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The figures show that from $8 to $10 a week is the most common rate for male workers, and that $5 is most frequently quoted for women and girls. The majority of male workers may expect to receive between $8 and $14; most girls and women are hired for from $5 to $7.50. More than half of all men and boys receive less than $10, and half the females less than $6. (Plate A.)

More specifically, the prevailing rates for foremen are from $16 to $25, and for forewomen, from $8 to $13.* The majority of experienced candy makers receive from $12 to $18. Good machine operators are to be had at $11 to $16. Most hand dippers get from $5 to $10, the better ones $8 and over. Packers and wrappers, who constitute the bulk of female employees, usually receive from $5 to $7; while the great mass of male helpers range from $7 to $12, and the less skilled women from $4.50 to $6.50.

All these rates vary greatly in different lines of work, according to the kind of service demanded. Thus, retailing manufacturers require more skilled handworkers than those who make for jobbers only. On the other hand, heavy machinery requires more men workers, although comparatively few of them need be experienced confectioners. Either on account of the grade of goods produced, or because of lower costs in general, the wage level for Brooklyn firms as a whole is somewhat lower than that for the New York establishments of the same class. The accompanying graph shows the relative importance of five dollar wage groups according to sex in each main division of the industry. (Plate B.)

There are also great differences in wages for work that is apparently the same. Some firms pay consistently 25 per cent. more than their rivals for similar operations. For instance, in one wholesale candy factory, no ordinary male laborer receives as much as $8 per week; in another of the same general type, every such person receives over $8. In the former plant no female packer receives as much as $5.50 per week, nor any hand dipper as much as $8. In the other establishment, the majority of women workers in such lines exceed these rates.

These

* In each case rates for the middle 50% employed in a line has been taken

to show the prevailing tendency, thus omitting extreme instances,

divergencies extend to machine processes of identical character. Difference in grade of product may in part explain such variations; but certain factories have the reputation of paying wages considerably below or above current rates.

Age differences may sometimes explain such divergencies. Naturally, the general experience and the steadiness of workers will affect their rate of pay. The accompanying graph shows the rate of payment above and below which half of all employees in each age group are found.* (Plate C.) The appended table gives the same data for factory workers only. It will be noted that in their case the middle instances range below the positions plotted for all employees. The majority of men among the shop hands never reach $13, and the representative women cannot make $7.50.. (Table VIII.)

TABLE VIII.

MEDIAN RATES BY AGE GROUPS FOR FACTORY WORKERS ACCORDING TO SEX.

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It will be noted that men attain their maximum rate between the ages of forty and forty-five; women between thirty and thirty-five are paid highest. The rates of wages for adult women as a whole are little more than half those for men of the same age.

The presence of so many unorganized women in this industry undoubtedly has a tendency to hold all wages down. To sum up the matter of rates - over half the minor male employees are paid less than $7.50 a week; and more than half the adult men factory workers receive less than $11. More than two-thirds of the girls under eighteen are rated below $5.50; and more than half the women shop hands above this age fail to achieve the $6.50 rate. So much may suffice to indicate the general levels of wages in the industry.

* The middle case in such a series is called the median, and furnishes a good type to show the central tendency of a group,

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CONFECTIONERY.

MEAN (MEDIAN) RATE OF WAGE BY AGE GROUPS.

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