24 BULLETIN 1285, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE 
fact that nearly half the workers had recently engaged in other than 
farm work. The caliber of the workers is emphasized by the fact 
that three-fourths of them had never engaged in skilled or respon- 
sible work of any kind. 
Previous to the jobs on which they were found and since 1918 three- 
fifths of the farm workers interviewed had been employed only in 
the townships in which they were met or in others near by : 1 in 6 
had worked elsewhere in Xew Jersey, and 1 in 10 in the cities of 
Philadelphia or Xew York. Only occasional persons had been be- 
yond those limits. The foreign born seemed to have moved about 
somewhat more than the native born. This movement appears to 
have consisted partly in the seasonal migratory movement of some of 
them between cities and farms. 
Practically two-thirds of the American-born and half of the 
foreign-born farm workers gave apparently reliable and complete in- 
formation concerning the number of jobs of any nature they had 
held since 1918. including some begun before 1919. Four hundred 
and nine persons had averaged practically two jobs each. The aver- 
age time per job. 24.7 months, seems high, but many of this class 
had had comparatively steady employment. The foreign born had 
averaged distinctly longer on their jobs than had the native born. 
Sixty-six of the 409 persons were holding their first jobs, all 
begun since 1918 and usually begun in 1922. Xearly all of this class 
were under 21 years of age. Eighty-nine persons had been working 
on the same jobs since 1918 or earlier; 20 of these were still on their 
first jobs, and had averaged over 11 years on them. Two hundred and 
seventy persons could give only a partial list of their jobs since 1918. 
On such jobs as they did report they had averaged 9.2 months. 
The true average would be decidedly lower, because many persons 
had held so many short jobs they could not attempt to enumerate 
them. Most of this class were evidently day laborers who had had 
a succession of seasonal jobs within a locality or who could expect 
little permanent employment. The foreign-born workers of this 
group evidenced less stability of employment than the native born. 
Six out of seven of the farm workers interviewed reported that 
since 1918 they had not been out of work when they wanted it. 
These, of course, included minors, most of whom were attending 
school a large part of the year and some women who devoted them- 
selves to home duties most of the year. Xinety-three persons re- 
ported 118 instances of unemployment, over half of which occurred 
in 1921. Eighty-five of them gave the average amount of time idle 
as 7.6 months, or about 2 months a year. About three-fifths of the 
periods of idleness were from 3 to 5 months each. Most of the 
workers spent their idle time in or near the places where they had 
been employed. 
Laborer's reasons for leaving their jobs are often colored to con- 
ceal real reasons, especially if they were at fault leading to dis- 
charge. In three-fourths of the cases they reported that they were 
t brown out of work by the close of the season, referring especially 
to agriculture: and that the jobs for which they were engaged were 
finished, or that work was slack, referring largely to industrial work. 
The last reason was the most common and applied principally to 
1921. a year of national industrial depression. In fact, over half 
