Employment Outlook in Railroad Occupations
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Qualificati Outlook Earnings Working C UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Maurice J. Tobin, Secretary Ewan Clague, Commissioner OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK SERIES BULLETIN No. 961 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Cover picture shows brakeman signaling to engineer. Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Employment Outlook in RAILROAD OCCUPATIONS Bulletin No. 961 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Maurice J. Tobin, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Commissioner UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1949 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price 30 cents Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Letter of Transmittal U n it e d S tates D e pa r t m e n t oe L abor, B u r e a u of L abor S t a t ist ic s, Washing ton, D. G., June SO, 194,9. The S ec r eta r y of L abor : I have the honor to transmit herewith a report on the employment outlook in railroad occupations. This is one of a series of occupational studies pre pared in the Bureau’s Occupational Outlook Branch for use in vocational counseling of young people in school, veterans, and others interested in choosing a field of work. The study was conducted under the supervision of Helen Wood. The report was prepared by Miss Wood, Gloria Count, and Raymond D. Larson. Samuel Vernoff assisted in the field work; Sylvia K. Lawrence and George Gryder, in the library and statistical research. The Bureau wishes to express its appreciation to the many officials of the trade-unions, trade associations, railroad companies, and Government agencies who have provided valuable information or read all or part of the manuscript. E w a n C la g u e, Gommissioner. Hon. M a u r ic e J. T o b in , Secretary of Labor. II Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Contents Page Introduction______________________________________________________________________ 1 The railroad industry______________________________________________________________ 2 The railroad workers______________________________________________________________ 3 Employment outlook______________________________________________________________ 5 Freight and passenger traffic: Past trends_______________________________________________________________ 5 Future prospects__________________________________________________________ 8 Employment: Past trends_______________________________________________________________ 9 Prospective trends________________________________________________________ 9 Opportunities for new entrants_____________________________________________ 10 Labor organization________________________________________________________________ 11 Earnings and working conditions: Hours of work________________________________________________________________ 12 Earnings_____________________________________________________________________ 12 Pensions, other benefits, and vacations__________________________________________ 13 How to enter railroad work________________________________________________________ 13 Railroad occupations—duties, qualifications, outlook, earnings, working conditions: Train, engine, and yard service_________________________________________________ 15 Locomotive firemen and helpers____________________________________________ 15 Locomotive engineers_____________________________________________________ 18 Brakemen________________________________________________________________ 19 Conductors_______________________________________________________________ 21 Train baggagemen________________________________________________________ 23 Hostlers__________________________________________________________________ 23 Switch tenders_______________________________________ 24 Passenger service on trains______________________________________ 25 Pullman conductors_______________________________________________________ 25 Porters and attendants____________________________________________________ 26 Dining-car cooks_____________________________________ 28 Dining-car waiters________________________________________________________ 29 Communication, station, and office work________________________________________ 30 Telegraphers and telephoners______________________________________________ 32 Towermen_______________________________________________________________ 34 Station agents____________________________________________________________ 35 Clerks___________________________________________________________________ 36 Redcaps_________________________________________________________________ 37 Shop trades__________________________________________________________________ 38 Maintenance of way and structures_____________________________________________ 43 Trackmen________________________________________________________________ 43 Bridge and building workers_______________________________________________ 45 Signal workers_____ _____________________________________________________ 46 Appendix A. Employment on class I railroads, by occupation, 1948___________________ 48 Appendix B. Suggested readings____________________________________________________ 50 III Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK IN RAILROAD OCCUPATIONS Introduction The railroad industry is one of the giants of developing the western part of the country. Ac American enterprise, with about iy 2 million work cording to a report written about 1850: “Twelve ers, nearly 2 million cars and locomotives, and a years ago the fare of a passenger from Chicago, vast network of lines connecting all parts of the 111. (by lake and rail to New York City), 1,500 United States. Railroads are such an essential miles, was $74.50. It is now about $17* Twelve and accepted part of our national life that it is years since the cost of transporting a bushel of hard to realize they were as novel and exciting a wheat from Chicago to New York was so great century ago as supersonic jet planes are today. as effectually to keep the grain of that country They made their first bid for public attention in out of the market. Now a bushel of wheat is 1830 when a small steam engine raced a horse transported the whole distance, 1,500 miles, for car at Baltimore, Md. Unfortunately this engine, 27 cents.”1 The railroads thus made it possible the “Tom Thumb,” had a break-down and lost the for western farm products to reach the eastern contest. It is nevertheless remembered as one of markets and ports. To the West, they carried the first American-built locomotives to transport manufactured goods from eastern industrial cen passengers for hire, and the year 1830 saw the ters, and they transported the stream of people beginning of a great railroad era. migrating to frontier communities. Especially in The first links in our railroad network were the far West, they tapped many regions which small separate lines only a few miles long. They were out of reach of waterways and which, with were located in the Northeastern and Middle At out the railroads, might have remained unsettled lantic States, where most of the people in the and undeveloped indefinitely. country lived. These early railroads were built The era of rapid railroad building came to an outwards from big cities, in order to reach as end with the First World War. But railroad large a surrounding area as possible and thus bring traffic went on expanding thereafter. Today— more trade into the city. By the early 1840’s the despite competition for business from trucks and different short lines had begun to form a network busses, and automobiles, pipe lines, and air lines, joining such cities as Boston and Buffalo, until as well as inland waterways—the railroads still then many days’ journey apart. Railroad build have more freight and passenger traffic and em ing west of the Alleghenies began during the ploy more people than all other intercity transpor forties and went on so rapidly that by the middle tation industries combined. They have more fifties both Chicago and St. Louis had through workers than are employed in automobile plants rail connection with New York. In 1869 occurred or in factories making all kinds of clothing and the most dramatic event in railroad history—the other finished textile products; half again as many completion of the first transcontinental route by as are engaged in all types of mining. the joining of the Union Pacific line from the West In an industry as large as this, thousands of and the Central Pacific line from the East at job openings arise each year as workers die, re- Promontory Point, Utah. 1 See Economic History of the American People, by Ernest L. The new means of transportation had a tre Bogart and Donald L. Kemmerer, New York, Longmans, Green & mendous effect in increasing trade and travel and Co., 1942 (p. 335). l Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis tire, or transfer to other fields of work. Open New workers entering railroad employment ings occur in every State in the great number of must expect to start at the bottom of the ladder. communities of all sizes which are served by the The longer they stay with the company the greater railroads. The jobs are of many different kinds: will be their job security and the better their Brakeman, fireman, telegrapher, clerk, apprentice chance of picking a work