Full text of The Woman Worker : May 1940, Vol. XX, No. 3

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Woman Worker
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6

MAY 1940

United States Department of Labor




Women’s Bureau

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Frances Perkins, Secretary

WOMEN’S BUREAU
Mary Anderson, Director

THE WOMAN WORKER
PUBLISHED EVERY 2 MONTHS

No. 3

Vol. XX

May 1940

CONTENTS
Page

Wages in the Apparel Industries_____ 2______ i__________________________________
The Census Report on Two Counties_______________________________________
Women in Unions__________________________________________________________

Women’s Trade Union League Activities—Workers’ Education—Unions and
Health—Progress in Apparel, Textile, and Nonmanufacturing Industries.
Toward Minimum Fair Wages______________________________________________
Progress Under the Fair Labor Standards Act—Fruits of State Wage Orders—
Other Minimum-Wage Activities—Progress Under the Public Contracts Act.
State Legislative Activities_______________________________________________
Notes on Women’s Earnings and Hours_____________________________________
New York Office Workers’ Earnings—Women Factory Workers’ Earnings—
Administering Law in Pennsylvania—Changing Standards in Industry.
Married Women and Private Industry______________________________________
News Notes and Announcements___________________________________________
New York Home-Work Law Upheld—What Every Woman Needs—I. L. O.
Studying War Influence on Women’s Work.
Recent Publications_______________________________________________________

Published under authority of Public Resolution No. 57, approved May
11, 1922 (42 Stat. 541), as amended by section 307, Public Act 212, 72d
Congress, approved June 30, 1932. This publication approved by the
Director, Bureau of the Budget
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C., at 5 cents a copy
or 25 cents a year




3
5
6

8

12
13

14
15

16

co-u<-1

Wages in the Apparel Indu

*•

a fourth of the makers of would raise the earnings of the following
women’s clothing, most of them proportions of women who were receiving
women workers, should benefit from less:
the
minimum rates recommended by the Ap­
Number of
Percent
employees
receiving
with hourly
under
parel Industry Committee under the Fair
earnings
35 cents
Labor Standards Act. Those who would
reported
an hour
Total...................................... 136,337
27
receive increases are well scattered among
the various States where this industry is Dresses wholesaling by the unit 1__ 51, 055
8
31, 047
50
carried on. These indications are from Dresses wholesaling by the dozen
38
studies of 141,600 employees in women’s- Underwear and nightwear________ 21,417
42
clothing plants made by the Women’s Bu­ Children’s and infants’ outerwear__ 16, 425
Corsets and allied garments________
9,628
20
reau in the spring of 1939, prior to the Blouses_______________________
6,765
15
recommendation of the rate. Of these
1 The better dresses are priced singly. Wholesale pricing by the
characterizes the cheaper products, including dresses, sports­
workers, making the garments to be worn by dozen
wear, house coats, service aprons, service accessories, uniforms for
nurses, waitresses, and the like.
women throughout the length and breadth
of this country, 85 percent are women. The
Increases Affect All Parts of the Country.
same is true of the men’s-wear industries,
Benefits from the wage increases promise
surveyed about the same time by the Bureau
to be distributed fairly generally in all parts
of Labor Statistics.
It is natural that the making of clothing of the country except the two large urban
should be a major employer of women, areas, New York City and Chicago, par­
since it is a traditional pursuit of women in ticularly New York, where living costs are
the home that has now in large measure high and wage scales somewhat above those
been taken over by factory production. in most other locations of the industry.
Indeed, almost a fourth (23.8 percent) of all Leaving out New York City, the propor­
women factory operatives reported in the tions of workers that received less than 35
census of 1930 were in clothing shops, which cents an hour were practically the same in
employed more women than any other single the combined Eastern and in the combined
Middle-Western group of States—in each
factory industry except textiles.
case about 37 percent—though of course in
Earnings Below Proposed Minimum.
each area there was variation from State to
The minimum rate that the Apparel Com­ State. In New York City only 7 percent of
mittee recommended to the Wage and Hour those reported had earned under 35 cents.
Division for the various types of women’s Here the wage is affected by union organi­
apparel included in the survey is 35 cents an zation and the large numbers of workers in
hour. Though in each of these industries this city (a third of all reported in the in­
the average hourly earnings were well above dustry) greatly influence total figures for the
this amount, there were in the sample sur­ entire Eastern section. For the very small
veyed more than 37,000 women who received proportion of workers in the seven scattered
less. Of course these are piece-work indus­ Southern States, the wage was lower than
tries, and a woman’s hourly earnings differ elsewhere. However, when individual States
from week to week. According to the week are considered, larger proportions of the
of survey, which is representative of the workers received under 35 cents in Illinois
general situation, the 35-cent minimum outside of Chicago than in Maryland and
ore than

M

221973—40




3

4

THE WOMAN WORKER

Georgia, and also larger proportions in Mich­
igan and up-State New York than in Geor­
gia, those in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and
Indiana being nearly as great.
Earnings Compared to Minimum Budgets.

The minimum amounts necessary for em­
ployed women living alone, as used by mini­
mum-wage authorities in five of the States
important in clothing manufacture, are as
follows:
Minimum, budget

California (San Francisco)______
Connecticut__________________
New Jersey__________________
New York._______
Pennsylvania_________________

1 £21.25
17.99
1 22.07
122.32
21.05

1 Computed for week from figures for year’s budget.

The lowest of these minimum-health-anddecency budgets is practically $18. In the
unit-priced-dress industry, earnings aver­
aged above this in all the more important
centers but up-State New York, where the
average was $17.26. In the blouse industry
the average was above $18 in New York
City, California, and Massachusetts; but it
was below in most of the important areas
surrounding New York City (Pennsylvania,
up-State New York, New Jersey, and Con­
necticut) and in Chicago. In corset making
the average was above $18 in the major
center (New York City) and in Chicago,
Michigan, and California; but it was below
this in all the important areas surrounding
New York (Connecticut, Massachusetts,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and up-State
New York) and in Indiana and Illinois out­
side Chicago. Except in New York City the
average was below $18 in the manufacture
of children’s and infants’ outerwear and in
underwear and nightwear in every area, and
in dozen-priced dresses everywhere (except
Boston, with the average of $18.10).
Earnings in the Men’s -Wear Industries.

