[Annual Report of the United States Department of Labor, Fiscal Year 1955]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
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United States Department of Labor
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FISCAL YEAR 1955
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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR James P. Mitchell, Secretary
FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 1955
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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR James P. Mitchell, Secretary
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REPORT OF THE SECRETARY
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF LABOR
FISCAL YEAR 1955
Administrative Responsibilities
The Fair Labor Standards Act
More than $6,165,000 in back wages owed under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act was paid to 81,330 employees by 15,310 firms, as a result of Department of Labor investigations during the past fiscal year. A total of more than $12,151,000 was found due to some 128,754 employees in 19,395 establishments. Of the 39,330 establishments investigated for compliance with the law, the Department found that 12 percent had violated the minimum-wage provisions of these two acts and 46 percent the overtime provisions.
During fiscal 1955, 6,095 young workers were found employed in violation of the child-labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 3,545 nonagricultural establishments. A total of 4,151 children under 16 years of age were found working in violation of the law on 1,899 farms during school hours, and 3,354 16 and 17 year olds were found working illegally at jobs which were declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor. Seventy children under 14 were found to be working at jobs for which the legal age is 18.
The Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act
Despite suits brought against the Secretary of Labor challenging his right to make industrywide prevailing minimum-wage determinations, Public Contracts Act determinations have continued to be issued, and the court cases challenging the Secretary’s authority have been successfully opposed.
There were a total of 5 administrative hearings for enforcement of the Public Contracts Act during fiscal 1955 as compared with 2 for fiscal year 1954.
The Davis-Bacon Act
The Department’s enforcement activities during the fiscal year resulted in $196,901.94 being restored to 2,225 workers who had not been paid in accordance with the Davis-Bacon and related acts. Thirteen contractors, found to have violated these acts, were placed on the list of those ineligible to receive Government contracts for a period of 3 years.
Much of the credit for this enforcement record must go to the Government agencies who have the responsibility for making certain that contractors observe Federal labor standards laws on Government jobs.
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In fiscal 1955, the Department made 17,293 wage determinations under the Davis-Bacon and related acts, each containing the wage rates for from 10 to 300 classifications of labor to be used on the project in question. The Department has provided a wage rate information poster to be placed prominently on the site of each construction job subject to these laws. It has has also issued a “Building and Construction Workers Guide,” which gives in clear language information on all Federal laws requiring the payment of prevailing wages on Federal and federally assisted construction.
Federal Workmen’s Compensation
Altogether, there are close to 4 million workers who look to the Department of Labor for help whenever they are injured on the job. They come under two principal acts: The Federal Employees Compensation Act, and the Longshoremen and Harbor Workers’ Act, which has been extended to cover non-Government employees in the District of Columbia, as well as to various other areas of Federal jurisdiction, such as defense bases.
From incomplete and limited benefit coverage in 1908, the Federal workmen’s compensation program has gradually evolved into one of workmen’s restoration. Today, the emphasis is not only upon the adequacy of monetary benefits but also upon preventive measures, immediate first aid, complete medical care, and vocational rehabilitation. To render these services for Federal workers, the Department of Labor paid nearly $50 million in fiscal 1955- Administration costs were kept below 4 percent of total benefits.
Employees of private industry under Federal workmen’s compensation jurisdiction are paid directly from insurance coverage financed by their employers, or paid directly by such employers acting as self-insurers under the authorization of the Department of Labor. Total benefits in 93,000 such cases during fiscal 1955 reached an estimated $25 million, exclusive of administrative costs.
Labor Statistics
The Department of Labor has continued to publish monthly statistics on changes in employment, hours, and earnings for the country as a whole, for each State, and for a large number of local areas. During the past 2 years, the Department has succeeded in extending this system to provide necessary additional data and to avoid duplication with other agencies.
Two innovations in the statistical field, initiated since the fiscal year ended, demonstrate the results of the improved direction of the Department’s statistical work. One is the initiation of a greatly enlarged labor turnover statistics program by arrangement with the State employment security agencies.
The other innovation is the beginning of a 1-percent sample of all unemployment insurance claimants for the purpose of monthly information on the personal and economic characteristics of persons claiming unemploy
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ment insurance under the State programs. Again, this is a cooperative arrangement between the Department and the State employment security agencies.
Women’s Affairs Activities
During the past fiscal year, the Department of Labor sponsored a Conference on Effective Use of Womanpower which was attended by the leaders of Government, labor, management, education, and science.
A number of programs of the Department affect the welfare of women workers. These have been given special attention and coordination through the appointment in 1954 of an Assistant to the Secretary for Women’s Affairs. The creation of this position has made it possible to give more effective attention to the problems of women workers and to coordinate more effectively all of the Department’s programs dealing with women’s affairs.
Personnel Management
An important step was taken during fiscal 1955 to strengthen the status of Department of Labor career employees. A new career service position of Deputy Under Secretary of Labor was established. Since the end of the fiscal year, three career service positions of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor were established. The establishment of these positions has increased the operating efficiency of the Department and has provided an additional career incentive to employees of the Labor Department.
The Department’s long-range staffing plan, based upon the Department’s expected manpower needs, was carried forward during the year. This plan is expected to provide through the years the skilled manpower necessary for the effective operation of the Department by bringing into the Department annually a group of able men and women, and arranging an organized training and development program for them.
New Programs
Skills of the Work Force Program
In its present stage, this program is designed to inventory the Nation’s sources of skilled and technical manpower, to stimulate improvement of the facilities and methods used to train skilled and technical manpower, and to increase knowledge about manpower resources.
To achieve these objectives, a small task force of three specialists has been set up. It has developed a number of projects which have been undertaken by the Department of Labor. These are:
(1) A study to determine future manpower needs in a large number of important occupations. Results on some major industries and occupations studied will be available in 1956.
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(2) Community surveys, designed to stimulate action by the community, labor, and management, in order to develop training programs to meet present and future needs, have been established.
(3) The latest and most up-to-date information on training methods is being made available to industry. The Labor Department has established working relationships with the Department of Defense and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to obtain this information. Similarly, the Department is collecting training information from labor organizations and management associations. This information will be given widespread circulation among business and industry throughout the country.
These projects are expected to provide sound information and experience upon which more comprehensive programs can be based.
Employment of Older Workers
At the request of the President, the 84th Congress appropriated to the Department of Labor funds to develop a program on behalf of America’s mature workers—a program which will help eliminate employment barriers erected against them. Many of our mature workers are being wasted by a senseless discrimination based on an obsolete conception of the word “ old.”
Basic projects which have been undertaken in this field include—
(1) Studies to determine the performance and productivity of older workers.
(2) Studies to determine the status of older workers under collective bargaining agreements.
(3) Studies of employment policies and practices affecting the hiring and intentions of older workers and of the characteristics and needs of the older unemployed.
(4) Studies to determine counseling and placement needs of older workers, and demonstrations of effective methods of meeting these needs.
(5) Forums on earning opportunities for mature women.
(6) A survey of the effects of pension costs on hiring policies.
Youth Employment
The Bureau of Employment Security, through its affiliated State agencies, has during the past fiscal year stepped up its already active program of youth counseling, testing, and placement of high school graduates and young people who drop out of school Currently, facilities are available in the States and localities for counseling 400,000 young people with a view to helping them obtain full-time jobs as well as vacation jobs. In the coming fiscal year, this program will be further enlarged.
In the field of training, the Bureau of Apprenticeship is intensifying its efforts to promote a continued increase in the number of apprenticeship programs and to make sure that the advantages of sound training in a needed skill are effectively presented to young people through local schools and employment offices.
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The Department’s program for providing sound occupational outlook data to help young people in choosing a future occupation has been materially enlarged, and the third revised version of the Occupational Outlook Handbook, now in process, is scheduled for publication early in 1957. A number of new bulletins on outlook for employment in particular occupations, and on training needs in professions where there is now a shortage, have already been issued. These are used by counselors in the employment offices, in schools, in military installations—especially the separation centers—and by thousands of individuals.
Technological Advancement and the Wage Earner
The effects of new technological advancements are cumulative and the emphasis is on automatic machinery, handling and processing equipment, automatic control assistance using feedback or self-adjusting mechanisms, and electronic computers and data processing equipment. During the past fiscal year the Department started watching these developments with a view toward measuring their effects upon employment, ready to redirect where necessary such departmental programs as those concerning safety, training, employment and placement, social insurance and labor standards laws.
Impact of Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy
A study group has been established to assess the potential effects of the peaceful uses of atomic energy on the Nation’s work force. The Department’s interest lies in the possible impact of this major development on wage earners, including its effects on levels of employment, unemployment, labor turnover, vocational opportunities, safety training, workmen’s compensation, and standards of productivity.
Area Unemployment
Some areas have suffered from substantial and persistent unemployment, despite high levels of employment and prosperity in the Nation as a whole. The Department of Labor helped develop proposals to remedy this problem early in 1955. These were considered by the Council of Economic Advisers in connection with the program drawn up within the executive branch for community assistance.
The Department has also engaged in a program to render assistance to areas suffering from chronic unemployment as a part of its established and continuing effort to promote the welfare of wage earners. These jdepart-mental efforts include such programs as—
1. Encouraging and assisting communities to develop local organizations responsible for economic rehabilitation.
2. Pilot efforts to assist a limited number of areas in order to demonstrate how effective program operations can be undertaken through
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the cooperation of Federal, State, and local agencies both in private and public.
3. Economic and labor-force analyses which provide the necessary basis for the manpower aspects of planning and operations.
4. Increasing employment service efforts to relieve local unemployment by providing guidance and information on job opportunities in other regions.
5. Emphasizing the importance of skill training, and assuming leadership in assisting such areas to determine realistic training needs.
Federal-State Programs
The Department of Labor’s program of assistance to the States in improving labor law and administration has been especially active. In fiscal 1955, 41 States requested and received help. The year before 27 States were given assistance. These services are aimed at building up the States— their laws, their methods of administration, and their labor agencies.
State Action in 1955
During 1955, the States showed more activity in the field of labor legislation than in any year since 1939. Forty-five State legislatures and 3 Territorial legislatures met, with these results:
a. Minimum wage legislation was enacted in 3 States and strengthened in 3 other States, Alaska, and Hawaii.
b. A total of 35 States plus Alaska and Hawaii raised their workmen’s compensation benefits.
c. Industrial safety programs were adopted or strengthened in six States and Hawaii.
d. Unemployment insurance coverage was extended in 25 States and Alaska. The maximum weekly benefit amount was increased in 32 States, Alaska, and Hawaii. The maximum duration of benefits was extended in seven States, and the minimum duration of benefits was extended in 13 States and Alaska.
e. Improvement of conditions of migratory agricultural workers was encouraged by the action of four States.
f. Legislation providing for equal pay for equal work regardless of sex was enacted in three States.
Occupational Safety
Several States sought the assistance of the Department in developing safety programs for one or more of their high hazard industries during fiscal 1955. These programs result in other industries seeking help, a general development of safety consciousness, and the strengthening of many State labor departments as a result of the increased demands made on them.
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A recent development is the long-needed safety progiam for State employees. During the past year, four States have initiated such programs in one or more major State governmental departments. It is the hope of the Department that through these programs all of the 4% million public employees can be provided with the safe working conditions now enjoyed by Federal employees.
In addition, the Department has expanded its safety training programs, giving courses for State and Federal employees. The voluntary safety standards for the stevedoring industry, developed by the Department in 1954, have been generally accepted by stevedores on both the east and west coasts.
The Employment Service
Job counseling services to all workers increased during fiscal year 1955-Both men and women shared in the accelerated counseling program. Since 1954, total interviews with men rose 20 percent to 925,100, and those with women increased 25 percent to 489,700.
Unemployment Compensation
Funds available foi benefits at the beginning of the fiscal year totaled more than $8, 442 million, 8.6 percent of taxable wages. During the year, the States collected $1,142 million and received almost $187 million in interest on their accounts in the unemployment insurance trust fund maintained by the Treasury Department. Because of relatively high unemployment in the first half of 1954, reserves for benefits at the end of the fiscal year totaled $8,011 million, 8.2 percent of taxable wages.
Unemployment insurance payments for Federal workers began in January, 1955. In the first 6 months of its operation, 60,000 former Federal employees were compensated for 625,000 weeks of unemployment. Benefits totaled $16 million, varying from $4,800 in Delaware to $1,872,000 in California.
Veterans’ Services
To help the discharged veteran overcome problems of adjustment to civilian life, the Department of Labor carries on special programs. Veterans are given special counseling and placement services through the Veterans’ Employment Service. This program is administered through the 1,700 local public employment offices situated throughout the country. The veterans’ unemployment compensation program, which is of immediate help to newly discharged veterans who do not meet the wage or employment requirements of State unemployment compensation laws, is also serviced through these offices.
Also, thousands of veterans have benefited from the Department’s veterans’ reemployment rights program. During fiscal 1955, more than 111,000 individuals requested information or assistance in connection with the reemployment rights program. Ex-servicemen, reservists, rejectees,
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potential servicemen, employers, and labor organizations were among those who requested help.
A total of 7,671 reemployment rights cases were received this year; 6,466 were closed by negotiations; and 118 were referred to the Department of Justice, where 101 were closed by court action. The remainder were still pending investigation.
Model Workmen’s Compensation Bill
A model workmen’s compensation bill is being prepared by the Department to help the States, by making available to them the best thought and experience incorporated in the various State workmen’s compensation laws. The first draft of this bill has been developed by taking the most successful features of many of the State acts. This “discussion draft’’ has been completed, and 2,500 copies of it have been circulated among interested groups and specialists in the field of workmen’s compensation for comments and suggestions. A final draft will be prepared on the basis of the comment received. It will be available as a practical guide to assist States in their efforts to improve workmen’s compensation laws.
Migratory Labor
The migratory labor problem is not merely a Federal problem. It also has ramifications requiring State and local action. Accordingly, the Department of Labor has urged the establishment of State migratory labor committees and has worked with the States toward this end. These committees are seeking to promote the well-being of migrant woikers at the State and local level. The Department of Labor has given assistance to 18 States on migratory labor during the past fiscal year—both to the State agencies and to the local and community groups.
Excellent results were obtained through the 1955 operations of the Annual Worker Plan for American migrants. Through this program crew leaders are enabled to work out advance work schedules which route them to successive jobs through the crop season. In 1955 advance work schedules were worked out for 121,000 workers as compared with 96,544 the previous year. This plan is now being extended to all States using migrant workers. A report from one State showed workers increased their employment by 15 percent due to being properly scheduled.
Labor Legislative Proposals
During the year, Federal labor legislative proposals drawn up by the Department of Labor included the following major items:
1. A bill to replace the present set of ambiguous and confusing Eight-Hour laws with a General Hours of Work Act;
2. A bill to provide financial aid to the States to improve their industrial safety programs;
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3. Amendment of the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act to increase benefits payable under the act;
4. Amendments to improve further the District of Columbia’s Unemployment Insurance Act.
5. A bill to provide for a temporary disability program for the District of Columbia.
Of these proposals, Congress took action on only the second. All of these recommendations were resubmitted to Congress in 1956 along with the following: A bill to provide for the protection of beneficiaries of health and welfare funds by requiring registration and reporting of these funds; and a bill to require equal pay for women to eliminate discriminatory wage practices based on sex.
International Labor
Labor Technical Exchange Program
Working with the International Cooperation Administration and the International Educational Exchange Service of the State Department, the Department of the Army, and the International Labor Organization, the Department administered study and observation programs in labor and related fields for 646 foreign visitors from labor, management, and government.
International Trade
Throughout the year, the Department took an active part in the tariff negotiations the United States Government was conducting with Japan and several other countries. Public hearings were held by the Committee on Reciprocity Information, of which the Department is a member, and notices of the commodities to be considered at these hearings were sent to American unions. Also, for the first time, non-Government advisers from labor, industry, banking, and agriculture served as members of the United States delegation negotiating with Japan.
International Labor Research
During the year, a comprehensive directory of international trade union organizations was prepared and published by the Department of Labor. This study combined for convenient reference use basic structural data concerning foreign unions, and such vital information as name, address, officers, and membership of unions affiliated with the non-Communist International Confederation of Trade Unions and the non-Communist International Federation of Christian Trade Unions.
The International Labor Organization
Several important actions were taken by the International Labor Organization in 1955, particularly in the light of the Soviet Union’s reentry into
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the ILO in 1954. One of these actions has to do with preserving the tripartite structure of the Organization. In March 1955, the governing body decided to establish a committee of independent persons to study and report on the degree of independence from government domination and control of employer and worker organizations in each of the 70 member countries of the Organization. The governing body also decided to place the subject of forced labor on the agenda of its 1956 International Labor Conference. Allegations of the infringement of trade-union rights in the Soviet Union are now before the ILO for consideration. In its first full year as a member of the Organization, the U. S. S. R. has been unable to retard these ILO activities.
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Funds Appropriated for 1955
Fiscal year 1955
Positions
Amount
General administrative expense items: Office of the Secretary 238 $1,350,712
Office of the Solicitor 238 1, 480, 000
Bureau of Labor Standards 89 657,123
Office of the Physically Handicapped 9 88,780
Bureau of Veterans’ Reemployment Rights 41 305, 588
Bureau of Apprenticeship 492 3,159, 700
Bureau of Employment Security 705 4, 888, 700
Mexican farm labor program 227 1, 785, 300
Bureau of Employees’ Compensation 412 2, 067, 755
Bureau of Labor Statistics 904 5, 441, 302
Women’s Bureau 57 355, 066
Wage and Hour Division 1, 016 6, 235, 433
Subtotal 4,428 27, 815, 459
State grants and benefit payments: Grants to States for employment security program 229, 500, 000 125, 489, 541 17, 500, 000 46, 862, 843
Unemployment insurance benefits—veterans
Unemployment insurance benefits—Federal workers
Employees’ compensation benefit payments
Subtotal........................................................... 419,352,384
Grand total 4, 428 447,167, 843
413754—57---2
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Bureau of Employees’ Compensation
Summary of Funds Available and Expenditures
Funds appropriated 1955:
Bureau of Employees’ Compensation.......................................$1, 918, 000
Appeals Board............................................................. 112,000
Transfers............................................................. 37, 755
Total Bureau of Employees’ Compensation............................... 2, 067, 755
Transfer from War Claims.................................................... 91, 640
Grand total........................................................... 2,159, 395
Administrative expenditures:
Federal Employees’ Compensation Act................................. 1, 290, 598
Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act.................. 551, 376
Management services.................................................. 110, 991
Total Bureau of Employees’ Compensation........................... 1, 952, 965
Appeals Board......................................................... 113, 481
Total appropriated funds................................................. 2, 066, 446
Transfer from War Claims........................................................ 91, 392
Grand total......................................................... 2,157,838
Employees’ compensation fund:
Federal civilian employees............................................... 32, 602, 236
Reservists of the Armed Forces.......................................... 13, 281, 657
Miscellaneous beneficiaries................................................. 978, 950
Total Bureau of Employees’ Compensation.................................. 46, 862, 843
War Claims Act beneficiaries................................................. 1, 459, 601
Grand total........................................................ 48, 322, 444
Trust fund, Longshoremen’s and Harbor Worker’s Compensation Act: Receipts...........$34,805 Expenditures.......$10,631 Balance........$778,136*
Trust fund, District of Columbia Workmen’s Compensation Act: Receipts...........$ 9,574 Expenditures.......$ 3,352 Balance........$118,176
♦Includes maturity value of series “J” bonds purchased Apr. 1, 1954. Bonds mature 12 years from date of purchase.
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Appendices
Reports of Bureaus and Offices
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
Office of the Administrative Assistant Secretary
Administrative and advisory functions to the Secretary and bureau heads relating to budget preparation and justification, program operation, general service functions of the Department, continued as major activities of the Administrative Assistant Secretary. Planning for appropriations and operation of the unemployment compensation program for Federal employees in conformance with the amendment to the Social Security Act effective January 1, 1955, was a new feature. Congress appropriated $17,500,000 for the purpose for 1955 (fiscal year).
Self-employment surveys were initiated and completed on Departmentwide operations in the field of accounting and in the area of operating budget controls in filling positions.
An analysis made of Bureau of Employment Security policy and standards on rental purchase agreements with State agencies in relation to premises occupied for employment security operations under Federal grant funds, resulted in revised and improved policy and standards for regional directors’ guidance in making such arrangements in regional areas.
