Hours and Earnings in Anthracite and Bituminous Coal Mining Anthracite—January, 1922 Bituminous—Winter of 1921-22
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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR JAMES J. DAVIS, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS ETHELBERT STEWART, Commissioner BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES) . jU BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS) 316 WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR SERIES HOURS AND EARNINGS IN ANTHRACITE AND BITUMINOUS COAL MINING ANTHRACITE—JANUARY, 1922 BITUMINOUS—WINTER OF 1921-22 JULY, 1922 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1922 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis CONTENTS. Page. 1 Introduction........................................................ 1 Contract miners............................................................................................................... 2 Pick or hand miners.................................. 2 Method of study................................................................................. ...................... .. 2-4 Importance of coal industry..................................... 4-6 Occupations in coal industry........................................................................................ 7 Starts, days of operation, and possible earnings...................................................... 7, 8 Average and classified hourly earnings..........................................•........................... 9-14 Number off starts (days) in half month....................................................................... 14-28 Daily hours of operation..................................................................................................28-34 Tonnage or piece workers...................................................................................... 29-30 Time-workers...................... 30-34 Average starts, hours, and earnings................................... ................ .......................34-40 Rates and earnings, days of operation, and days closed in each mine................. 40-50 Wage peak and wage reductions.................................................................................... 51-59 Definition of occupations............................................................................................... 60-63 TABLES. Table 1.—Number of employees, average number of days of operation, net tons mined, value of production at mines, and value per ton at mine, of anthracite and bituminous coal mines, by years, 1914 to 1920........................... 4 Table 2.—Number of employees, average number of days of operation, net tons mined, and value of production at mine, of coal mines in the United States in 1920, and number of mines and employees covered by this study, by States.............................. ............................................................................................. 6 Table 3.—Number of mines, number of employees who actually mine the coal, average number of starts (days) in half month, average and classified days of operation during year ending October 31,1921, and estimated average possible earnings during year in coal mines studied, by States......................... 8 Table 4.—Number and per cent of employees, in selected occupations in anthracite and bituminous coal mines, earning each classified amount per hour....................................................................................................... ....................... 9-13 Table 5.—Cumulative per cent of employees, in selected occupations in anthra cite and bituminous coal mines, earning each classified amount per hour___ 14 Table 6.—Number and per cent of employees in representative anthracite col lieries in Pennsylvania making each specified number of starts (days on which employees worked) in half month ending January 31,1922, by occupa tions...............................................................................................................................16-17 Table 7.—Number and per cent of employees in representative bituminous mines making each specified number of starts (days on which employees worked) in half-month pay-roll period in the winter of 1921-22, by occupations and States..................................................................................................................... 18-27 Table 8.—Cumulative per cent of employees making each specified number of starts (days on which employees worked) in half-month pay-roll period........ 28 Table 9.—Daily time schedule of contract miners and contract miners’ laborers in representative anthracite collieries in Pennsylvania for the second half of January, 1922............................................................................................................... 29 Table 10.—Number of coal mines having time-work employees working each specified number of regular or customary hours per day and per week, by occupations.....................................................................................................................31-34 Table 11.—Number of mines and employees, average number of starts (days), and average hours and earnings in representative anthracite collieries in Pennsylvania for second half of January, 1922, by occupations........................ 35 Table 12.—Number of mines and employees, average number of starts (days), and average hours and earnings in representative bituminous mines, winter of 1921-22, by occupations and States.......................................................................36-40 869—22 III Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis IV CONTENTS. Page. Table 13.—Days and hours of operation, tons produced per man, and daily rates and average earnings per hour for employees in selected occupations, for second half of January, 1922; also days of operation and days closed during the 12 months ending October 31,1921, for each representative anthracite col liery in Pennsylvania covered by study........................................................... 42-43 T able 14.—Days and hours of operation, tons produced per man, tonnage rates and average earnings per hour for employees in selected occupations; also days of operation and days closed during the 12 months ending October 31, 1921, for each'representative bituminous mine covered by study...........................44-50 T able 15.—Date of pay-roll period, date of beginning of wage peak, date and amount of reduction of wages, overtime rate, bonus, deductions from earnings, and regular or customary hours per day, for each representative bituminous mine, winter of 1921-22, by States................................................................ 52-59 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis BULLETIN OF THE U. S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS n o . 3 1 6 WASHINGTON J u l y , 1 9 2 2 HOURS AND EARNINGS IN ANTHRACITE COAL MINING IN JANUARY, 1922, AND IN BITUMINOUS COAL MINING IN WINTER OF 1921-22. INTRODUCTION. The earnings and hours of labor of coal-mine employees presented in this bulletin were compiled from data obtained from the records of 29 anthracite collieries in Pennsylvania for the half-month pay-roll period ending January 31, 1922, and from the records of 192 bitu minous mines for a half-month pay-roll period late in 1921, and of eight bituminous mines for a half-month pay-roll period early in 1922. The 200 bituminous mines here covered are in 11 States; namely, Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Arrangements were made to obtain data for employees of bitu minous mines in Kansas for a half-month pay-roll period in October or November, 1921, but no data were obtained for any Kansas mines because of the strike of coal-mine employees in that State, which began October 1, 1921, and continued throughout the remainder of that year. All data were taken directly from the mine records by agents of the Bureau of Labor Statistics except that for a few companies which preferred to make the copy of the wage data for the bureau from their records. Such companies were furnished a complete set of instructions as to what was desired and all necessary forms or blank schedules. The data furnished by such companies were carefully inspected at the mines or offices of the companies by agents of the bureau. The pay rolls of bituminous mines are, as shown in Table 15 (pp. 52 to 59), for half months within the period beginning October 1, 1921, and ending February 15, 1922. The half-month pay rolls for 14 mines ended October 15, 1921; for 134 mines, October 31; for 40 mines, November 15; for 2 mines, November 30; for 2 mines, Decem ber 15; and for 8 mines, February 15, 1922. No mine was scheduled that was not in operation at least two days per week in the pay-roll period. Figures are given separately for anthracite employees and for bituminous employees by occupations and by States, with employees who work underground grouped under “ inside work,” and those who work on the surface grouped under “outside work.” Approximately 78 per cent of the 21,999 anthracite and 89 per cent of the 52,748 bituminous employees covered by this report work underground. 1 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 2 HOURS AND EARNINGS IN COAL MINING. CONTRACT MINERS. “Contract miners” is the basic occupation of anthracite coal mining. Employees of this occupation are paid a tonnage or other piece rate, the unit of quantity being a ton of 2,240 pounds, a mine car o f specified capacity, or a yard. More than