    [Thirty-Fifth Annual Report of the Secretary of Labor for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1947]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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    SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY business department
    JAH 19 48
    PROTECTING
    60 Million Workers
    1947 ANNUAL REPORTSECRETARY OF LABOR
    PROTECTING
    60 Million Workers
    The purpose of the Department of Labor shall be to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.
    THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT
    OF THE
    SECRETARY OF LABOR
    FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1947
    UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1947
    For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. — Price 25 cents
    3 1336 05750 2800
    LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
    Department of Labor, Office of the Secretary.
    To the Congress of the United States:
    In accordance with, section 9 of the act of Congress approved March 4, 1913, I have the honor to submit a report of the business of the Department of Labor for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1947.
    L. B. Schwellenbach,
    Secretary of Labor.
    Washington, D. C., December 7,19Jf7.
    Office of the Secretary
    L. B. Schwellenbach, Secretary of Labor.
    Keen Johnson, Under Secretary.
    John W. Gibson, Assistant Secretary.
    Philip Hannah, Assistant Secretary.
    Davib A. Morse, Assistant Secretary.
    Louis Sherman, Special Assistant to the Secretary.
    Charles W. Straub, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary.
    Herbert Little, Director of Information.
    James E. Dodson, Chief Clerk and Budget Officer.
    Robert M. Barnett, Director of Personnel.
    William S. Tyson, Solicitor.
    Laura A. Thompson, Librarian.
    Divisions and Bureaus
    Apprentice Training Service, Director, William F. Patterson.
    U. S. Conciliation Service, Director, Edgar L. Warren.
    Bureau of Labor Statistics, Commissioner, Ewan Clague.
    Division of Labor Standards, Director, William L. Connolly.
    Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions, Administrator, William R. McComb.
    Veterans’ Reemployment Rights Division, Director, Robert K. Salyers.
    Women’s Bureau, Director, Frieda S. Miller.
    U. S. Employment Service, Director, Robert C. Goodwin.
    Veterans Employment Service, Chief, Perry Faulkner.
    ii
    CONTENTS
    Page
    Report of the Secretary of Labor_______________________________ 1
    International Activities___________________________________ 9
    Legislation_______________________________________________ 16
    Chief Clerk and Budget Officer____________________________ 22
    Library___________________________________________________ 26
    Office of the Director of Personnel_______________________ 28
    Office of the Solicitor___________________________________ 30
    Condensed Reports of Bureaus and Services:
    Apprentice Training Service_______________________________ 43
    Bureau of Labor Statistics____________________1________ 54
    United States Conciliation Service________________________ 62
    Division of Labor Standards_______________________________ 74
    United States Employment Service___________________"___ 87
    Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions___________ 96
    Women’s Bureau_________________________________________ 104
    in
    THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF LABOR
    While the physical aspects of reconversion were virtually completed early in the fiscal year July 1, 1946, to June 30, 1947, making possible the highest level of civilian employment and production in our history, the welfare of the wage earners of the United States was vitally affected by our inability to achieve fully the economic phases of reconversion.
    Events of the 12 months have demonstrated that our greatest need, from the standpoint of continued prosperity for the individual wage earners and the whole economy, is to bring about a more stable balance between prices and wages.
    As the fiscal year ended, the over-all picture was one of prosperity. Maintained at a high level over the entire year, employment passed the 60-mi Ilion mark in June 1947 and civilian goods and services were being-produced at a rate of 225 billion dollars annually.
    At the same time, however, prices were continuing to rise at such a rapid pace that millions of families found it increasingly difficult to maintain their standard of living.
    Labor, organized and unorganized, contributed its share to the conditions which made 60 million jobs possible. Not the least of these contributions was the moderate and peaceful nature of most wage adjustments.
    The adjustments that were made during the year increased money wages, but any benefit that might have resulted to wage earners generally was largely erased by the spiraling cost of living. The hardest hit, of course, were the unorganized workers, especially those in the lowest income brackets, who received fewer and smaller wage increases, and white collar workers and other persons on relatively fixed incomes.
    Accomplishments
    Within the limits of the authority granted to it by law and the extent of its facilities and personnel, the Department of Labor made significant contributions to full employment and high-level production of civilian goods, and to a wider understanding of the real impact of the price-wage relationship on our economy and on the everyday problems of the Nation’s wage earners.
    The Department of Labor—
    $ Gathered and made available basic information about prices, wages, and employment which served to promote the welfare of the country’s wage earners and also served as economic source material on which labor, management, and Government based their decisions in planning and carrying out the adjustments necessary to attain and maintain full employment. Many special tabulations and reports
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    were prepared for congressional committees and Government agencies. A study was made during the year of the prices of goods imported and exported by the United States to provide statistical data in connection with the Bretton Woods Agreement, but this had to be abandoned at the close of the period because of limitations in funds.
    O Planned and carried out a Nation-wide program of job placement that brought 10,374,226 workers to employment service offices for assistance in finding suitable employment, handled 13,200.000 referrals to job opportunities, and resulted in 7,139,000 hires through public employment offices by employers using this free service. Following the transfer of responsibility for the operation of the local employment offices to the State employment services on November 15, 1946, the Department continued to coordinate, improve, and standardize employment procedures in cooperation with the States in order to maintain a closely linked and uniform system of Nation-wide employment services. The call that was made to recruit 451,513 workers for processing food, including the canning and preserving of seasonable crops of highly perishable fruits and vegetables, illustrates the need for a Nation-wide network of coordinated employment offices. Large numbers of these workers had to be recruited in areas at a considerable distance from their eventual place of employment. The same is true of labor that must be recruited for the purpose of planting, caring for, and harvesting farm crops under the present high quotas of agricultural production which are necessary if we are going to be able to supply the food that is needed in Europe to carry out our foreign-aid program.
    0 Assisted in the effective operation of free collective bargaining as a voluntary process by means of which labor and management cooperate to maintain industrial peace. Labor Department Conciliators (the United States Conciliation Service was not abolished until August 22, 1947) brought about the peaceful settlement of 16,711 labor-management disputes during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1947. More than 3,000 of these involved work stoppages which had already taken place, and 6,781 threatened work stoppages. The Conciliation Service established and worked closely during this period with a labor-management advisory committee made up of representatives of organized labor and management. A similar committee was provided for in the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, which established an independent Conciliation and Mediation Service. The United States Conciliation Service had been a part of the Department of Labor and under the supervision and direction of the Secretary of Labor for 34 years.
    • Organized and developed an international program to represent the interests of American labor in the formulation and execution of this country’s international programs and policies, to gather and make available to American wage earners information about world labor problems, and to represent the interests of American workers in international organizations and negotiations. The Department is working closely with other Government agencies who establish our policy in world affairs, including the State Department and Labor Divisions of the Military Governments in Occupied Areas. The Department provided advisers to the United States Delegate to the UN Social Commission, Economic and Employment Commission, Com
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    3
    mission on the Status of Women, and the Human Rights Commission. The Department selected delegates and advisers and prepared material for use of the United States delegations at a number of meetings and conferences of the International Labor Organization, including three sessions of the Governing Body and two of the International Labor Conference. The Under Secretary of Labor is vice chairman of the Inter-Departmental Committee on International Social Policy and chairman of the Labor subcommittee. The Labor Department international staff participated in the formulation of recommendations regarding economic foreign policy of the United States through the Department’s membership in the Executive Committee on Economic Foreign Policy. During the past year the committee considered agenda items of the UN Economic and Social Council and its Commissions, the ILO, and the International Trade Organization charter. The Department also participated in rhe work of the Inter-Departmental Interim Greece-Turkey Assistance Committee, which is developing policies and procedures for the American Mission to Greece.
    @ Conducted 40,350 inspections, 38,549 under the Fair Labor Standards Act and 2,383 under the Public Contracts Act, which disclosed that 20,570 or 51 percent of the establishments inspected were in violation of one or more of the major provisions of these laws. Violations of minimum-wage provisions of either or both acts were found in 3,633 or 9 percent of the establishments inspected. Violations of the overtime provisions of the acts were found in 19,086 or 47 percent of the inspected establishments. Child labor violations ran at the rate of 5 percent of inspections. Because of limitations on operating funds, the inspection program for the fiscal year was limited to 8 percent of the 550,000 establishments in the United States covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act.
    9 Analyzed and commented on proposed labor and related legislation in 74 reports requested by congressional committees and the Bureau of the Budget. Material was prepared for Congress or testimony given before congressional committees on a number of legislative matters, among them legislation to establish a labor extension division in the Department for the purpose of disseminating information concerning labor, Government, and community problems, to make available to workers the resources and facilities of land-grant colleges, State universities, and other educational institutions, and to provide for Federal aid to the States under plans requiring the expenditure of such funds without discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or creed; legislation to raise the present minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act; legislation to establish a National Commission Against Discrimination in Employment; the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 and related measures; the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 and related measures; joint resolution for acceptance by the United States of the International Labor Organization Instrument of Amendment; the equal pay bill; legal status of women bills; and the industrial safety bills.
    ® Made wage determinations under the Davis-Bacon and other prevailing wage laws in 9,093 cases, an all-time high and an increase of 3,655 decisions over the previous fiscal year, thus facilitating the Federal construction program to meet postwar needs, including construe-
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    tion, alteration, and repair of post offices, clinics, and hospitals, and research facilities in the fields of atomic energy, aeronautics, and agriculture; conversion of soldiers’ barracks into classrooms and dormitories for use in the GI education program; reconversion of arsenals and plants to peacetime needs; construction and repair of Federal roads and highways; construction of levee, flood control, river and harbor improvement, and reclamation projects; and the alteration and repair of Coast Guard and Navy installations and of aids to navigation.
    0 Assisted in the development of national standards of apprenticeship in 3 industries in addition to the 11 already established. During the fiscal year, 15,886 new apprenticeship programs were registered with the Department, an increase of 167 percent, which brought the total to 25,400. The number of participating establishments increased 54 percent from 66,212 to 96,034, and the number of registered apprentices 128 percent from 63,664 to 145,020. The apprenticeship program of the Department is based on the need for revitalizing the supply of skilled workers in crafts where training has lagged behind present demand and future requirements.
    0 Carried out a program of Federal-State cooperation in the fields of industrial accident prevention, reporting and analyzing State labor legislation, formulation of basic standards of labor legislation and administration, and enforcement of Federal and State child labor laws. Assistance was given a number of States in the preparation of industrial safety programs and in the training of safety inspectors. Technical services were provided upon request to eight States engaged in the development of adequate safety codes. The Department issued Hazardous Occupation Order No. 7 which establishes a minimum age of 18 years for operating elevators and other power-driven hoisting machinery. In addition to enforcing the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act, the Department cooperated with other Federal agencies, the States, and interested organizations and individuals to promote voluntary practices to protect children from harmful labor, insure them the opportunity for education, and to make available, when they are ready for it, suitable employment.
    0 Formulated advisory standards and policies which made possible the more efficient employment of women workers, who constitute over 28 percent of the Nation’s labor force, in new occupational groups to which they shifted after the war. Gathered and made available information about occupations in which shortages of women employees continued to exist. Carried out a number of major studies covering employment of women, including earnings of women factory workers, employment opportunities and outlook for women scientific workers, and a household employment report from 19 cities where work is being done to help meet the problems of employers and employees by setting up standards of employment, training, and placement. Provided, upon request, information and counsel with regard to the civil and political status of women, and equal pay legislation.
    0 Established the Veterans’ Reemployment Rights Division to carry out the reemployment provisions of the Selective Service Act following transfer of their administration to the Secretary of Labor by Public Law 26, Eightieth Congress, signed March 21, 1947. The
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    5
    Division operates under policies, rules, and regulations recommended by the Veterans’ Reemployment Rights Committee, composed of the Under Secretary, the Solicitor and Directors of the United States Employment Service, Veterans Employment Service, and the Office of Personnel. The VRRD has 35 field offices in principal cities and is assisted in local communities by voluntary veterans reemployment rights committeemen serving under the guidance of the field representatives.
    Labor Management Relations
    In marked contrast with the preceding year, labor-management relations during the fiscal year 1947 were characterized for the most part by the peaceful negotiation of union contracts and avoidance of large or lengthy work stoppages. Measured on the basis of estimated total working time, the days lost at plants or establishments directly involved in strikes averaged well under 1 percent.
    Perhaps the most important single factor in the resumption of more peaceful and stable relationships between labor and management, following the turbulence of the reconversion period, was the return to normal peacetime bargaining practices based on the usual processes of free collective bargaining. In this successful return to our traditional prewar system of direct negotiations between representatives of workers and employers, the Department’s Conciliation Service played an important role.
    About 15 million American workers are members of labor organizations and about the same number are covered by collective bargaining agreements. These millions of workers make up the membership of some 50,000 or more local unions whose representatives negotiate with an even greater number of employers, since many union locals have agreements with more than one employer. Thus, practically every day throughout the year labor and management representatives and committees are negotiating and reducing to written agreements their understandings on wages, hours, and the conditions of work which shall prevail in their shop, plant, or industry.
    Year in and year out, these negotiations, in the overwhelming majority of cases, are conducted without thought of recourse to strike or lockout. This is attested by the fact that out of 50,000 or perhaps even several times that number of contract negotiations between American employers and the representatives of their workers only a small fraction result in controversies which require the assistance of an “outside” or “third” party.
    The records of the United States Conciliation Service show that during the fiscal year it participated in more than 16,700 controversies and that out of this number not 1 in 5 was or became a work stoppage. Records of the Service further show that when the conciliators were called in prior to the occurrence of a stoppage they were successful 9 times out of 10 in bringing about a peaceful settlement of the issues.
    During the year, most of the major contracts were signed without work stoppages, including those in the steel, paper, and pulp, automobile, clothing, rubber, printing trades, farm equipment, and electrical manufacturing industries. With the exception of the
    6	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    maritime and bituminous coal stoppages in the fall of 1946 and the telephone strike in the spring of 1947, the labor-management disputes which resulted in the interruption of work were relatively small and not of national or industry-wide character.
    In many instances, the efforts of labor and management to stabilize their relations resulted in the negotiation of agreements for more than the customary year’s period. Thus, 2-year contracts were signed covering most of the steel industry and parts of the automobile, metals, and farm-machinery industries. Contracts effective for periods of more than a year generally contain a reopening clause permitting the renegotiation of certain provisions, usually those covering wages, at the end of the first year or at some other time during the life of the agreement.
    As a general rule, contracts negotiated during the past year preserved union security provisions which were developed during the war. In somes cases, health and welfare benefits or other provisions pertaining to the present or future security of the individual worker were written into agreements.
    Prices and Wages
    The most rapid price increases ever recorded in the United States followed the lapse of the price-control law in June 1946. The brief restoration of controls in the late summer caused a temporary decline in wholesale prices, but did not last long enough to halt the steady rise of retail prices, especially food.
    The wholesale price index rose from 112.9 percent of the 1926 average in June to 124.7 in July and 129.1 in August. It dropped to 124 in September when controls were reimposed, but it shot up to 134.1 in October, as the final liquidation of legal price restraints got underway, and by the end of the year was just over 140.
    During the first month of decontrol, the consumers’ price index measuring changes in cost of liying items rose from 133.3 of the 1935-39 average to 141.2, an increase of 6 percent, the largest rise recorded in a single month. In the first 6 months following the lapse of price control, all retail prices had risen 15 percent, and food prices 271/2 percent. Only rents, still under control, remained relatively stable.
    Both wholesale and retail prices fluctuated within a narrow range in the first 6 months of 1947. By June, the wholesale price index advanced 5 percent and the consumers’ price index 2% percent above their respective year-end levels.
    Wages also increased steadily during the year, but the gains were more than offset by the deterioration of purchasing power resulting from higher living costs.
    For example, although the average factory worker’s gross weekly pay rose from $43.31 in June 1946 to $49.33 in June 1947, it bought him less in goods and services at the end of the year than at the beginning.
    By June 1947 the weekly take-home pay, after taxes, of the average factory worker bought about 5 percent less in goods and services than it did in mid-1946 and just about as much as it did in the early months of 1942. Thus, the increase in living costs erased all of the gains of
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    the 1946-47 wage increases and a great part of the wage earners’ gains since Pearl Harbor.
    What happened to wages over the 12 months, when adjusted to the cost of living, is illustrated by the following table:
    	Date	Gross weekly earnings	Net spendable weekly earnings, family of 4	Adjusted consumers’ price index (all items) 1939=100	Net spendable weekly earnings expressed in 1939 dollars, family of 4
    June		1946	$43. 3L	$42. 78	134. 1	$31. 90
    July			43. 38	42. 84	142. 1	30. 16
    August			44. 99	44. 16	145. 0	30. 46
    September		45. 39	44. 48	146. 8	30. 30
    October _ _		45. 73	44. 76	149. 5	29. 94
    November		45. 79	44. 81	153. 1	29. 26
    December,	—	46. 96	45. 77	154. 2	29. 68
    January._	1947	47. 10	45. 88	154. 2	29. 75
    February.		47. 29	46. 04	154. 1	29. 87
    March			47. 69	46. 37	157. 2	29. 49
    April			47. 50	46. 21	157. 1	29. 41
    May			48. 44	46. 98	156. 9	29. 93
    June		—	49. 33	47. 71	158. 0	30. 19
    It should be noted that average weekly earnings in many nonmanufacturing industries are lower than in manufacturing. For instance, in June 1947, the average in retail trade was $37.60.
    Gross hourly earnings of factory workers rose slowly during the first quarter of the fiscal year from $1.08 in June to $1.13 in October. The early wage adjustments of the second round of postwar increases stimulated a further rise to nearly $1.15 by the end of 1946.
    New contracts negotiated in several industries set a general pattern of increases amounting to 15 cents an hour. Thus the rubber contract called for direct wage increases of 11% 4° 12% cents an hour, plus paid holidays and other provisions bringing the total to about 15 cents.
    The pattern was varied considerably to meet individual conditions in other industries.
    As a consequence, wages rose steadily through the first half of 1947. Straight-time factory rates (excluding overtime premiums) rose about 7 percent in the 6 months. Since the average workweek remained stable, very close to 40 hours, hourly earnings of factory workers also rose about 7 percent, to reach an average of $1.23 in June.
    Productivity
    The fiscal year 1946-47 was marked by significant increases in output per man-hour over a broad range of industries. Deterrents to efficient production which characterized the first year of reconversion—the process of conversion of plant, the reestablishment of peacetime production, and the irregular flow of materials—were largely overcome in the second postwar year. The absence of large-scale prolonged work stoppages arising from labor disputes also contributed to the smoother flow of production and the increase in efficiency. Consequently, in
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    many of the heavy industries particularly, output rose during 1946-47 very much more rapidly than employment or man-hours.
    Employment
    More people now have jobs than ever before. Civilian employment passed the 60-million mark in June 1947. Late in 1946, unemployment was about 2 million, which was thought then to be near the minimum in a free economy of great mobility. Nevertheless, unemployment did not increase appreciably when an additional 2 million entered the labor force by the end of the fiscal year.
    Seasonal unemployment, which was largely eliminated during the war because of manpower and material shortages, again became a factor in the labor market. Most unemployment was of short duration.
    Despite the firm demand for labor during the year, and the low levels of unemployment, manpower was not a limiting factor on production, agricultural nor industrial. The labor force with the assistance of the United States Employment Service was able to demonstrate the elasticity and mobility necessary to meet seasonal demand and shift between areas and industries.
    Full employment necessitates the most efficient use of manpower and as a result individual abilities are being better utilized than before the war. As compared with 1940, a significantly larger proportion of industrial workers is now in the semiskilled and skilled brackets. The rising skill levels demanded of the labor force call for increased emphasis on the need for vocational training, both on and off the job, and for apprenticeship training on a scale to maintain the supply of skilled labor required for a full employment economy.
    Rates of turn-over among industrial workers were very high until this spring. They have been declining since then, but are still well above prewar levels. These rates indicate that, when job opportunities are abundant, workers feel free to shift about—both geographically and industrially—until they find the job which they are best able to fill.
    Specialized groups within the labor force require particular attention, both in their own and in the national interest. The progress of scientific research and development demands special placement facilities for scientific and professional personnel. There is also the need for expanded vocational guidance and employment counseling for young people entering the labor market, for veterans completing their education, and for handicapped workers—veteran and nonveteran. Seasonal and migrant workers, both agricultural and nonagricultural, require the Nation-wide placement facilities of the United States Employment Service, capable of mobilizing available manpower in response to changing seasonal demands.
    Most of the employment gains reflected the continued inflow of veterans into civilian jobs. Of the 13 million veterans currently in the labor force, about 95 percent were employed. While the rate of joblessness was relatively higher for ex-servicemen than for other male workers in comparable age groups, this was due in part to the inevitable lag between seeking and finding work experienced by all new entrants into the labor force.
    In aggregate numbers the number of women in the labor market remained fairly stable during 1947, showing only the usual seasonal
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR	9
    • movements, in contrast to the heavy withdrawals of the previous year and a half. In April 1947,2 years after VE-day, the number of women workers totaled about 16^ million, or approximately the level which would have been expected on the basis of “normal'’ long-term trends. This contrasts with an excess over “normal” of 4,200,000 women workers in April 1945, and of 700,000 in April 1946. The return of ex-servicemen, and the extremely high postwar marriage and birth rates had resulted in exceptionally heavy withdrawals of young women aged 20-34, so that by April 1947, there were 1,400,000 fewer women workers of these ages than normal. This was balanced, however, by continuation in the postwar labor force of large numbers of teen-age girls and of older women, reflecting in large part the sustained high level of job opportunity.
    It is not too early to think of the employment needs of the next few years. At the end of this decade, gains in productivity and the growth of the labor force should sharply increase our ability to produce goods and services. In addition, there will be an inflow of hundreds of thousands of veterans of mature age who will then be completing their courses of training. Substantial numbers of these veterans are aiming high, choosing as their employment objectives the more attractive and higher skilled jobs. Their absorption into the labor market in work that will use their training and skills poses a serious challenge to the American economy.
    International Activities
    As a result of legislative action by Congress during the fiscal year 1946, the Department of Labor was authorized to establish the offices of an Under Secretary and three Assistant Secretaries. This was carried out early in the fiscal year 1947, and Assistant Secretary David A. Morse now Under Secretary, assumed, among his other duties, responsibility for the international activities of the Department.
    Previously this work was carried on by specific officials of the bureaus and divisions of the Department designated by the Secretary of Labor to handle particular international problems as they arose. The work was never fully coordinated. Neither was there any general relationship between the Department of Labor and the other Departments of the Government engaged in international work. It was extremely important that this work be coordinated, integrated with the domestic activities of the Department, and carried on in full cooperation with other Government Departments.
    On November 20, 1946, General Order No. 22 was issued, “Establishing Policies and Procedures for Handling International Activities.” This order read in part:
    The Department's international activities have become so varied and complex as to require continuous, specialized direction. This direction will be exercised by Assistant Secretary Morse within the scope of policies and instructions issued by the Secretary. It is the responsibility of the Assistant Secretary to speak for the Department on international matters and to supervise and coordinate the international work of all bureaus.
    The order went on to define more specifically the responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary and the major fields of international activities in which the Department is engaged.
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    Staff on Foreign Labor Conditions
    The Staff on Foreign Labor Conditions of the Bureau of Labor Statistics is responsible for the analysis and dissemination of information on foreign labor affairs. The increased international labor activities on the part of the United States Government during the past year has resulted in a concomitant increase in the work of the bureaus and divisions of the Department of Labor, particularly the Staff on Foreign Labor Conditions. Therefore, in order to continue to provide the basic research information required by the increased responsibilities of the Department of Labor in international affairs, there must be an adequate staff.
    Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC)
    If the participation of the Department of Labor in international affairs is to have validity and meaning, it is necessary to obtain the views of organized labor concerning these matters. Accordingly, the Secretary of Labor established a Trade Union Advisory Committee on International Affairs which meets with Mr. Morse once a month. The committee is composed of the top officials of the American Federation of Labor, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the Railway Labor Executives Association, and the Brotherhoods of Locomotive Engineers and Railroad Trainmen, and provides an excellent medium through which the Department, in its international activities, can learn the opinions, needs, and interests of the American labor movement.
    The Chiefs of the Labor Divisions of Military Governments in Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea came to Washington and discussed with these union leaders and with departmental officials the problems which they were facing in the occupied areas. The conference resulted in several recommendations which the Secretary of Labor made to the Secretary of War on improving the operation of the Labor Divisions in occupied areas.
    In addition, the committee advised on the expansion of the labor attache program and on numerous other problems and policies developed and implemented by the Government in the international labor field.
    UNITED NATIONS AND RELATED AGENCIES
    Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
    The Department of Labor provided an adviser to the United States Delegate at the third, fourth, and fifth sessions of ECOSOC. Since the American Federation of Labor, World Federation of Trade Unions, and the International Federation of Christian Trade-Unions are among the seven nongovernmental organizations which have the closest consultative status with ECOSOC and its commissions and since the International Labor Organization is the most active and best organized of the specialized agencies brought into relationship with the United Nations, the position of the labor adviser to the United States Delegate on ECOSOC is a very active and important one.
    For example, at the third, fourth, and fifth sessions of the ECOSOC, agenda items of primary concern to the labor adviser included the
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    11
    trade-union rights item presented by the World Federation of Trade Unions (the United States labor adviser was instrumental in having ECOSOC send this matter to the ILO for a report) ; consideration of a proposal by the International Cooperative Alliance for the creation of an authority for the administration of the oil resources of the world; a WFTU request for increased privileges in ECOSOC, including the right to call special sessions; and an AFL proposal for a resolution on the 'protection of migrant and immigrant labor.
    Social Commission
    The Department of Labor provided an adviser to the United States Delegate at the first session. In view of the fact that this Commission is the principal feeder to ECOSOC of international social matters, in view of the close connection between the work of this commission and the work of the ILO, and in view of the connection between this commission and the Interdepartmental Committee on International Social Policy, of which Under Secretary Morse is operating vice chairman, the labor adviser is in a key position in the United States delegation.
    Economic and Employment Commission
    The Department of Labor was represented in the United States delegation at the first session by a labor adviser. Since the subjects dealt with by this commission, namely, the prevention of wide fluctuations in economic activity, and the promotion of full employment and economic development, are intimately related to the fundamental interests of labor, the labor adviser was able to contribute greatly to the United States positions on matters discussed by the commission.
    Commission on Status of Women
    In June 1947 the United Nations created, as one of the agencies of ECOSOC, a commission on the status of women, of which the United States is a participating member. A Department representative acted as observer and subsequently as adviser to the United States representative on the commission. Through interdepartmental committees of the United States Government, the Department participated in the preparation of agenda items for the commission’s first meeting in February 1947 and of supporting documents for use of the United States representative.
    The Department also prepared a reply to a UN questionnaire on legal status and treatment of women, which had been drawn up by UN to assist the Commission on Status of Women by making “a complete and detailed study of the legislation concerning the status of women and the practical application of such legislation.”
    Human Rights Commission
    In view of the fact that the subjects dealt with by this commission, namely the international bill of rights, civil liberties, status of women, freedom of association, freedom of information, protection of minorities, prevention of social discrimination, etc., are of vital concern to trade-unions, the labor adviser to the United States delegate was able to make important and effective contributions at the first session.
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    International Labor Organization
    There follows a statement of ILO meetings and conferences attended during the fiscal year 1947 for which the Department of Labor selected delegations and advisers and prepared material for the use of the United States delegations. The Department also participated in drawing up instructions, when necessary, for the use of the United States delegations and.was represented at the meetings by Department personnel.
    Ninety-ninth, one hundredth, one hundred and first, and one hundred and second sessions of the Governing Body; twenty-ninth and thirtieth sessions of the International Labor Conference; first sessions of the Textile Committee, the Building, Civil Engineering, and Public Works Committee and the Petroleum Committee; preparatory meeting of the special committee of statistical experts for the Sixth International . Conference of Labor Statisticians; second sessions of the Coal Mining Committee and the Inland Transport Committee.