A low-wage situation in the men’s-wear
industries is shown by studies made by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1939. The
sample, which excluded coats and suits, cov­
ered almost 87,000 workers, 84 percent of



them being in cotton-garment industries.
In these also women are the chief workers,
constituting 85 percent or more of those
reported in the making of cotton garments,
neckwear, and underwear; about 75 per­
cent of those making robes and allied gar­
ments and single dress pants. The mini­
mum proposed for cotton garments and un­
derwear is 32% cents; for robes and allied
garments and for neckwear 35 cents; and for
single dress pants 37% cents. The follow­
ing proportions of workers reported were
earning less than the minimum proposed:

North:
Cotton garments___________
Shirts (not work), collars,
and nightwear_________
Work and sport clothes___
Trousers, wash suits, and
uniforms______________
Underwear________________
Robes and allied garments___
Single dress pants__________
South:
Cotton garments. _ ________
Shirts (not work), collars,
and nightwear________
Work and sport clothes___
Trousers, wash suits, and
uniforms.
____ _ .
Underwear .
__
___
North and South combined:
Neckwear_________________

Total num­
ber reported

Percent re­
ceiving under
proposed
minimum

42, 838

32

21,400
14,211

34
29

7,227
3,778
1,353
3,283

32
63
39
43

29,923

76

8,519
16, 943

74
76

4, 461
694

81
88

4,940

30

The picture as to geographic distribution
here differs somewhat from the situation in
women’s garments, much larger propor­
tions of the workers in these men’s-wear
industries being in the South—one-third
compared to less than 4 percent of those in
the women’s-clothing industries. The bene­
fits from the minima proposed for these in­
dustries, therefore, will be especially great
in the South. All Northern States from
California to Maine were combined in the
report. In the large group, the cottongarment industries, 60 percent of the work­
ers were in the North. Of these, practically
one-third received less than the proposed
minimum, but this was true of three-fourths
of those in the South.

THE WOMAN WORKER

May 1940

5

The Census Report On Two Counties
tabulations from the sample naturally were more numerous in town than
taken last August to try out the 1940 country, and about half of them were
schedule have been released by the Bureau
females; they constituted 21 or 22 percent
of the Census. These have been awaited of those not in the labor force in the St.
eagerly, as the schedule was drafted to meet Joseph County cities, about 14 percent in
the social needs of our vast country with the more rural Marshall County. The dis­
the variations and complex developments abled—the majority being men—comprised
in its economic life. The sample covers about 9 percent of those not in the labor
two Indiana counties—St. Joseph, including force in St. Joseph County, but 12 to 19
rural areas and the cities of South Bend percent in Marshall County.
(100,000) and Mishawaka (28,000); and
Employment comparisons with 1930 data
Marshall, including the country sections are not exact. From the nearest approxi­
and Plymouth City (5,500).
mations possible, data from the sample
Women have increased slightly as com­ cities indicate that the number of women
pared to men in the population in these employed (even including those on emer­
two counties. From 60 to 66 percent of gency work) was somewhat less in 1939
all the men were in the labor force,1 as were than in 1930. If those seeking work be
22 percent of the women in St. Joseph added, there is a considerable increase
County and 15 percent of those in Marshall since 1930 in South Bend but practically
County. Smaller proportions of the rural no change in Mishawaka. Of those com­
than of the urban people were in the labor prising the total woman labor force, in
force; about 25 percent of the South Bend each case something over one-tenth were
women but only 13 percent of those in the newly seeking work.2
rural areas of both counties were so reported.
In 1939, women constituted a larger pro­
Of those constituting the labor force, over portion of those in the total labor force in
83 percent in St. Joseph County and over the two cities and also of those employed on
92 percent in Marshall County had jobs other than emergency work than of the
not connected with emergency work, the gainfully occupied in 1930. (In emergency
proportions being similar for both sexes and work, only 8 percent in South Bend and 6
larger in rural than in urban areas.
percent in Mishawaka were women.) Pro­
The major groups not in the paid labor portions of women in 1930 and 1939 were
market were those engaged in housework as follows:
at home, students, and the disabled. This
Percent women comprised of
is the first time the numbers in home house­
total
1930
1939
work could be obtained from the Census,
Employed
and of course these are mostly women.
(except on Total
Gainfully emergency labor
Of the persons not in the paid labor force,
work)
force 1
occupied
about 65 percent—from 70 percent in Mar­ South Bend_______________ 24. 7
28. 3
27.8
shall County rural areas to 64 percent in Mishawaka_______________ 26. 3
28. 5
26. 8
1 Includes, besides the employed, those on emergency work and
St. Joseph County rural areas—reported
that they did home housework. Students those unemployed and seeking work.
he first

T

1 Where the labor force is referred to this includes, besides per­
sons in normal employment, those in emergency employment such
as the W. P. A., the C. C. C., the N. Y. A., etc., and those unem­
ployed and seeking work.




1 Most of these probably are young persons, but among the
females some of those seeking work may not be; in 1930 those
counted among the gainfully occupied included the unemployed
under their usual or normal occupation but did not include those
seeking work who had never had a job.

6

THE WOMAN WORKER

Women In Unions
Women’s Trade Union League Activities.

