Making Both Ends Meet: The income and outlay of New York working girls

The authors assemble economic records and first‑hand budgets from self‑supporting women living away from home in New York, presenting how wages and expenditures vary across saleswomen, garment and factory operatives, and laundry workers. Interspersed with narrative accounts of strikes and shop conditions, the book analyzes monotony, speed work, and housing costs, and shows how trade organization, legislation, inspection, and changes in management affect workers' living standards. Practical reforms and the implications of scientific management are considered alongside concrete household budgets, with the aim of clarifying the gap between earnings and necessities and suggesting avenues for policy and employer reform.