‘gr f_ ‘_ l ‘c, . ' m"; , '; :1.’ ' t 593k) > ‘ 4"- . l N’. Occupational Change Among Spanish-Americans f In Atascosa County ancl San Antonio, Texas rExAs A&M umvensurv Texas Agricultural Experiment Station R. E. Patterson, Director, College Station, Texas Summary and Implications SPANISH-AMERICANS TRADITIONALLY HAVE important part in the agricultural deve Texas and the Southwest by supplying a i force. During the past decade and a half,“ comprised about one-fifth of all persons ,1 farm occupations in Texas, although they only one-tenth of the State’s total labor f0, Spanish-American farm workers are so heav trated in jobs as farm laborers, with relax operating their own farms, their importa hired labor needs of the agricultural e 1 Texas is even greater than the figures for employment would indicate. Of all farm U ers in Texas, more than 2 out of 5 arl Americans. if With the passage of time, there have t - changes in the occupational structure of the American labor force. Their number of w grown at a more rapid rate than the total 1i of Texas, with the increase all being in th occupations, where a gain of about 60 perc number of Spanish-American nonfarm w, recorded between 1950 and 1960. Spanish‘ farm workers declined by one-fourth during l, period. Many left the migratory labor s9 become more stationary in their employment: because of technological displacement or t; the attraction of better jobs and higher in agricultural employment altogether. if Despite the rapid movement toward nonf pations, the relative role of Spanish-Americ Texas farm and nonfarm labor force did n_ appreciably between 1950 and 1960 because changes in the farm and nonfarm compone,‘ total labor force. In 1960, Spanish-Amen prised approximately the same proportion of“. cultural work force and of the non-agricult f force of Texas as they did a decade earlier. 9 a detailed examination of the decennial w‘ reveals that while Spanish-American nonfa u, increased at a faster rate than nonfarm w the State, Spanish-American farm workers f? little more slowly than all farm workers ' Nevertheless, among the Spanish-American the 1950s, farm work had become less com, nonfarm work more common, so that by 15 percent of all employed Spanish-Ameri doing farm work, compared with 27 percent Data in this report confirm the trend ‘A in the census that Spanish-Americans are lea work in large numbers and that they are ma ' strides in employment in nonfarm occupatio: report further concludes that there has upgrading of occupational skills among the Spanish-American workers. f Conclusions regarding occupational tren' based on examination of occupational chang, beginning and at later stages in the work c‘ usehold heads, and 0n changes between one genera- of Spanish-Americans and the next. Of interest i: not only the trend away from farm work but also 7 nature of the nonfarm jobs the Spanish-Americans moving toward. The report also describes such portant socio-economic characteristics of Spanish- ericans as age, education, language and income, ich help to explain their occupational status and indicate possible future changes in the occupational gmposition of their labor force. usehold Characteristics j Households of the Spanish-Americans surveyed re larger than the average household in Texas, th because of the greater number of children and cause of the tradition of friends and relatives living 'th the immediate family. Larger household size eans that family income must be stretched thinner an the income of the non-Spanish family and that standard of living of the Spanish-Americans is en lower than their relatively low family income uld indicate. i: Several factors affected the occupational composi- 1 of the Spanish-American household heads. One ‘a these was age. The typical Spanish-American head l household was close to 50 years of age, and at is age was probably at a disadvantage in upgrading 's occupational skills because of industry restrictions n hiring, training and promoting older persons and cause of his lower educational attainment. ’ - _ nguage ~ Another factor affecting their occupational structure _ their use of a foreign language. Most of the Spanish- ‘merican household heads commonly spoke Spanish t home, even though a large majority were born in - exas. Relative lack of facility in English is probably important condition contributing to the very low presentation of Spanish-Americans in white-collar bs where the ability to read and write the English nguage is essential. iducation I Continued use of Spanish in adult life is prob- bly also closely related to the head's low educational chievement, as is the introduction of large propor- ions of the Spanish-Americans to fulltime employ- r ént before the age at which most persons finish hool. The average Spanish-American household lead living in the rural area completed only 3 years j formal schooling and the urban head completed u years. Compared with this, the average non-Spanish dult in the same areas had at least twice that amount f education. Differences in educational level are eflected in differences in occupation between the eads of Spanish-American households and the total opulation, particularly in the white-collar and the mi-skilled and unskilled blue-collar jobs. Occupational Comparisons Thus, many personal characteristics of the house- hold heads, especially their relatively advanced age, use of the Spanish language and low educational level are closely interrelated and are all factors influencing occupation and, consequently, earnings. Generally, the jobs of the Spanish-American household heads were in the lower status occupations with the average rural resident employed in farm work and the average urban resident working in blue- collar jobs. Comparison with the total male popula- tion of the areas studied emphasizes the occupational differences between these groups. One major difference is that the‘ rural Spanish- American heads were much more commonly employed in farm work than was the total male population. The proportions were 54 and 37 percent, respectively. In the city, farm work was rare for either population group. Another major occupational difference between the Spanish-Americans and the total population was in the job skills represented among blue-collar work- ers, in both the city and the rural area. large proportions of Spanish-Americans were working as unskilled blue-collar laborers and relatively small proportions were skilled craftsmen and semi-skilled operatives compared with the total population. For example, 3 out of l0 of the Spanish-American heads of households in San Antonio were unskilled laborers compared with 1 out of l0 in the total male popu- lation. Differences between Spanish-Americans and the total population were also found among service work- ers, who were more frequent among the Spanish- Americans. Service