practically all occupations in the New England, Middle Atlantic, Great Lakes, and Middle West regions. Only in the Southeast, where the proportion of workers employed in union establishments was very small, were the wages generally higher for nonunion workers. Comparative data cannot be shown in the remaining 4 regions because of the lack of sufficient union or nonunion representation.

Related Wage Practices

A scheduled workweek of 40 hours for men plant workers was in effect in about two-thirds of the establishments studied; the same schedule for women existed in a slightly greater proportion of those establishments employing women. Longer workweeks were observed in all but a small proportion of the remainder of the houses. Establishments in the Pacific region, with one exception for men and two for women, had a 40-hour work schedule with none longer. In the Middle Atlantic region only two establishments reported workweeks in excess of 44 hours, for men only.

Almost all of the wholesale drug supply houses granted vacations with pay after 1 year of service to their employees, both warehouse and office. In over a third of the cases the vacation period was 2 weeks; in practically all others it was 1 week. The 2-week period was predominant in the New England and Middle Atlantic regions.

Christmas bonuses of rather substantial amounts were paid by over 40 percent of the establishments. The proportion furnishing this additional income to employees was lowest in the Pacific Coast region.

Insurance or pension plans were found in well over half of the establishments. Although the Middle Atlantic, Great Lakes, and Pacific regions lagged behind this national average, all other regions exceeded it. Group life insurance plans were most prevalent, with health insurance next in line. The proportion of establishments having retirement pension plans was greater than in most industries studied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in recent years.

Paid sick leave was granted in almost a fourth of the establishments. A period of 1 week was most prevalent, with the remaining establishments largely granting 2 or 3 weeks.

Earnings of Power Laundry Workers in Large Cities, July 1947'

IN 19 OF 33 LARGE CITIES throughout the country, women flatwork finishers (machine) and bundle wrappers in power laundries were paid an average straight-time hourly wage of less than 60 cents in July 1947; in 9 of these cities the average was less than 50 cents.3 Shirt pressers (machine) averaged 60 cents or more in 24 cities, with a top average of 93 cents. Among men workers, washers equaled or exceeded $1 an hour in 16 of the cities and in 12 others had city-wide average earnings of 80 cents to $1. In contrast, extractor operators in only 6 cities attained $1 or more, in 10 others, they averaged 80 cents to $1.

Pacific Coast cities, especially San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland, generally showed the highest hourly earnings for power laundry workers. Men washers and extractor operators had city averages of $1 or more in all four cities studied in that region. In these cities, only flatwork finishers in Los Angeles, among the 3 women's jobs currently studied, averaged less than 80 cents. Men washers and extractor operators in Buffalo and Detroit also had averages of $1 or more. Women shirt pressers in Chicago, Detroit, and New York were the only groups of women, except those on the Pacific Coast, who were able to earn more than 80 cents, on the average.

At the other extreme, earnings in southern cities were relatively low, with Birmingham having lower averages than any other city for the five occupations studied. It was the only city in which all three women's occupations had average straight-time earnings of less than 40 cents, and the only one in which men extractor operators averaged less than 50 cents.

Comparison of the figures obtained in the current study with results of a similar study in July 1945 shows that workers in power laundries generally received substantial wage increases during the

1 Prepared in the Bureau's Wage Analysis Branch. This is the second of a series of local industry wage studies which will be made on an annual basis. Data for a limited number of occupations were collected by field represents. tives under the direction of the Bureau's regional wage analysts. Greater detail on wages and wage practices for each city in the current article is available on request.

2 Exclusive of premium payments for overtime and night work. Approximately 112,000 workers were employed in power laundries in the

33 cities in July 1947, exclusive of establishments with fewer than 8 workers, which were not studied.

A majority of the city occupa

2-year interval. tional averages in July 1947 were at least 20 percent higher than in July 1945.

In 13 cities,

women flatwork finishers showed gains of 30 percent or more, and women shirt pressers fared equally as well in 10 communities.

Milwaukee.

.43

32

34. 4

.37

29

27.6

.90

.77

.98

15.3

Minneapolis-St. Paul.

.85

Newark-Jersey City.

New Orleans..

Activities of

Credit Unions in 1946

CREDIT UNIONS had a successful year in 1946. For the first time since 1942, the number of new associations overbalanced the number dissolved, resulting in a 1-percent increase in the total. Membership, which had been declining since 1941, rose in 1946 by slightly more than 6 percent to a level almost equal to that of 1943. Both State and Federal associations shared in this, the former with a 5-percent increase and the latter with one of 7 percent.

Business (i. e. loans made), after having fallen by over 100 million dollars from 1941 to 1942 and to a still lower level in 1943, began to rise

gradually in 1944. In 1946, loans rose by over 37 percent, to a total of nearly 290 million dollars. Although this is still below the peak of 362 millions in 1941, it represents one of the greatest relative increases recorded since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began to collect data on credit unions.

Share capital and assets have increased continuously, with the single exception of the depression year of 1932, and at the end of 1946 the credit union assets were approaching the half-billion mark. The sum of more than 50 million dollars was accumulated in the year under review. Reserves, although increasing as to amount, fell in relation to total loans outstanding from 19.4 percent to 14.9 percent.

Net earnings totaled $9,915,872, exceeding those of any year since 1942, and dividends on share capital amounted to $7,021,916.

764820-47

Survey of

Consumer Finances: Part III1

SAVING BY VARIOUS INCOME GROUPS during 1946 and their holdings of nonliquid assets in early 1947 are discussed in Part III of the Federal Reserve Board's survey of consumer finances. The principal findings of this section are as follows:

(1) Slightly less than two-thirds of all spending units saved part of their income in 1946, with one quarter saving more than 20 percent. Compared with 1945, there was a decline in the proportion of spending units showing positive saving, but a considerable increase in the proportion of those spending units whose expenditures exceeded their income.

(2) The spending units with incomes between $2,000 and $5,000, one-half the total, accounted for about two-fifths of the net saving of all spending units, approximately the same as in 1945. The units with incomes of $7,500 or more also accounted for about two-fifths of total net saving, but apparently this was a greater proportion than these income groups saved in 1945. In the lowest income group, net saving was negative in 1946; that is to say, the savings of those who saved at all were, in the aggregate, less than the deficits. of those who spent more than they received.

1 Federal Reserve Bulletin, August 1947. Parts I and II were summarized in the September 1947 issue of the Monthly Labor Review (p. 329).