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X /3 3: /XX- SismM T*»eh«r« College Library THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER HER SITUATION TODAY S*tNToX ^JTES Oj, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WOMEN’S BUREAU BULLETIN 172 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR FRANCES PERKINS, Secretary WOMEN’S BUREAU MARY ANDERSON, Director + THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER HER SITUATION TODAY BY ELISABETH D. BENHAM Dill ''nSJTesO*. Bulletin of the Women’s Bureau, No. 172 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1939 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. Price 10 cents CONTENTS Page Letter of transmittal v Part L—Introduction j Part II.—Women’s place in industry 5 Women in manufacturing industries 6 Textile, clothing, and allied industries_______________________ 7 Food industries9 Machinery__________________________________________ ____ n Paper and printing industries_______________ ______________ 12 Shoe and other leather industries 13 Metal industries 15 Tobacco industries________________________________ ~I 16 Chemical industries”______________________________________ 10 Rubber industries~ 17 Forest products,””” 17 Transportation equipment 18 Clay, glass, and stone industries______ ____~________________ 13 Miscellaneous industries~________ 18 Women in nonmanufacturing industries 19 Clerical occupations 20 Trade__~ 21 Hotels and restaurants 23 Telephone and telegraph service___ , 25 Laundries and dry-cleaning plants 25 Beauty parlors,26 Other occupations~____ 26 Household and agricultural employments_______________ 27 Attendants and helpers in professional service_______________ 29 Other services~ _ 39 Part III.—Women’s earnings~_ 31 Earnings of women in manufacturing industries________________ 31 Earnings of women in nonmanufacturing industries33 Clerical occupations_____________________ “ 34 Telephone and telegraph employmentI__ 34 Retail trade35 Beauty parlors35 Laundries and dry-cleaning shops______ _____________________ 39 Hotels and restaurants________________ 37 Household employment~_~___ 38 Estimated cost of living of an independent woman_______________ 38 Part IV.—Women’s participation in labor organizations______________ 42 Part V.—Women’s unemployment____________ 48 Occupation and industry of the unemployed 48 Factory unemployment 49 Nonfactory unemployment______________________ pq Appendix—Geographic distribution of woman-employing industries_____ 51 Manufacturing industries~~__ 51 Nonmanufacturing industries50 in LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL United States Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau, Washington, June 22,1939. I have the honor to transmit to you a report on the sit uation of the woman wage earner today. This brings together from many sources information about women workers that the National Y. W. 0. A. asked the Women’s Bureau to assemble, and that also is much in demand by other agencies. The report was prepared by Elisabeth D. Benham of this Bureau’s research division, under the supervision of Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon, chief of the research division. Respectfully submitted. Mart Anderson, Director. Hon. Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor. Madam : THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER HER SITUATION TODAY Part I.—INTRODUCTION If one desires to learn of women’s employment in any given lo cality, the industries or occupations employing the largest numbers of women at the time of the latest census may be taken as a starting point. It is unlikely that an industry reported as a considerable employer of women in 1929 or 1930 has since closed its doors to them, though the ratio of women’s employment has shifted in certain in dustries, increasing in some, decreasing in others. The pages following seek to present in brief and readable form the main outlines of the occupational status of women wage earners— where they are at work, whether opportunities for them are in creasing or decreasing, what they earn, to what extent they are un employed, to what extent they are organized. The available sources of such information vary widely. Some are much more complete than others, some are very scattered, some afford rather recent in formation, some give older data though the best at hand. An effort is made here to bring together from many places what can be ob tained to show the situation of women along the lines indicated. Who Are the Women Wage Earners? Those who work by the piece, by the hour, or by the week may, in general, be considered wage earners. In this discussion the selfemployed, the professional, or semiprofessional workers, and em ployees of any unit of government have been omitted. The broad lines of employment of the women wage earners divide themselves into manufacturing industries and nonmanufacturing occupations such as those in the trade and service groups or in clerical work. What Sources of Information Show Where Women Are Employed? For basic information covering the entire United States on in dustries employing women, it is still necessary to use the Census of Occupations of 1930 and the Census of Manufactures of 1929. The 1930 Census found 208 occupations that employed 1,000 or more women. The 1929 Census of Manufactures reported 150 differ ent lines of business employing 1,000 or more women wage earners, and 78 that employed at least 1,000 women in salaried positions, chiefly clerical. 1 2 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER For some of the nonmanufacturing industries, certain more recent sources of information are available in the Census of Business for 1935. These show women’s employment in retail and wholesale trade, in hotels, in restaurants, and in other lines of service. They are not entirely complete for women, since the reports from some establishments are not broken down by sex. Their indications are of considerable value in trade and in restaurant employment, since the break-downs by sex for these important woman-employing indus tries cover some 95 percent of all the employees reported. For hotels and certain minor services the coverage is less complete. Are Employment Opportunities Increasing or Decreasing? There are several sources of material affording partial answers to this question, though none of them is fully complete since each ap plies only to certain types of occupation or to certain localities. From the paragraphs following, which show sources of such ma terial, it will be evident that it is very scattered. It is easy to see that the interpretation of this incomplete material in terms of what actually is happening to women is most difficult. Beports of the United States Employment Service1 giving appli cations for work and placements for various periods show something of the ease or difficulty of securing employment along certain lines. Manufacturing industries.—For the manufacturing industries, the Census of Manufactures, issued every 2 years, shows increasing or decreasing employment of all wage earners. Though affording no way of telling at frequent intervals whether women are increasing in the total of manufacturing occupations or of any industry, since these data are supplied by sex only every 10 years, the Census of Manufactures does show whether employment generally is advanc ing or declining in manufacturing industries that usually are im portant woman-employers. A similar type of information can be obtained for the woman-employing industries from the monthly indexes of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (not by sex). Information as to the trend of women’s employment in manufac turing industries can be obtained very much more frequently for a few of the more important industrial States that collect such figures by sex annually or monthly.12 In fact, the material from these few States has been until recently the only source of frequently reported current data on trends in women’s manufacturing employment in important manufacturing States. In 1938 the Women’s Bureau began reporting twice a year on the major woman-employing industries. Nonmanufacturing industries.—Trends in the employment of women in trade can be seen from the Census of Business of 1929 and 1935, though the reporting for women is not entirely complete. A few 1 Transferred from Department of Labor to Social Security Board July 1 1939, as Employment Service Division in Bureau of Employment Security. 2 Employment data by sex are published monthly bv the labor departments of Illinois and New York; collected, but not published, annually by Ohio and every 2 years by Massachusetts. The Illinois and Ohio figures also report for certain nonmanufacturing groups. The form of this material differs in these different States. The most usual form for ascertaining trends is some type of index. For an analysis of these figures, see Women's Bureau Bulletin No. 159. INTBODUCTION 3 States have periodic reports as to women workers in trade. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports for employees in trade, but not by sex. The other nonmanufacturing industries are even less fully reported. The only source of information to show trends of women’s employ ment in clerical occupations is the unpublished annual reporting in Ohio. Available material on employment in service industries is very scat tered. The trends of women’s employment in some of these is shown monthly by Illinois and in unpublished figures once a year by Ohio. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics also issues monthly reports for some of these, but not separately for women. How Can Material on Women’s Earnings Best Be Shown? Information on women’s earnings also is very scattered. However, there are more sources of information than is the case with employ ment material, because many special surveys and reports on this sub ject have been made by the Women’s Bureau and by various other agencies.® The difficulties of showing material on women’s earnings are complicated by the fact that there are many different methods of payment. Furthermore, the interpretation of what certain earn ings actually afford is influenced materially by the variation among different communities in the cost of what a woman must buy. Wages are present here in two ways: First, industries are listed as to women’s earnings at a few different levels, from the lowest to the highest, using the most comprehensive data available. Those for earnings in factories are much more com prehensive than those for nonmanufacturing. The level of hourly earnings is the better guide to the rates an industry pays, while the level of weekly earnings shows what a woman has to live on, in fluenced by the number of hours she has worked. Second, wage data are accompanied by carefully worked out costof-living figures. Not many comparisons of this kind can be made, as the locality must be the same. Can the Extent of Women’s Unemployment Be Learned? The Unemployment Census taken in November 1937 gives the data regarding more than 2,500,000 women who voluntarily reported them selves as without -work but trying to secure it, or working part time and wanting full-time employment. It indicates which job seekers were without work experience, and the usual occupation and industry of the others. To What Extent Are Women in Unions? No clear-cut answer to this question is possible. It may be assumed safely that a union in a woman-employing industry must have some women members if all workers in the industry are accepted in the* 8 Write to Women's Bureau for folder giving list of publications. 170859°—39-----2 4 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER union. Some of the large unions along craft lines exclude most or all women by their nature, because they apply to occupations in which women do not work, as, for example, the building trades. The periodicals of the unions are perhaps the best source of infor mation that will help to make a picture of women in these organiza tions. News items often report women’s participation in union activ ities in this or that union, in this or that city, growth of unions in various localities, and the gains secured through contracts.4 Recent trends in organization have given a great impetus to union ization and have been especially helpful to women. 4 For such news items see the Women’s Bureau periodical, The Woman Worker. PART II.—WOMEN’S PLACE IN INDUSTRY This section of the report presents a picture of the general situa tion in regard to women in the more important industrial employ ments in which they are engaged. This includes information as to the numbers of women so employed, their importance among all the workers in the industry, the extent to which opportunities for them are increasing or declining as shown by the trend over recent years, the seasonal factor's to which those at work in the industry are subject, the extent to which women are organized, and other per tinent facts.1 The employments under discussion fall naturally into two major groups—manufacturing and nonmanufacturing, the latter including primarily service and sales occupations. The place of some 7% mil lion women wage earners is considered here. The remaining 3 mil lion women reported as in gainful work at the last census, 1930, are chiefly in business for themselves or are in the professions, a large part of them teachers in schools. Of every 10 wage-earning women, 2 work in a factory. The prod ucts they help to make are extremely diverse. The geographic dis tribution of their workplaces varies from product to product. Many factors have entered in to make conditions of work, rates of pay, and so forth, differ widely in the various lines of manufacture. Legislation, both Federal and State, enters the picture also, improv ing conditions, though not uniformly, for women in both manufac turing and nonmanufacturing.12 The legislative situation, like em ployment conditions and opportunities, shifts constantly, and the general picture that is presented for today may be very different tomorrow". The other 8 of every 10 women wage earners are engaged not in making a product but in performing a service. Their work in offices helps to keep the wheels of industry turning; they distribute the goods that others have made; they feed us, clean our homes and our clothing, and help us in numberless ways. The place this larger group takes in the economic scene is presented in these pages, and something of the return that is made to them for the service they render is shown. 1A general outline of the chief geographic distributions of these various industries is included in the appendix. 2 For coverage of State laws, see Women's Bureau Bulls. 156 and 167. For coverage of Federal law see pp. 6, 19, 21, 27, and the discussion as to certain industries. 5 6 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES As business is organized now, most manufacturing will come within the scope of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (Fed eral wage-hour law). Any factory producing goods only for the State in which it is situated is exempt, but business is seldom or ganized in that way. Certain seasonal industries—generally speak ing, fruit, vegetable, and sea-food canning and packing, and dairy products—are exempt from both the wage and the hour provisions of the act. Fruit and vegetable canning m particular employs large numbers of women. Women’s position in manufacturing is shown in the following list of industries, each of which employed 5,000 or more women wage earners in 1929. In 16 of these industries one-half or more of the wage earners were women, and in 22 one-fourth but less than onelialf were women. Percent women form of the total is shown in the following: Women Comprised 50 Percent or More of Ale Wage Earners Percent Handkerchiefs Men’s clothing other than coats and suits 84 Gloves and mittens (cloth and leather combined) 84 Women’s clothing-------------------House furnishing goods, n.e.c.1----Embroideries and trimmings-----Cigars and cigarettes---------------Knit goods-----------------------------Confectionery---------------------------- Percent 88 Perfumes, 71 67 67 67 64 63 cosmetics, and other toilet preparations 60 Bags, except paper, not made in textile mills 59 Envelopes 58 Silk and rayon goods (textiles)_57 Men’s coats and suits 55 Fancy and miscellaneous articles, n.e.c.3! 55 Chewing and smoking tobacco and snuff ---------------------------------- 52 Women Comprised 25 but Less Than 50 Percent of All Wage Earners Boxes, paper, n.e.c.1------------------- 49 Toys, games, etc 38 Fruit and vegetable canning------ 48 Cordage and twine 36 Sea-food canning---------------------- 47 Paper goods, n.e.c.1 36 Stationery goods, n.e.c.1------------- 47 Carpets and rugs, mats, matting, etc. ------------------------------------Rubber boots and shoes------------- 45 Cotton goods--------------------------- 44 Tin cans and other tinware, n.e.c.1 Drugs and patent medicines-------- 44 Electrical apparatus, including radios and phonographs______ Bookbinding and blank-book making. 43 28 Clocks, watches, etc------------------ 42 Jewelry Woolen and worsted goods-------- 41 Rubber goods other than tires and tubes and boots and shoes____ Boots and shoes other than rub ber ; cut stock and findings----- 40 Pottery, including porcelain ware Stamped and enameled ware_____ Rayon and allied products 40 (chemicals)___ 35 30 29 25 25 25 Women Comprised 10 but Less Than 25 Percent of All Wage Earners Dyeing and finishing of textiles--- 23 Breadand other bakeryproducts. 