146
7
Cloth on top.....................
9£ to 12
9 to 11
425
210
121
5
15.00 ....... do.......................... ....... do...............................
15.00 ....... do.......................... ....... do...............................
16 to 25
19 to 30
9 to 11
10 to 11
281
374
223
262
76
86
4
4
15.00
Voile and lawn............ Cloth on top.....................
16 to 30
9 to 11
655
485
81
8
13.00
Lace............................. Cloth on top....................
•0)
11
*200
95
126
1
888
290
184
1
1,088
385
170
2
448
190
141
1
0)
Voile and net.............. Joining voile and net,
plain seams without
attachment.
Strips.
0)
(1)
STATISTICS.
0)
Cloth on top....................
BUREAU
35 cents per
hour.
( i ) ................................ ....... d o...............................
THE
0)
OF
$11.00 Voile............................ Lace on top......................
13.00 ....... do.......................... ....... do................................
LABOR
F.
F.
Time
Num
Total worked Yards
ber
per
yards. (min hour.
of
utes).
jobs.
OF
Shop No. 1191:
Operator No. 79...
Operator No. 89...
Width of
material j Stitches
(inches). j per inch.
BULLETIN
21
22
Kind of work.
220
T a b le
RUFFLING EDGING TO
INSERTION.
Week w ork.
10.00
C1)--
. Lace and lace...................
(0
9
144
i!
F.
....... do..........
12.00
1Not reported.
Voile.
1 6 -in c h
lengths.
2 Sleeves.
8 2 1,440
393
EMPLOYMENT
IN
DBESS
AND
WAIST
INDUSTRY.
221
| 2 220
114
SHORT RUNS.
Shop No. 1232:
Operator No. 90...
76
AND
F.
WAGES
Shop No. 1232: •
Operator No. 84...
222
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
In addition to the three kinds of lace running described, a number
of special jobs were timed, as follows:
JOINING VOILE AND NET STRIPS.
Work of one operator in one shop, working for 3 hours and 10 min
utes, earning 35 cents an hour; output per hour, 141 yards.
JOINING RUFFLED LACE EDGING TO LACE INSERTION.
This represents the work of one operator receiving $10 a week in
shop No. 1232, working for 1 hour and 54 minutes; output per hour,
76 yards.
JOINING LACE TO SLEEVES.
This work consists of short runs, each 16 inches long, representing
the full width of an open sleeve. Ordinarily, work of this kind is
done by body makers, and is given in another table representing short
runs of lace joining in which no attachment is used. In the particular
case given in this table the work was done by a lace runner with the
aid of an attachment. The operator, a girl receiving $12 a week, was
timed for 6 hours and 33 minutes, producing an output of 220 sleeves
per hour.
HEMMING.
The operation of hemming consists of turning in the raw edge of
any material and stitching it over to give it a finished appearance.
As a rule a special attachment is used known as the “ hemmer, ”
which automatically turns in the cloth so that the turning in of the
hem and the stitching over are all done in one operation. There are
two kinds of hemming—strip hemming and waist hemming. Strip
hemming is done on long strips of cloth—similar to strip tucking and
lace running on a Wilcox & Gibbs machine—and is paid for by the 100
yards, while waist hemming consists of hemming the bottom or other
parts of a waist.
Strip hemming was timed in three shops, covering the work of 8
persons who hemmed a total of more than 19,000 yards of cotton
goods in what is equivalent to 58 hours and 45 minutes for one
person. (Table 79A.) In addition to that, 260 yards of chiffon hem
ming was also timed. The materials hemmed were voile, lawn, net,
and chiffon. The average output per hour is given for each person
timed, as well as for each material. There being but little difference
between voile and lawn, a combined average is given for the two
materials, and separate averages are given for net and chiffon. The
output per hour on voile and lawn varied from 286 to 451 yards per
hour, the average output for the four persons working on the two
materials being 358 yards per hour. The output on net for four
workers in shop No. 1230 varied from 256 to 350 yards per hour, the
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DEESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
223
average for the shop being 311 yards per hour. In shop No. 1191
the output on net for the two workers timed was 198 and 236 yards
per hour, respectively, the average for the shop being 211 yards per
hour as against 311 in shop No. 1230. The work in both shops was
done on a weekly basis; The difference in output between the two
shops is probably due to the fact that all the hemmers in shop No.
1230 are men (tuckers, receiving from $15 to $18 per week), while
in shop No. 1191 they are women (lace runners, receiving $11 and $12
per week). In work of this kind (given out by the hundreds and thou
sands of yards), which can be kept up for hours without a break, phys
ical strength and endurance are the chief factors, and men have a
natural advantage over women. The rate for strip hemming could
be established on the basis of either shop by making a corresponding
hourly rate allowance. The output on chiffon (on which only one
worker was timed on 260 yards) in shop No. 1116, manufacturing
medium-priced waists, was 153 yards per hour. All the strip hem
ming was done on the Wilcox & Gibbs machine.
Waist hemming was timed in four shops on about 365 dozen waists,
hemmed by four persons. (Table 79B). The hemming in shop No.
1110 was done on a Metropolitan machine, while in the other shops a
Singer machine was used. Both on account of the higher speed of
the Metropolitan, as well as of the elimination of the loss of time in
handling the bundles in that shop, as explained elsewhere, shop No.
1110 shows the highest output, namely, 156 rows of stitching per
hour. It has not been included in the general average because a
different machine was used. Shop No. 1191 shows the lowest average,
namely, 86 rows of stitching per hour, which is due to the great lbss
of time ckused in that shop by the handling of but few waists at a
time. For this reason this output was likewise omitted from the
general average. The output in shops Nos. 1230 and 1284 is remark
ably uniform— 137 and 141 rows of stitching per hour—the average
for the two shops being 140 rows of stitching per hour.
In using this average as a basis in determining the rate for hem
ming, the fact should be borne in mind that it represents the output of
two exceptionally fast workers, both of them men. The operator
employed in shop No. 1230 had one assistant, but the hemming was
done exclusively by the principal. The operator in shop No. 1284
employed several assistants on different operations, but the hemming
was likewise done exclusively by himself. These men, when fully
employed, earn from 50 to 75 cents an hour at current piece rates.
Line
No.
Sex of
operator.
Piecework or week work.
Shop No. 1230:
Operator No. 76..................
Operator No. 7...................
Operator No. 77..................
Operator No. 8....................
Operator No. 77..................
M.
M.
M.
M.
M.
Week work...........................
.d o ...
.......do.....................................
....... do....................................
.......do............................
Average, 4 persons..........
Average, 4 persons..........
M.
Week work...........................
12
13
Shop No. 1191:
Operator No. 79..................
Operator No. 80..................
F.
F.
Week work...........................
....... d o .............................
14
Average, 2 persons..........
F.
Week work.........................
15
Shop No. 1116:
Operator No. 87..................
F.
Piecework.............................
.
15 to 18
N et.............................
11 N et.............................
12 .......do...............
11 to 12
0)
N et.............................
Chiffon ....................... Strips
2
2
2
2
2
12
10
8
9
s
5,814
400
1,600
1,000
1,070
1,036
84
232
152
154
6
1
2
1
1
337
2S6
414
395
451
2
8 to 12
9,884
1,658
11
358
2
2
2
2
10
10
9
8 to 9
1,410
2,950
1,770
1,970
331
505
322
404
1
3
2
3
256
350
330
293
2
8 to 10
8,100
1,562
9
311
11
11
642
432
195
110
1
1
198
236
11
1,074
305
2
211
260
102
1
153
131 cents per hour.
STATISTICS,
Voile and lawn..
18 Net.....
.................
15 .......do...........................
18 .......do...........................
. .do......................
18
Number Yards
of jobs. per hour.
LABOR
11
15 to 18
Time
worked
(min
utes).
OF
Week work...........................
....... do...................................
....... do....................................
....... do.....................................
Operator No.
Operator No.
Operator No.
Operator No.
$15 Voile...
18 .......do...........................
15 .......do...........................
18
. .do ..
15 Lawn.
.
.
Total
yards.
BUBEAU
Week work........................
M.
M.
M.
M.
7
8
9
10
W idth of
material Stitches
(inches). per inch.
Material.
THE
M.
7....................
77..................
78..................
8....................
6
Wages or
earnings
per week.
OF
Shop No. and operator No.
BULLETIN
1
2
3
4
5
79A.—STRIP HEMMING: WILCOX & GIBBS MACHINE.
224
T a b le
T a b le
79B.—WAIST-HEMMING: SHOP NO. 1110, METROPOLITAN MACHINE; ALL OTHER SHOPS, SINGER MACHINE.
4
36 to 40
73f
1
885
106$
1
1,274
Rows
per
waists.
Total
rows.
Time
worked
(min
utes).
Rows
per
hour.
(l)
341
156
0)
894
oO
21
17 j I/Om
ly
1U
H to 6-2
Stitches
per inch.
Num
ber.
Dozen
per
bundle.
Shop No. 1110:
Operator No. 72..............
Shop No. 1191:
Operator No. 73..............
F.
Week w ork.
M.
Piecework ..
Shop No. 1230:
Operator No. 74..............
Shop No. 1284:
Operator No. 75..............
M.
Piecework..
0)
Voile.....................
30 to 65
64$
1
772
9
337
137
23
M.
.......do..........
0)
Voile and crepe.. .
32 to 62
120|
1
1,448
9 to 11
ai
oio
141
141
OC
oO
| to 13*
Average, 2 persons___
M.
Piecework..
0)
Voile and cr§pe.. .
30 to 65
185
1
2,220
9 to 11
952
140
59
I to 13£
Cr§pe and lace
0)
Voile.......
64
A 12& to 34
DBESS
AND
WAIST
INDUSTEY.
225
$6.50
IN
5
Waists
(dozen).
Bundles.
EMPLOYMENT
3
Material.
Length
of seam,
(inches).
AND
1
2
Sex of Piecework or Wages or
operator. week work. earnings
per week.
WAGES
42132°— Bull. 146-14-
Stitching.
Line Shop No. and operator No.
No.
226
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
CLOSING.
The operation of closing consists of joining the front and back parts
of the waist, forming a seam on each side of the waist running from the
armhole to the hem. On cheap waists this work is usually done on
the Union Special machine. This machine works very fast, making
about 3,000 revolutions per minute. The machine is equipped with
a knife which automatically cuts off the raw edge, and the seam is
finished off (felled) on the wrong side in one operation. For this reason
the Union Special offers the least expensive way of doing this work.
Another machine used on $9-a-dozen waists is the Metropolitan, which
likewise cuts off the raw edge automatically, and in addition puts a
binding on the wrong side of the seam, all in one operation. This
makes the machine more complicated and more difficult for the opera
tor to handle, so that it can not be operated as rapidly as the Union
Special.
The medium and high price waists are closed with a French seam,
usually on a Singer machine, which involves three separate operations:
(1) The sewing together of the two parts of the waist on the right
side; (2) cutting off the raw edge with a pair of scissors; (3) turning
over the waist and putting in the second row of stitching on the
wrong side. Some of the Singer machines are equipped with a knife
which automatically cuts off the raw edge, but most of the factories
still do without the automatic knife, and scissors are employed instead.
In the old-style waists, in which the sleeves were closed before being
joined to the armhole of the waist, the closing of the waist consisted
only of joining the sides from armhole to hem, as already explained.
In the new-style waists, with the so-called kimono sleeves, as well as
in the tailor-made shirt waists, the sleeves are attached to the shoul
ders of the waist before being closed, and the closer sews up (closes)
the sleeves and sides of the waist in one operation.
Table 80 gives the figures for closing both sides and sleeves, closing
sides only, and sleeves only. The figures relate to shops making
exclusively $9-a-dozen waists. On these the Union Special and Met
ropolitan machines were used.
T a b le
80.—CLOSING: SIDES AND SLEEVES.
171
48§
2
2
Average, 2 per
sons.
M.
and
F.
Piecework..
(l)
Voile, lace, and crdpe. . . Union Special___ 27 to 34
66*
Shop No. 1191:
Operator No. 62...
Operator No. 63...
M.
M.
Week w ork.
___d o ..........
0)
0)
Metropolitan.........
.......d o.............................. Union Special.
35
35
Average, 2 per
sons.
M.
Week w ork.
0)
Voile................................ Metropolitan and
Union Special.
Shop No. 1284:
Operator No. 65...
Operator No. 67...
Operator No. 66...
F.
F.
F.
Piecework...
Week work.
Piecework...
Average, 3 per
sons.
F.
P iecew ork
and week
work.
F.
M.
M.
M.
Week work.
Piecework...
....... do..........
Week work.
Average, 4 per
sons.
M.
and
F.
P iecew ork
and week
work.
Voile...............................
Average, 11 per
sons.
M.
and
F.
P iecew ork
and week
work.
Shop No. 1230:
Operator No.
Operator No.
Operator No.
Operator No.
71...
68...
69...
70...
Union Special.......
0)
$7.00 .......do........ ..................... ....... do....................
Voile and cr^pe..............
<l)
Voile and cr&pe_______
428
1,168
178
588
144
119
6
11
1 to 8*
1J to 9
2
1,596
766
125
17
1 to 9
64&
31*
2
2
1,546
746
1,167
526
79
85
12
10
2 to 9§
| to 5
35
95£
2
2,292
1,693
81
22
I to 9*
27 to 34
27 to 34
30 to 33
46*
53i
20i
2
2
2
1,116
1,278
486
650
711
322
103
108
91
13
22
9
1* to 6i
1 to 5£
* to 4
2
2,880
103
44
* to 6*
Union Special___ 27 to 34
120
1,68
25 to 32
25 to 33
25 to 33
29 to 31
23|
16*
18*
21*
2
2
2
2
572
396
446
516
298
195
253
416
115
122
106
74
16
15
13
12
* to
£ to
f to
| to
Union Special___ 25 to 33
80*
2
1,930
1,162
100
56
* to 4
Voile, lace, and crepe. . . Union Special___ 25 to 35
362*
2
8,698
5,304
98
139
§ to 9*
13.00
Union Special...
.......do.............................. ....... do....................
(*)
.......do..............................
.......
do....................
0)
6.50 .......do.............................. ....... d o ...................
1 Earnings not reported.
3
1|
2*
4
227
27 to 32
27 to 34
Dozen
waists in
each.
INDUSTRY.
Lace and voile................ Union Special
Voile, lace, and crSpe.... ....... do....................
Num
ber.
WAIST
0)
0)
Rows
per
hour.
AND
Piecework...
....... do..........
Time
Total worked
rows. (min
utes).
Rows
per
waist.
DRESS
M.
F.
Bundles.
IN
Shop No. 1110:
Operator No. 61...
Operator No. 60...
Name of machine
used.
Material.
Length Waists
of
(doz
seam
en).
(inches).
EMPLOYMENT
Wages
or
earn
ings
per
week.
AND
Shop No. and
operator No.
Piecework
or week
work.
WAGES
Stitching.
Sex
of
oper
ator.
Name of machine
used.
M.
Week work.
15.00
Voile...............................
Metropolitan.........
14
83§
M.
F.
Piecework...
....... do..........
0)
V o ile ..............................
Union Special.......
.......do....................
13
m
M.
and
F.
Piecework..
0)
V o ile .............................. Union Special___ 13 to 13?,
M.
Week work.
18
19
Shop No. 1284:
Operator No. 65...
Operator No. 66...
Length Waists
of
(doz
seam
en).
(inches).
Time
Num
worked Rows
per
ber.
(min hour.
•
utes).
Dozen
waists in
each.
Rows
per
waist.
Total
rows.
2
=====
2,008
m
2
2
420
84
138
27
183
187
6
2
2 to 6
| to 3
21
2
504
165
183
8
§ to 6
117*
2
2,818
925
183
26
1£ to 15
2
168
57
177
8
ito li
1,656
486
204
32
§to3
§to 15
l| to 5*
BULLETIN
Material.
17
Shop No. and
operator No.
Bundles.
Stitching.
Piecework
or week
work.
Shop No. 1191:
Operator No. 62...
Line
No.
80.—CLOSING: SIDES AND SLEEVES—Concluded.
Wages
or
earn
ings
per
week.
Sex
of
oper
ator.
228
T a b le
SIDES ONLTt.
9^
40
24
Average, 3 per
sons.
M.
F.
....... do..........
Piecework...
Week work
and piece
work.
M.
Week work.
6.50 .......do.............................. .......do....................
.......do....................
0)
14 to 22
19|
16 to 22
7
69
2
V oile.............................. Union Special___
14 to 22
193*
2
4,642
1,468
190
66
Union Special___
12 to 24
20*
2
494
253
117
7
CLOSING SLEEVES AND
SHIRRING TOPS OF
SLEEVES.
25
Shop No. 1191:
Operator No. 63...
15.00
V oile..............................
1 Earnings not reported.
STATISTICS,
M.
and
F.
V o ile.............................. Union Special___
LABOK
22
15.00
OF
21
BUKEAU
SLEEVES ONLY.
Shop No. 1191:
Operator No. 63...
Shop No. 1230:
Operator No. 70...
Shop No. 1284:
Operator No. 66...
THE
Average, 2 per
sons.
OF
20
0)
i t o 6J
21
754
160
— - .......— -■------- - —i ■:• —
WAGES AND EM PLOYM ENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
229
CLOSING SIDES AND SLEEVES.
The operation of closing sides and sleeves was timed in 4 shops and
represents the work of 11 persons, closing 362^ dozen waists with a
total time expenditure equivalent to 88 hours and 24 minutes for one
person.
An examination of the average output of each shop shows the fol
lowing results: Shop No. 1191, the only shop in which this work is
done on a weekly basis, shows the lowest output, 81 rows of stitching
per hour. The highest o.utput, 125 rows of stitching per hour, was
recorded in shop No. 1110. This figure is exceptionally high and due
to conditions which do not prevail in other shops. Shop No. 1110 is a
smaller establishment than the other factories for which figures are
presented here. It employs from 60 to 70 operators when working
to capacity. There is but one person responsible for the closing of all
the waists in this shop. This work is done by a man who employs four
assistants by the week, who work on closing and hemming. This
obviates the necessity of counting the work, the closer being paid
each week for as many dozen waists as have been cut up for manufac
turing. No time is lost in waiting in line for a “ bundle,” bringing it
to the machine, untying it, counting the waists, folding the waists,
making them up into a bundle after the work is finished, and taking
it back to the foreman; instead of that, waists are piled up in large
heaps as they are finished by other operators, and are turned in in
similar heaps without counting after the closing has been finished.
On the other hand, the low figure of 81 rows of stitching per hour in
shop No. 1191 can be explained by the fact that the closers in this shop
are required to work on very small bundles, getting only a few waists
at a time, frequently as few as three or four waists, being obliged to
leave the machine at frequent intervals to get a new supply and to
go through all the stages preceding and following the work of closing
proper, mentioned above. Moreover, most of the closing in this shop
was done on a Metropolitan machine, which, for reasons explained
above, is a slower machine than the Union Special used in the other
three shops.
The average for each of the other two shops is remarkably uniform,
being 103 rows of stitching for shop No. 1284 and 100 for shop No. 1230,
giving an average for the two shops of 101 rows of stitching per hour.
Combining these two normal shops with the high and low output
shops mentioned above, a general average is obtained of 98 rows of
stitching per hour, which is practically the same as the average for
the two normal shops.
CLOSING SIDES.
This operation takes considerably less time, as the seam is only
about half the length made in the operation in which the sides and
sleeves are closed together. The work was timed in two shops on a
230
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
total of nearly 105 dozen waists, with a total expenditure of time
equivalent to 15 hours and 19 minutes for one person.
In shop No. 1191 the closing was done on a Metropolitan machine by
a male operator, who turned out 160 rows of stitching per hour. In
shop No. 1284 the work was done by a man working with a woman
assistant on a Union Special machine, with an output of 183 rows of
stitching per hour.
CLOSING SLEEVES.
As in the case of closing sides, the closing of sleeves takes less time
than the combined closing of sides and sleeves. This work was timed
in three shops on a total of 193 dozen waists, which took the equiva
lent of 24 hours and 28 minutes for one person, all the shops using a
Union Special machine. The output per hour in the different shops
is fairly uniform, being 177 rows of stitching per hour in shop No.
1230, 183 in shop No. 1191, and 204 in shop No. 1284, the highest
output being in the shop in which the work is done by the piece. It
is interesting to note that the outputs in shops Nos. 1191 and 1230
are practically the same, although in the former the operator receives
$15 per week and in the latter only $6.50 per week, both operators
being men. The average output for the three shops is 190 rows of
stitching per hour.
In addition to the work referred to above, sleeves were closed on 20J
dozen waists in shop No. 1191, while the operator at the same time
shirred the top of the sleeves. The output per hour was 117 rows of
stitching as compared with 183 rows by the same operator when no
shirring was done.
SLEEVE SETTING BY SLEEVE SETTERS.
The work of the sleeve setter consists of sewing the sleeves to the
waist. There are two ways of doing this work. In the waists which
were mostly in style prior to 1913, the sleeves were closed by the
sleeve maker and set into the armhole of the waist by the sleeve
setter. The setting of the closed sleeve requires great skill. As a
rule the sleeve is larger than the armhole and while it is being set
into the waist it has to be gathered into folds (shirred), the sleeve
setter knowing practically by instinct just how much to gather in
so that the sleeve will fit perfectly into the armhole and will “ hang
right” from the body of the waist. The work is usually done on a
Union Special machine, which has a knife attachment, trimming off
the raw edge on the wrong side as fast as the sleeve is sewed onto the
waist, and felling the seam. It is also done on a Metropolitan ma
chine, which automatically binds the seam on the wrong side instead
of felling it.
In the styles that have been in vogue since 1913 the sleeves are
usually sewed onto the body of the waist before being closed. The
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
231
closer then closes the sleeves and the sides of the waist in one opera
tion. The change in the style and the introduction of the so-called
“ yoke sleeve” has deprived the sleeve setters of the work of sleeve
setting, the open yoke sleeve being usually attached to the waist by
the body makers. The sleeve setters are now employed mostly on
other work requiring the use of the Union Special or Metropolitan
machines. The work of the sleeve setters is given in Table 81, that
of the body makers on yoke sleeves in Table 88, and on straight
sleeves in Table 99.
The work of sleeve setting proper was timed in three $9-a-dozen
waist shops, involving the work of 2 men and 3 women, with a total
output of over 252 dozen waists at an expenditure of time equiva
lent to 77 hours and 53 minutes for 1 person.
In shop No. 1232 the work was done by a week worker on a Union
Special machine on open sleeves and shows an output of 123 sleeves
per hour.
In shop No. 1284 the work was done on closed sleeves, likewise on
a Union Special machine, by 1 male and 1 female working by the
piece, and the output was 89 sleeves per hour for 1 worker and 116
sleeves for the other, the average for the shop being 110 sleeves per
hour. It is natural that the output on closed sleeves should be less
than on open sleeves.
In shop No. 1191 sleeves were also closed before being set, but the
sleeve setter was given shirred sleeves instead of plain sleeves, as in
shop No. 1284. The work was done by a girl receiving $16 per week
and a man receiving $11 per week, the girl being the more skillful of
the two. Taking the work of the girl, we find her output to be 101
sleeves per hour when working on a Union Special machine, and 90
sleeves per hour when working on a Metropolitan machine.
Work was also timed in shop No. 1191, in which sleeves were set
and shirred at the same time. This naturally slowed down the work
still more, the output of the girl dropping to 71 sleeves per hour on a
Metropolitan machine, and 72 sleeves per hour on a Union Special.
That is to say, while on the preceding work there was a difference
of about 10 per cent in output in favor of the Union Special machine
as compared with the Metropolitan; there was practically no differ
ence in the output of the two machines when shirring had to be done
simultaneously with the sleeve setting. That was probably due to
the fact that the difference in speed between the two machines was
offset by the delay resulting from the necessity of shirring the sleeves
while they were being set. The work of the $ll-a-week man likewise
showed a larger output when setting sleeves already shirred as com
pared with the output obtained when the shirring had to be done
together with the sleeve setting, his output being 58 and 44 sleeves
per hour, respectively.
232
T able 81.— SLEEVE SETTING (B Y SLEEVE SETTERS).
i
Sleeves.
Shop No. and
operator No.
Sex
of Piecework or Wages or Kind of
oper week work. earnings material. Kind of seam.
per week.
ator.
F.
2
3
Shop No. 1284:
Operator No. 54........
Operator No. 53........
F.
Piecework..
M. ....... do..........
4
Piecework..
Total
num
ber.
Time Num
worked ber
(min
per
utes). hour.
Num
ber of
jobs.
Size of
job
(dozen
waists).
V oile.... Union Special. Union Special. Open__
18 to 22
52J
1,260
616
123
18
2| to 5
0)
0)
V o ile :.. Union Special. Union Special. Closed..
. . . d o . . . . ....... do............. ....... do............. . . . d o . . . .
18
17 to 18
11£
54$
276
1,300
186
675
89
116
5
22
2 to 3
& to4£
0)
V o ile ... Union Special. Union Special. Closed..
17 to 18
65§
1,576
861
110
27
■fa to
Hi
270
160
101
5
|to 3f
1h to 2 *
$11
16 V oile.... Union Special2 Union Special. Closed..
16 to 19
6
D o.......................
F.
Week work.
16
m
94
63
90
2
Operator No. 50........
V o ile ... Metropolitan, Metropolitan.. Closed. .
binding.2
11 . ..d o ___ ....... do............. ....... do............. ...d o ___
16 to 19
7
16 to 19
13£
324
335
58
4
it o 5 B
8
Average, 2 persons.
Metropolitan.. Closed..
16 to 19
17*
418
398
63
6
i to 5j4
11 V oile.... Binding and Metropolitan.. Closed..
shirring.
16 .. .d o ___ .......do............. ....... do............. . . . d o . . . .
16 . . . d o . . . . Union Special, Union Special. . ..d o ___
shirring.
16 to 19
39$
940
1,295
44
12
J to 8iV
16 to 19
16 to 19
46f
19f
1,122
476
949
394
71
72
11
7
h to 10
|tol0|
16 to 19
105f
2,538
2,638
58
30
J to 10|
M. ....... d o..........
M.
and
F.
Week work.
M.
Week work.
11 to 16
V o ile ... Metropolitan,
binding.
SLEEVE
SETTING AND
SHIRRING AT THE SAME
TIME.
9
Shop No. 1191:
Operator No. 50........
10
11
Operator No. 51........
D o.......................
12
F. ....... do..........
F. ....... do..........
Average, 2 persons. M.
and
F.
Week work.
11 to 16 V oile.... Metropolitan;
Union Spe
cial.
1 Earnings not reported.
Metropolitan;
Union Spe
cial.
Closed..
2 Shirring on the sleeves was done previously.
STATISTICS.
Week work.
LABOE
F.
OF
Shop No. 1191:
Operator No. 51........
5
BUEEAU
Average, 2 persons. M.
and
F.
Week work.
Length Waists
of seam made
(inches). (doz
en).
THE
Shop No. 1232:
Operator No. 52........
Kind of
sleeves.
OF
1
Name of ma
chines used.
BULLETIN
Line
No.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTEY.
233
The average output on the two kinds of work for shop No. 1191
was 63 and 58 sleeves per hour, respectively. Either the average for
the entire shop or the output of either worker could be used as a basis
in determining the rate by taking a different rate per hour as a basis
in each case.
BUTTONHOLE MAKING.
There are two types of buttpnhole-making machines, one made by
the Singer Co. and the other known as the Reece machine. The
Reece machine is very rapid, but on account of the inferior appear
ance of its work is used only on cheap garments. The skill of the
buttonhole maker consists not only in operating the machine and in
being able to properly space the buttonholes on the garment, but in
his ability to do the necessary repairing of the machine, which is sub
ject to frequent breakdowns. Where girls are employed they are not
expected to attend to this part of the work, which falls on the machin
ist employed in the factory. In several shops the buttonhole maker
acts also as machinist, attending to the ordinary repairing of all the
sewing machines on the premises.
Buttonhole making was timed in six shops. Three of these shops
used Singer machines exclusively, two used Reece machines exclu
sively, and one used both. Only one of the shops making cheap
waists used a Singer machine.
The output of a buttonhole maker will vary with (1) the machine,
(2) the number of buttonholes to the waist, (3) the size of the button
hole, (4) the material, and (5) last but not least, with the size of the
“ bundle,” that is, the number of waists the operator gets at a time.