    Selection of delegates and advisers and much of the preparatory work for the Sixth International Conference of Labor Statisticians and the second sessions of the Iron and Steel Committee and the Metal Trades Committee were completed during fiscal year 1947.
    Staff members of the Department who acted as delegates or advisers to the various meetings of ILO committees prepared reports of these meetings for transmission to the Secretary of State.
    Replies to questionnaires on the following subjects were transmitted to the ILO : Inland transport; petroleum; labor inspection; coal industry; iron and steel and metal trades industries; technical selection and training of migrants; employment service organizations; and the fishing industry.
    The Department of Labor’s positions with respect to the following subjects were transmitted to the Secretary of State: The amended ILO constitution; the conventions and recommendations of the twentyeighth session (maritime) of the International Labor Conference; and conventions 56 (sickness insurance for seamen), 61 (textile hours of work), and 63 (statistics).
    Analyses and comments were prepared on the following subjects: The extent to which law and practice in the territories for which the United States is administratively responsible conform to ILO recommendations 70 and 74; the Department’s position on proposed conventions with respect to labor standards and social policy in nonmetropolitan territories; the Department’s position on proposed conventions on indigenous workers; the annual report to ILO on application of conventions by the United States; comments on a draft of ILO questionnaire on industrial homework; and comments on a draft questionnaire on needlework.
    International Trade Organization (ITO)
    The ITO charter promises to be a major instrument linking together international and domestic policy in a manner of the greatest interest to labor as well as to other segments of the population. A staff member of the Labor Department was a United States delegate to both the first and second sessions of the Preparatory Conference on International Trade and Employment, at which he was instrumental in draft
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    13
    ing and evolving the chapters on Employment and Economic Development which are cornerstones of the charter. Staff members of the Department were also members of hearing panels which traveled throughout the country to discuss the proposed ITO charter with American businessmen, farmers, and laborers.
    Interdepartmental Committee on
    International Social Policy (ISP)
    In November of 1946, recognizing the need for determining what policies and positions the representatives of this country should follow on social matters to be discussed at the conferences of international organizations, the President created the Committee on International Social Policy. The Under Secretary of Labor is vice chairman of this committee, which has made policy decisions with respect to agenda items to be discussed at all of the major international organizations concerned with social matters. The ISP has created six major subcommittees, including Labor (the Labor Department member is chairman); Non-Self-Governing Territories; Human Rights and Status of Women; and Social Welfare.
    Executive Committee on
    Economic Foreign Policy (ECEFP)
    In the spring of 1944, by Executive order, the Executive Committee on Economic Foreign Policy was established to examine problems and developments affecting the economic foreign policy of the United States and to formulate recommendations with respect thereto for the consideration of the Secretary of State and, in appropriate cases, the President. During the past year, the committee has considered agenda items of ECOSOC and its commissions, the ILO, the ITO charter, and other significant economic matters. The Department of Labor is also a member of the following subcommittees of ECEFP : Private Monopolies and Cartels, Economic Policy toward China, Agricultural Policy, Inter-American Economic Affairs, Foreign Investment Policy, International Commodity Problems, and General Economic Policy Questions Arising in International Economic Organizations. The Department was responsible for analyzing each one of the problems discussed at these committee and subcommittee meetings from the point of view of its effect on American and foreign workers’ groups.
    Interdepartmental Committee on Trade Agreements
    A staff member of the Department of Labor was in Geneva for several months with the Interdepartmental Committee on Trade Agreements. This committee has been working closely with the United States delegation to the ITO advising the delegation on the various problems concerned with the international commodity agreements which were being negotiated simultaneously with the drafting of the ITO charter. Under Executive Order 9832, issued February 25,1947, the Department of Labor was added to the list of agencies represented on the Interdepartmental Committee on Trade Agreements. This step gave official recognition to the fact that American labor is as vitally interested in our treaties as are American farmers and American
    766308—48---2
    14	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    businessmen. Since it has become a member, the Department has been able to contribute greatly to the effectiveness of the work of this committee.
    Foreign Service
    In passing the Foreign Service Act of 1946, the Congress took full cognizance of the importance of foreign labor developments to the international activities and policies of the United States Government and of the responsibilities of the Department of Labor to provide American labor and the American public generally with information on international labor affairs. The Foreign Service Act of 1946 provides that the Department of Labor together with the Departments of State, Commerce, and Agriculture shall have statutory membership on the Board of the Foreign Service.
    During the year the Board of the Foreign Service has been concerned primarily with establishing the policies and procedures necessary for implementing the Foreign Service Act of 1946 which reorganized the Foreign Service. The Labor Department has directed special attention toward strengthening and expanding the program of labor attaches within the Foreign Service. It has also played prominent roles in establishing policies and procedures required in the administration of the Foreign Service, namely, the promotion-up and selection-out system, the appointment of Reserve officers from outside the Government, title and rank of Reserve officers, the organization of the missions, implementation of the Manpower Act, interservice assignments, and the revision of the age criteria in determining the class assigned to candidates under the Manpower Act in accordance with recommendations made by the Department of Labor.
    The Department of Labor is also a member of all of the subboards of the Board of the Foreign Service which include the Staff Board, the Appointments and Assignments Board, and the Board of Examiners. The Department was particularly active in the Staff Board which examined and developed the policies and procedures to be approved by the Board of the Foreign Service.
    Staff members of the Office of the Director of Personnel of the Department participated actively in the work of the Appointments and Assignments Board, which was established “to make recommendations to the Director-General on individual personnel decisions in the Foreign Service.” Several Department of Labor officials sat on the Board of Examiners and its examining panels and passed on numerous candidates to the Foreign Service.
    Occupied Areas
    The Assistant Secretary of State in charge of Occupied Areas, in October 1946, established the Advisory Committee on Occupied Areas Affairs pursuant to a directive by the President. During the past year this committee has considered the whole range of economic, social, and political problems which have arisen in our occupation of Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea. The Labor Department particularly has played an active role in developing labor programs for the occupied areas and in suggesting improvements in the Labor Divisions of Military Government in the Occupied Areas. In accordance with a request from the War Department, the Department of
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    15
    Labor has assisted the Civil Affairs Division in advising on labor problems arising in the day-to-day administration of the occupied areas. It has reviewed and analyzed all labor reports from the occupied areas and, when necessary, suggested desirable action on the basis of these reports and its own studies. In addition, the Department of Labor, again at the request of the War Department, has assisted in the selection of American personnel for service in the Labor Divisions of the Military Governments in the Occupied Areas.
    Interdepartmental Interim
    Greece-Turkey Assistance Committee
    The Department of State requested the Labor Department to participate in the work of this committee, which was charged with the responsibility for developing and implementing the policies and procedures to be followed by the American Mission to Greece.
    The Department participated in numerous meetings of the committee and was primarily responsible for the formulation of a labor policy paper. Upon the recommendation of its Trade-Union Advisory Committee, the Labor Department arranged the appointment of Clinton S. Golden as labor adviser to the Chief of Mission.
    International Cooperation
    Since 1941 the Department of Labor has been participating in the program of scientific and cultural cooperation under the direction of the Interdepartmental Committee on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation. During the past year the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Division of Labor Standards, and the Women’s Bureau have carried out cooperative programs along the following lines:
    Training Programs
    The above-mentioned bureaus provided training programs of varying lengths to approximately 25 trainees from the Latin American Republics as well as the Philippines.
    Consultants
    A staff member of the Women’s Bureau was consultant to the Chilean Labor Department and a staff member from the Division of Labor Standards was a consultant to the Uruguayan Government. In addition, staff members of the three bureaus visited several Latin American Republics to arrange for the smoother operation of the programs and to secure additional qualified candidates.
    Exchange of Technical Materials
    Staff members of the Women’s Bureau, Wage and Hour Division, BLS, DLS, and USES answered numerous requests for technical information on United States labor affairs from foreign countries and supplied interested persons in the United States with information on foreign labor conditions. In addition, a great many foreign visitors were interviewed and serviced by staff members of the Department.
    As a member of the executive committee of the SCC, the Department of Labor is primarily concerned with such maters as the preparation, presentation, and allocation of budgets, and the policies and procedures to be adopted in carrying out the program of cooperation within the American Republics.
    16
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    CONCLUSION
    During the past year much has been achieved by Mr. Morse and the small international labor staff. Programs previously in operation such as the ILO, the ECEFP, and the SCC have been coordinated, strengthened, and expanded. New responsibilities have been assumed and new programs put into operation. In December 1946, the Trade-Union Advisory Committee on International Affairs was established to apprise the Department of the needs and interests of American trade-unions with respect to international matters. The Department has become an integral part of the Foreign Service and has made important contributions to implementing the Foreign Service Act of 1946, especially with respect to the expansion of the labor attache program. Mr. Morse was named operating vice chairman of the ISP. The Department has provided advisers to United States delegations at numerous meetings of international bodies. Assistance has been given the Departments of State and War in policy formulation and administration with respect to occupied areas. At the request of the State Department, the Department of Labor has become a member of the Greek Assistance Committee and formulated the labor policy for the Greek Mission, in addition to selecting the labor adviser to the chief of the mission.
    A broad and firm foundation has been laid for carrying out the international responsibilities of the Department of Labor. The Congress, the Administration, the Department of Labor, and the American people are fully aware that the economic and social activities of working men and women the world over are an essential part of the life of the modern community. In a great many countries, labor exerts a strong and direct influence on domestic and international policies. The Department of Labor is that agency of the Government which has the primary responsibility for presenting to the American people, the Government, and the labor movement analyses and information concerning international labor affairs. This is a tremendous responsibility. The groundwork has been laid. But if the Department is to build on this foundation, additional staff is necessary. Only in this way will the Department be able to make its full contribution in the international field to the welfare of the American wage earner.
    LEGISLATION
    For many years the Department of Labor has sought to provide assistance and advice in the preparation and consideration of legislation to promote the health and well-being of wage earners. This policy was continued during the fiscal year 1947.
    Legislation of interest to wage earners and to the Department of Labor occupied an important place in the considerations of the Congress during the fiscal year. In his State of the Union message on January 6, 1947, President Truman recommended a legislative program which included recommendations to expand the facilities of the Department for rendering assistance in collective bargaining and the settlement of industrial disputes; to provide voluntary procedures for final determination of disputes involving the interpretation of collective bargaining agreements; to limit certain types of labor
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    17
    union activities, such as secondary boycotts in aid of jurisdictional strikes; to create a commission consisting of Members of Congress, labor, management, and the public to inquire into the entire field of labor-management relations, particularly with respect to the underlying causes of labor disputes; and to establish a fair minimum wage.
    In addition, the President made a number of other proposals with which the Department of Labor was substantially concerned, such as the extension or broadening of the social-security system; the adoption of a Government program to aid in producing more and better housing; the admission to the United States of a limited number of displaced persons; and the adoption of a comprehensive national health program.
    The Department of Labor also supported legislation to raise Federal minimum wages to at least 65 cents an hour1 and to strengthen the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, eliminate unfair and discriminatory practices in hiring and tenure of employment through the establishment of a Fair Employment Practices Commission; to establish in Federal law the principle of equal pay for equal work, without discrimination as to sex; to establish a Federal-State grant-in-aid program to promote industrial safety; to provide for more effective Federal programs for the rehabilitation and employment of the handicapped; to provide for the admission of 400,-000 displaced persons over a period of 4 years as nonquota immigrants; to provide for study of the legal status of women by a joint commission ; to establish in the Department of Labor a labor extension service for wage earners similar to the Extension Service provided for farmers through the Department of Agriculture; and measures designed to strengthen the Department’s functions in the field of employment, and to fulfill its responsibilities in the field of international labor affairs.
    Legislation to raise the presently inadequate minimum wage of 40 cents an hour under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to at least 65 cents and to strengthen the child labor provisions of the act:
    In supporting proposals for a higher minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Department has emphasized the tremendous upsurge, since the act’s adoption in 1938, in production, general wage rates, national income, productivity, and the cost of living. Because of the increases in the cost of living, workers have lost a large portion of the real minimum wage intended when the Act was passed. An immediate minimum wage of 65 cents an hour in July 1947 would have benefited approximately 1^ million workers covered by this law. The Department of Labor took the position that such a minimum was justified as a matter of economic justice to these workers and pointed out the cost to employers of putting it into effect would be slight in most cases.
    1 In a statement presented on invitation of a subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and Labor conducting hearings on the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Secretary on November 17, 1947, said : “I am appearing today to propose an immediate increase of the minimum wage under the act to 75 cents an hour * * *. The present 40-cent minimum is completely outmoded.” The Secretary then cited current Bureau of Labor Statistics reports to show that a 75-cent minimum wage was necessary to maintain the same relationship to the general level of wages in manufacturing which 40 cents represented in 1938.
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    The child labor provisions of the act, as they now stand, are narrower in their coverage than the minimum wage and overtime provisions. The proposed legislation would have the effect of making the restrictions on the employment of “oppressive child labor” coextensive in coverage with the minimum wage and overtime provisions.
    The Department also favored amending the act to broaden its coverage by eliminating discriminatory exemptions written into the law at the time of its passage in 1938.
    Legislation to establish a National Commission against discrimination in employment, and to make it an unlawful practice for employers of more than 50 persons to refuse to hire, to discharge, or otherwise discriminate in employment because of race, religion, color, national origin, or ancestry or to obtain assistance in hiring from sources discriminating for such reasons; and for a labor union of 50 or more members, on the same grounds, to discriminate or to limit, segregate or classify membership so as to affect adversely employees or applicants for employment:
    Under modern industrial conditions the freedom to earn a livelihood for one’s self and one’s family without being discriminated against on the irrelevant basis of race, religion, color, national origin, or ancestry is no less important than the more generally recognized and accepted freedoms. Discrimination in employment has the effect of subjecting to severe economic disadvantage large and significant segments of our population. In 1939, for example, white wage and salary earners had an average income of $1,134, while Negroes in this class received only $470. Discrimination in employment constitutes a constant threat to wage levels adequate to sustain an American standard of living and levels of purchasing power and production adequate to maintain prosperity. Free enterprise means that a worker possessing skills will not be subjected to discrimination in their use to make a living. Our economy needs all available skills, and cannot afford to deny itself the services of anyone because of color, race, or national origin.
    The most efficient method of dealing with the problem of discrimination in employment is primarily through peaceful persuasion by a mediator. This is the method the proposed legislation adopts, and only when such methods have failed are legal sanctions imposed if violations have occurred. The mere fact that legal sanctions may be invoked would be of inestimable help in persuading employers and labor organizations to discontinue their unfair practices. Most labor unions, like the vast majority of Americans, draw no color, race, ancestry, or religious lines insofar as economic rights are concerned.
    Legislation declaring it an unfair wage practice for any employer engaged in interstate or foreign commerce to discriminate between the sexes in the payment of wages, thereby requiring observance of the principle of “equal pay for equal work”:
    Such legislation is required as a matter of justice to the 16 million women in the American labor force, and to prevent the use of women as wage cutters, a process which tends to depress general wage levels of both men and women. The proposed legislation makes it possible
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR	19
    to reach not only cases of discrimination against women in which men and women were performing the same jobs, but also cases of discrimination against women in which the jobs performed by both, though not the same, are of comparable character and require comparable skills.
    Legislation, to establish a joint commission to study the economic, social, and political status of women with a view to recommending the elimination from both State and Federal law of anachronistic discriminations against women and thereby establishing, a policy in the law of making no distinctions on the basis of sex except such as are reasonably justified by differences in physical structure, biological or social functions:
    The Department of Labor supported this legislative proposal not only because many of the laws which treat men and women differently are labor laws, but because the Women’s Bureau in the Department of Labor is under a statutory duty to concern itself with the welfare of women in industry. Labor laws, property laws, and social and family laws, some of them enacted many years ago and based upon assumptions of fact which may have been modified by the experience of the past two decades, persist on the statute books. Opinions differ as to whether these distinctions in treatment represent discriminations, or constitute reasonable adjustment in legislation to recognized differences between men and women and their respective functions in society.
    There has never been a comprehensive official study and evaluation made of such laws in the light of modern conceptions and the capacities and the role of women in present-day society. The commission which the proposed legislation would establish would on the basis of such a study be equipped to make important recommendations, applicable to the Federal, State, and local spheres of jurisdiction, well calculated, to achieve the highly desirable objective of eliminating all distinctions in treatment of men and women in law and its administration, except those reasonably justified by differences in physical structure or biological or social functions. The moral and precedent value of such an objective embodied in Federal law would be enormous.
    Legislation to establish in the Department of Labor a labor extension service to promote the welfare of wage earners through a program, for the dissemination of useful knowledge and information in cooperation with schools, colleges, research agencies etc.:	’
    The Department of Labor favors enactment of legislation of this type because it would materially contribute to the development of sound industrial relations practices and peaceful labor-management relations. Unwise action in these relations have been due in large measure to the inadequacy of information and the lack of understanding of responsibilities and opportunities by both sides.
    Organizing and administering the affairs of a union requires administrative capacities of a high order, an informed membership and understanding, on the part of both leadership and members, of
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    the responsibilities as well as the opportunities of union organization and activity. Intelligent union action requires many kinds of information. At the present time, legislation of the type proposed is required because much of the necessary information is available, if at all, in very limited form, and only from sources not easily accessible to wage earners.
    The proposed legislation would make the required information, standards, materials, techniques, and guides available through the medium of a Federal grant-in-aid program similar to that which has been carried on so effectively by many Government agencies. It would make Federal funds available for labor extension services on a national basis and provide for universal minimum standards of administration, leaving actual administration of the program in the hands of State boards consisting of representatives of labor unions, State labor agencies, cooperating institutions, and experts in adult and labor education. The Department of Labor, through the work of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States Employment Service, the Women’s Bureau, the Wage and Hour Division, and other divisions and bureaus, has much of the information which is needed in the development of such an educational program.
    Legislation to authorize the Secretary of Labor to establish and administer a Federal grant-in-aid program to assist the States to establish and maintain safe working conditions in industry and to promote the observance of safety precautions and rules by employers and employees in industry:
    Loss of life from industrial injuries remains high and disabilities short of death run into the hundreds of thousands. Millions of manhours of labor are lost and production thereby reduced at a time when maximum production is essential to counterbalance rising costs and prices. Failure to prevent these injuries is largely due to insufficiency of State funds and facilities for the adequate enforcement of appropriate State laws and for State programs necessary to educate employers, workers, and unions in the techniques of industrial safety. The Department of Labor believes it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to provide the States with the necessary financial aid and technical cooperation to enable them to accomplish these objectives.
    Legislation to provide for more effective organization of Federal programs to promote the rehabilitation of handicapped workers and to provide greater opportunity for such workers to secure appropriate employment:
    As each year thousands of workers are permanently injured through industrial accidents, and many more made victims of disease and nonindustrial accidents, it becomes obvious that there is a great need for a broad, comprehensive, and well-coordinated Federal program for the assistance of the handicapped.
    The primary objective of any such scheme must be to restore the handicapped to their proper places in society; that is, to enable them to earn their own living in suitable and remunerative employment. The achievement of this end in some cases may mean no more than finding for the handicapped individual a job in which his impairment
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    21
    will be no handicap to his performance. In many cases, however, before the task of placement can even be attempted, there will be necessity for medical or surgical care, for education of the disabled person to the use of a prosthetic device, and for vocational training either to resume the type of work he was doing before injury or to take up a new occupation.
    Legislation to authorize the admission as nonquota immigrants, over a period of 4 years, of a total of Jp00,000 displaced persons in Germany, Austria, or Italy who qualify under the immigration laws for permanent residence, with priority given to widows, parents, children, and, relatives of citizens of the United States or persons who served honorably in the armed services during the First or Second World Wars:
    This legislation would provide an effective means of solving the problem of displaced persons in Europe who are now, in fact, the dependents of the United States Government. Investigation has shown that the admission of these displaced persons into the United States would have beneficial rather than harmful consequences for our country. Our industrial expansion was greatly aided by the vast additions to our labor force from immigration during the nineteenth century, and the great contributions made to the American economy by immigrants. As a matter of fact, during the present period of almost full employment, labor shortages have developed in some fields, and surveys have shown that many displaced persons who would be brought in under this legislation possess skills that are needed to meet these shortages.
    Measures to strengthen the United States Employment Service in the Department of Labor:
    The United States Employment Service was originally established in the Department of Labor but later transferred to the Federal Security Agency for administration in conjunction with the unemployment compensation program. During the war it was transferred, by Executive order, to the Department of Labor. As was pointed out by President Truman in his message to Congress on May 1, 1917:
    The provision of a system of public employment offices is directly related to the major purpose of the Department of Labor. Through the activities of the employment office system the Government has a wide and continuous relationship with workers and employers concerning the basic question of employment. To a rapidly increasing degree, the employment office system has become the control exchange for workers and jobs and the primary national source of information on labor market conditions. In the calendar year 1946 it filled 7,140,000 jobs, and millions of workers used its counsel on employment opportunities and on the choice of occupations.
    The Labor Department obviously should continue to play a leading role in the development of the labor market and to participate in the most basic of all labor activities—assisting workers to get jobs and employers to obtain labor. Policies and operations of the Employment Service must be determined in relation to over-all labor standards, labor statistics, labor training, and labor law—on all of which 1he Labor Department is the center of specialized knowledge in the Government.
    The Department, as it has in previous years, participated in the activities of the International Labor Organization. The Secretary
    22	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    of Labor recommended ratification of eight of the conventions adopted by the twenty-eighth (maritime) session of the International Labor Conference which met at Seattle in 1946. These conventions dealt with improving the working conditions and status of seamen and involved such matters as food and catering; crew accommodations; certification of ships’ cooks; paid vacations; medical examinations; certification of able seamen; social security; and minimum wages and maximum hours. The Department also supported legislation providing for acceptance by the United States of the constitution of the International Labor Organization Instrument of Amendment. This measure was passed by the Senate and was reported favorably in the House of Representatives.
    The Department of Labor supported the affirmative proposals made by the President in the State of the Union message on January 6,1947, for legislation correcting certain abuses in labor-management relations, providing additional governmental assistance in bargaining and investigation of the basic causes of labor-management difficulties. The President called for (1) the early enactment of legislation to prevent certain unjustifiable practices; (2) extension of the facilities within the Department of Labor for assisting collective bargaining; (3) broadening of our program of social legislation to alleviate the causes of workers’ insecurity; (4) appointment of a temporary joint commission to inquire into the entire field of labor-management relations.
    Chief Clerk and Budget Officer
    The responsibilities of the Chief Clerk and Budget Officer for proper administration of budgetary, financial, and office service management were increased with each addition or change in the organizational structure of the Department, and there were many such changes during fiscal year 1947.
    The transfer to the Secretary of Labor of all functions and responsibilities of the Personnel Division (Re-employment Rights) national headquarters of the Selective Service System (Public Law 26, sec. 5 (a)), effective March 29,1947, necessitated planning for organizational setup and management of funds for the balance of fiscal year 1947, as well as a budget and organizational program for 1948.
    The National Wage Stabilization Board (successor to the War Labor Board) terminated on February 24, 1947, under Executive order of the President. A liquidating unit was set up as of that date which continued until June 6,1947, at which time the office of the Chief Clerk and Budget Officer took over the routing and processing of any remaining fiscal, personnel, and other inquiries relating to its expired activities. The arrangement for complete liquidation of the Steel Commission (an adjunct of the National Wage Stabilization Board) as of June 30, 1947, was included.
    The Wage Adjustment Board, which functioned in the Labor Department under agreement with the National War Labor Board for the purpose of stabilizing wages in the building trades, was terminated and liquidated along with the National Wage Stabilization Board.
    Provision was made for liquidation of the Shipbuilding Stabilization Commission as of June 30, 1947.
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    23
    The Retraining and Reemployment Administration ceased functioning as of March 31,1947; this necessitated establishment and control of a small liquidating unit to continue until June 30, 1947.
    During the period of tapering off of the functions of these liquidating bureaus, the estimating of personnel ceilings which were flexible enough to meet changes in operation due to plans for recissions and other reductions of the Bureau of the Budget and the Congress was necessary.
    Because of its relationship and integration with the Department over the years, the transfer of the Children’s Bureau to the Federal Security Agency and the separation from it of the child labor enforcement provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the problem of correct allocation of cost of services performed for that Bureau during a portion of this fiscal year, as well as furniture and equipment, were involved.
    Disbursement of funds from the emergency fund for the President for necessary fact-finding boards in fiscal year 1947 was provided in July 1946. This office serviced these boards on procurement and business management requirements.
    The separation of the Federal functions from State functions on return of the United States Employment Service to the States, as directed by Congress in July 1946, involved many budgetary problems and much time.
    In connection with all of these changes in organization and transfer there were involved such other major problems as disposition of surplus property and records arrangement for moving and shipping, shifting offices and personnel. As of June 30, 1947, the Department occupied approximately 485,942 square feet of floor space in 13 different buildings in Washington, D. C. The effort to consolidate its functions in one location will continue. It has been possible to consolidate departmental units in two additional regional centers in the same buildings in Dallas, Tex., and San Francisco, Calif., in accordance with departmental policy of closer integration.
    Negotiations for the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Division’s move back to Washington from New York City started in December 1946, and were accomplished on February 28, 1947, with its attendant problems of space planning and transfer of equipment and personnel. Return of the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions made possible the consolidation of duplicating facilities and other economies in personnel, travel, long distance telephone costs, and equipment. This resulted in a saving of $44,700 in direct annual appropriations. The return of the staff of the office of the Solicitor, which had been assigned to service the Wage and Hour Division in New York, resulted in a saving of $12,000 per annum. These savings have been reflected in the 1948 appropriation by Congress.
    Field office surveys
    Members of the staff of the office of the Chief Clerk and Budget Officer attended regional conferences of the bureaus and made field surveys to get a first-hand picture of problems of operation and activities, so that a more objective consideration could be applied to budgetary requirements and bureau problems.
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Management coordination
    Through continuance of meetings of business managers of the divisions and bureaus, greater coordination and discussion of mutual or inter-relating problems lias resulted, as has also greater facility in preparation of budget estimates through the assistance and advice of budget and management planning staff attached to this office. Staff members participate in conferences arranged by the Bureau of the Budget’s Management Improvement Branch to learn of improved and latest equipment and methods of management techniques.
    Records program
    Under the records program, liquidation of records of the National Wage Stabilization Board has been completed, either by transfer to National Archives or destruction. Large numbers of files of other units in the Department, as authorized by Congress on July 23, 1946, and October 3, 1946, which could be considered as no longer needed in the conduct of business also were destroyed or sent to the Archives. The records administration program has helped make it easier for individual bureaus or divisions to coordinate files, or dispose of them in accordance with regulations. This program has resulted in release of 58,600 cubic feet of file space, through disposal or retirement of records.
    Employee interests
    The Chief Clerk and Budget Officer devoted considerable time as a member of the departmental committee on charges of subversive activities against employees. He also serves as ex-officio member of a departmental committee for protection of veterans’ promotional rights.
    The Assistant Chief Clerk and Budget Officer serves on a committee for awards for meritorious suggestions made by employees for improvement of the Department’s services.
    New systems, improvements
    A new system for scheduling and reporting work in the Duplicating Section was developed and installed which has produced work measurement data, improving supervision and budgetary management of this activity and greater efficiency. One of the byproducts of this was the development of a guide to aid selection of the most efficient and economical duplicating service by reducing heretofore lengthy instructions to an effective and easily understood one-page instruction in pictorial form. Other Government agencies have become aware of this improved method and are considering its adaptation to their needs.
    A special study of travel vouchers was made for the purpose of effecting economy in operation cost by eliminating common errors or other causes for deductions found in auditing these vouchers. The results of this special audit have been used by all of the bureaus for training purposes of the audit staff and to call to the attention of field staff to savings in operation and time in processing vouchers which can be effected by a better understanding and closer application of travel regulations, and thus eliminating unnecessary suspension of travel items from vouchers submitted.