Simplification and reduction was effected in the number of operational codes from approximately 60 to 31 in time accounting processes required of States by the Bureau of Employment Security as support for budgetary requests.
Inventory of all internal bureau management improvement projects was completed. Bureau conferences were held on results and a program for further progress made, which included partial reorganization of Washington staffs of some bureaus.
Effort to coordinate and establish in one building all functions related to carrying out for workers and employers in the District of Columbia the employment security and unemployment compensation functions has been successfully carried out through securing and opening of the new District of Columbia employment center. Dedication ceremony was held on April 15, 1955- This provides opportunity and adequate facilities for maximum service to the public.
As compared with 1,817 in 1954, a total of 1,583 persons outside the Department used the library resources. These included increased use by people from other countries, trade-union representatives, college and university faculty and students. The same number of reference questions (namely, 12,700) were answered in 1955 as in 1954. But 40,803 books and periodicals circulated, as compared with 45,376 in 1954. Loans to other libraries totaled 2,231, as compared with 1,499 in 1954.
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This office participated with the Bureau of Employees’ Compensation in a detailed review and analysis of a paperwork management survey of BEC conducted by a private management consulting firm under the auspices of the General Services Administration.
Extensive research in the area of management and human relations training was conducted by a staff member. A series of training conferences for “middle management” representatives of a group of cooperating bureaus and offices was conducted under the leadership of this Office. All first-line supervisors of this Office attended a series of conferences on supervisory problems.
Relocation site for civil defense and emergency departmental operation was selected and plans developed for participation in an evacuation exercise in June 1955.
The Department’s incentive awards program for 1955 showed a 63-percent increase in employees’ suggestions over 1954. More effect was given the program through a new regulation providing that the file of each approved award should be sent to the Director of Petsonnel for consideration in connection with selection and qualifying employees for promotions. This has resulted in some promotions which might otherwise not have been made. Incentive-award material for use especially by supervisors was prepared and furnished to bureaus to assist in evaluation of employees suggestions.
Records disposal program—a total of 10,483 cubic feet of records was disposed of during fiscal year.
As of June 30, 1955, the Department occupied space in 10 buildings in Washington, as well as space in field and territorial offices.
Fiscal 1955 Fiscal 1954
Positions Amount Positions Amount
General administrative expense items: Office of the Secretary Office of the Physically Handicapped Office of the Solicitor Bureau of Labor Standards Bureau of Veterans’ Reemployment Rights Bureau of Apprenticeship Bureau of Employment Security Mexican Farm Labor Program Bureau of Employees’ Compensation Bureau of Labor Statistics Women’s Bureau Wage and Hour Division — Subtotal State grants and benefit payments: Grants to States for employment security program.. Unemployment insurance benefits—veterans Unemployment insurance benefits—Federal work-ers Employees’ Compensation benefit payments Subtotal Grand total 238 9 238 89 41 492 705 227 412 904 57 1,016 $1, 350,712 88,780 1,480,000 657,123 305, 588 3,159, 700 4,888,700 1,785,300 2,067,755 5,441,302 355, 066 6,235,433 245 6 242 87 41 532 750 221 409 938 60 1,046 $1,379,000 55,958 1,467,900 644, 042 301, 500 3,230,000 5,207,200 1,652,800 2,025,000 5, 528,892 350,000 6,235,000
4,428 27,815,459 4,577 28,077,292
— 229, 500,000 125,489, 541 17,500,000 46,862,843 — 204,305,000 77,900,000 41, 529,457
419,352,384 — 323,734,457
4,428 447,167,843 4,577 351,811,749
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The appropriations for the Department for the fiscal year 1955 were $447,167,843, an increase of $95,405,386 over 1954. Of the total in 1955, $27,815,459 was for administrative expenses, and provided for 4,428 positions. The balance of $419,352,384 was for grants to States for State administrative costs of the Employment Service and Unemployment Compensation programs, unemployment compensation payments to veterans, unemployment compensation payments to Federal employees, and payments under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act.
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Office of Personnel Administration
Significant activities of this Office during fiscal year 1955 included the installation of the new system of career-conditional appointments and the conversion of individual appointments from the old indefinite basis; installation of the Federal employees group life insurance program and procedures required to implement the extension of unemployment compensation to employees of the Department; and conversions of employees under CPC schedules to wage board or general schedule grades. All of these resulted from legislation enacted by the 2d session of the 83d Congress.
The most significant personnel activity undertaken by the Department on its own motion was the installation of a program of inservice training in the areas of (a) insuring supervisory and executive competence, supplementing professional and technical knowledge, (c) developing communication and conference leadership skills, (J) improving secretarial and clerical proficiency, and providing orientation training. This program was based on the findings of an ad hoc committee on employee training. The Secretary assigned specific training responsibilities to bureau heads and directed them to draw up plans for long-range training needs, to report annually on training activities undertaken, results achieved, and proposed training activities for the ensuing year.
Emphasis was given to establishing organization and other management arrangements for proper administration of the training program at all levels during the fiscal year. The Department made inventories of its executive and supervisory personnel needs, and initiated a program to attract promising young people. A survey of communication problems, media, and forms used between headquarters offices and field offices was completed in May 1955-
As the fiscal year ended, all bureaus and offices had training programs underway in areas where training is needed. The Department practices the rule of relating training to actual needs, and will continue to intensify its efforts to see that all legitimate training needs are met.
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Office of International Labor Affairs
The International Labor Organization
In the Department’s annual report for 1954, it was reported that the Soviet Union had rejoined the International Labor Organization. This action precipitated immediate discussion over the seating of Soviet worker and employer delegates. This matter continued under discussion during the year.
While these discussions went on, the technical and standards-setting tasks of the ILO went forward under the guidance of the Organization’s Governing Body, in which United States Government, worker, and employer representatives played an active role. Although the Soviet Union now has a government representative on the Governing Body, no Soviet employer or worker representatives have been elected to it.
Practical methods of improving labor-management relations were given increasing attention during the year by the Organization. Human and labor-management relations were considered by industry committees meeting during the year, and discussion of this subject was highlighted in the report of the Director General to the 1955 conference. Technical assistance in this field was underway in a number of Asian countries. Increasing emphasis is being put on down-to-earth improvements in relations, undertaken by labor and management themselves, with a view to minimizing industrial disputes and strengthening productivity and free institutions.
The Organization continued its activities in the area of promoting the principle of freedom of association. It considered a number of cases involving alleged violations of the principle of freedom of association, and the detailed reports of individual cases consideied by the governing body contributed to the development of a more favorable international atmosphere for the respect of trade-union rights. A notable action taken by the Governing Body in this area was its decision in 1953 to publish the report of its Freedom of Association Committee on the freedom of association charges against Czechoslovakia, following failure of the Czech Government to cooperate. During 1955, following the assumption of membership by the Soviet Union, the ILO also began to consider the charges brought against the Soviet Union by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
The preparation of technical reports and the rendering of technical assistance continued to play an important role in the work of the Organization. Technical assistance in the promotion of improved skills has been the dominant feature of this work, accompanied by special and related programs to promote productivity, sound industrial relations, good supervision, better job analysis, and wage administration systems.
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Since the Department of Labor is actively involved in the administration of the labor phases of the Government’s bilateral technical assistance programs, as well as in the affairs of the International Labor Organization, the Department has seen both the multilateral and the bilateral phases of these programs in operation, and has helped to assure coordination wherever possible.
Technical Cooperation and Exchange of Persons
In the field of technical cooperation and exchange of persons, the Department rendered several forms of service to the Foreign Operations Administration and to the International Educational Exchange Service of the Department of State: arrangement of study and training programs in the United States for foreign nationals; recruitment of labor specialists for assignment abroad; compilation of data, materials, exhibits, for use abroad; and advisory services for specialists assigned abroad.
The major aspect of this activity related to the provision of programs for 646 foreign nationals during the year in the fields of labor-management relations and trade unionism, industrial safety and hygiene, labor-law administration, employment service operation, labor statistics, and women’s employment.
A major consolidation of governmental programs took place during the year which will effectively improve administrative and program operations. Prior to this year, labor programs in the United States for European visitors under the mutual security program were implemented only in part by the Department of Labor. An agreement consummated during the year between the Department and the Foreign Operations Administration transferred this function to the Department of Labor. Thus, the Department became the central agency for implementing labor programs in the United States for foreign nationals since the Department was already providing these services under other programs. This centralization has made it possible to better coordinate arrangements and ensure more effective participation of various agencies and organizations, particularly the trade unions, which had earlier indicated their concern over the confusion that resulted from divided operation of the program.
Foreign Service Operations
Since our Government’s technical assistance operations in the labor-field are based upon requests which are made by foreign governments for such assistance, the role of the labor officers in the Foreign Service of the United States has been of great importance in this work. Especially where there is no labor officer specifically assigned for technical assistance or mutual assistance activities, the development of relationships with the other governments involved, to work out practical programs in response to requests for assistance, has necessarily placed a new burden upon the labor attache or labor reporting officer in our foreign missions. Such
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increased responsibilities have opened up new areas of contacts for our labor officers overseas. The resultant increasing volume of requests for information on United States experience and practice in the labor field has again indicated the great unsatisfied interest which exists overseas for factual data and information of this kind.
Preparation of Trade-Union Directories
In order to make information on foreign and international trade-union and labor organizations more accessible to those using it in the formulation and application of policies affected by or related to labor movements, the preparation of directories of the principal labor organizations in Europe, the Western Hemisphere and Asia was initiated during the year. With the objective of making better known the organization and activities of communism within the labor movement on both international and national planes, a similar directory of the Communist-dominated World Federation of Trade Unions, including its affiliates and subsidiary organizations, was prepared. This information was made available to the United States trade-union organizations which are energetically pushing the campaign against communism in the labor movements of the free world.
International Trade
In the field of international trade, the Department was an active participant in the preparations for and the actual tariff negotiations with Japan and several other countries. Special steps were taken to analyze the employment effects of possible tariff concessions, including those which might affect areas of substantial unemployment within the United States. Following the negotiations, the Japanese delegate gave a special assurance to the United States delegation, on behalf of the Japanese Government, concerning the intention of the Japanese Government to maintain fair labor standards in Japanese industries, including export industries. A successful innovation at these negotiations was the presence of four public advisers to the United States delegation, including one from the American labor movement.
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Office of the Solicitor
All legal activities of the Department of Labor are under the supervision and control of the Solicitor. To assist him in the performance of his functions as legal adviser to the Secretary and as chief legal officer of the Department, the Solicitor has a staff of attorneys located in Washington and in 10 regional offices and a Territorial office in Puerto Rico. The activities of the Office are interwoven with the functions of all the bureaus of the Department. In addition, the Office itself performs operating functions in connection with the administration and enforcement of the Davis-Bacon Act and related statutes relating to the predetermination and payment of prevailing wages on Federal and federally financed and assisted construction projects. The Office of the Solicitor is divided on a functional basis into five divisions, which in turn consist each of two or more branches. The divisions are as follows:
1. Division of legislation, bureau service and trial examining.
2. Division of employee benefits.
3. Division of appellate litigation and administrative law.
4. Division of wage determinations.
5. Division of trial litigation and wage and hour and miscellaneous interpretations.
Division of Legislation, Bureau Service and Trial Examining
A principle function of this division, both in importance and in volume of activity, is handling the legislative work of the Department. The increased emphasis on legislation of interest to working people in the 1955 fiscal year is reflected by the fact that the number of drafts of bills, analyses, and reports on legislation, and other legislative papers prepared in this year was double that of the previous year, 1,187 as compared to 523.
The Department of Labor this year presented to Congress a legislative program, designed to advance the interests of the working people of the country, as large as has been presented to any previous Congress. Some of its more important recommendations were:(l) amendment of the Fair Labor Standards Act (popularly known as the Wage and Hour Law) to inincrease the minimum wage to 90 cents an hour and to bring additional workers within its coverage; (2) to revise and improve the “Eight Hour Laws” for employment on public work and federally assisted construction; (3) to provide financial aid to the States for improving industrial safety; (4) to increase the benefits payable in workmen’s compensation cases under the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Act; and (5) to further improve the District of Columbia Unemployment Compensation Act in line with
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recommendations made by the President for improvement of the Federal-State unemployment insurance program.
The Office of the Solicitor, through this division, assembles and coordinates the views within the Department on pending legislation and prepares the reports which are sent to Congress after clearance by the Bureau of the Budget. In fiscal 1955 the volume of work in this type of activity was the greatest in the history of the Office, substantially greater than during fiscal 1954, the previous high mark, 353 as compared with 254 in fiscal 1954. This constitutes a 40-percent increase in a 1-year period, and a 157-percent increase in the 2-year period since fiscal 1953. In the case of proposed amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Department prepared over 600 typewritten pages of legal analysis and economic and other data to assist the Senate and House committees in their consideration of these amendments.
Through this division, the Office of the Solicitor during the year performed a variety of general legal services for the Office of the Secretary and the other bureaus and offices of the Department, including the drafting and reviewing, preparatory to publication, of proposed administrative orders, regulations, and instructions. The division also prepared 2,680 letters for the signature of the Secretary or the Solicitor; 1,935 were prepared in fiscal 1954. In addition, 757 legal opinions, analyses, and memoranda for the bureaus and offices were prepared, 135 more than in fiscal 1954.
Although in numbers the complaints filed, hearings held, and examiner’s reports filed under the provisions of the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Davis-Bacon Act were fewer than in 1954 (96 as compared with 140), the workload of the hearing examiners in the trial examining branch of the division for fiscal 1955 was more difficult and time consuming than in 1954. Lengthy hearings in the Walsh-Healey minimum-wage determination program were held in accordance with the provisions of the Fulbright amendment to the act, which required decisions by the examiners on numerous motions and procedural and evidentiary questions. For example, in two of the proceedings for minimum-wage determinations, the hearing alone consumed a full month of the examiner’s time.
The Office of the Solicitor, through this division, was called upon to furnish legal advice on many occasions during the year in connection with the activities of the Department of Labor in the field of international labor affairs and with respect to a number of conventions and recommendations adopted by the International Labor Organization. The United States reply to allegations of infringement of trade-union rights of alien seamen through visa-screening processes of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 was prepared, with the result that the charges were dismissed by the ILO.
The staff of the special services section of this division of the Solicitor’s Office assisted extensively in the preparation of opinions rendered by the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board. During fiscal 1955, 691 such opinions were prepared as compared with 642 in fiscal 1954.
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Division of Employee Benefits
Through this division, the Solicitor’s Office rendered legal services (including legal defense of administrative actions) to the Bureau of Employees’ Compensation in the administration of the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act, a workmen’s compensation act for civil employees and officers of the United States and others; the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, a workmen’s compensation act for employees engaged in maritime employment upon the navigable waters of the United States; the Defense Base Act, a workmen’s compensation act for employees at overseas defense bases and military areas and employed under Government public work contracts outside the United States; the District of Columbia Workmen’s Compensation Act, a workmen’s compensation act for private employees in the District of Columbia.
In fiscal 1955, 159 administrative decisions under the last three of these laws were defended in proceedings for judicial review in the district courts of the United States and on appeal to higher courts; in the previous fiscal year approximately 67 such decisions were defended.
A number of these decisions concerned compensation awards to shipyard workers, under the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, for occupational loss of hearing. The awards were upheld and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the costs of the awards should be borne by the insurance carrier insuring the employer at the time of notice of the disability. The court stated that the legislative history of the act showed that Congress intended as a practical matter that the last employer should be responsible in case of occupational-disease disability resulting from continuous exposure in successive employments and that there was no indication that Congress intended a different application with reference to successive insurance carriers.
During fiscal 1955, approximately 540 decisions of the director of the Bureau of Employees’ Compensation under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act were defended before the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board, the independent quasi-judicial body which has jurisdiction over appeals from the Bureau’s decisions. This represents about the same number of decisions defended during the previous fiscal year. This act provides for the payment of compensation for the disability or death of employees of the Federal Government resulting from injury arising out of and in the course of their employment or from disease caused by their employment. In 312 of the cases this year, there were oral hearings before the Board.
Where a third party is responsible for the injury suffered by an employee, the Federal Government has the right to be reimbursed by the third party for the amounts it has paid to its own injured employees. During fiscal 1954 and 1955, the gross amounts received in these third-party proceedings equaled $2,098,712.94 and $2,069,202.49 respectively. The net recovery in 1955 after deducting the expenses of litigation amounted to $1,506,813-69.
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Recoveries were made in 963 cases. The sums recovered were applied to compensation payable by the Government to the injured employees or their dependents.
The Solicitor’s Office continued to provide legal services through the division of employee benefits in connection with the interpretation and application of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, the Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952, the titles of the Social Security Act relating to unemployment compensation, the Wagner-Peyser Act, and other laws dealing with the establishment and operation of a national system of public employment offices. Assistance to State agencies, to employers and employees, and to the public generally was also provided in connection with the operation of the Federal-State employment security program, which includes both unemployment compensation and employment service.
During the past year there have been a number of interpretations made of the terms “Federal service” and “Federal wages” as used in the new law providing unemployment compensation for Federal workers. For example, services performed by employees of Federal credit unions, Federal land banks, and banks for cooperatives were held not to be “Federal service.” On the other hand, services performed by employees of post exchanges and of other nonappropriated fund activities of the Defense Department were held to be “Federal service.” It has been held also that cash allowances paid to Fish and Wildlife Service employees for “subsistence” or the cash value of “subsistence” furnished such employees are “Federal wages.” On the other hand, a so-called transportation allowance paid to construction workers on TVA projects was held not to be remuneration for personal services and therefore not “Federal wages.”
In fiscal 1955, members of this division of the Solicitor’s Office participated in the negotiation of a new Migrant Labor Agreement between the United States and Mexico for contract Mexican farm labor. Under the agreement the United States guarantees the performance by employers of provisions relating to the payment of wages and furnishing of transportation. During the past year several cases were referred to the Department of Justice for action against employers to recover sums paid by the Government under this guarantee. Several thousand dollars were recovered by suit or by settlement prior to suit.
Division of Appellate Litigation and Administrative Law
This division performs the duties of the Solicitor’s Office in connection with appeals taken to the United States Courts of Appeals and to the Supreme Court of the United States in cases arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act and other statutes administered by the Department of Labor. Uniform and equitable nationwide enforcement, which is to the interest of employers as well as employees, is achieved through the selection of appellate cases involving issues of national rather than primarily regional significance. In addition, actions brought by employees under Section
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16 (b) of the hair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, are analyzed so as to consider intervention either to protect the employee or to support a legal position taken by the Department.
In fiscal 1955 the Federal Courts of Appeals handed down 15 decisions in cases instituted by or against the Department, 10 of which sustained the Department’s position in full and two of which sustained it in part. Decisions in three amicus curiae cases in suits brought by employees were entered by appellate courts, none of which, however, were favorable to the Department’s interpretation of the law.
During the past year a number of decisions of importance to workers and employers were rendered in appellate cases litigated for the Department by the Office of the Solicitor.
The Supreme Court decided three cases involving the Fair Labor Standards Act, one of which was a suit between private parties participated in by the Department on amicus curiae brief, and denied review of four decisions in which the Department’s position had been upheld by courts of appeals.
Mitchell v. C. W. Vollmer & Co., 349 U. S. 427, is of particular importance to workers in the construction industry. The Supreme Court held that employees constructing a new lock and canal to be used as an alternate route for the Gulf intercoastal waterway were engaged in “commerce” and thus within the protection of the act. Prior to this decision, the lower courts had drawn a distinction between workers repairing instrumentalities of commerce and workers constructing new facilities to improve instrumentalities of commerce. Many construction workers had been held outside the act’s coverage under the “new construction” doctrine stemming from early decisions under another statute, the Federal Employers’ Liability Act.
In Mitchell v. Joyce Agency, Inc., 348 U. S. 945, the Supreme Court held that watchmen, guards and related clerical employees of a corporation engaged in furnishing watchmen, guard and detective services to a chain store organization with department stores in Illinois and Indiana, are covered by the act even though they do not physically handle the merchandise received from or shipped to out-of-State points, and even though they are employed by a separately incorporated agency. The decision recognizes that these employees, nonetheless, participate in and are closely related and directly essential to, the interstate activities at the warehouse. This case also holds that switchboard operators who regularly make and receive interstate telephone calls are covered by the act even though the telephone calls are between employees of the same employer.