18 Wire work, n.e.c.1 23 Rubber tires and innertubes______ 16 Hardware, n.e.c.1------------------------- 21 Glass---------------------------------------- 12 Printing and publishing, book and Meat packing, wholesale------------- 10 job 19 Paper 10 Women Comprised Less Than 10 Percent of All Wage Earners Printing and publishing, news paper and periodical--------------Motor vehicle bodies and parts----Nonferrous metal alloys and prod ucts, not including aluminum— 1 Not elsewhere classified. Furniture, including store and of9 flee fixtures 6 7 Foundry and machine shop prod ucts, n.e.c.1------------------;----------7 Motor vehicles, except motorcycles 3 3 7 WOMEN’S PLACE IN INDUSTRY In the following descriptions of specific manufacturing industries, employment of women as reported in the Census of Manufactures for 1929 has been used, as this gives a much clearer division of in dustry than does the Census of Occupations for 1930. It shows 1.860.000 women so employed. Industries are discussed in the order of their importance as employers of women. TEXTILE, CLOTHING, AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES The making of fabrics and the fashioning of garments and other articles from these fabrics together gave employment to more than 900.000 women in 1929. These age-old industries were carried on by women in the home until the industrial era, when they were gradually removed to factories, first spinning and weaving, then the making of clothing. Textile Mill Industries. The making of fabrics gave employment to almost 500,000 women in 1929, nearly half of all wage earners so employed. This group as a whole increased by only about 10,400 wage earners, men and women combined, from 1929 to 1937. Only two important groups showed gains, knit goods and woolen and worsted goods. There was no report by sex in 1937. In round numbers, the employment of women in 1929 in the more important industries, the percent they comprised of all workers so employed, and the increase or decrease in the numbers of all wage earners from 1929 to 1937 were as follows: Women wage earners, Increase or 1929 decrease in number of all wage Percent earners, Number of total 1929 to 1937 Industry Cotton goods---------- ------------------------------------------------ ----- - Silk and rayon goods. -----------------------------------------------------------Woolen and worsted goods------------------------------------------------------Carpets and rugs ---------- ------------------------------ ----------------- Dyeing and finishing of textiles------------------------------------------------Cordage and twine----------------------------- -------------------------- 179,300 133,900 74, 600 62, 800 12,100 18, 000 5,200 44 64 57 41 35 23 36 -5, 300 +23,100 -13,600 +13, 000 -40 -1, 800 -450 These shifts in the numbers of employed probably came from several causes: Machine changes going on constantly; the depres sion, with consequent low buying power; style changes. A recent study of machine changes in the making of certain kinds of cotton cloth indicated that from 1910 to 1936 the number of spinners needed had been reduced by well over one-half, the number of weavers by two-thirds or more. There has been for a long time a slow but steady drift of textile manufacturing out of the New England and the Middle Atlantic States to the South. Cotton moved first and is being followed by knit goods, silk, and rayon. Earnings in the industries were greatly stabilized by the N. It. A. and women’s earnings especially increased considerably. However, 8 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER they are still relatively low paid, this being particularly true in cotton and silk. Unionization in the textile industries has progressed the farthest in New England and the Middle Atlantic States, but the South is being penetrated at many points. The Clothing Industries. Clothing is second in importance to the making of fabrics in offer ing factory employment to women. There were 375,000 so engaged in 1929, forming 70 per cent of all the wage earners in this group. More than 40 percent were employed on women’s wear, including millinery, just over 20 percent on men’s coats and suits (chiefly wool), and about 30 percent on other men’s clothing—work clothes, shirts, furnishings, and so forth. About 4 percent were Negro women. The clothing industries are comparatively mobile. Machines are small and the number of employees in a shop is likely to be small. For example, in 1929 two-thirds of the establishments making men’s and women’s clothing reported 20 or fewer employees, while over two-thirds of those making cotton goods employed more than 100. There has been a constant shift, especially of factories making cheaper garments, away from unionized centers or from centers where wages are stable. In a number of communities new plants have been financed partly by regular deductions from the workers’ pay envelopes. Examples of the movement of clothing plants in clude the 1929 shift of garment factories into Connecticut from the Middle Atlantic States, and especially from New York. By 1931 the movement at this point was about at an end. At a recent hearing on the exemption of learners in the cotton-garment industry from the wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, a representa tive of industry in Mississippi stated that some 80 communities in that State would open new plants if exemptions were permitted for new and inexperienced help. In general, the making of men’s, youths’, and boys’ wool coats and suits pays higher wages than other branches of men’s wear, employs more men, and is more completely unionized. Other branches of men’s and boys’ clothing combined employ much larger proportions of women than do coats and suits, 84 per cent compared to 55 percent, and pay lower wages. Much remains to be done in the way of unionization, especially as the industry is widely scattered. Women’s wear, including children’s and infants’, is a far from homogeneous group as regards conditions of employment. The making of expensive dresses and of fine coats and suits usually is well unionized and well paid, especially in the great center of New York City. On the other hand, the making of cheap house dresses and of underwear frequently is nonunion and low paid. From 1929 to 1937 there was an increase of more than 74,000 men and women wage earners in all lines of clothing. Due to changes in classification it is impossible to say where the greater increases came, but somewhat over half were in men’s clothing. State T««chw» C»H«#e tflWHT 9 WOMEN’S PLACE IN INDUSTRY Other Articles Made From Textiles. Brief mention should be made of industries that use textile fabrics for other things than clothing. Chief among these are house furn ishings, including curtains and draperies, bed and table linen; em broideries and trimmings; and bags other than paper. The situation in these industries was as follows: Women wage earners, Id crease in 1929 number of all wage earners, Percent 1929 to 1937 Number of total Industry Housefurnishings, n. e. c.1 including all sheets and pillowcases---------- 10, 600 9.700 7,000 67 67 59 5,200 600 250 i Not elsewhere classified. FOOD INDUSTRIES Food industries in 1929 gave employment to more than 172,000 women, about one-tenth Negroes. The chief groups follow: ________Women Number Canning_____________________ Confectionery_________________ Bakeries_____________________ Slaughtering and meat packing. 54.000 40.000 35.000 13.000 Percent of all wage earners 48 63 18 10 As noted before, certain seasonal food industries are exempt from the provisions of the Federal wage-hour law. In the case of fruit and vegetable canning it was specified that plants are exempt if they are in the “area of production” of the fruits and vegetables that they are canning, but the Administrator is to define this term. Several hearings have been held and various definitions suggested. On April 19, 1939, it was announced that fruit and vegetable can ning and packing plants are exempt from the law if located in the “open country” or in towns of less than 2,500 population and if also drawing their products from within a radius of 10 miles. The ad ministrative difficulties with definitions of “area of production,” both under the present act and under the N. K. A., have led to an amend ment proposal for a uniform exemption for such occupations from all overtime provisions up to 60 hours a week. FOOD INDUSTRIES CHIEFLY COVERED BY FEDERAL LAW Confectionery. Candy factories are widely scattered throughout the country. Em ployment often is irregular, with two marked seasons of production, one for the Christmas trade, one for Easter. Available data show these seasonal fluctuations to be much greater for women than for men. Such information is presented here for Illinois, New York, and Ohio, which together in 1935 employed 43 percent of all. Percent peak employment was above lowest employment Men Women Illinois, 1936---New York, 1937. Ohio, 1936------- ___ ___ ___ 27 13 39 55 43 96 10 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER A recent report of the candy industry in New York indicates some of the methods being used by a few employers to avoid extreme seasonality. These are (1) providing arrangement for storage; (2) making up orders in advance during the slack season; (3) manu facturing a variety of products, or making a side line when slack. From 1929 to 1937 there was a reduction of about 9,800 wage earners in confectionery industries. There is indicated at the same time an increase in the amount of confectionery produced, with a decrease in the total value of the product. Candy making is not a high-wage industry for women, and it is largely nonunion. Bread and Bakery Products. In the bakery products industry in 1929, women formed less than one-fifth of all employees. Most mixing and baking is done by men, while women are wrappers and packers and—in the case of cakes— icers. There is less fluctuation in employment than in confectionery, but like confectionery the industry is widely scattered. Wage earn ers in baking increased from 1929 to 1937 by more than 88,500. Meat Packing. In meat packing women formed only one-tenth of all wage earners in 1929, but they numbered nearly 13,000. Meat packing is an im portant employer of women in the East and West North Central States, where the well-known packing centers are found. In addi tion, about 3,000 women were in plants dressing and packing poultry. These establishments often handle eggs as well. From 1929 to 1937 wage earners in meat packing increased by nearly 5,000 and those in poultry plants increased by about 1,100. Employment figures for Illinois show that women’s employment in meat packing in 1930 was a little above that in 1929, while men’s was a little below. These figures are for Chicago and East St. Louis. Women do a great variety of work in packing plants. The Wom en’s Bureau study “The Employment of Women in Slaughtering and Meat Packing,” though 10 years old, still furnishes a comprehensive picture of women’s jobs. It indicates what work is more often done by the young women and what by the older women, also in which employments the single and married women are employed. The level of women’s wages in meat packing is quite consistently above that in most manufacturing industries. The industry has been unionized from time to time and a new drive for more complete unionization is in progress now. FOOD INDUSTRIES THAT MAY BE PARTLY EXEMPT FROM FEDERAL LAW Canning. The canning of fruits and vegetables is the most important of these as an employer of women. It is usual for canneries to be located in close proximity to the products to be canned, so that the farmers may truck their produce daily if necessary. Sometimes the plants are in the country, where temporary living quarters have to be furnished for workers. Probably the great majority of the canneries run only during the “season,” which depends on the time when the vegetable to be canned is in perfect condition or the fruit is just ripening. But in many cases the season is quite long, as product after product is WOMEN’S PLACE IN INDUSTRY 11 taken as it becomes ripe. Some canneries deal with only one product and have, consequently, a very short season. A recent report from Missouri stated that canneries in that State in 1937 averaged only 37 days of operation in the year. A similar report for Virginia showed during 1935 an average of 50 days’ operation. In 1929 an average of 47,700 women were reported in fruit and vegetable canning, comprising not quite half of the total. At the peak of the season, in September, 229,000 wage earners were reported. Of this number probably more than half were women. From 1929 to 1937 the average number of wage earners in the industry increased by almost 38,200. The Women’s Bureau has in progress a field study. The canning and packing of sea foods is important on the Pacific coast, the North Atlantic coast, and the Gulf of Mexico. The indus try is more highly seasonal in some States than in others. For ex ample, in 1935 employment in Louisiana varied from less than 100 in July to more than 2,700 in September, and in Maine from less than 600 in February to more than 3,500 in September. Due to the type and variety of fish product on the Pacific coast, the variation there was not so extreme. A Virginia State report showed in 1935 an aver age of 197 days’ operation, compared with 50 in fruit and vegetables. In 1929 women employed in sea-food packing and canning aver aged more than 6,300 throughout the year, and formed not far from one-half of all wage earners in the industry. From 1929 to 1937 the average number of all wage earners increased by about 4,600. Earnings in packing and canning plants have been stabilized on the Pacific coast by minimum-wage orders, and also recently by con siderable unionization. California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washing ton, and Wisconsin have specific orders fixing wages in fruit and vegetable canneries, while in several other States this industry seems to be included under the general law or order. However, women in most States are without protection in what is in general a low-paid and irregular industry. Furthermore, because the product is perish able, State hour laws usually exempt canneries or permit long hours of overtime during the canning season. Butter and Cheese. The making of butter and cheese is largely a man’s industry, only 2,900 women being reported in 1929, 13 percent of all wage earners. Total wage earners increased by about 1,400 from 1929 to 1937. MACHINERY3 Following food preparation in importance comes the group of in dustries in the making of machinery, which in 1929 gave employment to about 126,500 women. More than three-fourths of these were em ployed in electrical machinery, apparatus, and supply factories, including those making radios and phonographs. One-tenth were engaged in foundries and machine shops, making a great variety of products. The manufacture of business machines such as typewrit ers, calculating machines, and cash registers was third in importance, with 6 percent so employed. More than 1,000 women were reported 8 Transportation equipment not included. 170859°—39------3 12 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER in each of the following: Mechanical refrigerators, sewing machines and attachments, textile machinery and parts, machine tools and accessories; more than 500 in agricultural implements and in gas machines, gas meters, and the like. Wage standards vary. Women are admitted to union membership and organization is growing. Electrical Machinery, Apparatus, and Supplies. This industry includes a great variety of products, such as batteries and pails, electric fans, household appliances (except refrigerators and washing and ironing machines), fuses, lamps, and so forth, as well as phonographs, radios, and tubes. While women formed 29 percent of all employees in the group as a whole, their employment varied considerably according to the product, and for certain types of equipment no information as to numbers of women is available. A survey made by the Women’s Bureau as to employment in radio plants in 1929 and such earlier years as could be studied showed that m 1929 women formed on an average about half of the employees making sets and at least 80 percent of those making tuBes. It also showed great fluctuation from month to month, though employment was increasing during these years. Later indications seem to bear out the fact that women’s employment continues to fluctuate consid erably more than men’s in this industry. From 1929 to 1937 there was a decrease of more than 37,000 in the number of employees in the electrical group as a whole. Em ployment in radio and phonograph factories alone cannot be com pared with 1929, but in 1937 it was above the level of 1931 by nearly 12,000. The making of radios (including phonographs) is carried on in 16 States and the District of Columbia, 11 of these being northern States. Other electrical-equipment factories are more widely scattered, but the same 11 States do most of the business. Foundries and Machine Shops Not Elsewhere Classified. These employed almost 12,600 women in 1929, though women were less than 3 percent of the total. Women’s work may be the making of cores—the forms in which metal products are cast; the assembling of small parts; or the operating of machines that drill or punch holes in small metal parts or shape such parts in various ways. From 1929 to 1937 there was a decrease of about 22,600 wage earners. The making of typewriters and parts employed nearly 4,800 women in 1929, 28 percent of all wage earners. In the making of other business machines women were 17 percent of the total &and numbered about 2,900. By 1937 employment in the former had in creased by about 4,500, in the latter by about 6,800. PAPER AND PRINTING INDUSTRIES These enterprises in 1929 gave employment to more than 119,000 women, divided as follows: _________Women_____ Percent of ail Number wage earners Printing and publishing. Paper products----------Paper________________ 60,600 48.000 11.000 17 46 9 WOMEN’S PLACE IN INDUSTRY 13 Printing and Publishing. The printing industry is found to some extent in every State and in practically every city and town. This is most especially true of newspaper printing and job printing. Of the two chief divisions, boob, music, and job printing employed more than twice as many women as did newspaper and periodical publishing. In the latter women formed almost one-tenth of all wage earners and in the former almost one-fifth. It is well to emphasize in connection with the latter that this discussion is confined to wage earners, and does not include reporters or editors. Printing and publishing is, as a whole, unionized and well paid, but this is less true of paper. Less familiar, perhaps, are the enterprises that bind books or pamphlets that usually have been printed elsewhere, or those that make blank books of all kinds from ledgers to check books. In these establishments women comprised over 40 percent of all wage earners. From 1929 to 1937 there was a reduction of more than 10,000 wage earners in book, music, and job printing; an increase of nearly 5,500 in newspaper and periodical printing; and an increase of almost 600 in bookbinding and blank-book making. Paper Products. A great variety of things are made from paper, chief among them being boxes with 27,500 women employed, bags with 3,600, and envelopes with 6,000. In these divisions, respectively 49 per cent, 52 percent, and 58 percent of the wage earners in" 1929 were women. In a miscellaneous group making paper napkins, dishes, bottle caps, waxed paper, and many other items, women numbered 7,200 and formed about one-third of all employees. Taken as a whole, the making of paper products employed a much greater number of employees (men and women combined) in 1937 than in 1929. For most products there were increases, as the fol lowing shows: Paper boxes—increase of 9,500 Envelopes—decrease of 860 Paper bags—increase of 3,400 Other miscellaneous products combined—increase of12,700 The last of these may reflect in part such experiments as the use of a paper milk bottle. Many women’s jobs are low paid. Paper. Women in 1929 formed 10 per cent of all wage earners in the making of paper. Here the actual making is done by men. Women count, sort, and inspect the finished sheets, or sort rags. Probably women are employed more extensively in the making of the finer grades of paper, but no figures are available on this point. The total number of wage earners in 1937 was almost 7,500 greater than in 1929. . SHOE AND OTHER LEATHER INDUSTRIES Of the 107,000 women employed in leather or leather-products fac tories in 1929, 91,000 were in boot and shoe factories or in factories 14 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER making cut stock and findings for shoes. They numbered 4,600 in gloves and 4,500 in leather. Women’s pay usually averages low. Boot and Shoe Manufacturing. There were about 85,000 women in boot and shoe factories in 1929. They formed 41 percent of all wage earners. This is one of the largest industries in woman employment. The only particular industries that exceed it are cotton textiles and knit goods, though, of course, many of the other groups of industries employ more women. The proportion of women seems to vary with locality and with product. A study of shoes made by the United States Bureau of Labor Sta tistics in 1932 showed the proportion of women to be 44 percent for the United States. Of the more important States, the proportions of women in Illinois, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Wisconsin were above the average, and they were below the average in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. A study of men’s shoes made by the Women’s Bureau in 1936-37 had similar indications. A Women’s Bureau study of shoe factories in New Hampshire in 1932 reported women in considerably larger proportions in factories making the cheaper grades of shoes. Wage standards vary widely. From 1929 to 1937 the number of all wage earners increased by 10,000. In the period 1929 to 1935, when employment had decreased, the total production of shoes had increased. There was a decrease in production of the most expensive type of shoes, and a great in crease in production of the cheapest type. In a recent report that discusses unionization in the shoe industry the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics states: Union organization in the shoe industry is particularly difficult because of the ease with which shoe plants can move from one locality to another. Al though a considerable number of the large mass-production factories have re mained on their same site through many years, a large portion of shoe manu facturing is done in small plants, many of them operated by independent em ployers with little investment at stake. Since most of the shoe machinery is on a rental basis, these small employers are able to set up a plant in one lo cality for a season or two and then move to another locality. Likewise, large concerns can establish branch factories with very little additional capital out lay. The opening of new or branch factories has been aided in