Evening star., 1897-02-12
SEX IN WAGE EARNING
Women in Manufacturing Establishments
and Their Pay.
In a Large Proportion Of Occupa tions
IL
They Excel MeA and Get
,wer Wgges.


In obedience to joint resolution of Con-
gress the eleventh annual report of Labor
Commissioner Carroll De Wright. lust is
sued. is devoted to giving the facts in re-
gard to the condition q linen, women and
children who work as wage earners. The
purposes of the investigation. were to de-
termine to what extent if any, women were
superseding men, to show the conjugal con-
dition Of women who work. compare the
relative efficiency of men and women and
show the wages each sex receives.
Information was secured from LOST estab-
lishments of various kinds, in thirty states.
and employing 14S,367 persons, number
large enough to insure. that the data col
lected was thoroughly representative The
complete data sought was obtained from
only 931 establishments.
Comparisons are confined strictly to the
extent of employment and wages in 1856
or present PERIOD with the conditions
which pertained some year Germed for
mer perioG') antedating the present period
by at least ten years. The 931 establish
ments employed 64 $50 persons in the for
mer and 10S.64S In the present period. Of
this number, in the first period, &c, 479 were
males eighteen years of age or over as
against AZ, ,19J in the second: and 4175
males under eighteen, as against 1910 in
the second. In the first period 81, ,163 were
females eighteen years or over, and 6, 1i3
females under eighteen, as against Al, 162
and -, 751, respectively, in the present
period.
Male employees eighteen years or over in
creased in the present period over the for
mer 63.1 per cent Female EMPLOYEES of the
same age increased 66.3 per cent Mae
employees under eighteen years increased
SO6 per cent. Female employees under eigh-
teen increased s91 per cent.
An interesting showing is made of the
fig1lrpS 0f he Sf
ing the employment of women. The pro-
portion of females ten years of age and
over employed in all occupations in the
United States rose in its relations to the
whole number employed from i4.6S per cent
in 1870 to 11.22 per cent in 1890. while males
decreased in proportion from 1922 per cent
in 1870 to SITS per cent in 1880.
Few Married Working Women.
For the present period. out of an aggre
gate of 1887 women, 7O,921 or sS.7 per
cent, were single; 6775, or 50 per cent,
married; 2,011, or 80 per cent, divorced,
and pa, or three-tenths of one per cent,
unknown. The last census figures on this
point are also analysed OF the 3,914,511
females ten years of age and over engaged
in gainful pursuits in the United States
in 1890. 69.S4 per cent were single or their
conjugal condition unknown, 1916 per cent
were married, 1910 per cent were widowed,
and $50 per cent were divorced. COM
resulting from the investigation of the de-
partment can only be made with certain
limitations. the former relate to all fe-
males productivity employed, while the
latter relate chiefly to manufacturing es-
tablishments where women are employed
to large extent. :. -
In 456 of the ESTABLISHMENTS canvassed
the agents secured data ',as to the rela-
tive efficiency of women and children and
of men working at the same occupa tions.
OF IS2 instances in which. men and women
work at the same occupation and per-
form their work with he same degree of
efficiency, men receive greater pay in 595
or 1G.1 per cent of the instances, and wo-
men receive greater pay in 10, or 1863 per
cent while in fifty-eight Instances, or "A
per cent they receive the same pay for the
same work.
Men Get More. Pay.
The men receive 501Eper cent greater pay
than the women in the 5a5 instances in
which they are given greater pay. while the
women receive but 1913 per cent greater
pay in the 129 instances in which they are
paid higher wages. Onts of the 22S in
stances in which men and children (persons
under eighteen years OF age) work at the
same occupation with like degree of eff
cheney, men receive greater pay In 1S2, or
1913 per cent of the instances. and children
receive greater pay In twentyfour, or 1O5
per cent, t,while in twenty-five instances, or O. {
per cent. they receive the same pay for the
same work. performed with the same degree
OF efficiency. The men receive ST. per cent
greater pay than the children in the 1S2
Instances in which they are paid more.
while the children receive but Sc per cent
greater pay in the twenty-four Instances in
Which they are paid higher wages
Ihe main reason given for IT, employ
ment of women and girls is usually that
tney are better adapted for the work at
Whlch they are employed. Other reasons
are that they are more reliable more easily
controlled, cheaper, more temperate more
easily procurable. neater, more rapid. more
INDUSTRIOUS, less liable to strike learn more
rapidly, etc. On the other hand. the rea-
sons for their opinion given by those who
dld not believe that there was any ten
dency for the employment of women 10
increase in their industries were that very
often women who are better adapted and
cheaper are unreliable; that their physical
strength is inadequate for heavy work:
that machinery is gradually dspacing
them, etc.
Occupations of Women.
Other tables give the date when women
were first employed in each establishment
and the occupations at which they were
employed, the hours of labor worked in
establishments reporting, list of occupa-
lions followed by women and girls as dis
covered by the investigation, AMI the wages
In detail OF men, women and children In all
the establishments comprehended in the i'll
vestigation.
The commissioner takes occasion to call
attention to the varied work now performed
by his department. Originally preparing
only annual reports, it now issues, in ad-
dition to these publications, which contain
the results of the more extensive investiga-
tlons carried on by the department, special
reports, of which eight have been issued,
giving the results Of exhaustive special
studies of social and economic questions,
and bi-monthly bulletin of something
over 100 pages giving the results cf brief,
original inquiries of foreign and domestic
official statistics current labor news, and
the decisions of courts affecting laws re-
lating to labor.
The work now being performed by the
department relates to an investigation of
the effects of machinery upon labor and
the cost OF production, compilation of
the world. iIyeSflnatior Ia linuo-