Let us consider briefly how each of these factors will affect the out
put:
1.
As already stated, the Reece machine works more rapidly than
the Singer, being, on the average, about twice as fast as its rival. On
this point, the figures presented in the tables following can not be
regarded as conclusive in view of the fact that the two machines were
not tested under exactly similar conditions and with the same opera
tors, so that other factors apart from the relative merits of the two
machines affected their respective outputs.
SINGER MACHINE.
The new Singer machines are equipped with an automatic thread
clipper which saves the time of cutting off the thread between the but
tonholes with scissors. It is claimed, however, by some manufac
turers that the clipper effects no saving of time, because the machine
equipped with the clipper finishes off the buttonhole with a “ bar” on
either side of the buttonhole, which, while increasing the durability
of the buttonhole, takes up enough more time to do the work to
234
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
offset whatever saving of time the clipper may cause. Moreover,
in the shops investigated, with one exception, the cutting off of the
thread is done by the cleaners so that it does not take the time of the
buttonhole maker. In the shop in which the cutting off is attended to
by the buttonhole maker herself it is done while the machine is making
the buttonhole on the next waist, which adds to her labor without
taking more of her time. The question of the presence or absence
of an automatic clipper on the machine is therefore of no importance
in considering its output.
NUMBER OF BUTTONHOLES TO A WAIST.
2.
The larger the number of buttonholes to a waist the greater will be
the output per hour, all other things being equal. This is due to the
fact that the greater the number of buttonholes to a waist the less will
be the proportion of time lost by the operator in handling the waists.
An illustration will make this clear. If a waist has only one button
hole, the operator must pick up the waist from the bundle, unfold it,
find the place where the buttonhole is to be made, place it under the
needle, and as soon as the buttonhole is made he must remove the
waist from the machine and put it aside, and then go through the
same series of motions to make the next buttonhole. Added to this
will be the time lost in bringing and taking away the bundle, untying
the bundle before starting the work, and putting the waists together
and tying up the bundle when the work is finished. When the waist
has 8 buttonholes, the time taken by all the motions described above,
outside of the actual making of the buttonhole, is no greater per waist
than in the case of the waist having but one buttonhole. Therefore
the time lost per buttonhole will be only one-eighth of what it was in
the former case.
The figures of output, both on the Singer and the Reece machines,
have been arranged in Tables 82A and 82B according to the number
of buttonholes to a waist, and the output noted in each case.
T a b le
82A.—BUTTONHOLE MAKING: SINGER MACHINE.
Back.
No.
Front.
Size.
No.
Net.
.do..
5
N et.
6
Cotton.
-.d o ..
8
.do..
la n d f
9
.do..
I and |
*
11
12
Cotton.........
Heavy lace..
Cotton.........
. .do..........
. .do..........
. .do..........
..d o ..........
. .do..........
5f
11*
ft
lan d f
fa n d |
13
12
| and *
| and *
$
S
*
23
173
141
4 and If
279
113
148
If to 6
12§ and 13§
* to 2
2 * to 3$
130
583
1,948
565
207
m
236
90
157
1,176
192
288
255
98
118
277
118
146
2,715
6,130
1,008
2,624
504
351
703
129
227
64
160
464
523
469
694
473
501
360
630
1,954
518
150
60
150
2,513
864
175
14
1
6
45*
102*
7
13§
7
7*
10
10
1,001
1,200
1,680
16,862
Cotton.
..d o ..
§ and
I
1 Buttonholes were made on neckbands.
11
2*
29B
120
200
ej
lt o 2 *
2 to 2*
3 and 4§
1, 2, and 3
Bulk.
Bulk.
13§
3 and 4
7*
10
10
1 and 1£
| to 2
3 and 3a
5J and 7
235
11
25
40*
21
22
240
72
207
396
18
1,264
4
ito f
lJto2
2 to 3
INDUSTRY.
20
.do..
CrSpe de Chine
N et............
184
WAIST
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
11
..d o ..
239
AND
10
m
Dozen
waists in
each.
DEESS
3
4
78
Size.
Number.
IN
Cotton.
Total
holes.
Number
of holes
per hour.
EMPLOYMENT
1
2
7
Dozen
waists.
Cuffs.
No.
Bundles.
Time
worked
(min
utes).
AND
Material.
WAGES
Buttonholes to a waist and size of buttonhole (inch).
236
T a b le
82A.—BUTTONHOLE MAKING: SINGER MACHINE—Continued.
Bundles.
Buttonholes to a waist and size of buttonhole (inch).
Back.
Material.
No.
Front.
Size.
Dozen
waists.
Cuffs.
No.
No.
| and |
26
.do..
lan d i
la n d 5
27
Cotton.
30
/Cotton, silk,
\ and crSpe.
466
223
57*
4,985
1,591
188
15*
910
181
302
8H
43J
642
117
329
5
h
h
I and 5
h
|andj
|and£
I and f
lan d 5
| and J
5
|and£
| and 5
67&
2£
7$
4-fa
3,120
990
270
516
440
60
134
135
1,226
14*
6A
1A
6
1
4*
1,197
511
119
504
84
450
2,750
20f
2
9&
23
221
108
36
107
25
128
609
72
15
872
220
I to 1|
5 to 7
24, the rest
lto 15
25 and 3
*5 to 15
2 to 3^
Less than I
15
270
4,672
14*
Hto2
28
A to 3J
270
231
196
*
2 to 2§
lrs and 35
2i
224
b to 3J
STATISTICS.
44
1,728
1 and 1T7*
LABOR
43
Cotton.......
____do........
fCr&pe de Chine
\ and taffeta.
Net.................
Cotton............
..d o .............
..d o .............
/Cotton, silk,
\ and crSpe.
Cotton............
18
lan d |
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
186
174
OF
Net on chiffon.
Net............
.d o ...........
60
141
fand f
31
32
33
34
186
408
BUREAU
.do..
2*
4}
Dozen
waists in
each.
THE
I and f
Cotton.
Number.
OP
Cotton.
..d o ..
29
Number
of holes
per hour.
Size.
24
25
28
Total
holes.
BULLETIN
iU.
Time
worked
(min
utes).
325
284
198
283
202
211
271
£ to 2
2h
1 to 2
i6! and 1
H
l
H
1* to 25
4
ltol*
2 and 3
.do.
D o ..............................
D o ..........................
D o .............................
.do.
.do.
.do.
lan d J
I and£
D o ..
D o ..
D o ..
.do.
.do.
.do.
&
T7*
Average, lines 50 to 53 - Cotton.
9
A
7 and 9
&
A
A
60
33*
2,807
275
612
15
1,620
1,032
774
178
105
78
546
590
6,233
636
4ft
800
135
146
352
329
2 and 4
If and 2\
10i
1,592
281
340
If to 4
Silk.
15
1,260
10ft
1,364
157
521
25ft
2,624
326
483
2 to 7ft
612
528
169
196
558
163
145
38
49
103
225
218
267
240
325
£to2*
4
llT
A
ltol£
16£
2,063
498
249
§ t0 4
792
3,081
235
84
787
492
4 and 6A
9
388
705
3 to 9
70
82
39
99
146
687
193
158
280
291
304
6
A
Average, lines 58 and
11
4
Average, lines 61 to 65.
A
A
■fs
19f
■&
4*
tV
30£
Average, lines 67 to 69. Cotton.
12
2*
ift
10
Its
4
10
6*
12
4,562
378
225
216
182
480
740
447
3 and
237
N et................
Silk...............
.......do............
.......do............
Voile and net.
Chiffon on net.
1 * to 15
INDUSTRY.
Tff
10
WAIST
1A
J*
5
ft
13
28
1A
10 and 11
3 and 8
15
AND
Cotton.
___ do..
....d o ..
----- d o..
....d o ..
Cotton.
.......d o ..
.......do..
7*
7ft
" & t0 4t
DEESS
Net.,
D o .............................
278
l * t 0 2f
1
IN
No. 1116............................
No. 1116.
No. 1090.
D o ..
D o ..
No. 1235.
No. 1090.
2,719
2 and 4
Net, interlined.
Silk................
Average, lines 55 and
56.
No. 1116.
D o ..
D o ..
12,579
l^tol*
EMPLOYMENT
Cotton.
No. 1090.
D o ..
D o ..
D o ..
No. 1235.
240
322
192
291
5,240
AND
No. 1116.
No. 1090.
D o ..
18
105
45
112§
Average, lines 36 to 48.
2 to4£
J to 1
72
564
144
sti
1
f and 1
12
6
2
1
2
1
43|
WAGES
D o ..............................
82A.—BUTTONHOLE MAKING: SINGER MACHINE—Concluded.
238
T a b le
Bundles.
Buttonholes to a waist and size of buttonhole (inch).
Shop number.
Back.
Material.
No.
82
No. 1990............................ Net.................
D o .............................. .......do..............
No. 1235............................
No. 1090............................ .......do..............
D o ..............................
Average, lines 71 to 81.
10
11
11
13
11
No.
1
}
| and£
I
Number
of holes
per hour.
Number.
Size.
4
4
4
31§
a
If
§
1§
3f
5
If
294
300
429
780
300
72
65
57
102
65
245
277
452
459
277
4,324
830
313
Dozen
waists in
each.
1
1!
1
1H
Jtol
7
2 .................. 2i
1
1§
23
i to 4-j
O
F LABOB
STATISTICS.
Size.
No.
Total
holes.
OF THE BUEEAU
77
78
79
80
81
Size.
Dozen
waists.
Cuffs.
Front.
BULLETIN
Line
No.
Time
worked
(min
utes).
T a b le
82B.—BUTTONHOLE MAKING: REECE MACHINE.
Shop number.
Material.
Back.
No.
No. 1235............................. Cotton............
Size.
No.
Size.
ft to lj
2*
1£ and 1
I
b
6f
99
25
238
Q
ftto2£
*
18
34
864
184
160
20
324 1
\
552
I
6
3
£and |
i t o 1£
2 to 2|
§ to m
lto 2 H
89J
4
4
i5
1
847
501
801
6
la n d |
61|
4,428
283
939
7
lan d f
13
1,092
91
720
I
35*
2,975
227
786
7
ft
59§
4,984
271
1,103
8
ft
7
672
40
1,008
9
10
No. 1284............................. ....... do..............
11
No. 1235.............................
12
No. 1230............................. ....... do..............
13
No. 1284.............................
14
Do...............................
1A tew were backs.
1
1
2
2
4
5
3
2
2
1
4
1
3
4
2
C
4
2
2
3* t0l l f
1ft and 2\
| and 2£
It to 8 *
Ito 1£
2 to 4£
6J to 9|
11 to 20
2 to 2J
3"
1* to 2ft
3 to 4£
6£ to 7
Ito 3|
5 to 74
10
5 and 2
INDUSTKY.
|
»
WAIST
654
17
23
67
AND
493
240
192
894
5
6
c
DEESS
5,370
4
2§
12*
No. 1284............................. ..... d o .............
No. 1235.............................
No. 1230.............................
IN
236
240 '
No. 1235............................. Cotton............
No. 1230............................. ....... do..............
239
Size.
Dozen
waists in
each.
16
g
4
5
8
Number.
5i
63
u4
D o...............................
36
1ft
lan d 2
7
Number
of holes
per hour.
£
J
Average, lines 1 and 2. Cotton............
D o...............................
No.
Total
holes.
1
2
3
6
Dozen
waists.
Cuffs.
EMPLOYMENT
1
2
Front.
Bundles.
Time
worked
(min
utes).
AND
Line
No.
WAGES
Buttonholes to a waist and size of buttonhole (inch).
240
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
The number of buttonholes is indicated in the table separately for
the back, front, and cuffs, but the figures of output have been arranged
in the table according to the largest number of buttonholes on any
one part of the waist; that is to say, if a waist, as in line 15, table
82A, has 3 buttonholes in the back, 5 in the front, and 4 on the cuffs,
making a total of 12 buttonholes, it is not classed with the waists hav
ing 12 buttonholes, but with those having 5. The reason for this is
that the proportion of time lost in the various motions described
above to total time at work will be nearer to the 5-buttonhole waist
than to the 12-buttonhole waist. While a little time is saved by
having the additional buttonholes on the same waist, the time it
takes to turn over the waist when the operator is through with the
front, then to find the back and place it in position in the machine,
and then when he is through with the back, to find the cuff of one
sleeve and place that in position in the machine, then remove the cuff
and replace it with the other cuff, is almost, and in some cases just as
great as in putting one waist aside and taking up another. The advan
tage of having a large number of buttonholes accrues only when the
buttonholes are all arranged in a row, as is the case when they are all
in the front or all on the back of the waist, or on the neckband, etc.
In that case the skilled operator works with great speed. As fast as a
buttonhole is made he moves the waist by a quick jerk a distance of
about 3 or 4 inches, according to the waist, which he automatically
determines by the movement of his hand, which becomes accus
tomed to this manipulation when the operator is working continually
on the same kind of work. In a shop where there is a great variety
of styles, and the number of buttonholes varies a great deal from
style to style the operator is less accustomed to measure the distance
mechanically and his speed is affected thereby.
SIZE OF BUTTONHOLES.
3.
Other things being equal, the larger the buttonhole the longer it
takes to make it and the less, therefore, is the number of buttonholes
made in a given time. This is true, however, only when there is a
considerable difference in size. For buttonholes of less than 1
inch the difference in the time it takes to make a buttonhole forms so
small a proportion of the total time, in which is included the loss
in handling the waist, as to make no appreciable difference in the
output. It is possible that, if a series of tests had been made on but
tonholes of different sizes by the same operator under exactly similar
conditions, in so far as they affect the output, that a graded scale of
output for buttonholes of various sizes, even less than 1 inch, could
be constructed. This was impossible, however, under the conditions
surrounding the present investigation, when workers had to be timed
on such work as they were found to be doing in each shop.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
241
MATERIAL.
4. The material of which a waist or dress is made is the factor of
least importance in the matter of output. A waist made of fine
net or lace may prove more difficult to handle, owing to the greater
delicacy of the material, and therefore show a smaller output.
SIZE OF THE BUNDLE.
5. The size of the bundle has been found to be by far the most
important factor in determining the output of an operator in the
shops under investigation. As will be seen from Table 82A, shops Nos.
1116 and 1110 show the largest output. A reference to the last
column of the table showing the size of the bundles will disclose the
fact almost invariably that these two shops furnish work to their
employees in large quantities at a time. In shop No. 1110 there
is no such thing as a bundle so far as the buttonhole maker is con
cerned; there being but one buttonhole maker in the shop, there is no
attempt to count the waists, and he is paid each week according to
the cutter7s slip showing the number of waists cut for the shop.
When the waists are ready for the buttonhole maker they are either
brought to him or taken by himself in as large heaps as he can carry
in his arms. They are all dumped in a basket at his side, and when
completed are dumped just as indiscriminately in another basket,
which is taken to the examiner’s table without being counted or put
up in bundles. In this way much of the loss of time caused by the
handling of the waists in other shops is eliminated here.
In shop No. 1116, where such a system is impossible, owing to the
variety of styles and materials and where waists are put up in bundles
on the average of about 2J dozen each, the individual bundles, as they
come from the body makers, are combined into larger bundles, so
that the buttonhole maker gets large bundles containing as many as
10 or 12 dozen waists or more; moreover, the buttonhole maker never
has to go for his work and is not expected to tie and untie the bundles;
all that is attended to by a girl assistant who is employed in the shop
by the week to serve the buttonhole maker and button sewer in
this way. On the other hand, shop No. 1090, which shows as a rule
the smallest output, although equipped with as modern machinery
as shop No. 1116, furnishes the work to the buttonhole maker in
bundles containing frequently less than a dozen waists, and seldom
exceeding 2\ dozen, and the buttonhole maker must untie and tie up
each bundle, which necessitates the spreading out of each waist so
that it will lie flat in the bundle. The results will be seen from
the following figures:
Taking up first waists having 4 buttonholes in the front or back,
we find the output on cotton waists in shop No. 1116 to be 583
buttonholes per hour (line 7, Table 82A), while in shop No. 1090
42132°— Bull. 146— 14------ 16
242
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
the output is 207 buttonholes per hour (line 8, Table 82A), or con
siderably less than half. When to the 4 buttonholes on the front
are added 3 buttonholes on the neckband, the output in shop No.
1090 is increased to 277 buttonholes (line 10). On the other hand,
with buttonholes of more than one size requiring a change of knife,
which cuts the hole in the material to the required size, the output
in this shop is reduced to 157 buttonholes per hour (line 9). On
cr6pe de Chine and net, the output is further reduced to 118 and 146
buttonholes per hour, respectively.
The same is true of waists having 5 or 6 buttonholes on the front.
The output on 5 and 6 buttonhole waists being about the same, the
two have been combined into one average. The average output in
shops Nos. 1110 and 1116 is 518 buttonholes per hour (line 21), while
in shop No. 1090 it is 188 (line 27), or over one-third the output in
the other shop. Of the two former shops the work in one is given
out in bulk, as already explained, and in the other the bundles vary
from 7 to 14 dozen each, while in shop No. 1090 the bulk of the work
was in bundles from ^ dozen to 2 dozen each, and only a few bundles
were of a larger size. In shop No. 1235 the output is 283 buttonholes
per hour (line 31), this shop showing a greater efficiency in production
than in shop No. 1090. It should also be observed that shops Nos.
1090 and 1235 employ women buttonhole makers, while shops Nos.
1116 and 1110 employ men, whose earning capacity is much greater
than that of the women. Line 35 shows an average output of 224
buttonholes per hour in shop No. 1090 on waists made of net or net
and chiffon. This shows that the output of the buttonholes on cot
ton waists in the same shop is too low and may have been caused by
trouble with the machine, the extremely small size of the bundles,
or some other cause, although it should be noted that the average of
188 buttonholes was based on a test lasting a total of 1,591 minutes,
or more than 26 hours, while the test on the net and chiffon waists
lasted only 329 minutes, or 5J hours.
The same relation between the respective outputs of the above
shops is seen in connection with waists having 7, 8, and more button
holes to the front. Thus shop No. 1116 shows an output on this
class of cotton waists of 588 buttonholes per hour (line 54), while
the average output for shops Nos. 1090 and 1235 was 278 buttonholes
per hour (line 49), or only about one-half. The output on net and
silk waists in shop No. 1090 was 340 buttonholes per hour (line 57),
which is again higher than the output on cotton waists for the same
shop. On the other hand, the average output on silk waists in shop
No. 1116 was 483 buttonholes per hour (line 60), which is nearly
one-fifth lower than the output on cotton waists in the same shop.
The output on waists having 9 buttonholes or more to the front
does not seem to vary much with the number of buttonholes, and
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
243
the figures are, therefore, combined without regard to the number
of buttonholes. The average output on cotton waists having 9
buttonholes or more in shop No. 1116 is found to be 705 per hour
(line 70), while in shops Nos. 1090 and 1235 the average was 249 but
tonholes per hour (line 66), or only a little over a third. As usual,
the chief point of difference between the two seems to be in the size of
the bundles and the sex of the operators. The same relation holds
good of waists other than cotton. The output on net waists in shop
No. 1116 was 687 buttonholes per hour (line 71), while the average
for shops Nos. 1090 and 1235 was 404 buttonholes per hour. It
is possible, however, that the figure 687 is too high, having been
obtained as the result of a test consisting of only one bundle of 34
dozen, which was done in 33 minutes. Experience has shown that
a test is not conclusive unless it is made on several bundles. On
the other hand the average of 404 holes for the two shops, Nos.
1090 and 1235, is more reliable, although consisting of figures some
of which are not consistent with each other. Thus the output on
silk waists in shop No. 1090 varies from 158 to 280 buttonholes
per hour (lines 72 to 74), which is less than half the output on net
shown in line 80 in the same shop. It is also less than the output
on chiffon and net waists, viz, 304 buttonholes per hour, shown in
line 76. Both net and chiffon on net are more difficult to handle
on the machine than silk, as they stretch and tear more easily. The
difference may have been due to accidental causes, such as the
condition of the operator as well as the condition of the machine,
but being based as it is on a large number of waists with the work
extending over 102 minutes, or over an hour and a half, it is nearer
to actual average conditions as they prevail in a shop than the
figure for shop No. 1116 in line 71.
REECE M ACHINE.
As already explained on page 68, the Reece machine is much faster
than the Singer, but the appearance of the buttonholes made on this
machine is such that it is used only on cheap garments.
The output on cotton waists having one or two buttonholes was
found to differ but little, the average output being 238 buttonholes
per hour.
On waists having four buttonholes the output in shop No. 1235
was found to be 324 buttonholes per hour, while in shop No. 1230 it
was 552. The larger output in shop No. 1230 is due to a number
of reasons: The smaller size of the buttonhole, being only f inch
in shop No. 1230 and 1 inch in shop No. 1235; the fact that in shop
No. 1235 the operators are required to untie and tie the bundles;
which carries with it the necessity of spreading out each waist and
putting the waists on top of each other in making up the bundle,
244
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
while in shop No. 1230 the buttonhole maker is not required to untie
or make up bundles, with the consequent saving of time.
The output on waists containing five buttonholes was found to
vary from 654 buttonholes per hour in shop No. 1230 to 847 in shop
No. 1284. As the work is done in both shops under fairly similar
conditions, the difference in output is probably due chiefly to the
fact that the buttonhole makers in shop No. 1230 are women, while
in shop No. 1284 they are men. Either figure could therefore be
taken as a basis for a piece rate by making a proper allowance for
an hourly rate for men and women operators.
On six-buttonhole waists the output per hour was 501 buttonholes
in shop No. 1235, 801 buttonholes in shop No. 1230, and 939 in shop
No. 1284. As usual, shop No. 1284 shows the highest output and
shop No. 1235 the lowest. The reasons for the low output in shop
No. 1235 have already been explained. The high output of shop
No. 1284 is due both to the fact that the buttonhole maker is not
required to tie and untie bundles, and the further fact that in shop
No. 1284 the work is done by men, while in the other two shops it is
done by women.
The same relation between the respective outputs of the three
shops holds true with regard to seven-buttonhole waists. Again
shop No. 1284 leads the rest with 1,103 buttonholes per hour (line
13), and No. 1235 lags behind with 720 buttonholes (line 11).
The output on eight-buttonhole waists does not seem to differ from
that on seven-buttonhole waists, being 1,008 buttonholes per hour
in shop No. 1284. This shows that when the number of buttonholes
on a waist gets fairly large, a difference of one buttonhole has no
appreciable effect on the output.
BUTTON SEWING.
FLAT PEARL BUTTONS.
The button sewing timed in the shops was done on machines
exclusively. Button sewing by hand is the work of finishers. As
explained in Part I of this report (see page 70), most of the button
sewers are women, of whom less than one-fifth work by the piece. In
the $9-a-dozen waist shops in which button sewing was timed, the
work was done by the week with the exception of shop No. 1110, in
which it was done by the piece. Piecework also prevailed in shops
Nos. 1235 and 1116, the only medium-priced waist shops reported in
Table 83A.
The work of the machine button sewer consists of picking up the
waist, inserting in the machine the spot marked with a pencil or
otherwise, opposite the buttonhole, placing a button in a special
holder, and setting the machine in motion, which automatically sews
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
245
the button to the waist. The operator then removes the waist,
moves it to the point where the next button has to be sewed on,
inserts a new button, and repeats the same operations.
As in the case of buttonhole making, the output on button sewing
will vary (1) with the skill of the operator; (2) with the number of
buttons to the waist; (3) with the kind of button; (4) with the size
of the bundle which the operator gets at a time; (5) with the con
ditions governing the handling of the work; that is to say, whether
or not the bundle has to be tied and untied by the operator.
1. As a rule, there is only one button sewer in a shop. This was the
case in all the shops in which work was timed with the exception of
shop No. 1230, in which two button sewers were found. All the button
sewers, except one in shop No. 1110, were women. Although this
shop shows a slightly higher output per hour than the other two shops
on the same kind of waists, the difference is probably due not so
much to the difference in ways as to the fact that in this shop there
is no tying and untying of bundles, the material being handled in
large bulk, as explained under buttonhole making.
2. The number of buttons to the waist is an important factor for the
same reason that the number of buttonholes is. (See page 234.)
3. The kind of button may affect the output materially. A pearl
button having two bored holes in it is somewhat more difficult to han
dle than a crochet button, for the reason that the operator need not
pay any attention to the way the crochet button is inserted in the
holder of the machine, since, no matter what the position of the but
ton is, the needle will go through it, the button consisting of uniform
material, with the exception of the outward metal ring around which
the crochet thread is wound. Not so with a pearl button: Unless the
button is inserted in the holder of the machine so as to place the hole
directly under the needle, the needle will strike the hard surface of the
button and break, causing stoppage of work and the necessity of re
placing the needle. The operator can not, therefore, insert a pearl
button as rapidly as she does a crochet button.
4-5. The size of the bundle and the manner of handling it are of
great importance for the same reasons which were explained in con
nection with buttonhole making.
Table 83A shows the output on pearl buttons and 83B on crochet
buttons. The wovk was timed in 5 shops, of which 3 are $9-a-dozen
waist shops and 2 making medium-priced waists. The figures have
been arranged according to the number of buttons to a front or back
of a waist, similarly to the arrangement of the buttonhole data.
Taking first the pearl buttons, we find that for 4-button waists the
output in shop No. 1230 is 553 buttons per hour (fine 1). This
average is based upon the work of 1 button sewer on 792 buttons.
83A.—BUTTON SEWING: FLAT PEARL BUTTONS.
Number and
sex of
operators.
Week work or Wages or earn
ings per week.
piecework.
Shop number.
Shop No. 1230..
Shop No. 1284..
8
Average^ 2 shops, lines
2** to 37
196**
11,815
950
746
10.50 to 12.00
9.00
61J
4,410
3,018
348
207
760
875
Week work.
9.00 to 12.00
103*
7,428
555
Piecework.
....d o ........
(l)
(1)
(l)
24*
2*
180
1,764
178
Average, 2 shops, lines
9 and 10.
27
1,944
199
Shop No. 1235..
13
14
15
16
17
18
Shop
Shop
Shop
Shop
Shop
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
1230.,
1284.,
1116.,
1284.,
1116.,
10
33^
Sf
•3 *
345#
840
121
2,849
4,921
3,642
4,456
1,632
6,438
197
358
325
320
159
502
Average, shops 1230,
1284 and 1116, lines
13 to 18.
218*
23,938
1,861
1Earnings not reported.
Week
work
and piece
work.
Week work.
___ do..........
Piecework___
Piecework..
41**
(1)
10.50 to 12.00
9.00
Week work
___ do.......
Piecework
Week work
Piecework
___ do.......
0 9.00
(l)
(l)
Week work
and piece
work.
2 and 4
9
2 and 4
7 and 8
21 dozen had no buttons on the cuffs.
8 and 9
21
ltolOJ
e§
34
lt o 37
**tol0*
3 to 14
18
** to 14
2*
514
595
7 to 10
2* to 10
l*to2*
417
1 to 6
l t o 11
lt o 21
lt o 10
6 to 8
I f to 17
825
672
616
769
772
314$ dozen had no buttons on the cuffs.
46
lt o 21
STATISTICS,
12
0)
792
LABOR
Shop No. 1235..
Shop No. 1116..
11
19
87*
16*
102*
OF
9
10
7£to9
726
750
771
10.50 to 12.00
9.00
BUEEAU
7
553
$11.50
Week w ork.
----- do..........
Piecework..
THE
6
Dozen
waists in
each.
508
32
410
Week work.
Shop No. 1230..
Shop No. 1284..
Shop No. 1110..
Average, 3 shops, lines
2 to 4.
Back.
6,145
400
5,270
Shop No. 1230..
5
Front.
Total
buttons.
Time
Number !
worked of buttons:(min
per hour. |
utes).
OF
.3
4
Waists
(dozen).
Cuff.
Male. Female.
1
2
Bundles.
Buttons per waist.
BULLETIN
Lino
No.
246
T a b le
T a b le
83B.—BUTTON SEWING: CROCHET BUTTONS.
Male. Female.
Front.
Week work....
$11.50
....... do..............
10.50
.......do............. 10.50 to 11.50
Piecework.......
C1)
.......do.............
l)
. . . . d o ............
(l)
1Earnings not reported.
3
5
6
6
Back.
7
9
36-|
22*
49£
7*
101
3§
1,326
1,355
3,564
540
861
396
101
120
278
55
60
19
788
677
769
589
861
1,251
Dozen
Number. waists in
each.
