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POPULATION TRENDS \i^: 



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] DECREASE K'^X.-] 20-29 PERC 



INT INCREASE NXXv^^ Y/W 

 NT INCREASE X^" a 





^ 0-9 PERCENT INCREASE |30-39PERCE 



\Zy?yf'X^\ 10-19 PERCENT INCREASE 



1 









Figure 5. — Proportionate Increase or decrease in population by county, 1930—40. 



reasons. Of the total labor force, 91 percent were em- 

 ployed, 4 percent were doing public emergency work, and 5 

 percent were without work, the two last classes totaling 

 125,000 people. Of the urban and rural-nonfarm workers 

 7 percent were unemployed; of those on the farms, only 3 

 percent. The economic status of the farm workers was 

 not necessarily better, however, for many employed 

 farmers received very little income from their labor. 



Of the total labor force of 984,000 men and 350,000 

 women, 39 percent lived on farms, 34 percent in cities, and 

 27 percent were rural-nonfarm dwellers. By occupation, 

 35 percent were engaged in farming, 20 percent in manu- 

 facturing, 8 percent in retailing, 2 percent in wholesaling, 

 and the remainder in miscellaneous activities. Average 

 earnings of the four main groups are shown in table 1. 



Table 1. — Average cash earnings of workers in North Carolina, April 1941 ' 



Activity 



Hourly 



Weekly 



Monthly 



Hired farm labor.. 



Cents 

 13 

 39 

 45 

 68 



Dollars 



6.50 



14.53 



17.13 



27.67 



Dollars 

 27 75 



Retailing ... 



62 48 



Manufacturing 



73 66 



Wholesaling . 



118 98 







' Compiled from reports of the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the 

 North Carolina Department of Labor. 



Agriculture 



According to the Bureau of the Census there were 278,- 

 276 farms valued at $737,000,000 in the State in April 



1940. They contained 18,845,000 acres, about 60 percent 

 of all the land. Of the farm acreage 48 percent was wood- 

 land, 38 percent was cropland, 7 percent was plowable 

 pasture, and 7 percent was in miscellaneous uses. About 

 one-third of the farms contained less than 30 acres, and 

 only 5 farms in the State contained 10,000 acres and over. 

 The average farm consisted of 68 acres, 33 of which was 

 woodland, 26 cropland, 4 plowable pasture, and 5 in other 

 uses. In 1940 the average value of land and buildings 

 per farm was $2,647 compared to the national average 

 of $5,518. The truck farms of New Hanover County had 

 the highest average value, $5,620, and the subsistence 

 farms of Graham County had the lowest, $981. The pro- 

 portion of farms operated by white families has gradually 

 increased from 71 percent in 1925 to 78 percent in 1940. 

 Farm tenancy, though not so prevalent as it is in some 

 States, has risen slowly, affecting 28 percent of the farm 

 land in 1910 and 37 percent in 1940. 



Agricultural crops were harvested from 6,125,000 acres 

 in 1939, an increase of 316,000 in a decade. Tobacco, 

 cotton, and corn are the leading crops, but hay, winter 

 wheat, peanuts, soybeans, potatoes, sweetpotatoes, fruit, 

 and commercial truck crops are also important. About 

 775,000 acres of tobacco were grown in 1939, chiefly in the 

 western part of the Coastal Plain, with a record yield. 

 Since 1926 the cotton acreage had declined rapidly and 

 the 710,000 acres grown in the western Coastal Plain and 

 southern piedmont was the least since 1877. Beef cattle 

 have been raised chiefly in the mountain and upper pied- 



