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UNITED STATES DEPARTM ENT OF LABOR
Frances Perkins, Secretary
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Isador Lubin, Commissioner (on leave)
A . F. Hinrichs, Acting Commissioner

+

W ages in Rubber M anufacturing Industry
A u gu st 1942

By H. M . Douty
DIVISION OF WAGE ANALYSIS

Robert J. Myers, Chief

Bulletin T^o. 737
[Reprinted from the M onthly Labor Review ,
February and March 1943]

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1943

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U . S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D. C. - Price 10 cents




CO NTENTS

Page

Part 1.— Tire and tube division:
Summary____________________________________________________________
Some characteristics of the industry:
Concentration and competition___________________________________
Location of the industry_________________________________________
Unionization_____________________________________________________
Labor productivity____________________________________________
Effect of the war_________________________________________________
Scope and method of survey__________________________________________
Methods of wage payment___________________________________________
Occupational earnings, August 1942__________________________________
Character of occupational wage data_____________________________
Average hourly earnings by occupation, August 1942___________
Earnings in fabrication of rubber war products_________________
Variations in regional wage levels________________________________
Trend of employment, hours, and earnings, 1939 to 1942___________
Part 2.— Mechanical rubber goods:
Summary____________________________________________________________
Some characteristics of the industry:
Products, size of plant, and concentration of control___________
Location of the industry_______________________________________
Unionization____________________________________________________
Character of the labor force______________________________
Effect of the war________________________________________________
Scope and method of survey_______________________________________
Methods of wage payment_________________________________________
Occupational earnings and regional wage levels, August 1942__________
Earnings by occupation__________________________________________
Regional wage levels in primary mechanical-goods plants_________
Trend of employment, hours, and earnings, 1939 to 1942___________
Earnings by size of plant and unionization____________________________

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

U nited States D epartment of L abor,
B ureau of L abor Statistics,

Washington, D. <7., March 23, 1943,
The Secretary of L abor:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a report on wages in the
rubber-manufacturing industry, August 1942. A detailed study of
the tire and tube and the mechanical rubber goods branches of the
industry was undertaken by the Bureau at the request of the National
War Labor Board. The survey was designed to provide primary
data for use by the Board in its consideration of wage-dispute cases in
these industry divisions. This report was prepared in the Bureau’s
Division of Wage Analysis by H. M. Douty, with the assistance of
Joseph W. Bloch and W. H. Weidowke.
A. F. H inrichs,

Acting Commissioner.
Hon. F rances P erkins,
Secretary oj Labor.
ii




Bulletin J\[o. 737 of the
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
[Reprinted from the M onthly L abor R ev ie w , February and March 1943]

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY,
AUGUST 1942
Part 1.— T ire and T ube D ivision 1
Sum m ary

THE tire and tube division of the rubber-manufacturing industry,
despite drastic limitation upon the use of rubber for civilian trans­
portation, employed a substantially larger number of workers in 1942
than in 1939. The facilities of the industry are being intensively uti­
lized in the production of a wide variety of rubber articles for direct
military use. Thousands of workers are now engaged in the manufac­
ture of self-sealing fuel tanks for aircraft, barrage balloons, rubber
boats, life rafts, pontoons, and other products required by the armed
forces of the United Nations. Tires and tire products for military and
essential civilian use are being manufactured in important quantities.
Workers in the tire and tube division received average hourly
earnings, exclusive of overtime premium pay and shift differentials,
of almost $1.04 in August 1942. Male factory workers averaged
$1.12 an hour, and the average for women was 75.8 cents. The
highest level of wages was found in the important Akron-Detroit area,
where straight-time earnings averaged almost $1.14 an hour. Workers
in the southern division of the industry averaged 71.4 cents an hour.
These findings are the result of a detailed study of wages in the
tire and tube and mechanical rubber goods branches of the rubber­
manufacturing industry, undertaken by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
at the request of the National War Labor Board. The survey was
designed to provide primary data for use by the Board in its considera­
tion of wage-dispute cases in these industry divisions. The major
portion of rubber-manufacturing employment is found in these two
branches of the industry.
Som e Characteristics o f the Industry
CONCENTRATION AND COMPETITION

* The tire and tube industry is characterized both by marked con­
centration of control and by sharp competition. The industry often is
cited as one in which the benefits of large-scale production and contin­
uous improvement of product have accrued largely to the benefit of
consumers. At the s’ame time, four multiple-plant corporations con­
trol the greater part of the productive capacity of the industry.
Tire and tube manufacture is dominated by the Firestone Tire &
Rubber Co., B. F. Goodrich Co., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and
the United States Rubber Co.— commonly termed the “ Big Four.”
In 1935, each of these four corporations was listed among the 65 largest
industrial corporations in the country, and their combined assets,1
1Sec Part 2 (p. 23) for data on the mechanical rubber goods branch of the industry.




1

2

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

19 42

including foreign investments, amounted to over $600,000,000.2
These companies in 1935 employed 79.9 percent of the wage earners
and accounted for 80.9 percent of the value of product in this division
of the rubber industry. The acquisition of new plants since 1935
and the decrease in the number of independent establishments
probably has increased the extent to which production in the industry
is controlled by the Big Four.
Some measure of the present importance of the four major companies
can be derived from data secured by the Bureau in this wage study.
Of the 32 plants surveyed in August 1942, 13 were operated by the
four major companies, and these 13 plants employed 85.2 percent of
the total number of wage earners reported. However, these figures
slightly overstate the relative importance of the four major companies,
since a number of plants, estimated to employ less than 2 percent of
the workers in the industry, were not covered by the survey.
Despite the concentration of production in a few companies, the
industry has been highly competitive. During the past two decades,
prices, profits, and employment have exhibited marked instability.
Competition for the original-equipment trade and for the trade of
large distributors of replacement tires has been severe, and price wars
have been frequent and bitter. A new phase of distribution obviously
began, however, when the Government became the principal consumer
of tires and the only consumer of the special war products that now
constitute an important part of the output of the industry.
LOCATION OF THE IN DU STRY

In the fourth decade of the last century, rubber-manufacturing
plants were established in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode
Island. The industry later spread to other Eastern States, notably
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The Eastern States
remained the dominant area of rubber manufacture until the early
years of the present century, and certain types of rubber goods are
still produced predominantly in the East.3
The importance of Akron and the Middle West in the rubber indus­
try is based largely upon the rise of the middlewestem area as the
major center of automobile production. The original Akron plant
was established in 1870, and still bears the name of one of its founders,
Dr. B. F. Goodrich. Other rubber firms were established in Akron
before the turn of the century. The Akron companies found difficulty
in competing successfully with the older eastern establishments in
rubber footwear and other forms of rubber goods output then of major
significance in the industry, and tended to concentrate, therefore, on
the manufacture of solid carriage tires and pneumatic bicycle tires in
which competition was less severe. When the demand for pneumatic
tires for automobiles began, the small but vigorous Akron firms were
in an advantageous position to secure this new* business.
Tires soon became the mpst important product made of rubber.
Even in 1914, the value of tire production represented almost 49 per­
cent of the value of the total output of the rubber industry. The
importance of Ohio as a center of tire and tube production appears
to have increased until about 1935. After 1935, a number of new
* National Resources Committee, The Structure of the American Economy, Part I (p. 274). Washing­
ton, 1939.
3Galley, John Dean: The Productivity of Labor in the Rubber Tire Manufacturing Industry (pp. 149-175).
New York; Columbia University Press, 1940.




PART 1.— TIRE AND TUBE DIVISION

3

branch factories of major Akron companies were, established outside
of the State, and the position of important competitors of the Akron
firms apparently improved. Moreover, the Ford Motor Co. opened
a tire plant at Dearborn, Mich. These developments combined to
reduce the proportion of workers employed in tire and tube plants in
Ohio from 68.4 percent of the industry total in 1935 to 55.3 percent
in 1939.
At the time of the Bureau’s wage survey in August 1942, however,
employment in Ohio tire and tube plants had climbed to approximately
64 percent of the industry total. This gain in relative position is
accounted for entirely by the almost phenomenal increase in employ­
ment in Akron plants between 1939 and 1942; other Ohio plants, with
one exception, had fewer workers in 1942 than in 1939.
Akron, in any case, remains the dominant rubber-manufacturing
center of the country. The principal plants of Firestone, Goodyear,
and Goodrich are situated there, together with the plants of three
smaller companies/ Half a dozen other tire plants are found in Ohio
outside of Akron, but the combined labor force of these plants does not
equal that in any one of the three big Akron plants.
The largest tire plant of the United States Rubber Co. is in Detroit.
The industry also is represented in Indiana and Illinois. About
three-fourths of the workers in the industry in August 1942 were in
the Middle West.
In the Far West, tire and tube manufacture is carried on chiefly in
Los Angeles. Each of the Big Four has a plant there, the Goodyear
plant dating from 1920. Between 1919 and 1938, the number of
tires built in California increased from less than 1 percent to approxi­
mately 10 percent of the national output.
The eastern tire plants are scattered from Pennsylvania to Massa­
chusetts. The East is somewhat less important than the Far West
in this division of the rubber industry, but somewhat more important
than the South. Two of the three plants in the South are branch
factories of Big Four companies, and the third southern plant is affili­
ated with an eastern tire company. The rise of tire manufacturing in
the South dates from the late 1920’s.
U N ION IZATION

Attempts to unionize the rubber industry prior to 1933 were sporadic
and short lived. The passage of the National Industrial Recovery
Act, however, ushered in a period of vigorous organizational effort.
Initial success was slight. Indeed, it was not until 1937, after the
validation by the Supreme Court of the National Labor Relations
Act, that the United Rubber Workers of America (by this time affili­
ated with the C. I. O.) obtained a written agreement with any of
the large companies. Unionism in the industry obviously has
enjoyed effective recognition for only a few years. The spread of
organization, however, has been rapid. By 1942, the major portion
of the tire and tube division of the industry was operating under the
terms of collective agreements. Akron and Los Angeles are major
centers of union strength.
Twenty-four of the 32 tire and tube plants covered by the present
study reported union agreements with locals of the United Rubber
Workers of America. The United Automobile Workers, also affili­
ated with the C. I. O., exercised collective-bargaining rights in an



4

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST 1 9 4 2

additional plant. No agreements in this division of the industry were
reported with unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.
Independent unions functioned in two plants. Five plants were
operating without union agreements at the time of the wage survey.
It is estimated that at least 80 percent of the workers in the tire and
tube division of the industry are covered tw collective agreements.
The jurisdiction of the United Rubber Workers of America extends
to all incentive or straight-time workers employed in the manufacture
of rubber products or in the metal-fabricating departments and
plants operated by rubber companies. Collective agreements are
usually restricted to the individual plant. The prevalence of incentive
methods of wage payment throughout the industry and frequent
alterations in products and specifications make for constant participa­
tion in wage negotiations. Union locals typically act independently
in adjusting disputes over wage rates. They enjoy likewise a large
measure of independence in negotiating general wage changes.
LABOR PRODU CTIVITY

The various stages in the'manufacture of tires and tubes— prepara­
tion of crude rubber, processing, curing and finishing— are highly
mechanized.4 Although no fundamental changes in technology have
occurred during the past decade, many new devices have been intro­
duced. The extensive application of time and motion study through­
out the industry undoubtedly has played an important role in the
rationalization of production.
Between 1929 and 1940, labor productivity, as measured in physical
terms, increased remarkably in the tire and tube division.6 Average
output per man-hour approximately doubled, and average output per
wage earner increased by almost 62 percent. Stated differently,
production in 1940 was about 10 percent greater than in 1929, and
this output was achieved by the use of about 68 percent as many
workers and only 54 percent of the man-hours necessary in 1929.
Several factors that help to account for the very large gain in labor
productivity over the past decade have already been mentioned.
The cumulative effect of many relatively small technological changes
probably has been great. The wide use of incentive-wage systems,
which in turn involves careful job analysis and tends in general to
stimulate managerial effort, has been important. Over this period,
moreover, a material reduction in the number of plants in the industry
has taken place, and it is reasonable to suppose that production has
been concentrated in the more efficient plants. Some new and superbly
equipped plants have been added to the industiy since 1935.
In terms of technology and production organization, the fabrication
of rubber war products included in the survey stands in sharp contrast
to the fabrication of tires and tubes. The manufacture of these prod­
ucts—barrage balloons, rubber boats, other inflatable products, and
self-sealing fuel tanks— does not appear to lend itself readily to high
mechanization. Moreover, the large-scale production of these prod­
ucts is so recent that production methods are in a state of flux, and
neither precise job classification nor time and motion study had been
undertaken by many, plants at the time of the wage survey. The
4 For a description of the processes in tire and tube manufacture, see U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Bulletin No. 585: Labor Productivity in the Automobile Tire Industry, by Boris Stem, Washington, 1933.
Although this study is 10 years old, the description of basic processes is still valid.
* U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Productivity and Unit Labor Cost in Selected Manufacturing Indus­
tries, 1919-1940 (p. 94). Mimeographed.




PART 1.— TIRE AND TUBE DIVISION

5

separation of stock preparation, assembly, curing, and finishing were
relatively clear cut, but within these stages of fabrication the differenti­
ation of workers by jobs had not, as a rule, proceeded far. This state­
ment, in general, is less true of the production of self-sealing fuel tanks
than of the other products covered.
EFFECT OF THE W A R

Few industries have been affected more decisively by the war than
rubber manufacturing. The major sources of plantation rubber are
in the hands of the enemy, and a tremendous development of synthetic
rubber production is under way to meet the basic raw-material require­
ments of the industry. Production for normal civilian needs has been
largely suspended, except to the extent that such needs fit into the war
production program. The market mechanism as a guide to production
policy has been replaced by governmental controls calculated to secure
the most effective use of available rubber supplies for the war effort.
The production of new rubber products for direct military use has
assumed large proportions.
In view of this, the basic factors affecting rubber manufacture—
rubber supply, use of plant capacity in establishments normally de­
voted largely to the manufacture of tires and tire products, and the
effect of the war on the labor requirements of the industry— are of
great importance.
Rubber Requirements and Raw M aterial Supply

The basic requirements for rubber products in the present situation
have been authoritatively described as follows:
The demands now placed upon us are enormous. Without any allowance
whatsoever for civilian passenger car tires, the estimated requirements for the
year 1943 are 574,000 tons (of crude rubber or its synthetic equivalent). This
contrasts with the total average over-all consumption in the United States before
the war of about 600,000 tons.
We must supply not only the needs of our own armed forces but much of those
of the military machines of our Allies as well. We must equip our busses and
trucks and other commercial vehicles and provide on a large scale specialty items
for such purposes as factory belting, surgical, hospital and health supplies. And
in addition to aU these we must maintain the tires on at least a substantial portion
of our 27,000,000 civilian passenger automobiles. Otherwise an economy geared
to rubber-borne motor transport to an extent not approached elsewhere in the
world will break down.6

The precise quantitative estimates of rubber supply and basic rubber
requirements for the 1942-44 period contained in the report of the
Baruch Committee are unquestionably the best available. It is un­
necessary in this article to discuss these estimates in detail. Barring
a possible shortage of milling, mixing, and tire-building capacity in
1944, all of the crude, synthetic, and reclaimed rubber available for
consumption during this period can be used. The really crucial
question relates to rubber supply, and its answer hinges on the fulfill­
ment of the planned synthetic-rubber production program. The
planned program provides for an output of more than 500,000 tons of
synthetic rubber in 1943 and of more than 900,000 tons in 1944.
These figures gain perspective when viewed against the record con­
sumption of 775,000 tons of crude rubber in 1941.
* Rubber Survey Committee (Bernard M. Baruch, James B. Conant, and Karl T . Compton), Report
September 10,1942 (p. 23).




