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Woman Worker
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WOMAN'S COLLEGE LIBRARY
W UNIVERSITY
OURHAM, N. C.

SEPTEMBER 1938

United States Department of Labor

Women’s Bureau

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Frances Perkins, Secretary

WOMEN’S BUREAU
Mary Anderson, Director

THE WOMAN WORKER
PUBLISHED EVERY 2 MONTHS

Vol. XVIII

No. 5

September 1938

CONTENTS
Page

The*Southern Woman Worker___________________________________________

Women

in Unions________________________________________________________
Women in strikes—Gains recorded in union agreements—Progress in organiza
tion—Labor Relations Board decisions.

National Health Conference____________________________________________

W. P. A_________________________________________________

Toward Minimum Fair Wages____________________________________________

Women

and the

Louisiana enacts law—Recent minimum-wage orders—Wage and cost-of-living
surveys—Other activity in the States—Effects of the minimum wage in Rhode
Island—Public contracts rates for glass and luggage industries.
“What’s in a Dress” in Sound____________________________________________

Hours in March 1938________________________________

Women’s Wages

and

Recent Women’s Bureau Publications____________________________________

News Notes_____________________________________________________________

Reviews of Recent Studies_____________________________________________

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

The Southern Woman Worker
of present plans of the Admin this. Recent reports of wages in cottonistration to make a concerted effort goods manufacturing indicate that employ
ees in this industry in the South received
to help the South in solving its problems,
the Women’s Bureau has assembled some considerably less than the amount neces
of the facts about women workers culled sary for adequate subsistence.
State reports for a number of industries,
from recent studies. These facts were
made available to the National Emergency as well as reports for cotton-goods manu
Council for its recent conference on south facturing in several States, show that the
ern conditions. They show that while wage earner receives on the average a wage
many southern women are employed at low well below that estimated by the Works
wages, with long hours of work, the South Progress Administration as the lowest
has been slow to pass laws for their needs. emergency cost for maintaining a manual
Of the three States in this country in worker’s family. Obviously the other mem
which over 30 percent of all women are bers of the family must seek work too.
Only 4 of 13 southern States have enacted
gainfully occupied, two are in the South.
Five of the eleven States in which more statutes providing a minimum wage for
than 25 percent of the woman population is women, though the need of such action is
in gainful work are in the South. Respon indicated by all wage figures available.
In spite of excessive hours of women’s
sibility for family support has been thrust
on great numbers of southern women. An work in the past, the South has two of
analysis of the economic responsibilities of the four States in the country that have en
women in an important southern city, made acted no laws whatsoever to limit hours for
from 1930 census data by the Women’s women. Only 3 southern States (Louisiana,
Bureau, shows that 11 percent of the em Oklahoma, and South Carolina) have estab
ployed women in that city with marital lished an 8-hour workday for women in any
status and family responsibilities reported industry, though 19 of the 48 States have
were the sole support of families of two or taken such action in at least some industries.
more persons. More than 3,300 families Only five Southern States (Louisiana, North
were supported by women, and in two- Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and
thirds of these one woman alone provided Virginia) have applied to any industry a
week as short as 48 hours, now recognized
the entire family income.
Even when there is a man wage earner, as the maximum consistent with satisfactory
his wage often is so low that the women of work and healthful living. However, one of
the house have to contribute to the family these States, South Carolina, has introduced
support. Figures collected by the National the shortest workweek required by the law
Industrial Conference Board in 11 southern of any State—a 40-hour week in a number
cities in 1937 show that the average cost of of textile industries and in garment factories.
Both long hours and low wages are in
living of a wage earner’s family at that time
was #25.41 a week, or approximately #1,321 volved in the industrial home-work system
a year. Reports from the labor depart recently spreading in the South, by which
ments of three southern States show the factories farm out industrial work to be done
average wages of the manufacturing em under wholly unregulated conditions. In
ployee to be from 40 to 45 percent below southern States women have been found at
3
89337—38
ecause

THE WOMAN WORKER

extremely low pay doing at home such work
as making artificial flowers, sewing buttons
on cards, clocking hosiery, embroidering
children’s clothing, shelling pecans, attach
ing draw strings and disks to tobacco bags,
and stuffing and stitching baseballs.
Home-work earnings are always below

factory earnings. A study of home work on
infants’ wear showed that the women had
greatly exceeded factory hours, but that half
of them had received less than $2.73 for the
week’s work. Tennessee and Texas are the
only southern States that have tried to regu
late home work by law.

Women in Unions
significant union news in knit-outerwear industry in New York City;
volving women in the 2-month period in woolen mills in Manchester, N. H.; in a
plant at Reading, Pa.; in a thread
just past appears to be the activities hosiery
in
company
in Connecticut; and in other
textiles and in the food packing and proc
companies
in Maine, Maryland, and
essing industries. Considerable activity
Wisconsin.
has been noted also in the garment trades.
Tobacco Workers Strike for More Pay.
Women in Strikes
Several hundred tobacco workers of
Textile Workers Strike Against Guts.
Richmond, Va., went on strike August 1 for
Textile workers are facing wage cuts and a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour or #10
are resisting them in a number of cases by a week, according to reports from their
strikes. A reported spontaneous strike of union. They claimed that their wages aver
several thousand textile workers closed aged only #4 to #6 a week. The workers,
four plants at Greensboro, N. C., after mostly Negroes, are organized in an indus
wage cuts running as high as 16 percent trial union of tobacco stemmers and laborers.
were announced. The workers returned Gains Recorded in Union Agreements
after the Conciliation Service of the Depart
Vacations with pay, unheard of for fac
ment of Labor had helped to arrange a
tory workers not long ago, are provided in a
settlement.
number of recent union agreements. A
The 7 weeks’ strike of several thousand
guaranteed year’s work is being introduced.
carpet workers who, on May 9, walked out
Some contracts guarantee a minimum of so
of New York and Connecticut plants was
many hours of work a day or so many days
ended by agreement to arbitrate the 10-pera week, while others guarantee a maximum
cent wage cut which led to the strike. The
of 8 hours a day and 40 a week.
workers are accepting the cut with the
understanding that any wage award decided 45 Weeks Guaranteed to Garment Workers.
upon by an impartial arbitrator will be
A guarantee for the coming year of 45
retroactive. The New York State Board of weeks or 1,800 hours of work is provided in a
contract signed June 11 with a Milwaukee
Mediation arranged the settlement.
In Providence, R. I., 30 women employees manufacturer of cotton dresses. Effective
of a worsted mill began a sit-down strike July 1, minimum wages range from #13.30
in July. During the month other textile to #35.20 for a 40-hour week, with extra pay
strikes were reported under way in a silk for overtime. Some 500 plant employees
plant in Gloversville, N. Y.; in the entire are affected.
he most

WOMEN IN UNIONS
Equal Pay in Alaska Fish Canneries.