HEREVER help is needed in the
union field the National Women’s
Trade Union League and its various branches
stand ready to take their part. A recent
report in Life and Labor Bulletin shows how
extensive this part is:
A Parade of Trades—So reads our summary of local
league organizing work for the past year. Reports from
local leagues sent to the national headquarters each
month indicate clearly the actual organizing work and
organizing assistance given to the various unions.
These activities have brought us in contact with Dairy
Workers, Box Makers, Coffee Roasters, Mail Order
House Employees, Ladies’ Garment Workers, Beauty
Operators, Envelope Workers, Telegraphers, Office
Workers, Retail Clerks, Match Workers, Teamsters,
Tobacco Workers, Waitresses and Cafeteria Workers,
Red Caps, Laundry Workers, Cleaners and Dyers,
Domestic Workers, Auto Mechanics, Glove Workers,
Cracker and Biscuit Workers, Maritime Workers, Car­
penters and Laborers, and Toy and Novelty Workers.
The calls in connection with this first and foremost
division of our work are many and varied and range all
the way from taking part in wage negotiations to writ­
ing and distributing leaflets, and picketing. Union
meetings galore are covered. Officers in new unions are
instructed in their respective duties, and workers made
aware that membership in a union imposes responsibil­
ity. New and struggling unions are encouraged to meet
in league headquarters and are helped along until they
can stand on their own feet. In other words, we help
them to help themselves.
Organizing work is not always confined to the city
in which a league is located but frequently necessitates
trips to adjacent cities and towns. There is marked
growth in women’s auxiliaries to men’s unions, and the
League has had no small part in developing this impor­
tant unit in the labor movement. Locally and nation­
ally many women’s auxiliaries are affiliated to the
League and the cooperation is mutual.
Workers’ Education.

Clothing unions in the field of women’s
garments in New York City have adopted a
“merit system” for their officers. In the
current educational term 60 members of
city locals graduated from the officers’
qualification courses. It was decided 2
years ago that no member who had not



served previously should be eligible for a
full-time job with the union unless he met
the requirements of these courses. They
cover the economics of the women’s garment
industry, the history, structure, and func­
tioning of the union, and parliamentary pro­
cedure as applied in union meetings. To be
successful the student must complete 75
percent of possible attendance, and obtain
75 percent in the marks awarded in test
papers. There is already an enrollment of 50
students for classes to be held next fall.
Training for union service work in the
women’s garment industry also includes
compulsory classes for new members to
explain their rights and duties. In the
Middle-Western region, classes are being
run in time-and-motion study to familiarize
members of the price committees with new
systems of piece-work payment. Classes
also are run for business agents and for
executive board members.
Workers in men’s-clothing industries
held a 25-day conference in New York City
in January and February. The program
included discussions of present-day prob­
lems, special seminars for union officers,
and study classes in collective bargaining,
public speaking, industrial economics, and
health problems. Active workers’ schools
along similar lines were held in other cities.
Unions and Health.

That union conditions have helped con­
siderably to reduce tuberculosis was shown
by a recent survey among six leading unions
in New York City, conducted by the city
health department and the W. P. A. More
than 33,000 union workers were examined.
Of these only 233, less than 1 percent, had
tuberculosis requiring further treatment or
clinical care. A 1933 survey of 2,000 food
handlers (both union and nonunion) showed
a 4 percent tuberculosis rate. Among gar­
ment workers only 0.6 percent of the workers

May 1940

WOMEN IN UNIONS

recently examined had symptoms, a sharp
drop from 1915, when the disease was found
among 3 percent of the 3,000 examined.
Progress in Wearing-Apparel Industries.
A 3-year agreement has been ratified by
millinery workers in the important New
York area, the center for about half the
industry. A new provision requires each
employer to supply the impartial chairman
with a copy of his pay roll every week. Thus
it will be possible to see that terms of the
agreement as to wages are observed. Con­
tinued in the agreement are the following
provisions: A 35-hour week; minimum

hourly rates of from #1.10 for trimmers to
#2.75 for blockers; time and a half for over­
time for week workers and a 25-cent
premium an hour for piece workers; equal
division of work. The last provision is an
important one in a highly seasonal industry.
A recent Women’s Bureau study showed
that less than half the workers were em­
ployed as much as 6 months in a year’s period.
Wage increases were reported in 15 agree­
ments covering clothing workers in the East
and Middle West. Numbers affected were
not always reported, but 8 of these contracts
covered about 2,000 workers. In 1 contract
learners were guaranteed #2 above the Fed­
eral minimum; in another, hours were re­
duced from 44 to 40. A number of others
maintaining present wage scales provide for
increases in case of a decided rise in living
costs.
Progress in Textile Industries.
An official of a Pennsylvania textile mill
stated recently that his firm’s increase in

employment and its expansion in operation
were due in no small part to the friendly
attitude of the union. He praised “its
willingness to cooperate with the company,
and its genuine interest in the problems
confronting the management.”
Hosiery workers in two large plants in
Milwaukee furnish another instance of union
understanding of the problems of employers.
They have voted to continue a plan inaugu­
rated in the 1939 contract. This called for




7

a reduction in wages, the amounts saved to
be used for more modern machinery. This
permits competition with southern mills that
have been more recently established with
newer equipment and lower wage levels.
About 4,000 workers are affected.
Progress in Nonmanufacturing Industries.

A 2-year agreement covering about 3,000
workers in 200 residential hotels has been
signed in Chicago. More than 60 percent
of the union members are women, including
maids, cleaners, and seamstresses. The con­
tract establishes wage scales based on three
classifications of hotels and representing in­
creases of from 5 to 10 percent. In women’s
occupations monthly rates are as follows:
Full-time maids, cleaners, and scrub women,
#55 to #63; linen-room help and seam­
stresses, #65 to #80; inspectresses, #75 to
#90. Provision is made for an 8-hour day
and 6-day week, with time and a half for
overtime. Vacations with pay are guar­
anteed and uniforms are to be furnished
and laundered by the employers.
An agreement has been signed by two
unions, one representing salespersons, one
meat cutters, with a large Boston food store
spoken of as “the largest and finest food
store in the world.” The contract estab­
lishes a minimum starting wage of #17 a
week for women and #19 for men. It also
provides a 52-hour week with time and a
half for overtime and for Sunday and holiday
work, and vacations with pay.
A 2-year contract covering about 75 office
workers in New York provides for a series
of wage increases amounting to 25 percent
over an 18-month period. Minimum rates
established immediately range from #15 a
week for office boys to #35 for advertising
assistants. These will be increased by the
end of 18 months to #18 and #36.50. Hours
are reduced from 42 to 39% a week. A va­
cation of 1 week will be given after 6 months’
service, and of 2 weeks after 1 year. If new
office machinery is introduced, present em­
ployees are to be given preference on the
new jobs and time for learning.

