in California

By M. I. GERSHENSON, Chief, Division of Labor Statistics and Research, California Department of Industrial Relations

LONG BEFORE Japan's surrender, questions were raised as to what would happen in California "after the war." What would be the aftermath of a huge increase in population, a tremendous expansion of the labor force, and a severe distortion of the employment pattern? Would the State be able to absorb the thousands of workers who would lose their jobs in war plants and at the same time find employment for the service men and women who would be returning to civilian life? It was obvious that California's problem was not that of reconverting prewar plants to peacetime operations, since new war industries were superimposed on an economy in which manufacturing was a relatively small part of the total, and war plants were literally built on vacant fields.

As a result of the wartime upheaval of the Nation's population, California's population increased from 7 million in April 1940 to 9 million in 1946, and the civilian labor force rose from 3 million to 34 million. During the war, however, the number of employed civilians increased more rapidly than population or civilian labor force, and unemployment virtually disappeared.

Wartime Employment Changes

Total civilian employment, including owners and self-employed as well as wage and salary workers, rose to 3,712,000 in June 1944. This represented an increase above the prewar level of 48 percent. Between June 1944 and June 1945 civilian employment decreased by 111,000 as a result of reductions in manufacturing. Seasonal factors were responsible for a slight rise to 3,658,000 in the 2 months preceding Japan's surrender.

The course of total civilian employment obscures wide variations in the wartime trends for the several industry divisions comprising the total. In some divisions the working force increased tremendously, in others only moderately; one major group registered a decrease of 30 percent (table 1).

MANUFACTURING

The exigencies of war affected manufacturing to a greater extent than any other industry division. Ships and airplanes-the prime requisites for waging global war-were "must" production items for California. Employment in the State's industrial plants, including

TABLE 1.—Estimated civilian employment in1 California, by industry, selected months

1940-462

[In thousands]

1 The estimated employed includes wage and salary workers, employers, own-account workers, and unpaid family workers. Source: California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Statistics and Research. Does not include Mexican contract workers and emergency volunteer workers. Contract construction. Does not include force-account or Government construction workers.

All civilian employees of the Federal, State, and local governments regardless of the activity in which the employee is engaged.

owners and self-employed, rose from 414,000 in April 1940 to 1,191,000 in June 1943. This increase was considerably larger, both relatively and absolutely, than for any other industry division. The impetus of war contracts catapulted manufacturing from third to first place among the 8 major industry divisions. Two of every 3 persons recruited to the ranks of the civilian employed between April 1940 and June 1943 augmented the personnel of manufacturing firms. In June 1943 approximately a third of all civilian workers in the State were employees of industrial establishments, contrasted with a sixth in April 1940.

The unprecedented increase in manufacturing was concentrated largely in aircraft and shipbuilding. Employment in these two industries skyrocketed from less than 45,000 before the war to a peak of more than 640,000 in the summer of 1943. These two industries alone absorbed one-half of the entire 1940-43 increase in the total number of civilians employed in California.

Unprecedented gains, although not as spectacular as in aircraft and shipbuilding, were also recorded in other manufacturing industries closely related to the war effort. In the durable-goods category (other than transportation equipment), the largest increases in the number of wage and salary workers occurred in the following groups:

So-called "war" industries in the nondurable-goods division reached their wartime peak later than the durable-goods groups:

Employment in manufacturing, which had reached its peak in 1943, turned down moderately in 1944, after aircraft, shipbuilding, iron and steel, nonferrous metals, machinery, and electrical machinery had all passed their employment peaks. Abrupt declines occurred in 1945 following the surrender of Germany.

Thousands of workers who staffed the war factories of the State were women, whose employment as production workers rose from 66,000 in 1941 to a wartime peak of 285,000 in August 1943. In 1944 they comprised 29 percent of all factory workers. Over half of the new recruits among women went into the aircraft industry (which employed 104,000 women at the peak) and into shipyards (which employed over 40,000 at the peak, or 15 percent of their total force). By August 1945, however, with the early contraction of aircraft and shipbuilding, the total number of women in factories was down to 187,000.

GOVERNMENT

Next to manufacturing, the largest wartime gain in civilian employment occurred in government service. The total number of persons in California engaged in government service rose from 237,000 in April 1940 to a peak of 511,000 in August 1945-an increase of 116 percent.

Before the war, State and local government employees greatly outnumbered Federal personnel in California, but this relationship was reversed soon after Pearl Harbor. Federal employment, notably in navy yards, arsenals, supply depots, airfields, hospitals, ports of embarkation, and other military establishments, increased from 51,000 in April 1940 to a wartime peak of 322,000 in August 1945. State and local government employment rose slightly from 186,000 in April 1940, but by VJ-day was back to 189,000.

TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATION, AND UTILITIES

Between April 1940 and the month of Japan's surrender total employment in the transportation, communication, and utilities division expanded from 184,000 to 286,000. Movement of raw materials to war plants, coupled with use of California ports as embarkation centers for troops and supplies, resulted in tremendous expansion of railway, truck, and water-front activities which continued throughout the war. Increased employment in transportation and communication was partly offset by a 20-percent decrease in such public utilities as gas, electricity, and water, which, because of shortages of manpower and materials, were forced to eliminate all extensions of capital facilities except in congested war production areas. Employment in all transportation groups combined increased 75 percent from 123,000 in the spring of 1940 to 216,000 during the month of Japan's surrender. In the same period, the number of employees of telephone and telegraph companies rose 50 percent to 46,000.

TRADE AND SERVICE

In normal times the volume of employment in trade and service industries tends to be directly related to the size of the population; but, despite the huge increase in civilian population and military personnel stationed in California, employment in these industries changed little between 1940 and 1943, as workers went into higher paying industries. Employment in trade and service combined increased moderately after 1943 and by June 1945 reached a total of 1,358,000. This was approximately 10 percent above the April 1940 level-an increase considerably less than the relative population growth in the State. In 1940 trade and service accounted for nearly half of all employed persons in California; in June 1943 the proportion had diminished to approximately a third.

Employment in wholesale and retail trade in California increased from 634,000 in April 1940 to 681,000 in June 1943. Although thousands of small firms closed their doors because of shortages of