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13958
WORKERS ON WPA EDUCATION PROJECTS
A Summary of Selected. Data on Persons Employed on Education
Projects in the State of Pennsylvania in May, 1938
This study was conducted "by the Division of Statistics
and Economic Research, Emerson Ross, Director, in co¬
operation with the Pennsylvania Works Progress Adminis¬
tration, J. Banks Hudson, Administrator, and Charles M.
Emerick, Director, Division of Education and Recreation.
The report was prepared "by Robert A. Graham of the Di¬
vision of Statistics and Economic Research.
i . F'A *-*'
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
Division of
Statistics and Economic Research
January 5, 1939
13958
Twy types of Education projects were operating in the
State of Pennsylvania in May, 1938, Adult Education projects and
Nursery School projects. During the last week in May about 2100'
workers, a little more than half of whom were women, were employed
on these projects.
The program of Adult Education projects consisted of a
v/ide variety of subjects at all levels of instruction from elemen¬
tary reading and writing to biology, astronomy, and calculus.
There were vocational courses, courses in literacy and naturaliza¬
tion, courses for home and family life, courses in first aid and
health, instruction for the deaf and the blind, education for
workers1 groups, educational tours of factories, museums and his¬
torical sites, and instruction in tho use of leisure time. More
than 300 subjects were listed, including History of Art, Bookkeep¬
ing, Cooking, Embroidery, Parliamentary Law, Radio Engineering, and
Highway Safety and Driving.
The program of Nursery School projects consisted of the
care and instruction of children of pre-school age from low income
families, and in the education of the parents of those children in
matters of health, homemaking, and child care.
Data on the ages, provious employment and educational
background of 2031 workers on Education projects in Pennsylvania
13953
wore obtained in a study made during tho last week of May, 1938.
Two hundred and fifty of t icso workers were employed at jobs not
specifically educational in cnaracter. Those were stenographers,
typists and other clerical workers, janitors and cleaners, and cooks
responsible for preparing the lunches served by nursery schools*
The remaining 1781 workers wore occupied in group instruc¬
tion or in tho supervision of tho educational program. Of the two
hundred and eight employed on Nursery School projects, 14 were
supervisors, 178 teachers and 16 nurses. Of tho 1573 persons on-
ployed on Ad.ult Education projects, 1456 were working as teachers
and 117 as supervisors. The majority of the workers on Adult Edu¬
cation projects were male, while virtually all of the workers on
Nursery School projects were women. The following sections provide
detailed information on age, wage class, employment, education, and
other characteristics of the men and women employed as teachers and
supervisors on those projects.
Wage Class
Seven and four tenths percent of the 1777 teachers and
supervisors who reported their wage class were being paid a non-
sccurity wage; this group was made up almost exclusively of super¬
visors. Of tue 6 supervisors being paid security wages, 5 were
paid at tho professional rate and 1 at the skilled rate. Moro
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than 70 percent of the 1649 security wage workers were being
paid the professional wage and practically all of the remainder
were paid the skilled rate.
Number of Months Employed on Emergency Education Projects
A total of 1738 teachers and supervisors gave infor¬
mation on the number of months their names had appeared on the
pay rolls of FSRA and f?A Education projects. Women, on the
average, had been employed a greater number of months than men.
While 27 percent of the men had been on less than a year and 46
percent two years or more, only about 14 percent of the women
had been on 11 or fewer months and more than 62 percent had
been employed two years or more. Of the 150 persons who had
worked 40 to 58 months, 112 were women. The percentage distri¬
bution of the 1738 workers, by number of months of employment on
emergency Education projects, is shown in the table which follows:
Number of
Months Employed
Percentage Distribution
All Persons Men Women
Number of Persons
1738
811
927
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
5 months and less
13.7
19.2
8.8
6-11 months
6.3
7.5
5.5
12 - 17 months
10.8
12.7
9.2
18 - 23 months
14.6
14.7
14.4
24 - 29 months
27.1
26.8
27.4
30 - 39 months
18.9
14.4
22.8
40-58 months
8.6
4.7
12.1
13958
Age of Persons E.jployed
The modal age group of teachers and supervisors on Penn¬
sylvania Education projects during May 1938 was 25 to 34 years.
The median ego was 36.9 years. Men were younger than women, their
median being 36.4 years to 37.3 for women. Men were more heavily
concentrated in the age groups 25 to 34 and 55 and over, women in
the groups under 25 and 35 to 54. Out of 1757 workers who report¬
ed their age, 67 men and 88 women wore under 25 years of age, 22
men and 9 women wore over 65.
Distribution of the workers by age and by occupation on
the project reveals that supervisors were older than teachers. The
median age of 1626 teachers xvas 36.7 years and of 131 supervisors 39.^
years. The percentage distribution of vrorkers by age group and by
sex is given in the following table:
Perce.itae,o Distribution
Age
All Persons
Male
Pemale
Number of Persons
1757
828
929
Total-
100.0
100.0
100.0
Under 25 years
8.8
8.1
9.4
25 - 34 years
36.0
38.9
33.5
35 - 44 years
26.5
21.9
30.6
45 - 54 years
18.8
13.3
19.3
55 - 64 years
8.1
10.1
6.2
65 years and over
1.8
2.7
1.0
Race and Nativity of Persons Employed
Ninety percent of the teachers ari supervisors employed
on Education projects were white. Of 1773 workers who specified
their race, 1610 were white, 158 Negro, and 5 were of other races.