THE WOMAN WORKER

8

Toward Minimum Fair Wages
Progress Under the Fair Labor
Standards Act
Rates for Shoes and Knitwear.

60,000 of the 240,000 shoe
workers will receive an increased
hourly wage as a result of the rate of 35
cents recommended for shoe manufacturing
and allied industries, to become effective
April 29. A study by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics in 1939 showed 45 percent of all
workers, but nearly 75 percent of those
earning less than 35 cents, to be women.
The recommended minimum rates of 33%
cents for knitted underwear and 35 cents
for knitted outerwear, also approved, will
go into effect May 6 and July 1, respectively.
It is estimated that 17,000 employees in
underwear, and 7,500 factory workers and
an undetermined number of home workers
in outerwear, will have their wages raised.
The majority of these probably are women.
Oral argument for review of the order re­
garding learners in the knitwear industry
was announced for a hearing on April 23.
ore than

Recommendation for Paper Industry.

The committee for the pulp, paper, and
pressboard industry, appointed in February,
made its recommendation about a month
later. It proposed a minimum of 40 cents,
the highest that can be ordered under the
act. It is estimated that about 8,500 work­
ers now receive less than 40 cents. In 1929
there were reported nearly 11,000 women
in the making of paper. On the committee
is Elizabeth Brandeis Raushenbush, econo­
mist of the University of Wisconsin, a repre­
sentative of the public. A committee for
converted paper products, such as paper
boxes and bags, is to be appointed.
Industry Committee for Leather.

A committee has been appointed to con­
sider a minimum above 30 cents an hour
in the manufacture of leather and of leather



belting used for the transmission of power.
There are fewer women in this industry
(4,500 in 1929) than in those represented
by earlier committees. The leather com­
mittee has two women among the public
representatives: Elizabeth S. Magee, execu­
tive secretary of the Consumers’ League of
Ohio, and Elizabeth Morrissy, professor of
economics at Notre Dame College, Balti­
more. A committee for articles made from
leather (other than boots and shoes) is to be
appointed.
Learners in Glove Industry.

If experienced workers in certain occupa­
tions are not available, glove manufacturers
may obtain special certificates authorizing
the employment of learners at 25 cents an
hour for 480 hours to the extent of 5 percent
of the total workers. This determination
was approved February 13, 1940. Review
of this order as it relates to knitted fabric
gloves has been requested and allowed.
Normally, it was stated, there is no need
for learners in the leather glove industry
but it seemed desirable to manufacturers
and the union that a determination be made
infcase special need arose. For example,
impending home-work legislation in New
York may radically change the situation in
the important Fulton County leather glove
center. In other branches of the industry
the need for learners was found to be
variable.
Handicapped in’Sheltered Workshops.

Recommendations of a special advisory
committee on sheltered workshops, for the
employment of handicapped persons by in­
stitutions conducted not for profit but to
rehabilitate such handicapped persons, were
approved February 10.
The committee had made nearly a year’s
study of the problem. There are about 400
institutions attempting occupational reha­
bilitation for more than 40,000 “clients.”

May 1940

MINIMUM WAGES

Such of the institutions as produce goods
for interstate commerce have been working
under temporary regulations pending the
results of the committee’s study. The
regulations provide for the issuing of certif­
icates to the institutions, permitting em­
ployment at less pay than the minimum
required under the Fair Labor Standards
Act. In each certificate rates are set for
handicapped workers. The committee is to
continue in an advisory capacity.
Seasonal Exemptions Denied.

A request from the Southern Millinery
Manufacturers’ Association for exemption
from the maximum-hours provision of the
Fair Labor Standards Act, due to “the late­
ness of this spring season,” has been denied.
The Wage-Hour Division pointed out that
since the millinery industry does not cease
production in the remainder of the year, a
seasonal exemption would not be applicable.

9

$17 a week. The pay rolls of four limitedprice stores examined by the board show
that before the order was issued only 6
women received $17 or more, while after the
order 124 were paid this much or more. In
7 department stores, where wages are uni­
formly higher than in limited-price stores,
the number of women receiving $17 or over
more than doubled after the wage order
went into effect, the number receiving more
than the minimum increasing from 1,868 to
2,394.
Though the minimum-wage rates estab­
lished in the District of Columbia are un­
usually high, ranging from $13.25 for wait­
resses to $18 for women in beauty shops,
nearly 40 percent of the women employed
after the wage orders in the 40 establish­
ments surveyed by the District Wage Board
earned more than the minimum set for the
industries in which they were employed.
New York—Wages Increased.

Fruits of State Wage Orders
District of Columbia—Women’s Wages Raised.

