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spectively. Median earnings in the full-fashioned industry for
men were $32.49, for women $20.77. In the seamless industry
the median earnings for men were $25.99, for women $12.35.
Men employed as full-fashioned knitters and machine fixers had
the highest median earnings. Men’s median earnings exceeded
$30 in only one other department, boarding. The highest median
reported for women in full-fashioned hosiery was in the topping
department. In only one other occupational group, boarding,
did the median weekly earnings for women exceed $23.
Median weekly earnings were highest both for men and women
in the Philadelphia area.
Overtime work for women in the full-fashioned hosiery industry
increased their earnings slightly but men working overtime had
lower median earnings than those working full time. In the
seamless hosiery industry men working overtime had appreciably
higher median earnings than those working full time. There
was no overtime work for women in seamless hosiery plants.
Undertime work lowered the weekly earnings of both men and
women. In full-fashioned hosiery men working undertime had
median weekly earnings of $5 less than those working full
time; the median earnings for women working undertime were
$2 less than those working full time. In the seamless hosiery
industry, undertime work reduced by $7 the median earnings for
both men and women.
Median weekly earnings for men in individual hosiery plants
ranged from $18.17 in a seamless hosiery plant to $70.99 in a
full-fashioned plant. For women the lowest plant median was
$8.43 in a seamless hosiery plant and the highest $29.67 in a
full-fashioned hosiery plant.
Annual earnings of less than $1000 were reported for nearly
one-fifth of the men and more than one-third of the women in the
full-fashioned hosiery industry. Nearly one-half of the men
earned $2500 or more; only three women earned as much as
$2500. In the seamless hosiery industry, annual earnings were
lower. Nearly one-fifth of the men and three-fourths of the
women earned less than $1000. Less than 10 per cent of the
men and no women had annual earnings of $2500 or more.
The median annual earnings for men was $2323 in full-fashioned
hosiery and $1508 in seamless. For women the median was
$1162 in full-fashioned hosiery and $824 in seamless.
Instability of employment as an outstanding problem in the hosiery
industry is emphasized by the findings of this report. The fluctuations
in employment were almost as great in the flourishing full-fashioned
hosiery industry as in the less prosperous seamless hosiery industry.
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