6
5
6
3
6
1
3 to 9|
4 to 5
2§ to 12
2J
Jto2.J
3§
IN
DEESS
AND
WAIST
INDUSTEY.
247
1
1
2
1
1
1
Cuff.
EMPLOYMENT
1 Shop No. 1230........................
2
D o....................................
3
D o....................................
4 Shop No. 1235........................
5
D o....................................
G Shop No. 1116........................
Waists - Total
(dozen). buttons.
Week work or Wages or earn
piecework.
ings per week.
Shop number.
Time
worked ofNumber
buttons
(min
utes). per hour.
AND
Line
No.
Bundles.
Buttons per waist.
WAGES
Number and
sex of
operators.
248
BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF LABOB STATISTICS.
On the five-button waists we have the record of work done by 4
operators in 3 shops, 3 of them women and 1 man, who were timed on
11,815 buttons. The output is fairly uniform in the 3 shops, ranging
from 726 in shop No. 1230 (line 2) to 771 in shop No. 1110, the average
for the 3 shops being 746 buttons per hour. The highest output in
shop No. 1110 may be due to two causes: (1) That the operator is a
man; (2) that the work is handled in bulk instead of in bundles, as
explained in connection with buttonhole making.
For six-button waists we have the record of 4 shops, 2 of them
$9-waist shops, and 2 medium-priced waist shops. The output
seems to vary according to the character of the shops. Thus, in the
two $9-a-dozen waist shops (lines 6 and 7) the output is 760 and 875
buttons per hour, respectively, the average being 803 buttons per
hour, while in the two medium-priced waist shops (lines 9 and 10) the
output is 514 and 595 buttons per hour, respectively, the average
being 586 buttons per hour.
In the case of seven-button waists, we have the record of 4 shops,
3 of them with a fairly uniform output per hour, while the fourth
shop, No. 1235, has a low output of 417 buttons per hour (line 12).
This low output is explained by the fact that the waist had a loose
facing which had to be turned over by the button sewer and creased.
The respective outputs per hour in the 3 other shops, ranging from
672 buttons per hour in shop No. 1116 (medium-priced waist shop)
to 868 in shop No. 1230 ($9-a-dozen waist shop), have been combined
with the data for the 8 and 9 button Waists into one average for the
reason that the output in those shops does not vary much for the
three classes of waists. The average for the three, as will be seen
from line 19, is equal to 772 buttons per hour based on a total of 23,938
buttons in the 3 shops.
CROCHET BUTTONS.
The work on crochet buttons was timed in three shops. Of these
one, No. 1230, was a $9-a-dozen waist shop, and two, Nos. 1235 and
1116, were medium-priced shops.
The three-button waists were timed in shop No. 1230, showing an
output of 788 buttons per hour. Another operator in the same shop
showed an output of only 678 buttons per hour on five-button waists.
As the size of the jobs was practically the same in each case, as will
be seen from the table, the only explanation for the lower output on
the waist containing the larger number of buttons lies in the difference
in skill of the two operators.
The output on six-button waists was 769 buttons per hour in shop
No. 1230 and 589 in shop No. 1235. The higher output was turned out
by two operators in a $9-a-dozen waist shop on 3,564 buttons. The
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
249
lower output was produced by an operator in a medium-priced waist
shop on 540 buttons which were sewed on 7\ dozen waists furnished to
the operator in three bundles of 2\ dozen each, whereas the size of the
bundles in the $9-shop varied from 2§ to 12 dozen. The chief
reason, however, for the lower output was that the buttons had to be
sewed on in two rows of three each for ornamental purposes, for which
no marking is done. The operator had to see, therefore, that the
buttons were spaced equally and each placed in a straight line with
the corresponding buttons in the other row. That this was the chief
cause of the smaller output may be seen from the fact that the output
on seven-button waists by the same operator (line 5), for which the
spacing was marked in the usual manner, was 861 buttons per hour
on bundles no larger than in the preceding case.
On nine-button waists the output in another medium-priced waist
shop (line 6) was 1,251 buttons per hour. This figure was obtained,
however, by timing an operator on a small lot of waists (3§ dozen)
containing a total of 396 buttons.
BODY MAKING.
The operations included in body making have been described in
Part I of this report under “ Waist operators” (pp. 93, 94) and also
on previous pages of Part II. It will therefore be sufficient for the
present to state briefly that body making includes all the opera
tions which are required to make the body of the waist and which
are described in greater detail in the following sections. The body
makers are among the most skillful operators in the trade, since
they make practically the entire garment outside of the few special
operations described in the preceding sections.
Most of the headings of the columns in the tables which follow speak
for themselves. The column marked “ Kind of seam” is subdivided
into two columns, marked “ First” and “ Second,” which require an
explanation. While most operations are done with one seam, there
are some operations which it takes two seams to complete. This is
true of the French seam (described under “ Closing,” p. 226) and of
most of the work of joining lace to other material. As each seam is
made under different conditions, the second seam usually requiring a
great deal less time than the first, the work on each seam was timed
separately whenever possible and the data tabulated accordingly.
In timing work in which a seam consisted of two rows of stitching,
it was not always possible to time the first and second rows of stitch
ing on the identical waists. An operator might be timed on the first
row on an entire bundle and before she took up the work of the
second row of stitching she might be started on a new bundle and
not have an opportunity to return to the old bundle until the inves
250
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
tigator had left the shop, or had been assigned to time a new set of
operators. In such case it would be necessary to time the second
row of stitching upon a different bundle of waists, consisting perhaps
of a larger or a smaller number. For this reason the total number of
waists, as well as the total number of rows of stitching timed on the
first seam, as shown in Tables 84 to 89, 91, 92B, 93 to 96, 98, and 99,
is seldom the same as that on the second row. But in figuring out
the time it will take to do the entire operation consisting of the two
rows of stitching, it was necessary to take an equal number of waists
for each row of stitching, since this is the way the work is actually
done, and because otherwise either the first or the second row of
stitching would be given an undue weight. The following illustra
tion will show the method of calculation followed:
Rows of stitching.
Kind of seam.
First.
Plain...........................
Second.
Plain.......................
Dozen
waists.
2iS?
Minutes
work took.
Per waist.
2
2
Total.
100
50
20
5
Rows per
hour.
300
600
To find the average output per hour on the combined process,
reduce the number of rows of stitching in the first seam from 100 to
50, so as to have the same number of rows in the first and second
seam. The number of minutes will have to be reduced in the same
proportion, so that we will have the following computation:
Rows.
Minutes.
First seam...........................................................................................................................
Second seam........................................................................................................................
50
50
10
5
Total..........................................................................................................................
100
45
If it takes 15 minutes, or one-quarter of an hour, to do 100 rows of
stitching in the combined operation, the number of rows per hour
will be four times as large, or 400.
The following symbols are used in the tables to indicate the dif
ferent kinds of seams used:
P stands for a plain (ordinary) seam.
F is a French seam. (For explanation of French seam, see p. 226.)
S signifies shirring. (For a description of shirring, see pp. 278,
279.)
PS signifies a shirred seam. It is used in the tables of this report
to indicate that the operator had to join a shirred part of a waist to
another part.
P + S indicates that the operator had to join two or more parts
of a waist while shirring one of them at the same time.
PB means that the seam is made on a bias.
WAGES AND EM PLOYM ENT IN DKESS AND WAIST INDUSTKY.
251
JOINING PARTS OF SHOULDERS W ITH LACE BEADING BETWEEN TH EM .
This work was timed on two distinct styles of waists, the old-style
waist, which was common before 1913, in which the fronts and backs
were joined at the shoulder, the seam extending from the neck to
the armhole over a length of 5 to 7 inches, and the new-style waist
in which the shoulder seam joins the front and back parts of the waist,
or of the yoke, extending some distance over the arm, forming the
so-called “ drop shoulder,” the seam being from 11 to 15 inches long.
The work consists of sewing on a narrow strip of lace, known as
“ lace beading,” to the front and back shoulder pieces and then
turning back the edge of the material, visible under the lace, on the
wrong side and stitching it over so that the raw edge will not protrude
under the lace. The work of stitching over the raw edge forms the
second seam or “ stitch,” as it is called in the trade. The work on
the first seam naturally takes a longer time to do than on the second,
for the reason that on the first seam the operator must handle two
pieces of material, the lace beading and the shoulder piece, and must
take care that the seam forms a straight line at a uniform distance
from the edge of the material. On the second seam she has only the
raw edge to stitch over but no joining of separate pieces, and the
work can therefore be done much more quickly. In all the three shops
both on the short and the long seams, as well as on the French seam,
it will be found that the output on the second seam is uniformly
higher than on the first. Thus in the first item in Table 84 we find
the output on the first seam to be 194 rows of stitching per hour
(line 1), while on the second it is 291 or 50 per cent higher than on
the first. Similar differences between the output on the first and
second seams will be found on comparing line 4 with line 5, lines 7
and 8, 10 and 11, 13 and 14.
Another interesting comparison which Table 84 furnishes is as to the
respective productivity of men and women operators. Lines 1 to 3
of the table show the output of 10 men, lines 4 to 6 that of 10 women
on the same kind of work in the same shop. The average output of
the 10 men on both seams is 233 rows of stitching per hour and of
the 10 women 171 rows per hour. That is to say, the men show an
output over 36 per cent greater than the women.
The work was timed in two shops: No. 1232, the most efficient of
the shops investigated, and No. 1284, which has been found to fall
below the average shop on several operations. The short seam was
timed in shop No. 1284, while the long seams were found in shop
No. 1232. As will be seen from Table 84, the average output per
hour was 210 rows of stitching in shop No. 1284 (line 9), and 207 in
shop No. 1232 (line 12), the somewhat higher figure in the less effi
cient shop being due in this case to the much shorter seams which
were made in that shop. In determining the stitch rate for these
252
BULLETIN OF THE BUKEAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
operations on the basis of the figures given here, it would be necessary
to take into account the differences in the earning capacities of the
operators in the respective shops.
The French seam work was found in shop No. 1230, although this
shop manufactures only cheap waists. The work was done by four
men and three women, and showed an average output of 162 rows
of stitching per hour on the first seam, 243 on the second, and 194
on the complete operation.
T able 84.-J0IN IN G PARTS OF SHOULDERS W ITH LACE BEADING B ETW EEN THEM.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table see p. 250.]
Number
and sex of
operators.
1
2
Shop number.
Shop No. 1284...................
D o ...............................
3
Average...................
4
5
Shop No. 1284...................
D o ...............................
6
Average...................
7
8
Average, shop No. 1284:
First seam..................
Second seam...............
9
Average...................
10
11
Shop No. 1232...................
D o ...............................
12
Average...................
13
14
Shop No. 1230...................
D o ...............................
15
* Average...................
Stitching.
Length Waists
of seam (dozen).
Time
Rows
Rows
Fe First. Sec (inches).
per Total worked
Male. male.
per
ond.
(min
waist. rows. utes). hour.
P.
10
10
P.
5 to 7
5 to 7
P.
5 to 7
5 to 7
m
92h
2 2,190
2 2,220
676
458
m
414
2
2
433
258
194
291
233
10
10
P.
980
996
136
232
171
10
10
10
10
P.
7
6
P.
3
3
F.
P.
5 to 7
5 to 7
P.
11 to 15
11 to 15
F.
05
-vWr1
OO
00 00
Line
No.
Kind of
seam.
132*
134
2 3,170
2 3,216
110
110
2 2,640
2 2,6-10
864
666
2
2
209
80
1
4
5
1,109
716
1
210
!
4
2
i
172
269
183
238
207
i
23i
13*
564
324
.........|..........
162
243
194
JOINING YOKES TO FRO NTS O R BACKS W ITH INSERTIONS.
Seam 12 to 15 inches long
.
This work was observed in three shops making waists to sell for $9
per dozen, involving the work of 19 men and 21 women, who spent
the equivalent of 54 hours and 38 minutes for one person in turning
out from 160 to 165 dozen waists.
The character of this work involves the same operations as in
sewing on lace beading to shoulders, described in the preceding
section, and in joining lace to material, described under lace run
ning. That is to say, a distinction must be made in the first
place between the process in which the lace is sewed on top of the
cloth and that in which the cloth appears on top of the lace; in the
second place, the first row of stitching, which involves the sewing on
of the lace, must be distinguished from the second row by which the
protruding edge of the cloth is stitched back. As wall be seen from
Table 85, two shops (Nos. 1284 and 1230) follow the method of sewing
the cloth on top, while in one shop (No. 1232) the lace is stitched on
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
253
top. As a result, the first two shops show a smaller output per hour
than the last-mentioned shop. Where the cloth appears on top the
rows of stitching per hour vary from 96 to 108 on the first seam, and
from 139 to 144 on the second, the average for the two seams in both
shops being 116 rows of stitching per hour. For the lace on top
process the rows of stitching per hour were 168 on the first seam and
207 on the second, the average for the two seams being 186 per hour.
The last item in the table represents the same work as described
above, except that cording is inserted instead of lace beading. This
work is much more difficult and takes more time; the cording being
quite thick, its movement under the “ foot” (the name of the attach
ment which presses down the material, thereby helping the gears
under the material to push it along as fast as it is stitched), is slow;
care must also be taken that the seam is put in neatly next to the
cord so that the needle neither catches the cord nor makes the seam
too far from the cord, which would leave it loose in the cloth. All
these conditions combine to greatly reduce the output.
Only 7-J dozen waists with cording were made while the investiga
tion was in progress, and this happened in shop No. 1232 which has
the highest output of any shop on most of the work on which com
parison can be made between the different shops. These 7J dozen
were made by three different operators, all men, each making
dozen. The average output was 87 rows of stitching per hour. For
additional figures on cording, see page 281 relating to sleeve setting.
T able 8 5 .- JOINING YOKES TO FRONTS OR BACKS W ITH INSERTIONS.
Seam 12 to 15 in ch es long.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table, see p. 250.]
Number
and sex of
operators.
Line
No.
1
2
Kind of
seam.
Shop number.
Fe First. Sec
Male. male.
ond.
Cloth on top:
Shop No. 1284.................
Do...........................
3
Average...........................
4
5
Shop No. 1230.................
D o ............................
6
Average.......................
7
8
Average, shops Nos.
1230 and 1284:
First seam............
Second seam.........
9
Average.......................
10
11
Lace on top:
Shop No. 1232.................
D o............ ................
12
Average.......................
13
With cording:
Shop No. 1232.................
2
4
9
12
P.
2
2
5
8
P.
Stitching.
Waists
(dozen).
Rows
per
waist.
Total
rows.
Time
worked Rows
per
(min
utes). hour.
P.
S3*
w*
2
2
1,280
1,550
798
688
P.
22
30|
2
2
528
736
294
307
96
139
114
108
144
123
4
6
14
20
P.
P.
95J
2
2
1,808
2,286
1,092
975
99
141
116
13
13
1
1
P.
P.
84J
70J
2
2
2,028
1,686
723
488
........ |
3
P.
7J
2
180
124
168
207
186
87
254
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
JOINING YOKE BEADING TO BACKS.
S eam 27 to 30 in ch es long.
This work was timed in three $9-a-dozen waist shops, involving
the work of 10 men and 9 women, with a total output of 4 9 ^ to 57£
dozen waists at an expenditure of time equivalent to 15 hours and 17
minutes for one person. The work is in every way similar to that
described in the preceding section except that it is done on waists
having closed backs which are double the length of the open backs
given in the preceding section. As will be seen by comparing the
figures in Tables 85 and 86, the output for each shop is materially lower
on the full backs as compared with the half backs. Thus, taking
first the shops where the cloth is stitched on top of the lace, we find
that in shop No. 1284 the average output is 79 rows of stitching per
hour on the full backs (see table below), as against 114 on the half
backs (see preceding table), a difference of 31 per cent. For shop No.
1230, the respective outputs are 75 and 123 rows per hour, or a
difference of 39 per cent. The average output for the two shops is 71
rows of stitching per hour on the first seam, 87 rows on the second,
and 78 rows per hour for the combined process as compared with 116
rows of stitching for the half backs, or a difference of 33 per cent.
That is to say, in the two shops mentioned the output on full backs
was on the average about one-third less per hour than the output
on half backs.
For shop No. 1232, in which the lace is stitched on top of the cloth,
the output on full backs was 98 per hour as compared with 186 on
half backs, or a difference of 47 per cent.
T a b l e 86.—JOINING YO K E BEADING TO BACKS.
Plain sea m 27 to 30 in ch es long.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table, see page 250.]
Number
and sex of
operators.
Line
No.
1
2
Shop number.
Kind of
seam.
Stitching.
Length
Waists
of seam (dozen).
(inches).
Rows Total
Sec
Fe
per
Male. male. First. ond.
waist. rows.
Cloth on top:
Shop No. 1284............
Do.........................
6
6
P.
2
2
P.
Time
worked Rows
per
(min hour.
utes).
P.
27
27
20
25
1
1
240
300
203
201
P.
27 to 30
27 to 30
5
‘ 5
1
1
60
60
50
46
Average...................
3
4
Shop No. 1230..........
Do.........................
79
2
Average...................
5
6
Total, shops Nos.
1230 and 1284:
First seam.........
Second seam
7
8
Lace on top:
Shop No. 1232.............
D o .........................
2
8
8
72
78
75
!
P.
P.
27 to 30
27 to 30
25
30
1
1
300
360
253
247
Average...................
Average...................
71
90
71
87
78
8
6
P.
1
P.
27 to 31
29 to 31
32|
im
1
1
390
239
318
99
74
146
98
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DBESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY. 2 5 5
JOINING YOKES W ITH LACE BEADING TO OPEN FRO NTS O R BACKS,
W ITH A SH IRRED SEAM .
Seam 11 to 15 in ch es long.
This work was timed in only one $9-a-dozen waist shop, involving
the work of 11 men and 8 women, with a total output of 46 to 53
dozen waists, at an expenditure of time equivalent to 17 hours and 5
minutes for one person. The work differs from that described in the
preceding section in that a shirred seam takes the place of a plain
seam. This process is naturally more difficult for the operator.
Comparison is possible only for one shop, No. 1232, since only in
that shop work was found of a similar character with plain and
shirred seams, respectively. The average output for this shop on
this kind of work was 143 rows of stitching per hour, as compared
with 186 rows of the plain seam (see lines 10 and 11 in Table 85). In
other words, the" additional work of shirring or handling a shirred
seam results in a loss of about 23 per cent in the output of the operator,
and work of this kind seems to call for a proportionately greater
compensation than in the case of a plain seam.
An examination of Table 87 shows that the operators do their work
in different ways. In the column headed “ Kind of seam” it will be
found that the first seam has been made in two different ways, indi
cated by the symbols “ PS” and “ P + S,” respectively. The former
indicates that the shirring was done before the joining in a separate
operation; the latter, that the joining and the shirring were done
together in the same operation. A comparison of lines 1 and 4 of
Table 87 shows an output of 116 rows of stitching per hour by the
first method and 111 by the second, or a difference of 4 per cent in
favor of the former method. But this does not take account of the
time taken to do the shirring as a separate operation, which does not
appear in the table. The fact should be noted that when the separate
operation of shirring is saved, the handling of the work becomes
much more difficult for the operator, so that what is saved by elimi
nating one operation is largely or entirely offset through the loss of
time in handling the combined operation in one process.1 Moreover,
as it is left to the discretion of the operator to do the work either by
the one or by the other method, there is no occasion for different rates
for the two methods.
1 It will be noted that there is no difference in the time it takes to do the second seam under either process,
since the second seam is identical in both cases, consisting of stitching over a shirred seam. For this reason
no attempt was made to separate the work on the second seam under the two processes, and lines 2 and 5
represent the same work.
256
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T able 87.—JOINING YOKES W IT H LACE BEADING TO OPEN FRONTS OR BACKS W ITH
SHIRRED SEAM.
Seam 11 to 15 inches long,
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table see page 250.]
Number
and sex of
operators.
Line
No.
Kind of
seam.
Shop number.
Fe First. Sec
Male. male.
ond.
1
2
Joining yoke to a shirred
front or back:
Shop No. 1232............
D o ........................
3
Average...................
4
5
Joining yoke to front or
back and shirring at the
same time:
Shop No. 1232............
D o ........................
6
Average...................
7
Average for both
operations............
7
11
8
8
PS.
PS.
Stitching.
Length Waists
of seam (dozen).
(inches).
Rows Total
per
waist. rows.
11 to 15
11 to 15
42*
46*
2 1,018
2 1,106
Time
worked Rows
per
(min hour.
utes).
528
352
116
189
143
6
11
8
P +S .
P+S.
11 to 15
11 to 15
n *,
46*
2
268
2 1,106
145
352
__________
111
189
140
143
JOINING YOKE SLEEVES TO FRONTS O R BACKS W ITH BEADING
BETWEEN.
This work was timed in three $9-a-dozen waist shops, involving
the work of 17 men and 40 women, with a total output of 508 dozen
waists at an expenditure of time equivalent to 163 hours for one
person. As in the case of the operations described above, the
average output per hour in the shops using the “ cloth on top” method
of sewing on the lace beading is below that in the shop using the
“ lace on top” method, the two being 143 and 184 rows of stitching,
respectively.
Lines 9 to 12 of Table 88 represent the same work as described
above, except that the operator has to shirr the front or back in the
same operation. This makes the work more difficult and conse
quently slower. As will be seen from lines 9 and 10 of Table 88,
the output for shop No. 1230 in this case is 104 rows of stitching
per hour as compared with 144 rows of stitching without the shir
ring, or a reduction of output equal to about 28 per cent. The
average for shop No. 1232 (lines 11 and 12 of the table) is 138 rows
of stitching per hour as compared with 184 without the shirring, or
a reduction of output equal to 25 per cent.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DEESS AND WAIST INDUSTEY.
257
T a b l e 88.-JOINING YO K E SLEEVES TO FRONTS OR BACKS W IT H LACE BEADING
BETW EEN.
Plain seam 11 to 16 in ch es long.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table see page 250.]
Number
and sex of
operators.
Line
No.
Kind of
Stitching.
Stitches Waists
per inch. (dozen),
Shop number.
Fe First.
Male. male.
ond.
Cloth on to]
top:
Shoj^No. 1284.
P.
P.
Time
Rows Total worked
Rows
per rows. (min per
waist.
utes). hour.
113J
97£
2,724
2,340
1,305
345*
337*
8,284
3,953
2,883
Average.......
Sho^No. 1230.
142
P.
8 to 10
8 to 10
Average.......
Average, shops Nos.
1284 and 1230:
First seam........
Second seam___
126
144
P.
458|
434B
11,008
10,438
5,:
3,744
Average...................
Lace on top:
Sho^JS
No. 1232.
125
163
126
167
143
P.
50
51*
1,200
1,230
471
319
Average.
153
231
184
Shining fronts or tacks at
the same time.
10
Cloth on top:
Sho^No. 1230............
[) o ....
P+S.
P+S.
37-r3
786
347
Average.
Lace on top:
Shop No. 1232.
D o .............
Average.
84
136
104
P +S.
P+S.
180
180
105
52
103
208
138
JOINING PARTS OF BACK W ITH FRENCH SEAM, FO RM IN G TUCK AT
THE SAME TIM E.
This work doea. not frequently occur and was found in only one
shop, No. 1230, in which 6 men and 9 women operators were timed
on nearly 57 dozen waists, working for a period equivalent to 1,126
minutes, or more than 18 hours for one person. In this style of
waist, buttoning in the front, the back was cut in three parts, the
central part consisting of a strip 3 inches wide which was joined to
each of the other two parts with a French seam, in which the second
seam was finished on the right side instead of the wrong side, as is
usually done, and thus formed a tuck. The output on this work on
the first seam, in which 6 men and 9 women were engaged, was 100
rows of stitching per hour. On the second seam the output of 3
men was 148 rows of stitching per hour, and of 5 women, 114 rows, the
42132° Bull. 146— 14------ 17
258
BULLETIN OF THE BUEEAU OF LABOB STATISTICS,
average for the men and women 011 the second seam being 127 rows
of stitching per hour. The output for the two seams was 112 rows
of stitching per hour.
T a b l e 89.—JOINING PARTS OF BACK W ITH A FRENCH SEAM, FORMING A TUCK AT
THE SAME TIME.
Number
and sex of
operators.
Line
No.
Stitching.
Length Waists
of seam
(inches). (dozen). Rows
Sec
Fe
per Total
Male. male. First. ond.
waist. rows.
Shop number.
1
Shop No. 1230...................
6
2
3
Do...............................
D o...............................
3
4
Average, lines 2 and
3............................
Average, lines 1 and
4, 1st and 2d
seams....................
5
Kind of
seam.
9
P.
16 to 17
P.
P.
5
156-H
16 to 17
16 to 17
!!A
Time
worked Rows
per
(min hour.
utes).
2 1,366
816
100
2
2
121
189
148
114
298
360
127
112
129J dozen did not have the second stitch.
JOINING SIDE PIECES TO FRONTS.
This work consists of sewing side pieces or gores to fronts below
the waist line. The pieces are short, ranging from 3 to 9 inches in
length, most of them being between 3 and 5 inches. The work was
done by 26 men and 26 women in three shops on nearly 236 dozen
waists at an expenditure of time equivalent to over 22 hours for one
person. The output ranged from 191 rows of stitching per hour in
shop No. 1284 to 310 in shop No. 1232, the average being 250 rows
of stitching per hour.
T a b l e 90.—JOINING SIDE PIECES (GORES) TO FRONTS.
[No hemming attachment used.]
Number
and sex of
operators.
Lino
No.
Kind of
seam.
Stitching.
Length Waists
of seam
(inches). (dozen). Rows
Time
Rows
per Total worked per
(min
waist. rows. utes). hour.
Shop number.
Fe First. Sec
Male. male.
ond.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Shop No. 1284...................
)n___________
1232______________
Shop No. 1230....................
>0...............................
STiori N o .
4
3
15
8
8
14
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
m
3 to 4
3 to 5
5 to 9
5 to 8
5 to 8
6J
117*4
48}
50$
Average, 3 shops.,
1
i
2
300
2
156
2 2,830
2 1,164
2 1,208
94
41
547
318
358
191
228
310
220
202
250
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
259
JOINING LACE TO STANDING COLLARS.
This work was timed in three shops, taking in the work of 13 men
and 8 women on 118 dozen waists in a period of time equivalent to
1,065 minutes, or more than 17 hours for one person. The work con
sists of joining the lace to a collar of voile or lawn, or lace, the lace
in each case appearing on top of the other material, and stitching
back the raw edge of the material on the second seam. The results
are found to be fairly uniform in all shops, ranging from 132 rows of
stitching in shop No. 1284 to 182 in shop No. 1232, the average for
the three shops on both seams being 161 rows of stitching per hour.
On collars made of lace, which were found only in shop No. 1284, the
output was 119 rows of stitching per hour for 5 men and 101 rows of
stitching for 4 women. It being more difficult to join lace and lace
than to join lace and cotton material, it is natural that the output
on the former should be less than on the latter.
Line 19 shows the output when the lace is joined to the collar in
one seam instead of by the two-seam process described above, the raw
edge of the material being turned in while the lace is stitched to it.
The output of one man and two women, working on 25 dozen waists
for a period equivalent to 139 minutes, or practically 2\ hours for
one person, was 129 rows of stitching and 129 “ bendings” 1 per hour.
Figuring 2 bendings as equivalent to 1 row of stitching, as is the cus
tom among some manufacturers, this would be equivalent to 194
rows of stitching per hour, or 11 rows of sfeitching more than the out
put in the same shop by the two-seam process.
Lines 20 and 21 show the output on facing collars with a finished
binding. The binding is attached only at the two extreme ends of
the collar, being 3 to 4 inches long. The work is done in two opera
tions, the binding being first stitched to the edge of the collar on the
right side and then turned over and stitched to the collar on the wrong
side, which makes it look like a facing on the collar corresponding to
the facing on the back. Five men and three women were timed in
shop No. 1232 on 57| dozen waists, working for a period equivalent
to 218 minutes, or more than 3| hours for one person. The average
output of the 8 operators was 613 rows of stitching on the first seam,
867 rows on the second, and 720 rows of stitching per hour on the
combined operation.
*Whenever the material is turned in as described above, a fold is formed which is known in the
trade as a “ bending/7
260
BULLETIN OF THE BUKEAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T a b l e 91.—JOINING LACE TO STANDING COLLARS.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table see p. 250.]
