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Big Business, Page 9

A New Workforce

Census Schedule

Image of a census chart

The 1890 census gathered information about males and females in the United States aged 10 years and over who were gainfully employed. Children under 10 were not included though some were gainfully employed. People called “enumerators” were sent all over the United States to collect information about the population. Enumerators had specific instructions that guided them to classify people’s occupations correctly.

The 1890 instructions included the following:

  • Be careful to distinguish between the farm laborer, the farmer, and farm overseer; also between the plantation laborer, the planter, and the plantation overseer. The three classes must be kept distinct and each occupation separately returned.
  • Do not confuse the agricultural laborer, who works on the farm or plantation, with the general or day laborer, who works on the road or at odd jobs in the village or town.

Image of U.S. labor pie charts
Chart of U.S. labor population in 1890

Occupations were classified into five industries:

  1. Agriculture, fisheries, and mining 
  2. Professional service
  3. Domestic and personal service
  4. Trade and transportation
  5. Manufacturing and mechanical

The numbers showed gains in employment in all five areas since the 1880 census.

  • The agriculture, fisheries, and mining industries gained 1,008,712 employees during the ten year period between 1880 and 1890. This represented a 12.6% increase.
  • The professional service industry gained 341,131 employees, representing a 56.55% increase.
  • The domestic and personal services industries gained 857,134 employees, representing a 24.47% increase.
  • The trade and transportation industries gained 1,459,641 employees, representing a 78.2% increase.
  • Lastly, the manufacturing and mechanical industries gained 1,676,944 employees, representing a 49.11% increase.

Image of Census Page

Image of a census page
Mill workers were included in the manufacturing and mechanical industries. Their numbers steadily grew between 1870 and 1890. The 1870 census recorded 2,452,243 employees in the industry. The number increased to 3,414,349.

The number of bookkeepers, clerks, and salesmen in the trade and transportation industry tripled over a twenty year period. In 1870, 310,988 were recorded. The number increased to 536,733 in 1880 and 1,014,544 in 1890.

Trade and transportation’s steam and railroad employees also tripled growth by recording 154,027 employees in 1870; 236,058 in 1880; and 462,213 in 1890. Women who were classified as steam and railroad employees were recorded as having 62 employees in 1870 and 1442 employees in 1890.