TABLE 5 (b). Average Weekly Earnings: By Occupations (Cumula

tive).

PER CENT. OF WORKERS EARNING

OCCUPATIONS.

$4.

$5.

$6.

Under Under Under Under Under Under Under $9 and
$3.
$7. $8. $9. over.

TABLE 6. Average Weekly Earnings: By Establishments (Cumula

tive).

PER CENT. OF WORKERS EARNING

ESTABLISHMENTS.

Under Under Under Under Under Under Under $9 and

Total Earnings for the Year and Fluctuation of Employment. According to Table 7 three-fifths (61.3 per cent.) of the women cleaners received a total yearly income for their work in the buildings investigated amounting to less than $250. Not quite one-tenth (9.8 per cent.) earned as much as $400, or the equivalent of a weekly wage of slightly less than $8, and only 28 women, or 2.3 per cent. of the total number, earned as much as $450, or the equivalent of an average weekly wage of slightly less than $9.

One of the most important causes of small annual earnings in this as in other low-paid occupations is to be found in the fact that so few women work for fifty-two weeks in the year. As shown by Table 8 (a), only one-fourth (24.0 per cent.) of the office cleaners and less than one-tenth (7.8 per cent.) of the dormitory cleaners were reported as working a full year. In the case of the latter the fluctuation of employment is explained by the closing of many of the residential halls during the college summer vacation. The situation in office buildings, however, cannot be explained by seasonal fluctuation, as the demand for labor is constant throughout the year. The majority (58.0 per cent.) of those in all occupations, including 54.6 per cent. of the office cleaners, worked for not more than six months, in spite of the fact that most concerns grant a paid vacation to all workers who have been in their employ for from six months to a year. Table 8 (b) shows that there is much variation among the different buildings in respect to steadiness of employment, but no relation between regularity of employment and wage rates or hours of labor appears to exist.

4

3

2

1

Age and Length of Experience.

Women who engage in building cleaning are older than those in other occupations. According to Table 9 (a) and (b), only 4 of the 676 workers for whom information regarding age was obtained were under twenty-five years of age, and 450 (66.6 per cent.) were over forty.

Length of experience seems to have little bearing upon the possibility of securing employment or upon the earnings of the workers. As is shown by Table 10, approximately half (47.3 per cent.) of the women who reported regarding experience stated that they had been employed at this work for less than five years. An analysis of this table indicates that there is no substantial difference in earning capacity between the women who have had less and those who have had more than five years' experience in this occupation.

TABLE 9 (a). Average Weekly Earnings. By Age Groups.