AGE DISTRIBUTION In spite of the inflow of young workers through migration, the Far Western labor force as a whole is relatively old, most nearly resembling that of the industrial Northeast 12 (see table 5). In 1940, only 42 percent of the workers on the Pacific Coast were under 35 years of age, compared with 52 percent in the South. To a large extent, the older labor force in the Far West reflects low fertility, which in turn is associated with the fact that the great majority of the population resides in towns and cities. In 1940, approximately 87 percent of the Pacific population resided in nonfarm areas, as compared with only 61 percent of the southern population. Labor-Market Participation Certain characteristics within each age and sex group of the labor force in the Far West differ from those in other sections. Specifically, in the Pacific region relatively few teen-age youngsters, older men, and adult women are in the working population (see table 5). TEEN-AGE YOUTHS The worker rate (proportion of labor force to population) of young people 14 to 19 years old in the Pacific States, in 1940, was 22.6 percent a rate considerably lower than the rates of 31.7 and 28.7 percent in the South and the Northeast, respectively. This reflects a longer period of schooling for teen-age youth in the Far West than in other regions. In the Pacific States, 61.4 percent of the school-age population (5 to 24 years) attended school in 1940, compared with 59.8 percent in the Northeast and 53.6 percent in the South. The substantially higher proportion of young people who attend school in the Far West as compared with the South partly reflects rural-urban differences between the two sections. Southern youngsters leave school at particularly early ages, largely because of the availability of jobs in agriculture for unpaid family labor. It is noteworthy, however, that the school attendance rate on the Pacific Coast also exceeds that of the Northeast, despite the fact that a greater proportion of the Pacific Coast young people live in rural areas. OLDER MEN The proportion of workers among older men is considerably lower in the Far West than in other regions, including the Northeast, because many such men from other States settle on the Pacific Coast when they retire. The worker rates for older men in the Pacific region are particularly low in comparison with those in the South, 13 The Northeast, as defined in this article, includes the New England, Middle Atlantic, and East North Central States. because the latter is a predominantly agricultural region. In nonagricultural communities, which prevail in the Far West and the Northeast, a worker is often forced to leave the labor market when he can no longer compete with younger men. In agricultural regions, however, men are able to work to later ages, because farming is typically a family enterprise in which age is no bar to continuation in a working status. TABLE 5.-Labor Force in selected regions of the United States, classified by age and sex, 1940 1 1 Preliminary, pending release of Census official estimate of United States total on basis comparable with current Census series. Northeast includes the New England, Middle Atlantic, and East North Central States. • Proportion of labor force to population. Percentages were computed from unrounded figures. WOMEN Although approximately 1 woman in 4 in the Far West worked or sought work outside her home, in 1940, this rate of labor-market participation (27.1 percent) was lower than that in the Northeast (29.1 percent) and slightly higher than that in the South (26.2 percent). Relatively more women are in the Northern labor market because of the high concentration of that region's female population in industrial urban areas. The West Coast has relatively more women in farm areas than the Northeast and also has relatively more in rural nonfarm districts. Worker rates for women in every section of the country increase with urbanization. Greater household responsibilities, larger families, and lack of outside employment opportunities limit labor-market participation of rural women. Although most women in the Far West live in urban areas, their rate of labor-market participation was only slightly above that of Southern women, the majority of whom live in rural areas. This is attributable to the very small proportion of the women in the Pacific States who are nonwhite. In the South, however one-fourth of the women are nonwhite, and nonwhite women work or seek work (mostly in domestic service) to a greater extent than do white women. TRENDS IN LABOR-MARKET PARTICIPATION Certain trends in the rates of labor-market participation by various groups in the population are discernible over long periods. In general, the same long-term trends prevail in the Far West as elsewhere in the Nation. Operating to reduce prospective labor supply are the movements toward fewer younger and fewer older workers. The worker rate of youths 14 to 19 years old on the Pacific Coast dropped from 33.2 percent in 1920 to 22.6 percent in 1940; that of men 65 and over fell from 53.9 percent in 1920 to 35.6 percent in 1940. The principal factor working in the opposite direction-toward a larger labor force-is the trend toward greater employment of women. The worker rate for women aged 20 to 44 years in the Far West rose from 26.4 percent in 1920 to 34.9 percent in 1940. This increasing proportion of women workers has accompanied a movement away from farms, a long-term decline in the birth rate, and mechanization of household and industrial processes. Moreover, social attitudes toward employment of women have become more favorable. These long-term trends in labor-market participation, in combination with natural population growth, would cause the Pacific labor force to increase by only 160,000 between 1940 and 1950. But the chief importance of the trends is in reshaping the composition of the work force. The future labor force on the West Coast will include more women and fewer older and younger persons than in the past. Public interest will more than ever, therefore, be concerned with problems relating to labor standards for women, social security, and educational facilities, as well as with the basic problem of maintaining high levels of employment. 736039-47-2 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 3% 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 Industry division All industry divisions... 1940-462 [In thousands] Apr. June June June Aug. Feb. June Aug. Nov. Dec. 2, 514 3,671 3,712 3,601 3,658 3,327 3, 552 3,698 3,642 3,648 634 681 156 167 328 324 366 4 4 34 32 5 22 22 5 5 163 150 414 1, 1911, 124 909 370 388 304 373 293 26 25 6 6 6 183 176 764 730 514 592 50 ices. Domestics. Banking. Insurance and real estate.. Automobile-repair services and 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. 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. |