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    25
    Arrangement for a series of lectures by Government Printing Office staff was made for printing procurement personnel in each bureau, so as to acquaint them with techniques and processes in carrying out printing requisitions. This program aimed at improvement in form and design as well as elimination of extra expense resulting from improper or inadequate preparation of copy. These lectures have been very profitable and effective.
    As an aftermath of the war years with its limitations on publicbuilding construction or repairs for purposes other than national defense, there was a sudden rise in requests for prevailing wage rates under the Davis-Bacon Act. This unexpected increase was so large as to make it necessary to provide additional staff which had not been anticipated in budgetary planning. Through careful analysis and refining of procedures and negotiations to provide additional staff over a period by this office, the enormous peak load and backlog was overcome and this unit made current, thus expediting veterans’ housing, needed repairs on existing public construction, and making it possible to carry forward programs which included construction of new airports under the Federal Airport Act.
    Production activities
    During the fiscal year 1947, the Accounts and Audits Branch processed 341 pay rolls, including suppiementals, requiring 39,538 check and 4,848 cash payments. Pay-roll deductions were provided for the purchase of 10,583 United States savings bonds. The number of vouchers audited totaled 28,756 including 9.167 travel vouchers.
    The Transportation Unit in the Office Service Branch serviced the entire Department in securing transportation for official travel, a total of 5,105 reservations having been made.
    Telephone service has been improved by installation of a new and enlarged switchboard effective March 7, 1947.
    Number of purchase orders, fiscal year 1947 (items involved numbered
    7,523)___________________________________________________ 3,539
    Mimeograph—number of impressions___________________________ 36, 990, 206
    Multilith—number of impressions---------------------------- 21, 605, 634
    Photostat—number of impressions---------------------------- 94, 333
    Addressograph—number of impressions________________________ 2, 737, 360
    Printing folios of copy handled---------------------------- 27,392
    Car pool—number of passengers transported for official purposes (including special mail or special delivery)------------------ 3,147
    Budget problems
    As of the close of the fiscal year, the office of the Chief Clerk and Budget Officer has been planning and revamping and refiguring with the bureaus their staff and other needs due to uncertainty of appropriations by the Congress for the fiscal year 1948. Terminal leave problems, and fluctuating personnel due to “bumping,” have added considerably to the financial problems.
    The enactment of the so-called Portal-to-Portal bill to be administered by the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions, and the transfer of the Personnel Division of Selective Service required additional budgetary provisions.
    The Taft-Hartley Act also requires analysis for its effect on services required of existing staff and adequacy of funds to provide them.
    26	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    In addition to the above and the preparation and handling through to completion of the 1948 estimates, the office of the Chief Clerk and Budget Officer has continued and maintained its usual functions of fiscal administration, allocation of agency funds and facilities, in carrying out the aims and purposes of the Department and a recognition of responsibility for conservation of the taxpayers’ money and the need for good service to them.
    FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
    Fiscal year 1947
    Appropriations made directly to the Department___________$140, 577, 371. 96
    Funds transferred to the Department from other Government
    agencies to cover services performed for such agencies-	3, 388, 827. 38
    Total funds made available to the Department for the fiscal year____________________________________ 143, 966,199. 34
    Funds rescinded_________________________$1,191, 900. 00
    Funds transferred from the Department to other
    Government agencies by reason of reorganizations ______________________________ 29, 071, 984. 95
    Grants to State for Public Employment Offices,
    United States Employment Service------ 77, 850, 000. 00
    ------------- 108,113, 884. 95
    Net amount available operation_____________________ 35, 852.314. 39
    The Library
    May of this year marked the thirtieth year of service of the unified Library of the Department of Labor. The collection itself was begun in 1884 as the Library of the Bureau of Labor, then under the Department of the Interior. In 1917 the collection which was then the Library of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor was combined with the small library of the Children’s Bureau which had been organized in 1912. The consolidated Library of 55,000 volumes was designed to serve the entire Department in meeting its responsibility to “foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the Uniteci States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.” It was destined to serve throughout the years not only this Department, of which it is an integral part, but also many individuals, organizations, and governments in their study of the literature that has been collected in connection with the avowed purposes of the Department.
    This unique and valuable collection has increased to more than 300,000 volumes, 85 file cases of pamphlets, clippings, and press releases; and a microfilm collection consisting of about 500 rolls of film recording foreign periodicals which were issued during the war years and which were available to American libraries only in that form.
    One of the most valuable portions of the collection is the file of the publications of labor organizations, including long sets of the proceedings and journals of the international trade unions, going back
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    27
    in many instances to the formation of the union. Constitutions, reports of officers, financial reports, and educational material will also be found for unions that have made such publications available to the Library. This material constitutes a true documentary history of the organized labor movement in the United States.
    Other holdings of the Library which are much in demand are the long sets of statistical reports of many foreign nations, the foreign periodicals, the nearly complete sets of the publications of the International Labor Organization and of federal and state departments of labor, and the 340 labor papers received from 40 States and the District of Columbia.
    The number of volumes circulated during the fiscal year was 17,909, of which 370 were loaned to other libraries, the rest having been borrowed by the officials and staff of the Department. There were 2,243 visitors from outside the Department who used the reading-rooms, the resources of the collection, and the assistance of the reference staff. These visitors represented many organizations: 740 were from other Federal agencies, 478 were students or professors in universities and other schools, and the remainder were from foreign governments, State governments, research organizations, trade unions, trade associations, welfare agencies, and many other private organizations. Foreign visitors included representatives of the Governments of China, India, Siam, Turkey, Australia, France, and Greece.
    Questions requiring special research which were answered during the year numbered 3,458. This number is estimated to be only about one-eighth of the total number of questions of all types answered by the reference librarians. The other questions are usually answered quickly and easily by the professional staff with the aid of the catalog, the standard reference works, and the bibliographic aids prepared by the staff, and from their own familiarity with the resources of the Library.
    The number of persons entering the Library is estimated to average 250 per day and incoming telephone calls number approximately 130 a day. Many of the individuals coming into the Library require no assistance, but do use the resources of the Library, either borrowing the books or periodicals or using them in the reading rooms.
    During the past fiscal year 14,188 pieces of new material were received for cataloging, of which 6,944 volumes were fully cataloged (3,304 monographs and 3,640 continuations) and an additional 1,036 volumes of ephemeral interest were given temporary classification. In addition to the monographs and continuations fully cataloged, there were 1,501 volumes of periodicals cataloged.
    The public catalog has grown in proportion to the size of the cataloged collection including in it a large number of analytical entries to articles and portions of publications which are particularly significant to the field of labor and social welfare and which would otherwise be lost to research workers. There were 11,756 new cards filed in the catalog during the year.
    Transferral of the books needed for the work of the Children’s Bureau, now a part of the Social Security Administration, was begun early in 1947, after the Bureau had been moved from the Labor Building. The number of books transferred during the fiscal year was 6,860.
    28	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Several thousand cards which indexed these books were withdrawn from the catalog.
    The number of separate issues of periodicals received in the Library during the year numbered 69,961, and 24,562 were circulated in the Department. New journals checked in for the first time numbered 159, of which 98 were from 30 foreign countries. In addition, 42 foreign periodicals which have recently resumed publication are being received regularly. Periodicals are now sent to this Library by 52 different countries.
    The last day of the fiscal year marked the retirement of the Librarian who had served in this capacity since the establishment of the Library in 1917 and who had from 1912 to 1917 been the Librarian of the Children’s Bureau. The Assistant Librarian was also retired earlier in the year, after many years of service.
    Office of the Director of Personnel
    During the fiscal year 1947, the office of the Director of Personnel completed and placed in effect its program for the decentralization of personnel operations within the Department. Under this program, the Director of Personnel formulates the policies, standards, and procedures in accordance with which the bureaus of the Department carry on their personnel operations, advises and counsels bureau heads and their principal assistants on difficult personnel problems as they arise, and directs periodic audits of bureau operations to appraise the effectiveness of personnel administration and to insure compliance with departmental policies, standards, and procedures.
    The first quarter of the fiscal year was concerned largely with the organization and staffing of bureau personnel offices and development of standards and procedures for the decentralized personnel operations. These later were incorporated largely in four basic documents:
    1.	A Personnel Instruction Series which contain the policies of the Department on major personnel matters and specify the procedures and regulations which govern the bureaus in carrying out such policies. Issues in this series are prepared and distributed from time to time as needed. Their preparation is accomplished through extensive consultation with personnel and administrative officials of the bureaus and with representatives of employee groups. This process insures consideration of all points of view and brings about a better understanding of and agreement on personnel policies and procedures.
    2.	A Personnel Bulletin Series in which appear resumes and explanations of recent civil-service rules and regulations, Decisions of the Comptroller General, Opinions of the Attorney General, and other issuances which relate to personnel administration in the Department. Issues in this series are prepared and distributed weekly.
    3.	The Department of Labor Personnel Manual which serves as a comprehensive guide for personnel officers and administrative officials on all regulations, policies, and procedures involved in personnel administration in the Department. This document incorporates, as appropriate, materials first released in the Personnel Instruction and Personnel Bulletin Series.
    4.	The Manual of Class Specifications for Positions in the Department of Labor which contains complete descriptions of each class of positions in the Department including its distinguishing characters-
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    29
    tics, examples of typical positions, and the qualifications required for the performance of the work of the class. These specifications are prepared from official position descriptions, civil-service examination announcements, circular letters and departmental circulars, and from discussions with various operating personnel of the Department.
    Personnel operation on a decentralized basis was formally inaugurated at the close of the first quarter of the fiscal year when the Secretary delegated authority to approve the bulk of personnel actions to the heads of bureaus of the Department. With the advice and counsel of the staff of the Director of Personnel, the bureau personnel offices quickly and effectively assumed their new responsibilities.
    In the fiscal year 1947, the policy on the promotion of veterans of World War II in the Department, which had been discussed in the last quarter of the preceding fiscal year, was approved and issued. The objective of this policy is to insure that within the shortest practicable period of time veterans who have returned to the Department shall have attained the same vocational levels they would have been likely to reach had they not been absent in military service. The veterans’ promotion policy provides that this objective is to be attained by a substantially more rapid rate of advancement for returned veterans during the adjustment period than for nonveteran employees and by affording to each returned veteran an opportunity for intensive on-the-job training. Responsibility for the carrying out of this policy was vested in the Director of Personnel. There was also appointed a veterans’ affairs committee to work with the Director of Personnel on all problems involving the just and rapid reintegration of returned veterans. Although satisfactory adjustment has not as yet been accomplished in all cases, the great majority of cases have been adjusted in accordance with the provisions of this policy.
    Significant among the many developments of the fiscal year was the establishment of an employee-suggestion system as authorized in Public Law 600. Under the chairmanship of the Director of Personnel, a committee was appointed to evaluate the suggestions of employees for improvement or economy in the operations of the Department. The interest of the employees of the Department was quickly stimulated and a large number of suggestions were submitted. Of these, several were of such value as to merit awards to the originators.
    Also significant during the fiscal year 1947 was the promulgation by the President of the new rules and regulations of the Civil Service Commission. This made necessary a detailed analysis of the effect of the new rules and regulations on personnel administration within the Department and, as necessary, revisions in departmental policies and procedures to bring them into harmony with the new rules and regulations.
    The latter part of the fiscal year was concerned primarily with the development of plans for and the carrying out of sizeable reductions in force in practically all units of the Department as a result of reductions in funds available to the Department for fiscal year 1948. It was imperative that policies and procedures be developed which would afford preference in retention to the Department’s “career” employees, not only to the extent required by the regulations of the Civil Service Commission but to the ultimate extent that it was administratively feasible to do so. Accordingly, after consultation with
    766308—48---3
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    administrative and personnel officials and with representatives of employee groups, a policy designed to preserve, insofar as it was possible, the “know-how” represented by employees with many years of outstanding service in the Department was adopted. This program contributed greatly to the maintenance of employee morale under the difficult conditions represented by a drastic reduction in the staff of the Department.
    Office of the Solicitor
    The Solicitor of Labor serves as legal counsel to the Secretary and to the bureaus and divisions of the Department of Labor both in Washington and the field. Organized on a functional basis, the Office of the Solicitor during the fiscal year 1947 rendered legal services which are discussed under the following headings: Legislation and Bureau Service, Litigation, Walsh-Healey Proceedings, Interpretations and Administrative Services, Wage Determination, Employment Service and Veterans’ Reemployment.
    Legislation and Bureau Service
    The fiscal year 1947 witnessed the enactment of some of the most important legislation affecting labor relations and employment of the last decade. The complex issues involved in the matters dealt with by these statutes, as well as the difficult problems concerning labor relations and employment standards resulting from the readjustments of the postwar period, greatly increased the complexity and extent of the legislative tasks performed by the Solicitor’s Office during the same period. Many bills affecting labor and related topics were referred by congressional committees and the Bureau of the Budget to the Secretary of Labor for comments. The Legislative and Bureau Service Section of the Solicitor’s Office was called upon to assist the Secretary in the preparation of reports responding to such requests. The Department submitted to the congressional committees and to the Bureau of the Budget 74 reports on proposed legislation. The Section also assisted the Secretary and various officials of the Department in the preparation of testimony given before the congressional committees.
    In addition, assistance was given to members of various congressional committees in connection with their consideration of proposed legislation. Attorneys in the Section assisted such members on the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947, the Labor-Management Relations Act, 1947, the Equal Pay bill, the Legal Status of Women bills, and the Industrial Safety bills.
    The Legislative and Bureau Service Section gave advice on problems of departmental administration and organization referred by the Office of the Secretary to the Solicitor and furnished legal advice to the Conciliation Service, Women’s Bureau, Division of Labor Standards, the Apprentice Training Service, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics in connection with their operations and with the interpretation of various State and Federal laws relating to working-conditions, labor standards, and labor relations. The Section drafted and reviewed many proposed contracts and administrative orders
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    31
    and passed upon claims made against the Department, including those submitted under the new Federal Tort Claims Act. As a result of the provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act requiring unions resorting to the act to file certain financial and organizational statements with the Secretary of Labor, the Section was called upon to assist in formulating the regulations, procedures, and forms necessary to carry out these provisions of the act. In addition, attorneys in the Section assisted the Secretary in the preparation of recommendations respecting executive action on enrolled enactments and proposed Executive orders. The Section continued to prepare annotations of leading court decisions of interest to labor, as well as summaries of important newly enacted statutes, such as the Labor-Management Relations Act, 1947, and the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 for publication by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    This Section also handled the legal work in connection with the Department’s participation in the activities of the International Labor Organization and its other functions in the international labor field. The Section prepared analyses of conventions adopted by the International Labor Organization with a view toward recommending action with respect to ratification by the United States. The Section’s attorneys assisted the Secretary and departmental officials in preparing analyses and reports in connection with a joint resolution providing for acceptance by the United States of the International Labor Organization Instrument of Amendment. Assistance was also given in compiling information and reports requested by the International Labor Organization, and in the preparation for the Secretary of the annual report of the United States to the organization on ratification of conventions adopted by the organization.
    Litigation
    During the early period in the history of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Administration’s principal task was educational. The uncertainty and unfamiliarity on the part of both management and labor with the nature and effect of the law rendered excusable many violations occurring at that time. As the body of judicial precedent was built, and administrative interpretation after its early cautious development was accelerated, and was more widely disseminated, the act became better established and more widely understood. The volume of litigation also gradually increased and the number of excusable failures to observe the law diminished.
    Beginning with the fiscal year 1945, the vigor of the enforcement program was accelerated, and the fiscal years 1946 and 1947 represent a sharp increase in litigation over 1945, particularly in criminal prosecutions. The total number of actions brought during the fiscal year was 451, against 581 for the fiscal year 1946, and 371 for the fiscal year 1945; of the 451 actions, 182 were criminal, compared with 199 criminal actions initiated in the fiscal year 1946, and 99 in the fiscal year 1945. Two hundred and seven criminal cases were actually decided in the fiscal year, with 188 convictions obtained, and 6 acquittals; 13 cases were nol-prossed.
    Of the 269 civil actions brought by the Administrator during the fiscal year, 180 were contested, as against 203 in 1946 and 143 in
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    1945; 243 contested cases were closed during the year, in all but a few of which the Department was successful.
    There were 59 briefs filed in appellate proceedings and 2 brief filed before a Federal 3-judge district court in successfully defending an attack on the constitutionality of the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act. Briefs were filed in 23 appellate proceedings before the United States Supreme Court. Of the remaining 36 briefs, 1 was filed in a State supreme court and the others in the several circuit courts of appeals.
    Supreme Court Cases
    During the October 1946 term the United States Supreme Court handed down decisions in several cases involving the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Three cases dealt with the scope of the employment relationship covered by the act, three with the construction of exemptions from the act, and two with plans for overtime compensation which purported to comply with the act.
    In Walling v. Portland Terminal Co. and Walling v. Nashville C.
    St. L. Ry., the Court held that persons being trained by railroads for future employment as firemen, brakemen, and switchmen are not “employees” of the railroad. The Court’s decision was based on the following facts found by the lower court: The course of training given was similar to that in a vocational school. The trainees did not displace regular employees and the railroads received no immediate advantage from the arrangement, their operations sometimes being actually impeded by the trainees. The completion of the training merely entitled the trainees to be placed on an eligible list from which employees were hired. It was understood by the parties that the trainees were not entitled to wages. The Court concluded that, under these circumstances, broad as the definition of employment might be under the act, it is not so broad as to include those “who without any express or implied compensation agreement work for their own advantage on the premises of another.”
    In another case involving the employment relationship, Rutherford Food Corp. v. McComb, the Court held that boners in a slaughterhouse are employees of the plant operator, notwithstanding a contract between the operator and the chief boner that the latter shall be regarded as the employer. The Court emphasized that the work of the boners was an integral part of the slaughterhouse operations and that the chief boners did not have the usual characteristics of an independent businessman.
    Two cases decided by the Court, Levinson v. Spector Motor Service and Pyramid Motor Freight Corp. v. Ispass, dealt with the exemption from the overtime requirements of the act of employees who are subject to regulation by the Interstate Commerce Commission under the Motor Carrier Act. The Court held the exemption applicable to employees who did a substantial amount of work subject to the Commission’s regulatory power, rejecting the argument of the Wage and Hour Division, amicus curiae, that the exemption should apply only if over one-half the employee’s time was spent in such work. Under these decisions, truck drivers, drivers’ helpers, mechanics, and loaders will not be entitled to the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act if they do a “substantial” amount of work which falls within
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    33
    the Motor Carrier Act. Whether they are outside the overtime provisions if they do less than a “substantial” amount of work subject to the Commission’s regulation is a question which was not decided but which is now before the Supreme Court in the case of Morris v. McComb.
    The exemption for executive employees was before the Court in Walling v. General Industries Co. In that case the Court held that a district court’s finding that certain employees satisfied the qualifications of the Administrator’s definition of an executive must be accepted by the appellate courts if the facts afforded an adequate basis for the inferences drawn by the trial court. In the course of its decision the Court observed that all the conditions prescribed in the Administrator’s regulation for exemption as an executive must be met, in order for the employer to invoke the exemption.
    The overtime requirements of the act were construed by the Court in Walling v. Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Co. and in lift Madison Ave. Corp. v. Asselta. In the Halliburton case the Court reaffirmed its 5-4 decision in Walling v. A. H. Belo Corp., 316 U. S. 624, which had been narrowly construed in the subsequent decisions of the Court (see discussion of Walling v. Helmerich Payne, 323 U. S. 37; Walling v. Young erm an-Reynolds, 325 U. S. 419; and Walling v. Harnischfeger Corp., 325 U. S. 427, in annual report for 1946, p. 24). The Halliburton employment contract, like the Belo contract, provided for hourly rates of compensation and for overtime compensation at not less than time and one-half the hourly rates, and also guaranteed a minimum weekly wage which was computed so that employees would have to work more than 84 hours before they would earn additional compensation. The Court held that the contract was indistinguishable from the Belo contract and that its Belo decision was still valid. The decisions subsequent to Belo, said the Court, were all distinguishable on their facts and did not undermine the principles of the Belo decision.
    In the Asselta case, however, the Court held that the Belo and Halliburton decisions did not support the validity of an employment contract which provided a weekly salary for a regular workweek in excess of the statutory straight-time maximum and purported to establish an hourly rate which would yield the salary in the scheduled workweek. The Court found from the other provisions of the contract that the hourly rate provided for by the contract was not in fact the regular rate of employment. The regular rate was held to be the weekly salary divided by the scheduled number of weekly hours. The Helmerich & Payne, Harnischfeger and Y oungerman-Reynolds decisions supra, and not Belo, were held applicable. The Halliburton and Asselta cases indicate that contracts of the Belo-Halliburton type will be subjected to close scrutiny, and that plans for avoiding the effects of the overtime provisions which are distinguishable from the contracts in those cases, will not be sanctioned by the Court.
    Circuit Courts of Appeals Cases
    During the fiscal year there wTere 28 final decisions of the circuit courts of appeals in cases in which the Solicitor’s Office participated. This figure is exclusive of the cases which have since been determined
    34	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    by the Supreme Court. In 21 of these decisions the Solicitor’s views were fully sustained, and in 4 they were sustained in part.
    The cases in the circuit courts of appeals ran the gamut of problems under the Fair Labor Standards Act, involving questions of coverage, exemption, regular rate of pay, employment relationship, and procedure. Among the more significant decisions as to the coverage of the act were Bozant v. Bank of New York, 156 F. (2d) 787, and Roherg v. Phipps'1 Estate, 156 F. (2d) 958, in which the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that maintenance workers in bank or office buildings in which goods were “handled” or “worked on,” if not actually “manufactured,” prior to their movement in interstate commerce, were covered by the act. Other highly significant coverage questions were involved in Walling v. McGrady Construction Go., 156 F. (2d) 932 (C. C. A. 3), in which employees engaged in construction work on roads or buildings were held covered by the act if the construction work was closely allied to an existing instrumentality of interstate commerce or to an existing plant producing goods for interstate commerce. Likewise important was the holding in Meeker Cooperative Light de Power Assn. v. Phillips, 158 F. (2d) 698 (C. C. A. 8), that employees of an REA cooperative which produced electric power consumed locally by farmers who used it in producing agricultural commodities for interstate commerce were covered by the act. The coverage of cost-plus-fixed-fee contractors producing war materials for use by the United States Government was established in Bell v. Porter, 159 F. (2d) 117 (C. C. A. 7), and in Divins v. Hazeltine Electronics Corp., 6 W. H. Cases 1011 (C. C. A. 2), although the latter decision was somewhat circumscribed by the court’s distinction between battleships (the production of which was held not covered) and other war materials.
    The leading cases involving regular rate of pay problems were 'Walling v. Garlock Packing Co., 159 F. (2d) 44 (C. C. A. 2), and Walling v. Wall Wire Products Go., 161 F. (2d) 470 (C. C. A. 6), in which bonuses regularly paid, pursuant to so-called profit-sharing plans, to employees in varying amounts depending on the employer’s profits and the individual employee’s length of service and hours of work, were held a part of the regular rate of pay to be included in determining the overtime compensation due. The Supreme Court denied certiorari in both cases.
    Among the procedural questions presented to the circuit courts of appeals was the question whether the Administrator had authority to institute civil contempt proceedings. In Walling v. Crane, 158 F. (2d) 80 (C. C. A. 5), this question was answered in the affirmative. The court’s dictum that the Administrator could not utilize civil contempt proceedings to compel payment of the wages due as the result of disobedience of an injunction against violations of the act is resulting in further litigation to clarify the nature of the remedial relief to which the Adminstrator is entitled. Other interesting decisions on procedural questions were rendered in Johnson v. Butler Bros., 162 F. (2d) 87 (C. C. A. 8), holding that an employee suit under the Fair Labor Standards Act may not be removed from a State to a Federal court, and in Walling v. Norfolk Southern Ry. Co., 162 F. (2d) 95 (C. C. A. 4), holding that the Administrator is not liable for defendant’s costs in an unsuccessful action brought by the Administrator.
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    35
    Walsh-Healey Proceedings
    The Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act of 1936 vests enforcement powers in the Secretary of Labor. These powers include the holding of hearings, the making of decisions in administrative proceedings initiated’by complaints issued by the Secretary charging Government contractors with violations of the act. Sums collected in these proceedings, with the exception of liquidated damages of $10 per day with which Government contractors are chargeable for knowingly employing child labor, are paid on order of the Secretary to the employees involved. It is provided in the act that violators shall be ineligible to receive Government contracts for a period of 3 years from the date on which they are found by the Secretary to have violated the act, unless he recommends otherwise, and the Comptroller General is directed to circulate a list of violators ineligible to receive Government contracts among all Government contracting agencies.
    With the enactment of the Adminstrative Procedure Act the Department reviewed the procedures followed in Walsh-Healey complaint proceedings and made appropriate revisions. Hearings in these proceedings are conducted by trial examiners in the Office of the Solicitor who are designated in each case by the Secretary of Labor. Each examiner is authorized to compel the attendance of witnesses, to take testimony under oath and issue an order and decision embodying the findings of fact and conclusions of law, and containing recommendations to the Secretary as to the application of the ineligible-list sanction under section 3 of the act. Such decision becomes final unless the respondent, within a specified period, petitions for a review of the decision by the Administrator of the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions.
    Where the respondent petitions for review, the Administrator may either issue an order denying review, or enter a decision which, if the respondent is found to have violated the act, shall contain recommendations to the Secretary as to whether the respondent shall be relieved from the application of the ineligible-list provisions of the act. Such decision or order of the Administrator becomes final except that application for relief from the ineligible-list provisions may be filed by the respondent with the Secretary of Labor within a specified period from the date of service of the trial examiner’s or Administrator’s decision, as the case may be.
    In accordance with established departmental policy, legal functions and legal work are concentrated in the Office of the Solicitor. Attorneys in his office participate in each step of the administrative proceedings under the act. Thus attorneys in the Litigation Branch and in the regional offices prepare and try cases and file all necessary papers in these proceedings in much the same manner as in court actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The trial examiners, however, are segregated from the other attorneys in a separate branch known as the Legislative and Trial Examining Branch. The rules of the Department provide that trial examiners act independently, subject to the precedents and policies of the Department under the act. They are also available to preside over any other hearings authorized to be conducted by the Secretary; or by bureaus, offices, and other agencies in the Department. Attorneys in still another branch, the Interpreta
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    tions and Administrative Service Brandi, advise and assist the Administrator in preparing his decisions under the act. The Secretary of Labor receives advice and assistance from the Solicitor in determining whether to apply the ineligible-list sanction of section 3 of the act.
    During the fiscal year 1947, 38 complaints were issued and 62 hearings were held, with 5 hearings still pending on June 30, 1947. Trial examiners filed or issued 37 reports and decisions and 35 were pending at the end of the fiscal year. The Administrator of the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions rendered 36 decisions. There were 11 appeals to the Secretary from the decisions of the Administrator and 2 petitions for removal from the ineligible list. The Secretary handed down decisions in 16 cases.
    Interpretations and Administrative Services
    Interpretations Section
    Three major factors contributed to significant changes in the nature and volume of the work performed in the Interpretations Section during the year. These were the Portal-to-Portal Act, the return of the Wage-Hour Headquarters Section to Washington, and several Supreme Court decisions. This Section is charged with rendering interpretations of statutes of general effect administered by the Department and it continued throughout the year to answer requests for opinions received from the various bureaus and divisions within the Department, from individual employees and employers, from trade associations and labor organizations, from Members of Congress, and other Government officials. It also continued to provide interpretations upon the request of the Department’s regional offices. *
    The enactment of the Portal-to-Portal Act on May 14, 1947, presented the Interpretations Section with many new and novel problems, which necessitated a drastic change in the Section’s methods of operation. This act contains several unique features, including the following: The “good faith” defense provided for employers who rely upon and conform with “administrative practices,” “enforcement policies” and administrative interpretations, rulings, approvals, orders, and regulations, the distinction made between the “principal” activities of employees on the one hand, and their “preliminary” and “postliminary” activities on the other; the importance placed on “custom or practice”; and the retroactive provisions regarding certain types of activities performed prior to the enactment of the act.