Line
No.
Shop number.
Num
ber
and Kind of
sex of seam.
oper
Length WJaists
ators.
of seam (doz
(inches). en).
M.
Collars made of cotton
material:
Sho^No. 1232___
1st. 2d.
P.
14 to 18
14 to 18
Stitching.
Time
Rows Total work Rows Per
per
per
ed
waist. rows. (min hour. waist.
utes).
65
32|
780
390
277
118
Shoj^No. 1230..
Do............
4
3tt
P.
148
14 to 15!
14 to 15|
P.
162
210
61
111
Average, 3 shops:
First seam..,
Second seam,
P.
14 to 18
14 to 18
82!
53H
647
356
249
167
156
161
Average.............
Collars made of lace:
Sho^No. 1284___
159
114
132
Average.......
P.
15 to 16
15 to 16
26
312
312
P.
15 to 16!
15 to 16!
9!
11
114
132
94
108
Shop No. 1232.
P.
14 to 15
25
300
139 i 129
Facing collars with a
binding:
Sho^No. 1232
P.
182
132
101
Average........
L>o.....
Average.
103
142
119
Average..
ShopNo. 1284..
22
198
160
141
Average........
Sho^No. 1284.
15
Per
hour.
182
Average..
12
B endings.
3 to 4
3 to 4
P.
57!
50
1,380
135
1,200
I
300
129
613
867
720
1 Collars made of voile.
JOINING “ LITTLE S K IR T S ” TO W AISTS.
Practically all medium and high priced waists are cut in such a
manner as to end at the waist line, an additional piece called “ skirt”
o r &‘ little skirt,' being j oined to the waist so as to form its continuation
below the waist line. Most of the $9-a-dozen waists are cut full
length, so as to save the labor of joining the little skirt to the waist.
Sometimes little skirts are used in these waists. This happens either
when embroidered fronts are used and it is desired to save the em
broidery below the waist line, where it is not seen at all or where the
nature of the pattern makes it advisable to cut the waist in this man
ner so as to utilize the material to better advantage.
Table 92A gives the record of various operations in connection
with the joining of little skirts to waists.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DEESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
261
JOINING LITTLE SKIRTS TO OPEN FRONTS AND SHIRRING AT THE SAME TIME.
Lines 1 to 5 show the output on the operation of joining little skirts
to open fronts and shirring at the same time. The work consists of
two operations: In the first, the little skirt and the front are put right
side to one another and joined along the raw edge. In the second
operation the raw edge is stitched back. This work was timed in
two $9-a-dozen waist shops covering the work of 9 men and 4 women
on nearly 48 dozen waists, involving an expenditure of time equiva
lent to 544 minutes, or over 9 hours, for one person.
Lines 1 and 2 show the output on the first seam in two different
shops, the figures being 132 and 108 rows of stitching per hour, respec
tively, the average for the two shops being 126 (line 3).
Line 4 shows the output on the second seam, which is always much
greater than on the first, to be 319 rows ot stitching per hour. This
makes the output on the combined operation, taking the first and sec
ond seams, 187 rows of stitching per hour, as shown in line 5.
JOINING TO OPEN FRONTS WITHOUT SHIRRING.
In this case the shirring or tacking of the waist was done after the
little skirts were joined to the fronts. This accounts for the length of
the seam of the open front at the waist line being as much as 14 inches.
The work was timed in shop No. 1232, which has the record of the
highest output of all the shops investigated, and represents the work
of 3 men and 3 women on 15 dozen waists for a period of time equiva
lent to 99 minutes for 1 person. The operation consisted of sewing
the front and skirt together, as explained above, except that there
was no shirring, and the output was 218 rows of stitching per hour as
compared with 132 in the same shop on the same kind of fronts when
shirring had to be done at the same time. In other words, the addi
tion of shirring resulted in this case in nearly 40 per cent reduction
of output.
JOINING TO CLOSED FRONTS WITHOUT SHIRRING.
Four men and three women were timed on this work in the same
shop on nearly 50 dozen waists, which took the equivalent of 344
minutes, or nearly 6 hours, for 1 person. The work was exactly the
same as that recorded in the preceding operation, and the output is
nearly half, namely, 104 rows of stitching per hour, which is explained
by the fact that the length of the seam was more than double that in
the preceding case, since the work was done on a closed front.
JOINING TO CLOSED BACKS AND SHIRRING AT THE SAME TIME.
The shirring on a closed back is very slight and therefore does not
reduce the output of the operator very much. The work was timed
in shop No. 1232 only, but was done in two different ways. On the 7J
dozen reported in line 8 of Table 92A the raw edge of the little
262
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOE STATISTICS.
skirt was turned in before it was joined to the waist, and the output was
90 rows of stitching and 90 bendings per hour. On the 27$ dozen
waists recorded inline 9, the raw edge was not turned in, and the output
was 137 rows of stitching per hour. If a bending be considered equiv
alent to half a row of stitching, as is customary with some manufac
turers, the output in the two cases will be practically the same.
JOINING TO VESTS, NO SHIRRING.
This work, given in line 10, is similar to the joining of the skirts to
fronts, given in line 6, the only difference being the length of the seam
which was only from 1-| to 4 inches in this case as compared with 12
to 14 inches in the former case. The output was 200 rows of stitching
per hour as against 218 rows of stitching on the 14-inch seam. The
reason for the smaller output is the fact that the side edge of the little
skirt was hemmed before being joined to the vests, and in joining the
two the operator had to be careful to have the facing of the vest and
the turned-in edge of the little skirt form one straight line. To wThat
extent this reduced the output of the operator will be seen from the
operation recorded in lines 11 to 13, the description of which follows:
JOINING TO EMBROIDERED CENTERS.
In this case the part of the little skirt attached to the embroidered
center, forming a seam of practically the same length as in the preced
ing case, has no tumed-in edge, and therefore it does not matter whether
the raw edge of the center and of the little skirt coincide exactly,
since both of them will be faced later. The result is a much larger
output, namely, 294 rows of stitching per hour in shop No. 1232 and
269 in shop No. 1230, making an average of 282 rows of stitching per
hour for the two shops.
Line 14 represents the same work except that the upper edge of the
little skirt, before being attached to the center, is turned in, there being
thus one bending to each row of stitching. The total output is 182
rows of stitching and 182 bendings per hour.
JOINING TO OPEN FRONTS WITH TWO SEAMS AND TWO BENDINGS TO EACH FRONT.
In this case the fronts are cut in such a manner as to leave a corner
into which the little skirts fit, so that instead of being joined to the
front along the waist line only, as is usually the case, they are joined
along two sides: First along part of the waist line, a distance of 6
inches, and then along a line forming an angle with the waist line and
running below it a distance of 4 inches. In this manner two seams
and two bendings are formed on each front, making a total of 4 seams
and 4 bendings to the waist. This work was done in shop No. 1230
by 1 man and 4 women on 15 dozen waists, working for a period
equivalent to 231 minutes, or nearly 4 hours for one person, and
showed an output of 187 rows of stitching and 187 bendings per hour.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
263
JOINING LITTLE SKIRTS TO BACKS OR FRONTS OF WAIST, SHIRRING AT THE SAME
TIME AND SEWING ON TAPE.
In the operations described in Table 92A no tape is used to cover
up the raw edges of the little skirt and the waist on the wrong side.
On higher-grade waists it is customary to cover up the raw edges with
tape. This was also found to be the case with some of the cheaper
waists in the shops investigated. The output per hour on this class
of work is given in Table 92B.
Lines 1 to 3 show the output when little skirts are joined to
closed fronts, the front being shirred at the same time, and the tape
being sewed on to the little skirt, all in one operation. That is to say,
the operator must handle at the same time the following parts: The
front, the little skirt, and the tape; and while she joins the three
together she must shirr the front at the same time. In the second
operation the tape is stitched over the shirred front so as to cover up
the raw edge. The second operation being much simpler than the
first, the output is greater, as will be seen from lines 1 and 2, namely,
84 rows of stitching as compared with 50 on the first seam, the average
for the two being 63 rows of stitching per hour.
Lines 4 to 6 relate to the same class of work, except that the work
is done in 3 operations instead of 2, as follows:
First operation, shirring the front and joining the little skirt to the
front at the same time.
Second operation, sewing on tape to the little skirt.
Third operation, stitching tape over the raw edge of the shirred
front.
The second and third operations were timed together, and show an
output of 130 rows of stitching as against 60 on the first operation, or
an average of 82 for the combined output as compared with only 63
when the whole work was done in two operations.
Lines 7 to 9 relate to similar work except that the little skirt is
joined to closed backs instead of closed fronts. As the backs are not
shirred as much as the fronts, the work does not take so much time.
As will be seen from lines 7 to 9, the output on the first seam was
83 rows of stitching per hour, on the second 207, the average being
119 rows of stitching per hour.
Lines 10 to 12 relate to similar work, except that instead of one
closed front we have two open fronts, with the result that the seam
measures only from 9^ to 11 inches as against 18 to 21 inches on a
closed front, and the output was 90 rows of stitching per hour on the
first seam, 193 on the second, the combined output being 122 rows of
stitching per hour.
All of this work was timed in only one shop, No. 1284.
264
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T a b l e 92A.—JOINING LITTLE SKIRTS TO WAIST.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table see p. 250.]
Shop number.
Num
ber
and Kind of
sex of seam.
oper
ators.
Stitching.
Length Waists
of seam (doz
(inches). en).
M. F. 1st. 2d.
Joining little skirts to
open fronts, shirring
at the same time:
Shop No. 1232.......
Shop No. 1230....... ft
ft P+S
ft P +S
8 to 13J
10 to 15
Bendings.
Time
Rows Total work Rows Per To Per
per
ed
per
waist. rows. (min hour. waist. tal. hour.
utes).
374
10*
2
2
900
242
409
135
132
108
25
2
600
113
319
Average..............
Shop No. 1232
126
6
2
PS 8 to 134
1
Average, lines 1
and 4..............
Joining to open fronts,
no shirring:
Shop No. 1232....... 3
J oining to closed fronts,
no shirring:
4
Shop No. 1232
Joining closed backs,
shirring at the same
time:
Shop No. 1232....... 2
4
Joining to vests, no
shirring:
4
Shop No. 1232
Joining to embroidered
centers:
Shop No. 1232
Shop No. 1230....... 2
187
3
P
12 to 14
15
2
360
99
218
3
P
26 to 30
49f
1
598
344
104
15 to 16
15 to 18
274
1
1
90
330
60
145
90
137
15
2
360
108
200
294
269
1 P +S
1 P +S
1
90
90
2
P
14 to 4
4
4
p
p
4
3 to 6
20
154
2
2
480
372
98
83
2
p
3 to 6
191
2
462
152
182
2 462
182
4
p
6
15
4
720
231
187
4 720
187
282
Average..............
Shop No. 1230....... 5
Joining to open fronts,
with two seams and
two bendings to each
front:
Shop No. 1230___ 1
i
T a b l e 92B.-JOIN IN G LITTLE
SKIRTS TO BACKS OR FRONTS OF W AIST, SHIRRING
AND SEW ING ON T A PE A T TH E SAME TIME.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table, see p. 250.]
Number
and sex of
operators.
Line
No.
1
2
Shop number.
Average....................
4
5
Shop No. 1284............
D o........................
6
Average.....................
Stitching.
Length Waists
of seam (dozen).
(inches).
Rows Total Time Rows
Fe First. Sec
worked
per
Male. male.
per
ond.
waist. rows. (min hour.
utes).
Joining to closed fronts,
shirring, and sewing on
tape:
Shop No. 1284..........
D o......................... -
3
Kind of
seam.
3
3
5 P+S
5
2
1
P+S
PS
18 to 21
18 to 21
364
364
1
1
438
438
526
313
19
17
16*
1
2
204
398
205
183
50
84
63
1
I P
}
19
60
130
82
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY. 2 6 5
T a b l e 92B.—JOINING LITTLE SKIRTS TO BACKS OR FRONTS OF WAIST, SHIRRING
AND SEWING ON TAPE AT THE SAME TIME—Concluded.
Number
and sex of
operators.
Line
No.
Kind of
seam.
Shop number.
Fe First. Sec
Male. male.
ond.
7
8
9
Joining to closed backs,
shirring, and sewing on
tape:
Sho^No. 1284............
3
3
7 P+S
9
PS
. Stitching.
Length
of seam Waists
(inches). (dozen).
U3 to 15J
13 to 15§
36£
42*
Rows Total
per
waist. rows.
1
1
438
510
Time
worked Rows
per
(min hour.
utes).
316
148
Average..................
83
207
119
Joining to open fronts,
shirring, and sewing on
10
11
Ehop No. 1284............
12
Average...................
3
4
7 P+S
7
PS
9£ to 11
44|
48J
2 1,074
2 1,158
-720
360
90
193
122
* One case of 17 inches.
HEMMING EDGES OF LITTLE SKIRTS AND JOINING PARTS OF LITTLE SKIRTS.
The work of joining two parts of a little skirt together is very
simple, the two being put right side to one another and joined, either
leaving the edges raw, or turning in the raw edges like a hem.
Lines 1 to 3 (Table 92C) show the output on the simpler process,
that is, when the edges are left raw. This work was done in shop
No. 1232, known for its high output, which in this case was 450 rows
of stitching per hour, the work being done by 5 men and 3 women
on 50 dozen waists.
Lines 4 to 6 show the output when the raw edges are turned in
before being stitched together. This work was done in shop No.
1284, and shows an average output of 212 rows of stitching per hour
and an equal number of bendings per hour. Assuming 2 bendings
to be equal to 1 row of stitching, the output does not vary much from
that of shop No. 1232, given in line 30.
Line 7 shows the output when a French seam is used in joining
the two pieces together. This method is used very seldom on cheap
waists, and was timed in shop No. 1230 on about 6J dozen waists,
representing the work of 1 man and 2 women, and showed an output
of 220 rows of stitching per hour, which, as should be expected, is
much below that shown by the other operations.
Lines 8 to 11 show the output when the edges of little skirts are
turned in so as to form a hem, the work being done on a Singer machine
without any hemming attachment. The output of the three shops will
be seen to vary from 213 rows of stitching per hour in shop No. 1230
to 320 in shop No. 1232, the average for the three shops being 252
rows of stitching per hour.
266
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
JOINING LITTLE SKIRTS TO WAISTS BY A CLOSER.
Although the work of joining little skirts to waists is usually clone
by body makers, as has been shown in this section, occasionally it
can be done by a closer, as was the case in shop No. 1230, shown in
line 12 of the table. The work of joining in this case is somewhat
similar to closing sides, being done on a Union Special machine, but
the seam is much longer, being 24 to 34 inches long, and the work
takes more time than ordinary closing, because the waist has to be
shirred while the work of joining takes place. This requires greater
care in adjusting the folds so as to make the length of the skirt and
the shirred waist exactly alike.
As will be seen from line 12 of Table 92C, the output was 48 rows
of stitching per hour in shop No. 1230, the work being done by a
male operator of average speed. This figure could not be taken,
however, as a basis for a rate to body makers doing the same work on
a Singer machine.
T a b l e 92C.—HEMMING
Line
No.
EDGES OF LITTLE SKIRTS AND JOINING PARTS OF LITTLE
SKIRTS TOGETHER.
Shop number.
Num
ber
and Kind of
sex of seam.
oper
ators.
Length Waists
of seam (doz
(inches). en).
M. F. 1st. 2d.
•
1
2
3
4
5
Joining little skirts to
gether in front of
waist:
Shop No. 1232....... 5
D o .................
3
7
Average.............
7
Shop No. 1230....... 1 2
Hemming edges of lit
tle skirt, two skirts
to the waist:
Shop No. 1232
5 8
3 12
Shop No. 1230
Shop No. 1284....... 2 1
11
12
P . ...
P.
Joining little skirts to
waists by a closer,
shirring at the same
time.2
Shop No. 1230 . .. 1
1 One case of 4.
Bendings.
Time
Rows Total work Rows Per To-j Per
per rows. ed
per
(min hour. waist. tal.jhour.
waist.
utes).
1
14 to 5
32J
17*
1
1
390
210
57
23
411
548
4
3-J to 4
39£
36£
1
1
474
438
111
147
256
179
5
6*
2
154
42
220
| 212
I
5
4b to 6
4 to 5
50
54*
19
2 1,200
2 1,300
2
456
225
366
114
320
213
240
i
i
252
i
450
212
F.
P.
P.
P.
F.
|
(
Average...............
Stitching.
___.1...
Average.............
Sho^No. 1284....... 5
0
8
9
10
P.
P.
1
P+S
24 to 34
27
1
324
409
48
2 Union Special machine used.
i
!
....| .........
1 474
1 438
256
179
1
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DPiESS AND WAIST INDUSTEY". 2 6 7
CENTERS.
The extreme ends of the backs or fronts of waists are lined with
material to give them extra strength to hold the buttonholes and
buttons, and are therefore known as buttonhole pieces and button
pieces, respectively.
As a rule, the lining consists of a separate piece of material. Some
times it is formed by turning in the end of the back or front about
three-quarters of an inch, so as to give it double thickness. On light
materials, such as lawn, chiffon, etc., the strip is made usually of
triple thickness by adding a separate strip to the above. The piece
of double or triple thickness thus formed is known as a facing, in
addition to being also called a buttonhole piece or button piece,
according to the use to which it is put. When the separate strip is
stitched over the front on the outside instead of being stitched on the
inside as a lining, the piece of double or triple thickness thus formed
is called a “ center.” A center may, therefore, be defined as a narrow
strip of cloth running longitudinally in the center of the front.
Facings are made both in the front and back of waists. Centers are
made only in front. The line is not always clearly drawn between
facings and centers in the trade, and frequently all kinds of button
and buttonhole pieces are referred to as centers. In some cases by cen
ters are also meant embroidered or lace-trimmed strips of cloth at
tached to or inserted in the front of the waist to secure an ornamental
effect, as well as to save material in laying out the patterns on the
cloth; such centers may consist of one or more thicknesses of material.
A great variety of work is connected with centers, some of which
was timed in the various shops as recorded in the tables following.
JOINING CENTERS TO LACE OR LACE BEADING ATTACHED TO FRONTS.
This work was timed in three shops on 60 dozen waists made by 7
men and 11 women working what would be equivalent to 1,762
minutes, or more than 29 hours for one person.
The work consists of sewing on the lace to the centers or fronts by
means of two seams, as explained in sections 8 and 9.
As will be seen from lines 1 to 9 of Table 93, the output on the work
of joining centers to lace beading was fairly uniform in the two shops
in which the work was timed. The output on the first seam was 101
rows of stitching per hour in shop No. 1232, and 94 in shop No. 1230.
The output on the second seam was 189 rows of stitching per hour in
the former shop, and 153 in the latter. The combined output on the
two seams was 132 rows of stitching per hour in shop No. 1232, and
116 in shop No. 1230, the average for the two shops being 122 rows of.
stitching per hour. In the work just described, the center wis joined
268
BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF LAB0B STATISTICS.
to the lace beading after the beading had been joined to the front, the
beading being stitched on top of the cloth.
Lines 10 to 12 relate to similar work, except that instead of being
joined to a lace beading, the center is joined to lace. This work is
more difficult for the reason that a lace beading has a fairly heavy
selvage which makes it easy to sew it on to the cloth, requiring no
particular care on the part of the operator, as the seam remains
practically invisible on the selvage. This is not the case with lace, in
which the selvage frequently consists of only 1, 2, or 3 threads. In
stitching the lace to the cloth the operator must be careful to have
the seam run along this narrow selvage, which results in slowing down
the work considerably. The output, as will be seen from lines 10 to 12,
was only 79 rows of stitching per hour as compared with 122 with
lace beading, mentioned before. In determining the relative merits
of the two kinds of work, it should be borne in mind that the tests
were not made in the same shops, the work on lace beading having
been done in shops Nos. 1232 and 1230, while that with lace was done
in shop No. 1284 in which some of the operators who were timed on
this work were neither so skilled nor so fast as the operators in the
other two shops.
FACING BACKS.
Line 13 shows the output in forming a facing on one back by
turning it in and interlining, while on the other back, instead of a
lining, a label is inserted, making a total of 2 rows of stitching and
4 bendings per waist. The output on this work was 133 rows of
stitching and 266 bendings per hour.
FACING FRONTS WITH MATERIAL OF DOUBLE THICKNESS.
This work is done by taking a strip of material 2J inches wide and
folding it over lengthwise to the required width of the facing and
joining it to the edge of the front on the right side in two operations,
as follows: First, stitching on the facing to the edge of the front on
the right side; second, the facing is turned over on the wrong side of
the front, the raw edge of the facing is turned in and stitched to the
front. As will be seen from lines 14 to 22 of Table 93 the output
on this work on the first seam was 82 rows of stitching per hour in
shop No. 1230 and 84 in shop No. 1284; on the second seam it was
120 rows of stitching in shop No. 1230 and 106 in shop No. 1284.
The combined output on the two seams was 97 rows of stitching in
shop No. 1230, 94 in shop No. 1284, the average for the two shops
being 94 rows of stitching and 94 bendings per hour.
FACING BACKS WITH MATERIAL OF DOUBLE THICKNESS.
This work is done in the same manner as facing fronts, described
above, except that the facing is extended along the collar and in
addition to the two operations just mentioned, there is a third
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY. 2 6 9
operation consisting of turning in the top of the facing and stitching it
to the collar, making a seam three-fourths inch long. The second and
third operations being done one after the other, they had to be timed
together, and are therefore given in the form of a combined product
per hour. The output on the first operation, as will be seen from
line 23, was 86 rows of stitching and 86 bendings per hour. On the
second and third operations, the output was 57 rows of stitching
23 to 24 inches long and 57 rows three-fourths inch long with an
equal number of bendings in each case.
FACING FRONTS AND INSERTING LACE ON ONE SIDE OF WAIST AT THE SAME TIME.
This work includes the following operations: One front ends wTith
an embroidered center having a scalloped edge. A strip of lace was
used as a facing and in turn was lined by a strip of material folded
in two, lengthwise, with each of its raw edges bent in. The three
parts, that is to say, the embroidered front, the lace and the facing
were placed on top of each other in the order named, and all joined
in one seam, thus making three bendings and one row of stitching
for one front. The other front had an ordinary facing. Only one
row of stitching in that operation was timed in connection with the
work recorded in line 25, the stitching over and the bendings being
timed in connection with another operation. We thus have a total
of 2 rows of stitching and 3 bendings per waist, the output per hour
being 36 rows of stitching and 55 bendings.
JOINING CENTERS TO FRONTS WITH BENDINGS IN FORM OF A TUCK.
In this work the raw edge of the center is turned in and stitched on
top of the front. The stitching is done at some distance from the
edge so as to form a tuck. This work is necessarily slower than
the ordinary way of finishing the strip, because the operator must
be careful to see that the width of the tuck is the same as that of
the other tucks on the front. The output of 2 men and 1 woman,
working on 8J dozen, was 57 rows of stitching and 57 bendings per
hour.
270
BULLETIN OF THE BUKEAU OF LABOB STATISTICS.
T able 93.—CENTERS.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table see page 250.]
Line
No.
Shop number.
Num
ber
and Kind of
sex of seam.
oper
ators.
Length Waists
of seam (doz
(inches). en).
M. F. 1st. 2d.
Joining fronts with lace
beading to centers:
Shop No. 1232.......
P.
Stitching.
Time 1
Rows Total work-,Rows Per To Per
per
ed
per
waist. rows. (min hour. waist. tal. hour.
utes).
180
P.
120
107
348
156
223
61
Average.............
Average, shops
Nos. 1230 and
1232:
First seam..
Second seam.
132
P.
16 to 18
16 to 17
144
64
12
Average..
13
One back turned in
and interlined; other
back turned in and
label inserted:
Shop No. 1232.......
Facing fronts with ma
terial of double
thickness:
Shop No. 1230.......
D o...................
16
P.
16 to 19
16 to 19
P.
22
lli
528
276
330
99
19
22
25
26
Average.............
Average, shops
Nos. 1230 and
1284:
First seam...
Second seam.
Average........
Facing backs with ma
terial of double
thickness:
Shop No. 1284___
D o..................
Facing fronts and in
serting lace on one
side of waist at the
same time:
Shop No. 1284......
Joining centers to
fronts with bendings in form of tuck:
Shop No. 1230.......
167
122
P.
19 to 23
18 to 23
P.
34X
912
828
796
537
69
79
21
P.
42*
1,020
461
P.
133
1,040
266
82
96
72
82
120
120
Average..
Sho^No. 1284.,
94
153
116
Average.............
Joining front with lace
to embroidered cenShopNo. 1284......
101
189
Average........
ShopNo. 1230..
Bendings.
97
P.
19 to 23
19 to 23
22h
20"
540
480
385
272
106
97
540
480
84
106
94
P.
26J
23
P.
636
552
455
308
84
108
636
552
94
P.
P.
648
23 to 24
/23to24
\
18
P.
19
450
158
84
204
215
94
648
648
648
6$} 680
i
84
108
38
86
57
57
55
204
57
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
271
RUFFLES AND CENTERS.
JOINING PLAITED RUFFLES TO FRONTS AND CENTERS.
Line 1 of Table 94 relates to work in which the center is folded in
two, the ruffle is put on top of the open edge of the center, and the
free edge of the lace beading which is attached to the front is put on
top of the ruffle, and all of this is joined in one seam. In addition to
being obliged to handle all these parts at the same time, the operator
must shirr the ruffle while the stitching is being done. The compli
cated character of the work makes it necessarily slow. The output
on this work in shop No. 1230 was found to be 58 rows of stitching per
hour in addition to 58 bendings.
Line 2 represents the same class of work except that instead of a
folded center we have a vest and the front has a raw edge instead of
a lace beading. In this case the ruffle is inserted in the same manner
as in the preceding case, except that instead of the lace beading the
turned-in raw edge of the front is put on top of the ruffle and the whole
stitched together, there being thus 2 bendings to each row of stitch
ing. The output on this operation is slightly greater than in the
preceding case, namely, 63 rows of stitching per hour and 126 bend
ings. This is due to two reasons: First, that the ruffles had been
shirred and stitched before they were given to the operator, whereas
in the preceding case they had to be shirred by the operator while the
rest of the work was being done ; second, the work was done in shop
No. 1232, which has generally a record for a higher output than shop
No. 1230, in which the preceding job was done.
Line 3 relates to somewhat more difficult work. An embroidered
center is stitched to the front on the wrong side.1 It is then turned over
on the right side of the front and the ruffle inserted between the free
edge of the center and the front, and the three stitched together. The
reason this work is more difficult than the preceding two is that the
center and front having been stitched together in the first place, it is
necessary to take care that the center lies flat on the front, and that
the three pieces are perfectly aligned, as the material on top (in this
case the center) has a tendency to get out of line with the material
underneath (i. e., the front) on account of the pressure of the “ foot,”
which is greater on the top layer of the material than on the lower
one. If this is not corrected by the operator before it is stitched, the
center will wrinkle all over and spoil the appearance of the waist.
This accounts for the smaller output on this kind of work which was
only 51 rows of stitching and 102 bendings per hour in the same shop
in which the work described in the preceding paragraph was done.
1 This part of the work is not included in the figures given in line 3 of the table.
272
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
JOINING SHIRRED LACE TO LACE CENTERS.
Line 4 shows the output when shirred lace is stitched to a lace center
1 inch wide and 20 inches long, the lace being stitched on along the
upper and side edge of the center. The difficult part of this work is in
turning the corner as the operator turns from the upper to the side
edge. At this corner the shirred lace must be bent in and extra shirr
ing and stitching must be done to prevent the turned-in part of the
lace from protruding at the corner, so as to give it a neat and flat
appearance. The operation requires only one seam and resulted in
an output of 31 row^s of stitching per hour.
Line 5 represents a similar process except that the lace was shirred
at the same time as it was joined to the center instead of having been
shirred previously, as in the preceding case. This made the work still
slower, resulting in an output of 26 rows of stitching per hour in the
same shop, No. 1284.
JOINING LACE TO PLAITED RUFFLES.
Line 6 shows the output when lace is stitched to a plaited ruffle, the
shirring being done while the stitching goes on. As this work was
done on a straight line, there being no corners to turn, the output was
larger than in the two preceding cases, namely, 36 rows of stitching
per hour on the first seam. On the second seam, consisting of the
stitching back of the raw edge of the ruffle, the output was 97 rows of
stitching per hour, the average for the two being 53.