workers were often cab drivers, waiters, and other relatively unskilled people who could undertake service work with little job training and formal education. Finally, occupational differences were noticeable in the relatively smaller number of Spanish-American white-collar workers in both the city and the rural county. For example, 4 out of l0 males among all workers in San Antonio were professional and other white-collar workers; only 2 in 1O Spanish-American heads were in such jobs. The higher educational level of the total population was an obvious and important factor explaining this occupational difference. There is evidence that improvement of job skills has taken place among the Spanish-American people. A comparison of the earliest with the current job held by the household heads indicates that shifts away from hired farm work were made by large proportions of Spanish-Americans, both in the city and in the country. The trend was primarily from farm work toward the blue-collar jobs. A few farm laborers became operators of their own farm. Relatively Among household heads who had started their careers in nonfarm jobs, however, there was little up- ward occupational mobility. Among the San Antonio heads, for example, there was no significant change in the proportion working as blue-collar workers by the time of the field study, nor in the skill levels represented among them. In the rural area, some of the nonfarm workers changed to farm jobs. Further evidence that the Spanish-Americans are moving toward the higher status and generally higher paying jobs is providediby a comparison of jobs held by those who were at one time members of the house- holds interviewed with those of the household heads studied. These persons, who were primarily sons and daughters of the head, moved away from the farm occupations of their parents, as the household heads themselves had turned away from farm work between their first and current job. By the time of the survey, only 16 percent of the male former members of rural households were doing farm work compared with 54 percent of the household heads. Most of the re- maining younger generation Spanish-American males from rural households were in blue-collar jobs, reflect- ing an intergenerational pattern of change for the rural area of a decline in farm and an increase in blue-collar occupations. Principal intergenerational changes in the city showed up in the smaller proportion of unskilled laborers and the larger proportion of white-collar workers among the younger generation male Spanish- Americans compared with their parents. However, in most occupations, the younger gen- eration Spanish-Americans had not improved their skills sufficiently to match those of the total popu- lation, and they occupied a position midway between their parents and the total population. For example, in San Antonio the proportion of laborers, both farm and nonfarm, among male younger generation Spanish-Americans (2 in l0) was twice as high as that in the total population (l in l0), but substantially less than that among Spanish-American household heads (3 in l0). The same midway position was characteristic of the younger Spanish-Americans with respect to the proportion employed in white-collar jobs. Approxi- mately 3 out, of l0 of the younger generation male Spanish-Americans were white-collar workers, com- pared with 2 out of l0 of the Spanish-American house- hold heads and 4 out of l0 of all males in San Antonio. The service occupations, which usually decline in frequency as white-collar occupations become more prevalent, did not decrease between the two genera- tions of male Spanish-Americans. Among both gen- erations, service workers were relatively more numer- ous than service workers in the total male population in both areas. Female former members of San Antonio house- holds worked predominantly in the service occupa- tions, whereas white-collar workers prevail all women in San Antonio. if In addition to revealing the degree of made by the Spanish-American people in u their occupational skills up to the time of study, several indications become apparent '_ improvement will continue. i Educational Comparisons i i’ One of these signs is the much higher ed f, level of the adult younger generation Span" icans who were once members of the househo viewed. These persons achieved an educatip double that of their parents and almost on a the educational level of the total non-Spanish tion around them. Averages were 8 and 122' schooling completed, respectively, by the American former members of rural and urb; holds. This marked educational achievement s i‘ educational progress is a present reality younger generation Spanish-American peo with the lowering of employment barriers communities, will likely be reflected in a { and increasing degree of participation by the; Americans in the higher paying occupations, The Spanish-Americans believe that ed the most important avenue to higher y" better jobs and to an increasing role in the political organizations of the communities p, they live. Because of this belief, their househ; have high educational aspirations for the children and probably influence them ac, Approximately 9 out of l0 of the children ‘ home in both the rural and urban areas ' finish high school, and among the urban you half planned to attend college. i Household heads also have high aspi the future occupations of their young chill.” at home, and this, too, points to a future, ment in the occupational status of the T’ American people. Of the household hea urban area, almost half hoped that their y: seek careers in professional fields. With farm work, most of the household heads f children were definitely opposed to it as a occupation. it Income A The family income of the Spanish- studied is considerably lower than that 0ft; Spanish population in their communities. a incomes were $2500 and $3000, respectivel rural and urban Spanish-American familif were little more than half the incomes of Spanish families in the areas surveyed. Most of the income of the Spanish?! families was composed of the wage and sal I . the head of household, whose 10w wages could not t uce an adequate income for the family. Earnings other household members was the second most portant source of aggregate family income; farm ome was a relatively small source. Income was very closely related to occupation, ucation, place of birth and language spoken by the 1 sehold head. The highest incomes (about $4200) re reported by families whose heads had completed j; school. Average incomes were higher for families ose heads were employed in nonfarm work rather gn in farm work, who were born in Texas rather n in Mexico, and who usually spoke English at rk rather than Spanish. One of the factors involved in the movement ay from farm work and from rural areas generally, 'ght be the lower level of living which prevails in .