Wages in Paperboard Container and Box Plants

STRAIGHT-TIME EARNINGS of production and related workers in the paperboard container and box manufacturing industries averaged $2.18 an hour in November 1964, according to a survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.1 Nearly 45 percent of the 130,987 workers covered by the study were in establishments primarily manufacturing corrugated and solid fiber boxes and averaged $2.30 an hour. Averages recorded for the other industries within scope of the study were $2.23 in plants making sanitary food containers, $2.18 in plants making fiber cans, tubes, drums, and similar products, $2.16 in plants making folding boxes, and $1.73 in those primarily making setup boxes. Within each industry, earnings levels varied by location, community and establishment size, labor-management contract status, sex, and occupation.

Earnings of nearly all of the production and related workers were within a range of $1.25 to $3.50 an hour, with the middle half earning between $1.81 and $2.51. A tenth of all workers and a fourth of the women earned less than $1.50 an hour.

The large majority of the workers in each of the industries was in establishments providing paid holidays, paid vacations, and at least part of the cost of various health and insurance benefits.

Earnings

2

Regional averages for all production workers ranged from $2.61 in the Pacific region to $1.90 in the Southeast. Workers in the Great Lakes and Middle Atlantic regions (each accounting for nearly three-tenths of the survey employment) averaged $2.29 and $2.21 an hour, respectively (table 1).

The regional variations in pay were partly due to differences in the mix of industries with disparate pay levels. The Great Lakes and Pacific regions were the only ones in which plants manufacturing corrugated and solid fiber boxes accounted for as much as half of the employment surveyed.

Nationwide, workers in plants making corrugated and solid fiber boxes averaged $2.30 an

3

Variations in average pay levels for production workers among the industries were at least partly due to differences in the extent to which printing operations, with their comparatively high wage occupations, were employed. Virtually all of the workers in the folding paperboard boxes, corrugated and solid fiber boxes, and sanitary food containers industries were in plants having printing

1 The survey covered establishments employing 20 workers or more, engaged primarily in manufacturing paperboard containers and boxes (industry group 265 as defined in the 1957 edition of the Standard Industrial Classification Manual and 1963 Supplement, U.S. Bureau of the Budget).

Earnings information developed by the study excludes premium pay for overtime and for work on weekends, holidays, and late shifts and, thus, is not comparable with the gross average hourly earnings published in the Bureau's monthly hours and earnings series.

A more comprehensive account of the survey will be presented in a forthcoming BLS bulletin. It will contain an explanation of the differences between the earnings and employment estimates provided by the study and those contained in the Bureau's monthly hours and earnings series. Separate releases, providing information on earnings and supplementary benefits for selected paperboard container and box industries were issued earlier for 12 areas of industry concentration and are available upon request to the Bureau or any of its regional offices.

2 The regions for which separate data are shown include: New England Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont; Middle Atlantic-New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania; Southeast-Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee; Great Lakes-Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin; Middle West-Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota; and Pacific-California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.

3 Corrugated boxes represented a very large proportion of the production in this industry group. Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing solid fiber boxes employed only about 2 percent of the industry's workers.

In each of the five industries covered by the study, average hourly earnings were higher in plants with 100 workers or more than in the smaller establishments, higher in plants with labormanagement contracts covering a majority of their production workers than in those without such contract coverage, and, with the exception of the fiber cans, tubes, and drums industry, higher in metropolitan than in nonmetropolitan areas. These nationwide pay relationships were rather consistently maintained within the regions for which comparisons could be made. Because of the interrelationship of these and other factors, however, the exact influence on earnings of any one characteristic could not be determined in a study such as this.

Men accounted for approximately nine-tenths of the production workers in corrugated and solid fiber box plants, slightly more than three-fourths of those in folding paperboard box plants, seventenths of those in plants making fiber cans, tubes, and drums, nearly two-thirds of those in plants making sanitary food containers, and slightly less than two-fifths of those in setup paperboard box plants. Earnings of men averaged substantially more than those of women in each industry-by 15 percent in the corrugated and solid fiber boxes industry and approximately 30 percent in the others. Differences in average pay levels for men and women may be due to several factors, including variations in the distribution of the sexes among jobs and among establishments with different pay levels.

796-484 066 4

Paterson-Clifton-Passaic.

