Contrary to the widely held belief that women's earnings rose relative to men's during World War II because of women's unprecedented movement into heavy manufacturing industries, the author of this study finds that the national all-industry earnings of women during the war fell compared to those of men. In Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New York, the relative weekly and annual earnings of female manufacturing workers rose, but at a rate below that of the long-term trend. Overall, the decline in women's weekly and annual earnings compared to men's probably resulted from the relative increase in men's hours worked—a result of state protective legislation that limited women's hours of work.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AldrichMark, and BucheleRobert. 1986. The Economics of Comparable Worth. Cambridge: Ballinger.
BradyDorothy. 1947. “Equal Pay for Women Workers.”Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 251 (May), pp. 53–60.
4.
BradyDorothy. 1952. “Equal Pay—What Are the Facts?” In U.S. Women's Bureau, Bulletin No. 243, pp. 14–17. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
5.
ChafeWilliam. 1972. The American Woman. New York: Oxford.
6.
GoldinClaudia. 1984. “The Earnings Gap in Historical Perspective.” In U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Comparable Worth: Issue for the 80's, Vol. 1, pp. 3–20. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
7.
HartmannSusan. 1982. The Home Front and Beyond. Boston: Twayne.
8.
Illinois Department of Labor. 1940–45. “Employment, Payrolls, Average Earnings and Man-Hours for Wage Earners in Reporting Illinois Establishments, by Industry.”Illinois Labor Bulletin, 1–5.
9.
Illinois Department of Labor. 1941. “Employment of Clerical, Office Employees, and Production Employees in Illinois Manufacturing Establishments, October 1941.”Illinois Labor Bulletin, Vol. 2 (December), p. 10.
10.
Illinois Department of Labor. 1942a. “Majority of Principal Industrial States Provide Relaxation Grants for War Production Purposes.”Illinois Labor Bulletin, Vol. 2 (March 31), p. 18.
11.
Illinois Department of Labor. 1942b. “More Violations of Child Labor Standards Revealed.”Illinois Labor Bulletin, Vol. 3 (April 30), pp. 10–12.
12.
Illinois Department of Labor. 1942c. “Employment and Payrolls in Illinois Industries Rise During April.”Illinois Labor Bulletin, Vol. 3 (May 31), p. 8.
13.
Illinois Department of Labor. 1942d. “Basic Data on the Illinois Labor Force from the Sixteenth Census of the United States.”Illinois Labor Bulletin, Vol. 3 (July 31), p. 12.
14.
Illinois Department of Labor. 1944. “United States and Illinois Labor Force Estimates.”Illinois Labor Bulletin, Vol. 5 (August 31), p. 4.
15.
Illinois Department of Labor. 1945. Illinois Labor Bulletin, Vol. 5 (Jan.–Feb.).
16.
Illinois Department of Labor. 1948. “Historical Series.”Illinois Labor Bulletin, Vol. 9 (July/August), pp. 23–31.
17.
KatzLawrence. 1986. “Efficiency Wage Theories: A Partial Evaluation.” In FischerStanley, ed., NBER Macroeconomics Annual. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 234–89.
18.
Kessler-HarrisAlice. 1982. Out to Work. New York: Oxford.
19.
KruegerAlan, and SummersLawrence. 1986. “Reflections on the Interindustry Wage Structure.” NBER Working Paper No. 1968. Cambridge, Mass.
20.
Michigan Department of Labor. 1943. “Women Workers.”Michigan Labor and Industry, Vol. 3 (January), p. 9.
21.
Michigan Department of Labor. 1944. “Comparison of Employment, Average Weekly Hours, Average Weekly Earnings and Average Hourly Earnings of Men and Women in Michigan Manufacturing Industries.”Michigan Labor and Industry, Vol. 6 (October), p. 4.
22.
New York Department of Labor. 1940–45. Industrial Bulletin, Vols. 20–25.
23.
New York Department of Labor. 1942. “Women in War Industries.”Industrial Bulletin, Vol. 21 (April), p. 129.
24.
New York Department of Labor. 1943. “Absenteeism in War Plants.”Industrial Bulletin, Vol. 22 (August), pp. 303–8.
25.
New York Department of Labor, Division of Women in Industry and Minimum Wage, Albany. 1944. “Women's Wages on Men's Jobs.” February, Chaps. 3–4.
26.
New York Department of Labor, Division of Wages, Hours, Women, and Child Labor, Albany. 1945. “Three Years of War Dispensations, December 8, 1941 to December 20, 1944.” June.
27.
Pennsylvania Department of Internal Affairs, Bureau of Statistics, Harrisburg. 1916–50. Report on Productive Industries.
28.
PhillipsPeter. 1982. “Gender Based Wage Differentials in Pennsylvania and New Jersey Manufacturing.”Journal of Economic History, Vol. 42 (March), pp. 181–86.
29.
SchweitzerMary. 1980. “World War II and Female Labor Force Participation.”Journal of Economic History, Vol. 40 (March), p. 89–97.
30.
SilvermanJanice, Senior Information Specialist, The Conference Board. 1985. Personal correspondence (January 29).
31.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1942a. “Employment of Women in Wartime.”Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 55 (September), pp. 441–45.
32.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1942b. “Elimination of Overtime Payments from Gross Hourly Earnings.”Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 55 (November), pp. 1053–56.
33.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1943. “Wartime Employment of Women in Manufacturing.”Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 56 (October), pp. 1–6.
34.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1945a. Women in Factories. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
35.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1945b. “Hours and Earnings of Men and Women in Michigan Factories, August, 1944.”Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 60 (January), pp. 159–60.
36.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1945c. “Work and Wage Experience of Willow Run Workers.”Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 60 (December), pp. 1074–90.
37.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1946. “City Family Composition in Relation to Income, 1941 and 1944.”Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 62 (February), pp. 175–80. Prepared by Leonore Epstein and Ann Ritter.
38.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1947. Women in Factories. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
39.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1950. “OASI Annual Earnings Series, 1939–1948.”Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 70 (June), pp. 605–11. U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1943. 16th Census of Population, 1940, The Labor Force: Industrial Characteristics. Washington: GPO.
40.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1947. Current Population Reports, Series P-50, No. 2.
41.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1948. Current Population Reports, Series P-60, No. 2 (March 2).
42.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1949. Current Population Reports, Series P-60, No. 5 (February 7).
43.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1975. Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970. Washington, D.C.: GPO. U.S. Women's Bureau. 1944. “Women's Wages in Wartime.” Mimeo (November). Washington, D.C.: GPO.
44.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1945. “State Labor Laws for Women with Wartime Modifications, Part I: Analysis of Hours Laws.” Bulletin, No. 202–1. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
45.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1946a. “Employment of Women in the Early Postwar Period.” Bulletin, No. 211. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
46.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1946b. “State Labor Laws for Women with Wartime Modifications, Part V: Explanation and Appraisal,” Bulletin, No. 202-V. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
47.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1946c. “Women Workers in Ten Production Areas and Their Postwar Employment Plans.” Bulletin, No. 209. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
48.
Woytinsky, Wladimir, and Associates. 1953. Employment and Wages in the United States. New York: Twentieth Century Fund.