- rural areas, as measured by the number and kinds material goods possessed by the family. Rural Spanish-American families were on a relative par with the urban families in the possession of items usually linked to electricity, such as television sets, radios, refrigerators and washing machines, but they lagged in items linked with water supply, namely, bathroom plumbing and hot running water. In the rural area, two-thirds of the families had no bathroom plumbing and three-fourths had no hot running water in their homes. Spanish-American household heads believed that some progress had been made by their people with respect to jobs, earnings, living conditions and accept- ance by the “Anglo” population during the past l0 years. They were generally optimistic about prospects for continued improvement in their overall position. They also expressed the hope that their children, particularly through education, would obtain better jobs and play a bigger political and social role in their communities in the future. Contents Summary and Implications _____________________________________________ _____________ __ Introduction ___________________________________________________________________________________ __ Terminology ________________________________________________________________________ _, Purpose of Study ___________________________________________________________________ __ Areas of Study _________________________________________ ______________________ __ p Method of Study _______________________________________ _________________________ Social and Personal Characteristics of Household Heads ......... Sex ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Age ............................................................................................... Household Size ........................................................................... Nativity Status ........................................................................... Use of English and Spanish ............................................... .. Age at Which First Full-time Job Began ......................... .. Educational Status ........................................................................ ._ Education of Household Heads ......................................... .. Education in Relation to Selected Socio-economic Facto Education of Former Members of Spanish-American Households ....................................... .. Educational Aspirations of Spanish-American Youth... Employment Situation of Household Heads ............................... .,_ Percent in Labor Force .................................................... .. Extent of Unemployment ................................................. .. Occupation .............................................................................. a I Dual Jobholding ................................................................. .. .’ Occupational Change Among Spanish-Americans ............... -- Occupational Change from First to Current Job by Household Heads .................................... .. Occupational Mobility ............................................................ Occupations of Former Members of " Spanish-American Households ..................................... .. Attitudes of Household Heads and Their Children Toward Farm Work as an Occupation ..................... .. Income Status ................................................................................... .- Levels of Income ................................................................ -. Type of Income ................................................................... .- Number of Income Sources ................................................ -. Income in Relation to Socio-economic Factors ............. .. Possession of Material Goods ...................................................... .. Rural-urban Differences .................... ._. ..................................... .. Possession of Material Goods in Relation to Selected Socio-economic Factors ......................................... ..i Home Ownership Status .............................................................. .- Views of Spanish-Americans Concerning Their Progress ........ Acknowledgments ............................................................................... Related Literature .............................................................................. .. Occupational Change mong Spanish-Americans in Atascosa County and San Antonio, Texas R. L. SKRABANEK AND AVRA RAPToN* SPANISH-AMERICANS CONSTITUTE a large and rapidly growing segment of the total population of Texas and certain portions of the Southwest. There were 3.5 million persons of Spanish surname living in the southwestern states of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas in 1960, comprising l2 per- cent of the total population of these five states} Approximately 1.4 million Spanish-Americans re- sided in Texas in 1960. They represented 15 percent of the State’s total population and are growing at a faster rate than was the total population of Texas. During the 1950-60 decade, white persons of Spanish surname increased by 38 percent in Texas, although some of the increase may represent ,more complete identification in the 1960 Census. The State’s total population grew by 24 percent. Persons of Spanish surname are most numerous in the southern and southwestern sections of Texas (Figure 1). In 14 southern counties, they made up better than one-half of the total population in 1960. Terminology The term, “Spanish-American,” as used in this study, refers to white persons of Spanish surname who speak Spanish and come from Spanish-speaking parentage. Various terms such as “Latin Americans,” “Spanish people,” “Spanish-speaking Americans” and “Mexicans” are often used interchangeably to identify this group. Colloquially, Spanish-Americans are often referred to by other whites in the area as “Mexicans.” Many of them have a personal preference to be called “Spanish,” “Latins” or “Latin-Americans,” but others call themselves “Mexican.” ‘Source: United States Census of Population, 1960, Subject Reports, “Persons of Spanish Surname,” Vol. PC (2) 1B. *Respectively, professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Sociology; labor economist, Human Resources Branch, Economic Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. NUMBER I noopoomo oven 90.000 1'0 99,999 %l0,0001’0 49,999 2.900 T0 9,999 E uuosa 2,900 Figure 1. Spanish-American population in Texas counties, by number, 1960. They are largely of Mexican and Mexican-Indian origin and vary from persons whose Spanish ancestors settled in the area well before the Mexican revolt from Spain to the “wetback” who has established himself recently as a resident of the United States. Under- standably, the