6

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST 1 9 4 2

It seems reasonable to assume that- the volume of rubber available
for consumption will be sufficiently large to sustain a relatively high
level of employment in rubber manufacturing as a whole in 1943, and
that- in 1944 the labor requirements will be even higher. Available
rubber in 1943, if the planned synthetic program is pushed through,
should be close to the average amount consumed in recent normal
years, and appreciably above this level in 1944. Moreover, the
labor-time used in the processing of a ton of synthetic rubber, at least
at present, is greater than the labor-time required to process a ton of
natural rubber.
Present Use o f Plant Capacity in Tire and Tube Establishments

It was reasonable to anticipate a decline in employment in the tire
and tube division of the industry when normal civilian production was
virtually eliminated. Actually, this anticipated decline in employ­
ment failed to materialize, at least in an acute form. The Bureau’s
index of employment in tire and tube establishments does indicate that
employment during the first 6 months of 1942 was measurably below
the very high plateau attained in the second half of 1941. In no
single month during this period, however, did employment fall below
the average level in 1939. The index began to climb sharply in June
1942, and in August, at the time of the wage survey, employment
was more than 25 percent above the 1939 level. In fact, labor short­
ages had begun to appear in the major tire-producing areas.
The general maintenance of employment in the tire and tube division
may at first glance appear surprising. Tire production did decline
drastically. During the first 4 months of 1942, the output of pneu­
matic tires was only about 26 percent as great as in the corresponding
period in 1939. The publication of tire-production data ceased in
April 1942, and the level of output in August, at the time of the survey,
may well have exceeded the level for the first 4 months of the year.
It should be noted, in any case, that the measurement of production
in terms of number of units probably understates the importance of
tire output in the first 4 months of 1942 as compared with correspond­
ing periods for earlier years. Rubber tonnage consumed would be a
better measure. The 1942 output undoubtedly consists of a larger
proportion of heavy-duty tires than in normal periods. It is probable,
therefore, that man-hour requirements for tire production did not
fall so drastically as the production figures would indicate. Moreover,
retreading and other forms of tire reconditioning undoubtedly helped
to cushion the effects of the decline in tire output in some plants.
It is not possible, from the information obtained in the survey, to
indicate in any detail the adjustments made by the tire and tube
division of the industry to the changes growing out of the war. A
rough picture can be drawn, however, of production at the time of
the wage survey in August 1942.
(a)
Tire plants were still producing tires. During the course of the
wage survey, one or two plants were discovered in which the produc­
tion of tires had been replaced entirely in recent months by some other
form of rubber output. These plants represent highly exceptional
cases. Although almost all tire plants continue to manufacture tires
and tubes, the relative importance of these products has, of course,
declined. Twenty-three plants, however, reported that the value of
their tire and tube output in August 1942 represented at least 60




PART 1.— TIRE AND TUBE DIVISION

7

percent of the value of their total output in that month. These plants,
on the whole, are relatively small, and accounted for only 31.4 percent
of the total employment in all tire plants covered by the survey. Nine
plants, on the other hand, reported that tire and tube production
represented less than 60 percent of the value of their total output in
August 1942. These plants employed 68.6 percent of the total num­
ber of workers found in all tire and tube establishments.
(b) The war created an enormous demand for certain types of
rubber products not normally produced in large volume. Some of
the tire and tube plants were able to move swiftly into the production
of the required military products. At the time of the survey, thou­
sands of workers were employed on self-sealing fuel tanks, barrage
balloons, rubber boats, pontoons, and other rubber products designed
for direct military use. Slightly more than half of the plants— 18 out
of 32— reported some production of special war products. In 8 of
these plants, 20 percent or more of the value of output in August 1942
was accounted for by the production of such goods. These 8 plants
employed 58.7 percent of the total number of workers in all of the 32
plants.
(c) The output of mechanical rubber goods or of other categories of
rubber products is of appreciable importance in a few plants produc­
ing tires and tubes. The continued production of such goods into the
war period helped to sustain employment in these particular plants.
(d) Conversion of tire and tube plant facilities to the war effort
has not ordinarily taken the form of nonrubber production. In a few
plants, however, extensive machine-shop and other facilities are being
utilized in the manufacture of nonrubber war products. Important
instances of this form of conversion were encountered in the Akron
area.
It should not be inferred from this discussion that the war had no
adverse effect on production and employment in individual plants,
for such is not the case. The adjustment of the industry division as
a whole, however, was remarkably favorable.
Changes in the Labor Force

War conditions have not resulted, to any appreciable extent, in
the use of female labor in tasks performed traditionally by men.
A large influx of female workers and boys has occurred, however, for
fabrication work on special war products.
The preparation of rubber and the manufacture of tires have
always required a moderate amount of skill and considerable physical
stamina in most occupations. The production of heavy tires for
military use has increased rather than diminished the need for male
labor in these departments. At the time of the survey, women
were employed in the processing departments of tire and tube plants
principally as band builders, bead flippers, inspectors, splicers, and
in a scattering of other jobs.
The fabrication of inflatable rubber-fabric products (barrage
balloons, pontoons, rubber boats, life rafts, lift belts, and life jackets)
has by no means reached the ultimate limits of process rationalization.
Many of the operations, however, have been divided into light and
relatively simple tasks, and large numbers of women have been
brought into the departments engaged in the fabrication of these
522810°—43 ---- %




8

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

products. At the time of the wage survey, approximately 80 percent
of the workers engaged in cutting, assembling, testing, and curing
inflatable rubber-fabric products were women. The production of
self-sealing and rubber-covered fuel tanks requires a greater amount
of male labor, but women constituted a substantial proportion (38
percent) of the workers employed in this division. For the most
part, the operations performed in constructing these special products
have no counterpart in the normal operations of the rubber industry.
The specific skill, dexterity, and experience acquired by the workers
appear to have largely, although not entirely, a wartime value.
The total employment of women in the plants included in the tire
and tube division is impressive. Almost 18,000 women were found
in these plan'ts in August 1942. This number represented 27 percent
of the total labor force at that time. In the Far West, 39 percent of
the workers were women, as compared with 27 percent in AkronDetroit, 22 percent in the East, 17 percent in Other Midwest (Middle
West exclusive of Akron-Detroit), and 16 percent in the South.
Special war-product output was relatively greater in both the Far
West and Akron-Detroit than in the other three areas.
Negroes constituted about 5 percent of the total labor force of the
industry in August 1942. The proportion of Negro employment was
less than 5 percent in the Other Midwest, Far West, and East, and
approximately 6 percent in the Akron-Detroit area. In the South,
Negroes formed 20 percent of the labor force. Negroes were employed
principally in compounding and milling occupations, and as janitors
and general plant laborers.
Scope and M ethod o f Survey

The present survey of earnings in the tire and tube division of the
rubber industry represents the first detailed study of wages by occu­
pation in this industry division since 1923.7 In 1940 the Bureau
conducted a mail-questionnaire survey of hours and earnings in the
entire rubber industry,8 but did not obtain data on occupational
wages. The 1940 study did yield valuable information on the dis­
tribution of workers, by hourly earnings, in the various divisions of
the industry.
The data for the present survey were collected by trained field
representatives of the Bureau from actual pay-roll and other plant
records. The pay-roll period covered was generally that* ending
nearest August 29*, 1942, but in a few plants was a representative
week shortly before or shortly after this period.
The information secured in the course of the survey includes occu­
pational average hourly earnings, exclusive of premium payments
for overtime hours and shift-differential payments.9 Information
also was obtained on method of wage payment for each occupation
7 U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bulletin No. 358: Wages and Hours of Labor in the Automobile Tire
Industry, 1923. Washington, 1924.
•Monthly Labor Review, June 1941 (pp. 1490-1513): Earnings in the Manufacture of Rubber Products,
M ay 1940.
9 In some plants earnings data were obtained only for workers employed on the first daylight shift. This
was done to expedite the study by reducing the number of workers for which wage data had to be obtained,
and by avoiding the problem of shift-differential premiums to the extent that such premiums were being
paid. In plants where only first-shift workers were scheduled, information was obtained on the number
of workers employed in each occupation on the other shifts. Total employment by occupation was used as
a weighting factor in combining the data for any given plant with other plants. To a limited extent, the
procedure of sampling wages by occupation was employed to increase the rapidity with which the field
work could be accomplished.




9

PART 1.— TIRE AND TUBE DIVISION

and on the sex of the workers. General plant information of various
kinds was secured to facilitate the interpretation of the earnings
data. Information was gathered, for example, on the character of
production, general wage changes since July 1940, plant minimumwage policy, shift operation, unionization, and aggregate employment,
n^n-hours, and earnings for selected periods from August 1939 to
August 1942.
Virtually all plants known to'be engaged in the manufacture of tires
and tubes prior to the entrance of the United States into the war were
covered by the study. A few plants employing less than 100 workers
in the past were excluded. Data also were not secured for one medium­
sized plant. The influence of these omissions upon the data reported
is negligible; the labor force in these plants is estimated to represent
less than 2 percent of the total employed in the tire and tube division
in August 1942. The full scope of the study is indicated in table 1,
which shows, by region, the number of plants included in the survey,
together with total employment in these plants.
T a b l e 1.— Num ber o j Tire and Tube Plants and Total Num ber o f Workers Covered by
Survey, b y Region , August 1942

Region

Number of Number of
plants
workers

Percentage of—
Plants

Workers

______________________ _______________

32

66,721

100

100

Akron and D etroit________________________________
Other Midwest____________________________________
Far West _______________________________________
East
_____________________________________ ____ South
- __
________________________________

18
39
35
47
«3

45,367
4,486
7,764
4,940
4,164

25
28
16
22
9

68
7
12
7
6

All regions?

16 plants in Akron; 2 in Detroit.
36 plants in Ohio; 1 in Indiana; 1 in Michigan; 1 in Illinois.
3 5 plants in California; data for 1 plant in the Far West primarily manufacturing mechanical goods are
not included in this table, although occupational wages for the tire-and-tube operations of this plant are
included in subsequent tables.
4 3 plants in Pennsylvania; 1 in New York; 2 in Connecticut; 1 in Massachusetts.
* 1 plant in Tennessee; 1 in Alabama; 1 in Mississippi.

As table 1 shows, the survey covered 32 plants. Fully 68 percent
of the 66,721 workers employed in these plants were found in the
Akron-Detroit area,10 and approximately 7 percent in the Other Mid­
west. Twelve percent of the workers were employed in plants in the
Far West, 7 percent in the East, and 6 percent in the South.
Within the limits of the survey, the occupational coverage is com­
prehensive in scope. The selection of occupations for coverage was
based primarily upon two criteria: (1) The importance of an occu­
pation in terms of number of workers employed, and (2) the strategic
importance of a job in the occupational structure. It is estimated
that from 80 to 90 percent of the workers engaged in the manufacture
of tires and tubes are included in the occupational data here pre­
sented. Over 90 percent of the workers engaged in the production
of selected war products in tire and tube plants likewise are found
within the occupations for which wage data were collected.
In normal times, most plants in this division of the industry are
relatively '‘homogeneous with respect to product. The requirements
io There are too few plants in Detroit to allow separate presentation for this area. Wage levels in Detroit
in the rubber industry approximate Akron wage levels, and for this reason the Detroit data were combined
with Akron rather than with the Other Midwest.




10

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

of a war economy have modified this characteristic of the tire and
tube division. Greater diversification of product, as pointed out
earlier, has developed from two principal factors— (1) the ability and
readiness of some of the large plants to undertake metal-fabricating
operations and (2) the growth in output of special rubber products of
direct military use. Mechanical-goods production is important in a
few plants producing tires and tubes.
In order to make the occupational data comparable from plant to
plant, operations relating to th e ‘ manufacture of metal products,
synthetic rubber, rubber products11 other than mechanical goods,
miscellaneous specialty goods, and the construction of new plant
equipment were not covered by the survey. Workers employed in
reclaiming departments operated by rubber companies were scheduled
separately, but data for reclaiming operations are not included in the
present report. In substance, the occupational data presented in this
report relate to rubber preparatory operations, tire and tube manu­
facture, the production of self-sealing fuel tanks, barrage balloons,
rubber boats, pontoons, and life rafts, and plant maintenance.
A special problem obviously arose in connection with those plants
producing mechanical rubber goods in addition to tires and tubes and
special war products. Direct production jobs on mechanical goods
created no difficulty, of course, and these jobs were scheduled sepa­
rately. Where there was no physical separation of preparatory and
maintenance jobs credited to the production of mechanical rubber
goods or of products falling outside the scope of the survey, the pro­
ration of employment was necessary. Data pertaining to mechanical-rubber-goods operations, as pointed out earlier, will be included
in a subsequent report on that branch of the industry.
Methods o f Wage Paym ent
USE OF WAGE INCENTIVES

The determination of earnings on an incentive basis is found pre­
dominantly in the tire and tube industry. Each of the plants repre­
sented in the occupational data operated some form of incentive plan.
In the main, workers were guaranteed certain basic rates and were
rewarded in direct proportion to output, usually above a standard
production level. The particular incentive system in use varied
from plant to plant; some plants had installed the Bedaux system,
while others were operating on a straight piece-work basis.
At least 60 percent of the workers for whom occupational data
were reported were paid on an incentive basis. Approximately 95
percent of the preparatory workers and 88 percent of the workers
engaged in tire and tube processing were compensated in this manner.
About one-third of the general and maintenance workers were cov­
ered by incentive plans.
The application of incentive methods to the manufacture of rubber
war products was much less advanced. In August 1942 slightly less
than 50 percent of the workers constructing fuel tanks and less than
20 percent of the workers fabricating other war products were paid on
an incentive basis. It is likely, however, that further rationaliza­
tion of production and time study will extend considerably the cover-1
11 Such as heels and soles, drug sundries, boots and shoes, sponge-rubber products, and household goods




PART

1.— TIER AND TUBE DIVISION

11

age of incentive plans to workers on rubber war products. The effect
of the extension of incentive methods of wage payment upon the
wage structure of these divisions of the industry will undoubtedly be
substantial.
SHIFT PRACTICES AND SHIFT DIFFE R E N TIA LS

Multishift operation has been characteristic of the tire and tube
industry for many years.. All of the plants covered by the wage
survey reported continuous operation, 11 working four 6-hour shifts
and the remainder working three 8-hour shifts. Of the 11 plants in
which four shifts were found, 6 were in Akron, 2 in Other Midwest,
2 in the East, and 1 in the Far West. In these plants, however,
substantial numbers of workers were employed on a 3-shift basis,
usually in the departments devoted to special war products. It is
estimated that only one-third of the workers in the industry were
employed on the first daylight shift.
The payment of shift differentials is not common practice in the
industry. Only 4 of the 32 plants covered granted premium pay to
workers on night shifts. These 4 plants are relatively small, and it is
estimated that not more than 1,500 workers received shift-premium
pay at the time of the wage survey.
O V E R TIM E -P A YM E N T PRACTICES

Although 36 hours constituted the standard workweek for a substan­
tial portion of the industry at the time of the wage survey, each
company included in the study reported the payment of time and a
half for hours in excess of 8 per day and 40 per week.

,

Occupational Earnings A ugust 1942

The basic information obtained in this survey consists of hourly
earnings, exclusive of overtime premium pay or shift-differential pre­
miums, for a comprehensive group of occupations in rubber prepara­
tion, tire and tube processing, self-sealing fuel tank, and inflatable
rubber war products fabrication, and in service and maintenance.12
Occupational wage information is here shown for nearly two-thirds of
the total number of workers employed in the plants scheduled. The
data reflect earnings as of August 1942.
CH ARACTER OF OCCU PATION AL W A G E DATA

In-reporting occupational wage data, every effort was made to
classify occupations on the basis of duties performed and not merely
on the basis of job titles. Field representatives of the Bureau were
provided with an occupational glossary for general guidance in the
reporting of occupational data. It is believed that in this way reason­
able uniformity of reporting was obtained from plant to plant.
It should be recognized, however, that many occupations are likely
to vary from plant to plant in terms of specific duties and responsi­
12 These occupational data relate to 33 plants rather than to only the 32plants for which general information
has been provided. The additional plant is engaged primarily in the manufacture of mechanical rubber
goods, but occupations in the tire and tube department of this plant were scheduled separately, and prepara­
tory and maintenance occupations were prorated between tire and mechanical--rubber-goods production.