Recently the District of Columbia Mini­
mum Wage Board examined the pay rolls
of 40 establishments, employing more than
7,500 women, for a period before and one
after the minimum wages were established,
to ascertain the effects of the board’s orders.
The results of this study are bright indeed.
Since the orders went into effect, the propor­
tion of women in these 40 establishments
who received the minimum or more than
the minimum had risen from 37 percent to
77 percent of the total, and the proportion
who received less than the minimum had
decreased from 63 percent to 23 percent.
The wage order for retail trade brought
marked benefits to women working in
limited-price stores. According to a survey
made by the Women’s Bureau in 1937, half
the women employed in this type of store
earned less than $12.50; only 2 percent
earned as much as $15 a week. The mini­
mum wage established for retail stores in the
District by the Minimum Wage Board is




A survey of beauty parlors in New York,
recently reported, shows higher earnings
with shorter hours, due largely to the wage
order for the industry, which is mandatory
except for manicurists in barber shops. In
1936 women averaged $13.47 a week, while
in 1939, some 7 months after the order, the
average was $16.74. Others besides the
lowest-paid had benefited, over half the
women receiving more than the weekly
minimum of $16.50. Average hours had
been reduced from 48 to 45; in 1936 half
the women worked more than 48 hours, but
in 1939 less than 1 percent did so. Last
year nearly $28,000 was collected for women
who had been paid less than the minimum,
or whose cash wages had been reduced
below the minimum because of charges for
uniforms.
With only the danger of publicity as
punishment for noncompliance in the con­
fectionery industry, more than three-fourths
of the employers were in complete com­
pliance with that order. During the past
year about $3,500 was collected for 1,727
employees.

10

THE WOMAN WORKER

New Jersey—Increased Employment.

No special study as to the effects of the
wage order for the apparel industry has
been made in New Jersey, but reports of
employment and pay rolls show that it
has not decreased employment or wages.
Comparing the first 3 months under the
order, July to September 1939, with the
same 3 months in 1938, employment in­
creased by 9 percent and pay rolls by 14
percent. Figures for miscellaneous manu­
facturing, which includes practically all the
industries covered by the order for “light
manufacturing,” show that from 1938 to
1939 employment increased by 23 percent
and pay rolls by 30 percent. In all manu­
facturing in the State, employment increased
by 5 percent and pay rolls by 6 percent. In
1939 the minimum-wage bureau collected
nearly #38,000 due to women and minors
under four wage orders.

union rates, when requested to do so by the
employers with union contracts. The 225
canneries in the State employ about 63,000
women. Of these plants, 89, employing
39,600 women, were audited in 1939.
About 85 percent of the women whose pay
was subject to audit in that year were in
union plants, where the majority of women
had a rate of 38% or 42% cents, according to
whether rural or urban. About a tenth
were in plants where the majority of the
women had a rate of 33% cents, the State
minimum. For the remainder, the rate
for the majority was 35 cents.
In Oregon audits were made in 1939 in 38
plants employing 6,139 men and 10,234
women. The total pay roll for the season
(May 1 to December 1) was #1,177,120.
While the minimum hourly rate for women
is 35 cents,1 the average amount earned by
all women was 39.3 cents.

West Coast States—Cannery Wages.

Other Wage Collections.

In the West Coast States, both tradeunions and State minimum-wage authori­
ties have worked to secure improved wages
for cannery employees, the majority of
whom are women. Union rates are higher
than the State minimum. In Washington
the State minimum is 37% cents an hour,1
the union rate 40 cents. In California the
State minimum is 33% cents,1 the union
rate 38% cents in rural districts, 42% cents in
urban. In Washington 70 percent of the
cannery workers are organized, as are about
65 percent of the women in audited canneries
in California. There is little organization
in this industry in Oregon.
California and Oregon have a unique sys­
tem, worked out between employers and the
minimum-wage authorities. Under the di­
rection of the latter, but paid for by the
piece-rate firms in the industry, the books of
canners electing to come under this system
are audited every pay period (usually
weekly). Other plants, usually those pay­
ing by time work, are subject to the regular
wage inspections.
In California these auditors of the Divi­
sion of Industrial Welfare audit for the

In Minnesota in 1939 a total of more
than #28,000 was collected by the Division
of Women and Children in the course of
nearly 5,000 inspections. Of this amount,
921 females received more than #20,000,
239 male minors nearly #8,000. Most of
the violations were in service industries,
especially restaurants and beauty parlors.
The Ohio Division of Minimum Wage
reports that collections from the beginning
of the division’s activities to the end of
January 1940 amounted to more than
#134,000.
In Kentucky the Department of Indus­
trial Relations collected more than #6,000
under a general wage order covering all
occupations.




Other Minimum-Wage Activities
New York—Restaurant Directory Order.

An estimated 50,000 women in restaurants
in New York will be covered by an order
for the industry effective June 3. The
Industrial Commission states that most of
these will receive an increased wage. A
1 At least half the piece workers must receive this much.

May 1940

MINIMUM WAGES

11

basic rate of 20 cents is fixed for service
employees, 30 cents for others. These are
cash rates, exclusive of tips, meals, and
uniforms, for which special provisions are
made. No lower rate is allowed for learners
or apprentices. However, an adjustment
period is allowed in which, outside of New
York City, 18 and 19 cents may be paid to
service workers and 28 and 29 cents to
others, and within New York City 29 cents
to nonservice workers. Special provisions
should effect some regulation of hours.
Basic rates are to be paid for 25 to 45 hours
a week. If less than 25 hours are worked in
the week, 3 cents an hour shall be added to
the minimum rate, and for all hours over 45
time and a half the minimum shall be paid.

Funds specifically allocated to the Minimum
Wage Division, instead of the present cus­
tom of including money for this division in
the lump sum for the Department of In­
dustrial Relations, were recommended.
The Ohio Division of Minimum Wage has
been granted $515,000 to be used to set rates
in beauty culture.

Maine—Order for Fish Packing.

The wage order for retail-trade occupa­
tions, setting #13 and #14 a week (by size of
city) for experienced workers, was made
mandatory March 18. The overwhelming
majority of employers at the hearing voiced
their support of the minimum scale. The
division is making a resurvey of the wearingapparel industry.

On April 11a wage order for fish packing
became effective in Maine. Specific mini­
mum piece rates were set for certain occu­
pations. For all other processes, time work
or piece work, not less than 33 cents an
hour must be paid. This is the only in­
dustry covered by the existing Maine law,
passed in 1939.
Ohio—Minimum-Wage Conference.

