WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES 1908-1910 lfT> /V35- BOUGHTWrnTTHElNcbME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF l^enrQ M. Sage 1891 'C: L>^.■SaH-^'^ - x.o\.x..V.vv -^ 1357 Cornell University Library HD4975 .N35 Wages in the United States 1908-1910; a olin 3 1924 032 453 403 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032453403 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON - CHICAGO SAN FRANaSCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES 1908-1910 A STUDY OF STATE AND FEDERAL WAGE STATISTICS BY SCOTT NEARING, Ph.D. Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Author of " Social Adjustment," " Solution of the Child Labor Problem," etc. THE MACMILLAN COMPAJSTY 1911 V' All rights reserved Copyright, igii By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 19 ii Printed at The NORWOOD PRESS Berwick & Smith Company, Norwood, Massachusetts PREFACE Since Professor R. C. Chapin estimated that a New York family consisting of a man, wife and three children under fourteen could main- tain "a normal standard, at least so far as the physical man is concerned," on an annual income of $900, speculation has been rife as to the number of famiUes whose incomes equalled that sum. Controversy was futile. No recent wage study had been made, and aside from the reports of the State bureaus of labor, which were popu- larly supposed to contain little or no data of importance, no available wage figures existed. But some relation must be established between the $900 eflficiency standard and the wages actually paid in American industry, else the Chapin Study would lose much of its force. The publication of a Federal Report on Wages in the Bethlehem Steel Works gave the needed impetus and we plunged into the work. This "we" is used advisedly, — ^not editorially, since Nellie Marguerite Seeds Nearing did a large amount of statistical compilation; Professor Robert E. Chaddock proved an excellent adviser [iii] PREFACE on statistical method; and Miss Alice E. Roche ably directed the stenographic work. While, therefore, the present study is published under one name, it is, in reality, the product of several persons, all of whom played a part in the pro- duction of the work. I therefore take this occa- sion to thank them, and to say that they deserve a large measure of any credit that may attach to this product of our cooperative effort. Unfortunately, this cannot prove a companion study to the Chapin Investigation. The New York Bureau of Labor publishes the wages of union members only, and even this incomplete data is not in a form available for such a com- parison. Nevertheless, the evidence here adduced is of a nature to warrant the conclusion that a large portion of American workmen are unable to maintain an eflBciency standard of living, and to justify such early steps as will result in the presentation of more complete wage statistics. While the conclusions here set down are by no means final, they are based upon such statistical proof that they must stand until overthrown by additional studies. Scott Nearing. Univeksitt op Pennsylvania, March 30, 1911. [iv] TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE WAGES PROBLEM PASE I. "What Abe Wages?" 1 II. The Necessity for Wage Statistics .... 6 III. The Available Wage Data 9 CHAPTER n STATE WAGE STATISTICS I. The Scope of State Wage Statistics .... 13 II. The Methods of State Wage Reports .... 16 III. The Massachusetts Method 18 CHAPTER III THE WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS I. Classified Weekly Earnings by Industries . . 28 II. Wages by Sex 36 III. The Wages op " Young Persons " 39 IV. Weebxy Wages in the Four Chief Industbies . 42 V. Classified Annual Earnings in Massachusetts . 49 [v] CONTENTS CHAPTER IV WAGES IN NEW JERSEY rASE 59 I. The New Jerset Statistics and Those op Massa- chusetts II. The Classified Weekly Wages of New Jersey . 60 III. Classified Weekly Wages in the Five Industries Employing the Largest Numbers of Wage Earners 62 rV. Annual Earnings in New Jersey 65 CHAPTER V KANSAS WAGE STATISTICS I. The Value and Scope of Kansas Statistics . . 74 II. Wage Grouping in the Industries op Kansas . 76 III. The Statistics of Leading Industries .... 79 IV. Summary of Kansas Wages 84 CHAPTER VI SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS I. The Value op Special Reports 88 II. Thp Telephone Industry in Milwaukee, Wiscon- sin 90 III. The Wages op Women in Illinois Department Stores 93 IV. The Investigation op Telephone Companies . . 96 V. The Bethlehem Steel Works Investigation . . 108 VI. Some Deductions 113 [vi] CONTENTS CHAPTER VII THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES I. The Significance of a Wage Average . II. Methods for Computing Average Wages III. Michigan, New Hampshire and Rhode Island rv. Pennsylvania V. Average Wages in Massachusetts . VI. New Jersey Average Wage Statistics VII. Federal Statistics of Average Wages VIII. Comparative Average Wages . IX. The Statistics of Average Wages . PAGE 116 120 121 126 131 134 138 142 144 CHAPTER VIII VARIATION OF WAGES WITH GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION I. The Theory of Geographic Variation .... 147 II. Wages from One Geographic Area to Another . 149 III. Wages from City to City 157 IV. Wages from Large to Small Cities .... 163 V. Geographic Variation in Wages 167 CHAPTER IX THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES WITHIN INDUSTRY I. Specialized Employments and the Distribution of Wages 170 II. Railroad Wages 174 III. The Special Wage Reports 179 IV. The Material from State Labor Reports . . 184 V. The Distribution of Wages in American Industry 189 [Vii] CONTENTS CHAPTER X WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES, I908-19I0 FAOB I. Unemployment as a Modifying Factok . . . 192 II. Wage Vakiation with Industry, Sex, Age and Geographic Location 202 III. Wages in the United States — Average and Actual 207 [ viii ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES 1908-1910 WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER I THE WAGES PROBLEM I. " What Abe Wages ? " IT is almost impossible to delve into any modern social problem without being con- fronted by the question, "What are wages?" Here is a man with a wife and four children, living in an insanitary, tumble-down tenement. The woman has rheumatism; the children croup and rickets. Obviously, the family ought to move to a better dwelling. The rent is overdue, however, and if they move, the landlord will levy on the furniture; the grocer's and butcher's bills are large and cannot be met; moreover, to move means either to go into an equally cheap, bad house somewhere else, or to pay more rent. How can this family pay more rent than the present [1] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES $2.25 per week? The father earns $9 as a laborer in a lead works. Of late years he has been ailing, — lead poisoning, they say, and with the doctor and medicine bills, the balance, after paying the present rent, is scarcely large enough to buy food. Then, too, work is not steady. During some weeks, the lead works is closed two or three days, and instead of making $9 the man earns $6 and sometimes $4.50. But the rent stays at $2.25. If the man had always earned higher wages, he would never have been reduced to living in such a vile hovel. In fact, when he was first married, he lived in a respectable little cottage, for which he paid $15 a month. But the children came, and by the time there were four of them it seemed necessary to move in order to cut expenses. So the family came here. Even now a rise in wages would enable them to live better, but that rise does not come. The children, too, feel the burden of low wages and bad quarters. The oldest boy (thirteen) sells papers. He has already learned to beg; and the other day, after making a raid on a freight car loaded with bananas, he found himself, with two of his companions, securely lodged in the station- house. He is no worse than the average boy, but [2] THE WAGES PROBLEM he was hungry — in fact, since the last two chil- dren came and the family began its dry bread and coffee diet, his stomach has been constantly quot- ing OUver Twist's famous saying: "Please, sir, I want some more." The two girls, ten and eight, are ill-dressed and ragged. They do not make a good appearance at school (their brother ceased to attend last year for that reason). They feel uncomfortable, — so uncomfortable that they are not benefiting par- ticularly by the geography and mental arithmetic which are administered daily in liberal quantities. The whole family has been living an indecently crowded hfe, — eating, washing, dressing and sleep- ing in three small rooms, therefore these girls are "wise." Their learning, not of the books, is amazing in extent and is readily available. Upon meeting other women, eight and ten years of age, they constantly employ this learning in appalUng conversations. A higher wage would provide this family with food, clothing, a good house of decent size, medi- cines, attendance; for the mother is a good man- ager, and the father a hard-working and sober, though a sick man. The children would attend school decently clad, and would lead decent lives [3] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES at home. The question therefore very naturally arises, — "How many men in the United States are receiving wages which force them and their famihes to hve under such abnormally bad con- ditions?" A glance at another phase of the problem leads to the same question. A recent New York in- vestigation concludes with the statement that a man, wife and three children under fourteen can- not live and maintain efficiency on Manhattan Island for less than nine hundred dollars per year.* While no similar studies have been made in other cities, superficial investigations show that this figure is not excessive for Boston, Buffalo and Chicago; that it is low for Pittsburg, and probably a little high for Philadelphia and Baltimore. In other words, it is a fair average for the great cities east of the Mississippi and north of Virginia. A student peruses this investigation and glee- fully presents its conclusion to his "practical" friend. The practical friend is immediately con- vinced. "That sounds well enough," says he, ' "Standard of Living among Workingmen's Families in New York City." Robert C. Chapin. New York Charities Pub. Com., 1909, pp. 245-6. [4] THE WAGES PROBLEM "but I don't suppose there are many families of five that are forced to Hve on so low a wage." The student ponders for a moment, and then replies, "Well, I really can't say. There is no study which shows what wages really are." And so for a dozen pages, problem after prob- lem might be stated, which, in the last analysis, depends for its solution upon an answer to that question, — "What are wages?" II. The Necessity for Wage Statistics Thus, an attempt to answer the question — "What are wages?", has led to this collection of material on "Wages in the United States." There are at least three directions in which such a study, if carefully made, would be of supreme impor- tance, — first, in the discussion of wage theories; second, in the discussion of the cost of hving; and, finally, in the problems arising out of the standard of living investigations. The constant demand for the facts in any one of these fields would justify their presentation in this work; the aggregate necessity of the three problems makes the presentation of the statistics of wages ulti- mately imperative. The development of the "wage system" has [5] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES forced wages into the foreground of theoretical discussion. At least two-thirds of those gainfully employed in the United States are employed for wages; so that the population of the United States may well be described as a "wage-earning" group. A small percentage of the population is dependent upon income from securities and in- vestments (mortgages, bonds, land, and the like) ; another small percentage, though a decreasing one, is dependent upon profits from private busi- ness; there is a small class of persons employed for stated annual salaries; somewhat less than one-third of those gainfully employed are deriv- ing an income direct from agriculture, leaving approximately two-thirds of the gainfully em- ployed population earning incomes in the form of daily, weekly or monthly wages. Hence, wages are the means chiefly relied upon, as a return for industrial effort (work), to provide the necessa- ries of life to the population of the United States. From the standpoint of the economic theorist, wages are one share, and a troublous share, in the distribution of the values produced through in- dustry. Together with rent, profits and interest, they constitute the elements in distribution. The economic literature which deals with wage theory [6] THE WAGES PROBLEM is most voluminous and inconclusive. Could an accurate measure be had of the facts, a more satisfactory body of wage theory might well be created. While this chapter merely aims to indi- cate the possible uses of wage statistics, it is impossible to pass by the question of wage theory without insisting upon the necessity of reaching some measure of agreement regarding the under- lying causes which are operating to maintain or to change wages. A statement of wage facts may, perhaps, assist somewhat in hastening that agree- ment. Important as wage facts are, from a theoretical standpoint, they have an even more vital applica- tion to the "cost of Uving" and "standard of living" problems. The heated discussions which have recently appeared in theoretical treatises, popular magazines and daily papers over the relation of wages and the cost of living indicate the universal interest which is felt in the problem. The facts regarding the cost of living can be gath- ered with a reasonable degree of accuracy by an examination of Bradstreet's Review of Wholesale Prices. The facts regarding wages are well-nigh inaccessible. Hence, statements of the relation between wages and the cost of living are faulty [7] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES in that the wage statistics employed are incom- plete. The cost of living discussions would be of far greater value could they promise some general wage facts. The same statement holds true in the discus- sions of the "standard of living," a sum of eco- nomic goods large enough to permit a family to maintain its physical efficiency. At the very outset the necessity arises of establishing some relation between the wage received and such an amount of economic goods as will maintain effi- ciency. In this endeavor, success obviously depends upon the ability to place side by side a statement of the amount of goods necessary to maintain efficiency and of the amount of wages which families receive. A number of recent studies have shown, pretty clearly, what amount of economic goods is necessary to maintain a standard of efficiency. It remains, however, to ascertain what portion of the wage earners in the community receive wages sufficient to maintain such a standard. Whether, therefore, the discussion is of the relation between wages and the cost of living, or between wages and a standard of living, the question must finally be answered: "What are [8] THE WAGES PROBLEM wages?", for neither discussion can proceed satis- factorily witbout some reply to that fundamental proposition. III. The Available Wage Data For years I have been constantly baffled ia my investigation of these, as well as other social and economic problems, by the lack of knowledge on this subject. At every turn, the need arose for an accurate, concise statement of the wages being paid in the various parts of the United States, yet to date no study has been made which sup- phes the need. Ryan's Estimate ^ is old, and at best iacomplete; Mrs. More's statement,^ like the statement in the 1903 Report of the Commis- sioner of Labor,^ is of standards of living pri- marily, and only iucidentally of wages. In neither case is the ground covered sufficiently to warrant valuable wage deductions. The Wage Study accompanying the Census of 1900 * is old, and rather inadequate, as the compilers themselves 1 "Living Wage." J. A. Ryan. New York, Macmillan Co., 1906. '"Wage Earners' Budgets." L. B. More. New York, Holt, 1907. ' Annual Report U. S. Commissioner of Labor, 1903. Washing- ton, 1904. * Census of 1900. Special volume on Employees and Wages. Washington, 1903. [9] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES point out. Not only is there a lack of material in the past, but, so far as could be learned, there is little disposition to collect wage statistics in the immediate future. Upon inquiry I learned that the United States Bureau of Labor had published no material on wages since 1907, and had none in immediate contemplation, while the Director of the Census, in reply to a letter,' stated that no special wage study would be made in connection with the Census of 1910. Hence, a successful study of the cost of living, the stand- ard of living, or of any other social problem in which wages are directly involved, must be pre- ceded by some unofficial study of wages. It is the aim of this study to set down, as per- fectly and as briefly as may be, an answer to the question, "What wages are now being paid in the United States?" Should the answer be meas- urably accurate, a basis, at present non-existent, will be provided for advanced studies. The field is a virgin one, and like all pioneers in a virgin field, this study will doubtless prove in many respects inadequate and incomplete, yet, could it mark the beginning of a series of investi- gations which will ultimately furnish a complete ^ Dated Oct. 18, 1910. [10] THE WAGES PROBLEM answer to the question "What are wages?", it would be more than successful, — ^it would be pro- gressive. The available data on the subject of wages exists chiefly in the reports of State bureaus of labor, and is unfortunately of such a nature as to render comparison with data of a decade since (in the few cases where such data exists) most unsatisfactory. In consequence of this inadequacy, the present study has been con- fined to current wages, a step rendered even more imperative by the fact that many of the labor bureaus from which data was secured have been in existence for only one, two or three years. Owing to the slowness of some States in pub- lishing reports, the data is, unfortunately, not all relative to the same year: "a study of wages in the United States for 1910" would have been far more satisfying than this study for 1908- 1910. The years are, however, comparable to a degree, as the worst phases of the depression following the panic of 1907 had disappeared in 1908, and industry, while not normal, was return- ing slowly to normahty. Wherever possible the data for 1909 has been used in preference to that [11] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES for any other year, and the greater part of the material relates to that year. The aim of the study will therefore be, through the comparison of available data, to show exist- ing wages, — 1. In certain States publishing the best wage statistics. 2. In three industries of which special wage in- vestigations have recently been made. 3. As shown in "average wages." ' 4. As distributed geographically. ' 5. As distributed through special industries. A measurable degree of success in this endeavor will furnish material which will establish a foun- dation on which more advanced and more impor- tant studies may be erected. [12] CHAPTER n STATE WAGE STATISTICS I. The Scope of State Wage Statistics The data of most value, in a wage study, would normally be secured from the States in which the largest amounts of wages are paid. These States, described by the Census of Man- ufactures in terms of "capital invested," "num- ber of wage earners employed," "value of product," etc., may, for convenience of discus- sion, be designated as "great industrial States." In the order of their industrial importance, the first ten of these States are: 1. New York 6. New Jersey 2. Pennsylvania 7. Missouri 3. Illinois 8. Michigan 4. Massachusetts 9. Wisconsin 5. Ohio 10. Indiana ' Though these States represent the industries of the United States paying the most wages and 1 Census of Manufactures, 1905, Vol. I, pp. cxcviii-cxcix. [13] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES employing the largest number of wage workers, they fail, for the most part, to publish any worthy wage statistics. A few citations will estabhsh the truth of this assertion. New York wage statistics relate to members of labor unions only; the average wage statistics of Pennsylvania are incomplete, — even those cited are wretchedly compiled and presented; Illinois has published no recent statement of wages except in depart- ment stores; the latest available Wisconsin re- port includes the years 1906-7; Missouri, Michi- gan and Indiana publish little or no wage data. Thus, of the ten leading industrial States, but three, — Ohio, Massachusetts and New Jersey, — furnish wage data which merits a somewhat ex- tended comment. The statistics for Ohio are excellent, but very diffuse and unconcentrated. The statistics for Massachusetts and New Jersey are, on the other hand, scientifically classified, accurately presented, and in every sense satisfac- tory and reliable. Therefore, of the ten leading in- dustrial States, three present worthy wage data; the statistics of two are far from satisfactory; while five of the ten States furnish no current wage material of value to this study. Deplorable as is the lack of statistics in these [14] STATE WAGE STATISTICS great industrial States, the conditions in the country at large are infinitely worse. Of the forty-seven States of the Union, not more than five publish good up-to-date wage statistics. These five are Massachusetts, New Jersey, Kansas, Oklahoma and Ohio. Of the remaining States, a score publish statistics of average wages only, which, in some cases, are so unrepresentative as to be valueless. The really valuable State data, — and it is strictly limited to the reports of a few States, — will appear in the present study, which will include all of the scientific wage material fur- nished in the State reports up to January 1, 1911. The New York material is not used because, collected from trade unions only, and giving, therefore, union rather than general wages, it is not comparable with the material published in any other wage report, and not representative of general labor conditions. This brief statement will convey some idea of the inadequacy of existing State wage statistics. It remains to consider the various methods of compilation employed, since good statistics, badly compiled and presented, are no better than badly collected statistics. [15] ' WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES II. The Methods op State Wage Reports The least desirable form in wliicli States report wages is the "Maximum and Minimum" system. Under this system, the highest and lowest wages paid in any establishment are considered. An example of this method appears on page 18 of the Twenty-third Annual Report of the North Carohna Department of Labor (1909), where it is stated that in Alamance County, in all of the industries, the highest weekly wage paid to men was $23.67; the lowest wage $13.47. That is the extent of the statistics. There is no statement of the total number of men employed, and no figures to indicate how many men received $23.67 and how many received $13.47. It may well be that the high wages were paid to a few foremen and highly skilled artisans or mechanics, while the lowest was the prevalent wage; however, in the absence of any knowledge of the character of the industry, of the total number of employees, and of the numbers receiving specified wages, the figures are ridiculous, — not worth the paper on which they are printed, since they fail to furnish the least indication of the rate of wages paid in North Carolina. It is unnecessary to say that [16] STATE WAGE STATISTICS the States which use such methods of compiKng wage statistics might reduce their Labor Bureau appropriations by the amount of the printer's bill, without serious loss to the public. Another most unsatisfactory group of figures is furnished by a number of States of which Michigan is a typical illustration. For the entire State of Michigan there were in 1909, 9,052 industrial establishments, employing With Average ' Daily Wages of 9,194 Superintendents $5.07 9,213 Foremen 3.31 9,862 Male Office Employees 3.10 6,619 Female Office Employees 1.57 209.967 Male Factory Employees 2.56 42,789 Female Factory Employees 1.14 2,746 Boys under 16 88 1,407 Girls under 16 77 making a total of 291,799 employees with an average daily wage of $1.98.^ These totals are computed from the same figures for each county, but no industries are mentioned, so that, while the figures convey more information than the North Carolina figures, they are still exceedingly defective. The next group of State reports, typified by Pennsylvania, gives rather detailed average fig- '■ First Annual Report, Department of Labor, Lansing, Mich., 1910. Pp. 188-189. [IT] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES ures for industries, and for the entire State. It is possible, from such statistics, to compare the average wages of adult women in the hosiery and in the worsted goods industries, or the wages of adult men in the anthracite and bituminous coal mines. Such average wage figures begin to have a minimum value for purposes of comparison; still they cannot be used as the basis of impor- tant conclusions regarding actual wages. The best of the reports, like those of Massa- chusetts and New Jersey, give not only average wages, but a classification of wages which makes possible definite statements regarding the num- ber of employees in each industry receiving a certain wage. The North Carolina type of report will be overlooked in the present study, which will present analyses only of those reports from which scientific deductions are possible. Since the most valuable material appears in the statis- tics of classified earnings, the next section will be devoted to a discussion of the collection and presentation of classified wage statistics. m. The Massachusetts Method The State most successful in collecting and pre- senting classified wage statistics is Massachusetts. [18] STATE WAGE STATISTICS As that State stands among the leaders in this important work, it will not be amiss to describe, in some detail, the methods employed by Massa- chusetts in coUecting and presenting wage mate- rial; for could this study succeed in nothing more than in bringing to the attention of State labor bureau chiefs the desirability of collecting and publishing uniform statistics, together with a method for so doing, it would have more than justified its existence. First, as to the Massachusetts method of col- lecting the statistics. The Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics has adopted a schedule similar to that employed by the United States Census in its collection of statistics of manufacture. In fact, the two schedules are so similar that the Massachusetts statistics for 1909 and the United States Census of Manufactures for 1909 were collected cooperatively in the same schedule, but the method of collecting the Massachusetts wage statistics is, on the whole, superior to that of the Census of Manufactures, which can supply only average wages. The year of the Massachusetts Statistics ends December 31st, thus making the calendar year the statistical year. On the blanks which are [19] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES mailed annually to manufacturers there are ten questions. The first and second are for private firms and corporations respectively, the first re- ferring to "partners" and the second to "stock- holders"; question three is on "capital invested"; question four on "materials used"; and question five on "goods made," — all of these questions relate to the manufacturer and to manufacture. As the five remaining questions deal with wage earners and wages, they will be discussed in greater detail. Question 6. Total wages paid during the year to wage earners only. Note. — Do not include salaries. On the answers to this question are based the statistics of Average Wages. Question 7. Persons employed (wage earners only). Number of Persons Employed During the Month of: January February March April May June July August September October November December Males Females Total [20] STATE WAGE STATISTICS Adults Eighteen Years of Age and Over ^ A Males Females Young Persons (under 18 Years of Age) Totals Question 8. Wage Earners, number, December 17, 1910, as per pay roll. Males Females 18 years of age and over .... .... Under 18 years of age .... .... The answers to this question give the number of adult males and females and the number of young persons, males and females, on a specified date. Question 9. Classified Weekly Wages (wage earners only). Specified Wages (rates) Paid for the Week during which the Largest Niunber of Per- sons was Employed Under $3 $3 but under $5 5 " " 6 6 " " 7 7 " " 8 S " " 9 9 " " 10 10 " " 12 12 " " 15 15 " " 20 80 " " 25 25 and over Totels It is upon the answers to question 9 that the compilation of classified wages is based — by far the most important compilation of the Massa- [21] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES chusetts Bureau. Could the other States adopt no other, they would do well to ask this one question. Question 10. Days in Operation. A. On full time B. On Ji time C. On }4 time D. On less than J^ time E. Days idle Total 305 days. Number of hours per week normally worked by wage earners : hours. Answers to question 10 furnish the material on unemployment, which, together with the classi- fied weekly wages, makes possible a fairly accu- rate compilation of the classified yearly earnings. The answers to these ten questions must, under the law, be given before "Jan. 21, 1911." When returned, they are compiled in six tables.