816 



TOTTED STATES, CENSUS OF. 



OCCUPATIONS. The total number of persons pursuing gainful vocations in 1880 was as 

 follows : 



From this exhibit it appears that the aggre- 

 gate number of persons returned as having 

 gainful vocations was 17,392,099, being 34*68 

 per cent of the entire population of 1880, and 

 47'31 per cent of the population ten years of 

 age and upward. In 1870 the total number of 

 persons borne on the lists of occupations was 

 12,505,923, being 32-43 per cent of the popula- 

 tion of that date and 44"3 per cent of the popu- 

 lation ten years of age and upward. It thus 

 appears that the tables of occupation in 1880 



embrace a larger part of the total population 

 than those for 1870. The number of persons 

 ten years of age and upward was 28,228,945 

 in 1870, and 36,761,607 in 1880, an increase 

 of 30-23 per cent. Applying this ratio of in- 

 crease to the reported occupations of 1870, 

 and by turns to the number in each of the 

 four great classes, the results as compared 

 with the actual numbers returned in 1880 

 show an excess of 1,105,636, and are as fol- 

 low: 



This comparison of the number of occupa- 

 tions returned in 1870, increased by the rate 

 of increase which took place during the decade 

 in the population over ten years of age, with 

 the number of occupations actually returned 

 in 1880, shows a deficiency in the agricultural 

 class to the extent of 42,341 ; an excess of 

 577,832 in the class rendering professional and 

 personal services ; 258,907 in that engaged in 

 trade and transportation, and 311,238 in that 

 engaged in manufactures or mechanical and 

 mining industries making a net excess of 1,- 

 105,636 in all classes of occupations. " There 

 is reason to believe," says the census report, 

 " that the deficiency in the agricultural class 

 and the marked increase in the class rendering 

 professional and personal services is due, in 

 some measure, to the reporting of persons as 

 'laborers' simply who should have been re- 

 turned as 'agricultural laborers.' In some 

 parts of the country, where agriculture is in a 

 high degree predominant, there is doubtless a 

 certain tendency to drop the qualifying adjec- 

 tive and speak of 'laborers' simply. Wher- 

 ever it has been within the power of the Cen- 

 sus-Office to apply a correction to this error it 

 has been done, yet there probably remains a 

 certain amount of fallacious classification re- 



sulting from the failure of enumerators duly 

 to characterize this class of persons. It is also 

 probable that the class of ' laborers ' embraces 

 considerable numbers of persons who are em- 

 ployed in connection with manufacturing es- 

 tablishments with sufficient regularity to jus- 

 tify their inclusion in the manufacturing class, 

 were the facts known." 



Of the total excess (1,105,636) of occupa- 

 tions in 1880 over 1870, nearly one quarter is 

 of females, the number of females reported as 

 pursuing gainful occupations having increased 

 between 1870 and 1880 in a higher ratio than 

 the number of males. Thus: 



Number of females in gainful occupations in 1870.. 1,836,288 

 Increased by the ratio of increase in the female 



population since 1 870, viz., 29-03 per cent 2,f 



Actual number returned in 1880 2,647,157 



Eelative excess 277,7 



Of this excess about two thirds appears 

 the class of manufacturing, mechanical, and 

 mining industries, showing the effect upon the 

 employment of women by the extension of the 

 factory system. In examining how the same 

 excess is distributed according to age, it is 

 found that a disproportionate share falls in the 

 class between ten and fifteen years of age, 

 showing a further effect of the extension of tlie 



