CODEBOOK AND USER'S MANUAL: A SURVEY OF 1,749 FEMALE WAGE-EARNERS IN KANSAS, 1894 WITH RESPONSES PRESENTED AS OCCUPATION/CITY AVERAGES REPORTED IN THE TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE KANSAS BUREAU OF LABOR AND INDUSTRY, 1894 Version 1.1 May 1, 1993 Susan B. Carter Thomas Kelly Roger L. Ransom Richard Sutch Hongcheng Zhao Historical Labor Statistics Project Institute of Business and Economic Research University of California Berkeley, California 94720 This codebook is a preliminary draft. The data described here and accompanying this version of the codebook is still in a preliminary format and may contain errors. Those wishing to use this data for research purposes should check with the authors for an update. Neither the collectors of the data or those sponsoring the data collection wish to bear responsibility for the use to which others may make of this data. The financial support of the National Science Foundation, the All-UC Group in Economic History, and of the Institute of Business and Economic Research and the Laboratory for Historical Research, both of the University of California, is appreciated. For further description of the Historical Labor Statistics Project, discussion of the social, economic, and political context in which the data were collected, and an assessment of data quality, see Susan B. Carter, Roger L. Ransom, and Richard Sutch, "The Historical Labor Statistics Project at the University of California," Historical Methods 24 (2) (Spring 1991): 52-65 and Susan B. Carter, Roger L. Ransom, and Richard Sutch, "Doing the Wright Thing: Carroll Wright and the State Labor Statistics Movement." Paper Presented at the Conference on Historical Labor Statistics, Lawrence, Kansas, June 1991. Suggested Citation: Susan B. Carter, Thomas Kelly, Roger L. Ransom, Richard Sutch and Hongcheng Zhao. Codebook and User's Manual: A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages; Reported in the Tenth Annual Report of the Kansas Bureau of Labor and Industry, 1894. Berkeley: Institute of Business and Economic Research, 1993. A SURVEY OF 1,749 FEMALE WAGE-EARNERS IN KANSAS, 1894 WITH RESPONSES PRESENTED AS OCCUPATION/CITY AVERAGES The survey of 1,749 female wage-earners in Kansas was conducted by the State's Bureau of Labor and Industry in 1894.[1] The objective of this survey, as well as that of a companion survey of male wage-earners carried out at the same time, was to secure information on the economic, educational, and social condition of wage-earners in the State.[2] The Bureau decided to gather data directly from employ‚s rather than employers because it felt that: better results could be obtained in this way, and also, that more of the educational and social conditions would be brought out by this manner of inquiry....[3] A list of questions was prepared and then sent "citizens" in various cities and towns of the State, together with a letter describing the charge of the Bureau and asking for cooperation in the administration of the questionnaire and the return of responses. The Bureau reported that for the survey of female wage- earners: From 2 to 10 ladies were engaged in all of the leading cities of the state, and blanks enough furnished them to cover the territory.[4] The survey of male wage-earners was conducted in a similar manner. [5] There is no explicit discussion of the number of wage-earners approached. The Bureau did, however, express frustration with this method of gathering data. Describing and commenting upon the experiences of those charged with collecting data on female wage- earners it called attention to difficulties while at the same time praising the efforts of those charged with the responsibility. It wrote: The ladies took up the work cheerfully, but met with all sorts of difficulties, excuses, indifference, etc., from the persons whom of all the report was most designed to assist. Many wage-earners had too much pride to allow their actual social condition to be made know, and an antagonism to anything which they thought smacked of a charity view of their case. Many said, "What good will such a report do?" and others remarked, as they looked over the list of questions, "all of this is my business, and I do not care to confide it to the public." Many said, "I do