The Work Projects Administration (Prior to its consolidation under the Federal Works Agency on July 1, 1939, known as the Works Progress Administration.) is now in its fifth year of operation. As a result of legislation passed by Congress in making work-relief appropriations for the present fiscal year, a number of changes have been made in the WPA program. Briefly stated, the chief changes are as follows:
(1) WPA project workers are now required to work 130 hours a month in earning their monthly security wages. Previously WPA workers were paid at the hourly rates of pay prevailing in the locality for work of a similar nature. They worked the necessary number of hours to earn their monthly security wage.
(2) Regional differences in the monthly WPA earnings schedule have been readjusted so as not to exceed regional differences in the cost of living. The readjustment was made primarily by raising WPA earnings in the South. As a result of the change the average WPA wage has been raised from approximately $53.00 a month to $55.00 a month.
(3) Sponsors' expenditures for WPA projects approved after Jan. 1, 1940, must average 25 per cent on projects in each State, but not necessarily on each individual project. In the last quarter of the fiscal year ending in June 1939 sponsors' contributions averaged approximately 21 per cent on a country-wide basis.
(4) WPA project expenditures of Federal funds for other than payroll purposes must not exceed $6.00 per month per worker in any state. Only in case of increases in the costs of materials can this limitation be raised and then only to a maximum of $7.00 per month per worker, the limitation that had previously been in effect.
(5) Newly proposed projects for the construction of buildings are not now undertaken if the cost is in excess of $50,000 in the case of a Federal building or if the Federal share of the cost of a state or locally sponsored building is in excess of $52,000.
(6) The Federal Theatre project was discontinued July 1, 1939.
(7) Sponsorship of projects through the WPA itself was discontinued as of Aug. 31, 1939. Local sponsorship has been secured for many of the music, art, writers and historical records project activities which previously were sponsored by the WPA as Federal projects and often operated with local cosponsorship.
(8) Project workers (not including veterans) who have been employed continuously on WPA projects for 18 months must be dismissed; such workers cannot be reassigned to WPA projects until 30 days after dismissal and then only if their eligibility for WPA employment is recertified and if jobs are available.
(9) Periodic investigation of the need-status of relief employees on WPA projects with the purpose of removing workers not in actual need are now made at least once in each six months.
Subject to these and additional minor changes, the WPA has continued operations along the same lines as in previous years. It has cooperated with communities in undertaking various public works and in providing different kinds of public services by putting unemployed workers from the relief rolls to work. WPA funds have been expended chiefly in paying the wages of the project workers; other project costs — for materials, equipment, and skilled and supervisory non-relief labor — have been borne chiefly by sponsors.
The sponsor of a WPA project must be a governmental agency, authorized to perform the kind of public work for which WPA assistance is asked. Project proposals are submitted to the WPA by such sponsors. After favorable review by the State WPA Administration, a project application is sent to the WPA in Washington for further consideration and if acceptable forwarded to the President who has final authority in approving WPA project applications. Local public relief agencies refer needy employable workers to WPA offices for certification of need and assignment to WPA projects. The needy unemployed are given project jobs according to their skills and within the limits of the funds allotted to the locality from the total WPA funds provided by Congress.
WPA wages vary according to comparative costs of living in the three WPA wage rate regions (Northern, Western, Southern); within each region, wages vary in four classes of counties (according to the 1930 population of the largest city); within each county, wages vary in five wage classifications (professional and technical, skilled, intermediate, unskilled A, unskilled B). WPA wages for the whole country now average approximately $55.00 a month. Of all Federal WPA funds expended during the past fiscal year, about 87½ per cent went to pay the wages of project workers; 9 per cent to provide materials and equipment; 3½ per cent to pay for administrative costs.
In net amount, Congress appropriated approximately $2,250,000,000 for WPA operations in the fiscal year of 1939 (July 1, 1938, to June 30, 1939). For WPA operations in the July 1939-June 1940 fiscal year. Congress has appropriated $1,477,000,000 together with balances of funds remaining from the prior act.
WPA accomplishment records, for projects completed during the fiscal year 1939, are available in the field of construction; but similar figures are not yet available in the non-construction field of WPA activities. These records show that on construction projects the WPA built or improved approximately 111,000 miles of roads and streets, most of this work being on rural roads of the 'farm-to-market' type. During the same period the WPA built or improved more than 26,000 bridges, laid over 4,000,000 lineal feet of drainage culverts, and performed a considerable amount of other work in improvement of the nation's streets and highways.
During the same period, WPA workers completed over 6,400 new public buildings (schools, hospitals, auditoriums, etc.), and made improvements on more than 17,700 others. In airport work, 52 new landing fields were constructed and 63 improved; over 460,000 feet of new runways were constructed. As public recreational facilities, over 600 new athletic fields, over 300 new parks (total acreage, 11,000), almost 500 playgrounds, over 250 new swimming and wading pools and nearly 1,800 new tennis courts were constructed, besides many others improved.
At the same time, WPA workers laid over 2,100 miles of new water mains, and constructed over 400 storage tanks, reservoirs and cisterns (total capacity over 237,000,000 gallons). Also 3,324 new storm and sanitary sewers were laid and 564 miles were improved. In flood and erosion control and conservation work, the WPA made over 350 miles of river bank improvements, over 1,000 miles of stream bed improvements, constructed almost 15,000 dams (other than storage or power), made nearly 800 miles of firebreaks, and almost 700 miles of fire and forest trails.
For non-construction activities there is available a record, published in 1939, of WPA accomplishment covering a three-year period, during which WPA workers in sewing rooms made over 180,000,000 garments and other articles for distribution to needy families; served over 238,000,000 school lunches to needy children; and in medical and dental clinics examined over 4,000,000 and treated over 3,500,000 persons.
Over 1,200 research and statistical studies were conducted, at the request chiefly of universities; and at the request chiefly of municipalities, over 750 planning surveys. Workers on WPA art projects produced over 96,000 paintings, sculptures and other art works. On the WPA writers project there were produced over 290 books and pamphlets, of which over 3,500,000 copies were distributed through regular book publishing firms. In one typical month, WPA orchestras and other musical units gave over 4,000 performances to audiences aggregating over 3,000,000 people. These activities are illustrative of WPA non-construction work in 1939, for which records of work done are not yet available. For Federal Theatre Project see DRAMA.
President Roosevelt, as a part of his Reorganization Plan No. 1, effective July 1, 1939, made the Work Projects Administration a branch of the newly established Federal Works Agency. With the WPA were grouped and coordinated the Public Works Administration, the Public Roads Administration, the Public Buildings Administration, and the United States Housing Authority, John M. Carmody was appointed Administrator of the Federal Works Agency. WPA work is now coordinated closely with all other Federal activities in the field of public work.
Under the same Reorganization Plan, the National Youth Administration, formerly a branch of the WPA, was transferred to the Federal Security Agency. See also LAW AND LEGISLATION; SOCIAL SERVICE, PUBLIC; UNITED STATES: Relief and Security.
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