In Maneja v. Waialua Agriculture Co., 349 U. S. 254, the case in which the Department participated as a “friend of the court,” the Supreme Court held that the agricultural exemption of the act does not apply to processing plant employees employed on a large sugar planatation even though the only crops processed by the employees were grown by their employer on the plantation. The effect of this part of the decision is to equalize the status under the act of large farming units which process their own products and
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small farmers who do not have the equipment or capital necessary for such processing. The Court ruled contrary to the Department’s position, however, in holding that the agricultural exemption does apply to employees operating a narrow gage railroad used in transporting crops from the field to the processing plant on the plantation and in transporting workers and equipment to the fields. The exemption was held to apply also to employees engaged in the plantation’s repair shops in maintaining and repairing mechanical implements and equipment used exclusively in the farming operations.
There were a number of important decisions by the Federal courts of appeals during the past year. Of particular importance to the enforcement of minimum wage requirements in Puerto Rico are two decisions of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
In the first attack in the courts upon the Department’s minimum wage orders for Puerto Rico, the court ruled that the Department’s wage order of August 1953, raising the minimum hourly wage for the Puerto Rican pearl and buckle industry from 46 to 54 cents, fulfilled all legal requirements. The court also refused to delay the effect of the wage order pending a possible petition for review by the Supreme Court. The employers then decided not to seek Supreme Court review so that the decision of the court of appeals became the final decision. As a result of this decision approximately $25,000 in back wages, accrued under the wage order but not paid because of a court order suspending it pending a determination of its validity, was paid to approximately 250 employees. Later, in another case, the same court of appeals refused to stay the effect of the wage order for the leather and fabric button and buckle industry pending court review, and the employer then agreed to dismissal of the litigation.
A question as to whether certain time spent by employees in activities outside of their regularly scheduled hours of work constituted time worked within the meaning of the act was decided in favor of the workers when the Court of Appeals at Cincinnati (Sixth Circuit) held that showering and clothes changing, required to safeguard the employees against occupational hazards, was an indispensable part of the principal activities of employees of a storage battery plant. As a consequence, the court ruled, the time required for showering and clothes changing is working time.
On the administrative law side, this division of the Solicitor’s Office performed legal services in connection with the Department’s activities under the Fair Labor Standards Act with respect to the examination and determination of minimum wage rates in industries in Puerto Rico. In volume, the number of wages established for the Island during the past fiscal year amounted to approximately one-third of the total number of rates in effect for Island industries. In addition, the branch performed legal services in conjunction with amending or revising the various regulations issued by the Department, such as child labor and hazardous occupations regulations, and regulations governing employment of learners, home workers and workers in sheltered workshops under the Fair Labor
413754—57---3
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Standards Act. Legal services were also provided in connection with administrative wage determinations and enforcement proceedings under the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act.
Division of Wage Determination
The division of wage determination assists the Solicitor in the performance of the functions delegated to him by the Secretary of Labor under the Davis-Bacon Act and similar statutes, with respect to the predetermination of prevailing wage rates to be paid on Federal construction contracts and on other construction financed or assisted by the Federal Government.
More than 17,000 determinations of prevailing wage rates to be paid on construction contracts were issued by the Department in each of the fiscal years 1954 and 1955- Each determination contained from 10 to 300 classifications of labor to be used on the project. As construction projects subject to the requirements of these acts comprise a large portion of the tremendous construction activity of the country, the Department’s activities in connection with the administration of these laws are of great importance to the maintenance of labor standards in the industry and the prevention of unfair competition.
The Department of Labor is responsible not only for the administration of the wage determination provisions of these laws but also for coordinating their enforcement by Government contracting and lending agencies. The Department itself processed 392 complaints of violations during the past year, as compared with 307 in fiscal 1954, a larger number than in any previous year. These are in addition to the many complaints processed by the contracting agencies under the coordinated enforcement program.
The enforcement activities of the Department during the year resulted in $196,901.94 being restored to 2,225 workers who had not been paid in accordance with the Davis-Bacon and related acts. Thirteen contractors found to have violated these acts, in addition to the 20 listed in 1954, were placed on the list of those ineligible to receive Government contracts for a period of 3 years. This is a severe sanction which is not invoked except in cases of aggravated violations and after the contractors have been given full opportunity to rebut the charges of violations.
Division of Trial Litigation and Wage and Hour and Miscellaneous Interpretations
This division carries out the Solicitor’s responsibility for the supervision of criminal and civil cases brought in the United States District Courts to enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act. It also performs similar functions in connection with administrative proceedings under the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act and litigation arising under that act.
The great majority of violations are disposed of through voluntary cooperation with payment of back wages due brought about without legal compulsion. During fiscal 1955, however, the Department found it neces
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sary to file 626 cases in the District Courts. (This represented an increase of 74 cases over fiscal 1954.) There were 552 civil actions, 521 of which included direct monetary benefits for the employees involved. Back wages in the amount of $118,670.58 were paid as the result of these actions. In addition the courts issued 498 injunctions against violations of the minimum wage, overtime, record-keeping and child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act; 80 of these were consented to and 418 were contested. There were also 20 contempt proceedings under existing injunctions.
When the violations were willful, criminal prosecutions were instituted. There were 74 such cases. Convictions were obtained in 68 of the criminal cases closed; there were only two acquittals and eight cases were dismissed. Criminal prosecutions and criminal contempt proceedings resulted in fines totaling $57,572.70 and in the restitution of $74,430.47 in back wages to employees.
As an adjunct to its litigation work the Office of the Solicitor was called upon for a large number of rulings and opinions during the year. A partial record reveals that at least 6,000 were rendered in connection with the Fair Labor Standards Act, Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act and other laws administered by the Department.
Legal advice was also given to veterans, employers and other interested parties in connection with the reinstatement of servicemen in their former employment after military service, in accordance with the provisions of the Universal Military Training and Service Act and related earlier statutes. In fiscal 1955, the volume of this reemployment work continued to increase. The decentralization of opinion work, put into effect on August 1, 1954, shifted much of this work to the regional attorneys. The 1532 opinions rendered during the year represented an increase of nearly 15 percent over fiscal 1954, and nearly 50 percent over fiscal 1953-
Over 830 reemployment rights opinions originating in regional offices were reviewed in 1955. In 118 cases (in which the veteran requested that his file be referred to the Department of Justice for litigation), the files have been reviewed to check the adequacy of factual investigations, and the legal questions presented analyzed. Memoranda of law were supplied, on the request of representatives of veterans, in about 20 court actions.
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LEGISLATION
President Eisenhower in his state-of-the-Union message to Congress on January 6, 1955, pointed out that the transition from a wartime to a peacetime economy had largely been accomplished and that America was in a strong position from which to carry forward its economic growth. The Department of Labor legislative program for 1955 was designed to contribute to this goal primarily by strengthening the position of the wage earner in many important ways.
Much had already been accomplished. The 2d session of the 83d Congress produced many legislative enactments embodying the President’s recommendations for improving the economic well-being of our workers. Coverage of Federal unemployment insurance laws was generally extended for the first time since initiation of the program in 1935 when the law provided for coverage of employers of 8 or more in 20 weeks. The Department presented legislation embodying the President’s recommendations to extend the coverage of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act to employers of 1 or more during 20 weeks and to employers of employees engaged in processing agricultural products. Public Law 767 of the 83d Congress, approved September 1, 1954, partially carried out these recommended improvements by extending coverage to employers of 4 or more in 20 weeks. It also carried out other recommendations of the President presented as part of the Department’s legislative program with respect to providing unemployment compensation benefits for Federal civilian employees and less lengthy experience requirements as a basis for reducing employers’ unemployment taxes.
Financing of the expenses of administering the unemployment compensation program was strengthened by earmarking excess unemployment tax receipts for use in the program, rather than returning them to the general fund of the Treasury. (Public Law 567, approved August 5, 1954.)
The Department supported legislation extending coverage of the old age and survivors insurance provisions of the Social Security Act to an estimated 10,200,000 additional workers and liberalizing the program’s benefits; also legislation making improvements comparable to the President’s recommendations for this and the general unemployment compensation programs in the railroad retirement and unemployment laws. The benefit structure of the District of Columbia Unemployment Compensation law was improved. The vocational rehabilitation program was strengthened and expanded in conformity with the President’s recommendations and provisions made for its coordination with the employment security program of the Wagner-Peyser Act of June 6,1933, and the activities of the President’s Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped. A comprehensive new housing law brought impressive progress in an area funda
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mental to the country’s economic strength and closed loopholes in the old laws permitting dishonest manipulations. The hospital survey and construction program was expanded with particular emphasis on stimulation of and provision for construction of rehabilitation, diagnostic and treatment, and nursing facilities.
To carry forward these notable advances President Eisenhower recommended many measures to the first session of the 84th Congress to make the prospect for wage earners still more promising. He renewed his recommendations of last year for amendment of the Taft-Hartley Act, calling especial attention to amendments dealing with the right of economic strikers to vote in representation elections and the need for equalizing the obligation under the act to file disclosures of communist affiliations. S. 2650, introduced in the 2d session of the 83d Congress and embodying these recommendations on amending the Taft-Hartley Act, had been recommitted to the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare.
The President pointed out that the country had had such economic growth in the past 5 years as to support an increase in the Federal minimum wage, set at 75 cents an hour in 1949. In the light of current economic conditions he recommended an increase to 90 cents an hour and that many workers, presently excluded, be given the protection of a minimum wage. He also stated that legislation promoting occupational safety, improved workmen’s compensation for longshoremen and harbor workers and modernization of the “Eight-Hour Laws’’ applicable to Federal contractors would be proposed as well as legislation respecting nonoccupational disability insurance and unemployment compensation in the District of Columbia.
The Department drafted legislation which was introduced in the first session of the 84th Congress to implement these recommendations of the President and otherwise improve protections for workers. These proposals included legislation to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, to raise the Federal minimum wage to 90 cents an hour; to amend the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act to (1) liberalize benefits and (2) increase the uses of the special fund established under the act and consisting of fines and penalties and uncollected death benefits; to consolidate and revise the “Eight-Hour Laws’’ so as to remove loopholes and inequities in overtime standards and establish a 40-hour week for laborers and mechanics employed by contractors on public work and federally assisted construction; to provide Federal financial and technical assistance to State industrial safety programs designed to promote, establish and maintain safe work places and practices in industry; to promote the job safety of Federal employees by amending the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act so as to charge Federal employing agencies with costs of expenditures under the act in accordance with their accident experiences; to improve the District of Columbia Unemployment Compensation Act to bring it in line with the President’s recommendations for (1) a uniform maximum of 26 weeks of benefits for all eligible claimants and
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(2) a flat disqualification period of 6 weeks for the three major causes of disqualification—voluntary quit, refusal of suitable work, and discharge for misconduct; and to extend the expiring Mexican farm labor program under which Mexican nationals are recruited for temporary farm employment in the United States.
The Department also presented proposals in the 84th Congress to provide a limit of 3 years following discharge during which Korean veterans would be eligible to receive the unemployment compensation benefits under title IV of the Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952; to extend the Federal-State unemployment insurance program to Puerto Rico; and to extend those sections of the criminal code relating to assaults and homicides against officers and employees of the United States to cover persons engaged in enforcing Federal labor statutes.
In addition, the Department supported legislation to enable the Territory of Alaska, if otherwise qualified, to receive advances from the Federal Unemployment Fund, created by the Employment Security Financing Act of 1954 (Public Law 567, approved August 5, 1954) out of excess unemployment tax receipts. Public Law 56, approved June 1, 1955, authorizes the Territory to receive advances from the Fund for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits and provides that the general fund of the Territory of Alaska shall be reimbursed for the advances it had previously made for such purposes. The terms of the Employment Security Administrative Financing Act of 1954 appear to permit Alaska, as well as the States and Hawaii, to receive repayable advances from the Federal Unemployment Fund when its funds available for payment of unemployment compensation benefits fall below a certain amount.
However, when this contingency arose in Alaska, the Attorney General of the United States ruled that Alaska was unable to accept such advances because its organic act precluded it from incurring any indebtedness. This made it necessary for Alaska to obtain money from its general fund to pay these benefits. This act was passed to make clear that Alaska may receive advances from the fund notwithstanding the provisions of the organic act.
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Bureau of Apprenticeship
By the beginning of fiscal year 1955 there was general awareness among planning and economic research organizations that industry’s demand for skills was fast becoming critical. Late in 1953 the National Planning Association had published its analysis of the problem: “Manpower—The Nation’s First Resource.” A year later the National Manpower Council issued, “A Policy for Skilled Manpower,” based in part on the conclusions of a series of 11 conferences held by union, management, and educational representatives in various cities.
These and other similar developments contributed greatly toward an increased interest in skill development on the part of national unions and management associations, and to a lesser extent of local unions and plant managements. The Bureau noted an increase in requests for technical assistance from industry at all levels, and found it necessary to remodel its own promotional and consultative activities to meet the demands placed upon it.
Three changes in program and administration were most significant: (1) an organizational unit was established to work with national-level unions and management associations; (2) regulatory practices of apprenticeship were eliminated or deemphasized and obsolete features were replaced by modern techniques of training; (3) the Bureau expanded sharply its activity designed to equip journeyman craftsmen to meet the more exacting requirements of their occupations which arise from advancing technology.
Apprentice employment, which had fallen for 4 years, was at the beginning of fiscal year 1955 showing no signs of the increase which the labor force required. By the end of the first quarter the trend had been reversed, and the number of apprentices in training increased steadily during the remainder of the year. From 153,958 on July 1, 1954, the number of registered apprentices rose approximately 9,000 to 162,690 on June 30, 1955-Practically every industry and occupation shared the increase.
The newer program of training for journeymen also experienced increased volume. During the first quarter programs of training were established by industry at an annual rate of 580. During the last half of the year the annual rate of program installation had doubled to reach 1,160.
Personal consultation and technical assistance was provided during the year to 128,000 establishments, 8,200 local unions, 2,000 local management associations, 53 national offices of unions, and 72 national management associations. In order to reach other units of industry which could not be contacted by personal interview, Bureau representatives utilized mass media of communication. Beyond the segments of industry referred to above, the following segments needed improved training programs but
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could not be given personal consultation: 163,900 establishments, 12,000 local unions, and 2,700 associations.
On the average, each field representative prepared or delivered 8 speeches, wrote or gave interviews for 8 news stories or magazine articles, and conducted two showings of films. He also arranged 5 completion-of-apprenticeship ceremonies to honor publicly apprentices as they advanced to journeymanship, and 1 television or radio program.
The workload of the Bureau continued to be predominantly in the industries of construction and manufacturing, as is shown by the percentage distribution, by industry, of establishments in the workload:
Industry-
Percent of total workload establishments
Construction________________________________________________________________________
Manufacturing_______________________________________________________________________
Metalworking____________________________________________________________________
Other manufacturing_____________________________________________________________
Public utilities____________________________________________________________________
Trade, services, miscellaneous______________________________________________________
Mining______________________________________________________________________________
38
34
(18)
(16)
26
1
Total___________________________________________________________________________
100
Among major developments in the construction industry was the first annual apprentice plumbers and pipefitters national contest, the finals of which were conducted at Purdue University. Managed and financed by the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry, the contest had the support of several manufacturers, architects, and engineers. It noticeably advanced interest in apprenticeship and training for journeymen. The Bureau participated by regional directors serving as judges, and by field representatives conducting a training session at Purdue University for members of local joint unionmanagement apprenticeship committees. In other highlight actions in construction, the UA engaged a second full-time apprenticeship officer, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers adopted a national program for training in the “ critical’ ’ occupation of lineman, the National Association of Home Builders instituted a promotional program, and a national program of training in wall covering was initiated.
An outstanding development in the manufacturing industry was the start of a special promotional project to increase training in foundries. The project involves a training-needs survey of a majority of the Nation’s foundries, personal consultation with each plant, analysis of needs in a special report, and development of a nationwide action program by an industry committee. The first two phases were completed during 1955. About one-third of all foundries conduct apprenticeship programs, and 7 percent maintain a training department. However, nearly one-half of large foundries (those with more than 1,000 employees) have training departments headed by a director. In small foundries the assignment of
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conducting employee training is handled by a foreman, personnel director, or superintendent. These data were given to the planning committee and to several trade journals which published numerous articles and editorials calling for increased attention to skill improvement. The action program is to be developed during 1956. Similar promotional projects for 1956 for aircraft and guided missiles were being planned at the close of 1955-
Veterans’ Training Program
The National Apprenticeship Program sponsored by the Bureau continued to contribute to the Korean G. I. bill training program for veterans. Apprentice veterans receiving subsistence payments as apprentices under the program increased steadily throughout 1955- The June 30 total of 39,624 was 24 percent higher than one year earlier. Veterans in other on-the-job training fell 5 percent to 18,601. Bureau assistance to industry, to the Veterans Administration, and to the approval agencies of State governments consisted principally of adjusting industrial practices to the rather stringent standards of the legislation. In addition, the Bureau director remained as ex officio member of the committee established by the G. I. bill to counsel the Administrator of Veterans Affairs.
Deferments for Training
The number of apprentices holding deferments from the Selective Service draft declined steadily throughout the year. The 5,816 deferred as of June 30, 1955, represented an 18 percent decrease during the 12-month period. The National Manpower Council characterized that number as “small” and commented: “Local Selective Service boards, employers, and apprentices fail to make use of the current deferment regulations.” Thus the fear that unwarranted use would be made of the regulations did not materialize. In fact, at the end of the year there was considerable support for more liberal deferments as a means of strengthening the skills of the work force.
Research and Statistics
To obtain data showing needs for training in specific industries, the Bureau conducts a series of studies. During 1955 such a study of the electric power industry was published. The study summarized data obtained by field representatives from 920 electric power companies employing a total of about 300,000 workers. It was found that training programs had been developed by 502 companies, and that 360 of these companies were training apprentices. Training directors were employed by 85 percent of the companies that reported 5,000 or more workers, and by 42 percent of the firms that reported between 1,000 and 5,000 workers. Responsibility for the administration of training programs in relatively small companies was usually assigned to a superintendent or manager, although in some instances personnel managers and foremen had charge of training. Similar studies were begun in aircraft manufacturing, printing and foundries.
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A second research publication of the Bureau described a survey of a sample group of former apprentices who did not complete their apprenticeship. It was found that the training received while apprenticed helped a high proportion of them in their subsequent employment. A total of 38 percent of the former apprentices reported that they were working in the same trade in which they had been apprenticed. Another 12 percent were employed in a closely related trade. A digest of this study, “Employment Status of Former Apprentices,” appeared in the Monthly Labor Review.
A national program for the machine tabulation of registered apprenticeship statistics was begun by the Bureau of Apprenticeship in 1948. At the end of fiscal year 1955 all but 6 States and Territories were included in the program, and 4 of these operate programs comparable to the Bureau’s. During the year initial actions were taken to develop a method for collecting and publishing statistics on unregistered apprentices. Information on the number, location, and occupation of workers in training to become skilled craftsmen is required for manpower planning, but has never been available in sufficient detail. Statistics published during 1955, limited to registered apprenticeship pending development of the new program, included a pamphlet entitled, “Occupational Distribution of Registered Apprentices,” tables issued quarterly on three major groups of occupations, and State summaries for the year.
Development of Techniques of Training
Various types of projects were carried out during the year to improve industrial training methods. Superior in-plant training systems operated by three Florida plants—St. Regis Paper Co., Chemstrom; Inc., and International Mining & Chemical—were examined and described. The Bureau also developed plans for conducting a clearinghouse of manufacturers’ training materials and services. The volume of these training aids, ranging from guides and devices to complete systems, is mounting sharply. Much of its potential usefulness is lost for lack of systematic collection, annotation, and dissemination. Another project was designed to foster increased use of visual aids in employee-training activities of small industrial units.
Bureau technicians assisted with two projects of the department. For the study of the employment implication of atomic energy they prepared an analysis of industrial training needed to impart the unique skills required for peaceful uses of the new energy form. For Operation Alert and other related mobilization planning they developed programs to be placed in operation in the event full-scale mobilization becomes necessary.
