"COLORED MAID. Permanent Position for neat appearing girl. 5 Day Week. Store Discount. Watt & Shand.''

It was a different time, a different world.

By today's standards, the job market in Lancaster County 50 years ago often was one of narrowly defined opportunity, frequently restricted by race, age, gender and marital status.

And nothing provides a clearer view into that part of our past than those pithy help-wanted ads.

"The wording of those ads is a reflection of American culture at the middle of the last century,'' said Barry Frey, president of the Lancaster County Association for Human Resource Management.

As Frey put it, "1953 was before a cultural shift in the United States, when America woke up and said we have whole groups in our society that have been marginalized -- socially, politically and economically.''

It was before a shift in the law too, making discriminatory ads illegal.

"YOUNG MAN for invoice desk and general office work. MUST BE ABLE TO TYPE...J.B. Van Sciver Co.''

"PRR (Pennsylvania Rail Road) wants TRACKMEN. 18 to 44 years of age.''

"Service Station Attendant. Good, reliable married man for steady work, year-round.''

Overt discrimination in help-wanted ads wasn't the only reason that opportunities were fewer five decades ago.

In the want-ads from 1953, many of today's biggest local employers are conspicuous by their absence, because they had yet to open their doors here.

There was no R.R. Donnelley, for instance. No Pfizer, Kellogg, Pepperidge Farm, QVC, United Parcel Service, Lancaster Laboratories, Wal-Mart, Willow Valley, Park City or Giant Food Stores.

Many of today's leading job categories had yet to arrive, too.

The year 1953 was before the time of shopping centers, fast-food restaurants, retirement campuses, government social-service agencies and tourism-industry attractions, so jobs there didn't exist.

It also was before the dawn of computers, so jobs involving them weren't around either.

The collective result was a county labor force that was 39 percent the size of today's, in line with a county population that was half the size of today's.

What was comparatively big then was the manufacturing sector, a reflection of the prominence that the apparel, shoe, foundry and other production industries held in the county.

The manufacturing sector at that time comprised 40 percent of all jobs here, compared to 20 percent now, Census Bureau and state Department of Labor and Industry reports show.

As the proportion of manufacturing jobs in the total labor market has evaporated, due to exponential growth by the service sector, so too have many of the leading help-wanted advertisers of 1953.

Gone from the classified pages of that time are manufacturers Hamilton Watch, RCA, Stehli & Co., Lukens Steel and Slaymaker Lock. Left in the past too are retailers Watt & Shand, Hager & Co., J.B. Van Sciver and Groff & Wolf.

Raub Supply, the Pennsylvania Rail Road and Packard-Lancaster have no need for help these days either.

Though the array of jobs and companies providing them has changed dramatically, the mix of people holding jobs here has evolved to a lesser degree.

The work force in Lancaster County then was nearly all white (99 percent), compared to 93 percent now. That difference mirrors the change in the makeup of the county population -- 99 percent white then, 91 percent now.

Besides being nearly all white, the work force of five decades ago also was heavily male (70 percent), compared to 55 percent now, Census Bureau reports show.

As the employers, jobs and the mix of people holding them are different today, the wages paid by those jobs likewise have been altered by time.

Among the most extreme examples is pay for nurses. They were offered $50 a week in 1953, the help-wanted ads show; that's worth $345 a week today. Today registered nurses can earn $1,000 a week and up, according to the Lancaster County CareerLink, reflecting their severe shortage.

Pay rates haven't progressed that much across the board, though. Secretaries, for example, likewise were offered $50 a week back then, the equivalent of $345 now. Today, what's known as an administrative assistant earns about $400 weekly, depending on skills and experience, said CareerLink.

And at least in one case, pay for similar work has eroded. Steel mill workers were offered in $1.48 an hour in 1953, a sum worth $10.20 today. A help-wanted notice for foundry help, posted this month at CareerLink, offered $9.50 an hour.

Whether a job's wage has risen or fallen, its benefits almost certainly have grown, though so has the employee's contributions to those benefits.

Vision, dental and prescription coverage, employee-assistance programs, flexible hours, on-site child care and other benefits that were unheard of 50 years ago now are offered at many places.

One facet of help-wanted ads has stayed constant over the years, however -- the kind of worker that an employer finds desirable.

Reliable, experienced, honest, productive, capable, self-motivated people who take initiative remain in demand.

"MARRIED WOMAN 20-40 for evening work in Concessions. Apply Sky View Drive In Theatre, Lincoln Highway East, after 7 p.m.''

"OFFICE GALS, WANT A BETTER JOB? ... Lancaster Employment Service.''

"WANTED at RCA VICTOR. Female Production Workers. All Shifts. Investigate now the advantages of working in Lancaster's most progressive plant.''

"NURSE or nurse's aid, colored, 8 hour duty. Live in. Write for appointment, giving references.''

It was a different time, a different mindset.

The common thinking of that era included the notion that the most reliable candidates for production jobs involving the handling of small parts were women.

