Seasonal Character of the Industries
Employment in the garment trades is highly seasonal and is influenced by certain causes beyond control of the manufacturer. This irregularity of work is often a real hardship for employees. The busy seasons run from January through the spring months, and from August through the fall months. Some manufacturers, however, manage to keep workers busy 11 months during the year. Efforts have been made to equalize the work, seasonally, but nothing has been definitely accomplished so far. There is much greater irregularity of employment in the women’s garment trades than in the men’s. It often occurs that only one-half of those employed in the busy season in making women’s clothes are kept at work during the dull seasons.
Factors which influence this irregularity in employment are seasonal changes, changes in style, degree of specialization required, quality of product, and method of production. In the men’s garment industries, manufacturers often utilize the dull season for making up standard goods, such as blue serge suits, but makers of women’s clothes find style such a variable factor that they dare not make up stock much in advance of the season. Employment is more regularly distributed in the industries producing waists, skirts, and under muslins than it is in the cloak and suit industry.