An 8-hour day with extra pay for over
time, equal pay for men and women doing
the same work, a 10-minute rest period each
day with a light lunch served by the com
pany, and a minimum wage of 42% cents
an hour are among the conditions of an
agreement signed July 7 with 14 fish-packing
companies in the Ketchikan area. The
union claims 800 members, with a total of
1,100 to 1,200 who are eligible to join.
The minimum-wage rate of 42% cents an
hour applies to feeding re-formers and all
other women in the can loft and warehouse.
A minimum wage of 47% cents is provided
for workers at the patching table, and
vacuum machine and topper, also largely
women. For other types of work, minimum
rates of 52% cents to 65 cents an hour are
provided. For each hour worked in excess
of 8 a day an extra 10 cents must be paid.
Night work is limited by requiring over
time pay for hours worked before 7 a. m.
and after 6 p. m. One day of rest a week is
provided during the canning season and
work on that day must be compensated for
at overtime rates. The contract expires
December 31, 1938.
Hosiery Workers Sign 3-Year Contract.

Abandoning the former policy of a uni
form wage agreement for the entire organ
ized full-fashioned hosiery industry, hosiery
workers have signed a 3-year contract with
more than 50 firms organized in the Full
Fashioned Hosiery Manufacturers of Amer
ica, providing no change in present wage
scales except as individual locals may nego
tiate them with individual plants. The
union agrees not to call strikes for 3 years,
while the manufacturers agree not to lock
out their employees during the same period.
In separate negotiations for wage increases
the unions may arbitrate if their requests are
refused, but they need not arbitrate if they
decline to accept wage cuts. This last
clause is the manufacturers’ concession in re
turn for guarantee against stoppage of work
luring the next 3 years.

The agreement is effective September 1
and covers about 30,000 skilled workers.
Vacation With Pay for Brooklyn Packers.

An agreement signed July 8 with a Brook
lyn food-packing concern provides one
week’s vacation with pay for workers with
1 year of consecutive service; the 8-hour day
and 40-hour week with time and a half for
overtime and for Saturday work, and double
time for Sundays and holidays; a guarantee
of at least 4 hours’ work a day if called to
work, on Monday through Friday; provi
sions for health and safety; no change at
present in wage scales for regular workers,
but provision for later wage revisions if
found necessary; preferential rights for
union members, and an election next spring
to determine if the workers want the closed
shop. The contract expires May 31, 1940.
Radio Artists Sign Contract.

Two-year contracts governing wages and
working hours for actors and singers em
ployed on sustaining radio programs in New
York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Fran
cisco were reported signed on July 12, at
Radio City, New York City, by officials of
two large broadcasting companies. The
contracts will be effective on ratification by
the union.
Minimum-pay rates range from $8 for a
15-minute broadcast on the West Coast to
$25 for soloists for a full hour’s broadcast in
New York or on a national hook-up. Staff
singers employed by the week are covered
by minimum rates ranging from $40 on the
Pacific Coast to $65 in New York.

Progress in Organization
Maryland Crab Pickers’ Union Chartered.

Following up their victory in the strike
of last April, the crab pickers of Crisfield,
Md., have formed a union, which claims
100 paid-up members and 300 signed up.
Practically all are Negro women. Twelve
sea-food plants employ union members and
eight plants have signed agreements with
the union. It is estimated that a total of

THE WOMAN WORKER

1,000 sea-food workers in the Chesapeake
area are eligible for membership.
The strike began spontaneously about
April 1, when wages for picking crabs were
reduced from 8 cents to S cents a pound.
Three hundred workers struck, closing 15
plants. After two union organizers and a
Federal conciliator had been driven from
the town by mobs of citizens, the strike was
ended with restoration of the wage cut and
recognition of the newly formed union as
sole bargaining agency.
Kansas City Garment Workers May Picket.

A prolonged court battle ended July 8,
when a Federal judge ruled that a labor
dispute existed between a union and a
Kansas City garment manufacturer, and
dissolved the company’s bill of complaint
against the union. In effect, this ruling
permits the employees to resume picketing
of the plant. When temporarily enjoined
from picketing by order of a Federal judge,
the union claimed that it was involved in a
labor dispute and therefore entitled to
protection under the Norris-La Guardia Anti
injunction Act. The company maintained
that no dispute existed.

Labor Relations Board Decisions
Texas Bag Workers Win Reinstatement.

Thirteen girls and women who lost their
jobs with a Texas bag company in 1937,
because of union activity, were ordered re
instated in a decision of the National Labor
Relations Board July 13. The company
was directed to reimburse these workers for
loss of wages since their discharge, and to
reimburse two other women, reinstated later,
for wages lost during a period in which they
were refused employment because of union
activity. The company was ordered to with
draw recognition from a company union and
to reimburse the workers for deductions from
their wages for dues of that union. The
Board announced that it would hold an
election to determine the organization that
should represent the employees.
The company employed about 250 work
ers in the summer of 1937 in making burlap

bags and bagging and repairing old bags.
Sample earnings of an employee who had
been 6 years with the company were between
#7.50 and #8 a week before a 25-percent cut
in the piece rate in the spring of 1937.
Sample earnings after the cut were #6.37
a week. Time workers were paid #1 for a
9-hour day.
Candy Workers Win New York Decision.
Aftermath of a strike last year against a

