ries reported were $4,360 and $4,710 for community service and teaching social work, respectively. Since salary differences among programs may be based in part upon differences in the proportion of each position in the work force, some comparisons of average annual salaries of case or group workers among the various programs may be of value. Annual salaries of case workers ranged from about $2,500 for those engaged in public assistance and in institutions for the aged to $3,700 for those in school social work and work with the mentally ill in clinics. Approximate average salaries of case workers in all programs are summarized below: $3,600-$3,800- Medical social work. (School social work. Work with physically handicapped. Regionally, salaries were highest in the Pacific States, where they averaged $3,320, and lowest in the Southeastern States, $2,490 (chart 2). This regional pattern prevailed generally both for State, county, and local governments and for private agencies. In the former group of agencies, salaries were almost as low in the Middle West as in the Southeast. Private agencies in the Middle Atlantic States were the highest paying for supervisors of case or group workers and for executives. This level of salaries probably reflects the predominance of the large private agencies in this area. Salaries tended to increase with amount of experience. However, there was less variation with experience among case or group workers and their supervisors than among the higher paid positions, and in salaries of women than of men. Supplemental Benefits Paid vacations of from 2 to 4 weeks were reported by over 85 percent of the social workers having at least 1 year's service in their present agency. Only 4 percent reported vacations of less than 2 weeks and only 7 percent reported more than 4 weeks. Regionally, the most liberal vacation plans were found in the Middle Atlantic States. In all regions, approximately 70 to 80 percent of the social workers reported 2 weeks or more of sick leave after 1 year's service in the agency. Again, the Middle Atlantic States offered slightly more generous plans. Plans for retirement, paid for at least in part by the employer, were available to over 70 percent of the social workers in the country. Covered were all the Federal workers (except temporary employees, now covered by retirement provisions of the Social Security Act) about 80 percent of the State, county, and local government employees, and about 60 percent of the social workers in private agencies. Many social workers in commenting on working conditions said they felt they should be covered by the Social Security Act. Education Two-thirds of the social workers are college graduates, and about half reported some graduate work (table 2). Those employed by the Federal Government, the highest paid, also are the most highly educated; almost 90 percent hold bachelor's degrees, and almost all of these reported some graduate work education. Bachelor's degrees were held by about 70 percent of the social workers in private agencies, and 60 percent had had some graduate work. In the State, county, or other local governments, where average salaries were lowest, about 3 out of 5 social workers held bachelor's degrees and less than half had had some graduate work. The survey indicates that only 2 out of 5 social workers have had specialized graduate education in schools of social work. As in the case of general education, employees with the greatest amounts of specialized graduate education received the highest salaries. Those working in mental hygiene clinics had more social-work education than those in any other program; almost 95 percent had 1 year or more of graduate social-work study and over 80 percent had at least 2 years; teachers of social work were next, with over 80 percent having had 1 year or more. Over 3 out of 5 medical social workers and workers with the mentally ill in hospitals reported 1 year or more of such educa TABLE 2.-Percentage distribution of social workers by amount of education, type of position, and sex, 1950 tion; 2 out of 5 workers in family service other than public assistance and in welfare work with children, except institutional and court work, reported 1 year or more of graduate social-work education. Over half of the social workers in all other programs reported no graduate social-work education. About two-thirds of the supervisors but only 2 out of 5 case workers reported graduate work. Roughly half the executives and three-fifths of the teachers and researchers had some graduate training. Experience in Social Work More than 5 years of social-work experience was reported by 3 out of 5 social workers, and 4 out of 5 had more than 2 years' experience. Among social-work programs, the most professional experience was reported for teaching, also the highest-paid program. Three-quarters of the teachers had 10 or more years' experience. Community organization is the next to the highest-paid program and also accounted for next to the greatest amount of professional social-work experience. Between 55 and 70 percent of the workers in all other social-work programs reported 5 or more years' experience. Still another indicated the need to find his financial security outside the field of social work. He stated: "Social work and its ramifications has been a lifetime hobby. Since social workers are underpaid by a poorly reasoning society my insurance has been the study of law and business." Several respondents indicated that they actually planned to leave the field of social work for financial reasons. Replies consistently indicated the belief that educational and experience standards for social work positions were out of line with the salary scale. One parole officer pointed out that a specific qualification for his job was a degree from a graduate school of social work but that an applicant without even a high-school diploma could start as a correctional officer with a salary $25 in excess of the probation officer's starting pay. A respondent with a Ph. D. in social work reported that he made "almost the same amount teaching in college part time evenings and summers as I do per year in social work-i. e., social work pays about $1.81 per hour. Teaching $4-$6 per hour..." Many case or group workers expressed concern about the lack of advancement possibilities in social work. -MAXINE G. STEWART Division of Wage Statistics Including social insurance and related programs, this figure would total $12 billion. Estimates are from a forthcoming study by E. V. Hollis and Alice L. Taylor titled Social Work Education Looks Ahead scheduled to be published by the Columbia University Press in September 1951. 