It has, to a limited extent, been found desirable to draft boys and girls from areas where their services are not much in demand to districts where there is a scanty supply of labor for essential industries or where opportunities for training in skilled employments are available. Where such migration has been carried out through the exchanges special arrangements have been made to secure the welfare of the boys and girls in their new sphere.[238]
Supervision of the boys and girls thus removed from home care and training, naturally a most serious responsibility, was carried out mainly by the advisory committees on juvenile employment, which had been formed in connection with many exchanges before the war for the vocational guidance of young workers. In the case of young girls the work also came under the duties of the local committees on “women’s war employment.” As “welfare supervision” was developed by the Ministry of Munitions, the supervisors, and later the “outside welfare officers,” were likewise instructed to give attention to the matter.
Wages
According to information from several sources the rise in wages during the war was perhaps more marked among boys and girls under eighteen than among any other class of workers. Boys and girls in munitions factories in certain parts of the country were often able to earn from £1 ($4.80) to £2 ($9.60) a week—the latter as much as many skilled men received previous to the war.[239]
The Ministry of Reconstruction’s Committee on Juvenile Employment reported that competition for workers drove boys’ wages up 50 per cent within a few months after the beginning of the war, and at the end of a year the rise was 75 to 100 per cent. At the repetition piece work with automatic machinery, common in munition factories, “many of the boys earned amounts that previously were associated with the earnings of men, while here and there cases could be found where their earnings were equivalent to, or even more than, those of the skilled foremen who supervised their work. Rumor naturally exaggerated the real position, but there was plenty of evidence available to justify many of the stories that were current as to boys’ earnings.” It was noted that “boys do not seem to mind monotonous work if they are well paid for it,” and rates for the older boys were at times actually higher for unskilled and semi-skilled than for skilled occupations. In one typical munitions district their wages averaged somewhat as follows:[240]
| Age | Unskilled | Semi-skilled | Skilled |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 3-3½d. an Hr. | 4-4½d. | 4-4½d. |
| 15 | —— | 4½d. | 5-6d. |
| 16 | 6d. | 6d. | 5d. |
| 17 | 7d. | 7d. | 6d. |
The rates fixed by the Ministry of Munitions for girls under eighteen indicated the high level reached in their wages also. For girls under sixteen they were roughly equivalent to the minima fixed by the trade boards for adult women, and were somewhat higher for girls between sixteen and eighteen. The increases granted up to the end of the war made the standard weekly time rate on “men’s work” 23s. 9d. ($5.70) for girls under sixteen, 25s. 9d. ($6.18) for girls of sixteen, and 27s. 9d. ($6.66) for those of seventeen. On piece work 30 per cent for girls under sixteen, 20 per cent at sixteen, and 10 per cent at seventeen was deducted from the rates of adult women.
Hours
Along with the relaxation of hour limitations on women’s work, the similar restrictions on “protected persons” under eighteen were modified. The result of the relaxation of standards was thus described by the Health of Munition Workers Committee:
The weekly hours have frequently been extended to sixty-seven, and in some instances even longer hours have been worked. The daily hours of employment have been extended to 14, and occasionally even to 15 hours; night work has been common; Sunday work has also been allowed, though latterly it has been largely discontinued.[241]