JOINING LACE BEADING TO PLAITED RUFFLES.
Lines 9 to 11 represent practically the same operations, except that
lace beading is used in place of lace and that the work is done by the
yard instead of on individual waists. This work was likewise done
in shop No. 1284. The output on the first seam was 27 yards per
hour. On the second seam, consisting of stitching back the raw edge
of the ruffle, the output was 80£ yards per hour, the average of the two
being 40 yards.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
273
T a b l e 94.—RUFFLES AND CENTERS.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table see p. 250.]
Line
No.
Num
ber
and Kind of
sex of seam.
oper
ators.
Shop number.
Stitching.
Length Waists
of seam (doz
(inches.) en).
Time
Rows Total work Rows Per To Per
per
ed
per
rows.
waist.
(min hour. waist. tal. hour.
utes).
M. F. 1st. 2d.
1
2
3
4
5
Joining plaited ruf
fles to fronts and
centers:
Shop No. 1230...
Sho^No. 1232...
Joining shirred lace
to lace centers:
Sho^No. 1284...
2
1
3
Joining lace to plaited
ruffles:
6
Shop No. 1284...
7
8
9
10
11
2 P +S
3 PS
4 PS
17£ to 19
24
23
1 PS
1 P +S
20
18
1
2
19 to 20
19 to 20
7
7
3 P +S
PS
3
14* 1 and 2
2
10
2
171
190
240
420
196
228
493
58 la n d 2 190
4 480
63
4 840
51
2
2
24
48
46
109
31
26
1
1
84
84
139
52
36
97
Average..........
Joining lace beading
to plaited ruffle:
Shop^No. 1284...
Bendings.
58
126
102
53
2
2
1 P +S
PS
1 13,048
1 12,076
Average..........
188 2 27
43 2 80|
2 40
i Inches.
2 Yards.
VESTS AND FLIES.
A vest is made by folding a piece of material about 24 inches long
lengthwise and stitching over the upper end of it diagonally across.
Some vests are made of a piece of material of single thickness lined
with a layer of other material. This is true especially of vests made
of heavy material, such as madras, heavy linen, or any embroidered
material, the lining being made of much lighter material. The next
step is to turn the vest inside out; the two open ends are then turned
in slightly to conceal the raw edges, and the raw edge of the front of
the waist is inserted and the whole is stitched together, thus forming a
vest.
JOINING LINED VESTS TO FRONTS.
Line 1 of Table 95 shows the output on work of this kind in which
only the operation of joining the vest to the front was timed. Instead
of inserting the raw edge of the front into the open vest, the work was
simplified, since it was done on very cheap waists, by turning in the
raw edge of the front, placing it on top of the open end of the vest,
and stitching the whole together. This work was done by 6 men and
4 women in shop No. 1232, and showed an output of 63 rows of
stitching and 63 bendings per hour.
42132°— Bull. 146—14------ 18
274
BULLETIN OF THE BUKEAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
TURNING OUT AND JOINING LINED VESTS TO FRONTS.
Line 2 shows the output on the same kind of work, to which is added
the turning out of the vest which precedes its joining to the waist.
The output is therefore less than in the preceding case—namely, 53
rows of stitching and 53 bendings per hour.
TURNING OUT VESTS.
Finally, line 3 shows the operation of turning out lined vests, the
output being 147 vests per hour in addition to 147 bendings. The
turning out of the lined vests takes more time than that of vests
made of one piece of material folded over, because in the case of the
lined vest the operator must see to it that the seam joining the vest
with the lining lies exactly on the edge of the turned-out vest.
MAKING FLIES.
The making of a fly is similar to the making of a vest. A strip of
material is folded over lengthwise, but instead of being stitched at the
top on a bias line, it is stitched straight across—that is, along the top
edge— and then, as in the case of the vest, it is turned inside out. The
raw edges of the strip are then turned in and the open ends of the fly are
closed by stitching the two together. In some cases the fly is left
open, and the stitching is done simultaneously with the joining of the
fly to the waist.
JOINING FLIES TO FRONTS.
Line 4 shows the output on the work of joining flies to fronts, the
work having been done by 3 women in shop No. 1284 on 7J dozen
waists. The output was 39 rows of stitching and 39 bendings per
hour. The turning-in in this case is that of the raw edge of the front
to which the fly is attached. It should be taken into account that
while joining the flies the operator had to carefully measure the
front so that the collars, laces, etc., on the two fronts would “ match,”
that is, come exactly opposite each other when the waist is buttoned,
and this necessarily slows down the work. Also, that instead of one
row of stitching on each front, there were really two rows of stitching,
one from 18 to 20 inches long, and the other 3 inches long, made as a
continuation of the long seam connecting the upper end of the fly with
the collar on a bias line.
Line 5 shows the second part of the operation of making flies, con
sisting of turning out the fly, turning in the two raw edges, and
closing up the fly by stitching them together. The output was 61
rows of stitching in addition to 123 bendings, shown in the table, and
the further addition of the turning out of 61 flies, which is not shown
in the table.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
275
BINDING TOP OF A V-SHAPED CENTER.
Lines 6 to 8 refer to the binding of the upper V-shaped edge of a
center. As in all work of this kind, the binding is first stitched along
the upper edge of the center and then turned over on the wrong side of
the center and the raw edge of the binding is turned in and stitched over
the center. As will be seen from lines 6 and 7, the output per hour
on the first seam is 132 rows of stitching, while on the second it is only
64. In addition to the 64 rows of stitching, the second operation also
includes 64 bendings. Moreover, the binding had to be turned in at
each of the 3 parts of the V-shaped center so as to keep the ends from
protruding and give the whole a neat appearance.
FACING CENTERS ON TOP.
This is done by folding the center in two along a vertical line and
stitching it over along the upper edge. Line 9 shows the output on
a center with a V-shaped top edge, so that when folded over lengthwise,
it forms a vest whose upper edge runs on a bias, the output being 253
rows of stitching per hour in addition to 253 bendings. Line 10 shows
the output on similar work on a center whose upper edge consists of a
straight horizontal line. In this case the stitching is done on a
straight instead of a bias line, and the output is greater, namely, 313
rows of stitching per hour in addition to 313 bendings.
T
able
95.—VESTS AND FLIES.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table see p. 250.]
Line
No.
Shop number.
Num
ber
and Kind of
sex of seam.
oper
Length Waists
ators.
of seam (doz
(inches). en).
M. F. 1st. 2d.
1
2
3
4
Joining lined vests
to fronts:
Shop No. 1232... 0
Turning out and
joining lined vests
to fronts:
Shop No. 1232
Turning out vests:
Shop No. 1232... 2
Joining flies to fronts:
Shop No. 1284
4
P
1
P
20 to 24
19?.
4
3
P
2
P
4
4
P
49B
23
/18 to 20
I
3
5
Stitching.
Time
Per
Rows Total work Rows Per
per
Total. hour.
per rows. ed
(min hour. waist.
waist.
utes).
2 1,198 1,145
63
2
53
120
136
12*
}
Bendings.
123
t 1,198
63
2
120
53
2
302
147
2
180
278
3D
2
180
39
2
132
129
61
4
264
123
1
1
132
132
60
124
132
64
1
132
64
2
2
118
240
253
313
MAKING FLIES.
5
6
7
8
9
10
Turning out and
stitching side:
Shop No. 12S4
Binding top of a Vshaped center:
Snop No. 1230... 1
I )o .......... 1
20|to23
'P*
6
6
11
11
i
Average..........
Facing centers on
top:
Shop No. 1232... 2
3
86
|
...
PB
P
5
2
10
2
2
118
240
28
46
253
313
276
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
TACKING FRONTS AND BACKS.
This work was timed on more than 175 dozen waists in three
$9-a-dozen waist shops, representing the work of 9 men and 16
women, at a total expenditure of time equivalent to 32 hours and 6
minutes for 1 person.
The process of tacking consists of gathering in (or shirring) the
material at the waistline in folds, and stitching them over so as to
retain them permanently. The work is divided into two operations:
First, the waist is gathered in, either by hand or with the aid of a
shirring attachment,1 and as fast as the folds are formed they are
pushed under the needle and stitched over. The second operation
consists of putting in an additional row of stitching a short distance
from and parallel to the first row so as to secure them more firmly.
The first lot of waists, represented by lines 1 and 2 of Table 96,
consisting of 65 dozen waists, operated by 6 men and 2 women
operators, was made up of waists buttoning in the back, and there
fore having closed or full fronts and open or half backs. As the
waist is always more full in the front than it is in the back, a great
deal more shirring must be done in the front than in the back; since,
in addition, the front in a back-buttoned waist is more than twice as
wide as either of the backs, it will take a great deal more time to tack
the front than either back. The result of the timing of the lot men
tioned, which consumed 573 minutes, or nearly 10 hours, shows that
the output per hour in tacking the closed fronts was 297 rows of
stitching, while on the open backs it was 614, or more than twice the
above number. As the operators are not paid for tacking fronts or
backs, but for tacking the whole waist, and as there were two backs
to each front, the average was found by adding the output on one
front to that on two backs and dividing the total by 3, the average
output thus obtained being 454 rows of stitching per hour (line 3).
It should be observed, however, that this output was obtained in
shop No. 1232, which shows on all work a higher output than any
other shop, and that on this work the men predominated, number
ing 6, to 2 women, and that the average earnings of these men are
50 cents an hour and more.
Lines 4 to 10 of the same taole show the output on front-buttoned
waists; that is, waists having closed backs and open fronts. While
in this style of waist the front is likewise shirred more fully than the
back, there being two fronts, the amount of tacking in the back
exceeds that in either front, though it is less than the tacks of the
combined fronts. Lines 4 to 6 show the output on the above work in
shop No. 1232. The work was done by the same 6 men assisted by 4
women on 76f dozen waists, which consumed the equivalent of 837
minutes for one person, and shows an output of 375 rows of stitching
1No shirring attachment was used in the work covered by Table 96.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
277
per hour on the closed backs and 408 rows of stitching on the open
fronts. The average output for both operations is 396 rows of stitch
ing per hour. In shop No. 1230, in which there were 3 men operators
as against 12 women, the average output on the same kind of work
was 286 rows of stitching per hour. Lines 9 and 10 represent the
average of the two shops, which is 354 rows of stitching per hour. In
determining a standard rate, either the output of shop No. 1232,
No. 1230, or the average may be taken, provided the proper allowance
per hour be made corresponding to the figure chosen.
TACKING FRONTS OR BACKS WITH TAPE.
Lines 11 and 12 show the output for tacking fronts or backs with
tape. This work differs from that described above in that the
operator sews on a piece of narrow tape over the “ little skirt” (the
part of the waist below the waistline) and the shirred front or back
on the \yong side of the waist to keep the folds in place more firmly.
The operations of shirring the front or back of the waist, sewing on
the little skirt to the waist, and sewing on the tape to the two, are all
done at the same time, which makes the work more difficult for the
operator than ordinary tacking and reduces the output. The figures
obtained are for shop No. 1284, which, on work of this kind, shows
an output similar to that of shop No. 1230. The output shown here
for open backs on seams from 4J to 7 inches long is 256 rows of stitch
ing per hour, and on fronts open and closed (mostly closed) on seams
from 7 to 8 inches, 151 rows per hour.
T a b l e 96.—TACKING FRONTS AND BACKS.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table see p. 260.]
i
Line
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Number
and sex of
operators.
Kind of
seam.
Stitching.
Length
.of seam Waists
Shop number.
after it (dozen).
Time
tacked
Rows Total worked
Tlows
Fe First. Sec is
j Male. male.
per rows. (min per
ond. (inches).
waist.
hour.
utes).
1
1
Tacking closed fronts:
2 1,560
315
Shop No. 1232.............
2 P +S PS
6
297
1 7 to 10
65
Tacking open backs:
Shop No. 1232.............
2 P +S PS
4 2,640
258
614
6
3J to 5
55
Average...................
Tacking closed backs:
Shop No. 1232.............
Tacking open fronts:
Shop No. 1232.............
Average...................
Tacking closed backs:
Shop No. 1230.______
Tacking open fronts:
Shop No. 1230............
Average, shops 1232
and 1230:
Tacking closed backs.
Tacking open fronts ..
Tacking fronts or backs
with tape:
Backs—Shop No. 1284.
Fronts—Shop No.1284
1 One case of 12.
454
6
4 P +S
PS
4£to8
76f
2 1,842
295
375
6
4 P+S
PS
23£to6
76f
4 3,684
542
408
2
10 P +S
PS
3 4 to 6
34*
2
3
12 P + S
PS
3|to7
34*
8
9
14
16 P +S “ PS*
34£ to 8
3-2- to7
n ott
110H
4* to 7
7 to 8
17*
15»
396
1
3
2 P +S
1 P+S
PS
PS
2 Two cases of 8.
820 j
V
1,640
4
516
286
2 2,662 } 1,353
4 5,324
354
4
2 to 4
840
552
3 One case of 2.
197
219
256
151
278
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
SH IRRING.
This work differs from the tacking described in the preceding sec
tion in that it is done with only one row of stitching, the folds being
left quite loose, while in tacking two rows of stitching are made which
keep the folds in a fixed position. The shirring with one row of
stitching is done merely in preparation for the next operation. Lines
1 to 3 in Table 97 relate to the shirring of backs and fronts at the top
where they are to be attached to the yoke. Some operators do this
work by placing the finger behind the “ foot” (the attachment which
helps to push the material forward as fast as it is stitched). This
prevents the material from passing forward after it is stitched over,
and it automatically piles up in folds, that is to say, it is being shirred.
Although this method offers the quickest way of doing this work,
there is danger of the material being caught in the gear under the
foot, and many operators prefer to shirr the material by Jiand as
described under tacking.
When the shirring is done at the bottom (i. e., near the waist line),
it can not be done in the manner first described, for the reason that
the folds are too many and too full to form automatically under the
“ foot” and the material is gathered into folds (shirred) by hand and
pushed under the needle. An examination of Table 97 will show that
the output on fronts and backs varied in the same shop from 285 to
367 rows of stitching per hour (lines 1 and 2). This was due to the
difference in the length of the seam, which is practically double in one
case as compared with the other. While ordinarily a difference of a
few inches in the length of a seam does not perceptibly affect the
output, the case is different in this instance, since the time of the
operator is taken up chiefly by the handwork of shirring rather than
by the machine work of stitching.
Line 4 shows the output on shirring an entire waist at the waist
line, the length of the seam being from 28 to 30 inches as compared
with from 3 to 12 inches on the work described above. This work is
more difficult and takes a longer time. First, because a row of stitch
ing in this case represents a back and 2 fronts, or 1 front and 2 backs,
according to whether the waist is buttoned in the front or in the back;
second, because the operator must be very careful, in shirring the
waist, to see that the fronts, backs, and sides retain a proper propor
tion; third, because the shirring at the waist line is much more elab
orate than at the top and therefore takes more time. The output in
line 4 is seen to be 56 rows of stitching per hour, which is equivalent
to 168 fronts and backs, and is considerably below the output in
shops Nos. 1232 and 1230 on separate fronts or backs.
Lines 5 to 7 show the output per hour in shirring lace. This lace
comes in narrow strips, about 12 yards long, and the work of shirring
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DEESS AND WAIST INDUSTEY.
279
these strips is much simpler than shirring parts of waists. The aver
age output per hour in shop No. 1230 was 52 yards, in shop No. 1284
71 yards, the average for the two being 65i yards.
T able 97.—SHIRRING DIFFERENT PARTS OF WAIST: SHOPS NOS. 1232 AND 1230, SINGER
MACHINE; SHOP NO. 1284, STANDARD MACHINE.
Line
No.
Number
and sex of
operators.
Shop number.
Sho^No. 1232....
1
2
3
4
Shop No. i230___
Shop No. 1284
5
6
Shop No. 1230
Shop No. 1284___
7
Shirring.
Length of Waists
after
Kind of shirring. seam
Time
shirring (doz Rows
Total worked Rows
(inches). en).
per rows.
per
Fe
(min
hour.
Male. male.
waist.
utes).
Fronts and backs.
Fronts.................
Backs...................
Whole waist........
9
8
2
7
5
3
3
1
3 Lace.....................
3 ....... d o ..................
7 to
5 to
3 to
28 to
12
6
5
30
63$ l t o 2
2
65
1
11
1
997
1,560
270
63
210
255
62
67
285
367
261
56
1 11,854
1 15,623
59
132
2 52
271
265*
Average
1 Inches.
2 Yards.
SETTING H IG H COLLARS.
This work is done in two operations. In the first operation the
collar and waist are joined together. In the second operation the
raw edge is turned in and stitched over. The work on the first seam,
however, is not as simple as sewing on an ordinary piece of lace. The
neck of the waist forms a more or less circular curve, while the collar
is cut in almost a straight line. In joining the collar to the waist,
the least deviation of the seam from the edge of the neck sends the
collar along a more or less concentric line of a larger circumference
since it is farther from the center of the circle formed by the neck
line. As a result of this, after the collar has been stitched down to
the waist, it will be found not to reach all the way around, and the
operator must rip it off and do the work all over again. As an aid to
the operator, and to save ripping, the collar is folded so as to indicate
the middle, and a notch is made in the neckband of the waist at
the corresponding point. But even with these guides it takes
considerable skill and experience to set. a collar that will be smooth
and even, and whose ends will meet without wrinkling the waist at
the neck.
280
BULLETIN OF THE BUKEAU OF LABOB STATISTICS.
T a b l e 98.—SETTING HIGH COLLARS.
[For explanation of method o f computing averages in this table see p. 250.]
Number
and sex of
operators.
Line
No.,
x
2
Shop number.
1
i
Fe
Sec
Male. male. First. ond.
Shop No. 1232...................
D o ..............................
7
7
3
Average...................
-
4
5
Shop No. 1284...................
D o ...............................
4
1
6
Average..................
7
Average, shops Nos.
1232 and 1284:
First seam .......
Second seam..
9
Kind of
seam.
P
P
=====
, —_—
P
3
P
Stitching.
Length waists
of seam
(inches). (dozen).
14 to 15i
14 to 15§
Time
Rows Total worked
Rows
per
per
(min
rows.
waist.
utes). hour.
60
60
1
1
720
720
517
350
1
1
444
414
286
264
100
- ___ _
14 to 15J
14 to 15£
37
34i
84
123
93
94
94
11
88
P
3
P
14 to 15§
14 to Uh
78i
77i
Average, lines 7
and 8....................
1 1,164
1 1,134
803
614
87
111
97
SLEEVE SETTING BY BODY M AK ERS.
Iii the new style of waists, in which the sleeves are not set in at
the armhole of the waist, but are attached a few inches below the
shoulder, the sleeves are attached in a straight line to the edge of
the drop shoulder, and the work is done by body makers, as it does
not differ from the stitching that has to be done by body makers
on other parts of the waist. The work is, therefore, done on a Singer
machine, although this machine is not as fast as the Union Special
or Metropolitan, which are used by the sleeve setters, and although
the sleeve setters have the further advantage of specializing exclu
sively in the work of sleeve setting, it will be seen by comparing
the figures in Tables 81 and 99 that the output of the body makers
exceeds that of the sleeve setters, which is due to the fact that the
sleeves on which sleeve setters are employed are set in at the armhole
on a curve and therefore are more difficult to handle than the sleeves
attached by the body makers in a straight line.
Table 99 shows the output on work of this kind done under different
conditions. Lines 1 and 2 show the output when sleeves are joined
with a plain seam, without lace or other insertion. The work was
timed only in one shop, No. 1232, which has the record of having
the highest output of all the shops investigated, and shows an aver
age output of 159 sleeves per hour, as against only 123 sleeves in the
same shop by sleeve setters. (See line 1, Table 81.) The output on
similar sleeves in the same shop in which a tuck f-inch wide was
made in stitching over the sleeve where it is attached to the drop
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DEESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
281
shoulder was 139 (lines 3 and 4, Table 99), or a reduction of nearly
13 per cent in the output as compared with the preceding case.
Lines 5 and 6 show an output of 149 sleeves per hour when the
sleeve is joined first to lace beading and the latter joined in turn to
the drop shoulder. Line 7 shows the output in shop No. 1230 in
joining sleeves to a beading in one operation instead of two operations,
as indicated in lines 5 and 6. As explained elsewhere, the necessity
of turning in the edge of the cloth and stitching it down at the same
time as the joining of the two pieces of material takes place results
in the slowing down of the operation, which offsets to a large extent
the saving of time due to the elimination of one seam. The output
in this case was 79 rows of stitching per hour in addition to 79 bend
ings, which, if figured at the rate of two bendings to one row of stitch
ing, would be equivalent to nearly 120 rows of stitching per hour, as
compared with 149 rows of stitching per hour in shop No. 1232
(lines 5 and 6), done by the two-seam process. However, the 79
rows of stitching and 79 bendings take the place of 158 rows of stitch
ing under the double-seam process, resulting in a saving of 9 rows
of stitching per hour. This saving is insignificant; as a rule, it is
much greater; but true comparison in the present instance is impos
sible because the two processes were timed in two different shops
with different sets of workers who differ in skill and speed.
Lines 8 and 9, shop 1230, show the output to be 127 rows of stitching
per hour when instead of a lace beading the insertion consists of a
hemstitched beading. As already explained, the work of inserting
a hemstitched beading always takes more time than that of a lace
beading, because in the former case the cloth is sewed on top of the
beading, while in the latter the lace is sewed on top of the cloth,
which does not require the same care in stitching.
Line 10 shows the output on the same kind of work with a cording
to be only 108 rows of stitching per hour, or about one-third less
than without a cording in the same shop (lines 1 and 2). The reasons
for the smaller output on work with cording are explained on page
253 in connection with the work of joining yokes to fronts or backs
(Table 85). It should be noted that this output does not include the
sewing on of the cord, and that a special attachment known as the
“ cording foot” was used in joining the sleeve to the drop shoulder.
282
BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
T a b l e 99.—SLEEVE SETTING B Y BODY MAKERS: SINGER MACHINE.
[For explanation of method of computing averages in this table see p. 250.]
Line
No. '
Shop number.
Num
ber
and Kind of
sex of seams.
oper
ators.
Length Waist
of seam (doz
(inches), en).
M. F.
Sleeve setting:
Shop No. 1232..
1st. 2d.
Stitching.
Time
Rows Total work Rows Per To Per
per rows. ed
per
(min hour. waist. tal. hour.
waist.
utes).
420
420
17 to 18
17 to 18
181
135
139
187
159
Average.
Setting sleeves and
forming f-inch tuck
at the seam:
Shop No. 1232..
17 to 18
17 to 18
X J.....
360
360
15
15
154
156
140
138
139
Average.
Joining lace beading
to sleeve and then to
drop shoulder:
Shop No. 1232............ .
D o....................
15 to 16
15 to 16
1.990
1.990
919
685
520
397
79
1,468
1,022
784
417
112
147
Average.
130
174
149
Sho^ No. 1230.
Joining hemstitched
then to edge of drop
shoulder:
* ShojD No. 1230---L>0...........
10
13 to 17
21§
13 to 17
13 to 17
61*
42*
520
127
Average..
10
Bendings.
Setting sleeves with
cording:1
Shop No. 1232___
2
180
100
108
i Sewing on of cord not included.
JOINING BELTS TO W AISTS.
By a belt in the waist industry is meant a piece of material about
3 to 4 inches wide and from 26 to 34 inches long, which is joined to
the waist at the waistline. The work requires several operations,
which are described below in the order in which they were timed in
the shops.
FOLDING OVER EDGE OF BELT AND STITCHING.
The belt is folded over about 1J inches. The turned-in raw edge
is then stitched to the belt so that the belt now consists of two parts,
one part of double thickness r about 1J inches wide, the other of
single thickness also about 1J inches wide.
This work was timed in shop No. 1284 on 18f dozen waists, done
by 1 man and 3 women, with an average output of 102 rows of stitch
ing and 102 bendings per hour (line 1, Table 100).
WAGES AND EM PLOYM ENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
283
JOINING BELT TO SHIRRED WAIST.
The belt is now ready to be joined to the waist, which is either
shirred previously or at the same time as the joining is done. The
belt is joined to the waist by stitching the remaining raw edge to the
waist on the wrong side.
Line 2 of Table 100 shows the output when a belt is joined to a waist
previously shirred, while lines 3 to 5 show the output when a belt is
attached to a waist while the waist is being shirred. The output in
the first case is 46 rows of stitching per hour in shop No. 1284. In
the second case it is 40 rows of stitching per hour, or 15 per cent less
in the same shop but with different operators, and 51 rows of stitch
ing per hour in shop No. 1232, making an average output for the two
shops of 44 rows of stitching per hour. It is natural that the output
should be considerably less when the shirring has to be done while
the belt is joined to the waist than in the case when the shirring has
been done previously. The difference in output would probably be
greater than shown in the table if both operations were timed with
the same operators. Unfortunately, this could not be done because
different methods were used by different operators. The operators
who did the shirring at the same time as the joining were more skilled
and faster workers than the 3 women who did the work of shirring
and joining in separate operations.
STITCHING BELT OVER SHIRRED WAIST.
After the belt has been joined to the waist on the wrong side, it is
turned over on the right side of the waist and stitched to the waist
along its (the belt’s) upper edge. At each side of the belt, which is
now about 1 inch wide, the raw edge is turned in as in a facing and
stitched over. The belt is then stitched over the waist along its
lower edge. In this way it forms, together with the part of the waist
over which it is stitched, a belt of triple thickness. The operations
involve a total of 4 rows of stitching (2 long and 2 short) and 3 bend
ings (1 long and 2 short). As it was impossible to time the long and
short seams separately, the output must be given for the two com
bined. The output in this case was 58 long and 58 short rows of
stitching per hour, in addition to 29 long and 58 short bendings.
JOINING BELT TO WAIST AND SHIRRING AT THE SAME TIME.
The operation for which the figures are given in line 7 of the table
is similar to that given in line 4, except that in this case after the
raw edge of the belt has been turned in it is stitched right side to the
wrong side of the waist, while in the operation given in line 4 it was
stitched wrong side to the wrong side of the waist (the raw edge of
the belt to the raw edge of the waist), and therefore required no
bendings. The output in the case of line 7 is 39 rows of stitching and
284
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
39 bendings as compared with 51 rows of stitching with no bendings
in line 4. The belt is now turned over on the right side of the waist;
the raw edge of the belt is turned in and stitched over the waist; the
side ends, 1 inch each, are likewise turned in and stitched to the belt
as in the operation given in line 6. That is to say, on the second
operation there is one long seam and two short seams, and two long
and two short bendings to each waist, figuring the turning of the belt
over the right side of the waist as a bending. The output on this
operation (line 8) was 39 long and 79 short rows of stitching and 79
long and 79 short bendings per hour.
T
Line
No.
able
Num
ber
and
sex of
oper
ators.
100.—JOINING BELTS TO WAISTS.
Kind of
seam.
Length W^ist
of seam (doz
(inches). en).
Shop number.
M. F. 1st.
2
Folding over edge
of belt and stitch
ing:
Shop No. 1284. 1
Joining belt to
shirred waist:
Shop No. 1284.
3
4
D o.............. 2
Shop No. 1232. 1
1
5
A vera ge,
lines 3 and
4...............
3
Stitching.
3
P
3
PS
2d.
*
Bendings.
Time
Rows Total work Rows
per
per Per To Per
ed
waist. rows. (min hour. waist. tal. hour.
utes).
26 to 35
18f
1
225
133
102
1 225
102
396 } 407 / 58
396
\ 58
1 198
2 396
29
58
60
93
39
90
/ 39
180 } 137 \ 79
1 60
2 180
2 180
39
79
79
27 to 34
14*
1
171
222
46
1 P +S
... P +S
26 to 32
26
4
2*
1
1
48
30
72
35
40
51
1 P+S
26 to 32
6*
1
78
107
44
/P S . 26 to 34 }>16J
1
i P1
{ i
6
Stitching belt over
shirred waist:
Shop No. 1284.
4
7
8
Joining belt to
waist and shirr
ing at the same
time:
Shop No. 1232. 2
D o .............. 2
1
P +S
/P S 2
\ P2
26
26
1
5
1
} 7* { \
1 One-half dozen waists were stitched over the shirring only, and not over flat material.
2 Only one (upper) row of stitching was done over shirred material; the other was done over flat mate
rial (lower edge of the belt).