2 Average salaries used throughout this report are medians; in other words, half the workers received more and half received less than the amounts specified. A social worker was defined for survey purposes as any full-time worker in a social-work position, whether professionally trained or not, and whether publicly or privately employed. The Bureau estimates that over 60 percent of the social workers are employed by State, county, or other local governments, about 35 percent by private agencies, and less than 3 percent by the Federal Government. Data were collected in the course of the survey for case or group workers who provide direct service to individuals, families, or groups; supervisors of case or group workers; social workers with executive responsibility, such as administrators, assistant administrators, executives, and directors; and other workers who are engaged in teaching, research, consultation, and supervision not related to case or group work. About 51,000 responded to the survey questionnaire mailed out the spring of 1950. All the approximately 34,000 social workers in State public assistance and child welfare agencies participated in the study. Of the estimated 40,000 in other agencies, roughly 50 percent received the questionnaire and over 17,000 responded. In tabulating the information, each group was given only its proportionate weight. Hosiery Manufacture: Earnings in October 19501 Full-Fashioned Hosiery KNITTERS, Single-unit or backrack, were the highest paid among the selected occupations studied in October 1950 in full-fashioned hosiery mills. Workers in this occupation averaged more than $2 an hour in each area-$2.45 in Reading (Pa.); $2.25 in Charlotte (N. C.); $2.23 in Philadelphia; $2.18 in Hickory-Statesville (N. C.); and $2.11 in Winston-Salem-High Point (N. C.). Among the classes of knitters shown separately, however, knitters of 42- and 45-gauge hosiery averaged less than $2 an hour in each area. (See table 1.) Knit ters of 60-gauge hosiery in the three areas for which data could be presented, had earnings averaging from 10 to 22 cents above the corresponding averages for all knitters combined. Adjusters and fixers of knitting machines with 4 or more years' experience, were also among the higher paid occupations. Their earnings averaged $1.96 in full-fashioned hosiery mills in HickoryStatesville and more than $2 an hour in each of the other areas. Seamers, an occupation in which large numbers of women are employed, had average earnings ranging from $1.22 in Hickory-Statesville to $1.42 in Reading. Folding and boxing operations were generally among the lowest paid of the fullfashioned hosiery occupations studied, with area averages for women ranging from $1.01 to $1.18 an hour. Reading usually had the highest average hourly earnings in the nine occupations for which comparisons could be made in all five areas; HickoryStatesville had the lowest in a majority of instances. The differences between the highest and lowest area averages ranged from 18 to 44 cents an hour. Most occupational averages in Reading were from 5 to 25 cents an hour higher than those in Philadelphia. The gauge of hosiery produced in the mills studied ranged from 42 to 60. The majority of the knitters in each area, however, were knitting 51- to 60-gauge hosiery during the period studied. The number of sections per machine also differed, generally ranging from 24 to 32. In four of the five areas a majority of the knitters operated machines with 30 or 32 sections; in Philadelphia about a third were in that category at the time of the study. TABLE 1.-Straight-time average hourly earnings' for selected occupations in the full-fashioned hosiery industry, selected areas, October 1950 Seamless Hosiery Adjusters and fixers of knitting machines in the Winston-Salem-High Point (N. C.) area in October 1950 averaged $1.55 an hour in men's seamless hosiery mills and $1.49 in mills producing children's hosiery (table 2). In the other areas studied, the average hourly earnings of this group were $1.41 and $1.38, respectively, in men's hosiery mills in Hickory-Statesville (N. C.) and Reading (Pa), and $1.28 in children's hosiery mills in Chattanooga (Tenn.). Area averages for men boarders (other than automatic) ranged from 88 cents to $1.23 an hour. Among the selected women's occupations, average earnings ranged from 80 cents for hand menders in Hickory-Statesville to $1.14 an hour for string knitters in men's seamless hosiery mills in Winston-Salem-High Point. About four-fifths of the area averages for women's occupations were between 80 cents and $1 an hour. loopers, numerically the most important seamless Toe hosiery occupation studied, earned on the average, 93 cents, $1.02, and $1.07, respectively, in the three areas studied in the men's hosiery branch and 95 cents and $1.05 in the two areas producing children's hosiery. Virtually all area averages for men were from 5 to 12 cents an hour higher than for women in 4 occupations in which both were employed. In nearly all seamless hosiery occupations, for which comparisons of average earnings could be made. among the areas studied, men's hosiery mills. in Winston-Salem-High Point ranked highest. A special study of men's seamless hosiery mills in the three areas showed that the immediate effects of the new 75-cent minimum wage established January 25, 1950, by amendment of the Fair Labor Standards Act were quite pronounced. The proportion of workers receiving less than 75 cents an hour in Hickory-Statesville dropped from 40 percent in October 1949 to 2 percent in March 1950; in Reading, from 31 to 3 percent; and in Winston-Salem-High Point, from 13 to 2 percent of all workers. The effects were even more evident when consideration is limited to women workers. In Hickory-Statesville, 51 percent of the women averaged less than 75 cents an hour in October 1949 as contrasted to 2 percent in March 1950; in Reading the respective percentages for the two periods were 38 and 2 and in WinstonSalem-High Point, 18 and 3. The average hourly earnings of all workers in men's seamless hosiery mills in Hickory-Statesville increased from 83 cents in October 1949 to 90 cents in March 1950. In Reading, the corresponding averages were 88 cents and 94 cents and in Winston-Salem-High Point, $1 and $1.03. In October 1950, workers in these three areas averaged 93 cents, 99 cents, and $1.09, respectively. Related Wage Practices A scheduled workweek of 40 hours was reported for virtually all establishments studied, except full-fashioned hosiery mills in Winston-SalemHigh Point and seamless hosiery mills in Reading. In each of these areas about a fourth of the workers were employed in plants having work schedules longer than 40 hours, but not over 48 a week. Second and third shifts were in operation in all areas; from 14 to 24 percent of the full-fashioned hosiery workers and 10 to 15 percent of those |