[Illustration:  Diagram 3.—­Per cent of women earning each class of weekly wages in each of six occupations]

TABLE 15.—­PER CENT OF WOMEN EMPLOYEES OVER 18 YEARS OF AGE EARNING $12 A WEEK AND OVER

Office employees, in retail and wholesale stores              31.8
Employees in women’s clothing factories                       22.5
Saleswomen in retail and wholesale stores                     21.0
Employees in men’s clothing factories                         13.3
Employees in hosiery and knit goods factories                  7.9
Employees in printing and publishing establishments            7.7
Employees in telephone and telegraph offices                   6.3
Employees in laundries and dry cleaning establishments         4.4
Employees in cigar and tobacco factories                       3.9
Employees in gas and electric fixtures concerns                3.2

If the data were for retail stores only and did not include wholesale stores, then office work, which now stands at the head of the list, would probably not make so good a showing, although the superiority over the selling positions is, from the wage-earning standpoint, so marked that there seems to be no escape from the conclusion that on the whole women office workers are better paid than women in the sales force.  On the other hand the proportion of saleswomen earning $12 and over is from nearly seven times as great to not far from twice as great as it is in the factory industries, if we except the workers in women’s clothing factories, whose earnings per week are better than those of the saleswomen.

With respect to the men employed on the sales force of the department stores a somewhat different situation exists.  In Diagram 4 a comparison is made of the wages paid in sales positions with the wages paid in clerical positions.  Here it will be noted that men who sell goods in retail and wholesale stores earn more on the average than men occupying clerical positions, such as bookkeepers, stenographers, and office clerks.  This comparison does not include traveling salesmen.  A further comparison of the earnings of the men in stores with the earnings of male workers (omitting office clerks) in the different industries of the city employing the largest number of men is given in Diagram 5, which shows the per cent in each industry earning $18 a week and over.

[Illustration:  Diagram 4.—­Per cent of salesmen and of men clerical workers in stores receiving each class of weekly wage]

In comparing wages in stores with those in the manufacturing industries it must be not forgotten that the working day and week in the larger stores is shorter than in most of the factories.  Hence a comparison of earnings on the basis of wage per hour would show a still greater advantage in favor of both sales persons and clerical workers.

[Illustration:  Diagram 5.—­Per cent of male workers in non-clerical positions in six industries earning $18 per week and over]