    In order to be in a position to interpret these sections of the Portal-to-Portal Act, the Interpretations Section was required to make a thorough study of the legislative history of the act, and to undertake to search for and analyze judicial decisions which would appear to have any bearing on these problems. The Section has begun the preparation of a new interpretative bulletin concerning the effect of the Portal-to-Portal Act on the Fair Labor Standards Act. Further, as a result of the greatly increased importance placed by the “good faith” sections of the Portal-to-Portal Act on the interpretations and decisions of the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Section was required to undertake a reexamination of the opinions issued by the Administrator during
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    37
    the 9 years’ existence of the latter act to determine whether they conform with the most recent judicial interpretations of that act. A complete revision of the Administrator’s interpretative bulletins and other interpretative releases became necessary, and new procedures have had to be developed for the handling of future requests for opinions. Similar action has had to be taken with respect to the Walsh-Healey Act and the Davis-Bacon Act, which were also affected by the Portai-to-Portal Act.
    Another factor which had a marked effect on the kind and volume of work done by the Interpretations Section was the- transfer of the Wage-Hour Headquarters Section from New York to Washington. This transfer was made when the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions which had been temporarily located in New York during the war were brought back to the District. The Headquarters Section had provided counsel and legal services to the Administrator and his staff. It consisted of a group of lawyers averaging from 12 to 16 throughout the period from 1942 until February 1947 when the transfer was made. The interpretation and advisory functions of this Section are now performed by the Interpretations Section; consequently, in addition to performing its regular functions it is called upon to provide the day-to-day legal services required in connection with the operation of the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions.
    Several decisions of the Supreme Court during the year involved such major problems under the Fair Labor Standards Act as the existence of the employer-employee relation, the exemption of certain employees of motor carriers, and the meaning of the term “regular rate.” Thorough analyses of these decisions were required and a reexamination was made of the existing interpretations of the Administrator of the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions in order that such revisions as might be necessary would be made in conformity with the decisions.
    This Section continued to interpret the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act relating to child labor and to perform other legal services in connection therewith, including the making of recommendations for the revision of regulations and the issuance of hazardous occupation orders, e. g., the operation of power-driven hoisting-apparatus.
    The Copeland Act, the Federal 8-hour laws, and the Davis-Bacon Act were the source of an unusual number of requests for opinions and interpretations. Novel construction works were still being undertaken in remote areas. Contractors were thus obliged to furnish employees with many personal facilities such as board, lodging, laundry, return transportation, etc. Work in such outlying areas caused new types of wage deductions requiring interpretations under the Copeland Act. The Section gave advice to various governmental agencies in connection with problems under the 8-hour laws. Some of these were precipitated by the President’s message to Congress and his request to the heads of the executive departments and agencies of February 19, 1947, to discontinue the exercise of emergency powers authorized in two of the 8-hour laws.2
    2 Act of August 1, 1892, sec. 1 (27 Stat. 340) ; act of March 4, 1917 (39 Stat. 1192).
    38
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Administrative Services Section
    The enactment of the Administrative Procedure Act in June 1946 and the general reorganization of the Department which took place during fiscal 1946 and 1947 placed increased responsibilities on the Administrative Services Section. The Administrative Procedure Act was designed to establish standards for the conduct of Federal administrative proceedings involving exercise of rule-making and adjudicatory functions. One of its provisions required publication in the Federal Register of a description of the organizational set-up of the Department and its various bureaus and divisions. This material, which was published September 11, 1946, included departmental and field organization, all formal and informal procedures, delegations of authority, and all substantive rules and statements of general policy or interpretation issued for the guidance of the general public. Subsequent changes in organization which occurred during the year required revision of the organizational statement to keep it current and accurate.
    All rule-making and adjudication procedures under the various statutes administered by the Department of Labor were reexamined for compliance with the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. For example, the rules of practice governing Walsh-FIealey proceedings were revised, in a manner already explained, in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.
    The various changes in Department organization carried out in fiscal 1947 required revision of general orders, issuance of new and revised administrative orders, and various changes in general regulations. During the year the Administrative Services Section also prepared revisions of various regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Walsh-Healey Act, such as those applicable to homeworkers in Puerto Rican industries, employment of child labor in hazardous occupations, employment of handicapped workers, and coverage of executive and supervisory employees. Agreements with State Labor Departments governing inspection and enforcement of child labor provisions of the two acts were drawn and executed. The unit also reviewed numerous exemption orders and certificates relating to employment of learners, apprentices, and handicapped workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Several wartime exemptions were revised or withdrawn.
    One of the primary functions of the Administrative Services Section is the review and analysis of the record in Walsh-Healey proceedings and preparation of the Administrator’s decision. The volume of work performed in this connection in fiscal 1947 was greater than in any previous year. In addition, certain features of the Portal-to-Portal Act, such as those relating to statute of limitations, compromise of existing claims, and “good faith defense,” had to be analyzed to determine their effect on administrative proceedings under the Walsh-Healey Act. From a study of the new law it seemed apparent that section 2 of the Portal-to-Portal Act will raise some novel questions relative to the method of computing daily and weekly overtime under the Walsh-Healey Act.
    The postwar increase in employment in Puerto Rican industries has accentuated the importance of the Fair Labor Standards Act in relation to such industries. A great number of problems on wage
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    39
    order coverage, enforcement policies, and homeworker regulations were presented during fiscal 1947. Changing economic conditions in some industries indicated a necessity for reconsideration of existing wage orders. It was proposed that a new special industry committee be created to consider revision of wage orders in all industries in the islands, and the administrative orders creating the committee and defining its functions were drafted. The committee functions and the administrative proceedings will, of course, be completed in fiscal 1948.
    Wage Determination
    The Wage Determination Section predetermines prevailing wage rates under the Davis-Bacon and other related acts. Demands upon this Section for wage determinations under the various prevailing wage acts reached an unprecedented peak of 9,093 cases during the fiscal year 1947. This number represents an increase of 3,655 decisions over the number issued in the fiscal year 1946. In addition, the volume of correspondence necessary in the administration of the duties imposed by the various acts also reached an all-time high as evidenced by the handling of 5,454 pieces of correspondence.
    This increased volume reflects an accelerated Federal building construction program designed to meet postwar needs. The Federal program involved the construction, alteration, and repair of post offices, of clinics and hospitals, of other public buildings and of research facilities relative to atomic energy, aeronautics and agriculture; the conversion of soldiers’ barracks into classrooms and dormitories in connection with the GI educational program; the reconversion of arsenals and plants to peacetime needs; the construction and repair of Federal roads and highways; the construction of levee, flood control, river and harbor improvement and reclamation Srojects; the construction, alteration, and repair of Coast Guard and Favy installations and of aids to air navigation. While the dollar volume of Federal construction was much below that of the war years, most of these projects involved small contracts and the larger number of contracts meant a corresponding increase in the requests for wage determinations under the several acts.
    This increased volume of work also indicates a sharp expansion of housing construction financed through FHA mortgage insurance under the provisions of the National Housing Act to such an extent that the amount of wage determinations handled for this agency alone during the fiscal year 1947 approximately doubled the aggregate of all determinations issued from 1939 through the fiscal year 1946. The number of determinations issued during the fiscal year 1947 was 1,582 whereas in the period covering the 7 prior years a total of 833 were issued.
    Additional duties have been placed upon this Section by the Federal Airport Act and the Hospital Survey and Construction Act, both enacted during the calendar year 1946. The Federal Airport program was launched early in 1947 and before the end of the fiscal year the program required a considerable number of wage determinations from this Section.
    40	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Employment Service and Veterans’ Reemployment Division
    Employment Service
    Public Law 549, Seventy-ninth Congress, approved July 26, 1946, provided for the transfer of the local employment offices from Federal to State operation effective November 16, 1946. Prior to that date the United States Employment Service functioned as the Nation-wide public employment service system.3 Thereafter, it resumed its functions under the Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933, as amended. Accordingly, the United States Employment Service is the administrative agency of the Nation-wide Federal grant-in-aid public employment service program. It also has operating responsibility for the maintenance 'of public employment offices in the District of Columbia. Under title IV of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, as amended, it has responsibility for the maintenance of a Nation-wide veterans’ employment and counselling program, and it has operating responsibility for maintenance of employment offices for veterans in Puerto Rico. During the period of Federal operation of the employment service, the legal section for the United States Employment Service in the Solicitor’s Office was occupied primarily with the interpretation of Federal laws affecting the service and the drafting of legal documents and regulations in conformity with Federal laws and requirements thereunder. The transfer of' the local employment offices and their personnel to State operation gave rise to a great many legal problems involving the interpretation of statutes of all the States and Territories in addition to applicable Federal law. Under the terms of Public Law 549 the States are required to make adequate provision for the transfer of personnel into the State public employment office system and for their retention therein and, under the provisions of the Wagner-Peyser Act, States desiring to receive its benefits are required to submit detailed plans of operation to the Secretary of Labor.	. .	,
    Such plans must conform to the provisions of the act and must be reasonably appropriate and adequate to carry out its purpose. The plans of operation must also conform with the fiscal and personnel standards issued by the Secretary of Labor pursuant to the authority vested in him by the AVagner-Peyser Act, Public Law 549, and Executive Order No. 9617. The legal section of the Solicitor’s Office analyzed and approved each of the State personnel transfer programs and plans of operation after determining their conformance with the applicable Federal statutes and the standards, regulations, instructions, and policies issued thereunder. In this connection it was necessary to review the constitutional and statutory authority for the organization and functioning of the respective State employment services and the applicable State fiscal and personnel laws. The plans of operation are submitted as continuing plans and consequently are subject to constant amendment. The major part of the work of the section since the employment service was transferred to State operation on November 16. 1946, has consisted of the review of amendments to the plans of s
    s The functions of the U. S. Employment Service were transferred from the War Manpower Commission by Executive Order 96i7, dated September 19, 1945 (10 F. R. 11929).
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR	41
    operation occasioned by newly enacted State legislation and changes in State standards, regulations, and procedures to insure that each State and Territory is operating its employment service in conformity with Federal laws and regulations. The section reviewed and approved 60 personnel transfer programs and 50 plans of operation submitted by the States and Territories in connection with the transfer of the employment service operations to the States and Territories and it has rendered approximately 1,275 opinions pertaining to amendments of plans of operation and other questions arising out of administration of the employment service program. It also handled aproximately 350 other legal matters in connection with this program. In resolving these problems it has been necessary to carry on negotiations with State legal officers on many occasions.
    The administration of public employment service and unemployment compensation functions is vested in one agency in most States. However, in the Federal Government the Department of Labor is charged with the administration of employment services while unemployment compensation functions are vested in the Fecleral Security Agency. Unemployment compensation functions have been administered as a Federal grant-in-aid program since their inception. The transfer of the employment service from Federal operation to a Federal-State grant-in-aid program was facilitated, especially in regard to participation by State agencies in both programs, by the close liaison maintained between the Solicitor’s Office of the Department of Labor and the General Counsel’s Office in the Federal Security Agency on matters in which under Federal law both agencies have closely related duties and responsibilities.
    This legal section also rendered legal advice to operating officials of the United States Employment Service on the rights and obligations of employers and employees in connection with the War Manpower Commission’s importation-of-labor program conducted during the war period. The functions of the United States Employment Serivce were vested in the War Manpower Commission during the period of hostilities.4
    Veterans’ Reemployment
    Veterans’ reemployment assistance functions prescribed by section 8 of the Selective Service and Training Act of 1940, formerly performed by the Selective Service System, were transferred to the Department of Labor by the provisions of Public Law 26, Eightieth Congress, approved March 31, 1947. By direction of the Secretary of Labor, administration of these functions is vested in the Veterans Reemployment Rights Division. A field organization of this Division has been set up with offices in 35 principal cities and assistance is provided to veterans in local communities by local veterans’ reemployment rights committeemen serving on a voluntary basis under the guidance of the Division’s Field Representatives. The services of this organization are augmented by the facilities of local offices of the State public employment agencies.
    The legal section of the Solicitor’s Office for the veterans’ reemployment assistance program prepares interpretative bulletins and
    Executive Order 9247, dated September 17, 1942.
    42	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    opinions for the Solicitor of Labor under the veterans’ reemployment statutes, provides legal advice to the Director of Veterans Reemployment Rights Division and prepares replies to correspondence requesting legal opinions and interpretations. It reviews correspondence sent to employers and employees by field representatives for accuracy of legal interpretations, and performs the legal work incident to veterans’ reemployment cases in process of settlement by the field representatives. In order to expedite handling of veterans’ reemployment problems at local levels this section prepares and currently maintains a case digest of all Federal court decisions interpreting reemployment statutes. This section will prepare supplements to the basic interpretative bulletin from time to time as important cases are decided in the courts, thereby keeping local representatives abreast of the latest developments in the law.
    It maintains close liaison with the Veterans’ Affairs Section of the Department of Justice to assure consistency in legal opinions and to render such assistance as may be required in the review of pending litigated cases and in the preparation of briefs on significant questions of law involved in the trial and appeal of such cases.
    APPENDIX
    CONDENSED REPORTS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE BUREAUS AND SERVICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
    Apprentice Training Service
    For the program of Apprentice Training Service this has been a year of exceptional growth and adjustment to postwar requirements.
    The field staff, substantially no larger than it was a year ago, is now literally swamped by demands for advice and assistance in the development and maintenance of programs for the training of apprentices in the skilled crafts. Though some of this demand is attributable to the housing emergency, the major part is undoubtedly due to the readjustment of veterans to civilian life.
    To cope with the augmented burden, it has been found necessary to concentrate on techniques designed to facilitate the work of the field staff and other agencies interested in apprenticeship. Interested parties have been informed on what are the criteria for determining what is an apprenticeable occupation. Corrections have been made in the distribution of field assignments to conform to local demand. The system of reporting has been simplified. Every endeavor has been made to guarantee the maximum of service rendered local communities, without cutting the time available for that service below what might be considered a reasonable minimum. Inevitably, complete success in this last respect has not been possible; without adequate maintenance service, many programs, particularly those involving veterans, will probably fail. Nevertheless, it is the endeavor of the agency to continue in giving to industry and the public the best services it can offer.
    Increased field activity has resulted in a corresponding increase in the number and activities of employer and labor groups, especially in the construction industry, where the need for augmented apprenticeship training has been acute because of shortage of facilities for construction, particularly housing. It is everywhere evident that management and labor are alert to the need for trained craftsmen and are cooperating in the establishment of apprenticeship programs. The fundamental fact, that the policy of the Apprentice Training Service is based upon the principle of voluntary participation, has proved of inestimable value in inducing both labor and management to take active part in the promotion of sound apprenticeship. Of the thousands of joint apprenticeship committees now in operation, the vast.majority are actively and energetically educating their communities in the need for, and the desirable conditions of, apprentice training.
    43
    44
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    The functions and services of the Apprentice Training Service are now more widely known and understood than at any other time in its history as an agency. It is expected that future years will reflect still greater growth and recognition.
    Federal Committee on Apprenticeship
    Appointed by the Secretary of Labor as national labor-management policy committee on apprenticeship, the Federal Committee on Apprenticeship consists of the following members:
    Representing Management	Representing Labor
    William L. Batt, president, S. K. F. John P. Frey, president, Metal Trades
    Industries, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa. Department, A. F. of L., American Claude Putnam, president, Markeni Federation of Labor Building, Wash-
    Machine Co., Keene, N. H.	ington, D. C.
    F. L. Rayfleld, president, Potter & Ray- C. J. Haggerty, secretary-treasurer, field, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.	California Federation of Labor, San
    Archie A. Pearson, director, Training Francisco, Calif.
    Department, Ford Motor Co., Dear- James B. Carey, secretary-treasurer, born, Mich.	Congress of Industrial Organizations,
    Washington, D. C.
    John Green, president. Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, Camden, N. J.
    Ill addition, representing the Office of Education:
    Dr. Raymond W. Gregory, Assistant Commissioner for Vocational Education.
    Membership was increased this year so as to insure wider geographical and industrial representation.
    Special mention should be made of the outstanding contributions of two whose memberships terminated this year, namely, Mr. Clinton B. Golden, president of the United Steelworkers of America—CIO, and Mr. Layton S. Hawkins, Chief of Trade and Industrial Education, representing the Office of Education.
    The Committee met three times during the year, and made several major recommendations. Its chief accomplishment, however, was to approve specific criteria and a procedure for determining the apprenticeability of an occupation, and a completely revised list of apprenticeable occupations.
    Criteria of apprenticeability
    So basic are the criteria of apprenticeability to the operation of this and other agencies, and to the promotion of sound apprenticeship, that they are here reproduced in full:
    An apprenticeable occupation is one—
    1.	Which customarily has been learned in a practical way through training on the job;
    2.	Which is clearly identified and commonly recognized throughout the industry;
    3.	Which requires 4,000 or more hours of work experience to learn;
    4.	Which requires related instruction to supplement the work experience (144 hours of such instruction during each year of the apprenticeship is usually considered the minimum) ;
    5.	Which is not merely part of an occupation already recognized as apprenticeable by the Federal Committee on Apprenticeship;
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR	45
    6.	Which involves the development of skill sufficiently broad to be applicable in like occupations throughout an industry, rather than of restricted application to the products of one company;
    7.	Which does not fall in any of the following categories:
    (a) Selling, retailing, or similar occupations in the distributive field,
    (&) Managerial occupations,
    (c) Clerical occupations,
    (<7) Professional or semiprofessional occupations (this designation covers occupations for which entrance requirements customarily include education of college level),
    (e) Agricultural occupations (this designation includes those engaged in the growing of crops, fruits, nuts, etc., and the raising of livestock, poultry, etc.).
    National standards
    Minimum apprenticeship standards expressed in the form of labormanagement agreements at the national level have been developed and published for tile setters, the sheet metal industry, and the wallpaper manufacturing industry. The list of such national agreements published to date covers the following: Bricklaying, plastering industry, electrical industry, carpentry, cement, asphalt and composition finishing, painting and decorating, plumbing, steamfitting, stained glass industry, roofing industry, tile setters, sheet metal industry, wallpaper manufacturing industry, and pottery industry.
    Construction industry
    At the national level, the General Committee on Apprenticeship for the Construction Industry has been instrumental in the development of, and has constantly guided the apprenticeship program for, the construction industry. This is a committee equally representative of contractor associations and building trade unions; the members are all top officials in their respective organizations.
    The permanent executive committee of eight members has met twice during the past year, and has recommended several policy decisions of ma] or importance.
    By direct communication with interested organizations it has stimulated the entire industry to concentrate on the development of more joint committees, especially in the basic construction trades of bricklaying and plastering.
    By writing letters and trade articles explaining how, by publishing progress reports, and by referring requests for information on apprenticeship to ATS, it has urged local joint committees to give earnest consideration to the intensive or accelerated training of apprentices in localities where a recognized shortage of skilled workers develops in any trade.
    It has requested that all Federal agencies letting contracts in construction should assist in the promotion of sound apprenticeship by inserting into their building contracts a clause requiring employers of apprentices to meet standards recommended by the Federal Committee on Apprenticeship or interested State apprenticeship agencies. Several agencies have already indicated willingness to follow this recommendation.
    766308—48----4
    46
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    And it has obtained from the Veterans Administration clarification of the distinction between “occasional” and “regular” overtime, for use in reporting monthly earnings of veterans employed as apprentices.
    In all of its work, the Committee has had the outstanding cooperation of its constituent organizations. In addition, it has received vigorous and practical support from several building-material manufacturing groups at both national and local levels. Specially deserving of mention in this connection are the Structural Clay Products Institute and the Tile Council of America, Inc.
    Machine tool industry
    A comprehensive plan for the establishment of a national program of apprenticeship in the machine tool industry has been prepared, and definite steps in its development have been completed. The scope of the industry has been defined. Various organizations have been contacted, and many of them have tentatively appointed representatives to be confirmed when the national committee holds its first meeting. A systematic survey is being made by the American Society of Tool Engineers to determine the minimum time necessary to train workers on the various machine tools.
    Already participating or definitely interested in the development of the national program are the International Association of Machinists, the American Federation of Labor, the Skilled Trades Division of the United Automobile Workers—CIO, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America—CIO, the United Steelworkers of America—CIO, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Machine Tool Builders Association, the National Tool and Diemakers Association, and the National Metal Trades Association.
    Textile manufacturing industry
    The textile industry has become aware of the possibility of apprenticeship in a number of occupations hertofore not sufficiently developed to be considered apprenticeable. Programs of apprenticeship in these occupations are now being developed in textile mills of all kinds in various parts of the country, and are supported by both employers and unions. As the industry becomes more fully convinced of the value of apprenticeship, it is expected that a national joint committee on apprenticeship in the textile industry will develop.
    Railroads industry
    Programs in the railroad industry have been established in cooperation with the New York Central, the Union Pacific, and the Western Pacific Railroads, and initial steps have been taken and progress made with 15 other railroads.
    Relationships with State councils
    Apprenticeship laws were enacted this year in New Hampshire, Florida, and Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia apprenticeship councils were appointed. There are now 23 States and Territories with apprenticeship laws and councils, and 7 in addition with apprenticeship councils only. Industries in the remaining 22 States register their programs and apprentices with the Federal Committee on Apprenticeship. As they indicate a desire to establish
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    47
    their own councils or enact their own apprenticeship laws, these latter States are given encouragement and technical assistance by representatives of the Apprentice Training Service.
    The ATS field staff has assisted the States, through their directors of apprenticeship and members of State apprenticeship councils, to develop suitable programs of apprenticeship. In some states, field representatives have been employed to develop programs under State standards. The State authorities have asked that Federal staffs be maintained and even increased to supplement the State staffs, and particularly assist the State in problems of a consultative and advisory nature not ordinarily performed by State agents.
    Liaison with other Federal agencies
    The work of the Apprentice Training Service impinges on or is affected by the operational requirements of other Federal agencies. Our relations with them have been sustained at a consistently high level of cooperation.
    With the Veterans Administration we have excellent working arrangements at all levels. Field staff of the Veterans Administration have been supplied with copies of our pamphlets, policy statements affecting veterans as apprentices, and the recently prepared Handbook of Apprenticeable Occupations. The Federal Committee on Apprenticeship and the executive committee of the General Committee on Apprenticeship in the Construction Industry have had personal contact on policy problems with major officials of the Veterans Administration, with beneficial results. For use of the Administration in determining the effects of the ceiling on benefits on the employment of veterans as apprentices, data have been supplied on changes in apprentice wage scales.
    The National Housing Expediter has been supplied with monthly reports, specially collected for this purpose, showing the number of apprentices employed in the construction industry; and, in the field, technical assistance has been given to local housing authorities in the disposition of labor problems involving apprenticeship.
    The Vocational Divison of the Office of Education is directly represented on the Federal Committee on Apprenticeship. Relations with vocational authorities at all levels continue to be cooperative and mutually beneficial.
    The Bureau of Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics are the main sources of statistical information outside of that obtained as part of ATS field operations. They have proved most helpful and cooperative in every respect.
    The Wage and Hour Division has not had frequent occasion to call upon ATS for information on apprentice wage scales, because of the high rates now prevailing. If and when the national minimum wage is increased, however, it is expected that demands will jncrease.
    The Solicitor’s office is provided with reports on” changes in apprentice wage-scale in areas affected by contracts under the Davis-Bacon law.
    The United States Employment Service continues to give every cooperation in promoting apprenticeship, and State employment agencies continue to maintain the excellent relations earlier established when these services were federalized.
    48	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Organization
    The Apprentice Training Service now has field representatives in every State, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii. Service is also being given to Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands through occasional field visits.
    To standardize operations, a field manual is in preparation and a uniform system of reporting and recording has been introduced.
    To provide available services in proportion to local need, a thorough survey has been made of the work load of the field staff. As a result a staffing pattern has been developed, taking into consideration such items as population, programs being developed or maintained, apprentices registered, distance to be traveled, and size of State apprenticeship field staff. The scores thus determined for State or area provide logical justification for allocation of field staff. It has already resulted in several adjustments, equalizing the load and distributing it according to need. The technique is flexible, and permits of continuous correction to meet changing conditions.
    Field accomplishments
    The increase in work load of the field staff of ATS during fiscal 1947 was greater than it has been in any preceding year. Comparison between 1947 and 1946 is revealed in the following table (for detail by States, see appendix). The percentage increase snows growth during this 1 year alone relative to the cumulated growth over the preceding 10 years.
    Accomplishments cumulated	As of June 30—		Percent increase
    	1947	1946
    All registered programs on record		25, 400	9, 514	167
    Area-wide group programs		3, 788	2, 319	63
    Individual plant programs _	_	_ _	21, 612	7, 195	200
    All establishments participating	96' 034	62; 212	54
    Construction industry.	_	_ _	52', 140	35; 777	46
    Nonconstruction industries __	____	43, 894	26, 435	66
    Registered apprentices on active file		145, 020	63; 664	128
    During the year the field staff developed 15,886 new programs, and, at the same time, as an annual average, had a maintenance load of 17,500 programs.
    The phenomenal growth here recorded has increased the work load beyond the limits of ability of the staff to provide adequate maintenance essential for the conducting of sound apprenticeship programs. In general the area-wide group programs can be satisfactorily maintained. But individual plant programs are so numerous that, unless sufficient maintenance service can be given them, they are in danger of collapsing. High standards of employment and training of apprentices cannot be maintained unless the programs involved are continually serviced and kept alive.
    Statistics and research
    The work of this section, the chief functions of which are to do research and to serve as the national clearing house for statistical in
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    49
    formation on apprenticeship, directly reflects the activities of the field staff. During fiscal 1947 the load increased to more than twice what it was in the preceding year. The number of new registered programs which were processed and recorded in this office exceeded 15,000, and the gross total of establishments added to the total at the end of last year approximated 42,000.
    Principal research studies include a classification of construction trades; an analysis of the characteristics of veterans entering apprenticeship ; a survey of changes in apprentice wages over the 4 years prior to 1946; an analysis of the future work load for ATS; an analysis of occupations approved as apprenticeable by the various State councils; the development of an entirely new system of records and published tables; a special study of field activities in one region as a basis for the development of national work-load norms; an analysis of the occupational distribution of apprentices in the United States; an article on the need for planned apprenticeship; and numerous special studies to provide information requested by various employer associations, trade unions, other divisions in the Department of Labor, and other Federal agencies.
    Copies of all published tables are supplied to State departments of labor and other interested persons and agencies.
    Review activities
    The primary functions of the Standards Review Section are to provide technical advisory service on the development of apprenticeship standards to the ATS field staff and national industry consultants, to Federal, State, and local officials, to industry and labor groups interested in apprenticeship on a national or local basis; also to serve as the national clearing house on practices and policies in the training of apprentices; to recommend the establishment of national industry committees on apprenticeship; and to serve as registration agency for apprenticeship agreements, pending establishment of State apprenticeship agencies.
    During the year the Review Section reviewed 2,893 programs transmitted for advice and comment before registration. In addition., it reviewed, approved, and registered 4,219 programs from States having no apprenticeship council, and reviewed after registration by State councils 5,647 programs (this last for an 8-month period only). The total number of program actions was therefore 12,759.
    During the same year, the Section registered 26,819 individual apprentice agreements, and wrote off 6,314 as completed or quit. Together these yield a total of 33,133 apprentice-agreement actions.
    Major developments during the year were: the review or revision of national standards in: cement and asphalt and composition finishing, carpentering, tile setting, sheet metal working in the construction industry.