LOSS OF TIME.
While the work was being timed in the different shops, loss of time
on the part of the operators was carefully noted. Broadly speaking,
loss of time in the factories can be divided into two classes: (I1* Loss
of time which is beyond the control of the operator; (2) loss of time
which can either be prevented by the operator or is caused by his or
her personal needs. For the sake of brevity the former may be
called “ involuntary loss of time” and the latter, “ voluntary loss of
time.”
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
285
In the first category may be included the loss of time caused by (1)
waiting for work; (2) waiting for parts; (3) waiting for repairs on the
machine, or cleaning or repairing the machine by the operator himself;
(4) time taken to receive instructions from the foreman or instructor
as to the way the work is to be done.
In the second category may be included: (1) The loss of time due
to tardiness in arriving in the morning or after lunch and leaving
earlier than the regular time for the noon recess and the closing hour
of the evening; (2) leaving the machine to attend to various personal
needs; (3) time spent in repairing work which has been returned by
the examiners on account of some defect.
All such losses were noted at the shops and the results are tabulated
in Table 101.
B o d y M a k in g . —The most complete information as to loss of time
is available in the case of body makers, the data covering 112 oper
ators in three shops, all of them making $9-a-dozen waists. The
data in these tables are in keeping with those relating to output ; that
is to say, the shops which showed the highest output showed likewise
the least loss of time, and vice versa. Most of the headings of the col
umns of Table 101 are self-explanatory. “ Total time under observa
tion” is equal to the sum of the “ Total time worked” and of all the
losses of time given in the preceding columns. The column preceding
the last shows what per cent the “ involuntary loss of time” is of the
time the operator actually spends at work. The last column shows
what per cent the time lost on account of breakdown of machinery con
stitutes of the time the operator actually spends at work. The percentage£ in the last two columns have been computed for each operator as
well as for each shop as a whole. The percentages that the other losses
of time bear to the time at work are so small that it has not seemed
necessary to compute them for each operator separately, but they are
given for each shop as a whole.
As regards the involuntary loss of time—that is to say, the total loss
which the operator suffers through no fault of her own—we find it to
vary in shop No. 1230 from 0.2 per cent for operator No. 106 to as
much as 28.2 per cent for operator No. 110. The average involuntary
loss for the entire shop on the basis of 39 body makers who were timed
in this shop was 3.9 per cent. In shop No. 1232 the involuntary loss
of time varied from 0.4 per cent to 5.9 per cent, the average for 30
operators in the shop being 3.1 per cent; while in shop No. 1284, in
which the system of distribution of work and of parts is very poor, and
operators are frequently obliged to wait for the necessary parts, the
involuntary loss of time varied from 1.3 per cent to as high as 45.8 per
cent for individual operators, the average for 38 operators in the shop
being 7.7 per cent. We thus have three different percentages for the
three shops, two-of them being between 3 and 4 per cent and the third
286
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
nearly 8 per cent. Each of these figures is believed to be accurate for
the respective shops, being based on the timing of 39, 30, and 38
operators, respectively, whose combined time at work under observa
tion was equivalent to 729-hours in shop No. 1230, 503 hours in shop
No. 1232, and 743 hours in shop No. 1284, yet these data are inade
quate as a basis for an average for the industry as a whole. The
significance of these figures lies chiefly in showing how great the
variation actually is and how much loss of time can be eliminated in
shops under proper management in the light of what is being done in
other shops.
It should be noted that all of this loss of time was found to take
place during the busiest part of the season. This is a time when it is
to the mutual interest of the employers and employees to reduce such
losses to a minimum. There is no doubt that such loss is much greater
at other times of the year when the foreman knows that he has not
enough work to keep the operators busy throughout the day, so that
the incentive is lacking to try to utilize every minute of the operator
who is paid by the piece. It should also be noted that the figures of
loss of time for body making are given here only for shops making
exclusively $9-a-dozen waists. In these shops the loss of time caused
by waiting for work and waiting for parts is usually less than in shops
manufacturing the higher-priced waists, owing to the great variety of
waists and parts which have to be handled in the latter and the
smaller bundles which are generally the rule there.
If we analyze the involuntary loss of time in detail we will find
that waiting for work constitutes more than half of the total invol
untary loss in shops Nos. 1230 and 1284, and more than a third in
shop No. 1232, which holds the highest record for efficiency among
the shops investigated.
In noting loss of time caused by waiting for work only those cases
were considered where operators were required to remain at the ma
chines in expectation of work. Whenever work was so scarce that
operators were allowed to leave the factory such loss of time was not
included. Nor was it included if the enforced idleness was of long
duration, even if the operators remained at the factory. This was
due to the fact that on the average each operator was timed for only
about three days, and whenever an operator remained idle for any length
of time he was dropped by the investigator, who transferred his atten
tion to some other operator. Such a procedure would not be justified
if an exhaustive investigation of idleness during work hours were un
dertaken. Such an investigation would have to be based on at least
one month’s continuous timing of the operators and repeated at differ
ent seasons of the year. As the present investigation, however, was
primarily conducted for other purposes and operators were timed for
only a few days, idleness lasting several hours at a time would have
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
287
formed an abnormally high percentage of the total time in many cases
and was therefore not included in the tables presented here.
Waiting for parts was the next largest item of loss of time, being
more than a third of the total involuntary loss in shop No. 1230 and
more than 40 per cent in shops Nos. 1232 and 1284. Under this head
was included all the time an operator was obliged to remain idle while
waiting for any material or parts needed in his work, such as lace,
embroideries, and parts of waists, thread, tape, etc. In some shops
not included in the three for which body-making data are presented
the practice prevails of starting operators on new jobs whenever they
are short of any parts which can not be readily furnished. The result
is that operators have as many as three or four unfinished bundles on
hand which are alternately taken up and put aside as the missing
material or parts for the different bundles turn up. While such a
practice may be preferable to total idleness, it is extremely uneconom
ical and wasteful of the operator’s time and makes efficient work
impossible. It is one of the principal reasons for the low output in
shop No. 1090, as shown in several tables in this report. In such a
shop the loss of time caused by waiting for parts might appear very
small, and yet the real loss of time caused by constant interruptions
and changing back and forth from one job to another be very large.
The loss of time due to breakdowns and repairs of machinery is
small, being from 0.2 per cent to 0.5 per cent of the time at work and
from 2 per cent to 15 per cent of the total involuntary loss. It should
be added that the three shops for which the data are given are all well
equipped with new machinery.
The loss of time on account of instruction given to operators on
new work is still less than that caused by machine breakdowns. This
is an item that is naturally present to a much smaller extent in shops
making $9-a-dozen waists than in those manufacturing garments of
higher grade. Moreover, it is a practice that manufacturers could
well afford to extend, for the more thorough and frequent the instruc
tion received by the operators the more efficient will be their work.
At present too little is being done in this regard in most shops, and
every additional dollar spent on instructors would prove a most profit
able investment to the manufacturers as well as result in increased
earnings by the operators at the same piece rates.
As to the loss of time caused by the operator hiniself or incurred for
the operator’s own needs, it seems to be much less than that beyond
his control. Thus the loss of time caused by tardiness and leaving
early was 1.5 per cent of the time worked in shop No. 1230, 1.2 per
cent in shop No. 1232, and 1.2 per cent in shop No. 1284. The loss
of time due to personal needs was 1 per cent in shop No. 1230, 0.9
per cent in shop No. 1232, and 0.5 per cent in shop No. 1284. The
time spent in repairing defective work was 0.4 per cent in shop No.
288
BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OE LABOE STATISTICS.
1230, 0.6 per cent in shop No. 1232, and 0.7 per cent in shop No. 1284.
These figures may also be below the average for the year, for just as the
foreman is more anxious to save unnecessary loss of time at the height
of the season than at other times, so are the operators more punctual
in coming and going when work is plentiful than when the season is
slack.
C l o s i n g . —The data were obtained for five shops, all of them making
$9-a-dozen waists. The involuntary loss of time constituted 8.8 per
cent of the time spent at work in shop No. 1110, 7 per cent in shop
No. 1191, 6.9 per cent in shop No. 1232, 5.6 per cent in shop No. 1284,
and 18.5 per cent in shop No. 1230. The other details appear in the
table.
S l e e v e S e t t i n g . — Information on this was obtained in two shops.
The involuntary loss of time constituted 26.7 per cent of the time
worked in shop No. 1284 and 6.2 per cent in shop No. 1191. The
voluntary loss of time (on account of tardiness, early leaving, and per
sonal needs) varied from 1.4 per cent to 2.2 per cent of the time
worked.
W a i s t H e m m in g . — Information on waist hemming was obtained
in three shops. The involuntary loss of time was, as usual, the lowest
in shop No. 1110, being only 2.9 per cent of the time worked. The
highest loss was in shop No. 1284, being 14.7 per cent. The volun
tary loss of time in these three shops varied from nothing to 2.1 per
cent of the time at work.
S t r i p H e m m in g . — On strip hemming information was obtained for
only one shop, No. 1230, showing the involuntary loss of time to be 4.2
per cent of the total time at work.
S t r i p T u c k in g . — Information is presented in the table for three
shops in which the involuntary loss of time varied from 3.6 per cent
to 4.8 per cent of the total time at work. The voluntary loss in these
three shops varied from 0.6 per cent to 2.3 per cent of the time at
work.
S h o r t T u c k in g . — Information is presented for four shops, covering
a total of 31 persons. The total involuntary loss varied from 1.5 per
cent in shop No. 1090 to 36.8 per cent of the total time at work in
shop No. 1191. The time lost involuntarily varied in these four shops
from nothing to 3.7 per cent of the time worked.
B u t t o n h o l e M a k in g . — These data are available for four shops
using the Singer machine and three shops using the Reece machine.
Taking first the Singer machine, we find that the involuntary loss
constituted 34.8 per cent of the time worked in shop No. 1090, 9.4 per
cent in shop No. 1110, 2.2 per cent in shop No. 1116, and 6.4 per cent
in shop No. 1235, the average for the four being 21.3 per cent. The
chief item in this involuntary loss was waiting for work, which was
especially large, namely, 31.4 per cent of the time spent at work, in
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DEESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
289
shop No. 1090. As may bo seen from section 6 relating to buttonhole
making, there is a greater variety of styles of waists in this shop than
in any other of those under investigation, and the work is given in
smaller bundles than in any of the other shops, the bundles frequently
consisting of only a few waists. This accounts for the great loss
incurred in waiting for work, which is additional to the loss, to both
the firm and the employees, shown in the low output per hour, the
output being less than in any of the other shops investigated.
The involuntary loss of time on the Reece machine varied from
11.7 per cent in shop No. 1284 to 20.4 per cent in shop No. 1230, the
average being 13.8 per cent, or less than on the Singer machine.
This is due not to the relative merits of the two machines, but to the
fact that the Reece machine is used in shops making $9-a-dozen
garments. In these shops the work is made in larger quantities than
in the shops making medium-priced waists, and there is, therefore,
less loss of time. On the other hand, the average loss of time on
account of breakdown of machinery was 4.4 per cent of the total
time at work on the Reece machine, while on the Singer machine it
was only 1\ per cent. This is due to the more complicated character
of the Reece machine, which, therefore, gets more easily out of order.
B u t t o n S e w in g . —These data were secured in three shops, of
which one, No. 1116, makes medium-priced waists. The total
involuntary loss of time was 7.6 per cent of the time spent at work in
shop No. 1284, 12.3 per cent in shop No. 1230, and only 1.1 per cent
in the medium-priced shop. The time lost in waiting for work was
likewise the lowest in shop No. 1116.
table
101.— l o s s OF TIME.
A . Body making: Singer machine.
Loss of time for
which the em
ployer is not re
sponsible (min
utes).
Per
Total time—• cent
involuntary
Sex
Shop No. and of
loss
Tar
operator No. oper
Re
Under of
time
ator. Wait Wait Break ceiv
di
Work
Re
obser
down
ness Per
was
ing
ing
ed
va
ing Total. and sonal pair
of
of
in
ing (min tion
for
for
ma
early
needs.
time
work. utes). (min
work. parts. chine. struc
leav
tion.
utes). work
ing.
ed.
Loss of time for which the
em ployee is not responsible
(minutes).
Per
cent
time
lost
on ac
count
of
break*
down
of ma
chine
was of
time
work
ed.
Shop No. 1230.
Operator 1171.-Operator 118....
Operator 119___
Operator 120___
Operator 1221 ..
Operator 123....
Operator 124x...
Operator 126....
Operator 127....
F.
F.
F.
F.
F.
F.
F.
F.
F.
35
30
12
6
10
85
47
4
41
25
5
6
45
29
48
19
9
25
10
85
23
55
43
17
50
12
55 *'*26*
139
105 *i25
4
19
4
30
3And 1 female partner.
42132°— B ull. 146—14------ 19
14
10
6
6
4
6
41
14
3
1,881
1,160
1,284
1,189
1,717
1,215
2,478
599
586
2,003
1,268
1,357
1,207
1,802
1,374
2,752
622
620
4.5
4.7
1.3
1.0
3.2
11.4
4.2
3.2
.7
2.1
290
BULLETIN OF THE BUKEAU OF LABOK STATISTICS.
T a b le
101.—LOSS OF TIME—Continued.
A . B ody m aking; Singer machine— Concluded.
Loss of time for
which the em
ployer is not re
sponsible (min
utes).
Per
cent
involuntary
Sex
loss
Shop No. and of
of
operator No. oper
Tar
Under time
Re
ator. Wait Wait Break ceiv
di
Re Work obser was
ness
Per
ing
ing down ing Total.
ed
va
of
and sonal pair
in
of
for
ing (min tion time
for
early needs, work.
utes). (min work
work. parts. ma struc
leav
chine. tion.
utes). ed.
ing.
Loss of time for which the
employee is not responsible
(minutes).
Total time—
Per
cent
time
lost
on ac
count
Of
break
down
of ma
chine
was of
time
work
ed.
Shop 2Vo. jf'230—
Concluded.
Operator 129....
Operator 109....
Operator 110....
Operator 111,...
Operator 104....
Operator 105___
Operator 106*...
Operator 102___
Operator 103___
Operator 114....
Operator 100....
Operator 115___
Operator 1162...
Operator 1212. .
Operator 125___
Operator 1282. .
Operator 1121 ..
Operator 101___
Operator 113*...
Operator 108 K.,
Total.......
Percent of time
worked..........
163
31
13
38
3
7
29
28
23
11
40
55
’ *57
74
19
904
631
1.4
81
42
226
42
13
78
3
9
54
36
78
55
79
115
10
5
10
25
140
10
13
10
161
31
33
41
121
92 1,708
0.2 0.2
10
27
3.9
768
1,537
802
1,388
1,223
1,366
1,446
1,061
970
1,712
1,113
1,163
1,689
2,422
997
2,751
2,514
1,320
2,488
2,882
768
1,596
2.7
1,055 28.2
1,450
3.0
1,250
1.1
1,463
5.7
.2
1,489
1,245
.8
1,040
5.6
1,810
2.1
1,204
7.0
1,236
4.7
1,851
4.7
2,593
4.7
1,050
2,974 ” 5.'8
2,584
1.2
1,370
2.5
2,595
1.6
3,076
4.2
654
442
179 43,721 46,704
1.5
1.0
0.4
0.5
.5
1.1
3.9
Shop No. 1232.
Operator 141...,
Operator 142....
Operator 144....
Operator 145....
Operator 1473..
Operator 148....
Operator 1302..
Operator 1312. .
Operator 1321..
Operator 1332. .
Operator 1342..
Operator 1352..
Operator 136*..
Operator 137....
Operator 138....
Operator 139__
Operator 140__
Operator 1431...
Operator 1461...
Operator 149....
Total..........
Per cent of time
worked..........
54
72
49
64
44
30
100
116
91
34
15
26
7
49
35
16
3
8
56
59
59
24
9
5
6
14
‘ *'5
14
4
4
13
1,495
1,868
1,062
1,721
2,676
1,610
2,979
2,155
3,226
1,412
967
1,113
252
1,965
1,566
1,229
772
730
2,026
1,115
346
382
139
61
928
357
282
191 30,181 31,939
1.1
1.3
0.5
0.2
3.1
1.2
0.9
0.6
1 And 1 female assistant.
52
56
20
4
2
1,426
1,712
996
1,642
2,625
1,570
2,765
1,954
3,073
1,314
932
1,080
243
1,791
1,451
1,179
746
712
1,966
1,004
2 And 1 male assistant.
4.2
4.9
3.9
1.7
1.9
3.6
5.9
3.0
2.6
1.6
2.4
2.9
2.7
2.4
1.4
.4
1.1
2.8
.4
.2
.8
.2
1.0
.4
.1
.1
1.3
5.9
4.3
3.1
-5
8 And 1 female partner.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DBESS AND WAIST INDUSTEY. 2 9 1
T
able
101.—LOSS OF TIME—Continued.
Standard machine.
Loss of time for which the
employee is not responsible
(minutes).
Loss of time for
which the em
ployer is not re
sponsible (min
utes).
Total time—
Sex
Shop No. and of
operator No. oper
Tar
Under
Re
Re
ator. Wait Wait Break ceiv
di
Work obser
down
ness Per pair
ing
ing
ing
va
ing
ed
Total.
sonal
of
and
(min tion
in
for
for
ma struc
early needs. work. utes). (min
work. parts. chine.
leav
tion.
utes).
ing.
Per
cent
involuntary
loss
of
time
was
of
time
work
ed.
Per
cent
time
lost
on ac
count
of
break
down
of ma
chine
was of
time
work
ed.
Shop No. 1284.
Operator 150__
Operator 153l ...
Operator 154__
Operator 156*...
Operator 157__
Operator 158—
Operator 160__
Operator 161__
Operator 162__
Operator 163__
Operator 164....
Operator 165 2...
Operator 172__
Operator 173__
Operator 174 *...
Operator 1511__
Operator 152 K ..
Operator 1553...
Operator 159—
Operator 1662...
Operator 167!...
Operator 168!...
Operator 1693...
Operator 1701...
Operator 171—
Operator 175—
218
138
79
50
4
8
318
16
3
12
121
9
74
24
81
21
35
3
181
30
70
Total.......
Per cent of time
worked..........
218
198
92
89
60
13
39
17
96
59
34
55
27
106
226
14
55
48
50
43
27
174
40
29
126
76
191
82
16
1,603
1,703
3.6
3.8
2,214
3.162
1,311
4,166
924
1,120
1,413
1,631
593
753
1,768
2,193
297
512
1.163
2,110
1,642
2,515
413
1,700
2,019
2,747
2,935
2,528
1,241
1,487
42
20
112
21
104
392
54
58
42
234
235
12
58
100
79
134
50
64
62
189
12
67
32
10
221
67
233
112
191
177
19
25
16
2,505
3,447
1,453
4,397
945
1,229
1,842
1,695
696
801
2,012
2,486
447
648
1,419
2,160
1.753
2,619
606
1,926
2,104
3,056
3,072
2.754
1,470
1,513
56
,435
544
227
292 44,557 49,055
0.2 0.1
7.7
1.2
0.5
0.7
73
1 And 1 female assistant.
2 And 1 female partner.
6.3
7.0
2.1
2.3
9.3
27.7
3.3
9.8
5.6
13.2
10.7
33.7
15.4
11.5
2.4
3.9
2.5
45.8
13.0
3.3
8.5
3.8
7.6
14.3
1.3
7.7
0.4
4.0
2.9
” .'4
.3
1.0
.2
3 And 1 male assistant.
B . Closing: Union Special machine.
Loss of time for which the employee is not
responsible.
Shop No.
Num
ber
and
sex
of
opera
tor.
Waiting for—
Work.
Parts.
Break
down
of ma
chine.
Total.
Loss of time for which
the employer is not
responsible.
Tardi
ness and
early
leaving.
Per
Per
Per
Per
cent
cent
cent
cent
Min
Min of Min of Min of
of Min
utes. time utes. time utes. time utes. time utes.
work
work
work
work
M. F.
ed.
ed.
ed.
ed.
1110............
1191............
1232............
1284............
1230
1
2
’ *i
1 2
1
41
240
86
30
163
7.0
7.0
6.9
1.3
18.5
11
9
0.4
91
1.9
3.9
52
240
86
130
163
8.8
7.0
6.9
5.6
18.5
Under
Personal Work obser
ed.
needs.
va
tion.
Per
cent
of Min
time utes.
work
ed.
5
12
15
1.0
.6
Total time.
20
12
Per
cent
Min
of
time utes.
work
ed.
0.9
588
3,434
i.6 1,255
.5 2,334
882
Min
utes.
645
3,674
1,373
2,491
1,045
292
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
101.—LOSS OF TIME—Concluded.
T a b le
C. Sleeve selling: Union Special machine.
Loss of time for which
the employer is not
responsible.
Loss of time for wliioh the employee is not
responsible
Shop No.
Waiting for-
ber
and
sex
of
opera
tors.
Work.
Per
cent
Min of Min
utes. time utes.
work
ed.
M. F.
1284............
1191............
1
1
1
1
157
182
18.2
5.6
D . Waist hemming: Shop
1110............
1191............
1284............
1
1
5
42
89
1
Break
down
of ma
chine.
Parts.
Per
cent
of Min
time utes.
work
ed.
25
iVo.
2.9
48
20
Tardi
ness and
early
leaving.
Total.
Under
-rersonai Work obser
needs.
ed.
va
tion.
Per
Per
Per
cent
cent
cent
Min
of Min of Min
of
time utes. time utes. time utes.
work
work
work
ed.
ed.
ed.
5.6
.6
230
202
26.7
6.2
5
45
0.6
1.4
Total time.
Per
cent
of
Min
time utes.
work
ed.
14
1.6
861
3,279
Min
utes.
1,110
3,526
1110, Union Special machine; other shops , Singer machine.
1.5
4.7
13.3
5
1.5
9
1.3
10
42
98
2. 9!
4-7!
14.7
14
2.1
2
0.6
5
.7
341
894
668
353
936
785
1,036
1,080
E . S trip hemming: Singer machine
1
1230
44
44
4.2
i
323
60
140
1284..
1090..
2.8
120
99
1.8
3.6
1.1
3.0
1
1
1
F . Strip tucking: Singer and W ilcox
1230..
J
443
159
140
<
£
• Gibbs
3.
4.
3.6;
machines.
32
0.3
88
*2*3
65
19
0.6 11,416 11,956
.6 3,280 3,458
4,095
G. Short tucking: Singer and W ilcox & Gibbs machines.
10 3,443
2 173
7 180
3 3,882
1191..
1230.
1090.
1116.
126
2.0'.
1.4{.
29.5.
1.5
i
3,443
299
1 184
3,882
36.8
3.5
1.5
29.5
87
363
1.0
2.
1.6
210
46
105
9,357 12,800
0.5 8,616 9,048
12,667 13,319
13,163 17,255
H . Buttonhole making: Singer machine.
1090.
1110.
1116.
1235.
Total.
2,269
70
64
44
31.4
7.2
2.2
2.2
[ I
2,447
18.6
68
37
3li
0.5
1.7 22,508 34.8 206
92
9.4
2.3
64
2.2
47| 2*4 3127 6.4
1.6
:o
0.2 7,237
124
22
193
1.5j5 2,791
21.3
206
.7
9,976
1,073
3,028
2,000 4 2,139
974
2,964
1.6
22
13,175
456
160
1.4 1,250
I . Buttonhole making: Reece machine.
62 13.6!.
10! 6.3!.
93j 7.4|.
1230.
1235.
1284.,
Total.
2
16o|
8.9!.
21
9
53
4.6
5.6
4.2
83
19
146
20.4'
11
11.7
5!
27!
3. II.
2.2
17
83!
4.4
248
13.8
32
1.7
17
549
184
1,440
1,8
2,173
931
2,216
951
1,022
2,240
1,068
K . B u tton sewing: Union Special machine.
6.1
1.1
1284.
1116.
1230.
9.5
1 4 minutes getting instruction.
2 78 minutes getting instruction.
3 5 minutes getting instruction.
1.5
"2 .
71
24
117
7.6
1.1
12.3
I
i
......i........
i
20
2.1
412 minutes repairing work.
&83 minutes getting instruction.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DBESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
293
CONCLUSION.
The figures presented in Part II of this report show that in spite of
the great variation in the productive capacity of the individual
workers in different shops and even in the same shops, the differences
between the shops as a whole are sufficiently small on a large number
of operations to allow of the establishment of standard rates for all
the shops of a certain class. With the exception of a few operations,
outside of body making, the figures presented here relate exclusively
to shops manufacturing cheap waists selling at $9 per dozen to retail
stores. In so far as the figures for the same operations differ radi
cally for various shops, they can be traced to distinct causes, due
chiefly to differences in systems of management and organization of
the work. While the variation is not sufficiently great in the $9
shops to prevent standardization of piece rates in that branch of the
industry, the wide differences in the systems of factory management
and in the conditions under which the operators are obliged to work
in different shops, make it exceedingly difficult to devise*a scheme
of uniform piece rates to bo paid in all shops manufacturing garments
of a higher grade. A scale of rates paid in shops in which efficiency is
the keynote, in which the operator is able to work steadily through
the day without waste of time, with up-to-date machinery and
appliances, and amid sanitary surroundings, may be fully adequate
to enable the workers to earn good wages in that shop. The same
schedule of piece rates may prove totally inadequate for operators
of equal skill working in a shop where lack of system on the part of
the management results in frequent interruptions and stoppages of
work; because the operator constantly misses necessary parts of gar
ments which should be supplied to him at the time he gets his “ bun
dle” ; because the cutting is done poorly, causing the operator to stop
in his work to make the different parts fit or to take the parts to the
cutter to have them trimmed down; because the force in different
departments is not properly balanced, thereby causing partial or total
stoppage of work in one department, while another department is
behind with its work and unable to furnish the parts needed in the
first department; because work is furnished to the operators in small
bundles, which results in more handling of the garments and more
frequent interruptions in passing from one operation to another than is
the case in the first shop where larger bundles are the rule; because
it is the practice in the shop to start the operator on a new bundle
before he is through with the one he has on hand and to follow this
up with a third and a fourth bundle before any of these is completed,
so that the work on each of these has to be interrupted as the missing
parts for the different bundles turn up or as the demands of the
customers call for the earlier completion of one or the other of the
bundles; because the machinery is old or in poor condition and breaks
294
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOB STATISTICS.
down frequently, causing stoppage of work, as well as producing less
while working; because little or 110 instruction is given to operators
to secure uniformity in methods of work, resulting in great waste of
time on the part of the loss experienced workers, to the detriment
of the firm and employees alike. These are a few of the conditions
which determine the relative efficiency of different shops. This
explains why in many cases the output per hour in different factories
(as e. g., in buttonhole making) has been found to differ 100 per cent
and even more. It is therefore clear that no successful attempt can
be made to bring about uniform rates throughout the industry without
first establishing greater uniformity in factory management and
the system under which operators are required to work.
It would be an utterly hopeless task, however, to undertake to
bring about absolutely uniform methods of factory management.
The great difference in the size of the factories, employing, as has
been shown in the first part of this report, anywhere from less than
25 to more than 500 workers each, calls necessarily for different sys
tems of work distribution and, to some extent, of division of labor;
the difference in their financial resources will enable the larger manu
facturers, making the same kind of goods, to use superior machinery,
cut larger bundles, employ instructors, and do a great many other
things to cheapen production which would be beyond the means of
the smaller manufacturer working with insufficient capital. A great
many things, however, can be standardized and adopted throughout
the industry irrespective of the size of the resources of the individual
firms. But to accomplish this in an industry having more than
700 firms working in keen competition with one another and
therefore each jealous of its own real or fancied secrets of business or
of factory management and extremely reluctant to throw their shops
open to investigation by representatives of an organization of which
they are a part, would take years of patient and persistent effort.
But while it is impracticable to undertake the introduction of
uniform methods of factory management, it does not follow necessarily
that the standardization of piece rates is impossible. What may be
done, is to standardize conditions under which certain piece rates
are to apply. The piece rates may be the result of a series of tests
made in a number of shops with several workers of more or less
average speed under conditions to be carefully noted, and as nearly
as possible like those which can reasonably be expected to prevail in
an ordinary well-managed shop. The tests could be of two kinds:
(1) For the purpose of standardizing separate operations; (2) for
establishing piece rates on standard garments.