many cases by the offering of tax exemption, free plant facilities, and even bonuses by local communities. Thus a union may be successful in organizing a shoe center, only to find that a considerable part of the industry has moved. In spite of this, there have long been unions. One recently formed has agreements covering 149 firms and about 22,000 workers. The nearly 6,500 women in factories making only cut stock and findings for shoes formed about one-third of all wage earners so employed. By 1937, wage earners in this branch of the industry had declined by about 1,100. Gloves and Mittens. The making of leather gloves and mittens is a relatively small in dustry, employing less than 10,000 wage earners; but it is important as a woman-employer. Half of the workers reported in 1929 were women. This report by no means covers all women who work on gloves, as home work is extensive; but home workers, chiefly women, are not reported by the Census of Manufactures. New York State accounts for well over one-half of the glove industry, WOMEN'S PLACE IN INDUSTRY 15 and in the spring of 1933 a fairly complete register of home workers in Fulton County, obtained by the State, showed more than 3,000 listed by 133 firms making gloves. A study by the Women’s Bureau in 1933 showed that the earnings of women at home averaged less than half those of women in the factory. From 1929 to 1937, employment in glove factories increased by about 2,400. Unions are strong in the chief factory centers. Leather. The preparation of leather gave employment to almost as many women as did glove making, but here they formed only 9 percent of all in the industry. The tanning and finishing of leather is found to a considerable extent in States where shoes are made. Wage earners increased by 755 from 1929 to 1937. Other Leather Products. The manufacture of pocketbooks, card cases, and so forth gave employment to nearly 1,700 women in 1929; trunks, suit cases, and so forth, to 2,300; and a miscellaneous group making small leather articles such as belts, desk sets, and vanity cases to nearly 2,500. Employment in the making of trunks and other luggage had de clined by 1937, but the other groups were at a higher level. METAL INDUSTRIES The great bulk of the numerous metal industries are man-employers chiefly, and for this reason often are overlooked in a discussion of wom en’s work. However, considerable proportions of women are found in certain of these, and in others considerable numbers though the pro portions are small. Altogether, more than 98,000 women were at work on some metal product, aside from machinery or vehicles, in 1929. Unions have been largely in the more skilled crafts, including few women, but the situation is changing. The chief facts regarding the more important industries follow: Industry Hardware, n. e. c.1_________________ ________ Stamped and enameled ware____ ____________ Tin cans and other tinware, n. e. c.1---................. Clocks, watches, etc________________________ Jewelry__________ ____ ____________________ Nonferrous-metal alloys not including aluminum. Wire work, n. e. c.1................ .................. ............ . Lighting equipment________________________ Cutlery (not silver) and edge tools____________ Needles, pins, hooks and eyes, snap fasteners___ Women wage earners, Increase or 1929 decrease in number of all wage Percent earners, Number of total 1929 to 1937 10,800 9,900 9, 400 9,000 7,800 5, 600 5,100 4,600 3,7C0 3,250 21 25 30 42 28 7 23 19 25 52 +690 +21,100 +1, 600 +1, 800 -5,100 +3,800 +11,100 -1,900 +1,800 +3, 300 1 Not elsewhere classified. This is, on the whole, an encouraging picture. In at least two lines of metal goods women’s employment is underestimated, due to con siderable home work—jewelry, and hooks, eyes, snap fasteners, and so forth. 16 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER TOBACCO INDUSTRIES In 1929 the making of tobacco products employed more than 76,000 women in a total of about 116,000 wage earners. Employment in tobacco declined steadily from 1914 to 1933, due chiefly to a revolu tion in the making of cigars, which formerly was a hand process. By 1929 a machine tended by four women was in extensive use, and it was estimated generally that it cut labor costs by one-lialf and greatly reduced employment. In some cases with the introduction of the machine a firm abandoned entirely several of its plants and concen trated all production in one or more large factories. From the beginning the making of cigarettes has been done largely by machine, but these have been improved rapidly, becoming more and more automatic and reducing correspondingly the numbers. of workers required to maintain production. An operation employing many women is the packing of 20 cigarettes into a container, the form in which most cigarettes are retailed. At one stage a machine was used that was tended by a team of five women, after which the packs of cigarettes went to a second machine to have the revenue stamps affixed. After two or three improvements were made, one woman tended a machine that not only packed the 20 cigarettes but put on the revenue stamp and added the cellophane covering which by then was used. Processes done by women usually are low paid. In 1930 nearly one-fourth of the women (over 18,000) in tobacco manufacture were Negroes. The department in a cigarette fac tory that prepares the tobacco leaf for use is manned almost en tirely by Negroes. Here women’s work is chiefly to remove the stem from the leaf. Once done by hand, this is now partly a machine process with two women feeders who feed the leaves into the machine and three called searchers or examiners who go over the tobacco as it comes from the machine, two of them to see that no bit of stem is left on the leaf, and one to see that no leaf is left on the stems. This type of work is the lowest paid and the most disagreeable. In a study by the Women’s Bureau in 1934, it was found that in many cases relief was necessary to supplement the earnings of tobacco stemmers, espe cially as the industry was seasonal and their earnings insufficient to tide them over periods when the plant was closed. Figures submitted by the firms show the small part labor costs in the stemmeries are of the cost of the product, amounting to less than 1 cent a pound of prepared tobacco, or less than 1 mill per package of 20 cigarettes. Mechanization in cigar plants has largely disrupted the old craft union of the cigar makers, though there are, here and there, union plants. On the other hand, unionization is growing in cigarette man ufacture, beginning even to reach such stemmeries as are completely separate from the plants making the cigarettes. From 1929 to 1937, wage earners in cigarette plants increased by about 5,000, while in cigar factories there was a decrease of almost 28,300. Employment in the making of smoking and chewing tobacco and snuff declined by 680. The making of cigarettes is largely in southeastern States, the making of cigars more widely spread. * CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES In 1929 the Census of Manufactures reported nearly 51,000 women in chemical industries, 18 percent of all wage earners. The most 17 WOMEN’S PLACE IN INDUSTRY important of the woman-employers in the group is the making of rayon yarn and allied products, a growing industry and one being organized in connection with the unionization of rayon-weaving plants in the textile industries. Drug-store items, medicines, cos metics, and so forth also are considerable employers of women. The picture is as follows: Women wage earn ers, 1929 Industry Number Rayon and allied products (chemicals).Drugs and medicines___ Perfumes, cosmetics, and other toilet preparations 15, 500 12,000 7,800 Increase or decrease in number of all wage Percent earners, of total 1929 to 1937 40 44 60 +16, 000 +1,300 -3,000 The rayon industry is relatively well paid. In the preparation of drugs, cosmetics, and the like, women chiefly wrap, pack, and label. These operations were found in a recent New York survey to pay many women very little. RUBBER INDUSTRIES In 1929 the rubber industries employed over 35,000 women, 13,500 m the making of tires and tubes, 11,600 in rubber boots and shoes, 10,000 in other rubber goods. Women comprised nearly half (45.2 percent) of the wage earners making boots and shoes, one-fourth of those in miscellaneous rubber goods, one-sixth of those in tires and tubes. By 1937, employment had declined sharply in all but the miscellaneous group, where the 1929 level of employment was passed by nearly 8,000. It has been stated that a marked improvement in the quality of tires has considerably increased their life, so that de creased employment is to be expected. Production was much less in 1937 than in 1929. Whatever the reason may be, there was a decided decrease also in the number of pairs of rubber footwear made. The rubber industry is quite largely concentrated in the central and east ern areas. Wage rates are comparatively high, but a pressing prob lem is that of short time and lay-offs. There is considerable unionization, especially in the tire industry. At the time the United Rubber Workers were meeting in convention in September 1938, it was estimated that there were more than 11,000 women members in the United States and Canada, about one-sixth of the total membership. FOREST PRODUCTS4 In 1929, women in lumber and furniture numbered 33,000, though less than 4 percent of the total. One-tenth were Negro. Nearly 12,000 were in furniture factories, where they constituted 6 percent of all workers, and 6,800 were in factories making boxes (cigar and other), baskets, and rattan and willow ware, 15 percent of the total. The making of cheap fruit boxes and baskets gives employment to Negro women m the South. The State of Virginia reported more few^womenSUS classfflcation “eludes metal furniture also in this group, but this employs THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER 18 than 400 Negro women at work in 1935 on veneers and veneer con tainers. Employment in each of these industries declined from 1929 to 1937. This was very low-paid work. TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT For women, this means chiefly employment in factories making automobiles or bodies and parts for automobiles, though some were engaged in making children’s carriages and sleds, motorcycles, air craft, and even cars for steam or electric railroads. _ More women were employed in factories making bodies or other separate parts than in assembly plants or plants making the whole vehicle including its parts. The former engaged 16,000 women, who were 7 percent of the total. In the latter, women numbered about 6,200 and were less than 3 percent of the total. Total employment in automobile plants decreased by almost 31,600 from 1929 to 1937, while in bodies and parts there was an increase of 63,300. _ The automobile industry is recognized as extremely seasonal. Attempts made at stabilization have not yet been very successful. Wage rates are comparatively high and unionization is growing. The problem of more stable yearly income is a pressing one. CLAY, GLASS, AND STONE INDUSTRIES In 1929, more than 24,000 women were reported in these industries. Over 8,000 were in glass, or one-eighth of all wage earners; nearly 9,000 in pottery, or one-fourth of all wage earners. Employment in glass factories in 1937 was more than 11,500 above the level of 1929; in pottery, employment was 2,300 below. In 1935, over 58 percent of the wage earners in the glass industry were in Pennsyl vania, Ohio, and West Virginia, with scattered States accounting for the others. In pottery, 62 percent of the wage earners were in Ohio, West,Virginia, and New Jersey, with the others scattered. MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES To complete the picture there may be listed a few miscellaneous industries that in 1929, at least, employed a considerable number of women. If these are entirely overlooked, some 79,000 women are omitted from consideration. The position of women and the em ployment trend since 1929 in the chief of these were as follows: Industry Toys, games, etc.............—:----------------------------- ----------Signs and advertising novelties----------- -----------------------Fur goods.------------ ------------------------- ------------------------Surgical and orthopedic appliances--------------------------------Buttons------------------------ ----------------------------------- v Sporting and athletic goods (except firearms and ammunition) Optical goods-------- ------------------- -------- ----------.................. Photographic apparatus and materials------------------------- Mattresses and bed springs, n. e. c.1------ ------------ ----------Pens and pen points------------------- ------- -----------------------Brushes (other than rubber)----------------------------------------Artificial and preserved flowers and plants...........—............. 1 Not elsewhere classified. Women wage earners, Increase or decrease in 1929 number of all wage Percent earners, Number of total 1929 to 1937 6,300 4,900 3,900 3, 700 3,100 3, 500 3,050 3.000 3,000 2,150 2,070 2,000 38 24 25 47 35 32 32 23 17 47 29 G3 +900 -4, 000 -2, 800 +500 +3, 000 +600 +2, 300 +5,500 +2, 000 -260 +650 +2, 400 19 WOMEN'S PLACE IN INDUSTRY WOMEN IN NONMANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES Altogether, more than 6,000,000 women wage earners, not in busi ness for themselves, not in any profession, are in nonmanufacturing pursuits. The accompanying table shows the chief industries and occupations discussed here. Women wage earners in chief nonmanufacturing occupations, 1930 Number of women Percent of total Clerical occupations—total____________________ Stenographers and typists___________ ____ Clerks (except “clerks" in stores)____________ Bookkeepers, cashiers, and accountants______ • 1,986, 830 775,140 706, 553 482, 711 49.4 95.6 35.4 51.9 Trade occupations (chiefly retail stores)—total____ Saleswomen and clerks in stores_____________ Laborers and helpers in stores______________ Decorators, drapers, and window dressers____ Floorwalkers and foreladies in stores....... ........... 2 726,145 705, 793 9,362 6,238 4,636 25.8 29.5 4.5 31.0 14.2 Hotels, restaurants, etc.—total_________________ Waitresses................... ................ ........................ Servants not specified___________ __________ Cooks_______ _____ _________ ____________ Housekeepers and stewards------ ------- ----------- 457,477 231,973 109,124 94,252 22,128 53.1 59.0 56.3 38.7 72.3 T elephone and telegraph operators—total________ Telephone operators------------------------Telegraph operators_______________________ 251, 381 235,259 16,122 79.4 94.5 23.8 Laundries, cleaning and dyeing shops—total. _ ... Laundry operatives___ ________ ______ ____ Cleaning, dyeing, and pressing-shop operatives. 179, 784 160,475 19, 309 58.6 66.7 29.3 Barbers, hairdressers, and manicurists----------------- 113,194 30.2 Other miscellaneous occupations: Charwomen and cleaners---------------------------Janitors and sextons__ ___________________ Elevator tenders. ........... ...... ........... ................. . 40,989 35, 820 12, 359 66.2 11.6 18.3 Household service—total______________________ Servants not specified_____________________ Laundresses not in laundries_______________ Cooks---------------- -----------------------------------Housekeepers and stewards________________ 2,002, 286 1,154, 740 356, 468 276, 843 214, 235 93.2 93.1 98.7 86.1 94.7 171, 323 143,142 55, 625 6.3 91.2 32.6 Wage earners in agriculture _____________ ____ Midwives and untrained nurses_______________ Attendants and helpers in professional service..__ 1 2 1 Total exceeds details, as not all occupations are shown separately. 2 Includes 116 delivery women. The nonmanufacturing industries are found in every State, in every city, in every town. Except for clerical workers in interstate commerce industries, for telephone and telegraph operators, and for most workers in wholesale trade, the large groups considered here probably will not be helped by the Federal wage and hour law, but they can be helped, and in many cases have been, by State laws. State minimum-wage authorities usually have made it a policy to issue wage orders first in great intrastate industries: Retail trade, laundries, dry cleaning and dyeing, hotels and restaurants, beauty parlors. This has been done because (1) Federal laws do not apply; (2) wages for large numbers of women are low; (3) large numbers of women are so employed whether the State is an industrial one or not. 170859°—39----- i 20 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER No comprehensive data exist showing trends in employment in all nonmanufacturing industries comparable to those presented by the Census of Manufactures. A census of business has been taken a number of times, but the coverage has varied, being most complete for trade and for restaurants. In other industries and occupations, the best data showing trends in women’s employment are reported by Ohio and for fewer industries by Illinois. CLERICAL OCCUPATIONS In 1930 not far from 2,000,000 women were engaged in clerical work, the large groups being stenographers and typists, 775,100; clerks (except clerks in stores), 706,600; bookkeepers, cashiers, and accountants, 482,700. About 1 in every 200 women office workers was a Negro. Clerical work, long the goal of girls who must earn their living, has its vicissitudes as well as other occupations. And these difficulties are growing. A report of the United States Employment Service showed 177,000 women seeking clerical work in November 1937, while only 5,300 were placed in such jobs, half of them in temporary posi tions. The field is distinctly overcrowded, while almost every city has its business school seeking to get patrons by tempting slogans such as “Take our six months course and prepare yourself for a career,” or “Positions guaranteed to all graduates”—a. guarantee in creasingly hard to make good. There is the further fact that in many cities the only public-school trade course open to women is the high-school “commercial course.” A special census of unemploy ment in Massachusetts in 1934 reported nearly 9,500 girls who were vocationally trained but never had worked. Of these 7,500 were trained for clerical work. The Women’s Bureau study “Reemploy ment of New England Women in Private Industry” pointed out that in New Bedford, for example, 663 girls were enrolled in commercial courses in 1934-35, though but 38 of the June 1934 graduating class had been placed in clerical positions. Other studies have empha sized the same situation. Conditions in offices are becoming more and more analogous to those in the shop. There is a great increase in machinery—in book keeping machines, machines for sorting multitudinous records, or a machine which “being fed a roll of paper, prints, scores, addresses, and stacks bills at a rate of 3,000 an hour.” Often piece work is in troduced, with efficiency engineers to determine how many words or lines per minute a girl should type. Or pay may be for the hours actually worked, so that the girl must share with her employer the ups and downs of business. Like factory problems, these problems are beginning to be met by unionization, though the movement is still in its initial stages. 