12

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

bilities, despite their basic comparability. Some occupations are more,
affected by the factor of variability than others. The duties of Ban­
bury mixers, for example, are quite similar from plant to plant; the
duties of hand truckers, on the other hand, may vary considerably.
In small plants, millmen may be employed during the same workweek,
or even the same day, on different types of mills. In tire processing,
a worker in one plant may perform tasks that are divided among two
or more workers in another plant.
Another type of problem often encountered in occupational wage
studies may be illustrated by the case of tire builders. Tire building
is a clear-cut occupation. Although there may have been some point
in segregating tire builders broadly by size of tire, inquiry indicated
that such an approach would have been wholly impractical at the
time of the wage survey, since many tire builders were constructing
various sizes of tires during the workweek. The earnings here
shown for tire builders therefore simply reflect the average earnings
of such workers, irrespective of tire size. Similarly, no distinction
was made between mixing millmen on 60- and 84-inch mills.
Care often must be exercised in a wage study to keep the data in
manageable form. For example, considerable numbers of machine
operators’ helpers are employed in the rubber industry. These
workers are distributed among many occupations, and to have shown
them separately by occupation would have greatly increased the
number of table entries. These workers, for the most part, were
grouped. Data on learners by occupation were obtained, but, except
in a few instances, such workers were combined into general learner
classifications.
These comments are designed to indicate the limitations inherent
in any industry-wide study of occupational wages. It is never
possible to introduce all of the refinements that suggest themselves
during the course of a survey. To do so, as a matter of fact, would
prove more confusing than helpful. What can be done, and what
this report attempts to do, is to show earnings data for a large number
of occupations capable of relatively precise definition and found
widely throughout the industry. Such data should reveal the nature
of the wage structure of the industry.
AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS BY OCCUPATION, AUGUST

1942

A summary of the data obtained on wages by occupation in tire
and tube plants is shown in table 2. Average hourly earnings, exclu­
sive of overtime premium pay or shift premiums, amounted to
approximately $1.04 in August 1942 for all of the workers for whom
data on earnings by occupation were obtained. Since the occupa­
tional coverage was broad and representative, this single figure
dependably reflects the general level of straight-time hourly earnings
in the industry. Even the summary data shown in table 2, however,
serve to reveal the wide range within which earnings move. Thus,
all male workers averaged $1.12 an hour; the average for all woman
wage earners was approximately 76 cents. Male workers engaged
in rubber preparation averaged nearly $1.16 an hour in the industry
as a whole; the average for these workers was $1.28 in the AkronDetroit area and about 73 cents in the southern region.




13

PART 1.— TIRE AND TUBE DIVISION

T ab le 2.— Average H ourly Earnings 1 in Tire and Tube Plants, by Plant D ivision , Sex,
and Region , August 1942
Average hourly earnings in—■
Division and sex

United Akron- Other
States Detroit Mid­
west

Far
West

East

South

All workers..................................................................... $1,037
M ales....................................................................... 1.120
.758
Females....................................................................

$1.138
1.245
8.01

$0,967
1.002
.728

$0,880
.954
.713

$0,930
.979
.640

$0,714
.748
.535

1.155
1.166
1.229
.843
1.003
1.016
.718
.937
1.046
.760

1.281
1.279
1.366
.899
1.109
1.125
.768
1.106
1.215
.854

1.049
1.041
1.106
.759
.831
.843
.706
(2)

1.127
1.077
1.101
.769
.926
.952
.603
.796
.861
.716

.978
1.042
1.093
.712
.813
.819
.588
(2)

.727
.778
.800
.658
.676
.680
.530
(2)

.766
1.021
.702

.796
1.047
.728

(2)

(2)

(2)

Rubber preparation (males)........................... ..............
Tire and tube processing.................. .............................
Males________________________________________
Females............................................ ......................
General, service, and maintenance..............................
Males........................................................................
Females...................... ......... ............... ..................
Self-sealing fuel tank fabrication...................................
Males........ ............................................ ...............
Females.................................. .............. .................
Barrage balloons and other inflatable rubber fabric
products........................................................... ...........
Males.._________ ______________ ______________
Females_____ ______ _____________ ____ ________

(2)

1 The average hourly earnings shown in this table are exclusive of premium overtime pay and shiftdifferential premiums.
* Number of workers and/or plants too few to justify computation of averages. The earnings data have
been included in the totals for the United States and for the region.

The detailed occupational wage data are shown in tables 3 and 4.
Table 3 shows occupational average hourly earnings by region and
sex for workers in three broad plant divisions: rubber preparation,
tire and tube processing, and general, service, and maintenance. The
number of workers in each occupation could not be shown because of
necessary restrictions on the disclosure of certain types of information
in time of war. Instead, the total number of workers in each division
was taken as 100 percent, and the number of workers in each occupa­
tion was expressed as a percentage of this total. It is thus possible
to indicate the relative importance of various kinds of workers in the
occupational structure of a given plant division. Calender operators,
for example, comprised 7.2 percent of the workers in rubber prepara­
tion; 26.9 percent of the workers in tire and tube processing were tire
builders.
Occupational wages in the fabrication of specified rubber war
products made in tire and tube plants are shown in table 4. It should
be clear, of course, that a portion of the workers in rubber preparation
and general and maintenance (table 3) was engaged in preparing
stock or maintaining plant and equipment for the production of
barrage balloons and other war products.
All of the rubber-preparation workers for whom data are shown
in table 3 are men. The average straight-time hourly earnings of
these workers amounted to almost $1.16 in August 1942. In the
individual occupations, earnings for experienced workers ranged
from 99.7 cents for compound sifters to $1.55 for spreaders. The
relatively small group of learners averaged 59.5 cents an hour.
Calender operators, a highly skilled group, averaged $1.34. The
average earnings of workers in three occupations containing 43.9
percent of the workers— calender operators* helpers, mixing mfllmen,
and warm-up millmen— fell in the narrow range of from $1.12 to $1.16.




14

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

It has already been pointed out that practically all workers engaged
in rubber preparation were paid on an incentive basis. The most
skilled jobs probably are calendering and spreading, with spreaders
subject to more unpleasant working conditions because of the presence
of fumes from solvents. The other jobs, on the whole, require moder­
ate skill and considerable physical effort.
Earnings in the Akron-Detroit area for preparatory workers as a
group were consistently above earnings for preparatory workers in
the other regions. The general level in the Far West was about 15
cents lower than the level in Akron-Detroit; in the Other Midwest
about 22 cents lower; in the East 30 cents lower; and in the South 55
cents lower. These differences reflect to some extent differences in
occupational structure from region to region; spreaders, for example,
were found only in Akron-Detroit.
More than 83 percent of the workers engaged in tire and tube proc­
essing in August 1942 were men. Hourly earnings of all processing
workers, male and female, amounted to almost $1.17. The level of
earnings of processing workers was heavily affected by the earnings
of male tire builders, who constituted about 27 percent of the labor
force and whose earnings averaged $1.36 an hour.
The earnings of male processing workers alone averaged $1.23;
female employees averaged approximately 84 cents. The range in
earnings among experienced male workers was from 88.4 cents for
class C inspectors to more than $1.37 for tire mold handlers and solid
tire builders. Tire builder learners 13 averaged 73.5 cents and other
male learners, 69.5 cents. Hourly earnings for experienced male
employees averaged less than $1.00 in only 5 occupations, and these
occupations contained only 3 percent of all male workers. The earn­
ings of experienced women ranged from 68 cents for the handful of
tire builders 14 to almost 94 cents for band builders. As in the case
of preparatory workers, the greater part of the processing workers
(about 88 percent) were paid on an incentive basis.
The general level of earnings in the processing division in the
Akron-Detroit area was $1.28, as compared with almost $1.08 in the
Far West, about $1.04 in Other Midwest and the East, and approxi­
mately 78 cents in the South.
The workers grouped in the general, service, and maintenance cate­
gory averaged almost exactly $1.00 an hour in August 1942 (table 3).
Male workers earned an average hourly wage of approximately $1.02,
while the small group of woman workers averaged almost 72 cents.
Among the experienced male workers, hourly earnings ranged from
79.6 cents for janitors to $1.24 for rubber-cement mixers. Average
earnings for class A carpenters and electricians, sheet-metal workers,
tool and die makers, and machine repairmen fell within the very nar­
row range of from $1,178 to $1,190. Hand truckers, who comprised
15 percent of the workers in this division, averaged $1.00 an hour.
About one-third of the workers in the general, service, and mainte­
nance group were paid on an incentive basis.
The general level of earnings for the workers in this division in
Akron-Detroit was approximately $1.11. This compares with a
level of about 93 cents in the Far West, 83 cents in Other Midwest,
81 cents in the East, and about 68 cents in the South.
131, e., less than 3 months of experience.
u Woman tire builders are employed principally on bicycle tires.




PART

15

1.— TIRE AND TUBE DIVISION

T a b l e 3.— Average H ourly Earnings 1 in Tire and Tube Industry, by D ivision , Occupation , Sex , aiui Region , August 1942
United
States
Division, occupation,
and sex

Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

AkronDetroit

Other Mid­
west

Far West

East

South

Aver­ Per­ Aver­ Per­ Aver­ Per­ Aver­ Per­ Aver­ Per­ Aver­
age cent age cent age cent age cent age
age
hour­ cent
of hour­ of hour­ of hour­ of hour­ of hour­
ly work­ ly work­ ly work­ ly work­ ly work­ ly
earn­ ers earn­ ers earn­ ers earn­ ers earn­ ers earn­
ings
ings
ings
ings
ings
ings

Preparatory processes
All workers: Males........... 100.0 $1.155 100.0 $1.281 100.0 $1,049 100.0 $1.127 100.0 $0,978 100.0 $0,727
3.5 .873
1.7 1.038
6.0 .521
2.3 .940
2.0 1.153
.9 .750
Bale openers......................
7.8 .987
9.5 .854
Banbury mixers................
6.7 1.243 19.3 1.103 10.6 1.083
9.1 1.128
5.9 1.231
6.3 1.032
7.2 1.339
8.3 1.156 11.2 1.348
6.6 1.450
Calender operators............
Calender operators, helpers.................................. 14.3 1.145 12.9 1.273 17.2 1.014 19.3 1.139 14.3 .957 13.9 .840
Compound sifter opera2.2 .57?
1.0 1.173
1.3 .898
.9 .997
tors......................... ........
TiftftniArg, miscellanAnns
8.6 .577
4.4 .503
.6 .736
1.6 .595
.8 (2)
.5 (2)
11.1 .594
4.3 1.100
5.0 1.275
2.1 1.131
Millmen, break-down___
2.8 .61S
Millmen, mixing............... 14.7 1.120 13.0 1.193 21.2 1.042 17.0 1.128 24.2 1.027
8.4 .860 13.9 .746
7.0 1.107
8.2 1.090
8.5 1.223
4.3 1.012
Millmen, sheeting. ...........
14.9 1.162 16.0 1.248
9.8 1.020 20.6 1.086 14.1 1.067 10.4 .815
Millmen, warm-up______
MillmATij washing .
4.4 .617
3.4 .968
2.0 1.107
2.5 1.014
4.3 (2)
1.4 1.077
1.2 1.061
1.6 i. 019
.9 1.223
.9 (2)
Plasticator tenders............
1.9 .W4
9.2 1.113 12.0 .663
6.7 1.066
9.8 1.113 10.7 1.207
6.8 1.028
Rubber compounders.......
2.2 .646
1.4 1.185
1.9 .907
.3 (2)
1.6 1.030
2.6 .929
Rubber cutters..................
_____
Spreaders
7.4 1.552 12.7 1.552

Tire and tube processing
All workers........................ 100.0 1.166 100.0 1.279 100.0 1.041 100.0 1.077 100.0 1.042 100.0 . 7gS
Male workers.................... “ 83?7 T 229 “ 8 0 ”0 6 6 “ 8 0 TT06 ~ W 8 T T o I “ 8 0 X093 “ 909 .800
1.2 1.157
2.0 1.071
1.7 .690
.7 1.400
.5 1.111
Air-bag extractors.......
.9 1.169
2.3 1.269
5.2 .688
6.0 1.014
5.9 .948
Band builders.............
3.5 1.060
4.7 1.015
.2
1.096
.2
1.262
1.132
.7
.3
1.030
.6
Bead builders.............
.940
.1 (2)
.9 1.015 ' “ M '"(2)“
.1 (a)
.2 .977
Bead coverers...........
1.2 1.028
1.5 .973
.8 (2)
.3 1.053
Bead flippers..............
.5 1.036 ' “’ M "1.259
.4 1.033
.5 .934
.6 .791
.5 1.302
.3 1.040
Bead-wire insulators..
.5 1.164
Bias-machine opera­
2.6 1.088
1.8 .856
3.0 1.059
2.1 1.201
3.6 1.083
1.7 1.356
tors...........................
1.2 .735
.4 (2)
2.0 .930
1.5 1.290
.4 .873
Buffers........................
1.3 1.161
.4 (2)
.7 1.166 ___ ___
.1 1.244
.1 1.164
Creel tenders..............
Foremen, working:
.1 (2)
2.1 1.165
1.1 (2)
.3 1.429
.5 1.281
Class A _________
1.2 .880
.6 .962
2.5 .962
Class B__"_I.........
2.8 1.250
3.7 1.326
1.3
.2 1.031
1.4 1.053
.1 (2)
.1 1.325
.2 1.128
.1 (2)
Gum dippers..............
Helpers, machine op­
2.0 .894
3.3 .746
1.1 .811
5.9 1.245
7.7 1.335
4.7 .918
erators......................
.3 (2)
1.2 1.213
1.4 1.300
2.8 .970
Inner-tube builders__
1.8 1.198
.9 .824
1.1 1.109
1.5 1.337
1.8 1.218
4.6 1.081
Inner-tube curers.......
Inner-tube inflators
.1
.1
.1
.2
.913
1.117
.7
.740
(2)
(2)
and deflaters______
1.8 (2)
.5 1.134
2.1 1.264
1.5 .767
1.8 1.159
1.5 .941
Inner-tube splicers___
Inspectors:
1.6 1.139
1.2 (2)
1.6 (2)
.6 1.386
Class A .................
.8 1.265
2.4 1.000
2.6 1.077
4.0 .825
4.2 1.181
4.6 1.289 ‘ " T B ''.'958
Class B .................
_____
1.9 .856
.3 .766
.7 .920
Class 0 .................
.3 .884 (8) _____
Learners, miscellane­
ous
4.0 .638
2.2 .627
2.9 .622
1.5 .695
1.0 .787
.2 (2)
1.4 1.380
5.8 1.273
4.9 1.246
3.3 1.162
2.2 1.289
Pot-heater tenders___
Slitting-machine op­
.2 .943
.1 .705
.5 1.109
.7 1.094
.3 1.253
.3 1.170
erators......................
.6 .846
2.7 .720
Soapstoners _ _____
.3 1.319
.3 . 761
.5 .931
.1 (2)
Solid-tire builders
.9 1.385
.6 1.377
Solid-tire tread pre­
.1 1.283
.1 (2)
parers
.2 1.354
6.0 I. ole
3.2 .965
4.3 .634
.7 1.145
1.8 .915
1.8 .938
Splicers.......................
_
.8 .995
.2 .850 __
1.225
1.270
.5 1.033
1.1
.8
Tire balancers............
Tire builders________ 26.9 1.359 27.6 1.467 23.3 1.293 28.4 1.243 28.8 1.211 24.6 .948
.682
3.7
17.1
.610
.883
2.8
.735
2.6
3.8
Tire builders, learners.
(2)
3.4 1.131
3.9 1.155
1.1 (2)
5.6 1.156
5.5 1.372
6.8 1.446
Tire-mold handlers.. .
2.1
.9321.125
5.1
3.6
1.325
1.206
1.350
2.7
1.471
1.8
2.8
Tire shapers...............
.1 (2)
Tire wrappers
.2 .993
.3 1.292
.7 1.196
.3 1.225
.1 (2)
.1 (2)
.2 1.054
Tread splicers
_ _
.8 .858 . . . . . .
.3 1.292
.5 1.285
.7 .849
.5 1.187
Trimmers, hand....... .
.2 .687
.2 (2)
.4 (2)
.5 (2)
.2 1.224
.3 1.100
.6 .902
Trimmers, machine__
2.0 1.033
1.5 .761
1.1 1.010
1.0 .918
1.5 1.201
1.6 1.343
Tube cutters...............
See footnotes at end o f table.