cultural differences between these two extremes are great, but the older settlers of Mexican and Spanish origin comprise only a small percentage of the Spanish-American population in Texas today. Spanish-speaking persons of non-Mexican background, such as Puerto Ricans or, Cubans, were almost non- existent in the area at the time of the field study. Purpose of Study Although there has been considerable speculation concerning the changing nature of the labor force among Spanish-Americans, little formal research, other than that dealing with migrant farm workers, has been conducted in recent years. As a part of their con- tinuing cooperative research program in population studies, the Farm Population Branch (now the Human Resources Branch) of the Economic Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and the Texas Agri- cultural Experiment Station undertook a field study to determine and evaluate labor force adjustments made by Spanish-Americans in two areas of Texas, one urban and one rural. The general objective of this study was to provide a better understanding of the role of the Spanish- American in the agricultural and nonagricultural labor force of Texas. Specifically, the study deals with (l) changes in the occupational patterns of Spanish- Americans within and outside of agriculture and the factors involved in these changes, (2) income and edu- cation levels, levels of living as indicated by the possession of material goods and (4) aspirational levels Figure 2. Location of study areas. Figure 3. Strawberries grown in Atascosa Counfi cultural jobs for Spanish-American workers du ' ' season. among family heads for themselves an children. ' Areas of Study The research was conducted in Ata, and the city of San Antonio in Bexar Co 2). These locations were selected beca, were areas in which Spanish-American important ethnic group, both numeric turally, (2) they encompassed both rur people so that comparisons could be residence groups and (3) they were t representative of broader areas so that results would have some application to American situation in Texas. Although the two counties are can. y represent diverse situations in Southfl“ Antonio is a large urban place; Atasc a rural county. Approximately one-fift Spanish-Americans live in the two stu Atascosa County is a diversified a which also has some petroleum product country is largely grassy prairies, muc with mesquite, huisache and other loamy soils predominate. It ranks hig counties in beef and hog production, W peanuts, but it also has diversified true and dairying. (Figures 3 and 4). In 1960, Atascosa County had a; 19,000, of which 9,000, or 45 percenlgij Americans. Jourdanton is the count“ trade centers are Pleasanton, Poteet . Approximately 67 percent of Atascosar, lation was classified as rural in 1960. '~’The names of both study areas are of Spani means “boggy” and Bexar was the name give municipality “Duke de Bexar” by Franci The Spanish-American influence in these ar if re 4. Spanish-American women have seasonal employment picking strawberries grown in Atascosa County. _ The population of the central city of San Antonio is almost 600,000. Of this number, 250,000, or 42 ircent, were Spanish-Americans. San Antonio is ex- riencing rapid industrial and population expansion, ical of the other large population centers of Texas. efhod of Study p‘ Area probability samples of households for each '- the study locations were drawn by the Statistical iandards Division of the Statistical Reporting Service, p. S. Department of Agriculture. The sample yielded 2| interviews in Atascosa County and 276 in San tonio. About half of the interview households in Jtascosa County were located in the open country, d the remainder were in town. The sample house- Ids in San Antonio were largely in the southwestern fction of the city, where most of San Antonio’s panish-Americans reside. Interviews were conducted luring the last 2 weeks of December 1961 and the first weeks of January 1962. i: . ABLE 1. AGE DISTRIBUTION OF PERSONS IN SPANISH- MERICAN HOUSEHOLDS Age in Atascosa years i‘. County San Antonio ' otal number 1,424 1,317 ercent 100 100 ~, Under 15 40 45 f 15-44 39 36 45 and over _ 21 19 K edian age 22.5 18.8 TABLE 2. AGE DISTRIBUTION OF SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD HEADS Age in Atascosa years County San Antonio Total number 268 276 Percent 100 100 Under 25 5 5 25-44 35 i 44 45-54 19 18 55 and over 41 33 Median age 49.6 46.5 SOCIAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HOUSEHOLD HEADS This report focuses on changes in occupational status of Spanish-American household heads. Since changes in occupation and related attributes are closely associated with social and personal characteristics, a brief description of the study population will set the stage for the analysis to follow. Sex Of the 268 sample households in Atascosa County, ._ . 94 percent were headed by males. In contrast, males headed only 78 percent of the households in San Antonio. The greater percentage of female heads in San Antonio can be attributed to the relatively large number of women among the Spanish-American popu- lation in the city, of whom many were living alone or without a spouse, thus qualifying as heads of household. Age Age may have an important bearing on employ- ment situations, earnings, and ability to adjust to changing economic conditions. Most employers set fairly definite age limits in hiring new workers, retir- ing older workers, for training programs and in pro- motion policies. Spanish-American household heads, in contrast to the relatively lower median age of the total Spanish- American population, were close to 50 years of age (Tables 1 and 2). Since educational levels are lower ' among older persons, and they have less ability and TABLE 3. SIZE OF SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS Size of Atascosa household County San Antonio Total number of households 268 276 Percent 100 100 1 person 1 9 2-3 persons 25 26 4-5 persons 28 30 6-7 persons 28 18 8 or more l8 17 Average size of household 5.3 4.8 TABLE 4. CURRENT MEMBERS OF SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS, BY SEX AND RELATIONS} TO HOUSEHOLD HEAD Relationship Atascosa County San Antonio 1 to household Total Percent distribution by sex Total Percent distributi head Number Percent Total Male Female Number Percent Total Male ' Total 1,424 100 100 51 49 1,317 100 100 y 46 Head 268 l9 100 94 6 276 21 100 78 Spouse 234 16 100 0 100 199 15 100 0 Son 41 1 29 100 100 0 347 26 100 100 Daughter 387 27 100 0 100 392 3O 100 0 Other 124 9 100 48 52 103 8 100 39 propensity to change jobs, part of the heavy concen- tration of heads in jobs as laborers, both farm and nonfarm, may be attributed to their relatively ad- vanced age. The educational and occupational levels of the younger generation