21 WOMEN’S PLACE IN INDUSTRY The grouping of occupations by industry for the United States enables a very rough estimate to be made of the number of women clerical workers in interstate commerce, in intrastate industries, and in public service, thus indicating how many of those who are subject to these newer conditions would be covered by the Federal law and how many must depend on State legislation. These were approximately— Subject to Federal wage-hour law 1,160,000 Subject to State laws only 718, 000 In public service----------------------------------------------------- 108,000 More recent figures are available on clerical workers in Ohio. They show by 1936 a picture of the increasing employment of women from the depression low, though the level of the 1929 peak has not yet been recovered. TRADE In 1930 more than 726,000 women, aside from office workers, were reported as engaged in trade (chiefly retail). About 705,800 were saleswomen or “clerks” in stores; .9,400 were laborers and helpers; 6,200 were decorators, drapers, or window dressers; and 4,600 were floorwalkers or forewomen. A report on industry and occupations shows more than 400,000 women clerical workers connected with trade, both retail and wholesale. How many are in retail alone cannot be told from these figures. Only about 5,200 Negro women were clerks or saleswomen in stores. The efforts of Negroes to obtain more employment in stores serving their own people have been reported in the newspapers. An agreement with hundreds of storekeepers in Harlem in the summer of 1938 opened one-third of their white-collar jobs to Negroes. Retail Trade. The Census of Business for 1935 shows the number of workers in retail distribution. This is useful as a figure more recent than that of the 1930 census, and also because it indicates employment in differ ent types of retail establishments. However, the total figures should not be used to show changes since 1930, because the coverage is not entirely the same. Compared with a similar census of retail business in 1929, employment was nearly 718,000 less in 1935. The percent of women also was a little lower, but not all stores reported sex of employees. For this comparison restaurants and eating places were not included for either year. The data are especially useful in point ing out the great variety of retail industries in which women are en gaged. Numbers employed include clerical workers, waitresses in store restaurants, maids in restrooms, and so forth, as well as sales women. The approximate number of women and the proportion 22 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER they constitute of all workers in the more important types of estab lishments are as follows: Women________ Approximate Percent of number total Type of store Total1 1,001, 840 Department____________ _________________ Apparel------------ ---------------------------------------Food 100,500 Variety--------------------------------------------------Dry goods and merchandise________________ Furniture and household----------------------------Drugs Automotive General, with food------------------------------------Dumber, furniture, and hardware___________ Filling stations___________________________ Jewelry 206,600 149, 600 87,300 37, 600 24, 700 24,400 22,000 20, 300 14,200 8,500 6,000 31 63 54 17 86 64 19 20 6 27 9 5 28 1 Includes eating places ; not possible to separate on sex table. There are some difficulties in the way of women seeking positions as saleswomen. In November 1937, nearly 58,000 women were reg istered for such positions but only 4,800 were placed, well over half in temporary jobs. Data on the employment of women in stores are available for Illinois and Ohio. In Illinois, the level of employment of women in department and variety stores in 1935 was above 1929 and about the same as 1928. In 1936 it was a little below these 3 years. In Ohio, the employment of all saleswomen in 1935 was above that of 1928 or 1929 as well as the intervening years. An increasing problem in store employment is the demand for part-time workers. Customers do not come and go evenly through out the day but concentrate in certain peaks. A skeleton force is augmented by part-time workers for perhaps 2 or 3 hours in the middle of the day or for Saturday only. Naturally, some women are glad of a part-time job, but many girls take such work because nothing better is offered. The change in the proportion of part-time employees in retail trade from 1929 to 1935 as reported in the Census of Business is marked, both for all types of stores and for stores employing large numbers of women. Also, in 1935, a higher proportion of salespersons than of all employees were part-time workers. There was no report by occupation in 1929. The picture is as follows: Percent of all employees who were part-time workers 1929 1935 All stores. . 14 Department stores . _ 11 ‘>2 Varietv stores Women’s ready-to-wear stores _ . _ 14 Percent of salespersons who were parttime workers 1935 20 22 17 43 27 48 24 20 As is the case with office workers, store employees have been slow to organize in unions or to recognize the need of organization. Grad ually the situation changes and unions are being formed and agree ments signed setting hours and minimum rates of pay. For ex ample, a recent union agreement covering 13 stores in Seattle, Wash., set a minimum rate of $17.50 a week for inexperienced girls, with a gradual increase to $24 after a year’s experience. (See also page 45.) WOMEN'S PLACE IN INDUSTRY 23 Recalling that most retail-store employees will be unaffected by the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, it is important to note that 13 States and the District of Columbia have set minimum-wage rates for women in retail trade. In addition, 3 States have set a flat rate in their minimum-wage laws.5 Wholesale Trade. The 1935 census indicates that nearly 19 percent of all persons engaged in wholesale distribution are women, and that they numbered more than 255,000 in that year. Many of them are clerical workers, but large numbers pack, bottle, or put in other kinds of containers products purchased in bulk, such as tea or spices. Others may label packages. Here will be found the women who shell and sort pecans in San Antonio, walnuts in California, and peanuts in Virginia, wherever such work is done in warehouses. The handling of nuts in 1929 employed not far from 5,000 women. Virginia reports for 1935 showed 1,092 Negro women cleaning and shelling peanuts. It is probable that most wholesale trade will be covered bv the Federal law. The following list shows the different types of wholesale estab lishments reported in 1935, with the approximate number of women employed: Groceries41,700 Farm products------------------------------------------------------------ 40,800 Machinery and electrical goods30*200 Clothing, dry goods, and general merchandise 27,400 Plumbing, heating equipment, hardware, and other metal goods--------- --------------------------------------------------------------14,200 Drugs------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11,000 Automotive------------------------------------------------------------------- 10,600 Amusements and sporting goods 7,000 Paper and its products 6,900 Petroleum and its products;_____________________________ 5,600 Chemicals and paints 5,500 Waste materials--------------------------------------------------------- 5,500 Beers, wines, and liquors----------------------------------------------- 5,500 Lumber and construction materials 5,300 Furniture and house furnishings 4,600 Jewelry and optical goods-------------------------------------------- 3,900 Tobacco and its products (except leaf) 2,800 Coal and coke------------------------------------------------------------- 2,300 From 1929 there was a reduction of about 230,000 in the total number of employees reported, while the percent of women remained about the same. The coverage of the two censuses was not entirely the same, but there is no doubt that a considerable loss of employment opportunities occurred. HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS Hotels and restaurants gave employment to practically 457,500 women in 1930. Of these, 22,100 were classed as housekeepers, 94,300 as cooks, 232,000 as. waitresses, leaving 109,100 in all other occupations, chiefly chambermaids and kitchen help. 5 See Women’s Bureau Bull. 167, State Minimum Wage Laws and Orders. 24 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER Almost one-fifth, 87,200, of the women in hotels and restaurants were Negroes. Nearly 29,000 of these were cooks, 17,600 were wait resses, 1,000 housekeepers, 39,600 in other occupations. It is very difficult to get any information comparable from year to year to give a general picture of employment movements in these industries. Some of the few available sources combine reports for the two; others combine them for some years but not for other years; and so forth. Separate figures for hotels and for restaurants and eating places are reported in the Census of Distribution in 1929 and in 1935. Women comprise from 40 to 45 percent of the employees in both these industries. From 1929 to 1935 there was an increase of nearly 178,000 persons reported in restaurants and eating places. Where the two in dustries are combined, about 2 in every 5 women are in hotels. The report by sex for hotels in 1935 showed about 80,200 women at work in these establishments, but this is understated, probably considerably so, since it covers only year-round hotels with 25 or more guest rooms; moreover, not all the reports received were by sex. Two States report employment figures for these industries—Illinois and Ohio. Employment increased even during, most depression years in Ohio restaurants and in the two industries combined in Illinois. The Ohio figures show a continuous rise in employment in these in dustries after the depression low; in Illinois, though employment kept up well into the depression, it has declined in more recent years. Earnings are a serious problem to women in hotels and restaurants, with the factors of tips, of meals or lodgings offered in lieu of pay, of uniforms required by many employers and not always paid for by them, and other deductions from the cash wage. Hotels and restaurants, especially the former, have often been the last to be helped by State hour laws. The problem of hours is not always one of long actual hours of work, but of a long over-all day with intervals between hours of duty not so arranged as to be of much use to the worker. This problem has been recognized in a few minimum-wage orders and hour laws. In one State over-all hours in restaurants are limited to 10, in a few other States, in hotels or restaurants or both, to 12, 13, or 14. Part-time employment is a problem here as well as in stores. In 1935 nearly one-fifth of all waiters and waitresses in eating and drinking places were part-time employees. Hotel and restaurant employees can be helped only by State action and 12 States and the District of Columbia have set minimum-wage rates for one or both industries. Many of these orders limit the amount that may be deducted for meals, outline a policy on uniforms, and attempt to meet other problems. Unionization is as yet far from adequate. The problems of em ployment in resort areas are found from Maine to Florida and Cali fornia, on every sea or lake shore, and every mountain. In some cases workers may follow the seasons from one resort to another, in others the resort hotel gives college girls vacation employment, in still others the girls must seek other kinds of work after the hotel closes. WOMEN’S PLACE IN INDUSTRY 25 TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH SERVICE In 1930 more than 235,000 women were reported as telephone oper ators and 16,000 as telegraph operators. Only 339 Negro women were so employed. No more recent complete census in these employ ments has been made but indications in certain States show that em ployment opportunities in both have been reduced—in telephone service by the dial telephone, in telegraph service by such devices as the teletype. A study by the Women’s Bureau of the introduction of the dial telephone shows that 6 months after the change in two sample com munities employment opportunities were reduced by more than onehalf in one instance and by more than two-thirds in the other. Every care was taken to prevent hardship; employees were transferred to other positions where possible; another expedient was to postpone filling regular positions while preparing for the change. Only a few regular employees in one community, and none in the other, had to be laid off finally. However, the closing of an avenue of employment for girls seeking work was serious. Some unionization is of long standing in this industry. Employment trends over a period of years are reported for tele phone employment in Illinois, and for telephone and telegraph com bined in Ohio. In each State employment for women in 1933 to 1935, and in Illinois in 1936, was well below the level of 1928 to 1931. In the large telephone companies hours and pay are fairly well standardized and reasonably good. Conditions in the small" inde pendent companies leave much to be desired. LAUNDRIES AND DRY-CLEANING PLANTS In 1930 there were nearly 160,500 women employed in laundries; 2,750 were classed as foreladies. There were 19,300 in cleaning and dyeing plants, 350 as foreladies. More than 47,500 of the women in laundries were Negro, as were more than 3,100 of those in cleaning and dyeing shops. From 1929 to 1935 there was a decrease of 24,800 wage earners in power laundries. In cleaning and dyeing plants the decrease from 1929 to 1935 was only 1,860. In addition, the 1935 Census of Business reported 5,700 women in hand laun dries and 6,500 in shops doing cleaning, dyeing, pressing, alteration, and repair. Employment trends of women in laundries and dry-cleaning estab lishments are available for Illinois, New York, and Ohio. The characteristic picture shows a decline to the depression low but an improvement thereafter, though the peak levels of 1929 were not yet reached by 1936. In a number of States the first minimum-wage order to be issued has been for workers in laundries. Thus has been recognized the fact that this large woman-employer tends to pay low wages. Unionization in laundry and dry-cleaning plants has made great progress in New York City and is being extended to nearby cities and towns. 26 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER BEAUTY PARLORS In 1930 there were 113,194 women reported as barbers, hair dressers, and manicurists, nearly 3y2 times the number so employed in 1920. It is well known that employment is still growing and that in some places the trade is greatly overcrowded. Included in those reported in 1930 were women who owned their small shops and did all the work; these cannot be separated from those employed by others. Nearly 13,000 Negro women were reported in this industry. The Census of Business in 1935 reported nearly 60,000 women employees in beauty or barber shops, but this was greatly under stated, since barber and beauty shops operated by stores or other businesses were not included and not all those that were included had reported sex of employees. Of these women, about 5 percent were in barber shops, 6 percent in combined barber and beauty shops, the remainder in shops offering beauty service only. Hours of beauty-parlor workers are very uncertain, since cus tomers coming near a normal closing time are not always turned away. Moreover, evening hours often are necessary to serve work ing women. A New York study shows that average hours for all regular employees were 49 a week and that close to one-fourth had worked 54 hours or longer. It is to State laws that these workers must look for assistance, and a recent New York law limiting hours to 48 a week in cities of 15,000 and over puts a stop to such unreasonable hours. OTHER OCCUPATIONS Three occupations, carried on in a number of different industries, gave employment to more than 89,000 women in 1930. Of these, about 41,000 were charwomen and cleaners; nearly 36,000 were jani tors ; and more than 12,000 were elevator operators. Charwomen probably work most generally in office buildings. Their work must be done at night after the regular workers are gone. Such jobs often are sought by married women who have young children to care for during the day. Women cleaners also work in theaters, factories, telephone exchanges, and so forth. Women who report themselves as janitors probably do much the same work as charwomen. They also may be employed in apart ment houses and school houses. A man and his wife may share such work between them. Many types of business require the service of elevator operators. Women probably are most often so employed in stores. Office build ings, apartments, and hotels may have women running elevators for at least part of the day. One-fourth of these women were Negroes—11,500 charwomen, 6,000 janitors, and 4,400 elevator operators, the proportion being highest among elevator operators, lowest among janitors. Women cleaners and elevator operators are covered by existing laws to a varying extent. If attached to a factory, telephone ex WOMEN’S PLACE IN INDUSTRY 27 change, or warehouse doing interstate business, they are included in the coverage of the Federal law. If attached to a store, hotel, or other enterprise covered by State hour laws, they usually are cov ered by such legislation. Cleaners and elevator "operators in office buildings, hospitals, apartments, and the like are less often covered by State hour laws. Practically all State minimum-wage laws are so general in their coverage as to be applicable to cleaners and ele vator operators in any industry. However, in most of the minimumwage States rates have not yet been set for all industries covered by the acts. Some State wage orders—for example, in the District of Columbia—are specific in fixing minimum rates for maids or cleaners and elevator operators. Organizations of building service employees admit women. HOUSEHOLD AND AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENTS There were more than 2,300,000 women wage earners in 1930 who, by the nature of their work, ordinarily are not benefited by any present wage-and-hour legislation, either Federal or State. These are the great army of domestic servants and the smaller group, still a considerable one, who worked for wages in some line of agricul ture. Not far from half of these were Negroes, the race comprising even larger proportions among agricultural than among domestic workers. Furthermore, somewhat over two-thirds of all Negro women who worked earned their living in these two occupations. More than 1,500,000 women were reported as “servants” other than cooks, housekeepers, or laundresses. These are the general maids of all work and the day workers as well as others doing more specific work as housemaid, ladies’ maid, nurse maid, and so on in homes employing more than one household worker. With these might well be grouped the almost 277,000 cooks and more than 214, 000 housekeepers, since each woman is classed according to her own name for her job and the cook or housekeeper may be in reality the general houseworker. ^ There were 356,468 women classed as laundresses not in laundries. Three-fourths of these were Negroes. A few such women may be regularly employed in a home with several household workers. More often they work by the day in a number of different homes, or do washing and ironing for others in their own homes. In the lat ter case some legalistic minds might call them self-employed and running their own business. Certainly they must furnish the neces sary equipment, the soap, and the hot water, at their own expense. Midwives and nurses not trained, the so-called practical nurses, numbered just over 143,000. More and more these women must work in competition with the trained nurse and the visiting nurse. In some cases they may be little more than a substitute home maker during the illness of the mother. They have not even the security of the laundress, who may for weeks or even months at a time count on a certain number of washings to do. There is a ques tion as to whether or not such workers should be considered in busi ness for themselves. 