INTRODUCTORY NOTE At the request of the Subcommittee on Labor and Labor-Management Relations of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, transmitted through the National Security Resources Board, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has brought together significant and readily available information on the employment and economic status of Negroes in the United States. The material selected for inclusion in this report was culled from a wide variety of sources in order to high light the major facts on this subject. No new research was done. From all of the information brought together, two general facts seem to emerge. The first is that in almost every significant economic and social characteristic that we can measure-including length of life, education, employment, and income-our Negro citizens, as a whole, are less well off than our white citizens. The second is that in almost every characteristic the differences between the two groups have narrowed in recent years. This material, produced in the Division of Manpower and Employment Statistics under the direction of Harold Goldstein, Assistant Chief, was prepared by Helen H. Ringe with the assistance of Sophia Cooper. III Major changes in occupational pattern, 1940-50- Proportion of Negroes to total employment in major occupations, Placement experience of public employment offices, 1940, 1944, and 1951-- 1. Population of the United States, by color, 1900-1950_. 2. Estimated birth rates, by color, selected years, 1920-49. 3. Age-adjusted death rates, by color: Death-registration States, selected 5. Population of the United States, by color, age, and sex, 1950 and 1940- 6. Population by color and urban-rural residence, 1900-1950. 7. Percent distribution by migration status of the population, by color, March 1950, April 1949, 1947, and 1940...... 8. Population by color, for divisions and States, 1950 and 1940.. 9. Population by color, 1950 and 1940, for cities with 50,000 or more non- 10. Population by color, in 1950, for cities of 50,000 or more with more than 100 percent increase in nonwhite population between 1940 and 1950. 11. Median school years completed by persons 25 years old and over, by RECENT LABOR FORCE AND EMPLOYMENT TRENDS 13. Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population, by color and sex, annual averages 1951, 1949, and 1947.. 14. Percent distribution of married couples by labor force status of hus- 16. Percent distribution of employed men and women by major industry group, by color, April 1950 and March 1940. 17. Percent distribution of employed nonwhite men and women by major industry group, April of selected years, 1940-52- 18. Percent distribution of employed men and women by major occupa- tional group, by color, April 1950 and March 1940.. 19. Proportion of nonwhite to total employment in each major occupa- tional group, by sex, April 1952, 1950, 1948, 1944, and 1940_-. 20. Nonagricultural placements, total and nonwhite, by major industry division, April 1951, 1944, and 1940__ 21. Duration of current jobs of employed workers, by color, sex, and farm- INCOME AND WAGES 22. Median money income of families, by color and residence, 1945-50---- 23. Median wage and salary income of persons with wage and salary in- come, by color, 1939 and 1947-50. 24. Percent distribution of Negro and white workers with four quarters of employment in 1948, by amount of annual wage credits, by sex.. EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC STATUS OF NEGROES IN PERTINENT BACKGROUND DATA brGrowth in the population, 1900-1950 Number and proportion.-Fifteen and a half million Negroes' constituted, in 1950, about 10 percent of the total 151 million population by in the United States. Between 1900 and 1950 the total population doubled in size, with a more than 100-percent increase in the white population compared with an increase of almost 70 percent among Negroes. The proportion of Negroes in the population has remained constant since 1920, as shown in table 1. While birth rates among Negroes have been consistently higher than those among whites, mortality rates are higher and average life expectancy is lower among Negroes than among whites. TABLE 1.-Population of the United States, by color, 1900-1950 Birth rates. The higher birth rates among Negroes, in comparison with whites, are shown in table 2. In 1949, the rate per 1,000 in the Negro population was 32.6, compared with 23.6 among whites. Since 1945 there have been, among both groups, significant increases in birth rates. During the depression, 1930's, sharp declines in birth rates occurred among both Negroes and whites. TABLE 2.-Estimated birth rates,1 by color, selected years, 1920-49 The data for Most of the sources of statistical data used in this report provide separate figures for white persons and all other persons. The latter are identified in such statistical presentations as "nonwhites." nonwhites are not usually separated as between Negroes and other groups, hence there are no separate figures for Negroes. Since Negroes comprise more than 95 percent of the nonwhite group, the data for nonwhite persons as a whole reflect predominantly the characteristics of Negroes. Therefore, in this report, while the tables refer to all nonwhite persons, the text describes the characteristics of Negroes on the basis of the data in these tables. |