^ Table 1, compiled from questions 1 to 6, gives 1. Number of establishments 2. Capital devoted to production 3. Value of stock and materials used 4. Amount of wages paid during the year 5. Average yearly earnings ^ See The Commonwealth of Mass. Bureau of Statistics, Annual Report on the Statistics of Manufactures, for the year 1908. Bos- ton, 1909. [22] STATE WAGE STATISTICS 6. Wage earners employed a. Average number of — A. Males B. Females C. Both sexes b. Smallest number c. Largest number 7. Value of product These statistics are compiled — A. For the entire State by industries B. For the 33 cities by industries C. For 108 towns by industries In the cases of small firms, the total is given for the town only. In all cases, throughout the table, particular attention is paid to giving totals for the State, for each city, town and county, and for each table. Table ^ is a special table on the Boot and Shoe industry. Table 3 is also a special table on the Cotton in- dustry. Table 4- gives the tabulation by industries of answers to question 7, on the number of persons employed during each month. Table 5 gives, by industries, the classified weekly wages, as stated in the answers to question 9. [23] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES Table 6, in three parts, gives the statistics of unemployment by industries, by cities and towns, and by counties. All of this tabulated material appears in a little over one hundred — exactly 126 pages — in such form that it can be readily utilized. It permits of an accurate analysis and determination of the condi- tion of manufactures in Massachusetts, the rates of wages and the extent of unemployment. It is, from the commercial standpoint, important, and from the standpoint of the social worker invalu- able in the determination of disputed wage prob- lems. There is one objection which may, with obvious justice, be urged against these statistics. They are furnished by the manufacturers and present only their side of the problem. They maybe accurate for capital, product, and the like, but they cannot fairly represent wages. Men and women are frequently sick, injured, kept at home. They do not work the full 275 or 296 days, as stated in these tabulations. The mill may have been in operation, but these people were, for one reason or another, not in their places and conse- quently were not paid. That objection is valid. Yet from manufac- [M] STATE WAGE STATISTICS turers, no more accurate or useful statistics could be secured, unless they furnished an abstract of their pay-rolls, and the records of each individual worker were tabulated. Such a task, for 500,000 workers, would be only less stupendous than a door to door census of the entire State. For the time being, neither of these propositions is prac- ticable. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts system is an excellent substitute for the one which we may hope to adopt in the distant future. Two other schedules are sent to employers and to trade unions, requesting statements as to changes in wages during the past year. For the purpose of the present study, the compilations of these replies are unimportant. Xhe Massachusetts method of collecting and presenting wage material has already been adopted by a number of States. Thus far it has met with admirable success, and until some more effective method is devised, it should be accepted as a standard by other State labor departments. IV. The Necessity for Uniformity in State Wage Statistics The Massachusetts system of collecting wage statistics has been described in detail in order to [25] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES explain the source of the Massachusetts statistics, and in the hope that other labor bureaus may follow the Massachusetts example and thus pro- vide a larger body of accurate wage data. The system, while little more expensive, is infinitely more valuable than the "Maximum and Mini- mum" and "Average" systems of wage compila- tion, — adopted by so many of the States. A solution of many social problems depends upon an accurate answer to the question, "What are wages.?" The fact basis for such an answer can be secured in one of two ways. Either the Federal government must organize and administer an enormous system for collecting and compiling industrial statistics, or else the States must utilize the machinery already existing, collect uniform statistics and present them in a uniform manner. The latter alternative is by far the more rational, though it may not in the end prove more feasible. Several States, however, are already presenting wage material which is fairly uniform, having adopted the standard originally set by Massa- chusetts. Thus the means for securing uniform wage statistics already exists in all States which have labor bureaus. It only remains for the various bureaus to follow the example of Massa- [26] STATE WAGE STATISTICS chusetts. New Jersey and Kansas, in the collec- tion and tabulation of average and classified wages. Until some uniform system is widely adopted, any accurate answer to the question, "What wages are paid?", wUl be impossible. The statis- tics of a few States may be discussed, with infer- ences for the remainder of the country, but this method is always unsatisfactory. The crying need is for uniform statistics from so large a group of representative industrial States that an accurate determination of the wages paid, — hence of the probable social status of the workers, — will be possible. The three following chapters will include a de- tailed study of the wage statistics in the States furnishing classified wage data. In so far as these statistics are comparable, deductions will be drawn from all of them. In any case, however, the statistics from each State permit of definite con- clusions for at least that limited area. [27] CHAPTER III WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS I. Classified Weekly Eabnings by Industries ' ' Standing in the foremost rank of progressive industrial States, Massachusetts presents wage statistics which, for their completeness and accuracy, are unsurpassed by those of any other American commonwealth. It would not perhaps be fair to say unrivalled by the statistics of any other commonwealth, yet a student of State wage statistics must incline strongly to that view. While the same statistics are collected in other States, the method of presentation adopted by the Massachusetts Bureau of Labor is probably superior to the method employed in any other State, with the exception of New Jersey. An examination has already been made of the wage schedules and the general method of pres- entation employed in the Massachusetts wage reports. It remains to present, in some detail, [28] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS the conclusions which may be reached from a study of Massachusetts wage statistics. These statistics will be discussed in greater detail than those of the other leading States, because of their inherent excellence, as well as because most of the conclusions which can be drawn from the classified weekly earnings of Massachusetts are apparently similar to the conclusions deducible from the weekly earnings in similar industries of the other industrial States. The value of the Massachusetts statistics con- sists primarily in their presentation, by industries, of the classified weekly earnings of the males, females and young persons employed in the man- ufacturing industries. These statistics involve considerable detail, but an excellent idea of their significance may be gained from a summary, first of totals for the entire State, and then of detailed statements regarding the industries employing the various classes of wage earners, — males, females, and young persons. This classification is made because, as a rule, there is a marked contrast in the wages between industries which employ a large proportion of males and those which em- ploy a large proportion of females. During the "week of employment of greatest [29] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES n < in < I en t 53 S % I 1 u o o o o o o o o o Q o s o o o o o o s O I-H b H o! h ^j > o C4 CD CD 00 a* « 0* t- t- « 0* S 4J |» u ^ ■w ■-1 » ■^ « ^ « ,, *» 1^ « « » » « p-l » II e a 5 CO 00 CO g 2? 'o I -^ oi 2 2 » • O* IH OJ_ CO 00" CD us" ^ 1 .^ p< -s S S! .a =a hH O ' i p. S g 3 ^ ^ 2 =§ 5 -a s i gig Sj^cg g. ) h ^ ^ b:) (i< I 3 11 o o s ^ 3 o o !? -I g o O m I ^ i m ■i-H '^ 0) ^ Pn cq -S 5 0) o •H I CO ■^ o ■:: ^ I? a [30] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS number of wage earners," the ten foregoing in- dustries employed the largest number of adult males (21 years of age and over) and paid them the wages indicated. These industries are really divisible, according to the numbers employed, into two groups, — those industries employing more than forty thou- sand persons, and those employing less than fif- teen thousand persons. Between these two ex- tremes not a single industry appears. A study of the above table shows that wages range much lower in the textile industries. Thus in Cotton Goods, Worsteds, Woollens and Dyeing and Fin- ishing, there are respectively 31, 21, 25 and 21 per cent, of the employees under $8 a week. In the other industries these percentages are much lower, with a maximum in Furniture of 15 per cent., and a minimum in Foundry and Machine Shop of 6 per cent. Similar deductions may be made from an an- alysis of the higher wage group. In the textile industries (Cotton, Worsteds, Woollens and Dye- ing and Finishing) there are respectively 9, 17, 10 and 12 per cent, of employees receiving more than $15 per week, while in the other industries the percentages above $15 per week are, — [31] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES Boots and Shoes 42 per cent. Foundry and Machine Shop 32 per cent. Leather 16 per cent. Paper 18 per cent. Furniture 17 per cent. Jewelry 47 per cent. The proportion of wage earners receiving above $15 per week is therefore considerably higher in the non-textile than in the textile industries. The proportion is also far higher in the industries (Boots and Shoes, Foundry and Jewelry) in which the greatest skill is required, while in the less skilled industries the proportion is fairly stable at 17 per cent. While no rules can be laid down regarding the variation of Massachusetts wages from industry to industry, it is apparent that considerable variation does exist. The presence of this variation is strik- ingly confirmed by a study of female wages in ten industries employing the largest number of females. The conclusions which may be drawn from the distribution of females by industries are, how- ever, somewhat different from those deducible from the employment of males, hence the follow- ing table presents the weekly wages of females in the ten Massachusetts industries employing the largest numbers of females. [32] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS O T3 4) O P n en ^ l-s <=s O CO «D en . a » M & Ma -3 « 3 «■ = fi^ -u 1 » t, lO t- f-4 P=4 & ^ p Q H CO « o ed ee e3 «0 Ot f-i •g a H O CO CO OS CO o »o ^ CfJ O* M5 M •* "* CO I> »a »o OT « a >;" OS-. „^-2.!!a3 S-3 o .§ :§ g g * §• g Bh 1-5 [33] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES An analysis of this table shows that there is a very wide range in female wages, which can best be illustrated by showing, as before, the percent- age of employees receiving less than a certain sum per week. For the industries under consideration, the percentage of women receiving less than $6 per week in these is, — Cotton Goods 15 per cent. Boots and Shoes 13 " Worsteds 7 " Hosiery 24 " Woollens 17 Clothing 17 Confectionery 48 " Boots and Shoes (rubber) 1 " Paper 24 Jewelry 11 " The variation in the wages of females under $6 is thus considerably greater than the variation in the wages of males under $8; falling as low as 1 per cent, in the Boot and Shoe industry, rising to 48 per cent, in the Confectionery industry. If, on the other hand, the wages above $12 be considered, the percentages are, — Cotton Goods 3 per cent. Boots and Shoes 25 " Worsteds 8 " Hosiery 2 " [34] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS Woollens 7 per cent. Clothing 9 " Confectionery 4 " Boots and Shoes (rubber) 3 " Paper — Jewelry 16 " Of the ten Massachusetts industries employing the largest number of adult females, three (Ho- siery, Confectionery and Paper) report more than one-fifth of their female employees as receiving less than $6 per week. Only two (Boots and Shoes and Jewelry) report more than one-tenth of their female employees as receiving over $12 per week. From one-fourth to two-fifths of the adult female employees receive from $6 to $8 per week, so that the range of wages for adult females is from $6 to $12, the highest proportion receiving from $6 to $8. This brief survey of the two groups of industries employing, respectively, the largest numbers of men and of women, reveals considerable wage variation from industry to industry. Apparently some industries maintain a distinctly higher wage standard than others, a condition which may, in part, be explained by the following sections. [35] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES II, Wages by Sex Following the contrasts, presented in the last section, between the wages paid in the industries employing the largest number of adult males and those employing the largest number of adult females, an attempt will now be made to com- pare the wages of males and of females in five industries employing equal proportions of males and females. It is commonly assumed that the presence of a large proportion of women in an industry is a sure sign of a low-paid industry, or, put differently, that the women, by entering cer- tain industries, lower wages through their active competition with men. To what extent the pres- ence of women causes or, perhaps better, indicates low wages, it will be the purpose of this section to determine. Figures purporting to show the relative wages of men and women are, of necessity, unsatisfac- tory, since the amount and quality of product, and the sldll required in production, may all vary from one sex to the other. Hence it is unfair to conclude, because men and women are working in the same industry and receiving different wages, that therefore discrimination exists against [36] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS eg- OOOOOOOOOO 5U ^1 o 2 o s s g S s gs 00 1 o » t* 1 CO 1 2 1 i1 w 1 s » >9 » 3 • §■" Ph 'e' tn s M « "* s •V S" £ Ph a> •* OS o «0 S e> O) -* o» 2 ^ ^fi « Oi m en eo ^M m Ol o ISS MSO>«aOl-M«»PWCO ,«e-gr-)r-l »-t rt «* O* ' Ph rH T3 Ph «*t--*t->-tr-*(HO> *■ Jj i-t rH pK i-H ■3 I 5 C«OSiN'*»lCflCOOT«OT o M ^ **„ ®. "^^ **?. *i, ^ ■*- ®« *^ °' H " ^ oo" 00* of of »f af i-T i-T rH ft ^ CO V V V U V o o,2y ea^ «o o.S [37] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES the women. In fact, the conditions of many industries are such that men do the skilled, tech- nical work almost exclusively, while women do the semi-skilled work demanding dexterity and speed. Whatever the explanation of the differ- ence may be, there is a marked contrast between the wages of men and of women employed in the same industries. The statistics of the five industries employing the largest numbers, in which the proportion of males and females was practically the same, appear on the preceding page. Those employees receiving less than $6 a week furnish the following percentages, — Male Female Cotton Goods 7 per cent. 16 per cent. Clothing (Men's) 2 " 27 Carpets and Rugs 3 " 13 Paper Goods 1 " 19 Bookbinding 2 " 17 Thus, practically none of the adult males in these five industries receive less than $6 per week, while the proportion of females receiving less than $6 ranges from one-eighth to more than one-quarter of the total. Similar results are secured by computing the percentage of males and females who receive more than $12 per week. [38] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS Males Females Cotton Goods 23 per cent. 3 per cent. Clothing (Men's) 59 " 13 " Carpets and Rugs 41 " 4 " Paper Goods 58 " 4 " Bookbinding 65 " 4 " The result is even more striking in this compari- son of percentages of over $12 per week than in the comparison of percentages under $6 per week. Nearly half of the males employed in these indus- tries receive more than $12, while the proportion of females receiving more than $12 exceeds 10 per cent, in only one instance, ranging in the others from 3 to 4 per cent. Whatever the ex- planation, a sharp contrast exists between the wages of males and of females in the Massachu- setts industries employing equal numbers of both sexes. III. The Wages op "Young Persons" Unlike all other State statistics, the Massachu- setts report refers to "young persons" as those persons who are under 21 years. As the usual maximum for minors is 16 years, any comparison with other States is somewhat difficult. Accept- ing the Massachusetts classification, however, a brief note will be made on the wages of the [39] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES minors employed in that State. The five indus- tries employing the greatest number of minors, with the classified weekly earnings in each, are on the following page. An analysis of this table shows a slight simi- larity between the wages of minors and the wages of women. Thus, of the five industries under consideration, the percentage of minors who received less than $6 per week is, — Cotton Goods 47 per cent. Boots and Shoes 37 " Worsteds 33 " Foundry Products 38 " Confectionery 80 " In none of these five industries do more than 9 per cent, of the minors receive over $8 per week. As with the women in Massachusetts, so with the minors, wages range below $6 for a goodly proportion, while almost none of the minors receive more than $9. The maximum of wages for any large group of women was $12, hence the wages of minors are somewhat below the wages of women in the upper wage groups. The range of the entire group of minors' wages is somewhat lower than that for females, with the exceptionof Confectionery, which appears from [40] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS *; b s a a U n ^ »H U [41] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES both the wages of females and of minors to be a very low-paid industry. The range of the per- centages of minors who earn less than $6 per week is very slight, probably showing that the character of their occupation is very similar as regards skill, judgment and like quahties. In Massachusetts, therefore, for the five indus- tries employing the largest numbers, nearly one- half of the minors employed received less than $6 per week. For the State at large, 80,944 minors were employed, of whom 37,271, or 46 per cent., received less than $6 per week. The five largest industries and the entire State are remarkably similar in this,-^that approximately the same percentage of women and of minors is paid a weekly wage of six dollars. IV. Weekly Wages in the Fotje Chief Industries The statistics thus far presented show for Massachusetts the variation in classified weekly wages from industry to industry, from sex to sex, and from adults to minors. The remaining task, by far the most difficult, is a summary of the wages in Massachusetts, in an attempt to answer that fundamental question, — "What are [42] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS wages?" This summary can best be presented in two ways : — First, by a statement of classified weekly earnings for the entire State; second, by a study of classified weekly earnings in the four industries of the State employing the largest number of persons. The following summary of classified weekly wages for the entire State is computed from page 82 of the Massachusetts Report for 1908. CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES— ALL INDUSTRIES, WITH PERCENT- AGE IN EACH WAGE GROUP FOR MALES, FEMALES AND YOUNG PERSONS (UNDER 21 YEARS).— MASSACHUSETTS, 1908 » Adult Males Adult Females Young Persons Classified Weekly (21 yrs. and over) (21 yrs. and over) (under 21 yrs.) Earnings Per Per Per No. Ct. No. Ct. No. Ct. Under $6 5,049 1 10,946 8 19,352 21 $5 to $6 6,216 2 14,610 10 17,919 22 6 to 7 13,684 4 23,809 16 18,057 23 7 to 8 22,469 7 24,414 l'? ,.- j / 10,854 14 8 to 9 31,472 9 21,780 Xs' 6,399 8 9tol0 41,399 12_,-», 18,609 13_ 4,196 6. 10 to 12 61,652 _1T;IJ ''18,426 13 2,810 S 12 to 15 70,293 20 8,769 6 1,032 1 16 to 20.. 69,996 20 3,363 2 281 * 20 and over 28,008 8 710 * 44 * Totals 350,118 100 144,935 100 80,944 100 * Less than 1 per cent. Thus, in 1908, of the adult male wage workers in Massachusetts, one-half received less than $12 ' Supra, p. 82. [43] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES per week; among the adult females, nine-tenths received less than $12 per week; while among the "young persons" (under 21 years of age) there were less than 2 per cent, who received over $12. On the other hand, while slightly more than one- quarter of the males received over $15 per week, only one-fiftieth of the females can be included in this class, and the "young persons" do not appear at all. Seven-tenths of all adult males receive weekly wages ranging from $9 to $20, while more than four-fifths of the adult females receive from $5 to $12 per week. The classified weekly wages of the adult males of Massachusetts are therefore almost twice as high as the wages of the adult females. The Massachusetts statistics for "young per- sons" include all ages up to 21 years. As the figures are for neither children nor adults, they are comparatively valueless. Hence, because of their slight value, and to reduce the quantity and complexity of the data presented, they will be largely omitted from the following discussion. The second approach to a summary of wages in Massachusetts may be made by a study of the four industries employing more than 25,000 work- ers each. These industries, in the order of the [44] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS numbers of persons employed, are Cotton Goods, Boots and Shoes, Foundry and Machine Shops, and Worsted Goods. The tables of classified weekly earnings of the males and females in these industries follow. PERCENTAGES OF ADULT MALES AND FEMALES (SI YEARS OF AGE AND OVER), RECEIVING CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES IN THE FOUR MASSACHUSETTS INDUSTRIES EMPLOYING THE LARGEST NUMBER OF PERSONS.— MASSACHUSETTS, 1908 1 Boot and Cotton Goods Shoe Industry Foundry and > HT .1. ;.. . Worsted Goods Adult Adult Adult Adult Shops Adult Adult Classified Weekly Males Females Males Females Adult Males Males Females Earnings Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Under $5 3 5 3 7 * * 1 $5 but under $6 4 10 1 6 « 4 6 6 ■• 7. 9 16 3 8 2 7 20 7 " 8. 16 19 4 11 4 10 22 8 " 9. 14 18 6 12 9 14 19 9 " 10. 14 15 7 14 13 12 10 10 " 12. 18 14 13 17 18 17 14 12 " 15. 14 3 21 16 22 19 7 IS " 20. 6 * 26 8 26 14 1 20 and over S * 18 1 6 3 * Totals. . 100 100 100 100 100 H)0 100 ' Less than 1 per cent. Cotton Goods, the largest Massachusetts in- dustry, in so far as the number of employees is concerned, pays the lowest wages of any of the leading industries. Of the adult males (over 21 years) nearly one-third receive under $8 per ilbid. [45] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES week, while four-fifths of the total adult males receive less than $12 per week, leaving only one- tenth of the entire number of adult males with weekly incomes of over $15. The wages of the adult females (over 21 years of age) are lower than the wages of adult males, but not lower in the proportion that they are in other industries. Half of the adult females receive less than $8 per week, nearly a half receive wages ranging from $8 to $12, leaving only one-twentieth of the adult females with weekly wages over $12, and none with weekly wages over $15. In the second largest Massachusetts industry (Boots and Shoes), wages range considerably higher than in Cotton Goods. Thus, among the adult males, only one-tenth receive less than $8 per week, as compared with one-third in Cotton Goods; two-fifths receive wages of less than $12 per week, as contrasted with four-fifths in Cotton Goods; while two-fifths receive more than $15 per week, as contrasted with one-tenth in Cotton Goods. Among the adult females, however, the wages range higher than the Cotton Goods wages. A third, instead of a half, receive less than $8, while three-quarters, instead of nineteen-twentieths, [46] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS receive wages under $12. Nearly one-tenth of the adult females in this industry receive more than $15 per week. From these two industries, the conclusion is obvious that, for a man settling in Massachusetts, a Boot and Shoe town is infinitely preferable to a Cotton Mill town, in so far as wages are con- cerned. The work may be harder or more tech- nical, but the difference in wage between the two industries is very considerable. The third industry. Foundry and Machine Shop, employs males only. In this industry wages range lower than in the Boot and Shoe industry, but much higher than in the Cotton Goods industry. One-twentieth of those em- ployed receive less than $8 per week; nearly one-half receive less than $12 per week; while one-third receive wages of more than $15 per week. Thus, while there are fewer Foundry workers who receive less than $8 per week than there are Boot and Shoe workers, there are con- siderably more Boot and Shoe workers (two- fifths) who receive over $15 per week than there are among Foundry workers (one-third). The Worsted industry, the last of the four leading Massachusetts industries, is more similar [47] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES to the Boot and Shoe than to any of the others, as the following comparison for adult males will show. PERCENTAGES OF ADULT MALE EMPLOYEES RECEIVING CERTAIN WEEKLY WAGES— MASSACHUSETTS, 1908 Cotton Boots and Worstee Weekly Earnings Goods Shoes Foundry Goods Under $8 ' 31 11 37 6 46 21 Under 12 77 64 Under 15 91 58 68 83 Over 20 3 16 6 3 Thus the Boot and Shoe industry pays by far the best wages to adult males, while the lowest wages are paid in the Cotton industry. A similar table for adult females brings out like contrasts. PERCENTAGE OF ADULT FEMALES RECEIVING CER- TAIN WEEKLY WAGES.