RCA, for instance, targeted women for certain production jobs in its New Holland electrical tube-making plant because the company believed women were better at it -- and men weren't interested.

"I guess female dexterity was the main reason,'' recalled David VanOrmer, now 80, who retired from RCA in 1983 as manager of color picture tube product development, after a 35-year career.

"It was work where a gal would sit all day long at a particular station, doing something rather routine, like welding a wire to a part...Women were more adept at that kind of thing, and men usually shied away from it.

"Men liked to do heavier work,'' VanOrmer said.

Bill Uyeda, also 80, who retired from RCA in 1985 as manager of material and process development engineering after a 34-year career, had a similar view of that era.

Noting that the company needed more workers to expand production, Uyeda said "the women may have had something over the men'' when it came to performing "detailed, meticulous work.''

Uyeda continued, "They are more dexterous in many ways. They can assemble very small parts with a little more patience and dexterity than their male counterparts.''

Ironically, Hamilton Watch, another local firm which advertised for female production workers, based on the same assumption, eventually debunked its own theory.

John Owen, a Hamilton Watch personnel-department employee in the 1940s and 1950s, who later became a vice president of successor firms Hamilton Technology and General Defense, researched the issue.

One of his duties early in his 44-year career was validating the accuracy of the tests given to job candidates -- tests which helped the company decide whether to offer someone a job.

"There was traditional thinking that women were more dexterous...Frankly, much of the work I did found (dexterity) was a characteristic that was not attached to gender,'' he said.

"I certainly recall many, many men who had those skills,'' said Owen, now 79, noting that the men with those abilities got jobs in the final assembly and repair departments.

"STOCKROOM CLERK. Good opportunity for young man. High school graduate, for stock room work. ARMSTRONG CORK CO.''

"ADVERTISING SALESMAN...Good salary plus incentive plan to right man. APPLY IN PERSON. EMPLOYMENT SECTION. LANCASTER NEWSPAPERS, 8 W. KING ST.''

"TIME AND MOTION STUDY MAN. Opportunity for Energetic Young Man. Send Complete Resume, Including Salary Desired and Non-Returnable Photo, to Box 294...''

What pushed those kinds of discriminatory ads off the help-wanted pages was the power of state law.

The prohibitions began with the passage of the Pennsylvania Fair Employment Practice Act in 1955, said Laura Treaster, spokeswoman for the state Human Relations Commission.

"It was one of the most progressive statutes of its time,'' she said.

The law was passed after a survey done by the state-appointed Industrial Race Relations Committee found 90 percent of employers discriminated by race, religion or national origin, said Treaster.

The original version banned help-wanted advertising that showed a preference by race, color, religion, ancestry, age or national origin. In 1969, gender preference became prohibited, too.

Subsequent amendments came in 1972, when blind persons using guide dogs became protected, and in 1974, when people with a disability became protected, said Treaster.

Interestingly, while state law prescribes fines for companies placing and publishing ads that discriminate against people seeking housing, it provides no fines for ads that discriminate against people seeking jobs, she said.

When discriminatory help-wanted ads are brought to the commission's attention, said Treaster, the commission tries to negotiate a settlement between the advertiser and the job seeker.

The media, too, can act as gatekeeper, using its familiarity with the law to keep discriminatory ads off its pages, said Russ Gillespie, classified advertising director for Lancaster Newspapers Inc.

(Lancaster Newspapers Inc. publishes the Lancaster New Era, Intelligencer Journal and Sunday News.)

Gillespie, noting that Lancaster Newspapers has never been cited for running a discriminatory ad, said the company's strict adherence to the law sometimes has made the company unpopular.

"We've gotten into fights with several landlords and employers over not letting them say what they wanted to say. We have to dictate that because we're the ones that seem to have a real specific knowledge of the law...

"We go out of our way not to accept any type of discriminatory wording in any advertising anywhere, and that was prior to these laws going into effect,'' said Gillespie.

Which is not to say that bias-free help-wanted ads create a bias-free workplace.

Frey, the human resource association president, noted that pay discrepancies by gender were a problem in the 1950s and remain a problem today.

In the 1950s, he noted, women got jobs -- such as teaching, nursing, cleaning, clerical and piece-rate assembly -- that paid less than the jobs reserved for men.

Today, although discrimination has been prohibited in hiring, studies show white men get paid more than women and minorities who do the same or similar work, according to Frey.

"The gap is closing, but there's still a gap,'' he said.

As Treaster put it, "Back when we first started, we had a problem getting them (women and minorities) in the door, because of the advertisements and preconceived notions (about abilities).

"Then, once we got them in the door, we had a problem getting them hired. Now what's happening? They'll only go to middle management. Times are slowly changing.

"Blacks, women and Hispanics are finally getting past some of those barriers, in some areas. In other areas, the "glass ceiling' still exists and it's more of a brick wall,'' said Treaster.

"There are opportunities aplenty, equal opportunities in some areas, but we're not quite there yet,'' she said.


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