International Activities
During this fiscal year, the major activity of the Bureau of Apprenticeship in the international field was arranging training in industry for foreign nationals. The International Cooperation Administration, the International Educational Exchange Service of the Department of State, and the
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United Nations, including the International Labor Organization, assisted in the selection of the foreign nationals so that maximum contribution to the programs of these agencies could be made. The American Society of Training Directors continued its participation in the program by assisting in locating training opportunities within industry.
During this year, training programs were arranged for 102 participants from the following countries:
Argentina Haiti Pakistan
Brazil India Paraguay
Chile Indonesia Peru
Taiwan Iran Philippines
Egypt Israel Saudi Arabia
El Salvador Mexico Thailand
Finland Nicaragua
The fields in which training was carried out represent a wide cross section
of industry:
Manufacturing: Processing and services:
Cellulose fibers. Animal byproducts.
Cement. Auto repair.
Coke. Banking.
Fertilizer. Electric generation.
Glass containers. Heavy equipment maintenance.
Industrial alcohol. Lighthouse operations.
Lumber. Meat.
Petroleum. Mining.
Plastics. Office machinery maintenance.
Steel. Railroad operations.
Textiles. Refrigeration.
Engineering: Industrial management:
Ceramics. Apprentice training.
Chemical. Foreman training.
Diesel power. Instructor training. Management. Personnel. Planning and development.
Most of the trainees visited in the United States from 6 to 12 months-In fulfilling the training objectives, the cooperation of about nine industrial establishments for each participant was provided.
In addition to arranging training programs for individual participants, the Bureau also organized and supervised the training program for a team of 10 Greek nationals interested in American methods of apprenticeship training.
The Bureau of Apprenticeship also provided services for 255 foreign participants who were referred by other agencies in order that they might obtain a brief overall picture of apprenticeship and industrial training in the United States.
During this fiscal year, the Bureau provided technical supporting services for 7 industrial training specialists in Iran and 1 in Chile, who had been
39
recruited by the Bureau for service with the International Cooperation Administration's overseas missions.
Apprentice registration actions reported by type of action and State or Territory, fiscal year 1955
States and Territories reporting Active at beginning of period 1 2 New registrations Completions Cancellations Honor roll and suspensions Active at end of period
Total 153,958 57,124 22, 593 23,280 2,519 162,690
Alabama - - - - 1,816 529 350 418 48 1, 529
Alaska - - 230 107 25 13 3 296
Arizona - - - 1,316 708 174 364 1,486
Arkansas.- . 608 260 90 163 17 598
California - 16,853 9, 812 3, 503 4,484 456 18,222
Colorado - 1,432 857 349 276 60 1,604
Connecticut3 .. 5,116 1,138 271 723 27 5,233
Delaware 202 106 21 26 2 259
Dist. Columbia .. - . 2,019 1,062 345 561 2,175
Florida. . ... 3,300 1,684 403 952 136 3,493
Georgia .. _ . - 2,598 695 254 564 50 2,425
Hawaii - 528 265 52 225 25 491
Idaho 429 164 73 65 16 439
Illinois .. - 8,344 3, 796 1,725 607 157 9,651
Indiana . 2,787 1,083 540 332 84 2,914
Iowa - - - 2,201 414 184 296 25 2,110
Kansas - 841 461 120 108 13 1,061
Kentucky. .. _ 2,322 670 573 294 19 2,106
Louisiana - - _ - 2,463 780 355 513 2,375
Maine . . .. 352 261 41 51 10 511
Maryland __ - -- - 2,121 560 260 339 39 2,043
Massachusetts 4,469 2,770 734 1,178 124 5,203
Michigan . 9,105 2,746 1,349 380 65 10,057
Minnesota 5,047 1,667 872 818 68 4,956
Mississippi - 516 213 91 146 9 483
Missouri .. - - 2,801 1,474 467 249 50 3,509
Montana - - 1,160 589 190 306 29 1,224
Nebraska 759 278 143 68 24 802
Nevada _ _ - 247 190 52 37 348
New Hampshire 172 116 36 18 1 233
New Jersey . . 3, 555 1,156 600 325 103 3,683
New Mexico - -- 585 283 90 51 8 719
New York 2 _______ 16,272 16,272
North Carolina . . . 3,585 2,042 338 1,250 64 3,975
North Dakota -- -- 55 74 6 6 117
Ohio 12,673 4, 071 2,053 1,136 144 13,411
Oklahoma - - 1,126 510 223 287 40 1,086
Oregon .... 1,552 1,036 362 428 61 1,737
Pennsylvania 7,392 1,917 1,065 667 186 7,391
Puerto Rico 328 251 36 244 12 287
Rhode Island 829 316 68 69 4 1,004
South Carolina 1,296 239 178 416 12 929
South Dakota 110 75 10 2 173
Tennessee . . .... 2,637 858 417 378 33 2,667
Texas.- -- - - - 5,610 2,500 991 851 123 6,145
Utah 1,076 448 203 204 38 1,079
Vermont 410 180 89 113 20 368
Virginia 2,598 1,432 312 955 52 2,711
Washington 3,355 1,610 467 592 41 3, 865
West Virginia . 1,019 319 212 136 4 986
Wisconsin. 5,406 2,200 1,174 482 1 5,949
Wyoming 335 152 57 114 16 300
1 Adjusted from end of previous year.
2 Totals given are as of Jan. 1, 1955.
3 First quarter 1955 not reported.
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Apprentice registration actions reported by type of action and State or Territory, fiscal year 1954
States and Territories reporting Active at beginning of period New registrations 1 Completions Cancellations Honor roll and suspensions Active at end of period
Total 154,158 55,759 22,923 27, 264 3,859 155,871
Alabama. .. . 2,081 596 375 413 72 1,817
Alaska 135 138 31 10 2 230
Arizona.. 1,436 538 678 168 630 1,316 608
Arkansas 309 91 113 35
California 18,354 7, 793 3,480 5,153 591 16, 923
Colorado 1,543 612 343 317 62 1,433
Connecticut3 ... . . ... 4,508 1,663 361 866 77 4,867
Delaware _ 171 139 76 29 3 202
District of Columbia. . .. 1,905 941 276 550 1 2, 019
Florida 3,183 1,548 368 981 76 3,306
Georgia 3,179 1,014 484 1,020 88 2,601
Hawaii 504 409 35 337 9 532
Idaho ___ . 428 146 39 67 34 434
Illinois 8,007 2,426 1,275 561 168 8,429
Indiana 2,775 718 331 273 74 2,815
Iowa ._ 1,901 710 213 166 31 2,201
Kansas . _ 868 346 172 177 24 841
Kentucky 2,424 752 394 440 20 2,322
Louisiana 2,427 250 1,098 248 451 611 2,463 352
Maine 39 65 42
Maryland 1,927 672 189 248 40 2,122
Massachusetts . 3,465 2, 718 515 1,145 50 4,473
Michigan . 8,611 3,200 1,434 1,088 182 9,107
Minnesota . 5,052 1,542 861 558 114 5,061
Mississippi 556 188 55 105 63 521
Missouri ... 2, 634 1,037 555 196 93 2,827
Montana _ _ _ 1,082 710 237 364 31 1,160
Nebraska 752 303 162 63 64 766
Nevada .. _ . 220 123 31 61 4 247
New Hampshire 128 90 41 2 3 172
New Jersey 3,556 588 18,096 3,387 1,094 303 699 325 68 3, 558
New Mexico New York2 91 188 27 585 18,096 3.571
North Carolina 1,872 402 1,141 145
North Dakota ... 54 6 3 2 55
Ohio 12,065 4,491 2,372 1,301 190 12,693
Oklahoma _ _ 1,148 380 122 206 73 1,127
Oregon 1.632 833 353 470 90 1,552
Pennsylvania 6,622 2,234 801 506 152 7,397
Puerto Rico 283 215 13 140 17 328
Rhode Island _ _ ... . 563 451 152 31 2 829
South Carolina _ . . 1,396 461 208 311 17 1,321
South Dakota 116 33 18 20 1 110
Tennessee 3,013 1,072 648 688 111 2,638
Texas 5,838 2,417 814 1,542 271 5,628
Utah 899 487 167 126 16 1,077
Vermont 368 174 66 51 15 410
Virginia 3,128 1,687 622 1,349 248 2,596
Washington 3,880 1,538 837 1,129 92 3,360
West Virginia 1.106 375 205 248 5 1,023
Wisconsin 5, 013 2,633 1,192 812 227 5,415
Wyoming 363 136 56 69 39 335
1 Includes resumptions and reinstatements when reported.
2 Last report for New York was as of Jan. 1,1954, and included 18,096 apprentices on active file.
2 Includes registration and exit actions for 3 quarters only.
41
Bureau of Employees’ Compensation
On September 7, 1955, the United States Employees’ Compensation Act completed its 39th year of providing workmen’s compensation benefits for civilian Federal employees injured in the performance of duty. The act is administered by the Bureau of Employees’ Compensation.
From its inception the act was recognized as a significant forward step in social legislation. With but three major amending acts, in 1927, 1934 and 1949, it has retained its reputation as an effective means of providing adequate care and financial relief during periods of disability caused by Federal work injuries. In the nearly 39 years of operation to June 30, 1955, over 3,861,000 injuries to Federal employees were reported and close to $442,000,000 disbursed to care for the injured or their dependents.
Besides the basic coverage of regular civilian Federal employees, either temporary or permanent in tenure of office, extensions of the act of September 7, 1916, embrace such diversified groups as employees of the Government of the District of Columbia; commissioned officers of the Public Health Service; members of reserve components of the military establishments; emergency relief employees; Federal student nurses; and certain employees injured or killed due to enemy action. For conditions of coverage and certain restrictions on benefits the act itself should be consulted. Total coverage is conservatively calculated to be approximately 2,400,000 employees as of June 30, 1955- Coverage is international in nature and affects many hundreds of thousands of workers in trades and professions vital to national defense work.
The Federal workmen’s compensation system also covers certain employees of private industry. Included are thousands of maritime workers throughout the Nation, employees of private industry in the District of Columbia, and construction workers at outlying defense bases. Injury claims from such employees must be paid according to Federal statutes from insurance funds, or self-insurance provided by the private employer. Available information indicates that close to 1,000,000 workers are potential beneficiaries under the program. The Government provides medical, monetary, and vocational rehabilitation benefits for its own employees from direct appropriations made by Congress. For the others, it supervises certain operations to ensure that relief is given promptly and in accordance with law through the usual channels of insurance or self-insurance paid for by the employing concerns. In the nearly 29 years that the Bureau of Employees’ Compensation has administered these private employment compensation acts, over 3,375,000 injury cases have been reported to June 30, 1955- Disability and death payments in cases closed during this period, exclusive of medical costs, amounted to $173,112,390.
Nearly 183,000 employees were reported injured at work during fiscal
43
year 1955, according to the Bureau’s official records. Direct disbursements made by the Bureau and the evaluation of cases closed under the private employment acts amounted to $58.8 million, 8 percent more than that for 1954.
Federal Employees’ Compensation Act
The fiscal year which ended June 30, 1955, represented the fifth full fiscal period of operation under the liberalized provisions provided by the amendments of October 14, 1949 (c. 691, 63 stat. 854). During the year a total of 89,321 new injury cases was received, and 1,308 fatal cases were awarded compensation benefits. Total disbursements climbed to an unprecedented sum of $48,324,333-
Disability Payments
During the fiscal year 1955, a total of 39,007 Federal employees received cash benefits as a result of nonfatal injuries involving disability in excess of the statutory 3-day waiting period. Of this number, there were 19,302 employees who were paid wages during disability and their absence from work was chargeable to leave which they elected to take. An additional 11,935 employees received final payments of compensation due them and their cases were considered closed. At the close of the year there remained on the compensation rolls a total of 7,770 nonfatal cases. Disability compensation paid during the year, exclusive of leave cost, amounted to $17,818,890, approximately 72 percent of the wage loss. This is in marked contrast to the situation just prior to the amendments of 1949 when limited payments of $116.66 per month resulted in an effective compensation rate of less than 45 percent.
Of considerable importance is the role of the scheduled award in affording benefits beyond the healing period in instances where there is permanent anatomical impairment, such as loss or partial loss of an eye, arm, hand, finger, leg, foot, or toe. From October 14, 1949, to June 30, 1955, the Bureau of Employees’ Compensation certified 8,463 scheduled awards. By the end of the fiscal year 7,468 awards had been terminated and scheduled payments were being made to 995 cases. These 8,463 cases received an average award of $183 pet month, amounting to $3,253 per case over and above healing period payments. As might well be expected, most of the employees who received scheduled awards for permanent partial disabilities were laborers, mechanics, machine operators, and trades employees of all descriptions, particularly carpenters. Included, however, were doctors, nurses, engineers, foremen, and office clerks. Payment of scheduled awards does not preclude continuation of benefits where loss of earning capacity persists due to complete loss or loss of use of major anatomical members. In addition to these scheduled award cases, there were on June 30, 1955, approximately 6,775 nonfatal cases receiving compensation benefits for loss of earning capacity.
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Death Benefits
More than 15,000 families were awarded death compensation over the period September 7, 1916 to June 30, 1955, as a result of fatal occupational injuries. The exact number recorded is 15,311 fatal cases with 35,435 dependents entitled to benefits. Average award per case, prior to the amendments of October 14, 1949, was $56.21 per month; and the average evaluation amounted to $12,412 per dependency case. Comparable figures today indicate an average monthly payment of $208.75 and an average evaluation of approximately $45,000 per dependency case. During the fiscal year 1955 death compensation mounted to $21,122,869. Awards were made to 2,657 dependents in 1,308 cases. As of June 30, 1955, death compensation payments were being made in 8,821 Federal cases and 1,324 emergency relief act cases.
Medical Care and Rehabilitation
The Federal Compensation Act places no limitation on necessary medical and hospital services. Wherever practicable, these services and supplies are furnished by United States medical officers and hospitals. For this purpose the hospitals and dispensaries of the Public Health Service of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare are available without charge, as to a limited extent are the hospitals under the control of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Army and Navy hospitals are generally used only for the treatment of civilian employees of the Department of Defense and are reimbursed from the compensation fund at the rate established for such service.
In localities where the services of United States medical officers are not available, medical treatment is furnished by private physicians designated by the Bureau. These physicians, numbering approximately 2,500 are paid by the Bureau for services actually rendered. Nearly $6,950,000 was expended during fiscal 1955 from the compensation fund for medical treatment furnished by public and private facilities and for transportation incident to such treatment. Approximately 108,000 payments were certified during the year.
After medical care has been afforded there frequently remains the more difficult problem of helping the injured employee return to remunerative employment so far as his aptitudes and abilities will permit. This kind of rehabilitation for the injured employee with a permanent physical handicap naturally begins with physical restoration, and in many cases it commences at the very start of physical recovery.
The Bureau cooperates closely with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and with State rehabilitation agencies; and during the past year has referred to them many injured Federal employees believed to be in need of specialized occupational rehabilitation.
413754—57----4
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Third-Party Liability
When accidents occur for which a third party other than the United States appears legally liable, action is initiated to collect damages. Recoveries of damages were made in 963 third party cases, the gross amount of such recoveries being $2,069,202.49. This is a slight decrease ot $29,510.45 below the amount of the gross recoveries made during the previous year. After deducting attorneys’ fees, which amounted to 27 percent of the damages recovered, and expenses of collection, the net recoveries amount to $1,506,813-69. As of June 30, 1955, there were 2,011 third party cases still pending in the Bureau.
The Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act
The Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act of 1927 covers employees engaged wholly or partly in maritime employment upon the navigable waters of the United States. Such employees include longshoremen, ship repairmen, service men, harbor employees, and others whose employments are maritime in character. Through subsequent amendments, the act has been extended to include private employees in the District of Columbia; employees of contractors with the United States engaged in defense base work outside the continental limits of the United States; and employees covered by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953- The act is administered through deputy commissioners in 13 compensation districts.
Longshoremen and Harbor Workers
Reports received by the Bureau in the fiscal year 1955 cover 62,410 work injuries under the Longshoremen’s Act. Although many of these injuries entail only minor disabilities and a large proportion of the employees recover within the statutory waiting period, others are far more serious and frequently are permanent. That this is so may be seen by the fact that for cases closed in the fiscal year 1955 some 2.5 million days were lost as a result of work injuries. Compensation paid in 11,511 cases closed during the year amounted to $8,768,049. These amounts, and those quoted immediately below, are exclusive of medical expenses. On June 30, 1955,
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there were 11,066 nonfatal and 914 fatal cases open in the offices of the 13 compensation districts. Compensation was being paid in 3,271 nonfatal cases and 735 fatal cases.
Industrial Workers in the District of Columbia
Although precise information is not available on the number of employees of private industries in the District of Columbia, it appears that about 250,000 workers, employed by nearly 20,000 employers are covered by the District of Columbia Compensation Act administered by the Bureau.
During the fiscal year 1955 the Bureau received reports of 26,138 injuries, including 37 fatal cases, representing a slight decrease from the total for 1954. By the end of the year 694,991 injuries, including 1,414 fatalities, had been reported under this law during its 27 years of operation.
Compensated Cases
Although in a very large percentage of the 26,651 cases closed during the fiscal year 1955 the injury did not cause any loss of time from work beyond the day of injury, many of the disabling injuries were serious in nature and extent. Of the 7,670 disabling injuries, 2,965 cases were compensated. Of the compensated cases 443 involved permanent disability. In 69 cases awards amounting to $18,300 were made for serious facial disfigurement.
Compensation paid in nonfatal cases closed during 1955 amounted to $1,091,404 for 267,846 days of disability. The cost of 18 fatal cases closed during 1955 was $129,843.
During the year, awards were made to 26 dependents in 16 fatal cases. At present these cases are evaluated at $215,302. In addition to fatal cases in which new awards were made, it was necessary to make a number of modified awards involving dependents in fatal cases previously awarded benefits. All compensation benefit figures quoted here exclude medical costs, concerning which the Bureau is usually not advised under this act.
As of June 30, 1955, a total of 2,763 injury cases remained open pending final action. This number includes 570 nonfatal and 237 fatal cases upon which compensation was being paid. The remaining cases were incomplete and in various stages of adjudication.
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Table 1.—Operations under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act,1 July 1, 1950 to June 30, 1955
i sf- 32 3 2,393,249 ss“s*a || 16,591 $38,668 $483 47
§ T—< Is £5^ 90,105 106 2,407,500 ESS8 - 'Sig 3282 100,211 120 || 15,828 $39,258 $435 I 44
Fiscal year— § t—4 2, 572, 453 3232 «« §2 1 || 14, 998 $27,747 $393 37
! 100,458 119 2,561,524 5282 ** 32 § r—< OO «5 14, 090 $33,662 $406 42
8 §2 2,234,868 8.37 .62 $0.30 $10.14 3223 95,366 114 !! 12, 928 $34,301 $377 41
Average 1947,1948, and 1949 §g sF §2 55 2,100,000 S§S2l”g§ ®orfo §2 §8 10, 201 $11,210 $158 27
I Injury cases reported: Nonfatal Fatal ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Total Index Employment coverage (average; excludes reservists) Casualty rates: Frequency per million man-hours Severity per thousand man-hours ~ Cost per $100 payroll 8. 1 Final disposition of injury cases: Minor injury cases Disability 1-3 days Covered by leave Compensated, nonfatal Compensated, fatal No dependents, fatal J Total Number of cases being compensated at the end of fiscal year- Nonfatal Fatal zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Total 3 basic averages (excludes reservists'! • Average evaluation per fatal case Average evaluation per nonfatal disabling injury ; Average davs lost ner nonfatal disabling ininrv
Q
48
Table 2.—Operations under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, and extensions thereof, July 1, 1950, to June 30, 1955
ri 6 Q w
50
Table 3.—Appropriations and expenditures, fiscal years 1951-55
Period covered Salaries and expenses Compensation benefits
Total appropriations Total expenditures, all acts, including estimated obligations Net expenditures, Federal act, including estimated outstanding liabilities at the end of fiscal year Total appropriations Net expend -tures
Year ending June 30— 1951 $2,085,980 2,305,316 2, 494, 600 2, 290,000 2,338,095 $2,032, 686 2,286,724 2,481, 838 2,287,304 2,335,603 $1,143,928 1,315,086 1, 410,760 1, 298,399 1, 296, 789 $30, 457,903 36,167,968 41, 500,000 43,750,000 48,559,611 $30,427, 296 36, 233,944 41,355,917 43,692,268 48,324,333
1952
1953
1954
1955
Table 4.— Trust fund accounts for fiscal years 1951-55
LONGSHOREMEN’S AND^HARBOR WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ACT
1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
Balance, July 1st Receipts, fiscal year $627, 839.84 33,157. 94 $645, 669.46 36,405.54 $673, 252. 63 39,245.14 $705, 233.46 37,158.06 $734, 522. 62 1 54, 244.30
Total Expenditures 660, 997. 78 15,328.32 682. 075.00 8,822.37 712,497.77 7, 264.31 742,391. 52 7, 868.90 788, 766.92 10, 631.07
Balance, June 30th 645,669.46 673, 252.63 705,233.46 734, 522.62 778,135.85
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COMPENSATION ACT
Balance, July 1st $98, 949. 06 $104, 406.12 $108, 562.94 $107,147.33 $111,953.75
Receipts, fiscal year 8, 252.72 9, 487.06 3,467. 50 7, 613. 58 9, 574.30
Total 107, 201.78 113, 893.18 112,030.44 114, 760.91 121, 528.05
Expenditures 2, 795.66 5i 330. 24 4,883.11 2,807.16 3i 351.85
Balance, June 30th 104,406.12 108, 562.94 107,147.33 111, 953.75 118,176. 20
1 Includes $19,439.00 future proceeds from investments in Government Bonds Series “J.”
51
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board
The 1954 annual report stated that the Board was approaching a current basis of operation. Figures for fiscal years 1954 and 1955, compared with those of earlier years as contained in the 1953 annual report, demonstrate the elimination of backlog of cases. The figures for 1954 and 1955 are as follows:
Fiscal Year 1954 1955
Carried forward - 453 341
New cases 531 531
Total docket _ 984 872
Closed 643 691
Pending, year end 341 181
At the close of the 1955 fiscal period, there were pending 181 cases which consisted of 116 awaiting decision and 65 requiring some preliminary action and, therefore, not in posture for adjudication. At the close of the 1954 fiscal period, there were pending 341 cases which consisted of 124 awaiting decision and 217 requiring further preliminary action.