522810°— 43----- 3




16

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

T able 3.— Average H ou rly Earnings 1 in T ire and Tube Indu stry, by D ivision, Occupa­
tion, Sex, and Region, August 1942 — Continued
United
States
Division, occupation,
and sex

Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

Aver­
age
hour­
ly
earn­
ings

AkronDetroit
Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

Aver­
age
hour­
ly
earn­
ings

Other Mid­
west
Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

Aver­
age
hour­
ly
earn­
ings

Far West

Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

East

South

Aver­ Per­ Aver­ Per­ Aver­
age
age cent age
hour­ cent
of hour­ of hour­
ly work­ ly work­ ly
earn­ ers earn­
earn­
ings
ings ers ings

Tire and tube processing—
Continued

Male workers—Con.
Tube-machine operators:
Inner tube............
Tread...................
Miscellaneous___
Valve assemblers........
Vulcanizers, miscellaneous............ ........
Watch case vulcanizer
tenders.....................
Female workers............. .
Band builders............
Bead builders.............
Bead coverers.............
Bead flippers......... .
Bias-machine operators.........................
Creel tenders..............
Helpers, machine op­
erators............... ......
Inner-tube builders
Inner-tube inflators
and deflators...........
Inner-tube splicers___
Inspectors and testers.
Leamers, miscellane­
ous...........................
Skivers_____________
Splicers.......................
Tire hnilrlprs
'Tri-mmArs, hand
Valve assemblers........

0.6 $1.184
1.1 1.223
.3 1.069
.3 1.064

0.4 $1,454
.7 1.419
.2 1.296
.1 1.426

.9 1.240

1.1 1.346

1.8 1.249

1.2 1.418

2.7 $1,051
2.8 1.083
.5 .937
.5 .980

0.7 $1,094
2.3 1.109
.3 .923
1.0 .915

0.3 $1,033
.9 1.144
1.1 .988
.4 1.204

1.3

.804

1.7 1.277 ............ ............

3.9 1.271

5.0

.968

.712
.793

9.1

.7

0

16.3
3.0
.2
.7
1.2

.843
.937
.833
.859
.841

18.6
4.0
.1
1.0
1.4

.899
.966
(2)
.901
.880

18.6
.1
.1
.9
.9

.6
.2

.936
.887

.6
.2

.920
.885

1.2

0

.8
.3

.880
.768

1.1
.2

.895
0

.7
2.0

.781
.669

.1
.3
3.2

.753
.857
.800

.1
.3
4.1

0
.954
.819

.5
1.2
3.8

.756
.783
.758

_ ___

.800

.2
.1
1.5

1.2
.2
3.3
.6
.1
.5

.610
.811
.897
.680
.752
.836

.4
.2
4.4

.676
.842
.930

.629

2.7

1.4
.6

0
0

.9
.9

0
.926

0
753
.723
.638
0
.751

1.4

.1
.4

.1
.5
2.1
3.5
.3
.7

1.0

0

.5

.607

7.2 .769
.759
0
1.0 0
0
.710
.676 " " ." 9 "'.'802
.2

13.5
4.5
.2
1.4

.558

.2
.3

0
0

.650
.525
.652

.1
.1
.3

0
0
0

.540

6.0

.526

0
0

1.4

0

.4
.3

0
0

0
.739

0
.6

.7

0.6 $0.915
. 7 .874
.1 0
.5 .737

0

General, service, and
maintenance
.926 100.0

.813 100.0

.676

.952

97.6

.819

97.0

.680

.978
.800
.827
.886

1.4 1.135
2.0 .997
4.2 .977
.2 0

.4
2.4
.8
.9

.907
.936
.871
.900

.2
.5
1.2
2.3

0
.873
.791
.587

2.2 1.055
.8 .947
1.1 .702j
3.9 .901
3.4 .755
12.6 .690
8.8 .705

4.0 1.187
1.8 1.029
1.3 .805
3.0 1.128
4.2 .949
12.0 .794
1.0 0

1.9
1.5 1.008
2.0 .945! 1.0
2.2 . 7011
.4
3.2 . 775[
.7
14.5 .774! 3.9
10.6 .673 14.3
4.4 . 745
7.6

.993
.934
0
.980
.769
.482
.480

All workers........................ 100.0 1.003 100.0 1.109 100.0| .831 100.0
Male workers....................
Carpenters:
Class A.................
Class B - ..............
Cement mixers...........
Cleaners, equipmentElectricians:
Class A.................
Class B ........ ........
Elevator operators—
Firemen............ .........
Helpers, journeymen..
Janitors.......................
Laborers.................—
Learners, miscellane­
ous
Loaders and unload­
ers, racks and con­
veyors......................
Millwrights:
Class A .................
Class B.................
Packers and craters...
Pipefitters...................
Repairmen, machine..
Sheet-metal workers. _
Stock clerks................

95.6 1.016

97.3

.843

1.5
.3
.4
1.5

1.5 1.178
.6 .976
4.7 1.243
2.1 .986

1.8
.2
6.3
2.6

1.219
1. Ill
1.290
1.043

2.5 1.188
.6 1.002
3.5 .914
1.8 1.062
3.6 .867
10.7 .796
4.0 .827

2.6
.2
4.8
1.3
1.8
9.7
3.2

1.239
1.133
.942
1.229
1.003
.895
1.006

1.6

.839

2.5

.708

2.7 1.132
.9
.5
2.1
3.3
10.2
.7
9.8

1.096
.891
1.036
1.158
1.187
1.190
1.041

See footnotes at end of table.




95.2 1.125

3.5 1.206
.8
.1
1.8
3.3
11.0
.7
8.5

1.204
.955
1.228
1.215
1.238
1.249
1.196

92.7

7.1
.4

0

.7 .771
1.3 .723
4.8 .780
3.8 1.069
10.1 .982
.8 0
14.2 .824

.7

.693

4.7

0

2.2

.5 1.080

__ ___

5.0 .848
2.1 1.199
13.7 1.165
.1 ( 2 )
9.6 .926

1.4
2.3
.6
2.6
5.7
.4
13.3

.640

5.7

.507

.789

1.8

.618

1.004
2.3
.9631 1.1
.863
•7
1.037
4.3
5.1
1.011
.7
1.050
.8731 11.6

.979
.882
.768
.967
.959
.980
.781

PART

17

1.— TIRE AND TUBE DIVISION

T able 3.— Average H ourly Earnings 1in Tire and Tube Industry, by D ivision, Occupa
tion, Sex, and Region, August 1942 — Continued
United
States
Division, occupation,
and sex

Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

Aver­
age
hour­
ly
earn­
ings

AkronDetroit
Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

Aver­
age
hour­
ly
earn­
ings

Other Mid­
west
Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

Aver­
age
hour­
ly
earn­
ings

Far West

Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

Aver­
age
hour­
ly
earn­
ings

South

East

Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

Aver­
age
hour­
ly
earn­
ings

Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

Aver­
age
hour­
ly
earn­
ings

General, service, and main­
tenance—Con tinued
Male workers—Con.
Time clerks................
Tool and die makers..
Truck drivers............
Truckers, hand..........
Truckers, power.........
Watchmen..................
Female workers.................
Janitors.......................
Learners, miscellane­
ous_____ _____ ____
Packers.......................
Stock clerks___ ____ _
Time clerks _____

0.9 $1,036
.4 1.184
1.1 1.018
15.0 1.001
4.3 1.191
5.6 .924

1.0 $1.117
.2 1.317 "” i."2 $I."i34
1.1 1.118
1.8 .863
15.7 1.116 12.3 .853
.2 .745
6.1 1.224
5.3 1.035
9.2 .740

4.4
1.6

.718
.710

4.8
2.0

.768
.729

.4
.6
1.1
•7

.557
.728
.754
.765

.1
.4
1.4
.9

.515
.824
.803
.797

2.7
1.0

1.2 (2)
.8 $1,213
1.5 .888
9.6 .889
.6 .982
5.1 .881

0.7 $0,606
.6 1.067
1.5 .893
11.0 .847
2.6 .845
5.1 .672

1.9 $0,882
.2 .975
*.2 .590
21.6 .592
.6 (2)
5.2 .742

.706
.597

7.3
1.4

.603
.725

2.4
.9

.588
.568

3.0
.2

.530
(2)

.768

2.5
1.3
2.1

(2)
.548
<*>

.2
1.1
.2

(2)
.643
.540

1.4
.1
.2
1.1

(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)

1.7
___
___

i The average houriy earnings shown in this table are exclusive of premium overtime pay and shiftdifferential premiums.
a Number of plants insufficient to justify the computation of an average.
3 Less than a tenth of 1 percent.
EARNINGS IN FABRICATION OF RUBBER WAR PRODUCTS

Table 4 shows straight-time average hourly earnings by occupation,
sex, and region for workers engaged in the fabrication in tire and tube
plants of self-sealing fuel tanks and inflatable rubber war products.
Data can be shown only for Akron-Detroit, Far West, and for the
three other regions combined.
In the fabrication of fuel tanks, 62 percent of the workers were
males and 38 percent females. Average hourly earnings for ail
workers amounted to 93.7 cents in August 1942— approximately
$1.05 for men and 76 cents for women. About 12 percent of the
total number of workers were classified as learners, and the existence
of this appreciable proportion of learners served to depress some­
what the general level of earnings.
Among the male workers, stock cutters, metal-fuel-tank coverers,
and builders averaged $1.19, $1.21, and $1.18 an hour, respectively.
In only 2 male occupations, buffer and curer, were average earnings
less than $1.00 an hour. Female builders, who constituted almost
22 percent of the labor force, averaged 80.3 cents an hour. It should
be noted that fuel tanks are of various sizes and shapes, and the
duties of builders differ in difficulty and responsibility. These dif­
ferences may help to explain the wide spread between the earnings
of male and of female builders. About half of the workers engaged in
fuel-tank fabrication were being paid on an incentive basis at the
time of the wage survey.
The hourly earnings of fuel-tank fabricators as a group amounted
to more than $1.10 in Akron-Detroit, almost 80 cents in the Far
West, and about 70 cents elsewhere. Fuel-tank production outside
of Akron-Detroit and the Far West is of distinctly minor importance.




18

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

T a b le 4.— Average H ourly Earnings 1 in Fabrication o f Specified Rubber W ar Products,
Tire and Tube Industry, b y Product, Occupation, Sex, and Region , August 1942
United States Akron-Detroit
Product, occupation, and sex

Far West

All other areas

Per­ Aver­ Per­ Aver­ Per­ Aver­ Per­ Aver­
cent
age
age
cent
cent
age
cent
age
of
hourly of
of
hourly
hourly
of
hourly
work­ earn­ work­ earn­ work­ earn­ work­ earn­
ings
ers
ers
ings
ers
ings
ers
ings

Fuel tanks: All workers................................. 100.0 $0.937
Male workers............................................ 62.0 1.046
Buffers...............................................
.9
.893
Builders..............................................
14.0 1.182
Builders, learners...............................
3.8
.719
Curers.................................................
2.8
.967
Finishers....... ...... ...............................
7.2 1.095
Foreman, working.*............................
2.4 1.073
Form builders....................................
1.1 1.104
Inspectors and testers........................
9.9 1.088
Learners, miscellaneous.....................
3.2
.687
Metal-fuel-tank coverers....................
3.4 1.215
Repairmen, tanks....... ......................
9.6 1.051
Repairmen, tanks, learners...............
2.1
.618
Stock cutters......................................
1.7 1.186
Female workers........................................
38.0
.760
Builders............. ................................ 21.8
.803
Builders, learners...............................
.623
5.3
Foremen, working.............................
.4
.828
Inspectors and testers................ ........
1.5
.778
Learners, miscellaneous.....................
.615
1.3
Metal-fuel-tank coverers....................
.742
.3
Repairmen, tanks..............................
.762
2.8
Repairmen, tanks, learners________
1.2
.621
Stock cutters.............................. ........
3.4
.786
Barrage balloons, rubber boats, pontoons,
life belts, and rafts: All workers............ . 100.0
Male workers___ ________ ____________
19.9
Assemblers.............................. ...........
8.3
Buffers................. ...................... ........
1.2
Curers................................................
1.0
Fabric nutters
_. _ _ . . . . . . .
2.6
Foremen, working________________
.9
Inspectors and testers_____________
.8
Learners..______ _________________
3.6
Rope splicers and servers__________
1.5
Female workers______________________ 80.1
Assemblers_______________________ 54.0
2.5
Cementers, hand_______ _______ _
.9
Fabric cutters____________________
Inspectors and testers_____________
1.6
Lay-up girls______________________
.6
19.9
Learners_________________________
.6
Markers______ _____ _____________

.766
1.021
1.035
.935
1.255
1.019
1.243
1.066
.865
1.075
.702
.754
.571
.648
.703
.651
.581
.691

100.0 $1.106
69.9 1.215
.3 1.097
18.7 1.311
.6
(2)
1.5 1.208
10.6 1.180
1.6 1.244
1.0
(2)
14.4 1.154
.2 1.080
6.5 1.251
11.7
(2)

100.0 $0,796
55.4
.861
1.5
.857
10.8
.966
.701
7.1
3.9
.890
.943
3.6
3.1
.993
1.2 1.035
5.7
.956
5.8
.687

2.8
30.1
22.4
.3
.1
1.9
.1

1.268
.854
.871
(2)
(2)
.821
(2)

7.9
4.2
.6
44.6
30.4
10.5
.8
1.3
2.1

.920
.615
(2)
.716
.758
.630
(2)
(2)
.640

5.3

.806

6.0
2.2
1.3

.762
.638
(2)

100.0
21.2
9.4
1.1
1.1
2.8
1.0
.9
3.3
1.6
78.8
60.4

.796
1.047
1.036
.958
1.277
1.031
1.248
1.066
.960
1.082
.728
.757

(3)

(3)

.6
1.4
.6
15.6
.2

.661
.752
.674
.615
(2)

100.0
50.1
.4
1.3
2.9
3.4
9.6
2.2
1.6
7.5
6.7
6.5
4.9
2.2
.9
49.9
27.7
3.8

$0,697
.788
(2)
(2)
(2)
.799
.786
.940
(2)
.860
.611
.902
(2)
(2)
(2)
.605
.614
(2)

.2
5.6
6.1

(2)
(2)
.742

1.8
4.7

(2)
.674

100.0
10.8
.2
2.1
.4
1.5
.2

.551
.657
(2)
.850
(*)
\ 864
(2)

5.8
.6
89.2
6.5
20.8
3.3
2.9
.6
51.3
3.8

(2)
/930
.539
.585
.571
.632
.534
(2)
V507
.639

1 The average hourly earnings shown in this table are exclusive of premium overtime pay and shiftdifferential premiums.
2 Number of plants insufficient to justify the computation of an average.
2 Data for a small department of 1 plant in the Far West engaged m the fabrication of inflatable war
products were combined with *‘311 other areas.”

Table 4 indicates that 80 percent of the workers engaged in fabri­
cating barrage balloons, rubber boats, pontoons, life belts, and life
rafts were women. It was originally intended to present data sepa­
rately for some of these inflatable rubber products, but thi’s did not
prove feasible. It is not believed that the data are distorted by the
combination that proved necessary.
Average hourly earnings of all workers, male and female, amounted
to 76.6 cents in August 1942; male workers averaged about $1.02
and female workers 70 cents. The level of earnings for women was
pulled down measurably by the large proportion of learners (about
20 percent) on the pay rolls at the time of the wage survey. Moreover,
less than 20 percent of the workers on inflatable rubber products were
being paid on an incentive basis in August 1942.