licorice company in New York State was a
decision of the National Labor Relations
Board on May 31, ordering the company to
bargain collectively with the employees’
union, to withdraw recognition from a com
pany union, and to nullify all individual
contracts entered into with workers.
The case arose in July 1937 when an
attempt to organize the workers was met
by company threats of closing down the
plant and other intimidation. Though the
company admitted on one occasion that the
union had a majority of the 140 employees,
it refused to bargain with it and instead
fostered a company union set-up. The
workers struck spontaneously for recognition
in August 1937 and picketed the plant for
several weeks under the surveillance of hired
guards. They returned only by signing con
tracts relinquishing, for three years the
right to strike or to demand a closed shop
or a signed agreement. The Board found
that the company in general had “pursued
a course of coercion, intimidation, and inter
ference clearly designed to discourage and
restrain its employees from affiliation with
an outside union” and therefore had violated
section 7 of the Wagner Act.
Board Finds in Favor of Textile Workers.
Fifty-one textile workers, half of them
women and girls, should be offered imme
diate reinstatement by a cotton-mill com
pany of New Orleans, which discharged
them between July 28 and October 6 of last

year for union activity. The Board issued
a decision on the case June 13 but later set
it aside and issued “proposed findings,” of
which this is one, after the company chal
lenged the decision on technical grounds.

’WOMEN IN UNIONS

The Board finds that the company should
bargain collectively with the employees’
union as the exclusive bargaining agent of
the production and maintenance workers,
should cease recognizing and supportings a _
company union, and cease discriminating
against employees for union activity, and for
testimony before the Board.
. r . ; .
The Board’s findings regarding the women
fired for union activity yield interesting side
lights on their wages, conditions of work, and
family life. One of the women worked with
her husband in the spinning room on the
night shift. She earned #10.25 a week and
he earned #9.75 at the time of their discharge
for union activity. Another woman and her
son both lost their jobs. She had been in the
employ of the company off and on for about
15 years and at the time of her discharge was

earning #8.78 a week for running drawing
frames in the card room at night. Her son
was earning between #11 and #12 a week.
Two women who lost their jobs in the
^weaving, department had earned #6.10 and
#9.75 a week on the night shift. Another,
on the day shift, earned #5. Earnings of
#6.10 to #8.50 a week were reported for 12
girls laid off in the spooling room. Those
laid off in the spinning room included a
sweeper on the night shift who earned #6.10
and five other women who earned #6.10 to
#10.40. Two women laid off in the warp
room had earned #7.07 a week, and two in
the card room were earning #8.78.
The Board found that few of the women
had had any earnings since their lay-off. It
proposes that the company reimburse them
for the time lost since their discharge.

National Health Conference
2. Increase of hospital facilities to meet needs of
interest to women workers in
the United States is the program pro people living under various social, economic, and geo
graphic conditions.
posed at the National Health Conference
3. Provision of medical care for the medical needy,
held in Washington July 18-20. Convened both for those doubly handicapped because penniless
at the request of President Roosevelt and and receiving public assistance on account of age,
sponsored by a special Government com disability, or dependence, and for those able to pay for
mittee (Interdepartmental Committee to food, shelter, clothing, but unable to procure necessary
medical care.
Coordinate Health and Welfare Activities)
4. Compulsory health insurance financed by some
under Josephine Roche as chairman, the system of taxation or by specific insurance contributions
conference was attended by 177 delegates from the potential beneficiaries by or a combination
representing the medical profession, State of these two methods.
5. Temporary disability insurance against loss of
and local governments, private welfare
wages during sickness.
agencies, and the public or consumers, in
The technical committee’s report urged
cluding members of farm and labor groups.
cooperation
of Federal, State, and local
To meet present health and medical
governments and of professional and con
deficiencies in the United States, the 10-year
program formulated by a technical commit sumer groups as the most efficient basis for
the suggested long-range program. The
tee of medical specialists in the Federal
costs would be borne partly by Federal
service, as presented at the conference, com
grants to States and partly by the local
prises five major recommendations:
governments.
The amounts expended
1. Expansion of public health services to eradicate would be on a gradually increasing scale over
tuberculosis, venereal diseases, and malaria; to control
pneumonia and cancer mortality; and to develop men a 10-year period, totaling #850,000,000 a
tal and industrial hygiene. Extension of the maternity year at the proposed peak.
and child-welfare program.
' '' '
■ ‘
The consensus of those attending the con
f special

THE WOMAN WORKER

ference was that the United States Congress
and many of the 44 State legislatures slated
to hold sessions during the coming year

would be asked to consider health measures
more or less similar to the proposed program
and advocated by large groups of citizens.

Women and the W. P. A.
marked serve, can, and dry surplus foods for needy
degree from recent action of the families and for school-lunch projects..
Housekeeping-aid projects employ another
Works Progress Administration. Purchase
of £10,000,000 worth of clothing from 30,000 women on W. P. A/ Women who are
manufacturers’ surplus stocks has already good homemakers but have no special skill
stimulated employment in this industry, are sent into the homes of needy families to
according to recent market news. Sidney help out in times of illness or other distress.
Nearly 1,700 women are helping to solve
Hillman, president of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America, who proposed the “servant problem” by training needy,
this purchase and assisted the W. P. A. in unemployed, unskilled women desiring to
planning it, has announced that 160,000 enter household service. They give their
employees in the clothing industry will be pupils a 2-month course of training, showing
benefited by the plan. Many of these em them the proper methods of cooking and
ployees, of course, are women. The clothing serving foods, the daily care of the house,
will be distributed to the needy through State care of children, washing, ironing, and
marketing. During the past school season
departments of public welfare.
Raise of the pay of southern W. P. A. about 8,000 women were employed on schoolworkers and plans for an additional 200,000 lunch projects.
W. P. A. jobs for southern farm workers in
Many thousands of women work at vari
slack seasons also will affect women to a ous white-collar projects. More than 15,000
considerable extent. More than one-fifth of are employed in libraries, cataloguing and
southern W. P. A. workers are women.
repairing books, taking traveling libraries
Wage raises averaging £5 a month for around the rural areas, and furnishing other
workers of various grades of skill in 13 services that the public institutions could not
southern States went into effect in July. afford to have done. Over 8,000 women
The lowest W. P. A. wage, that for unskilled contribute special talents to the Federally
workers in southern rural areas, was raised sponsored art, writing, theater, and music
to £26 a month from the former rate of £21. projects.
About 372,000 women are employed on
Women also participate in the medical,
W. P. A. projects. From the old days dental, and nursing projects that provide
when a relief job meant sewing and nothing care for the needy and take part in handi
but sewing, the W. P. A. has branched out craft projects by which old arts and crafts
to provide more and more types of work to are revived. Some 22,000 unemployed
give scope to various skills and talents of teachers have been given W. P. A. jobs,
unemployed women workers.
teaching illiterates to read and write, con
Well over half—211,770—are at work on ducting workers’ education classes, and
goods projects, such as sewing and canning. otherwise supplementing the regular publicThey make garments and supplies to be school program. Playground instructors
distributed to relief clients and to hospitals and other recreational workers to the number
and other public institutions. They pre of 14,000 have jobs on W. P. A. projects.