During the 1955 fiscal period, the average time lapse from the date of filing an appeal to the date of closing for cases in which hearings were held was 12.8 months as compared with 15.8 months in the prior year. In cases submitted on the record the average time lapse was 3-5 months as compared with 8 months in the prior year. Applications for approval of attorneys’ fees were received in 29 cases. During the 1954 fiscal period, only 13 applications were filed.
53
Bureau of Employment Security
The Bureau of Employment Security is the Federal partner of the Federal-State employment security system which serves the workers of the Nation at some 1,700 local employment offices.
In fiscal year 1955 this system found jobs for more than 14-5 million workers and paid out $1.8 billion in unemployment benefits to jobless workers. It offered counseling, testing, and placement services to about 400,000 high-school students ready to enter the labor market. It found 82,000 “out-of-area” workers for employers in labor-short areas. It certified 56,680 job orders for refugees immigrating to the United States, and interviewed more than 25,000 refugees overseas and found some 24,000 of them qualified to perform the duties shown on the job orders.
Production and Jobs
Production Went Up. The downward adjustments in the economy which followed the end of the Korean war had been halted in the final months of fiscal year 1954. By October 1954, the fourth month of fiscal year 1955, the “inventory recession” of the previous year was history. Manufacturers were receiving more new orders than they had in more than a year.
Industrial production reached 132 percent of the 1947-49 average in January 1955, and 139 by June. When the fiscal year opened it had been 123 percent. Gross national product reached a revised yearly rate of $387 billion in the last quarter of fiscal year 1955- This was $29 billion above the rate for the corresponding quarter in 1954, and $20 billion above the previous record established in the same quarter of 1953-
Employment Followed. Employment rose by almost 2 million—from 62.1 million in July 1954 to 64.0 million in June 1955- There was some lag behind production gains as the workweek increased before staff was added. Moreover, productivity per man had increased.
Unemployment Dropped. The fiscal year began with 3.3 million unemployed. It ended with 2.7 million. Unemployment among workers covered by State unemployment insurance laws fell from 1,873,300 in the last week of June 1954 to 1,089,300 for the comparable week in 1955.
Occupational Shortages Developed. At year’s end, the volume of job openings requiring out-of-area recruitment by public employment offices was half again as high as the previous year.
Professional personnel shortages developed sharply. Within this group, engineers and draftsmen continued to present the most numerous and widespread recruitment difficulties. Shortages of skilled workers also increased
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significantly, with top metalworking skills most conspicuously in short supply.
Farm Employ meat Dropped. With total employment increasing, average farm employment was 100,000 lower than in the preceding year according to the Census Bureau which estimates total average farm employment in fiscal year 1955 at 6.5 million. Monthly farm employment, varying with the seasons, ranged from a low of 5-1 million in February to a high of 7.7 million in June.
Area Labor Markets Improved. Unemployment declined in nearly all major areas. Job gains were at first concentrated in a few durable goods centers. But the pace and scope of the uptrend accelerated as the year progressed. By the year-end, most areas were reporting high, and some areas record, levels of employment and business activity. At the same time, the number of major areas with labor surplus problems dropped to the lowest point in 18 months.
Employment Service
During the first 4 months of fiscal year 1955 the number of new applications for work continued above the levels of the previous year. As the economy strengthened, the number of persons registering dropped and remained below year-ago levels for the last 8 months. The 8.5 million new applications received for the year represented a drop of about 4 percent from fiscal year 1954.
Placement Services Were Strengthened. In 1955, the standard time factors used to determine the cost of employment service workloads of State agencies were tested in selected local offices to check their continuing accuracy. The application of these factors to State agency budget requests for fiscal year 1956 revealed apparent deficiencies, either in the quality of the placement services or in the method of reporting workloads in some offices. Accordingly, Bureau staff conducted special field studies of placement methods and reporting practices in 26 offices in 8 States. Results from these studies will be used to strengthen placement operations.
Needs of Small Communities Were Measured. For some years, Bureau and State administrators have been concerned with the basic administrative problem of determining the point beyond which public employment services are not needed in smaller communities or rural areas. During fiscal year 1955, criteria and techniques worked out by a special committee of the Interstate Conference of Employment Security Agencies were tested and found valid. Plans for introducing the system throughout the Nation were developed.
D. 0. T. Supplement Issued. New jobs are created every year, and old ones change. An indispensable tool to any placement operation is the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. In fiscal year 1955, the first Supplement to the second edition was issued. It adds 1,570 new definitions and 1,147
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code numbers to the Dictionary, bringing the total number of definitions to 23,598 and the code numbers to 10,130. It is sold by the Superintendent of Documents.
Test Norms Were Revised. The Bureau issued revised “norms” for the General Aptitude Test Battery based on actual on-the-job experience. The original norms, issued in 1947, had been valuable. But because of the lack cf mass experimentation, many of them necessarily had been based on estimates—“educated” guesses. Over the years successful and unsuccessful woikers, apprentices, trainees, and students taking specialized courses (e. g., senior medical students) were tested. The key aptitudes of some 200 specific occupations were identified empirically, giving a solid experimental base for norms covering more than 500 occupations grouped according to similarities in the abilities required. The minimum scores needed were determined and the existing norms were revised accordingly.
During the fiscal year, the General Aptitude Test Battery was used to test 320,903 people throughout the Nation. Most of these were high school students or other new entrants to the labor market. Specific aptitude tests to determine the suitability of applicants for particular job openings were given to 411,719 people.
Out-of-Area Recruitment Increased. The process by which the local office taps an ever-widening labor market is known as “clearance.” During fiscal year 1955, the number of jobs “in clearance” rose by more than 56 percent—from 12,862 in June 1954 to 20,136 in June 1955. The number of different occupations represented rose by nearly a third—from 698 to 904. More than 82,000 placements resulted from job orders sent to out-of-area recruitment.
Perhaps the single most important reason for the rise in placements was the increasing willingness of employers to make use of “positive recruitment”—i. e., sending representatives with authority to hire on-the-spot to the areas where the employment service had located workers with the needed skills.
Professional and managerial occupations in clearance increased by more than 69 percent. Principal occupations involved were chemists, engineers, pharmacists, doctors, and social workers.
Intensive Placement Services for Professional and Scientific Workers Were Planned. During fiscal year 1955 State agency representatives from a number of northeastern States met in Washington to consider a plan under which special handling would be given on a wide geographical basis to job leads and applications of professional and scientific workers. The plan is being tested in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico during fiscal years 1956 and 1957.
State agencies continued to cooperate with each other in providing special convention placement services to professional associations. Notable among such services provided during fiscal year 1955 were those provided
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at annual meetings of the National Conference of Social Work held in San Francisco and the American Economic Association and allied organizations in Detroit.
Needfor Alien Skills Was Certified. Under agreement with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Bureau conducted availability searches for local workers in connection with 3,562 requests from 1,033 employers to permit the entry of nonagricultural workers as “first preference” quota immigrants.
Refugee Job Orders Were Verified. The Bureau, carrying out provisions of the Refugee Relief Act, certified 56,680 stateside job orders for refugees as bona fide, making a total of 68,504 since the beginning of the program. Its overseas staff interviewed more than 25,000 refugees, finding 23,348 Europeans and 942 Asians qualified to perform the duties shown on the job orders.
Year-Round Farm Workers Were Sought. Agricultural production has more than kept up to population growth, but the recruitment of qualified workers available to agriculture becomes more difficult each year. Fiscal year 1955 saw more State employment offices using farm employment days and volunteer farm placement representatives in isolated rural communities to bring year-round farm workers and farmers together.
In Washington, Bureau staff worked with the Department of Agriculture and other agencies in several studies of the problems of low-income and under-employed farmers. These were used in the preparation of the President’s report, Development of Agriculture’s Human Resources, submitted to Congress in April 1955-
Seasonal Farm Workers Were Helped. At the peak of the 1954 harvest season, almost one-quarter of a million people, many of them high school youth, were furnished daily transportation between farms in their locality and central assembly points.
But while local workers do most farm jobs, all States need outside workers at some time. The “annual worker plan” has provided greater continuity of employment to these migratory workers and more assurance to employers of availability of labor. During the season which began in fiscal year 1955, most States adopted it.
Local employment service offices assumed a leadership role in many localities in seeing that employers and communities improved housing and sanitary conditions, provided recreational and welfare facilities, and made transportation more safe for migrants.
In October 1954 the President created the Committee on Migratory Labor chaired by Secretary Mitchell. The Bureau helped this Committee to coordinate the activities of the various Federal agencies. A code for motor transportation of agricultural migrants was developed.
Use of Foreign Farm Workers Was Regulated. Seasonal farm jobs in the United States are filled by foreign workers only after a State employment
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service has recommended such action because qualified domestic workers are not available at the time and place they are needed.
During the year, 330,925 braceros came from Mexico under the international agreement and the work contract concluded with the Mexican Government under Public Law 78, 82d Congress. The employment service must see to it that domestic labor does not suffer because of the presence of this foreign labor and also that Mexicans are treated fairly and paid the prevailing domestic wage rates.
During the year the Bureau’s compliance staff conducted an intensive campaign to educate employers to their obligations and conducted more than 3,800 investigations and some 750 inspections of housing and facilities. Distressed Communities Were Helped To Help Themselves. At the beginning of the fiscal year some 53 major metropolitan areas were classified as areas of substantial labor surplus. At the end of the year there were 31. However, some 101 smaller areas were still listed as having a surplus.
There are many reasons for these islands of unemployment in the midst of the Nation’s surging economic activity. No two communities have exactly the same set of depressing factors operating. But recovery must always start with the efforts of each community. More and more of the distressed communities have been facing up to their plight. During fiscal year 1955, the Bureau provided special assistance to a number of such areas. In some cases it was a matter of helping them survey the trained skills and abilities of their workers and helping make the results of such surveys useful from the point of view of attracting new industries.
At the national level, two significant policy changes took place. The Office of Defense Mobilization extended special tax amortization assistance to all areas which the Bureau of Employment Security classified as “areas of substantial labor surplus.’’ Executive Order 10582 provided for exceptions to provisions of the “Buy American’’ Act. These exceptions, in effect, favor domestic firms in “areas of substantial unemployment” over foreign bidders.
The Bureau prepared about 200 special labor market surveys to determine whether specific areas should be classified as “smaller areas of substantial labor surplus.”
Veterans Were Served. An average of 85,000 servicemen a month returned to the civilian labor force during the fiscal year. To speed their readjustment to civilian employment, the Bureau and State agencies provided employment information directly at some 155 military installations. Information materials were also provided for distribution to releasees at another 104 bases.
The Bureau also cooperated with the Department of Defense in developing a special program to place involuntarily separated officers in private industry.
Help to the Physically Handicapped Was Increased. Under the 1954 amendments to the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, the public employment service
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received special earmarked funds for the placement of rehabilitated disabled people.
To benefit from the amendments, a State’s vocational rehabilitation plan had to “provide for * * * cooperative arrangements with the system of public employment offices in the State and the maximum utilization of the job placement and employment counseling services and facilities of such offices.’’ The Bureau spelled out for State employment security agencies the main areas in which their cooperative agreements with vocational agencies should be strengthened to give effect to the amendments. In addition, it prepared training outlines to help State agencies establish the specialized staff which they needed in each local office to qualify under the amendments. The Bureau also continued its development of interviewing guides which help local office personnel to make accurate and realistic evaluations of the work capacity of individuals with specific physical limitations.
Studies of Older Worker Services Were Planned. In November 1954, a special survey was made of the age of workers seeking jobs at all public employment offices in the Nation. The results of this survey, published in March 1955, furnished benchmarks for subsequent more detailed studies to identify more precisely the employment problems of older workers.
As part of the Department’s many-pronged attack on these problems, the Bureau, during fiscal year 1955, developed the broad outline and general procedure for conducting older-worker studies in seven important geographic areas. Work was also started, in cooperation with the Minnesota employment security agency and the University of Minnesota, on a detailed study of employer practices and the characteristics of older job seekers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
Youth Was Guided. Affiliated State employment security agencies are offering counseling, testing, and job placement services to about 400,000 young people in some 5,000 high schools. In fiscal year 1955, local offices in 32 States reported that they had carried out programs in 3,403 high schools.
Manpower Measures for Civil Defense Were Sketched. During fiscal year 1955, the Bureau developed and sent to State agencies a description of manpower actions which could be taken immediately within the framework of existing public authority and the present structure of government.
Critical Occupations Were Redefined. The Department of Commerce’s List of Essential Activities and the Department of Labor’s related List of Critical Occupations were revised for the first time since 1952. Incorporating the recommendations of the Interagency Advisory Committee on Essential Activities and Critical Occupations, the new version lists 32 critical occupations as opposed to the 62 listed in the 1952 version.
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Unemployment Insurance
Early in the fiscal year, the President signed into law several major improvements in the Federal statutory framework of the unemployment insurance program. These resulted in adding almost 4 million additional workers to the 36 million heretofore covered.
Federal Civilian Workers Were Covered. Under a new title (XV) of the Social Security Act, almost 2.5 million Federal civilian employees were protected with respect to unemployment after December 31, 1954. Their benefit rights are determined under the law of the State to which their Federal wages are assigned, ordinarily the State in which they had their last official station.
During the second half of the fiscal year, nearly 100,000 initial claims were filed by former Federal employees. About $16 million was paid in benefits to nearly 60,000 of these claimants. The number of initial claims ranged from 51 in Vermont to more than 10,000 in California. Only 2,500 initial claims were filed in the District of Columbia. Over the Nation, these payments amounted to about $2 for every $100 of State benefit payments in the same 6 months. Federal employment amounts to nearly seven for each hundred in State-covered employment.
Federal Fax Applied to Employers of 4 to 7 Workers. Another 1.4 million newly covered workers are employed by 270,000 employers of 4 to 7 workers in 26 States. Their employment became subject to the Federal unemployment tax after December 31, 1955- To coordinate with the extended Federal Unemployment Tax Act coverage, 20 States amended their laws to cover firms employing 4 or more workers. In another 6 States, broader coverage was automatic because the laws cover any employing unit subject to the Federal Act. All other State laws had previously provided for coverage of employers of four or less. When the statutory changes become effective, about 80 percent of the country’s wage earners will be protected by unemployment insurance.
Benefits Were Improved. In November 1954, the Secretary of Labor urged all Governors and Governors-elect to act upon the President’s recommendations that the maximum weekly benefit amount should be geared to the average gross earnings of all covered workers, and that weekly benefit amounts below the maximum should represent at least 50 percent of the individual worker’s gross earnings. He also recommended a 26 weeks uniform potential duration.
During the 1955 sessions, 32 States increased the maximum basic weekly benefit and two other States increased the maximum payable to claimants with dependents. A number of States made other changes in the benefit formula.
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After these amendments, maximum basic weekly benefits range from $24 to $36 ($45 in Alaska); the maximum number of weeks of benefits ranges from 16 to 30, and maximum basic annual benefits from $384 to $1,050 ($1,170 in Alaska). Almost 70 percent of the covered workers live in States with basic weekly benefits of $30 or more.
Even after the 1955 amendments went into effect, only 1 out of every 8 workers lived in a State where the maximum weekly benefit (excluding dependents’ allowances) was as high as half of statewide average weekly wages.
Unemployment Compensation for Veterans Rose 44 Percent. Veterans claiming benefits under the special program provided by Title JV of the Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952 received almost $107 million in benefits during the fiscal year.
Under this program unemployed veterans not eligible for benefits under State unemployment compensation laws are assured benefits of $26 for 26 weeks. During fiscal year 1955, 379,000 veterans filed new claims and almost 283,000 received first payments. The weekly average number of unemployed veterans receiving benefits was over 88,000 in 1955, compared to 62,000 in 1954 and 28,000 in 1953-
A Presidential proclamation in January 1955 set the terminal date for this program. Persons entering military service for the first time after January 31, 1955, will not acquire rights to unemployment compensation for veterans and no payments will be made for unemployment after January 31, 1960. Public Law 176, 84th Congress (July 1955) set the terminal date for individual veterans as July 26, 1958, or 3 years after their release from service, if later.
Federal Amendments on Benefit Financing Were Significant. The Employment Security Administrative Financing Act increased assurance of continuing ability to pay benefits by making non-interest-bearing repayable loans available to States whose funds fall below a specified level.
All the proceeds of the Unemployment Tax Act are now earmarked for the employment security program. The annual excess of the Federal unemployment tax collections over the employment security administrative expenses is automatically appropriated to the Federal unemployment account in the Unemployment Trust Fund. These excess collections will be used to establish and maintain a $200 million fund for loans to States with depleted reserves.
The excess collections beyond $200 million will be returned to the States for use in financing benefits and, under certain circumstances, may be appropriated by State legislatures for financing administration.
Employer Taxes Were Reduced. A 1954 Federal amendment permitted States to reduce the period of experience with the risk of unemployment required before new employers and newly covered employers may qualify for reduced tax rates. In the 1955 sessions, 23 States amended their laws to decrease the qualifying period for reduced rates. These amendments
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will help equalize tax rates of firms newly covered by the change in the size-of-firm provisions and those of firms which have already qualified under the former 3-year requirement.
Fewer People Were Unemployed. However, they were unemployed longer. Initial claims—numbered 13-7 million, as compared with 14.8 million in the preceding year.
Insured Unemployment Increased. As a result, in fiscal year 1955, average weekly insured unemployment for the country as a whole was 1.6 million, about 2.7 percent greater than for 1954.
Benefit Payments Were Highest Since 1950. Because of the longer duration of unemployment, weeks of unemployment compensated showed an 8.9 percent increase, to 73-5 million. This, together with increased benefit amounts, resulted in benefit payments of $1.8 billion—the highest since fiscal year 1950.
Average Weekly Benefits Rose 60 Cents. Average weekly benefit payments for total unemployment, including dependents’ allowances, increased from $24.45 in fiscal year 1954 to $25.05 in fiscal year 1955-
Average Duration of Benefits Increased. The average insured claimant drew benefits in 1955 for 2.6 weeks longer than the 11-week average actual duration of benefits in the preceding year.
Six hundred thousand more claimants exhausted benefits in 1955 than in 1954. Both the number of exhaustions (about 1.8 million) and the proportion of first payments which they represented (29.4 percent) were the largest since 1950.
