tion, the number of Federal employees in California in 1946 was more than 4 times the number in April 1940.

Offsetting the decrease in Federal employment was a moderate but steady rise in the number of persons employed in State and local government jurisdictions, which increased to 207,000 in December 1946-a level some 20,000 above April 1940. At the close of 1946 Federal employees continued to outnumber those in State and local government service, whereas before the war there were 3 State and local government employees for every Federal employee in California.

TRADE AND SERVICE

The most effective offset to the deep postwar cuts in manufacturing employment was the rapid and sustained increase in trade and service employment as war-closed civilian businesses were reopened and thousands of new businesses were established to meet the needs of California's enlarged population. The number of owners, self-employed, and wage and salary workers in trade and service increased from 1,378,000 in August 1945 to 1,597,000 in mid-November 1946, just before the usual pre-Christmas rise in retail stores. This increase of 220,000 was greater than the net reduction of 179,000 in manufacturing employment during the same period.

Reflecting unprecedented increases in the number of trade establishments, the number of persons in wholesale and retail trade rose to 878,000 in November 1946 from 744,000 in August 1945.2 This rise of 134,000 includes an estimated increase of some 31,000 owners and self-employed persons. The hiring of extra workers for the Christmas rush brought the total number of persons attached to trade to 899,000 in December 1946, the highest in the history of the State.

As in the case of trade, the end of the war gave impetus to the upward trend in service industries which was evident prior to VJ-day. Between August 1945 and December 1946, 90,000 persons found job opportunities in service and finance industries as employment increased to 724,000. Of this increase, 35,000 were employers and ownaccount workers.

With but one exception, employment in every subgroup within the service division was higher at the end of 1946 than in August 1945 (table 1). Largest relative increases occurred in automobile-repair services and garages, banking, insurance and real estate, business and repair services, and education, medical, legal, charitable, and other service groups.

2 By VJ-day the number of trade outlets licensed by the State Board of Equalization had recovered from a wartime low of 170,000 in 1943 to 200,000. Between VJ-day and July 1, 1946, 32,000 new trade outlets were opened and an additional 10,000 received retail-sales permits in the following quarter, so that by October 1946 the number had reached the record-breaking total of 242,000.

TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATION, AND UTILITIES

Postwar employment reductions in transportation were offset by increases in communication and water, light, and power utilities. Total employment of 293,000 in the division as a whole at the end of 1946 was slightly above the total in August 1945 and more than 100,000 above the April 1940 level.

Railroad employment practically doubled between April 1940 and August 1945, but declined slightly after the war. Employment in local transportation and trucking maintained their war-end levels. Water and other transportation fell off moderately.

Large-scale hiring by the telephone industry, reflecting postwar expansion of capital facilities, resulted in an increase in the total number of telephone and telegraph workers in California from 46,000 in August 1945 to 60,000 in December 1946. Similarly, employment in water, light, and power utilities expanded by one-third to 33,000 at the close of 1946.

CONSTRUCTION

Shortages of men and materials retarded postwar progress in the construction industry. Total employment dropped from 154,000 in August 1945 to a postwar low in January 1946, but increased to 185,000 in September 1946. Employment in the construction industry fell off at the end of the year to approximately 176,000 in December 1946. Construction experienced a similar seasonal decline throughout the Nation.

MINING

Employment in the mining division as a whole increased after VJday from 32,000 in August 1945 to a postwar high of 38,000 in August 1946. This level, nevertheless, was some 10,000 below the total for this division in April 1940. Metal mining continued to be depressed, reflecting an unfavorable relationship between the price of gold and operating costs which made the resumption of gold mining on the prewar scale unattractive. Employment in crude-petroleum and natural-gas production rose from 22,000 in August 1945 to 26,000 in July 1946 and then dropped to the April 1940 level of 25,000 in the closing months of the year. The number of workers in nonmetallic mining and quarrying rose from 5,000 in August 1945 to 7,000 in November 1946 and then declined seasonally to 6,000 in December.

NONAGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT IN CALIFORNIA COMPARED WITH UNITED STATES

The net increase in nonagricultural employment between April 1940 and November 1946 was considerably greater in California than in the Nation as a whole. The relative differences between the two

are shown in the following tabulation of percentage changes for the various industry divisions and for total nonagricultural employment, from April 1940 to November 1946.

