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V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 49, December 2, 2001, Article 7 MINT EMPLOYMENT UPS AND DOWNS In response to last week's item about layoffs at the U.S. Mint, David Lange writes: "The U.S. Mint has had a number of layoff periods, typically following unnatural increases in production. I reported these as incidental notes in "The Complete Guide to Lincoln Cents". Such information was taken from the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint. At the close of Fiscal Year 1918 (July 1, 1917 through June 30, 1918) the number of employees was up dramatically due to America's wartime economy: Philadelphia had 499 employees, Denver 92 and San Francisco 178. (The Mint Bureau also had a number of employees at various assay offices and at its Washington DC headquarters, but the figures for the coining mints are usually more instructive.) Compare these numbers to those of FY1912: Philadelphia, 356; Denver 100 and San Francisco, 138. The payroll rose again in FY1919, only to fall by a total of 117 employees for the entire bureau in FY1920. Director Raymond T. Baker noted that this was due in part to a drop-off in the demand for additional coins as the war ended. However, he further added that the wartime inflation (just about 100%) had rendered Mint salaries and wages woefully inadequate and that such poor compensation made the retention of trained workers quite difficult: "Your committee beg to suggest that the peculiar kind of service rendered by the employees of the mint commands a greater return for the skill demanded, and we recommend that the schedule of wages and salary, which in some instances has remained the same for a period of more than 37 years, be submitted to the proper authorities with a view of providing a basis of pay commensurate with the service rendered." After a sharp recession during 1921-23, demand for additional coins picked up during FY1924 (July 1, 1923 to June 30, 1924). Though the number of employees should have risen from the immediate postwar period, both congress and the president were very conservative in their budgeting during the 1920s, and all government offices were at bare minimum staffing. (This penny pinching is likely the cause of the poorly made coins from that period, since dies were obviously used beyond the point at which they should have been removed from the presses.) By FY1927, total staffing at the Mint Bureau was up to just 652 persons. The onset of the Depression brought the Mint's payroll to its lowest levels of the 20th Century. At the close of FY1933, just 538 employees were on hand at all facilities combined. Activity rose in each of the successive years, with the number of employees rising to 783 in FY1936. World War II brought about an even greater increase: At the close of FY1946, there were a whopping 2547 employees! These included many women and minorities, who had been largely excluded to that point, though women had formerly been used to adjust planchets during the 19th Century. Such growth was rapidly reversed as a post-war recession set in. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on November 16, 1947 that "Approximately 200 employees of the Philadelphia Mint, 16th and Spring Garden streets, were laid off at the close of the work week yesterday. Edwin H. Dressel, superintendent, said the employees furloughed will be recalled 'as soon as new orders for coins are received.' The Mint, which reached an all-time peak of about 2,600 employees during the war, has now about 600 employees, a normal figure, he said" Given that there were so many strikes during the inflationary postwar period, William Fehlinger, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, felt compelled to add that this reduction was normal and did not reflect any labor unrest. Beginning around 1950, the U.S. Mint began exploring ways to reduce the number of steps involved in producing coins and thus the number of employees, too. This increased automation, however, came at a high cost regarding the quality of coinage struck during the 1950s. While the number of employees was reduced significantly only with the cessation of coining at the San Francisco Mint on March 31, 1955, the appearance of the new coins being produced was reduced so obviously that collectors of the time commented on it in the numismatic press. Overuse of dies and inadequate heat treatment of the die steel were to blame, rather than the overall reduction of employees, but the cost-cutting mentality in Washington was the root cause of both phenomena. The severe coin shortage of the early 1960s laid to rest the immediate concern of budget reduction, and the payroll rose once again. True automation of the coining process didn't arrive until the Mint began outsourcing its supply of planchets and strip, a process that led to a reduction of new hires but few, if any, layoffs. The recent round of employees reductions was probably inevitable after the booming economy of the 90s ground to a near halt. This fact, combined with the state quarters program and an overly optimistic projection for the Sacagawea dollar's success, had led to additional hirings, and things are just now getting back to more normal production."

Wayne Homren, Editor

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