Minimum Wage Laws.—Investigations into the subject made some years ago disclosed the fact that not only were women and children frequently overworked in industries but that they were often underpaid as well. One reason for this underpayment was that many of the women and children workers lived at home and did not need to be entirely self-supporting. They merely contributed to the general family earnings. They were thus in a position to work for smaller wages than if they were entirely self-dependent. But there were also many thousands of women and children who had to support themselves entirely from their own earnings and to these the low rate of wages meant hardship and suffering. It meant undernourishment, physical break-down, and premature old age. It led to pauperism and immorality. So the laws have once more intervened to protect the well-being of the race against the fruits of industrial injustice by providing that the wages of women and children in industry shall not fall below a certain minimum.
Nature of these laws.
Many of the states have put these minimum wage laws upon their statute books. Sometimes the minimum rate of wages is fixed in the law; more often it is determined in the case of each industry by a state board after an investigation. The minimum rate is set at such a point as will enable the wage-earner to be self-supporting. Here, again, the basic principle is that the actual cost of production, including the cost of protecting society against things detrimental to it, should be paid by the public which buys the goods. |Some practical difficulties.| One practical difficulty connected with the minimum wage plan is that it tends to throw the less efficient employees out of work altogether. The employer who is forced by law to pay a fixed minimum in wages, no matter how unskillful the worker may be, will promptly dismiss all those who do not give him, in work, the worth of their wages. If a minimum wage is established in all industries, where will the least skillful find employment?
Causes of unemployment.
The Problem of Unemployment.—The greatest of all economic wastes today is that which results from unemployment. The ideal condition would be to have everybody employed all the time. If that could be accomplished we could produce a great deal more each year at lower cost. Unemployment means that idle men must use what other workers are producing. But it is not possible to do away with unemployment altogether. Some trades are seasonal in character, that is to say, busy at one period of the year and slack during others. In northern regions the building trades, bricklaying, outdoor carpentry, and so on, are in this category. The larger part of the unemployment, however, is due to other than seasonal causes. It is due rather to trade depressions which from time to time cause the shutting down of industrial establishments and it is caused in some degree by the lack of careful planning on the part of the employer. The number of unemployed workers throughout the country varies greatly from time to time. It may be as low as five per cent or as high as forty per cent of the entire number.
Some suggested remedies.
Various plans for lessening the evils of unemployment have been suggested, but they all present some practical difficulties. Better vocational training would reduce the number of unskilled workers; and it is the unskilled who contribute most largely to the ranks of the unemployed. The establishment of public employment offices has done something to bring workers into touch with available jobs. It is proposed that we have a more careful planning of state and municipal improvements so that the heaviest demand for labor on public works would come at times when unemployment is most prevalent—this, it is urged, would help alleviate the trouble even though it might not go very far in solving the whole problem. Much would be accomplished by the better organization of industrial production and by some scheme of co-operation among employers which would enable workers to be transferred from one industry to another. Great practical obstacles are in the way of doing this on a large scale.
How progress toward a solution of the problem is being made.
Some large concerns have already adopted the plan of setting aside each week a certain percentage[percentage] of the total pay roll as an unemployment reserve. Then, whenever workers are temporarily out of employment through the slackening of business and not through any fault of their own, a certain weekly wage is paid to them from this reserve. Something will also be accomplished in the way of reducing unemployment by better vocational guidance, for young men and women often go into employments which afford no chance of promotion and which they subsequently find to be unsuited to their tastes. Many large industries now bestow great care upon the selection of new employees. All applicants are dealt with through a special official known as the employment manager, whose function it is to make reasonably sure that the applicant is fitted for the position. Foremen and bosses are not allowed to discharge employees at will. The complaints must first be referred for investigation to the employment manager’s office. This plan will also help alleviate unemployment if it becomes general.
Unemployment insurance.