WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR

Hours and Earnings in Foundries and Machine Shops, 1931

A STUDY of wages and hours of labor in 1931 was made by the

United States Bureau of Labor Statistics in 388 representative foundries and 512 machine shops employing 28,699 and 65,919 wage earners, respectively. Except for a very few plants, the data were taken directly from the records of the plants, for a respresentative pay period in June, July, or August, 1931.

This study revealed that the wage earners in foundries earned an average of 60 cents per hour in 1931; this was 2.4 cents per hour, or 3.8 per cent, less than was earned in 1929. Those in machine shops earned an average of 63.3 cents per hour in 1931 as compared with 63.8 cents in 1929.

In foundries the average full-time week in 1931 was 50.3 hours, as against 51 hours in 1929; in machine shops the figures were 49.8 and 50.3, respectively.

Full-time earnings per week in foundries averaged $30.18 in 1931, which was $1.64 less than in 1929, and in machine shops averaged $31.52, or 57 cents less than in 1929.

Trend of Hours and Earnings Since 1923

SUMMARY data showing average full-time hours per week, earnings per hour, and full-time earnings per week are given in Table 1, for the odd years beginning with 1923. Data were not collected for the even years.

The average full-time hours per week were less in 1931 in both foundries (50.3) and machine shops (49.8) than in any year in which the bureau has collected data. The highest full-time hours were in 1923, being 52.4 in foundries and 50.8 in machine shops.

The average hourly earning (60 cents) in foundries was less in 1931 than in any year since 1923 (when it was 55.8 cents). In machine shops, although the 1931 average was lower than that of 1929, it still was higher than in any of the preceding years.

As for average full-time earnings per week, the low point in both foundries and machine shops occurred in 1923, being in that year $29.24 and $28.40, respectively. In foundries full-time weekly earnings rose from 1923 to 1927, then fell slightly in 1929 and still more in 1931. In machine shops, a steady increase took place from 1923 to 1929, but a slight drop occurred in 1931 as compared with 1929.

Table 1 also gives index numbers of the averages, with the 1923 average as the base or 100 per cent. The index of average earnings per hour, of average full-time hours per week, or of average full-time earnings per week for any of the years in the table is the per cent that the average for the year is of the 1923 average. Example: The 1927 and 1929 average of 62.4 cents per hour for foundries is 111.8, or 11.8 per cent more than the 1923 average of 55.8 cents per hour.

TABLE 1.-AVERAGE HOURS AND EARNINGS, WITH INDEX NUMBERS THEREOF, FOR ALL EMPLOYEES, BY INDUSTRY AND YEAR

Hours and Earnings, 1929 and 1931, by Occupation and Sex

AVERAGE hours and earnings are shown in Table 2 for 1929 and 1931 for each sex in each of the numerically important occupations in foundries and in machine shops, and also for the group designated in the table under each industry as "other employees." The group includes wage earners in occupations in which there was not a sufficient number of wage earners to warrant separate presentation.

Averages are shown in the table for males in all, and for females in 3, of the 12 important occupations in foundries and for males in all, and for females in 17, of the 27 important occupations in machine shops, and also for "other employees" of each sex in each industry. Foundries.-Average earnings per hour of males in foundries were higher in one occupation (patternmakers, 83.4 cents in 1929 and 83.5 cents in 1931) and lower in 11 occupations in 1931 than in 1929. The range by occupation in 1929 was from 49.0 cents for laborers to 83.4 cents for patternmakers, and in 1931 from 46.0 to 83.5 cents, respectively, for the same occupations. Averages of females were 49.6 cents in 1931 for chippers and rough grinders; 46.9 cents in 1929 and 43.0 in 1931 for coremakers; 38.6 cents in 1929 and 37.7 cents in 1931 for laborers. "Other employees," males, earned an average of 59.2 cents per hour in 1929 and 60.0 cents in 1931, and females, 49.2 cents in 1929 and 34.5 cents in 1931.