How to extend the benefits of the State
minimum-wage law was the subject of a con­
ference called by the Consumers’ League of
Ohio and attended by women from all parts
of the State. Sponsors included the League
of Women Voters, the National Council of
Catholic Women, the National Council of
Jewish Women, and the Young Women’s
Christian Association. Progress made in
Ohio in minimum-wage administration was
discussed by George A. Strain, director of
the Department of Industrial Relations in
the State.
Budget increases were stressed by the con­
ference as essential for the necessary ad­
vances, which include coverage of more
industries, as thus far only laundries, clean­
ing and dyeing, restaurants and hotels have
had rates set. Routine inspections every 6
months to check on compliance, and more
frequent staff conferences, were among
points considered of immediate importance.



New Wage Boards.

In Massachusetts a study of clerical work­
ers has been made, and a wage board is to
be appointed. A board for the dry-cleaning
industry in New Hampshire is holding pub­
lic meetings.
Rhode Island Activities.

“Car Hops” in California.

The California Division of Industrial
Welfare has ruled that tips can not be
counted in the wage paid girls who serve
guests at drive-in stands. It has been the
practice to require these girls, known as
“car hops”, to work without wages, depend­
ing on tips alone, and some girls say that
they have been told to report #16 weekly in
tips or be discharged. Other types of res­
taurants make up the difference between
amount of tips and the minimum wage.
The drive-in stands frequently do not fur­
nish meals. Some require an elaborate
uniform, costing the girls from #25 to #40
apiece, with two uniforms necessary in a
season. The ruling cannot be enforced
until a decision is made by the courts.
New Hampshire—Earnings in Dry Cleaning.

In August 1939 one-fourth of the adult
women and nearly three-fourths of the girls
in dry cleaning in New Hampshire were
earning less than 28 cents an hour, the mini­

THE WOMAN WORKER

12

mum for experienced workers in laundries,
closely allied in work. Nearly one-fourth of
the women and well over four-fifths of the
girls earned less than $12. Fifty-nine per­
cent of the women earned 30 cents or more
an hour and 41 percent $15 or more a week.
Hours of work indicated some part time, as
one-fourth of the women and girls worked
less than 40 hours in the week. On the
other hand, more than one-fourth worked 48
hours or more, but none beyond the legal
limit of 54.

Progress Under the Public Contracts
Act
Wage rates ranging by type of product
from 40 cents to 57% cents an hour have been

recommended under the Public Contracts
Act for certain branches of the electrical
industry. They are based on the prevailing
rates for unskilled workers found by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics in a study made
in the summer of 1937. In this sample study
women formed nearly one-fourth of all em­
ployees. More than two-thirds of all the
women and of the unskilled were in branches
of the industry for which either a 40- or a
45-cent minimum was recommended. Con­
sidering all branches of the industry, 18 per­
cent of all the women in contrast to 2 percent
of all the men, and 21 percent of the un­
skilled women in contrast to 5 percent of the
unskilled men, had received less than 40
cents an hour.

State Legislative Activities
or special legislative sessions for State to employ person whose spouse is
began in 10 States in January 1940. employed by State at $125 a month or more.
Regular sessions convened in the following
New Jersey.
7 States—Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jer­
Minimum wage.—To provide $50 penalty
sey, New York, Rhode Island, South Caro­ for failure of employer to appear when sum­
lina, and Virginia. In addition, Alabama, moned by commissioner of labor for nonwhich recessed September 15, 1939, will compliance; to make directory orders man­
datory after 90 days instead of 9 months.
reconvene June 25, 1940.
Hours.—To reduce hours of women from
Special sessions opened in 3 States—
10-54 to 8 a day; to extend law to beauty
Nebraska (January 2-13); California (Jan­ parlors, barber shops, and cleaning and
uary 29, recessing February 25 to reconvene dyeing plants. Removes cannery exemp­
May 13); and Louisiana (January 20-25), tion.
To establish 6-day week in factories,
which also will hold a regular session begin­
stores,
transportation or public-service com­
ning May 13. Legislation has been intro­
panies, restaurants, hotels, cafes, bakeries,
duced along the lines listed below. These laundries, taverns, cafeterias, and any estab­
bills had not been passed when The Woman lishment engaged in selling food or liquor.
Worker went to press (except for laws
To repeal law that prohibits women’s
employment between midnight and 7 a. m.
starred).
Married women.—To provide against dis­
Louisiana.
^Married persons.—Makes it unlawful for crimination based on sex or marital status in
State to employ any person whose spouse is State employment.
Home work.—To require home workers
employed by State at $100 a month or more.
(Act No. 15, approved January 25, effective and employers in hand knitting to keep daily
February 14, 1940.)
records of work done; to require that em­
ployees be paid on completion and delivery
Mississippi.
of work.
Hours.—To make it unlawful for any mer­
chant to work employees over 48 hours a New York.
week.
Hours.—To provide 8-42 hours for bind­
Married persons.—To make it unlawful ery women over 18, to October 24, 1940;
egular

R




May 1940

STATE LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITIES

thereafter, 40 hours unless with time-and-ahalf pay.
*To exempt from 10-to-7 night-work law
women employed by florists at Easter and
Christmas. (Approved by Governor March
22, 1940.)
Home work.—*To require an employer to
attach to materials for home manufacture
label with his name and address legibly
written or printed in English.
Rhode Island.
Minimum wage.—To fix a minimum of 25
cents an hour for all workers.

13

Hours.—To provide 6-day week in com­
mercial occupations.
To prohibit women working between
midnight and 6 a. m. in factories. Ex­
empts those working on shifts for a public
utility.
To prohibit women working between 10
p. m. and 6 a. m. in factories, except that
those in textiles and leather may work till 11.
To limit continuous employment of women
in factories, workshops, and stores to 6
hours (6% if day ends at 1 p. m., 7% if it
ends at 2 p. m. and sufficient time is allowed
for lunch).

Notes On Women’s Earnings and Hours
New York Office Workers’ Earnings.

