working a few months as a construction carpenter, he used his small savings to buy a band saw and lumber. During the Christmas season, he designed and constructed wooden toys. Since then he has remained at the woodworking business, making a variety of wooden articles.

Some of the prewar farmers had left their old homes and migrated to the Northwest with little intention of returning to the hard work on the farms. High wages and limited responsibilities at the shipyards further dissuaded them from resuming farm life.

One of these was a 32-year-old shipfitter. For more than 10 years he had been a farm hand, and for over 5 years, an independent corn and cotton farmer in Missouri; he left farming because of crop failures. When interviewed as a shipfitter, he stated he was planning to remain in the Portland area, mainly because of the higher wages. He had no intention ever to return to farming. His lastknown job was that of ship painter in Portland.

About four-fifths of the workers were apparently making no economic use of their shipyard crafts in the months subsequent to their wartime employment. Mass-production operations at the shipyards had been so arranged that much specialized work could be done by those who had only limited training. As a result, the extent to which the shipyard skills could be utilized in work elsewhere was also limited.

For example, Mr. B., aged 34, was a grocery clerk before entering the shipyard. During the 31⁄2 years he spent at the yard as an electrician helper and later as a journeyman, he learned new skills and liked the work. However, he did not plan to pursue the trade outside the shipyard, since he would have to become an apprentice first and, having a family, he could not live on the low wages. When last contacted, he was a salesman in a men's store.

HOURS AND EARNINGS

High wage rates such as those in the two shipyards studied, were an important inducement in drawing workers from other industries and areas to war work. By April 1945, 195 shipyard workers, for whom prewar (1941) wage-rate data were available, received an average increase over such rates of 45% cents an hour. Straight-time hourly rates were increased 100 percent or more for a third of the group, increases of from 50 to 100 percent were experienced by a fourth, and a slightly higher proportion received increases of less than 50 percent. Four workers received the same wage rate in April 1945 as in 1941, and 17 had suffered a decrease,

TABLE 3.-Changes in gross weekly earnings, weekly hours, and average hourly earnings of 53 identical Northwest shipyard workers, specified periods 1941–46

Longer work hours (most workers were on a 45- to 48-hour week in April 1945), accompanied by shift differentials, contributed substantially to high gross weekly earnings. None of the workers in the spring of 1945 earned less than $45 a week. Almost 70 percent of the group earned from $60 to $70 a week, and about 30 percent earned more than $70.

Higher wartime wages were also reflected in the upward shift in the distribution in annual-income brackets from 1943 to 1944 (although some workers were already employed at the shipyards in 1943). Of the 400 workers studied, 377 reported annual income for the 2 years. Whereas 14 percent of these workers earned less than $1,500 in 1943, that proportion was cut in half in 1944. Over $4,000 was received by 7 percent in 1943, and by 14 percent in 1944. In 1943, 30 percent of the workers had an annual income of from $1,500 to $3,000, and 50 percent had from $3,000 to $4,000. In 1944, less than 25 percent were in the former income bracket and more than 50 percent were in the latter.

In the summer of 1946, hourly earnings of 53 employed former shipyard workers for whom data are available for all 4 periods averaged $1.36, an increase of 66 percent over their prewar earnings. Hourly earnings for the same group had increased 8 percent on the average, between the previous winter and the summer of 1946. The rise reflects the general trend of wage rates during the year.

A journeyman shipfitter, who earned $1.20 an hour in the yards, quit his job before hostilities ended to become an unskilled laborer in the nearby town where he lived. Although his new rate was only 90 cents, he reported that his net weekly earnings were maintained, because his transportation, lunch, and clothing costs had all decreased considerably. His rate on the new job has since been increased to $1.125.

Wage rates in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in the shipyards and other war industries, were generally high in relation to those in other sections of the country. Of the 99 workers who reported wages earned outside the shipyards in the winter of 1945-46, 69 received lower rates, 5 equal rates, and 25 higher rates, than they had earned in the shipyards. Gross weekly earnings for all workers, which averaged $70.36 in April 1945, declined to $51.58 by the winter of 1945-46, reflecting generally lower wage rates in peacetime jobs as well as a reduced workweek.

A former journeyman welder at the shipyard, 26 years old, quit the yard to drive a dump truck for $1.35 an hour on a construction project. As that job was located away from home, he soon left it for that of barker feeder at $1.10 an hour, at a local paper mill. When logs became scarce, the paper mill shut down, and this man unsuccessfully sought other work for 2 months. He finally accepted employment as a dishwasher, at 71 cents an hour plus meals, in the restaurant where his wife worked. In a month, he was promoted to short-order cook at $1.22 an hour. He was still working on this job when contacted 6 months later.