28 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER In April 1930 more than 171,300 women reported that they were wage earners on farms. It is probable that a census taken later in the year would have found many more. Not far from nine-tenths of these were in 13 southern States and no doubt represent chiefly cotton pickers. In the fruit-growing regions, whole families pick strawberries, raspberries, prunes, apples, whatever fruit is in season, often camping out or using the accommodations furnished by the farmer. On the Pacific coast especially there is a regular succession of crops to be harvested from San Diego to Vancouver and beyond. Often whole families follow the crops—men, women, and children working together in fields and orchards. New Jersey, to give an other example, has a long season beginning with strawberries and asparagus and ending with cranberries in the fall. The Fair Labor Standards Act gives no protection to agricultural workers nor to household workers. The old-age benefits and unem ployment insurance of the Social Security Act do not apply to them at present. This is true also of most State laws affecting hours or wages. While a few State laws have the coverage so worded that an interpretation applying to farm and domestic workers might be possible, it is easy to see that the difficulties would be great. One State, Washington, has a special law limiting the hours of domestic servants. This calls for a 60-hour week witli overtime allowed in emergencies. The general hour law limits the week to 48 hours for most women workers. One State, Wisconsin, has set a minimum wage for women household workers. If board alone is furnished the rate is to be $6 for a week of 50 hours or more; if board and lodging, $4.25. Thus these two types of work, usually the most poorly paid and often very irregular, are almost completely without any legal labor standards. Through all the hard times, jobs as household workers were the easiest to find. In each of four special reports made by the United States Employment Service, women seeking household employment never formed more than just over one-third of all actively seeking work at any one time. Of placements made during the various pe riods, from 49 to 61 percent were in domestic service. Several factors contributed to make this difference. Placements over a period of sev eral months involve the finding of a job more than once for large numbers of women, especially since one-quarter of the placements are temporary, that is, for a period of less than one month. Day workers particularly wrould need to seek work over and over again. In the one report giving such details, about 45 percent of the placements of women in household employment were for day work. Another factor probably enters in, though no figures show it: That is, that many women experienced in other wTork may have taken household employ ment because no other was available. Month by month reports from two States, Ohio and Wisconsin, show the same situation. In Ohio and Wisconsin never so many as 39 percent of the new applicants in a sample of 6 consecutive months were household workers. In Ohio never less than 72 percent of all placements were in household em ployment ; in Wisconsin, never less than 57 percent. These same special reports of the United States Employment Serv WOMEN’S PLACE IN INDUSTRY 29 ice show that from over 12,000 to over 31,000 women agricultural workers were enrolled as job seekers at different times. Here again, where comparisons were possible, agricultural placements formed a larger part of all placements than agricultural workers formed of all applicants. It is probable that a large part of this difference may be accounted for by frequent multiple placements of one individual. Reports at different dates showed that from almost three-fourths to more than four-fifths of all agricultural placements were temporary. • One of the special United States Employment Service reports gave considerable detail regarding Negroes using the service. In April 1937, more than 132,000 Negro women household workers were actively seeking work. These comprised practically two-thirds of all Negro women in the active file. At the same time 7,361 of the Negro women, less than 4 percent of the total, reported themselves agricul tural workers. In the 9 months ending April 1, 1937, 70 percent of all placements of Negro women were domestic service placements, while 10 percent were agricultural. Unionization in household employment is all but nonexistent. An attempt by the Women’s Bureau to learn of such organizations brought to light seven unions that were active at that time. The difficulties are easily recognized to be great. A “Brief on Household Employment in Relation to Trade Union Organization,” prepared for the National Board of the Y.W1C.A., makes the following state ment : Working apart from one another each one dealing with his or her own sepax-ate employer, it is difficult for them to make contact with one another as workers in large factories can do. Moreover, their bargaining power is weak ened by a vastly overcrowded labor market. With the unemployment problem still acute, many women have turned to domestic service. With the unstand ardized job requirements in domestic service, women who have never worked before feel that they are qualified to do this work. Adding to the difficulties of organization are the long working hours. With often only one night a week off, the conviction must be strong if a girl spends her few leisure hours coming to a union meeting. A union covering cannery, packing, and agricultural workers held its second national convention in December 1938. In such a varied and difficult field the policy has been to organize first the more stable groups such as employees of a cannery or large fruit-packing plant or agricultural, workers continuously employed in one locality. The migratory agricultural workers will be harder to reach, but that problem will be attempted in time. The sharecroppers’ union is an other attempt to improve the condition of farm labor. It reaches women as well as men, since usually the sharecropper needs the help of the entire family. ATTENDANTS AND HELPERS IN PROFESSIONAL SERVICE More than 55,600 women were employed as attendants or helpers to professional persons in 1930. Nearly 13,000 were in dentists’ offices; more than 13,000 in doctors’ offices. More than 3,000 were theater ushers and nearly 1,400 were library attendants and assist ants. A miscellaneous group of more than 21,000 included recep 30 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER tionists or helpers in photographic studios and helpers or attendants in hospitals or asylums or dispensaries. Few State laws protect these women, but their hours must match those of the professional persons whom they serve. They often work one in a place, with no opportunities for organization. Few minimum-wage orders have come to their assistance, and their pay usually is low. As a rule, no special training is required. Only 2,341 in the entire group of 55,000 were Negro women. OTHER SERVICES The Census of Business of 1935 indicates employment in a num ber of other trades and services. These are interesting in calling attention to the variety of such concerns in which women find em ployment, rather than in the numbers involved or the particular type of occupation. A complete canvass of such services no doubt would show more employed. Many of the occupations are clerical. These are merely listed under a few general headings: Amusements Theaters________________________________ Dance halls, studios, and academies________ Other places of amusement------------------------ Number of women in 1935 ___ 15,400 ___ 2,700 ___ 1,400 Nonprofit Organizations Y. M. C. A.’s, Y. W. O. A.’s, etc12, 700 Trade and professional associations10, 000 Clubs_______________________________ 11, 000 Fraternal organizations----------------------------------------------Chambers of commerce and boards of trade 2, 500Trade-unions------------------------------------------------------------- 4, 000 2,200 Business Services, Repair Services, and Custom Industries Hemstitching, embroidery, etc_______ Window-cleaning service-----------------Upholstery and furniture repair shops Photo-finishing laboratories--------------Dental laboratories_________________ Watch, clock, and jewelry repair shops Other Office buildings______________ 25, 840 Adjustment and credit bureaus, and collection agencies___ Title and abstract companies 2,670 Ticket agents and brokers, and travel bureaus___________ 460 425 420 390 370 370 4, 900 530 Part III.—WOMEN’S EARNINGS Perhaps of prime importance among the conditions of employment attached to various kinds of jobs is the general level of wages paid. While with every type of work some considerable range of earnings may be observed, the average or usual wage of a sample group is the information most generally available and may be taken as a guide to the economic level of workers in that industry or occupation. While the worker’s skill and experience within certain limits determine largely what her individual earnings will be, many factors over which she has no control also enter into the picture. It should not be too much to ask that the amount the majority can earn on any job should at least be enough to enable them to support themselves in health and comfort, and to lay a little by for the future. Some general picture of the level of earnings in chief lines of manufacturing and non manufacturing, and the relation of such earnings to cost of living, has been attempted here. EARNINGS OF WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES Comprehensive data recently have become available to show, twice a year, the hours worked and the wages received by women in the most important woman-employing manufacturing industries. The Women’s Bureau has undertaken the analysis and publication of em ployment figures, average hours, and average earnings in these indus tries. These data are compiled from pay-roll reports mailed by em ployers in 12 large industrial States1 to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, which requests them by sex once in six months. The data for September 1938 are discussed here. Average Week’s Earnings. When these industries are arranged in a descending scale according to women’s average week’s earnings in September 1938, as is done on page 32, it is found that such earnings were less than $12.50 in 3, less than $15 in 11, of the 23 industries. Since this was an average, of course many women earned considerably less and others considerably more than these amounts. In only 5 industries was the weekly aver age as high as $18. It is interesting to note that the 2 highest-paying and the 2 lowest-paying industries were in clothing manufacture. Thus the large industrial groups show wide variations; that is, not all types of clothing, not all textiles, are found at any one level. The range in women’s week’s earnings is from $23.63 for women’s coats and suits to $12.02 for cotton dresses. This is what these women, on 1 California, Connecticut Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. 31 32 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER an average, have to live on for a week, and it is instructive to compare these amounts with the estimates of cost of living presented on page 40. The lowest of these estimates was $17.77 a week. In 18 of the 23 industries here reported women’s average earnings were below this amount; in 7 of them, they were less than three-fourths of this amount. Cost of living in 3 of the 12 States included in the survey of earnings—New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania—was found to be more than $20 a week, an amount equaled by average earnings in only 4 of the industries considered: The production of rayon yarn, of automobile tires and tubes, and of two classes of women’s garments. Two types of cotton garments, three lines of textiles, cigars, and leather shoes were at the lower end of the scale with averages between $12 and $13.50. Average Week’s Earnings of Women in 23 Important Manufacturing Industries in 12 Large Industrial States, September 1938 More than $20 Women’s coats and suits$23.63 Automobile tires and tubes----------------- $21.43 Dresses other than cotton-------- 23.04 Rayon yarn----- -------------------- 21.40 $16, under $20 Rubber boots and shoes------------ $18.13 Hosiery-----------------------------------$16.89 Radios and phonographs_______ 17.38 Book and jobprinting------------ 16.82 Electrical machinery and supMen’s suits and overcoats, etc— 16.07 plies___ i 16.92 $14, under $16 Confectionery$15.40 Women’s underwear$14.80 Glass and pottery------------------- 15.28 Hardware---------------------------Woolen and worsted goods------ 14.89 Paper boxes--------------------------- 14.79 14.32 $12, under $14Boots and shoes (leather)--------$13.26 Cigars------------------------------------ $12.49 Silk and rayon goods__________ 12.90 Men’s cottonandwork clothing, Knit underwear 12.87 and shirts and collars------------------------------- 12.40 Cotton goods 12.69 Cotton dresses------------------------------------------------- 12.02 Average Hourly Earnings. The week’s earnings just discussed are what the worker has to live on. They are the result of the hours of work available as well as the rate of pay. Hourly earnings of women averaged 50 cents or more in 5 of the 22 industries for which such data were reported, 3 of these higher-paying industries being in clothing manufacture and repre senting the more expensive garments. In no case did the hourly average fall below 35 cents, but in 8 it was less than 40 cents, 2 of these being cheaper lines of clothing and 3 being textiles. These hourly earnings of women in 22 manufacturing industries are pre _ _ sented on page 33. Naturally, these averages of hourly earnings fail to tell how low individual earnings may fall. Such information is available from a few recent studies for a limited number of industries. Surveys of certain men’s-wear industries made by the Women’s Bureau in 1936 and 1937 disclosed the proportion of women in the States covered 33 WOMEN’S EARNINGS whose earnings fell below 25 cents, the minimum since put into effect by the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. They were as follows: Percent ofwomen receiving under 25 cents Men’s Men’s Men’s Men's Men’s Men’s Men’s Men’s work skirts:39 woven cotton underwear38 work and knit gloves27 work clothing20 dress shirts18 seamless hosiery17 knit underwear15 welt shoes 4 A study of 244 plants in the cotton textile industry by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that in April 1937 average hourly earnings of men and women were less than 25 cents in 6 plants. Of all individual workers covered, 3 percent had earned less than 22% cents and 8 percent less than 27% cents. Average Hourly Earnings of Women in 22 Important Manufacturing Industries in 12 Large Industrial States, September 1938 50 cents or more Women’s coats and suits----------- $0,867 Men’s suits and overcoats, etc—$0,522 Dresses (except cotton)----------- .738 Electrical machinery and Automobile tires and tubes_____ .686 supplies .501 1/5, under 50 cents Rubber boots and shoes$0,496 Book and job printing-------------Radios and phonographs----------- Hosiery$0,481 .488 Glass and pottery .459 .484 Woolen and worsted goods_____ .459 1/0, under 1/5 cents Hardware------------------------------ $0,436 Boots and shoes (leather). Women’s undergarments______ .402 -$0,401 35, under I/O cents Confectionery$0,396 Knit underwear .386 Silk and rayon goods_________ Paper boxes .378 Cotton goods .369 Men’s cotton and work clothing and shirts and collars$0,368 .380 Cigars----------------------------------- .368 Cotton dresses .355 EARNINGS OF WOMEN IN NONMANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES No comprehensive data are available that would make it possible to arrange nonmanufacturing industries according to a descending scale on the basis of women’s average earnings throughout a wide area. Studies have been made by the Women’s Bureau covering a number of these industries, but they are for various dates. Studies showing wages in certain of them for the same dates are limited to a State here and a State there. Furthermore, in these State data some of the trades and services are better represented than are others. The information available is so scattered that all of it must be considered together if any attempt is to be made at a composite picture. 34 the woman wage earner Earnings in Clerical Occupations. It is probable that in most localities clerical workers are the best paid of the large nonmanufacturing groups. Average weekly earn ings of women working in factory offices in New York State have been reported once a year for 16 years. The average always was over $20 and under $25, not high compared to living costs. (See page 41.) The most comprehensive available data on earnings in a single State are those reported annually in Ohio. The report for clerical workers covers such employees in all parts of the State, in all types of business: Manufactures, trade, service, transportation. The latest figures available, those for 1936, show that average weekly earn ings of more than 86,000 women office workers were just under $19. The reports from factories and laundries in 12 large industrial States made available twice yearly to the Women’s Bureau include also reports on weekly earnings of women in the offices of these plants. Nearly 51,000 such women were covered in September 1937. The details of earnings in 18 industries for each of which 1,000 or more women office workers were reported showed a range in their earnings of from $17.75 in shoe factories to $27.36 in meat-packing plants. In 13 of the 18 industries earnings averaged more than $20 a week. An office-employment study by the Women’s Bureau made in 1931 and early 1932 was not confined to clerical forces in factories but included also the large agencies usually thought of as employ ing many clerical workers, such as insurance companies, banks, pub lic utilities, investment houses, and mail-order houses. Average weekly rates of nearly 43,000 of these women were about $23 in 7 large cities and in all types of business. In no city did the average fall below $20. It is important also to know what are the beginning rates in these occupations, but such data are seldom available. The Women’s Bureau study referred to showed an average rate for girls under 20 with only grammar-school education of about $14.75, but this was not necessarily the beginning rate. A research bureau2 reporting on clerical salaries in New York City gave $10 a week as the lowest salary for men or women office workers in manufacturing plants in the spring of 1938, $12 as the lowest rate in 5 other industry groups, and almost $14 in the only other industry group reported on. Earnings in Telephone and Telegraph Employment. Telephone and telegraph occupations may be put tentatively second as to the level of pay, yet their earnings ordinarily are not high. However, few wage reports include these occupations. The very comprehensive Ohio wage data show average earnings in 1936 of nearly 8,000 women to be a little over $17 a week, higher than any other important nonmanufacturing group with the exception of cleri cal workers. In the District of Columbia in 1937 the average for telephone operators was about $22, higher than clerical. Average week’s earnings of telephone employees in Illinois, reported monthly, ranged from $13.70 to $14.10 in 1938. “The Industrial Bureau. May-June 1938. The Merchants Association of New York, New York City. 35 WOMEN’S EARNINGS Earnings in Retail Trade. There are considerable differences in the levels of earnings in trade, depending on the type of store. Earnings are relatively high in women’s ready-to-wear shops, usually low in the limited-price or variety store. The level is perceptibly reduced by the inclusion of part-time workers, and there are indications that part-time work in stores has increased enormously in the past few years. Recent Women’s Bureau studies in live localities show average earnings of employees, exclusive of part-time workers, in the three types of store to be as follows: Arizona (1937-38) Ready-to-wear_______________ Limited-price .... $15.40 15.10 12.95 Colorado (1937) $15.95 15.55 13.45 District of Kentucky Columbia (1937) (1937) $18.60 16.60 12.50 $14.40 13.70 12.40 Utah (1937) $15.10 13. 50 14.00 In Ohio in 1936 the average earnings of more than 43,000 sales women, including part-time workers, in all types of stores were about $13.50. In Illinois, in 1938 monthly reports, the earnings of all women in department and limited-price stores combined were never below $10 nor so high as $12, while for all women in retail apparel stores the range was between $16 and $19. Earnings in Beauty Parlors. Data on earnings are much less complete for beauty parlors than for stores. Where both are reported the average for the beautician is sometimes above, sometimes below, that of saleswomen in depart ment stores. The determination of actual earnings in beauty par lors is complicated by tips and deductions that cannot be considered in any general wage data. In Ohio in 1936 about 1,500 women hairdressers and barbers had averaged $15.50 a week. A Women’s Bureau study in 1933 and 1934 found average earnings in 4 cities to range from $10.25 in New Or leans to $15 in Philadelphia. Omitting the 10 percent of the women receiving the lowest and the 10 percent receiving the highest earnings, the range of earnings reported for individual women was from $5.75 to $20.75. The New York State Department of Labor found average earnings in this service in 1936 to be about $13.50 for some 5,000 women. Other studies made by the Women’s Bureau in 1937 show that in Colorado average earnings in beauty parlors were $15.20, lower than department-store earnings, and in the District of Columbia they were $19.65 in store beauty shops and $17.80 in independent shops, higher than department-store earnings. Earnings often are uncertain in this industry, depending to a con siderable extent on tips. A recent study by the New York Depart ment of Labor stated: To the employees tips represent an addition to their earnings which often means the difference between a wage too low to support them and a wage which approaches the amount necessary for an American standard of living. For workers in some sections of the industry tips are the major, if not the sole, source of income. 