TABLE 7.-Cumulative Percentage Distribution of Adult Male Common Laborers According to Hourly Entrance Rates in 20 Industries, by Region, July 1937 and July 1938

TABLE 8.-Average Hourly Entrance Rates of Adult Male Common Laborers, by Industry and Region, July 1937 and July 1938

It is interesting to note that on the whole there was very little difference between the corresponding figures for the total coverage and that limited to identical establishments reporting in both 1937 and 1938. With respect to the total coverage, the averages were 50.8 cents for the country as a whole, 55.4 cents for the North and West, and 34.8 cents for the South and Southwest, which may be compared respectively with 51.7, 55.9, and 35.7 cents for identical establishments. Similarly, the differences are not very pronounced if the comparison is made on the basis of distributions. There are few significant differences, however, in the case of individual industries.

Trends of Entrance Rates From 1926 to 1938

Table 9 shows the average entrance rates per hour of common laborers in each of the 3 industry groups, namely manufacturing, public utilities, and building construction for the years 1926 to 1938 inclusive. It should be noted, however, that the manufacturing group includes here only 9 industries, for which comparable figures are available continuously since 1926. These industries are brick, tile, and terra cotta, cement, foundry and machine-shop products, iron and steel, leather, lumber, paper and pulp, petroleum refining, and slaughtering and meat packing. The table also contains figures for all industries combined—i. e., 9 in manufacturing, 3 in public utilities, and building construction. These averages, it should be remembered, are not based on identical establishments from year to year, but nevertheless they are sufficient to show the trend in entrance rates.2

TABLE 9.-Average Hourly Entrance Rates of Adult Male Common Laborers in 13 Industries, by Industry Group, 1926 to 1938

1 For the years 1926 to 1935, inclusive, the figures cover a small amount of construction outside of the building industry.

'For explanation see footnote 6, p. 1508, Monthly Labor Review, December 1937.

WAGES AND HOURS IN UNION BAKERIES,
JUNE 1, 1938 1

1

THERE was an increase of 2.3 percent, a rise from $0.826 to $0.845 per hour, in the average wage rate for union workers in the bakery trades between May 15, 1937, and June 1, 1938. These averages cover the union members for whom reports were received for both years.2 During the year, however, union organization was extended into cities, bakeries, and occupations where hitherto there had been no union rates. While these new agreements usually provided for higher rates than previously had been in effect, these rates nevertheless were, on the average, lower than rates in shops which had been unionized for a longer period. The lower scales for these workers brought under union agreements for the first time in 1938 were due to the fact that many of them were for lower-paid occupations and also that a large proportion of them were located in smaller cities. With the inclusion of these additional workers the average wage rate was 80.6 cents per hour on June 1, 1938.

3

The average rate in New York City was much higher than for the rest of the country-$1.015 compared to $0.845 for all the cities covered in both years' surveys. The much higher rates existing in shops handling Hebrew bakery products account for most of this difference. In New York over two-fifths of all the union members worked in such shops. Their average rate was $1.274 per hour compared to $0.823 for other shops in New York.

Table 1 indicates that in both 1937 and 1938 a majority of the total membership had wage rates ranging between 60 cents and $1.00 per hour-60.7 percent in 1937 and 62.8 percent in 1938. The upward movement of wage rates during the year is most apparent in the decreased percentage of members having rates of under 60 cents, the percentage falling from 16.4 in 1937 to 12.8 in 1938; and in the increased percentage having scales of $1.00 and over per hour, which rose from 22.9 percent in 1937 to 24.4 percent in 1938.

One-third of the union members covered in both years received wage-rate increases between May 15, 1937, and June 1, 1938, while decreases were shown for only 0.3 percent. Increases were reported in 122 out of the total 361 comparable quotations covering both years.

1 This study is one of a series of annual surveys started in 1907 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, covering scales in various trades in the principal cities of the United States. The early studies included 39 cities. The coverage has been gradually extended, reaching 70 cities in the period from 1934 to 1937, and in the present survey two more cities-Phoenix, Ariz., and Jackson, Miss.-were added. In 17 of these cities, however, there were no union members working under agreements in the baking trades.

2 The percents of change and the averages, presented in this study, are based upon aggregates computed from 361 quotations which showed comparable data for both years. These quotations covered 24,811 union members. The membership weights used in the aggregates for each year are those reported for the second

year.

There were 9,595 members covered in 1938 for whom no rates were obtained in 1937.

No change was reported in 232 quotations, while only 7 reported decreases.

TABLE 1.-Distribution of Union Members in the Bakery Trades, by Hourly Rates

1 Based on comparable quotations furnished by unions reporting for both years. Including the quotations for which there were no comparable 1937 data, the range of all rates in 1938 was from 35 cents per hour to $1.571.

In table 2 the rate changes which were reported as becoming effective between May 15, 1937, and June 1, 1938, have been classified according to the percentage of the changes. Of the 122 increases reported, 25 amounted to less than 5 percent of the 1937 rates; 57 amounted to between 5 and 10 percent; 23 amounted to between 10 and 15 percent; and 17 amounted to 15 percent or over. Four of the increases were of 30 percent or more, the greatest being a 40percent advance in the rate for counters, under the machine-bakery agreement in Houston.

A majority of the members whose rates advanced during the year received from 5 to 10 percent more per hour in 1938 than in 1937. About one-fifth had advances ranging from 10 to 20 percent, and about 22 percent had increases amounting to less than 5 percent. Relatively few were benefited by increases which exceeded 20 percent. TABLE 2.-Percent of Change in Union Wage Rates in the Baking Trades Between 1937 and 1938

U.S.BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.