ABILITY TO SPEAK ENGLISH. The following table shows, by sex and race, the percentage of foreign-born employees of non-English-speaking races who were able to speak English. TABLE 87.-Per cent of foreign-born employees who speak English, by sex and race. (STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.) [This table includes only non-English-speaking races with 80 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all non-English-speaking races.] The preceding table shows that of 1,290 foreign-born employees 32.8 per cent can speak English. The German employees show 83 per cent, the Greek employees 39.4 per cent, the Polish employees 8.9 per cent, and the Slovak employees only 5.3 per cent who can speak English. The table further shows that a considerably higher percentage of the German and the Polish male employees than of the female employees of these races speak English. The following table shows the percentage of foreign-born employees who speak English, by sex and race and by age at time of coming to the United States, and makes a possible comparison of the relative proportion of the younger and older immigrants able to speak English. TABLE 88.-Per cent of foreign-born employees who speak English, by sex, age at time of coming to the United States, and race. (STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.) [This table includes only non-English-speaking races with 200 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all non-English-speaking races.] TABLE 88.-Per cent of foreign-born employees who speak English, by sex, age at time of coming to the United States, and race-Continued. Of the 1,290 foreign-born employees shown in the above table 32.8 per cent speak English. Of those who were under 14 years of age at the time of coming to this country 93.5 per cent speak English, while 21.7 per cent of the foreign-born employees who were 14 years of age or over at the time of coming to the United States speak English. Of the total number of German employees 83 per cent, as contrasted with only 8.9 per cent of the Poles, can speak English. Of employees who were under 14 years of age at the time of coming, the Germans show 100 per cent, as compared with only 75.8 per cent of the Poles who speak English. Of employees who were 14 years of age or over at the time of arrival, 71 per cent of the Germans, as contrasted with only 4.4 per cent of the Poles, can speak English. A very much higher percentage of the male than of the female employees who were under 14 and who were 14 years of age or over at the time of coming to this country can speak English. The following table shows, by sex, years in the United States, and race, the percentage of foreign-born employees who speak English, indicating the advancement manifested by employees of non-Englishspeaking races in acquiring an ability to speak the language after designated periods of residence in this country. TABLE 89.-Per cent of foreign-born employees who speak English, by sex, years in the United States, and race. (STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.) By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States. This table includes only non-English-speaking races with 200 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all nonEnglish-speaking races.] TABLE 89.-Per cent of foreign-born employees who speak English, by sex, years in the United States, and race-Continued. Of 1,290. foreign-born employees shown in the above table, 32.8 per cent can speak English. Of those who have been in the United States under five years 12 per cent can speak English. Of the foreign-born employees with a residence of from five to nine years 34.6 per cent can speak English, and of those who have been in the United States ten years or over 87.1 per cent can speak English. The German employees show 83 per cent, as contrasted with 8.9 per cent of the Polish employees, who can speak English. The German employees also show a very much higher percentage in each period of residence than the Polish employees, who can speak English. A much higher percentage of males in each period of residence and in the total than of females speak English. |