Spanish-Americans are higher than those of their parents. Household Size A total of 1,424 persons resided in the 268 Spanish- American households interviewed in Atascosa County, an average of 5.3 persons per household (Table Households were somewhat smaller in the San Antonio sample, averaging about 4.8 persons, with a total of 1,317 persons in 276 households. The principal differ- ence in size between the urban and rural Spanish- American households results from the greater preva- lence of one-person households in San Antonio, many of which consist of women living alone, and from the higher incidence of large families (6 or more persons) among the rural Spanish-Americans (Table Spanish-American households were considerably larger than those of the total population of Texas, which in 1960 averaged 3.4 persons per household. Both the greater number of children per household and the tradition of friends and other relatives living with the immediate family contributed to the larger average size of Spanish-American households. In this survey, persons other than sons, daughters and parents were counted as members of the household if they had been living in the household for a major part of the year; temporary inhabitants were excluded. About one-tenth of the total household membership in each sample area at the time of the study consisted of friends and relatives other than the immediate family (Table 4). I TABLE 5. FORMER MEMBERS OF SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS, BY SEX AND RELATIONS TO HOUSEHOLD HEAD In addition to the current member Spanish-American households, informatif tained on persons who had been living in t holds during the 10-year period prior t5 study but who had moved away from h, the survey. About two-fifths of the rural and one-third of the urban households had s, members who consisted for the most part daughters of the household head (Table 5i section of this report will examine the 0c '9 the former members of survey households compare the occupational changes which l; place between one generation of Spanish‘ and another. " Nativity Status .1 The study areas are readily accessible » and a great deal of travel and visiting, permanent migration, takes place between areas and Mexico. San Antonio is approxi‘ miles from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico; 150. Ciudad Acuna; and 140 miles w Piedras distances between Atascosa County and are slightly less since Atascosa County is f San Antonio. * Despite their proximity to Mexico, “.99 Spanish American household heads in i samples were native-born Americans. Only; of the rural and three-tenths of the urban“ heads were born in Mexico. Almost all mainder were born in Texas. Of the hou t p born in Texas, about 65 percent were ~19 county they were residing in at the time of Relationship Atascosa County San Antonio to household Total Percent distribution by sex Total Percent distributt head Number Percent Total Male Female Number Percent Total Male ,1 Total number 275 100 100 51 49 151 100 100 42 Sons and daughters 235 85 100 49 51 99 66 100 42 Others 40 l5 100 60 40 52 34 100 58 l0 ,_ re 5. Not only is the Spanish language often used among anish-Americans for conversations, but it is also frequently f. d for movies, radio and television presentations. ._.e of English and Spanish _ Although the majority were born in the United ‘ates, most of the Spanish-American household heads both the rural and urban areas spoke Spanish more an English in the home (Figure 5). This practice, fwever, was more common in the country than in _-e city. Almost three-fourths of the heads of house- Jld in Atascosa County always or usually used Danish in their conversations with other adults in i eir homes compared with approximately three-fifths 4 the household heads in San Antonio. About 20 ercent of the household heads in the rural sample 'sed English and Spanish about equally in talking other adults in their homes compared to 30 percent 1 the city. Less than l0 percent in either area used English as their primary language at home. Age had some bearing on language used, with ersons under 25 making the least frequent use of panish and heads 55 and over the greatest relative yse of this language (Table 6). Even among the youngest household heads, however, only about 3O per- Sent in the city and less than l0 percent in the country poke English most of the time. g The degree to which a foreign language is used y household heads is undoubtedly associated with HER ADULTS, BY AGE or HOUSEHOLD HEADS TABLE 7. AGE AT- WHICH SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUSE- HOLD HEADS BEGAN FIRST FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT Age in years Atascosa County San Antonio Total number 268 276 Percent 100 100 l4 and under 43 15 15-17 30 29 18-19 15 18 20-24 8 21 25 and over 2 9 Not applicable‘ 2 8 ‘Five household heads in Atascosa County and 21 in San Antonio never had a full-time job at any time in their lives. levels of educational attainment, occupational status and incomes of the Spanish-Americans in Texas. Age at Which First Full-time Job Begun Many heads of households included in the study samples began workingat their first full-time jobs at comparatively young ages. This may have occurred because of the need to contribute to the family in- come, probably blocking the young Spanish-American“ from adequate school attendance, and consequently preventing him from obtaining sufficient training for employment in the higher paying occupations in his adult life. About two-fifths of the Atascosa County house- hold heads began working at a full-time job before the age of 15 and three-fourths had full-time jobs before they were 18 (Table 7). Entrance to the full- time labor force for urban residents occurred a little later in life, with less than half of the San Antonio heads employed before they reached the age of 18. Although a few persons in each of the two study areas took their first job after they were 25 years of age, most of these were women who went to work for the first time after they were married. This was particu- larly true for the urban area. The difference in age at which the Spanish- Americans started full-time work as youngsters in the rural area and the city is largely due to the greater number of agricultural jobs that were available in the rural area and also to the greater amount of -BLE 6. LANGUAGE USED AT HOME BY SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD HEADS IN CONVERSATIONS WITH s anguage Atascosa County San Antonio used Total Under 25 25-44 45-54 55 and over Total Under 25 i 25-44 45-54 55 and over q otal number 268 14 94 51 276 14 119 51 92 >6‘ ercent 100 i 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 lways or usually g if Spanish 73 43 64 76 61 36 54 51 79 V‘ qual Spanish and English 21 50 28 20 30 36 34 43 18 Always