One of the most impressive facts which comes to light in the study of occupational statistics is the constancy in these proportions. The business of any community requires certain kinds of work to be performed and the relative amount of work required and consequently the relative number of workers vary but slightly over a long period of time. This principle is illustrated in a striking way by the list of occupations selected at random presented in Table 7, showing the number of persons engaged in the occupations specified among each 100 male workers at two successive census years.
TABLE 7—PER CENT OF TOTAL MALE WORKING POPULATION ENGAGED IN SPECIFIED OCCUPATIONS, 1900 AND 1910[TableList]
| Occupation | Per cent of total working population | |
| 1900 | 1910 | |
| Machinists Saloon keepers Tailors Commercial travelers Lawyers Barbers Bakers Physicians Carpenters Cabinet makers Plumbers Stenographers and typists | 4.7 1.1 2.1 .8 .5 .8 .6 .6 3.4 .5 .9 .3 | 5.8 .7 1.7 1.1 .4 .7 .5 .5 3.3 .4 .9 .3 |
With the exception of plumbers and stenographers there was either an increase or a decrease from 1900 to 1910 in the relative number employed in each of these occupations. In only one occupation, however, that of machinist, did the change amount to as much as one per cent. In all the others the shift during the decade was less than one-half of one per cent, and in more than three-fifths of them it did not exceed one-tenth of one per cent of the total number of male workers.
What the Boys in School Will Do
The figures in this table, presented for illustrative purposes, do not accurately represent the proportions of boys now attending the public schools who are likely to enter the occupations named, because they do not take into account the fact that a considerable number of the workers in Cleveland came to this country after they reached adult manhood and that a disproportionate number of these foreign born workers enter the industrial occupations. For this reason the total adult working population is not strictly comparable with the school enrollment, which is approximately nine-tenths native born. When the boys in the public schools grow up they will be distributed among the different trades, professions, and industries in about the same proportions as are the American born men in the city at the present time. This distribution is shown for the different occupational groups in Table 8.
TABLE 8.—DISTRIBUTION OF NATIVE BORN MEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 21 AND 45
IN THE PRINCIPAL OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS[TableList]
| Occupational group | Approximate per cent |
| Manufacturing and mechanical occupations | 44 |
| Commercial occupations | 20 |
| Clerical occupations | 16 |
| Transportation occupations | 11 |
| Domestic and personal service occupations | 5 |
| Professional occupations | 3 |
| Public service occupations | 1 |
| ——— | |
| Total | 100 |