STEAM RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION IN NEW JERSEY. CLASSIFICATION OF EMPLOYES, NUMBER OF DAYS EMPLOYED DURING THE YEAR, AVERAGE DAILY OR MONTHLY WAGES, AND ANNUAL EARNINGS OF EMPLOYES. The Bureau is indebted to the courtesy of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey Central, Erie, Morris and Essex, Lehigh Valley, New York, Susquehanna and Western and Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Companies for the data relating to their employes in this State which are presented in the following tables. All the roads in the State, with the exception of one or two very small ones, are a part of some one of these large systems. The classification, therefore, includes substantially all who are employed on the steam railroads in New Jersey, and is the first complete one that has been made. The statements show the great number of persons employed and the immense amount of money paid by the railroad companies in this State yearly in wages. The period covered is for the last fiscal year, which, for all the roads except the Pennsylvania, is for the year ending June 30th, 1898. The Pennsylvania reports for the calendar year 1897. The statement of each road is for the average number of employes engaged in service on the companies' lines in New Jersey during the twelve months. The actual number engaged in the various departments may vary slightly from one month to another, but the variation is trifling. The reports made by four of the seven roads are on perfectly uniform lines; the others, while varying somewhat, are still in their most essential features very similar to them. Below the total number of employes on the different roads in New Jersey is shown, together with the total amount paid in wages to those employed during the year. There are, as shown by the above table, 30,863 men rendering service on the railroads in New Jersey, and the amount paid them in wages during the last year was $17,409,098.73. There is no other industry in the State that equals this in the number of persons employed and amount paid in wages. The Pennsylvania heads the list. Of its 12,354 employes rendering service in New Jersey, 10,862 are wholly employed in the State and 1,492 serve some part of the time in an adjoining State, either on the section from Trenton to Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, or on the floating equipment in New York harbor. On the other roads, where the lines extend outside the State, a careful separation has been made, showing those employed in the State and the wages paid. In the following table the employes are divided into classes, showing the departments in which the men render service. The average yearly wages paid each employe is given and the percentage of the total wages paid in each class to the total of all wages paid: Under transportation is included all employes not properly assignable to the other classes given, including general superintendents and clerks in superintendent's office, station agents and stationmen, all trainmen, yardmen, switchmen and signalmen. Of all wages paid, 62.3 per cent. are paid to men employed in this class. Less than one quarter of the total wages paid goes to men employed in the maintenance of equipment, and only a little more than onetenth to maintenance of way. In the payment of wages, the reports of the different roads show but little variation; in consequence, however, of there being some difference in the form in which they are presented, a classification of the total number of persons employed, either on the line of average monthly or daily wages, cannot be made. An examination of the report of each road, which is given in full, will show the average daily or monthly wages, as the form may be in which they are presented, and also the average yearly earnings for all classes of labor employed in their service. |