Tax Collections and Reserves Declined. Benefit payments exceeded tax collections in all but six States. For the Nation as a whole $1.54 was paid out for each dollar collected, compared with $1.27 in fiscal year 1954. Tax collections declined more than 8 percent from the previous year to about $1.1 billion. Interest credited to State reserve balances went down by more than 10 percent. Reserve balances decreased for 38 States.
Alore Claimants Were Disqualified. The total number of disqualifications in fiscal year 1955 (1-6 million) exceeded even the number of disqualifications in the recession year of 1949-50, when unemployment was at its postwar peak.
Appeals Were Dealt With More Promptly. A claimant who is disqualified has a right to appeal. Employers may also contest benefit grants. In fiscal year 1955, the volume of appeals increased, but the rate of disposition increased even more rapidly, so that by June 30,1955, the backlog of appeals awaiting decision was significantly reduced.
Special Attention Was Given to Tax Collections. During the 1955 fiscal year the process of collecting more than $1.1 billion in taxes involved making over 516,000 determinations of employer taxability, processing more than 6.7 million quarterly tax returns, and auditing the payroll and
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other records of more than 126,000 of the 1.8 million taxable employers. The recent Federal and State extension of coverage adds to the program, after January 1,1956, about 270,000 reporting units.
To identify and enroll the newly covered employers of 4, 5, 6, or 7 workers, primary reliance is being placed on mailing lists, supplied by the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, of small employers who are now taxable under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act.
Claims-Taking and Post-Payment Checking Were Improved. The claimstaking and interviewing processes constitute the basic control used to sort out the valid claims from the spurious. During the fiscal year 1955 the Bureau continued experimental work on a plan designed to concentrate local office interviewing time where it will do the most good. The plan has been tested in 7 States, and was installed on a statewide basis in 3 States by the end of the fiscal year.
To strengthen post-payment checking and investigation a new Benefit Payments Control Branch was established in the Bureau to help States further improve their control of improper payments.
Benefits Were Paid More Promptly. During fiscal year 1955, 83 percent of all intrastate and 48 percent of all interstate first payments for total unemployment were issued within 2 weeks of the compensable period. This compares with 78 percent of intrastate and 36 percent of interstate first payments made within 2 weeks in 1954.
Labor Market Information
Almost every transaction in each of the 1,700 local employment offices involves the giving or the getting of labor market information. During fiscal year 1955, the Bureau continued to assemble such information from State and local employment security offices and to work with these offices in improving the information.
In addition to news releases, the major outlets for this information continued to be the monthly periodical, Labor Market and Employment Security and its statistical supplements, Farm Labor Market Developments, which is published from May to December; and the Bimonthly Summary of Labor Market Developments in Major Areas.
Improvements Were Planned in Employment and Wage Information. The Bureau regularly summarizes and publishes information on the employment and wages of workers covered by unemployment insurance. This information is derived from the tax returns of the 1,600,000 employers subject to State unemployment insurance laws. Requests from management and labor unions and from other government agencies resulted in the development, in fiscal year 1955, of plans for reporting and publishing manufacturing employment and wages information on the basis of more detailed industrial classification for the first quarter of each year, beginning in 1956.
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The Area Classification System Was Improved. The system of classifying areas according to labor supply has been widely used by government agencies and private organizations since the early days of World War IL In May 1955, a new classification system, designed to be more adaptable to wide changes in overall economic conditions and also making possible a more meaningful method of taking seasonal unemployment into account, replaced the categories which had been introduced in July 1951 to meet partial mobilization needs.
International Labor Activities
The Bureau continued to give technical consultative help to other Governments and international agencies, and to give training in the employment security programs to foreign officials, to International Labor Organization fellowship students, to International Cooperation Administration trainees, and to international visitors.
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Bureau of Labor Statistics
The congressional appropriation for Bureau work in fiscal year 1955 in the amount of $5,350,000 did not provide for any new programs. The Bureau therefore continued its regular program of studies and basic statistical series, consolidating previous advances, such as improved timing in the release of publications and the development of statistical details supplementary to the basic series. In addition to its regular appropriation, the Bureau received from other sources $700,361 for the preparation of special tabulations or reports. Among the special requests was the survey of research activity and the employment of scientists and engineers in American industry which was initiated with funds provided by the National Science Foundation.
Continuing the program of interstate conferences on labor statistics, the Bureau held a conference in June 1954 cosponsored with the New Jersey Department of Labor and Industry. The conference had broad State representation and delegates from the Canadian Dominion Government and provinces, and Puerto Rico. The agenda included discussions on accident statistics, employment and unemployment statistics, prices, economic research and analysis, as well as statistical techniques. Plans were made for a succeeding conference, the 13th in this series, to be held early in July 1955 at Madison, Wis.
The office of labor economics provided interpretative and analytical summaries using materials developed by staff of BLS divisions, other bureaus of the Department, and outside agencies. The office assisted Labor Department officials on numerous economic inquiries and problems on which the Department was asked for advice by international agencies, by Congress, and by the President.
During fiscal year 1955 the following types of service were provided: Weekly summaries of the effect on the labor situation of economic developments, and special reports on specific aspects of the current economic situation; special reports on employment and wages in specific industries affected by foreign trade; tabulations on retail prices, wages, and salaries, hours of work for United States and its territorial possessions, and for the ILO Yearbook; analysis of U. N. report on international definition and measurement of standards and levels of living; and summary of available data on international differences in output per man-hour.
The Business Research Advisory Committee met with the staff of the Bureau three times during 1954, and twice during the first 6 months of 1955. Subcommittees were active in the fields of construction, consumer and wholesale prices, foreign labor conditions, work-injury statistics, manpower and employment statistics, productivity and technological developments, and wages and industrial relations.
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One meeting of the Joint Labor Research Advisory Committee was held in 1955. There were six standing committee meetings, and several meetings of the subcommittees on construction, foreign labor conditions, fringe benefits, manpower and employment, productivity, and wages and industrial relations. The subcommittee on manpower and employment was reestablished early in the year. On the workmen’s compensation and industrial accident program, it was agreed that a small group of experts, consisting of 1 or 2 representatives of each of the federations, could meet on an ad hoc basis, and that, if possible, the program recommendations in this area should be handled jointly with the Bureau of Labor Standards.
In view of the merger of the AFL-CIO federations, it was generally agreed that the existing structure of the Joint Labor Research Advisory Committee, together with current subcommittee membership, would be retained at least until the end of fiscal year 1955.
During the fiscal year 1955 the five regional offices participated in 88 conventions and meetings of labor, business and civic organizations, professional societies, and other groups. Exhibits of bureau and departmental materials were presented, talks on bureau data and programs were made, and advisory services and assistance on utilization of bureau statistics were made available.
The inquiries and correspondence section of the office of publications answered 11,951 inquiries. Thirty-three bulletins, 26 reports, and 26 Monthly Labor Review reprints were published. Outstanding Monthly Labor Review articles published during fiscal year 1955 included two articles, on the cost of renting versus home ownership, and on voluntarism in the American labor movement. The Review continued its coverage of the guaranteed wage subject and began concentrated coverage of automation developments. Outstanding during the year was a specialized Monthly Labor Review issue commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Bureau.
Employment and Manpower
The Bureau continued to develop and release monthly statistics on employment, hours and earnings. Late in fiscal year 1954, noteworthy advances were made in the prompt release of these data, and the new schedule was maintained during fiscal year 1955. The Bureau continued to publish the new joint release on employment, unemployment and earnings which, prior to May 1954, had been published in separate releases by the Departments of Labor and Commerce. The new single publication, Employment and Earnings, was continued. Prior to May 1954, detailed statistics of employment and earnings had been released separately.
A new monthly release emphasizing the importance of net spendable earnings as a measure of the consumer’s economic well-being was instituted.
The division assumed responsibility for computing and publishing seasonally adjusted employment data during fiscal year 1955- This work
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had previously been done by the Federal Reserve System, and no adjusted data had been available through the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In connection with congressional hearings on Selective Service and the military reserve program, the Bureau revised and brought up to date the study of “Military Manpower Requirements and Supply, 1955-59.” This information served as a basis for revision of the Armed Forces Reserve legislation.
In fiscal 1954 the Bureau also completed a series of studies on mobilization manpower problems which had been initiated with support from the Department of Defense. These included a study in which data were compiled and techniques developed for estimating manpower requirements under mobilization conditions; studies of the training, experience, and occupational mobility of the members of three critical occupations (tool and die makers, molders, and electronic technicians); and the development of an occupational industry matrix for the economy of the United States, which brought together in a systematic fashion occupational composition patterns for all of the industries in the United States, for the purpose of preparing estimates of employment by occupation. Continuing work done in the previous fiscal year on mobilization manpower problems, the Bureau completed work, in cooperation with the Office of Defense Mobilization, on estimates of mobilization manpower requirements and supply in a general test of the feasibility of a defense production program in terms of manpower. The Bureau also published a study of mobilization requirements in the aircraft engine industry.
The program of studies of the Nation’s resources of critical scientific specialists continued with the cooperation of the National Science Foundation. “Manpower Resources in the Biological Sciences” and, in cooperation with the American Council of Learned Societies, “Personnel Resources in the Social Sciences and Humanities” were released.
A major step forward in the development of basic information on scientific research activity and employment of scientists and engineers in American industry was taken in a study launched by the Bureau for the National Science Foundation. In this study, involving the cooperation of 12,000 industrial firms, estimates were prepared for the first time of total costs of industrial research and development, and of total employment of scientists and engineers, by industry, in research and in other activities.
In the occupational outlook program, 10 studies were completed with support from the Veterans’ Administration. The first, “Employment Outlook in Skilled Electrical and Electronic Occupations,” brought together for the first time information on the whole complex of employment opportunities in this rapidly growing field. The Bureau also completed a series of nine reports on educational requirements for employment in chemistry, the biological sciences, physics, geology, geophysics, economics, sociology, statistics, and actuarial work.
Prices
Continued economic stability during fiscal year 1955 was reflected in the Bureau’s price indexes. The Consumer Price Index declined slightly from 115.2 in July 1954 to 114.4 in June 1955- This relative stability was compounded, however, of a sizable drop in food and apparel prices, partly offset by continuing increases in rents, medical care, and personal services
Although the Wholesale Price Index was virtually unchanged over the year, it represented a balancing of a variety of primary market price movements. Farm products declined from 96.2 in July 1954 to 91.8 in June 1955, but lumber and lumber products increased from 119.1 to 123.7 and metals and metal products from 128.0 to 132.6 in the same period. Rubber, non-metallic minerals, and metal products all showed sizable price increases during the year while textiles, leathers, fuels, chemicals, furniture and other household durables, and tobacco manufactures demonstrated a high degree of stability throughout the year.
The Bureau’s basic program and operating budget for the collection and analysis of price data remained essentially unchanged from that of the previous year. Substantial gains were made, however, in processing efficiency through greater use of machine tabulation equipment.
Work was initiated on the economic sector classification of the Wholesale Price Index, representing an effort to provide special groupings of the component series designed to facilitate the analysis of price movements at different economic and processing stages.
Early in this fiscal year the Ford Foundation granted funds to the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of the University of Pennsylvania for comprehensive analytical tabulations of the Bureau of Labor Statistics 1950 survey of consumer expenditures, and extensive research studies of consumer income, spending, and savings in the United States. The Bureau played the leading role in the negotiations which resulted in the allocation of Foundation funds for this purpose. The Wharton School study is divided into two major parts: first, the preparation of tabulations by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and second, the development of a series of research studies of economic and social aspects of consumption and savings patterns to be prepared by staff members of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Wharton School, and other academic institutions. In the first year of operation, plans for the tabulation and publication of data were developed and much progress was made in the mechanical processing of survey results. A considerable number of preliminary tabulations were completed.
As planned, the series of statistical tabulations, to be published in 18 volumes, will represent the most comprehensive source of information available on the economic behavior of consumers. Eleven summary volumes will present family income, expenditures, and savings accounts classified by 21 family characteristics, for 91 cities, 9 classes of cities, and the United States. Some classification variables; e. g., income, occupation, and family size, conform with family characteristics used in presenting
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earlier study results. Others; e. g., savings position of the family, are presented for the first time in these volumes. Six volumes of detailed information will show specific items of family expenditures, quantities purchased, prices paid, income by source and items of change in assets and liabilities. One volume will present information on family ownership of houses, automobiles and durable household goods.
Wages and Industrial Relations
The Bureau conducted a varied program of studies designed to develop an understanding of the position of wages and industrial relations in the American economy and to serve a wide variety of uses.
Wages
Wage Levels. Wage studies provided information on wage rates by occupation, supplementary wage benefits, wage distributions, and wage trends. Some of the surveys reflected nationwide data, while others were limited to the areas of concentration of the industry under study, or to the larger labor markets.
National occupational wage studies provided basic wage information for selected occupations for the country as a whole and, where feasible, for regions and localities. Information was also presented on the earnings of all plant workers. Studies in this area in fiscal 1955 covered the work clothing, structural clay products, leather tanning and finishing, men’s and boys’ dress shirts and nightwear, and household furniture. These studies included earnings information according to type of product or operation, size of establishment, size of community, method of wage payment, and labor-management contract coverage. Related wage practices, such as the extent and types of shift differentials, paid vacations and sick leave, paid holiday provisions, health, insurance, and pension plans, and the like were also acquired. An analysis of the data collected by the Federal Communications Commission in the communications industry was also made.
Other wage studies provided only overall averages and distributions of workers according to wage levels on a nationwide basis, with occasional breakdowns by region and product. Many of these served to guide the Department’s Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions in determining minimum wage standards under provisions of the Public Contracts (Walsh-Healey) Act. The industries in the 1955 program included selected segments of wood household furniture, envelope manufacture, photographic equipment and supplies, electric lamps, and electric batteries.
Some studies centered upon the major cities or localities in which the industries studied were primarily concentrated. These studies, providing occupational wage data for a selected group of key occupations and information on scheduled weekly hours, shift differentials, health, insurance, and pension plans, and vacation and sick leave policies, were made in the
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machinery industries and for office building services and contract cleaning services.
Another series of wage studies was oriented to selected labor markets. These community wage surveys provided earnings information for office clerical, professional and technical, maintenance and power plant, and custodial and material movement jobs; and data on work schedules, shift differential provisions, paid vacation and sick leave plans, paid holiday provisions, health, insurance, and pension plans, and minimum entrance rates. Analyses were made of trends, levels, and .intercity differences in occupational earnings. Community wage studies were conducted in Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York City, Newark-Jersey City, Philadelphia, Portland (Oreg.), St. Louis, and San Francisco-Oakland.
The annual studies of union scales, which date back to 1906, provided union rates and standard hours for the construction, printing, local transit, and local trucking industries in 52 cities. In addition to a listing of the minimum wage and maximum schedules of hours agreed upon through collective bargaining, the studies also included information on trends of union scales, scale changes, rate variations by type of work, city and regional variations in rates, and the trend in the standard workweek. Special quarterly surveys in 85 cities were made of union rates for 7 major crafts; bricklayers, carpenters, electricians, painters, plasterers, plumbers, and building laborers.
Wage Developments and Trends. Three continuing programs designed to provide up-to-date information on major wage negotiations and wage trends were maintained.
One such program involved the issuance monthly of the report, Current Wage Developments. This series provided information on collective bargaining settlements involving 1,000 or more workers. The details of each individual settlement were listed and quarterly summaries were provided.
The wage chronology series presented in summary form changes in wages and related wage practices in selected collective bargaining situations. In fiscal year 1955, a basic chronology was prepared for the Pacific Greyhound Lines and supplemental reports covering the latest settlements were issued for Aluminum Company of America, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Anaconda Copper Mining, American Woolen Co., and the Pacific longshore industry.
Wage indexes were provided for public school teachers, clerical workers, policemen and firemen, Federal classified employees, the machinery industries, and manufacturing industries.
Industrial Relations
Work Stoppages. Monthly data were issued on work stoppages, the number of workers involved, and man-days lost in the stoppages. Annual and special analyses were also released.
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Industrial Relations Analysis. Among the reports completed were those analyzing contract provisions covering military-service payments; hours and premium pay provisions in the industrial chemical industry; paid jury leave; paid leave on death in the family; reporting and callback pay; expiration, reopening, and wage adjustment provisions of major agreements; union security; and seniority as a factor for layoffs. An analysis was prepared of the prevalence of health, insurance, and pension plans under collective bargaining. Reports were also prepared on “Anti-Communist Provisions in Union Constitutions,’’ “Listings of Union Conventions,’’ and “The Fifteenth Annual Convention of the CIO.” Among special studies and reports completed were “Arbitration of Labor-Management Grievances: Bethlehem Steel Company and United Steelworkers of America, 1942-52,” “American Labor and the American Spirit,” and “The Collection and Analysis of Collective Bargaining Agreements.”
Monthly reports on developments in labor productivity were also prepared in a project financed by the Foreign Operations Administration (now the International Cooperation Administration).
Construction
One of the most striking events of fiscal year 1955 was the strong upsurge in new homebuilding which helped to sustain the general economic expansion. The Bureau’s newly revised statistics on housing starts reliably measured the strength and charted the trend of the 1955 housing boom. The rapid rise in housing production led to numerous interagency meetings to explore the question: Are we overbuilding?, and to discuss what governmental action should be taken affecting housing and mortgage credit. The Bureau was called upon by the Council of Economic Advisers and the National Housing Council for help in appraising the influences behind the housing demand, and in estimating future trends.
Since it was recognized that national housing and credit policy could not be developed without regard to widely varying local housing situations, the Bureau analyzed results from two of its continuing programs to contribute to an understanding of local housing markets. These two programs consist of: Semiannual studies of the housing inventory in sample areas that constitute the basis for the housing component of the Consumer Price Index; and monthly studies of building activity in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan localities, based on building-permit reports.
The conclusion that withdrawals from the housing supply were extensive within major cities, coupled with a quantitative measure of new suburban building, provided impressive evidence that elimination of substandard and other dwellings in the cities offset, to some extent, the effects of rapid migration to the suburbs.
The results of the Bureau’s analysis, including a national withdrawalrate estimate of 250,000 to 300,000 dwelling units annually, were summarized in an article in Construction Review (July 1955), entitled “The Vacancy Rate and Withdrawals from the Housing Supply.” Conclusions presented in this article served to clarify what appeared previously to be
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an inconsistency—continuing low vacancy rates, a level or declining rate of household formation, and rising housing production.
The Bureau’s study of the features of new housing—its size, price, and general structural characteristics—provided still another contribution toward understanding housing developments. The survey of dwellings started in the early part of 1955 was similar to the 1954 study. A summary of the latter was published early in fiscal year 1955 as a special report of the Bureau, and has been used extensively by individuals and groups interested in housing policy and housing research, and by labor and management in the building materials producing industries. Comparison of results from the two studies revealed a substantial rise in the price and size of new buildings. It showed also the extent and nature of changes in the kinds of materials used in construction, and in the basic housing facilities as reflected by floor space, number of bedrooms, and other features. A group of building materials producers and trade associations helped to finance this study.
The coordination of virtually all of the Government’s construction statistics in a single publication was achieved in January 1955 in the form of the new monthly periodical, Construction Review. Issued jointly by the Departments of Labor and Commerce, this review is the most comprehensive statistical report on construction in the country, and the first interagency governmental publication issued to subscribers. The subscription list numbered over 6,000 by mid-1955, and included representatives of more than 75 different industries, as well as financial and real estate groups, architects, engineers, research and educational organizations, trade unions and the press.
The journal incorporates the periodic statistics and the results of special studies in construction that emanate from the programs of the Departments of Labor and Commerce. It includes related statistics and articles from other sources.
Among the more important contributions of the Bureau was a special analysis of the expected manpower impact of President Eisenhower’s proposed $101 billion highway program. This analysis was published as a feature article in Construction Review, and evoked widespread interest.
Estimates of the annual manpower requirements of the United States portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway were furnished to the St. Lawrence Waterway Corporation for its use in planning the recruitment of employees, training requirements, and housing accommodations, and to the Federal Housing Administration to assist it in a study cf housing available for workers on the project.
In addition, technical assistance was provided to the Council of Economic Advisers as an aid in estimating manpower requirements for the shelf of public works reported by State and local governments in fiscal year 1955.