Total nonagricultural employment.

Manufacturing..

Mining.....

Construction.......

Transportation, communication, and utilities..

Trade.

Service..

Government

United States California
Percent change

AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, AND FISHING

Employment in agriculture experienced the usual seasonal fluctuations during 1945 and 1946, but on a relatively high level. Farmers in many areas in the State took advantage of unusually favorable weather conditions in November and December 1946 and a more abundant labor supply to advance winter farm operations well ahead of usual schedules. As a result, employment during the closing months of 1946 was sustained above normal seasonal levels.

In December 1946, 355,000 persons were engaged in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, compared with the seasonal high of 477,000 in September. Not included in these totals are 15,000 Mexican nationals who were working on California farms at the end of the year and 20,000 during peak operations in September 1946.

RETURN OF EMPLOYMENT PATTERN TO NORMAL

The shift of the California economy from peace to war resulted in severe distortion of the employment pattern. With the return to peace, traditional relationships began to be restored and the employment pattern at the end of 1946 was not very different from that in 1940.

IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST,2 which had only a moderate degree of industrialization before the war, the wartime employment growth was concentrated chiefly in shipbuilding and aircraft. Since these warexpanded industries were staffed to a large extent through in-migration, it was anticipated that the postwar employment problems of the region might well be acute. This has not proved to be true as yet, since activity in the area remains high and unemployment is not marked.

Trends in Northwest Compared with United States

3

During the war period, nonagricultural employment exclusive of government, in the Pacific Northwest, showed much greater relative TABLE 1.-Trend of nonagricultural employment in Pacific Northwest and United States, by major industry division, September 1939,3 and annual averages 1943–46

1 Includes all nonagricultural divisions except government.

The States of Oregon and Washington comprise the Northwest.

Estimates for manufacturing and construction are based on 1939 annual averages, all others are based on September 1939.

1 Prepared in the Employment Statistics Division of the Bureau's Employment and Occupationa Outlook Branch, by Eleanora H. Barnes under the direction of Clara F. Schloss.

The States of Washington and Oregon comprise the Northwest as used in this article. "Nonagricultural employment" as used in this article includes wage and salary workers in all nonagricultural establishments except government. Proprietors, self-employed persons, domestic servants, and personnel of the armed forces are excluded. This applies to both regional and United States employment.

gains than did like employment throughout the United States. At its wartime peak, employment in the region had risen above prewar by over 70 percent, as compared with a 36-percent rise in the total number of nonagricultural workers in the United States. Although postwar employment declines were proportionately greater in Washington and Oregon than in the United States as a whole, employment in the Northwest in 1946 on the basis of annual averages was 39 percent greater than in 1939, while the corresponding figure for the United States was 27 percent (see table 1).

Trend of Nonagricultural Employment in Northwest

In September 1939, almost a third of the 588,000 nonagricultural workers in the Pacific Northwest were employed in manufacturing, and more than a fourth were in trade (see chart and table 2). By 1943 the wartime expansion was well under way and about one out of every two workers in the Northwest was employed in manufacturing. In January of that year, nonagricultural industries employed more than one and a half times as many people as in 1939. The largest increase was in factory employment, which went up by 130 percent, although all divisions except mining and finance shared in the gain.

The peak nonagricultural employment-over 1,000,000-was reached in July 1944, when almost 415,000 more people were at work than in 1939. Although manufacturing employment was somewhat below its maximum at this time, the combination of near maximum numbers in transportation and public utilities, construction, and trade, raised nonagricultural employment to its record level. Even before the end of the war, there were sharp cuts in shipbuilding and in aircraft, so that employment was rapidly reduced. Nonagricultural employment as a whole reached a postwar low of 770,400 in November 1945, which represented a decrease of about a fourth from the peak level but an increase of almost a third above the prewar level. About four-fifths of the reduction was in manufacturing industries, in which seasonal contraction of food industries and a prolonged strike in the lumber industry, in addition to heavy cut-backs in the shipbuilding and aircraft programs, contributed to the decrease. At the same time, trade, finance, and service industries were all taking on employees in the period between July 1944 and November 1945, thus limiting the net decline to some extent.

Even at this low point, all major industry divisions except mining showed appreciable gains over the prewar period, ranging from 13 percent in finance to 40 percent in manufacturing.