1941: Census Of The United States

Race and Nativity.

The 1940 census returns indicate no considerable change as compared with 1930 in the racial classification of the population of the United States. Both in 1940 and in 1930 89.8 per cent of the population was white. In 1940, 9.8 per cent was Negro, as compared with 9.7 per cent in 1930; and 0.4 per cent was of other nonwhite races, as compared with 0.5 per cent in 1930. The rate of increase in the white population between 1930 and 1940 was 7.2 per cent, this rate being the same (to the nearest tenth of one per cent) as for the total population. The Negro population increased 8.2 per cent during the same period, and the other races collectively showed a decrease of 1.4 per cent.

In the nativity composition of the white population there was, however, a very considerable change during the past decade. The foreign-born white population decreased from 13,983,405 to 11,419,138, a decrease of 18.3 per cent, while the native white population increased by 10.9 per cent — a rate, it may be noted, materially higher than that shown for the Negroes. The main reasons for the rapid decline in the number of foreign born are two, namely, the practical cessation of immigration, and the rather high mortality rates prevailing among the foreign born because of their relatively high average age.

Perhaps the most important of the changes in the minor nonwhite races was a decrease of from 138,834 to 126,947, or 8.6 per cent, in the Japanese population. Of the total Japanese population in 1940, 47,305, or somewhat more than one-third, were foreign born (for the most part born in Japan), and therefore alien and ineligible for citizenship. The remainder were classified as native on the basis of birth in the United States or in some one of its territories and possessions. Nearly nine-tenths of all the Japanese in the United States were in the three Pacific Coast States; in fact, 93,717, or nearly three-quarters of the total, were in California alone and 23,321, or about one-quarter of the California total, were in the city of Los Angeles. In addition there were 157,905 Japanese in Hawaii, including 37,353 foreign born, and in the Philippine Islands about 30,000 foreign born plus an unrecorded number born in the Islands.

Sex.

The numbers of males and females in the population of the United States are rapidly approaching equality. In 1910, partly as the result of the recent arrival of large numbers of European immigrants, who were then predominantly male, there were 106.0 males per 100 females in the population of Continental United States. By 1920 the sex ratio had declined to 104.0 and by 1930 to 102.5. The 1940 tabulation shows 66,061,592 males and 65,607,683 females, or 100.7 males per 100 females; or to state the situation in another way, there were in 1940 only 453,909 more males than females, as compared with an excess of 1,499,114 in 1930.

Age.

With respect to age, also, the 1940 figures record another stage in a long-time trend in the population of the United States. Our population is definitely growing older. The median age in 1940 was 29.0 years, as compared with 26.4 years in 1930. The number of persons under 15 was actually smaller by 3,084,795, or 8.6 per cent, in 1940 than in 1930, while the number of persons 65 years old and over was larger in 1940 than in 1930 by 2,385,509, or 36.0 per cent.

These changes in the age composition result from a declining birth rate on the one hand and, on the other, from improved mortality conditions which enable more persons to survive to the higher ages. If present trends continue, the median age may be expected to rise still further and the number and proportion of older persons will increase as the number and proportion of young persons decrease.

Country of Birth of the Foreign Born.

The total number of foreign-born white persons in the United States in 1940 was materially less, as already indicated, than in 1930. The number of German born in the country decreased from 1,608,814 in 1930 to 1,237,772 in 1940, or 23.1 per cent; and the number of Italian born from 1,790,424 to 1,623,580, or 9.3 per cent. The more rapid decrease in the German born probably results from the much higher average age of that group as compared with the Italian born.

Education.

One of the new questions on the 1940 census schedule calls for the number of years of school completed by each person enumerated. The first tabulation of these returns was limited to persons 25 years old and over in order to avoid the complications involved in the interpretation of this information for persons who might still be in school. Later tabulations will be made for younger persons, giving the number of grades of school completed in combination with school attendance.

The median number of school years completed by the entire population 25 years old and over was 8.4; for the native white population, 8.8; for the foreign-born white. 7.3; and for the Negro, 5.7. Of the whole number of persons 25 years old and over, 3.7 per cent reported that they had not completed so much as one grade of school, and an additional 9.8 per cent that they had completed less than 5 years.

On the other hand, 3,407,331 persons, or 4.6 per cent of the whole number 25 years old and over, reported that they had completed 4 or more years of college. (This does not represent the whole number of college graduates, since there are in addition considerable numbers of college graduates under 25 years of age.) A still larger number (4,075,183) had completed from 1 to 3 years of college; 10,551,681 had completed 4 years of high school (but no college); and 11,181,995 had completed from 1 to 3 years of high school. Including those who had completed 1 or more years of college work, there were about 18,000,000 persons 25 years old and over, or 24.1 per cent of the total, who had completed the high school course.

Employment Status.

In the 1940 census, all persons 14 years old and over were classified according to their relation to the labor force during the week preceding the census date. The major classification was one separating the 52,789,499 persons in the labor force from the 48,313,425 persons not in the labor force. Within the labor force itself there were distinguished 45,166,083 persons employed in private or nonemergency governmental work; 2,529,606 persons on public emergency work (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.); and 5,093,810 persons seeking work. Those seeking work included, in addition to persons with previous work experience, 767,341 new workers, that is, persons seeking work for the first time. The population 14 years old and over not in the labor force, which comprised 10,609,508 males and 37,703,917 females, was likewise subdivided into various significant categories. These should be considered separately for males and females. The most important subdivisions for the males were those in school, numbering 4,593,630, and those unable to work, who numbered 2,966,225. For females not in the labor force, by far the largest class was made up of those engaged in housework in their own homes, who formed more than three-quarters of the total.

Occupation.

Here again, as in respect to the work status classifications, there are radical differences in the distribution of the male and the female workers. Professional workers formed 12.3 per cent of all employed females, as compared with 4.4 per cent of employed males — mainly because of the large numbers of female teachers. On the other hand, farmers, craftsmen, and laborers both farm and non-farm formed very much larger percentages of the male workers than of the female. Clerical and sales workers formed 28.3 per cent of the female workers and only 12.8 per cent of the male. Factory operatives formed about the same percentage for both male and female workers, while domestic service workers were predominantly female.

1940 Census Reports.

The 1940 count of the population is now (February 1942) available in the form of a series of state bulletins, with a summary for the United States, which are being bound together to form Volume I of the Sixteenth Census Reports on Population. Statistics of the population classified according to various characteristics, such as color, sex, and age, employment status, and major occupation group, are being presented in a second series of bulletins, one for each state, and a summary bulletin for the United States, almost all of which are already available. Still other series give selected items from the Census of Housing for areas as small as city blocks; more extensive housing data for counties, cities, and townships; and selected population and housing data for census tracts in 61 cities. See also VITAL STATISTICS.