CHAPTER VII. LIVING CONDITIONS OF WAGE-EARNING WOMEN IN NEW YORK CITY. The investigation in New York included the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. Of the 2,329 women workers from whom data were obtained, over 76 per cent were living in Manhattan, 17 per cent in Brooklyn, and the remainder in the Bronx. These three groups are treated together in tables and text since conditions of wage and living among them were not sufficiently varied to warrant separate discussion. Although the amount of data for Brooklyn workers seems disproportionately small it represents conditions reported from over two-thirds of the wards. The ward divisions were used in gathering material, because the boundaries were well known and very easily defined. Information from the Bronx covers ten districts, extending from the Harlem River to One hundred and ninetieth street and West Farms road, although the districts are not contiguous because of the sparseness of the population in that section. Every ward in Manhattan furnished its quota of material, except wards 2 and 3, which are nearly coincident with the congested office section of the city. Of the 2,329 wage-earning women visited in New York City for the purposes of this investigation, 391 were employed in department or other retail stores, and 1,938 were employed in factories, mills, and miscellaneous employments. The number of wage-earning women visited employed in specified industries, as well as the total number in the city engaged in such industries at the census of 1905, is shown in the following table: NUMBER OF WOMEN INCLUDED IN THIS INVESTIGATION AND TOTAL NUMBER EMPLOYED IN THE SAME INDUSTRIES AS REPORTED BY THE CENSUS, BY INDUSTRIES, NEW YORK CITY. • Compiled from Special Reports of Census Office, Manufactures, 1905, Part II. NUMBER OF WOMEN INCLUDED IN THIS INVESTIGATION AND TOTAL NUMBER EMPLOYED IN THE SAME INDUSTRIES AS REPORTED BY THE CENSUS, BY INDUSTRIES, NEW YORK CITY-Concluded. Included in clothing. • Included in men's furnishings and women's clothing. Included in silk and women's clothing. 1,762 furnished partial or complete wage data and personal information beyond mere fact that they were either living at home or with relatives; or were without homes and entirely dependent upon themselves. New York, though the largest city, has the smallest proportion of wage-earning women adrift. (a) Of a total of 2,329 women visited, 283, or 12.2 per cent, were found to be adrift. The Twelfth Census of the United States showed that in 1900, 19.7 per cent of the women workers in New York were boarding. But eliminating from these figures the actresses, musicians, artists, teachers, stenographers, and clerical (office) workers, thus limiting the figures to the class of workers who were included in this investigation, the proportion of women adrift, as given by the Federal census, proves to be approximately 14 per cent. If the waitresses, who are treated separately in this investigation, are also excluded from the census figures, the discrepancy is further reduced. It should be remembered that such a percentage, while accurate so far as the actual number of women visited is concerned, can only be approximately correct when applied to the group of wage-earning women as a whole. A high percentage of women adrift in one employment may after all represent a comparatively small number of women, since the occupation may not afford room for more. If, however, the lists are chosen, as these were, with due reference to the dominant industries, so far as the employment of women is concerned, the gains and losses in the various classes of employment will go far toward offsetting each other. a For explanation of the term "adrift," as used in this report, see p. 10. It is significant that 7.9 per cent of the department and retail store employees visited were found by this investigation to be adrift, while the census investigation, 9 years previous, shows something over 13 per cent to be adrift. It is quite conceivable that the number of wage-earning women in such establishments, who are entirely dependent upon themselves, should have decreased to the extent indicated, because of the preference on the part of department store employers for girls living at home or with relatives. Of the factory, mill, and miscellaneous female workers investigated, 13 per cent were found to be adrift. For some of the factory industries represented in this investigation no corresponding figures were found in the census report, and it was not possible to determine under what industrial classifications they were included. In any case, the figures 139,712, representing the total number of women employed in the industries included in this investigation, would be somewhat larger at the present time. However, using these figures and applying the percentages derived from actual calls upon 2,329 women, there would seem to be in Greater New York about 4,700 department and other retail store women wage-earners and over 18,000 miscellaneous women workers adrift; that is, dependent upon themselves for support and practically without homes. To set forth the conditions surrounding the lives of these women who are depending entirely upon their earnings for a livelihood is the chief aim of this report. The following table summarizes the essential facts in regard to age, experience, earnings, and expenditures for the wage-earning women included in this investigation in New York City. For women "adrift" only, certain other details are given relating mainly to living expenditures. It was not possible to secure from all of the women interviewed data for all the items embraced in the table. Hence the numbers reported vary in different sections of the table. WOMEN WAGE-EARNERS IN NEW YORK CITY FOR WHOM INFORMATION CONCERNING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS WAS SECURED. WOMEN AT HOME AND WOMEN "ADRIFT." Factories, mills, etc.: 348 347 19.7 346 3.1 343 $6.00 27 23 24.1 23 4.3 24 7.13 375 370 22.7 369 3.2 367 6.07 Total. 6.34 1,762 1,760 20.6 1,750 3.5 1,749 6.12 |