— MASSACHUSETTS, 1908. Weekly Earnings Cotton Goods Boots and Shoes Worsted Goods Under $6 16 13 7 Under 8 50 32 49 Under 12 97 75 92 Over 15 — 9 1 While the variation between the wages of these adult females is not so great as that between the [48] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS wages of adult males, it is none the less consider- able between the Boot and Shoe industry, with three-quarters of the adult females receiving less than $12 per week, and the other two industries, with more than nine-tenths receiving a weekly wage of less than $12. V. Classified Annual Earnings est Massachusetts It is then, from these statistics of the wages in all Massachusetts industries, and in the four lead- ing industries, that an attempt must be made to show the average annual earnings in Massachu- setts. Like all wage statistics furnished by manufac- turers, the Massachusetts wages are somewhat unsatisfactory as a basis for computing annual earnings. "The actual earnings of the individual wage earner for a year cannot be determined from the records kept by employers, — for should it happen that one factory was idle, an operative might secure temporary employment in the same line of work with some other manufacturer, and in that way have his time fully occupied." ^ On the other hand, a factory may work con- '■ Supra, p. xxiv. [49] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES tinuously during the 305 working days of the year, but an individual may, during that time, lose 30 days from sickness. The returns from the manufacturer would not show this loss, which could be ascertained only by having a census of individuals. While the extent of unemployment due to per- sonal causes such as sickness is not directly de- terminable, the Massachusetts statistics do fur- nish the amount of unemployment caused by the cessation of work in the factories. This ascer- tainable unemployment must be deducted from the "weekly earnings" in any industry before they form a true basis for estimating the amount annually paid in cash to the employee. Too much emphasis cannot be laid on this subject of unemployment. A man receives $3 a day. "That," says the man on the street, "is enough." Enough for one day? Perhaps. But this worker may be employed only 200 of the 300 working days in the year, and his $3 for the days when he has work shrinks to $2 when averaged with the days when he has no work. Unemploy- ment is, moreover, a constant factor in industry, and even in "prosperous" years it must be reck- oned with, while in the lean years it is a spectre [50] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS of appalling magnitude to the average working- man.^ The Massachusetts Report for 1908 furnishes excellent statistics of the unemployment in each industry. Before drawing final conclusions as to wages in Massachusetts, it therefore becomes necessary to inquire into the extent of unemploy- ment during 1908. For the entire State, the manufacturers report 275 days worked out of a possible 305 working days. Or, expressed in percentages, the manu- facturers of the State were unemployed 12 per cent, of the working time. The table of Classified Weekly Earnings, after being multiplied by 52, must be reduced by 12 per cent, in order to repre- sent an accurate average for the year. The stated weekly earnings, after subtracting 12 per cent, for unemployment, would give, in annual earnings, the. percentages at the top of the following page. Of the three hundred and fifty thousand adult male wage workers in Massachusetts, slightly more than one-third receive less than $459 per year; seven-tenths earn less than $686 per year; more than nine-tenths earn less than $915 per 1 "The Ejrtent of Unemployment in the U. S." Scott Nearing. Publications of the Am. Statistical Ass'n, September, 1909, page 525. [51] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OF ADULT MALES AND ADULT FEMALES RECEIVING CLASSIFIED YEARLY EARNINGS (UNEMPLOYMENT DEDUCTED), ALL MAS- SACHUSETTS INDUSTRIES, 1908 Adult Males Adult Females Young Persons Classified Yearly (21 years and over) (21 years and over) (under 21 years) Earnings Under $229 275 320 366 " 412 459 549 " 686 915 Over 915 ?er cent. Per cent. Per cent. 1 7 24 2 17 46 5 33 69 12 50 83 21 65 91 35 79 96 52 92 99 72 98 100 92 100 * 8 * * • Less than 1 per cent. year; while only one-twelfth earn over $915 annually. Thus, for the adult male wage workers of one of the leading industrial States, the actual annual earnings of nine-tenths are less than $900 per year. The wages of the adult females are considerably lower than those of the adult males. Half of these workers earn less than $366 annually ; three-quarters earn less than $459 annually; while only one-fiftieth earn more than $686 per year. These statistics for an entire State, including very diverse industries, may well be supple- mented by statistics of the leading individual [52] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS industries. The classified weekly earnings of the four leading Massachusetts industries have al- ready been stated. It remains, however, to esti- mate the annual earnings in each industry by deducting from the average weekly earnings the percentage of time during which the industry was not operating its plants. In the Cotton Goods industry the percentage of unemployment amounted, as in the entire State, to 12 per cent. Making this deduction from the average weekly wages, the figures are, — CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OF ADULT MALES AND ADULT FEMALES RECEIVING CLASSIFIED YEARLY EARNINGS (UNEMPLOYMENT DEDUCTED) IN THE COTTON GOODS INDUSTRY.— MASSACHUSETTS. 1908 Classified Yearly (21 years and over) [21 years and Earnings Per cent. Per cent. Under $229 3 5 " 275 7 15 " 320 16 31 " 366 31 60 " 412 45 68 459 ..... 59 83 549 77 97 686 91 100 916 97 * Over 915 3 * Less than 1 per cent. * [53] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES The contrast between these figures and the fig- ures for the State at large is striking for the males, but neghgible for the females. Briefly summarized, the percentages of adult males earning certain annual amounts were, — Intire State Cotton Goods Per cent. Per cent. 35 59 72 91 92 97 Under $459 686 " 915 Thus the wages of adult males are considerably- lower in the Cotton Goods industry than in the industries of the State at large. CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE OF ADULT MALES AND ADULT FEMALES RECEIVING CLASSIFIED YEARLY EARNINGS (UNEMPLOYMENT DEDUCTED) IN THE BOOT AND SHOE INDUSTRY.— MASSACHUSETTS, 1908 Adult Males Adult Females Classified Yearly (21 years and over) (21 years and over) Earnings Per cent. Per cent. Under $239 3 7 " 287 4 13 " 335 7 21 "383 11 32 "431 17 44 " 478 24 58 "674 37 76 717 58 91 " 957 84 99 Over 957 16- 1 [54] WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS The unemployment In the Boot and Shoe in- dustry was only 8 per cent., leaving the annual earnings as follows, — Under $478 24 per cent. " 717 68 957 84 Thus there are one -sixth of the adult male Boot and Shoe workers earning more than $957 annually. CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OF ADULT MALES RE- CEIVING CLASSIFIED YEARLY EARNINGS (UNEM- PLOYMENT DEDUCTED) IN THE FOUNDRY AND MACHINE SHOP INDUSTRY.— MASSACHUSETTS, 1908 Classified Yearly Earnings p Under ! " 271 * 317 2 362 6 " 407 IS " 452 28 543 46 679 68 905 94 Over 905 6 * Less than 1 per cent. The range in the Foundry and Machine Shop industry is not so high as that in the Boot and [55] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES Shoe industry. The unemployment is consider- ably greater, amounting to 13 per cent. Reducing the classified weekly earnings in this proportion, it appears that, — of the adult male wage earners, — 28 per cent, receive less than $407 46 " " " " 543 94 " " " " 905 and 6 per cent, receive more than $905. CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OF ADULT MALES AND ADULT FEMALES RECEIVING CLASSIFIED YEARLY EARNINGS (UNEMPLOYMENT DEDUCTED) IN THE WORSTED INDUSTRY.— MASSACHUSETTS, 1908 Adult Males Adult Females Classified Yearly (21 years and over) (21 years and over) Earnings Per cent. Per cent. 1 7 27 49 68 78 92 99 100 * Less than 1 per cent. The unemployment in Worsted Goods is con- siderably less than in the Machine Shop industry [56] 296 4 " 346 11 395 21 " 445 35 " 494 47 583 64 741 83 " 988 97 Over 988 3 WAGE STATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTS (only 5 per cent.), hence the classified earnings of both males and females ra;nge considerably higher in that industry. The wages are generally much higher than in the Cotton industry, and lower than in either the Boot and Shoe or the Foundry industry. Therefore, in conclusion, it may be fairly stated that not more than one adult male wage earner in every twenty employed in the industries of Massachusetts receives, in annual earnings, for a normally prosperous year, more than $1000. On the other hand, more than one-third of all the adult males are paid wages under $500; more than one-haK receive wages under $600; while nearly three-quarters receive less than $700 an- nually. These figures are derived from a study, first of the State of Massachusetts as a whole, and second, from the four leading industries. Furthermore, they are maximum figures, for no deduction is here made for unemployment due to sickness, accident, death in the family, or other personal factors. In Cotton Goods, the leading Massachusetts industry, wages are very much lower than in the State at large, nearly three-fifths of all the adult male employees receiving less than $459 in 1908. [57] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES In the Boot and Shoe industry, on the contrary, wages are higher than in the State at large. The wages of adult females are very much lower than the wages of adult males. More than half of the adult females receive less than $400 annually, while a vanishing fraction exceed an annual wage of $700. In these two paragraphs are summarized the facts regarding wages in the State which collects and compiles wage statistics as accurate as, if not more accurate than, those of any of the States in the Union, [58] CHAPTER IV WAGES IN NEW JERSEY I. The New Jersey Statistics and Those of Massachusetts The last chapter contained a discussion of the wages of Massachusetts in 1908. The New Jersey report on wages which covers the year 1909 is, in many respects, similar to that for Massachusetts. The average wages are presented in the same manner; weekly wages are similarly classified by industry, age and sex (except that adults in New Jersey are over sixteen and not over twenty-one, as in Massachusetts) ; the weekly earnings for the entire State are given; and the number of days worked is classified by industries. Because of the similarity in these two groups of wage statis- tics, and because an analysis of New Jersey statistics yields results very like those yielded in Massachusetts, no attempt will be made to sub- stantiate the conclusions drawn in Chapter III [59] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES regarding, (1) The extent of wage variation from industry to industry; and, (2) The extent of variation between the wages of adult males and adult females. The present chapter will cover three points: (1) Classified weekly wages for the entire State. (2) Classified weekly earnings in the five industries employing the greatest number of persons. (3) Conclusions as to wages in New Jersey. II. The Classified Weekly Wages op New Jersey As was the case in Massachusetts the really valuable statistics are contained in the tables of classified weekly earnings. In New Jersey these earnings are given for the State at large, and for each industry specifically, and contain wage data by age and sex. The table on the opposite page presents the classified weekly wages for the entire State. One quarter of the men over sixteen years, and four-fifths of the women over sixteen years, re- ceive less than $9 a week; one-half of the men and nineteen-twentieths of the women receive less [60] WAGES IN NEW JERSEY PERCENTAGES OF EMPLOYEES RECEIVING CERTAIN CLASSIFIED WEEKLY EARNINGS— ALL NEW JERSEY INDUSTRIES, 1909' Classified Weekly Earnings Under Men Women (16 years and (16 years and , over) Per cent. $5 but under $6 6 " 7 7 " 8 8 " ' 9 9 " ' 10 10 " ' 12 12 " ' 15 15 " " 20 20 and ov er 4 3 5 6 8 15 16__ 17"" 17 9 over) Per cent. 22 19 19 13 9 7 6_ 4" 1 Minors (under 16 years) Per cent. 85 11 3 1 100 100 100 Total employed 204,782 68,360 6,822 than $12 a week; while one-quarter of the men and 1 per cent, of the women are paid more than $20 per week. A noticea.ble thing about this table is the small proportion of women among the New Jersey industrial workers — only one to three — a proportion considerably less than that in Massachusetts. The wages of the women are very considerably lower than the wages of the 1 Annual Report, Bureau of Statistics of New Jersey, 1909, Cam- den, 1910, p. 120. [61] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES men. Thus, of the women, 60 per cent, receive less than $7 per week, while of the men, 57 per cent, receive less than $12 per week. This table shows a rate of wages very similar to that of the males and females of the entire State of Massa- chusetts. The number of children employed in New Jer- sey is comparatively small, a little less than six thousand; and their wages are, in seventeen- twentieths of the cases, less than $5 per week. The wages of New Jersey children (under 16 years of age) and of Massachusetts young per- sons (under 21 years of age), are of course in- comparable because of the different statistical methods. The New Jersey figures show the wages of the children to be uniformly low — under $250 a year in most cases, while the numbers of chil- dren are small. III. Classified Weekly Wages in the Five Industries Employing the Largest Numbers op Wage Earners The study is again made more effective if the chief industries are studied separately and com- pared. [62] WAGES IN NEW JERSEY PERCENTAGES OF CLASSIFIED WEEKLY EARNINGS OF MEN AND WOMEN (16 YEARS AND OVER) IN THE FIVE LEADING INDUSTRIES —NEW JERSEY, 19081 Manufacture o£ Silk Industry (Broad Machinery and Ribbon) Men (16 years Earmngs and over) Per cent. ITnder $5 4 $5 but under $6 2 8 '• " 7 S 7 " " 8 6 8 " " 9 7 9 " " 10 8 10 " " 12 IS 12 " " 15 26 IS " " 20 21 20 and over 8 100 Total number employed 19,930 Woollen and Worsted Manufacture Industry of Oils , ' , Men Men Women (16 years (16 years (16 years Earnings and over) and over) and over) Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Under«5 * 6 23 »5 but under $6 * 12 SI 6 " " 7 2 12 16 7 " " 8 1 8 11 8 •• •' 9 1 8 - i 9 " " 10 30 11 4 10 " " 12 18 IS 6 12 " " 16 13 IS 8 15 " •' 20 28 10 2 20 and over 6 '^ 100 100 100 Total number employed 8,860 5,206 6,438 1 Supra, pp. 82-119. [63] Women Men Women (16 years (16 years (16 years and over) and over) and over) Per cent. Per cent Per cent. 29 6 13 17 4 10 18 6 16 18 7 16 9 6 10 B 9 8 6 16 12 1 22 12 • 21 3 * 6 « 100 100 100 602 10,674 10,818 Chemical Products Men Women (16 years (16 years and over) and over) Per cent. Per cent. 1 23 2 22 3 20 4 14 7 11 IS 6 28 3 21 1 IS • 6 • 100 100 6,667 1,93S WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES A comparison of these five industries shows a considerable variation in the wages of adult males. Thus, while 21 per cent, received less than $9 per week in the manufacture of Machin- ery, the percentages under $9 per week in the other industries were: Silk, 27 per cent.; Oils, 4 per cent.; Chemicals, 17 per cent., and Woollens, 46 per cent. Here is a direct relation between the standard of male wages and the proportion of women employed in the industry. In the indus- try with the least women (Oils), the percentage of men earning less than $9 per week is the lowest, while in the two industries (Woollens and Silk) in which the proportion of men and women is prac- tically equal, the percentage is highest. The same fact appears at the top of the wage scale. Of the employees in Oils, 34 per cent, receive more than $20, while in the Woollens and Worsted industry the percentage falls to 7 per cent. Turning to the wages of females, no such regu- lar variation occurs. In the industry with the smallest proportion of females (Machinery), 64 per cent, of the women received less than $7 a week; but in the Silk, Chemicals and Woollen industries, the percentages are 39, 65 and 70, respectively. Of course the women take very [64] WAGES IN NEW JERSEY inferior positions in the Machinery industry, while in the other three industries they come into direct competition with men. The wages of both males and females thus vary greatly from industry to industry; in the case of the males, in inverse relation to the number of women employed. In the case of the females, no rule of variation is apparent. IV. Annual Earnings in New Jersey In New Jersey the statistics of classified earn- ings are carefully compiled, and while the indus- tries are not so localized nor perhaps so repre- sentative as those of Massachusetts, the data based on them is of great value. Already the variation in wages from industry to industry has been established for Massachusetts and substan- tiated for New Jersey in the preceding paragraphs. It remains, at this point, merely to point out the annual earnings in New Jersey industries. Again, as in Massachusetts, unemployment plays a leading r61e in the determination of annual earnings. Before a conclusion as to an- nual earnings can be formed, the extent of unem- ployment must, therefore, be considered. The industries of the State worked 278.5 days in [65] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES 1909, — tliat is, they lost 10 per cent, of the work- ing time. Multiplying the weekly earnings by 52 and subtracting 10 per cent., the following table is secured: PEKCENTAGES OF EMPLOYEES RECEIVING CERTAIN CLASSIFIED ANNUAL EARNINGS (UNEMPLOYMENT DEDUCTED)— ALL NEW JERSEY INDUSTRIES, 1909 Classified Yearly Earnings Under $234 $234 but under $280 . 280 328 374 422 468 663 702 936 and over. 374. 422. 468. 563. 702. 936. Males Females (16 years and (16 years and over) Per cent. 4 3 6 6 8 16 16 17 17 9 over) Per cent. 22 19 19 13 9 7 6 4 1 Minors (under 16 years) Per cent. is 11 3 1 100 100 100 Total employed... 204,782 68,360 5,822 * Less than 1 per cent. It would seem from this table that two-fifths of the adult males in the industries of New Jersey earned less than $500 in 1909; that three- fifths earned less than $600; that three-quarters earned less than $700; while less than one-tenth [66] WAGES IN NEW JERSEY earned more tlian $936. Like results are obtained from an analysis of wages in the five industries of the State employing the largest numbers of persons, although the unemployment, hence the annual earnings, varies considerably from indus- try to industry. CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OF MEN AND WOMEN OVER SIXTEEN YEARS, RECEIVING CLASSIFIED YEARLY EARNINGS (UNEMPLOYMENT DEDUCTED) IN THE SILK (BROAD AND RIBBON) INDUSTRY- NEW JERSEY, 1909 Men Women Classified Yearly (16 years and over) (16 years and over) Earnings Per cent. Per cent. ider$247 5 13 " 296 9 23 " 346 14 39 395 21 55 " 445 27 65 " 494 36 73 " 583..... 52 85 " 741 74 97 988 95 100 er 988 5 — Total employed .... 10,574 10,818 The Silk (broad and ribbon) industry reports employment for 290 of a possible 305 days. De- ducting this unemployment from the classified an- nual earnings, it appears that, of the adult males [67] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES (16 years of age and over) one quarter received less than $500 a year; one half less than $600 a year; three-quarters less than $750 a year; while only one-twentieth receive more than $988 annu- ally. The range of adult male wages in the Silk industry is thus considerably less than the range in the State at large. The wages of women are also low, — more than half of the women employed receive less than $400 annually; while three-quarters receive less than $500, and nine- teen-twentieths receive under $750. CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE OF MEN AND WOMEN RECEIVING CLASSIFIED YEARLY EARNINGS (UNEM- PLOYMENT DEDUCTED) IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MACHINERY— NEW JERSEY, 1909 Men Women Classified Yearly (16 years and over) (16 years and over) Earnings Per cent. Per cent. Under $239 4 29 287 6 46 " 335 9 64 383 15 80 " 431 12 89 " 478 30 94 " 574 43 99 717 68 100 957 92 — Over 957 8 — Total employed . . 19,930 [68] 602 WAGES IN NEW JERSEY The Machinery industry, with 281 working days, pays much higher wages than those paid in the Silk industry. The numbers of males and females employed in the silk industry were almost identical, but in the manufacture of Machinery, at the less skilled tasks — such as core-making — only a small number of females are employed. Of the adult males engaged in the manufacture of Machinery one-third earned less than $500; two-fifths earned less than $600; three-fifths earned less than $750; while one- twelfth earned more than $957. Among the adult females, the wages are extremely low, — four-fifths earning under $400, and nineteen-twentieths under $500. Wages in the Woollen and Worsted industry, while somewhat lower than those in the Machin- ery industry, are rather higher than wages in Silk, though the unemployment is the greatest reported from any of the leading New Jersey industries — 272 days worked out of a possible 305. This heavy unemployment, of course, re- duces earnings considerably. The wages are, nevertheless, high. The adult males, for example, report only about one-half under $500; seven- tenths under $600; four-fifths under $750; and one-fourteenth over $926. The wages of females [69] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES are very similar in this industry to those of the Machinery industry, save that there are a few high-paid females in the Worsted industry, but none in the Machinery industry. Four-fifths of the adult females fall below $400, and nine-tenths below $500; but one-twentieth receive more than $700 annually. CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OP MEN AND WOMEN RECEIVING CLASSIFIED YEARLY EARNINGS (UN- EMPLOYMENT DEDUCTED) IN THE WOOLLEN AND WORSTED INDUSTRY— NEW JERSEY, 1909 Classified Yearly Men Women Earnings (16 years and over) (16 years and over) Under $231 6 22 " 278 18 54 324 30 70 370 38 81 417 46 85 463 57 89 565 70 95 694 83 98 926 93 100 Over 926 7 — Total employed 5,205 5,438 In the Chemical Products industry wages are very similar to those paid in the two textile industries just considered,' except that unemploy- ment is slight. One-third of the men earn less WAGES IN NEW JERSEY than $500; three-fifths earn less than $600; four- fifths earn less than $750, while one-sixteenth re- ceive more than $988 annually. Of the women, four-fifths receive less than $400; nine-tenths less than $500; and only one-hundredth more than $750 annually. CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OF MEN AND WOMEN RECEIVING CLASSIFIED YEARLY EARNINGS (UN- EMPLOYMENT DEDUCTED) IN THE CHEMICAL PRODUCTS INDUSTRY— NEW JERSEY, 1909 Men Women Classified Yearly (16 years and over) (16 years and over) Earnings Per cent. Per cent. Under $247 1 23 296 S 45 346 6 65 " 395 10 79 445 17 90 494 30 96 583 58 99 " 741 79 100 " 988 94 — Over 988 6 — Total employed 5,567 1,935 Men are employed almost exclusively in the Oil industry, and their wages are higher than the wages in any other great New Jersey industry, partly because they range high in the wage scale, [71] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES and partly because of steady employment. Only one-twenty -fifth are paid less than $475 a year; one-third less than $520; one-half receive less than $600 a year; three-fifths are paid less than $750 annually, and one-sixteenth receive more than $1,040. CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OF MEN RECEIVING CLASSIFIED YEARLY EARNINGS (UNEMPLOYMENT DEDUCTED) IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OILS— NEW JERSEY, 1909 Men Classified Yearly Earnings (16 years and over) Per cent. Under $260 — " 312 — " 364 2 416 3 468 4 520 34 624 53 " 780 66 " 1,040 ..: 94 Over 1,040 6 Total employed 8,860 For the State of New Jersey at large, and for the five industries employing the largest numbers of persons, it appears that, after deducting the known unemployment, between one-third and one-half of the adult males received less than [72] WAGES IN NEW JERSEY $500 in 1909; that from one-half to three-fifths received less than $600; that about three-quar- ters were paid less than $750; nine-tenths re- ceived less than $950; while from one-twentieth to one-tenth received $950 or over. The wages of adult females were very much lower. From three-quarters to four-fifths received less than $400; nine-tenths were paid less than $500, while a vanishingly small percentage received an annual wage of more than $750. [73] CHAPTER V KANSAS WAGE STATISTICS I. The Value and Scope of the Kansas Statistics The third State collecting and classifying wage statistics is Kansas. Though in this State the statistics are drawn from industries less general in character than those of Massachusetts and New Jersey, and though their presentation is less com- plete than in either of the other States, they are nevertheless sufficiently valuable to warrant a separate chapter. Included in this Kansas investigation were 1,918 establishments, of which 1,553 reported classified weekly earnings " for the week during which the largest number were employed." ^ Only about four-fifths, therefore, of the establishments of the State reported classified weekly earnings. The 1,553 establishments which reported were ' Annual Report Kansas Bureau of Labor, 1909. Topeka, 1910. P. 10. [74] KANSAS WAGE STATISTICS employing 54,948 wage earners, of whom 50,720 were adult males, 3,599 were adult females, and 629 were children under 16 years of age; hence it is apparent that the wage problem of the Kansas industries is a problem neither of women nor of children, primarily, but of men. The contrast is marked between Massachusetts and New Jersey, with tens of thousands of women and thousands of children at work, and Kansas, with three thousand six hundred women and six hundred children. In Massachusetts the women formed 30 per cent, of the total wage earners; in New Jersey, they formed 25 per cent.; but in Kansas, less than 7 per cent, of the total wage workers are women. A study of Kansas statistics must, therefore, lay its primary emphasis on the wages of men. The Kansas report gives classified weekly wages, by industries, by age, and by sex, together with total wages, but the average wages are entirely omitted. So are unemployment statistics, which proved so important a factor in computing the annual earnings in Massachusetts and New Jer- sey. Owing to the absence of these unemploy- ment figures, no such effective statement of annual earnings can be made for Kansas. [75] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES While the Kansas wage statistics omit average wages and unemployment statistics, the tables of classified weekly earnings furnish a basis for an eflPective study, which will appear in the remaining sections of this chapter. Three points wUl be covered in the course of the chapter: — 1. Wages in all of the industries of the State. 2. Wages in a selected group of the indus- tries employing the largest number of persons. 3. A summary of Kansas wage statistics, with an attempt to compute annual earnings. 11. Wage Grouping in the Industries OF Kansas The classified wage statistics of all Kansas industries appear in the following table. As the few, children under sixteen are scattered in a desultory manner over the various industries, they will be included in this table only. As a matter of fact, the child labor problem is a small one in Kansas, since there are only 629 working children in all, who are so distributed over the various in- dustries that in only two cases are there more [T6] KANSAS WAGE STATISTICS than 100 children in one industry (Bookbinding and Printing, 159; Slaughtering and Meat Pack- ing, 213). CLASSIFIED WEEKLY EARNINGS WITH PERCENTAGES IN EACH WAGE GROUP OF ADULT MALES AND ADULT FEMALES AND CHILDREN UNDER SIXTEEN. ALL INDUSTRIES— KANSAS, 1909' Adult Males Adult Females Children Classified Weekly (16 years and (16 years and (under 16 Earnings over) over) years) Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Under $5 2 25 58 $5, but under $6 1 17 8 6, " " 7 2 19 20 7, " " 8 3 12 10 8, " " 9 4 9 * 9, " " 10 14 6 4 10, " " 12 20^ 8^ — 12, " " 15 24' 2* — 15, " " 20 21 2 — 20. and over 9 * — 100 100 100 Total employed. .. . 