Evening star., 1935-06-16
Starting Wages for Workers
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

It Is the confident expectation Of
o large number Of college and even
high school graduates that once COM
mencement Is over they win step out
into q world eager for their services.
Some do, but, especially in these times,
such an experience is the rare excep-
ton. Even where a young man has
family connections or other influence
resulting in early advantageous place
ment 1t often, Is found that he starts
at the top and works down.
The competition for any kind OF
job is so keen today, when bankers and
lawyers are driving taxicabs for q
living and court reporters are waiting
on tables because of the pressure oi
ten or eleven million unemployed, that
the youth just emerging from school
| may be thankful to get the humblesl
work.
The Bureau Of Labor Statistics has
made a study Of what the beginner
may expect to be paid in a number
of industries provided he can convince
the hiring foreman that he should
have the job. The wages are not par
ticularly flattering but they are better
than none at all and, to the minds oi
most Americans, better than the dole
Always, by starting at the bottom
there is an opportunity for emulatins
the heroes of Horatio Alger and end
ing up by owning the business. ever
though one has to marry the boss
daughter to reach that end.
The Bureau has worked out average
| figures for 13 major industries. There
are, Of course, marked exceptions II
these averages. Some companies pay
more and some pay less. Wages are
generally higher in the North thar
they are In the South. but, taking al
companies and all sections into con-
sideration, the bureau has arrived al
the averages the beginner can ex-
pect.
The highest entrance wages are
paid in the automobile industry-54S 8
cents an hour. Henry Ford and others
pay higher wages than that, but moi
every one can go to Detroit. and even
Henry Ford cannot employ all comers
Allied to the automobile industry and
paying the next highest entrancs
wage is the petroleum refining indus
try. with a starting figure of 52.e
cents an hour.
General contracting ranks third
as large industry. paying ass cents
an hour. This sort Of work would
include hod-carrying and the rougheI
sorts of manual labor incident to con-
struction of all kinds, buildings
roads, seWers-anything that comes
under the heading of general con-
tracing. This Is a good rate, az
wages go. but difficulty is that the
construction industry Is perhaps the
most depressed OF all industries and
there are few jobs to be had. What
might be called subdivision Of gen.
eral contracting, the cement industry
pays an average entrance wage Of AT
cents an hour and ranks fourth.
Wages in Various Industries.
An hourly wage of 43.9 cents an
hour is paid by the slsughtering and
meat packing industry. One would
need to have taste for that sort OF
thing to be willing to take a begin
ner's job in a slaughter house. The
work is not exactly dainty. but A
cents an hour is a pretty good wage
as beginners wages go.
The industry devoted to electrical
machinery. apparatus and supplies
pays an average wage of 43.5 cents
an hour and public utilities AIS
cents. This is the wage which the
greatly envied Irish worker was get
ting. presumably, when he was up
braided with his luxury by MS wife,
who said that while she bent over a
steaming washtub all day he could
dig in a nice cool sewer.