36 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER But there are deductions from earnings as well and the New York report indicates the extent of these. The majority of employers re quire their help to buy or hire uniforms. Almost all shops require the employees to supply the sets of instruments which they use, and which need sharpening, repair, or replacement. Many shops require the workers to furnish some or all of the cosmetics that they use. In some shops beauty operators are required to contribute to the wages of the maid or porter. In 10 States and the District of Columbia minimum-wage rates have been set for beauty parlors. These attempt to meet some of the problems outlined above. Wages have been increased by these orders. For example, in New York during the last five months of 1938, $8,800 was collected for women and minors in order to bring their earnings up to the min imum. Earnings in Laundries and Dry-Cleaning Shops. Earnings in laundries often compare with those in hotels and restaurants as far as a low level is concerned; laundry workers, how ever, almost never have additions to their cash wage, while such additions are frequent in eating or lodging places. Earnings in dry cleaning establishments, reported less frequently, are practically always above those in laundries. Average earnings in these services in five localities recently studied by the Women’s Bureau were as follows: Arizona (1937-38) 1 $11. 20 « Colorado (1937) $11. 60 District of Columbia Kentucky (1937) (1937) $10.90 12.80 $9.05 12.65 Utah (1937) $11. 05 15.75 1 About 6 percent of the women were in dry cleaning. Included in above. 2 Both services have been studied in New York by the Department of Labor, but at different dates. In the spring of 1933, average earnings of 5,300 women laundry workers were $10.40. Earnings have been raised by minimum-wage orders since then. In the spring of 1938, average earnings of nearly 2,500 women in cleaning and dyeing establishments were $14.74. Ohio earnings in 1936 were $13 for nearly 6,400 women in laun dries, about $16.75 for 1,700 in cleaning and dyeing plants. A survey of the cleaning and dyeing industry made by the Con necticut Department of Labor in 1937 showed average earnings of $14.22 for about 500 women during a busy week. The laundry industry of Pennsylvania was studied by the De partment of Labor and Industry in the fall of 1937. The average weekly earnings of more than 4,000 women and minors in commer cial laundries were about $11.55. The Federal wage-hour law does not apply to these industries. By March 1939, minimum rates for laundry workers were in effect 37 WOMEN’S EARNINGS in 20 States and the District of Columbia, and for dry-cleaning workers m 11 States and the District of Columbia. Some indication of the benefits of these wage orders can be found in State reports. Data from California indicate that when the $16 minimum went into effect in 1920 some 4,000 women and minors in laundries and dry-cleaning establishments received higher wages as a result. In California m March 1939, nearly $1,000 was col lected for women and minors in such employment in order to bring their wage up to the minimum. In New York in 1938, $9,000 was collected for laundry workers under the minimum-wage order. Finally, the range of earnings during a year is available in monthly reports to the Illinois and New York departments of labor. In Illinois average earnings in laundries and cleaning establish ments combined ranged from $12.87 to $13.78 in 1938; in New York in laundries and cleaning establishments the lowest average in 1938 was $15.31, the highest $16.89. Earnings in Hotels and Restaurants. Cash wages in hotels and restaurants usually are at the lowest level of the scale of trade and service remuneration, excepting only household employment. In general, the cash wage in hotels may be expected to be a little above that of restaurants, because in the lodg ing departments of hotels fewer employees receive meals or board or may be expected to receive tips. Fortunately, in a few reports, earnings of workers paid in cash with no additions have been studied separately. Illinois is the only State with monthly reports on women’s earn ings in these two service industries. Throughout 1938 average week’s cash earnings in hotels ranged between $12.90 and $14; in restaurants, between $12.40 and $14. In Ohio, cash earnings in 1936 averaged $11.58 for 6,200 women in hotels, and $11.17 for more than 12,400 women in restaurants. The average cash earnings in localities recently surveyed by the Women’s Bureau were as follows, with earnings of workers who received neither meals nor lodging given also where available: Arizona (1937-38) Colorado (1937) District of Kentucky Columbia (1937) (1937) Utah (1937) Hotels—Total-------- ----------------- -------Women receiving no additions...____ $10. 60 11.75 $9.60 10.80 $10. 75 11.00 $8.20 8.55 $9.95 9.90 Independent restaurants—Total __________ Women receiving no additions________ 10.75 9.10 9.00 9. 30 9.90 8. 65 12. 50 11.20 12.00 Studies show that no direct relation exists between rates of pay and the furnishing of meals. A Women’s Bureau study of hotels and restaurants made in 1934 showed average earnings of women receiving from 1 to 3 meals a day above the earnings of those receiv ing no meals. Employers often justify a system of low wage rates by the conten tion that earnings are greatly augmented by tips. Tips are an un 38 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER certain source of revenue. A study by the New York Department of Labor made in 1935 showed the average earnings of women re ported as receiving tips almost exactly half those of the women not receiving tips. It is very unlikely that the average employee doubles her earnings through tips. Moreover, in some of the jobs receiving the higher tips, women are unlikely to be placed. Uniforms usually are required for hotel and restaurant employees. Sometimes the employer furnishes them and keeps them in order; at the other extreme the employee must do both. Sometimes stock ings of a special shade are required for waitresses, sometimes fre quent hair waves and manicures. Other deductions are mentioned by the New York study. More than 700 waitresses had to contribute to the wages of the boys who carry away soiled dishes; less frequently reported were fines for being late or for breakage. Cashiers are required to make good mistakes in checks or accounts and this is sometimes true of waitresses. Because of failure to record these deductions the woman’s actual earnings frequently are difficult to ascertain from pay-roll records. Earnings in Household Employment. With the exception of agriculture, there need be little hesitation in putting household employment at the bottom of the list of non manufacturing employment on the basis of cash wages. Additional payments in the form of meals or lodgings or both—according to whether or not employees live in—increase the actual income of many workers, though not all receive such additions. Several scattered studies have been made of the earnings of small groups of household employees. The Social Security Board has made public very recently data on wages secured from a random sample of household workers registered with State employment offices in four cities 3 in 1936, 1937, and 1938. Of weekly wage rates at time of placement, or in the last employment, a cash wage of $5 to $7 was most frequently reported. Daily rates reported for three of the cities ranged from 50 cents to under $3.50, about one-third receiving $2 and under $2.50. In each of these three cities 90 percent of the workers paid on an hourly basis had received 25 and under 30 cents an hour. In the records covered by this field study it was found that there was little difference, as a rule, in the wage rates of those who lived in the homes of their employers and those who lived out, and in a few instances wages were lower for those living out. ESTIMATED COST OF LIVING OF AN INDEPENDENT WOMAN The true value of what a worker receives in wages can be ap praised only in direct connection with her necessary living expenses. Minimum-wage laws seek to have a wage fixed that will cover at least a minimum living cost. Consequently, many minimum-wage authorities are making careful studies of what a fairly adequate ‘ Cincinnati and Lakewood, Ohio; Wilmington, Del.; Washington, D. C. WOMEN’S EARNINGS 39 budget must include and how much these items will cost, and scien tific reports also are being issued on consumer purchases and ex penditures. In making cost-of-living estimates today, more recognition is being given to the old admonition that “man cannot live by bread alone,” and certain modest items necessary for more complete living are considered essentials. These include some provision for health or for savings, both of the highest importance though sometimes in the past omitted from proposed budgets. Often the earlier budget makers, struggling against the forces that wanted wages set at the lowest possible level, were forced to accept allowances for food too low for health, and allowances for lodgings that would compel work ers to put up with rooms too small, ill heated, badly furnished, or in an unsuitable location. Furthermore, allowance is now more generally made for educa tional, social, and recreational needs. Some provision for reading material is made, as well as for classes and the like. Social needs are met by allowances for club memberships, for simple party frocks, for services at the beauty shop. Recreational needs are met by a vaca tion fund, an occasional movie, or similar items. All the budgets presented here have taken these needs into con sideration. The variation in the estimates given is due to differences in costs from one city or State to another. All have been made for the use of minimum-wage boards. If minimum rates sometimes are fixed below these amounts, it is because it still is found necessary to compromise temporarily while continuing the education of the public toward the acceptance of a more liberal allowance. In each case the estimated cost of living represents the cost for a woman living independently. Working girls frequently live with their families and it is recognized that in such case the cost will be less. In New York, where estimates were made on both bases, the girl living with her family would require about 11 percent less than the girl living alone. Too often, however, a girl’s actual wage is too low to allow her to pay her fair share of living expenses. Her wage should enable her to add to the family income at least the cost of her own living. The fact that some women have other persons entirely dependent on them, or must at least contribute more to the family than their fair share of the cost, cannot be taken into consideration in a basic budget, but since this is the case the lowest rate should be sufficient to make the woman at least independent. The table on page 40 compares the estimated cost of living for a woman living alone with average earnings of women in the same locality before any of the industries covered had minimum-wage rates, which, obviously, raise the general level. In the comparisons the fact previously noted must be kept in mind, that women in hotels and restaurants often receive meals or lodging or both in addition to a cash wage; also, beauty-parlor workers and hotel and restaurant workers sometimes receive tips. On the other hand, those workers may be subject to certain deductions—for example, cost and launder ing of uniforms—which may consume more than the amount gained by tips. (See discussions on pages 36 and 38.) Wherever available, the average wage reported for women in these occupations has been for those receiving neither room nor board; 40 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER Only in the District of Columbia did the average earnings of any group equal the amount fixed in the budget, and this was true for only one small group—office workers in telephone exchanges. Average earnings of laundry and hotel workers in the District of Columbia were only about half the estimated living cost; the average cash wage in restaurants was less than half. In general, average earnings of workers in stores and in beauty parlors were not so far below the amount fixed in the various budgets as were those of workers in other service industries. In some cases the average earnings of hotel and restaurant workers, even those paid only in cash, were farther from adequacy than were earnings of laundry and dry-cleaning workers. While this may be on the theory of tips to be received, it ignores deductions for uniforms or such things, and tips are a very irregular and uncertain source of income. To consider tips in fixing a bottom wage assumes that the customer will make an extra contribution to the proprietor’s cost of operation. Average earnings in manufacturing, in the few cases in which comparison could be made, usually were below those in department and ready-to-wear stores, beauty parlors, and cleaning and dyeing establishments, and above those in the other service industries. The wage studies in Connecticut bring another important factor into the picture—the problem of seasonality. In the two manu facturing industries studied, average earnings in the slack season were in one case 45 percent, in the other 62 percent, below the lowest budget estimate. Even in the busy season average earnings were not adequate, so there could be no possibility of accumulating sav ings in good weeks for the slim weeks to come. Cost of living, on the whole, continues the same in season and out of season. Weekly cost of living for an. employed woman living alone, as compared with average earnings of women in the same locality, 1937 or 1938 Weekly cost of living i State and industry Arizona .. _____________________ _ Department stores___ ______ Ready-to-wear stores____________ Limited-price stores_____________ Hotels and restaurants (women receiving cash only) Laundries and dry cleaning____ ____ Colorado________________ __ Department stores________ Women’s apparel stores^ ___ _ Limited-price stores _ _ _ Beauty shops___________ Laundries_______ ________ Hotels (women receiving cash only) -. Restaurants (women receiving cash only) Connecticut____ . Laundries___ - ________ Cleaning and dyeing- ________ Men’s pants_____ _____ Underwear and nightwear_____ Beauty parlors. ... _____ Average weekly earnings * $19. 85 15.40 12. 95 12.00 11.20 18.77 15. 55 15.95 13. 45 15.20 11.60 10.80 9.00 17. 99 314. 22 311.68 313. 59 15.60 ance ^ the vromen’siBureauUdieS made by 8tate minimum'wa®e authorities, in some cases with the assistJ Based on studies of the industries made by State minimum-wage authorities or the Women’s Bureau learnings in stores are exclusive of part-time employees. ' J3 Earnings m busy week. In slack week earnings were $13.27 in cleaning and dyeing establishments, $6.92 m men s pants factories, and $9.93 in underwear and nightwear factories. WOMEN'S EARNINGS 41 Weekly cost of living for an employed woman living alone, as compared with average earnings of women in the same locality, 1937 or 1938—Continued State and industry District of Columbia__________ Department stores ____ _ Ready-to-wear stores_______ Limited-price stores____________ Beauty shops— In stores____________ _________ Other.. ______ ________ Laundries___ ______ Hotels (womenreceiving cash only). Restaurants (women receiving cash only) Office workers___________ Office workers in telephone establishments Manufacturing__________________ Weekly cost of living * $21. 61 $16.60 11.00 9.90 16. 65 25.38 13.35 New Jersey__ _____ ________ Laundries______________ . 22. 07 New York._ _ _____ ... Beauty shops____________ ____ Confectionery___ ... Cleaning and dyeing :_________ Laundries (power)____ _______ _ 22.93 Pennsylvania___________________ Laundries. . _____________ Hotels (lodging departments—women receiving cash only) Waitresses (full-time—women receiving cash only) in— Year-round hotels_______ Restaurants and other eating places.. 21.05 Manufacturing _________ Ready-to-wear stores_________ Department stores____________ Limited-price stores. .. ____ Laundries.._ ___________ .. Restaurants, independent________ Dry cleaning_______ ______ Average weekly earnings 10.41 11.54 11.44 10M7 17. 77 15. 10 14.00 11.05 15. 75 ‘ Budget submitted to the District of Columbia Minimum Wage Conference for the Retail Trade bv the employee representatives of the conference; study made by the U. S. Department of Labor. Part IV.—WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN LABOR ORGANIZATIONS The present number of women members in labor organizations, union by union, is not available and is difficult to estimate. Some indication can be gained from scattered reports or records, but the numbers cannot be given completely. Moreover, where lists _ are used, as for example lists of delegates, some women may be missed because of the similarity of their names to men’s. A recent esti mate placed the number at some 800,000.1 If these figures are cor rect, women union members have more than doubled since 1920 when about 397,000 women were reported as organized.2 Naturally, women’s participation in union affairs is much greater in some lines of employment than in others. Men’s greater activity also is natural, since men started the present union movements. Men have gained ability and experience through long years of par ticipation, and they still are looked to for the formation of policies. The work of the National Women’s Trade Union League, formed in 1903, has been invaluable both in educating women workers as to their need for unions and in educating unions as to their need for including women. . Though women’s service as national executive officers and board members of their unions is limited, and though they may not be sent in large numbers as delegates to the great national bodies, never theless many women are holding positions in their local unions, and in a number of cases they are officers in central labor bodies and State federations.3 The pages following will show the extent to which women were delegates to conventions of certain of the great national bodies. Women in the Great Federations. The A. F. of L—To what extent are women represented in the national affairs of the American Federation of Labor? The voting strength of each union at the A. F. of L. annual conventions is based on its paid-up membership in the ratio of 1 vote per 100 members. In 1938 at the convention at Houston, Tex., the paid-up member ship reported as 3,623,087 represented a total of 36,656 votes. Not 1 Labor Research Association, 80 East 11th St., New York City. Release of April 11, 1939 taken from a manuscript by Mae Hawley Pritchard, M. A., of Columbia University. This estimate includes 150,000 women Amalgamated Clothing Workers, besides 30,000 women in shirt factories and 21,000 laundry workers, and about 200,000 women members of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. _ ,, ... ’ 2 Gluck Elsie Women in Industry: Problems of Organization. In Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, Vol. XV, p. 457. For her estimate of 700,000 to 1,000,000 women in unions, see her article in the Pioneer Woman, February 1938. „ +, • 'The A F of L. in 1936—the most recent date for which published information is available—listed a woman head officer in one State central office (Rhode Island) and in about a dozen States there were one or two towns where the Cential Labor Union was headed by a woman. 