19

PART 1.— TIRE AND TUBE DIVISION

The most numerous group of experienced workers on inflatable
rubber war products, female assemblers, averaged 75.4 cents an hour;
male assemblers averaged $1,035. As in the case of fuel tanks,
differences in duties probably exist between men and women in this
occupation.
V A R IA T IO N S IN RE G IO N A L W AG E LEVELS

Inspection of the data in tables 3 and 4 indicates that appreciable
variations existed in August 1942 in regional wage levels in the tire
and tube division of the industry. A more precise measure of the
extent of these variations is given in this section.
It should first be pointed out, however, that the level of wages in
the Akron area for many years has exceeded wage levels in tire and
tube manufacture in other parts of the country. This fact appears
clearly in the study of wages in this industry division made by the
Bureau in 1923. The differences prevailing in 1923 in regional wage
levels are shown in the following tabulation,15 which gives average
hourly earnings in identical occupations in four areas, expressed as
percentages of the Akron average in 1923. At that time there were
no tire plants in the South, and the development of the industry on
the west coast was just getting under way.
Percent of
Akron wage level,

ms

Akron_______________________________________________ 100. 0
Ohio (except Akron) and Michigan___________________
84 7
Indiana and Wisconsin_____________________ _____ ____ 70. 8
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York_______________ 78. 2
New Jersey and Pennsylvania________________________
73. 9

The Bureau's 1940 questionnaire survey of wages in the rubber
industry yielded regional comparisons on a plant basis; that is, the;
average earnings of all workers in the plants in a given area can be
compared with the average earnings of all workers in the plants in
other areas. This comparison is not so precise as one based upon
common occupations and an assumed identity of occupational struc­
ture from region to region. For the 1940 period, however, usable
comparisons can be made on this latter basis, since the plants in the
industry were, with a few noteworthy exceptions, reasonably homo­
geneous as to product. The tabulation below shows the relation of
plant wage levels in other areas to the level existing in the AkronDetroit area in May 1940.16
Percent of
Akron-Detroit wage level,
May m o

Akron-Detroit_______________________________________ 100. 0
Other Midwest_______________________________________ 73. 1
California____________________________________________ 87. 7
East__________________________________________________
73.1
South_________________________________________________
57.1

In an effort to measure regional variations in wages in August 1942
with as much precision as possible, a group of 21 occupations was
chosen from the list of occupations shown in table 3 for rubber prepis The tabulation was constructed by first obtaining an average of occupational wages in Akron. Aver­
ages for the other areas shown in the 1923 study were obtained by weighting wages for each occupation in
each area by the number of workers in that occupation in Akron plants. The purpose of this form of weight­
ing is to eliminate the influence of differences in regional occupational structures on the wage averages.
The basic data used may be found in U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 368, table A (pp. 16-25),
i®Monthly Labor Review, June 1941 (p. 1494).




20

WAGES IK RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

aration, tire and tube processing, and service and maintenance. Each
of these occupations is fpund in all five areas for which data are shown
in table 3, and the duties associated with each occupation are clear
cut and vary little from plant to plant.17 Straight-time average hourly
earnings in each of these occupations were weighted in each area by
the number of workers employed in the occupation in the AkronDetroit area. It was assumed, in other words, that each occupation
had the same relative importance in the other areas as in the AkronDetroit area. In this manner, an average of the earnings in the 21
occupations in August 1942 was computed for each area. The rela­
tionships thus developed are shown in the following tabulation:
Percent of
Akron-Detroit wage level,
August 1942

Akron-Detroit________________________________________ 100. 0
Other Midwest________________________________________ 83.0
Far West______________________________________________ 85.9
East__________________________________________________
80.9
South_________________________________________________ 63.7

These data indicate that tire and tube wage levels in August 1942
in the Other Midwest, Far West, and East were from about 81 percent
to 86 percent of the Akron-Detroit level, and that the southern wage
level was approximately 64 percent of this level.
Undoubtedly these variations are due to some extent to differences
in size of city and differences in size of plant as well as to broader
regional factors. In general, wages tend to be higher in large cities
and large plants than in small ones. On the whole, plants in the
Other Midwest, the East, and South are in relatively small communi­
ties and tend to be somewhat smaller in size than the plants in other
areas. No effort is made in this report to analyze the various
aspects of the regional differential problem.
Trend o f Em ploym ent, 'H ours, and Earnings, 1939 to 1942

For the 32 plants in the tire and tube division, data were secured on
total employment, man-hours, and pay rolls for representative pay­
roll periods in 6 selected months from 1939 to 1942. Table 5 shows
employment, average weekly earnings, average weekly hours, aver­
age hourly earnings including overtime premium payments for these
six periods, and estimates of straight-time average hourly earnings.
These figures provide a rough general picture of the trend in em­
ployment, hours, and earnings in the industry from 1939 to 1942.
Certain limitations are inherent in combined earnings data of the
type shown in table 5. Comparison of one period with another, or
even of one region with another, may be affected by changes or dif­
ferences in occupational patterns. Thus, considerable differences
exist between the occupational structure for the industry as a whole
in the 1942 periods and in the 1939-41 periods. In addition to new
occupations and appreciable change in the sex composition of the
labor force, the proportion of learners was certainly greater in the
1942 periods than in the earlier years. It must be remembered,
moreover, that even in normal times some of these plants manufacture
products other than tires and tubes, and the wages paid to the workers
on these other products are included within the aggregate figures.
These 21 carefully selected occupations contained 22.4 percent of the workers in rubber preparation,
tire and tube processing, and service and maintenance.




21

PART 1.— TIRE AND TUBE DIVISION

As pointed out earlier, product diversification has increased as a
result of the war. Despite these limitations, the material in table 5
is the most convenient and useful summary available of the trend of
employment and pay rolls in the industry division.
T a b le 5.— Num ber o f W orkers and Average Hours and Earnings, in Tire and Tube
Plants, b y Region , August 1939-A u gu st 1942

Month and year

August 1939.........
July 1940..............
January 1941.......
July 1941..............
June 1942-..........
August 1942.........

Esti­
mated
Aver­ Aver­ Average
hourly straightEm­
age
age
earnings
ploy­ weekly weekly
time
wifh
average
ment earn­ hours punitive
hourly
ings
overtime earnings

Esti­
Aver­ Aver­ Average
mated
hourly straightEm­
age
ploy­ weekly age earnings
time
with
ment earn­ weekly
punitive average
hourly
ings hours overtime
earnings

United States

Akron-Detroit

49,162 $33.51
49,878 32.77
56,809 36.63
64,101 39.26
60,214 44.50
66,721 46.17

35.5
34.1
38.4
37.7
40.5
41.7

$0,944
.962
.953
1.040
*1.100
1.106

$0,936
.957
.936
1.024
1.066
1.061

30,442 $35.53
33,188 34.63
38,430 38.49
42,621 41.13
42,435 46.35
45,367 48.59

5,655 $30.33
4,712 26.06
4,982 28.25
6,035 34.00
4,173 39.41
4,486 41.14

39.2
35.1
36.8
41.6
41.3
41.7

$0,775
.742
.768
.818
.954
.987

$0,759
.736
.758
.785
.918
.947

3,805 $38.11
3,360 37.66
3,860 38.60
4,535 40.64
5,905 44.58
7,764 43.19

5,685 $27.44
4,947 28.66
5,595 32.28
6,351 37.32
4,197 39.63
4,940 41.12

36.8
37.5
41.4
42.7
41.7
42.7

$1,066
1.079
1.026
1.139
1.151
1.156

39.4
39.1
39.3
39.1
46.1
44.6

$0,968
.964
.982
1.040
.966
.969

$0,947
.944
.960
1.018
.895
.907

$0,607
.617
.676
.703
.816
.783

$0,575
.592
.611
.668
.783
.721

South

East
August 1939.........
July 1940.............
January 1941.......
July 1941..............
June 1942—..........
August 1942.........

$1,069
1.079
1.040
1.149
1.177
1.194

Far West

Other Midwest
August 1939.........
July 1940.............
January 1941.......
July 1941.............
June 1942.............
August 1942.........

33.2
32.1
37.0
35.8
39.4
40.7

$0,746
.764
.780
.874
.951
.963

$0,736
.753
.750
.831
.912
.916

3,575 $26.18
3,671 29.59
3,942 33.30
4,559 30.10
3,504 33.91
4,164 36.70

43.1
41.5
49.3
42.8
41.6
46.9

In the industry division as a whole, employment in the 32 plants
increased from 49,162 in August 1939 to 66,721 three years later. It
will be observed that employment rose very sharply from July 1940,
when the national defense program got under way, to July 1941, at
which time automobile production was at a high level and consumer
incomes were rising rapidly. Employment in June 1942 was some­
what below the July 1941 level; by August 1942, however, the level of
July 1941 had been exceeded.
Average weekly hours per worker reached 41.7 in August 1942, as
compared with only 35.5 in August 1939. This represents an increase
in average hours per worker per week of more than 17 percent and
indicates, of course, that the data on increase in number of workers
understates the real increase in employment between these two periods.
Average hourly earnings, including premium overtime pay, rose in
the industry as a whole from 94.4 cents in August 1939 to $1,106 in
August 1942, an increase of approximately 17.1 percent. Average
weekly earnings, which are affected not only by average earnings per
hour but also by the number of hours worked per week, rose by




22

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST 1 9 4 2

almost 38 percent over the 3-year period. Estimated straight-time
hourly earnings rose from 93.6 cents to $1.06— about 13 percent.18
Gross average hourly earnings in Akron-Detroit increased from
$1,069 to $1,194 between August 1939 and August 1942, or by about
11.6 percent, and estimated straight-time average hourly earnings by
8.4 percent. Since the level of hourly earnings declined in the AkronDetroit area between August 1939 and January 1941, the percentage
change in hourly earnings between this latter month and August 1942
is greater than the change as measured from August 1939.
In the other areas, except the Far West, average hourly earnings
increased more sharply than hourly earnings in Akron-Detroit.
Between August 1939 and August 1942, the level of hourly earnings
(both on an estimated straight-time basis and including premium pay
for overtime) increased by more than 20 percent in the Other Midwest,
East, and South. Except in the South, almost all of these increases
took place after January 1941. In the Far West, the level of hourly
earnings, including premium overtime, remained virtually unchanged
from August 1939 to August 1942, and the level of straight-time
earnings declined over this period. Between January 1941 and
August 1942, the level of earnings in the Far West declined on the
basis both of straight-time rates and of earnings including overtime.
It must be emphasized that changes in these general earnings data
need to be interpreted with care. The data for the Far West provide a
striking illustration. In 1939, the plants of this area were engaged
largely in the production of tires and tubes; in 1942, these plants
were engaged largely in the production of special rubber war goods.
Between these two periods, the character of the occupational struc­
ture of the plants in the area changed materially. It will be recalled
that in August 1942 the west coast plants had a higher proportion
of female workers than plants in any other part of the country. Large
numbers of learners also were employed at this time. The reduction
in straight-time hourly earnings in these plants between August 1939
(or January 1941) and August 1942 appears to be adequately explained
on the basis of changes in the composition of the labor force and in
occupational requirements.
18 It will be recalled that the straight-time average hourly earnings for all of the workers for whom occu-

ational wage data were secured amounted to $1,037 in August 1942 (table 2). Estimated straight-time
E
ourly earnings for August 1942 as shown for the plant employment in table 5 amounted to $1,061. This is
a difference of 2.4 cents. This relatively small difference is probably due in part to the fact that not all
operations in these plants were included in the occupational data. Moreover, straight-time earnings in
table 6 are estimated, and a portion of the difference may reflect this fact.




Part 2.— M echanical R ubber Goods 1
Summ ary

MUCH of the normal output of the mechanical rubber goods division
of the rubber-manufacturing industry serves essential industrial uses.
Some of the plants in this division, moreover, are engaged in the
fabrication of rubber products for direct militaiy use. For these rea­
sons, production and employment have been maintained at a relatively
high level in the face of a grave rubber-supply problem.
Workers in plants primarily engaged in the production of mechani­
cal rubber goods received average hourly earnings, exclusive of
premium pay for overtime and night-shift work, of 78.8 cents in
August 1942. Male factory workers averaged 84.7 cents an hour, as
compared with an average of 59.1 cents for female employees. Aver­
age earnings in the mechanical-goods departments of tire and tube
'plants were substantially greater than in primary mechanical-goods
establishments, and the inclusion of data for workers in these depart­
ments has the effect of raising the general level of earnings in mechani­
cal-goods manufacture to 84 cents an hour— 90.4 cents for men and
63.8 cents for women.
Som e Characteristics o f the Industry
PRODU CTS, SIZE OF P L A N T , AND CONCENTRATION OF CONTROL

The term “ mechanical rubber goods” has reference to the end-use
of certain rubber products; that is, to their use for mechanical or
industrial purposes. The rubber products that fit into the broad
categoiy of mechanical goods are extremely numerous. A few of the
more significant types may be mentioned. Belting is an important
product, and the belting produced in the industry ranges from very
heavy conveyor belts to small V-belts used in motor vehicles and for
other purposes. Rubber hose of all kinds—garden hose, air-brake and
other pneumatic types, fire hose, oil and gasoline hose—account for
an appreciable segment of production. Washers, gaskets, pump
sleeves and similar products, and the familiar jar ring used by the
housewife in canning are all mechanical rubber goods, as are also
rubber tubing, packing, friction tape, rubber-covered rolls (for use in
printing and for other purposes). The war has made rubber half­
tracks for military tanks an item of some importance.
This variety of products may help to explain the great variation in
size of the plants in the industry. The smallest plant covered by the
survey employed fewer than 20 workers, and the largest plant em­
ployed more than 3,000. The average plant employed approximately
1For data on tire and tube plants, see Part 1. Some of the material in Part 1—notably the discussion
of rubber requirements and raw material supply—is relevant also to the mechanical-goods division.




(23)

24

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

385 workers. The great range in size of plant provides some indica­
tion of the flexibility of production organization in the mechanical
rubber goods division. It is technically and economically feasible to
operate a small plant producing one or a few items. Large and
diversified plants, producing hundreds of different mechanical rubber
goods articles, are also found in the industry.
The question of concentration of control over output in this branch
of the industry is of some interest. In the tire and tube division, four
major companies control the bulk of the output. The influence of
these four companies—Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., B. F. Goodrich
Co., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and the United States Rubber
Co.—is also felt significantly in the mechanical rubber goods branch.
The influence of the “ big four” companies, however, is not so great in
this branch as in the tire and tube division. Of the 52 establishments
included in the Bureau’s sample of plants primarily engaged in the
manufacture of mechanical goods,2 only four were operated by the
major rubber companies. These 4 plants, however, employed more
than one-third (37.4 percent) of the workers in all 52 establishments.
The full importance of the “ big four” in the mechanical-goods field
is not adequately expressed by the proportion of workers employed by
these companies in plants devoted primarily to the manufacture of
mechanical goods, since mechanical-goods production is carried on
within some of the tire and tube plants operated by the major rubber
companies. This is notably true in the case of the B. F. Goodrich
Co. The major mechanical-goods operations of this company are still
conducted in its works at Akron, Ohio. The mechanical-goods output
of the other major Akron companies—Firestone and Goodyear—is
found to a considerable extent in specialized plants, although a rela­
tively large amount of mechanical-goods production at Goodyear is
carried on at its main Akron establishment.
LOCATION OF THE IN DU STRY

The marked geographical concentration that characterizes the tire
and tube division of the rubber-manufacturing industry is not found
in the location of mechanical-goods plants. Most of the products
manufactured in these latter plants are not standardized and seldom
bear trade names; in general, they are not consumer goods and do not,
like tires and tubes, move in a Nation-wide market. The location of
mechanical-goods plants has undoubtedly been influenced to a large
extent by the location of the industries that represent the primary
market for mechanical rubber products.
In terms of employment, the eastern region of the industry is pre­
dominant. About 64 percent of the workers employed by plants
primarily devoted to mechanical-goods production are found in New
England and the Middle Atlantic States, principally in Massachu­
setts, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Although only 23
percent of the employment in mechanical-goods plants is found in
the Middle West, the manufacture of these products by tire and
tube plants in this region may possibly place the Midwest in a pre­
dominant position in terms of actual production. The Far West,
>It should be noted that the sample is composed of plants normally engaged primarily in the production
of mechanical rubber gbods. A.t the time of the survey, mechanical goods accounted for less than half of
the value of output in a few plants.




