5
Economic Life
The Work Force
A variety of geographical resources and of human resources results in diversity in the economic life of the state. The proportion of the population engaged in gainful occupation at the present time is significant. Approximately 38% of the total population in Virginia is included in the work force. The group outside the work force includes individuals who are thirteen years of age or younger, homemakers, students age fourteen and over, the physically and mentally handicapped who are unable to work, and persons who are retired.
Census enumerations since 1890 indicate that total employment in Virginia has expanded continuously. During the seventy year period 1890-1960, the work force increased from approximately 552,000 to approximately 1,473,000. This represents an increase of 176%, or an average annual increase of 13,137 workers.
Three phases in the trend of employment are observable: from 1890 to 1910, 1910 to 1940 and 1940 to 1960. The first phase coincides with the Industrial Revolution in the United States; the increase in employment in Virginia during this time was 44%. In the second phase, from 1910 to 1940, the rate of increase slackened although the total number in the work force grew; the increase amounted to 14% during this period. The third phase of employment began in 1940 as needs of World War II became clear; unprecedented peacetime demands started in 1945 and have continued to the decade of the 1960's; in this phase, for the first time, Virginia outpaced the United States as a whole in growth of employment, with an increase of 63%.
Types of Employment
Government Employment—Government employees make up the largest number of workers in any particular type of occupation in the state. The term "government employees" includes all civilians working directly for federal, state and local governments plus military personnel stationed in Virginia. Nearly one-fourth of the total Virginia employment is found in this group. Government employment is the greatest single source of personal income in the state.
Approximately 65% of the government employment in Virginia, as defined above, is engaged in activities of the federal government. The number of military personnel in the state is slightly more than twice the number of federal civilian employees. Although federal employment is scattered throughout the state—every community has postal employees, for example—there is a concentration of federal employees in two areas of the state, namely, Northern Virginia (Arlington and Fairfax Counties and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church) and the Hampton Roads area. Within the federal civilian group, approximately 70% are employed by the Department of Defense. Following the Department of Defense, the next largest numbers of federal civilian employees work for the Post Office Department and for the Veterans Administration. In addition to the federal employees working in the state, a substantial number of persons who live in Northern Virginia commute daily to the District of Columbia and nearby Maryland for federal employment.
Approximately 35% of the government employees in Virginia work for the state (11%) and for local (24%) governments. Since more than half of the government employment in the United States is found in state and local governments, the number of such employees in Virginia is relatively smaller. The state and local group in Virginia is nearly equally divided between school and non-school personnel. Although the number of state and local employees in Virginia has grown during the past decade, the percentage of increase has not been as great as that for the United States as a whole.