OCCUPATIONS IN 1905
In the 2,500 families, composed of 9,788 persons, 1,859 were excluded because of their being under fifteen years of age and 82 were excluded because, although members of wage-earning families, they themselves were either in a professional occupation, or were engaged in a business enterprise on their own account. This left 7,847 individual wage-earners, 3,802 of whom were male and 4,045 were female. Both the male and the female wage-earners show a very large percentage employed in domestic and personal service, 40.2 per cent male and 89.3 per cent female, a large percentage of whom doubtless were married women and widows with children.[61] But it is to be noted as important that among the males, 20.6 per cent were engaged in some occupation classified under Trade and 9.4 per cent under Transportation. While some of these occupations may differ little in character from domestic and personal service, yet the occupations that are entirely removed from that classification are sufficient in number to show, as did the figures for 1890 and 1900, the possibility of Negroes in considerable numbers securing a scope of employment which includes other occupations than those of domestic and personal service.
The State Census figures are more detailed than those of the Federal Census. For example, under domestic and personal service, the Federal Census has grouped together male waiters and servants, while the State Census figures have been tabulated separately. It is also probable that the classification in 1890 and 1900 included wage-earners who were classified differently in 1905 and vice versa. And in 1905 professional occupations as well as all persons doing business on their own account were excluded. Differences in the figures may, therefore, be allowed.
Table XVII, which follows, shows the latest figures available on the scope of employment of Negro wage-earners:
Table XVII. Occupations of Negro Wage-earners, Fifteen Years of Age and Over, Manhattan, 1905.[A]
| FEMALE | |||
| Occupation. | Totals. | No. | Per cent |
| Domestic and personal service | 3,456 | — | 89.3 |
| Chambermaids | — | 22 | — |
| Cooks | — | 149 | |
| Day workers out | — | 19 | |
| Domestic servants (not specified) | — | 88 | 2.3 |
| Hairdressers | — | 6 | — |
| Manicurists and masseurs | — | 18 | — |
| Housekeepers | — | 60 | — |
| Housewives | — | 51 | — |
| General housework (wages) | — | 72 | 18.6 |
| General housework (not specified) | — | 1572 | — |
| Janitress and caretakers | — | 28 | — |
| Laundresses | — | 543 | 14.0 |
| Ladies' maids | — | 23 | — |
| Maids (not specified) | — | 80 | 2.1 |
| Nurses | — | 21 | — |
| Waitresses | — | 47 | — |
| Miscellaneous | — | 4 | — |
| Trade | 25 | — | 0.6 |
| Bookkeepers | — | 2 | — |
| Clerks and saleswomen | — | 6 | — |
| Stenographers and typewriters | — | 8 | — |
| Miscellaneous | — | 9 | — |
| Manufacturing and mechanical pursuits | 564 | — | 5.5 |
| Dressmakers | — | 164 | 4.2 |
| Garment workers | — | 18 | .5 |
| Milliners | — | 5 | — |
| Seamstresses | — | 16 | — |
| Tailors' assistants | — | 3 | — |
| Miscellaneous | — | 6 | — |
| Unclassified | 176 | — | 4.6 |
| Telephone operators | — | 1 | — |
| Unknown | — | 175 | — |
| Total for all occupations | 4,045 | — | — |
[A] In classifying these occupations, some departure has been made from the Federal Census arrangement. Those engaged in Public Service have been separated from Domestic and Personal Service, while Trade and Transportation are tabulated separately; a few occupations have been put in an unclassified list, while one or two occupations are included that might possibly be regarded as professional. This rearrangement, however, does not prevent comparison with previous Federal Census classification, and it is hoped that it is in line with subsequent classifications.
Before leaving the subject of the restricted scope of occupations among Negroes, something should be said of the far-reaching effects this restriction has upon the life of the wage-earners. Negroes are crowded into these poorer-paid occupations because many of them are inefficient and because of the color prejudice on the part of white workmen and employers.[62] Both of these influences are severe handicaps in the face of the competition in this advanced industrial community.