Emil Lederer: Review of Hermann Edwin Krueger’s Die wirtschaftliche und soziale Lage der Privatangestellten, Part II (1912)

Lederer’s review assesses the second installment of Krueger’s inquiry into private-sector salaried employees, based on surveys conducted by the Gesellschaft für Soziale Reform. He recognizes its empirical contribution while criticizing uneven occupational coverage. Whereas Kulemann’s study of occupational associations describes organizations, Krueger investigates employees’ economic and social conditions. Lederer identifies the inquiry’s distinctive evidentiary basis:

Der spezifische Charakter dieser Schrift liegt darin, daß Material sowohl vonseite der Angestellten- als auch der Prinzipalsverbände der Darstellung zugrunde gelegt wird.

English translation: The specific character of this work lies in the fact that material from the side of the salaried employees' associations as well as from that of the employers' (principals') associations is taken as the basis of the presentation.

Drawing on both employee and employer organizations broadens the investigation, but does not make their contributions equally complete or useful. Lederer judges the employers’ material less adequate than that supplied by employee associations. His assessment thus concerns both the findings and the institutional conditions under which evidence becomes available.

The volume’s scope marks a shift from the preceding installment:

Während im ersten Heft vorwiegend die Lage der in «freien Berufen» beschäftigten Angestellten erörtert wurde, werden hier die Verhältnisse der kaufmännischen und technischen Angestellten untersucht.

English translation: Whereas the first number dealt predominantly with the situation of employees occupied in the "free professions," the conditions of commercial and technical employees are examined here.

Within the commercial occupations, book-trade assistants receive particularly extensive treatment. Lederer attributes this prominence to the availability of developed employer and employee organizations willing to participate. The distribution of attention consequently reflects organizational access rather than the numerical importance of occupational groups.

The book-trade material covers salaries, overtime, staffing, apprenticeships, leave, workplaces, contracts, welfare, and advancement. Lederer highlights findings that qualify optimistic accounts of salaried employment: official salary figures appear too favorable, opportunities for independent ownership are limited, and changing positions becomes exceptionally difficult after forty. The reported annual average of fifteen assistants per thousand becoming independent over a ten-year period substantiates the narrow prospects for advancement.

Bank employees, commercial travelers, department-store staff, and consumer-cooperative employees receive less comprehensive treatment. More significantly, commercial employees without a specific sectoral designation remain outside the inquiry. The technical section exhibits a similar imbalance: foremen receive extensive attention, while the specialized occupations surveyed do not adequately represent the broader mass of technical employees. The treatment of foremen usefully extends the common framework to restrictive employment clauses, bonuses, profit-sharing, and employer-provided housing.

Lederer welcomes the study as a response to the need for knowledge about rapidly expanding salaried strata, while emphasizing the limits of information supplied through private organizations. A projected third volume, combining further occupational studies with a synthesis, may address omissions. His qualified endorsement rests on the distinction between a substantial body of evidence and a comprehensive account of salaried employment: the former is valuable without yet achieving the latter.