    Criteria for determining whether or not an occupation may be considered apprenticeable were developed for the approval of the Federal Committee, and a Handbook of Apprenticeable Occupations was prepared and published. This document has been widely distributed to and has received favorable comment from State apprenticeship councils, State approving agencies established under the GI bill, employers, unions, and various Federal agencies. Its chief value lies in the fact
    50
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    that it defines and standardizes the concept of apprenticeship, provides criteria and a procedure for determining what occupations are apprenticeable, and clearly differentiates apprenticeship from other kinds of on-the-job training in occupations not suitable for apprenticeship.
    Special consideration was given to the development of programs suitable for use on a community-wide basis in rural or isolated communities. The resulting technique allows for the promotion of sound apprenticeship under the guidance of a single joint committee representing all employers and all organized labor groups in the community.
    Publications
    The ATS Publications Section prepared for publication 8 pamphlets and 12 magazine articles dealing with different aspects of apprentice training in the construction and metal working industries.
    A total of 97,000 copies of the pamphlets, 35,000 reprints of the articles, and 5,600 copies of speeches were published for distribution through the field staff and other channels to employers, labor unions, vocational authorities, veteran organizations, housing agencies, industrial publications, and other organizations and individuals concerned with training.
    Among the pamphlets published and distributed were national apprenticeship standards, prepared for the guidance of local groups in five building trades, bricklaying, cement finishing, plastering, roofing, and stained glass; an enlarged edition of The National Apprenticeship Program, containing the latest approved list of apprenticeable occupations; and the revised edition of Setting Up an Apprenticeship Program—A Guide to Employers in Training Veterans in the Skilled Trades.
    More than 4,300 inquiries were received by the ATS Information Section from individuals, employer and labor organizations, vocational schools, public libraries, veterans’ and housing agencies—an average of over 80 inquiries per week, or more than 15 each work day. In reply to these inquiries 38,265 ATS pamphlets were distributed and over 1,100 letters of explanation were mailed. Among the inquiries were a large number from employers and other organizations in 16 foreign countries, namely: India, Palestine, Peru, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand, Spain, France, British Isles, British Columbia, Canada, Austria, Philippines, and Cuba.
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    51
    Programs, establishments, and apprentices, as recorded at National Office of Apprentice Training Service, by regions and States, as of end of fiscal years indicated
    Registered apprentices on active file		1946	63, 664	2, 580	b- CO 00 O rtf 1O oh ococicm b- CM to	2, 112	2, 904	11 819 2, 074	2, 196	t^rtf OC1CO I b- b- CM CM Cl CM CD Cl CM
    		1947	145, 020	6, 988	O O o lQ T-4 »Q O CO 1Q CM O CO CO~ r-T	8, 915	9, 337	141 2, 721 6, 475	8, 151	7-4 CO CO Tf* O CO Tf4 1Q CO O LQLQO^Q
    Participating establishments	Construction	1946	35, 777	722	437 16 207 61 1	893	3, 492	ONQ CO O ‘Q 7-4 CO t-h'CM'	1, 605	573 551 6 167 308
    		1947	52, 140	00 oo	ID Ttf CM LO rH CO CO CO to CO rtf to rtf <31 CM	1, 910	4, 922	CM O O cco 7-4 7-4 CD r-TcO'	3, 161	Nv-CC. Cl id 00 O CM 00 CO CO 00 nh
    	All	1946	62, 212	1, 326	NCZjONSN rtf CM CM rH o b- rtf rH	3, 431	6, 037	rHCOO rtf IO Th b-CM rHrtf"	2, 915	CM CO 00 O CM CM O CO 1Q O 7-4	7-4 co CO
    		1947	96, 034	2, 646	O	CO Tf* 00 CD	CO CO 7-1	3, 250	8, 337	7-4 00 co o o 7-4 o co 7-4'0'	6, 934	CM Cl CM CO ID CM I> HfH r-H nJH O O ID 00 t-H~ rH hH cm"
    Registered programs	Individual	1946	7, 195	326	1 b~ 1Q CO O 7-4 i CO CO 7—i Tb 1 1 1 1	203	1, 674	5 497 1, 172	682	i>- nfH -rfi' CO 'nb r-H CM  Cl CO r-H t-H	CM
    		1947	21, 612	599	rtf 00 CM rtf © rH rtf rtf rH Cl rH CO	367	3, 294	CO CO 1Q CM CO CO OO cm"	4, 519	00 r-H b- CM rH Cl CO CM 00 ID r-H ID O CM -rr r-H" CM"
    	Group	1946	2, 319	65	O r-4 t-4	1 CM CM CO CM	1 i i I i	09	145	rtf O CM rtf O	70	SO'DrHb CM r-H	rH ^H
    		1947	3, 788	155	Tb Tf4 00 LQ) CO T-< LQ O	r-4 r-4	117	256	00 CD 00 00 CO	116	ClCDtDlDbrr CM CM rH ^H CO
    	3	1946	9, 514	391	CO CO rtf ©CO CM b- LCH-f	263	1, 819	O O Tt< O 1Q CM	752	rf rt' Cl rH rH TfH CO P0 O00 rH rH r-H CM
    		1947	25, 400	754	00 CM O O CO CM Cl r-H rH rH o rH rH rtf rH	484	3, 550	31 716 2, 803	4, 635	Hr rH CM fr 00 CM 00 rf 0 00 CM tD O CM rtf hh"cm"
    			i	।	i	i	i	i	i	i	i	i	iii	i	i	i	i	1 |	|	|	1	I	1	1	1	1	1	III	1	Illi i	।	।	।	i	।	i	i	44	i	iii	i	g	i	i	i	i i	1	1	1 1 O 1	1	1	III	i	S	1	1	1	1 i	।	i	i	।	1	i	O	i	iii	i	4;	i	i	। ;	!	J	iliH	;	F	;	;	i	6	is	i| 1	1	1 Q S	1	fe	1	1	>. fl	1	!	o	1 i	i	1	i^slj	£	! 1	1	-4-3	1 r—<	F"4	r-H	<	1	H	r—(	1	*—	' 1	1	°	1 ° M	S	1	1	o c3	> A	O O St Ph	O	O	(—1 Ph O fi S £h 'Sc	'Sb	'So	'Sb o	a;	-h b- oo co co co NO® co" r-H Th"	2, 492	CD b- Th 00 co 00 I t o Th 00 C2 o co	2, 759	CO O 1Q 00 1Q IQ 04 iQ CD b- 00 th b- 00 Th tH 140
    	All	1946	13, 226	CO 00 1Q th co Th 00 02 CO 00	8, 706	3, 580 2, 110 3, 016	3, 257	1 00 CD IO ON-* । to 00 t-h CM । of 1 1 1	2, 042	04 th b- TH 00 CO 1Q 00 04 th CO CO Th 1Q 1Q r—H 04 r-H
    		1947	19, 639	871 5, 771 12, 997	14, 348	5, 903 2, 321 6, 124	5, 322	04 02 00 00 1Q Th CO CD Th C2 Th CO CO th" CO"	3, 646	iQ iQ Th CD IQ th 00 b- b- 00 IQ b-02 O 1Q TH 04 1Q
    Registered programs	Individual	1946	753	00 04 CO 00 CD 04 Th	1, 978	®N CO Th 00 Th >Q CO CD	252	1 NOCO i CO O CO	i H i i i	142	N 02 CO IQ 00 O t-H Th IQ TH
    		1947	5, 155	tH O Th 04 O CO CO O 00 of 04"	2, 647	04 CO 04 Th Th CO b- CD 04	1, 231	i CD O CO I CM CM CM CD i CM Tf b*	1 1 1 1	273	1—1 to O O tQ tH CO t-H to CO CM
    	Group	1946	423	b- eq Th th 04 00 H 04	415	115 118 182	144	1 00 O 00 ID Tfl CD	1 1 1 1 1	153	00 CD Th TH CD Th IQ CO 04 th TH th
    		1947	611	02 00 Th Th CO 02 tH CO	529	CO CO 00 b- CD 00	257	CD 02 02	04 C2 H 04	tH	272	1Q CO 00 00 Th Th 00 CO Th th 04 CO
    	All	1946	1, 176	io Th b-04 CD Th Th b»	2, 393	CO 1Q 1Q CO 004 CO iQ 04	396	1 to 00 rH	1 CM Tb O CM	'CM r-H CM	1 1 1 1	295	to O b- CD Tt< Tfl b- CO CD t-H b- CM
    		1947	5, 766	O 00 00 b- CO 04 CO tH 04 ccfco"	3, 176	OCO O 04 O VO O 00 Th	oo 00 Th	CO 02 04 b- Th th co C2 co 1Q CO	545	CO 00 i> t - 02 00 J-I b- CD 04 vo 1Q
    			1	III	1	III	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	I 1	III	1	III	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1 1	III	1	III	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1 1	III	1	III	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1 1	III	1	III	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1 1	III	1	III	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1 1	III	1	III	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1 i	iii	i	iii	i	i	i	i	•	i	i	i	i	i	i	o3	i i	iii	i	iii	i	i	i	i	fl	fl	i	i	i	i	i	q	i i	iii	i	i	i	।	i	iii'jZ'^	i	1	1	1	12d	! 1	'll	।	1	1	!	।	• 1	1	m	3	1	!	1	1. J o 1	J 1 1	1	1	1	r-l	1	1 03	1	1	1	1	CL	CD 1	fl 1	1	1	!	.S	1	1 4-^	fl	A	fl	1	J	1	1	fl		co.2	>	>	test's?	>	iSogsa §	$So	§	Sa£	§ ’Sb	’5b	5b	5b Q	O	O	a> P4	P4	Ph	Ph
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    53
    4, 749	1, 905 1 106 2, 738	2, 385	Cl Ml CO Cl CM IQ 00 rH CO M< rH M<	1, 467	CO CM IQ CM IQ tQb- CO CO Ml b- CM CO	15, 640	Cl CO 00 r-H CO Cl Ml b- M1 b-CO Ml „ CO O CM" rH r-H	333	CO 1 i CO 1 1 CO 1 1 1	1 1	1 1	1 1	1 1	1
    9, 811 ।	aoio r.N-MQ CO tFcm"	3, 588	IQ tQ CO CM CO b-CO Ml O CD CD rH O CO rH	32, 648	rH CM rH CD 00 QNN-O CM b— r-H Ml O r-f Ml" CO co" CM	472	1	1 CM i i MH I I i i i i i i i i
    08g ‘g	COH0 00 tQ MH CO - 00 of	1, 237	»Q CM CO Ml CO b- ION CM b- rH	1, 039	1Q Ml iQ CO CM CO Cl tQ M< 00 Ml	CO	8, 042	Ml CO r-H Cl CM O© Clb- M< CO CM Cl CO"	54	53 1
    4,353	531 214 3, 608	2, 949	Cl rH Cl O CD CM Cl CO r-H CO CO b-	1, 882	Ob CO Ob tQ CO idObHCDM O H Tt< H r-H	9, 386	Ob CO IT-4 co 00 MH 1 rH M1 MH 00 i 0O b-	22	1	1 CM i i CM । । i i i i i i i i
    m< CM 00 tF	625 188 4, 011	1, 673	41 305 1, 115 212	co oo oo	O CO r-H	to O O GO CO 00 T-< CM CD	12, 746	>Q 00 rH rH	rH tQ i J	CD1	^D1 rH Ml	Ml	«D rH" Cl"	rH	146	MH CM i CO rH I 1 1 1 1
    6, 573	CO Cl rH Cl 1Q CM Ml CM 00 H tF	3, 724	CM CO 00 rH Mi b- h Cl CM CO CM 00 cm"	3, 213	CO CD co CO IQ >Q CO CO r-l Ml Nr-COZ--l	18, 300	1, 046 15, 026 1 607 1, 620	102	89 13
    704	209 13 482	116	CO CO CD O Ml >Q CM	73	1 b- to 1 Ob CM MH	1 T—( 1 1 1 1	259	OO । r-H CM tQ 1 CM 1 1 1 1	CO co	1 00 1-0 I CM	। i i i
    CO co M<	CW CM CO CM i-O 00 tQ	138	tQ tQ CO tQ rMTfllOCl	279	CO O	। Ob CM CD r-H	1 Ob i i	1, 619	1 00 b- IrHCO o • CD i 1	55	42 13
    to	30 17 104	SOI	CD M1 OO Ob CM M^ CM	148	ZNOMiQ tQ rH H 1Q	433	IQ Ml rH H CM CM Cl rH CM 00 CM	CD	1 Ob rH 1 1 1 1 1 1
    244	71 17 156	00 00	b- CO CO CM CM M< CD IQ	238	CO b* tQ 00 to OCM H to CO	798	O CO O CD Ob Ob r-H r-H CM tQ IQ	r-H	b-	1 CD । r-H 1 1 1 I 1
    855	Cl CD CO CO CO 00 CM >Q	218	Op b- 00 Ob O Ob M<	221	tQ CM O CO rH O CM —H b- rH	692	rH Ml rH CM M< CO Ml rH CM 00 IQ	43	37 6
    089 ‘I I	-r^Z comic Cl b-	326	42 91 116 77	517	r-NiQNN CO r-H to CO CM	r-H	2, 417	00 CD CD b-CM Cl CM H CM CO cm"	62	48 13 1
    1	III	1	Illi	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	III 1	III	1	Illi	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	III 1	III	1	Illi	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	III 1	III	1	Illi	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	III 1	III	1	Illi	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	III 1	III	1	Illi	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	III 1	III	1	Illi	1	1	1	i	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	III 1	III	1	Illi	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	III 1	1	1	1	1	Illi	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	III 1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	III I	।	O	।	1	।	•	*	i	1	।	I	I	I	I	I	i	I	i	I	1	i	I	I	I i	।	q	।	i	।	i	।	।	i	।	i	।	i	i	i	i	।	i	i	$3	।	i	O	। ।	।	•>-<	i	i	।	i	।	_»	i	।	।	t	।	।	i	1	'	1	।	o	।	।	Q	। 1 o3^i	i 7- i 1 2	i o i n? i bD	i	ig3||-4->	।	ilj. 1	'	1	'-a 2	। ° . g । c .	'-a ' , M) .	.p= 1	1	1 M tn h Q	1	2 1 S I'S hh 2	d c	i	r, J § J-1ZH 2 <2^0 O	,-s WPh< 'Sb	"Sb	'Sb	'Sb	t  00 CM CD r-H CM b- CM" cm" «o" r-H r-T	24, 797
    1942-43	Workers involved	CM tH b- O tH OO 05 05 CO T ON CM O O CM >H r-H --h" cm" i>"	10, 975
    	Cases	CD b- r-H 05 00 00 00 -tf r-H o tH IQ O CO 05 O r-H o cm" cm" 05" r-n" cm"	17, 559
    1941-42	—	( Workers 1 involved	05 1Q b- 00 b~ 05 CO r-H 00 CO CM O N r-H 05 r-H	1Q CMr-n"	5, 575
    	Cases	r-H QO 00 CO CO IQ 00 CO th IQ i> r-H b- CM TH TH 1Q r-T cm" cm"	r-n"	8, 511
    Labor disputes		Work stoppage	 Threatened stoppages	 Controversies	 Arbitration	 Technical	 Special services	 Total
    Note.—Number of workers involved shown in thousands.
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    73
    Note.—Number of workers involved tJhown in thousands.
    74	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Division of Labor Standards
    The year was one of transition and reorganization for the Division of Labor Standards. Basic functions since its creation in 1934 have been the “promotion of health, safety, employment stabilization, and amicable industrial relations for labor and industry.” In July 1946 its functions were enlarged to include the child-labor and youth-employment program formerly carried by the Children’s Bureau; at the same time modest appropriation increases were received for safety and health work and to expand the Division’s pioneer labor education service.
    The Division’s progress in integrating its over-all program was interrupted in March 1947, as a result of the report of the Appropriations Subcommittee of the House of Representatives. This report, adopted by the House, recommended the transfer of the childlabor program, including child-labor-law enforcement and youth research and employment activities, to the Wage and Hour Division, the transfer of the labor-education program to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the abolition*of the remainder of the Division. The appropriations act as passed, however, had the effect of necessitating the transfer of the entire child-labor program, both enforcement and research, to the Wage and Hour Division of the Labor Department, of limiting the labor-education program to publications and information on amicable industrial relations, and of granting $200,000 to finance the Division’s program.
    In spite of these changes and uncertainties, the Division of Labor Standards strove to maintain most of the basic features of its program throughout the year.
    A member of the staff served as secretary-treasurer of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, and another member was elected during the year as secretary-treasurer of the International Association of Governmental Labor Officials. The Department’s responsibilities toward planning and organizing the annual conferences of both these organizations and also the Thirteenth National Conference on Labor Legislation, held in Washington, December 2-4, 1946, were carried in the Division, which published and distributed the proceedings of all three conferences. Staff safety engineers participated in the National Safety Congress, and other staff members took part in various labor conferences during the year. A national labor education conference was held in Washington in May 1947 under the sponsorship of the Division. Members of the staff also contributed to the development of international labor standards through participation in the work of the International Labor Organization and advisory services to the International Labor Office in Geneva, through correspondence and conferences with official visitors from other countries, through the training program for labor officials from other American republics, and through the assignment of a specialist in workmen’s compensation to the War Department for service in Japan. The 1947 training program included specialists from Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and Mexico who were awarded training grants by the Division in cooperation with the Interdepartmental Committee on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation of the Department of State, and officials from Bolivia and from the Philippines who had grants from other sources.
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    75
    The Division took an active part in the study of migrant labor problems undertaken by the Federal Interagency Committee on Migrant Labor. After the resignation of the Administrator of the Retraining and Reemployment Administration, who served as chairman of the committee, the Division took over responsibility for editing and distributing the Committee’s report. This report stresses the need for improving the living and working conditions of migrant workers and recommends the type of Federal, State, and local activity which can help reach this goal.
    The program of Federal-State cooperation was continued through formal and informal agreements under which State labor inspectors in certain States and the District of Columbia inspect for compliance with the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Public Contracts Act. Under these agreements members of State staffs may inspect for wage, hour, child labor, industrial home work, and safety and health standards at the same time that they inspect for comparable State laws. These arrangements prevent the overlapping and duplication of Federal and State inspections in the States where they are in effect.
    Industrial safety and health
    More than 2,000,000 injuries resulted from industrial accidents during the calendar year 1946. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there were 16,500 fatalities, 1,800 permanent total disabilities, 93,100 permanent partial disabilities, and 1,951,700 temporary total disabilities. Uncompensated wage losses amounted to about iy2 billion dollars over and above compensation payments. Total cost to management is estimated at 2 to 2^ billion dollars.
    Investigations have shown that at least 70 percent and perhaps as much as 85 percent of the annual total of work-connected injuries and deaths throughout the country come from small establishments and undertakings that generally do not participate in any phase of the organized safety movement. This multitude of small employers constitute the national occupational accident problem today. Their establishments are too small to employ full-time safety engineers. Very few of them join in community or other organized safety programs. They must be reached with the “know how” of accident prevention if the tremendous wastage of human and material resources from preventable accidents is ever to be greatly reduced.
    The Division of Labor Standards, recognizing this problem, concentrated its activities on assistance to State labor departments, which by virtue of their day-by-day contact with management and labor are in the best position to disseminate safety information to small employers. This assistance to State labor departments has been rendered through a number of related activities by the Division of Labor Standards designed to assist the States in the promotion and development of State safety programs with more emphasis on small plants.
    Safety training
    State safety inspectors are the key men in bringing the techniques of accident prevention to small establishments. To enable them to do so, the Division offers a number of specialized training courses to State
    76
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    labor departments requesting this assistance. The courses consist primarily of 2 weeks of intensive training covering the general field of safety engineering. Usual attendance at these training courses has been 25 to 35 inspectors, either from individual States or a group of States which have cooperated in joint training sessions. During the past fiscal year, training courses for State safety inspectors were held in the following States: Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, and Rhode Island. A four-States class was held for Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.
    Requests were received from several other States for this same form of training but the Division was unable to provide additional classes due to the limited personnel.
    State safety drives
    With the close of the war period the Department was asked to continue to recognize, by awarding them some form of safety certificate, industrial plants in various States which had made outstanding reductions in accident frequency rates during a 6-month period as compared with a similar period in the previous year. As primary responsibility for accident prevention rests with the State labor departments, the Division arranged to have joint safety certificates issued for use by State labor departments wishing to continue this phase of their safety work. These certificates, signed jointly by the State commissioner of labor and United States Secretary of Labor, were awarded through State labor departments to industrial firms making at least a 40-percent reduction in frequency rate. Arrangements have been completed with four States to issue these certificates in the coming fiscal year. The State of North Carolina already has awarded over 200 to its industrial plants.
    Safety codes
    This Division has been called upon to render assistance in past years to a great many States in the development of adequate safety codes covering major industrial accident sources. Technical services were provided by the Division during the year to Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.
    The Division also participated actively in the development of American safety standards through American Standards Association procedure. Staff members serve on a large number of technical committees charged with a duty of developing specific standards.
    State safety programs
    The Division was asked to assist a number of States in the preparation of over-all State safety programs and to develop technical materials and bulletins which could be reproduced by State labor departments for use by labor and industry. The Division developed an eight-point safety program, which in pamphlet form was made available to State labor departments for the planning and promotion of safety services through their inspection staffs. This was distributed to all State labor departments and used as a guide in a large number of States which have expanded their safety services to labor and industry.
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR	77
    A State Safety Digest was issued to keep State labor departments informed on items of technical interest.
    Special industries programs
    The Division’s experience during the war period proved conclusively that specialized programs in high-hazard industries were effective methods of focusing attention on operations where accident prevention is especially needed. Utilizing this wartime experience, the limited staff of the Division has rendered assistance to State labor departments in the development of specialized materials dealing with specific industrial hazards. These services to State labor departments have consisted of basic flow charts of the industrial operations in high-hazard industries, together with supplementary materials dealing briefly with the preventive methods necessary to reduce injuries in certain operations. Many State labor departments have taken this basic material and used it to develop safety programs for key industries that have been major injury sources because of the nature of their work. For example, in Rhode Island, a study was made of the jewelry industry. The State labor department was provided a complete set of materials making up a safety drive for the jewelry industry. In North Carolina, because of the high rate of injuries in brickyards, similar materials were developed and reprinted by that State and a safety program was launched by the State labor department in all brickyards.
    The Division is continuing this specialized service within the limits of its personnel for other States where highly hazardous operations are to be studied and safety programs set up.
    The hazardous occupations program under the child-labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (p. 82), in increasing the area of hazardous employment prohibited for minors under 18, was another phase of the Division’s safety program.
    Labor legislation and administration
    One of the basic responsibilities of the Division is to formulate standards for labor law and its administration, to make information on these standards generally available, and to help the States and labor and other groups working to improve the quality of labor legislation and administrative methods. All types of labor laws are covered, including, for example, wages, hours, child labor, workmen’s compensation, industrial relations, safety and health, regulation of private employment agencies, and laws defining the general powers and duties of State labor departments.
    Legislative reporting service
    During 1947, which was a major legislative year with 44 State legislatures in regular session, the staff reviewed several thousand bills as they were introduced, watched their progress, noted amendments, and analyzed the provisions of those enacted into law. Because of the great activity in the labor-legislation field, the need for a reliable and prompt reporting service was acute. The Division, as usual, began its regular bi-weekly reports to approximately 1,400 officials, agencies,
    76G308—48---6
    7g	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    labor unions, and other organizations, advising them of State action on labor legislation.
    In March, however, faced with a reduction in staff to meet budget cuts, the Division was obliged to discontinue this legislative reporting service. Calls for information on pending bills, especially on industrial relations, pressed upon the staff from that time on. Management groups, public reporting services, Government agencies, legislators, newspapers, unions, and others made repeated calls on the Division for up-to-the-minute information, which it serviced as far as possible through special releases and through articles in the Monthly Labor Review and other departmental publications.	.
    The Division prepared its annual digest of State and Federal legislation, as in previous years, and this publication was in press at the close of the fiscal year.
    Formulation of standards
    The preparation of basic standards for all types of labor legislation and administration is an important part of the legislative work of the Division. Upon the basis of research of existing law m a given field and technical knowledge of administrative practices in connection with that type of law, the staff prepares basic standards for proposed legislation or administrative methods; these are then reviewed with advisory committees made up of experienced administrators from State labor departments and representatives of labor and the resulting recommendations form the basis for future advisory service.
    During the year the standards for wage-hour legislation were reviewed and suggested draft bills were prepared, embodying the Departmental policy on State minimum-wage and wage-and-hour leg-
    The Division also participates in the development of standards for international use, especially in connection with special committees of the ILO and conferences of the Organization. This year the contribution of the Division was in connection with the preparation of ILO conventions on standards for labor inspection and for youth employment. Members of the staff also served as Government advisers on the protection of young workers at the ILO conference in Montreal in the fall of 1946 and on the labor inspection convention at the Geneva conference in June 1947.
    Application of standards in legislation
    With the standards developed by the Division as a basis, technical advice was given to individuals and groups interested in improving the quality of State labor laws. This service usually consists of appraising a particular law or group of laws, suggesting standards, and with the assistance of the Solicitor’s office preparing drafts of bills for introduction in the State legislature. Supporting material for proposed legislation is also prepared.
    The largest number of requests were in the field of workmen s compensation legislation. Service was given to the California legislative committee charged with reviewing the California workmen s compensation law; officials in New Mexico, Texas, and Washington; the New Jersey Consumers’ League; the Tennessee Taxpayers’ Association; the Indiana State Federation of Labor; the Congress of Industrial Organizations in Alabama and in Delaware; and to many others including
    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    79
    national organizations such as the Disabled American Veterans, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the American Hospital Association. Assistance in preparing legislative material for distribution t.o State federations was given to the American Federation of Labor not only on workmen’s compensation but also on day of rest and on child labor.
    A wide variety of other requests for help were met. For example, help in drafting a State wage-hour bill for all workers was given to the Maryland League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women of Maryland. Material on authorizing a State labor department to regulate conditions in labor camps was prepared for the industrial relations commission of Arizona, and advice on regulation of fee-charging employment agencies was given to the commissioners of labor of Oklahoma and of Puerto Rico. Legislative provisions on meal and rest periods for all workers were developed for the industrial commission of Minnesota. Material on the control of industrial home work was drafted for the Connecticut Consumers’ League.
    Another field in which consultative assistance on legislative and related problems was requested is that of child labor, including schoolattendance laws affecting child workers. The child-labor staff, both office and field, gave assistance to about half the States during the fiscal year. The requests came from State children’s code commissions, State labor, education, or welfare authorities or other State officials; and various organizations such as consumers’ leagues, child-labor committees, and leagues of women voters. For example, a State legislative program looking to the betterment of conditions for young workers was prepared for the American Legion for the use of its local departments. Material on the status of illegally employed minors under workmen’s compensation laws was prepared for the use of a working subcommittee of the International Association of Industrial Boards and Commissions. In a few cases the Division worked jointly with national organizations such as the National Child Labor Committee in the promotion of improved child-labor standards in a State.
    General advisory service
    The Division of Labor Standards is responsible for answering inquiries addressed to the Department on labor legislation. During the current year requests were unusually heavy. Many requests for special information on labor law were received from Members of Congress, from Government agencies, and from representatives of both management and labor. The Office of Vocational Rehabilitation was given information and suggested forms on inspection procedures to be used in devising a questionnaire on State procedures.
    Maps and charts were prepared on minimum-wage, hours-of-work, child-labor, and workmen’s compensation legislation for use at conferences and for general information.
    Child labor and youth employment
    Although employment of children and young people decreased with the disappearance of war-production pressures, the year ended June 30,1947, showed child-labor problems still acute and new needs arising.
