facture, transportation, and other activities required prior to the final stages.

The figures do not include employment which is required for the construction of a project aside from that generated by the construction contract. Thus architectural and engineering services, sponsors' administration and inspection, public utility installations, and the like, are excluded as is the multiplier effect of the respending of wages and profits.

Materials and Supplies

For each $1,000 of contract cost, sewer line construction required $557.20 of materials, while sewer plant construction required $573.90. These amounts include the cost not only of the materials and equipment incorporated into the work, but also of supplies consumed, and equipment depreciated during construction (table 3).

Reflecting the variety of structures involved, sewer plant construction required a range of materials, many of a highly fabricated type, whereas most of the sewer line materials were pipe and other comparatively simple products.

-ROLAND V. MURRAY Division of Productivity Measurement

-Joannes Stobaeus (Greek anthologist, probably late 5th century A.D.)

Earnings in Nursing Homes in April 1965

EARNINGS of nonsupervisory employees in private (nongovernmental) nursing homes and related facilities averaged $1.23 an hour in April 1965, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey.1 Nine-tenths of the 227,001 employees covered by the survey were women; they averaged $1.21 an hour, compared with $1.33 for men. Nearly onefourth of the employees worked on a part-time basis (less than 35 hours a week), averaging $1.35 an hour-16 cents more than full-time employees. Full-time employees, however, averaged nearly twice as much per week as part-time employees$50.46, compared with $27.54.

Nearly three-tenths of the employees earned less than $1 an hour at the time of the survey; onehalf earned less than $1.25, and nearly four-fifths earned less than $1.50.

Regionally, average hourly earnings ranged from $1.46 in the Northeast to $0.90 in the South.2 Among the 15 metropolitan areas studied separately, averages ranged from $1.78 in New York to $0.80 in Memphis.

Nearly 45 percent of the workers surveyed were nursing aids, who averaged $1.06 an hour. Registered nurses averaged $2.28 an hour; licensed practical nurses, $1.57; and unlicensed practical nurses, $1.22.

Paid vacations-most commonly 1 week after 1 year of service and 2 weeks after 2 years of service were provided by establishments accounting for approximately nine-tenths of the office, professional, and technical employees and for a similar proportion of the service and maintenance employees. Paid holidays were provided to fewer than half of the employees in both occupational groups. Retirement pension plans applied to only a small proportion of the employees.

Earnings

Average hourly earnings of employees in the Northeast and West were about the same $1.46 and $1.44. Employees in the North Central region averaged $1.14 an hour; those in the South, $0.90. The distributions of employees by the various characteristics shown in the accompanying

table were generally the same for each region, with one notable exception. The proportion of employees in nonmetropolitan areas was more than twice as large in the North Central region and the South as in the other two regions.

Nationwide, employees in metropolitan areas averaged $1.32 an hour, compared with $1.04 for employees in the smaller communities. Regionally, the wage advantages of employees in metropolitan areas ranged from 21 cents in the North Central region to 9 cents in the West.

Among the areas studied separately, average hourly earnings ranged from $1.78 in New York to less than $1 in three southern cities, as shown below:

1 The survey covered private establishments licensed by State agencies to provide nursing care or related services, or both, and having 20 beds or more. Included were establishments commonly referred to as skilled nursing care homes, personal care nursing homes, convalescent homes, rest homes, and homes for the aged.

A more comprehensive account of the survey will be presented in a forthcoming bulletin.

Earnings information developed by the survey includes separate payments for late shift work but excludes premium pay for overtime and for work on weekends and holidays, as well as the value of room and board or other perquisites that may have been provided.

2 For definition of regions used in this article, see footnote 2 of the table.

The two occupational groups for which separate data are provided account for all of the nonsupervisory employees covered by the survey. Office, professional, and technical employees, for survey purposes, include all nonsupervisory employees engaged in clerical and professional or technical jobs; the group includes registered professional nurses and licensed practical nurses. Service and maintenance employees include such occupations as unlicensed practical nurses, nursing aids, orderlies, maids, and porters, food preparation and other kitchen workers, groundsmen, laborers, and maintenance workers. Both groups exclude members of religious orders and volunteers.

As defined in Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (U.S. Bureau of the Budget, 1961).

Nearly seven-tenths of the employees were in establishments operated primarily to provide skilled nursing care. They averaged $1.25 an hour, compared with $1.21 for employees of establishments providing skilled nursing care only as a secondary function, and $0.97 for those in establishments not providing this type of care. Within each region, earnings of employees in establishments engaged-primarily or secondarilyin providing skilled nursing care averaged substantially more than those of workers in homes not providing such care. This resulted to a considerable extent from differences in occupational

staffing. For example, the establishments no providing skilled nursing employed almost no reg istered nurses and comparatively few license practical nurses-two groups whose earnings sub stantially exceeded the average for all employees When data for these employees are excluded, th difference between the national hourly wage aver ages for employees of establishments primarily

5 Skilled nursing care, for purposes of the survey, was define to include nursing services and procedures employed in carin for the sick which require training, judgment, technical knowl edge, and skills beyond those which the untrained person pos sesses. It required the employment of a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse at least part of each day.

1 Earnings data include separate payments for work on late shifts, but exclude premium pay for overtime and for work on weekends and holidays, as well as the value of room and board or other perquisites, if any were provided. 2 The regions used in this survey are: Northeast-Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania. Rhode Island, and Vermont; South-Alabama. Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vir

3,250 34.2 1.27 733 33.6 1.26 2,726 37.5 1.31 3,353 30.6 2.22 2,468 31.1 2.40 3,649 37.5 1.54 2,343 36.6 1.65 1,519 41.2 1.20 1,425 37.7 1.49 36, 173 38.6 1.02 17,856 37.1 1.29

ginia, and West Virginia; North Central-Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas. Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; and West-Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Alaska and Hawaii were not included in the survey.

