MOUNT VERNON — Besides marking the unofficial end of summer, Labor Day celebrates the American workers and their contributions to the economic health of the nation. The composition of that labor force has changed since the holiday was instituted in the 1880s, and the last century brought the most sweeping changes of all.
In the 1880s, common occupations included cobblers, daguerreotypists, nail makers, spinners, watchmakers, candle makers, gaslighters, milliners, washerwomen, tinkers, shoeblacks and glove makers. Today there are computer programmers and operators, video rental clerks, telemarketers, credit card issuers and astronauts.
In 1910, farmers and farm laborers were a big part of the work force. People who operated manufacturing machinery, laundry and dry-cleaning machinery, railroad switches and elevators were also major contributors to the work force.
By the year 2000, rising farm productivity meant fewer individuals were needed to produce agricultural goods, and the percentage of workers in farm-related occupations drastically declined. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, the switch from horses to tractors increased productivity, as did improved fertilizers, better pesticides, higher yield plants and animals, improved irrigation techniques, more efficient farm management and farm consolidation.
For example, in 1900 it took more than two weeks to cultivate an acre of wheat and 38 hours to cultivate an acre of corn. By 1997, the amount of time required to cultivate an acre of corn or wheat had been reduced to two hours.
Besides changing the way people traveled from place to place, the development and mass production of motor vehicles created many new occupations, such as truck drivers, automobile mechanics and gas station attendants, and led to the decline of others, including hostlers, blacksmiths, stable hands and harness and saddle factory workers. As the population grew more mobile and owned more cars, related service industries also grew. Motels, drive-through stores, filling stations and lube and oil shops all came into existence in the middle to late 1900s. This mobility also brought into existence driving schools, road builders, traffic engineers, traffic sign makers, traffic light installers, travel agents and traffic cops.
Although aviators such as balloonists were listed in the 1910 census, flight-related industries and occupations, including those related to aircraft production and air transportation, really took off in the 1950s. There was a dramatic increase in air passenger and air freight flights, and aeronautical engineers, airline stewardesses and air traffic controllers were subsequently added to the official list of occupations in the U.S. Outer space-related careers, such as those of astronauts, satellite manufacturers and mission controllers, were also born late in the last century.
Computers and associated technological advances probably have had the biggest impact on the American economy and most changed the face of the American work force in the last 50 years. The March 2006 issue of the Monthly Labor Review stated: “The rapid development of computer technology — both more advanced hardware and software and the growth of networks, including the Internet — plus sharply falling computer prices led to the spread of computer use to almost all areas of the economy.”
Computer specialists did not exist in 1910, but calculating and tabulating machine operators appeared in the 1920 census, and system engineers first appeared in 1950. Employment data on computer specialists were first collected in the 1960 census, and computer programmers, operators and data processing machine repairmen were added to the census in 1970. By the year 2000, the list of computer-related occupations included 12 computer specialties, database administrators, data communication analysts and network engineers among them.
Occupations related to medicine and health care grew exponentially in the last century. In 1910, most health care was provided in the home, with basic tasks performed by family members. Since then more and more health care has been provided in medical offices, hospitals and nursing homes. The field has expanded to include more nurses, therapists, healers, medical and dental assistants, pharmacists and pharmacy assistants, home health care aides, insurance billing clerks and medical transcriptionists.
The increased proportion of accountants, auditors, engineers, lawyers and judges also added to the increase in the professional/technical occupation category.
Although the number of private household workers fell rapidly in the years after 1910, the number of other service workers increased.
According to the Monthly Labor Review, “the rapid growth in the number of office buildings, hotels, stores, healthcare facilities, apartment buildings, schools and other structures requiring cleaning and maintenance spurred an increase in the number of building and grounds maintenance occupations.”
The number of food service workers — employed in restaurants, stores, schools and hospitals, for example — also rose as rising incomes made prepared meals more affordable and improved roads and automobiles made restaurants more accessible.
The proportion of protective service personnel such as law enforcement personnel and firefighters has also increased as has the number of occupations like childcare workers, teachers’ aides, clerical workers, bill collectors and cashiers. Some service jobs, though, have decreased in number, due to technology advances and the spread of retail self-service.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the employment of professional and related occupations and health service workers will continue to rise between now and 2014. Construction jobs, installation, maintenance and repair occupations are expected to remain the same while production occupations, office and administrative support positions and the number of agricultural managers and workers are expected to decline.
Steven Haugen of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provided resource information for this article.