PART 2 .— MECHANICAL RUBBER GOODS

25

with the exception of the one large plant that dominates the region,
is of minor importance in the industry. The number of mechanical
rubber goods plants in the South is very small; no southern plants
were covered in the present survey.
UNIONIZATION

At the time of the survey, primary mechanical-goods plants employing
approximately 78 percent of the wage earners reported the existence of
union agreements. The United Rubber Workers of America, affiliated
with the C. I. O., exercised collective-bargaining rights in 27 plants
in which 55 percent of the total number of workers were employed.
Six plants employing almost 19 percent of the workers reported
agreements with federal labor unions affiliated with the A. F. of L.
The principal source of A. F. of L. representation was in the East.
Two eastern plants reported agreements with unaffiliated unions.
No union agreements were in effect at the time of the survey in 17
plants employing 23 percent of the workers. Typically, union agree­
ments in this industry cover all factory workers.
CHARACTER OF THE LABOR FORCE

As in the tire and tube division of the industry, the labor force of
mechanical-goods plants is composed predominantly of male workers.
The proportion of women in the labor force is somewhat greater,
however, in mechanical-goods establishments. In the sample of 52
plants primarily engaged in the manufacture of mechanical goods,
31 percent of the labor force consisted of female workers. More
than 6,000 women were employed in these plants, principally as
trimmers, finishers, assemblers, packers, and inspectors. The pro­
portion of women in the labor force varied from 21 percent in the Far
West to 34 percent in the East. The relatively high ratio in the
East may be attributed, at least in part, to the manufacture of a greater
proportion of special rubber war products in eastern plants.
The predominance of male workers in the mechanical-goods division
of the rubber industry, as well as in the tire and tube branch, results
largely from the nature of the productive processes. Although only
a few of the direct production jobs are highly skilled, in the sense of
requiring prolonged training, many tasks demand moderate skill and,
in some cases, considerable physical stamina. Practically no women
are found in rubber preparation departments, and the women em­
ployed in processing are engaged, for the most part, on light and
repetitive tasks. Finishing and inspecting offer considerable scope
for the employment of women. Maintenance and general plant
labor, of course, is largely male.
Negro workers constituted less than 2 percent of the labor force.
Most of them were employed in the East, principally as janitors and
laborers and, to a minor extent, as millmen.
EFFECT OF THE W AR

In view of the nature of the majority of products of this industry
division, the demands of war did not compel widespread conversion
or drastic alteration of manufacturing practices. The pressure of




26

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

wartime requirements and restrictions on the use of rubber, however,
have undoubtedly affected the type and volume of production and,
to some extent, labor requirements in the industry.
It is probable that the staple commodities of mechanical-goods
production (hose, belting, gaskets, and a number of other products)
have been altered somewhat to meet specifications for use in tanks,
airplanes, and other war machines. The war has required expansion
in the production of specified items such as fire hose. Although data
are not available for precise measurement, such changes probably
have had effects on the size and composition of the labor force.
Additional labor-force changes have been occasioned by the manu­
facture in mechanical-goods plants of special rubber war goods not
normally produced in the industry. It is pointed out elsewhere
that 3 of the 52 plants covered in this study were engaged in the
fabrication of such products as barrage ballons, rubber boats, and
self-sealing fuel tanks at the time of the wage survey. Two additional
plants were producing gas masks. These products accounted for at
least 75 percent of the value of August 1942 output in 3 of the 5 plants.3
These five plants employed more than 6,000 workers, or more than onefourth of all of the workers in the 52 plants covered. The nature
of operations and the labor-force requirements in the fabrication of
special war products have been discussed in some detail in the article
on wages in the tire and tube division of the industry.
Scope and M ethod of Survey

The present survey of earnings in the manufacture of mechanical
rubber goods represents the first detailed study of wages by occupa­
tion ever made by the Bureau in this industry division. In 1940,
however, the Bureau conducted a mail questionnaire survey of hours
and earnings in the entire rubber industry.4 Data were not obtained
in that survey on occupational wages, but the study did yield valuable
information on the distribution of workers by hourly earnings in the
various divisions of the industry.
The data for the present survey were collected by trained field
representatives of the Bureau from pay-roll and other plant records.
In most instances, the pay-roll period covered was that ending
nearest August 29,1942. In a few plants, wage data were obtained for
a representative week shortly before or shortly after this period.
The data obtained in the course of the survey include occupational
average hourly earnings exclusive of premium payments for overtime
hours and shift-differential payments. Information was obtained on
method of wage payment for each occupation and on the sex of the
workers. Data were also secured for each plant on the character of
production, general wage changes since July 1940, plant minimumwage policy, shift operation, unionization, and aggregate employment,
man-hours, and earnings for selected periods from August 1939 to
August 1942.
3 The relative importance in terms of employment of special war product output in mechanical-goods
plants approaches the relative importance of such output in tire and tube plants. In absolute terms, of
course, the employment on war-products fabrication in the latter plants greatly exceeds employment in
the former.
< Monthly Labor Review, June 1941 (p. 1490): Earnings in the Manufacture of Rubber Products, May
1940.




27

PART 2 .— MECHANICAL RUBBER GOODS

The survey was not intended to cover all plants engaged primarily
in the manufacture of mechanical rubber goods. The study does cover
a balanced sample of approximately half of the industry. The sample
was selected to reflect as accurately as possible wages in plants of
varying size, location, and product. The sample was chosen from the
plant list derived from the Bureau’s 1940 questionnaire survey, cor­
rected and brought up to date on the basis of the records of the Rub­
ber Division of the War Production Board. In addition to data on
this representative sample of plants primarily engaged in the produc­
tion of mechanical goods, occupational wage data were also obtained
for the mechanical-goods departments of 8 tire and tube plants.5 In
these plants, preparatory, general, and maintenance workers were pro­
rated to mechanical-goods production on the basis of the relative value
or volume of such production or upon the allocation of cost. The
scope of the study is indicated in table 1, which shows, by region, the
number of primary mechanical-goods plants included in the survey
together with the total employment in those plants.
T a b l e 1.— Num ber o f Prim ary Mechanical-Goods Plants and Total Num ber o f Workers
Covered by Survey, by Region , August 1942 1
Number of Number of Percent of
plants
workers
plants

Region

Percent of
workers

United States_____________________________________

52

20,040

100

100

E ast 2
M id w e s t 3

22
23
7

12,819
4,657
2,564

42
45
13

64
23
13

.......... ...........
...
_

_
__

. _____
_____ _

____

Far West4........................................................................

1In addition to the plants shown in the table, the mechanical-goods departments of 8 tire and tube plants
were also covered. The occupational data from these mechanical-goods departments are included in table
3, and in the summary of the occupational data in table 2.
2 i plant in Connecticut, 5 in Massachusetts, 1 in Delaware, 7 in New Jersey, 2 in New York, 6 in Penn­
sylvania.
311 plants in Ohio, 5 in Illinois, 4 in Indiana, 3 in Michigan.
46 plants in California. 1 in Colorado.

Of the 52 plants primarily producing, mechanical goods, 22 are
in the East, 23 in the Midwest, and 7 in the Far West. Of the 20,040
workers employed in these plants, 64 percent were found in the eastern
division, 23 percent in the Midwest, and 13 percent in the Far West.
The 8 tire and tube plants, the mechanical-goods departments of
which were covered in the survey, are all situated in the Midwest;
it is estimated that these plants employed more than 6,000 workers
in the production of mechanical rubber goods. Since total employ­
ment in the sample of primary mechanical-goods plants represents
approximately one-half of the industry, it is apparent that only a
minor proportion of all workers engaged in mechanical-goods produc­
tion were employed in the 8 tire and tube plants.
The selection of occupations for coverage was based primarily on
two criteria: (1) The importance of an occupation in terms of number
of workers employed, and (2) the strategic importance of a job in the
occupational structure. Mechanical-goods plants are homogeneous
as to product only to a limited extent. Most preparatory occupations,
of course, are common to all plants, and most of the general and
maintenance occupations likewise are found in all establishments.
* These 8 plants account for almost all of the mechanical-goods production found in tire and tube plants.




28

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

This statement should be qualified at least to the extent that differences
in plant size affect occupational patterns even in rubber preparation
and plant maintenance. Many direct processing occupations are not
found in all plants, or even in a majority of plants.
In order to make the occupational data comparable from plant to
plant, operations relating to the manufacture of metal products,
rubber products 6 other than mechanical goods, miscellaneous spe­
cialty goods, rubber reclaiming, and the construction of new plant
equipment were not covered by the survey. In substance, the occupa­
tional data presented in this report relate to rubber preparatory opera­
tions, mechanical-goods processing, and general and plant maintenance
occupations. Information was secured on wages in the production of
specified rubber war products, including self-sealing fuel tanks,
rubber boats, and pontoons. It was hoped that wage data could be
shown for workers engaged in the fabrication of these products in
mechanical-goods plants, just as data were shown for such workers in
tire and tube plants. Significant wage data for these workers could
not be shown, however, since fabrication of special rubber war products
was found in too few plants 7 to warrant the computation of averages.
One problem arose in connection with the combining of occupational
wage data for workers in the mechanical-goods departments of tire
and tube plants with data for workers in plants primarily engaged in
the production of mechanical goods. The latter data represent
approximately a 50-percent sample of the mechanical-goods division
(defined as composed of plants primarily engaged in mechanical
rubber goods production); the data for the mechanical-goods depart­
ments of tire and tube plants, on the other hand, represent virtually
complete coverage for the occupations shown. Consequently, in
combining these data to show average hourly earnings by occupation
for the industry as a whole (as in table 3), employment in each occupa­
tion in the mechanical-goods departments of tire and tube plants was
reduced by half to give these departments their proper weight in the
total industry.
M ethods o f W age Paym ent
USE OF INCENTIVE-W AGE SYSTEMS

The use of incentive methods of wage payment in primary me­
chanical-goods plants is not so extensive as in tire and tube establish­
ments. Even in the mechanical-goods division, however, incentivewage plans are widely employed. The use of incentives was reported
in 35 of the 52 plants covered by the survey. Straight piece-rate
systems predominated.
In plants primarily engaged in the manufacture of mechanical
goods, approximately 47 percent of the workers for whom occupa­
tional data were obtained were paid on an incentive basis. The ratio
of incentive workers to hourly or day rate workers varied greatly by
department. Sixty-seven percent of all rubber preparatory workers,
59 percent of the processing workers, and 16 percent of the general,
service, and maintenance workers were paid on an incentive basis.
In the tire and tube division, by way of contrast, about 95 percent of
• Such as heels and soles, drag sundries, boots and shoes, sponge-rubber products, and household goods.
7 Data for workers other than those engaged in special war-product fabrication in these plants are shown
in this report.




PART 2 .— MECHANICAL RUBBER GOODS

29

the preparatory workers, 88 percent of the tire and tube processing
workers, and about one-third of the general, service, and maintenance
workers received incentive earnings.
OVERTIME-PAYMENT PRACTICES

All of the 52 mechanical-goods plants included in the survey reported
the payment of time and a half for hours worked above 40 per week,
but only 38 of the plants paid time and a half for hours in excess of
8 per day. Double time was reported as paid for wTork on Sunday
and holidays in 12 plants. Nine plants reported the payment of time
and a half for Saturday work, but it is not known whether this extra
rate is paid if Saturday falls within the normal 40-hour workweek.
SHIFT PRACTICES AND SHIFT DIFFERENTIALS

At the time of the survey, only 14 of the 52 mechanical-goods
plants were operating on a single-shift basis, but 28 plants were operat­
ing three shifts, and 10 plants reported two-shift operation. In
many multiple-shift plants, full operating crews were not employed
on the extra shifts. In the 52 plants as a whole, approximately twothirds of the workers were employed on the first daylight shift. The
proportion of the labor force wrorking on extra shifts was highest in
the Midwest.
Shift-premium payments were not common in the industry in
August 1942. Eleven plants reported the payment of night-shift
differentials ranging from 2 to 10 cents an hour, but the number of
workers receiving this extra pay constituted only 13 percent of those
employed on second and third shifts in the plants surveyed.

,

Occupational Earnings and Regional W age Levels A ugust 1942

The basic information derived from the survey consisted of average
hourly earnings, exclusive of premium overtime pay and night-shift
premiums, for a comprehensive group of occupations in mechanical
rubber goods plants and in the mechanical-goods departments of
tire and tube establishments. Occupational wage data are shown
for more than two-thirds of the workers in the sample of 52 plants
primarily engaged in the manufacture of mechanical goods,8 as well
as for workers in mechanical-goods processing occupations in tire
and tube plants and for the estimated proportion of preparatory and
maintenance workers in such establishments allocable to mechanicalgoods production.
Every effort was made to classify the occupations in the plants
covered on the basis of duties performed and not merely on the basis
of job titles. Field representatives of the Bureau were provided with
an occupational glossary, for general guidance in the reporting of
occupational data. Variations m plant size, production methods, and
many other factors may make for small variations from plant to
plant in the specific duties and responsibilities attaching to many
occupations without seriously affecting their basic comparability.
8 Some of the workers for whom occupational wage data are not shown are engaged in the production of
special rubber war products. Some mechanical-goods occupations were found in too few plants to warrant
tne presentation of average earnings data. Finally, some workers were engaged in forms of production
falling outside the scope of the survey.




30

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST 1 9 4 2
EARN ING S B Y OCCUPATION

A summary of the data secured on occupational wages in the
mechanical-goods division of the rubber-manufacturing industry is
shown in table 2. Attention is called to the arrangement of this table
which is similar to the arrangement of the detailed occupational table
that follows. In the first column, the average earnings of workers by
major plant division and sex are shown for the industry as a whole—
that is, for workers in plants primarily engaged in the manufacture of
mechanical goods as well as those employed in the mechanical-goods
departments of tire and tube plants. The figures are representative
of earnings in the total industry. The second column shows data
for the industry exclusive of the mechanical-goods departments of tire
and tube plants. The wage data in this column relate solely to work­
ers in plants primarily engaged in the manufacture of mechanical
goods, and the next three columns show data for these workers by
region. In the final column, data for workers in mechanical-goods
departments of tire and tube plants are shown.
As table 2 indicates, the straight-time average hourly earnings of
all of the workers covered by the occupational data amounted to 84.0
cents in August 1942. In view of the comprehensive nature of the
occupational coverage, this figure may be taken with confidence to
reflect the general level of straight-time hourly earnings in the industry.
The level of earnings of all workers employed in plants primarily
engaged in the manufacture of mechanical goods was 78.8 cents. The
difference between 84.0 cents and 78.8 cents measures the influence of
the mechanical-goods departments of tire and tube plants on the
general level of earnings in this industry division. Actually, as the
general figures in table 2 reveal, the level of hourly earnings in the
mechanical-goods departments of tire and tube plants was about 31
cents above the level in plants primarily producing mechanical goods.
As previously stated, only a small fraction of the employment in the
industry division is found in tire and tube plants.
T a ble 2.— Average H ourly Earnings 1 in the Mechanical Rubber Goods Industry, by
Plant D ivision , Sex, and Region , August 1942
Average hourly earnings in—

Division and sex

United
States

Plants primarily engaged in the Mechan­
icalmanufacture of mechanical goods
goods
depart­
ments
United
Mid­
Far
of tire
East
west
States
West and tube
plants

Ml workers___________________________ ____
Male...............................................................
Female.............................- ............................

$0.840
. 604
.638

$0.788
.847
.591

$0. 813
.872
.611

$0.748
.813
.567

$0.744
.793
.543

$1,099
1.209
.830

Rubber preparation (male).................................
Mechanical-goods processing..............................
Male.................................................... ..........
Female.............. - ...........................................
General, service, and maintenance......................
Male...............................................................
Female................................... .........- ............

