In 1890, out of a total population of 62,622,250, 22,753,884 persons, or
34.6 per cent., were engaged in gainful occupations. Of the negroes,
including all of mixed negro blood, numbering 7,470,040, 3,073,123, or
41.1 per cent., were engaged in gainful occupations. The proportion was
much greater than with the total population. This total population,
however, was composed of several diverse elements, including, besides
the negroes themselves, the foreign born (of which a large proportion
were adult males), and the native whites. The following table presents
the proportions of each of these elements which were engaged in gainful
occupations:
_Proportion._ _Per Cent._
Total population 34.6
Whites 35.5
Native whites 31.6
Foreign born 55.2
Negroes 41.1
The diagram No. 1 sets forth these figures in graphic form. The total
area of the square represents the population. This is sub-divided by
horizontal lines into rectangles representing the various elements of
the population, and the shaded part of each rectangle represents the
proportions engaged in gainful occupations.
The proportion was greatest among the foreign born because of the large
proportion of adults, and particularly of males, among this element.
Next to that, the proportion was greatest among the negroes, being much
greater than among the whites collectively and still greater than among
the native whites.
Classifying the wage-earners of the country in respect to race and
nativity, it appears that 64.5 per cent. were native whites, 22 per
cent. were of foreign birth, and 13.5 per cent. were negroes.
Analyzing the statistics of occupation by sex, it is discovered that the
proportion of native white males who had occupations was 53.4 and of
females 9.4 per cent. The corresponding proportion of male negroes was
56.3 per cent. and of female negroes 26.0 per cent. The male negroes
were slightly more fully occupied than were the native whites, while
among females the proportion of wage-earners was much greater. The
difference between native whites and negroes in the proportion of
wage-earners was, therefore, due mainly to the fuller occupation of
women. To put it in another form: Out of every hundred native whites who
pursued gainful occupations, 85 were males and 15 were females. Of every
hundred negroes, 69 were males and 31 were females. Indeed, a larger
proportion of women pursued gainful occupations among negroes than in
any other class of the population.