LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, Washington, December 22, 1947. SIR: I have the honor to present a report on the earnings of women factory workers, a subject of widespread interest, both current and continuing. This report is a compilation and interpretation of the most comprehensive data that ever have been available at a single period of time to show certain important details as to the earnings of women employed on manufacturing processes in selected industries. The basic material used here was secured from Bureau of Labor Statistics Industry Wage Structure Bulletins and from wage tabulations for individual localities. Women constitute from 40 to over 75 percent of the work force in almost every industry included here. Taken together these industries employ over a sixth of all women manufacturing production workers. The statistical tables on women's earnings used as a basis for this analysis were prepared by Helen H. Hassell under the direction of Isadore Spring, Chief of the Bureau's Statistical Section, and the interpretation was made and the report written by Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon, Chief of the Bureau's Economic Studies Section. Respectfully submitted. Industry Variations in Women's Earnings Among Chief Geographical 4 Industry Variations in Women's Earnings Among Individual Localities.. Minimum Entrance Rates and Minimum Job Rates_ II IN TED STATES OF AMERICA EARNINGS OF WOMEN IN SELECTED MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, 1946 FOREWORD The amount of money that can be earned to meet the expenses of daily living is a first consideration with the worker. Hence repeated requests come to the Women's Bureau for information on women's wages, both as to their earnings in general and also as to the amounts they receive in particular industries and localities. This type of information has special significance, for example, to minimum-wage administrators, to women in unions and union wage negotiators, to women's organizations furthering programs relating to women's wages, and to others. Furthermore, a knowledge of such earnings is of primary importance in the work the Women's Bureau is legally directed to perform "to formulate standards and policies for the welfare of wage-earning women." Many of the persons asking for information on women's wages do not have a general understanding of the marked extent to which the contents of the worker's pay envelope varies, for example, by industry, occupation, locality, and period of time-often even from week to week. Moreover, these are only the more obvious factors that influence wages; the over-all volume of economic activity and the relative importance of different types of activity determine to a considerable extent the levels and the general patterns of wages. CHARACTER AND SOURCE OF DATA The data on women's earnings shown in this report afford a good general picture of what women factory workers in certain industries were receiving within the 2- to 10-month period immediately following the war. They give information on the variations in women's earnings by industry, skill of occupation, and section of the country in which they work. Earnings in union and nonunion plants are also discussed. This is the first time available wage data by sex have been of such scope, including as they do detailed occupational and other breakdowns, covering a considerable number of important industries and a wide geographical area, and confined, furthermore, to a brief span of time. The Women's Bureau is fortunate in having access to this 772324°-48 1 material, which was prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from wage data collected directly by representatives in its various regional offices from the records of individual companies.1 Naturally, those who need to use wage data want them to refer to a very recent period. It would be immensely helpful to all agencies requiring them to have women's earnings reported for a large number of industries and occupations over a wide geographical area and at frequent intervals, say every 6 months, or even annually. To achieve this would require a very considerable statistical staff in continuous operation a much larger staff than any government agency ever has had or is likely to have in the near future for this special purpose.2 Taken together, the industries included in this report employ over a sixth of all women production workers. The industries reported here are those for which data on postwar earnings were available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in preliminary form in February 1947 and in which the employment of women is important.3 The number of women plant workers in these industries, as estimated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, totals 543,600. For the most part, the earnings shown in this study are those reported for these women in Bureau of Labor Statistics Industry Wage Structure Bulletins. These were supplemented, for the discussion of earnings differences among individual localities (pp. 6-7), by information secured from Bureau of Labor Statistics reports on earnings tabulated by individual locality. These locality tabulations included 215,000 women in 29 States of chief industrial importance. Table 1 shows for each industry the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates both of the total number of women plant workers and of the proportion the women constituted of the industry's plant force. Women constituted more than 40 percent of the estimated plant work force in almost every industry reported here, most of which are long-time employers of many women. In 8 of the 12 industry groups shown on table 1, from one-half to more than three-fourths of the work force were women. 1 Only establishments with eight or more employees are included. The Wage Analysis Branch of the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows these wage data separately for various industries in its mimeographed industry Wage Studies Bulletins, Series 2-Wage Structure, Reports for individual industries. The Women's Bureau has concentrated the wage studies of its small field and research staffs on: (1) conditions in some particular industry which employs many women, or pays them low wages, or presents special wage problems for them; and (2) certain special problems arising in connection with women's wages. See, for example, current Women's Bureau report on Women Workers in Power Laundries and releases on equal-pay legislation. Earlier reports also give analyses that still are useful in relation to particular problems connected with women's wages, for example Bulletin 196, "Equal Pay" for Women in War Industries, and Bulletins 166 and 191 showing minimum-wage laws and orders and their influence on women's wages. * These industries are limited to those for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics obtained pay-roll data representing the months October 1945-June 1946. Table 1.-Number of Women Plant Workers in Selected Manufacturing Industries 1 As reported in Bureau of Labor Statistics Industry Wage Structure Bulletins. 2 Excludes house slippers and rubber footwear. 3 Total exceeds details as details not shown for a small number of women in tobacco plants other than those making cigars and cigarettes. The earnings reported were received in the early postwar periodlargely in early 1946, a few in late 1945, as indicated in table 1. They consist of straight-time average hourly earnings, including earnings by piece work and under incentive systems, but excluding premium overtime and special bonuses such as Christmas and profit-sharing payments. General wage raises given after these reports were secured are not shown here. INDUSTRY VARIATIONS IN WOMEN'S EARNINGS A brief over-all summary serves to show the general relationships of these industries to one another in respect to levels of women's wages. Among the industries and industry groups analyzed (see table 2), average hourly earnings for women plant workers were highest in woolen and worsted mills-86 cents an hour. Earnings in these plants averaged 85 cents or more for over 40 percent of the women and less than 65 cents for only a very small proportion. Nearly half of the women had averages of 75 to 90 cents an hour, and a small proportion (nearly 2 percent), representing the highest skills, averaged $1.40 an hour or more (as is shown in fuller data not published here). At the other end of the scale were the seamless hosiery plants and the plants making paper containers. Averages for the women plant workers reported in these industries were 58 to 65 cents an hour. In these industries few women received average pay as high as 85 cents an hour; well over half had averages below 65 cents an hour; and the more complete data show that some of the women had averages |