Wage rates in selected farm activities, July-November 1955-Continued Walla Walla canning pea, vine pitch- WASHINGTON North central. Southeastern... Vancouver. Chelan-Douglas fruit, apple thinning $1 per hour plus 25 cents to $1 Apple and near thinning. Binger fruit, picking.. July 14 WAGE RATES IN SELECTED FARM ACTIVITIES Information shown in this table is based on the wage findings of affiliated State agencies of the Bureau of Employment Security made in connection with the Mexican farm labor program. Crop-wage areas have been delineated and wage findings are made for each of the activities in these areas in which Mexican nationals are employed. They may be single rates, ranges, or schedules. The figures in column 3 represent the prevailing wages in these areas. They will, therefore, usually not show all rates found to be paid. The domestic agricultural wage-reporting program was set in motion in June 1953. Wage information is published with each issue of the Employment and Wage Supplement to Farm Labor Market Developments. The last issue of the supplement was dated December 1955, and contained wage information received during November 1955. In order to include wage data received since then the present table is based on findings received after November 10, 1955, and before May 1, 1956. Where more than one finding was received for a crop-wage area during this period the latest finding was used. APPENDIX B Wage rates in selected farm activities, December 1955 to April 1956 Wage rates in selected farm activities, December 1955 to April 1956-Continued Senator DOUGLAS. The final witness this morning is Mr. Carl Holderman, Commissioner of Labor of the State of New Jersey. Mr. Holderman has been battling for higher wages in the State of New Jersey for a good many years. And he is now in a position of administering their State laws. So, we would appreciate it very much if you would speak informally about the problems which you have found in New Jersey and your general observations on the subject. STATEMENT OF CARL HOLDERMAN, COMMISSIONER OF LABOR, STATE OF NEW JERSEY Mr. HOLDERMAN. Senator, I want to apologize first to the committee for inadequate preparation for this hearing. Senator DOUGLAS. We called you on very short notice. Mr. HOLDERMAN. And personnel problems made it very difficult. So, perhaps if my testimony is somewhat disjointed and so on, I hope you will forgive me for it. We finished up on the plane coming down here. Senator DOUGLAS. We appreciate your coming. Mr. HOLDERMAN. I have been commissioner of labor and industry for the State of New Jersey only since April of 1954. I do want to express my appreciation to the committee for the opportunity of coming here today and telling you something about our recent experiences in attempting to extend-or rather to review-the wage orders that we have had in New Jersey for a number of years that apply to women and minors only. And perhaps to give you my views on what might be done under Federal, or through Federal, legislation. The effects, of course, of minimum wage legislation are much more far-sweeping than could be measured by their impact upon any one worker or group of workers. The whole economy of our entire industry and of all industry in the entire country is involved. New Jersey does not provide basic minimum wages for all workers. It provides instead for the establishment of administrative regulations setting up minimum wages for single industries and then only for women and minors. The procedure is as follows: The commissioner of labor and industry appoints a wage board for a specific set of occupations in a specific industry. This board has 9 members. 3 of whom are selected from the general public, 3 from management, and 3 from labor. One of the public members is designated as chairman. This board is given information by the staff of the wage and hour bureau in the department of labor and industry concerning current wage rates paid in these occupations and data showing the minimum income necessary to meet current costs of living conditions. The board studies and digests this material and finally recommends to the commissioner a minimum hourly wage for the industry and occupations that are under review. The commissioner then holds public hearings at which interested parties testify for or against the recommendations of the wage board. After studying all of this testimony and the many briefs that are usually filed as part of it, the commissioner then makes the administrative determination to accept or reject the proposal of the wage board. He has no power to change it. If the proposal is accepted, the commissioner issues a wage order which establishes the minimum rate proposed by the board as the minimum hourly wage for the occupations in the industry covered. Additional administrative regulations are issued with the order covering hours and overtime pay for the statutory purpose of protecting the ordered minimum hourly rate. At the time I took office in 1954, there were six wage orders in effect which covered occupations in these fields: Light manufacturing, wearing apparel, beauty culture, restaurants, laundry and cleaning and dyeing, and retail trade. The minimum hourly wages providing for these hourly rates range from 262 cents an hour for restaurant workers, who receive meals from their employers, to 60 cents an hour for employees in retail trade occupations. Many of these orders include differentials for various areas in the State. The hours of work ranged up to 48 hours per week. The New Jersey minimum-wage law places responsibility on the wage board to determine whether an unreasonable and oppressive wage is being paid to each classification of employees, and to make their findings accordingly. It does not provide for any consideration of whether or not such a minimum wage can be paid by the industry under review. I leave it to your committee to determine whether the minimum of 261⁄2 to 60 cents is unreasonable or oppressive. The need for an adequate minimum-wage law and its efficient administration is to be found in several documents that we have filed with you. A report of the survey of hours worked by, and wages paid to, workers employed in various intrastate occupations in the State of New Jersey will be filed with you, which survey was made by the wage and hour bureau of the labor division of the Department of Labor and Industry of New Jersey, with the help and cooperation of representatives of the Women's Bureau of the United States Department of Labor. This survey was made during the year 1954. The survey is based on a sample of firms engaged in retail trade, wholesale trade, eating and drinking places, and service industries throughout all areas of the State of New Jersey. The sample was selected from the last available complete listing of firms reported by the division of employment security of New Jersey. It represents a sample of a little more than 10 percent of the firms engaged in selected trade and service industries of the State. Care |