1 See footnote 1, table 1. the data apply to all levels of government-local, State, and Federal (no stoppages). Prior to 1947, however, it is possible that a few small stoppages in federally owned and operated establishments have not been accounted for. Prevalence At least 743 government strikes occurred during the years 1942-61, involving a total of 156,000 workers and resulting in 1,080,000 man-days of idleness. The data for administration, protection, and sanitation services, for which strike statistics have been published since 1942, reflect a general decline in strike activity of public workers. An average of 34 strikes a year occurred in the period 1942-53, as against an average of 14 strikes for 1954-61. Similarly, in publicly owned utilities, transportation, and schools, an annual average of 19 strikes for the years 1947-53 contrasts with an average of 7 for 1954-61. (See table 1.) Year NOTE: Data on stoppages and workers involved refer to stoppages beginning in a given year; man-days idle refer to all stoppages in effect during the year. From 1942 to 1961, workers employed in State Government facilities were involved in a total of 13 strikes (table 2). Employees of State highway departments were involved in six stoppages; toll collectors on State bridges and employees of State-operated printing plants, in two stoppages each; and guards at a State prison, workers on State-owned docks, and employees of State agencies retailing products made by handicapped persons, in one strike each. Stoppages involving employees of local governments (cities, counties, or townships) occurred in each year, the largest number of workers (27,600) being involved in the 33 strikes that began in 1960. Six of these strikes involved over 1,000 workers each, and the largest affected directly 5,300 workers. All six of these major stoppages occurred in large cities and affected public school employees, sanitation department workers, or operators on two municipally owned transit systems. These strikes lasted from 1 to 4 days. TABLE 3. WORK STOPPAGES IN GOVERNMENT, BY TYPE OF WORK, 1958-61 1 In the period 1958-61, for which more detailed data are available, 38 of the 48 stoppages in administration, protection, and sanitation services occurred in sanitation and resulted in 30,900 man-days of idleness, as compared to less than 6,000 man-days in administration and protection (table 3). Street and highway department strikes ranked second to sanitation strikes, but with a much smaller amount of idleness (8,800 mandays). Stoppages in public schools and libraries and publicly owned transportation resulted in 17,600 and 20,600 man-days of idleness, respectively, over the 4-year period. Major Issues Economic demands were the major issues in more than three-fifths of the 475 stoppages that occurred year. Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals shown in table 1; in administration, protection, and sanitation branches of government employment from 1942 through 1957 (table 4). Disputes over union organization, alone or combined with economic issues, accounted for less than one-fifth of the strikes in the three services. About one-sixth of the stoppages occurred over other working conditions, and fewer than 2 percent involved interunion or intraunion matters. In all government strikes from 1958 through 1961, economic issues were paramount in more than half of the total (104 strikes). About onefifth of the disputes involved union organization matters, alone or in combination with economic issues, and one-fourth occurred over disputed working conditions. -LORETTO R. NOLAN AND JAMES T. HALL, Jr. Division of Wages and Industrial Relations Earnings in Selected Metropolitan Areas of the South, June 1961 2 AVERAGE STRAIGHT-TIMF EARNINGS of nonsupervisory workers within the scope of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' survey in nine southern metropolitan areas ranged from a low of $1.46 an hour in Asheville, N.C., to a high of $2.05 an hour in Lake Charles, La., in June 1961. Average earnings for the seven remaining areas covered a much narrower range, from $1.59 to $1.77 an hour. From 10 to 18 percent of the workers earned less than $1 an hour; from 21 to 32 percent, depending upon area, averaged less than $1.15; and from 27 to 37 percent earned less than $1.25 an hour. The proportions of workers earning at least $2 an hour varied from 15 to 49 percent among the areas. (See accompanying table.) survey in all but one of the areas. In Wichita Falls, the exception, each industry listed accounted for a sixth to almost a fourth of the manufacturing workers. Retail trade employed the largest proportion-from a third to over two-fifthsof nonmanufacturing workers in all but one area. In Huntsville, the largest proportion-37 percent of nonmanufacturing workers was employed in service industries; more than half were employees of the research and development and engineering industries which support the Government's ballistic missile and space flight facilities in the area. Manufacturing Industries The average hourly wage levels in manufacturing varied from $1.52 in Asheville to $2.67 in Lake Charles, almost twice as great a range as that noted for the overall averages. Even among the 7 other areas, manufacturing averages varied almost as widely as the 9-area overall averages, spreading from $1.64 to $2.15 an hour. The wage level in the three areas where manufacturing workers averaged more than $2 an hour was influenced by one or two high-wage industries. In Lake Charles, more than three-fourths of the manufacturing workers were employed in the petroleum refining and chemical industries; in Lexington, almost two-fifths were in the nonelectrical machinery industry; and in Tuscaloosa, more than two-fifths were in the primary metal and rubber and plastic industries. Lowest average hourly earnings for manufacturing workers were found in Asheville and Huntsville, where large proportions of workers were in such industries as textiles, apparel, and food. Although differences were noted among the areas in the proportion of manufacturing workers