CODEBOOK AND USER'S MANUAL: A SURVEY OF 7,825 WORKING WOMEN IN AKRON AND 15 OTHER OHIO CITIES, 1901 REPORTED IN THE TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OHIO BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Version 1.1 July 11, 1993 Susan B. Carter Roger L. Ransom Richard Sutch Samuel H. Williamson 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 Miami University of Ohio, 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 Carter, Roger Ransom, and Richard Sutch. [1] Suggested Citation: Susan B. Carter Roger L. Ransom, Richard Sutch, Samuel H. Williamson, and Hongcheng Zhao, Codebook and User's Manual: A Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901; Reported in the Twenty-Sixth Annual Report of the Ohio Bureau of Labor Statistics. Berkeley: Institute of Business and Economic Research, 1993. A SURVEY OF 7,825 WORKING WOMEN IN AKRON AND 15 OTHER OHIO CITIES, 1901 The data described in this Codebook come from a survey of 7,825 working women in Akron and 15 other Ohio cities conducted by the Ohio Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1901 and published in its Twenty-Sixth Annual Report. [2] The data resulted from an effort to collect statistics from working women and girls in the larger cities in Ohio. Results from an identical questionnaire administered to 6,924 working women in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, also in 1901, were reported in the Ohio Labor Statistics Bureau's Twenty-Fifth Annual Report. [3] The motivation for the survey is not explained in the written report. We are told quite a bit about the data collection methods, however. The data were collected by female agents who interviewed women and girls in their place of employment while the women worked or during their lunch break. We also know that the survey includes worker reports from firms that initially refused to cooperate with the Bureau's agents. When faced with non-cooperation, the Commissioner of Labor, M. D. Ratchford, wrote to the State Attorney General for an opinion regarding possible legal remedies. When informed that firms convicted of impeding the work of the Bureau could be fined from $50 to $500, the Commissioner used the threat of fines to gain all the desired information. Correspondence on this matter between the Commissioner of Labor and the Attorney General are published at the beginning of the Twenty-Fifth Report of the Commissioner. [4] At one point the Commissioner of Labor defends his vigorous exercise of his data collection powers by writing: I need not dwell upon the importance of gaining admission to those establishments, or of the great disadvantage that will result to the Bureau from any failure to do so. It is enough to say that its effects would be far- reaching, and would very likely be felt for years to come. [5] 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 names have been changed. Users are reminded to be aware of these changes. The data from this sample of 7,825 working women in Akron and 15 other Ohio Cities in 1901 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] 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. [2] The Ohio Bureau of Labor Statistics, Twenty-Sixth Annual Report 1902. Columbus, Ohio: Fred. J. Heer, State Printer, 1903. [3] We have coded and documented these data as well. See Susan B. Carter Roger L. Ransom, Richard Sutch, Samuel H. Williamson and Hongcheng Zhao, Codebook and User's Manual: A Survey of 6,924 Working Women in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, 1901; Reported in the Twenty-Fifth Annual Report of the Ohio Bureau of Labor Statistics. Berkeley: Institute of Business and Economic Research, 1993. [4] The Ohio Bureau of Labor Statistics, Twenty-Fifth Annual Report 1901. Columbus, Ohio: Fred. J. Heer, State Printer, 1902: 505-9. [5] Ibid.: 507. Table 1 Questions Asked of Respondents Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Name Description PAGE Page on Which the Survey Results Begin ID Case Number SUB_ID Case Number for each County RES Residence OCC Present Industry POB Place of Birth AGE Age WKSOCC Number of Weeks Employed at Present Occupation WKSOTH Number of Weeks Employed at other Occupation HOURS Hours of Labor Per Week if Employed WLOSTSIC Number of Weeks Idle through Sickness NOWORK Number of Weeks Idle through Non-employment WLOSTOTH Number of Weeks Idle through Strikes and other Causes WAGEWK Average Wages Per Week WGMALE Average Wages of Males per Week for the same Labor OTHINC Income other than Wages BOARD Living Expenses Per Week on Board and Lodging RENT Living Expenses Per Week on Rent, Light and Heat EXPCLOT Living Expenses Per Week on Clothing OTHEXP Living Expenses Per Week on other Necessaries DEP Number of Dependents SAVINGS Average Weekly Savings GIVSAV If the Savings were Given to Parents STARTWK Began Work during Year Covered by Investigation Table 2 Residence [RES] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Code Response Frequency 1 Akron 900 2 Barberton 162 3 Canton 540 4 Chillicothe 99 8 Coshocton 198 9 Dayton 1,437 10 East Liverpool 540 11 Hamilton 528 12 Middletown 193 13 Portsmouth 977 14 Sebring 90 15 Springfield 