50,720 3,599 629 * Less than 1 per cent. Among the adult males the wages are relatively high, since only 12 per cent, of them receive less 1 Annual Report, Kansas Bureau of Labor, 1909, Topeka, 1910. P. 10. [77] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES than $9 a week. Of the remaining 88 per cent., 34 per cent, receive wages between $9 and $12 per week; 24 per cent, fall between $12 and $15 weekly; while 30 per cent, receive more than $15 per week. On the other hand, the wages of the females are rather low, 61 per cent, receiving less than $7 per week; 21 per cent, from $7 to $9 per week, and only 4 per cent, over $12 weekly. The children (under 16 years) are comparable with the same group in New Jersey. As in the case of the wages of adult males, the wages of children in Kansas are slightly higher than the wages of children in New Jersey. Only 58 per cent, of the Kansas children fall below a weekly wage of $5, as compared with 85 per cent, in New Jersey. The variation is not marked, however, and in each State the numbers included are too small to furnish an accurate comparison. Thus, 12 per cent, of the men receive less than $9 per week, 82 per cent, of the women fall below that figure, and although 54 per cent, of the men receive wages of more than $12 per week, only 4 per cent, of the women are in this class. The discrepancy between the wages of men and women is thus more striking in Kansas than in either Massachusetts or New Jersey. [78] KANSAS WAGE STATISTICS The reason for this discrepancy appears upon an analysis of the individual industries. III. The Statistics op Leading Industries The industries of Kansas are man dominated because they are, in almost all cases, industries demanding physical strength and skill. The extent of this male domination is indicated by the fact that only four of the industries report more than one hundred women employed, and of these four, two, Soap and Glass, are small indus- tries reporting respectively 152 and 146 women. The only industries — Bookbinding and Printing and Slaughtering and Meat Packing — reporting the employment of many women, are large indus- tries, with 957 and 973 women, respectively, in their establishments. It is, therefore, in these two industries alone that any extensive statement of the wages of women can be found. Pursuant of this situation, the Kansas industries will be discussed in two separate groups — ^first: the two industries in which the largest number of women are employed; second: the eight addi- tional industries reporting the employment of the largest number of men. [79] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES PERCENTAGES OF ADULT MALES AND ADULT FEMALES EECEIV- ING CLASSIFIED WEEKLY EABNINGS IN THE TWO INDUSTRIES EMPLOYING THE LARGEST NUMBER OF ADULT FEMALES- KANSAS, 19091 Bookbinding and Slaughtering and Meat Printing Packing Adult Males Adult Females Adult Males Adult Females Classified Weekly Earnings Under $5 $5, but under i 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 20, and over 7. 8. 9. 10. 12, 15. 20. (16 years and over) Per cent. 8 4 4 4 5 B 10 15 25 20 (16 years and over) Per cent. 21 22 20 13 7 Total employed . 1,723 957 * Less than 1 per cent. (16 years and over) Per cent. 1 • 2 4 4 26 27 20 12 4 100 10,913 (16 years and over) Per cent. 6 4 34 15 11 S 13 B 2 100 773 In the Printing industry, the men bear the relation to the women of 2 to 1; but in the Slaughtering Industry, the relation is 14 to 1. The investigations into the statistics of Massa- chusetts and New Jersey would lead one to ex- pect the lowest wages in the industry in which the proportion of females is largest. Here, however, such is not the case. The Bookbinding and Printing Industry, dominated by a strong union, ' ' Supra, pages 13 and 26. [80] KANSAS WAGE STATISTICS and demanding peculiar qualities of skill and dexterity, employs a relatively large number of skilled men. One-fifth of all males employed in this industry receive weekly wages of more than $20, while three-fifths of all of the men employed in the industry are paid more than $10 a week. In decided contrast, only one-twenty-fifth of the male employees in the slaughtering industry re- ceive more than $20 a week, while only about one-third receive more than $12 per week. Two- fifths of all of the male printing employees receive between $12 and $20, while half of the male slaughtering employees receive from $10 to $12. The standard of wages in the Slaughtering in- dustry is distinctly lower — three-quarters of the wage earners are massed between $9 and $15 per week. On the other hand, the wages of adult females are distinctly lower in the Printing industry, where three-fifths receive less than $7 per week. In contrast with this, is the two-fifths in the Slaughtering industry who receive less than $7. Again, as in the case of Massachusetts, it seems impossible to deduce any fixed rule regarding the variations, from industry to industry, in the rela- tive wages of males and females. [81] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES PERCENTAGES OF ADULT MALES RECEIVING CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES IN THE INDUSTRIES EMPLOYING THE LARGEST NUM- BERS OF ADULT MALES— KANSAS, 1909' Classified Weekly Earnings Under $5 $5, but under t 6, 7, 8, 10, 1«, IS, 20, and over 7. 8. 9. 10. 14. 15. 20. Cars and Shop Construction ick and Tile ' Work Cement Coal Mining Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. « * 2 3 * 1 • 1 3 2 • 1 3 4 * 3 6 7 2 2 25 18 7 6 28 19 14 10 22 23 43 20 10 18 23 32 4 8 » 22 100 100 100 Total employed . 1,957 7,652 * Less than 1 per cent. 2,168 7,375 Flour and Foundries and Glass Per cent. 2 Per cent. Classified Weekly Grist Mills Machine Shops Factories Earnings Per cent. Under $5 7 $5, but under $6 6, " " 7 7, " ■• 8 8, " •' 9 9, " " 10 10, " " 12 12, " " 15 15, " " 20 20, and over Total employed . • 2 2 • 3 8 • 2 1 3 3 1 16 11 15 27 17 10 26 32 18 IS 20 17 6 8 28 100 100 100 2,223 2,503 1,862 * Less than ] per cent. ' Supra, pages 13- -27. Smelting and Refining Per cent. 2 1 I S 31 29 26 S 100 2,616 [82] EANSAS WAGE STATISTICS There are eight other industries employing more than 1,000 adult males, but practically no adult females. Beyond showing the wage dis- tribution within the industries, these tables can be of little real service. Here, also, the variation from industry to industry is considerable, and, so far as the statistics go, inexplicable. In all of the industries, the wages range rather high, — at least five-sixths of the employees earning more than nine dollars a week. There is also a con- siderable showing of high-paid men, particularly in coal mining and glass factories, where there are respectively 22 and 28 per cent, of earners receiv- ing over $20 per week. As will be indicated in a later section, unemployment is particularly preva- lent in these two industries, yet the weekly wages are unusually high. An analysis of the table shows, in most of the industries, a massing of earners between the $9 and $15 wage. The per- centages between these two extremes are: — Brick and Tile 75 per cent. Cars and Shops 60 Cement 64 Coal Mining 36 Flour 69 Foundries 60 Glass 43 Smelting 65 [83] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES With the exception of the two high-paid industries already mentioned, from three-fifths to three- quarters of all of the adult males are paid wages ranging from $9 to $15 per week. Bookbinding and Printing falls in the same class with Glass Factoring and Coal Mining, showing 30 per cent, of males between $9 and $15, while Slaughtering and Meat Packing reports 73 per cent, of the males in this class. The combined industries of the State reflect the general condition, with 58 per cent, of the adult male employees between $9 and $15 per week. IV. Summary of Kansas Wages The industrial conditions in Kansas differ in one notable respect from those in Massachusetts and New Jersey, — the industries of Kansas afford occupations for males and not for females. The male dominated industries are, on the whole, much higher paid than the female dominated industries,-^a proposition elaborated in some de- tail in the case of Massachusetts. Hence the industries of Kansas would, by inference, pay higher wages than the industries of Massachusetts and New Jersey. And in truth, a high level of wages is maintained. Unfortunately, no direct [84] KANSAS WAGE STATISTICS comparisons of yearly earnings are possible, be- cause the extent of unemployment is not given in the Kansas statistics. Therefore, in compiling the figures, the weekly wages are multiplied by 52. CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OF CLASSIFIED YEARLY EARNINGS (COMPUTED) FOR THE STATE OF KANSAS AND FOR THE THREE KANSAS INDUSTRIES EMPLOYING MORE THAN FIVE THOUSAND PERSONS— 1909 1 Cars and Classified Yearly Shop Con- Coal Earnings struction Mining (computed for Adult Adult S2 weeks) Males Males Slaughtering and Meat Packing Under $260 S16.... S64.... " 416 468 fiSO.... . _•' 624. . . . 780 •■ 1,040 $1,040 and over Per cent. Per cent. — 3 1 3 7 14 32 51 74 92 8 Total employed . 7,S52 4 B 8 10 16 26 46 78 22 7,S7S Adult Males Per cent. 1 • 3 7 II 37 64 84 96 4 Adult Females Per cent. 6 10 44 59 70 75 93 9S 100 All Industries , " i Adult Adult Males Females Per cent. Per cent 2 3 6 a 12 70 91 9 60,720 25 42 61 73 82 88 96 93 100 3,599 The above table is the result of the compilation. Cars and Shops and Mining are the only two in- dustries aside from Slaughtering employing more than five thousand persons. These three industries, employing more persons than any other industries in Kansas, show a marked wage variation. The wages of males in Cars and Slaughtering are much ' Supra, pages 13-26. [ 85] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES lower than in Mining and are remarkably similar. In both cases about one-third of the employees receive less than $500; one-half less than $600; three-quarters less than $750; and less than one- tenth receive over $1,000. There is a very good parallel between the wages of males in Cars and Shops and in the entire State; then, too, the wages of females in Slaughtering and in the entire State are similar in the upper half of the table. The mining wages are much higher than any others, — only a quarter of the miners falling below $600, while a quarter show above $1,000. The showing is apparent, however, rather than real, because the unemployment in the mines is very great. The latest available figures ^ for Kansas place the unemployment at 37 per cent, of the total working days in 1908, and 26 per cent, of the total in 1907. Compared with the unemployment in most industries — 5 or 10 per cent. — this unemployment appears very exces- sive. Hence an annual wage, computed without reference to unemployment, is more than favor- able to the miner. As before noted, the wages of females are noticeably lower than those of males, ' Production of coal in 1908. Edward W. Parker, U. S. Geo- graphical Survey, Washington, 1909. P. 122. [86] KANSAS WAGE STATISTICS — the proportion of females earning less than $520 is exactly twice that of males. Thus, while the wages of Kansas are appar- ently above the wages of Massachusetts and New Jersey, the difference is more apparent than real. When the character of the industry and the fac- tor of unemployment are taken into account, the Kansas wages show little higher than those of the two Eastern States for which accurate statis- tics are available. [87] CHAPTER VI SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS I. The Value of Special Reports The material collected by State labor bureaus is of considerable value, but as has already been indicated, its dependability is, in most cases, greatly impaired by the varying methods of col- lection and presentation, and by the impossibility of determining, in each instance, exactly what method was employed. The State reports pre- sent a picture of varying accuracy, which is, in the case of most States, little more than a pic- ture. In the preceding chapters, the more accu- rate State statistics have been discussed in detail. The present chapter includes a less comprehen- sive, but more specific group of statistics, con- tained in four special reports, which give the wages for three industries. Within two years the Wisconsin Railroad Com- mission, the Illinois Bureau of Labor and the United States Bureau of Labor have completed four wage investigations which are detailed, [88] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS specific, and, at the same time, sufficiently com- prehensive to form the basis for rehable deduc- tions. These reports constitute the best source of information at the disposal of a student of wages in the United States, — a statement which is particularly true of the two Federal investigations. Hence a chapter is devoted to their analysis, and great importance is attached to their contents. To be sure, these reports do not justify specific conclusions for any industries other than those directly investigated. By inference, however, the conclusions regarding wages in the steel plant at South Bethlehem, Pa., may be applied to the steel plants at Philadelphia, Steelton, Johnstown and Pittsburg, and in this manner a relative estimate be made of wages of the Steel industry in Penn- sylvania. As Pennsylvania heads the list of steel producing States, conclusions relative to wages in the Steel industry in Pennsylvania may with some precautions be applied to the Steel industry at large,— one of the leading industries of the United States. While," therefore, conclusions drawn by analogy from special wage reports are not absolutely rehable, they, nevertheless, con- tain some of the most dependable data available at the present writing. [89] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES n. The Telephone Industry in Mil- waukee, Wisconsin Two points of particular value are emphasized in this investigation of the Wisconsin Railroad Commission. The first relates to wages paid to females in Milwaukee by the Wisconsin Tele- phone Company, the second, to the wages paid throughout the State to the females in trades requiring an amount of skill and training similar to that demanded in the Telephone industry. The telephone investigation covers "operators" only, who are described as "skilled but not highly skilled." Their distribution over the wage scale is as follows: — CLASSIFIED DAILY WAGES OF "OPERATORS" O^^LY— EIGHT CITY OFFICES.— MILWAUKEE, WIS..1 JULY 15, 1908 Number Per cent. Rate per Day (Cumulative) (Cumulative) $0.75 55 15 .85 116 32 1.00 212 69 L15 271 74 1.25 352 96 1.35 365 99 1.50 367 100 ' Lorenz et al. vs. Wisconsin Telephone Co., Before the Railroad Commission of Wisconsin, December 30, 1908. P. 49. [90] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS An analysis of this table shows that of the total number of female telephone "operators" in Mil- waukee, on July 15, 1908, approximately one-third received less than 85 cents per day ($260 per year) ; a half received less than $1 per day ($325 per year); three-quarters received less than $1.15 per day ($360 per year) ; while only one-twentieth received more than $1.25 per day ($400 per year). Four-fifths of the telephone operators of Mil- waukee are thus distributed over the wage scale between $260 and $400 per year, — wages which are equal to $5 and $8 per week. The wages of a semi-skilled girl in Milwaukee, therefore, range from $0.75 to $1.50 per day ($4.50 to $9.00 per week), with an average wage of $1.04. In order to determine whether the Milwaukee Telephone operators were being underpaid, a care- ful comparison was made between wages in the Telephone industry, and in a group of selected industries which required a similar grade of intelli- gence and skill. The basis for this comparison was secured in a special reporffrom the Wiscon- sin Bureau of Labor on female employees in six- teen other occupations, throughout the State, involving three hundred and sixteen diflFerent establishments. In order to make the comparison [91] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES more accurate, the "highly skilled" and the "unskilled" workers were eliminated from the tables, leaving the following average wages in eight industries employing the largest numbers of women : '■ Occupation Total Employees Average Daily Wages Fur and Gloves 630 $1,112 Hats and Caps 319 1.930 Clothing 2,153 1.139 Paper and Pulp 85 1.163 Chairs 93 1.169 Awnings and Tents 198 .937 Boxes, Paper and Cigars . . . 234 .966 Boots and Shoes 734 1.115 The average daily wages, with the exception of Hats and Caps ($1.93) correspond very closely with the average for telephone operators ($1.04). The comparison justifies the conclusion that, in the State of Wisconsin, a semi-skilled girl will be able to earn wages of about $1.10 per day, $6.50 per week, or $340 per year, without making any allowance for unemployment, which would be particularly severe in manufacture of Hats and Caps, Clothing and Fur and Gloves. These conclusions as to the wages of females in Milwaukee are somewhat different from the con- ' Supra, pp. 41-43. [92] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS elusions derived from a study of wages in the department stores of Illinois (a neighboring, "North Central" State). III. The Wages of Women in Illinois Department Stores An exhaustive, but rather discursive study of women in the Illinois Department Stores in 1908 was presented in the Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for that year.' In Chicago, twenty-six stores reported, and in Other Cities twenty-two stores reported, making forty-eight stores in all. The wages paid in these stores, the conditions of work, and the home conditions of the workers are dealt with in thirty tables, only a few of which, however, bear directly on this wage study. It is indeed unfortunate that the names, or at least the size of Other Cities is not given, else some interesting deductions might be made re- garding the variation of women's wages with city size. Some indication of the variation from city to city may be secured, nevertheless. The ' Biennial Beport of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Illinois, 1908. Springfield, 1910. Pp. 413-592. [93] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES "average weekly earnings when first employed" were: ^ Total Employees Earnings Chicago 2,118 $6.98 Other Cities 438 5.68 The variation in averages between Chicago and Other Cities is thus about twenty-five per cent. The range of wages among the various Chicago stores is very much greater, with a minimum of $3.98 in a store employing one hundred and forty- nine women and a maximum of $9.45 in a store employing seventy women. Among the stores in Other Cities the average weekly earnings when first employed range from $3 in a store employ- ing fifteen women to $7.77 in a store employing thirty-four women. Thus, in Other Cities both the total average wage and the maximum and minimum average wages are slightly lower than in Chicago. The range of wages from store to store (more than 100 per cent, over the minimum) is equally great in Chicago and in Other Cities. An idea of wages can be secured, however, only by a table of classified earnings, — hence a table for the women in the Department Stores at the present time: ^ 1 Supra, pp. 423-4. ' Supra, p. 435. [94] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS Classified Weekly Earnings Under $5 $5, but under $6.. 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, and over , 7. 8. 9. 10. 12. 15. 18. Department Stores Factories 1908 1906 Number Per cent, of Number Per cent, of Employed Total Employed Totol 117 146 274 267 255 207 404 390 309 177 Totals 2,556 5 6 11 10 10 8 16 15 12 7 100 351 301 386 332 331 179 247 105 24 2 2,258 15 13 17 15 15 8 11 5 1 100 One-fifth of the lUinois Department Store workers are paid less than $7 a week; half receive less than $10 a week. On the other hand, one- fifth receive more than $15, and one-fourteenth more than $18 as weekly wages. The employees are distributed over the wage scale from $6 to $18 per week with remarkable uniformity, only here and there showing any great variation. In order to throw the wages of Department Store workers into their proper relation, they were paralleled by the wages of women working in Illinois factories. Though the Department Store wages are for 1908 and those of the factories are [95] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES for 1906, the wages will bear comparison. While the numbers of women in each case (Stores 2,556, and Factories 2,258) are almost identical, the value of the comparison is greatly lessened because no indication is furnished of the character of the fac- tory work under consideration and of the com- parative age of the two groups of workers. For the women employed in Illinois Department Stores, therefore, the wages are apparently higher than the wages of the factory workers. The comparison is necessarily incomplete because of the lack of information regarding the sources of the factory data. The Department Store wages, however, by comparison with the wages of females in the industries of other States, are very high, while the wages of the Illinois Factory workers are similar to the wages of Factory workers in Massa- chusetts and New Jersey. IV. The Investigation of Telephone Companies No more effective wage material exists than that presented in the report of the investigation by the Secretary of the United States Depart- ment of Commerce and Labor, into the telephone companies of the United States. The statistical [96] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS tables, while somewhat detailed, were compiled from pay-roll data furnished by telephone com- panies; hence they will provide material for a thorough-going comparison of wages, — (1) geo- graphically; (2) by sex; and (3) for a representa- tive industry. ; There is considerable misunderstanding as to the wage variation between geographical areas. As a later chapter wiU be devoted to a thorough discussion of the factors involved in the problem, it is sufficient in the present connection merely to point out the extent to which geographic location influences wages in the telephone industry. The material now under consideration furnishes an excellent basis for a study of geographic varia- tion in wages. The character of the work per- formed by the telephone employees is practically identical in all cases; the general management (Bell Telephone Company) is the same; the cities, with the exception of New York, are all fairly comparable in size; so that the investigation lends itself peculiarly to an accurate comparison of the wages paid for given employments in widely separated places. The comparison is, moreover, between twenty-six cities, distributed as nearly as may be over the various geographical areas of [97] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES the United States. The cities, classified according to geographic location, together with the numbers of operators employed and the average monthly wages, appear in the following table: AVERAGE MONTHLY RATE OF WAGES OP TELEPHONE OPERATORS' Number of Average Monthly City Operators Rate of Wages North Atlantic Philadelphia, Pa 750 $29.16 Pittsburg, Pa 678 27.55 Baltimore, Md 346 27.70 Boston, Mass 1,625 33.01 New York City, N. Y 2,825 36.96 South Atlantic Washington, D. C 285 27.09 Atlanta, Ga 139 24.78 Birmingham, Ala 73 24.01 Richmond, Va 67 25.53 North Central St. Louis, Mo 466 29.44 Indianapolis, Ind 180 26.04 Chicago, III 3,385 31.69 Cincinnati, Ohio 606 27.74 Cleveland, Ohio 322 25.59 Omaha, Nebr 257 29.62 1 "Investigation of Telephone Companies," Senate Document 380, Sixty-first Congress, Second Session. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1910. Page 94. [98] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS AVERAGE MONTHLY RATE OP WAGES OP TELEPHONE OPERATORS— Conftreued Number of Average Monthly City Operators Rate of Wages South Central Covington, Ky 66 $26.61 Louisville, Ky 119 23.31 Nashville, Tenn 175 - 22.40 New Orleans, La 189 24.37 Dallas, Tex 235 27.32 Western Denver, Colo 339 33.48 Los Angeles, Cal 326 35.09 Portland, Oreg 275 34.74 San Francisco, Cal 509 35.84 Seattle, Wash 267 35.00 Salt Lake City, Utah 82 34.84 From this table it appears that, with the excep- tion of New York ($36.96), the range of average monthly wages is remarkably small. In the North Atlantic Division from $27.55 (Pittsburg) to $33.01 (Boston); in the South Atlantic Divi- sion from $24.01 (Birmingham) to $27.09 (Wash- ington); in the North Central, $25.04 (Indian- apohs) to $31.69 (Chicago); in the South Central from $22.40 (Nashville) to $27.32 (Dallas); and in the Western Division from $33.48 (Denver) to $35.84 (San Francisco). If the North Atlantic Division is compared with the North Central [99] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES Division, and the South Atlantic with the South Central Division, the range in wages is neghgible. Even the range between the lowest Southern city (Nashville, $22.40) and the highest Northern city (New York, $36.96) is no greater than might be expected when the size and cost of living in both cities are considered. The comparison of a similar employment, in one industry, under one management, located in twenty-six cities in all parts of the United States, leads to the conclusion that, with the exception of the Western States, wages vary only slightly from one geographic division to another. Within the same geographical area the range of wages is almost as great as is the range between geographic divisions. In the Western States, while the range is less than in any division, the average wage is several dollars above the average in the other divisions. » Though the wages of "telephone operators" lend themselves, perhaps, better than any other group of average wages to geographic compari- son, they are wages paid to women. It may possibly be urged that the wages of women vary less with location than the wages of men. In order to avoid the possibility of such criticism, a [100] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS further analysis is presented of the classified monthly wages of certain groups of men, by geographical area.* These particular occupations were selected, first, because they were reported from most of the cities; second, because they are highly specialized, hence similar in the different sections of the country; and third, because the largest numbers of males were listed under these headings.^ North Atlantic Pittsburg... Boston New York. $46-S0 CABLE SPLICERS 60-70 50-60 19 i 131 South Atlantic Atlanta Birmingham . North Central St. Louis .... Chicago Cincinnati . . . Cleveland. . . Omaha South Central Louisville Nashville .... New Orleans . Dallas i 4 21 1 70-80 1 6 7 4 14 2 4 1 80-90 90-100 12 11 46 13 13 3 Wedem Denver Los Angeles . . . Portland, Greg San Francisco. Salt Lake City 1 Supra, pp. 123-258. 20 16 s 15 7 24 3 [101] ' Supra, pp. 180-242. WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES LINEMEN North Atlantic $35-40 40-45 45-60 50-60 60-70 70-80 80-90 90-100 100-186 Pittsburg M SS 70 S Boston 6 41 60 67 SS NewYork 16 70 83 South Atlantic Atlanta Birmingham . North Central St. Louis . . Chicago . . . Cincinnati . Cleveland . Omaha.. . . 12 3 8 3 36 46 36 100 20 12 29 6 2 20 8 7 20 1 111 Western Denver Lo3 Angeles . . . Portland, Oreg San Francisco . Salt Lake City 3 16 5 3 26 21 12 34 18 43 22 16 10 FOREMEN $50-60 60-70 70-80 80-90 90-100 100-126 125 and North Atlantic over Pittsburg 3 7 21 2 2 Boston 2 1 3 6 1 1 8 New York 1 . . 6 16 27 SO 26 South Atlantic Atlanta .. ., ., 1 Birmingham . . . . . . 1 North Central St. Louis 4 4 17 1 Chicago 1 6 6 25 38 S3 4 Cincinnati 1 16 7 9 2 Cleveland 1 10 1 Omaha 2 112 S 2 [102] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS $60-60 60-70 70-80 80-90 90-100 100-185 1S5 and Sovth CerUral over Louisville 1 2 s 1 2 Nashville . . s 2 New Orleans 1 .. 3 lo 2 Dallas .. 4 1 Western Denver .. 1 g j i '2 Los Angeles .. 1 .. 1 84 1 Portland, Oreg S S 12 2 San Francisco 1 . . 1 8 47 S Salt Lake City S These tables are remarkably similar in geo- graphic grouping. In the North Atlantic, South Atlantic and North Central divisions the wage distribution is very similar in all three occupations, while in the South Central Division it is slightly lower and in the Western Division slightly higher than in the other three. The conclusions reached from a study of the wages of female telephone operators are thus fully confirmed by a study of the wages of Cable Splicers, Linemen and Foremen, — all male em- ployees. Both groups of statistics support the statement that wages are shghtly lower in the South Central and slightly higher in the Western Division, and that the variation in wages from one geographical division to another is at most slight. [103] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES Another phase of the geographic variation of wages appears in the figures which show the variations from small to large towns in the same geographic area. These variations are illustrated by a table giving the wages of operators only, for towns of different sizes served by the same com- panies. ^ Missouri and Kansas Northwestern Telephone Co. Telephone Co. Average t Average Number Monthly Number Monthly of Rate of of Rate of Operators Wages Operators Wages Towns under 5,000 .... 