Such is the lowest stratum of the "vest and trousers" trade, where English women undertake work rejected by the lowest class of Jew workers, and the shirt-making trade, which, in the opinion of the Lords' Committee, "does not appear to afford subsistence to those who have no other employment." In these and other trades of the lowest order, 6s.

a week is a tolerably common wage for a work-woman of fair skill to net after a hard week's work, and there are many individual cases where the wage falls far below this mark.
It is true that the work for which the lowest wages are paid is often that of learners, or of inefficient work-women; but while this may be a satisfactory "economic" explanation, it does not mitigate the terrible significance of the fact that many women are dependent on such work as their sole opportunity of earning an honest livelihood.
Sec.3.Irregularity of Employment .-- As the wages of women are lower than those of men, so they suffer more from irregularity of employment.

There are two special reasons for this.
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Many trades in which women are employed, depend largely upon the element of Season.

The confectionery trade, one of the most important, employs twice as many hands in the busy season as in the slack season.