omen workers will benefit to a

THE WOMAN WORKER

Toward Minimum Fair Wages
Louisiana Enacts Law

Recent Minimum-Wage Orders

became the twenty-fifth State District of Columbia—Beauty Culture.
j to enact legislation fixing a floor to
A minimum wage of #18 for a week of
women’s wages when the minimum-wage 36 to 48 hours has been ordered for opera
bill was approved in July of this year.
tors in the beauty-culture industry, effec
The act creates a minimum-wage division tive September 26. It is said that about
within the department of labor and em 4,500 women will be affected. A minimum
powers it to establish such standards of of #14.50 for a week of 36 to 48 hours is
wages apd conditions of labor for women and ordered for maids and cleaners, and #17
girl workers, except those in domestic or for telephone operators, appointment-desk
farm labor, as shall be held “reasonable and clerks, cashiers, and clerical workers in the
not detrimental to health and morals.” industry. Operators working less than 36
Unfortunately the law does not apply in hours must be paid at least 50 cents an
municipalities of 10,000 inhabitants or less. hour, and the same rate applies to hours
This means that only eight cities will be over 48 a week. Maids working part time
affected by the law—Alexandria, Baton must be paid at least 35 cents an hour.
Rouge, Bogalusa, Lafayette, Lake Charles,
An apprentice who has completed 500
Monroe, Shreveport, and New Orleans.
hours apprenticeship, and for whose serv
The law requires employers to keep rec ices to the public charges are made, must
ords of the women and girls employed. It be paid at least #13 a week for 5 months
empowers the commissioner of labor to in and #15 a week for the next 4 months.
spect records, make investigations, hold After the ninth month she must be paid
public hearings, and determine the need for the full minimum wage. No shop may
fixing a minimum wage in any but the ex employ more than two apprentices.
cepted industries. It provides for a confer
ence composed of equal numbers of repre
Wage and Cost-of-Living Surveys
sentatives of employers and employees and
one or more disinterested representatives of Wages of Illinois Candy Workers.
the public, who will recommend an estimate
In a study of pay-roll records from 50
of the minimum wage adequate to meet the percent of the candy manufacturers in Illi
cost of living and maintain the worker in nois, the average weekly wages of women
health, and may also recommend standards and minors were found to be #12.77 and their
of conditions of labor necessary to protect average weekly hours 37.3. Well over twothe health and morals of women in the in fifths of the women and minors earned less
dustry.
than #12 in the week recorded, more than
The commissioner of labor may issue one-fifth earning less than #8. Hourly
special licenses to women or girls physically earnings ranged from 10 cents (1 worker)
defective or crippled by age or otherwise, to 72.5 cents or more (10 workers). Oneor to apprentices, authorizing their employ half earned less than 35.9 cents and onement at a wage less than the legal minimum. eighth earned less than 27.5 cents.
The act fixes penalties for discharging
The survey was conducted by the Divi
employees because they have testified rela sion of Women’s and Children’s Employ
tive to the act and for payment of a wage ment of the Illinois Department of Labor
less than the established minimum.
for the purpose of establishing minimumouisiana

THE WOMAN WORKER

wage rates in the industry. A total of 6,111
wage earners, of whom 3,834 were women
and minors, were covered.
Year’s records for 596 employees showed
that nearly 27 percent were paid less than
#500 and more than 85 percent were paid
less than #800.
New Jersey Women Need $1,147 a Year.

A New Jersey woman living alone needs
#663.46 a year to subsist and #1,147.82 to
live adequately. A woman living with a
family needs #588.32 to subsist and #1,001.81
to live adequately. These are the reported
findings of a survey supervised by the State
department of labor and conducted recently
by a committee of volunteer workers from
women’s civic organizations.
The adequate budget for a year for a
woman living alone contains the following
items:
Rent (including laundry privileges)_______ $166.92
Food..................
413.00
Clothing_____________________________
196.16
Clothing upkeep______________________
19.35
Personal care_________________________
36.78
Insurance and savings__________________
71.73
Medical care_________________________
42.24
Leisure-time activities__________________
104.54
Transportation, charity and gifts, candy,
cigarettes, incidentals________________
97.10
1,147.82

The woman living on a subsistence basis
is allowed less for every item but medical
care, and nothing for recreation, vacations,
education, reading matter, charity, gifts,
candy, cigarettes, or incidentals.

Other Activity in the States
The New Jersey wage order for the laun
dry industry, directory since September 6,
1937, was made mandatory as of July 11.
In New York a wage board has been
appointed for the candy industry. The
New York laundry order, directory since
March 14, was made mandatory August 22.
In Pennsylvania hearings have been held
on recommendations for the laundry indus
try. Employers object to the rates recom
mended, which are 30 cents an hour and
#10.80 for a week of 36 to 44 hours during

the first year, and 32 cents an hour and
#12.16 for a week of 38 to 44 hours in the
second year.