346 $18.21 52 $23.71 SS.W Towns 5,000 and under 15,000.. 212 19.92 149 Towns 15,000 and under 25,000 . 119 22.98 24 22.63 Towns 25,000 and over. 555 26.03 825 27.99 These figures apparently justify the presump- tion that wages vary in amount directly with popu- lation. While not considerable, the variations are somewhat greater than the variations between the cities of similar size in the same geographical area. Since similar variations occur between large cities similarly located, these figures are far from establishing a definite relation between city size and the amount of wages in a given industry. However, they create a strong presumption in favor of such a relation. ' Supra, p. 94. [104] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS The data in this report does not permit of any deductions regarding the extent of variation be- tween the wages of men and of women, as the great majority of the occupations t^onnected with the telephone industry are performed by either men or women. In a few instances, however, both sexes are employed at the same occupation, and while it is impossible in any instance to state whether the work performed by both sexes was similar in quality and in quantity, the presumption is that it was approximately the same. In view of this presumption, the table on page 106 is most sig- nificant. A study of this table shows that in every occu- pation under discussion the wages of women are much lower than those of men. Of the clerks, the most numerous group analyzed, two-thirds of the females receive wages between $30 to $50 per month, while the wages of four-fifths of the men in the same group are over $50 per month. Sim- ilar contrasts appear in all of the occupations. The third point for which this study affords material is the distribution of wages within an industry. Few statistics are available to show the numbers of employees in a given industry who are receiving specified amounts of wages, but the be- [ 105 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES n I Q ^ • « « O 4* -2 f=^ i a *ifl l> OS M . fH to i-l 1 1 ^ M i 1 i4 »o M S o (M ^i o "S 3 a to J 3 1 o S g s :s ^» 1^ g s 2- O* w^ i? «» uS 1 o Is «& 1 ^ ■* US CO ^ ■ M s 8 n o CO rH CM 3 P § -d a & go 1 a «0- s "(3 »o 5 f-t s g ss CO •a CO Wo a « Ck U 1^ C4 1 m w to 50 o 00 03 fe« i W t" 1 & Pn Z ly a rS o w tJ 3 J CO a 2; CO 00 1> O l-H en £"2 P c3 i> M5 CO ^1 S 5&: Ph [xt 3 w Qt U5 «> CD t> >-t SO >o U!3 i-i «^ ,o CO •O^ <«< •* 5 «« E-1 ■* feH °^, •1 OS ^ I> « no b- c* a MS l^ CO -* o 60 t- C0_ « ^ i4 *"• C4 m o 1, ^ t- ^ CO ^ ^ O I> ti H 01 U5 u> o 00 W3 ■g S (H •^ ■* CO Ph a Q, O, ho g o-i-a-aJIsl o ^ Ji -o I lS S M o y u h? S m [106] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS lief is prevalent that there is "plenty of room at the top." This belief is rudely shaken by an analysis of wage grouping in the Telephone in- dustry. As the telephone investigation included employments ranging from "messenger" to "su- perintendent," a summary of the industry should present a very fair picture of the distribution of wages in one great industry .^ MONTHLY WAGE— MALES Under $125 and $50 50-60 60-70 70-80 80-90 90-100100-126 Over New York S97 485 617 647 349 880 257 225 Chicago 518 834 678 634 40S 182 163 63 San Francisco 31 23, 163 154 46 243 97 28 Bell System 2,591 2,760 2,943 2,950 1,357 1,313 902 610 The Telephone industry, let it be borne in mind, is a skilled industry throughout. The number of "laborers" employed is very small. The vast majority of the employees are "linemen," "cable splicers," "foremen," "clerks," "book-keepers," etc. Nevertheless, a study of this table shows that of all the males employed in this industry, on the entire Bell System, 19.9% received less than $600 per year; 34.9% less than $725 per year; 73.4% less than $1,000 per year; and 96.1% 1 Supra, pp. 180-242. [ 107 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES less than $1,500 per year, leaving 3.9% receiving over $1,500 annually. Thus the vast majority of the employees of the Bell System receive wages of less than $3 per day ($1,000 per year), while almost the entire group of employees falls below $5 per day ($1,500 per year). An analysis of the separate figures for New York and Chicago shows them to be a shade above the figures for the entire system, while the wages in San Francisco are con- siderably above those for all the Bell companies. The Federal Telephone investigation, therefore, shows that wages vary only slightly from one geographical location to another; that wages in the North Atlantic, South Atlantic and North Central divisions are very similar, a little lower in the South Central and a little higher in the Western Division; that in similar employments the wages of men are much higher than the wages of women; and that 96 per cent, of the male employees in a representative nation-wide in- dustry receive less than $1,500 a year. V. The Bethlehem Steel Works Investigation A sharply contested strike in February, 1910, led to a Senate resolution which furnished the [ 108 ] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS basis for one of the most intensive modern wage studies. The resolution in question, directing the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to report on worldng conditions at the Bethlehem Steel Works, was followed by a searching investigation and the publication of a special report containing some excellent wage material. The varying length of the working day and the working week led the investigators to state all wages in terms of wages per hour. This method, although it does not furnish a basis for accurate data of yearly earnings, is best adapted to a consideration of these statistics, hence it will be followed in the tables appearing in the present discus- sion. The data collected at South Bethlehem, con- sisting of a transcript of the pay-roll of 9,184 employees for January, 1910, is stated by wage groups and by occupations. Both series of fig- ures are available for this study. The wages classified by earnings per hour are more specific and satisfactory than those classi- fied by employments. They are summarized on next page. An analysis of the table may well be prefaced by the statement that, taking into consideration [109] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES NUMBER AND PER CENT. OF BETHLEHEM STEEL WORKS AMOUNTS PER HOUR AND EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT Classified Earnings per Hour 4 and under 6 cents . fi t i t 8 " 8 10 " 10 12 " ^9. 14 " 14 16 " 16 18 " ..T. ... .^.7. IS ' 20 " m ' 22 " 9.9. ' 24 " 9A ' 26 " 9,fi ' 28 " 98 ' 30 " 30 ' 32 " m ' 34 " 34 ' 36 " 3fi ' 38 " 38 ' 42 " 42 ' 46 " 4fi ' 60 " 60 fp nts and Total EMPLOYEES OP THE EARNING CLASSIFIED PER CENT . EARNING OR LESSi Per Cent, of Employees Earning Employees Specified in Each Amount per Group Hour or Less a 97 a 1.1 a 38 a 1.5 a 100 a 2.6 53 3.1 2,640 31.9 1,528 48.5^--- 1,162 61.2 551 67.2 677 74.6 480 79.8 581 86.1 432 90.8 93 91.8 256 94.6 146 96.2 121 97.5 52 98.1 55 98.7 36 99.1 65 99.8 21 100.0 9,184 100.0 a Apprentices. ' Report on Strike at Bethlehem Steel Works. Charles P. Neill. Govt. Printing Office, Washington, 1910. P. 60. [110] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS the working hours at Bethlehem works, fourteen cents per hour is equivalent to about $500 per year; eighteen cents to $625 per year; twenty- two cents to $750 per year; thirty cents to $1,000 per year; and fifty-two cents to $1,400 per year. The longest hours were found, on the whole, among the lowest paid workers, hence the ratio between hourly pay and annual earnings changes in the higher paid employments. . Applying these computations to the table of {/ classified earnings, it appears that nearly one- third (31.9%) of the total number of employees were earning $500 per year or less, while nearly two- thirds (61.2%) were earning $625 per year or less. Of the remaining third (30% of the total) nearly all fall below an annual income of $1,000, leaving only 8.2 per cent, of the total number of em- ployees enjoying a yearly wage in excess of $1,000. These facts are rendered still more significant when it is recollected that the steel industry is demanding a large share of highly skilled labor — an industry which is commonly beheved to pay high wages. A still more striking variation in wages paid appears in a consideration of the wages by de- partments. [Ill] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES CLASSIFIED EARNINGS PER HOUR (IN CENTS) OF EMPLOYEES OF BETHLEHEM STEEL WORKS, BY DEPARTMENTS— JANUARY, 1610 1 12 and 14 and 18 and 18 and 20 and 22 and 24 and under under under under under under under Departments 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 Electrical IS 13 11 32 IS 6 9 Armor-plate 32 14 13 9 3 8 4 Machine Shop No. 2. 67 154 162 82 82 78 113 Mill— PuddUng 13 19 16 3 IS 11 9 Crucible 38 10 28 9 5 2 2 Blast Furnace 108 90 28 14 5 4 4 Steel Foundry 202 66 84 14 26 27 65 Erecting S38 123 12 1 11 2 4 Yard Stocking 268 71 60 20 24 9 These nine employments have been selected and arranged to show the diminution of high- paid, and the increase of low-paid employees from department to department. The Electrical De- partment is comparatively skilled, including among its 110 employees only 38 under eighteen cents per hour. The Armor Plate and Machine Shop departments show a higher percentage of low-paid men, — a percentage which is constantly increased, until in the Yard Stocking department only 39, or 9 per cent., of the 444 employees are receiving more than 18 cents per hour. The restricted scope of the South Bethlehem investigation renders unsafe any general conclu- sions from it, but for this one plant, and by ' Supra, pp. 68-69. [112] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS inference for the steel mills of Eastern Pennsyl- vania, the high-paid man (earning $1,000 on full time) constitutes less than one-tenth of the entire working force, while in the same industry more than half of all the employees receive less than $625 per year. Within the plant, the wage varia- tion from department to department is con- siderable. In one department the proportion of workers receiving more than 18 cents per hour ($625 per year) is one-third, while in another department the proportion is nine-tenths. VI. Some Deductions The two special reports on the wages of females' lead to the conclusion that, in the first place, the semi-skilled female in the Factory or Telephone industry of Wisconsin receives an average wage of $1.10 a day ($335 a year) if work is continuous; that, in the second place, the women employed in the Illinois department stores are paid wages con- siderably in excess of this figure; that, finally, the v/ages of factory workers in Illinois, while con- siderably less than the wages of the department- store workers, correspond very closely with the wages of the Wisconsin factory workers. Hence it may be fairly concluded that, for two States in [US] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES the North Central group and by inference for neighboring States, the semi-skilled female who is continuously employed earns less than $350 annually. From the Illinois report, the student must conclude that department-store wages, when compared with factory wages, are relatively high. The intensive telephone investigation made by the Federal Government gives a clear picture of wages in one great skilled industry. The wages of telephone operators (females) under one manage- ment vary slightly from city to city. These wages are noticeably lower in the South Central and noticeably higher in the Western cities, yet the variation from one geographic area to another is little greater than the variation from city to city within the same geographic area. Tables of wages for various male employments confirm the above deductions, which are based on the wages of females. Two companies which served both large and small cities, reported a marked varia- tion in the wages of operators with city size. Whether this variation is due to the varying character of the work in large and small towns, or to the lower wage standards of small towns, is not clear from the figures. The most marked variation in the telephone [114] SPECIAL WAGE REPORTS wages is tlie variation by sex. Even in employ- ments which are apparently similar, the wages of females are lower than the wages of males. This showing is particularly noticeable in the figures for the entire industry. The telephone employees are, on the whole, highly paid, — one-fifth of the men receiving more than $1,000 per year, while the remainder of the employees, both male and female, are distributed over the upper wage groups. The report on the wages at South Bethlehem, giving a transcript of the pay-rolls of a great steel plant for one month, shows that nine- tenths of all of the employees received less than $1,000 annually. The wage variation from de- partment to department was particularly marked. In one instance, nine-tenths of the department employees received less than $625 per year. Therefore, for females, for one national skilled industry, and for an individual steel plant, the special wage reports furnish wage statistics which, when compared with wage data from the other available sources, should permit of far-reaching conclusions. [ 115 ] CHAPTER VII THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES I. The Significance of a Wage Average As was noted in a previous chapter, State wage statistics are usually presented in the form of averages— only in the exceptional case are classi-. fied earnings published. To be sure, some of the . labor bureaus content themselves with a bare statement of minimum and maximum wages, but such cases are, fortunately, rare. Since many of the wage reports deal with average wages only, and then in a thoroughly reprehensible manner, it would not be amiss to ask at the outset what an average wage really is and what importance may be attached to it. Webster's New International Dictionary states that an average is "Any medial estimate or gen- eralization derived from a comparison of diverse specific cases." This thought may be more clearly brought out by an illustration. Two groups of men are working, — ten carpenters at [116] THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES $3 per day and twenty laborers at $1.50 per day. The Bureau of Labor writes to the employer, requesting a statement of average wages. The employer adds $3 and $1.50, divides by 2 and sends his reply — "Average wages, $2.25." The employer has compared two diverse cases, and reached an estimate based on the comparison. If the carpenter helped the laborer to pay his landlord and grocer, an average would be a much fairer statement of wages. Nothing of the kind occurs, however, since the laborer must meet all bills with his $1.50, while the carpenter, to meet like bills, has $3. Thinking of an "average" wage of $2.25, you say, "Yes, they are fairly well off." "They" meaning nobody, your statement is absurd unless you know that, in reality, the car- penters are comparatively well off; the laborers, comparatively badly off. The average in this case merely misleads, since neither the carpenter nor the laborer is receiving $2.25. The average wage is an abstract concept, mathematically cor- rect, but socially misleading. A statement that the average wage in the building trades is $2.25 a day leads at once to the conclusion that build- ing trade employees can provide for themselves a certain quantity of coal, potatoes, woollen cloth- [117] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES ing and the other necessaries of life. In other words, men inevitably think of wages in terms of pm-chasing power, yet this $2.25 wage does not represent the purchasing power of any one individ- ual. The average wage therefore represents neither purchasing power nor the wage act- ually paid, but a wage falling somewhere be- tween actual wages. When you hear, therefore, that average annual wages in a State are $500, you may know that some workers are receiving more than $500 and some less than $500, but that no one laborer is necessarily receiving $500. Nevertheless, as the State labor bureaus furnish average wages, a desire to learn what wages really are must lead to such utilization of these averages as is scientifically possible. Fortunately, some use of the averages is permissible. For example, if all of the States compile their wages in a similar manner, the resulting averages are certainly comparable, though they may not accurately represent the actual amount of wages paid. If, in addition, a State give^ both average and classi- fied earnings (e. g. Massachusetts and New Jer- sey), and if the averages in Pennsylvania corre- spond closely with the averages for New Jersey, it may fairly be inferred that absolute wages in I 118 ] THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES the two States are similar. That, in fact, is the conclusion which may ultimately be reached. But all wage averages are not useless. To be sure, if the total amount paid in wages in the State of Illinois be divided by the total number of wage earners, the resulting average is meaning- less. On the other hand, average wages for the Bituminous Coal Mining industry would be fairly worthy of attention, because in this industry the vast majority of employees do approximately the same kind of work and earn about the same wages. Carrying the illustration one step further, the average wage of the brakemen on a certain divi- sion, or of the carpenters on a certain operation, would be a very real picture of actual conditions, because the wages would be practically the same for all of the men in so narrow an employment. An average wage for an entire State, except for comparison with a State having similar industries, is valueless; an average for a great industry may be used for comparison with similar industries, although when standing alone it means very little; while an average for one employment within a given industry may be very valuable. [119] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES II. Methods for Computing Average Wages An average may be either a simple mathemati- cal average, or a weighted average. The simple average, by far the least satisfactory, is secured by adding the rates of wages and dividing by the number of different groups of wage earners. Thus,— 10 Carpenters $3.00 per day 20 Laborers 1 .50 " " Total $4.50 Average 2 . 25 The greatest opportunity for error exists in such a computation, because there are many more laborers than there are carpenters. Hence it is not fair to consider the rates of wages alone, unless the same numbers of both trades are employed. This objection has led to the exten- sive use in wage reports of the "weighted aver- age," which depends upon the numbers employed as well as upon the wage rate, thus, — 10 Carpenters at $3.00 $30.00 20 Laborers at 1.60 30.00 30 Workers— Total $60.00 Weighted average 2.00 [ 7^0 ] THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES The adoption of the weighted average in this case reduces "average wages" from $2.25 to $2.00. It is undoubtedly the most reliable form of average, and is most generally employed. The "average wage," no matter how computed, must be used with great care. Yet, in view of the paucity of classified wage statistics and the prevalence of average wage statistics, an attempt must be made to utilize the average statistics available. Since these exist primarily in the reports of the State labor bureaus, although the Federal Government has issued several average wage studies which will also be utilized, the next few pages will be devoted to an analysis of those State reports which publish average wages. III. Michigan, New Hampshire and Rhode Island The wage statistics of Michigan, New Hamp- shire and Rhode Island will be commented on, but not studied. The average wages for Michigan include the entire State, together with certain leading cities. Although they are very general, and have been mentioned in another connection, they will be briefly reviewed here. [121] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES AVERAGE DAILY WAGES IN MICHIGAN— 1909 BY GROUPS OF EMPLOYMENTS! Entire State Det roit * Grand r Rapids 1 Average ' Average Average Employments Number Daily Wage Number Daily Wage Number Daily Wage Superintendents 9,194 $5,07 .... Foremen 9,213 3. 31 Male Office Employees 9,862 2.10 •*.... Female " " 6,619 1.67 Male Factory Workers 209,967 2.06 78,402 $2 28 18,132 $2 08 Female " " 42,789 1.14 22,318 1 27 3,786 1 16 Boys under 16 2,746 .88 1,493 91 213 80 Girls under 16 1,407 .71 $1.98 1,014 73 109 60 Total 291,799 103,287 $2.02 22,238 $1.90 It will be seen from this table that the average daily wage of the adult male industrial worker in Michigan is $2.06; that of the adult female is $1.14; while the wages of boys and girls under sixteen years are 88 and 71 cents respectively. In the two largest cities of the State wages are, if anything, slightly below the wages of the entire State. The variation may be due to the varying character of the industries in the State at large and in the great cities, or it may be that lower wages are paid in the cities than in the country district. The statistics are at best inconclusive on this point. 1 Annual Report of the Department of Labor, 1910. Lansing, 1910. Pp. 188-191. [122] THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES A somewhat greater detail appears in the aver- age wage statistics of New Hampshire. The figures are stated in the form of earnings per week; but, as no statistics of unemployment are given, the only method of computing yearly earnings is to multiply the weekly earnings by 50, thus allowing for an unemployment of 4 per cent. — a very low estimate, as is shown by unem- ployment in Massachusetts and New Jersey. The wage statistics of New Hampshire are given for adult males, for adult females and for children under 16 years. Classified by the average weekly wage, the eighteen New Hampshire industries employing more than 500 males are shown in the statement on the next page. A study of this table shows that, of the three industries employing the largest numbers, all fall below an average wage of $650, though the fourth largest industry heads the list with an average wage of $838.50. Eight of the eighteen industries show average wages of $650 or under; sixteen show average wages of $750 or under, while two of the eighteen show averages above $800. On the other hand, a study of the women at work in New Hampshire shows average wages far below those paid to the men. The numbers of [123] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES AVERAGE EARNINGS IN THE INDUSTRIES EMPLOYING MORE THAN BOO ADULT MALES. NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1908 ^ Industries Paper and Pulp Granite Locomotives, Cars, Etc. . . . Castings Building and Construction . Electricity and Gas Woollens Hosiery Dress Goods Machines Brick Lumber Boots and Shoes Bobbins Boxes (wooden) Cotton Cloth Furniture Printing and Publishing . . . women employed in New Hampshire are com- paratively small, hence only six industries show more than 500 adult females. The annual earn- ings are computed from the weekly earnings by the same method that was employed in the case of the men,2 — 1 Biennial Report, New Hampshire Bureau of Labor, 1909-10. Published 1910. Pp. 17-53. ' Supra, pp. 17-63. [124] Total Adult Average Yearly Males Earnings Employed (Computed) 3,964 $838.50 1,611 805.50 2,101 750.50 647 735.50 1,011 729.50 560 729.50 1,966 725.00 1,002 694.00 507 671.00 1,477 665.50 529 650.00 7,355 . 637.00 9,159 634.00 593 690.50 1,467 566.50 13,825 554.00 947 549.50 506 535.50 THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES Numbers of Average Yearly Adult Females Earnings Industries Employed (Computed) Boots and Shoes 4,093 $457.00 Underwear 522 451.00 Clothing 672 443.60 Woollens '927 426.00 Cotton Cloth ' 12,154 407.50 Hosiery 1,493 407.00 Thus, in the six New Hampshire industries employing the greatest numbers of females, the range in average wages is very slight, — from $407 to $457 annually. Comparing this table with that containing the average wages of males, it appears that the wages of males range nearly $200 per year, or 50 per cent, higher than the aver- age weekly wage of females. The number of minors employed in New Hampshire is very small, exceeding 63 in only two industries — ^Boots and Shoes and Cotton Cloth — in which the average weekly wages of minors are respectively $5.27 and $4.83. The Rhode Island authorities present, for a select group of industries, a statement of weekly wages, which amount, virtually, to averages. The figures are given, for example, for "cotton goods — all wage earners," as between $7 and $8 per week. There is no indication of the method [125] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES employed in securing the resultant, hence the figures would be accepted with considerable hes- itancy were it not for the similarity between them and the average wage statistics of other States. In the entire State of Rhode Island the average yearly earnings of all wage earners (4 per cent, deducted for unemployment) would be from $450 to $500; for adult males, $500 to $550; for adult females, $350 to $400; and for children under 16, $150 to $200.1 Thus the average wages in Rhode Island are very similar to those in New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts. As the Massachusetts figures, which are far more reliable than those from Rhode Island, will be carefully analyzed in a later section, no attempt will be made at this point to draw further conclusions from the Rhode Island statistics. IV. Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Bureau of Industrial Statis- tics, which publishes average wages only, reports that in the mines and factories of Pennsylvania in 1909 there were, exclusive of "office help," 679,926 adult males, whose average annual earn- 1 Annual Report Commissioner of Industrial Statistics, Rhode Island, 1908. Providence, 1909. Pp. S16-17. [126] THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES ings were $550; 89,699 adult females with annual earnings of $300; and 22,394 minors (under 16 years of age) with annual earnings of $190.' < i The Pennsylvania figures present a much more accurate analysis than those of Michigan or New Hampshire, as they are stated by industries as well as by age and sex. In order to make this analysis effective, the figures will be separated on a basis of age and sex, and a showing made of the wages of (1) men, (2) women, and (3) minors (under 16). The wages of men in Pennsylvania vary con- siderably from industry to industry, as is shown by the following statement of the ten industries employing the largest numbers of adult males.' Adult Average Average Males Yearly Daily Industry Employed Earnings Earnings Bituminous Coal Mining 171,987 $525.79 $2.01 Anthracite Coal Mining 166,227 503.85 2.36 Iron and Steel Rolling 114,803 646.98 2.22 Pig Iron 14,904 687.65. 1.96 Glass— Bottles and Table Ware. 11,419 612.98 2.11 Cars— Wheels and Castings 10,899 685.86 1.99 Cement 9.420 498.03 1.63 Iron and Steel Ingots and Castings 9,074 623.73 2.15 Tin Plate 8,914 716.11 2.91 Locomotives 8,360 690.63 2.26 1 Annual Report See'y Internal Affairs, Part III, Industrial Statis- tics, 1909. Harrisburg, 1910. Pp. 381-86. [127] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES "Office help" has been omitted, and "wage earners" alone considered, so that comparisons with other States might be made. The two great industries of Pennsylvania, mining and steel mak- ing, show average wages varying considerably, yet nowhere falling below $500, nor rising above $650. At the same time, the range in the daily wage is even less, — from $1.96 to $2.36, while the industry with the lowest yearly earnings shows the highest daily earnings. The variation between annual and daily earnings is of course due to unemployment in the mines and Sunday work in the steel mills. The real wage is however the product of the daily wage times the number of days worked, hence the yearly and not the daily wage is the real criterion in Pennsylvania statis- tics. Turning now to the wages of adult females in Pennsylvania, it appears that the average sinks far below that of the men. The ten industries (exclusive of Philadelphia textiles) employing the greatest number of females, in order of the num- ber employed, are,i — ' Annual Report Sec'y Internal Affairs, Part III, Industrial Sta- tistics, 1909. Harrisburg, 1910. Pp. 381-85. [128] THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES Adult Females Industry Employed Silk— Thrown (Dress Goods) .. . 