Labor Day 1921: Looking Back to a Century Ago

In 1921, the country was just emerging from a recession and both prohibition and women’s right to vote were entering their second year. Warren G. Harding was sworn in as the 29th president in March and in October the first World Series Game was broadcast on the radio.

Of course, radio was the big mass-market medium because the first commercial television transmission would not occur for another six years. The other big entertainment option was the movies and you could see a movie for about fifteen cents, though the first Academy Awards were still eight years away.

But, this is about Labor Day. By 1921 the workweek had been reduced to 50 hours but it would be another five years before the eight-hour workday became commonplace. The average annual salary in 1921 was $3,269 (it’s about $53,490 today). While this certainly seems low by today’s standards, keep in mind that in 1921 you could buy a brand spanking new Model T Ford for a mere $310. You could fill up its ten-gallon tank for about $2.60 – less than the price of one gallon of gas today!

A hundred years ago, the unemployment rate was somewhere between 8.7 and 11.7%, thanks, in part, to the recent recession. The most popular jobs for women were teachers, nurses, librarians, and maids and they comprised about 20% of the labor force. As of 2019 that percentage stood at 57.4%.