As to the first, the proposed investigation for standardization of
operations would not differ in its aims and its ultimate form from
the results presented in this report, so far as positive results have
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DBESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
295
been obtained. The difference would be in the methods to be pursued.
Instead of timing hundreds of workers on thousands of dozens of
garments under conditions as they happen to be found in the shops,
the method would consist in selecting a comparatively limited number
of skilled operators, say a dozen, of a fairly average speed, and timing
each of these operators on hundreds if not thousands of operations
under various conditions, but never varying more than one condition
at a time, so as to be able clearly to trace cause and effect. An
illustration will make the meaning clear: In discussing the figures for
tucking, it has been shown in this report that the output per hour
will vary with (1) the width of the tuck; (2) the length of the tuck;
(3) the number of stitches per inch; (4) the presence or absence of
tucks of more than one width; (5) whether the tucks are arranged in
clusters or not; (6) whether the distances between the tucks and the
clusters are uniform or not; (7) whether all the tucks run the full
length of the waist; (8) and if they do not, whether they are of
uniform or varying length; (9) and if of varying length, how many
different lengths there are; (10) on the number of tucks to the waist;
(11) the number of waists to the bundle; (12) the material of which
the garment is made; (13) the make of the machine on which the
work is done; (14) whether the tucks are made free-hand or with
a gauge, etc.
On account of the conditions xmder which the present investiga
tion was carried on we were forced to time the operator while working
in the regular performance of his or her duties on such work as hap
pened to be done at the time at the particular factory. The result
was that when the same operator was found to vary anywhere from
10 to 100 per cent in his output on the same operation, it has'rarely,
if ever, been possible to place the finger on any one cause. The
second job might differ from the first not only in the size of the bundle,
but also in the number of tucks to the waist, in their arrangement,
width, and in three or four other points. For this reason it has
proved impossible to submit, with the present report, a basis for a
scale of rates except on a more or less average basis taking in a
wide variety of conditions for each of which there ought to be a sepa
rate rate. The proposed method would require putting each operator
selected for the test to work on a certain style of tucks and then
varying one condition at a time to ascertain how the output would
differ with each change. Such a method would require the testing
of each operator for at least a week on tucking alone.
In view of the great number of operations and especially the
almost endless variation in the combination of different conditions
affecting the output for each operation, as illustrated above in the
case of tucking, it would probably take not less than two years to
work out a scale of piece rates which would cover the most common
requirements of shops manufacturing staple lines of garments.
296
BULLETIN OP THE BUBEAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
A schedule of this kind in prescribing a rate for any operation would
specify the conditions under which it was to be applied. If the
standard size of bundle were, say, 2i dozen waists, and a shop fur
nished work to its operators in bundles of 1 dozen or 5 dozen, the rate
would have to be adjusted by the wage-scale board in each case unless
the schedule provided a sliding scale for the automatic adjustment of
the rate under specified conditions. In this manner without at
tempting to tell each manufacturer how he is to run his factory, an
inducement would be created for each manufacturer in the trade
to bring the conditions of work in his shop as nearly as possible in
accord with the standards laid down in the schedule so that he could
get the benefit of rates allowed in shops in which standard conditions
prevailed.
As stated, the complete working out of such a scale of piece rates
would be a matter of years. Much as it may seem desirable to under
take the task for an industry like this, which is here to.stay, it is con
fronted with the necessity of meeting immediately the pressing prob
lems of piece-rate adjustment which claim the attention of the wagescale board from day to day as disputes arise between individual
manufacturers and their employees as to what is a proper rate for a
given garment. It is with this in mind that the second series of
tests has been suggested above, viz, the establishment of piece rates
on standard garments.
Apart from the short-comings of the present test system, pointed
out in the introductory chapter to this part of the report, the chief
objection to it, raised both by the employers and the union, is that
it fails to bring about uniformity of piece rates for the same class
of work in different shops. Manufacturers who believe that they are
paying, or that they are called upon to pay, higher rates than some
of their competitors refuse to accede to the demands of their em
ployees, while the union on its part claims that certain manufacturers
are taking advantage of the presence of a large proportion of non
union workers in their shops, or of the ignorance of their employees
to pay lower rates than their competitors. To overcome this diffi
culty a committee of the wage-scale board has had under consideration
a proposed modification of the present test system which promises
to bring about greater uniformity in rates paid in different shops
for similar garments. The chief features of the proposed scheme
are (1) the creation of a set of standard garments; (2) the selection
of a number of typical shops for the purpose of testing the standard
garments; (3) the determination of the hourly rate of the test workers
by means of standard rates adopted for the standard garments.
1.
It is proposed to make up a set of standard garments embody
ing all the operations which are required in making garments cur
rently in style.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DBESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY. 2 9 7
2. The wage-scale board is to select a number of leading shops, typi
cal of the industry, in each of which two or more experienced workers of
about average speed are to be selected as test operators by both sides
in the same manner as it is done at present. These workers are to
make up the standard garments from the samples furnished them,
and the average time taken by all the test operators in all of the
shops selected, multiplied by a rate agreed upon for these workers, is
to constitute the standard piece rate for each of the standard gar
ments, and is to be used as a common basis in all the other shops in
the industry in determining rates on new garments.
3. Whenever a new garment is to be tested in a shop, it is to be done
under practically the same conditions as at present, except that the
hourly rate of the test worker is to be determined in a different way.
Under the present system the hourly rate of the test worker is ascer
tained by averaging up the weekly earnings of that worker for a
number of weeks as shown on the pay roll, and dividing the amount
by 50, which constitutes the normal working hours for a week. This
is open to two objections: The first, on the part of the workers, that
the pay roll does not show the number of hours actually put in by
the worker. It is well known that at times some workers may be
idle for a great many hours during the week on account of lack of
work or other causes, and the 10 per cent allowance for loss of time
which is usually made in these cases is not considered by the union
as meeting this objection. It is, therefore, claimed by the union that
the hourly rate, as thus determined, is below the actual earning
capacity of the worker, which could be demonstrated if she were
given an opportunity to work in the same manner as she is during
the test on a new garment, when only the time she is actually at
work is considered in determining the time it takes her to make the
new garment.
The second objection to which this method is open is raised both
by the manufacturers and the union, and is to the effect that it does
not secure a uniform hourly rate for workers of the same skill in
different shops, since it tends to perpetuate the differences in the
methods of compensation prevailing in these shops.
The proposed method aims to do away with these shortcomings
and to reduce the determination of the hourly rate of the test workers
to a uniform basis in the following manner:
To determine the hourly rate of the test worker, she is to be given
one or more samples of standard garments suitable to the production
of the shop in which she is working, and on which she is to be tested,
in the same manner as she is tested on the new garment. That is to
say, if it is decided that in testing a new garment she is to make half
a dozen for a test, then in determining her hourly rate she is likewise
to make half a dozen of the standard garment; if she is given only
298
BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF LABOB STATISTICS.
one or two garments to make in testing the new garment, then this
should be the number in testing the standard garment for determining
her hourly rate. The time taken to make these garments would
determine the hourly rate of each test worker. To illustrate: If the
rate for a certain standard garment were $1, and it took the test
worker three hours to make it, the hourly rate of that operator
would be 33 cents per hour. If an operator selected for a test in
another shop makes the same garment in two hours, her rate would
be 50 cents per hour. In this way, the rates of the different test
operators would continue to differ, as they do at present, according
to their individual skill and speed, as well as according to the methods
of manufacturing prevailing in the different shops; but they will all
be based on uniform rates for standard garments which would apply
to all shops. The method holds out the promise of a fair degree of
uniformity of rates for similar garments in different shops while
leaving each shop free to follow its own way of making the garments.
While it would not secure absolute uniformity on account of many
technical difficulties which would beset the carrying out of this plan,
yet it would mean the taking of a long stride toward such uniformity
and would put the industry in a position to wait for a more detailed
adjustment of piece rates for separate operations as outlined above.
APPENDIX A.
PROTOCOL OF PEACE IN THE DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
P
op P e a c e
in the dress and waist industry entered into this 18th day of
January, 1913, between the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (herein
after called the union) and the Dress and Waist Manufacturers’ Association (herein
after called the association).
r o to co l
Both parties to this protocol are desirous of raising conditions in the industry, and
obtaining the equalization of standards of labor throughout the industry b y peaceful
and honorable methods. They recognize the value, to accomplish this end, of an
organization representing the workers in the industry, and of an organization repre
senting the employers. They recognize also the value of an understanding or agree
ment between them capable of revision from time to time, with adequate machinery
and institutions to enforce and carry out the principles of the understanding.
I.
S A N IT A R Y
C O N D I T IO N S .
Both parties agree to create a joint board of sanitary control in all jurisdictional
respects similar to the joint board of sanitary control now existing in the cloak industry,
two members thereof to be chosen b y the manufacturers, two b y the union, and three
to represent the public—the three representatives of the public now upon the board
in the cloak industry. Said board is empowered to establish standards of sanitary
conditions to which the manufacturers’ association and the union shall be committed,
and the manufacturers and the union obligate themselves to maintain such standards
to the best of their ability and to the full extent of their power. The standards of such
board, to begin with, shall be at least as high as the standards now existing in the
cloak industry.
II.
THE
W H IT E
PROTOCOL L A B E L .
To make more effective the maintenance of sanitary conditions throughout the
industry, to insure equality of minimum standards throughout the industry, and to
guarantee to the public garments made in the shops certificated b y the board of
sanitary control, the parties agree that there shall be instituted in the industry a system
of certificating garments b y a label to be affixed to the garment. Recognizing the
difficulties of working out the details of such a plan at this time, but believing that the
plan has been sufficiently developed and considered in the cloak industry, they
believe that a complete plan can be worked out in the dress and waist industry within
a year. To this end each party agrees to cooperate to the full extent of its power in
the formulation and effectuation of a system for the certification of garments adequately
safeguarding the employers, the workers, and the consuming public.
An additional increase of 10 per cent (approximately) shall be granted in all wages
as soon as the system of certificating garments to the consumer herein referred to shall
have been in operation for one year.
III.
AD JU STM EN T
OF G R IE V A N C E S .
Both parties recognize the necessity for providing modern and peaceful methods
for adjusting disputes and grievances that arise. The system and method for adjust
ing disputes and determining controversies in the cloak industry having proved
successful, they agree that there shall be created in the dress and waist industry a
board of grievances to consist of 10 members— 5 chosen b y the manufacturers and 5
b y the union—with the rules, regulations, and precedents now governing the board
of grievances in the cloak industry so far as they are practically applicable in the dress
and waist industry.
299
300
BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU 03? LABOR STATISTICS.
IV .
CONFERENCES.
The board of grievances shall also be the continuous conference body to which
shall be brought all problems and all plans for improvement in the industry, which
both parties are to consider.
V.
PERM ANENT PEACE.
The parties to this protocol agree that there shall be no strike or lockout concerning
any matters in controversy or any disagreement until full opportunity shall have been
given for the submission of such matters to the board of grievances and to the board
of arbitration created hereunder, and in the event of a determination of such contro
versy or difference b y said board of arbitration only in case of failure to accede to the
determination of said board of arbitration.
The parties hereby establish a board of arbitration to consist of three members,
composed of one nominee for the manufacturers, one nominee for the union, and one
representative of the public, the latter to be agreed upon b y both parties to this
protocol, or in the event of their disagreement, b y the two arbitrators selected b y them.
Until otherwise determined, the gentlemen constituting the board of arbitration in
the cloak industry shall constitute the board of arbitration in this industry.
V I.
T E N T A T IV E
SCH ED ULES.
The parties agree that the industry is very large, and the conditions complicated;
that there are many types of shops and that the earnings of the employees in the shops
vary w idely in scale; and further frankly admit that they are not now in full possession
of the facts as to present conditions in the industry. The provisions in this agreement
or protocol relating to schedules of wages or other standards of labor are therefore
tentative, and no final determination of these matters shall be made until after a
complete investigation of conditions as hereinafter provided for and the board of
grievances shall have had opportunity to pass thereon, and in the event of the failure
of the members of such board to agree then until the final determination b y the board
of arbitration in the manner herein provided.
V II.
W A G E -S C A L E
BOARD.
The parties hereby establish a wage-scale board to consist of eight members—four to
be nominated b y the manufacturers and four b y the union. Such board shall stand
ardize the prices to be paid for piece and week work throughout the industry; it shall
preserve data and statistics with a view to establishing, as nearly practicable as pos
sible, a scientific basis for the fixing of piece and week work prices throughout the
industry that will insure a minimum wage, and at the same time permit reward for
increased efficiency. It shall have full power and authority to appoint clerks or
representatives expert in the art of fixing prices, and its procedure, so far as practicable,
shall be the same as now followed b y the board of grievances in the cloak industry. It
shall have full power and authority to settle all disputes over prices, make special
exemptions for week work where special exigencies arise, or a special scale is required.
V III.
IM M E D IA T E
IN V E S T IG A T IO N .
Immediately after the signing of this protocol the wage-scale board shall, at the
expense of both parties, make a complete and exhaustive examination into the existing
rates paid for labor, the earnings of the operatives, and the classification of garments
in the industry, and shall report in writing within six months from the date hereof the
result of its labors. It shall be the duty of the board of grievances thereafter immedi
ately to convene and to act upon said report, and, based upon such report, said board of
grievances shall establish a rate or rates per hour for the adjustment of piece prices and
to readjust any of the schedules tentatively agreed upon in the schedule hereto annexed.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTKY.
IX .
T E N T A T IV E
STANDARDS
301
OF L A B O R .
The parties agree upon the standards of labor and wages set forth in schedule A,
subject to revision b y the grievance board in the light of experience, and after full
investigation of the facts as provided in Article V I.
Where higher standards now exist they shall in no case be lowered.
X.
AD JU STM EN T
O F P IE C E
P R IC E S .
The following method for determining piece prices for operators is adopted:
(а) There shall be in each shop a piece-price committee selected b y the workers.
(б) In the first instance, piece prices shall be settled b y the employer and the pieceprice committee.
(c) In settling prices the price per garment shall be based upon the estimated
number of solid hours it will take an experienced good worker to make the garment
without interruption, multiplied by the standard price per hour.
(d) If the piece-price committee and the employer shall be unable to agree after a
conference, the work shall then be proceeded with, but the determination of the price
to be paid for the work shall be made as follows:
(e) One or more workers shall be selected to make the test for the purpose of deter
mining the number of solid hours it will take an experienced good worker to make
the garment in question.
( /) Both the employer and the piece-price committee shall agree upon the operative
who is to make the test, but in case they shall fail to agree, the wage-scale board shall
make such designation.
Pending the determination of standard prices per hour b y the wage-scale board,
operators shall receive the following temporary increases:
In all shops where the standard per hour is now less than 28 cents, there shall be an
increase of at least 15 per cent.
In all shops where the standard per hour is less than 30 cents and more than 28 cents,
there shall be an increase of at least 10 per cent.
In all shops where the standard per hour is now 31 cents or 32 cents, the standard
shall be advanced to 33 cents. In no shop shall the standard rate per hour be less
than 30 cents, and where the rate is now 33 cents or more, the present standard rate
shall in no case be reduced.
In case of any dispute or controversy in any shop as to what is the standard per
hour now paid, such dispute or controversy shall be settled b y the wage-scale board,
and its decision shall be final.
There shall be no stoppage of work because of any dispute over piece prices, but
the matter shall be adjusted in the manner herein provided, and when the prices are
fixed they shall relate back to the time of the beginning of the work.
X I.
IN D IV ID U A L
CONTRACTS
W IT H
EM PLOYERS.
The union recognizes the moral obligation of every employer in the industry to
belong to the manufacturers' association and to contribute to the expense of the insti
tutions created b y the two parties for the uplift of the industry. It acknowledges
the value of such an association in the maintenance of standards throughout the indus
try. Accordingly, all employers desiring to settle with the union in the pending
strike w ill be referred first to the association and requested to apply for membership.
If for any reason the association rejects their application, the grounds for such rejection
shall be stated to a committee on review, consisting of six members—three nominated
b y the union and three b y the manufacturers. If any employer in the industry shall
fail to join the association and shall enter into an individual contract with the union,
there shall be no difference in maximum standards of hours, or minimum standards
of wages, or sanitary conditions (except that the period within w hich changes to con
302
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
form to sanitary standards shall be made shall be fixed b y the joint board of sanitary*
control).
The union agrees to lay before said committee 011 review every original contract
entered into between it and individual employers, together with a true statement of
the nature and amount of any security taken for the faithful performance of such
contract.
During the general strike the association will remain in executive session to pas3
upon applications for membership.
X II.
E Q U A L IZ A T IO N
OF
STAN DARDS.
Whether or not specifically referred to in any of the provisions of this protocol, the
parties agree that it is essential that competition in the industry, so far as labor is
concerned, shall be placed upon a plane of equality (making due allowance for differ
ence in skill), and that both parties to the full extent of their power shall establish
such equality.
X III.
THE
P R E F E R E N T IA L
U N IO N
SHOP.
The parties hereby accept the principles and the obligations of the “ preferential
union shop ” as defined and understood in the cloak industry, and more fully described
under that heading at pages 215-217 of Bulletin No. 9S of the United States Bureau of
Labor.
X IV .
IM M E D IA T E
PROBLEM S
FOR
A R B IT R A T IO N .
The question of which legal holidays shall be observed in the industry shall be
submitted to the board of arbitration created under this protocol, and, without preju
dice to the merits of the question, Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s Birthday,
1913, shall be observed, unless the decision of the board is rendered prior thereto.
XV.
S U B C O N T R A C T IN G .
All inside subcontracting shall be abolished.
X V I.
M IS C E L L A N E O U S .
The provisions of Paragraph X I X of the protocol in the cloak industry, -with
reference to filling vacancies in boards or committees, shall apply hereto, and, so far
as applicable to the dress and waist industry, the precedents, usages, and rules of
procedure already established and existing in the cloak industry shall be followed.
The minutes of the proceedings of the conferences resulting in the acceptance of
this protocol shall govern all matters not specifically referred to herein.
In witness whereof, the parties have hereto set their hands and seals, and authorized
their respective officers to affix the signature of the respective organizations hereto.
For the Dress and Waist Manufacturers’ Association:
S am ’ l F l o e r s h e i m e r , President .
W a l t e r H . B a r t h o l o m e w , General Manager.
For the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union:
A b r a h a m R o s e n b e r g , President.
J o h n A . D y c h e , Secretary.
The American Federation of Labor will stand back of the International Ladies’
Garment Workers’ Union in the faithful performance of the foregoing protocol.
S a m u el G om pers,
President Am erican Federation o f Labor.
H ugh F ra yn e,
General Organizer American Federation o f Labor .
In the presence of—
J u l iu s H e n r y C o h e n .
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DEESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY.
303
SCHEDULE “ A .”
Tentative; pending final decision b y the grievance board or board of arbitration.)
HOURS
OF L A B O R .
Fifty hours shall constitute a week’ s work. After there shall have been in operation
lor one year the system of certificating garments referred to in the annexed protocol the
hours of labor shall be reduced to 49 hours per week, provided the other branches in
the women’ s wear industry then under union agreement shall also have agreed to a
standard of 49 hours per week.
W EEK
C
u t t e r s
W ORKERS.
:
Full-fledged cutters shall receive not less than $25 per week.
Apprentices shall be divided into three grades—
Grade A : Apprentices of less than one year’ s standing.
Grade B : Apprentices of more than one year’s and less than two years’ stand
ing.
Grade C: Apprentices of more than two years’ and less than three years’
standing.
Apprentices shall receive:
Grade A : $6 per week.
Grade B : $12 per week.
Grade C: $18 per week.
On or about the 15th days of June and November in each year Local No. 10 shall hold
an examination for the purpose of admitting apprentices of grade C to the class of
full-fledged cutters.
After January 1, 1914, the following rule shall be adopted: In each shop there shall
be not more than one apprentice for each five cutters employed, but in case there shall
be less than five cutters employed one apprentice may be employed.
A t least one cutter shall be employed in each shop of members of the association.
D r a p e r s : Not less than $14 per week.
J o i n e r s : Not less than $12 per week.
E x a m i n e r s : Not less than $10 per week.
Sam ple H
ands:
Not less than $14 per week;
Not more than one assistant to each four sample hands.
I ro n ers:
Women not less than $12 per week;
Men not less than $15 per week.
An increase of a dollar per week in the minimum scale after the agreement shall
have been in force for one year.
P ressers:
Not less than $20 per week.
An increase of $2 per week in the minimum scale after the agreement shall have
been in force for one year.
D r e s s m a k e r F i n i s h e r s : Not less than $8 p er w e e k .
P l a in F in is h e r s :
Sewing hooks and eyes, four for 1 cent.
Sewing patent hooks and eyes, four for 1 cent.
Sewing ordinary buttons, six for 1 cent.
Sewing self-shank buttons, three for 1 cent.
Sewing belts, two for 1 cent.
Basting bottom of skirts, 2 cents each.
Sewing in belts, 2 cents each.
But in no case less than $8 per week for 50 hours’ work, after one week’s trial.
304
L
ace
BULLETIN 0 F THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
R u n n e r s — T u c k e r s — B u tto n h o le
S e t t in g — C l o s in g
and
H
M a k e rs— B u tto n
S e w in g — S le e v e
e m m in g :
Pending investigation b y the wage-scale board for the purpose of establishing
standards for lace running, buttonhole making, button sewing,, sleeve setting
closing and hemming, and tucking, shall be settled as to prices in each shop
b y the piece-price committee and the employer, and in the event of controversy,
the matter shall be settled b y the wage-scale board in the maimer provided fo'
in the protocol for operators.
Op er ato r s:
Operators shall be paid b y the piece the standard price per hour to be fixed aftt
the investigation b y the wage-scale board within six months, and in the mean;
time there shall be the percentages of increase referred to in Paragraph X .
OVERTIME.
Not more than four (4) hours in any one week, nor two (2) hours in any one day
except for cutters, who are allowed to work overtime not more than two and one-half (2J;
hoars in any one day. No overtime between Saturday at 1 p. m. and Monday a S
a. m., except on specials requiring completion b y finishers or pressers for immediate
delivery, and then for not more than two (2) hours. Double pay for overtime (week
workers).
ADDITIONAL INCREASES.
An additional increase of 10 per cent, approximately, shall be granted b y the manu
facturers as soon as a system of certificating garments to the consumer, referred to in
Paragraph II of the annexed protocol, shall have been in operation for one year.
APPENDIX B.
1ST OF FIRMS IN THE DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY OF GREATER
NEW YORK COVERED BY THIS REPORT.
1. ASSOCIATION SHOPS.
braham, Roman & Co.
Adler & Co.
iler & Ast.
>uis Adler,
ivan ce Waist Co.
ero Waist Co.
lco Waist & Dress House,
dolph Alper.
lpern & Co.
u meriean Suit & Dress Co.
American Lady Waist Co.
Ar'erican Shirt Waist Co.
Aririn & Guild.
M. Arluck.
Sam’l Aronson.
Artistic Waist Co.
Artistic Waist & Dress Co.
J. Atkin.
D. Basin.
Bass & Silverman.
Bedford Waist & Dress Co.
Beerman & Frank.
M. B. Behrman.
Besthoff Sonn Co.
Robert Bernhard.
Bijou Waist Co.
M. B lock & Co.
Bloom & Millman.
Em il Biumenthal.
Blumenthal & Co.
M. Brambir.
Brill-Abrams Co.
Brill & Kaplan Co.
S. Brookstone & Sons.
Lane Bryant.
Buchwald & Polak.
E. Cashman Costume Co. (In c.).
Cederbaum & Wassow.
Century Dress Co.
Citron Bros.
Daniel Cohen.
Henry Cohen & Co.
H. Cohen & Co.
J. & M. Cohn.
Costuma & Zimetbaum.
Crans, Shane & Scherr.
Crescent Costume Co.
Dallet & W eyl.
Danziger & Sanville.
Davis & Ginsberg.
Casper Davis & Son.
Ben. S. Deutsch.
Dicker & Ginsberg.
A. W. Drubin & Kantrowitz Co.
The Drubin Co.
Eclipse Silk Waist Co.
Mar. Edison.
J. 6 S. Elisberg.
42132°— Bull. 146—14------20
Embroidered Garment Co.
Empire Waist Co.
Ess K ay Waist Co.
A. & H. Evalenko.
E xcel Mfg. Co.
Famous Waist Co.
Fashion Garment Co.
Leo Feinberg.
Feldman Bros.
Wm. Fels (In c.).
Felsenthal Bros.
Fem bach & Schulman.
Feinman Bros.
Leo Finkenberg.
Flan & Rosner.
Sam’l Floersheimer & Bros.
The Floersheimer Co.
B. Frank.
B. N. Frank.
Frank Bros. & Barsha.
Frank & Bauer.
Frankenthal Bros.
Frechtel Bros.
J. L. Friedman.
Freitag & Keim.
John Fried.
Friedman & Mally.
Jonas Fuld.
Gaiety Waist Co.
B. Geist & Co.
Henry George & Bosenbaum Co.
Ginsberg Bros.
J. Glockner & Co.
J. W. Goetz.
J. Goldberg.
Goldman Costume Co.
Goldschmidt & Co.
Henry Goldstein & Co.
Nathan Goldstein & Co.
M. & E. Goodman.
I. Goodstein.
Gotham Waist Co.
Grauer & Avedon.
Max Greenberg & Co.
Greenberg, Weiner & Co.
Greenwald, Friedman
Co.
Sol. Gross & Co."
Gross & Weiss.
Sam’l Grossman.
Albert Harris.
Benjamin Height.
Geo. C. Heimerdinger Co.
Max Held (In c.).
I. Heller & Co.
H. Himmelstein.
Hirsch & Cohen.
Hirsch-Cohen-Wise Co.
Hirschberg & Kohn.
305
306
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOE STATISTICS.
Hollow & Perlow.
Holtzman & Weinstein.
Hommel Manufacturing Co.
H opf & Daxon.
Horwitz & Horwitz.
Howard & Dennis (In c.).
Howard Ladies’ Apparel Manufacturing
Co.
I. B. Hyman Co. (In c.).
Ideal Rose Waist Co.
Chas. Iger & Bros.
Immergut & Drucker.
Imperial Dress Co.
Integrity Garment Manufacturing Co,
International Manufacturing Co.
Iris Waist Co.
Joel Isaacs & Sons.
I. X . L. Waist Co.
E. A. Jackson.
Nathan H. Jacobson & Co.
H. Jacoby & Co.
Jaffy & Barnett.
Kabat Bros.
Kolm , Weiss & Feig.
J. Kaplon.
Max Kass.
Kastner & Lewison.
Kaufman Costume Co.
Kaufman, Gladstone & Co.
Kayanee Waist & Dress Co.
King, Davidson & Co.
K lein Bros.
K lubock & Silverberg.
Regina Kobler.
K ondell Bros.
Krugman & Peltz
Kupfer Bros. Co.
Kurzrok Bros.
Lahm & Deutz.
La Rose Waist Co.
Lask Manufacturing Co.
Lowell Dress Co.
Lefcourt & Brenner.
I. Lefkowitz.
Leibowitz Bros.
Louis Leiserson.
Lenox Dress Manufacturing Co.
Nathan Lepow & Son.
Lesser-Kalb Manufacturing Co.
Levine & Marcus Co.
M. Levy.
Graber, Lipshitz & Adelson.
I. Lipshitz.
Litwin & Diamond.
Maisner & Co.
Majestic Dress Co.
Larry J. Margulies.
Markowitz Waist Co.
Mayer & Ikelheimer.
Mayfair Waist Co.
Melman Bros.
A. B. Mergentheim & Co.
Meyer Bros.
Mitchell, Bloch & Kronenberg.
Mikola & Bro.
M itchell & Weber.
M itnick & Canaan.
Model Waist & Dress Co.
Monarch Waist & Dress Co.
Geo. H. Montrose & Co.
Jos. A. Morris & Co.
Murphy Waist House.
Mutual Waist & Dress Co.
M. I. Nathan (In c.).
National Dress Co.
National Shirt Wraist Co.
Newport Waist Co.
J. Opoznauer & Co.
Oriental Shirt Waist & Dress Co.
Paramount Manufacturing Co.
Parisian Dress Co.
Parisian Manufacturing Co.
H. J. Pasternak.
Perlman Bros.
M. Perlman.
Phoenix Waist Co.
G. M. Piermont & Co.
Pioneer Ladies’ Garment Co.