11,651 Hosiery 11,032 Silk— Thrown 5,577 Knit Goods — Underwear 4,239 Woollen and Worsted 3,683 Shoes ; 2,868 Silk Dress Goods 2,528 Hats and Caps 1,921 Glass— Bottles and Table Ware. 1,877 Cotton Goods 1,870 Average Average Yearly Daily Earnings Earnings $290.09 $0.96 250.89 .88 200.08 .69 254.00 .90 291.00 1.03 309.24 1.06 357.35 1.75 340.59 1.16 231.59 .95 305.23 .99 The average wage of these adult females is extremely low, in no case exceeding $400, and in six of the ten cases falling below $300. That this low wage is not due to unemployment is shown by the very low average daily wages. That these Pennsylvania figures are probably accurate is shown by a comparison with the wages of adult female factory workers in Wisconsin.' In the gen- eral industries of the State, requiring semi-sldlled work, the wages averaged slightly more than one dollar a day, an average which is maintained in Pennsylvania if the statistics of the Philadelphia textile factories are included. The average wages of adult females in Wisconsin ($1.10 per day) are 1 See Chapter VI, Special Wage Eeports, Section II. 1 129 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES therefore strikingly similar to the average wages of adult females in Pennsylvania. The comparatively large number of minors employed in the manufacturing industries of Pennsylvania renders an analysis of their wages most interesting. The following ten industries (exclusive of Philadelphia textiles) employed the largest numbers of minors. ^ — Average Average Minors Yearly Daily Industries Employed Earnings Earnings Anthracite Mining 3,109 $194.75 $0.91 Silk— Tlirown (Dress Goods).... 2,231 155.18 .62 Silk— Thrown 1,976 142.66 .49 Hosiery 1,837 180.44 .63 Glass— Bottles and Table Ware. 1,694 187.38 .78 Bituminous Mining 1,016 246.86 .94 Woollen and Worsted 792 194.22 .69 Iron and Steel Rolling 657 255.11 .88 Shoes 507 172.19 .69 Silk (Dress Goods) 467 187.79 .62 Two of the ten Pennsylvania industries em- ploying the largest numbers of minors, therefore, pay average wages of more than $200 annually. The other industries fall as low as $143. Unsatisfactory as are the Pennsylvania average wage statistics, because of their exclusion from 1 Ann. Rep. Sec'y Internal Affairs, 1909, Part III, Industrial Statis- tics. Harrisburg, 1910. Pp. 381-385. [130] THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES the general tables of the Philadelphia textile industries, and incomplete as they may doubtless be, in their failure to include many persons gain- fully employed, they are, nevertheless, very fair average wages, since they give a general idea of the wage situation, by age and sex, not only in the State at large, but in specific industries as well. V. Average Wages in Massachusetts From the average wage statistics published by Massachusetts it appears that there are in that State 480,134 wage earners (323,308 males and 156,826 females), employed in 6,044 establish- ments, and receiving an average yearly wage of $510.71.1 ;^Q separate average wages are given for males, females and minors, but the total average annual earnings are presented by indus- tries, by cities, by towns, and by counties. As the average wages of Massachusetts are similar to the averages cited from other States, but one deduction from them will be made at this point. Average annual earnings seem to vary immensely with the proportion of women em- ' Statistics of Manufactures for the Year 1908. Public Document No. 36. Boston, 1909. P. 2. ,[131]i WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES ployed in any industry; hence the wages of women must be generally lower than the wages of men. The proportion of men and women in the indus- tries of the State at large is 2 of men to 1 of women, with an average wage of $510.71. The following industries, dominated by women, report wages considerably under this average.^ The figures in parentheses under each number of employees represent the approximate relation which each pair (male or female) of figures bears to one another. Males Boxes — Fancy and Paper 901 (1) Brooms and Brushes 620 (2) Confectionery 1,342 (2) Hosiery and Knit Goods 2,559 (2) Shirts 279 (1) While there is, in these industries, a varying degree of skill, they are approximately equal in average earnings, — all under $400; and they are all dominated by women. ' Supra, pp. 2-9. [ 133 ] Average Annual Females Earnings 2,014 $393.92 (2) 945 343.48 (3) 3,444 328.97 (5) 6,581 399.89 (5) 1,294 378.25 (5) THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES Sharply contrasted with these averages, are the earnings in the industries dominated by men.' Average Annual Males Females Earnings Electrical Machinery 8,631 1,907 $558.40 (9) (2) Foundry and Machine Shop... 30,661 4S1 601.03 (65) (1) Jewelry 4,268 2,423 591.65 (2) (1) Printing and Publishing 2,148 1,265 617.01 (2) (1) Tobacco, Cigars and Cigarettes 2,263 912 739.45 (5) (2) Here again there is variation in skill and in trade-union strength; nevertheless, the man- dominated industries pay wages considerably above the wages paid in industries which are dominated by women. As to the variation in wages from large to small cities, the Massachusetts figures will be discussed in greater detail, in a later chapter.^ At this point it need only be remarked that the variation from large to small centres of population is irregular, and does not follow population size. 1 Supra, pp. 2-9. * See Chapter VIII, Geographical Distribution of Wages, Section m. [ 133 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES While the average wage statistics of Massa- chusetts "are in all cases theoretical," obtained "by dividing the total amount paid in wages during the year by the average number of persons employed,"^ they nevertheless admit of compari- son between industry and industry and between in- dustries in different cities. This comparison clearly shows the inverse ratio between the proportion of women and the rate of wages in an industry. VI. New Jersey Average Wage Statistics The average wage statistics of New Jersey, like those of Massachusetts, refer to all employees, irrespective of age and sex. In the 2,127 estab- lishments of New Jersey, 278,964 persons were employed at an average annual wage of $500.14. ^ This average wage is thus slightly lower than that for all of the industries of Massachusetts ($510.71), The New Jersey industries present some marked differences from those of Massachusetts. In the first place, the industries of New Jersey are diver- sified so that with the exception of the Silk, Woollens and Machinery industries, no one in- 1 Statistics of Manxifacture for the Year 1908. Public Document No. 36. Boston, 1909. P. xxiv. ^ Bureau of Statistics of New Jersey, 1909. Camden, 1910. Pp. 74-5. I 134 ] THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES dustry employs more than 10,000 persons. This situation is essentially different from Massachu- setts, where Cotton Goods and Boots and Shoes employ a quarter of all the persons engaged in Massachusetts industries. As in Massachusetts, the larger New Jersey industries show an average wage considerably under $600. A study of wages in specific New Jersey indus- tries does not show average wages in these industries to be markedly at variance with those of Massachusetts. By way of comparison, the following industries are presented. They were the largest industries which were reported from both Massachusetts and New Jersey. STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES IN CERTAIN MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW JERSEY INDUSTRIES Massachusetts (1908) ' New Jersey (1909) * Industries Number Average Annual Number Average Annual Employed Earnings Employed Earnings Chemicals 1,047 $588.65 7,042 U521.03 Clothing 4,083 481.24 1,163 382.01 Cotton Goods 90,936 439.34 6,216 322.70 Electrical Goods 10,538 6S8.40 5,170 628.52 Foundry and Machine 31,112 601.03 7,350 634.59 Jewelry 6,691 591.65 3,163 601.71 Printing and Publishing 3,413 617.01 1,385 679.17 Rubber Goods 6,763 498.64 7,016 521.17 Shirts 1,573 378.25 3,157 366.81 Silii and SUk Goods 3,235 429.96 20,356 444.61 1 Statistics of Manufactures, Massachusetts. Boston, 1909. Pp. 2-11. 2 Bureau of Statistics of New Jersey, 1909. Camden, 1910. Pp. 74-5. [ 135 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES While the average annual earnings of all Mass- achusetts industries differ very slightly from those of New Jersey, these ten industries show a considerably greater variation. Six of the ten industries report higher wages from Massachu- setts than from New Jersey. Whether this varia- tion is due to a varying type of industry or to actual differences in wages, the statistics do not show; but there is unquestionably some variation in classification, shown by a study of the two groups of statistics. A similar comparison between the ten indus- tries in each State employing the largest num- bers of persons appears on the following page. These industries are arranged according to the numbers employed. In both States the leading industry reports an average wage under $450; in both the second industry falls between $550 and $600; but in the remaining ones, a very con- siderable difference appears. Still, there is but one industry in Massachusetts and but two in New Jersey reporting an average annual wage of more than $600; while in seven Massachusetts industries and in four New Jersey industries, the average falls below $500. tl36] THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES AVERAGE ANNUAL EARNINGS IN THE TEN INDUSTRIES EMPLOY- ING THE LARGEST NUMBER OF PERSONS— MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW JERSEY Massachusetts (1908) New Jersey (1909) ' Average Average Industries Total Annual Industries Total Annual Employed Earnings Employed Earnings Cotton Goods 90,93S $439.34 Silk (broad and rib- Boots and Shoes. , . 69,360 662.59 bon) 20,356 $444.61 Foundry and Ma- Machinery 16,882 598.81 chine Shop 31,112 601.03 Woollen and Worsted Goods.... 26,878 444.35 Worsted Goods.. 10,748 390.27 Woollen Goods.... 15,091 456.49 Cigars and Tobacco 8,754 313.08 Paper and Wood Oils 8,151 617.21 Pulp 11,390 489.02 Glass 7,635 620.36 Electrical Supplies. 10,538 658.40 Drawn Wire and Leather 9,227 637.46 Wire Cloth 7,582 407.06 Hosiery and Foundry, Iron 7,350 684.69 Knit Goods 9,140 399.89 Chemical Dyeing and Finish- Products 7,042 621.03 ing Tertiles 7,069 467.18 Rubber Goods .... 7,016 621.17 In Massachusetts there were 59 industries and in New Jersey 61 industries employing more than 1,000 persons. A comparison of the two groups yields interesting results. The numbers of industries are in both States remarkably similar and in both cases the distri- bution is quite uniform. Massachusetts is again slightly higher than New Jersey, though the dis- crepancy is not of serious extent. 1 Statistics of Manufactures, Massachusetts. Boston, 1909. Pp. 2-11. 2 Bureau of Statistics of New Jersey, 1909. Camden, 1910. Pp. 74-3. [137] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES AVERAGE WAGES IN THE MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW JERSEY INDUSTRIES EMPLOYING MORE THAN 1000 PERSONS Massachusetts * New Jersey ^ 1908 1909 Number of Number of Average Wage Industries Per cent. Industries Per cent. Under $450 15 25 23 37 $450-$500 13 22 6 10 600-650 6 10 7 12 660-600 11 18 11 18 600-650 6 10 10 16 650- 700 2 4 12 700-750 4 7 2 8 Over 750 2 4 12 Totals 69 100 61 100 VII. Federal Statistics of Average Wages The last bulletin of the Federal Bureau of Labor relating to wages was published in 1908, and gives the wages for 1907. In one sense the figures presented from time to time in the Bul- letin are thoroughly representative, as they are collected, for like industries, from every part of the United States. On the other hand, the number of establishments furnishing the statistics is small, there is no way to tell whether they are union or non-union establishments, and the statistics are furnished by the employer. Therefore, if any ' Statistics of Manufactures, Massachusetts. Boston, 1909. Pp. 2-11. 2 Bureau of Statistics of New Jersey, 1909. Camden, 1910. Pp. 74-6. [138] THE STATISTICS OF AVERAGE WAGES presumption exists as to the fauWness of the statistics, they should be read down, rather than up, for they come from a source which is most interested in making wages appear high. Specimen material from this Bulletin has al- ready been given. The material as a whole permits of practically no deductions, save that wages are considerably higher in the West than in any other section of the country, and that the wages in some trades are very much higher than in others. "Laborers" are more frequently specified than any other single occupation. The following table of hours and wages of "laborers" will therefore give a relative idea of the range of one group of wages from section to section and from industry to industry. As a means of comparison the wage statistics of the Bulletin are fairly valuable, but as a state- ment from which any knowledge may be derived of the annual earnings of any group of men or of any section of the country, the figures are wholly worthless. The only other average wage figures recently printed by the Federal Government are those contained in the Lodge Report on Wages and [139] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES bo -4 OS ^ «3 W5 00 ■* "O W "O »o o 3 Ix, o § n Q ■u BS O O n S t- la « (D lo o •" '* South ( Sta Hours «3 O t- t- W - rH QO O • O lo i» o *a CO (D iO CD . ^ d ■3 si Ph Centr ates Wag (cts.p. « <0 CO CO 00 t- 00 i-l u: CO CO (N w ^ ^ ,-. ,-. ^ at § ja ** to 5«) 5 CD CD O ® rH O O l> f-( Oi OS ^ O O lO »0 CO »0 CO CD CO us CD us us Z B •t i-s CO 'fl' ^ "o in •* ■^ t- OS ■*■ I-* l-H i-l r-H "§ <% -3. J_5 ja 5i £ Sout Hou •* CD t- »0 0* Ol O «i 00 b- o >o us CO »o CO in CO us us lb 3 31^1 z w lt-00«SOD'rt(Ot-00 H -2 M 0) u nu!i 1 1 C9 Q i OO i-< t- OS GO O ^ r^ ••a* 1 j^ ;o »o >o ^ IQ u5 eo GO O A at ■* <8 ^ I-J 1-* r-l I-* i-t i-< i-J I-I I-l 1^ wi Q) M «■ g H s g E ;3 m « i> Oi OS tt «s »o a* -* ® « OS A 4) g 00 ■* (N '^. ''^ (D 00 >0 OS 00 « ■s s* s si (3« o» o 00 a 00 ffi <-4 b- 00 CO GO O M rJ, '.3 CD t- CO 00 01 o ■* GO ^ »> « OS a* S^ HH Q* ai oi o •4 a> o« ao "* GO ■4> O Bg w hj 2 3 (H :^ [151] (H 3^ en ^ £- T* 1-1 a WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES patchers and the like, — trades similar in all sec- tions of the country. All of the trades included in the table are rather limited in extent, and suffi- ciently definite to be similar in all sections. A study of this table shows the slight wage variation from one section of the country to another. Thus the wages of "Enginemen" and "Conductors" are remarkably uniform, with the one exception of New England, where the lowest wages are paid to these two groups as well as to "Machinists." This table apparently contains a direct refutation of the theory that wages are higher in the North than in the South, as it clearly shows the lowest wage in three occupations to be in New England. The wages of "Carpenters," a rather inclusive trade, are surprisingly similar with a variation from $2.15 in the South Atlantic States to $2.92 in the far- western States; so, too, the wages of "Operators and Dispatchers" are fairly uniform; while the variation is greatest among "Trackmen" — common laborers. The table could really be divided into two sections, the first including groups 1 to 6 of the Commerce Commission, with North Carolina and Virginia; and the second comprising groups 7 to 10 of the Commission, with Washington in addi- [ 152 ] VARIATION OF WAGES tion. As between the North and the South, there is really little variation, but all of the Western States show wages considerably higher than those of the Eastern Section of the country. The Inter- state Commerce Commission Statistics show clearly that in a unionized trade, wages are very similar as between geographic areas of the United States. The least variation appears among the most highly skilled workers, while the variation is greatest among the unorganized, unskilled trackmen and other laborers. The two remaining groups of statistics included under this section are comparatively similar. The material from Bulletin 77 (the latest Bulletin containing wage data) includes Manufacturing and Structural Work, giving the number em- ployed, hours per day and wages per hour for 1907-8. The material from the Report of the Senate Committee gives merely wages per hour for 1910. The two groups of material are not, of course, comparable, but they are, in so far as the Building trades are concerned, remarkably sim- ilar. In the material furnished by the Bulletin, two facts, already emphasized, are apparent. There is little or no variation in the wages paid to a certain occupation in the four Eastern groups [153] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES ■a » JH H l-» (N p.4 ^ » =2^ ■1 = E 4) QO m 03 M '^ ^1 ^ W ■* US CO M S.| iO «s Ki U3 »o b a 1 hi '3 to o> ■* O op rt 1^ rH 00 -* « (M PL( P S b H U W CJ o «1 pj > ■< o o H P i " op S § i 5 Sj ^ (O «s t- OS OO 1> <« 00 o (Q 00 ^ a^ O) t- « »o o» s 0* i> t- O -^ 00 00 CO ■* CO ^ o I (M o* a* « CO 00 CO 00 {« CO <* GO CO * O) (N of >, ^ 00 « Mi i> a* OS ■* ■* t- o to ot t- OS 00 ■* 00 «s «3 •* »o »o t- a* o* at ca m h^ i>acoQ4to hcoosceoo^ ij -f ■* »0 -"^ V -^ ■ = 3, a 1^ « S : ©*o Oot-MJO-* ' CO 1> to 00 CO OS ^ «5 ■* CO ■ -^ -^ to U3 0> )0 >0 tQ IQ 1^ t» t* t- t- CO C6 a* O »H r- »o t- O t- 00 ■s^ o o 1.5 b- ■* q ■* ^ S3 « © rx o> CO Ui « us 0: CO ss ^ cc r. fh iH c« *"* 00 at 00 at CO IN ai l-l IH aJ E: E m _g .. ■« O o a S2 ^ CO t- to ,-1 01 2 OS OS t- r h ■^ ai 01 s.^ £ 00 CO CO t- ^ ? MS M5 «5 CO •* M5 MS «a CD m; a S to S s 5* S S zn S n "3 1 _c .-§ ^ ta P5 «M O t^ ■* CO 2 S M 00 (D t- 6P 00 ^ ^ I-H w ^ 00 OS 00 c ■H o 'S to *o 00 •0 « CD SB Kansas City, Mo.... 75 56K 6«H 60 60 50 Milwaukee, Wis 65 56!4 66Ji 40 42J4 Minneapolis, Minn... 65 50 60 45 45 35 Omaha, Neb 70 66>i 62H 60 471^ 62J^ St. Louis, Mo 70 65 66J^ 60 55 65 St. Paul, Minn 65 60 66Ji 45 45 45 , South Central Louisville, Ky 60 40 50 43Ji 40 . 40 WeHem Denver, Colo 76 58^ 62H 60 60 eS'A Portland, Ore 75 56^ 685i 50 60 62)^ San Francisco, Cal... 87H »^^A 76 62^ 66M 75 Seattle, Wash 75 62}^ 81}i 62}^ 56K 75 ' Report of the Select Committee on Wages and Prices of Com- modities, Senate Report No. 912, 61st Congress, 2nd Session, Part I. Pp. 60-67. [155] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES of States, while with Western groups, the wages per hour are considerably higher. As, however, the number of hours worked per day is less in this Western group than in the Eastern States, the disproportion between the figures is not so great as it at first appears. The statistics of the Select Committee, also collected from employers, show almost identical conditions, except that the variation between the East and West is not so marked as in the figures furnished by the Bureau of Labor. In fact, the variation in wages from city to city in the same geographic area, is in most cases as great as the variation from one geographic area to another. The foregoing figures substantiate the conclu- sion already reached in the discussion of the Telephone Investigation, demonstrating beyond question that there is no considerable wage variation per hour or per day between the differ- ent sections of the United States. This state- ment should, perhaps, be modified by excepting a slightly higher wage in most trades in the Western States. The fact remains, however, that the available data does not show any marked variation in wages from one part of the United States to another. [156] VARIATION OF WAGES III. Wages from City to City The material compiled by the Select Senate Committee, cited in the previous section, indi- cates a decided wage variation from city to city within the same geographic area. The additional data which is procurable fully confirms the data of the Select Committee in this respect. It will be remembered for example that the Federal Investigation of Telephone Companies showed a marked variation in wages from one city to another. Only two additional groups of evidence need be adduced, — one from the Massachusetts Wage Report for 1908, and one from the Ohio Wage Report for 1908. Both groups of statistics give average annual earnings, and the Ohio statistics give in addition, average daily earnings. The Massachusetts figures are shown on next page. Some of the figures are incomplete because of an intense localization, under which one town makes one product. Attleboro, for example, manufactures jewelry; Fall River, cotton goods; Brockton, boots and shoes; Lowell, cotton goods, and so on. In the towns, other than those special- [157] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES < a 5 g s B § s § 1 g i i g s B 1 S-5 OS O t- a* wj ■* W (M lO ill" 01_ O* M r-* ^& J3 CD § ^•3 I a ■ «* CO • 00 lO (M • to tfi • t- «! OS * i-i" CO • m i-T ^ ■ 00 t- ■ i-l o . lO 00 ■ ,-t -^ ' )0 O ■ 00 to "3 ^ g <» -# 00 (7J_ lO « O^ 0_ 00 « <« (W 00 i* 00 P jH o CO ■* ■* CO m o ■* « »— — ^ — '' '-^ **" — '" 6* S':;OfflCOeO-Ibid. [164.] VARIATION OF WAGES From this table it will be observed that the wages per day range very slightly higher in the cities than in the villages. A study of the tables from which these statistics were derived shows, on the other hand, that the earnings per year are, if anything, higher in the villages than in the cities. It would be obvious from such a statement that the unemployment had been more of a factor in the city than in the village, hence the discrepancy in wages. Whether this is true of unemployment for the year 1907 only, or whether it is always true, is a question to which no answer can be given. It is obviously present during the year under consideration. In many of the trades thus far considered, labor unions are weak or non-existent. " Laborers," for example, are not, as a rule, organized. Hence labor unions would have little influence on wages. If, in contrast to these unorganized, or partially organized trades, a strongly organized trade be considered, the uniformity in wages is almost absolute. The statistics for one strongly organ- ized trade appear in the Kansas Labor Report for 1909. Considerable space is there devoted to an analysis of wages as reported by contractors and unions in the Building Trades. As the contrac- [ 165 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES tors' reports were rather complete, while those of the unions were fragmentary, the compilation will be made from the contractors' statements. WAGES IN CITIES AND TOWNS— AVERAGE WAGES PER DAY AS REPORTED BY CONTRACTORS— KANSAS, 1908 ^ Cities and Towns Brick Masons Carpenters Plumbers Laborers Over 50,000 population Kansas City $5.60 $3.78 $4.96 $«.04 S6,000-60,000 population Topeka «.00 3.00 4.00 1.84 10,000-^5,000 population Atchison 5.00 2.76 3.28 2.00 . Fort Scott 5.00 2.97 2.48 1.86 Galena 6.80 2.92 1.85 Lawrence 6.60 2.88 3.68 2.16 Leavenworth 5.60 S.43 5.00 1.92 Pittsburg 5.20 3.00 3.28 2.40 Wichita 6.00 3.60 4.32 2.32 6,000-10,000 population Arkansas City 6.20 3.24 4.50 2.00 Emporia 6.00 3.00 Hutchinson 6.80 2.B2 4.00 1.62 Newton 6.12 2.70 3.78 2.00 Ottawa 6.30 S.30 3,60 1.80 Parsons 6.20 2.88 3.84 1.76 Winfleld 6.00 3,04 S.fl 1.89 In two instances, among Carpenters and Plumb- ers, the wages in Kansas City are slightly higher than the wages in the majority of the smaller cities. In the other two occupations, on the other 1 Annual Report, Kansas Bureau of Labor, 1909. Topeka, 1910. Pp. 29-S3. [166] VARIATION OF WAGES hand (Brick Masons and Laborers), the wages are highest in the cities of 10,000 to 25,000, and almost as high in the smaller towns. There can be no deductions from these figures, therefore, except that, in a strongly organized trade, wages do not vary with population from centre to centre within the same State, The material in this section justifies the con- clusion that while a slight variation may occur from city to city, it is not reducible to any formu- lated rule, but appears to depend upon the indi- vidual establishments rather than upon the size or location of the cities or towns. V. Geographic Variation in Wages In spite of the general contrary opinion there is no considerable variation in wages accompany- ing changes in geographic location. This state- ment holds particularly in organized trades such as the building trades, and the railway brother- hoods. In unorganized trades, represented by "Laborers," the variation is somewhat greater. Speaking generally, the South Central States show a slightly lower range of wages, while the Western States show a slightly higher range of wages than the other three groups of States. The [167] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES variation is not, however, very considerable in any case. Even a contrast between the lowest (South Central) and the highest (Western) group of States shows, for similar organized occupations, no considerable wage variation. Whatever the variation fron one geographic area to another, it is little if any more extensive than the variation from city to city within the same geographic area. With the exception of the cities in the Western group of States, where there is almost no variation in wages for similar occupa- tions, the wages vary somewhat from one city to another within a given geographic area, and even within a given State. The conclusion may fairly be reached, therefore, that geographic variations in wages within a given industry are greater in organized than in unorganized trades, but in no case are they very extensive in the leading industries. It is probable that there is some variation with city size, though this point is by no means estab- lished. In the Telephone industry wages varied directly with population size, but the data from State reports showed no such regular variation. That there is a variation in wages from rural to urban centres of population is undoubtedly true, but this variation is probably due to the varying [168] VARIATION OF WAGES character of rural and urban industry, as it does not appear within all of the industries studied. There is, therefore, a slight variation with geo- graphic location, rather irregular and incapable of reduction to formulas. It is neither definite in operation nor certain in extent, and the import- ance of the phenomena has certainly been exag- gerated. 