.970
.829
.925
.641
.826
.850
.604

.911
.779
.868
.595
.771
.793
.565

.936
.814
.911
.619
.778
.803
.569

.877
.735
.822
.568
.745
.761
.542

.843
.724
.791
.541
.767
.781
.562

1.278
1.076
1.241
.828
1.101
1.137
.791

|
i
|
!

i The average hourly earnings shown in this table are exclusive of premium overtime pay and shiftdifferential premiums.




PART 2 .— MECHANICAL RUBBER GOODS

31

The large difference between the level of earnings in the mechanicalgoods departments of tire and tube plants and in plants primarily
engaged in the manufacture of mechanical goods deserves brief com­
ment. Most of the mechanical-goods production in tire and tube
plants is found in the Akron area. As the Bureau’s study of wages in
the tire and tube division of the industry clearly reveals, wages in the
Akron area (including Detroit) are substantially above wages in tire
and tube plants in other regions. If important mechanical-goods out­
put were found in tire and tube plants outside of the Akron area, the
spread between wages in such plants and wages in primary mechanicalgoods plants undoubtedly would be smaller than the difference shown
in this article. An appreciable spread unquestionably would remain,
however, because of the general tendency for wages, regardless of
region, to be higher in tire and tube plants than in primary mechanicalgoods plants.
The wage levels for workers in tire and tube production inevitably
influence largely the wages of workers in the same plants engaged in
the manufacture of mechanical goods. It is very difficult to segregate
some categories of workers engaged in the two types of production in
the same plant. The wages paid to preparatory, general, and main­
tenance workers engaged in tire and tube production have come to
determine, at least in a substantial measure, the wages of similar
workers in the same plants who are engaged in mechanical-goods
production. In most cases, physical separation of these workers is
not practiced. The influence of tire and tube wages is felt also in the
mechanical-goods-processing departments, which generally are physi­
cally separate. It may be pointed out that the higher level of wages
in mechanical-goods-processing departments in tire and tube plants
is not a reflection, except to a minor extent, of differences in occupa­
tional structure as between mechanical-goods operations in tire and
tube plants and in primary mechanical-goods plants. The wage dif­
ferences are real. This helps greatly to explain the historical tendency
for tire companies to dissociate tire and tube and mechanical-goods
production.
Table 2 shows that there is a sharp difference in the level of earnings
of men and women. Thus, male workers in the total industry aver­
aged 90.4 cents an hour, as compared with an average of 63.8 cents for
female employees. In plants primarily engaged in making mechanical
goods, men averaged 84.7 cents an hour and women 59.1 cents. These
figures, together with other average earnings data in table 2, provide a
broad picture of wages in mechanical rubber goods manufacture. A
detailed picture is shown in table 3.
Table 3 shows straight-time average hourly earnings for individual
occupations by region and sex of workers in three broad plant divi­
sions— rubber preparation, mechanical-goods processing, and general,
service, and maintenance. The total number of workers in each
division is taken as 100 percent, and the number of workers in each
occupation is expressed as a percentage of this total. Thus, the
relative importance of various kinds of workers in the occupational
structure of a given plant division is indicated.




32

WAGES IK RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST 1 9 4 2

T able 3.— Average H ourly Earnings 1 in the Mechanical Rubber Goods Industry, by
D ivision, Occupation, Sex, and Region, August 1942

United
States
Division, occupation,
and sex

Plants primarily engaged in the manufacture
of mechanical goods
United
States

Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

Aver­
age
hour­
ly
earn­
ings

Per­
cent
of
work­
ers

1 0 0 .0

$0.970

1 0 0 .0

Midwest

East

Far West

Mechanicalgoods de­
partments
of tire and
tube plants

Aver­ Per­ Aver­ Per­ Aver­ Per­ Aver­
Aver­
age
age
age Per­ age
age
hour­ cent
hour­ cent hour­
hour­ cent
hour­ cent
of
of
of
of
ly
ly
ly
ly
ly
earn­ work­
earn­ work­ earn­ work­ earn­ work­ earn­
ings ers ings ers ings ers ings ers ings

Preparatory

All workers (male)______
Banbury mixers....... ........
Calender operators______
Helpers_____________
Millmen, miscellaneous...
Millmen, mixing..............
Millmen, sheeting_______
Millmen, warm-up______
Rubber compounders____
Rubber cutters.................

6.3 .958
13.6 1.093
14.9 .955
10.4 .865
17.1 .961
3.0 1.013
22.3 .984
10.9 .927
1.5 .867

$0.912

7.1 .940
14.1 1.037
14.1 .870
10.3 .797
16.1 .885
3.1 .975
22.4 .938
1 1 .2
.870
1 .6
.852

1 0 0 .0

$0.936

1 0 0 .0

5.9 .993
15.1 1.074
16.2 .880
1 2 .0
.808
11.9 .925
2 .8
.971
24.0 .952
10.4 .917
1.7 .874

$0,877

1 0 0 .0

$0,843

6.7 ~ 9 0 6 14.8 .849
1 1 .0
.909 15.6 1.025
9.5 .883 12.5 .778
5.3 .738 10.9 .789
26.9 .864 17.3 .794
4.6 .990
1 .6
(2)
20.5 .931 16.4 .837
13.4 .807 10.9 .781
2 .1
.805 —
—

1 0 0 .0

$1.278

2.3 1.256
1 1 .0 1.475
19.3 1.285
1 1 .0 1.204
22.4 1.252
2 . 8 1.240
21.5 1.238
9.2 1.297
.5 (2)

Processing

All workers.......................

1 0 0 .0

.829

1 0 0 .0

.779

1 0 0 .0

Male workers....................
Assemblers:
Classes A and B._
Class C_________
Belt builders, large.. .
Belt-mold assemblers.
Bias cutters................
Braider and loom
operators.................
Buffers................. ......
Cutting-machine op­
erators......................
Fabric cutters. _____
Foremen, working:
Class A ..... ......... .
Class B....... .........
Helpers, m a ch in e
operators’ ................
Hose couplers.............
Hose makers...............
Hose strippers_______
Hose wrappers______
Inspectors and testers:
Class A_________
Class B.............
Class C.......... ......
Learners, miscellane­
ous.................... ......
Liners, tank, pipe,
and valve_________
Pressmen.......... .........
Pressmen, learners___
Slitting-machine op­
erators.....................
Soapstoners_________
Stock preparers, press.
Trimmers and finish­
ers____________ __________ _
Tube cutters_____________
Tube-machine opera­
tors...........................................
V-belt builders.................
Vulcanizers, miscel­
laneous............... .................
Wrapper rollers.................

6 6 .1

.925

67.3

.8 6 8

6 6 .8

2.7 1.027
.6
.802
1 .8 1.061
.5 1.192
.3 1.067

2.4
.7
1.7

2.7

2.9

.8

.819
.846

2.5
.5

.8 6 8

1 .1

3.5

1 0 0 .0

.735

1 0 0 .0

.724

.911

65.6

.822

73.2

.791

60.0 1.241

.922
2 .8
.969
.777
.959 " " 2*6 "."973
.693 (3)
. 2 1 .0 1 0
.953

2.7
.4

.831
.765
(2)

.5
.4

.1

.870
(2)

(0

4.4 1.304
.5 .979
2 . 2 1.433
2.5 1.250
. 7 1. 267

2 .0

3.3
.9

.822
.828

1 .0
.6

.692

.8

.770
.763

2.7
.5

.841
.751

2 .6

.751

.815
.759

3.7
.4

.900
.691

1.096
.915

1 .2

4.0

1.070
.901

4.1

1.082
.913

3.1

.782
.799
.926
.875
.807

6.3
.9
7.5
3.6

.799
.766
.983

1.3
.7

. .6

.826

1 .6
.2
.2

.7 1.039
2.6 .913
1.5 .759

.2
.9
.7

1.180
.835
.672

.9

.636

4.1

4.2
.7

.9

.826
.906
.972
.903
.959

1 .0

1.159

1.7
.9

.886
.741

2.1
1.1

.886
.741

.9

.660

.9

.634

.8

5.9
2 .1

.3 1.222
14.7 .966
1.1
.590
.6
.4

6 .1
2 .2

.7

.4 1.057

.7
1 .1

.2

15.8
1.3

.925
.586

13.9
.8

7

.8

.8 8 8

(2)
.998
.550

23.5
2.4

.6 8 8

1 0 0 .0

1. 0

(2)

5.2
.9

.658
(2)

1 .8

1 .1

.645
.850

1 .2

.4

1.076

1.196
.7 1.309
1.186

6 .0

. 93!)
(2)

. 7 1.295
!9 1. 231

.678
1 .8
.1
(2)
.839 1 0 .2
(2) • 1 .1
.710
2.4

.697
(2)
.774
(2)
.805

3.6 1.087
1 . 2 1. 250
4.6 1.274
1.3 C2)
1 .8 1.244

1. 215
.916

2.4

3.7
”

1.217

2.5 ” .’ 809
4.2

.634

.9

.789
1. 222

.893

1.8
9.7
.2

.846
.607

6.8
.8

(2)
(2)

.4
.2
3.7

(2)
.675

.5
.1
.1

1.295
1.191

.658

1.180
1.364

(2)

1.296
.742

.

.814
.905

.2
.2

.9

.855
.913
.724

.9
.6

.8

.915
.927
.723

.3

(2)

.8

3.7
1.0

.867
.894

3.5
1.0

.781
.804

1.1
.3

.886
.845

7.6
2.3

.778
.801

4.6
. 7

.687
.745

4.7
.9

3.6
.957
.9 1.022

3.8

.899
.918

3.7

.910

4.6

.881
.952

2.4
4.2

.900
.916

2.8 1.342
1.8 1.227

3.1
.6

3.1

.752

8 .2
1.0

.886
.663

3.0
17

See footnotes at end of table.




.1

.2

.814

.960
.904

.5

.7
.4

.892
.735

.5

(3)
2.5

.6

.955
.764

2.0
—

—

.686

(2)

1.308
1.125

33

PART 2 .— MECHANICAL RUBBE'R GOODS

T able 3. — Average H ourly Earnings 1 in the Mechanical Rubber Goods Industry , by
D ivision , Occupation , Sex , and Region , August 1942 — Continued
P lants prim arily engaged in the m anufacture
o f m echanical goods
U nited
States
U nited
States

East

M id w est

F ar W est

M echanicalgood s de­
partm ents
o f tire and
tu b e plants

D iv is ion , occu p ation ,
an d sex
A v e r­
A v e r­
P er­
P er­
Per­
age
age
cent
cent hou r­ cent
hour­
of
of
of
ly
w ork­
w ork­ ly
earn­ w ork ­ earn­
ers
ers
ers
ings
ings

A v e r­
A ver­
P er­
P er­
age
age
cent
cen t
hour­
hou r­
of
of
ly
ly
earn­ w ork ­ earn­ w ork­
ers
ers
ings
ings

A ver­
A v e r­
P er­
age
age
cent
hou r­
hour­
of
ly
w ork ­ ly
earn­
earn­
ers
ings
ings

Processing— C ontin u ed
Fem ale workers..................Assp.mhlfirs, r*lass C __
B elt coverers
............
B raider and loom operators______________
B uffers......... ...................
C utting-m achine operators______________
Forew om en , w orking,

33.9 $0.641
2.2 .777
.6
.740

33.2 $0.619
.3 " 0 0 "

3.7
1.4
.3

.698
.688
.739

3.7
1.2
.2

.653
.609
.595

4.9
1.4
.3

.679
.595
.636

1.0

.573

1.1

.556

1.5

.538

.7

.646

1.1

.647

.6
H elpers, m achine operators’ _____________
Inspectors and testers.
Learners, m iscellaneou s ................................
Sew ing-m achine op erators
_
_______
T rim m ers and finish­
ers..................................
W ra p p er rollers............

32.7 $0,595
.577
.7
.2
.607

34.4 $0.568
2 .2 .576
.1
0

26.8 $0.541

.9
1.2
.2

0
.655
00

4.9
.4

.4

.612

.8

(2)

.1

00

0

.605
(1
2)

40.0 $0,828
9.6
.845
2.7
.791
3.9
2.5
.9

.914

(2)

.931

.5

.767

.557

7.9

.528

.5
8.9

.857
.816

4 .2

.436

4.0

.471

2.5

.602

2.3

(2)

.5
8.4

.713
.619

.5
8.3

.680
.576

.6
9.3

.711
.592

.3
6.5

2.8

.490

2.9

.470

1.9

.508

.8

.604

.9

.596

.4

.646

11.5
.1

.640
.628

12.2
.1

.615
.581

11.4
.1

.638
00

16.1

(2)

.603

.1
8.4
.3

.536
00

7.7
.2

(2)
.837
.711

General, service, and
maintenance
A ll w orkers............................

100.0

M a le w orkers.......... .............
Carpenters!
Class A ....................
Class B ....................
C em en t m ixers.............
Cleaners, eq u ip m en t..
E lectricians:
Class A ....................
Class B ___________
E lev a tor operators—
F a ctory clerks......... —
F ire m e n — ..............
Helpers, journ eym en ’ s .
Jan itors...........................
L aborers..........................
L e a r n e r s , m is c e l­
laneous_____________
Loaders and unloaders,
racks and c o n v e y ­
o rs .................................
M illw righ ts:
Class A ................ .
Class B ....................
Packers and craters, „
P ipefitters......................
R epairm en, m a ch in e,.
T o o l and die m ak ers..
T ru ck drivers................
T ru ckers, h a n d ............
T ru ckers, p ow er...........
W atch m en .....................

90.2

Fem ale w orkers...................
F actory clerks...............
Janitors......................... .
P ackers....................—

9.8
2.8
1.2
5.8

.771 100.0

.778 100.0

.793

.803

92.7

.761

93.7

.781

.9
.7
.6
.3

.982
.785
(2)
(2)

1.4
3.3
.2
3.5

1.042
.836
.00
0

90.3

89.2

1.0 1.072
1.2
.896
.8
.866
.741
1.4

.9 1.028
.896
1.3
.843
.9
.638
1.3

.9 1.035
1.2 .937
1.1
.811
1.2 .665

1.7 1.152
.3
.841
.781
2.3
13.1
.848
2.8
.863
.757
3.0
.706
6.8
14.5 .749

1.3 1.118
.4
.841
.684
L5
.763
12.6
.834
3.1
.737
3.4
.675
7.0
.741
16.8

1.4 1.138
.3
.833
1.7
.679
12.2 .776
2.6
.842
3.9
.744
6.8
.694
18.3
.762

.7

.684

.6

.622

1.3

.831

1.3

.746

1.4
.990
1.1
.860
.907
5.6
2.7 1.060
8.4 1.001
2.0 1.042
1.2
.803
8.5
.836
2.5 1.034
.708
5.9
.604
.626
.563
.601

.982
1.6
.858
1.2
.811
4.9
2.4 1.006
.940
8.1
2.4 1.042
.783
1.3
.750
7.8
.818
1.5
.699
6.7
9.7
2.4
1.2
6.1

.565
.552
.537
.576

.745 100.0

.767 100.0 1.101

.826 100.0
.850

1.1 1.033
.4
(2)
.7
GO
.699
10.1
5.7
.800
1.1
0
.627
6.7
10.4 .683

.5

.615

1.4

.628

.7

(2)

1.6 1.110
.9 (2)
1.4
0
.763
19.0
2.1
.913
3.5
.728
8.6
.633
16.0
.635

1.137

1.5 1. 220
.1
(2)
.4 1.141
2.2 1.050
3.3

1.224

6.6
15.9
1.2
1.2
5.4
2.8

.897
1.199
1.218
1.045
.915
1.013

.2

00

1.3

.841

.9

00

1.3

1.284

.840

4.0

.975
1.3
.875
1.3
6.0 .831
2.5 1.031
6.2
.962
2.0 1.119
.9
.823
.747
8.8
.819
5.9
.691

2.7
1.6
3.0
2.4
12.0
5.1
1.9
8.5
1.9
9.5

.984
.820
.698
.880
.849
.920
.770
.763
.822
.683

1.6 1.017
.2
(2)
.645
1.4
1.9 1.066
12.9 1.010
.9 1.050
3.3
.727
.2
0
1.2
.808
7.5
.769

.569
.593
.508
.573

7.3
2.3
2.0
3.0

.542
.420
.607
.591

___ ___

10.8
1.9
1.2
7.7

89.7

6.3
5.8
.5

.562
.549

00

.3
00
.940
.1
9.0 1.180
4.1 1.224
11.0 1.232
_____
.4
00
12.3 1.124
7.8 1.250
1.5
.927

___

10.3
5.0
.9
4.4

.791
.807
.744
.783

1 The average hourly earnings shown in this table are exclusive of premium overtime pay and shift-dif­
ferential premiums.
2 Number of plants insufficient to justify the computation of an average.
2 Less than a tenth of 1 percent.