377 16 Steubenville 162 17 Toledo 1,118 18 Wellsville 180 19 Youngstown 324 Total 7,825 Table 3 Present Industry [OCC] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Code Response Frequency 1 Advertising novelties 198 2 Awnings, tents, flags 39 5 Bath cabinets 36 10 Boxes-paper 270 11 Boxes-wooden 46 12 Bread & other bakery products 59 14 Brushes 38 19 Cans and tin buckets 89 22 Cash registers 60 24 Cigars 30 25 Cigars and tobacco 507 26 Clerks 872 28 Clothing-ladies' 426 29 Clothing-men's 347 30 Coffee, baking powder and spices 53 32 Coffins and burial cases 31 33 Confectionery 8 34 Core making 84 37 Drugs and chemicals 9 38 Electric lamps 36 39 Fishing tackle 54 41 Flouring mill products 162 43 Glass 90 46 Knit goods 78 47 Lanterns 18 48 Laundries 600 49 Liquors-distilled 8 51 Marbles and toys 18 52 Matches 144 54 Mattresses and bedding 19 56 Mittens and gloves 13 58 Paints & painters' supplies 15 60 Paper 222 62 Potteries 882 63 Pottery 8 64 Printing and binding 440 67 Rubber goods 252 69 Saddlery 54 70 Screws 35 71 Sewing machines 10 73 Shoes 900 75 Street car conductors 6 76 Suspenders 11 77 Tags, labels and seals 24 78 Telephone operators 219 79 Tinware 13 81 Umbrellas and parasols 28 82 Watches and cases 216 83 Woolen goods 48 Total 7,825 Table 4 Place of Birth [POB] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Code Response Frequency 2 Austria 1 5 Canada 19 6 England 42 7 France 3 8 Germany 179 11 Ireland 13 14 Norway 1 15 Poland 1 16 Russia 12 17 Scotland 3 18 South America 1 19 Switzerland 4 20 United States 7,546 Total 7,825 Table 5 Age [AGE] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Age Frequency 12 - 15 years old 347 16 - 20 3,841 21 - 25 2,049 26 - 30 950 31 - 35 276 36 - 40 206 41 - 45 87 46 - 50 43 51 - 69 26 Total 7,825 Table 6 Number of Weeks Employed Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Frequency Weeks Present occ. Other occ. or code [WKSOCC] [WKSOTH] -9(No response) 105 6,488 1 - 4 weeks 369 55 5 - 8 247 34 9 - 12 266 124 13 - 16 190 81 17 - 20 284 61 21 - 24 79 86 25 - 28 390 140 29 - 32 147 128 33 - 36 146 108 37 - 40 356 117 41 - 44 202 101 45 - 48 458 125 49 - 52 4,586 177 Total 7,825 7,825 Table 7 Hours of Labor per Week if Employed [HOURS] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Hours or code Frequency -9(No response) 1 39.00 - 46.00 hours 89 46.01 - 48.00 212 48.01 - 50.00 1 50.01 - 52.00 19 52.01 - 54.00 2,491 54.01 - 56.00 30 56.01 - 58.00 532 58.01 - 60.00 3,863 60.01 - 62.00 36 62.01 - 64.00 509 64.01 - 66.00 42 Total 7,825 Table 8 Number of Weeks Idle by Cause Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Frequency Weeks Sickness Non-employment Others or code [WLOSTSIC] [NOWORK] [WLOSTOTH] -9(No response) 6,720 7,820 6,743 1 week 317 0 121 2 350 2 353 3 96 0 68 4 164 2 155 5 16 0 12 6 25 0 43 7 4 0 62 8 45 1 95 9 9 0 3 10 7 0 6 11 2 0 2 12 45 0 104 13 or over 25 0 58 Total 7,825 7,825 7,825 Table 9 Average Wages per Week [WAGEWK] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Wages or code Frequency -9(No response) 8 $1.00 - 2.00 267 2.01 - 3.00 1,087 3.01 - 4.00 1,605 4.01 - 5.00 2,040 5.01 - 6.00 1,558 6.01 - 7.00 525 7.01 - 8.00 394 8.01 - 9.00 162 9.01 - 10.00 101 10.01 - 11.00 21 11.01 - 12.00 31 12.01 - 24.00 26 Total 7,825 Table 10 Average Wages of Males per Week for the Same Labor [WGMALE] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Wages or code Frequency -9(No response) 7,805 $15.00 17 18.00 3 Total 7,825 Table 11 Income other than Wages [OTHINC] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Value or code Frequency -9(No response) 7,808 $1.00 2 2.00 4 3.00 4 4.00 4 5.00 2 6.00 1 Total 7,825 Table 12 Living Expenses per Week by Category Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Frequency Value Board Rent Clothing Others or code [BOARD] [RENT] [EXPCLOT] [OTHEXP] -9(No response) 4,270 7,703 4,230 4,170 $0.15 - 0.50 0 9 121 577 0.51 - 1.00 103 66 1,198 1,534 1.01 - 1.50 289 12 1,259 852 1.51 - 2.00 946 28 838 506 2.01 - 2.50 746 2 96 100 2.51 - 3.00 958 5 73 52 3.01 - 3.50 180 0 2 11 3.51 - 4.00 194 0 8 12 4.01 - 4.50 16 0 0 2 4.51 - 5.00 104 0 0 3 5.01 - 7.75 19 0 0 6 Total 7,825 7,825 7,825 7,825 Table 13 Number of Dependents [DEP] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Number or code Frequency -9(No response) 7,186 1 person 430 2 153 3 36 4 15 5 4 6 1 Total 7,825 Table 14 Average Weekly Savings [SAVINGS] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Value or code Frequency -9(No response) 3,143 -8("Give earnings to parents") 3,860 $0.05 - 0.50 258 0.51 - 1.00 372 1.01 - 1.50 50 1.51 - 2.00 73 2.01 - 2.50 12 2.51 - 3.00 20 3.01 - 3.50 5 3.51 - 4.00 15 4.01 - 9.00 17 Total 7,825 Table 15 If the Savings were Given to Parents [GIVSAV] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Code Response Frequency -9 No response 3,899 1 Give savings to parents, but not state the amount 3,860 2 Give the amount of savings as stated in SAVINGS to parents 66 Total 7,825 Table 16 Began Work during Year Covered by Investigation [STARTWK] Survey of 7,825 Working Women in Akron and 15 Other Ohio Cities, 1901 Code Response Frequency 1 No 6,568 2 Yes 1,257 Total 7,825