Machine shops. Average earnings per hour of males in machine shops were more in 4 and less in 23 occupations in 1931 than in 1929. They ranged by occupation in 1929 from 46.9 cents for laborers to 88.8 cents for hammersmith and in 1931 from 45.5 cents for laborers to 81.2 cents for patternmakers. Hammersmiths earned an average of 77.6 cents per hour in 1931 and patternmakers an average of 84.6 cents in 1929. Averages for females were more in 5 and less in 8 occupations in 1931 than in 1929 and ranged by occupation in 1929 from 34.3 cents per hour for grinding-machine operators to 50.4 cents for milling-machine operators and in 1931 from 32.6 cents for semiautomatic screw-machine operators to 52.7 cents for turret-lathe operators. "Other employees," males, earned an average of 48.8 cents per hour in 1929 and 50.5 cents in 1931 and females earned an average of 34.5 cents in 1929 and 47.5 cents in 1931.

TABLE 2.-AVERAGE HOURS AND EARNINGS IN FOUNDRIES AND MACHINE SHOPS, 1929 AND 1931, BY OCCUPATION AND SEX

TABLE 2.-AVERAGE HOURS AND EARNINGS IN FOUNDRIES AND MACHINE SHOPS, 1929 AND 1931, BY OCCUPATION AND SEX-Continued

Hours and Earnings, 1929 and 1931, by Sex and State

TABLE 3 presents average hours and earnings for all wage earners that were included in the studies of foundries and of machine shops in each State in 1929 and 1931. The averages are for each sex separately and also for both sexes combined in each State and industry. The averages for wage earners in foundries are for 40,032 males and 359 females in 1929 and for 28,469 males and 230 females in 1931, and in machine shops are for 89,935 males and 1,556 females in 1929 and 64,846 males and 1,073 females in 1931. The 1929 wage figures in the table are for 399 foundries and 508 machine shops and those for 1931 are for 388 foundries and 512 machine shops.

Foundries.-Average full-time hours per week for males in foundries in the various States included in the study ranged in 1931 from 45.4 for the State with the lowest, to 56.0 for the one with the highest average, and in 1929 ranged from 45.9 to 56.4. Those for females ranged in 1931 from 44.5 to 51.4 and in 1929 from 45.7 to 53.0. Averages for males in all States combined, or the industry, decreased from 51.0 in 1929 to 50.3 in 1931 and for females decreased from 49.7 in 1929 to 48.7 in 1931.

Average earnings per hour for males in foundries in the various States covered in the report ranged in 1931 from 40.1 to 74.3 cents, and in 1929 from 39.6 to 74.5 cents. Averages for females ranged in 1931 from 31.8 to 47.2 cents and in 1929 from 36.6 to 52.4 cents. Averages for males in all States combined, or the industry, decreased from 62.5 per hour in 1929 to 60.1 cents in 1931 and for females decreased from 45.1 in 1929 to 42.2 in 1931.

Average full-time earnings per week for males in foundries in the different States ranged in 1931 from $20.51 to $33.73 and in 1929 ranged from $20.95 to $35.11, and for females ranged in 1931 from $15.90 to $23.46 and in 1929 ranged from $17.75 to $23.95. Averages for males in all States combined, or the industry, decreased from $31.88 in 1929 to $30.23 in 1931 and for females decreased from $22.41 in 1929 to $20.55 in 1931.

Machine shops.-Average full-time hours per week for males in machine shops, all States combined, or the industry, decreased from 50.3 in 1929 to 49.9 in 1931, and for females decreased from 49.3 in 1929 to 49.1 in 1931. Average earnings per hour for all males included in the study of this industry in all States decreased from 64.1 cents in 1929 to 63.7 cents in 1931, and for females increased from 39.9 cents in 1929 to 41.9 cents in 1931. And average full-time earnings per week for males, all States combined, decreased from $32.24 in 1929 to $31.79 in 1931, and for females increased from $19.67 in 1929 to $20.57 in 1931.