Leo Wolman (February 24, 1890 – October 2, 1961) was a noted American economist whose work focused on labor economics. He also served on a number of important boards and commissions for the federal government.
Early life Wolman was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1890 to Morris and Yetta (Wachsman) Wolman, first generation Polish-Jewish immigrants to the United States."Dr. Leo Woman, Economist, Dies." New York Times. October 3, 1961. He attended Johns Hopkins University, receiving his A.B. degree in 1911 and his Ph.D. in political economy in 1913."One Hundred and Fifty-One Degrees Awarded at Commencement Exercises of Johns Hopkins University." New York Times. June 15, 1913.
After receiving his doctorate, Wolman worked as a special agent for the Commission on Industrial Relations, a U.S. federal government commission which investigated industrial working conditions in the United States from 1912 to 1915. Returning to academia after the Commission ended its work, he taught at Hobart College, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Michigan. After the United States entered World War I in 1917, he served on the Council of National Defense (a U.S. federal government agency which advised the President on economic production issues) and later was appointed head of the section on production statistics of the War Industries Board. In 1919, he served six months with the American Peace Mission which negotiated the Treaty of Versailles.
Academic and public career Returning to the U.S. in late 1919, Wolman joined the faculty at the New School for Social Research, where he remained for 19 years. In 1920, he became director of research for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union (ACWU), resigning in 1931. In 1922 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.List of ASA Fellows , retrieved 2016-07-16. During this time, he was a director of the Amalgamated Bank of Chicago and the Amalgamated Bank of New York, banks owned by the ACWU, and Amalgamated Investors, Inc., an ACWU-owned investment trust. He became a freelance researcher for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in the mid-1920s, and formally joined the staff in 1931, directing its labor research programs and in time becoming director-at-large for research. A number of studies he authored for NBER became the subject of national attention and debate, including a 1925, he report on the size and strength of labor unions in the United States,Clark, Evans. "Size and Strength of Trade Unions." New York Times. April 19, 1925. a 1929 study on changes in patterns of consumption and the effect on standards of living,"Finds Big Changes in Living Standards." New York Times. May 5, 1929. and a 1930 report on the role of public works in helping reduce unemployment."Predicts 1930 Gain in Public Works." New York Times. September 22, 1930. Although he increasingly disassociated himself from the labor movement after the early 1930s, he still supported unions in certain circumstances. For example, he was one of many educators who signed an open letter denouncing violence against labor union members in the "Harlan County War" in 1932."175 Educators Sign Kentucky Protest." New York Times. March 3, 1932.
He was appointed a lecturer at Harvard University in 1930. But in 1931, he was appointed a full professor of economics at Columbia University, remaining there until his retirement in 1958."Columbia Retires 6 Full Professors." New York Times. June 17, 1958. Wesley Clair Mitchell, a highly influential economist and colleague at NBER, lobbied heavily for Wolman to be added to the faculty."Interview with Eli Ginzberg." History of Health Services Research Project. National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology. U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, u.S. Department of Health & Human Services. March 2, 1998.
Wolman was a member of several academic societies, namely the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.
