this area, as in the United States as a whole, construction should prove a source of increased labor demand for some time in view of the large backlog of demand for housing and other types of private construction which were postponed during the war.

Finance. In 1939, about 26,200 workers or about 4 percent of total workers in the region, were employed in finance, insurance, and real estate. Slight increases occurred in 1944 and again in 1945, but it was not until 1946 that many additional workers found employment in these industries. In December 1946, the persons thus employed totaled about 33,400.

Mining. Mining is the smallest of the major industry divisions and accounts for less than 1 percent of the region's workers. It is the only major group that employed fewer people in the war and postwar years than in 1939. Difficulty in securing labor, suspension of gold-mining activities, and the closing of several chrome mines were some of the factors involved in this decrease. By 1945, annual average employment was 40 percent below the prewar level. By the end of 1946, however, 4,600 workers, or 75 percent of the prewar total, were employed in mining.

Income on the West Coast1

THE PROPORTION of relatively high-wage employments on the West Coast is greater than in the remainder of the country. This employment pattern is reflected in the extent of urbanization in the area which in itself is a factor helping to account for the region's high level of money income. Another important factor affecting the income level of the region is the existence of a wage differential which tends to favor West Coast workers. In almost all industries, and for similar occupations in similar industries, West Coast wage rates are higher than in any other region in the country.3

Expanding industry and employment in the Pacific States during the past several decades has led to a competition for workers, in spite of the large numbers who have migrated to the area over the years. The variety and abundance of economic resources and the initiative of the population have enabled the region to absorb the in-migrants at relatively high rates of remuneration. A greater proportion of the population is in the most productive age range than is in the group of younger dependents. The large proportion of older persons with independent incomes and the expenditures of the large numbers of tourists help.to support the important trade and service industries.

The growth in the aggregate amount of income payments in these States has been a natural accompaniment to the increase in population and economic activity. The region experienced the greatest rate of income growth of any large area in the country, both in the prewar and in the war years, exceeding even the substantial increases in the Southern States. The West Coast share of the country's total income payments increased steadily from 1929 to 1944, and the general level of this proportion appears to have been maintained since the end of the war.

The decrease in income from war manufacturing, at the end of World War II, was largely offset by increases in mustering-out pay

1 Prepared by Solomon Shapiro of the Bureau's Labor Economics Staff. The State income data used in this article have been published or made available by the National Income Division of the Office of Business Economics of the U. S. Department of Commerce. The cooperation of this Division is gratefully acknowledged.

* While urbanization in the States of Washington and Oregon was somewhat below the level for the United States in 1940, California, with about 70 percent of the Pacific Coast population, had 71 percent of its population living in cities in that year.

* See Regional Wage Differentials, by Harry Ober and Carrie Glasser, Monthly Labor Review, October 1946.

• State income payments represent income received in the various States by individuals, from payers either within or outside the State. These payments include certain "nonproductive" receipts which are included in money income, such as social-security benefits and relief payments. They exclude certain items of income, like business savings, which accrue to, but are not received by, the population. Certain imputed items, such as products consumed on the farm, are also included.

See Income in the South, Monthly Labor Review, October 1946.

1

ments, unemployment benefits, and payments in trade, service, and other civilian industries. As a result, aggregate income payments in the fourth quarter of 1945, the most recent period for which data are available, were only 5 percent below the peak of war production. Further expansion in the civilian segments of the economy since 1945 has enabled the region to keep the approximate income relationship to the rest of the country which it achieved at the height of war production.

Because of its strategic location with respect to the Pacific theater of war, and the availability of resources for shipbuilding and other war manufactures, the West Coast was the scene of tremendous war activity. This was particularly so in the Seattle-Tacoma area in Washington, the Portland-Vancouver area in Oregon and Washington, and the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas in California. The presence of various embarkation points on the Coast resulted in a concentration of military personnel, while the increase in war manufacturing caused the migration of hundreds of thousands of workers to the region. The consequent increase in the flow of income caused even the nonmilitary segments of the economy, such as trade and service, to increase at a faster rate than in the rest of the country.

The spectacular expansion of the shipbuilding and aircraft industries on the West Coast helped to bring war manufacturing pay rolls from 5 percent of the area's total income payments in 1940 to about 20 percent in 1944. In 1945, when war manufacturing sharply declined, trade and service pay rolls increased almost 9 percent, which offset about a fifth of the decrease in war manufacturing. Federal Government pay rolls contributed about 9 percent of the total increase in income between 1940 and 1944; these continued to increase in 1945 and offset about 3 percent of the decrease in war manufacturing in that year.

The increase of 1,239 million dollars in military payments was about 12 percent of the total increase in income payments between 1940 and 1944; by the end of the period this type of payment constituted over 7 percent of total income. The inclusion of mustering-out pay raised this percentage to over 8 in 1945. Agricultural income also contributed about 12 percent of the increase in total income payments in the region between 1940 and 1944. A slight decline was experienced in 1945, even though this type of income continued to increase in the other States. A somewhat greater relative increase in farm production expenses in the Pacific States largely accounts for the decline.

• U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 826, Impact of the War on Employment in 181 Centers of War Activity, 1945.

Per Capita Income

Since 1941, the West Coast has replaced the Middle East States 7 as the region of highest per capita incomes (aggregate income payments divided by total population resident in the area). The more rapid increase in incomes on the West Coast, from the depths of the depression in the thirties to the high point of war activity, caused an increasing disparity between per capita incomes on the West Coast and the rest of the country.

For the past few decades, both the population and per capita income in the region have increased more rapidly than in other areas of the country. The capacity of the area to absorb the migrant workers and older retired persons and to increase per capita income at the same time has been rather striking. Among the three States of the West Coast, California has consistently shown the highest per capita income, Washington being second. Since the war, these two States have been at or above the level of New York and Connecticut, the traditional leaders in average incomes.

Payments to civilian population.-During the war years, per capita incomes were, to some extent, influenced by the inclusion of military personnel and pay, particularly in the areas of large military concentrations. While generally per capita income relates to the entire TABLE 1.—Per capita income payments1 to civilian population, West Coast and all other States, 1940-45

1 Per capita income payments are derived by division of total income payments to civilians (total income payments less net pay of the armed forces) by total civilian population.

Source: U. S. Department of Commerce, Survey of Current Business, August 1946, and unpublished data.

' Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

population, including military personnel, per capita income payments to civilians are a somewhat better measure of the income status of the average individual during the war. However, so far as trends or interregional relationships are concerned, little difference results from the two methods of computation of per capita income.

Table 1 shows the per capita income payments to the civilian population on the West Coast and in the other States for the period 194045. The average civilian income of $746 in the region in 1940 was $186 more than in the rest of the country. By 1943, this disparity had increased to $453, but the subsequent relative decline in the rate of increase reduced the difference to $359 in 1945. Compared with the average civilian income for the country as a whole, the West Coast average was about 30 percent greater in 1940 and about 40 percent greater in 1943; but in 1945, the average was only 28 percent greater.

Payments to total population (including military personnel).—Table 2 shows per capita income payments for the entire population from 1929 to 1945, on the West Coast and in the rest of the country. The inclusion of the armed forces in the computation of per capita incomes decreases average incomes on the West Coast somewhat, particularly in the last 3 years of the war. This is in interesting contrast to the situation in the low income areas, such as the South, where military TABLE 2.-Per capita income payments1 and percent of national per capita income, West Coast and all other States, 1929–45 2

1 Per capita income payments are derived by division of total income payments by total population (excluding armed forces and civilians outside Continental United States).

Source: U. S. Department of Commerce, Survey of Current Business, August 1946, and unpublished data.