Effects of the Minimum Wage in
Rhode Island
The Rhode Island Department of Labor
has published the findings of its recent sur
veys of the wearing-apparel and laundry
and dry-cleaning industries. These show a
marked increase in the wages of women after
the minimum-wage orders, and no apparent
replacement of women by men.
Wearing apparel.—The directory order for
the wearing-apparel industry, effective Octo
ber 18, 1937, though carrying no penalty for
violation, was effective in reducing by more
than one-half the number of women and
girls receiving less than 35 cents an hour—
the minimum rate set. In 54 identical
firms almost three-fifths of the women and
minors received less than 35 cents an hour in
the fall of 1936, before the order, as com
pared with only one-fourth receiving less
than this amount in the fall of 1937 after
the order.
Earnings above the minimum also were
increased. In 1937, as compared with 1936,
a larger proportion were found in each wage
group above 35 cents.
Average hourly earnings were 33.3 cents
before the order and 38.1 cents after the
order. Average weekly earnings were #12.90
in 1936 and #13.32 in 1937, though in 1937
women worked a shorter week than in 1936.
Moreover, the proportion of men receiving
less than 35 cents an hour decreased from 19
percent in 1936 to 8 percent in 1937. The
number of workers in the 54 firms was
reduced in 1937, owing to business condi
tions, but a somewhat larger proportion of
the men than of the women lost their jobs.
Because 27 percent of the women still
were receiving less than 35 cents an hour in
1937, the department of labor made the
wage order mandatory in April 1938.
Laundry and dry-cleaning industries.—The
second week after the directory order for
the laundry and dry-cleaning industries
went into effect May^2, 1938, the State

MINIMUM WAGE
department of labor inspected all such
establishments. They totaled 155, employ
ing 1,887 women and minors protected by
the 30-cent minimum wage ordered for the
industry. Preliminary analysis shows that
only 45 employees, or 2 percent of the total,
were found to be receiving less than 30
cents an hour, as contrasted with 40 percent
in January 1938, before the order. The pro
portion women comprised of all employees
was the same at both surveys.

Public Contracts Rates for Glass and
Luggage Industries
Of interest to women are the minimumwage rates ordered by the Secretary of Labor
for workers employed on Government con
tracts in the flint-glass and the luggage and
saddlery industries.
For flint glass the minimum wage, which
became effective July 12, is 42% cents an

hour or #17 a week of 40 hours, arrived at
on either a time or a piece basis. No geo
graphic differentials are recognized. These
rates were determined to be the prevailing
minima after a study of the industry by the
Public Contracts Board of the United States
Department of Labor. The union agree
ment for the industry calls for a basic mini
mum rate of 38 cents for women and 45 cents
for men, but the Board found actual earnings
higher than these figures.
In luggage and saddlery, including the
making of mail satchels or pouches, minimum-wage rates of 37.5 or 40 cents an hour
and #15 or #16 for a 40-hour week became
effective July 27, The lower rates are for
the midwest and southern States and the
District of Columbia, and the higher rates
are for the northeastern and far western
States.

“What’s in a Dress” in Sound
movie “What’s in a industry. The story is told with laughs,
Dress,” released by the Women’s tears, suspense, a few interesting statistics,
Bureau in a silent version last December,and
is now, in the sound version, with music
now available in sound. Organizations and lively running comment. The silent
that have access to a sound projector may version is still available for groups not
borrow the film free of charge, paying small equipped with sound projectors.
shipment charges for the 35-mm size but at
The Women’s Bureau has also revised
no expense at all for the 16-mm size.
and brought up to date the silent two-reel
Those who have seen the silent film will movie “Within the Gates,” which traces the
find that the sound version is shorter and history of dad’s shirt from the sunny cotton
snappier. It has been reduced to one reel fields to the sales counter where mother
from one and one-half reels in the silent buys it. A third Women’s Bureau movie,
version. It tells the story of the New which continues popular, is “Behind the
York dress industry—how unions, employer Scenes in the Machine Age,” which comes
groups, and organized consumers have in three reels, silent version only. All
together done away with sweatshop condi movies are in both 35-mm and 16-mm
tions, home work, and cut-rate competition width. In ordering a film, borrowers should
in a large part of the street-and-better-dress specify which size they are equipped to use.
he popular

THE WOMAN WORKER

Average Week’s Earnings, Average Hours Worked, Average Hourly Earnings of Men and
Women Wage Earners in Woman-Employing Industries in 12 Large Industrial States
March 1938
[From Reports by Employers.

For discussion, see p. 13.]

Preliminary Figures.

Women reported

Industry
Number

Percent
of all
employees
reported

102,183
25,070
2, 300
39,636
21,660
3,901
12,959
1,116
14,698
12,965
3, 844
3,670
113,158
52,564
21,511
11,673
19,380
4,295
51,062
14, 795
3,057
11, 333
15,449
6,428

Average week’s
earnings

Average hours
worked 3

Men

Women

45.3
36.5
54.2
63.4
57.4
70.5
75.6
54.1
53.8
41.0
29.1
20.5
70.7
65.2
49.4
81.8
84.8
86.5
76.0
86.4
32.8
92.4
73.3
86.4

320. 24
15.39
23.10
26.22
27.78
24.27
21.43
21.51
18.47
20.49
19.62
23.01
29.25
25. 33
26.78
23.71
20. 73
24.65
35.52
29.38
45.91
25.43
36.03
26.78

313.21
11.24
15.20
14.52
15.66
14.47
12.16
10.60
12.59
12.80
13.09
17.04
15.42
13.18
15.26
11.70
11.67
13.24
17.41
14.08
26.68
12.50
20. 23
15.16

34.3
33.5
40.6
38.1
38.4
37.5
37.3
37.6
36.7
31.4
29.1
35.8
33.5
32.8
31.4
36.6
36.7
37.3
34.4
37.2
31.4
43.0
31.1
39.6

31.0
29.8
37.3
33.0
34.9
33.5
30.2
30.2
33.6
26.1
25.6
32.9
31.0
30.1
29.4
29.2
32.1
33.9
31.5
33.3
28.4
35.5
28.6
33.6