    80	ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Compared to the estimate of approximately 3^ million minors 14 through 17 years employed full time or part time in April 1945 when the war was still in progress, United States Census figures showed, by April 1946, a decline to 2^4 million. By April 1947 the number had fallen to somewhat less than 2 million, but was still nearly double the 1940 figure. About half of these boys and girls were working full time and half were working in addition to attending school. Summer employment at the war peak rose to between 4% and 5 million for this age group; in 1946 it was still nearly 4 million, and in July 1947 it was still more than 3% million. Three times as many children of 14 and 15 years were employed in 1946 and in 1947 as in 1940. There were 730,000 children of these ages at work full time or part time in April 1946 and 630,000 in April 1947, compared with 200,000 in 1940. No census counts were made of children under 14 at work, but other sources indicate that the number is substantial.
    Employment and age certificates issued for children going to work, reported by State and local issuing offices throughout the country, follow the same trend. Indications are that the sudden drop after the war in the number of boys and girls under 18 entering employment was beginning to level off by 1947 and in a few places was even reversed. High-school enrollments, which dropped markedly between 1941 and 1945, had not risen again to any great extent.
    Through cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics information was obtained confirming the belief that minors are more subject to industrial injury than are adults and further emphasizing the great need for safeguarding young workers from industrial hazards. These data show that in manufacturing industries as a whole, the incidence of disabling injuries was iy2 times as great among workers under 18 years of age as among workers 18 and over, and that the incidence of permanent impairments resulting from job injuries was nearly twice as great for the younger group. Prevention of injuries to young workers was featured by the Division as a part of the May Day-Child Health Day campaign for reduction of accidents to children, inaugurated by Presidential proclamation and sponsored by the United States Children’s Bureau.
    During fiscal year 1947 the entire child-labor and youth-employment program was carried in the Division of Labor Standards through the Child Labor and Youth Employment Branch, created by the Secretary of Labor to continue the work of the Children’s Bureau’s Industrial Division, which remained in the Department of Labor when the Children’s Bureau was transferred to the Federal Security Agency on July 16,1946. The aim of this program, following the 34-year-old tradition of the Children’s Bureau, was to find the facts about children working, to report them to the people of the country, and to help the people, through their State and local governments and voluntary organizations, to guard children from harmful labor, insure them opportunity for education and for suitable employment when they are ready for it, and to protect them as young workers when they enter the labor force.
    The child-labor program included administration of the child-labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which provide a basic 16-year minimum age for general employment in establishments producing goods for interstate or foreign commerce, and an 18-year minimum age for certain designated hazardous occupations. The results of
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    its research on child-labor conditions and the standards it developed for State legislation were used in planning and carrying out administrative policies for enforcement of the child-labor provisions of the act. In turn the experience and contacts gained and the data on illegal child employment and conditions of work obtained through child-labor inspections under the act, enriched its factual and promotional projects.
    Enforcement
    Administration of the Federal child-labor standards was based on cooperation with State and local agencies administering State childlabor laws, with which cordial relationships had been developed over many years of promotion of good labor standards. This plan is built on acceptance of employment and age certificates issued under State law as proof of age under the Fair Labor Standards Act, education of employers to comply with the Federal child-labor standards, and use of all sources of information—State and local as well as Federal—in discovering and preventing violations.
    The basic inspections for compliance with the child-labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act were made by inspectors of the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions. Following the pattern of previous years, plans for the inspections were worked out jointly by the Division of Labor Standards and the Wage and Hour Division.
    Inspections and violations
    Findings of inspections indicate need for intensive effort and larger resources to combat an apparently growing laxness in compliance on the part of employers. During the fiscal year 1947, inspections under the child-labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act were made in all 48 States, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Alaska. A total of 3,302 inspection cases were closed by the Branch in 1947, as compared with 3,478 in the fiscal year 1946, and 4,474 in 1945.
    Child-labor violations continued high. The year 1947 showed no reduction from the previous year in the number of establishments found in violation or the number of minors illegally employed. There were 2,453 firms in violation, with 9,593 children illegally employed in the fiscal year 1947 compared with the 2,449 firms found in violation with 9,538 children illegally employed in 1946.
    The illegal employment of children found as a result of these inspections was not confined to one part of the country or to a few industries; it was found in practically every industry and in every State and Territory.
    Twenty-four percent of the minors under 18 employed in inspected establishments were employed in violation of the child-labor provisions of the Act, compared with 12 percent in 1946 and 10 percent in 1945. Of the establishments employing minors subject to the childlabor provision of the act, the proportion employing underage minors increased from about 26 percent in 1945 and 1946 to 36 percent in 1947.
    This increase in the proportion of establishments in violation and the proportion of minors illegally employed is even more serious when considered in the light of the general decrease in the employment of
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    minors in the United States in the past 2 years—from an estimated 3y2 million 14 through 17 years of age employed in April 1945 to 2% million in April 1946 and slightly less than 2 million in April 1947.
    Another serious implication of the extent of illegal employment is the persistent increase in the number and proportion of very young children so employed. The ratio of illegally employed children under 14 (994) to the total illegally employed (9,593) in 1947 was greater than in either of the two previous years—1 to 9 in 1947, 1 to 15 in 1946, and 1 to 20 in 1945. Of the 994 children under 14 found employed in 1947, there were 231 under 12 years of age (ranging from 5 to 11); of the 626 so employed in 1946 there were 112 under 12 years of age; and of the 635 in 1945, there were 177 under 12 years of age.
    Legal action
    Legal action was taken in 90 cases in 1947 compared with 131 cases in 1946 and 144 in 1945, the peak year. Criminal action was taken in 66 cases in 1947, and convictions were obtained in 58 of these cases. Fines imposed ranged from $5,600 to $50, with 20 amounting to $1,000 or more. Of the 19 cases in which civil action was taken, 12 resulted in consent decrees, 3 in judgments for the Government, and 1 in a judgment by default. Three were dismissed after stipulations for compliance were signed. Contempt proceedings were brought against four firms whose owners were found in violation after previously signing consent decrees.
    Age certificates
    The age-certification program, based on cooperative agreements with State departments of labor and education, was continued and developed. State employment or age certificates were accepted as proof of age in 44 States and the District of Columbia, and in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. In four States—Idaho, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas—Federal certificates were issued, and in Alaska birth or baptismal certificates continued to be accepted, pending the development of a program of age certification. The increasing satisfaction with which the certification program is accepted was shown in the readiness of State administrators to renew the cooperative agreements, as well as in the general acceptance of the Federal standard requiring age certificates for minors up to 18 years of age both in States considering new child-labor legislation and by administrative practice in States where the State law did not include this requirement.
    Hazardous occupations
    The investigation of accident hazards to minors in the operation of elevators and other power-driven hoisting apparatus, begun the previous year, was completed and after public hearing an order was issued on July 11, 1946 (Hazardous Occupations Order No. 7), which became effective on September 1,1946. This order established a minimum age of 18 years for operating a passenger or freight elevator, crane, derrick, hoist, or highlift truck; for work which involves riding on a freight elevator; and for assisting in the operation of a crane, derrick, or hoist.
    Investigation of the accident hazards of pulpwood logging, begun during the previous year, was completed in 1947, the report of the
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    investigation prepared, and a proposed revision of Hazardous Occupations Order No. 4, on the logging and sawmilling industries, was being formulated. Issuance of this order by the Secretary of Labor will mean that logging of timber for all purposes will be prohibited to minors under 18 years of age.
    Another investigation nearly completed during the year dealt with the hazards involved in the operation of cold-metal-working machines. Work was begun on a study of the hazards of metal mining and of lead and zinc mines as they affect young workers.
    Promotion of standards
    Both the research facilities and the administrative relationships of the Branch were utilized in the promotion of good labor standards as an aid to agencies and individuals working for improvements in State laws. The recognized concern of the Division, as the successor of the Children’s Bureau in everything affecting child and youth employment, brought it the opportunity to render a great variety of services in addition to that given directly on legislative matters. These services included giving technical advice to conferences dealing with recommendations on child labor, speaking on youth employment subjects at meetings, leading discussion groups, and advising various State conferences and committees. Technical consultants also assisted in training State labor department staffs and in developing study programs on the protection of young workers for the use of national organizations.
    Work was completed on the report of a study made during the previous year in cooperation with the United States Office of Education. This report was being published under the title, “School and Work Programs; a study of experience in 136 school systems.” This was an exploratory study of wartime programs where students were released from school for a part of the normal school day for the purpose of employment. The report points out the strengths and weaknesses of the programs as they were observed during the war years, and sets forth principles for the guidance of school administrators considering the establishment of such programs in the future.
    Conditions of employment and living conditions among migrant and rural children working in agriculture were analyzed, and consultation service given to Federal, State, and local public agencies and citizens’ groups interested in improving conditions for migratory children or in planning conferences on any phase of the migratory labor problem affecting children.
    Employment and educational opportunities
    The Division of Labor Standards was represented on the Interagency Committee on Youth Employment and Education, established in April 1945, and a member of the research staff of the Child Labor and Youth Employment Branch served as secretary to the committee. The report of the committee was submitted to the Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion in September 1946 and was later published as Children’s Bureau Publication No. 319. A second printing was made for distribution by the Division of Labor Standards. The
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    report received many comments as to its value from State and local officials and leaders in youth-serving organizations.
    Brief community surveys made during the previous year had pointed up the need for an intensive investigation of employment opportunities and controls for out-of-school young people with reference to their work, vocational progress and satisfaction, counseling and placement experience, and vocational opportunities and plans, and a small appropriation was granted for this purpose in 1947. In the first city chosen for this survey—Louisville, Ky.—a selected sample of 524 boys and girls 14 through 19 years of age who were out of school and in the labor market was studied. The cooperation of a committee drawn from community groups was obtained in order to relate the study closely to local problems and interests.
    Preliminary findings of the Louisville study indicate that the majority of all the young persons interviewed had left school before completing high school and almost two-thirds of the out-of-school youth under 18 had left school without completing more than the eighth grade. Of the 14- and 15-year-olds, little more than half were actually at work, and 44 percent were wanting work but jobless. Among the 16- and 17-year-olds 36 percent were out of work; among the 18- and 19-year-olds, 21 percent. Of the young people who were out of work, two-thirds had been looking for jobs for a month or more.
    Because of lack of funds it was not possible to carry the study into a second city, as planned, but a final report on the Louisville study was being prepared at the close of the fiscal year. It is believed that the picture obtainable from intensive study of conditions in this one city has broad implications for movements to improve educational and employment opportunities for young people as well as child-labor protection. It will be of interest to other communities as well as to Louisville. In Louisville, where the survey heightened local interest in the problems of young people stranded between school and satisfactory vocational adjustment, plans were under way for joint efforts by local groups to improve community services to meet the employment and educational needs of young people.
    Transfer of functions
    The child-labor program was separated from the general labor standards program of the Division of Labor Standards as a result of the act appropriating funds for the Department of Labor for the fiscal year 1948. Funds for both the enforcement and the research functions were given to the Wage and Hour Division, the total amount being cut, however, more than 50 perecent under that available for the fiscal year 1947. The child-labor enforcement activities were merged with the enforcement of the wage-and-hour provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, with a few child-labor specialists in the Washington office but none in the regional offices. The other childlabor activities transferred from the Division of Labor Standards to the Wage and Hour Division were placed in the newly created Child Labor Branch of that Division.
    Labor education services
    The early experimental work of the Division in working with labor organizations and educational institutions in developing standards
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    for labor education and the issuance of guides in grievance procedure, steward training, the teaching of labor legislation and reports of educational programs of various unions and universities resulted in an increased recognition of the importance of the Division’s activities in this field. With the termination of many wartime controls and the return to independent collective bargaining by labor and management, both labor unions and educational institutions expanded their own labor education programs and called on the Division for increased assistance in providing educational standards, text materials, study guides, information on the most effective methods and techniques, and over-all assistance with their programs.
    The congressional appropriation for the Division of Labor Standards for 1947 included a special fund earmarked for use in labor education services. In the words of the House Appropriations Committee, the Division was instructed—
    * * * to aid in the development and extension of labor education standards in cooperation with unions, universities, schools, civic groups and other agencies engaged in labor educational activities; to establish a clearing house for successful experience and methods; and to render technical assistance upon request to public and private educational institutions, unions, community programs and others * * *.
    A small staff, working closely with Division personnel who had developed the earlier publications useful in labor education, was made available through this appropriation to fill some of the requests for guidance and special service to the many groups in the field which were newly entering labor education or were expanding older programs to meet the need for training in collective bargaining.
    The major activity of the Labor Education Services Branch was in providing a general clearing house of information on the methods being used and successful experience. On the basis of reports received through the mail and by personal contact with union, university, and labor school programs a comprehensive file was built up of course outlines, teaching aids, text materials, and film strips and other visual aids; and this material was passed on to other agencies who were interested in labor education. Two issues of Labor Education News were distributed. These publications included reports on labor education activities, short articles on successful methods of labor education and lists of new materials available for use in connection with labor education programs. Bibliographies for use in special labor education courses, such as labor history, and lists of pertinent visual aid materials for labor education classes were compiled.
    In an effort to meet the need for teaching aids expressed by all the institutions and organizations carrying on labor education programs, the Division issued suggested course outlines, including bibliographies and suggestions for teaching methods, on the subjects of collective bargaining and union government and administration. The Division also published a pamphlet dealing with arbitration of grievances to supplement the earlier publications, Settling Plant Grievances, Preparing a Steward’s Manual, Federal Labor Laws and Agencies, and A Guide to the National Labor Relations Act, to be used as text for classes in collective bargaining and related subjects. A pamphlet, Workers Savings and Income in 1945, based on the Federal Reserve Board survey, was prepared for use in connection with the study of labor economics.
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    The preparation of written materials and dissemination of information concerning the operation of labor education programs was developed by the staff after consultation with the Labor Education Advisory Committee appointed in February 1946 by the Secretary of Labor, with other bureaus of the Department, and with personnel in the United States Office of Education. Cooperative relationships with other government agencies interested in labor education activities were developed through a meeting of the Labor Education Advisory Committee, attended by representatives of the United States Office of Education, the National Education Association, the American Council on Education, and the American Federation of Teachers.
    The continued increase in the number of institutions of higher education starting labor extension programs or industrial relations centers and the increase in the number of international unions establishing educational departments caused a marked rise in requests for specific services in the field. A small advisory field service was conducted during the year which met with directors of labor education programs, assisted in the development of teaching aids and written materials for their own publication, and advised on the conduct of educational conferences and institutes and the establishment of regular courses of instruction.
    The types of labor education field assistance provided by the Division during the year included service to labor unions, chiefly through conducting week-end institutes and preparing materials on steward training, and assistance to universities, colleges, labor schools and other educational agencies in developing labor education programs. Institutes were held in cooperation with the State federation of labor in two States, the textile workers union in three States, the CIO council in one State, central labor unions in several cities, and a number of national and international unions. Labor education programs were developed for use in several colleges and universities including the University of Wisconsin, University of Chicago, Stanford University, Roosevelt College, Hobart College, and Iowa State College. Assistance in preparing and holding conferences, preparing course outlines, textbooks, manuals, a film strip, and in arranging student field trips was given to the American Labor Education Service, the Georgia Workers Education Service, the Southern School for Workers, the University Extension Association Convention, and also to labor institutes conducted by colleges.
    At the suggestion of representatives of the University Extension Association, the American Labor Education Service, and the Workers Education Bureau of America, the Division conducted a University Labor Education Conference in May 1947. The conference was designed to bring together representatives of the various types of educational services for workers offered by universities for the discussion of specific problems involved in conducting labor education programs. Some 50 representatives of institutions of higher education attended, as well as a number of persons representing unions and other labor education organizations. The program included reports on the extent and status of university labor education programs and discussions of course content, teaching staff, administration of university programs, university-labor relations, and resources available to universities for labor education.
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    Informing the public
    The work of keeping the general public informed of developments relating to labor standards included the planning, preparation, publication, and distribution of publications; the planning and execution of exhibits and other visual materials; participation in conferences held by national and State organizations; correspondence with persons and groups requesting information; and advisory and consultation services.
    Publications
    Twenty-six new or revised publications were issued in printed form and five were in press at the end of the year; various reprints, administrative instruments, and processed materials were also issued. Publications included reports of technical research in the fields of industrial safety and health and in regard to occupational hazards for young workers; analyses of State legislation relating to hours of work, workmen’s compensation, and child labor; digests of current labor legislation; conference proceedings; and interpretive pamphlets for the promotion of amicable labor relations, industrial safety, and childlabor standards.
    Visual services
    The Division of Labor Standards is responsible for producing and distributing visual material on labor subjects for the entire Department of Labor. During the year exhibits, posters, charts, maps, and other materials were prepared and photographs and lantern slides made for the purpose of interpreting to the public the salient facts in relation to migratory labor, labor education, industrial safety and health, child labor, employment service, retraining and reemployment, veterans’ employment, and apprentice training.
    United States Employment Service
    The fiscal year 1947 represents the zero milestone in the post-war labor market. War, demobilization, and reconversion were largely disposed of as labor market factors in the previous fiscal year. By July 1946, the armed forces had reduced their numbers to 2.7 million by demobilizing 12.3 million men. The civilian labor force had reached 60.1 million, highest in history. Employment at 57.8 million also surpassed all previous records. With unemployment only 2.3 million, the goal of full employment in the American economy was within reach at the beginning of the fiscal year.
    The fiscal year ended with labor market conditions even better than at the beginning. Full employment was an actuality. Employment had reached the 60,000,000 goal and unemployment at 2,700,000 was little larger than at the year’s beginning. In June 1947 employment was 3,700,000 greater than in June of the previous year. All but 400,-000 of the increase represented additions to the nonagricultural work force.
    It was a 12-month period which saw total employment soar to a figure almost 9,000,000 greater than in September 1945, the low point of postwar employment. The stream of discharged veterans, which had
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    reached spectacularly high proportions in early 1946, had been reduced to a trickle with discharges monthly dropping below 50,000. Veterans represented the backbone of the Nation’s rise to new production and employment heights. While at the end of the year about 700,000 World War II veterans were listed as unemployed, the vast majority of the men and women who had exchanged service uniforms for civilian jobs had been absorbed into gainful employment.
    As the fiscal year ended, the Nation was virtually on schedule in its big task of returning veterans to civilian life and jobs with a minimum of delay. A big task remained to be accomplished in cementing the veterans’ temporary job adjustments into permanent employment and in developing job opportunities for the approximately 2,000,000 veterans in schools or colleges or still unemployed. But the Nation, and especially the Nation’s employers, and the Employment Service, made up of the United States Employment Service, the Veterans Employment Service, and affiliated State employment services, could look with pride upon what had been accomplished. Through energy and resourcefulness, Nation-wide and localized job development campaigns, and intelligent use of the services available to job applicants and employers, the Employment Service had made a valuable contribution to the Nation’s economic life.
    Ninety-five percent of veterans employed
    Nine out of ten World War II veterans are in the civilian labor force and 95 percent of this number is employed. More than a million veterans were in schools or colleges or on vacation and planning to renew their education in the Fall. More than 700,000 were taking advantage of Gl-bill opportunities for on-the-job training. Although about one-half of the discharged veterans had taken advantage of the Gl-bill provisions for payment of unemployment allowance, most of them drew payments for only a short period. Another 100,000 veterans had taken advantage of Veterans Administration guaranteed business and farm loans.
    Immediately following the war was the most active peacetime period in the history of the public employment service. The greatest activity was experienced during the first 15 months after the war’s end as millions of veterans returned to civilian life and entered the labor market in search of employment and other millions of war workers left wartime employment to seek jobs in peacetime industries. While employment service activity tapered off somewhat after the end of the calendar year 1946, the cumulative totals of activities performed for the first 22 months demonstrate dramatically the importance to the Nation’s economy of a strong national system of public employment offices.
    Twelve million placements
    Between VJ-day and the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 1947, the number of personal calls made upon public employment offices for one or more of the services available aggregated 220,000,000. Job placements made during this period exceeded 12,500,000. More than 2,500,-000 were World War II veterans. In addition, millions of veterans and new entrants into the labor market were given counseling interviews as an aid to placement in jobs in which they would succeed.
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    Millions of calls were made upon employers to obtain labor market information and to persuade them to list their job openings with local employment offices. Thousands of workers were assisted in finding employment in communities other than where they lived and many employers received help in obtaining key workers not available locally.
    Advances have been made by the Employment Service in securing, analyzing, and disseminating labor market information. Data showing labor demand and supply and current and prospective labor market conditions are gathered throughout the Nation and made available to job seekers and to employers. Today most of the larger local employment offices issue each month labor market newsletters and distribute them to employers. Labor market information helps job seekers who want to know what kind of jobs are available and where they are, employers who want to know the available numbers and types of workers, and civic and community groups who need basic data for use in employment and industrial planning.
    The growth in the volume of traffic after the war was, of course, attributable in part to the tremendous number of persons changing jobs throughout the country. It was due also to the fact that more employers than in any previous peacetime period were making use of the varied services available to them at the local public employment office in their community. Local employment offices emerged from the war pressure years with greater experience and more comprehensive services which have resulted in greater employer and job applicant use.
    The biggest drop in activity in local offices during the 1947 fiscal year was in job applications. These had been artificially swollen during the previous fiscal year by demobilization and reconversion. New applications during the year numbered 7,600,000. This figure, while substantially higher than those for the late war period when the practice of taking formal applications had been discouraged, was about the same as the level immediately before the war.
    Nonagricultural placements dropped less sharply from the previous fiscal year to 5.3 million. While lower than the wartime level achieved under manpower controls, the number of placements for the fiscal year 1947 surpassed any prewar year on record. This was in part the result of greater familiarity with the Employment Service acquired by employers and workers during the war.
    While nonagricultural employment increased during the early part of the fiscal year, the rate of increase was much lower than during the previous year. During this period—July to October—visits to local offices and new job applications fell substantially while nonagricultural placements remained stable at over 500,000 per month. From November to February, employment dropped seasonally with a consequent increase in new applications for employment at local employment offices. In part because of the drop in job opportunities and in part due to the administrative and personnel problems that inevitably occurred during the period of transfer to State control on November 15, counseling interviews, placements, and employer visits dropped sharply below October levels. As a result of both seasonal and operating factors, counseling interviews, placements and employer visits recovered from the winter lows during the remainder of the fiscal year.
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    Employer contacts increase
    Leaving aside seasonal economic factors and the change-over from Federal to State control of local offices, some additional trends are observable. Reception contacts and new applications were,at the highest level during July and August when the rate of demobilization still continued moderately high. During the remainder of the fiscal year, after demobilization had ceased to be so significant a factor, the trend in reception contacts and new applications was generally downward. The employer visiting program is in course of major expansion, and, while it dipped somewhat during the readjustment of November and December, the trend has been upward during the fiscal year to an all-time high at the end of the year.
    Divergent trends developed in placements among different industrial groups. In the construction industry, placements ran between 65,000 and 70,000 per month from July to October when the industry was enjoying the benefits of both seasonal and cyclical expansion. The onset of winter weather and the discouragement of new building ventures, consequent to the rapid rise in building material prices during the first half of the fiscal year, resulted in a rapid reduction of placements down to a level of 32,000 in January. In manufacturing, placements ran at a rate of 220,000 to 240,000 during the period July to October, at which time industrial production was expanding most rapidly. Placements then dropped sharply to a level of 123,000 in December. During the remainder of the fiscal year while industrial production was running at a high though stable level, placements in manufacturing industries amounted to 130,000 to 140,000 per month, indicating a sharp drop in new job opportunities. Placements in domestic and other service employment have trended generally upward during the fiscal year, although something of a dip is noticeable in November and December. This trend may be attributed primarily to the postwar shift away from wartime concentration in manufacturing under controlled referral.
    Over 30 percent of the placements during the fiscal year were of women. On a month-by-month basis, placements of women did not diverge significantly in trend from total placements during the first half of the fiscal year. However, the bottom was reached in December and placements of women turned irregularly upward for the remainder of the fiscal year.
    Placements of veterans rose slowly from July to October and then fell rapidly until February. After February, placements of veterans rebounded sharply and continued to rise to the end of the fiscal year.
    Federal-State administration
    Early in the year the national office established a complete plan for continuing the Federal Government’s obligation to promote and develop a Nation-wide system of local employment offices while preparing to transfer the responsibility for operation to the State employment services on November 15, 1946. Steps were taken in all phases of operations to improve procedure, organization, and management in employment service activities. Policies and regulations were reviewed and revised to meet the operating requirements of the State agencies and to establish base points for further developing the Employment
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    Service program. On the basis of these policies and regulations, guides were given to the States for their use in establishing the State plans of operation.
    Capitalizing on Nation-wide experience, the national office, with the cooperation of field staff, including State and local office personnel, organized and compiled a revised Employment Service Manual. This basic work comprises a complete set of operating policies, standards, methods, tools, and techniques which, over the years, have proven to be most effective. Development of these revised materials has provided new bench marks which are essential to the continued operation of an efficient and effective public einployment service.
    To assure the continued recruitment by State agencies of personnel meeting the requirements of successful employment service operations, the USES gave assistance to the States in the development of suitable merit examinations covering positions in State and local offices.
    Administrative evaluation services were furnished 10 States during the 6-month period this activity was in full operation. Through this assistance, States were given a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of their operations, including technical aid on specific program problems which they had not yet solved. Detailed recommendations for improvement of State and local performance were furnished these States, developed in such a manner that the State agencies were provided with a guide for long-range development and improvement of their activities. In all the States in which this review was performed, State personnel were trained in the analysis techinques developed by the national office. In addition, all State agencies were furnished with a complete outline of administrative survey techniques which could be used within the State for improving employment service operations.
    Six-point program
    Operating under both Federal and Federal-State administration during the past year, the Employment Service has, through its six-point program, made a significant contribution to the maintenance of high employment levels during these months of major industrial conversion and individual occupational adjustment. The employment service program is built around six coordinated functions: (1) Placement service; (2) employment counseling and selective placement of the handicapped; (3) special services to veterans; (4) industrial services; (5) labor market information service; and (6) community participation. Through these programs the employment process has been greatly facilitated by bringing together expeditiously workers who require jobs and employers who need workers.
    During the past year 10,374,126 workers sought assistance in finding suitable jobs through the offices of the Employment Service. Referrals to job opportunities totaled 13,200,000 during this same period. Employers using the Service made 7,139,000 hires through the public employment offices during the year. Employment offices gave service to about 100,000,000 workers seeking information and assisted the State unemployment compensation agencies in meeting emergencies resulting from fluctuating loads of millions of unemployment compensation claims.
    Alert to the need for improving the methods and techniques used in matching workers’ skills to job requirements, the USES initiated a co
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    operative program of work committees to study and assist in resolving State and local operating problems. The work of these committees was maintained on a realistic basis and keyed to practical solutions. In keeping with the plan of cooperative action between the national office and the State agencies, membership of these committees included State and local office representatives, qualified technically to perform the necessary research and analysis. Committees initiated during the last year were: (1) A selection methods committee, established to improve techniques for determining qualifications of workers so that the best qualified workers could be referred most efficiently to employers; and (2) a multi-office organization Committee, established to study and develop types of organization patterns most suited to large metropolitan areas.
    List job definitions
    During recent years, new industries have developed which employ workers on thousands of new jobs. During the past year, the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, parts I and II, has been expanded to include some 7,000 additional job descriptions. These new jobs are concentrated largely in the fields of plastics, radio, electrical equipment, and related industries. The new descriptions include many additions to the professional fields. Part IV of the Dictionary, which groups together jobs on the basis of field or type of work performed, has been revised to provide for (1) increased coverage of jobs, and (2) coordination of this work with aptitude testing, making this tool more useful in placing beginners in employment. This scientific placement aid has been developed to provide analysis of workers’ abilities through examination of education, training, personal traits, and leisure-time activities. It has contributed greatly to the identification of transferable skills of unemployed workers, particularly veterans, and it has provided a basis for assisting those workers who seek to enter new occupational fields. It has been of particular value during the recent critical period of industrial and occupational conversion from wartime to peacetime activities. Private employers, union groups, schools, and Government agencies have found the USES Occupational Dictionary to be an invaluable personnel tool for their own use. Over 100,000 copies have been distributed.
