he Bureau of Labor Statistics wishes to acknowledge gratitude the cooperation of thousands of business zations and Federal, State, and local government ies whose officials have given freely the statistics ther information needed for this volume. The figures provide a unique opportunity to reveal not only the panorama of our industrial economy, created by the of the United States through their imagination, rise, and labor, but also the varied detail of which it de. In this book we show, among other facts, in what ries people have jobs, how many hours they work each and how much they earn by the hour and by the week. ng the past helps us to understand the present and s the future; this book, through the data shown, traces rowth and transformation of the Nation's industrial my and the distribution of its manpower through the recent 5 decades of this century.

'ayroll employment statistics, which provide detailed try information for the Nation on the employment, hours rk, and earnings of nonfarm wage and salary workers, based on information supplied by employers. Each i, a sample of industrial, commercial, and government lishments, employing collectively about 25 million rs, send data drawn from their payrolls to State agencooperating with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In agencies, data are extracted for preparation of figures ate and area employment, hours, and earnings. Then ports are sent to the BLS to be used in the preparation itional figures. The costs of this Federal-State proare shared in 44 States with the U.S. Department of r's Bureau of Employment Security; the costs in the ning States are shared by the State departments of with the BLS. Employers' contribution reports under nemployment insurance system are the major source of hmarks on which most industry employment estimates based. These reports are collected and tabulated by employment security agencies under Bureau of EmploySecurity direction. Benchmark data for the remaining ons are obtained with the help of records from the au of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, the Civil ServCommission, several other Government agencies, and te organizations including the American Hospital Assoon, National Catholic Welfare Conference, and the Na1 Council of Churches.

The estimating techniques underlying the statistics were the responsibility of John P. Wymer, who was assisted by Dorothy M. Hinton, Samuel Schechter, Joaquin A. Pavia, Nathan Buchalter, Margaret W. Testerman, and Carol M. Utter. Emeline French and Maurice M. Levin provided technical assistance in the adaptation of the series to the new industrial classification system. David M. Fishbein was responsible for the organization of the volume, under the supervision of Robert M. Shaw. Edward B. Morris designed the electronic computer programs generating data for 1959 and 1960. Programs for earlier years, and for direct printing of the statistical pages by the computer were designed under the guidance of Frederick W. Suffa, by Walter Stuart, aided by Carol G. King, Pauline T. Padgett, and Brendan J. Powers. Vincent W. Casey and Alene B. Chase supervised the technical staff review of the statistics.

Ewan Clague

Commissioner of Labor Statistics