Evening star., 1939-08-16
W. P. A. 10 Increase
Average Wage $3.50
To $3.50 Monthly
But There Will Be 300, 900
Fewer on Rolls When
Roise Made in September
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
w. P. A. workers will receive a
monthly average of $3.50 more pay
after September 1, but there will be
about 100000 fewer persons on the
rolls.
Oficials so interpreted an order
issued yesterday by Col. F. C. Har-
rington. w. P. A. commissioner.
establishing 60 new wage schedules
for five different types of employ
ment in three areas.
Col. Harrington's order was de-
signed to put into effect require
ments OF the new relief act calling
for a general overhauling of w. p.
A. wages without changing mate
rally the present national average.
That average, Col. Harrington said,
stood at about $50 in June. The new
schedules will increase it to about
$3.50.
Officials said Col. Harrington did
not consider this to be a material
INCREASE, since it represented a raise
OF only about per cent from the
old level. The total cost to the Gov
ernment, they said, actually would
be less than it is now in view of
pending cuts expected to bring w.
P. A. enrolment down from 2194.-
9ll on July 26 to about 100000 on
September /.
The new schedule of earnings does
not affect recent requirement that
w. P. A. employees must work 100
hours for the monthly wage.
Rates Pay Here.
Here in Washington, the w. P, A
said that under the new schedule
the pay of unskilled indoor work
ers will be $50 a month. Unskilled
outdoor workers will be raised from
s48.10 to s57.20 intermediate"
workers from s61.1O to s68.9 80; skilled
from s7410 to s89.70 and profess
sional and technical from $3.50 to
ss490.
The new wage rates will be the
same for Washington and Baltimore.
representing slightly smaller in
crease for Baltimore.
In Maryland, the security wage
will range down to s39 30 a month
for unskilled indoor workers in rural
areas.
The new set-up puts Virginia in
different region from Maryland. with
the wage scale ranging from s3l 20
for unskilled indoor workers in
counties with under 5000 population
up to $3.50 for professional and
! technical workers in those with more
than 100000 population.
Declines in Northern States.
/ Col. Harrington emphasized that
an increase in the national average
did not mean more income for each
! individual worker. Most of the in
| creases, he said, would be in South
ern States, particularly in the rural
regions, while pay rates would re-
main more or less stationary or de-
cline slightly in northern metropol-
| itan areas.
/ For example, he said, unskilled
wages in the Southern States would
jump from S26 to S35 a month for
rural laborers and from $40 to $50. 20
| for urban workers. In Northern and
Western cities of 100000 or more
population, the unskilled wage rate
will be S57.20 as against a present
schedule of S55 to $50 a month.
The readjustment, officials said,
is an effort to bring all wages more
in line with the cost of living. Here
tofore. they said, wages had been
based primarily on prevailing pay
in private industry and on the
standard of living.
The new schedules, they said,
greatly simplified the old wage setup
by substituting 60 separate rates for
a present total of more than 1000,
many of which vary widely in neigh
boring communities.