or usually - f English 6 7 8 4 9 28 12 6 3 11 TABLE 8. YEARS OF SCHOOL COMPLETED BY SPANISH- AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD HEADS 25 YEARS OLD AND OVER AND BY ALL PERSONS 25 YEARS OLD AND OVER EXCLUDING THOSE OF SPANISH SURNAME Atascosa County San Antonio All persons All persons Spanish- excluding Spanish- excluding American those of American those of Years of school household Spanish household Spanish completed heads surname‘ heads surname‘ Total persons 25 years old and over 254 5,865 262 193,893 Percent 100 100 100 100 Less than 1 year 33 3 l0 1 1-4 years 10 30 5 5-8 years 26 33 37 25 9-11 years 3 20 11 20 12 years or more 5 34 12 49 Median years 3.1 9.6 6.1 11.9 ‘Source: 1960 Bureau of the Census, Vol. PC (1) 45C, “Texas: General Social and Economic Characteristics,” Table 83, p. 495, and Table 73, p. 386, and Vol. PC (2) 1B, Tables 13 and 14. pressure brought to bear on children by school authori- ties in the urban areas to attend school until reaching certain age levels. EDUCATIONAL STATUS The importance of education has long been recog- nized as a necessary prerequisite to occupational ad- vancement and accompanying higher incomes. Many job opportunities are closed to persons with little education, and they find it difficult to improve their TABLE 9. YEARS OF SCHOOL COMPLETED BY SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD HEADS, BY SELECTED CHARA ISTICS OF THE HEAD ‘between Spanish-Americans and the remaining economic situation. One of the purposes of th"'_ was to compare the educational status of the S Americans with that of the general population area and to examine the relationship between tion, occupation and other socio-economic chf istics of the Spanish-Americans. 5 Education of Household Heqds . In general, Spanish-American household aged 25 and over had little formal education é 8). One-third of the rural household heads a even completed a year of school. In San _ educational levels were slightly higher, with on tenth of the household heads reporting less 1b year of school. Education beyond grade sch relatively rare among Spanish-Americans; only» a tenth of the rural heads and two-tenths of the i’ heads had completed more than 8 years of sch‘ In comparison, the non-Spanish populati years of age and older in the areas surveyed ha pleted at least twice as many years of school Spanish-Americans. In San Antonio, the as, person in the non-Spanish population had _ completed high school while the average American household head was 2 years short of}? pleting grade school. Educational levels of thi p non-Spanish population in the rural area were“ than those in the city, but educational diff lation were just as marked as they were for Antonio. a h Atascosa County San Antonio Total Years of school completed Total Years of school completed Selected Num- Per- Less Num- Per- Less characteristics ber cent than 1-4 5-8 9-11 12 or Median ber cent than 1-4 5-8 9-11 12 or one more 0116 1110K? Occupation Employed 223 100 28 32 31 4 5 3.7 191 100 9 21 38 16 16 Farm work 121 100 40 32 23 2 3 2.3 4 2 Nonfarm work 102 100 15 32 40 7 6 5.3 187 100 8 21 39 16 16 Not employed 45 100 47 27 20 0 6 1 5 85 100 12 47 34 5 2 Age Timer 25 years 14 10o 7 7 72 7 7 7.0 14 10o o 14 36 as 14 25-44 years , 94 100 16 29 40 5 10 5.5 119 100 7 17 41 17 18 45-64 years 110 100 35 ' 37 23 3 2 2.6 97 100 16 33 36 8 7 ’ 65 years and over 50 100 58 30 10 0 2 .9 46 100 9 57 30 2 2 Place of birth “TEE? 207 10o 27 so as 4 6 4.1 18s 100 10 21 as 1e 15 Mexico 60 100 46 37 17 0 0 1 4 86 100 l0 46 33 6 5 Language used at home Always or usually Spanish 196 100 37 31 26 3 3 2.7 168 100 16 31 40 9 4 » Equal English and Spanish 56 100 20 32 34 5 9 4.8 84 100 0 29 37 14 20 Always or usually English 16 100 6 25 50 6 13 6.5 24 100 4 17 17 29 33 ‘One household head in Atascosa County and seven in San Antonio were born elsewhere in the United States. ‘Derived numbers not shown where base is less than ten. 12 ucation in Relation to Selected cio-economic Factors Age, place of birth and language spoken are vosely associated with level of education of Spanish- _ ericans. Furthermore, employment status, occu- tion and income are related to all of these factors. ‘able 9 illustrates these relationships among study ousehold heads. There is an inverse relationship between age and vel of education. Heads under 25 years of age had ore education than other groups of household heads udied; they averaged about 8 years of schooling. he level of education dropped steadily with advances t age to a low of 1 year for the aged in Atascosa unty and 4 years for the oldest age group in San tonio. In both study areas, household heads born in exas had obtained more education than those born A Mexico. For example, Texas-born household heads ving in Atascosa County completed 4 years of school mpared to less than 2 years for those born in Mexico. ducational levels were somewhat higher in the city tut still dependent on place of birth. Educational level of household heads is closely ssociated with language used in conversations in their omes. Those Atascosa County household heads who ways or usually spoke Spanish in conversations with ther adults at home had a median of 3 years of school mpleted as contrasted to 6.5 years completed for ose who always or usually spoke English. In San ntonio, household heads speaking mostly English ad achieved the highest educational levels among panish-Americans. One-third of this group had com- leted high school. i Employed heads of households had more educa- ‘on than those who were out of the labor force or nemployed, and household heads engaged in non- arm work had attended school for a longer period an farm workers. ducation of Former Members f Spanish-American Households Much progress in educational attainment was vident among the younger generation Spanish-Ameri- ans. Sons and daughters who had left their parents’ omes at some time during the 10 years preceding the ield study had completed, on the average, at least wice as many years of schooling as their parents, 8.4 ears in Atascosa Cdiunty and 11.7 years in San An- onio. The average for household heads was 3 and {In years, respectively. In fact, the educational level of the urban younger eneration Spanish-Americans had increased to ap- roximately the level of the non-Spanish population in San Antonio?