HE STUDY of earnings of office work­
ers based on a fixed list of manufac­
turing plants in New York showed employ­
ment in October 1939 increased by nearly 2
percent from October 1938, while average
weekly earnings had risen by 61 cents to
$35.47. Employment had increased for the
office forces in 7 of the 10 industry groups
covered, and pay rolls in 8, most markedly
in textiles, and in fur, leather, and rubber
goods. Women’s weekly earnings averaged
$22.98 compared with $45.90 for men.
Superintendents and office managers are
included, and it is probable that the majority
of these higher-paid positions are held by
men. Earnings by sex cannot safely be
compared with earlier years, since separate
reporting for women and men is not on a
fixed-list basis.
Women Factory Workers’ Earnings.

That the earnings of women factory
workers vary greatly in different industries,
regardless of degree of skill, is apparent
whenever a number of studies are brought
together. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
has published recently wage data collected
in 1937, 1938, and 1939 for the following
industries: Six kinds of knit goods; four



kinds of hats or hat materials; electrical
products; boots and shoes; meat packing;
men’s neckwear. Average hourly earnings of
women, regardless of skill, varied by prac­
tically 20 cents, ranging from 50.9 cents in
full-fashioned hosiery to 31.4 cents in seam­
less hosiery. Details for 13 branches of the
electrical industry show a spread of about 19
cents in average earnings, from 59.7 cents
to 41.1 cents. It is possible that industries
with higher average earnings report more
women classed as skilled workers, but earn­
ings of such workers showed a wider varia­
tion, from 62.8 cents in fur felt hats to 35.5
cents in knit gloves. Average earnings of
unskilled women were highest in the elec­
trical industry, practically 50 cents, an
amount exceeding the average for skilled in
six of the nine industries reporting such
workers separately.
The benefits of union organization are
shown in two of the reports. Women in
unionized full-fashioned-hosiery plants aver­
aged $2 a week more than those in nonunion
plants. In the shoe industry women in
union plants averaged about 4% cents an
hour more than nonunion workers, or about
$1.80 for a 40-hour week. In the making
of men’s neckwear there was a difference of
10 cents an hour in favor of workers in union
plants.

THE WOMAN WORKER

14

Administering Law in Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Bureau of Women and
Children receives about 100 requests a
month for deviation from provisions of the
hour law for women, and makes investiga­
tions to determine whether such requests
shall be granted. Since the bureau is reluc­
tant to allow deviations, the employer is
helped to make out a schedule that con­
forms to the general provisions of the law if
possible. About 100 special permits were
issued for inventory purposes during
January.
Home workers must conform to the hour
law as do factory workers. During January,
SO special investigations were made in the
enforcement of the home-work law and 29
violations of the women’s hour law were
found. At the end of January, 158 employ­
ers’ or contractors’ permits and nearly 6,400
home workers’ certificates were in force, a
very slight change from the first of the
month.
Nearly 900 cases of accidents to women
and girls were reviewed, and 29 of these
were referred to the Bureau of Inspection
for investigation. These showed 8 violations
of law.
Changing Standards in Industry.

Annual labor department reports from
scattered localities for 1938 or 1939 show
that women’s earnings had increased from
the preceding year in Missouri, and hours of
work in Maryland indicated a fuller day’s
employment. In South Carolina fewer
women were employed, but those with jobs
had worked more days in the year.

The Commissioner of Labor and Statistics
of Maryland reports that the daily hours of
women, as found by inspectors on their
visits to 25,000 establishments, indicate
some shift to longer hours. In general
there was an increase in those working 8
hours, a decline in the proportions working
less than 8 and more than 8 hours. The
most marked change was in mercantile
establishments.
The Missouri Department of Labor gives
weekly wages as reported by about 4,600
firms, chiefly manufacturers. Wages in
manufacturing as a whole and in public
utilities tended to be a little higher than in
1937. For all women covered, the propor­
tion receiving less than $10 had declined
from 14 to 12 percent, while those receiving
$20 or more increased from 17 to 20 per­
cent. In the most important woman em­
ployers in this State, women’s wages had
increased more than the average in cloth­
ing, but in leather industries there was a
decline.
In South Carolina the Department of
Labor reports that the number of women
wage earners in all manufacturing and in
textiles, where more than 80 percent of the
women in manufacturing were found, had
declined somewhat. Total wages paid to
women had increased, however, due chiefly
to fuller employment for those on the job,
since there was an increase in the average
number of days that factories operated dur­
ing the year. Average per capita wage
payment to women for the year’s work was
$589 in all manufacturing, $625 in textiles.

Married Women and Private Industry
o secure information as to the pre­ received from 484 companies, with a total
vailing practice on the employment of employment of 1,150,646.
married women, the National IndustrialThe conclusion of the Conference Board
Conference Board sought an expression is that in probably a large majority of cases
from representative companies—not only no definite position had been taken one way
manufacturing concerns but stores, financial or the other; the more general practice was
companies, and others. Information was to leave the policy somewhat flexible.

T




May 1940

15

MARRIED WOMEN AND PRIVATE INDUSTRY

Practically three-fourths of the companies
said they had no definite fixed policy con­
cerning women factory employees who mar­
ried, and nearly 60 percent had none regard­
ing their office employees.
Well over half the plants encourage or
permit their women employees, whether in
plant or office, to remain at work after
marriage. Altogether, women plant em­
ployees in about 92 percent of the companies
and women office workers in practically 77
percent may continue in their jobs under
some circumstances.
The policy of forbidding office women to
remain after marriage is most general in the
52 financial companies (including banks

and insurance companies), 34 of which
require that women leave if they marry.
Of the 372 manufacturing concerns, only
52 require office women and 31 require
factory women to give up their jobs at
marriage. Only 3 of the 26 mercantile
establishments require saleswomen and office
workers to give up their jobs.
Statements cited from employers include
the following:
There is no question but that from the employer’s
standpoint there will be a distinct loss if he attempts
to dismiss all married women from his organization.
We do not believe that employers should set up
restrictions regarding employment of married women.
They are not valued by domestic value but by job
value.