34

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING,

AUGUST

1942

Wages are relatively high in rubber preparatory occupations.
These are all male occupations. A very large proportion of the
workers, as pointed out earlier, are paid on an incentive basis. Av­
erage hourly earnings in August 1942 in the entire industry division
ranged from 86.5 cents for miscellaneous millmen to about $1.09 for
calender operators. Average earnings in the same occupations in
plants primarily engaged in mechanical-goods manufacture ranged
from almost 80 cents to approximately $1.04. In addition to calender
operators, only sheeting millmen averaged more than $1.00 an hour
in the total industry; these latter workers in primary mechanicalgoods plants averaged 97.5 cents.
For the mechanical-goods industry as a whole, processing workers
averaged 82.9 cents an hour in August 1942, the average for men being
92.5 cents as compared with 64.1 cents for women. The correspond­
ing averages in plants primarily engaged in the manufacture of
mechanical goods were 77.9 for all workers, 86.8 cents for men and
59.5 cents for women.
Earnings for experienced male processing workers in the total
industry ranged from 72.3 cents for stock preparers to $1.22 for pipe,
valve, and tank liners. The most numerous group of male workers,
pressmen, averaged 96.6 cents an hour; average earnings in 19 occupa­
tions, employing approximately 66 percent of the male processing
workers, were 90 cents or more an hour; in only 3 occupations, with
3.4 percent of the male workers, were average earnings less than 80
cents an hour. In plants primarily manufacturing mechanical goods,
pressmen averaged 92.5 cents. Average hourly earnings of 90 cents
or more were found in 10 occupations containing almost 50 percent
of the male processing workers. In 11 occupations, hourly earnings
for experienced workers averaged less than 80 cents; 23 percent of the
male processing workers were included within these occupations.
The hourly earnings of experienced female processing workers
in the industry as a whole ranged from 57.3 cents for cutting-machine
operators to 77.7 cents for class C assemblers. Trimmers and finish­
ers, the most numerous group of female employees, averaged 64 cents.
These workers averaged 61.5 cents in plants primarily engaged in the
manufacture of mechanical goods. The average hourly earnings, in
the primary mechanical-goods plants in all female occupations,
exclusive of the learner category, fell within the range of 55.6 cents
to 68.0 cents.
In the industry as a whole, workers classified in the general, service,
and maintenance categories averaged 82.6 cents, the average for
men being 85.0 cents as compared with 60.4 cents for women. The
average for all workers in this group in primary mechanical-goods
plants was 77.1 cents an hour, the averages for men and women being
79.3 cents and 56.5 cents, respectively.
Among experienced male workers, skilled maintenance men (class
A carpenters, electricians, millwrights, pipefitters, machine repair­
men) earned approximately $1.00 an hour or more in the total
industry; in primary mechanical-goods plants, average earnings in
these occupations ranged from 94 cents for machine repairmen to
almost $1.12 cents for first-class electricians. Tool and die makers
received average earnings of more than $1.00 an hour in primary
mechanical-goods plants. Common laborers and factory clerks,




PART 2 .— MECHANICAL RUBBER GOODS

35

numerically the most important occupational groups in the general
and maintenance category, averaged 74.9 cents and 84.8 cents,
respectively, in the total industry; the corresponding averages in
primary mechanical-goods plants were 74.1 cents and 76.3 cents.
The most important occupational group among experienced female
employees was composed of packers. These workers averaged 60.1
cents in the total industry and 57.6 cents in primary mechanicalgoods plants. The earnings of female factory clerks were very
similar to those of inspectors and testers.
RE G IO N A L W AG E LEVELS IN PRIM ARY MECHANICAL-GOODS PLANTS

It is possible to give a measure of general regional variations in
earnings that is perhaps somewhat more precise than the measures
derived from table 2. The regional averages shown in table 2 are
affected to some .extent, for example, by differences among regions
in the composition of the mechanical-goods labor force and in occu­
pational structures. The following procedure was devised to elimi­
nate the influence of this factor. A group of very clear-cut occupa­
tions, represented in each of the three regions in which the primary
mechanical-goods plants are situated, was selected.9 The average
wage in each occupation in each of the three regions was weighted
by the number of workers in that occupation in the industry. In
this way, general averages were computed for each of the three
regions. It was assumed, in other words, that each region had the
same occupational structure as the industry as a whole. The
averages themselves are unimportant. It is the relationship of the
regional averages that may have significance. The general level
of wages in the Midwest in August 1942, on the basis of these com­
putations, was about 89 percent of the eastern level; the level in the
Far West was about 90 percent of the eastern level.
The above procedure yields results that are roughly similar to the
wage relationships among regions indicated by the data in table 2.
That is, in plants primarily engaged in the manufacture of mechani­
cal goods, the general level of earnings dpes not differ materially in
the Midwest and the Far West. Wages in both of these regions are
somewhat below average wages in the East. The indication is that
the level of earnings in the eastern plants is in the neighborhood of
10 percent greater than the level in the middle western and far
western plants.

,

,

Trend o f Em ploym ent H ours and Earnings9 1939 to 1942

For the sample of plants primarily engaged in the manufacture of
mechanical rubber goods, data were secured on total employment,
man-hours, and pay rolls for representative pay-roll periods in 6
selected months from 1939 to 1942. These data were not available
for 11 of the 52 plants covered by the survey for the August 1939
period, and from one to three plants in four oi the other periods.
Table 4 shows number of plants, employment, average weekly
earnings, average weekly hours, and average hourly earnings, including
overtime premium pay and night-shift premiums, for these six periods
•These occupations contained almost 42 percent of the workers for whom occupational data are shown
in table 3.




36

WAGES IN RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

for the industry division as a whole and separately for the industry in
three regions. Estimates of average hourly earnings exclusive of
overtime premium pay likewise are set forth in this table. Although
it was possible to estimate the effect of overtime premium pay on
hourly earnings, data were not available for an estimate of the influence
on hourly earnings of premium pay for night-shift work. The effect
of night-shift premiums, however, appears to be small. Since some
plants did not report for certain of the periods shown in table 4, chain
indexes of employment were constructed to eliminate the influence
of differences in the number of reporting plants. These indexes are
shown separately in table 5.
The data in table 4, in conjunction with the employment indexes in
table 5, provide a general picture of the trend in employment, hours,
and earnings in the industry from 1939 to 1942. The use of aggregate
earnings data for comparison over periods of time, or even for com­
parison of one region with another, may be affected by changes or
differences in occupational patterns. The first of these factors—
that is, changes in occupational pattern—has been of some importance,
especially in the East, since 1939. On the basis of the occupational
data in table 3 for August 1942, the pattern of occupations among
regions appears to be reasonably comparable for mechanical-goods
operations, but this table does not show the new occupations that have
developed in the production of special war goods.
T able 4.— Num ber o f Workers and Average Hours and Earnings in Prim ary M echanicalGoods Plants, by Region , August 1939-A u gu st 1942

Region, month, and year

United States:
August 1939.....................___................
July 1940..............................................
January 1941........ ......... .....................
July 1941___________ ______________
June 1942.... ................... ......................
August 1942 .......... ..............................
East:
August 1939................ .........................
July 1940......................... .....................
January 1941..... ...................................
July 1941.............. ............ ..................
June 1942.._.........................................
August 1942.................. .......................
Midwest:
August 1939 ...................................
July 1940...................... ........................
January 1941........ ...............................
July 1941............................................ .
June 1942............... ...............................
August 1942..........................................
Far West:
August 1939.................................. ........
July 1940..............................................
January 1941____ ____ ___•__________
July 1941...............................................
June 1942.................... ..........................
August 1942...........................................

Number
Average
weekly
of plants Employ­
ment
reporting
earnings

Estimat­
Average ed aver­
Average hourly
age
weekly earnings hourly
hours
including e&rnings
overtime excluding
overtime1

41
49
50
50
51
52

9,981
13,655
18,150
21,130
19,113
20,040

$25.87
24.43
24.16
27.00
34.13
35.77

40.1
39.2
38.5
39.9
42.3
43.6

$0,645
.623
.627
.676
.806
.820

$0,627
.610
.616
.658
.769
.774

18
20
21
21
22
22

5,855
7,745
10,281
12,462
12,439
12,819

26.34
25.51
25.38
26.42
34.88
35.99

39.8
40.1
39.1
39.1
43.2
43.4

.662
.636
.649
.676
.808
.828

.645
.618
.635
.662
.764
.782

16
22
22
22
22
23

2,088
3,664
5,634
5,964
4,361
4,657

24.84
22.27
21.89
26.26
30.67
34.51

39.1
37.8
37.4
40.2
38.7
42.8

.635
.589
.585
.654
.793
.806

.622
.580
.577
.635
.778
.766

7

2,038
2,246
2,235
2,704
2,313
2,564

25.60
24.23
24.27
31.34
36.57
36.94

42.2
38.2
38.6
43.4
44.8
46.0

.607
.634
.629
.723
.816
.802

.580
.623
.617
.683
.762
.743

7
7
7
7

1 No correction has been made for the influence of shift-differential premium pay. The influence of
premium pay for night work on wage levels is believed to be very small.




37

PART 2 .— MECHANICAL RUBBER GOODS

In the industry division as a whole, as table 5 shows, employment
increased by about 56 percent between August 1939 and August 1942.
Employment advanced very sharply from July 1940, shortly after the
inauguration of the national defense program, to July 1941. The
high level of employment in July 1941 reflects the intense economic
activity growing out of the defense program at a time, moreover, when
rubber supply was not a problem. Employment in August 1942 was
approximately 6 percent below the July 1941 level, but this decline,
as pointed out below, has been more than balanced by an increase in
the length of the average workweek.
The percentage increase in employment between 1939 and 1942 was
much greater in the East than in either the Midwest or Far West. A
very large gain in employment in a single eastern plant had consider­
able influence on the general level of employment in the eastern region.
T able 5.— Indexes o f Em ploym ent in Prim ary Mechanical Rubber Goods Plants, by
Region , August 1939-A u gu st 1942
[August 1939=100]
Month and year
August 1939...................................... ___...........................
July 1940................................................... .......................
January 1941_____________________________
July 1941........................................................... ...............
June 1942...........................................................................
August 1942....................... ..................... .............. .........

United
States
100.0
106.9
141.9
165.3
148.8
155.9

East
100.0
107.8
142.7
173.1
171.4
176.7

Midwest
100.0
101.2
155.4
164.6
120.3
128.2

Far West
100.0
110.2
109.7
132.7
113.5
125.8

Average weekly hours per worker (table 4) amounted to 43.6 in
August 1942, an increase of 9.5 percent as compared with August 1939,
and to approximately the same percentage if the comparision is made
with July 1941. In fact, employment measured in terms of man­
hours was greater in August 1942 than in July 1941, despite some
decline in the number of workers employed.
Average hourly earnings, including premium pay for overtime and
shift-differential premiums, in the industry as a whole increased
from 64.5 cents in August 1939 to 82 cents in August 1942, or by 27
percent. Average weekly earnings, which are affected not only by
average earnings per hour but also by the number of hours worked
per week, increased from $25.87 in August 1939 to $35.77 in August
1942, an advance of 38 percent. Estimated average hourly earnings
exclusive of premium pay for overtime rose from 62.7 cents to 77.4
cents during this 3-year period.10 An inspection of the table indicates
that the greater part of the increase in earnings occurred after July
1941. This statement appears to be true not only for the industry as
a whole but for the industry in each of the three regions shown
separately.
10 Straight-time average hourly earnings in primary mechanical-goods plants for all of the workers for
whom occupational wage data are shown amounted to 78.8 cents in August 1942 (table 2). Estimated
straight-time hourly earnings for August 1942 as shown for the total plant employment in table 4 amounted
to 77.4 cents. This relatively small difference of 1.4 cents is probably due largely to the fact that not all
of the occupations in these plants, notably those found in special war-goods production, were included in
the occupational data. Moreover, the straight-time earnings in table 4 are estimated, and a portion of the
difference may reflect this fact. It should be pointed out that the average earnings of all workers for whom
occupational data are shown were 74.4 cents (table 2) in the Far West; the estimated straight-time earn­
ings of all workers in these plants were 74.3 cents (table 4), a difference of only 0.1 cent. The respective av­
erages in the Midwest were 74.8 cents and 76.6 cents, a difference of 1.8 cents. The appreciable difference
(3.1 cents) between the two averages in the East probably reflects the influence of the omitted special warproducts occupations.




38

WAGES IK RUBBER MANUFACTURING, AUGUST

1942

Earnings b y Size o f Plant and Unionization

Table 6 shows average hourly earnings, inclusive of premium over­
time pay and night-shift premiums, for four groups of plants classi­
fied on the basis of size and for union and nonunion plants similarly
classified. Average weekly hours for each plant group are also shown,
so that allowance can be made for the influence on hourly earnings of
premium pay for overtime worked.11
An inspection of table 6 suggests that there is no consistent relation­
ship between plant size and the general level of earnings. It is obvious,
for example, that if premium pay for overtime were eliminated, the
level of earnings in plants employing from 251 to 500 workers would
be lower than the level of earnings in plants employing fewer than 100
workers. The level of earnings in plants employing more than 500
workers is more influenced by hours worked than the level in plants
employing 101 to 250 workers. If overtime premium payments
were removed, it is probable that the level of earnings in the latter
group of plants would exceed the level of earnings in the former
group.
Table 6 does show, however, that a distinct difference exists in
average hourly earnings between organized and unorganized plants in
each of the size classes. The level of earnings in imion plants as a
whole is consistently above the level of earnings in nonunion plants
as a whole in the same size groups. Since average weekly hours
were also higher in the nonunion groups of plants, the exclusion of
punitive overtime pay would undoubtedly increase the differences in
hourly earnings shown in table 6.
T able

6.— Average H ourly Earnings 1and Average W eekly H ours in Prim ary Mechanical
Rubber Goods Plants, by Size o f Plant and Unionization , August 1942

Size of plant

Number
of
plants

Number
of
workers

Average
hourly
earnings

Average
weekly
hours

All plants------------------------------------------------ ---------100 workers and under_____ ____________________
101 to 250 workers___________ ____ ______________
251 to 500 workers______________________________
501 workers and over__________ __________ ______

52
21
12
6
13

20,040
852
1,969
2,165
15,054

$0.820
.748
.823
.750
.830

43.6
40.8
41.2
45.2
43.8

Union plants— ---------- ------------------------- --------- -------100 workers and under_________________________
101 to 250 workers_________ _______ _____________
251 to 500 workers______________________________
501 workers and over___ ______ __________________

35
11
10
3
11

15,473
518
1,605
1,080
12,270

.839
.775
.839
.816
.844

43.1
39.2
41.1
43.3
43.5

Nonunion plants___________________________________
100 workers and under__________________________
101 to 250 workers_______ ____ __________________
251 to 500 workers__________ _____ _____________ _
501 workers and over____ _____ _____________ ____

17
10
2
3
2

4,567
334
364
1,085
2,784

.740
.707
.751
.684
.765

45.4
43.3
41.6
47.0
45.5

i Premium overtime pay and shift-differential premiums included.
11 It is possible to estimate straight-time average hourly earnings for these groups of plants. Such esti­
mates, however, might not be reliable because of the relatively small number of plants and workers in some
of the plant groupings. For large groups of plants the importance of overtime premium pay can be esti­
mated with reasonable accuracy.