These two industries employ approximately 75,000 production workers who would be subject to the act if their employers were to engage in covered Government contract work.

The major wage determination activity during the fiscal year consisted of the holding of hearings on prevailing minimum wages for a variety of industries in which Government purchases are important. These industries included fabricated structural steel, paper and paperboard containers and packaging products, electronic components, paper and pulp, industrial and refined basic chemicals, photographic and blueprinting equipment and supplies, metal business furniture and storage equipment, and office, computing and accounting machines. The first three industries are not now subject to minimum wage determinations. Proceedings held for the fabricated structural steel industry and the paper and pulp industry were in the form of rehearings requested in connection with proposed determinations issued during the fiscal year 1959.

Determination proceedings were also initiated for the following industries: electronic equipment, machine tools, and motors and generators. No minimum wage determinations have ever been issued for these industries.

At the close of the fiscal year, determinations were in effect for 50 industries, of which 31 had minimum hourly rates of $1. (See appendix table O.) Five of these industries with rates above $1 had hearings during the fiscal year for redetermination of prevailing minimum wages. Industries are chosen for prevailing minimum wage proceedings on the basis of importance of Government business, competitive advantages, the probability of prevailing minimum wage levels well above the present statutory minimum under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the significance of labor cost differentials in relation to contract bidding, and related factors.

The number and value of unclassified contracts let subject to the act and similar data on the year's procurement actions are shown in appendix tables P and Q.

Proposed Legislation

On April 21, 1960, the Secretary of Labor appeared before the Subcommittee on Labor Standards of the House Committee on Education and Labor and presented the administration's views on amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act. He recommended that coverage of the act be extended to all employees of businesses which are engaged in interstate activities to a substantial extent and that most of the exemptions from the minimum wage be limited to enterprises which have fewer than 100 employees. S. 1967 and H.R. 7490 were introduced to carry out this recommendation.

The Secretary also indicated that the report which he submitted to the Congress on February 18 in accordance with the requirements of section 4(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act contained the economic data pertinent to an evaluation of the minimum wages established by the act. He stated that recent Department of Labor studies had shown that adjustment to the $1 minimum wage was now fairly complete and that a moderate increase in the minimum wage

would not cause any great problems of adjustment or hardship to employers or workers. He defined "moderate" as an increase of from 10 to 15 cents an hour. A second administration proposal, embodied in S. 2385 and H.R. 8059, would have provided more effective procedures for enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act. The bill would have authorized the Federal courts to order the payment of unpaid minimum wages or overtime compensation to employees in injunctive actions brought under section 17 of the act. In this way, employers found by the courts to be unlawfully withholding from employees minimum wages and overtime compensation could be required to make payment without the necessity of the employees involved initiating or requesting such action.

A third administration proposal, concerning the industry committee procedure for setting minimum wage rates for industries in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, was embodied in S. 1116 and H.R. 3865. The act now requires that the minimum rates recommended by tripartite industry committees must be published in the Federal Register, to take effect 15 days after the date of publication. The bill would provide for review by the Secretary of Labor of the recommendations of the industry committees, where there are questions as to compliance with the law's requirements regarding industry

committees.

The Department of Labor's legislative program also included a proposal tò bring certain employees of the Department within the provisions of title 18 of the United States Code, relating to assaults and homicides. The purpose of this proposal (incorporated in S. 2961, H.R. 10135, and H.R. 10188) is to provide for employees of the Department assigned to perform investigation, inspection, or law enforcement functions the same protection now provided other law enforcement and investigation personnel of the United States.

In addition to the bills embodying the administration proposals to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act, the 86th Congress also considered S. 1046 and H.R. 4488. Committees of both the Senate and House of Representatives, in June 1960, reported out modified versions of these bills (as S. 3758 and H.R. 12677). Both bills would have exended coverage to all employees of enterprises engaged in an activity affecting commerce. With regard to retail trade, retail service, and laundries, an enterprise engaged in an activity affecting commerce was defined as one with an annual volume of sales of $1 million or more. The Senate bill in addition would have covered any other establishment with one or more employees engaged in or producing goods for commerce with annual sales of $250,000 (or $350,000 in construction), any gasoline service establishment with annual sales of $250,000, and any local transit company.

Both measures contained escalator clauses for bringing presently and newly covered employees up to a minimum wage of $1.25 an hour, presently covered employees over a period of 2 years beginning at $1.15, and newly covered employees over a period of 3 years beginning at $1. Both measures also provided for applying the 40-hour straight-time workweek to newly covered employees in a series of steps, over a 3-year period in the Senate bill, and over a 4-year period in the House bill.

The Senate committee bill also contained the administration's proposal for more effective procedures for enforcing the act (S. 2385).

On June 30, 1960, H.R. 12853 was substituted for the bill recommended by the majority of the Committee on Education and Labor on the floor of the House. The substitute bill as passed by the House would have raised the minimum wage for employees previously covered by the act from $1 to $1.15. The minimum wage for employees newly brought under provisions of the act was set at $1 an hour, with no provision for the payment of overtime.

The House bill would have retained the present basis of coverage but would have added as an additional basis the operation of five or more retail establishments in two or more States. This bill would have extended the present $1 minimum, but not the overtime provisions, to an estimated 1,400,000 additional employees.

The bill passed by the House would also have broadened a number of exist ing exemptions. The most important change would have broadened the scope of the "area of production" exemption from both the minimum wage and overtime provisions. As of the end of the fiscal year, the Senate had not taken final action on amendments to the act."

The Congress adjourned on September 2, 1960, without enacting any amendments to the act.

APPENDIX TABLE B.-Number of underpaid employees and amount of underpayments disclosed by investigations under the Fair Labor Standards and Public Contracts Acts, by region, fiscal year 1960

1 Employees engaged in interstate commerce or the production of goods for interstate commerce who are not exempt under sec. 13(a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and employees who were working on Government contracts subject to the Public Contracts Act. These data relate to employment during a payroll period, usually that preceding the time of investigation.

* Includes (a) employees who were paid less than $1 per hour or less than other appli

cable minimum wage rates and (b) employees paid less than 11⁄2 times the regular rate
of pay for overtime hours worked. The figure shown is an unduplicated count of
underpaid employees.

Includes some cases for which disclosures were shown in a previous year but agree-
ment to pay was obtained currently. Excludes some cases for which disclosures are
shown currently but agreement to pay has not yet been determined.