‘ Former members of Spanish-Ameri- can rural households lagged about a year behind the non-Spanish population of Atascosa County. Educational Aspirations of Spanish-American Youth Despite the low educational achievement of house- hold heads, educational aspirations of their children were high. As with occupation, educational hopes were higher among Spanish-American youth who were living in San Antonio. As reported by the household heads in San Antonio, 94 percent of their sons and daughters, aged l0 to l7, wanted to receive at least a high school education compared to 82 percent of the rural youth. ' San Antonio youngsters were particularly ambi- tious concerning plans to attend college, although their parents in some cases indicated that it was doubt- ful that they would actually be able to attend. Almost half (45 percent) of the sons and daughters of the San Antonio household heads wanted to attend college, but only 3 out of l0 were expected to actually do so. Such phrases as “he just won’t have the money” or “he will have to go to work to help earn a living” were common answers given by household heads in "A San Antonio to explain the gap between their cl1il- dren’s educational desires and their expectations of achieving these goals. College education among rural residents was desired by only 14 percent of the children in Spanish-American households. EMPLOYMENT SITUATION OF HOUSEHOLD HEADS One of the major objectives of this study was to analyze changes in the occupational status of Spanish-Americans. This was accomplished through examination of the work histories of household heads and through a comparison of occupations of house- hold heads with those of younger generation family members who were no longer living at home. Percent in Labor Force Of the total Spanish-American heads of house- holds surveyed in both Atascosa County and San Antonio, a larger proportion of the rural (85 percent) than of the urban (74 percent) heads were in the labor forcefi This is largely due to the greater incidence of male household heads in the rural county. Since males customarily have a higher labor force partici- pation rate, the relatively larger number of women “This comparison might overstate the educational achievement of former household members slightly because the Spanish- Americans were being compared with a population of an older average age. If the second generation Spanish-Americans were matched with persons in the total population who were of their own age level, the comparison would probably reveal that they had not achieved comparable educational status. ‘Information on current labor force status of the study group, unless otherwise specified, related to the month of December 1961. 13 TABLE l0. EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF SPANISH- AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD HEADS Employment status as of December, 1961 Atascosa County San Antonio Total number 268 276 Percent 100 100 In the labor force 85 74 Employed 83 69 Unemployed 2 5 Not in labor force _ 15 26 Keeping house 3 5 Retired 7 16 Disabled 5 5 and of retired persons in the city tended to lower the rate for San Antonio (Table 10). In San Antonio there was a fairly large number of heads (8 percent) who never held a full~time job; the proportion was negligible in Atascosa. All of these persons were women. Of the household heads who were not in the labor force at the time of the survey, the largest proportion were retired, others were either disabled or keeping house. About twice as many Spanish-Americans in San Antonio were retired as in the rural area, possibly because of better opportunities for formal retirement in the city. Extent of Unemployment Unemployment rates among Spanish-American heads followed patterns prevalent generally; they were higher in the city than in the rural area. During the survey period, those who were unemployed repre- sented 6.4 and 2.2 percent, respectively, of the Spanish- American household heads in the labor force in these areas. The urban rate for Spanish-American heads was somewhat higher than the 5.3 percent national unemployment rate for adult men 20 years of age and over, and the 4.2 percent rate for married men in December 1961.5 The relatively low unemployment rate for the rural Spanish-Americans does not reveal the considerable underemployment characteristic for many rural areas wherein persons work often for only part of a week or for less than 8 hours a day. During the year 1961, 8 household heads in the rural study group and 19 in the city sample had been unemployed and looking for work for 4 weeks or longer.“ Three in Atascosa County and five in San Antonio had been unemployed for 26 weeks or longer. Within each sample group, Spanish-American house- hold heads born in Mexico tended to have higher unemployment rates than those born in Texas. “Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U. S. Department of Labor. “Although there were others who may have been unemployed and looking for work for shorter periods of time, information was not recorded for those who were unemployed for less than four weeks in 1961. 14 Occupation There was a pronounced difference in occup between city and rural residents among Sp' American household heads, as there is among v and urban residents generally. Within each i there also was a notable difference in the occupaf. distribution of Spanish-American heads and the ' male population (Tables ll arifd 14).7 i One of the principal differences in occu between the Spanish-American household head‘ the total male population was in the inciden farm work. This occupational difference rela the rural residents, among whom slightly more‘ half of the Spanish-American heads were emplo farm work compared to about two-fifths of all u Farm work was almost nonexistent for the , residents at the time of the survey despite th: that relatively large numbers of the urban Spk American heads had started their careers doing work. Migratory work among Spanish-American ._ laborers was about as common as it was for all laborers in the United States. In 1961, about; tenth of all the rural Spanish-American heads wh worked as farm laborers at any time during thee‘ had left their home county to do this work. i" proportion of all hired farm laborers in the U States who did migratory farm labor was abo‘ W. same. ‘ I Another important occupational differen l. tween Spanish-Americans and the total pop, 7A comparison was made between the occupations of American heads and the total male population in order sex constant in evaluating occupational differences. A y; of the Spanish-American employed heads were male, ‘ , very large proportion of the total employed popula’ female, and, traditionally, heavily concentrated in cle ' and less commonly employed as craftsmen or laborers. ically, 3 of the employed household heads in Atascosa and 18 in San Antonio were females. Of the former, t farm operators and one a service worker. Of the latter, i, service workers and 5 white-collar workers. 