CHAPTER III. ECONOMIC STATUS. Industrial condition abroad of members of immigrant households studied-Principal occupation of immigrant employees before coming to the United States General occupation of males at the present time in the households studied-General occupation of women at the present time in the households studied-Weekly earningsRelation between period of residence and earning ability-Annual earnings of male heads of families studied-Annual earnings of males 18 years of age or over in the households studied-Annual family income-Wives at work-Relation between the earnings of husbands and the practice of wives of keeping boarders or lodgers-Sources of family income-Relative importance of different sources of family income [Text Tables 12 to 31 and General Tables 6 to 18]. INDUSTRIAL CONDITION ABROAD OF MEMBERS OF IMMIGRANT HOUSEHOLDS STUDIED. In order that a comparison may be made between the condition. of the immigrants connected with the copper industry in this country and their condition while abroad it is necessary to point out their general industrial status and the principal occupations followed by them before emigrating from their native countries. This is done in the following series of tables, the first of which shows, by race of individual, the industrial condition before coming to the United States of foreign-born males in the households studied who were 16 years of age or over at the time of coming to this country. TABLE 12.-Industrial condition before coming to the United States of foreign-born males who were 16 years of age or over at time of coming, by race of individual. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 20 or more males reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.] report Race of individual. Per cent Canadian, French. com ing With Work- Work- Work- With- Work- Work- Workout ing ing ing out ing ing ing plete occu- for without for occu- for without for data. pation. wages. wages. profit. pation. wages. wages. profit. Croatian... 29 Polish Of the total number of foreign-born males who were 16 years of age or over at time of coming to the United States, 60 per cent had been working for wages abroad, 27 per cent had been working without wages. Working for wages was the most common industrial condition of the males of each specified race, excepting the Croatian and the North Italian. The greatest proportion of the latter had worked without wages. Relatively large proportions of the Croatians and Slovenians had worked for profit. The following table shows the principal occupation before coming to the United States of foreign-born males in the households studied who were 16 years of age or over at time of coming, and is presented according to race of individual: TABLE 13.-Occupation before coming to the United States of foreign-born males who were 16 years of age or over at time of coming, by race of individual. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 20 or more males reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.] Of the total number of foreign-born males who were at least 16 years of age when they came to the United States, 60 per cent had previously worked for wages. Twenty-seven and three-tenths per cent had been farm laborers working for wages and 12.5 per cent had been in copper mining. The Croatians, Finns, Magyars, Poles, and Slovenians, who worked for wages, were commonly farm laborers. The English and Swedish were commonly in copper mining. The Norwegians also show a relatively large proportion of those working for wages in copper mining, but the largest proportion of these were in the hand trades. Of the 27 per cent working without wages all were farm laborers. Nine and two-tenths per cent of the total number were farm laborers working for profit. The table next submitted shows, by race of individual, the industrial condition before coming to the United States of foreign-born females in the households studied who were 16 years of age or over at time of coming to this country. TABLE 14.-Industrial condition before coming to the United States of foreign-born females who were 16 years of age or over at time of coming, by race of individual. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 20 or more females reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign born.] Of a total of 372 females reporting complete data the greater proportion, or 56.7 per cent, were without occupation before coming to the United States, 34.9 per cent worked for wages, and 8.3 per cent worked without wages. Only two races, the Magyars and Poles, show the larger proportion of those reporting as being employed, and a very small percentage of the last named race, compared with that shown by other races, were without occupation. The Poles show a considerably higher proportion working without wages than any other race. A proportion of all races other than English and Finnish worked without wages. The following table analyzes the preceding table into the principal occupations followed by foreign-born females in the households studied, before coming to the United States, who were 16 years of age or over at time of coming to this country. The presentation is by race of individual: TABLE 15.-Occupation before coming to the United States of foreign-born females who were 16 years of age or over at time of coming, by race of individual. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 20 or more females reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign Race of individual. born.] Of the foreign-born females who were at least 16 years of age when they came to the United States, 34.9 per cent had worked for wages. Fourteen and five-tenths per cent were farm laborers working for wages and 11.3 per cent were working for wages in domestic service. The Croatians, Magyars, Polish, and Slovenians were most commonly farm laborers; the Polish, English, Finnish, and Norwegian were most commonly in domestic service. Seven and eight-tenths per cent of the total number were farm laborers working without wages. PRINCIPAL OCCUPATION OF IMMIGRANT EMPLOYEES BEFORE COMING TO THE UNITED STATES. The table next presented shows, by race, the percentage of foreignborn male employees who were in each specified occupation before coming to the United States. TABLE 16.-Per cent of foreign-born male employees in each specified occupation before coming to the United States, by race. (STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.) [This table includes only races with 80 or more males reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.] Of a total of 4,146 foreign-born male employees now employed in copper mining, the greater proportion were farmers or farm laborers before coming to the United States, while a greater proportion were engaged in mining than any other occupation except the one above mentioned. Comparing the different races, it is seen that a very large proportion of the English were engaged in mining, while of the other races, only the Swedes and Germans show a proportion higher than 10 per cent in this occupation. A small proportion of all races were engaged in manufacturing, while on the other hand all races except the English show a very large proportion in agriculture. The French Canadian, closely followed by the English, show the highest proportion in general labor, while all races show proportions between 10 and 19 per cent engaged in hand trades except the Magyar, English, and Finnish races, showing less than 10 per cent. The proportion engaged in trade is low in every instance, the French Canadians, with 3.8 per cent, showing the highest, while none of the Germans, Magyars, Slovenians, or Swedes were so engaged. The Magyars show the lowest proportion engaged in "other occupations" and the Croatians the highest, while the difference in the proportion of other races so engaged is not very marked. GENERAL OCCUPATION OF MALES AT THE PRESENT TIME IN THE HOUSEHOLDS STUDIED. In the table next presented the general occupation of males in the households studied who were 16 years of age or over is shown according to general nativity and race of individual. TABLE 17.-General occupation of males 16 years of age or over, by general nativity and race of individual. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 20 or more males reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.] Of a total of 789 males reporting in the above table, by far the largest proportion, or 86.6 per cent, are employed in the coppermining industry, only 7 per cent being otherwise employed; 1.5 per cent are at home and 4.9 per cent at school. The foreign-born report the largest proportion employed in the industry the nativeborn of foreign parents the largest proportion otherwise employed and at school, the foreign-born showing extremely small proportions either at home or at school. Of the several foreign-born races, the French Canadian and Norwegian are the only races showing as high as 5 per cent employed otherwise than in copper mining. The French Canadian and Finnish each show a small proportion at home and at school, while the English and North Italians show small proportions at home and the Croatian and Slovenian small proportions at school. GENERAL OCCUPATION OF WOMEN AT THE PRESENT TIME IN THE HOUSEHOLDS STUDIED. In contrast with the preceding tabulations, the series of tables. next presented exhibit the industrial condition of immigrant employees and members of their households in this country. The first |