    Methods for providing placement service to special applicant groups have been reviewed and improved during the year to keep pace with workers’ needs in an increasingly complex labor market. Services to youth have been expanded to assist in the solution of the employment problems of young people now that the group is no longer siphoned off into the armed forces or into war-production activities. Placement techniques have been developed to aid in filling jobs through greater utilization of handicapped, older workers, and technologically displaced workers. Methods for greater utilization of minority workers in accordance with their skills have been developed. The availability of this labor supply has been emphasized to employers, in order to provide for full service to these applicants and to help maintain high levels of employment. Methods for providing veterans with preferential treatment in referral to work opportunities have been strengthened.
    Conversion of wartime industrial activities to peacetime operation produced great maladjustment in supply and demand of scientific,
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    professional, and skilled workers in many areas. Surpluses of such workers occurred in certain localities while extreme shortages developed in others.
    The Employment Service sought to meet this problem, in part, by establishing a National Clearing House for placement in those professional, scientific and managerial occupations which constitute a Nation-wide labor market. Through this program, applicants for jobs in these specialized fields file their applications with a local employment office, which, if suitable opportunities are not available locally, forwards the applications to the National Clearing House in Washington. The National Clearing House has enabled employers to obtain urgently needed key men and women, and has assisted applicants in obtaining jobs in other sections of the country.
    Recruit harvest, food workers
    During the year the Employment Service was called upon to recruit 451,513 workers for the food processing and kindred industries. Most of this labor was used in canning and in otherwise preserving seasonal crops of a highly perishable nature. A considerable number of these workers was recruited by the Service in areas at some distance from the point of employment. The Employment Service also recruited labor for the production and harvesting of farm crops in several States where cooperative agreements had been developed with State agricultural extension services.
    Following the war there was a vital need for redistributing thousands of workers, formerly employed in shipyards and other war industries, into the construction industry, more particularly home construction. Several million war veterans and their families were in dire need of living accommodations which could be built only by effectively channeling workers with skills in the building trades to the construction industry. Millions of other workers were needed in such supporting industries as logging, lumbering, and manufacturing. The Employment Service made special provision for giving aid in this situation by providing a cooperative service to employers, workers, and communities which were engaged in developing programs of home building. Based on procedures developed by the national office, with participation from State and local offices, the Employment Service made arrangements for recruiting needed workers, and for providing labor market information promptly to representatives of the Office of the Housing Expediter, to employers in the industry, and to communities where the problem was particularly severe. Liaison representatives were designated, as required, to assist in expediting the recruitment and placement of needed workers. Shortages and surpluses of labor were analyzed and steps were taken to coordinate Employment Service activities with other groups, at times on a Nation-wide basis, so that home construction could be expedited.
    Placement of handicapped
    Activities relating to employment counseling and selective placement of the handicapped, while still directed largely toward helping veterans achieve vocational adjustment and job placement, were broadened to include service to youth, minority groups, and others needing such services. During the year 1,368,000 counseling inter-
    766308—48---7
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    views were held with applicants in local employment offices. Experience in this program showed the need for developing a number of tools for use in the counseling process. Those developed by the USES and adopted by the States included an improved counseling kit for local office counselors, a revised edition of the Guide to Counseling Materials (a bibliography of accepted publications in the field), an interest check list, designed to reveal vocational interests, and an exchange service of counseling case reports which provide factual material concerning difficult cases and which discuss methods used in solving them. A new series of Occupational Guides presenting occupational and labor market outlook information was introduced. The USES General Aptitude Test Battery, which measures important aptitudes for learning to perform jobs in 20 fields of work and many specific occupations, was developed and introduced throughout the country. It is already demonstrating its value in assisting veterans, youth, and other untrained workers who apply for help in selecting an occupational field. One of the basic techniques used most successfully in assisting physically handicapped workers to obtain employment has been the “physical demands” approach. This was greatly improved during the last year through the development of a physical capacity series of Guides which provides a better means of matching job requirements and workers’ physical capacities. During National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week, the USES was an active participant and a major contributor to the success of the annual observance. Disabled veterans were particularly benefited by this focusing of public attention on the skills and work capacities of the handicapped.
    Apart from the special services given disabled veterans, the USES has been engaged in improving vocational adjustment service and expanding employment opportunities for all veterans. The public employment service has, through employer and union relationships, assisted innumerable veterans in obtaining on-the-job training opportunities. When the Veterans’ Reemployment Rights Division was established in the Department of Labor, the Employment Service extended cooperation in developing a program to provide, through local offices, an information and referral service for veterans seeking assistance in exercising their reemployment rights.
    In response to requests from employers and industry groups for assistance in improving personnel techniques and methods, the Em-, ployment Service has provided a continuing program of job analysis, worker analysis, and testing, together with related tools and methods. Information concerning these techniques has been made available to employers and employer groups by means of informational brochures explaining their use. Employers’ representatives have been given training in the use of these materials by means of institutes and provision of individual assistance. The development of these materials was undertaken by the national office. Distribution was effected through State and local offices.
    Information on labor supply and demand gathered from primary sources bv the local staff of the public employment offices strategically located throughout the United States was made available to employers, workers, unions, civic organizations, related groups, and the public at large. Provision of this information is an indispensable
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    part of any program aimed at maintaining maximum and stable employment. The labor market data obtained locally are analyzed and organized in the national office to provide basic reference material for such Employment Service activities as vocational counseling, recruitment, placement, and industry services. Employers, workers, civic groups, schools, and Government agencies use this information widely for planning or revising their programs. They have found The Labor Market, a monthly digest of labor market information published by the USES, an invaluable guide to labor market trends and conditions.
    Cooperative agreements
    Vigorous steps were taken during the year to coordinate the program of the USES with programs of other Government agencies. Through a cooperative agreement developed by the USES and the Bureau of Employment Security, improved procedures for exchanging information between unemployment compensation and placement activities of local offices have been achieved and should result in greater economy in the administration of both functions. During the year, the USES, the VES, and the VA cooperated in drafting a statement of principles for providing a more coordinated program of service to veterans requiring assistance in vocational guidance and job placement. This document defines the respective spheres of activity of each agency and suggests means of achieving maximum coordination of their activities at the level of the local community.
    The fiscal year 1947 was one of great activity on the part of the Veterans Employment Service. Major activities included the promotion of job opportunities for veterans with employers and active cooperation with State employment services in stimulating veterans job placements. Under the guidance of the chief of the Veterans Employment Service (who acts also as executive secretary of the Veterans’ Placement Service Board), State veterans employment representatives, their assistants, and an active, productive corps of field assistants contacted thousands of employers urging them not only to hire veterans but also to list all job openings with local public employment offices.
    During the fiscal year these field assistants, although their number never exceeded 322, opened up thousands of new job opportunities for veterans and contributed substantially to the Nation-wide program for returning veterans to civilian life and gainful employment as rapidly as possible after discharge. After the force was recruited to full strength, the field assistants each month contacted an average of 11,000 employers, opening up an average of 28,000 new jobs.
    As funds for maintaining the field assistant program during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1947, were not made available by Congress, this program was terminated.
    The Veterans Employment Service cooperated with the United States Employment Service and the State employment services in the biggest job development program ever initiated in the United States. Begun in the previous fiscal year to open up new jobs for veterans and all unemployed workers, this campaign had Nationwide support from labor and management, from local communities, and from newspapers and radio stations. The Veterans Employment Service cooperated with State employment service personnel in hundreds of local veterans job development campaigns.
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    At the year’s end, employers and workers had a better knowledge of the services available at local employment offices than during any previous period in history. Thousands of employers and hundreds of thousands of workers had their first contacts with the Service during and immediately after the war. The figures of job placements and visits to local offices since the war demonstrate the importance of this organization in the Nation’s economic life.
    Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions
    The close of the fiscal year 1947 saw the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions largely occupied with the many administrative problems placed upon them by the provisions of the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947. Although it leaves the basic minimum wage and overtime compensation provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act unchanged, the new act, which became law on May 14,1947, is, in effect, a major amendment to the wage-and-hour law.
    The Portal-to-Portal Act provides that interpretations by the Secretary (or his authorized representative) under the Public Contracts Act or the Administrator under the Fair Labor Standards Act are under certain circumstances controlling in determining the rights and liabilities of employers and employees in the courts. This made it immediately desirable for the Secretary and the Administrator to reexamine all special orders and enforcement policies under which enforcement of the statutes had been stayed for any reason, as well as to revise interpretative bulletins in the light of the developments since their issuance.
    A revised interpretative bulletin on general coverage of the wage-and-hours provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, first of the Divisions’ interpretations to be reissued, was completed and ready for release as the fiscal year ended. Other revisions, being made by the Divisions with the advice of the Solicitor of Labor, were in progress.
    Some 244 field personnel, principally inspectors, were lost during the second quarter of the year, as a result of conclusion of the wagestabilization program on November 1, 1946, as was anticipated. A general retraining of the remaining inspection force was necessary because many of the inspectors retained on a seniority basis had not for some time been engaged in enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Public Contracts Act. Indicated congressional action toward the close of the fiscal year caused another heavy reduction in force. As a result, total personnel had dropped from 1,396 on December 31, 1946, to 969 on June 30, 1947. The steep over-all reduction in force made necessary the closing of four of the Divisions’ 13 regional offices. The four former regional offices, at Atlanta, Nashville, Richmond, and Minneapolis, were reduced to the level of field offices and merged with neighboring regions.
    The Portal-to-Portal Act
    Although the Congress intended the Portal-to-Portal Act to apply to the Davis-Bacon Act. the Public Contracts Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act actually it will have its greatest effect on the latter. The congressional sponsors made it clear that the basic provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Public Contracts Act are left un
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    changed by the Portal-to-Portal Act and that generally what was considered in the regular workday as compensable “hours worked” before passage of the Portal-to-Portal Act is still considered as hours worked within the intention of Congress. The new legislation was intended primarily to determine employer liability for so-called portal-to-portal activities involved in the widespread filing of claims which followed the Supreme Court decision of June 10, 1946, in the Mount Clemens Pottery Co. case.
    The new act represents the intent of the Congress to dispose of the bulk of these employee claims and to preclude similar claims in the future through a more precise definition of emlpoyer liability. On claims accruing prior to May 14, the effective date of the new act, the Portal-to-Portal Act provided a “good faith” defense for employers relying on an administrative regulation, order, ruling, approval, interpretation, enforcement policy, or practice of any governmental agency. Furthermore, to expedite settlement of those claims prior to May 14, not declared invalid by this test, the new legislation permits compromise agreements, subject to specified conditions, between employers and employees in instances of a “bona fide dispute as to the amount payable by the employer to his employee.”
    The new act provides that on or after May 14 employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Public Contracts Act must pay covered employees for time spent in performing their “principal activities.” On the other hand, it holds that certain “preliminary” or “postliminary” activities are not compensable unless they are so considered by terms of a “written or nonwritten contract” or through a “custom or practice” in effect at the time and place such activity or activities were performed.
    Another important provision of the new act protects employers from liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Public Contracts Act at any time on or after May 14, 1947, by permitting a defense of having acted in “good faith.” Thus, if an employer “pleads and proves that the act or omission complained of was in good faith in conformity with and in reliance on any written administrative regulation, order, ruling, approval, or interpretation,” or “any administrative practice or enforcement policy” of the Administrator, he is relieved from liability or punishment for failure to pay minimum wages or overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under the Public Contracts Act, similar weight is given to decisions of the Secretary of Labor or officials designated by him.
    Of course, it will remain for the courts to make final interpretations of the Portal-to-Portal Act’s provisions, but the Secretary of Labor and the Administrator of the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions in the meantime must issue interpretations of the application of the new law to the Public Contracts Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. For guidance of employers who may seek to rely on them, this makes necessary the reexamination of all interpretative bulletins, releases, opinion letters, and other statements, and made desirable the issuance of an over-all bulletin interpreting the Potral-to-Portal Act itself.
    In order to protect employee rights to bring individual suits for back wages, the Administrator, in conjunction with the Secretary of Labor, issued a statement withdrawing all special orders and enforce
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    ment policies under which enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act had been stayed for any of a variety of reasons. This meant that employers were to be held responsible for strict compliance with the acts and that the various special stays or tolerances, which had been permitted as administrative measures to aid individual industries to work out peculiar problems of compliance, no longer existed. At the time that each enforcement stay had been announced, it had been explicit^ pointed out that the right of employees to bring suits for claimed unpaid wages would be unaffected, but after the passage of the Portal-to-Portal Act it became necessary to reexamine these stays in the light of the different status which congressional action had placed upon them.
    Two other provisions of the new act are expected to involve administrative problems for the Division, and may affect employer compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. One is the establishment under the new legislation of a 2-year statute of limitations to govern all back wage claims accruing on and after date of adoption of the new act. The other permits the courts, in their discretion, and under certain conditions, to deny all or part of liquidated damages equal to the amount of back wages awarded a successful litigant, which has been a mandatory requirement under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
    Because inspections by the Divisions next year will cover only 6 or 7 percent of the establishments covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, most violations will not be found until after the collection of back wages has been made impossible by the 2-year statute of limitations. This may result in an increase in wilful violations, since potential violators may think that there is much less chance than formerly of their being required to pay back wages as a result of inspection.
    Enforcement activities
    Of the 40,350 inspections completed by the Divisions during the fiscal year 1947, 38,549 involved inspections of covered establishments under the Fair Labor Standards Act and 2,383 involved inspections under the Public Contracts Act; 2,310 of the establishments represented were inspected concurrently under both acts. The 2,383 inspections under the Public Contracts Act represent only about two-fifths of the number of inspections under that act during the fiscal year 1946, which in turn was far below the war years. This decline in the number of Public Contracts inspections reflects the conversion of the Nation from a wartime to a peacetime economy with resultant decreases in the number and dollar volume of Government contracts subject to the act.
    Of the 40,350 inspections, usually covering a 4-year period, under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Public Contracts Act, 20,570 establishments, or 51 percent, were found to have violated one or more of the major provisions of the acts, that is, the minimum wage, overtime or child labor provisions. Many of these establishments were in violation only because of misunderstandings or clerical errors, and some of the violations entailed negligible or inconsequential amounts. “Substantial violations,” a category which includes all child-labor violations and violation of the minimum wage and overtime provisions involving underpayments averaging $10 or more per underpaid employee and affecting at least 10 percent of the employees in a plant, were found in 15,402, or 38 percent, of the inspected establishments.
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    Violations of the overtime provisions of the acts were found in 19,086, or 47 percent, of the inspected establishments, violations of the minimum wage provisions in 3,633, or 9 percent, and violations of the child-labor provisions in 2,061 or 5 percent.
    Table 1.—Violations of specified provisions of the Fair Labor Standards and Public Contracts Acts found on inspections made during fiscal year 1947
    Provisions of acts violated	Number	Percent
    Total number of establishments inspected....	40, 350	100
    Total number of covered establishments inspected		38, 622	96
    Establishments in violation of one or more provisions, total. _	35, 116	87
    Establishments in violation of major provisions (overtime,
    minimum wage, child labor) total		20, 570	51
    In substantial violation of major provisions 1		15, 402	38
    Overtime _	______	__	19, 086 3, 633	47
    Minimum wage			9
    Child labor		2 2, 061	5
    Establishments in violations of minor provisions:
    Record keeping, total		29, 749	74
    Nonsubstantial record keeping		15, 507	38
    Substantial record keeping, excluding falsification 3_	14, 043	35
    Falsification of records		199	(4)
    Posting	_	_	_	23, 637 184	59
    Illegal employment of homeworkers			(4)
    Illegal discharge or discrimination		7	(4)
    “Hot goods”	_			 				11	(4)

    1 Substantial violations of major provisions include child-labor violations and violations of minimum wage or overtime provisions involving an average of $10 or moie of back wages due each of at least 10 percent of the total number of covered employees of the establishment.
    2 This data is not comparable with data on child labor violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act prepared by the Child Labor and Youth Employment Branch of the Division of Labor Standards because of differences in closing dates, inclusion of violations of the child-labor provisions of the Public Contracts Act, and exclusion of data on establishments inspected by that Branch.
    3 Substantial record-keeping violations are those involving records so inadequate as to make impossible a determination from the records of compliance with the minimum wage or overtime provisions.
    4 Less than 0.5 percent.
    Record-keeping violations were found in 29,749 establishments, although major infractions of the record-keeping regulations were found in only 14,242 establishments, and falsification of records in 199 plants.
    The inspections for the fiscal year disclosed back wages amounting to $18,575,149 due to 311,236 employees in 19,760 establishments. Of this amount, payment of $8,864,180 was effected through voluntary agreement or court order.
    Table 2.—Summary of back wages owed and restitution agreed to, or ordered, and number of employees involved, fiscal year 1947 1
    Back wages	Amount		Employees
    	Amount	Percent	Number	Percent
    Total reported due	 Agreed to or ordered paid			 Not agreed to or ordered paid		$18, 575, 149	100	311, 236	100
    	8, 864, 186 9, 710, 963	48 52	212, 256 98, 980	68 32
    1 Excludes information for a few establishments which did not pay restitution and for which information is not available.
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    The 40,350 establishments inspected during the last fiscal year represent less than 8 percent of the 550,000 plants covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under reduced operating funds for the next fiscal year, 1948, despite special funds granted by the Congress because of the added burden imposed by the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947, the Divisions will inspect an even smaller percentage of the covered establishments, from 5 to 7 percent of the total coverage, which is far below the safety level necessary to insure the benefits of the acts to the more than 20,500,000 covered employees, and necessary to provide businesses which comply with the acts adequate protection against unfair competition by employers who do not comply.
    Wage-order program in Puerto Rico
    In line with the mandate from the Congress to achieve a universal minimum wage of 40 cents an hour as rapidly as economically feasible, the Administrator carried forward the Divisions’ industry committee and wage-order program for Puerto Rico by appointing Special Industry Committee No. 5. The committee was directed to reconsider the minimum wage rates presently applicable in 14 of the island’s industries and, after investigation of their current economic and competitive conditions, to recommend for each of these industries the highest minimum wage (up to the present statutory limit of 40 cents an hour) which it determined would neither result in substantial curtailment of employment in such industry nor give such industry a competitive advantage over similar industries in the remainder of the United States.
    Notice that formal public hearings to receive evidence pertinent to the recommendation of minimum wages would be held by the committee in San Juan, P. R., beginning July 14, 1947, was published in the Federal Register on June 20,1947.
    Exemptions
    Area of production
    The status of employees under the exemptions provided in section 13 (a) (10) and 7 (c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act for certain operations performed on agricultural commodities in the “area of production,” was made uncertain when the existing definition of “area of production” issued by the Administrator was held invalid by the Supreme Court in the case of Addison et al. v. Holly Hill Fruit Products, Inc., decided in 1944. The Court held that the “area of production” could not be defined in terms of the number of employees employed in the establishment in performing the described operations. By that definition the Divisions had attempted to restrict the exemption to small plants located near the source of their raw materials by limiting its application to plants with not more than 10 employees in the described operations and which received the commodities worked on from farms in the general vicinity.
    Following extensive study in an effort to formulate new definitions which would meet the approval of the Court and yet avoid major economic dislocations for the food processing industries under these exemptions, the Divisions held several formal hearings on the subject. The new definitions which resulted were issued on December 25, 1946,
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    and employ a population-mileage test in defining “area of production.” The definitions generally limit the exemptions to plants which are located outside of any city, town, or urban place of 2,500 or greater population and outside specified distances from such localities, provided also that they receive the commodities from farms or other normal rural sources of supply located within certain specified distances of the plant seeking exemptions.
    The Administrator, in issuing regulations, incorporating the definitions, indicated that he wTas far from satisfied with the definitions since they created unavoidable economic inequalities between plants within the exemption and those outside the exemption. This, he stated, is the result of the provisions of the act itself which do not define the exact scope of the exemption and inevitably lead to the inclusion of some plants and the exclusion of others from the requirements of paying minimum wages and overtime compensation. The Administrator announced that enforcement action would begin March 1, 1947.
    The Portal-to-Portal Act contains a specific provision to relieve employers from any retroactive liability with respect to employees engaged in activities eligible for the “area of production” exemption. This relief is available for the period prior to the issuance of these last definitions provided that the employer had been in compliance with the provisions of either the previous definitions or the current requirements.
    Learner and apprentice exemptions
    In the fiscal year 1947, the subject of learner and apprentice exemptions under section 14 of the Fair Labor Standards Act continued to be of diminishing significance in the continental United States because of the general rise in wage levels which rarely made a subminimum rate for beginning workers necessary to prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment. In the light of prevailing labor market conditions and wage-rate levels for experienced and beginning workers, the Divisions adopted a policy of denying all requests for learner exemptions excepting those submitted by independent telephone companies, small newspapers and print shops located in small communities, and by employers in other industries submitting facts clearly showing that a rare and unusual learner situation existed in their plants and that a denial of the request would have the immediate and direct effect of curtailing opportunities for employment. Certificates proving for subminimum rates continue to be issued to school and college shops and to cover the relatively small number of student-learners being trained at subminimum wage rates under vocational training programs, apprentices employed in establishments located principally in Puerto Rico, and for veterans in training-on-the-job programs.
    Recommendations
    One of the chief objectives of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as stated in its opening section, is the elimination from the channels of interstate commerce of labor conditions detrimental to “the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being of workers.” As the first step in that .direction, the Congress provided that the minimum wage under the
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    act should become 40 cents an hour as rapidly as possible without substantially curtailing employment.
    Those decisions were made by a Congress on the basis of the prices and cost of living prevailing at the time of its congressional debates, in 1937 and 1938. Since the beginning of the war, however,, a 40-cents-an-hour minimum wage rate under the act has year by year become increasingly insignificant in relation to the economic realities. Beginning in 1941, substantial increases in prices and in the cost of living soared, so that, in September 1947, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumers’ price index reached a point 64 percent above the prewar level. As a result, workers in the lower wage brackets have lost in purchasing power a large part of the real minimum wage which was intended when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed.
    For that reason, and because it was recognized when the act was passed that 40 cents an hour should by no means represent the final step in national minimum wage policy, the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division frequently has recommended over the past several years that the act’s minimum wage provision should be adjusted upwards. Before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Labor and Education studying the act, the Administrator in November 1947 urged that the minimum be raised immediately to 75 cents an hour. For the foreseeable future, he said, American industry could adjust to that minimum without undue difficulty. He advocated that it might be desirable, as a precaution, to permit some lowering of the minimum, through the present industry committee procedure, for particular industries, in the event of a serious economic recession. However, to forestall the possibility of a wage-cutting debacle such as made the last depression so severe, he urged that a floor not too far below the 75-cent minimum should be set by the Congress, and recommended that such a floor be not less than 65 cents.
    The very sharp increases in the cost of living which began with the national preparedness period in 1941, continued during the war and into the postwar period, has made the 40-cent standard completely obsolete, since 40 cents will now buy less than 25 cents bought when the act became effective. A prewar 40-cent rate was equivalent in purchasing power to 65 cents in September 1947. The Administrator emphasized, however, that the cost of living has gone up more for the lowest-paid workers, since these must pay relatively more for food, which in September 1947 had gone up 104 percent over the 1935-1939 level. Taxes, too, now take a heavier toll, even for these groups.
    A second approach to the minimum wage cited by the Administrator is the cost of a minimum budget. Such budgets have been priced since the war in 11 widely separated States in connection with State minimum wage laws. The lowest of these budgets, including taxes, amounted to $1,460. A second budget, though admittedly totally inadequate except for temporary and emergency relief conditions, is; the Works Progress Administration emergency level budget developed some years ago in connection with unemployment relief. This budget in 1935 cost, on the average, about $903 for a man, wife, and two children. Assuming that the cost of this budget increased only in the same proportion as the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumers’-
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    price index, the September 1947 cost of this emergency level budget would be $1,555. On the basis of 2,000 hours of employment during the year, which is about the maximum that can be expected with reasonably full employment throughout the year, these two lowestcost budgets would require an hourly wage rate of about 75 cents.
    A 75-cent rate would result in wage increases for some 1,800,000, or 9 percent, of the approximately 21,000,000 workers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Raising the minimum wage under the act to 75 cents an hour for these employees would entail less than a one-percent increase in the total wage bill. This effect would be greater, of course, in some industries, of which lumber is the extreme example. However, industry by industry, the proposal for a 75-cent minimum would have, in almost all cases, even less effect than did the Fair Labor Standards Act minima established as a result of the careful and mature consideration of the tri-partite industry committees, representing labor, employers, and the public. The Administrator pointed out that the earlier minimum rates did not have inflationary consequences although their effect on the national income was at least as great as the 75-cent minimum now proposed. The past experience under the act, he said, has indicated that the increases resulting from minimum wages have to a very large extent been absorbed within the plant involved, or by wholesalers and retailers.
    On a Nation-wide basis, productivity before the war was increasing by about 3 percent each year. Now that our postwar productive mechanism is becoming adjusted and is forging ahead, the Administrator added, there is every reason to expect an increase substantially beyond the prew-ar rate for the next several years. Increasing the minimum rate should stimulate the adoption of the more progressive management techniques, he stated.
    During the 9 years the act has been in effect, the Administrator also has made many other recommendations to Congress for changes in line with economic realities and within the intent of the Congress which enacted the statute. The most immediately significant of his recommendations dealing with coverage and exemptions would:
    Simplify the present complex and often confusing system of exemptions for the handling and processing of agricultural products, by eliminating the “area of production” exemption and by providing a uniform basis on w7hich the overtime exemption is possible in seasonal operations.
    Continue the present complete minimum wage and overtime exemption for fishing, but modify the exemption for fish handling and processing to an overtime exemption for seasonal operations to provide substantial equality of treatment with the handling and processing of agricultural products.
    Cover seamen by the minimum wage provisions of the act, but continue the present overtime exemption, with a study of the possibility of affording some of the benefits of overtime coverage to seamen.
    Provide the full overtime benefits to those motor carrier employees in a “no-man’s land” where they are not protected either by maximum hours regulations of the Interstate Commerce Commission or by the Fair Labor Standards Act, and study the possibility of bringing additional motor carrier employees under the overtime provisions of the act.
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    ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Extend the protection of child-labor provisions of the act by directly prohibiting employment of “oppressive” child labor in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce. The present provisions do not give adequate protection against child-labor exploitation, since they apply only to employment “in the production of goods for commerce” and merely restrict shipment for 30 days of goods in connection with which “oppressive” child labor has been employed.
    Women’s Bureau
    The continuing long-time increase in the number of working women means enlarged responsibilities for the Women’s Bureau, now concerned with the welfare of almost 18 million women who constitute over 28 percent of the Nation’s labor force.
    The arresting fact about the employment picture for women is not the exodus of those who left the labor market after the war, significant as this is, but rather the continuation in gainful employment of the millions whose services are needed by the economy and who, in turn, depend on their pay envelopes to cover living expenses.
    Sufficient time has passed to permit a stock-taking of what has happened to women workers since peak war employment and to measure their present occupational pattern against that of the prewar period. Numbering 2.6 million less than in July 1944, women in the labor force nevertheless now exceed their prewar numbers by about 3 million. Within the past year alone there was a net increase of close to half a million women. Unemployment among women has been relatively small, though the past year has seen a slight increase, and postwar shortages persist in such important occupations for women as those of stenographer, typist, teacher, nurse, librarian, dietitian, social worker, textile operative, and household worker.
    Considerable occupational shifting has accompanied the reconversion period. Well over one million women have changed occupations. Many more, though remaining in the same broad occupational group, changed from one type of job to another. Many of these transfers represent decreased opportunities for women to use their highest wartime skills.