His association with the trade union movement led to a lengthy career in government service. In 1921, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover appointed Wolman to the Conference on Unemployment, a federal conference charged with studying unemployment during the Post-World War I recession."Harding Names 38 on Unemployment." New York Times. September 20, 1921; Zieger, Robert H. "Herbert Hoover, the Wage-Earner, and the 'New Economic System,' 1919-1929." Business History Review. 51:2 (Summer 1977). His service led to additional work for labor unions. Wolman helped the ACWU negotiate unemployment benefits for its members in the mid-1920s, and with the onset of the Great Depression he was lecturing union audiences on unemployment in 1930."Women to Meet on Idle." New York Times. October 4, 1930; "Says Labor Unions Face Survival Test." October 6, 1930. Governor of New York Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him in October 1930 to a committee to recommend solutions to the unemployment problem facing that state, and he was chair of a seven-state commission on unemployment in 1931."Advise Five Steps to Aid Employment." Associated Press. October 11, 1930; Warn, W.A. "Governors Advised to Fight Idleness With Job Insurance." New York Times. January 24, 1931; "Green Scores Delay in Federal Job Aid." New York Times. January 27, 1931; "Sees Job Insurance As Best Stabilizer." New York Times. March 29, 1931; "Begins Wide Study of Job Insurance." New York Times. May 29, 1931; "For State Systems of Insuring Jobs." New York Times. February 15, 1932; "Committee to Urge State Job Insurance in Report to Albany." New York Times. December 2, 1932. He became a strong advocate for federal unemployment insurance, and co-authored a major study of European economies in 1932 which linked dropping standards of living to lack of unemployment benefits."Federal Aid Needed to Halt Depression." New York Times. August 2, 1931; "'Best Dole System' Urged for America." New York Times. November 12, 1932; "Asks Job Insurance Bill." New York Times. January 24, 1933; "Backs Job Insurance." New York Times. January 31, 1933; "Ford Inquiry Shows High Costs Abroad." New York Times. January 4, 1932; "Say Ford Pay Study Shows Cuts Unwise." New York Times. January 6, 1932.
National Recovery Administration In June 1933, Wolman was appointed to the staff of the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which led to a critical role in the regulation of labor relations. His initial appointment was as an expert on labor to NRA Administrator Hugh S. Johnson in the industrial section."Industry Act Staff Chosen By Johnson." New York Times. June 16, 1933. Four days later, Labor Secretary Francis Perkins appointed him chair of the NRA Labor Advisory Board, with authority to meet with the NRA Industry Advisory Board and representatives of labor and industry to set codes for minimum wages and maximum hours of work and to establish fair trade practices."Washington Picks Recovery Boards and Chief Experts." New York Times. June 20, 1933. On August 1, 1933, Wolman was appointed (along the Hugh S. Johnson and Deputy NRA Administrator Nelson Slater) to a board to mediate disputes arising under the newly approved cotton textile code."Blue Eagle Drive Opens Officially." New York Times. August 2, 1933. Three days later, Wolman and Walter C. Teagle, chair of the NRA's Industry Advisory Board, established (with President Roosevelt's agreement) the National Labor Board (NLB) to help resolve strikes and other industrial disputes arising under NRA codes.Morris, Charles. The Blue Eagle at Work: Reclaiming Democratic Rights in the American Workplace. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2004. ."Form Industrial Board." New York Times. August 5, 1933; "Announcement on Peace Labor Board." New York Times. August 6, 1933. The National Labor Board was led by Senator Robert F. Wagner, and Wolman was one of six members appointed to the Board on August 5."Wagner Head the Group." New York Times. August 6, 1933; "Mediation Board Will Cover Nation." New York Times. August 6, 1933.
Less than a week later, Wolman (acting as chair of the NLB while Senator Wagner was overseas) and the other members of the NLB established a key policy of New Deal labor policy. The Full-Fashioned Hosiery Workers Union launched an organizing drive in the summer of 1933 in the silk stocking mills around Reading, Pennsylvania. The employers refused to recognize the union, and 10,000 workers went on strike. On August 10, 1933, the NLB mediated a settlement. Known as the "Reading Formula," the settlement consisted of four parts: (1) That the union call off the strike; (2) That all employees be rehired immediately, without retaliation; (3) That the NLB hold elections in which the workers would vote by secret ballot for their own representatives, and that both parties would negotiate a collective bargaining agreement covering wages, hours and working conditions; and (4) That in the event of any disagreement on any matter, the parties would submit the dispute to the NLB for binding arbitration.Schlesinger, Arthur M. The Age of Roosevelt: The Coming of the New Deal: 1933-1935. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1958. Vittoz, Stanley. New Deal Labor Policy and the American Industrial Economy. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1987. Gross, James A. The Making of the National Labor Relations Board: A Study in Economics, Politics, and the Law. Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1974. Tomlins, Christopher L. The State and the Unions: Labor Relations, Law, and the Organized Labor Movement in America, 1880-1960. Reprint ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985.