WAGES AND SALARIES 



503 



Table XI 

 Compensation Eates foe Females in Certain Groups op Occupations 



Per Cent, of Females Receiving Wage 

 Bates Per Year of Less Than 



8250 



8500 



8750 



81,000 



Mercantile establishments: 



California cities (1911-12): 



Retail 



Wholesale 



Baltimore stores, Saleswomen (1909) . . . . 



Washington stores. Saleswomen (1912) . . 



Textile manufacturing (1911-12) 



Miscellaneous (1909-11) 



Manufacturing : 



Massachusetts (1910) 



New Jersey (1911) 



Kansas (1909) 



Wisconsin (1909) 



Oklahoma (1911) 



California (1911) 



Census (1905) 



10 

 3 



54 

 25 

 15 

 25 



7 

 17 

 25 

 32 

 8 

 9 

 34 



35 

 20 

 95 

 87 

 85 

 90 



79 

 86 

 88 

 93 

 84 

 40 

 92 



75 

 60 

 99 



98 



98 



99 

 98 

 98 

 98 

 97 

 82 

 99 



95 

 90 



99 

 100 

 99 

 99 

 97 



The wage rates of four fifths of the males fall below $750 ; a third below 

 $500. Among female wage-earners the scale is much lower. Three 

 quarters or four fifths are paid less than $500 per year. These state- 

 ments make no allowance for unemployment, which is a constant irre- 

 ducible factor. Unemployment due to lack of work alone is generally 

 met with.^* Add to this the unemployment produced by sickness, acci- 

 dents and other personal causes, and the proportion is still higher. 



These facts make one thing impossible. Hereafter no one need dis- 

 course at length on the theme of the spendthrift laborer and the ensuing 

 hardship of his family. The wage scale of the country is so adjusted 

 at the present time that the vast majority of the recipients of wages and 

 salaries are paid a wage which, when compared with the cost of a decent 

 or fair standard of living, appears in many instances insufficient, and in 

 many others, barely adequate, to procure the decencies of life. The 

 time may come when the laborer's condition is due to his extravagance 

 and lack of foresight. For the present, the scale of service income offers 

 an explanation so telling that it would require hardihood of unusual 

 type to saddle even a major portion of the blame for the situation on 

 the individual worker. 



54 An idea of the extent of unemployment may be gained from the reports 

 of the New Jersey and the Massachusetts Labor Bureaus, showing the number 

 of days worked in the various industries. See Bureau of Statistics of New 

 Jersey, 1913, Paterson, 1914, pp. 125-128. Also Statistics of Manufactures for 

 1911, Bureau of Statistics for Massachusetts, Public Document 36, Boston, 1913, 

 p. 137. 