Gross weekly earnings for the workers increased to an average of $56.43 for 41.5 hours by the summer of 1946 (table 3). These data probably understate somewhat the increase in earnings resulting from general wage increases in the spring of 1946. Earnings and rates for the winter of 1945-46 include those of a substantial number of workers still in the shipyards, which paid some of the highest rates in the area. Since few workers remained in the shipyards by June 1946, the summer earnings figures are composed almost entirely of rates in peacetime industries.

Pacific Northwest Economic Outlook

- 1947

By NATHANAEL H. ENGLE, Director, Bureau of Business Research, University of Washington

THE NATURAL RESOURCES of the Pacific Northwest-Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and the western tier of Montana counties-originally shaped its economic pattern.1 Exploitation of forest, agricultural, ocean, and mineral resources has built an economy which in the past has provided raw materials more than end products. Development through substantial Federal aid of hydroelectric energy, another type of natural resource, has altered the emphasis and turned the direction of economic growth toward industrial diversification. Not that the old will be abandoned, but that new industries will be added, is the promise of the future.

Characteristics of the Region

The Pacific Northwest, with an area of some 285,000 square miles, is dominated by the drainage basin of the Columbia River and its tributaries. Second in size in the United States to the Mississippi, this great river system has set its impress on the industrial future of the region through its actual and potential contribution to the development of hydroelectric power. A second natural feature of industrial importance is Puget Sound, a long arm of the Pacific Ocean which reaches nearly 200 miles east and south into the heart of western Washington, providing splendid deep water harbors, industrial sites, and unrivaled recreational facilities.

Three mountain ranges traverse the region from north to south: the coastal range, of which the Olympics on the northwestern thrust of Washington are the most dominant phase; the Cascades, which extend through both Washington and Oregon about 100 to 180 miles from the coast, broken only by the deep gorge of the Columbia River; and the Rocky Mountain system, which extends southeasterly across Idaho and Montana.

CLIMATE OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

The climate of this region is a definite asset contributing to its industrial growth. Meteorologists have described the climate as "the most important environmental factor in the Pacific Northwest," the essential features being "a small annual range of temperature for the latitude, an abundant precipitation, most of which comes during the rather mild winter, a relatively cool summer, a long frost-free

1 Occasionally the entire State of Montana is added where it is difficult or impossible to differentiate the statistics. In this analysis the more comprehensive area is used for the most part. However, in other articles in this issue, discussion of the Pacific Northwest is limited to the States of Oregon and Washington.

season, and wind from off the ocean nearly all year." This climate pattern prevails along the coast and shows increasing change in direct proportion to increasing distance from the coast.

NATURAL RESOURCES'

The Pacific Northwest does not have abundant, fertile, arable soils. Of the total area, approximating 250 million acres, about 70 million acres are in forests, 60 million in arid or semiarid range land, 32 million in farm pasture, and 16 million under cultivation. It is estimated that between 8 and 9 million additional acres may ultimately be made available for agriculture by appropriate conservation measures. For example, the Columbia Basin project, on which work is now in progress, is expected to add about 1 million acres to cultiva tion.

Much of the land is publicly owned, 107 million acres being in Indian reservations, national parks, water development sites, mineral, forest, and grazing lands. State and local governments also have extensive holdings. Very little over half of the total acreage is privately owned.

Timber is one of the most important industrial assets of the region. Pacific Northwest forest lands contain 55 percent of the timber of the United States, although they comprise but 15 percent of the forest area. A comprehensive survey points out that "the standing timber in the region is estimated at around 883 billion board feet, of which roughly 47 percent is Douglas fir, found west of the Cascades. About 60 percent of this volume of timber is economically available. Of the total timber in the region, 50 percent is in Federal ownership and 42 percent is privately owned." The remainder is in State hands.3

Mineral resources of the Pacific Northwest are extensive and varied but have not been fully explored or tested as yet. Montana leads the region in the exploitation of minerals, followed by Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Leading metals produced in the region are gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, and mercury. Idaho produces 20 percent of the silver mined in the United States, and 25 percent of the Nation's lead. Montana contributes 20 percent each to the silver and copper production of the country. Washington produces copper, zinc, silver, and molybdenum. Gold and mercury are found in Oregon. Of the nonmetallic minerals, Washington has large deposits of bitu

For a more extensive background analysis of this subject see Development of Resources and Economic pportunity in the Pacific Northwest, report of the Pacific Northwest Regional Planning Commission to he National Resources Planning Board (Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office), 1942; also, The Pacific Northwest, edited by Otis W. Freeman and Howard H. Martin (New York, John Wiley & ons, Inc.) 1942.

'Development of Resources and Economic Opportunity in the Pacific Northwest, report of the Pacific Northwest Regional Planning Commission to the National Resources Planning Board (Washington, U. S. iovernment Printing Office), 1942, p. 7.