1 169 ] CHAPTER IX THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES WITHIN INDUSTRY I. Specialized Employments and the Distribution of Wages The hand trades have practically disappeared from modern industry, so that craftsmanship, in its original meaning, is a thing of the past. A man no longer makes a shoe, a nail, or an over- coat; rather he co-operates with a hundred or a thousand other persons, each of whom, like him- self, has some small and apparently meaningless operation to perform. These specialized occupa- tions, however, are anything but meaningless, for organized and directed by a captain of industry, they create a completed product. This intense specialization, which has been developed in recent years, has divided labor hori- zontally into groups, — consisting, broadly, of un- skilled, semi-skilled and skilled laborers. This division is comparatively recent because under a [170] THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES craftsmanship system, each man, learning his trade as an apprentice, became ultimately a skilled or master craftsman. From apprentice, to journeyman, to master craftsman was a series of steps which most of the industrial workers climbed, and even those who never became mas- ters were nevertheless skilled, thoroughly trained mechanics. In contrast with this old system, under which a man received a rounded education in his business, the system of specialization which has replaced the handicraft system, permits of little apprenticeship, since each man, with or without the aid of a machine, creates a small part of a given unit of product. He learns to perform one operation, instead of making a completed whole. In the course of doing this special thing, he becomes not skilled, but dexterous, so that through specialization and organization his total product has been made larger, but his training is along the narrowest lines. There is no method of deciding finally which trades are skilled and which are semi-skilled, as no absolute line can be drawn on one side of which all skilled and on the other side of which all semi-skilled men may be placed. A locomotive engineer receives $3.50 per day, while the brakeman [171] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES on the train is paid $2.25. The engineer is classed as a skilled man and the brakeman as a semi- skilled man. The fireman, with $3 a day, comes in between the two, — as a borderline case. That industry has been thus stratified is easily proved, but the extent of the stratification and the proportionate distribution of employees over the various wage groups is diflSicult of demon- stration. The stratification is, of necessity, gen- erally admitted. It is concerning the extent that controversy is rife. This chapter is written to answer as completely as may be, the question as to the proportion of wage earners who occupy positions in the difl'erent wage strata. How many men in the industries of the United States receive common labor wages? What proportion of the male wage earners are paid less than $1,000 a year? How many high-paid and how many low- paid men are there in a given city or State? Is it true that modern industry is so organized that the man who wishes to do so may "rise" to the higher industrial positions? Is there "plenty of room at the top"? No definite answers have as yet been made to these questions, yet if it can be demonstrated, that three of the great representa- tive industries of the country pay wages of more [172] THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES than $1,000 to 10 per cent, of their male wage earners, while less than 10 per cent, of the adult males in the three States which furnish reliable, up-to-date statistics hkewise receive more than $1,000 annually, the conclusion may. well be drawn that in the industries of the United States at large not more than 10 per cent, of the adult male wage earners receive annual earnings of more than $1,000. While such a conclusion would not be absolutely accurate, it would be as accurate as any conclusion which could be reached without securing data from every industry and every locahty in the United States. Several groups of wage statistics will therefore be discussed in an attempt to establish the actual distribution of wage workers over the various wage groups. Females are very briefly discussed in this chap- ter, for three reasons, — 1. They do not as a rule become skilled at all, hence they earn, as has already been shown, in the vast majority of cases, less than $9 a week. That is, instead of being distributed over the wage scale, they are massed at the bottom. 2. As yet, women enter industry only tempora- rily. The census shows that the great majority of them who are at work are between 16 and 30 [173] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES years of age, — that is, they are in industry until they get married. As they do not intend to make a life work of their pursuit, they do not rise in it. 3. The available statistics, in the cases of rail- roads and the South Bethlehem Steel Co., relate to males only. As this best data is of males, com- parisons with it and conclusions from the entire data, can be for males only. Hence the major portion of the chapter will be devoted to state- ments of the wages of males. II. Railroad Wages The largest single group of statistics from which deductions on wage distribution may be made are published by the Interstate Commerce Commission. These statistics, it is true, are averages compiled from reports furnished to the Commission by the interstate railroads, yet the field covered is so extensive, and the data sub- mitted is so similar, that the results may fairly be employed in a study like the present one. The work of the Commission is very thorough. The material submitted to it is carefully scrutin- ized and compiled, so that the data included in the "Statistics of Railways" is accurate and reliable as any that exists, while the method of [ 1T4 ] THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES presenting the statistics is, for average wages, most admirable. The data is discussed by the Commission, first for the United States as a whole and then for ten groups of States, arranged DISTEIBUTION OF WAGES IN THE VARIOUS EMPLOYMENTS. RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES— 19091 Average Daily Average Daily Wages Number Wages Per cent. Over $10 General Officers 6,492 $1«.67 • $5 to 10 Other Officers 8,022 6.40 • 4 to S Enginemen 67,077 4.44 4 Sto i Conductors 43,608 3.81 S «to 3 Machinists 48,237 2.98 Firemen 60,349 2.67 Other Trainmen 114,760 2.59 Carpenters 60,867 2.43 Employees — Account floating equip- ment 8,758 2.31 General Office Clerks 69,859 2.31 Telegraph Operators and Dispatchers 39,115 2.30 Other Shopmen 195,110 2.13 Station Agents 36,519 2.08 $1 to $2 All other Employees and Laborers.. Section Foremen Other Station Men Switch Tenders, Crossing Tenders, and Watchmen Other Trackmen Total 1,502,823 100 * Less than 1 per cent. 1 Annual Report of the Statistics of Railways in the U. S. for year ending June 30, 1909. Interstate Commerce Commission. Washing- ton. 1910. Pp. 34 and 40. [ 175 ] 633,674 210,898 1.98 41,869 1.96 136,733 1.82 44,608 1.73 320,762 1.88 754,950 WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES according to a classification adopted by the Com- mission to facilitate its work. The wages are not separated into smaller wage groups because, with averages, the deductions may not be too minutely drawn. If figures are stated in detail, the temp- tation to draw detailed deductions, overwhelming as it always is, would be unjustified in the pres- ent case. Classified by average daily earnings, the railroad employees of the United States are grouped as follows. (The average daily earnings are secured by dividing the annual earnings by the number of days worked.) Hence, even including the "Officers," who are not wage earners in the sense that the term has been used throughout this book, it appears that in 1909, 51 per cent, of the million and a half rail- road employees of the United States received less than $625 per year; that 9.3 per cent, received less than $1,000 per year, leaving 7 per cent, who earned more than $1,000 annually. The extreme contrast between these groups of wage earners may, perhaps, be more clearly brought out by the diagram on the opposite page. A similar table is compiled for the railroads of Group VI, comprising the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, together with [176] THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES parts of North and South Dakota and Missouri. This is the great raihoad centre of the Middle West; a little less than one-fifth of all of the railroad employees in the country are reported in Over $1,000 7 per cent. $625 to $1,000 42 per cent. Under $625 51 per cent. this group; hence it is perhaps the most represen- tative railroad centre in the United States. A com- parison of the following table with the table for all of the railroads of the United States will show that while the wages are slightly higher in the Middle West than in the entire country, the relative dis- [177] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES tribution over the wage group remains practically the same. DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES— RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES- NORTH CENTRAL DIVISION 1 General Officers . Other Officers . . . Engmemen Conductors Average Daily Wages Over $10 $6 to 10 4 to 5 3 to 4 2 to 3 Machinists Firemen Other Trainmen Carpenters Telegraph Operators and Dispatchers Employees — ^Account floating equip- ment General Office Clerks All other Employees and Laborers . . Switch Tenders, Crossing Tenders and Watchmen Other Shopmen Station Agents $1 to $2 Section Foremen. . . Other Station Men . Other Trackmen . . . Number 769 924 10,116 7,lii 7,696 10,313 19,417 10,696 6,460 11,267 41,923 8,144 39,339 7,603 162,613 8,761 22,975 69,702 91,441 , Daily Wages $16.43 7.88 4.39 4.00 2.97 2.76 2.69 2.36 2.28 2.22 2.21 2.12 2.06 2.06 2.06 1.87 1.81 1.42 Total. Per cent. 33 100 The railroads of the United States, employing more persons than any other single industry, pay a wage of less than $625 a year to about one-half of their employees, while less than one railroad ' Supra, pp. 38 and 43. [178] THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES employee in ten receives an average wage of more than $1,000 annually. The railroads, let it be remembered, employ almost exclusively adult males whose occupations are, in many instances, of a highly skilled sort — conductors, brakemen, engineers, operators and dispatchers are men who assume serious responsi- bilities, while many other occupations involve considerable skill. In spite of these obvious facts, the wages of railroad labor are surprisingly low. III. The Special Wage Reports A careful analysis of four special wage reports appears in a previous chapter. Two of these four reports (Wisconsin Telephone Investigation and Illinois Department Store Investigation) are not available for the purposes of this chapter, as they give figures for the employment of women only in a very restricted field. The other reports (Federal Telephone Investigation and South Beth- lehem Investigation) provide excellent wage data, classified by wages received, the first for the United States as a whole and for individual cities; the second for one steel plant located in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The railroad statistics were not absolute. [179] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES Wlile the averages which they gave were for very restricted classes of employments, they were, none the less, averages. Entitled to a measure of recognition, they cannot, however, be compared to the classified wage statistics fur- nished in these special reports. Again, the value of these reports is enhanced by the method of compilation, — from the pay-rolls of the companies involved. Hence the conclusions based on these reports as to the distribution of wage workers in modern industry, are by far the most reliable of any which can be reached from the figures pre- sented in this study. The figures secured in the recent Federal inves- tigation ^ of telephone systems are classified by monthly wages, and by sex. With the exception of the general officers, all of the employees of the Bell System are included. The distribution of the 37,760 employees over the various wage groups is shown at top of opposite page. It therefore appears that 61.5 per cent, of the whole number of employees, and 21.1 per cent, of the male employees, earn less than $600 per year, 1 Investigation of Telephone Companies. Charles P. Neill. Wash- ington Government Print, 1910. Senate Document No. 380, 61st Congress, 2nd Session. [ 180 ] • THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES BELL TELEPHONE SYSTEM— WAGES PAID— 1909-10 » Yearly Wages Total Under $360 $360-$600 $600-$960 $900 and Over Employees No. Per ct. No. Per ct. No. Per ct. No. Per ct. BeU System.. 37,760 8,661 82.9 14,672 38.6 10,370 27.6 4,167 11.0 Males 17,139 606 3.5 2,994 17.6 9,468 64.6 4,092 24.3 Females... 20,621 8,046 39.0 11,678 66.2 902 4.4 76 .4 while only 11 per cent, of all of the employees, and 24.3 per cent, of the males, received more than $960 annually. In considering these figures it must be borne in mind that the Telephone industry, even more markedly than the railroad industry, demands semi-skilled and skilled employees. Thus, of the 37,760 employees, 16,258 or nearly half are opera- tors (semi-skilled), while the following numbers represent more or less skilled callings. Agents 371 Bookkeepers 316 Cable Splicers 716 Clerks 4,702 Collectors 536 Foremen 615 Inspectors 772 Installers 1,460 Linemen 2,028 Repairmen 679 Stenographers 4*1 - . Supervisors 1,647 Wire Chiefs 319 > Supra, pp. 85 to 87. 14,602 [ 181 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES More than thirty thousand of the Bell Tele- phone employees are occupying positions in- volving varying degrees of skill, danger and re- sponsibility. Only about six thousand (17 per cent.) of the entire force is left to be accounted for. Of this group but 808 are classed as "labor- ers." Among the remainder are superintendents, paymasters, chief operators, and other highly skilled or responsible employees. The employees of the Bell System are therefore predominantly semi-skilled or skilled. In spite of this fact, the wages are low, 61.5 per cent, of all the employees receiving under $600; while of the men, 21.1 per cent, received less than $600 and 75.7 per cent received less than $960. In a comparatively highly skilled industry, three-quarters of the male employ- ees and more than ninety-nine per cent, of the female employees are paid less than $1,000 a year. The contrast is sharp between the high-skilled Telephone industry and the Steel industry, with its great masses of semi-skilled and unskilled employees. The exhaustive investigation of the Bethlehem Steel Works shows the following 1 Report on Strike at Bethlehem Steel Works. Charles P. Neill. Washmgton, Government Print, 1910. Senate Document No. 621, 61st Congress, 2nd Session. P. 60. 1 182 ] THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES classification of employees (exclusive of office force, superintendents and general officers). DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYEES BY WAGES PER HOUR (Apprentices Omitted) Total Per cent. 10 to 16 cents per hour 4,221 16 " 22 " " " 2,390 22 " 30 1,586 30 " 42 " " " 630 42 cents and over per hour 122 Apprentices . 235 9,184 45.9 26.1 17.2 6.9 1.3 2.6 100.0 42 cents and over O ^ 30 cents C3 16 to 22 cents 10 to 16 cents 122 Diagrammed, the figures ^appear thus: — 630 1,586 2,390 4,221 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES [183] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES Somewhat less than 10 per cent, of the railroad employees earned over $1,000 per year. The same fact holds true of one great Eastern steel plant. In the Telephone industry, manned almost wholly by skilled and semi-skilled persons, 23 per cent, of the employees are paid more than $1,000 an- nually. What additional light on this problem can be gained by a perusal of State wage reports? IV. The Material from State Labor Reports The reports of the State bureaus of labor fur- nish some data which assists materially in deter- mining the distribution of wage earners in the varying industrial States. The only State reports which are of real value in such a determination are those which publish classified earnings, — Massachusetts, New Jersey, Kansas and Wiscon- sin. The wage material for these States is com- piled on the basis of classified weekly earnings for men, women and children. The purpose of this chapter will be adequately served by a discussion of the wages of males and females. A summary of the classified wages of males appears in the following table. T 184 ] THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES PERCENTAGES OF CLASSIFIED WEEKLY EARNINGS-MALES. IN ALL INDUSTRIES— BY STATES Percentage of Total Adult Males (21 years and over) (16 years and over) Classified Weekly Massachusetts New Jersey Kansas 19081 X9092 1909' Under $5 , 14 2 $5, but under $6 1 3 1 6, •' " 7 3 B 2 6, " " 8 7 6 3 8, " " 9 9 8 4 9, " " 10 14 15 14 10, " " 12 17 18 20 12, " " IS 20 17 24 15, " " 20 20 17 21 20 and over 8 9 9 Total employed. 100 350,118 100 204,782 100 50,720 Percentage of Total Males Wisconsin 1906-7* 3 1 3 5 4 20 23 30- 9 2 100 128,384 Up to this point, nothing has been said about the Wisconsin wage statistics, hence a word of explanation is in order. Wisconsin publishes wage data minutely classified by daily wages, covering adults, males and females, grouped by industries. Unlike most of the State reports, the Wisconsin figures relate, not only to wage earners, but to all employees, hence they are not exactly comparable with the data from the other States. Further- 1 Statistics of Manufacture, 1908. Boston, 1909. P. 82. ' Bureau of Statistics, 1909. Camden, 1910. P. 120. ' Annual Beport, Bureau of Labor, 1909. Topeka, 1910. P. 10. * Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wisconsin, 1907-8. Madison, 1909. P. 464. [185] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES more, the latest available Wisconsin figures (June 1, 1911) are those for 1906-7. As these figures relate to the period before the last indus- trial depression, while the other group of statis- tics refer to the period since the panic, they are not strictly parallel. They are inserted here, only because of the desire to present all available data, and not because of the inherent value of the statistics. The industries of Wisconsin are sim- ilar to those of Kansas, since one in seven of the employees are women. While not warranting a detailed analysis, the Wisconsin figures may be included in a general comparison. The most noticeable element in the table just presented is the marked uniformity which pre- vails between the wages of adult males in States as widely separated as Massachusetts, New Jer- sey and Kansas. With the exception of the dif- ferent minimum (21 years in Massachusetts and 16 years in the other two States), the figures are absolutely comparable. When this slight Massa- chusetts variation is considered, it would appear that the wages in Kansas are somewhat higher than the wages in the other two States. This is doubtless due to the variation in the character of the industries in the Eastern and in the Middle [186] THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES Western States. The textile industries (Cotton in Massachusetts and Silk in New Jersey) claim a large portion of the working population, while the textile industries are a negligible factor in Kansas. The conclusions from the data pub- lished by these four States furnishing the most reliable wage statistics are obvious. Approx- imately one-third of the adult male wage earners receive less than $500 annually; two-thirds receive less than $750 a year; nine-tenths earn less than $1,000 annually, and eight or nine per cent, earn wages of more than $1,000. Thus the wages from the State reports correspond almost exactly with the South Bethlehem and railroad wages; for all three cases there are just under one-tenth of the male wage earners receiving more than $1,000 annually. Turning, for a moment, to the females, a very similar grouping is presented. The percentages of females in the various States receiving classified weekly wages are shown on the following page. Taking into consideration the fact that in Massachusetts the age of adults is "21 years and over" instead of "16 years and over," as in the oiher States, while in Wisconsin all females, chil- dren as well as adults, are included, the figures [187] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES PERCENTAGES OF CLASSIFIED WEEKLY EARNINGS OF FEMALES Classified Weekly Earnings Under $6 $d, but under ^ IN ALL INDUSTRIES— BY STATES Percentage of Total Adult Females (21 years and over) (16 years and over) 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, IS, 20 and over 7. 8. 9. 10. 12. 15. 20. Massachusetts New Jersey 1908' 8 10 16 17 15 13 18 6 100 19091 22 19 19 13 100 Total employed. . 114,936 68,360 * Less than 1 per cent. Kansas 1909 » 2S 17 19 12 9 6 8 2 2 100 3,599 Percentage of Total Females Wisconsin 1906-7' 38 13 23 11 3 100 21.937 are remarkably uniform. In all cases, less than one per cent, of the females receive a wage over $20 per week; from one-half to four-fifths receive less than $8 per week; while the percentages at the various other wage levels vary no more than might be expected when the various methods of statistical compilation are considered. New Jersey and Kansas, the only two States which, owing to similar statistical methods, are absolutely comparable, show almost exactly the same percentages of wage earners at the various ' Keferencea same as for table on page 185. [188] THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES wage groups. This table therefore justifies the conclusion that the percentage of females receiv- ing specified wages varies no more from State to State than the percentage of males. V. The Distribution of Wages in American Industry In this chapter is set down, as fully as may be, an answer to the numerous queries concerning the number of American wage earners who could be classed in the different wage groups. The evidence from the railroads, and the Steel indus- try dealt primarily with adult males, hence in making the comparisons, adult males have been considered primarily throughout. The first group of statistics, compiled by the Interstate Commerce Commission, showed that of the million and a half railroad employees of the United States one-half received an average wage under $600, while less than one-tenth showed an average wage over $1,000. The statistics in the second group, taken on the one hand from a comparatively skilled industry, showed 21 per cent, of the employees under $600; 55.6 per cent, from $600 to $960; and 24.3 per cent, over $960; while the special report on the steel works at [189] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES South Bethlehem discovered 45.9 per cent, of the employees under 16 cents per hour (about $575 per year); 72 per cent, under 22 cents per hour (about $750 per year); leaving 8.2 per cent, receiving wages of over $1,000 per year. The reports from four State labor bureaus which pub- lish classified earnings, show that approximately 50 per cent, of the adult male wage earners receive wages of less than $12 per week ($600 per year); three-quarters receive wages of less than $15 per week ($750 per year) ; while more than nine-tenths receive less than $20 per week ($1,000 per year). The most marked uniformity therefore prevails among the various sources of material dealing with the distribution of wage earners throughout industry. From the available material, it appears that roughly, one-tenth of the industrial wage earners are paid more than $1,000 annually; that three-quarters receive less than $750, while a half receive less than $600 per year. These facts may be expressed as shown in the diagram on the opposite page. The data regarding the wage distribution of females leads to the conclusion that practically no adult females receive more than $1,000 per year; that about 2 per cent, receive from $750 to [190] THE DISTRIBUTION OF WAGES AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL WAGE WORKERS (ADULT MALES) 10 per cent. 40 per cent. 50 per cent. Skilled (over $1,000 per year) Semi-skilled ($600 to $1,000 per year) Unskilled (under $600 per year) $1,000; that one-quarter receive from $400 to $750; while three-quarters are paid less than $400, and three-fifths receive less than $350 per year. Here, in brief compass, is an effective answer to the oft repeated cry of "plenty of room at the top." The wage workers are distributed over the wage groups in a pyramid,— large at the base and tapering toward the apex. Half of them work for less than $600, and only one-tenth receive more than a thousand dollars annually. [191] CHAPTER X WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES (1908-1910) I. Unemployment as a Modifying Factor There is a real demand for facts regarding wages in the United States, — a demand based on the necessity of discussing the Standard of Liv- ing, the Cost of Living and other like problems from a fact basis. The material for a study of wage facts is, however, meagre. There are a few States which publish classified wage statistics; four special wage investigations have been made in recent years; and in addition to these reliable sources of information, several State and Federal reports print statistics of average wages. With the exception of this limited source of material, there are no data on current wages in the United States, consequently, while conclusions may justly be drawn from the localities which publish the data, the statements of wages in the United States at large must be based on inferences alone. The value of these inferences is, however, [ 192 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES greatly strengthened by the remarkable uniform- ity in the conclusions which may be based on an analysis of the various wage reports. The pres- ent chapter will state, in brief form, the nature of the inferences for the industrial section of the United States, which may be based on the mate- rial already cited in the preceding chapters. In the consideration of wage statistics, there is one element which must be constantly borne in mind, — that is the extent of unemployment. Even in the States which furnish statistics of the number of days worked by a given industry, the unemployment problem is not adequately con- sidered, because the personal incapacity of the employee is completely ignored. That unemployment is a problem of serious magnitude is clearly indicated by Dr. Devine, who states, after an analysis of the causes of destitution in five thousand New York families, that unemployment affected 4,424 individuals in 69.16 per cent, of the five thousand families, while, of the twenty-five separate disabilities which led to destitution, unemployment occupies the leading place.' Unemployment (involuntary 'Misery and Its Causes . Dr. Edward T. Devine. N. Y., The Macmillan Co., 1909. P. 204. X 193 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES idleness during normal work time) is a prime ele- ment in creating poverty, because it is a most potent factor in lowering annual earnings. While it is impossible to state the exact extent of unemployment in the United States, a fairly accurate estimate may be based on the available unemployment data. Any analysis of the extent of unemployment should, however, be preceded by a brief statement of the causes underlying the phenomenon. The causes of unemployment are divisible into two groups, — (1) Personal causes, and (2) indus- trial causes. The personal causes, — a Malnutrition b Sickness c Accident d Inefficiency operate independent of industry, forcing idleness upon willing workers, through some incapacity of the workers themselves. No statistics are available which give the extent of malnutrition in the United States. Many school children are known to be underfed, men and women are continually entering hos- pitals in an anaemic condition, yet the extent of [ 194< ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES this underfeeding, which so evidently prevails on every side, is most difficult to ascertain. Neither is there any method of deciding just how much unemployment is caused by sickness and acci- dent. Sickness and accident certainly exist and their existence must, without doubt, cause unem- ployment, yet the exact extent of the two phe- nomena is unknown. In his "National Vitality," Irving Fisher estimates that in the United States there are probably at all times 3,000,000 seriously ill.i These statistics, which refer to serious ill- ness, take no account of "minor ailments." Dr. Castle of Cincinnati, "from an experience of many years in the medical supervision of institu- tion employees and general practice," estimates that there is an average of at least three days' time lost annually for each person in the popula- tion for such minor ailments. Dr. J. F. Morse of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, who has had a wide medical experience, estimates that the "well man" loses on an average five days a year from work, on account of headaches, toothaches, "colds," and similar minor ailments.^ Turning for a moment 'National Vitality. Irving Fisher. Government Print, Washing- ton, 1909. P. 34. 2 Supra, 39. [195] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES to "accidents," it has been conservatively esti- mated that 500,000 persons are killed and injured each year in American industry.^ This computa- tion is of course independent of accidents due to fires, falls and the other individual mishaps that are of such everyday occurrence. Both sickness and accident are therefore of frequent occurrence, although the exact frequency of neither can be determined. That inefficiency is a cause of unemployment is indicated by the following summary of returns from the operation of the British Unemployed Workingman's Act. Of a group of unemployed men, coming before one of the London Distress Committees, 86 per cent, were unskilled, 56 per cent, were casual laborers, 37 per cent, owed their position to age, inefficiency or bad character; 41 per cent, were of indifferent efficiency .