About one out of every four workers in the United States is a "white-collar" worker. Because of their numerical importance in the labor force and the existence of widespread interest in their economic status, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has recently made a number of surveys of the salaries and working conditions of these workers. A major segment of this program was begun last year, when surveys of office workers were made in 10 of the country's largest cities.1 This year similar surveys have been made in 17 cities, including 6 in which studies were conducted last year. These cities are designated below by an asterisk. Reports on the cities surveyed this year appear in a four-part bulletin, as follows:

salaries and hours of work in the remaining three cities.

The information on weekly salaries excludes overtime pay and nonproduction bonuses but includes incentive earnings. The weekly hours data refer to the work schedules for which these salaries are paid. Hourly rates were obtained by dividing these weekly salaries by scheduled hours. The number of workers presented refers to the estimated total employment in all establishments within the scope of the study and not to the number actually surveyed. (The industries and the minimum size of establishment within the scope of the study are listed in appendix A.)

Data are shown only for full-time workers, defined as those who are hired to work the establishment's full-time schedule for the occupational classification.

Salary and hours information is presented only for a limited number of jobs; no attempt was made to study all office occupations and, in general, the jobs surveyed are those that are found in a large proportion of offices and that involve duties that are more or less uniform from firm to firm. They are more representative of the salaries of women than of men office workers. Since the current information for Dallas was collected partly by means of a mail questionnaire, data for this city are limited to women workers and to a smaller number of jobs than were studied in the other communities.

To round out the picture of the salaries of office workers, information is presented for Cincinnati and Washington on supplementary benefits, such as vacations, holidays, and sick leave, provided office workers.2 Information on these

* Data on these supplementary benefits and on hours of work are not presented for Dallas since this information was collected for this city in 1948.

wage practices refers to all office workers. It is presented in terms of the proportion of workers employed in offices with the practice in question. Because of eligibility requirements, the proportion actually receiving the benefits in question may be smaller.

The summary of vacation and sick leave plans

is limited to formal arrangements and excludes informal plans whereby time off with pay may be granted at the discretion of the employer or other supervisor. Sick leave plans are further limited to those providing full pay for at least some amount of time off and exclude health insurance even though paid for by employers.

Salaries

Weekly salaries for women in the 21 jobs studied in Cincinnati ranged from an average of $29 for office girls to $56 for hand bookkeepers in May 1949. Averages for over two-thirds of these jobs were between $32.50 and $42.50 a week. Women general stenographers, numerically the most important group studied, earned $41 a week on the average. Salaries for other jobs employing large numbers of women were $34.50 for clerktypists; $40 for accounting clerks; and $29.50 for clerks doing routine filing.

These averages were, of course, based on varying salaries of individual workers. Salaries of general stenographers ranged from $22.50 to about $70, but over three-fifths were between $32.50 and $45. Earnings of over half the women engaged in routine copy typing were within a $5 range (between $30 and $35). Considering all jobs studied as a group, about three out of four women in Cincinnati earned between $27.50 and $42.50.

Salaries for men in the eight jobs in which they were found in appreciable numbers varied from $30.50 for office boys to $67.50 for hand bookkeepers. Accounting clerks averaged $50 and general clerks $55 a week. On an hourly basis, the occupational averages for men ranged from 77 cents to $1.67; the corresponding range for women was from 74 cents to $1.42.

Work Schedules

The most typical work schedule for women office employees in Cincinnati was a 5-day, 40-hour week, except in finance, insurance, and real estate. In the latter industry division, over a third of the workers were employed by establishments operat

were on a 372-hour week. Work schedules varied considerably in wholesale trade, with nearly a fourth of the workers on schedules of less than 40 hours and almost a fifth working more than 40 hours. Nearly a fourth of the office employees in wholesale trade were on a 51⁄2-day week.

Paid Vacations

Virtually all office workers in Cincinnati received at least 1 week's paid vacation and over twothirds were entitled to 2 weeks after 1 year's service. After 2 years' employment, vacation benefits amounted to at least 2 weeks for over nine-tenths of the employees. More than half of the office workers studied were in establishments providing at least 1 week's vacation after 6 months of service.

Paid Holidays

Almost all office workers in Cincinnati were provided with paid holidays. Typically they received 6 holidays a year but there was some variation in holiday practice among industry divisions. In transportation, communication, and other public utilities, the typical holiday provision was for 7 days a year. In finance, insurance, and real estate, a fourth of the office workers were entitled to 7%1⁄2 to 10 paid holidays annually.

Nonproduction Bonuses

Two out of five office workers in Cincinnati were employed in establishments providing some type of nonproduction bonus, most often paid at Christmas or the year end. Such bonus payments were most common in finance, insurance, and real estate. They were rare in transportation, com