38 EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 344 



The opportunities for unskilled labor are more significant from the 

 viewpoint of number of persons affected and the long-time stability of 

 the rural economy. Since most expenditures for skilled labor are initial 

 investments in new* properties, such expenditures probably will decline 

 in local areas when the most desirable sites have been developed. Service 

 and maintenance expenditures are recurrent, however, and therefore are 

 a more stable element in the economy. 



Three general classes of unskilled laborers were distinguished: care- 

 takers, handymen, and domestic help. Caretakers were persons who pre- 

 pared homes for opening and closing, supervised properties while vacant, 

 and did general maintenance work around the premises. They had re- 

 sponsibility for the protection and maintenance of properties and were 

 usually regular, even though not full-time, employees. Handymen were 

 the odd-job men or day laborers who performed a multitude of tasks, 

 many of them akin to those of the caretakers. These were employed 

 more sporadically and had less responsibility than the former group. 

 Domestic employees included the cooks, maids, washing and houseclean- 

 ing help, and other workers within the homes. 



The extent of employment of unskilled labor differed among classes 

 of residents and properties. Although a large proportion of summer re- 

 sidents hired more than a single laborer, the total number of days of em- 

 ployment per summer home was not large. Eighty and 60 per cent, 

 respectively, of the Sanbornton waterfront and open country residents, 

 and 35 per cent of all other residents reported no unskilled labor during 

 the past year. Only 5 per cent of the Sanbornton waterfront residents 

 and 30 per cent of all other summer residents employed as much as 25 

 days of unskilled labor, and one resident in 16 hired more than 300 days. 

 Sanbornton owners hired less help, as was true in the case of skilled labor, 

 both for the sake of economy and through choice. 



A majority of the unskilled laborers were employed by summer 

 residents for less than 25 days throughout the year (Table 15). Handy- 

 men were hired for the shortest and most sporadic periods. Odd- job men 

 on open country properties were hired for longer periods than those on 

 waterfront properties, because of differences in the length of occupancy 

 and the variety of tasks to be performed. Domestic help was hired for 

 longer periods, commonly for the duration of summer home occupancy, 

 which was longer in the case of open country properties. Caretakers on 

 these properties likewise were hired for longer periods; three-fourths of 

 those on waterfront properties were employed for only a week or 10 

 days throughout the year, to prepare for opening and closing, and to 

 "look in" occasionally during periods of vacancy. Those caretakers 

 who were employed for longer periods had greater responsibility for the 

 protection and preservation of properties. Only six open country resi- 

 dents and two waterfront residents employed full-time caretakers— the 

 latter to care for elaborate waterfront estates. All of the summer resi- 

 dents who kept livestock hired men throughout the year, although in 

 some cases for onlv a few hours each da v. 



