Footwear Manufacturing:
Earnings, September 19471

Straight-time hourly earnings for vamp and whole shoe machine cutters in plants making women's shoes by the cement process ranged, among 6 New England areas, from an average of $1.36 in Auburn-Lewiston, Maine, to $1.63 in Boston in September 1947 (see accompanying table). Comparable workers in Los Angeles averaged $1.87 an hour and those in New York City and St. Louis, most of whom were employed in plants making the same type of shoes, had average earnings of $1.81 and $1.61, respectively. Machine cutters in plants specializing in men's Goodyear welt shoes in Brockton and Worcester, Mass., had respective averages of $1.61 and $1.55. In Milwaukee plants making various types of shoes they averaged $1.56, in Missouri (except St. Louis) $1.22, and in Pennsylvania, $1.06. In all except two cities, this occupation employed the greatest number of men among all those studied; hand cutters predominated in New York City, where they earned $2.26, on the average, and in St. Louis, where they received $1.54. Cutters of both types were generally paid on an incentive basis in all areas studied.

Fancy stitchers, a leading women's occupation, averaged $2.60 an hour in New York City and $1.68 in Los Angeles. Among the women's cement process plants in New England the area averages were grouped between $1.10 and $1.30, the latter in Boston. Missouri (except St. Louis) and Pennsylvania, with identical averages of 84 cents an hour, had the lowest earnings among all areas studied. These workers also were usually paid under piece rate or other incentive systems.

1 Prepared in the Bureau's Wage Analysis Division. Establishments in the 13 selected areas included those primarily engaged in the manufacture of footwear (other than house slippers or rubber footwear), and employing 8 or more workers. The sample included 211 establishments.

The average hourly earnings include incentive payments but exclude premium paid for overtime and night work.

The inter-area wage relationships just described for these two jobs were generally found to exist in most of the other occupations.2 Workers in New York City usually showed the highest or next to the highest average earnings. Those in Los Angeles and Boston generally had higher earnings than comparable workers in other cities, except New York, whereas those in the wider, State areas of Missouri (except St. Louis) and Pennsylvania were usually below all others in the wage ladder.

Supplementary Wage Practices

A regular workweek of 40 hours was in effect in all establishments in 8 of 13 areas. Of the 211 establishments studied, only 15 had a workweek of more than 40 hours for men and 14 for women; none had a regular workweek of less than 40 hours. Most of the establishments with the longer workweek were located in the Milwaukee and Pennsylvania areas.

All but 15 of the total number of establishments granted a paid vacation to their plant workers of 1 week after 1 year of service. Of this group, 72 increased the vacation period to 2 weeks after 5 years of service. Most of the 72 plants were located in Brockton, New York City, Missouri (except St. Louis), and St. Louis; all establishments studied in Brockton had this feature.

Among the establishments studied, 5 out of every 7 paid their plant workers for 1 or more holidays not worked. Brockton and Auburn-Lewiston were the only areas in which none of the establishments studied had a paid holiday plan. In all the other areas at least half of the plants had such plans. Payment for 6 holidays was the predomi

* The figures presented for 6 of the 7 New England areas cover the manufacture of one type of shoe only. However, in only 1 of these 6 areas was the portion of the industry not studied of appreciable size; in the other 5 it is doubtful that the inclusion of the relatively smaller number of workers would have seriously affected the inter-area relationships, although they might have changed the individual averages somewhat.

1

nant practice in the New York, Boston, Haverhill, and Lynn areas; and for 3 holidays, in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Missouri, and St. Louis.

Industrial Chemical Industry:
Earnings in January 19483

Skilled maintenance workers generally received the highest straight-time hourly earnings in January 1948, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics study of key jobs in industrial chemical establishments. Hourly earnings of maintenance electricians and pipe fitters in the 11 centers studied ranged from $1.85 and $1.82, respectively (in Charleston, W. Va.), to $1.40 and $1.38 (in Baltimore). In a majority of the cities, the earnings of these workers exceeded $1.60 an hour. In 5 cities, class A chemical operators also averaged $1.60 or more an hour, although in Baltimore, New York, and Cincinnati, the average was $1.40 or less. In most cities, average earnings of class B chemical operators ranged from 6 to 13 percent

• Prepared by Donald L. Helm of the Bureau's Division of Wage Analysis. Field work for the study was under the direction of the Bureau's regional wage analysts. Greater detail on wages and wage practices for each area presented

72

76

(3)

.84 .82

.78

below the amounts paid to class A operators.* Although earnings of 95 cents and $1 were reported for janitors in New York City and Baltimore, in 4 cities such workers averaged from $1.30 to $1.33 an hour.