not have to work for a living," when oftentimes the facts in the case were that they were entirely dependent upon their efforts for a living. A question with a great many was, "What do they want with these facts?" Some were intimidated by their employers, as ladies having the work in charge reported that in some establishments the employ‚s were warned not to fill out the blanks, on peril of losing their situations; but when we consider how difficult it is to obtain such information from those working under the most favorable conditions, we cannot wonder at the reluctance and seeming indifference of those whose economic and general conditions are so far from the desirable; but the patient, persevering, determined women, into whose hands the work had been intrusted, and who had undertaken the prodigious task more on account of their interest in the welfare of wage-earners than from any other reason, did not seem to know any such word as fail, and, in the face of every difficulty, have succeeded beyond all expectations. The data are reliable and substantial, the ladies, in many instances, superintending the filling of the blanks themselves.[6] Nonetheless, later on in the Report, in a discussion of the collection of statistics on male laborers, the Bureau emphasized: The same, and even greater, obstacles in the collection of these data were met with as mentioned elsewhere in the collection of statistics relative to women wage-earners. The department is more than ever convinced that this class of work could more effectually and economically be accomplished through 'special agents,' and trusts that future legislatures will recognize this in increasing the appropriation for special agents' work. [7] The survey results are presented as averages by occupation and city. The total number of workers interviewed in each occupational category was presented in the text of the Report and is shown in Table 2. The city was indicated a Bureau number, only. No information is given on the number of workers in each occupational/city cell. The Historical Labor Statistics Project has transformed these data into machine-readable form using the procedures and codes outlined in this Codebook. Table 1 lists the questions asked in the survey and the variable names assigned to each response. Tables 2 through 16 present descriptive statistics on the values and distributions of responses to the questions asked including, where necessary, the numeric codes used in entering the data into the computer. Since version 1.0, some of the variable codes and most the variable names have been changed. Some minor data changes have been made in EXPSUB and RENT. Users are reminded to be aware of these changes. The data from this sample of 1,749 female wage-earners in Kansas in 1894 has been archived at the Laboratory for Historical Research at the University of California, Riverside. For additional information regarding the availability of these data please contact: Professor Roger Ransom Department of History University of California Riverside, CA 92521 FAX [909] 787-5299 NOTES [1] Kansas Bureau of Labor and Industry, Tenth Annual Report 1894. Topeka: The Kansas State Printing Company: J. K. Hudson, State Printer, 1895. [2] See Susan B. Carter, Thomas Kelly, Roger L. Ransom, and Richard Sutch, Codebook and User's Manual: A Survey of 1,115 Male Wage-Earners in Kansas with Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages; Reported in the Tenth Annual Report of the Kansas Bureau of Labor and Industry. Berkeley: Institute of Business and Economic Research, 1993. [3] Kansas Bureau of Labor and Industry, 1895, p. 171. [4] Ibid., p. 172. [5] Ibid., p. 207. [6] Ibid., pp. 172-3. [7] Ibid., 207. Table 1 Questions Asked of Respondents, A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Name Description PAGE Page of Report on Which Worker's Record Begins ID Case Number SUB_ID Number Assigned to Worker by the Kansas Labor Bureau OCC Occupation YRSWE Years a Wage Earner YRSOCC Years Worked at Present Occupation DAYS Average Day Worked Per Month During Past Year HOURS Hours Worked Per Day WAGE Wage Rate UWAGE Unit of Wage Level TOTEAR Yearly Earnings EXPCLOT Yearly Expense for Clothing EXPSUB Yearly Expense for Subsistence OTHEXP Yearly Expense for Other Items TOTEXP