42 WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN LABOR ORGANIZATIONS 43 far from half of the voting strength represents almost exclusively men’s occupations and industries—the building trades, certain occu pations in the railroad industry, and the like. It does not follow that the remaining unions all have women members. They do, how ever, represent industries and occupations giving employment to women; and actioif taken by such unions may affect women’s inter ests. The extent to which women obtain membership in certain representative types of unions will be discussed later. How many women are sent as delegates to the annual convention ? In 1938 in Houston, 14 of 477 delegates were women. Of 274 dele gates of national or international unions 6 were women. They helped to represent the following organizations: Associated Actors and Artistes of America; International Brotherhood of Bookbinders; United Garment Workers; American Federation of Government Employees; Hotel and Restaurant Employees International Alliance and Bartenders International League of America; and American Federation of Teachers. Of 34 representatives of State federations, 1 was a woman, representing Alabama. Of 106 representatives of city central bodies made up of various local unions, 2 were women, representing Birmingham, Ala., and Knoxville, Tenn. Of 55 dele gates from unions affiliated directly rather than through a national organization, 4 were women, each representing a union of clerical workers. One woman was a fraternal delegate from the Women’s International Union Label League. A study of the proceedings of the last 10 annual conventions shows that the number of women delegates always was small. Each year there was one woman from the United Garment Workers. The bookbinders usually sent one and sometimes two women, as did the American Federation of Teachers. A woman often attended from the union of government workers. At a few of the 10 conventions there was a woman from the shoe workers, from the laundry workers, and one or two from the organizations of hotel and restaurant workers. A number of occupational groups are organized in locals having no national organization but affiliated directly with the A. F. of L. Women were delegates from some of such locals at almost every con vention, and at one time or another represented the following occu pations: Stenographers, typists, bookkeepers and assistants; tech nical, editorial, and office workers; theatrical wardrobe attendants; radio workers; cannery workers. The G. I. O.—At its convention held in November 1938, the Com mittee for Industrial Organization was placed on a permanent basis and became the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Its member ship at this time was reported as being a little more than 3,750,000. Probably about one-third of the unions represented exclusively manemploying industries, chief among these being the United Mine Workers. Even the steel workers, with a membership of more than half a million, estimate that perhaps one-tenth of their members are women. About one-fifth of the membership represented three impor tant woman-employers—men’s clothing, textiles, and canning and allied industries. 44 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER Of the 519 delegates to the first C. I. O. convention a negligible proportion were women. They formed part of the delegation from the following national organizations: United Federal Workers of America; United Mine Workers4; United Office and Professional Workers of America; State, County and Municipal Workers of America. No woman represented a State industrial union council; of 124 delegates from city or county industrial union councils, at least 1 was a woman. Of 168 delegates from directly affiliated local unions, women represented the following: Laundry workers, tobacco work ers, and building and maintenance workers. It is interesting to note some of the other industries represented by locals as yet without national organizations but directly affiliated. In addition to the ones noted that sent women delegates, they included among others the following industries, which are important womanemployers : Paper and paper products; drugs and cosmetics; cigars; confectionery; hotels, restaurants, and cafeterias; beauty parlors. Women in Unaffiliated Organizations. Two unions representing large numbers of women are at present unaffiliated with either the A. F. of L. or the C. I. O. One is the International Ladies’ Garment Workers, with a total membership estimated at 250,000; the other is the National Federation of Federal Employees, including both clerical and professional workers. Women in Particular Unions. Accounts of the proceedings of various national or international union conventions show that women are attending these meetings, often in large numbers, and doing their share of work on the various committees. Women are found also among the national officers or on executive boards of a number of unions, but a complete list of such organizations is not available. It is probable that women’s participa tion is greatest in the clothing unions. When an estimate of women’s membership in individual unions was made for 1920, 43 percent were in three organizations in the clothing industry.5 6 A close scrutiny of trade-union papers indicates that women in many instances hold office in local unions, but no complete picture of the extent of such participation is possible. The extent of women’s membership is governed to a considerable degree by the history of a particular union. In some unions, while the possible coverage would be sufficient to include women, organiza tion has emphasized men’s work. For example, the Bakery and Con fectionery Workers’ Union has in practice done most of its organiz ing in bread bakeries, while women concentrate in candy and cracker factories. The International Journeymen Barbers in 1924 made beauty-parlor workers eligible, but still the bulk of the membership is among barbers. In both these unions, however, organization is increasing in the woman-employing groups. 4 This was Miss Kathryn Lewis, who works at the national headquarters of the United Mine Workers. 6 Wolman, Leo. The Growth of American Trade Unions, 1880-1923. 1924. p. 98. Total women in unions, 396,900; in clothing unions, 169,700. Other large industries represented were: Textile unions, 55,000; railway clerks, 35,000; shoe workers, 36,000; electrical workers, 14,000; cigar and tobacco workers, 13,500. WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN LABOR ORGANIZATIONS 45 _ Other types of unions, though no longer strictly craft, still empha size certain skilled occupations which were the basis of the original organizations. These are occupations in which it is difficult for women to get a foothold. When the policy governing a union is that every worker, regard less of occupation, shall be eligible for membership, no barrier is placed in the way of women who work in the industry and who wish to join. It is fortunate, that this has been the policy of many of the principal organizations. Recent Important Trends. The foregoing may be pictured in a rough estimate that not more than 1 in every 15 of the members of the two major labor bodies in this country are women. But now organization is moving in the direction of including more fully certain great occupational groups in which many women are found. , One of the most important trends for women is the great increase in unionization of “white-collar” and service industries, major groups that together include well over half of all employed women. From 1937 to 1938 the voting strength of the union of retail clerks in the A. F. of L. increased by more than 150 percent. An organization of workers in retail and wholesale trade has been begun in the C. I. O. with membership at present reported as more than 50,000. Office workers, too, have formed organizations affiliated with one or the other of the two great national groups. From 1937 to 1938 the voting strength of laundry workers in the A. h. of L. increased by more than 175 percent. A little more than a year-ago a union of about 10,000 laundry workers was formed in New York City under the auspices of the Amalgamated Clothing Y\ orkers. In less than 6 months this number had practically trebled and growth continues with organization spreading to adjoining States. A recent examination of the list of officers in some of the trade unions existing in certain woman-employing industries provides a considerable number of instances of women being national executive officers in their unions or important branches of unions. Women are on the national executive board (or council) of the following unions. Where the title is known or more than one woman is on the board such information is so stated. Actors Equity Association (2 vice presidents and 9 out of 45 council members are women). Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (1 woman is on the board) American Federation of Actors (3 out of 32 council members are women, in addition to the president). American Federation of Hosiery Workers (2 women are on the executive board). American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (1 out of 8 vice presidents is a woman). American Federation of Teachers (5 out of 15 vice presidents are women). Boot and Shoe Workers’ International Union (1 woman is on the board). Hotel and Restaurant Employees’ International Alliance and Bartenders’ Inter national League of America (3 out of 15 vice presidents are women). International Brotherhood of Bookbinders (2 out of 5 vice presidents are women). International Glove Workers’ Union of America (a woman is a vice president). 46 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (1 woman is on the board). Telephone Operators’ Department of the International Brotherhood of Elec trical Workers of America (a woman is president). Textile Workers Union of America (2 out of 23 officers are women). United Garment Workers (2 women are on the board). United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers’ International Union (5 out of 24 vice presidents are women). United Textile Workers (1 woman is on the board). American Federation of Government Employees (the secretary is a woman). National Federation of Federal Employees (the secretary-treasurer is a woman). United Federal Workers of America (the secretary-treasurer is a woman). The following pages list the principal unions in the more im portant woman-employing industries. This list is not all-inclusive, as unions are omitted when the evidence that they have women mem bers is insufficient. On the other hand, the inclusion of a union in the list does not necessarily indicate that many women belong to it. THE MORE IMPORTANT UNIONS IN WOMAN-EMPLOYING INDUSTRIES MANUFACTURING Textiles: Textile Workers Union of America. American Federation of Hosiery Workers. (Department of above.) United Textile Workers. Clothing and Allied Products: Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. International Fur Workers’ Union of the United States and Canada. United Garment Workers of America. United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers’ International Union. Food: Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America. Bakery and Confectionery Workers’ International Union of America. Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee. United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America. Metal, Machinery, and Transportation Equipment: Aluminum Workers of America. International Jewelry Workers’ Union. Steel Workers Organizing Committee. United Automobile Workers of America. United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Paper, Printing, and Allied Industries: American Newspaper Guild. International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers of the United States and Canada. International Brotherhood of Bookbinders. International Brotherhood of Paper Makers. Leather and Leather Goods: Boot and Shoe Workers’ Union. International Glove Workers’ Union of America. International Ladies’ Handbag, Pocketbook, and Novelty Workers’ Union. United Leather Workers’ International Union. United Shoe Workers of America. Clay, Glass, and Stone Products: Federation of Flat Glass Workers of America. Glass Bottle Blowers’ Association of the United States and Canada, National Brotherhood of Operative Potters. WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN LABOR ORGANIZATIONS 47 Tobacco and Tobacco Products: Cigar Makers’ International Union of America. Tobacco Workers’ International Union. Miscellaneous: Optical Workers Organizing Committee. International Union of Playthings and Novelty Workers. United Furniture Workers of America. United Rubber Workers of America. Upholsterers’ International Union of North America. NONMANUFACTURING Clerical Employment” (In most cases, other workers, often professional, are included): American Federation of Government Employees. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. National Federation of Federal Employees. National Federation of Post Office Clerks. State, County and Municipal Workers of America. United Federal Workers of America. United Office and Professional Workers of America. Trade: Retail Clerks’ International Protective Association. United Retail and Wholesale Employees of America. Hotels and Restaurants: Hotel and Restaurant Employees' International Alliance and Bartenders’ International League of America. Telephone and Telegraph: American Communications Association. The Commercial Telegraphers’ Union of North America. Telephone Operators’ Department of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers of America. Order of Railroad Telegraphers. Laundries: Laundry Workers’ International Union. Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America have organized laundry workers in the New York City area. Beauty Parlors: Journeymen Barbers’ International Union. Professional (see Clerical also): Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists, and Technicians. Associated Actors and Artistes of America. American Federation of Teachers. American Federation of Musicians. 0 There are a number o( local unions of stenographers, typists, bookkeepers, and assist ants, with no national organization. Part Y.—WOMEN’S UNEMPLOYMENT In November 1937 all persons seeking work and entirely unem ployed, all persons engaged on emergency projects, as in the W. P. A. or N. Y. A., and all persons partly employed but wanting more work, were asked to register showing in which of these three categories they belonged. They were to state the occupation and the industry in which they usually had been employed. Those who never had worked but wanted jobs were to register as “new workers.” This was to give a picture of the situation in the week ending November 13; those who had worked the previous week might register.1 Nearly 2,590,000 women registered, these approximating one-fourth of all unemployed persons. Practically two-thirds of these, or about 1,690,000 women, were totally unemployed, 338,000 were on emergency jobs, and 562,000 were working part time and wanted more work. It is of interest to note the group of 421,000 women who were classified as “new workers.” While many of these were young girls who had left school and were unable to get regular jobs, others were women who had worked in the past and now sought to return to employment, and some were middle-aged women faced for the first time with the need to earn. Though almost 40 percent were under 19 years of age, and 60 percent were under 24, 15 percent of the new workers were 45 or older. Nearly 60,000 were engaged in emergency work. Nearly one-fifth of the women totally unemployed were Negroes. Negro women comprised more than one-fifth of those partly unem ployed. Since in 1930 Negro women constituted only about one-tenth of the female population 10 years of age and over, their position is seen to be serious and they have been helped less by work relief, being less than one-seventh of the women on emergency work. Their prob lem concentrates especially in certain localities. Many of the large number who are only partly employed are, no doubt, the women who must depend on day work, cleaning or washing one day a week for each of a number of households. Occupation and Industry of the Unemployed. The discussion following is confined to the unemployed, including those on emergency work but excluding the new workers. It covers, then, 1,606,850 women workers separated from their regular jobs, and almost 1,329,000 wholly out of work, as they reported to the census. It seems at first somewhat surprising to find large numbers of women reporting themselves unemployed in certain lines of manufac ture, while the trend in employment in these industries has been up ward since 1929. This may be largely explained by two factors. First, when employment opportunities decrease in one line of indus try, workers must seek another. Also, new workers are directed, or 1 n. S. Census of Unemployment: 1937. 48 WOMEN’S UNEMPLOYMENT 49 direct themselves, to the business offering the best opportunities. This may result in overcrowding. In the second place, women may have reported as industry and occupation their jobs on work-relief projects. More than half of the women reported on W. P. A. projects in November 1937 were making garments. Less than one-fifth were on various professional, clerical, technical, or recreational projects, less than one-tenth on home-economics projects. Furthermore, this is a picture of one specific week, and unemployment will, to some extent, be a result of seasonal conditions. Three main occupational groups accounted for 88 percent of the women unemployed but reporting work experience. More than onethird were semiskilled, including workers in factories, laundries, dry-cleaning establishments, and beauty parlors. Well over onefourth were white-collar workers—chiefly office, store, and telephone employees. Almost one-fourth were in domestic service, mainly workers in hotels and restaurants and in private homes. . Of the Negro women reporting occupation, almost 60 percent were m domestic service and almost 25 percent were semiskilled The next largest group forming 8 percent of all, was composed of laborers, chiefly farm labor. ’ FACTORY UNEMPLOYMENT About 367,000 unemployed women were factory workers, that is semiskilled and laborers in manufacturing industries. When the dis tribution of these unemployed women in the chief manufacturing: in““ “ compared with the distribution of the gainfully employed m 1930, the situation is not quite what would be expected. In 1937 the unempioyed from clothing factories constituted a much greater part of the total and the unemployed from cigar and tobacco fac tories and from textile plants a smaller proportion of the total than employed women in those industries in 1930 comprised of all em ployed women at that time. The following table shows the differ ences m proportion of several important industries: . Percent distribution of gainfully occupied women in 1SS0 All factories—Number of women______ Percent------------------------------------------Textiles----------------------------- 1,572,760 100.0 W7 Percent distribution of unemployed women in my 366 968 1 jqo.O r~ clothing------------------ shoes-------------------------------------- Cigars and tobacco________________________ Electrical machinery, apparatus, and supplies! 