The industry employs relatively few women plant workers. In 3 of the 6 cities for which data were available, women laboratory assistants averaged about $1 an hour-a third less than the amount earned by such workers in San Francisco.

Wage levels in general were highest in Charleston, W. Va., Detroit, and Buffalo (in which cities some of the largest plants are located) and in the historically high-wage Pacific region. Reflecting the trend of general wage increases in American industry, earnings of selected chemical occupations in the cities studied averaged between a fourth and a fifth more in January 1948 than in January 1946, when a similar study was made. The majority of the increases fell within a range of 15 to 30

4 In Los Angeles, class B chemical operators averaged 11 cents more an hour than class A operators. This may be attributed to variation in products manufactured in plants in this area. Some establishments employed only class B chemical operators and did not require the services of class A operators; in other plants a reverse situation obtained. In plants in the area in which both classes of workers were employed, class A operators received the higher

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percent. Percents of increase tended to be proportionately less marked for workers on skilled operations than for those in the less-skilled categories. Although industrial chemical plants differ widely in size of establishment and type of product, they typically employ large numbers of maintenance workers. These comprise about a tenth of the labor force in plants employing fewer than 50 workers and about a fourth in establishments with more than 500 workers. These relatively large proportions can be ascribed to the high ratio of equipment to number of workers in many of the industry's operations which involve physical and/or chemical changes under highly critical pressure, vacuum, or temperature limits. Because the nature of the work does not readily lend itself to incentive methods of payment, nearly all workers in the industry are paid on a time basis.

Late-shift operation was common in all but the smallest establishments. Of the more than 50,000 plant workers in the industry in the selected cities, it is estimated that at least a fifth received extra earnings in the form of premium pay for second and third shifts. Such payments most typically ranged from 5 to 10 cents an hour above the firstshift rate. Although multishift operation was widespread, 7 out of 10 establishments had a fulltime normal workweek of 40 hours.

Paid vacations of at least 1 week were granted by nearly all plants studied to both plant and office workers after 1 year of service; a paid vacation of 2 weeks was granted to plant workers by 1 out of 5 plants and to office workers by 7 out of 10. Provisions for increases in vacation

periods for plant workers, according to length of service, were found in a majority of establishments. Service requirements for more than 1 week of vacation varied among the plants studied: 2-week vacations were granted by 3 out of 7 establishments after plant workers had been employed for 2 years, and by 2 out of 3 establishments after 3 years; at least 5 out of 6 plants reported 2 or more weeks of vacation for workers with 5 years of service. In addition, 5 out of 6 establishments granted plant workers paid holidays, typically 6 in a year.

Textiles Manufacture:
Earnings in April 1948 5

Occupational hourly earnings data collected for April 1948 in the three major textile industries revealed that workers in weaving jobs averaged up to $1.64 an hour, on a straight-time basis, among the representative areas covered in the study. Average earnings of weavers, varying by area, type of equipment, and sex group, ranged from 99 cents to $1.47 in cotton textiles, $1.11 to $1.35 in the rayon and silk industry, and 99 cents to $1.64 in woolen and worsted textiles manu

• Prepared by Tovio P. Kanninen of the Bureau's Division of Wage Analysis. Data for a limited number of occupations were collected by field representatives under the direction of the Bureau's regional wage analysts. Greater detail on wages and wage practices for each textile industry and wage area presented here is available on request.

• Cotton, rayon and silk, and woolen and worsted industries. About 200,000 workers, or nearly two-fifths of those employed in the cotton textile industry were employed in the 8 areas of the study; approximately 66,000 workers were employed in the 8 selected rayon and silk areas-three-fifths of this industry's total; about 118,000 workers, or two-thirds of all employed in the woolen and worsted industry were reported in the 6 selected areas.

facture. Area averages for workers in loom-fixing jobs, the highest paid workers studied, ranged from $1.19 to $1.57 an hour in cotton mills, $1.26 to $1.53 in rayon and silk mills, and $1.20 to $1.82 in woolen and worsted mills. Average wage rates paid to hand truckers ranged from 86 cents to $1.02 among the cotton areas, 87 cents to $1.10 among the rayon and silk textiles areas, and 85 cents to $1.21 among the areas in which the woolen and worsted industry was studied.

Each of the textile industries is of sufficient importance in New England to provide a basis for an interindustry comparison of occupational rates in that region. Weavers and loom fixers in woolen and worsted mills average higher hourly earnings, on a straight-time basis, than in the other textile industries studied. Although differences in type of equipment and job requirements may account in part for the higher earnings in these jobs, a wage advantage for workers in the woolen and worsted industry was also indicated in jobs more general in character, such as maintenance machinists and hand truckers. The range of area rates within the New England region for hand truckers, for example, was found to be 98 cents to $1.02 an hour in cotton mills, 99 cents to $1.10 in the rayon and silk industry, and $1.09 to $1.17 in the woolen and worsted industry.