News Notes and Announcements
New York Home-Work Law Upheld
constitutionality of the industrial
home-work law, as well as of the order
prohibiting^home work in the artificial flower
and feather industry, has been upheld at the
special term of the State Supreme Court in
New York County. This apparently is the
first time the long controversy in relation
to this industry has resulted in the upholding
of the law itself. This suit had been brought
by a group of individual home workers. The
opinion stated in part:
he

So far as the reasonableness of the order itself is con­
cerned, it is apparent that it is the result of study and
investigation and is an endeavor in good faith to carry
out the direction of the legislature and, although it may
appear arbitrary to those who may suffer loss on ac­
count of its promulgation and enforcement, in the
whole it is for the general good of the economic order
and cannot be considered unreasonable in the light
of the study and investigation of the legislature and the
industrial commission.

The case had first been brought before the
Board of Standards and Appeals, which
upheld the reasonableness and validity of
the order without a hearing, basing its deci­
sion on a previous one made in a case brought
by employers. The court, while upholding
the constitutionality of the law and the



order, ordered the board to hold hearings in
this second case in connection with issues
raised by home workers in differentiation
from those raised by employers, and also to
look into conditions in the industry which
may have been created by the passage of the
Federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

What Every Woman Needs
The Consumers’ League of Ohio has is­
sued an estimate of the cost of living of a
wage-earning woman living independently
in Cleveland. It states—
This cost-of-living estimate is based on goods and
services which every woman needs and the prices she
must pay for them. We chose this method in prefer­
ence to studying actual working-women’s expenditures
because the budget will serve its purpose only if it
represents standard requirements rather than how to
make the best of a bad bargain.

The following are the annual and weekly
costs of the main items:
Annual

All items __________

Room and board_________
Clothing and its upkeep
Health and personal care____
Leisure-time activities.
Miscellaneous (transportation,
savings, etc.)____________

Weekly

21, 054. 31

220.27

575.64
183.51
62.00
77.16

11.07
3.53
1.19
1.48

156.00

3.00

16

THE WOMAN WORKER

I. L. O. Studying War Influence on
Women’s Work
The influence of war and mobilization on
the conditions of women’s work is among the
problems to be especially investigated by
the International Labor Organization, which
may issue a report on this subject in the
autumn of 1940. A regular session of this
body was held as usual in February, and the
next is scheduled to begin June 5. Subjects
being investigated to ascertain the effects of
war and mobilization include the following
in which women have an important stake:
National regulation as to hours of work and
rest periods; adjustment of wage rates to
changing prices; organization of medical
labor inspections; and living conditions of
workers’ families (low-cost housing).
A somewhat similar picture exists in the
various warring countries in relation to
women’s work—great demands for women in
new occupations and special measures to
facilitate their acceptance of jobs; unemploy­
ment among women, due to shifts in popula­
tion and occupations, leading to the estab­
lishment of priorities for employment;
efforts to maintain some standards as to
worktime and rest, but with considerable
abandonment of these in emergency situa­
tions; efforts of various private organizations
to aid in the situation, followed by fuller
governmental organization for the central
handling of labor; and so forth.
In France the Union of Mining and Metal
Industries has drawn up standard lists of
occupations suitable for women in metal
industries, and has prepared plans for se­
lection and vocational training for women.
In the Soviet Union about 9 million wom­
en were estimated to be at work in Janu­
ary 1939. Over 23,000 have taken a course
enabling them to do railroad work. The
People’s Commissary for Maritime Trans­
port has appealed for women in shipbuilding
yards and in loading and unloading in ports.
There is a move to revise the order of April




1932 that included a long list of trades pro­
hibited to women. The urgent desire to im­
prove technical ability and increase the num­
ber of skilled workers has led to the induc­
ing of women to enter occupations hitherto
reserved to men.

Recent Publications
Women’s Bureau—Printed Bulletins 1
The Legal Status of Women in
of America, January 1, 1938.

the

United States

Reports for South
Carolina (Bui. 157-39), Utah (Bui. 157-43), Vermont
(Bui. 157-44), West Virginia (Bui. 157-47), Wyo­
ming (Bui. 157-49). 1939. (All States and the
District of Columbia are now in print.) 5 cents each.

Other Department of Labor Bulletins 1
Welfare

of

Families of Sugar-Beet Laborers,

1935. Bui. 247, Children’s Bureau.
Children in the Courts, 1937. Juvenile-Court Sta­
tistics and Federal Juvenile Offenders. Bui. 250,
Children’s Bureau.
Child Welfare Legislation, 1938. Bui. 251,
Children’s Bureau.
The Meaning of State Supervision in the Social
Protection of Children. Bui. 252, Children’s

Bureau.

New York
City. Bui. 643. Vol. II. Family Expenditure.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Already published in
this series are Family Expenditures in Chicago; and
Family Income in Chicago, in Five Cities in the
South, and in Four Urban Communities in the
Pacific Northwest.)

Study of Consumer Purchases, 1935-36.

Other Recent Publications
1940 U. S. Census. “To Know
America, Tell America.” U. S. Department of
Commerce.

Census Primer.

Mothers of the South—Portraiture of the White
Tenant Farm Woman. By Margaret Jarman

Hagood, Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina
Press. 1939. “On such farms, ... so sparing in
economic returns, these mothers labor. A con­
siderable amount of field work is not only the modal
pattern but is the practice in over three-fourths of
the cases. The rule is to do as nearly full-time work
as housekeeping and cooking permit during chop­
ping, hoeing, and picking times on the cotton farms,
or during most of the summer on the tobacco farm,
with the fall spent largely in the striphouse.”
{< 1 Bulletins may be ordered from the Superintendent of Docu­
ments, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., at prices
listed. A discount of 25 percent on orders of 100 or more copies
is allowed.
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICEl 1940