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wrap this up. Let's git 'er done.
Posted on 11/30/2014 4:35:08 PM PST by abigkahuna
Rosie the Riverter, p. 20
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca3300/ca3393/data/ca3393data.pdf
Finally, on April 1, the conference announced that it had set the
wage for a “first class machinist” at $1.12 per hour, establishing not only a maximum wage for
the West Coast shipyards, but also, since labor costs were deemed highest in that region, setting
a de facto maximum wage for the entire American shipbuilding industry, east and west, merchant
and naval, public and private. In June 1941, wage-stabilization agreements were reached for
shipyards on the East Coast and Gulf Coast and for the Great Lakes yards in July. The Gulf
yards had the lowest wage rate at a nickel below the $1.12 per hour for the East Coast, West
Coast and Great Lakes. The stabilization agreements reached in 1941 were maintained
throughout the war, with just one minor modification: a nationwide 8 cents per hour raise
effective July 19, 1942.56
There must have been a “big” pay raise between 55 and 56 when I joined and went through Basic training. $78,00 per month was the pay for an airman basic at that time. Being from a farming community where I was glad to get work for $2.00 a day, The Air Force was a pretty good deal.
My dad would speak of getting $1.25 an hour as a carpenter helping to build an airport in a small town. That was in the 30’s and a lot of money then.
Thanks Bubba Ho-Tep
I have seen that same article and it did give some guidance.
As a thanks for your help, I have a link to the NBC Complete Day broadcast for June 6th 1944. It actually runs through June 7th. There is a corresponding CBS Complete Day Broadcast too!
Download it and give it a listen. It is amazing how they could put together a story with so very little information. Remember, the invasion was not announced by the allies, but by the Germans! Get both broadcasts, it is an invaluable lesson in real time history for the youngsters.
There is also a complete day broadcast for station WSJV 1939-09-21. It is the earliest known complete day broadcast. Fascinating.
As you all are probably aware, there is a plethora of information on Archive.org. Oh, and by the way, on you tube there is a fascinating BBC program. It is 8 episodes called Wartime Farm. Three historians and archaeologists actually re-create the conditions and activities of a British war time farm for the period of one year. You will be blown away at the knowledge we have lost.
Years ago, I worked in a smokestack industry that had a few critical jobs during the war. There was a place in the plant that guys had scribbled history making events on the wall with dates. Anyway, the wage I recall was $0.42/hour for a shift foreman. A buck had value then.
Now that I think about it — that $78/month does ring a bell.
Man, that was such a long time ago, and so much water has flown under that bridge.
Jeez, maybe I should include the link, eh? Okay here it is: http://tinyurl.com/q6m8cuu Enjoy everyone. And thanks for the information. I probably should have used some different search terms.
It has been a lifetime ago for some. I just had my 77th bday.
Consider that all of these wages were paid in silver.
$10 of silver is going for about $120 (depending on how far it’s gone down today!). So the weekly minimum wage of about $50 before taxes is akin to about $600.
There is a book by Derks called “The Value of a Dollar” that will give you also there is a series called “Working Americans” that goes through. Everything from bricklayers to ball players, and the series is divided up by decades.
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This seems close to what you’re looking for:
http://www.nber.org/databases/macrohistory/contents/chapter08.html
You may want to study up on the history of labor unions during the war.
Some were agitators, and some included saboteurs.
There were strikes.
It embarrassed the Democrats and the war effort ... but it was the Democrats and communists’ agitators.
I know there was some big trouble with John L. Lewis of the coal miners union during WWII.
During the war my Mom worked as an operator at the phone company in Indianapolis. I think she said she made $35 per week.
I guess that you were issued that stupid Safari bushjacket as summer uniform. Did you still get the “Ike” jacket?
“The Great Plains during World War Two” by R. Douglas Hurt would be very useful in your research, I believe. It focuses on the midwestern states on the domestic front.
Thanks Bigbob,
It is very possible that one of the main characters will be from a rural farming area. It will be a story involvitng three women in different parts of the country, trying to get through life and this particular day.
Yes, I got the Ike jacket and the Safari Jacket, about which I have a great story. The Safari jacket worked out just fine for me, because after tech school(Radar) I was sent to North Africa,Wheelus Air Base, Tripoli Libya. While there a movie was made nearby that starred John Wayne and Sophia Lauren, Legend of the lost http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050629/
The clothing sales building was near my barracks and my roommate was over there when John Wayne came in to buy a Safari Jacket for the movie. According to my roommate Wayne was accompanied by a lot of brass and he broke away from them to talk to my roommate, and A2C. He said that he was a very friendly person and one of the higher ranked Officers called out to him and John waived him off, saying” I’m talking to this airman.” My roommate was still walking on air when he returned to the room. And Yes, John Wayne wore the Safari Jacket in the movie.
I was driving a tank wagon for the local Standard Oil distributor in 1962, $1.25 per hour. Had a car, a motorcycle and a nice apartment on the beach, and always had spending money.
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