located at the lower end of the pay scale, variations were more pronounced at the upper end. The survey was conducted on a sample basis in nine selected Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas of the South, which had populations of 100,000 to 150,000 (according to the 1960 census). The survey included all nonsupervisory employees of establishments with four workers or more in major industry divisions except agriculture and government. Data relate to a pay period ending nearest June 15, 1961, hence prior to the effective date of the 1961 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act. A second study, covering a pay period ending nearest June 15, 1962, will permit an analysis of some of the economic effects of the amendments. A report covering the result of the 1962 survey will describe the scope and method of both surveys and will contain more comprehensive wage and employment data. See table, footnote 3, for definitions of the areas. AVERAGE STRAIGHT-TIME HOURLY EARNINGS OF NONSUPERVISORY EMPLOYEES AND PERCENT EARNING LESS THAN SPECIFIED AMOUNTS, MANUFACTURING AND SELECTED NONMANUFACTUring IndustrIES, SELECTED METROPOLITAN AREAS OF THE SOUTH, JUNE 1961 1 Excludes premium pay for overtime and for work on weekends, holidays, and late shifts. Excludes agriculture, government, petroleum and natural gas production, railroad transportation, and nonprofit religious, charitable, educational, and humane organizations. 3 Metropolitan areas refer to the city and county areas defined by the Bureau of the Budget as Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Included are counties containing at least one central city with a population of 50,000 or more, and those adjacent counties that are found to be metropolitan in character and economically and socially integrated with the county containing the central city. Following are the central cities and counties which comprise the metropolitan areas studied: Amarillo, Tex. (Potter and Randall Counties); Asheville, N.C. (Buncombe County); Durham, N.C. (Durham County); Huntsville, Ala. (Madison County); Lake Charles, La. (Calcasieu Parish); Lexington, Ky. (Fayette County); Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Tuscaloosa County); and Wichita Falls, Tex. (Archer and Wichita Counties). Includes industries not shown separately; with the exclusion noted in footnote 2, mining, transportation and public utilities, services, finance, insurance, and real estate, and wholesale trade. Less than 0.05 percent. NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals Nonmanufacturing Industries The level of earnings in nonmanufacturing industries ranged from $1.36 an hour in Tuscaloosa to $1.77 in Lake Charles. The relatively narrow spread in nonmanufacturing averages (about a third of that existing in manufacturing) reflects in part a similarity among areas in the distribution of workers in the lower and higher paying nonmanufacturing industries. The proportion of workers earning less than $1 an hour ranged from nearly an eighth to threetenths among the nine areas; earnings of less than $1.25 an hour were received by three-tenths to somewhat more than half of the nonmanufacturing workers. At the higher pay levels, from a sixth to somewhat more than a third earned $2 or more, and from about a twelfth to more than a fifth averaged $2.50 or more an hour. Except for Huntsville, the level of average hourly earnings in nonmanufacturing was lower than in manufacturing-by amounts ranging up to 90 cents an hour. In areas with low manufacturing averages, the wage advantage of factory workers over nonfactory workers was relatively small. In Asheville, for example, where the lowest manufacturing average was found, that advantage was 13 cents an hour. The proportion of nonmanufacturing workers earning less than $1.25 an hour exceeded that of manufacturing workers in all areas. Conversely, the Conversely, the proportion of workers in nonmanufacturing industries earning $2 or more an hour was smaller than in manufacturing in seven of the nine areas. Average hourly earnings in retail trade generally were the lowest among the nonmanufacturing industries studied, ranging from $1.07 in Tusca See Employee Earnings in Retail Trade, June 1961, BLS Bulletin 1338-8, table 5; for a summary of the bulletin, see pp. 44-51 of this issue. loosa to $1.48 in Amarillo. Retail trade employees' average earnings were 10 to 63 cents an hour below those in nonmanufacturing as a whole. Except for Amarillo and Lexington, the area. averages for retail trade fell below the $1.42 average for all southern metropolitan areas recorded in the June 1961 nationwide survey of retail trade. The proportion of retail workers earning less than $1 an hour ranged from somewhat more than a fifth in Amarillo to a half in Tuscaloosa, while no more than a sixth in any area earned $2 or more. The proportions at these earnings levels in all southern metropolitan areas were about a fourth and a sixth, respectively. Workers in contract construction averaged at least $2 an hour in seven of the nine areas. In Durham and Asheville, the averages were $1.65 and $1.73, respectively; relatively large proportions of the construction workers in these areas (22 percent and 15 percent, respectively), earned from $1 to $1.05 an hour. Fewer than a tenth of the construction workers in the other areas had earnings at this level. In Lake Charles, where average earnings of $2.69 for construction workers were the highest almong the areas, more than half of the workers earned at least $2.50 an hour, and in the other areas except Durham and Asheville, more than a fourth earned $2.50 an hour or more. In Huntsville, nonsupervisory workers in services, who constituted 37 percent of the nonmanufacturing work force in the area, earned an average of $2.23 an hour. Earnings of less than $1.50 were received by 22 percent of the workers, while 41 percent, amost all of whom were employed in the research and development and engineering industries, earned at least $2.50 an hour. -ALVIN BAuman Division of Wages and Industrial Relations |