H2 MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES
Table 10, giving, on the basis of inquiries covering from 32,000 to
56,000 female employees in Wisconsin, the proportion of women
receiving certain hourly wages in 1921 (the year of the wage award),
1922, and 1923:38
TABLE 10.—Per cent of female employees in Wisconsin receiving each classified
hourly wage, 1921 to 1928
Hourly wage
Under 22 CONES oe emma
22 and under 25 Cents. iii eee cmm—— a
‘5 and under 30 cents. ooo... so wags *
i0 cents and over. VS.
cent ~~ women receiving
anc” dagsified wage
i
1923
isn
3.0
5.0
31.2
57.9
In Massachusetts 9 out of every 10 female workers in laundries
inspected by the State officials in 1919 (a year when general wages,
particularly of organized workers, were high) received less than $13
a week. Four out of every five in retail stores worked for less than
$14 a week.®® Minimum rates of $13.50 and $14 improved these conditions
very radically. Miss Ethel M. Johnson, assistant commissioner
of labor, reports that “in one retail store alone 180 women
received increases of $2 a week each as a result of the retail-store
decree. From the inspection returns for a group of stores in a single
city more than 1,300 women received weekly increases ranging from
around $1 to $4 a week, the majority receiving increases of $2 a week.”
The increase of wages in the major occupations of Massachusetts in
consequence of the wage orders is shown in Table 11:%
TaBLe 11.—Minimum wage rates in Massachusetts and the per cent of women
whose earnings were above, at, and below the rate in specified years
| Minimum wage
decree
Occupation
Rate set
Year effective
Laundry occa...
$8. 00
13. 50 |
8.50 |
14.00 '
8.75
15. 25
14.00
12. 50
1915
1922
1916
922
917
1920
1922
pen
Retail stores. o_o...
Women’s clothing. comune.
Nandy.
13.00
1096
Date of
nvestigation
915
1922
1924
‘014
286
"22
1 24
ou
Per cent of women whose
earnings were—
Below
ais 1 At rate
Above
rate
53.7
37.3
66.4
28.8
36. }
62
=
9.t
9.4
13.4
12,0
a.
1,
as.
49.0
1, FR
La
ho
5.4
3
7
3.5
76.4
©
42.0
47.9
52.0
48.7
54.
a1
Oo
oy
1
«3
¢ In cities of over 10006 ppt.
® Includes small towns and stores in larger cities not complying with decree at time of
previous investigation.
° No data available,
t February,
s» November.
# Frankfurter, Felix ; Dewson, Mary W.; and Commons, John R.: State Minimum Wage
Laws in Practice. New York, National Consumers’ League, 1924, P- 119. t
® « Fifteen years of minimum wage in Massachusetts.” by Ethel M. Johnson, assistan
ines, Tenavimatie of Labor and Industries of Massachusetts. Boston, 1928, p. 8
(Typewritten.
4'National Industrial Conference Board. Minimum Wage Legislation in Massachusetts
New York, 1927. pp. 94, 95.
