The important point, however, is not so much the nominal length of apprenticeship, but the fact that the work which an "apprentice" now does is less educative than it was, and that wage-earning considerations now enter at an earlier stage into the apprentice's thoughts. [Sidenote: The learner as workwoman.] The low wages paid to learners offer great temptations to employers to set these extra cheap workgirls upon certain "fat" kinds of work. Some kinds of work, _e.g._, gathering, have thus come to be regarded as learners' perquisites, and in one extreme instance a worker made as much money when a learner on half pay as she did subsequently on whole pay.[59] [Footnote 59: These figures from typical houses showing proportions of learners and journeywomen are interesting:-- Workers. Learners. A. 75 14 B. 87 19 C. 7 3 D. 8 3 E. 12 11 F. 26 20 These houses are engaged in various kinds of bookbinding and printing.] In several cases we have been able to trace the exact amount gained by the employer:-- 1. A. in the last sixteen weeks of her half-pay period made £3 18_s._ 6_d._, an average of 4_s._ 10¾ _d._ per week. For the next sixteen weeks, when a full hand, her average was 9_s._ 8_d._ 2. B. in twenty-three weeks before she became a full hand made £4 9_s._ 10_d._, or an average of 3_s._ 10¾ _d._ per week. During the next twenty-three weeks her average was 7_s._ 0½_d._, a few pence less than double. 3. C. in fifty-one weeks made £15 5_s._ 4½_d._, practically 6_s._ per week; if on full wage, her average would have been 11_s._ 11½_d._ 4. D. in thirty-seven weeks made £10 19_s._ 5½_d._, practically 6_s._ per week; if on full wage her average would have been 11_s._ 10½_d._ 5. E. in forty-seven weeks made £14 9_s._ 4½_d._, or 6_s._ 2_d._ per week; if on full pay her average would have been 12_s._ 3¾ _d._ 6. F. in forty-three weeks made £12 12_s._ 3_d._, 5_s._ 1½_d._ per week; if on full pay her earnings would have been 11_s._ 8¾ _d._ It is obvious that when a worker is sufficiently expert to make an average of 11_s._ or 12_s._ on full pay, it is a great temptation to save on the bills by giving her as much work as possible at half-price. The employer looks upon this profit as the return made to him for teaching the girl, or, to speak more correctly, for allowing her to pick up the trade in his shop. It really means that a heavy premium is being paid in instalments. Possibly, when small fixed wages are paid, the employer's profits are even higher, but in that case the learner has not that temptation to sacrifice quality to quantity, and to be content with "slapdash" work which is the inevitable consequence of a piecework system worked under such conditions, and which is specially injurious to the young hands. [Sidenote: Compositors.]