CHAPTER III
Occupations[ToC]
The occupations of an immigrant people throw light upon their industrial equipment and their probable future occupations in this country. A study of the occupational distribution of the Jewish immigrants from 1899 to 1910 will serve to illuminate some of the characteristics of their movement.[119]
The largest group is that classed as having "no occupation". This group comprises 484,175 immigrants, and is 45.1 per cent of the total. In the fact that it holds so large a place in the occupational distribution, there is reflected the great number of women and children among the Jewish immigrants. The rise in the proportion of the "no occupation" group in the second half of the twelve years follows a similar rise in the proportion of women and children in the Jewish movement, which has been previously noted.[120] These are, in the main, economically dependent, a fact which is of the highest importance with reference to the character of this immigration, as well as in its influence upon the economic and social problems facing the immigrant Jews in their new home.
Skilled laborers were the second largest group, numbering 395,823 immigrants and comprising 36.8 per cent of the total. Next in order was the group classed as "miscellaneous", with 186,989 immigrants, representing 17.4 per cent of the total. This group included common and farm laborers, servants, merchants and dealers, etc. In professional occupations there were 7,455 immigrants, comprising 7 per cent of the total.
Omitting the "no occupation" group, and considering the 590,267 Jewish immigrants reporting occupations, we find that of these the great majority—67.1 per cent—were skilled laborers.[121] Laborers numbered 69,444 and comprised 11.8 per cent. Next in order of numbers were servants, 65,532, who comprised 11.1 per cent. A much smaller group was that composed of merchants and dealers (chiefly petty merchants, hucksters, and peddlers), who numbered 31,491 and were 5.3 per cent of the total. Of farm laborers there were 11,460, comprising 1.9 per cent. The entire professional class comprised 1.3 per cent of the total. There were 1,000 farmers, who comprised .2 per cent.
In the professional classes the teachers were the largest group, represented by 2,192, and comprising 29.4 per cent.[122] The next class were the musicians, who numbered 1,624, comprising 21.8 per cent of the total. Together these two groups were more than half of the total.
Thus, by far the most important occupational group was that of the skilled laborers.[123] An examination of the distribution of this group shows that they were represented in thirty-five trades. By far the largest group of the skilled laborers were the tailors, numbering 145,272, and comprising 36.6 per cent. The dressmakers and seamstresses numbered 39,482, and comprised one-tenth of the total. Including the closely allied trades such as hat and cap makers, milliners, etc., the garment workers composed practically one-half of the entire body of skilled laborers. Second in rank were the carpenters and joiners, who, together with the cabinet makers and woodworkers (not specified) numbered 40,901, and comprised more than one-tenth of the total. The fourth highest group were the shoemakers, with 23,519, or 5.9 per cent of the total. Clerks and accountants, and painters and glaziers contributed an almost equal number—the former 17,066, the latter 16,387—representing 4.3 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively of the total. Of butchers there were 11,413, or 2.9 per cent, and of bakers 10,925, or 2.8 per cent. There were also 9,385 locksmiths, or 2.4 per cent, and 8,517 blacksmiths, or 2.2 per cent. Together, these ten groups comprised 318,104, or 80.4 per cent of the Jews in skilled occupations.