Total Yearly Expense SURPLUS Surplus YRSSCH Years at School LEFTSCH Age when Left School AGE Present Age DEP Others Wholly or Partially Supported OFAMWK Other Wage-Earners in Family RENT Rent Per Month Table 2 Occupation [OCC] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Frequency Code Response Number of cities Number of workers 1 Bookbinders 7 61 2 Bookkeepers 18 98 3 Clerks-dry goods 15 299 4 Clerks-office 12 69 5 Domestics 15 241 6 Dressmakers 14 131 7 Hotel and restaurant employees 12 162 8 Laundresses 15 104 9 Milliners 8 43 10 Printers-compositors 8 67 11 Stenographers and typewriters 12 87 12 Teachers 28 387 Total 164 1,749 Table 3 Years as a Wage Earner and in Occupation A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Frequency Years As a wage-earner In occupation [YRSWE] [YRSOCC] 1.0 - 2.0 years 4 4 2.1 - 4.0 11 38 4.1 - 6.0 49 61 6.1 - 8.0 56 40 8.1 - 10.0 29 12 10.1 - 12.0 4 3 12.1 - 14.0 5 1 14.1 - 16.0 1 1 16.1 - 33.0 5 4 Total 164 164 Table 4 Average Days Worked Per Month in Past Year [DAYS] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Days Frequency 11.67 - 12.00 days 1 12.01 - 14.00 16 14.01 - 16.00 10 16.01 - 18.00 4 18.01 - 20.00 14 20.01 - 22.00 13 22.01 - 24.00 13 24.01 - 26.00 74 26.01 - 28.00 1 28.01 - 30.00 18 Total 164 Table 5 Hours Worked Per Day [HOURS] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Hours Frequency 6 hours 29 7 3 8 26 9 30 10 49 11 14 12 10 13 2 14 1 Total 164 Table 6 Unit of Wage Level [UWAGE] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Code Response Frequency 1 Week 94 2 Month 70 Total 164 Table 7 Wage Rate [WAGE] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Wage Frequency If answer to UWAGE in Table 6 is '1', $2.00 - 3.00 27 3.01 - 4.00 0 4.01 - 5.00 1 5.01 - 6.00 16 6.01 - 7.00 25 7.01 - 8.00 20 8.01 - 9.00 5 If answer to UWAGE in Table 6 is '2', $3.00 - 10.00 13 10.01 - 20.00 0 20.01 - 30.00 26 30.01 - 40.00 15 40.01 - 50.00 12 50.01 - 80.00 4 Total 164 Table 8 Yearly Earnings and Yearly Expenditures A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Frequency Value Yearly earnings Yearly expenses [TOTEAR] [TOTEXP] $30 - 100 4 20 101 - 150 20 8 151 - 200 5 4 201 - 250 8 26 251 - 300 35 66 301 - 350 34 30 351 - 400 40 5 401 - 450 10 4 451 - 500 4 1 501 - 720 4 0 Total 164 164 Table 9 Yearly Expenses for Clothing, Subsistence and Other Items A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Frequency Value Clothing Subsistence Other items or code [EXPCLOT] [EXPSUB] [OTHEXP] -9(No response) 7 10 7 -8(Not asked in the survey) 0 26 0 $3 - 50 25 2 60 51 - 100 102 12 88 101 - 150 25 104 4 151 - 200 5 9 1 201 - 240 0 1 4 Total 164 164 164 Table 10 Surplus [SURPLUS] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Value or code Frequency -7("None") 7 $5.00 - 10.00 5 10.01 - 20.00 15 20.01 - 30.00 22 30.01 - 40.00 29 40.01 - 50.00 25 50.01 - 60.00 15 60.01 - 70.00 16 70.01 - 80.00 9 80.01 - 90.00 8 90.01 - 100.00 5 100.01 - 433.00 8 Total 164 Table 11 Present Age [AGE] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Age or code Frequency -9(No response) 2 20 - 25 years old 92 26 - 30 55 31 - 35 10 36 - 40 1 41 - 45 2 46 - 50 2 Total 164 Table 12 Age When Left School [LEFTSCH] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Age or code Frequency -9(No response) 4 14 years old 16 15 30 16 39 17 33 18 30 19 4 20 5 21 2 24 1 Total 164 Table 13 Others Wholly or Partially Supported [DEP] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Number or code Frequency -7("None") 12 1 dependent 84 2 57 3 10 4 1 Total 164 Table 14 Years at School [YRSSCH] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Years or code Frequency -9(No response) 3 4 years 1 5 8 6 28 7 27 8 33 9 21 10 16 11 8 12 10 13 5 14 3 15 1 Total 164 Table 15 Other Wage-Earners in Family [OFAMWK] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Number or code Frequency -7("None") 6 1 person 96 2 56 3 5 4 1 Total 164 Table 16 Rent Per Month [RENT] A Survey of 1,749 Female Wage-Earners in Kansas, 1894 With Responses Presented as Occupation/City Averages Rent or code Frequency -9(No response) 18 -8(Not asked in the survey) 27 $2.50 - 3.00 4 3.01 - 4.00 16 4.01 - 5.00 28 5.01 - 6.00 33 6.01 - 7.00 19 7.01 - 8.00 12 8.01 - 9.00 5 9.01 - 10.00 1 10.01 - 12.50 1 Total 164