9.5 | 63.8 | 79 | 21 |
Lathe hands | 19.0 | 29.1 | 40.0 | 40 | 60 |
Turret lathe operators | 25.0 | 29.0 | 47.5 | 80 | 20 |
Gear cutter operators | 20.0 | 26.7 | 40.0 | 96 | 4 |
Milling machine operators | 15.0 | 25.9 | 40.0 | 53 | 47 |
Drill press operators | 15.0 | 23.5 | 35.0 | 35 | 65 |
Machinists' helpers | 20.0 | 22.2 | 25.0 | .. | 100 |
---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+--------+

On the basis of weekly or yearly earnings, the trade makes a better
showing. Work is steady throughout the year, and the time lost through
unemployment on account of seasonal changes is slight. Also, as the
usual working day is from nine to 10 hours, that is, from one to two
hours longer than in the higher paid building trades, the difference
in daily wages is really less marked than a comparison of hourly rates
would seem to indicate.

Little attempt has been made to adapt the apprentice system to modern
conditions. The term of service and rates of pay have changed but
slightly over a long period of years. As a result only a small
proportion of the boys who begin as apprentices finish the
apprenticeship term of three or four years. Employers attribute this
to the relatively high wages paid for machine operating, and the
slight advantage, from a wage standpoint, of the "all-round" man over
the machine operator. After a year or two the apprentice finds that he
can double his pay by taking a job as operator, and the inducement for
learning the trade thoroughly is too small to hold him. The report
gives a comparison of the earnings of an apprentice and a machine
operator, both starting at the same age, the first becoming a
journeyman machinist at the end of three years and the second
specializing on a particular machine. Assuming that both boys go to
work at the age of 16 their total earnings up to the age of 25 years
will be approximately equal. The lack of thoroughly trained workmen is
beginning to be felt, but the efforts made by industrial
establishments to meet it have small prospects of success unless the
economic factors of the problem are given greater consideration.

Inasmuch as no regular apprenticeship period is served for machine
operating, a special effort was made to secure data relating to the
time usually required for the worker to learn the operation of each
tool well enough to earn