In general, hourly earnings are highest on white-collar projects (67.5 cents during the last half of November 1936) and on public-building projects (62 cents during the same period). Both of these types employ large proportions of skilled, technical, and professional workers and are operated chiefly in urban centers where relatively high wage rates prevail. Goods projects (41 cents per hour), sanitation, and health projects (43 cents per hour), and highway, road, and street projects (44.5 cents per hour), are types on which the lowest rates are paid. On public-utility projects and projects involving work in parks and in providing other recreational facilities, the rates are above the average (52 and 59 cents, respectively). (The tables referred to are as follows:) TABLE 18.-Hours and earnings of persons employed on Works Progress Administration projects, by types of projects, half month ending Nov. 30, 1936 1 Included in the grand total but not distributed by type of projects are hours and earnings on Works Prog. ress Administration projects in Hawaii, amounting to $113,608 and $39,455, respectively, during the halfmonth ending Nov. 30, 1936. 2 Includes projects classifiable under more than one of the headings above. 1, 594, 842 .527 1,294, 878 . 509 .664 TABLE 18.-Hours and earnings of persons employed on Works Progress Administration projects, by types of projects, half month ending Nov. 30, 1936—Continued 2 Includes projects classifiable under more than one of the headings above. TABLE 19.-Hours and earnings of persons employed on Works Progress Administration projects, by States, half month ending Nov. 30, 1936 TABLE 19.-Hours and earnings of persons employed on Works Progress Administration projects, by States, half month ending Nov. 30, 1936—Continued NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATIVE EMPLOYEES AND AMOUNT OF ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES BY STATES I will file for the information of the committee a statement showing the number of administrative employees on the W. P. A. Mr. TAYLOR. Suppose you give us a brief statement as to what that is. Mr. HOPKINS. It has been around 35,000, but it has dropped now to about 32,000. Our administrative expenses now are about 3.3 percent of the total cost of the program. I will file a statement of the administrative expenses for the record, by States, showing the number of employees and the classification by salary grades of all administrative employees in the W. P. A. Mr. TABER. Does that include those who are assigned to other departments, such as the Treasury Department, in connection with the payments of vouchers, or is that just your direct overhead? Mr. HOPKINS. This includes only the W. P. A. Information concerning the Treasury employees, in connection with the disbursing and procurement divisions, would have to come from Mr. Bell, or from the Treasury direct. (The statement above referred to is as follows:) EXHIBIT A WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATIVE EMPLOYMENT AND EXPENSE Administration organization.-The task of administering the Works Progress Administration program required the establishment not only of the central office in Washington but of offices in the States and in districts within each State. The organization was set up on a functional basis and is approximately the same in both the State and district offices as in the central office in Washington. Aside from the National Youth Administration, seven administrative divisions have been established each of which is responsible for a specialized phase of administrative activity. Four of these divisions are charged with the planning and execution of projects. The other three perform primarily service and executive functions. Specific responsibilities of each of the divisions are as follows. The Division of Operations is responsible for the planning of construction projects and for supervising the execution of such projects. In addition, it is charged with the requisition of materials, supplies and equipment and is responsible for promoting safety on work projects. The Division of Education Projects is charged with the planning and supervision of projects designed to provide employment for unemployed teachers and to serve the important purpose of making educational opportunities available to persons not reached by public schools and other educational agencies. The Division of Recreation Projects is charged with the planning and supervision of projects advancing the use of recreational facilities. The Division of Women's and Professional Projects plans and supervises projects other than education and recreation intended primarily for the employment of women and white-collar workers. The Division of Finance and Statistics is charged with the control of project allotments, the preparation of pay rolls, maintenance of records of materials and equipment, timekeeping procedures, and with the preparation of operating reports. The Division of Employment is responsible for matters relating to hours and wages, labor classifications, assignment, reassignment and separation, complaints and adjustments having to do with the welfare of workers, and labor relations. In cooperation with the four divisions supervising project operation, the Division of Employment schedules labor for projects. The Administrative Control Division includes chiefly office management and executive functions not covered in other divisions. In addition to the seven administrative divisions listed above, there is the National Youth Administration which supervises projects for young persons and the Student Aid Program. Total administrative costs.-Total expenditures from Federal funds for administrative purposes have remained relatively stable since February 1936, averaging slightly over $6,000,000 per month or about 3.5 percent of all Works Progress Administration expenditures from Federal funds. A downward trend, evident despite month-to-month fluctuations, occurred during the year and in November and December administrative expenses amounted to 3.3 percent of total expenditures. The cumulative total of all Works Progress Administration expenditures for administrative purposes through December 30, 1936, was $99,994,132 or 4.4 percent of total Works Progress Administration expenditures during the same period. Relative to total expenditures administrative expenses were higher in the early months of the program when the costs of initial organization and developments were incurred. Considerable variation in the proportion of total expenditures represented by administrative costs occurred among the States. This is shown in table 1. During November and December 1936 administrative expenditures relative to total expenditures ranged from 1.6 percent in the District of Columbia and New York City to 7 percent in Vermont. Differences between States in the relative amount of administrative expenditures result from different types of administrative problems, which include such factors as the types of projects operated, the levels of the payments made to workers, and the extent of the work programs in the respective areas. Expenses of the administrative organization are charged to a special account maintained for this purpose. About 80 percent of the total expenditures from this account through November 30 were for salaries of administrative officials, engineers, pay-roll clerks, stenographers, and typists, and other executive supervisory, technical, and clerical persons employed in the central, State, and district offices. The remaining 20 percent covered items required by the various offices such as rental of equipment and office space, purchases of supplies, materials and equipment, and payments for transportation, printing and binding, heat, light, power, water, and electricity. The detailed distribution of total Works Progress Administation administrative expenditures by object of expenditure is shown in table 2. Administrative personnel. Total payments (expenditures for administrative purposes) to all administrative employees have averaged about $4,700,000 per month during the last 8 months for which data are available. This represents approximately 80 percent of total administrative expenditures. During the last half of November approximately 35,000 administrative employees were paid aside from 1,225 National Youth Administration administrative employees and some 2,000 temporary employees engaged in an investigation of the current relief needs of Works Progress Administration workers. The distribution of persons on administrative pay rolls during the half month ending November 30, 1936, by salary classes is shown in tables 3 and 4. Of the 2,059 persons on the Works Progress Administration central office administra tive pay roll 1,734 represented persons located in the Washington office and 325 were field employees acting as representatives of the Washington office. Administrative employees in Works Progress Administration State and district offices totaled 33,067 during the half month ending November 30, 1936. Table 4 shows for each State and for the Washington office the number of administrative persons by salary classes. Variations between States are, of course, the result of differences in the size of the program, area of the State, and similar factors determining the size of the administrative task. Only a few of the larger and more populous States report as many as 1,000 administrative employees, whereas Nevada with 32 and Delaware with 51 employed the smallest number of persons within administrative brackets. TABLE 1.-Works Progress Administration expenditures for all purposes and for administrative purposes, by States 1 November and December 1936 1 Excludes expenditures from allocations for the Land Utilization and Rural Rehabilitation Programs which are operated by the Resettlement Administration; includes National Youth Administration expenditures 2 Chiefly Central Textile Advance Account Adjustment. Source: U. S. Department of the Treasury. |