47 31 33 As has been noted, some of the women who reported experience in the clothing industry may have acquired that skill on a sewing proj ect of the W. P. A. and thus not represent loss of employment in a privately owned garment factory. Wlien those reporting emergency work are considered separately, it is found that 78 percent of those with factory experience reported clothing-factory work. It should be noted also that employment in clothing factories prob ably is more highly seasonal than that in the other industries, and some of the unemployment in such factories may be accounted for in this way. Indexes of employment in clothing year after year 50 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER usually show a drop from October to opportunities for employment in some tile mills and in cigar factories, have so have been obliged to seek other lines pp. 7 and 16.) November. As pointed out, lines, notably in certain tex contracted that many women of work permanently. (See NONFACTORY UNEMPLOYMENT Nearly 231,000 unemployed women were in domestic and personal service outside of hotels, restaurants, and laundries. They were, no doubt, chiefly household employees, with perhaps a few charwomen included. Undoubtedly many of these were Negroes. Clerks and kindred workers usually employed in trade numbered 175,000. Here saleswomen cannot be separated from office workers. Nearly 145,000 in wholesale and retail trade probably were largely store employees. More than 14,700 had been in insurance and realestate business, and over 8,400 in banking or brokerage. Unemployed hotel and restaurant workers numbered 134,600, and it is probable that many of these were Negroes. In 1930 nearly one-fifth of these workers were Negroes, and it has been shown that larger proportions of Negroes than of white women were unem ployed. There were 48,000 women farm laborers without work, more than 40 percent of these being Negroes. Women’s work for wages on a farm includes cotton picking, gathering of fruit of various sorts, the weeding and thinning of various truck crops, all seasonal work. There were more than 21,000 unemployed women whose usual work was in telephone or telegraph offices either as operators or as clerical workers. When the occupational distribution of all unemployed women in 1937 is compared with the distribution of all gainfully employed women in 1930, it is clear that some groups have suffered more than others in the matter of unemployment. This is especially noticeable in the case of semiskilled factory workers, who comprised a much larger part of the unemployed than they did of the gainfully occupied in 1930. Semiskilled workers in other industries were a slightly smaller part of the unemployed than might have been expected. Professional workers and those in the proprietor class reported much less unemployment than might have been anticipated, but there is no way of telling how many of these went into other occupations and so, while not actually unemployed, were not at their usual type of work. The differences in the main groups are as follows: All occupations: Number of women-----------Percent_________ _________ Clerks and kindred workers-----Servant class________________ Semiskilled in factories_______ Professional workers--------------Semiskilled not in factories____ Unskilled laborers____________ Proprietors, etc_______________ Skilled workers and forewomen Percent distribution Percent of gainfully distribution of occupied women unemployed in 1930 women in 1931 _ . 10, 752,116 1, 545,172 100.0 100.0 28.6 21.5 15.6 13,5 7.9 7.5 4.7 29.3 23.9 28.6 .8 6.2 6.6 4.2 .6 .7 APPENDIX GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF WOMAN-EMPLOYING INDUSTRIES The distribution of women workers in manufacturing and in non manufacturing industries presents quite different pictures. The lo cation of manufacturing establishments often depends on where they can find raw materials, transportation facilities, and the like. Some factories employing women are established in areas already giving employment to men in heavy industries, so that advantage may be taken of the labor force composed of daughters of the miner, the steel mill worker, and so forth. Moreover, the distribution of factories making one type of goods will vary markedly from that of plants using different raw materials. Nonmanufacturing occupations in clude a variety of services now considered almost indispensable, and consequently they must be located wherever the people live who are to be served. For this reason, such occupations will be found in greater numbers in the larger centers of population. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES The geographic distribution of the chief woman-employing manu facturing industries is shown below in terms of total wage earners (men and women combined) in 1935, complete information for 1937 not being available as this report goes to press. Even in 1929, wage earners in the various States were not reported by sex in the Census of Manufactures. The descriptions cover industries employing well over three-fourths of all women in manufacturing in 1929. Textile Industries. While distribution varies for the manufacture of different types of goods, it will be seen from the following that a great part of the tex tile industry is to be found up and down the Atlantic seaboard. Cotton Goods.—There are 2 areas of concentration of cotton textile manufacturing—the South east of the Mississippi, and New England. More than seven-tenths of all wage earners are in the South, with nearly six-tenths in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. A little more than one-fiftli are in the New England States, more than one-tenth in Massachusetts alone. Knit goods.—Not far from one-half of the workers in knit goods are employed in the Middle Atlantic States of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, with 30 percent in Pennsylvania alone. The States of the Southeast account for 31 percent, with North Carolina and Tennessee by far the most important. Nearly one-seventh of the wage earners are found in 6 States in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes, Wisconsin ranking first among these. 51 52 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER Silk and rayon goods.—About 95 percent of the wage earners in the manufacture of silk and rayon goods are in States of the Atlantic coast. Well over half are in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, nearly one-fourth are in New England, and less than one-fifth are in the Atlantic States to the South. Woolen and worsted goods.—Two-thirds of the wage earners mak ing -woolen and allied products are in New England, three-tenths in Massachusetts alone. A little more than one-fifth are in the 3 Middle Atlantic States, about one-twentieth in the South. Clothing Industries. The clothing industries probably are more widely scattered than is the making of textiles. At least 41 States and the District of Colum bia report^to the Census of Manufactures some share in the making of clothing. _ Men's coats and suits.—While this industry is reported in 36 States, over half of the wage earners are employed in the 3 Middle Atlantic States, three-tenths in New York alone; almost one-fourth are in 6 States on the Great Lakes, in Illinois and Ohio for the most part; and only about one-twelfth are in the Southern States. Other men's clothing.—Workers in these clothing industries are reported in 41 States and the District of Columbia. About two-fifths are in the 3 Middle Atlantic States, one-fifth in Pennsylvania alone, and about one-fifth are in 10 Southern States. The Great Lakes area accounts for 15 percent ; the States bordering on the South—Mary land, West Virginia, and Missouri—for 12 percent; New England for 7 percent. The remainder are scattered through the Pacific, Moun tain, and Prairie States. Women's clothing.—Wage earners in women’s, misses’ and chil dren’s clothing, including millinery, are reported by 40 States and the District of Columbia. It would be interesting to compare the dis tribution of relatively expensive clothing with that of house dresses, aprons, and other wash garments, but these data are not published. More than half of the workers are in New York and one-sixth in the adjoining States of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. About oneeighth are in the Great Lakes areas, in Illinois for the most part. New England reports about 7y2 percent, the Pacific coast 4% percent, the South about 2 percent, and Maryland and Missouri, bordering on the South, nearly 4 percent. _ [The 1937 census data for the clothing industries, which became available while the present bulletin was in press, show workers in the more expensive lines concentrated in a much more restricted geo graphic area than those at work on the cheaper products. For example, nearly three-fourths of the workers on men’s suits and overcoats, but less than one-fourth of those making men’s work clothing, were in the five States of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jer sey, Illinois, and Ohio. About 60 percent of those making women’s coats and suits and the more expensive dresses, but only about 12 percent of those making house dresses, aprons, and uniforms, were in New York.] APPENDIX 53 Food Industries. The manufacture of food products is, in general, very widespread. Bread and baker]/ 'products.—This industry is reported in every State and the District of Columbia. When the States are arranged according to the number of wage earners, the order corresponds approximately, though with some marked exceptions, to a distribution based on population. Confectionery.—In the making of confectionery, found in 45 States and the District of Columbia, Illinois ranks first with almost onefourth of all wage earners, while somewhat over one-third are in the 6 Great Lakes States combined. More than one-fourth are in the 3 Middle Atlantic States, chiefly New York and Pennsylvania; one-eighth are in New England, practically all in Massachusetts; and not quite one-tenth are m the South. Fruit and vegetable canning.—This industry is found in 46 States. One-third of the business is done on the Pacific coast, mostly in California; nearly one-third on the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida, most extensively in Maryland and New York; not far from one-fourth in the Great Lakes area; and less than 2 percent in the Gulf States (exclusive of Florida). Meat packing.—It is surprising to find meat packing reported in all States and the District of Columbia, since the industry is more often thought of in connection with a few large centers. The great est concentration is in Illinois, with a little more than one-fifth of all workers. When wage earners in the North Central States are combined, from Ohio to Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, prac tically two-thirds are accounted for there. About one-seventh are in Massachusetts and the Middle Atlantic States. Machinery. The two large employers of women in this category are electrical apparatus and supplies and radios and phonographs. The bulk of these industries is found in northern States east of the Mississippi. Electrical machinery, apparatus, and supplies.—While this type of business is done to some extent in 38 States and the District of Columbia, 8 States report from 12,000 to more than 28,000 wage earners each and account for 85 percent of the total. In order of importance these are: Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, Mas sachusetts, New Jersey, Indiana, Connecticut. Wisconsin and Mis souri each report between 6,000 and 7,000 workers. Radios and phonographs.—The manufacture of radios is reported by 16 States and the District of Columbia. New Jersey leads, with nearly one-third of the total. Almost one-fourth are in the Great Lakes area. Some important States, including Pennsylvania, cannot be reported separately. Paper and Printing Industries. The making of paper and of paper products is widespread and printing and publishing is found in every one of the 48 States. 54 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER Paper and paper products.—Paper production is reported in 35 States and the District of Columbia. More than one-third of the workers are in the Great Lakes area, Michigan and Wisconsin being the leading States here. More than one-fifth are in New England and the Middle Atlantic States, with Massachusetts and New York well in the lead. The South is relatively unimportant as yet. The Pacific States account for 6 percent of the wage earners. Paper products are reported in 41 States and the District of Columbia, important producers of paper being important also in making boxes, bags, and so forth, out of paper. Printing and publishing.—Every State and the District of Colum bia reports printing establishments, and this is true of book and pamphlet printing as well as of newspapers. In only 2 States is there no publication of periodicals other than newspapers. As is true of the bakery industry, important industrial States and those with large populations have great numbers employed in printing and publishing. Shoe Manufacture. The making of boots and shoes other than rubber is carried on in 32 States, but for 12 of them information is not reported separately. Nine States together account for 90 percent of all wage earners. In these are reported from 10,000 to nearly 44,000 workers. In order of importance these States are Massachusetts, New York, Missouri, Illinois, New Hampshire, Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Metal Products. It is probable that many of the great variety of metal-products factories are to be found predominantly in the quarter of the United States north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi. An examina tion of certain of the more important woman-employers in these groups shows this to be true to a varying degree. In the Great Lakes area are more than half the wage earners in the manufacture of mis cellaneous hardware, of stamped and enameled ware, and of wire work, and well over one-third of those in nonferrous alloys. From one-fifth to one-fourth of the wage earners are in the 3 Middle At lantic States in 5 lines of metal goods—stamped and enameled ware, wire work, nonferrous alloys, jewelry, and tin cans. More than half of the workers making clocks and watches are in Connecticut and Massachusetts, three-tenths are in Illinois. Three-fifths of those mak ing jewelry are in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. States outstand ing in a number of these lines of metal ware are Connecticut, Michi gan, Ohio, Illinois, and New York. Tobacco Products. The making of cigars is reported in 34 States, that of cigarettes in 9, and that of other tobacco products in 21. Pennsylvania leads in cigar making, with almost one-third of all wage earners, followed by Florida with one-sixth. Nearly one-fifth are in New Jersey and APPENDIX 55 New York combined, one-seventh in New Jersey alone. About oneseventh are in the Great Lakes area. Nearly two-thirds of all cigarette workers are in North Carolina, followed by one-sixth in Virginia. Kentucky also is an important center, but the number of wage earners is not reported. More than two-thirds of the wage earners in other tobacco products are in 5 States, with the numbers in each ranging from 900 to 1,600. These States are Missouri, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Chemicals and Allied Products. Rayon and allied products.—Rayon and similar products are re ported in 16 States, but because of the small number of firms a report on wage earners is given for only 2—Virginia with over one-fifth of the total and Tennessee with a little less than one-fifth. Among the other States, it is generally understood that Delaware and Pennsyl vania are important. Drugs and medicines.—Production of drugs and medicines, includ ing insecticides, was scattered through 43 States and the District of Columbia, with at least 15 reporting fewer than 100. Only in 7 States were well over 1,000 (1,500 to 4,000) reported, these being New York, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, and Missouri. Perfumes, cosmetics, and other toilet preparations.—Toilet prepar ations are produced in 32 States and the District of Columbia, with only 3 States reporting as many as 500 wage earners and at least 11 with fewer than 100. New York and New Jersey account for almost six-tenths. Rubber Goods. Production of rubber boots and shoes is reported in 7 States. Well over one-third of all wage earners are in Massachusetts, but there is no separate report for the other 6 States, which include 1 Middle At lantic State, 2 in New England, and 3 in the Great Lakes area. The manufacture of tires and tubes is carried on in 16 States, but more than two-thirds of the wage earners are in Ohio and 6 percent are in California. The other States, not reported separately, are chiefly in the northeastern quarter of the country, and include Massa chusetts, one of the leading States in this industry. Other rubber products, including a great variety of articles, are made in 31 States. More than one-third of the wage earners are in the 3 Middle Atlantic States, nearly three-tenths are in the Great Lakes area, and at least one-eighth are in New England (exclusive of Massachusetts, which is not shown separately). There are a few plants in 7 Southern States, 5 of them not reported in detail. Transportation Equipment. Though 25 States are reported as making motor vehicles, nearly six-tenths of all workers in the industry are in Michigan and more 56 THE WOMAN WAGE EARNER than seven-tenths are in the Great Lakes area as a whole. The mak ing of bodies and parts is widespread, being reported in 41 tSates; Michigan still leads, however, with nearly two-thirds of all workers, and the total Great Lakes area has 88 percent. Outside of this area, Pennsylvania and New York are most important. Glass and Pottery. Production of glass is reported to some extent in 22 States, but nearly six-tenths of all wage earners are in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, with more than 10,000 in each. Indiana, New Jer sey, Illinois, New York, and California follow, with between 2,000 and 6,700 wage earners in each. There is some production in 7 Southern States, but the number of wage earners is small. Porcelain ware and pottery are produced in 34 States and the District of Columbia, but well over one-fourth of the wage earners are found in Ohio alone and more than one-fifth in West Virginia alone. More than one-fourth are in the Middle Atlantic States. NONMANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES Since the chief nonmanufacturing industries are found in every city and most towns, the distribution of employees in these pursuits is, in general, in direct ratio to the total population. Every city and practically every town has stores, telephone ex changes, banks, doctors’ and dentists’ offices, and real-estate and in surance agencies, giving employment to the so-called white-collar groups. The same is true of the service groups—laundries, dry cleaning establishments, beauty parlors, hotels, and restaurants. Hospitals and places of amusement are found in every State and in most cities. Certain industries employing large numbers of office workers are found in every State though they are likely to be found only in the larger cities. Among these may be mentioned mail-order houses, home insurance offices, investment houses, advertising agencies, and wholesale establishments. O [Public—No. 259—66th Congress.] [H. R. 13229.] An Act To establish in the Department of Labor a bureau to be known as the Women’s Bureau. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be established in the Department of Labor a bureau to be known as the Women’s Bureau. Sec. 2. That the said bureau shall be in charge of a director, a woman, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall receive an annual compensa tion of $5,000. It shall be the duty of said bureau to formulate standards and policies which shall promote the welfare of wage earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employment. The said bureau shall have authority to investigate and report to the said department upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of women in industry. The director of said bureau may from time to time publish the results of these investigations in such a manner and to such extent as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe. Sec. 3. That there shall be in said bureau an assistant director, to be appointed by the Secretary of Labor, who shall receive an annual compensation of $3,500 and shall perform such duties as shall be prescribed by the director and approved by the Secretary of Labor. Sec. 4. That there is hereby authorized to be employed by said bureau a chief clerk and such special agents, assistants, clerks, and other employees at such rates of compensation and in such numbers as Congress may from time to time provide by appropriations. Sec. 5. That the Secretary of Labor is hereby directed to furnish sufficient quarters, office furniture, and equipment, for the work of this bureau. Sec. 6. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved, June 5, 1920.
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