Philadelphia..

St. Louis..

San Francisco-Oakland. Sanitary food containers: New York..___

1 Standard Metropolitan Statistical areas as defined by the U.S. Bureau of the Budget in 1961.

Earnings of nearly all the production workers were within a range of $1.25 to $3.50 an hour; those of the middle half fell between $1.81 and $2.51. The ranges of the middle half of the workers' earnings in 4 of the 5 industries were generally similar to that for all industries combined ($1.81 to $2.51); the corresponding spread in setup box plants, however, was considerably lower ($1.39 to $1.90). The percents of all workers earning less than $1.50 an hour were 24 in the Southeast, 18 in New England, 8 in the Middle Atlantic, and less than 5 in the Great Lakes, Middle West, and Pacific regions. Nationwide, the proportions of workers earning less than $1.50 were 36 percent in setup paperboard boxes plants, 13 percent in plants making fiber cans, tubes, and drums, 11 percent in those making folding paperboard boxes, and less than 5 percent in the other two industries.

Data were tabulated separately for a number of occupational classifications (some of which are listed in table 2) by industry and region. In 4 of the 5 industries, occupational earnings were usually highest in the Pacific region and lowest in the Southeast or Southwest; data could be shown separately for only three regions in the fiber cans,

Earnings of workers performing the same job also varied greatly within the areas and industries. In several instances, hourly earnings of the highest paid workers exceeded those of the lowest paid in the same job, area, and industry by $1 or more.

Establishment Practices

A large majority of the production workers in each of the five industries were paid on the basis of time rates. Incentive wage systems applied to slightly more than 35 percent of the workers in the corrugated and solid filer box and the fiber cans, tubes, and drums industries; nearly 20 percent of the workers in the setup paperboard boxes and the sanitary food containers industries; and slightly more than 5 percent of the workers in the folding paperboard boxes industry.

Work schedules of 40 hours a week applied to seven-tenths or more of the production workers in all of the industries. Work schedules exceeding 40 hours a week were in effect in establishments accounting for nearly all of the remaining workers in four industries; in the sanitary food containers industry, however, one-fifth of the workers were in plants with work schedules of either 30 or 371⁄2 hours a week. Approximately two-fifths of the workers in the sanitary food containers industry and the corrugated and solid fiber boxes industry were employed on late shifts at the time of the study. Proportions in the other industries were: slightly more than a fourth in folding paperboard boxes; slightly more than a fifth in fiber cans, tubes, and drums; and about 5 percent in setup paperboard boxes. Of the workers employed on late shifts, a large proportion received wage differentials over day rates. These differentials varied considerably by industry and location.

Paid holidays were provided by virtually all establishments in each of the industries. Although the number of paid holidays ranged from 1 to 11

days annually, 7 days or more applied to at least three-fifths of the workers in all five industries.

Paid vacations were provided to virtually all the workers with qualifying periods of service. Workers in each of the industries typically received 1 week's pay after 1 year of service, and 2 weeks after 3 years. A majority of the workers in three industries (corrugated and solid fiber boxes, folding boxes, and sanitary containers) were in plants with provisions for 3 weeks after 10 years and 4 weeks after 25 years. At least three-fifths of the workers in the other two industries received 3 weeks' pay after 15 years' service; provisions for 4 weeks' pay after 25 years' service applied to fewer than three-tenths of the workers.

Life, hospitalization, and surgical insurance for which employers paid at least part of the cost were available to the large majority of the workers in each industry. Sickness and accident insurance and medical insurance were available to a large majority of the workers in each of the industries except setup paperboard boxes; in the latter industry, 55 percent were in plants providing sickness and accident insurance and 46 percent in those providing medical insurance. Accidental death and dismemberment insurance was available to a majority of the workers in three industries, to nearly half in sanitary food container plants, and to two-fifths in plants making setup boxes. Pension plans, providing for regular payments upon retirement for the remainder of the worker's life (in addition to Federal social security benefits) were available in establishments employing a third of the workers in the setup paperboard box industry; a half in the fiber cans, tubes, and drums industry; three-fifths in the folding paperboard boxes industry; and approximately fourfifths in the other two industries. Formal provisions for jury duty and funeral leave pay were also common.

-FREDERICK L. BAUER Division of Occupational Pay