Advance/Waco pay in the Golden Age.
Fri Nov 28, 2008 1:13 pm
Hey, Mr. Boeing worker...Does your paycheck look too small? This might help.. 
Aircraft Production pay in the 1920s
One of the books in my Weaver/Advance/Waco Company archives is a weekly Time & Pay book for the Advance Aircraft Company from Oct 3, 1925 to Sept. 4, 1926. It lists the name of every company employee (by full name), their hourly rate, total hours for past week, and pay for those hours. Here are some interesting notes from it. The entire company payroll for that period, rose from 31 employees, with $700 weekly payroll, to 200 employees with $2000 payroll. Hourly rates varied from 25 to 71 cents per hour. Junkin & Brukner were paid a flat rate of a huge $150 per week. Examples are E. Black being paid $13.75 for a week when he worked for 25 hours, and others being paid $30 per week for 50 hours. Raises seemed to be rare, and often were for 2.5-3 cents per hour. Junkin & Buckner sometimes took a credit, in lieu of their payment. 70 and 80 hour weeks were not uncommon. In the period around Feb. 1926, I note that MOST employees were then working from 60 to above 80 hours for those weeks. There must have been a big contract about that time. I see a Stanley Hammond receiving a weekly paycheck of $19.34 for his 78.25 hours that week. There are a lot of little stories in this 110 page hardcover book. And this was in the Good Times, before the Depression.
Aircraft Production pay in the 1920s
One of the books in my Weaver/Advance/Waco Company archives is a weekly Time & Pay book for the Advance Aircraft Company from Oct 3, 1925 to Sept. 4, 1926. It lists the name of every company employee (by full name), their hourly rate, total hours for past week, and pay for those hours. Here are some interesting notes from it. The entire company payroll for that period, rose from 31 employees, with $700 weekly payroll, to 200 employees with $2000 payroll. Hourly rates varied from 25 to 71 cents per hour. Junkin & Brukner were paid a flat rate of a huge $150 per week. Examples are E. Black being paid $13.75 for a week when he worked for 25 hours, and others being paid $30 per week for 50 hours. Raises seemed to be rare, and often were for 2.5-3 cents per hour. Junkin & Buckner sometimes took a credit, in lieu of their payment. 70 and 80 hour weeks were not uncommon. In the period around Feb. 1926, I note that MOST employees were then working from 60 to above 80 hours for those weeks. There must have been a big contract about that time. I see a Stanley Hammond receiving a weekly paycheck of $19.34 for his 78.25 hours that week. There are a lot of little stories in this 110 page hardcover book. And this was in the Good Times, before the Depression.
Fri Nov 28, 2008 8:20 pm
I have 3 of those from the same time frame as well...pretty amazing how little they paid the worker bees!