Among the regularly recurring projects of the Bureau upon which there is great reliance by government, labor, and business is the forecast of construction activity which is issued jointly with the Department of Com
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merce each November covering prospects for the following calendar year. These forecasts accurately predicted a strong uptrend in 1954 as well as in 1955.
Productivity
The work on the measurement of productivity in manufacturing for the years 1939-52 was virtually completed. Measurement was presented in both physical volume and net value added (gross national product) terms with two sets of indexes developed for each type of measurement. Extension of both sets of indexes to 1953 was started, and the review of a draft report was started with labor and industry describing the indexes and methodology.
During the year, two developments were noteworthy in the net output program. Considerable work was done on the development of cost of materials price indexes for manufacturing industries. In addition, research was started on the conceptual and statistical framework for preparing estimates of GNP per man-hour.
A preliminary report on indexes of physical output per man-hour in the steel industry was completed, and review was started with both labor and industry representatives.
In the early part of the fiscal year, considerable material related to automatic technology was gathered from trade journals, press, and scientific publications. A proposed program for a more formal and complete study of automation was developed during the latter half of the year, leading to the publication of an article on automation and to informal visits to electronic-computer-using companies. At the end of the year, the plant visit for the first case study of automatic technology (a TV manufacturer) was completed.
The factory performance program sponsored by the Economic Cooperation Administration and successor agencies was completed. Forty-eight reports in this series were published in the 3^ years during which the program was operated. More than 20,000 copies of reports were sent abroad via the foreign aid agency. They were translated into the three primary European languages: French, German, and Italian, and further reproduced and distributed to manufacturing plants and groups—the ultimate users. Upon request over 29,000 copies were distributed domestically.
During the year, the following 14 factory performance reports were published:
Irons, Hot Plates and Space Heaters
Wood Furniture
Cotton Textile Dyeing and Finishing
Metal Containers
Paint and Varnish
Coal Burning Space Heaters
Centrifugal Pumps
Fertilizer
Circuit Breakers
Copper Tube and Brass Rod
Glass Containers
Diesel Engines
Women’s Dresses
Five Small Gray Iron Foundries
Through the entire year the Division collected new data and prepared special reports on plant operation. These reports were developed to meet
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the needs of very small manufacturing establishments in nonindustrialized countries. This program, completed at the end of the fiscal year, marked the end of the division’s work with the foreign aid agency. Under the plant operation report program, a series of small plant studies was suggested to the Bureau by Latin American and Asian countries via the foreign aid agency. Five reports were published in this series. They are:
Concrete Pipe and Block Rubber-Soled Canvas Shoes
Fish Netting Meat Processing
Plows
Under the standardization, simplification, and specialization program, final manuscript for four reports was sent to Paris where they were printed by the Organization for European Economic Cooperation. In this form, the following reports were published:
Building Industry Clothing Industry
Containers Materials Handling Equipment
Industrial Hazards
Major revisions were made in the report forms used in the special industry studies. These revisions simplified the injury reporting, but permitted greater detail in the tabulation and analysis of the assembled data.
Considerable progress was made in introducing additional industry breakdowns in the presentation of national work-injury rates, and the coverage in a number of industry classifications was strengthened.
A detailed study of work-injury occurrence in soft-drink bottling operations was started. A more comprehensive study covering both injury occurrence and accident causes was started in the structural steel fabricating industry.
The Bureau issued the following formal reports during fiscal year 1955: Annual estimates of the total volume of work injuries in the United States and of the resulting economic losses; final annual injury rates for manufacturing and nonmanufacturing industries for 1953; a series of quarterly reports presenting monthly injury rates for over 100 manufacturing industry classifications; a final report on injuries and accident causes in warehousing operations; a final report on the incidence of work injuries in the waterworks industry; and a final report on the incidence of work injuries in the fluid milk industry.
Foreign Labor Conditions
During fiscal 1955 two major programs were conducted in this area. One in the field of research in all aspects of labor affairs in foreign countries and the other a program of technical assistance in the field of labor statistics and labor economics. Much of the research was designed to meet policy and operating needs in the Department of Labor and other Government agencies.
Studies of conditions in the Soviet Union and the Eastern European satellites were of value to members of the United States delegation to the
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ILO, including industry and worker delegates as well as the Government members. These studies were subsequently released as a part of a collection in the division’s new publication, Foreign Labor Information.
In the foreign trade field, a number of special studies were made on labor standards in foreign countries, and the Bureau provided the alternate member on the Interdepartmental Committee on Trade Agreements (TAG) and the Committee for Reciprocity Information (CRI).
In support of the work of labor attaches and labor reporting officers in the field, a number of special studies were developed, one of the most extensive of which was a study of typical legal provisions relating to labor in 12 Latin American countries.
The exchange of persons program was serviced by a number of briefing and background papers on individual countries, for use primarily by people in the United States dealing with foreign visitors and teams. Toward the end of fiscal year 1955, this work was developed as a special project to be financed by the International Cooperation Administration, looking toward the ultimate preparation of from 30 to 35 summaries of the labor situation in specific countries.
During this period an extensive publications program included articles in the Monthly Labor Review, special reports, and the preparation of a periodic classified document, Highlights in Recent Labor Developments Abroad.
In the technical assistance program, emphasis continued on the training of foreign experts and visitors, technical statistical assistance to foreign countries, and technical cooperation with international statistical agencies looking toward the improvement of labor statistics in other countries and toward the improvement of international statistical standards.
In the training program the substance ranged from the full training of individual trainees, who spent from 6 months to a year in the Bureau of Labor Statistics to lectures given to teams spending from % day to 6 weeks.
Listed below are countries from which 2,146 trainees and visitors have
come during a 2-year period ending in June 1955.
Europe Latin America Near East and Africa Far East and Oceania
France Mexico Arabia Burma
Germany Guatemala Union of South Africa Japan
Italy Panama Israel India
Denmark Colombia Nigeria Philippines
Switzerland El Salvador Jordan Malaya
England Chile Sudan Okinawa
Netherlands Peru Iraq Australia
Norway Uruguay Egypt Indonesia
Austria Brazil Liberia Pakistan
Spain Bolivia Turkey Formosa
Belgium Cuba New Zealand
Finland Paraguay Thailand
Sweden Nicaragua Indo China
Scotland Ecuador Costa Rica China
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In the field of technical assistance to individual countries overseas, the BLS supplied consultants to Panama and El Salvador. In addition, technical advice and aid were given through supplying tools and materials to people in the field under the general statistical programs of the Bureau of the Census and the ILO. In an effort to improve international statistical standards and national statistics, representatives of the Bureau worked closely with the ILO and with the Inter-American Statistical Institute (IASI), participating in the meetings of the IASI held in Rio de Janiero in early 1955 and also in the deliberations of the Committee for the Improvement of National Statistics (COINS). In addition, much background work was required for participation by the American representatives to the Eighth ILO Conference of Labor Statisticians held in Geneva in the fall of 1954.
With the cooperation of ICA, a bulletin, “Economic Forces in the United States,’’ was developed and published. It has had widespread use in interpreting economic conditions in the United States to foreign visitors. It has also been distributed widely by government agencies and private business establishments.
In the early months of 1955 a foreign labor conditions business research advisory subcommittee was formed to advise the Bureau on research and technical assistance programs in the foreign labor field. This subcommittee served as a subordinate group to the Bureau’s Business Research Advisory Committee. At the same time, a foreign labor conditions subcommittee of the Joint Labor Research Advisory Committee was also organized to give advice on research matters of interest to labor groups.
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Bureau of Veterans’ Reemployment Rights
During the fiscal year 1955 the Bureau o£ Veterans’ Reemployment Rights, with a staff of 41 paid employees in Washington and the field, administered a nationwide program of assistance to ex-servicemen, reservists, rejectees, employers and labor organizations in connection with their rights and obligations under the reemployment provisions of the Universal Military Training and Service Act. During the year the Bureau handled 28,332 problems and negotiated 6,568 cases. Only 118 cases were referred to the Department of Justice for possible litigation. When the year ended, the Bureau had 11,693 requests for direct assistance still pending in the field offices.
Reemployment Rights
Reemployment rights are an attempt to reestablish ex-servicemen in their home communities and their former place of employment without loss of progress because of their absence in military service. This naturally involves broad industrial relations matters ranging from such job advantages as seniority, vacation pay and wage progression plans, to issues involving management practices of business and the professions and collective bargaining agreements between management and labor. The extent to which the reemployment rights program cuts across the entire field of industrial relations was emphasized by the Supreme Court decision in the case of Diehl v. Lehigh Valley Kailroad Company (348 U. S. 960, decided March 14, 1955).
Diehl Case
This was the most important legal development in the reemployment program since the Department of Labor assumed responsibility for the program in 1947. The court’s ruling as handed down on March 14, 1955, was as follows:
“Diehl petitioner v. Lehigh Valley R. R. Co., et al. On writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Per Curiam: Upon the facts disclosed in the opinion of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 211 F. 2d 95, the applicable acts of Congress, and the opinion of this Court in Oakley v. Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., 338 U. S. 278, the judgment of the court of appeals is reversed. Mr. Justice Reed dissents for the reasons given in the opinion of the Court of Appeals of the Third Circuit.”
Based upon the Solicitor of Labor’s analysis of this decision, it appears that the Supreme Court:
“(1) Reaffirmed the escalator principle of Fish gold v. Sullivan Drydock and Repair Corp, as controlling statutory reemployment rights in matters of seniority and promotion. More specifically, where promotion depends on
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qualifying by actual work, an ex-serviceman whose opportunity to do so is delayed by military service is entitled upon ultimately qualifying to that seniority in the higher position which he would have had but for his absence in military service. He need not be immediately qualified for the higher position at time of reinstatement.
“(2) Rejected the view that an ex-serviceman’s reinstatement rights extend only to, and his accrual of seniority while in military service is limited only to, the job held at time of induction into military service.
“(3) Rejected the view that seniority or promotion rights of ex-servicemen are limited only to the treatment governing employees returning from nonmilitary leave of absence or furlough. In other words, the ‘furlough or leave of absence’ clause is a floor, not a ceiling upon an ex-serviceman’s seniority and promotion rights.
“(4) Reached back to reconstruct what Diehl’s progress would have been had he not been absent in military service and to grant him the seniority he claimed. The facts in the case show that Diehl’s right to and qualification for the promotion both came into existence some 3 years after his return to work.
“(5) Indicated that the escalator principle will be followed to grant such advantages and opportunities as ex-servicemen can show would have been available but for their military service. This includes those available (a) as a matter of fact (provided proof is sufficient to remove them from the field of conjecture) and (b) as a matter of right.”
The Bureau was immediately consulted by a great many major employers who were faced with the necessity of putting the decision into practice and arranging for retroactive promotions and seniority of thousands of ex-servicemen. Satisfactory personnel programs and agreements were worked out to solve this problem in a variety of industries with greatly varying and complex industrial relations policies and labor management contracts. The full impact of the Diehl decision will continue to be felt for some years to come.
Program To Advise Ex-Servicemen at Time They Are Separated From Military Service
For some time the Bureau has realized the importance of advising ex-servicemen of their reemployment rights at the time they are separated from military service and assisting them when they have returned home and are actually making plans for return to work. A simplified and effective program was developed whereby persons being separated from military service were given an opportunity to secure information and advice by completing a simple reemployment rights referral card. Specific information pertinent to each individual case is then mailed to such persons at their home address. This material contains information for the ex-serviceman, his employer and the union, and results in fewer misunderstandings and prompt settlement of disputes.
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The procedure had been developed on an informal basis, but on April 5, 1955, the Department of the Army made it a formal part of their separation procedures when they included it in Army Regulations 635-15 (Personnel Separations—Readjustment Orientation at Transfer Activities). It has proved most successful and is recognized by ex-servicemen, employers and labor organizations to be a very necessary service rendered by the Bureau of Veterans’ Reemployment Rights.
Number of Persons Eligible for Reemployment
During the year several studies were made to determine the extent to which reemployment rights were an important veterans’ benefit to persons entering and leaving the Armed Forces during this period.
A study of census figures on the employment of the noninstitutional civilian population in October 1954 showed that 60 percent of males between the ages of 18 and 19 years and 76.7 percent of males between 20 and 24 years had some kind of employment. For the most part, these were persons who were entering the Armed Forces. A study by the Department of Agriculture on the employment redistribution of Korean veterans made in January 1954 showed that 69 percent of Korean veterans had preservice employment as wage and salaried workers. A survey of the Department of Defense separation forms made by this Bureau in cooperation with the Selective Service headquarters showed that 64 percent of persons being separated from the Armed Forces had preservice employment.
A study was also made to determine how many ex-servicemen were returning to their preservice employment. A survey was made of the personnel records of 74 employers which showed that 58,055 of their employees had entered military service since 1950, of whom 22,391 had already returned and were reinstated. Still in military service were 34,235 who were expected to return with reemployment rights. Based on these studies, it appears, therefore, that approximately two-thirds of the younger men entering military service are gainfully employed and that the great majority of them seek reemployment with their preservice employer.
Strengthening the Reserve Force and Reemployment Rights
The Department of Defense developed and recommended to the Congress legislation to provide for strengthening of the Reserve Forces and permitting persons to fulfill their military obligations by enlisting in the Reserve and performing an initial 6 months’ period of training duty. The Bureau was asked to recommend a reemployment rights program for such persons, both to protect their job rights at the end of their 6 months’ training period and for such weekly and annual training periods as they may be called upon to perform. A program calling for reemployment rights similar to that provided in the Universal Military Training and Service Act was recommended with the exception that such persons must make application for reinstatement within 60 days and had 6 months protection against discharge
413754—57---7
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without cause. Such persons also receive protection in their weekly and annual training tours under the present reemployment rights law.
Workload of the Bureau during fiscal years 1955 and 1954
1. Problems and cases carried over from previous fiscal year-
2. Problems and cases received___________________________
37 Problems and cases handled to completion_______________
4. Problems and cases pending_____________________________
5. Cases carried over from previous year_________________
6. Problems transferred to case status___________________
7. Cases closed___________________________________________
8. Cases pending at end of fiscal year____________________
9. Cases referred to Department of Justice________________
Fiscal 1955 Fiscal 1954
Total Monthly average Total Monthly average
6,179 40, 413 34, 899 11,693 2,778 7,671 6,568 3,881 118 3,367 2,908 639 547 9 6,692 31,626 32,139 6,179 2,215 6, 252 5,689 2,778 141 2,636 V ♦ 2,678 521 474 ---ii ’ ’
f
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Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions
The 1955 fiscal year was the last full year in which the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions administered the 75-cents-an-hour minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In effect since January 25, 1950, the 75-cent minimum wage was superseded by a rate of $1.00 an hour, effective March 1, 1956.
The higher minimum was provided by the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1955, approved by the President on August 12th. The amendments also made substantial changes in the procedures for setting minimum wage rates in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and required that the annual report to the Congress by the Secretary of Labor contain an evaluation and appraisal of the minimum wages established by the act, together with his recommendations.
During the last quarter of fiscal 1955, anticipating some changes in the minimum wage requirements, the Divisions started planning suitable enforcement and educational programs.
For administrative purposes, the United States is divided into 10 regions. Plans were made to increase the number of field offices in each region and to recruit additional investigators.
Consideration was also given to such matters as the making of a study on the effects of the proposed new minimum wage, the revision of regulations governing the employment of learners at rates lower than the statutory minimum, and the acceleration of industry committee procedures having to do with the setting of minimum wage rates for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Methods for informing all covered establishments, as well as employees and the general public, about the proposed new legislation were also devised. The usual activities of informing the public about administrative actions by means of press releases, giving talks before groups who asked for speakers, and preparing articles for publications requesting them continued throughout the year.
The Divisions estimate that about 800,000 establishments employ some 24 million workers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act. The act applies to employees who are engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for interstate commerce, including any closely related process or occupation directly essential to such production. In addition to the minimum wage requirement, the law’s basic provisions require payment of not less than one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 a week and prohibit the employment of child labor. Specific exemptions from these requirements apply to employees in certain industries and occupations.
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The Divisions also administer the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act, which applies to Government contracts in excess of $10,000 for the manufacture or furnishing of materials, supplies, articles, or equipment. Firms performing on such contracts are required to pay not less than the prevailing minimum wage, as determined by the Secretary of Labor, and time and one-half the basic hourly rate for all hours worked over 8 a day or 40 a week. Other basic provisions of this law are the prohibition of child labor and safety and health requirements.
Investigation Programing
Effort continued during the year to improve investigation procedures and techniques. Carefully planned programing opened new areas for additional investigation activity and provided a basis for litigation in situations where authoritative court decisions would help clarify the application of the law. Programing was also broadened to include additional local area problems.
Condensed reporting forms and procedures, adopted in fiscal 1954, were tested and found time saving and effective, while changes in forms and techniques for reporting child-labor violations resulted in a savings in manhours and money, better employer relationships and reports of greater value. Improvements were also made in the safety and health enforcement program under the Public Contracts Act.
Special emphasis was placed on the investigation of establishments having the Divisions’ certificates authorizing the employment of learners at special minimum rates. Authorization to enlarge investigation activity with respect to persons employed as learners was given to the regional directors. Instructions were issued to make “learner” investigations very early in the life of the certificate. In addition, a special task force was authorized to investigate the holders of learner certificates, in nine States where the employment of learners is high.
The large number of covered establishments, the substantial number of firms entering and leaving business every year, and practical budgetary and operating considerations preclude the scheduling of every covered establishment for investigation. Consequently, the planned program provides for a visit to a small proportion of the covered establishments in every industry and geographical area but with heaviest concentration of investigations where violations were most likely to be found. The summaries of investigation findings, therefore, may tend to overstate the number of noncomplying establishments in comparison with what would be found on a random sampling of all covered establishments.
Investigation Findings
Violations of one or more of the basic provisions of either or both acts were found in 21,549 of the 39,330 nonagricultural establishments investigated during the year. The basic provisions are the minimum wage, over
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time pay, and child-labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Public Contracts Act and the latter’s safety and health provisions.
Failure to pay the legal minimum wage under either or both acts to one or more employees during the period of investigation (generally 2 years) was found in 4,849 establishments. These violations involved 36,894 employees who were underpaid a total of $2,135,731, an average of $58 per employee. The average underpayment per violating establishment amounted to $440.
< Wage underpayments due to violation of the overtime pay provisions of
the acts were disclosed in 18,041 of the investigated establishments. As a result, $10,015,346 was found due 108,006 employees, an average of $93 per , employee, or $555 per violating establishment.
About 7 percent of the covered employees in the investigated establishments were not paid all that was legally due them. These employees represented 14 percent of the covered employees in the violating establishments.
The Divisions obtained voluntary agreement from 15,310 violating establishments to pay back wages amounting to $6,165,117 due 81,330 employees under either or both acts. Total underpayments amounted to $12,151,077, owed 128,754 employees by 19,395 establishments.
Of the 2,151 establishments investigated for compliance with the safety and health provisions of the Public Contracts Act during fiscal 1955, 1,142 were in States with cooperative agreements to make safety and health investigations and 899 were in States in which the Divisions make the investigations. Under the cooperative safety and health inspection plan with the Federal Bureau of Mines, 110 mines were found subject to the Public Contracts Act. This plan was worked out with the Federal Bureau of Mines in the preceding fiscal year, in order to enable the Divisions, by virtue of the Public Contracts Act, to correct substandard safety and health conditions in those mines where the Bureau does not have enforcement power. In determining compliance, the Secretary of Labor is governed by the safety codes adopted by the Federal Bureau of Mines or the State mine safety code in the State where the mine is located, whichever standard is the higher.
f Two hundred and sixty-eight plants were reported in violation of the
safety and health requirements after investigations made under the cooperative State agreements, and 665 were reported by the Divisions.
Through administrative hearing procedures, firms or persons that violate the Public Contracts Act can be listed as ineligible to contract with any Federal agency for a period of 3 yeats, unless the Secretary of Labor rules otherwise. Because of the serious nature of their violations, 6 firms and 5 persons in manufacturing and 2 coal mines and 3 individuals were so listed.
Falsification of the record-keeping requirements under either or both acts was found in 583 establishments. In an additional 14,166 investigations, the records for one or more covered employees were so inadequate
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as to make it impossible to determine from them whether the firm was complying with the minimum wage, overtime pay or child-labor provisions. In such cases, determination of the compliance status must be made on the basis of other information, such as employee statements or records.