    The occupational pattern of women workers has tended to return to that of the prewar period, though noteworthy changes have taken place. Showing the largest numerical increase, from April 1940 to April 1947, and claiming the largest proportion of all employed women is “clerical and kindred work,” a field in which 26 in every hundred working women hold jobs compared with 21 in every hundred so employed before the war. Second in relative importance to the clerical field is the work of women operatives and kindred workers. Though contracted from its spectacular wartime size, this field still employs 22 percent of all working women, a considerable change from the 18 percent prior to the war. Significant in the field of selling is the increasing dependence on women. Prior to the war women formed 28 percent, now they are 40 percent of all salespersons.
    On the other side of the ledger is the important occupation of household work, still suffering from its wartime loss of women workers. Even after the war the number of women household workers con-
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    tinned downward until October 1946, when there were about 600,000 fewer women in this occupation than before the war. During the first half of 1947, however, the trend was reversed, and about half of that net loss has been recouped, but by July 1947 the number of women in household employment was still about 300,000 short of its prewar figure of 2.1 million. This is an occupation which, because of its long, irregular hours, its historically low wages, and its lack of legal safeguards, women in many parts of the country are reluctant to enter or resume. Another group not at prewar numerical strength are the professional and semiprofessional workers. Although during the war there was comparatively less shifting from this group than from others,, a considerable number of teachers and other relatively low paid professional workers left for better paying jobs in other fields. Replacements have thus far been insufficient to bring the total to its prewar figure and have fallen far short of the country’s needs.
    The older woman worker is now numerically and relatively more important, a continuing trend influenced by the aging of the female population and by other social forces. The median age of women in the labor force in August 1947 was 34% years, compared with about 33% years in August 1946.
    One of the most striking postwar developments is the continued importance of the married woman worker. For several decades the proportion of all married women who are in the labor force has been increasing, while that for single and for widowed women has remained roughly the same. During the war period, for the first time in the country’s history, married women in the labor force outnumbered single women. Though the proportion of married women workers has since become somewhat lower, after the war they continued to outnumber the single working women.
    Comparatively extensive employment of less than 35 hours a week is also characteristic of the woman labor force. In September 1946 16 percent of all women employees, compared with 3% percent of all men, usually worked less than 35 hours a week and were not looking for work requiring as much as 35 hours.
    The Women’s Bureau constantly shapes its program in accordance with changing economic conditions, cognizant always that women’s employment situation is inextricably bound up with the Nation’s forward development. Charged by Act of Congress to formulate standards and policies to promote the welfare of wage-earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employment, the Bureau carries out its duties in four main areas of activity: research; women’s labor law and civil and political status; public service; and international program.
    Research—completed studies
    To fulfill the Bureau’s mandate, continuous research of various types is carried on to study women’s employment problems, to advance their opportunities for profitable employment, and to help the Bureau formulate standards and policies.
    Long-time trends in women’s occupations
    Because women are an important part of the labor force, accurate information about the work women do and have done is vital in deal
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    ing realistically and constructively with women’s employment problems. This major study, entitleci “Women’s Occupations Through Seven Decades,” completed in the past year and now in press, will fill a heretofore unmet need for a current authoritative source book on women’s occupational history in this country. The Women’s Bureau has made an analysis of women’s occupational distribution after each decennial census. This most recent study, the third of its nature, covers a much longer period than earlier Bureau studies and presents to a greater extent long-time trends in particular fields. Based on a thorough-going analysis of census data from 1870-1940, supplemented from a variety of other published sources, the study depicts both general and detailed changes in their occupations. This publication should prove invaluable to those seeking, in one source, comprehensive information on general trends in women’s occupations, and the major portion of the report, dealing separately with about 50 occupations or occupation groups, should go far in answering the needs of those looking for authoritative data on particular occupations.
    Postwar employment of women
    Because demands for the information were so heavy it was thought useful to make available for general distribution this study, originally prepared in response to a request from the International Labor Office. For each of three periods, prewar, war, and early postwar, this timely bulletin, published in late 1946, reports on the number of women employed, their occupational and industrial distribution, their age, and marital status. In pointing to trends in the redistribution of the woman labor force, the report outlines the chief problems that face women workers in the subsequent period.
    After VJ-day in one community
    A grass-roots request from three Bridgeport, Conn., organizations to the Women’s Bureau on how to deal with postwar problems of its women workers culminated in this report, now available. Believing that community planning for employment, vocational counseling, training, and placement should specifically include consideration of women’s particular problems, the local organizations asked the Bureau to bring together data on women workers’ needs and to offer suggestions for a community program. Based on a field survey made in the previous fiscal year, the report, completed this year, shows that Bridgeport, like other industrial cities, halted its peak war production suddenly, and then came readjustment problems. While the employment and industrial picture in Bridgeport may differ somewhat from that in other places, the community’s problems with regard to its women workers are duplicated in many other cities throughout the country.
    Women workers in power laundries
    Fulfilling its statutory function “to promote the welfare of wageearning women,” and “to improve their working conditions,” and concerned with conditions of the anticipated return to the power laundry industry of displaced women war workers, the Bureau prepared this year a comprehensive report on data gathered during the previous year from employers in the Midwest and Southeast. The published report, now available, presenting factual information of help to em
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    ployers in developing good employment conditions, points to the striking differences in wage and employment practices within each of the cities visited and shows that some employers have found ways and means of operating their plants without the triple evils of Iqw wages, long hours, and adverse working conditions. Geared specifically to problems confronting the industry, which relies on women to form four-fifths of its plant work force, the report gives information on such topics of current, lively interest as incentive vs. time method of payment, women’s earnings, productivity, retail prices, labor costs, working conditions.
    Women’s jobs in the telephone industry IG
    This publication fills a serious gap in public information on an industry heavily dependent on women. It presents heretofore nonexistent detailed descriptions of and training required for the multifarious jobs performed by women in the telephone industry. Such job descriptions are essential to a rational wage structure and basic in resolving some of the issues that came to public attention during the recent dispute between management and labor. The current report supplements a 1946 publication, The Woman Telephone Worker, a general report on women’s employment in the telephone industry, with special emphasis on the telephone operator’s job.
    Maternity-benefits
    In response to a growing interest in private health insurance plans, and in recognition of the increasing numbers of married women in employment, this study was made of the maternity benefits granted women workers under eight health-insurance plans established by union-management agreement. Describing provisions of the plans and the experience of women who received benefits, the report should aid those seeking an understanding of this relatively new development.
    Industrial injuries to women
    The hazards of a job and the likelihood the employee faces of industrial injury constitute basic elements in the working conditions of women and of men. The development of adequate safety programs requires a firm basis of factual information. Because relatively little statistical information was available on injuries to women workers, the Bureau cooperated with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Children’s Bureau in a study of industrial injuries. The report, prepared by the Bureau and now available, analyzes data obtained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from employers on injuries sustained by women workers in more than 9,000 manufacturing and 10,000 non-manufacturing establishments during 1945.
    Earnings of women factory workers, 1946
    Economic necessity impels close to 85 percent of the women workers to take gainful employment, according to past Bureau studies. Source information on women’s earnings is therefore essential to an understanding of how well women can meet their responsibilities. Such information is presented in a publication, now in press, which summarizes recent wage data collected directly from the records of individual companies by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Presenting
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    much more comprehensive data than ever before available on women’s earnings for a given period, the report represents industries employing over half a million women plant workers.
    Research—studies in progress
    Employment opportunities
    Directly fulfilling the Bureau’s statutory duty to advance women’s opportunities for profitable employment is a major study, virtually completed, on the Outlook for Women in Science. Like the 1944-45 series of publications on women’s job opportunities in the medical and other health services, this study has been written primarily for those counseling women with regard to employment opportunities, to supply them with basic information on trends in demand and supply, which affect employment and training opportunities. The war focused attention on the use of women in occupations in scientific fields. In response to widespread interest and information needs on how the wartime demand would affect postwar opportunities, a study was undertaken of the outlook for women in chemistry, in physics, in mathematics, and in engineering. The study was extended to include such other scientific fields as bacteriology, botany, zoology, astronomy, geography, technical writing, and technical library work, because of the almost complete lack of information for women interested in these fields. This study should aid immeasurably young women interested in scientific or technical pursuits and faced with the need to decide what line of work they should choose and what type of training they should undertake. Of concern to the Nation is the present undersupply of science personnel. Women constitute an important source of labor in meeting the shortage.
    Baltimore women workers since VJ-day
    The significance to women’s earnings of current occupational shifts is illustrated in a follow-up study, nearing completion, of war-industry employees in this large industrial city. The Bureau found among former shipyard workers who had earned over $60 for a 48-hour week, a department-store employee and a public-utility employee, earning $22 and $26, respectively, for a 40-hour week. A 1944 Bureau survey in Baltimore brought together data on women’s postwar plans, economic responsibilities, and wartime-job experiences. The present study, for which war-plant workers interviewed in 1944 were relocated and interviewed again in late 1946, will tell how far women’s earlier plans have materialized, what their intervening employment experiences have been, and what their economic responsibilities as wage earners are.
    Night work in restaurants and hotels
    The subject of industrial night work by women has come to the fore in some parts of the country, particularly in those States which during the war relaxed their prohibition against night hours for women and which, after all-out production needs were no longer overriding, again considered its reinstatement. To aid in redefining the problem, the Bureau, after examining the available literature on the subject (a bibliography on the subject has been issued and is available for distribution), undertook a field survey, now in progress,
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    of the hotel and restaurant industries. The field work, completed in Connecticut, shortly will be underway in Indiana. Aspects of the problem on which information is being sought include: factors determining the need for night work, effect on workers’ personal and family lives, community attitudes, and methods of legal or social control.
    Household employment
    Household employment is an occupation that needs a thorough evaluation and much constructive action. Several Bureau activities have been in just this direction. Already published is a Digest of Current Information, which reports on the reasons for the reluctance of women to enter household employment, on the hardships to American family life from a shortage of household help, and on the essentials of a remedial program.
    In furtherance of its program to improve employment standards, to improve training and placement activities, and to foster the recognition of household work as a necessary occupation free from the stigma of servility, the Bureau made a field survey in 19 selected cities in which active household employment programs on standards, training, and placement exist. The report, nearing completion, describes the work being done in these cities to help meet the problems of both employers and employees and suggests improvements to achieve adequate minimum standards.
    Setting wage rates
    Performance by women of men’s work focused attention during the war on women’s rates of pay for such work. Of continuing direct concern to all working women are discriminatory pay rates not only to women performing jobs identical to those of men but also to women whose jobs, though different from those of men, nevertheless contribute work of comparable or equal value. An equitable determination of the value of a job requires that the wage rate be set without reference to the sex of the worker.
    The elimination of wage inequities, among which is wage discrimination against women, is a fundamental problem confronting many industries. The steel industry recently took a broad step toward solution of this problem. To secure information on specific plans in use which have attempted to set up an equitable wage structure, particularly ones which do not discriminate against women, the Bureau made a survey of selected establishments. Descriptions of the rate-setting methods used by these individual establishments will be presented in a publication, now in preparation.
    Research—special activities
    In addition to carrying out major studies, the Bureau, through its research facilities, was called upon to give technical assistance to a wide variety of Government and private groups and to cooperate with them in developing policies and programs relating to women workers. The following are a few examples of this type of activity from among the many completed during the past year: the prepara-
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    tion of estimates for the President’s Commission on Higher Education of the number of persons required from 1947 to 1960 in six health occupations in which women predominate and of the number required each year for replacements and expanding needs; preparation of current material and underlying facts on the immigration of Puerto Rican women for household work on the mainland; a special report relating to women’s past and potential position in a war economy for the President’s Commission on Universal Training; cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Nursing Council on a survey of the nursing profession, and with the Bureau of Labor Statistics on a study of wages and hours in Oklahoma; and assistance to the National Women’s Trade Union League on a report on the status of women workers.
    Two major articles were contributed, on request, to the May 194( issue of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. One article, “Women in the Labor Force,” deals with the economic position of women in present-day society, and the other, “Education and Employment Opportunities for Women,” deals with women’s opportunities in such fields as the medical and other health services, the sciences, the arts, and commerce.
    Labor law, civil and political status
    In the field of labor law the Bureau is concerned not only with existing legislation for women and the improvement of legislative standards but also with the ways by which these standards are maintained; how these laws are administered; and how they are adapted to changing conditions.
    Labor legislation, particularly as it affects women, is by and large the province of the States. There are over 300 State labor laws with special application to women, primarily of the following types: 27 jurisdictions now have minimum wage laws; 9 have equal pay laws; 19 either prohibit or regulate night work for women; 43 have maximum hour laws. Over half the" States have either special women’s divisions or special administrative units for enforcement of women’s labor laws, all but three of which are headed by a woman. These officials, as well as the labor commissioners who themselves directly administer women’s laws in 20 other States, look to the Women’s Bureau which, because of its parallel interests and its facilities for collection and analysis of data, is uniquely equipped to furnish them with technical assistance and information.
    The year 1947 was one of major State legislative activity. Legislatures met in 46 States. This meant peak Bureau responsibilities for technical service to State labor departments, to women’s and other civic organizations, to management, and to unions, and for information and advice on proposed or pending legislation.
    Minimum wage
    The postwar redistribution of women workers underscores the importance of conditions in the trade and service industries. Workers in these industries, generally intrastate, usually do not enjoy the benefits of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, and to them existing State minimum wage laws are particularly important.
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    A major accomplishment this year was the preparation, in cooperation with the Solicitors office, and issuance of a new State minimum wage draft bill, which embodies the principles and administrative procedures found by the Bureau to have been effective under existing State minimum wage legislation. Demands for the draft bill have been extensive, not only from States without such legislation but also from those contemplating amendments to existing laws.
    The rising cost of living has highlighted the need for revising State minimum wage rates, many of which, set years ago, no longer fulfill the legislative purpose of establishing a living wage. Since July 1946, 29 new wage orders have become effective in 13 jurisdictions. In all but a few instances the Bureau contributed directly by preparation of basic data needed for the drafting of wage orders, or by technical assistance on the content or form of the orders, or by advising on procedures necessary to be followed in their development. A detailed summary of minimum wage activity in the States for the calendar year 1946 was prepared and published in the June 1947 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. A mimeographed summary of new orders issued since VJ-day was also prepared. •
    In several States without minimum-wage legislation, local groups interested in promoting such laws called on the Bureau’s facilities for information and guidance. Particularly heavy were the requests fulfilled for groups in Missouri, Maryland, and Vermont, such as the requested assistance to the Vermont labor commissioner in drafting a bill, and, among other types of technical assistance, the preparation of two presentations of wage and working conditions data, one for Missouri, the other for Maryland.
    Because most State laws require that, in setting a rate, consideration be given to the cost of living, the establishment and pricing of a budget is a matter of prime concern. In fulfillment of the responsibility which administrators of State minimum wage laws, in 1946, asked the Bureau to assume—to establish a State-Federal cost of living committee which would study the problems and explore the possibility of developing new procedures—the Bureau made material progress in the development of a new commodity-quantity budget for single, self-supporting women. In its program for making recent budget data generally available, the Bureau completed and will soon send to press a new compilation of State budgets, a project in which it received the cooperation of the 11 States which at one time or another have made or continue to make their own budget studies for working women. The timeliness of these data is attested by the constantly increasing demand for them from a variety of sources, and by the stimulation, thus aroused, to plans for issuance of new wage orders in several States.
    Illustrative of the vital relationship between the Bureau and the States is the Bureau’s annual technical conference for minimum wage administrators. This year’s conference, held in June 1947, had the largest representation of the 13 such conferences held up to this time— 19 States and 2 Territories. It again provided an essential exchange forum for the review of State experiences, the exploration of major problems, and the development of plans to improve standards and administration. In view of recent widespread State activity in issuing wage orders, administrative problems relating to wage boards was one of the major items discussed, including that of obtaining factual cost of living data for wage-board use. The Bureau presented a pre
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    liminary report on progress in developing a new budget for self-supporting women. Other timely subjects are also discussed at these conferences, among them hours regulation, working condition standards, and equal pay. The conference expressed concern over efforts in many quarters since the war to bring about permanent relaxation of legislative standards for women and requested the Bureau to advise on effective methods of meeting the problem.
    Equal pay
    In its program to give substance in practice to the equal pay principal, widely accepted in theory, the Bureau rendered substantial service both in disseminating information and in rendering technical assistance in this field of expanding legislative regulation. A revised draft State equal pay bill was developed and issued, as were other relevant materials, such as a popular leaflet, an analysis of State laws, a selected bibliography, a summary of congressional action on proposed bills, and several semipopular or technical magazine articles. Nine States now have equal pay laws. During 1947 State legislative sessions new equal pay bills were introduced in eight States: California, Connecticut, Indiana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, and Wyoming, twm of which were passed—Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. In all instances the Bureau either supplied a draft bill or was requested to assist in the drafting process. Its advice was sought particularly on principles to be incorporated. In five additional States amendments to existing laws were proposed, and again the Bureau was often asked to help. Several States requested guidance in administration of equal pay laws. The Bureau also rendered continuing technical assistance in connection with the Federal equal pay bill introduced in the Eightieth Congress.
    Other labor laws
    Several States amended or sought to amend existing hours legislation, and the Bureau was called upon throughout the legislative sessions to furnish data to support maintenance or improvement of existing standards. Extensive aid was given to Washington State and to Pennsylvania. In another area of legislation, that of night work, the Bureau issued its revised summary of such State laws.
    Civil and political status
    Closely related to women’s labor legislation is the whole complex of law affecting and establishing their civil and political rights. The welfare of wage-earning women is seriously influenced by their right to participate in the functioning of government (such as franchise, public office, jury duty, tax liability) ; by their special position in society arising from the family relationship (husband and wife, parent and child, responsibility for family support) ; and by their right to acquire, hold, and dispose of property, to make contracts of various types, and to control their individual earnings. Women’s status in most of these relationships is determined by State law, hence it differs from State to State. It is the subject of heightened national interest because of recent directly related events of international scope. To furnish information and counsel to those, seeking it, the Bureau continued to keep abreast of developments on the most significant aspects
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    of women’s status, digesting and maintaining current information on the many categories of such laws relating to women.
    A supplement to the Bureau’s 1938 bulletin on civil and political status was issued to provide information on the period 1938-45. Informational and technical service was rendered in relation to the Federal bill on the status of women, a bill pending in the Eightieth Congress. Interest in jury service for women has been high, and a revised leaflet, more comprehensive than previous publications on the subject, was prepared and released. The need for such information is illustrated by one of its uses—the inclusion in the majority opinion of the United States Supreme Court, deciding the “blue ribbon” jury case of Fay and Bove n. People of New York (June 23, 1947), of both published and unpublished Bureau material to show the extent and nature of jury service for women in the United States. Testimony in favor of the pending Senate bill seeking to establish uniform Federal juror qualifications was prepared, as were special materials for use of women’s organizations supporting jury service legislation in various States.
    Public service
    Aside from the numerous publications emanating directly from the Bureau’s major research studies and from its technical division on labor law and civil and political status, are a variety of materials prepared in many forms and adapted to many purposes through which the Bureau makes known its findings and by which it responds to the thousands of requests converging on it during the course of a year for information on such subjects as women’s employment, their wages and working conditions, their opportunities in specific occupations and industries, and their wage-earning responsibilities toward family or other dependents. Almost 50 articles were prepared, 45 speeches were written for Bureau representatives called upon to address a variety of organizations, 5 radio scripts written, and 8 leaflets issued. The latter, in attractive design and popular style, were prepared in answer to specific needs, such as the leaflet for college women, “Your Job Future After College,” issued to meet the request of Ohio State University and to fill the obvious need of the many smaller colleges requesting information that will help women select appropriate fields of work; and a new leaflet on “Standards for Employment of Women,” presenting detail on adequate standards for working time, wages, working environment, and other health and safety conditions.
    The Bureau undertook publication of a monthly “Fact Sheet on Women Workers,” an information bulletin mailed to newspapers, women’s magazine editors, radio commentators, women’s organizations, and individuals interested in vital, current facts’ on women workers and in the continuity of developments these “Fact Sheets” present. Another new project was the issuance of special articles, “Features on Women Workers.” These covered such topics as Women in Aviation, Women in State Legislatures, and Women in the United Nations.
    Other media used by the Bureau to disseminate facts on women workers were charts, posters, maps, special exhibits, and motion pictures, as well as consultation with the hundreds of persons who come to the Bureau directly.
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    The Bureau maintains six field offices through which regional representatives continued to render consultation and information services to local groups by distributing Bureau materials especially pertinent to regional needs, by advising, on request, on tine application of standards for the employment of women, and by acting as liaison agents for achieving maximum usefulness of Bureau resources and findings.
    International program
    The people of the United States have gone far in removing discriminations which formerly circumscribed the economic, political, and civil status of women. In their new and enlarged international contacts women in this country are expected, because of their advances at home, to take positions of leadership and responsibility in assisting women of other countries to win release from political and civil restrictions, and to enlarge their educational and economic opportunities. If United States women are to fulfill those expectations, it is necessary that both United States representatives on official international bodies and representatives of women’s organizations at home be equipped with data adequate to support and gain respect for American practice and policy. The Women’s Bureau has been in the forefront of activity in supplying essential information and assistance.
    United Nations
    Commission on the Status of Women
    In June 1947 the United Nations created, as one of the agencies of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), a full-fledged Commission on the Status of Women, on which the United States is a participating member. Servicing United States’ interest in the Status Commission called for a variety of Bureau activities. A Bureau rep-resenta tive acted as observer and subsequently as adviser to the United States representative on the Commission. Through interdepartmental committees of the United States Government, the Bureau participated in the preparation of agenda items for the Commission’s first meeting in February 1947 and of supporting documents for use of the United States representative.
    The Bureau also rendered substantial service in preparing a reply to a United Nations questionnaire on Legal Status and Treatment of Women, which had been drawn up by United Nations to assist the Status of Women Commission by making “a complete and detailed study of the legislation concerning the status of women and the practical application of such legislation.” The first part of the questionnaire, sent to all member governments in January 1947 and referred to the Women’s Bureau for reply, covers seven topics on Public Law,, three of which were completed in July 1947. These three dealt with franchise, eligibility to hold public office, and educational and professional opportunities. The Bureau will continue preparation of the reply until all remaining topics have been completed.
    Commission on Human Rights
    The formulation of the United States position on an International Bill of Rights, undertaken by this Commission, commanded Bureau
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    attention, particularly on those articles of special concern to women. The Bureau has been giving active assistance on this work, participating in United States Government committees concerned with social policy.
    International Labor Organization
    The ILO, now a specialized agency of United Nations, has undertaken a revitalized program, following its restricted activities during the war. This has called for increased Bureau responsibilities for assistance and cooperation. The Director participated in ILO program planning with regard to women’s employment problems when, as a member of the advisory committee to the ILO’s Section on Women’s Work, she attended the July 1946 meeting of the committee in Montreal. The Director later participated in the full Montreal Conference held September-October 1946, serving as substitute United States Government Representative to the Governing Body, as substitute delegate on the United States delegation to the Conference itself, and as adviser to the delegation. To the 101st session of the Governing Body, held in Geneva in March 1947, the Director was appointed Uniteci States Government Representative.
    For the 30th Session of the ILO Conference, held in Geneva in June 1947, the Bureau made substantial contributions to two items. In connection with the Resolution on Women’s Work, introduced by the United States delegation and adopted at this Session, the Bureau made an extensive preliminary analysis, at the request of the Chief of the Section on Women’s Work of the ILO. This Resolution brought together all past action of ILO conferences with regard to women workers. Similarly, concerning the Convention on Labor Standards for Non-Metropolitan Territories, also adopted, the Bureau contributed information on practices in this country and participated in developing the United States position, particularly on such items as the status of women, equal pay, maternity protection, and night work by women.
    Contributions in another area of ILO activity, that of industrial home work, called for Bureau preparation of information on such items as the character of the work force engaged in industrial home wmrk and the legal regulations governing this work. This was included in a preliminary reply to an inquiry on Industrial Home Work, distributed in February 1947 to advisory experts to the ILO Section on Women’s Work and the Protection of Young Workers.
    Cooperation
    Training program
    As part of the United States Government’s program of cooperation with the other American Republics, the Women’s Bureau conducts a program of Inter-American activities, a significant part of which is concerned with the training of government officials sent to the United States from the other American Republics. Here the “trainees” are given an intensive course designed to aid them in improving working conditions for employed women in their respective countries. As in the past, a program was developed suited to the needs of the 1947 group who, after participating in an orientation course in Washington, were sent to various States where their training was continued with the cooperation of State Departments of Labor. The program included
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    study of labor law and enforcement methods, inspection visits to factories and other work establishments, study of industrial home work, and visits to vocational schools, trade unions, and community agencies.
    A special grant was made to a trainee who had completed the regular Bureau training course for additional training in methods of research on labor legislation and on economic conditions affecting women workers. Working with the direct guidance of the Research Division, this trainee prepared a questionnaire on labor legislation and other items, which was sent to appropriate agencies in the other American Republics. Replies were received from six countries, and these have been analyzed. This work was the outgrowth of an information request made by the Inter-American Commission of Women, at whose 5th Assembly in December 1946 the Bureau's Inter-American specialist served as United States Delegate.
    Exchange of consultant
    At the request of the Chilean Government the Bureau sent a staff expert to Chile to work with the Divisions of Women and Children of the National and Santiago Departments of Labor on methods of improving working conditions for employed women. The staff expert, during her 3-month stay from April-June 1947, visited 60 factories and a number of shops or homes of industrial home workers and conferred on related technical matters with numerous government officials.
    Foreign visitors
    The Bureau continued to assist visitors from other countries, including labor department and other governmental officials, who were seeking information on the organization and work of the United States Women’s Bureau and of the comparable divisions in State labor departments ; on women’s employment, safety and health; and on labor law relating to women and its enforcement. Visitors during the past year included executive officers of the National Young Women’s Christian Association from France and from Italy, the Director of the National Department of Labor of Peru, a Congresswoman from Panama, and others from India, Turkey, Norway, China, Venezuela,. Chile, Scotland—totaling approximately 25 different countries.
    Information
    The Bureau replied to numerous requests, received from government officials and other interested persons in approximately 30 different countries, for information on subjects pertaining to employed women, and it continued to supply persons in the United States with requested information about the status of women in other countries. United States Government officials going abroad also called at the Bureau for information on conditions in countries to which they were scheduled to go.
    To help fill in the gaps on information concerning women in other countries, several publications were issued. In press is a report entitled “International Documents on the Status of Women,” which, based on extensive research, outlines the work in the League of Nations and in the United Nations toward the achievement of status for women and presents the pertinent international documents. This publication

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    should answer the information needs of women’s organizations in their work of representing to the United Nations the viewpoints of organized women in the United States. Publications designed to foster mutual understanding of the other American Republics included “Women Workers in Paraguay” (published) and “Women Workers in Peru” (in press), both of them part of a series of bulletins which grew out of an extended tour of the other American Republics by the Bureau’s Inter-American specialist. Concerning the “trainee” program, an article was prepared for publication in the August 1946. issue of The Record, monthly publication of the State Department, and in the October 1946 Bulletin of the Pan American Union.
    Prospects and objectives
    In this period of continuing full employment, it is essential that adequate training and guidance facilities be accessible to women workers to enable them to take suitable places in the world of work, to expand their employment opportunities, and to equip them with realistic foreknowledge of training demands and job requirements. In this period of relatively high earnings it is singularly opportune to safeguard the wage structure by working toward the establishment of equal pay, with its interacting benefits to men and to women; and, through technical assistance and encouragement that comes of group exchange of information, by expanding and strengthening State minimum wage legislation, of special significance • to women because of the regained importance to them of intrastate trade and service industries. In this period, when married women workers outnumber single women workers, the Bureau hopes to make a real contribution by studying and making known the significance to women and to society of the double responsibility carried by many women toward job and family. In this period when American women, through their direct experience with UN, located as it is in this country, have been able to measure their own status against that of women in other countries, they have come to the realization of a new obligation to extend understanding of the women in other countries and to expand opportunities of women everywhere.
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