Princess Shirt Waist Co.
Princess Waist Co.
Propp & Gerrick.
Queen Manufacturing Co.
Kabinowitz Bros.
M. Rabinowitz.
S. Rakusin & Co.
Rapp-Jelenko Co.
Regent Waist Co.
Reliance Waist Co.
M. & H. Rentner.
Rosen Bros.
Joseph Rosenberg.
Rosenmeyer & Diamond.
Rosenthal Bros. Co.
Sig. Rosenthal.
B. Rosenwasser & Co.
Ph. Rosenwasser.
Milius Rothfeld & Co.
Rothstein & Rothstein.
Royal Dress Co.
Sachs & Freed.
Sansome & Gotlieb.
Shlang & Co.
Schleif & Greenberg.
Schmidt, Raym ond & Co.
B. Schenfeld.
Schulman & Isaacs.
David Schustack & Co.
Seeligman & Stern.
G. & B. Seid & Co.
Sachs & Kessler.
Senner & Kaplan.
Shanley Dress Co.
M. Sobel.
Sherr Bros.
Shulsky Bros.
Siegel-Foster-Adair Co.
A. Schwartz & Co.
M. Schwartz.
Siegel-Foster Co.
Siegel & Solomon.
Chas. F. Siemons.
Silverman & Becker.
S. Simon <fc Co.
Siren Manufacturing Co.
I. B. Skudowitz.
Smith & Meyer.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT IN DKESS AND WAIST INDUSTKY.
Solomon, Benedikt & Co.
Solomon & Meltzer.
Son & Ash.
Arthur H. Spiro.
Spiegelman & Gottlieb.
Star Dress Manufacturing Co.
David Stein.
Stein & Perlman.
Alfred Stern Co.
Sterngold & Brill.
M. Stern & Co.
t Item & Frances.
£1. Sternberg.
Superior Waist Co.
Tiptop Waist & Dress Co.
Triangle Waist Co.
^utelman Bros.
>avid Ullman.
Jniversal Waist Co.
Venus Costume Co.
Waldorf Waist Co.
Wallach Bros.
Aaron Webster.
Martin H. W eil & Co.
^ e i l & Hoey.
I^eiler Bros.
Arthur M. Weiner.
Sam’ l Weintraub.
Jos. Weisman.
M. Weisman & Sons.
Jos. Wien.
Wiesen & Goldstein.
Windsor Manufacturing Co.
E. D. Winter & Co.
H . Wolpert & Co.
Jesse Woolf & Otto B. Shulhof.
Yankee Waist Co.
Yorkville Dress Co.
2. NONASSOCIATION UNION SHOPS.
A. D. Abrahams Co.
Alsfrom Bros. & Gottfried.
Alton Dress House.
American Beauty Waist Co.
American Waist & Garment Co.
Arlington Dress Co.
Chas. Ashendorf.
B. B. Manufacturing Co.
A. Bandersky.
The Bell Dress House.
Overman & Freidman.
erger & Koeppel.
iack & Silverman.
Bomzer & Freedman.
Belmont Waist Co.
D. Bendersky.
Ben wit Costume Co.
Berkly Dress Co.
J. Berman.
L. Berman & Co.
Boston Dress Co.
Brenner Bros.
3rown & Ginsburg.
ull Moose Dress Co.
ill Moose Tucking Co.
xezer Canter.
R. II. Casale.
Clever Waist Co.
H. Cohen.
Cohen Bros.
L. Cohen.
Cohen & Ginsburg.
Cohen & Levinson.
Claremont Waist Co.
Columbia Waist Co.
Cosmopolitan Dress Co.
Countess Dress Co.
Crescent Waist Co.
L. Corin.
Jos. Damoras.
Diamond-Hammer.
I. Dicker.
Dolowitz Tea Gown.
Drachlis & Spivack.
Ehronson & Deutch.
Electra Dress Co.
Ellis, Solomon & Co.
H. Ensler.
A. Epstein.
Eureka Waist Co.
Everight Waist & Dress Co.
Excellent Manufacturing Co.
Fair Waist Co.
Favorite Waist & Dress Co.
H . Feldstein.
Field & Samuel.
L. Finkelstein.
Chas. J. Fishel.
Frances Manufacturing Co.
Frankel Coat & Dress Co.
French Dress Co.
Woolfe Futeransky & Sons.
Giant Waist Co.
M. Ginsberg.
Ginsberg & Rosen.
Glassburg & Milnick.
Globe Dress & Suit Co.
Gabbe, Block & Co.
Gold Bros.
L. Goldberg.
Goldberg & Sonim.
J. Goldstein.
Jacob Gold wine.
Good Wear Dress Co.
L. Goodman.
Gottfried & Schwartz.
G r e e n b e r g U g ilo w .
Greenwald & Fegelman.
Gross Bros.
Groshberg & Felstein.
Guaranty Dress Co.
Halper & Freidman.
Max S. Halpern.
M. Halpern.
Halpern Bros.
Heimler Bros.
Abraham Hammar.
Adolph Hays & Co.
Hecht, Lerner & Rosenbaum.
Herald Dress & Waist Co.
Herzenstein Bros.
H ilf Costume Co.
Hirst & Miller.
Hirshkowitz & Rubenstein.
Hirshner & Schwartz.
307
308
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
Harry Hodas.
L. Hoffer.
Hornick & Weiss.
Ideal Tucking Co.
Independent Garment Co.
M. Ingerman & Co.
Ipp & Kwint.
J. R . Waist & Dres3 Co.
Geo. Jacobson.
Juffet & Co.
Justright Waist Co.
Eastern Waist Co.
D. Kaplan.
S. Karp.
Kean, Jones & Co.
Kaslin <fc Co.
A . Kitzer.
K lein & Schlecher Waist Co.
K lein & Ungar.
Harry Kottler.
Kram & Match.
S. K eehn & Co.
Ladin Bros.
Landau & Solan.
Lang & Lang.
Laxer Bros.
Laxer & Sandberg.
Lehman & Speetor.
Leighter Bros.
Lem chick & Co.
M. Leonard.
H. Lepow.
E. Lerner.
Levine Bros.
Levine & Harris.
Levine & Katz.
Levine & Keller.
Lichtman Waist Co.
L ev y Bros.
Long Island Waist Co.
Lucerne Waist Co.
Manhattan Tucking Co.
Harry Manson.
Mermaid Waist Co.
Metropolis Waist Co.
Metropolitan Dress Co.
Henry J. Meyers.
Miller Shirt Waist Co.
Jos. Mirsky.
Modern Dress Co.
Mitnick.
Chessen & Zeitlin.
Moskowitz*& Priest.
Mutual Waist Co.
McLane, Karll & L evy Co.
Nathans & Nathans.
Nelson, Burstein & Gussow.
Niagara Waist & Dress Co.
Morris Nikola.
M. Nomas.
N. Y . M iddy Blouse Co.
O lym pic Waist & Dress Co.
Onica Dress Co.
Original Waist & Dress Co.
Pacific Waist Co.
S a m i Pacs.
Peerless Dress & Costume Co.
Peral Waist & Dress Co.
Phreno Dress & Waist Co.
Paragon Dress Co.
Louis Pasachow.
Paskin.
P iccadilly Waist Co.
Piller Bros.
Plaza Waist & Dress Co.
Benj. Pollick.
Popular Manufacturing Co.
S. Posner.
Queensboro Waist Co.
Regal Waist Co.
A. Rapj>aport & Co.
R ay Waist & Dress House.
Rhinrock.
Rosenberg Tucking Co.
Robins Dress Co.
Roman & Bloom.
Rosebud Mfg. Co.
R oth & Brodsky.
Rothrosen Bros.
R oyal Dress Co.
L. Salesky.
Selsky Bros.
Savoy Waist Co.
Schlessel & Wilner.
J. Schlesinger & Co.
Phillip Schwartz.
Schwartz Bros.
Schwartz & Jiengman.
J. Schapiro.
Schapiro & Co.
Louis Schapiro.
Shapiro, Rothm an & Co.
Silverman & Slavitz.
I. Simpson.
Solomon & Steiner.
Sorin & Rappaport.
W . Simon.
Solomon & Silverstein.
Speigelman & Michelson,
Stanley Dress Co.
I. Stegman.
Standard Dress Co.
H. Steinberg.
Stelscn & Co.
I. Steinberg & Co.
J. Stein.
Stern & Cohen.
Stone Bros.
Samuel Striefer.
Sun Dress Co.
Supreme Waist Co.
Surprise Dress Co.
M. Sussman.
M. Treuhold.
Victoria Waist Co.
Wechsler Bros.
Weinberg Bros.
Nathan Weinberg.
Weinberg & Weinman.
Welfare Waist Co.
W ell Designed Waist Co.
Weisenthal Tucking Co.
H. W olf.
M. Zeffer & Cross.
Zigler Bros.
INDEX.
Apprentices, registration of........................................................................................................................
183
Association ana nonassociation shops:
Employees in, making low-graae and high-grade garments, number and per cent o f....................24,25
Employees in, number and per cent of, by occupations...................................................................
26
Employees in 260 shops, number of, each week, 1912........................................................................
158
Firms, list of, covered by present report........................................................................................ 305—308
Males and females, number and per cent of, employed in, by occupations.................................... 27-30
- Shops employing each classified number of employees, number and per cent of...........................
23
Union shops of each class, comparison of........................................................................................... 22-26
Wages, amount of, paid by, each week, 1912.....................................................................................
159
Assorters:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in, by sex........................27-29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex....................................... 31-33,36,37
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified rate of......................................
105
Work, sex, and wages of................................................................................................................... 104,105
Basis for piece-rate compensation. (See Piece-rate compensation.)
Body makers, sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of............................................................. 149,150,153-156
Body making, basis of piece-rate compensation.................................................................................... 249-284
Centers.............................................................................................................................................. 267-270
Hemming edges of “ little-skirts’ ’ and joining parts of “ little skirts” ............................................
265
Joining belts to waists...................................................................................................................... 282-284
Joining lace to standing collars..................................................................... ................................... 259,260
Joining “ little skirts ” to waists..................................................................................................... 260-266
Joining “ little skirts,, to waists by a closer......................................................................................
266
Joining parts of back with French seam, forming tuck at same time........................................... 257,258
Joining parts of shoulders with lace beading between................................................................... 251,252
Joining sidepieces to fronts..................................................................................................................
258
Joining yoke beading to backs............................................................................................................. 254
Joining yoke sleeves to fronts or backs with beading between...................................................... 256,257
Joining yokes to fronts or backs with insertions......................................................................... .. 252,253
Joining yokes with lace beading to open fronts or backs, with a shirred seam........................... 255,256
Loss of time............................................................................................... ....................................... 285-288
Ruffles and centers......................................................................................................... ................. 271-273
Setting high collars............................................................................................................................ 279,280
Shirring.............................................................................................................................................. 278,279
Sleeve setting by body makers......................................................................................................... 280-282
Tacking fronts and backs............................................................................................................... 276,277
Vests and flies.................................................................................................................................... 273-275
Buttonhole makers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in..................................... 26-30
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex......................................... 31-33,36-38
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., o f.............................................................................. 149,150,153-155
Wages or earnings, number receiving each classified amount of........................................................
70
Work, sex, and wages o f...................................................................................................................... 68-70
Buttonhole making, basis for piece-rate compensation........................................................................ 233-244
Loss of time in operations................................................................................................................ 288,289
Reece machine............................................................................................................................ 239,243,244
Singer machine.................................................................................................................... 233-238,240-243
Button sewers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in ..................................... 26-29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex........................................ 31-33,36-38
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of.................................
71
Work, sex, and wages of...................................................................................................................... 70,71
L itton sewing, basis of piece-rate compensation.................................................................................. 244-249
g tton sewing, loss of time in operations.................................................................................................. 289
iners:
Y Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in ..................................... 26-29
Persons employed as, number and per cent of, in entire industry...................................................
22
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex................ *..................... 31-33,36^38
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of.............................................................................. 149,150,153-155
Wages, number and per cent receiving each classified rate o f ...................................................... 108,109
Work, sex, and wages of................................................................................................................... 106-109
Closers and hemmers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in......................................26-29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex........................................ 31-33,36-38
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of.............................................................................. 149,150,153-155
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of.................................
73
Work, sex, and wages of....................................................................................................................... 71-73
Closing, basis of piece-rate compensation.............................................................................................. 226-230
Closing, loss of time in operations of........................................................................ .................................
288
ntracting and partnerships.................................................................................................................. 145-157
309
310
INDEX.
Cutters:
^ agf
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in..................................... 26-:
Hours per week, number and per cent working each classified number of, during busiest week
in the year..........................................................................................................................................
Persons employed as, number and per cent of, in entire industry...................................................
2
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex......................................... 31-33,36-3&
Wages, number and per cent receiving each classified rate of...................................................... 114,115
Work, sex, and wages of.................................................................................................................... 109-115
Drapers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in ..................................... 26-29
Persons employed as, number and per cent of, in entire industry...................................................
22
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex......................................... 31,32,36,38
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of............................................................................... 149,150,153-155
Wages, number and per cent receiving each classified rate of....................................................... ..
120
Work, sex, and wages of.................................................................................................................. 115-120
Dressmakers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in ..................................... 26-29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex.............................................. 31,32,36
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of............................................................................... 149,150,153-156
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of................................
75
Work, sex, and wages of.......................................................................................................................73-75
Earnings or wages:
Pieceworkers.........................................................................................................................................
16
Week workers, not provided for in the protocol................................................................................ 15,16
Week workers, provided for in the protocol....................................................................................... 12-15
Earnings. (See also Wages or earnings, employees receiving each classified amount of.)
Embroiderers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in..................................... 27,28
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex........................................ 31,32,36,3?
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of............................................................................... 149,150,153-15f
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of................................
12?
Work, sex, and wages of................................................................................................................... 120-123
Employees and shops covered by present report.............................................. . ....................................20-22
Employees and wages, seasonal rise and fall......................................................................................... 162-172
Employees other than operators, work, sex, and wages o f............... ................................................. 104-145
Assorters......................................................................................... ...................................................104,105
Cleaners.............................................................. ............................................................................... 106-109
Cutters................................................................................................................................................ 109-115
Drapers........................... ...................................................................................................................115-120
Embroiderers..................................................................................................................................... 120-123
Examiners.......................................................................................................................................... 123-126
Finishers............................................................................................................................................126-132
Ironers and pressers...........................................................................................................................132-141
Joiners.......................................................................................................................... ....................141-14*'
Markers............................................................................................................................................... 143,1*
Slopers....................................................................................................................................................
1^
Employment among week workers and pieceworkers.......................................................................... 172-1^
Employment and wages, fluctuations in, in 1912.................................................................................. 160-r.
Employment, regularity of.................................................................................................... ,1 8 ,1 9 ,1 5 7 - 1 '
Examiners:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent of....................................................... 26-5
Persons employed as, number and per cent of, in entire industry...................................................
x.
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, bv sex.........................................31-33,36-?
Wages, number and per cent receiving each classified rate o f ...................................................... 125,1 i
Work, sex, and wages of............. ................................................................................................. . - 123-*:?
Finishers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in....................................... 26^
Persons employed as, number and per cent of, in entire industry.....................................................
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex.......................................... 31-33,
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., o f............................................................................... 149,150,153- 7
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of...................... 13,131,
Work, sex, and wages of................................................................................................................ ..
Firms, list of, covered by present report................................................................................................305" iq
Fluctuations in wages and employment, in 1912............................................................. 160,167,168,173,
Hemmers and closers. (See Closers and hemmers.)
Hemming, basis o f piece-rate compensation.........................................1................................................ 222~^7
Hemstitchers:
„
,
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed m..................................... 2fr?*
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex.......................................... 31,32,36^
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of................................
Work, sex, and wages o f..................................................................- ....................................................75
Hours of labor:
nj
During busiest week iii the year.......................................................................................................176, «>
Effect of protocol on...................................................................................................................... - - - •
Overtime............................................................................................................................................
Pieceworkers...................................................................................................................................... Week workers.....................................................................................................................................
'S q
Ironers and pressers:
, .
• , tx
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed m.....................................2k- k>
Persons employed as, number and per cent of, in entire industry...................................................4
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex.........................................31-33,
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., o f............................................................................ 149,150,153Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of..........................13,138Work, sex, and wages o f................................................................................................................... *32-1
INDEX.
311
ors:
Pags.
Association and nonassociation shpps, number and per cent employed in................. ......................26-29
Persons employed as, number and per cent of, in entire industry. / . ................................................
22
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex............................................ 31,32,36
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., o f............................................................................ 149,150,153-156
Wages, number and per cent receiving each classified rate of.......................................................... 13,143
Work, sex, and wages o f ................................................................................................................... 141-143
Label, white protocol, adoption of.................................................................................... ..................... 185,186
Lace runners:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in..................................... 26-29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex...................................... 31-33,36-38
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., o f.............................................................................. 1i9,150,153-156
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount o f................................
78
Work, sex, and wages of........................................................................................................................ 77,78
Lace running, basis of piece-rate compensation.................................................................................... 217-222
Cloth on top ...........................................................................................................................................
218
Joining lace to lace................................................................................................................................
218
Joining 1ace to sleeves...........................................................................................................................
222
Joining ruffledlace edging to lace insertion.............................. ..........................................................
222
Joining voile and net strips...................................................................................................................
222
Lace on to p ............................................................................................................................................
218
List o f firms covered by present report................................................................................................... 305-308
Loss of time in operations of—
Body making..................................................................................................................................... 285-288
Buttonhole making........................................................................................................................... 288,289
Button sewing.......................................................................................................................................
289
Closing....................................................................................................................................................
288
Short tucking......................................................................................................................................... 288
Sleeve setting......................................................................................... ...............................................
288
Strip hemming......................................................................................................................................
288
Strip tucking.
Manufacturers, advantages to, of subcontracting................................................................................... 146,147
Markers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in....................................... 27,29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex....................................... 31-33,36-38
Wages, number and per cent receiving each classified rate o f...........................................................
144
Work, sex, and wages o f................................................................................................................... 143* 144
Nonoperators. (See Employees other than operators, work, sex, and wages of.)
Occupations, number of workers in, specified..........................................................................................26-30
Occupations of operators............................................................................................................................. 43,44
Operators and nonoperators employed in association and nonassociation shops, number and per
cent of........................................................................................................................................................26-29
Operators and nonoperators who are pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by
sex................................................................................................................................................... 31-33,36-38
Operators:
Buttonhole makers............................................................................................................................... 68-70
Button sewers....................................................................................................................................... 70,71
Classes of, and number of, covered by present report.........................................................................
44
Closers and hemmers............................................................................................................................ 71-73
Dressmakers............................................................................. ........................................................... 73-75
Hemstitchers......................................................................................................................................... 75-77
Lace runners..........................................................................................................................................77,78
Occupations of.......................................................................................................................................43,44
Operators not specified...................................................................................................................... 99-104
Operators not specified, sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of....................................... 149,150,153-156
Persons employed as, number and per cent of, in entire industry...................................................
22
Sample makers......................................................................................................................................79,80
Skirt operators.......................................................................................................................................80-83
Sleeve makers........................................................................................................................................83-85
Sleeve setters.........................................................................................................................................85-87
Trimmers..............................................................................................................................................87-89
Tuckers.................................................: ......................................................................... ......................93-93
ages, comparison of, in 1912 and 1913...................- ..........................................................................63-68
Wages, comparison of, of men and women operators in association and nonassociation shops.. 49-53
Wages, comparison of, of men and women operators in shops making cheap and high-grade gar
ments.................................................................................................................................................. 53-63
Wages, comparison of, of men and women operators in the industry as a whole.....................45-48
Wages of..................................................................................................................... '..........................44-68
Waist operators..................................................................................................................................... 93-99
‘perators, employees other than. (See Employees other than operators, work, sex, and wages of.)
vertime....... ........ ................................................................................................................................. 177-180
artnerships and contracting................................................................................................................. 145-157
*ay roll, uniform.............; .........................................................................................................................
185
iece-rate compensation:
Adjustment of, under the protocol.................................................................................................. 189,190
Basis for............................................................................................................................................. 193-197
Body making..................................................................................................................................... 249-284
Buttonhole making........................................................................................................................... 233-244
Button sewing.................................................................................................................................. 244-249
Closing................................................................................................................................................ 226-230
Hemming........................................................................................................................................... 222-225
Lace running..................................................................................................................................... 217-222
Sleeve setting by sleeve setters..................................................................................*.................. .. 230-233
Standardizationof............................................................................................................................ 189-308
Tucking............................................................................................................................. ................ 197-216
Uniform schedule of..........................................................................................................................186,187
Piecework. (See Week work and piecework.)
312
IN D E X .
Pf
Pieceworkers and week workers, employment among......................................................................... 172Pieceworkers, earnings o f.......................................................................................................................
16
Pieceworkers, hours of work of................................................................................................ .............. 180,181
Pressers and ironers. (See Ironers and pressers.)
Protocol of peace, in dress and waist industry, effect of, on—
Hours of work....................................................................................................................................... 16-18
Piece rates, adjustment of................................................................................................................. 189,190
Subcontracting................................................................................................................... .................
19
Wages..................................................................................................................................................... 9-16
Week work and piecework, extent of..................................................................................................36-39
Protocol of peace, text of........................................................................................................................ 299-304
Reece machine, buttonhole making................................................................................................. 239,243,244
Registration o f apprentices.........................................................................................................................
183
Regularity of employment................... ......................................................................................... 18,19,157-176
Sample makers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in.................................... 26-29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex......................................... 31-33,36-38
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., o f............................................................................. 149,150,153-156
Wages, number and per cent receiving each classified rate of.................................................... 13,80,81
Work, sex, and wages of....................................................................................................................... 79 80
Scale of weekly wages, graduated.......................................................................................................... 182,183
Scope of present inquiry................................................................................................................ 20-39,190-193
Seasonal rise and fall in number of employees and in wages................................................................ 162-172
Sets or teams of workers:
Earnings of......................................................................................................................................... 154-157
Sex of workers................................................................................................................................... 152-154
Size of................................................................................................................................................. 149-152
Shops and employees covered by present report...................................................................................... 20-22
Short tucking, loss of time in operations o f..............................................................................................
288
Singer machine, buttonhole making......................................................................................... 233-238,240-243
Skirt operators:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in......................... ...........26-29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex......................................... 31,32,36,38
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of............................................................................... 149,150,153-156
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of................................
83
Work, sex, and wages of.......................................................................................................................80-83
Sleeve makers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in ..................................... 26-29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex........................................ 31-33,36-38
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of............................................................................... 149,150,153-156
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of............... ................
85
Work, sex, and wages of.......................................................................................................................83-85
Sleeve setters:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in......................................26-29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex......................................... 31-33,36-38
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of..................................... ......................................... 149,150,153-156
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of................................
87
Work, sex, and wages of...................................................................................................................... 85-87
Sleeve setting by sleeve setters, basis of piece-rate compensation............................................... ........ 230-233
Sleeve setting, loss of time in operations of...............................................................................................
288
Slopers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in......................................27-29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex............................................... 31,32,36
Wages, number and per cent receiving each classified rate of...........................................................
14'
Work, sex, and wages of.......................................................................................................................
1
Standardization of piece rates................................................... .............................................................. 189-3
Strip hemming, loss of time in operations of.........................................................................................
2
Strip tucking, loss of time in operations of........................................................................................... .
2,
Subcontracting:
Advantages of, to manufacturers..................................................................................................... 146,1
Decline of.............................................................................................................................. ................
1
Disadvantages of............................................................................................................................... 147,1
Effect of protocol on..........................................................................................................................
Partnerships and................................................................................................................................ 145-1;
Teams or sets of workers:
Earnings of......................................................................................................................................... 154-l.r
Sex...................... ........... ................................................................................................................... 152-1.
Size o f................................................................................................................................................ 149-lf
Trade school.............................................................................................................................................
1
Trimmers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in................................... . 26Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex........................................ 31-33,36Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of............................................................................... 149,150,153-1 ‘
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of................................ 88, *
Work, sex, and wages o f.......................................................................................................................87-'
Tuckers:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in ..................................... 26-i
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex......................................... 31-33,36-c
Sets or teams of, size, earnings, etc., of............................................................................... 149,150,153-1'
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of................................ 92,
Work, sex, and wages of.......................................................................................................................90-
INDEX.
313
Page.
Tucking, basis of piece-rate compensation............................................................................................. 197-216
Chiffon versus cotton............................................................................................................................
201
Double tucks..................................................................................................................................... 211,212
Short tucking..................................................................................................................................... 206-211
Short tucking on a multiple-needle Singer machine.......................................................................213-216
Singer 1-needle machine.......................................................................................................................
213
Singer 4-needle machine.......................................................................................................................
205
Singer 5-needle machine.......................................................................................................................
205
Singer 8-needle machine.......................................................................................................................
206
Strip tucking..................................................................................... j............................................... 198-206
W ilcox & Gibbs machine..........................................................................................; ...................... 208-211
Union shops, list of firms covered by present report............................................................................ 305-308
Wages ana regularity of employment, introduction and summary........................................................ 7-19
Wages or earnings:
Amount of, paid in 260 shops, each week in 1912...............................................................................
159
Association and nonassociation shops, effect in, of protocol on........................................................ 9-12
Assorters................................................................................................................................................
105
Buttonhole makers............................................................................................................................... 69,70
Button sewers.............................................. ........................................................................................ 70,71
Cleaners.............................................................................................................................................. 106-109
Closers and hemmers..... , .....................................................................................................................72,73
Cutters................................................................................................................................................ 112-115
Drapers............................................................................................................................................... 117-120
Dressmakers......................................................................................................................................74,75
Embroiderers..................................................................................................................................... 121-123
Employees, seasonal rise and fall in number of, and in amount of............................................... 162-172
Employment and, fluctuations in, in 1912.........................................................................................
160
Examiners......................................................................................................................................... 124-126
Finishers, pieceworkers............................................................................................................... 128,129,132
Finishers, week workers...................................................................................................... 127,128,130,131
Hemstitchers......................................................................................................................................... 76,77
Ironers and pressers........................................................................................................................... 133~J41
Joiners................................................................................................................................................ 142,143
Lace runners.........................................................................................................................................
78
Markers............................................................................................................................................... 143? 144
Method of obtaining wage data...........................................................................................................39,40
Method of presentation of wage data................................................ ................................................ . 40-43
Operators not specified, female...................................................................................................99-101,103
Operators not specified, male.................................................................................................... 100,102,104
Operators, pieceworkers, female......................................................................................................... 57,58
Operators, pieceworkers, male.............................................................................................................
58
Operators, pieceworkers, male and female.................................................................................... 47,50,51
Operators, pieceworkers, male and female, on $9-per-dozen garments.............................................
48
Operators, week workers, female........................................................................................................
54
Operators, week workers, male...........................................................................................................
55
Operators, week workers, male and female....................................................................................... 45,49
Operators, week workers, male and female, on $9-per-dozen garments.....................................
47
Pieceworkers and week workers, per cent of women receiving $10 per week and over..................
68
Sample makers.......................... ....................... - ................................................................................. 79,80
Scale of, graduated, weekly............................................................................................................ . 182,183
Skirt operators................................................................................ - .............................................- - - - 81-83
Sleeve makers....................................................................................................................................... 84,85
Sleeve setters.........................................................................................................................................86,87
Slopers...................................................................................................................................................
145
Trimmers...................: ............................. ...........................................................................................87-89
Tuckers..................................................................................................................................................90-93
Waist operators........................................................................ ........................................................... 95-99
Week workers, not provided for in the protocol................................................................................ 15,16
Week workers, provided for in the protocol....................................................................................... 12-15
Waist hemming, loss of time in operations of...........................................................................................
288
Waist operators:
Association and nonassociation shops, number and per cent employed in ..................................... 26-29
Pieceworkers and week workers, number and per cent of, by sex....................................... 31-33,36-38
Wages or earnings, number and per cent receiving each classified amount of................................ 95-99
Work, sex, and wages of...................................................................................................................... 93-99
Week work and piecework:
Employees paid by, in each of specified occupations........................................................................ 30-34
Extent of, prior to the protocol........................................................................................................... 36-39
Relative advantages of.........................................................................................................................35,36
Relation of sex to ................................................................................................................................. 34,35
Week workers and pieceworkers, employment among......................................................................... 172-176
@FedFRASER