Cents
59.1
45.7
57.3
69.4
73.2
63.2
57.8
57.2
50.9
65.6
67.3
65.3
90.0
79.6
88.5
63.7
59.8
71.2
106.5
75.3
145.3
60.8
112.0
67.8

Cents
42.6
37.6
41.1
44.2
45.7
42.6
39.9
35.1
37.9
49.7
45.1
44.9
49.6
44.2
53.1
39.9
37.4
39.8
56.5
42.2
94.0
35.5
69.5
43.6

15,196
5,982
9,701
21,225
12,971

58.5
14.4
22.8
46.4
70.9

24.79
29.40
29.04
22.52
20.14

13.66
19.19
15.72
14.51
13.18

40.8
41.1
43.9
35.7
37.9

34.4
36.6
36.9
35.9
32.8

60.9
71.9
66.5
62.8
52.9

39.7
52.0
41.7
40.8
40.3

14, 852
13,196
1,656
4,860
6,670
34,682
26, 289
8, 393

16.6
23.0
5.2
10.5
61.6
23.6
20.5
45.0

36.12
34.07
38.60
25.44
23.74
26.02
26.39
26.21

17.82
17.15
22.83
14.82
13.50
15.55
16.28
12.83

37.5
38.2
36.0
39.2
39.2
32.3
32.3
38.8

34.6
34.5
34.2
33.1
34.0
28.4
29.1
29.9

94.8
89.6
104.4
64.9
60.8
77.8
78.6
68.0

51.5
49.7
65.9
45.0
39.8
51.4
52.6
43.1

5,635
6,627
3,415
1,946
2,755
13,073
3, 536
4,801
4,736
2,699
4,656
2,917
1, 739
7,182
4,706
2,476

4.1
25.2
19.5
28.5
44.1
23.2
14.2
50.6
23.2
6.4
33.5
45.5
23.3
18.4
16.3
24.1

24.97
21.06
24.79
25.90
25.25
23.73
24.84
24.09
22.63
20.64
27.07
26. 30
28.83
24.20
23.60
25.44

17. 88
12.75
14.78
16.17
15.12
15.10
14.52
15.94
14.45
14.59
16.11
15.41
18.65
14.03
13.48
14.31

33.9
30.9
36.7
39.4
35.8
27.7
24.0
34.6
34.1
35.4
38.2
39.9
35.7
33.5
32.3
37.2

30.8
27.7
31.9
32.8
33.3
28.8
20.9
33.2
32.3
32.4
36.3
37.6
34.5
33.1
30.9
32.8

73.6
69.4
68.4
63.9
70.6
87.9
104.4
69.6
66.5
58.2
71.5
65.7
80.8
72.3
73.2
68.5

54.4
47.8
47.2
48.0
44.9
53.5
69.5
48.0
45.2
45.3
44.3
40.8
54.0
43.8
43.7
43.4

21, 234
2, 828

66.0
44.0

27.57
24. 71

13.57
13.92

45.4
42.8

38.4
36.2

59.9
58.4

35.1
39.0

Men

Women

MANUFACTURING
Textile Industries........................ ....................................
Cotton goods____________________________________
Cotton small wares______________________________
Knit goods______________________________________
Hosiery 3______________________________________
Outerwear 3-------------- ------------------------ -------------Underwear 3___________________________________
Cloth 3................................................................................
Silk and rayon-------------------- --------------------------------Woolen and worsted goods_________ ______________
Carpets, rugs, wool......... ................... .............. .................
Dyeing, finishing...................... ....................... ............ ......
Clothing Industries 3----------------------------------- -------Men’s clothing___________________________ _______
Suits, overcoats, etc.3__________ ______________
Cotton and work clothing 3_____________________
Shirts, collars__________________________ _____
Men’s furnishings_______________________ _______ _
Women’s clothing............................................ .................
Undergarments 3------- --------------------------------------Coats, suits 3__________________________________
Dresses, cotton 3______________________________
Dresses, other 3.................... ........................................ ..
Corsets, etc............ ....................... ..................................
Food Industries:
Confectionery . ..................................... -----------------------Meat packing, etc............. .......... —.............................
Baking....................................................................................
Leather Industries—Boots and shoes....... ...................
Tobacco Industries—Cigars, cigarettes.........................
Parer and Printing:
Printing, publishing............ ...............................................
Book and job..____ __________________ ________
Newspaper, periodical.---- -------------- -----------------Paper and pulp............................................................. —
Paper boxes.................. ............................. ....................... Electrical Industries------------------------------------------Electrical machinery, supplies_________ __________
Radio, phonographs............................ -..................... ......
Metal Industries:
Foundries, machine shops................................................
Hardware........................ ................... ......................... ......
Stamped and enameled ware_____________________
Tin cans_______________________ _____ ___________
Clocks, watches..................... ...................................... ..
Rubber Goods__ _______ _________________ ________
Auto tires_______________________________________
Rubber boots, shoes________ _____ __________ _____
Rubber goods, other____ __________________ _____ _
Wood Industries—Furniture__________ ___________
Chemical Industries............................... ...........................
Drug preparations______ __________________ ______
Rayon____________ ____________ _____ ___________
Glass and Pottery..............................................................
Glass................ .................................. .................................. ..
Pottery.......... .......... ........................................... -...............

NONMANUFACTURING
Laundries________________________ _____ ___ _______ _
Dyeing and cleaning..................................... .........................

1 Computed from data covering a smaller number of women than the total reported.

Average hourly
earnings 3

3 Averages unweighted.

Men

Women

! Total exceeds details.

