The census returns indicate in a general way the distribution, among the trades and occupations, of persons of various ages. They do not, however, give us a yearly survey; and after the age fourteen to fifteen we are compelled to rest content with figures which cover periods of five years. The following table is taken from a table printed in a Report to the Education Committee of the London County Council, made by a special committee appointed to deal with the apprenticeship question; it is founded on the 1901 census return:[141]
OCCUPATIONS OF BOYS AND MEN.
Percentages.
| Class of Occupation. | Age 14-15. | Age 15-20. | Age 20-45. | Age 45-65. |
| Trades and industries | 14·74 | 31·54 | 35·76 | 38·85 |
| Domestic offices or services | 1·75 | 3·29 | 3·55 | 3·35 |
| Transport (including messengers, errand-boys, van-boys, etc.) | 27·65 | 19·49 | 16·04 | 14·19 |
| Shopkeepers, shop-assistants, and dealers | 6·03 | 12·52 | 14·51 | 9·23 |
| Commercial occupations | 4·61 | 11·50 | 9·55 | 12·40 |
| General labour | 1·46 | 5·53 | 8·46 | 7·02 |
| Professional occupations and their subordinate services | 0·73 | 2·00 | 4·55 | 5·08 |
| General or local government of the country (including telegraph-boys) | 3·01 | 2·53 | 3·70 | 2·24 |
| Defence of the country | 0·15 | 1·77 | 1·40 | 0·62 |
| Without specified occupation or unoccupied (including boys at school) | 39·87 | 9·83 | 2·48 | 7·02 |
| Total number analyzed | 41,889 | 208,921 | 869,466 | 313,949 |
In comparing this table with the tables founded on the school returns, it must be borne in mind that this table is not confined to persons who have passed through the elementary schools, but refers to all the inhabitants of London.
The most striking feature in the table is the marked difference in the distribution of occupations at the age of fourteen to fifteen, and at other ages. The third column, which includes persons between the ages of twenty and forty-five, covers the period of a man’s greatest vigour, and may be regarded as the normal or stable distribution. Comparing the first and the third column, it becomes obvious that the first year, at least, after leaving school is a year of uncertainty and aimless wandering. The boys have not definitely chosen any particular occupation as their life’s work. How long is spent in this state of unprofitable drifting the census returns do not show as the following years are not separated. But the fact that the distribution in the second column differs materially from the normal distribution of the third column would seem to indicate that this period stretches some distance into the years that lie between the ages of fifteen and twenty.
In default of this general information, we must fall back on special investigations; and here the facts are drawn from too narrow a circle of inquiry to be regarded as altogether typical. In his report to the Poor Law Commission, Mr. Cyril Jackson gives an instructive table[142] (see [p. 145]). It is founded on biographies of boys obtained from boys’ clubs, schoolmasters, and managers of schools.
I have omitted the ages that follow, as the number of boys concerned was too few to justify any conclusions. The rapid diminution in the number of boys when the age of eighteen is reached impairs the value of the last two columns. In general, the districts from which the boys are drawn are poor; but the fact that the boys come into relation with various organizations, and were no doubt assisted by them, should lead us to believe that the picture presented errs, if anything, by being too favourable. The steady increase in the trades, and the equally steady decrease in the number of van-boys, Post Office boys, errand and shop boys during the first three years is instructive. Trades, skilled and low-skilled, reckoned in percentages, have risen from 39·4 to 50·9, while the messenger class has fallen from 40·1 to 23·8. The changes in the earlier years are the most significant, and little stability of occupation is reached before the age of eighteen. The age of fourteen evidently represents the year of greatest indecision and maximum drift.
PERCENTAGE OF BOYS IN VARIOUS GROUPS OF OCCUPATIONS AT EACH AGE.
| Occupations. | Age 14. | Age 15. | Age 16. | Age 17. | Age 18. | Age 19. |
| Skilled trades | 11·2 | 14·0 | 16·8 | 17·8 | 18·0 | 16·3 |
| Clerks | 14·6 | 15·0 | 16·4 | 15·2 | 15·4 | 14·3 |
| Low-skilled | 28·2 | 32·8 | 34·1 | 33·9 | 32·5 | 34·1 |
| Carmen | 0·6 | 0·2 | 0·6 | 2·6 | 4·5 | 5·1 |
| Van-boys | 8·2 | 6·6 | 5·2 | 4·9 | 2·8 | 1·2 |
| Post Office | 1·4 | 1·4 | 0·2 | 0·2 | 0·3 | 1·2 |
| Errand and shop boys | 30·5 | 22·0 | 18·4 | 15·0 | 12·6 | 10·3 |
| General and casual labour | 5·3 | 7·0 | 6·7 | 6·9 | 6·4 | 8·7 |
| Army | — | 0·6 | 0·6 | 1·1 | 3·6 | 4·0 |
| At sea | 0·2 | 0·4 | 0·8 | 1·5 | 2·8 | 3·5 |
| Emigrants | — | — | 0·2 | 0·4 | 0·8 | 1·2 |
| Total No. of boys | 485 | 500 | 474 | 448 | 356 | 252 |
| Unemployed | 1 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 22 | 22 |