Employment of home workers contrary to Fair Labor Standards Act regulations governing such employment was found in 117 establishments.
Child-Labor Findings
The Fair Labor Standards Act sets a 16-year minimum age for general employment, and an 18-year minimum age for occupations found by the Secretary of Labor to be particularly hazardous. It permits the employment of children 14 and 15 years of age outside of school hours under regulated hours and working conditions.
The child-labor provisions of the Public Contracts Act set 16 years as the minimum age for boys and 18 years as the minimum for girls working on contracts subject to the act.
During the 1955 fiscal year, 6,095 children were found unlawfully employed in 3,545 of the 39,312 nonagricultural establishments investigated for compliance with the child-labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Of 3,218 farms visited, 1,899 were found employing 4,151 children contrary to the requirement that no child under 16 years of age be employed in agriculture during school hours.
Manufacturing industries with a substantial proportion of plants employing children contrary to the act were logging, sawmills, planing and plywood mills, canneries, and dairy products. In nonmanufacturing industries, violations were found in substantial proportions of the fish and seafood establishments, laundries, and crude oil and natural gas establishments.
Of the 6,095 children illegally employed in nonfarm work, 429 were under 14 years of age, 2,312 were 14 or 15, and 3,354 were 16 or 17 years of age and employed in hazardous occupations.
Of 429 children under 14 years of age, 70 were found working in hazardous occupations, such as off-bearing at sawmills, loading coal at mine tipples, and driving or helping on trucks. Also found working in hazardous jobs were 2,312 children of 14 or 15 years of age.
The hazardous occupations orders most frequently violated were those setting an 18-year age minimum for driving or helping on motor vehicles, operating an elevator or performing duties requiring the riding of freight elevators, and logging and sawmill occupations.
The majority of the 4,151 children found working on farms during school hours were local children, as was the case in 1953 and 1954.
Reports on educational attainments of 4,070 of the unlawfully employed farm children were made. Fifty-eight percent were in grades below normal for their age. The older the children, the greater was their retardation. For example, only 11 percent of the 7-year-olds were in grades below normal for their age but 73 percent of the 15-year-olds were retarded. Sixty-seven
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percent of the migrant children and 51 percent of the local children were educationally retarded.
The chief crops on which children were unlawfully employed were cotton, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, prunes, strawberries, and string beans. For testing purposes, investigations of some of the farms where violations had been found in previous years were made in each region. Far fewer of the reinvestigated farms were employing children illegally, in comparison with the farms investigated for the first time.
Of the 2,396 establishments investigated for compliance with the Public Contracts Act’s child-labor provisions, 48 were found employing 148 minors contrary to the law. Under provisions that render an employer liable to the United States in the amount of $10 for each day a minor is knowingly employed in violation of that act, some $20,490 was deposited in the United States Treasury.
Some Administrative Rulings
Progress was made in resolving problems of computing overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act arising from unusual pay arrangements developed through collective bargaining in certain industries. Most significant was the issuance of regulations under the law’s section 7 (f) (3) to permit the computation of overtime compensation on established basic rates of pay instead of the regular rate of pay as otherwise required. The basic rates must be established, before performance of the work, by agreement between the employer and the employee, as a result of collective bargaining. The basic rate must be authorized as being substantially equivalent to the average hourly earnings of the employee over a representative period of time. The use of basic rates under these regulations will simplify bookkeeping and the computation of overtime pay in cases where unusual pay practices have been adopted and in cases where small additions to wages are paid periodically to employees. The regulations, which became effective after the year’s end, were also made applicable to computation of overtime pay under the Public Contracts Act. An explanatory bulletin on the regulations was also issued.
The Divisions received a significant number of inquiries regarding the establishment of training programs for new employees as well as for existing employees. The question presented is whether the time spent by employees is compensable as working time under the law. In some cases these programs are operated in conjunction with recognized educational institutions which arrange for the students to obtain some practical experience in industry for short periods of time. In other cases employers have established programs outside of working hours to provide workers with courses comparable to those given in educational institutions and courses of an academic, technical nature in the general field in which the industry operates.
These programs reflect the need of business establishments for trained employees in the Nation’s highly complex industrial system and are a
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further development of the training programs which are ordinarily given employees on the job. The problems have been resolved on an individual case basis depending upon the particular facts, and the Divisionshave advised on methods of setting up such programs to conform with the law.
For example, senior high-school students, as a part of their high-school courses, were placed with companies in various industries for several weeks of “on-the-job” training. The time spent by these students was held not to be working time under the law, as there was no employment relationship. Similarly, it was held that no working time was involved where employees were voluntarily attending engineering and other technical courses of college caliber which were offered by their employer outside of their normal working hours. It was clear in this case that the training was not directly related to their jobs. On the the other hand, time spent by machinists learning to read blueprints in a course given by their employer was regarded as working time since it was intended to improve their skills in their present jobs.
In line with the policy of reducing reports and records needed for the Government, the Divisions continued to ease their record-keeping requirements wherever possible. In addition to granting individual exceptions where a particular kind of record was not needed for enforcement purposes, the Divisions emphasized that individual records of the starting and stopping time of office workers need not be kept if all of these workers have fixed daily and weekly hours. The employer may merely state in his records that all such employees worked the regular hours, and keep records of the actual hours worked only for those employees who, during the week, worked more or less than the regular hours. This policy can also be applied to production workers in plants where the hours of work are actually fixed and it is unusual for the employee to work either more or less than the scheduled hours.
In order to accord with industrial realities, a rule was adopted for enforcement purposes permitting the recording of working time to the nearest quarter of an hour. This method may be used in cases where the practice will not result, over a period of time, in the failure to compensate employees properly for all the hours worked.
There is a partial overtime pay exemption for industries the Administrator finds to be seasonal in nature. In such industries, the overtime pay provisions, during a period of not more than 14 weeks a year, apply only after 12 hours of work a day or 56 a week. The existing seasonal determination for the storage of flax straw was amended to include the handling of straw at temporary gathering points, an operation which had developed after the original determination was issued.
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Special Minimum Rates for Learners, Apprentices, and Handicapped Workers
The Fair Labor Standards Act permits payment under certificates of rates lower than the statutory minimum to learners, apprentices, and handicapped workers, where necessary to prevent the curtailment of opportunities for employment.
On June 30, 1955, 1,128 plant certificates were in effect authorizing the employment of learners at rates below 75 cents (a few of these permitted learners below the wage-order rate applicable in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands). These certificates permitted the employment of a maximum of 20,857 learners at one time. The number of certificates in effect represents a decline of some 7 percent over the number of certificates in effect on June 30, 1954, and a decrease of more than 5 percent in the number of learners authorized. These decreases continue to reflect the diminished need under the 75-cent minimum for certificates to prevent the curtailment of opportunities for employment.
Approximately 35 percent of the certificates issued were granted with modifications of the original requests, such as reductions in the number of learners permitted at special rates, increases in learner rates, and reductions in the learning period.
Revisions were made in the regulations governing the issuance of learner certificates in the women’s apparel and knitted wear industries. These revisions raised the applicable entrance learner rates by 5 cents an hour. Of the learners permitted at special minimum rates as of the close of the fiscal year, 28 percent were in the industries covered by these revised regulations. The apparel industry continued to predominate in the utilization of certificates, accounting for over 75 percent of the total in effect.
In addition to the learner certificates, 305 certificates were issued authorizing the employment at special rates of student-learners in vocational training. Furthermore, 184 certificates were issued, each permitting the employment of an apprentice at special rates during the beginning months of his apprenticeship. Two-thirds of these certificates were for apprentices in Puerto Rico.
Approximately 90 percent of the handicapped workers employed under certificates are working in nonprofit sheltered workshops. Many of these workers will eventually obtain jobs in regular industry following the rehabilitation services they receive in the workshop. The purpose of a certificate issued to a workshop is twofold: To permit the workshop to carry on its program of providing employment and other services to persons in need of them, and to protect the handicapped worker against possible exploitation. A workshop issued a certificate is required to pay the going
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rate paid nonhandicapped workers in regular industry for the same type and amount of work. Studies made by the Divisions show that in the lines of work surveyed, workshops are paying rates commensurate with those paid nonhandicapped workers in industry for the same production. There has been a steady increase in the number of workshops operating under certificates since 1950, when there were 149. At the close of the fiscal year, 262 workshops, employing 15,237 handicapped workers, were operating under certificates.
A total of 1,865 certificates were issued for handicapped workers in regular commercial industry, the majority of which were for elderly workers. In contrast with the upward trend in workshop certificates, there has been a decline in the number of certificates authorizing special rates for handicapped workers since the peak year of 1950 when 6,349 certificates were issued. The most important factor in the decline has been the upward trend of wages. However, the considerable increase in rehabilitation facilities has had a significant part in reducing the need for certificates.
Wage Orders for Puerto Rico
Pursuant to the act’s special provisions for the establishment of minimum wages in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and to the statutory mandate that rates in the Islands be raised to the minimum applicable to the remainder of the United States as rapidly as economically feasible, the Administrator convened a special industry committee for Puerto Rico, conducted hearings on committee recommendations, and issued 7 new wage orders which involved 42 separate minimum wage recommendations.
The industries which received new rates included needlework and fabricated textile products, corsets and brassieres, and men’s and boys’ clothing—a group of needle trades which employs about half the wage earners covered by the act in Puerto Rico. The new rates for this group represent increases over the old rates of about 40 percent on the average. Other industries receiving higher rates were textile and textile products, leather and fabric buttons and buckles, and metal, machinery, and transportation equipment products. In addition, committee recommendations for higher minimum rates for plastic products were approved and became effective shortly after the close of the fiscal year.
A proposed revision of the piece rates and regulations respecting home workers in the needlework and fabricated textile products industry was announced in June. These proposed changes were designed to reflect the increases in wage rates contained in the wage order for the same industry.
Public Contracts Act Wage Determinations
More than 33,000 unclassified contracts with an aggregate value of over $6 billion were reported to the Divisions by the various contracting agencies as being subject to the Public Contracts Act.
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It is estimated that about half of the unclassified awards made during the year were for products covered by 1 of the 43 minimum wage determinations which the Secretary of Labor has issued.
In fiscal 1955, the Secretary issued one minimum wage determination, finding that $1.10 an hour is the prevailing minimum wage in the metal business furniture and storage equipment industry. In addition, the Secretary proposed that the prevailing minimum wage in the envelope industry be established at $1.08 an hour, and for the paper and pulp industry at $1,115, except for paper bags, for which he proposed 99 cents an hour. Final determinations for the two industries, adopting these proposals, were issued after the fiscal year’s end.
Hearings were held on prevailing minimum wages in the bituminous coal, the electric lamp, the photographic and blueprinting equipment and supplies, and office machines industries.
Court decisions were pending in suits challenging the Secretary’s determinations, issued in previous years, for the textile and woolen and worsted industries. For each of the two industries, the Secretary had found an industry-wide minimum wage. The Federal District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in the textile industry suit (Covington Mills v. Mitchell} that the Secretary had exceeded his authority in finding a single minimum yvage. The ruling was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, whose decision was pending at the close of the year. The decision of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia (Allendale Co. v. Mitchell} in the woolen and worsted industry suit was also pending at the fiscal year’s end.
Results of investigations in nonagricultural establishments under the Fair Labor Standards Act, during the period October 1938 through June 30, 1956, and under the Public Contracts Act during the period October 1952 through June 30, 1955, by fiscal year
Fiscal year Total number of nonagricultural establishments investigated In violation of the minimum wage and overtime provisions Restitution agreed to or ordered
Number of establishments Back wages owed Employees underpaid Number of establishments Employees underpaid Amount Average per restitution case
All years; total 652, 736 321,300 (>) (') 249,487 3, 691,384 $156,406,353 $627
1939 402 167 G) (0 161 3, 514 51,828 322
1940 3,851 2,386 (*) (*) 2,297 70, 233 1,714,494 746
1941 53, 248 23, 496 (>) (>) 20,142 379,984 11, 540, 889 573
1942 74, 914 39, 910 (*) (>) 28, 916 578, 545 20,920, 956 724
1943 61,170 26,328 (') (>) 19, 701 389,467 16,824,021 854
1944 54,431 24, 830 (>) G) 20, 622 534, 422 18, 620,369 903
1945 44, 271 22, 257 (■) (>) 19,064 442, 516 15, 824,377 830
1946 43, 832 21, 051 19,760 21,623, 739 364, 721 17,082 271,478 13,360, 826 782
1947 40,350 18, 575,149 311,236 14, 954 212,256 8, 864,186 593
1948 30, 053 15,320 10,757,914 184,365 9, 582 102,794 4, 256,761 444
1949 31,916 17,368 12,186,957 186,310 10,736 2 104,333 4, 279,085 399
1950 25, 881 12,435 9, 559, 628 140, 872 8,931 2 80, 297 4,081,193 457
1951 31, 899 16, 858 11, 202, 561 139.038 14, 215 95,604 6, 666,995 469
1952 39,109 20,377 15, 663, 912 208,078 17.055 144, 792 8,467,668 496
1953 38, 649 20, 583 16, 652, 697 193, 111 16, 221 114, 770 8,282,043 511
1954 39,430 18, 779 13, 774, 248 141,368 14,498 85,049 6, 485, 545 447
1955 39,330 19,395 12,151,077 128, 754 15,310 81,330 6,165,117 403
1 Not available. 2 Estimated.
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Women’s Bureau
Women’s Affairs Program
The objective of the Women’s Affairs Program of the U. S. Department of Labor is “to advance the status of women in the work force and as citizens and to increase their contribution to the economy.’’ Public attention was focused on this objective by a Conference on the Effective Use of Womanpower, held in Washington on March 10-11, 1955. It l brought together some 600 delegates and observers from women’s national
organizations, civic and professional groups, labor and management groups, and Government to consider the contribution of women to the national economy and ways of raising the level of skill of working women. Speakers and panel members included experts drawn from the professions, Government agencies, labor organizations, and private business.
The substance of the discussions was made available in a report printed under the title of the Conference (Women’s Bureau Bulletin 257).
Trend in Women’s Employment
The number of women workers remained at a high level during the fiscal years 1954 and 1955- Monthly estimates of women in the labor force, reported by the Census Bureau of the U. S. Department of Commerce, were over 19 million throughout the year ended June 30, 1954, and over 19.5 million throughout the year ended June 30, 1955-
Detailed information on the employment of women, their occupations, earnings, age, education, and marital status is given in two bulletins published by the Women’s Bureau during the period: “Changes in Women’s Occupations, 1940-1950“ (Women’s Bureau Bulletin 253) and “1954 « Handbook on Women Workers” (Women’s Bureau Bulletin 255).
Skills of the Work Force
Employment Opportunities
Teacher shortage.—The project to alleviate the teacher shortage through the recruitment and accelerated training of mature college graduates was launched at a conference held in Washington in August 1954. Cosponsored by the Women’s Bureau and the U. S. Office of Education, the meeting was attended by representatives of more than 20 educational and civic groups. Out of this conference grew the Committee on New Teachers for the Nation’s Classrooms, which undertook to promote the program on the local level. For use in explaining the project and recruiting candidates, especially through local, State, and regional education conferences, a pamphlet, “New Teachers for the Nation’s Children” (Women’s Bureau
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Leaflet 23) was prepared for distribution to women’s organizations and educational institutions.
Medical technologists.—Employment opportunities for medical laboratory workers exceed the number of qualified candidates, and seem to be increasing year by year, both in the diagnostic services and in research. The majority of trained medical laboratory workers—and nine-tenths of all registered medical technologists—are women. The employment opportunities in this field are discussed in a bulletin, Medical Technologists and Laboratory Technicians (Women’s Bureau Bulletin 203-4) released in September 1954.
Engineering.—Too few women have taken advantage of the training opportunities in professional engineering—'Only about one engineer in a hundred is a woman. Employment Opportunities for Women in Professional Engineering (Women’s Bureau Bulletin 254) points out that a wide choice of employment is open to the college-trained woman engineer, and that individual firms in almost every kind of industry are willing to hire qualified engineers, regardless of sex.
Vocational Counseling
In line with the Department’s policy of encouraging girls to acquire marketable skills while in school and to prepare themselves for professional or technical work by continuing their education beyond the highschool level, a new pamphlet “After High School What?’’ (Women’s Bureau Leaflet 8) was issued.
State Labor Laws for Women
Minimum Wage
State labor departments and civic organizations interested either in enactment of new minimum-wage legislation or administration of existing laws frequently call on the Women’s Bureau for technical and advisory assistance. During the fiscal years 1954 and 1955 technical assistance was furnished on request to a number of States.
Basic information on State minimum-wage rates was kept current by the issuance of two supplements to “State Minimum-Wage Laws and Orders” (Women’s Bureau Bulletin 247) bringing the material up to date as of May 1, 1955.
Three new State minimum-wage laws were enacted in the spring of 1955— in Idaho, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
Equal Pay
Assistance was given to State and national agencies, women’s, civic, and labor organizations working to promote equal pay for women. To meet requests for nontechnical materials for use in educational campaigns and at conferences, an “Equal-Pay Primer” (Women’s Bureau Leaflet 20) was
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issued. This pamphlet explains why equal pay is important, and the various ways in which it can be put into effect—through legislation at the State and Federal levels, through collective bargaining agreements, and through voluntaty action by employers.
A technical article on Federal Equal-Pay Legislation signed by the Director of the Women’s Bureau appeared in the Labor Law Journal for January 1955, and was reprinted for public distribution. This article states the case for equal-pay legislation, answering in detail objections which had been raised by a previous article in the same journal and which have appeared elsewhere from time to time.
Three States—Arkansas, Colorado, and Oregon—enacted equal-pay legislation in 1955- Sixteen States and Alaska now have equal-pay laws.
Employment Standards for Women
Many requests from women workers and employers were answered by supplying information on laws establishing maximum daily and weekly hours of work, rest periods, maternity leave, and other employment standards for women. As part of its continuing services, the Women’s Bureau kept up to date its basic digests and compilations in this field.
Women’s Legal Status—Civil and Political
As part of its responsibility for promoting the welfare of women workers, the Women’s Bureau analyzes and reports on matters affecting the civil and political status of women.
A check list of questions, “ What Are Your Legal Rights?” was developed for the use of women’s organizations, covering property law, family law, and the political rights of women. In addition, an article on “The Legal Status of Women” was prepared for the Council of State Governments and published in its Book of the States, 1954-55.
Further progress was made toward removal of one of the last remaining limitations on women’s civil rights, the exclusion of women from jury service. In November 1954, the Texas Constitution was amended by popular referendum to permit women to serve on juries in that State. Four States remain (Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia) where women aie still prohibited from jury services; but in one of these, West Virginia, the Legislature in 1955 passed a resolution providing for a popular referendum on the subject in November 1956.
International Cooperation
Women Leaders from France and Italy
The Director of the Women’s Bureau headed a team of seven women who spent a month in France and Italy initiating ‘ ‘ Operation: American Home. ’ ’ Under this program 67 French and Italian women who were leaders in their own communities were brought to the United States for visits of 4 to 8 weeks, under the auspices of the Women’s Bureau and the Foreign Opera
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tions Administration, with the cooperation of the Department of State and the U. S. Information Agency. Over 30 national organizations cooperated by providing local sponsors and planning programs. The women leaders spent much of their time as guests in American homes taking part in community life with members of the family. They also visited local agencies and industries. The visitors’ individual interests varied widely, including industry, education, law, union activities, women’s and civic organizations, youth programs, social-welfare programs, journalism, and radio.
International Education Exchange Program
In the fiscal year 1955, staff members discussed the economic and legal status of women in the United States with 38 women leaders visiting the United States under the International Educational Exchange Program. Programs were arranged for many of them.
International Organizations
As part of its regular services, the Women’s Bureau provides technical and advisory assistance on request to United States Delegates on international bodies concerned with the legal status of women, specifically the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the UN Commission on Human Rights, and the Inter-American Commission of Women.
The Women’s Bureau cooperated with the Department of State in preparing the United States Position Papers for the Eighth and Ninth Sessions of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York in 1954 and 1955- A member of the staff served as adviser to the United States Delegate at both sessions.
The Director of the Bureau served as technical adviser to the U. S. Delegation to the 37th session of the International Labor Conference in Geneva during June 1954.
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE1 I9S7
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