ree general types: The old tailoring
system known as "team work," or a slight modification of it; piece
operating; and section work. Under the team system, used extensively
in the making of women's coats, a head tailor hires his own helpers
(operators and finishers), supervises them and pays them by the week
out of the lump sum he receives for the garments from the clothing
establishment. Under the piece operating system each operator sews up
all the seams on one "piece," or garment, and each finisher does all
the hand sewing on one garment. Each operator and each finisher is an
independent worker. The whole body of finishers keeps pace with the
whole body of operators. Piece operating is used almost entirely in
dress and skirt making, and to some extent in coat making. The section
system is based on the subdivision of processes into a number of minor
operations. The workers are divided into groups, each group making a
certain part of the garment. The various operations are divided into
as many minor operations as the number of workers and quantity and
kind of materials will warrant. Each of these minor operations is
performed by operators who do nothing else. This specialization has
been carried to a high degree in the manufacture of men's clothing,
and section work is increasingly used on women's coats.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORKING FORCE

One of the objects of the study was to find how many positions there
are for men and women in each occupation in the industry. Through the
cooeperation of employers data were obtained from the records of 50
establishments employing a total of 8,337 garment workers,
approximately four-fifths of the total number in the city. The
distribution of workers by sex in the various occupations is shown in
Diagram 7. The apportioning of work to the two sexes seems to depend
partly upon the weight of materials and partly upon previous training.
The men are mostly foreign born tailors who have had the kind of
training necessary for the more complicated work. The women are
largely American born of foreign parentage, trained in American shops
and employed chiefly upon operations that may be learned in a
relatively short time. Cutting and pressing are practically
monopolized by men. Nearly all hand sewers are women, except for a few
basters on men's clothing. Most designers are men, although a few
women designers are found in dress and waist shops.

In the largest trade,--machine operating,-