Regularly scheduled to work less than 35 hours a week.

Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas, as defined by the Bureau of the Budget in 1961.

82

5,986

38.2

1. 10

2,692 37.3 1.49

3,917

2, 133

4,287

1,834

24, 196

3,368 41.5 1,348 43.0 42.2 33.8 2.03 39.7 1.28 44.5 .96 43.3 .75

.76

6,817

32.9

.97

.72

.76

providing skilled nursing care and those in establishments not providing such care is reduced from 28 cents to 16 cents.

Earnings of employees in proprietary establishments (operated for profit), accounting for seven-tenths of the surveyed employment, averaged $1.21 an hour, 6 cents less than in those operated by voluntary (nonprofit) organizations. This relationship held in all of the regions except the Northeast, where employees of proprietary establishments averaged 4 cents an hour more than was earned in voluntary homes. Establishments primarily providing skilled nursing care accounted for four-fifths of the employment in proprietary homes, compared with two-fifths in voluntary homes. Among establishments providing this type of care, average earnings of employees in proprietary homes were within a few cents of the averages of employees in voluntary homes in each region. In the case of establishments providing skilled nursing care as a secondary function, how

ever, nationwide and regional earnings were substantially higher in voluntary than in proprietary homes. Furthermore, in this group, half of the employees in voluntary establishments, as compared with three-tenths in proprietary establishments, were concentrated in the relatively highwage Northeast and West.

Employees in establishments with 100 beds or more averaged $1.30 an hour, compared with $1.23 in those with 50 but less than 100 beds and $1.16 in those with 20 but less than 50 beds. Generally, when all types of establishments were considered, this relationship prevailed in each of the regions.

An eighth of the employees earned less than 75 cents an hour; three-tenths, less than $1; and onehalf, less than $1.25. As indicated in the chart, more than two-fifths of the employees in the South earned less than 75 cents an hour. Nationally, fewer than one-tenth of the employees earned as much as $2 an hour. Registered nurses-only about 6 percent of the total employment-ac

counted for nearly 60 percent of those earning $2 an hour or more.

Among the occupations for which data are provided in the table, almost all of the registered and practical nurses, 95 percent of the nursing aids, about 90 percent of the cooks and laundry workers, 80 percent of the kitchen helpers, and 75 percent of the maids or porters were women. Nursing aids, accounting for nearly 45 percent of the total employment, averaged $1.06 an hour-the same as kitchen helpers, 5 cents more than laundry workers, and 4 cents less than maids or porters. Registered nurses averaged $2.28 an hour, 71 cents more than licensed practical nurses, and $1.06 more than unlicensed practical nurses.

Regionally, occupational averages were usually highest in the West and lowest in the South. The percentage differences were much greater for the lower skilled jobs than for those requiring more training or experience. For example, nursing aids in the South averaged less than 60 percent as much as did similarly employed persons in the Northeast and West, whereas registered nurses in the South earned about 85 percent as much as did such workers in the two higher paying regions.

Nationally, employees working on a part-time basis averaged more per hour than full-time employees in most of the occupations studied separately. This relationship, however, is not nearly as apparent when the comparisons are made on a regional basis. Thus, in 3 of the 4 regions, nursing aids working full time averaged slightly more than those working less than 35 hours a week. This anomaly arose because the higher paying Northeast and West accounted for a larger proportion of the part-time than of the full-time employees in this classification.

Occupational wage averages in establishments providing skilled nursing care as either a primary or secondary function were usually higher than those in establishments not providing such care. This relationship, generally, held even when the comparisons were limited to one region and establishment size group.

Among the 15 metropolitan areas surveyed separately, occupational averages were consistently lowest in Memphis and highest in New York. The interarea differences in average earnings were proportionately greater for the comparatively lowpaid nonprofessional occupations than for reg

istered nurses. For example, the highest are average exceeded the lowest one by 140 percent fo nursing aids, compared with 70 percent for reg istered nurses. Earnings of individuals employe in the same job and area were frequently widel dispersed, with the highest paid worker often earn ing more than twice as much as the lowest paid.

Establishment Practices

Information on work schedules and selected sup plementary benefits was tabulated separately fo the two occupational groups: Office, professional and technical employees; and service and main tenance employees. Data relate to provisions o practices applying to a majority of an establish ment's full-time employees.

Nearly a fourth of the employees had a regular work schedule of less than 35 hours a week; for the purposes of this survey, they were classified as part-time employees. Seven-tenths of the office, professional, and technical employees and somewhat more than one-half of the service and maintenance employees were in establishments maintaining a 40-hour workweek for the majority of their full-time employees. Work schedules in excess of 40 hours were more common for service and maintenance employees than for office, professional, and technical employees. New York was the only area among the 15 studied separately in which a large proportion of the full-time employees were scheduled to work less than 40 hours a week. In this area, a 37.5-hour workweek applied in establishments accounting for three-fifths of the employees in both occupational groups studied.

Paid holidays were provided by establishments accounting for 45 percent of the office, professional, and technical employees and for 38 percent of the service and maintenance employees. The most common provisions for both groups of employees, were 5 or 6 full-day holidays a year in the South, 6 days in the North Central region and the West, and 6 to 9 days in the Northeast. Provisions for 8 days or more were more common in the Northeast than in the other regions.

Paid vacations, after qualifying periods of service, were provided by establishments accounting for about nine-tenths of the employees in both occupational groups. Provisions applying to the