The ratio of males to females among the Negroes employed was approximately
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the same as that for all persons working on the Pennsylvania Edu¬
cation program. .
ITinety-three and a half percent of the workers who re¬
ported their place of oirth were native born. Of the 115 foreign
born, 76 were men. Pour of the 115 foreign born were supervisors
and 111 were teachers.
Education of Persons Employed
Seventeen hundred and seventy-five persons indicated the
amount and nature of their formal schooling. Twelve hundred and
ninety-two, or 73 percent, of these had had one or more years of
college or technical school training subsequent to high school
graduation. Twenty-three percent had college degrees, 10 percent
reported teachers' certificates, and 4 nercent were graduates of
nursing schools. Sixty-nine workers, or 4 percent of the total, had
earned Masters' or Doctors' degrees; 53 of these were men, 16 were
women.
Although more men than women reported graduate college
work, more women than men had had post-high school training. Eighty-
eight percent of tho supervisors and 71 percent of the teachers re¬
ported one or more years of schooling after high scimol graduation#
Better than 1 out of every 4 of the supervisors had had one or more
yoars of college, technical, or professional school training after
college graduation#
There was evidence of continued interest in education, for
many of tho workers had attended school or college in recent years#
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Out of 1707 teachers and supervisors who reported their last year
of school attendance, 179, or 10 percent, had tedcen courses during
1937 or 1938. Practically all of these persons were over the normal
college age; 144 were 25 years of age or over and 65 were 35 or
older; 74 of these persons were men, 105 were women.
A person of 35 who went through college would normally
have finished about 1924. Out of 969 persons 35 years of age or
over, 274 had attended school since 1924; 161 had taken courses
since 1929.
Usual Occupations of Workers
The workers were asked to give a record of their previous
employment. On the Lasis of Jobs hold during the past ton years,
their usual occupation was determined. Of the 1772 persons who re¬
ported data on their previous employment, 202, or 11 percent, had had no
employment during the past ten years. In addition, 84 persons had not
been employed at any time prior to their Works Program experience. A
much larger percentage of the women fell into these two classes than
of men. Twenty-five percent of tho women bad never worked or had had
no employment during the past ton years compared to 7 percent for the
men.
Tho percentage distribution of the 1486 teachers and super¬
visors who had had employment during the last ten years other than on
the Wsrks Program is shown in the tabic which follows:
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Usual Occupation All Persons Men Women
Number of Persons
1486
779
707
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
Professional & Technical Workers
51. 3
39.2
64.6
Musicians & Teachers of Music
7.6
9.2
5.8
Nurses
5.4
.1
11.2
Teachers
27.1
IS.5
38.7
Other Professional Persons
11.2
13.4
3.9
Proprietors, Managers & Officials
6.9
10.1
3.3
Office Workers
11.6
11.1
12.2
Salesmen Sc. Kindred Workers
10.7
14.0
7.1
Skilled Workers & Foremen
a. 5
10.1
.4
Semi-Skilied Workers
7.7
3.7
6.6
Unskilled Workers
6.3
6.6
5.8
Mature of Last Job
A summary for teachers and supervisors of type of job
last held revealed that 572, or one-third, of the 1697 persons re¬
porting had held teaching jobs. About 23 percent of the men and
45 percent of the women fell into this class. Of the 181 men whose
last job was teaching, S percent had not wcrhed since 1930, 44 per¬
cent since 1934; of 391 women, 37 percent had not worhed since 1930
and 75 percent since 1934.
Por all types of jobs, 8 percent of the men and 26 percent of
the women had not worhed since 1930; 43 percent of the men and 59 per¬
cent of the women had not worked since 1934. Thirty-seven men and 16
women had been employed at other than Works Program jobs in the cur¬
rent year, while a total of 130 persons nad been employed as late as
1937.
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Teaching 3xcov±ence
Although only about one-quarter of the workers employed
as teachers and supervisors were considered to "be teachers by usual
occupation, more than 60 percent had had some teaching experience#
Considering only those persons who had had some work experience
following completion of schooling and prior to 77orks Program em¬
ployment, the number who h-.d had teaching experience ris..s to more
than 70 percent of the total.
Of the 10e.3 persons with teaching experience, 109 had
taught 16 yoars or more. Excluding the 133 workers who either did
not specify the number of years taught, or had had tutoring or sub¬
stitute teaching jobs only, wo find that 31 percent of the workers
had had 6 or more yoars of teaching while 79 percent had taught for
2 or more years.
Distribution by type of school in which they taught longest
shows that 41 percent had taught longest in elementary schools, 19
percent in secondary schools, and 30 percent had taught longer in
trade and professional schools than in any other type. 'The remain¬
ing 10 percent was divided equally between college and. kindergarten
teaching#
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