The quality of these pictures to support the war effort are wonderful and remind us what an important roll "Rosie the riveter" and women in general played in that effort, indeed here in the U.K , some of my aunts worked at AVRO doing twelve hour shifts building Lancaster Bombers in those days during WW11 when I was a child.
These are wonderful. The lighting was definitely set up and does appear "staged" but on the other hand they provide great drama and clarity. What's also interesting is how many "rules of photography" were followed. Rules of thirds, compositional balance, people looking "into" the photos not "out", no negative space, etc. except for one or two. Did they have a book on composition back then or were they writing it?
All I've got to say is ... if anyone from my generation ever complains about a "hard life"...they are full of it and just need to look at these pictures to get a clue. We have it so easy.
If you care to take a look at the Library of Congress website, they have most of these photos, and a lot more available for download. Most are in TIFF format at 300 dpi!