10 BULLETIN 1211, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
6 years preceding, these figures show a fair percentage of men who 
had had relatively steady work. It is a low figure, however, compared 
with the facts for the entire number of wage earners in American 
industry. It is safe to state that the proportion of wage earners in 
the United States who suffered less than 2 months unemployment 
between the summer of 1920 and that of 1921 would exceed 50 per 
cent.” 
Looking at the matter conversely, almost 61 per cent of this group 
of harvest hands had lost more than 2 months and 44.5 per cent 
more than 3 months during the year. Sixty-two (6.5 per cent) said 
they had worked less than 6 months of the year. 
Concerning the number of jobs upon which they had been employed 
during the year, only 774 out of the 964 men were able to give reliable 
information. Of these, 168 (21.7 per cent) had worked on but one 
job during the year and 41 per cent on but two jobs. Nearly 63 per 
cent of this group and over 50 per cent of the 964 men had worked 
on but one or two jobs. Some of them left their jobs to come to the 
harvest; the others quit or were ‘laid off’’ and were idle for periods 
ranging from 1 to 10 weeks before coming to the wheat harvest. 
One hundred and forty-eight (19.1 per cent) worked on three jobs 
and 66 (8.5 per cent) on four jobs during the year. The other 75 
(9.7 per cent) had worked on from five to a dozen jobs during the 
year and were distinctly of. the restless, migratory type of laborers 
who work as little as they can and never stick anywhere very long. 
EXPERIENCE IN HARVESTING. 
The amount of experience which 14,168 harvest hands had had in 
the harvest of the Wheat Belt is shown by Table 7. It will be noted 
that almost one-third of the group were inexperienced. It must be 
remembered when considering this figure that the group under 
discussion were nearly all transient harvest hands. The percentage 
of inexperienced men would be somewhat smaller in the quota of men 
furnished by the farms and towns of the Wheat Belt itself. On the 
other hand, it is significant that 69.4 per cent of these men had 
‘“made the harvest’? at least once befcre and that 38 per cent had 
worked in four or more harvests.. Among 1,124 men interviewed by 
the field group about one-fourth claimed more than 10 seasons’ ex- 
perience and 78.3 per cent said that they had worked in one or 
more harvests during the preceding 5 years. 
5 Of The Labor Market, D. D. Lescohier, chap. 3, 13. Unemployment survey, 1920-21, American Labor 
Legislation Review, September, 1921. 
