The most detailed data on employment in the District are those in the 1960 Census of Population. These data are available in considerable detail for residents of the District (table 2) and in much less detail for all workers employed in the District who live within the Washington standard metropolitan area (table 3). TABLE 2.-Employment by selected industry in the District of Columbia of District of Columbia residents, 1960 Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, 1960, District of Columbia (PC (1) 10D D.C.) table 126. TABLE 3.-Employment by race, major occupational group, and major industry group of residents of Metropolitan Washington in the District of Columbia, 1960 1 Within standard metropolitan area; i.e., Montgomery or Prince Georges Counties, Md., Alexandria or Falls Church cities, Arlington or Fairfax Counties, Va. 2 Not available. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, 1960, District of Columbia (PC(1) 10d D.C.), table 131. These data show that nearly as many of the individuals who are employed in the District of Columbia live outside the District, in Maryland or Virginia, as are residents of the District; 213,000 to 270,000. This is not only true of high-paid employees, such as professional and technical workers, but is also true of relatively low-paid workers, such as sales workers and clerical workers. It is less true of very low-paid workers such as private household workers, service workers, and laborers, but even in these groups substantial numbers of such workers live outside the District. For example, over 8,000 of the 45,000 service workers reside in Maryland or Virginia. Perhaps a typical group would be operatives and kindred workers, who are semiskilled at best. Of the 34,000 operatives working in the District, 24,000 reside in the District and 10,000 commute there from Maryland or Virginia. Similar results are obtained from the breakdown of the same data by major industry groups. Nearly half of the construction workers employed in the District live outside and more than half of the employees in manufacturing. More significantly for present purposes, 26,000 of the 66,000 in wholesale and retail trade live in Maryland or Virginia. On the other hand, only 23-806-64- -8 3,500 of the 32,000 in the personal service group, which includes the large domestic service category, reside outside the District. It should be noted that these data cover some 483,000 of the 535,000 employees estimated to have been employed in the District in 1960. Some of the 52,000 workers not accounted for also reside outside the District, beyond the metropolitan area. For example, a rather substantial number of employees commute daily to work in Washington from the nonmetropolitan counties of Maryland and Virginia, even from Baltimore. A breakdown of the 483,000 by race indicates that 351,000, or about threequarters of the employees in the District of Columbia, are white, one-quarter nonwhite (table 3). This means that the impression that a majority of the employees in the District of Columbia are nonwhite is erroneous. Even among District workers residing in the District, a substantial majority are white, despite the fact that a majority of District residents are nonwhite. EARNINGS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA The study made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the summer of 1962 presented data for some 87,000 workers in the District of Columbia, of whom nearly half were employed in retail trade. Except for those in larger retail enterprises these workers were generally not subject to the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The industries selected also employed men in unskilled occupations and would thus be expected to be especially affected by the proposed changes in the District of Columbia minimum wage law. Thus it is reasonable to assume that the data in the Bureau of Labor Statistics study tends to substantially overstate the impact of S. 860 on the business firms of the District. It does reflect the need, for a substantial number of fringe employers, for requiring minimum wage standards if the objectives cited in section 1 of S. 860 are to be attained. The table attempts to convert the percentage given in the Bureau of Labor Statistics study into actual numbers of employees for some of the industries studied which have substantial numbers of employees at low rates (tables 4-1 through 4-7). TABLE 4-1.-Retail trade: Earnings of nonsupervisory employees, summer, 1962 NOTE.-Columns and lines may not total exactly, due to rounding in making computations. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recomputed from data in "Earnings in Selected Industries in the District of Columbia, Summer, 1962," tables 1 and 2. TABLE 4-2.-Eating and drinking places: Earnings of nonsupervisory employees, NOTE.-Columns and lines may not total exactly, due to rounding in making computations. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recomputed from data in "Earnings in Selected Industries in the District of Columbia, Summer, 1962," tables 1 and 2. Table 4-3.—Real estate operators (except developers): Earnings of nonsupervisory employees, summer, 1962 NOTE.-Columns and lines may not total exactly, due to rounding in making computations. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recomputed from data in "Earnings in Selected Industries in the District of Columbia, Summer, 1962," tables 1 and 2. TABLE 4-4.-Hotels, motels, and rooming and boarding houses: Earnings of nonsupervisory employees, summer, 1962 NOTE.-Columns and lines may not total exactly, due to rounding in making computations. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recomputed from data in "Earnings in Selected Industries in the District of Columbia, Summer, 1962," tables 1 and 2. TABLE 4-5.-Laundries, laundry services, and cleaning and dyeing plants: Earnings of nonsupervisory employees, summer, 1962 NOTE.-Columns and lines may not total exactly, due to rounding in making computations. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recomputed from data in "Earnings in Selected Industries in the District of Columbia, Summer, 1962," tables 1 and 2. TABLE 4-6.-Services to dwellings and other buildings: Earnings of nonsupervisory employees, summer, 1962 NOTE.-Columns and lines may not total exactly, due to rounding in making computations. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recomputed from data in "Earnings in Selected Industries in the District of Columbia, Summer, 1962," Tables 1 and 2. TABLE 4-7.-Hospitals (except local or Federal Government): Earnings of nonsupervisory employees, summer, 1962 NOTE.-Columns and lines may not total exactly, due to rounding in making computations. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recomputed from data in "Earnings in Selected Industries in the District of Columbia, Summer, 1962," tables 1 and 2 |