Texas Almanac, 1952-1953 Page: 254
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Employment and Unemployment in Texas
A total of 3,006,000, or a little more than
half the population of Texas of fourteen years
or more was in the labor force, as of April 1,
1950, according to the Bureau of the Census,
in its preliminary announcement. Only those
of fourteen years and older were classed as\
employed or unemployed. The total civilian
labor force was 2,935,000, according to this
announcement, of which 2,840,000 were em-
ployed and 95,000 were unemployed. Of the
total civilian labor force of 2,935,000, there
were 2,197,000 men and boys fourteen or over,
and 738,000 women and girls. (See tables,
p. 65.)
Of the 2,595,000 persons fourteen years old
and over who were classed as not in the
labor force, the largest classification was
those keeping house, including 1,687,000
women and 4,000 men. The percentage of
unemployment was placed at 3.2 per cent of
the total labor force.
As of June, 1951, the Texas Employment
Commission, Austin, reported a total of
2,531,.000 persons engaged in nonagricultural
labor. Of this number, 449,800 were in the
manufacturing industries and 2,081,000 in the
nonmanufacturing and nonagricultural indus-
tries. Total salary and wage earners of all
classes wapts placed at 2,015,400.
Principal classifications of employed other
than agricultural and manufacturing were as
follows: Mining, including petroleum, 115,300;
construction, 162,700; transportation and util-
ities,. 218,100; trade (wholesale and retail),
515,800; finance, insurance and real estate,
77,900; service and miscellaneous, 239,100;
government, 295,800.
Employment for the preceding June, 1950,
was reported at 2,369,300, which was 162,300
less than the figure for June, 1951, indicating
a distinct upward trend.
The Texas Employment Commission report-
ed for the year ended Dec. 31, 1950, that its
nonagricultural placement service had placed
484,980 persons in jobs during the year.
The principal employment problem is in the
field of agricultural labor, because of the
fluctuation in demand. This fluctuation varies
from season to season, even under compar-
able crop conditions. It varies from year to
year, in addition, because of fluctuation in
crop conditions. Cotton requires the largest
number of off-farm laborers, ranging from
practically none to a peak of 350,000 to 475,-
000, according to the farm placement service
of the Texas Employment Commissio. Other
crops requiring considerable amounts of off-
farm labor in season are wheat and small
grains, corn, rice, citrus, vegetables, berries,
livestock and poultry raising, and vegetable
and fruit packing and processing.
Because of the wide fluctuation of farm
labor demands, there is a large migratory
labor force in Texas. The commission reports
that no accurate count has ever been made
of this labor, but that there is an estimated
90,000 migratory laborers who engage in-the
Texas cotton harvest, in addition to which
there are some 80,000 who migrate each year
into northern and midwestern states usually
following the grain harvest. Migratory work-
ers include Anglo-Americans, Latin Americans
and Negroes, but the Latin Americans pre-
dominate, most .of them migrating annually
from the region of San Antonio and the area
south of San Antonio extending to the Rio
Grande.
In addition to the Latin Americans who are
residents of the United States, there is also
an annual movement of Mexican nationals
across the Rio Grande. These braceros (from
the Spanish brazos, meaning arms) are le-
gally brought in under contract and in accord-
ance with agreement between the govern-
ments of the two countries. During the fiscal
year ended Dec. 31, 1950, 1,991 employerscontracted 29,000 Mexican national workers.
The commission reported that the exact num-
ber in the state at any one time can not be
known because of information on contract
cancellations and deportations of formerly
contracted workers.
These contracts are made in accordance
with an agreement signed by the United
States and Mexican governments. The U.S.
Employment Service maintains stations at
several points along the border to aid in
administering the agreement.
There is in addition an annual immigration
of Mexicans illegally, though this movement
has reportedly been lessened during the last
few years. The term "wetback" is sometimes
applied to these immigrants in the parlance
of the border, derived from the assumption
that they swim the Rio Grande.
The decline in cotton acreage in recent
years, plus the mechanization of agriculture
in many respects, has decreased the demand
for foreign and other migratory labor, but
the discarding of restrictions on cotton acre-
age for the year 1951 made the demand
greater in 1951. with prospects that it would
continue in 1952.
The nonagricultural placement service of
e Texas Employment Commission placed
484,980 persons in nonfarm jobs during the
year 1950. These placements included 16,815
handicapped persons of whom 8,438 were
handicapped war veterans. The agricultural
placement service received 807,642 agricultural
job openings during the year and referred
866,673 individuals to them, resulting in the
actual filling of 744,026 farm jobs. Approxi-
mately 585,000 of these were on cotton farms.
Unemployment Insurance.
A total of 171,687 initial claims for insur-
ance were filed with the commission during
the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 1950, followed
by the filing of 566,160 continued claims. A
total of $13,287,792 was paid in unemployment
insurance during the year. This brought the
total amount of unemployment insurance paid
in Texas since the beginning of this service
to $95,013,296. The total potential liability of
the unemployment compensation trust fund.
based on claims filed and allowed, amounted
to about $24,550,000, but only 54 per cent of
this was actually paid. The trust fund was
$227,848,694 as of Dec. 31, 1950. This amount
was exclusively for payment of unemployment
compensation. Total taxable wages paid em-
ployees by Texas employers during 1950
reached a new high point of $2,800,000,000.
During the preceding year of 1949, it was
$2,658,816,319. At the end of 1950 there were
30,785 Texas employers covered by the Unem-
ployment Compensation Act.
MAJOR LABOR MARKETS
Nonagricultural employment and unemploy-
ment in the major labor market areas in
June, 1951, according to the Texas Employ-
ment Commission:
Pct
Unem-
Areas- Employed Unemployed.ployed.
Austin ...........47,350 1,990 4.0
San Antonio .........185,200 6,000 3 1
Corpus Christi........ 55,300 2,200 3.8
E1 Paso ............. 60,900 2,000 3.2
San Angelo .......... 19,900 800 3.9
Abilene ............. 22,300 800 3 5
Amarillo ............39,800 1,250 3.0
Lubbock ........... 29,300 900 3.0
Fort Worth ........155,700 5,500 3.4
Wichita Falls .......39,650 1,030 2.5
Waco .............. 43,050 1,200 27
Dallas ............269,100 6,000 2.2
Lon vew-Kilgore-
G'adewater ....... 22,350 1,250 5 3
Texarkana .......... 37,400 3,300 8.1
Beaumont-Port Arthur. 71,200 5,650 7.4
Houston-Baytown .... :337,800 8,500 2.5
Galveston-Texas City.. 48,000 1,700 3 4
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Texas Almanac, 1952-1953, book, 1951; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117137/m1/256/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.