THE WOMAN WORKER

Women’s Wages and Hours in March 1938
wage data indicate that large that employ, according to the census of
numbers of women will benefit even manufactures, three-fourths of all women
tually by the Federal wage-hour law. The
in manufacturing. Women comprise prac
earnings of women operatives averaged less tically half or more of the working force in
than 40 cents an hour in 10 manufacturing at least 16 of these industries, and over a
industries in a pay period about the middle third of the workers in at least 23 of them.
of March 1938, according to Women’s The reports cover 12 leading manufacturing
Bureau figures shown in the accompanying States, employing about three-fourths of all
table. These findings result from an anal women in manufacturing—California, Con
ysis by the Women’s Bureau of pay-roll necticut, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts,
records for over 384,000 women, mailed to Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York,
the Bureau of Labor Statistics by employers North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
engaged in 43 large woman-employing man
The week’s earnings given are averages
ufacturing industries in 12 important indus for the women who worked during the
trial States. Also included were records of March pay period covered. Of course,
more than 24,000 women in two nonmanu records for individual women would show a
facturing industries.
considerable variation around this average,
Since this information was secured by especially as some workers who did not
voluntary cooperation, it is likely that, work full time are included. The data are
with pay rolls in such form that the data weighted for the importance the 12 report
could be furnished readily, these employers ing States have in the entire industry.
represent the better organized and for the
Average hourly earnings are compiled
most part the larger firms. Hence the from reports of a smaller number of estab
earnings reported run somewhat higher lishments, so cannot be correlated with
than those secured in an intensive cross- week’s earnings. However, reports as to
section study of all types of firms in an hours worked were received for 85 percent
industry.
of all the women for whom pay-roll data
Reports were requested for industries were furnished.
ecent

Recent Women’s Bureau Publications1
Printed Bulletins

Unattached Women on Relief in Chicago, 1937.
Bui. 158. 1938. Price, 15 cents. 84 pages.
State Labor Laws for Women, March 31, 1938.
Part II—Analysis of Hour Laws for Women
Workers. Bui. 156-11. 1938. Price, 10 cents.
45 pages.
The Legal Status of Women in the United States
of America, January 1, 1938. Latest reports is
sued are District of Columbia (bul. 157-8), Indiana
(bul. 157-13), Kentucky (bul. 157-16), Louisiana
(bul. 157-17), Maryland (bul. 157-19), Massachu

setts (bul. 157-20), Michigan (bul. 157-21), Missis
sippi (bul. 157-23), Montana (bul. 157-25), Nebraska
(bul. 157-26), New Hampshire (bul. 157-28), Ohio
(bul. 157-34), Rhode Island (bul. 157-38), Texas
(bul. 157-42), Virginia (bul. 157-45), Washington
(bul. 157-46), and Wisconsin (bul. 157-48). 1938.
Price, 5 cents each.
Women in Kentucky Industries, 1937. Bul. 162.
1938. Price, 10 cents. 38 pages.
1 Bulletins may be ordered from the Superintendent of Documents,
Washington, D. C., at prices listed. A discount of 25 percent on
orders of 100 or more copies is allowed. Single copies of the bulle
tins or several copies for special educational purposes may be se
cured through the Women’s Bureau without charge as long as the
free supply lasts.
■ . .

THE WOMAN WORKER

News Notes
48-Hour-Week Law in Louisiana
Louisiana became on July 6 the fifth
southern State to limit the hours of work
of women to 48 or less a week. Its new
hour law is a general one, affecting all fe
males in any manufacturing, mechanical, or
mercantile establishment, laundry, hotel or
restaurant, or telegraph or telephone estab
lishment or office, or employed by any
express or transportation company, in the
State of Louisiana, except in centers of
6,000 population or less. The law does not
apply to women engaged in the preparing,
processing, packing, or canning of perishable
goods, fish, or sea foods, nor in agriculture,
fishing, or domestic service.
Provision is made also for a maximum 8hour day and a limit of 6 working days in
a week. Night work is prohibited between
6 p. m. and 7 a. m. for girls under 18 years.
Women and girls must have at least threequarters of an hour off in any workday of
6 hours or more, except that 6% hours of
continuous labor is permitted when the day
ends not later than 1:30 p. m. Enforcement
is to be in the hands of the commissioner of
labor, who may appoint three inspectors,
two of them women, to carry out the pro
visions of the act.

Frieda Miller Appointed Industrial
Commissioner
Frieda S. Miller, an outstanding cham
pion of women in industry, has been ap
pointed to the high post of New York
State industrial commissioner to succeed
Elmer F. Andrews, who has left to become
Administrator of the new Wage and Hour
Division of the United States Department
of Labor. Miss Miller is the second woman
to head the New York State Department of
Labor, following in the footsteps of Secre
tary of Labor Frances Perkins. As director
of the Division of Women in Industry and

Minimum Wage of the department since
1929, Miss Miller has had the important job
of enforcing the minimum-wage and indus
trial home-work laws of the State as well as
other labor legislation affecting women.

No Home Work on Federal Contracts
Industrial home work on Government
contracts of #10,000 or more is prohibited
by the Walsh-Healey Act. This point was
cleared up by the Administrator of the
Division of Public Contracts of the De
partment of Labor at the request of the
Director of the Women’s Bureau, who had
received inquiries as to the status of home
workers under the act. Administrative
regulation No. 101 issued under the act
requires that a manufacturer on Federal
contracts “produce on the premises the
materials, supplies, articles, or equipment
required under the contract and of the
general character described by the speci
fications.” This regulation is construed as
clearly prohibiting the employment of any
workers in their homes.

Home Work on Flowers Permitted
The New York order restricting industrial
home work in the artificial flower and
feather industry, which went into effect
May 2, was suspended in July by the State
industrial commissioner pending its review
by the board of standards and appeals.
The suspension followed a petition for re
view filed by 28 manufacturers. (See
March Woman Worker for details of the
order and conditions in the industry.)

Michigan Insurance Payments Begin
With the beginning of August, the first
benefit checks under the Unemployment
Compensation Insurance Law of Michigan
were mailed to the unemployed women
workers of the State who had registered
under the act. The Michigan law provided

NEWS NOTES
for payments after June 30. It took just
a month to complete the necessary work
leading to the mailing of the checks.