The earnings of about a third of the mill workers in each of these industries are determined by their individual output, paid for on a unit basis. Of the selected occupations for which average hourly earnings are presented in this report, weavers and winders in all industries, spinners in cotton mills and woolen and worsted mills, and slubber tenders and spinning-frame doffers in the cotton textile industry are commonly employed on an incentive basis.

Comparisons of occupational earnings in April 1948 with those reported in wage studies conducted in 1946 indicate that about three-fourths of the area job averages in the cotton textile industry had increased by 30 percent or more since AprilMay 1946; a similar proportion of the rayon and silk job averages had increased by 30 percent or more since June-July 1946; and in woolen and worsted manufacture job averages increased

Cotton Textiles

Straight-time average hourly earnings in the weaving jobs in cotton textile mills ranged from $1.17 to $1.47 among 3 New England areas and from 99 cents to $1.25 among 5 southern areas studied in April 1948 (table 3). Men weavers tending plan automatic looms (the type most commonly reported in each area) averaged $1.30 an hour in northern New England, $1.24 in the Fall River-New Bedford area of Massachusetts, $1.15 in Charlotte, N. C., and northwest Georgia and $1.08 in east central Alabama. Women employed on similar equipment generally averaged from 1 to 3 cents an hour less. The lowest and highest area averages for the loom-fixing jobs were $1.47 and $1.57 in New England and $1.19 and $1.32 in the South. Men janitors, the lowest paid workers studied, averaged 97 cents an hour in each of the 3 New England areas and from 84 to 86 cents among the southern areas.

Differences in wage levels among areas in the South were greater than in New England, although in neither region did a single area consistently rank as the highest- or lowest-paid area on the basis of job averages. Among 13 mill jobs for which averages were available in each area studied, the highest and lowest area averages in New England differed by 5 cents or less in 11 jobs. In contrast, the wage spread among the southern areas amounted to 6 cents or more in 10 of these 13 jobs. Among these 13 mill jobs, the lowest New England average exceeded the highest area average in the South by amounts ranging from 4 to 16 cents an hour. Earnings in office jobs in the southern areas, however, were found to be about the same as those in New England.

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All mills operated a second shift, and seveneighths of these reported third-shift operations. About a third of the mill workers in each area were employed on the second shift; the third shift accounted for proportions ranging from less than a tenth to a fourth of the area work force. Very few firms paid shift differentials to workers on the second shift, whereas nearly two-thirds of the southern mills and all except one of the New England mills provided extra pay for third-shift work. In most cases, the differential for third

South and 7 cents an hour in New England. A majority of the mills in both regions scheduled a 40-hour workweek for first-shift plant workers in April 1948. In contrast to New England, where only 1 mill reported weekly hours in excess of 45, a third of the southern mills scheduled a 48-hour week.

Paid vacation leave was granted to mill and office employees having a year or more of service by all the New England establishments and about 90 percent of the southern mills. With few exceptions, mill workers with a year of service qualified for a 1-week vacation. Office employees with the required service were granted a 2-week vacation by a great majority of the New England mills; the more common practice in the South provided a week of vacation leave. Paid holidays, generally 6 in number, were provided mill and office workers by all but one of the New England mills. Few southern mills granted paid holidays to mill workers, but about two-thirds of the mills provided from 1 to 6 paid holidays to office employees.

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Rayon and Silk Textiles

Area earnings in the weaving jobs in rayon and silk mills ranged, in April 1948, from hourly averages of $1.25 to $1.34 in New England, $1.19 to $1.35 in Pennsylvania, and from $1.11 to $1.31 in the South (table 4). The interarea wage spread was found to be considerably narrowed when measured by the most common type of weaving equipment employed in each area. For example, the largest group of men weavers in each area averaged: Plain automatic loom, northern New England ($1.33), southern New England ($1.28), western western Virginia ($1.22); nonautomatic box loom, Allentown-Bethlehem ($1.28), Scranton-Wilkes-Barre ($1.27); automatic box loom, Charlotte, N. C. ($1.25), GreensboroBurlington, N. C. ($1.22); and dobby loom, Greenville, S. C. ($1.24). Women weavers tending similar equipment averaged slightly less in most of these areas. Average Average rates paid to janitors ranged from 84 cents an hour in the Allentown-Bethlehem area to $1.01 in southern New England.