HOURS AND EARNINGS OF MEN AND WOMEN IN
THE HOSIERY INDUSTRY
INTRODUCTION
Pennsylvania has been called the original hosiery state, since it was
in this State that the first machine-made hosiery was manufactured.
Since the introduction of machinery into the hosiery industry, Penn-
sylvania has taken the lead in this branch of the textile industry, pro-
dueing more than one-third of the hosiery manufactured in the United
States.* The manufacture of the two main types of hosiery, seamless
and full-fashioned, form what is in essence two industries. The past
few years have seen significant changes in these industries. Seamless
hosiery has been more and more supplanted by full-fashioned hosiery
and the use of cotton as a raw material has given way to silk.** As
a result, at the present time seamless hosiery manufacture is on the
wane while the full-fashioned industry flourishes. ***
Since 1923 employment and wage payment figures for the hosiery
industry have been collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of Phila-
delphia and published by the Department of Labor and Industry in
its monthly bulletin. These figures, while of great value in showing
the general trend of the industry from year to year, offer no informa-
tion as to hours of work and earnings as affected by type of hosiery
manufactured, geographical location, occupational classification, or sex.
The purpose of this study is to present a more detailed analysis of the
hours and earnings of hosiery workers, giving this additional informa-
tion. In order that the material used in this study might be on a
basis comparable to the data gathered through the Federal Reserve
Bank of Philadelphia, the payrolls of the same establishments have
been reviewed.
*U. 8. Census of Manufacturers, 1920, page 1206.
Ti he time this study was made. very little rayon was being used in the manufacture
nt hosiery.
***Full-fashioned hosiery production increased about 81 per cent from 1925 to 1928, while
seamless hosiery production declined about 43 per cent. Those data are based on monthly
reports of production issued by the U, 8. Department of Commerce and published in “Signifi-
cant Post-War Changes in Full-Fashioned Hosiery Industry,” George William Tavlor. Uni-
versity of Pennsvlvania Press 1629.