Shirt Manufacturers Pledged to End
Unfair Practice
A drive to end the practice of making
workers pay the cost of factory buildings
will be launched in the near future by the
National Work Shirt Manufacturers Asso
ciation, with headquarters in New York,
according to a letter sent to its members
July 30. Part of the statement follows:
“In many towns in which factory buildings
have been put up in recent years, a certain
percentage of the workers’ pay is regularly
deducted to pay the interest on the bond
issue with which the building operation was
financed, or to amortize the debt. This
reprehensible gouging of the workers is as
doubtful legally as it is ethically. As a rule
the employee is not told when he or she is
engaged that a portion of the earnings is to
be withheld.
“It is safe to say that in three States
alone—Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missis
sippi—there are at least a score of garment
and hosiery and silk mills that have been
financed in this fashion. Tribute on the
workers in these plants is still being levied.
There is not a shadow of legal or ethical
justification for the practice. * * * It
ought to be made as extinct as the dodo, and
we will leave no stone unturned to make
it so.”
The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of
1938 is welcomed by the association as a
weapon against undercutting competition in
the work-shirt industry. The association
made a survey which showed widespread un
employment, reduced wages, and numerous
bankruptcies. These conditions were at
tributed in large part to the collapse of
cotton-goods prices, but also to continual
wage- and price-cutting of unfair manufac
turers.

Injuries in the Needle Trades
Compensation was awarded in 1937 to
1,157 women injured in the clothing indus
tries in New York State, according to the

Industrial Bulletin, published by the New
York State Department of Labor. Of the
injured women, 173 suffered some perma
nent disability. The average compensation
paid to women was $510.45 a week; the aver
age paid men, #15.94. Men’s greater com
pensation was due to higher wages as well as
to more serious injuries. Over half of all in
jured women were working for wages of less
than #15.50 a week, while about half the
men earned #25.50 or more.

Women Replacing Men in Japan
Labor shortage, caused by the war in
China, has resulted in the employment of
women in fields formerly monopolized by
men, according to Mrs. Setsu Tanino, writ
ing in the May issue of Japanese Women.
She cites statistics showing that the propor
tion of women in mechanical industry in
Tokyo Prefecture increased slightly but
steadily each month from June through
December 1937.
The tendency for women to enter fields
other than textiles has been noted for some
time, however, Mrs. Tanino shows. There
was a distinct increase from 1926 to 1935 in
the proportion of women in the mechanical,
chemical, and food and drink industries in
Japan, together with a slight decrease in
the proportion of women in textiles. Yet
textiles still employ more than three-fourths
of the women workers in Japan.
At the end of 1937, women factory workers
in Japan totaled more than 1,290,000, ac
counting for 40 percent of all factory
workers, Mrs. Tanino reports from a census
made by the Bureau of Social Affairs.
Two in three Japanese women factory
workers are under 30 years of age, and
more than two in five are under 20, accord
ing to Mrs. Tanino. Young girls, recruited
in the rural districts, usually work in the
factories for 5 years or less and leave to get
married when about 20 years old. During
their period of factory work the great ma
jority are maintained in dormitories and
their wages are sent directly to their
parents. Women’s wages in factories are
about one-third of men’s.

/V&MAV. Y
16

THE WOMAN WORKER

• ■'

BW UNIVERSITY

Reviews of Recent Studies
The Status of the June 1936 Minnesota
Public High School Graduates One
Year After Graduation, June 1937.

State of Minnesota, Department of
Education, Statistical Division. De
cember 1937.
Relatively fewer girl than boy graduates
of the Minnesota public high schools had
employment in June 1937, 1 year after
graduation. More girls than boys were con
tinuing their studies, and more girls than
boys were out of school and unemployed.
These are the findings of a survey of the
status of nearly 20,000 boys and girls a year
after graduation from high school in June
1936.
A percent distribution of the graduates
shows the following:
Boys

Girls

Total................................................... 100

100

Employed__________________________
Unemployed____ ____ ..____ _________
Continuing education________________
All other (including unknown)_________

59
5
29
7

45
9
36
10

Of the girls who were employed, 32 per
cent were in clerical or sales work, TJ percent
in domestic and personal service, and 19
percent were working at home.
The Machine and the Worker—A Study
of Machine-Feeding Processes. By

S. Wyatt and J. N. Langdon. Report
No. 2 of the Industrial Health Research
Board. H. M. Stationery Office. 1938.
Adjusting the speed of a machine to the
capacity of the individual worker and to the
changing capacity of the worker throughout
the day is suggested in this study, issued by
the Industrial Health Research Board of
Great Britain. Speed should not be so fast
that it will fatigue the worker nor so slow
that it will bore her.
The study attempts to determine the opti
mum speed of machines that are fed in

semiautomatic ways by women operators.
The operations studied were simple, consist
ing of placing the objects to be processed in
devices that automatically carried them to
the working point of the machines. Experi
ments were made to decide which of a
variety of automatic feeds was most efficient.
Scholastic, Economic, and Social Back
grounds of Unemployed Youth. By

Walter F. Dearborn and John W. M.
Rothnig. Harvard Bulletins in Educa
tion, No. 20. Harvard University
Press. 1938.
A questionnaire study of 1,360 young
persons living in New England in November
1935 showed that too many girls had tried
to prepare themselves for commercial jobs
in relation to the number of such jobs
available, and that more boys than girls
had been employed, either full or part time,
in the past year. The employment status
of the two groups was as follows (percent
distribution):
Boys

Girls

Total........................ . ............... 100.0

100.0

Employed all past year___________ 21.4
Unemployed all past year_________ 13.1
At home, not desiring employment...____
Attending school or college________ 29.5
Employed more than half time in
past year_____________________ 12.0
Employed less than half time in past
year................................................... 24.0

15.3
21.1
5.1
26.4

9.7
22.4

Half of the unemployed girls considered
themselves trained in commercial pursuits,
as did 43 percent of those employed more
than half time and 53 percent of those em
ployed less than half time. Yet nearly
half of each of these groups desired fur
ther training along commercial lines.
The report concludes: “It appears that
training in the commercial (including sales)
fields is no guarantee that employment will
be obtained,” and “the need for guidance is
apparent.”
U. S. GOVERNMENT PUNTING OFFICE 11131

Full text of The Woman Worker : September 1938, Vol. XVIII, No. 5

FRASER