^ So much can be said of the personal causes of xmemployment. The everyday experience of each man or woman confirms their presence, though it throws no light on their total extent. All of these causes operate upon the individual, irrespective of ' Social Adjustment. Scott Nearing. New York, The Macmillan Co., 1911. Page 233. " Work and Wages. Sydney J. Chapman. New York, Longmans Green & Co., 1908. P. 304. [ 196 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES his industrial position, hence they are necessarily ignored by any statistics which are based on the number of days annually worked by any industry. Quite a different problem confronts the student in the second group of unemployment causes. Those unemployed because of personal inca- pacity, are not earning wages because they are personally unable to do so. On the other hand, there are strong, robust men and women, seeking work and unable to secure it, — disemployed. The chief industrial causes of unemployment are, — 1. Seasonal trades 2. Industrial crises 3. Labor troubles 4. Lack of stock or transportation facilities 5. Casual trades Seasonal trades, which are common, neces- sarily involve imemployment. Outside construc- tion work, glass manufacturing and coal mining are typical of the trades in which unemployment is several times greater at one season of the year than it is at another. Unemployment is generally less frequent in summer than in winter (coal mining and clothing industries excepted). In 1197] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES ordinarily prosperous years, some trades (build- ing, teaming) show winter unemployment of more than 30 per cent. The effects of crises and labor troubles in un- employment are apparent. The English figures, excellently presented by Chapman ' and Bever- idge,2 are paralleled in the United States by the figures of unemployment procurable from the coal mine reports' and the reports of the New York Bureau of Labor statistics.^ The coal mine figures are more extensive and show that a coal miner may expect unemployment equivalent to one-fourth or one-third of his entire working time. In years of depression, his unemployment may increase to one-half his working time.^ , The New York figures show a steady decrease in un- employment from 1897 to 1906, from which year there was a constant increase until March, 1908, when the unemployment for all trades was 35.7 per cent. ' Supra, p. 316. ^ Unemployment. W. H. Beveridge. New York, Longmans Green & Co., 1909. Ch. IV. 3 The Production of Coal in the U. S. Edward W. Parker. Wash- ington, Government Print, 1908. * Bulletin 41, New York Dept. of Labor, p. 114. ' Unemployment in the U. S. Scott Nearing. Quarterly Publica- tions, Am. Stat. Assn., Sept., 1909, pp. 530-5. [198] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES For the unionized trades of New York State, for the coal industry of the United States, and by inference for the other industries of the United States, we may draw these conclusions, — A Unemployment is always a factor in modern industry. B The average miner can work, from year to year, about two-thirds of the time. C In other industries, the average unem- ployment from year to year is almost one-fifth. D In some years the unemployment is sev- eral times more severe than in others.* Strikes and miscalculation in the supply of stock or transportation facilities are constantly recurring factors in every industry. Unemploy- ment due to these causes is not extensive. A serious cause of unemployment exists, however, in the "casual trades," which never employ men regularly. The casual laborers are recruited from the unskilled, inefficient, aged and defective group, who are unable to keep a permanent position.^ 1 Supra, p. 539. 2 Unemployment. W. H. Beveridge. New York, Longmans Green & Co., 1909. Ch. v. [199] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES As casual labor presupposes inefficiency, the cas- ual laborer becomes less and less able to keep his place in the industrial world. Casual labor un- questionably exists in the United States, but just how extensively cannot be decided. One thing is clear, — casual labor is inefficient, cheap, and dis- astrous to the casual laborer. So, "the various elements in the problem lead ultimately to a degree of unemployment, varying with the year, the season of the year, and some- times, in the case of casual labor, with the day of the week. In each case workers are without the work upon which they are dependent for a hvelihood." i Here, then, is a problem of fundamental con- cern, which no wage study can overlook, since the mere statement of wage statistics is not neces- sarily a statement of wages. In fact, unless the unemployment due to both personal and indus- trial causes has been taken into account, the statistics are far from accurate. In view of these considerations, it is interesting to inquire what value may be attached to the various forms of wage statement. ' Social Adjustment. Scott Nearing. New York, The Maemillan Co., 1911. P. 276. [200] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES In a simple statement of wages per day, imem- ployment is not considered at all, since any em- ployee may be sick or out of work for a particular day. In these wage statistics which furnish class- ified weekly earnings, together with the number of days per year worked in a given industry, the industrial causes of unemployment are alone considered. These statistics, while far from sat- isfactory, are much more accurate than those which give data for daily or weekly wages only. A third group of wage statistics, secured by dividing the total annual earnings in an industry by the average number of employees, while most unsatisfactory in some respects, represents actual wages, with unemployment, from all sources, de- ducted. These average wages are of course wholly inadequate, as was indicated in the chapter on "The Statistics of Average Wages," nevertheless they are the only wage statistics which give due weight to all forms of unemployment. The statistics cited in the study must therefore be weighed with the problem of unemployment in mind. As unemployment varies with the year and the industry, so wages for different years and diflFerent industries are modified in varying pro- portion by the unemployment factor. Certainly [201 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES none of the wage statistics cited are lower than the wages actually paid each year. If any revi- sion of these wages statistics is to be made, and some revision is obviously necessary, it will be a revision downward. II. Wage Variation with Industry, Sex, Age AND Geographic Location Any consideration of wages must therefore take unemployment into serious account, since without it no statement of wages paid, based on daily or weekly wages, can be accurate. In answering the question, "What are wages?" there are four other factors which, to a greater or less degree, influence the reply. Wages vary with the industry, the sex, the age, and the geographic location; hence no statement of wages can be made without consider- ing all of these items. The wage variation from Industry to industry is extreme, even within the same State. A com- parison of various States, does not, however, show any greater variations, as will be seen from a study of the wages of adult males in the leading industries of the three States publishing classified weekly earnings, — [ 202 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OF ADULT MALES IN THE LEADING INDUSTRIES, RECEIVING CERTAIN CLASSIFIED WEEKLY WAGES 1908-9 Massachusetts — 1908 i Classified Weekly Cotton Boots and Wages Goods Shoes Under $8 SI 11 " 12 77 37 " 15 91 58 " «0 97 84 $20 and over 3 16 New Jersey — 1909 2 Classified Weekly Silk (Broad and Wages Ribbon) Machinery Under $8 21 15 " 12 52 iS " IS 74 68 " 20 95 92 $20 and over 5 8 Kansas — 1909 ' Classified Weekly Cars and Coal Wages Shops Mining Under $8 7 8 " 12 61 26 " 16 74 46 " 20 92 78 $20 and over 8 22 Foundry 6 46 68 94 6 Woollen and Worsted 38 70 83 93 7 Slaughtering and Meat Packing 7 64 84 Worsted Goods 21 64 83 97 3 Oils 3 63 94 6 Binding & Printing 20 40 56 80 20 Thus, a wide variation appears between the wages paid to adult males in the leading industries of the same State and of different States. In the textile industries the wages are universally low, while in other industries, such as Oils and Machin- ery, wages are considerably higher than they are 1 Chapter III. ' Chapter IV. ' Chapter V. [203] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES in the textile industry. In the entire group of statistics, the proportion of employees receiving any group of wages, — for instance more than $20 per week, varies from 3 to 22 per cent. It would, under these circumstances, be impossible to state what wages were being paid in any one State, without modifying the statement by a reference to the wide difference between the various indus- tries in that State. An equally great discrepancy appears between the wages of males in the Bell telephone system, 24.3 per cent, of whom are paid more than $960 per year,^ and the wages of males in the South Bethlehem steel works, 8.2 per cent, of whom receive more than $1,000 annually.^ So, too, in the case of women in IlHnois industry, the wages in the department stores are very much higher than the wages in the factories.' A considerable difference exists between the wages of males and of females, in different indus- tries and in the same industry. There is no one industry in any of the States publishing classified weekly earnings in which the wages of women are higher, on the average, than the wages of men, whUe there are several industries in which the 1 Chapter VI. [ 204. ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES wages of men are nearly twice as great, on the average, as the wages of women. Age also plays a large part in determining wages. In industries like Cotton Spinning, Silk Throwing, Box Making and Confectionery Manufacture, in which large numbers of children and young per- sons are employed, average earnings are very low, while in other industries, such as Foundry and Machine Shop, Coal Mining, Oils, and Machinery, where children cannot be extensively employed, wages range much higher. Geographic location probably has something to do with wages. Of the States recently publishing classified weekly wages, Massachusetts, New Jer- sey and Kansas, the last named State shows the highest wages. This variation may be due to the varying characters of the industries in Kansas, or it may be due to the higher standard of wages maintained in the West. In the Telephone indus- try, there is a decided variation in the wages of telephone "operators"; from the South Central group of States where wages are much lower, to the Western States, where wages are considerably higher than they are in the three Eastern groups of States. So, too, in this industry, the wages of "operators" was much higher in the larger than [ 205 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES in the smaller cities. The statistics of railroad wages tend to confirm this statement regarding wage variation from one geographic area to an- other, since, in the South Central they were lower, and in the Western States slightly higher than in the remainder of the country. There was one exception to this statement, however. The con- ductors and enginemen show lower wages in New England than anywhere else, while the wages of other employees were only slightly higher in the West than in the East and South. The variation of wages from city to city and from large to small cities is neither great nor regular. For similar industries in Ohio,i Kansas,^ and Massachusetts,' the range of wages does not follow the size of the cities at all, — lower wages being paid in some large than in some small towns, reporting the same industry. Geographic location is therefore a factor that deserves at least a measure of consideration. Bearing in mind these factors — unemployment, and wage variation with industry, sex, age and geographic location — we may now seek to answer, as accurately as may be, the question, "What are wages?" » Chapter VIII. [206] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES III. Wages in the United States — Avebagb AND Actual Both average and classified wage statistics must be considered in answering the question, "What are wages?" Average wages have their disadvan- tages — they do not accurately represent the earn- ings of any one group of individuals. On the other hand they are more accurate in that, when they are secured by dividing total earnings for a year by the average number of employees, they make all allowances for the problem of unemployment. The most reliable average wage data is really furnished by States (Massachusetts and New Jer- sey) which publish the best statistics of classified earnings. There are, however, four additional States, Michigan, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, which publish average wage data of some merit. A comparison of the average wage statistics published by these six States forms the best available basis for statements regarding average wages. There is little variation in average wages from State to State or from industry to industry, when the varying methods of compiling the State data are taken into account. Average wages range, in [207] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES the leading industries, from $450 to $600 per year, — seldom rising above tlie latter figure ex- cept in industries like Petroleum and Malt Liquors, for which considerable skill is a prere- quisite to employment, and in which males only are employed. There is a wide variation between the average wages in these industries and in in- dustries like Confectionery and Paper Box Manu- facturing, which employ a majority of women, and in which the average annual earnings fall below $400. In view of all of the evidence, it is fair to say that the adult male wage workers in the indus- tries of that section of the United States lying east of the Rockies and north of the Mason and Dixon Line receive a total average annual wage of about $600; that this falls to $500 in some of the industries employing the largest numbers of persons, but rises to $700 or even to $750 in a few highly skilled industries. That the average annual earnings of adult females in the same area is about $350, with a very slight range, in the industries employing large numbers of adult females. Statistics of classified wages are published in: — 1. A few State reports. 2. The Telephone Investigation. [208] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES 3. The BetUeliem Steel Works Investiga- tion. 4. The reports of the Interstate Commerce Commission in Railroad Statistics. From these four sources some information may be derived regarding the wages paid to both males and females. First, therefore, as to the wages of males. The table containing a brief summary of the available data on the wages of adult males, is secured from the sources indicated. In order to simplify the table, only five wage groups have been retained, while the cumulative percentages only are considered in each case. (See next page.) With one exception (Bell Telephone Company) these statistics are remarkably uniform. About one-half of the adult males included receive less than $12 per week ($600 per year); while less than one-tenth receive wages of more than $1,000 per year. The Bell Telephone Company, a rela- tively high-class industry, enjoying almost no unskilled help, reports 20 per cent, of its employees as receiving more than $1,000. With this one exception, all of the reports are in practical agree- ment. Did these statistics emanate from one source, or were they based on one investigation, or derived through one statistical method, they [209] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OF MALES RECEIVING CERTAIN CLASSIFIED WEEKLY EARNINGS— COMPILED FROM CERTAIN REPORTS— 1908-1910 Massachusetts 1 New Jersey' Kansas* Classified Weekly 1908 1909 1909 Earnings (21 years and (16 years and (16 years and over) over) over) Per cent. Per cent. Per cent Under $8 12 18 8 "12 5i 67 46 "16 72 71 70 "20 92 91 91 $20 and over 8 9 9 Total employed 860,118 204,782 60,720 Wisconsin* 1906-7 (All males) Per cent. 12 69 89 128,334 Classified Weekly Earnings Under $8 " 12 " 16 " 20 $20 and over Total employed. Bell Telephone Company ^ 1910 (All males) Per cent. 6 23 82 80 Bethlehem Steel Works' 1910 (All males) Per cent. 8 60 76 92 Railroads of the United States' 1909 (All males) Per cent. 22 61 78 92 8 9,184 1,602,823 ' Statistics of Manufacture, 1908. Boston, 1909. P. 82. ' Bureau of Statistics, 1909. Camden, 1910. P. 120. ' Annual Report, Bureau of Labor, 1909. Topeka, 1910. P. 10. * Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wisconsin, 1907-8. Madison, 1909. P. 464. Investigation of Telephone Companies. C. P. Neill. Washington, 1910. P. 85-r. ^ Report on Strike at Bethlehem Steel Works. C. P. Neill. Wash- ington, 1910. P. 60. ' Annual Report, Statistics of Railways, 1908-9. Pp. 34 and 40. [210] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES might possibly be open to question; but coming as they do from six separate authorities, from States as far separated as Massachusetts and Wis- consin, from the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion, and from the inspection by the Department of Commerce and Labor of the pay-rolls of the telephone and Bethlehem companies, their agree- ment permits of but one conclusion, — that these seven reports give an accurate measure of the wages of adult males in the industries of the United States. Turning now, to the wages of females, the data, while less complete, is nevertheless excellent. (See next page.) There is again a remarkable uniformity in the distribution of women's wages in these seven reports. Three-fifths of the women receive less than $8 per week ($400 per year), while a vanish- ing percentage of them is paid more than $15 per week ($750 per year). Nearly nine -tenths of the women employed in these various States and trades are paid less than $12 per week ($600 per year). Here, then, is a clearly drawn picture, — an answer to the question, "What are wages?" The average wage statistics showed that the average [211] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES CUMULATIVE PERCENTAGES OF FEMALES RECEIVING CERTAIN CLASSIFIED WEEKLY EARNINGS— COMPILED FROM REPORTS— 1908-1910 1908 Classified Weekly (21 years and Earnings over) Per cent. Under $5 7 S 60 " 12 79 " IS 92 $15 and over 8 Total employed 144,935 New Jersey * ] Kansas ' Wisconsin * 1909 1909 1906-7 (16 years and (16 years and (All over) over) females) Per cent. Per cent Per cent. 22 25 38 60 73 8S 89 88 94 95 96 97 5 4 3 3,599 21,937 Bell Telephone Illinois Department Qaasified Weekly Earnings Under $5 Company^ (AU females) Per cent. 6 59 96 99 1 20,621 Stores* 1908 (All females) Per cent. 5 32 66 81 19 Illinois Factories 1906 (All females) Per cent. 16 S •• 12 " IS 60 94 99 1 Total employed 2,666 3,268 ' Statistics of Manufacture, 1908. Boston, 1909. P. 82. " Bureau of Statistics. Camden, 1910. P. 120. ' Annual Report, Bureau of Labor, 1909. Topeka, 1910. P. 10. * Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wisconsin, 1907-8. Madison, 1909. P. 464. Investigation of Telephone Companies. C. P. Neill. Wasliing- ton, 1910. P. 294-5. ° Report, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1908. Springfield, 1910. P. 435. [212] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES wages of adult males were in the neighborhood of $600. On the other hand, a study of classified wage statistics shows that half of the adult males working in the industrial sections of the United States receive less than $600 per year; three- quarters are paid less than $750 annually; and less than one-tenth earn $1,000 a year. Half of the women fall below $400 a year; while nearly nine-tenths receive less than $750. These figures are not accurate, however, since they are all gross figures, — ^including unemployment. They should be reduced by, perhaps, 20 per cent.,* varying with the year, the location and the industry. There may be no general agreement as to what reduction should be made, — ^but some reduction is obviously necessary. Making, there- fore, a reduction of one-fifth, it appears that half of the adult males of the United States are earn- ing less than $500 a year; that three-quarters of them are earning less than $600 annually; that nine-tenths are receiving less than $800 a year; while less than ten per cent, receive more than that figure. A corresponding computation of the wages of women shows that a fifth earn less than 1 Unemployment in the United States. Scott Nearing. Quarterly Publications Am. Stat. Assn., Sept., 1909. P. 539. [ .^13 ] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES $200 annually; that three-fifths are receiving less than $325; that nine-tenths are earning less than $500 a year; while only one-twentieth are paid more than $600 a year. Here, then, in brief, is an answer to that vital question, — "What are wages?" For the available sources of statistics, and by inference for neigh- boring localities, the annual earnings (unemploy- ment of 20 per cent, deducted) of adult males and females employed east of the Rockies and north of the Mason and Dixon Line, are distributed over the wage scale thus: — Annual Earnings Adult Males Adult Females Under $200 1-5 325 1-10 3-a 500 1-2 9-10 600 3-4 19-20 800 9-10 Three-quarters of the adult males and nineteen- twentieths of the adult females actually earn less than $600 a year. It is not important that the reported wages be reduced by one-fifth. The available unemploy- ment data indicates that such a reduction is an ap- proximately correct one, if, however, later studies show this estimate of unemployment to be excessive [214] WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES or inadequate, a corresponding alteration will be made on the summary of wages, but until such a study appears, the answer to the question, "What are wages?" is contained in the above summary. [215] INDEX Anoual Earmngs, classified: Kansas, see Wage Statistics, Kansas. Massachusetts, aee Wage Statistics, Massachusetts. New Jersey, see Wage Statistics, New Jersey. Telephone Industry, see Telephone In- dustry. Average Wages: 1908-1910, 207-208. All industries, 142-143. Building trades, 1S5-156. Comparative, 142-143. Geographical variation of, miscellane- ous industries, 153-156. Massachusetts and New Jersey com- pared, 136-138. Massachusetts, chief industries, 135- 137. Influence of sex on, 132-133. Methods of Computation, 120-121. Michigan, 121-122. New Hampshire, 123-125. Pennsylvania, adult females, 128-129. Adult males, 127. Minors, 130. Railroads, see Railroads. Rhode Island, 125-126. Significance of, 116-119. Statistics of, 14^146. United States, all industries, 139-141. City Size, and wage rates, see Wages, geographical variation of, with city size. Classified Annual Earnings, see Annual Earnings, classified. Classified Weekly Earnings, see Weekly Earnings, classified. Comparative Average Wages, 142-143. Cost of Living, and wage statistics, 6, 7. Department Stores, Illinois, wages of women in, 93-96. Earnings, classified annually, see Annual Earnings, classified. Earnings, classified weekly, see Weekly Earnings, classified. Illinois, wages of women, in department stores, 93-96. Kansas, annual earnings, see Wage Statis- tics, Kansas. Classified weekly earnings, see Wage Statistics, Kansas. Wages in, summary, 86-87. Massachusetts, annual earnings, aee Wage Statistics, Massachusetts. Average wages, see Average Wages, Massachusetts. Clas^fied weekly earnings, see Wage Statistics, Massachusetts. Wages in, summary, 58. Michigan, average wages, 121-122. Milwaukee, telephone industry, wages in, 90-92. [£17] INDEX Minors, wages of: Kansas, see Kansas, classified weekly earnings. Massachusetts, see Massachusetts, classified weekly earnings. New Jersey, see New Jersey, classified weekly earnings. New Hampshire, average wages, 123- 125. New Jersey, annual earnings, see Wage Statistics, New Jersey. Classified weekly earnings, see Wage Statistics, New Jersey. Wages in, summary, 72-78. Ohio, wage variations in, 167-162; 164- 165. Operators, telephone, wages of, see Tele- phone Industry. Pennsylvania, average wages, 126-131. Railroads, Wages on, average daily, 174- 179. Classified weekly, 210. Geographic variation, 150-153. Rhode Island, average wages, 126-126. Sex, and wages, Massachusetts, 36-39; 132-133. Special Wage Reports, Bethlehem Steel Works, see Steel Industry. Conclusions from, 113-115. Illinois Department Stores, see Illinois. Telephone Investigations, see Tele- phone Industry. Value of. 88-89. And wage distribution, 179-184. Specialized Employments, and wages, 170-174. Steel Industry, classified weekly earnings, 209-211. Wages in, 108-llS. Telephone Industry, federal investigation of, 96-108. Milwaukee, wages of women in, 90- 92. Summary of wages in, 107-108. United States, wages in, 9&-108. Wages in leading cities, 97-100. Unemployment, as a factor in wage statis- tics, 192-195. Causes of, 194-197. Conditions of, 198-202. Extent of, 193-202. United States, average wages, all indus- tries, 139-141- Classified annual earnings, 214-216. Classified weekly wages, 209-213. Wage data, available, 9, 11. Wage Reports, state, methods of, 16, 18. Kansas, 74. Massachusetts, 19-26. New Jersey, 69. Uniformity in, 26-27. Wage Statistics, see Average Wages. And the cost of living, 6, 7. Kansas, annual earnings: All industries, 86. Cars and shops, 86. Coal mining, 86. Slaughtering and meat packing, 85. Kansas, classified weekly earnings: All industries, 77-78. Bookbinding and printing, 80. Brick and tile, 82. Cars and shop construction, 82. Cement, 82. Chief industries, 79-83. Coal mining, 82. Flour and grist mills, 82. Foundries and machine shops, 82. Glass factories, 82. Slaughtering and meat packing, 80. Smelting and refining, 82. [218] INDEX Massachusetts, annual eaimngs: All industries, 62-53. Boot and shoe industry, 54. Cotton goods industry, 53. Foundry and machine shop industry, 65. Worsted industry, 56. Massachusetts, classified weekly earn- ings: Adult females, 33-35. Adult males, 30-32. All industries, 43-44. Chief industries, 45-49. Method, 28-29. Minors, 39-42. Michigan, 17. New Jersey, annual earnings: All industries, 66. Chemical products, 71. Machinery, 68. Oils, 72. Silk, broad and ribbon, 67. Woollen and worsted goods, 70- New Jersey, classified weekly earn- ings: Adult females, 61. Adult males, 61. All industries, 61. Chemicak, 63. Chief industries, 63-65. Oils, 63. Silk, broad and ribbon, 63. Woollen and worsted goods, 63. New York, 14-15. North Carolina, 16-18. And the standard of living, 8. State, lack of, 14-15. State, scope of, 13. And unemployment, see Unemploy- ment. Value of, 1-4. And wage theory, 5. Wisconsin, classified weekly earnings, ISif-lBB; 210-211. Wage System, development of the, 6 Wages, as an element in distribution, 6. Average, see Average Wages. Bethlehem Steel Works, 108. Classified hourly, steel industry, 109- 111. Classified weekly, Illinois, department stores, 93-96. Distribution of, from state reports, 184-189. Eailroads, 174-179. Steel industry, 109-111; 179-184. Summary, 189-191. Telephone industry, 107-108; 180- 182. Geographical variation of, summary, 167-169. Telephone operators, 97-100. Theory, 147-148. With city size, 104, 167-162; 163- 167. With geographic area: Building trades, 155-156. Miscellaneous industries, 153-156. Railroads, 150-163. Special reports, conclusions from, 113- 115. Specialized employments, 170-174. Summary of, 214-215. And unemployment, see Unemploy- ment. Variation of, in steel industry, 111-112. Of women in telephone industry, Mil- waukee, 90-92. What are, 1. Weekly Earnings, classified, Kansas, see Wage Statistics, Kansas. Massachusetts, see Wage Statistics, Massachusetts. New Jersey, see Wage Statistics, New Jersey. Railroad, see Railroads. Steel Industry, 209-211. Telephone Industry, see Telephone In- dustry, 1908-1910. 209-213. Wisconsin, 210-211. [219] INDEX TOsconsin, classified weekly wages in, see Wage Statistics, Wisconsin. Wages of women in, 91-93. Women, wages of, compared with men, 106. In certain occupations, 105-107. Illinois department stores, 93-96. In Kansas, aee Kansas, classified weekly earnings. In Massachusetts, see Massachusetts, classified weekly earnings. In New Jersey, see New Jersey, classi- fied weekly earnings. Telephone industry, leading cities, 97- 100. In Wisconsin, 91-93; see Wisconsin, classified weekly wages. [mo] T HE following: pages contain advertisements of Macmillan books by the same attthor^ or on kindred subjects SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT By SCOTT NEARING. Cloth, 377 pages, Si. 50 net. "It is a good book, and will help any one interested in the study of preient social problems." — Christian Standard. 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