Diagram No. 6 shows the distribution by sex and by groups of states of
the negro wage-earners. It appears that in the northeastern,
southeastern, and south central groups two-thirds of the wage-earners
were males and one-third were females, while in the north central and
western groups about five-sixths were males and one-sixth only were
females. This is in part due to the disproportionate number of males in
these parts of the country.
Diagram No. 7 shows the distribution of the negro wage-earners,
classified by sex, among the five occupation groups and by groups of
states. The length of each bar represents 100 per cent., and each bar is
divided proportionately among the different occupation groups. Thus from
it we read that in the northeastern states 15 per cent. of the male
wage-earners were engaged in agriculture, 56 per cent. in personal
service, 16 per cent. in trade and transportation, 12 per cent. in
manufactures, and 2 per cent. in the professions.
It is seen that a far larger proportion of male wage-earners were
engaged in agriculture in the southern states than in the northern and
western states, the proportion in the two groups of the former states
being 64 and 71 per cent., while in the northeastern states only 15 per
cent. were engaged in agriculture, in the north central states 26 per
cent., and in the western states 17 per cent.
In trade and transportation the highest proportion was found in the
northeastern states, where it was 16 per cent.; in the north central
states it was 14 and in the western states 10 per cent., while in the
southeastern states it was 7 per cent. and in the south central states 7
per cent.
Of course, the magnitude of the proportion in the northeastern states is
due to the fact that this is the commercial and manufacturing section of
the country, where a large proportion of all the population is engaged
in these avocations. The same is the case, though in less degree, in the
north central states, while the southern states are almost purely
agricultural. The figures relating to manufacturing occupations show
similar characteristics. It will be noted that in the northern and
western states the occupations of the negroes were more diversified than
in the southern states. Agriculture and personal service in the
northeastern states occupied but 71 per cent. of all wage-earners, in
the north central states they occupied 75 per cent., and in the western
states 81 per cent., while in the southeastern states these two
occupation groups comprised 84 per cent. and in the south central 88 per
cent. of all.
[Illustration:
Distribution of Occupations by Sex and Sections of the Country.
Diagram No. 7.
]
[Illustration:
Proportions of Males and Females among the Negro Wage-earners.
Diagram No. 8.
]
The diagram shows in a similar manner the distribution of the female
negro wage-earners. There were engaged in agriculture in the northern
and western states but a trifling proportion of negro women, while in
the southern states as a whole nearly one-half of the female negro
wage-earners were engaged in that avocation. On the other hand, personal
service occupied fully nine-tenths of the female wage-earners in the
northern and western states, while in the southern states less than
one-half were engaged in it. Indeed, 94 per cent. of the female
wage-earners of the west were engaged in personal service, 91 per cent.
in the northeastern states, and 87 per cent. in the north central
states. In trade and transportation the proportion was trifling, and in
manufactures it was small, although much larger in the north and west
than in the south.
Here, also, we see that agriculture and personal service occupied nearly
all wage-earners—91 per cent. in the northeastern states, 96 per cent.
in the southeastern states, 89 per cent. in the north central states, 97
per cent. in the south central states, and 95 per cent. in the western
states. Occupations were slightly more diversified in the north and west
than in the southern states, as was the case with the males.