6' TABLE 11. OCCUPATIONS OF EMPLOYED SPANI: AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD HEADS . Occupation Atascosa County San An i» Total 223 191i Percent 100 1 Farm work ' 54 2, Operators 8t managers 31 1T1 Laborers 23 i Nonfarm 46 Professional 8c managers 5 Clerical 8c sales 2 Service workers l0 Craftsmen 8 Operatives 4 Laborers 17 ‘This includes two household heads in the Armed For were classified with service workers. ‘ ' hich reflected their relatively low occupational status as in the proportion employed as white-collar work- s. Professional, technical, clerical and sales jobs ere held by only one-fifth of the urban Spanish- Lmericans but by two-fifths of the total male popu- tion in San Antonio. There were fewer white-collar At orkers, generally in the rural area than in the city, ut, here also Spanish-Americans were under-repre- nted in the white-collar jobs compared to the total w pulation. The low proportion of Spanish-American heads n white-collar jobs stems in part from their very low ducational level. In addition, the Spanish-American’s nfrequent use of English in everyday conversation robably reflects a lack of facility in reading and peaking English. This situation would constitute a I ajor barrier to adequate performance of white-collar ork which relies so extensively on the printed word. The larger proportion of Spanish-American heads 7. orking in the service occupations constitutes a third .| ajor area of difference between the Spanish-Ameri- I ans and the total population. Service work was about < common for Spanish-American household heads as j ere white-collar jobs. Approximately one-fifth of Ihe heads were employed in each of these occupation roups in San Antonio.” Among all males in the city, . owever, white-collar workers outnumbered service workers four to one. Service work was not a common ccupation for rural residents, but it was more preva- ent among Spanish—Americans than among all males. Many of the service jobs held by the Spanish- Americans are as waiters, cab drivers, and other rela- tively unskilled workers; they require little formal education. A final major area of difference in the occupa- tions followed by Spanish-American household heads and the total male population was in the skill level of the blue-collar workers. Unskilled laborers were far more common among the Spanish-Americans in both the city and the country. About three out of five urban Spanish-Americans were employed as blue-collar workers in December 1961 and fully half of these persons were unskilled laborers. Among all male blue- collar workers, only one out of five was an unskilled laborer. Thus, a total of three out of ten Spanish- American heads in San Antonio were unskilled labor- ers compared to one male out of ten in the city. Cginversely, skilled and semi-skilled blue-collar work- ers were relatively more numerous in the total popu- lation. A similar situation prevailed in the rural area, where the majorityflof the working population, both Spanish-American and all male, who were not doing farm work were employed in blue-collar jobs. The blue-collar workers in the total male population, how- ' “Approximately 16 percent of the Spanish-American heads and 72 percent of the female Spanish-American heads in San Antonio were service workers. ever, were largely skilled craftsmen and semi-skilled operatives. Unskilled laborers comprised only one- fifth of all male blue-collar workers in Atascosa County but a little over half of the Spanish-American blue-collar workers. Dual Jobholding Among farm workers, generally, dual jobholding is often a means of transition from farm to nonfarm work, and many Spanish-Americans may have taken the same route away from farm work. At the time of the survey, 18 percent of the household heads in Atascosa County held two jobs simultaneously. All but one of these, involved farming and hired farm work combined with a nonfarm job. None of the San Antonio household heads were working at more than one job in December 1961. OCCUPATIONAL CHANGE AMONG SPANISH-AMERICANS Occupational Change from First to Current Job by Household Heads As is customary among persons in the labor force, there was considerable change in occupation by heads, of Spanish-American households from the time they begin their first full-time job to the time the field study was conducted." The major change was a de- cline in the number of farm workers and an increase in the number of blue-collar workers, especially of unskilled laborers. Some small increase occurred in the proportion of household heads employed in white- collar jobs but there was little change in the incidence of service workers (Table l2). Among both rural and urban residents, there was a shift of major proportions away from agricultural jobs. Approximately four-fifths of the Atascosa County family heads listed either farm work or operat- ing a farm as their first full-time occupation (Figure 6). By the time of the survey only half were doing farm work. In San Antonio, also, there was a distinct movement away from farm work in the later career of household heads. Almost none of the urban Spanish-Americans were doing farm work in the early l96()’s compared to one-fifth who had worked on, farms when they started their careers. The move away from farm work in both survey areas occurred primarily among those persons who had worked as farm laborers. The number of Spanish- American heads who were working as hired farm hands declined sharply between first and current job in both the city and the rural area, while most of the heads who had started their careers as farm operators or managers remained in these occupations. Persons who had worked as farm laborers moved primarily to the blue-collar, and particularly to the unskilled jobs. In the rural area, however, about a fifth of the farm gDetailed information was obtained for first full-time job, for job held at time of survey, and for all intervening types of jobs followed for a year or longer. 15 TABLE 12. PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF OCCUPATION OF CURRENT JOB, BY OCCUPATION OF FIRST FULL-l _]OB OF EMPLOYED SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD HEADS i. Atascosa County Percent distribution by occupation of current job Occupation Employed Farm operators Farm White collar Craftsmen No‘ of first household heads Total and managers laborers and service and la fulltime job Number Percent workers operatives Total 223 100 100 31 23 17 l is 12 Farm workers 175 78 100 36 26 14 9 Operators 8¢ managers 54 24 100 69 4 13 7 Laborers i121 54 100 22 36 14 10 Nonfarm workers 48 22 100 12 l3 27 23 White-collar and service 15 7 100 13 13 61 13 Craftsmen 8c operatives 7 3 1 Laborers 26 12 100 12 15 8 23 San Antonio Occupation Employed Percent distribution by occupation of current job _ of first household heads Total Farm White collar Service No fulltime job Number Percent workers workers workers Craftsmen Operatives la w! Total 191 100 100 2 19 20 18 ll F arm workers 42 22 100 7 14 24 l0 l0 Operators 8c managers 7 4 1 Laborer 35 18 100 9 11 23 9 ll Nonfarm workers 149 78 100 1 2O 19 21 ll White collar 19 1O 100 0 74 0 5 5 Service 42 22 100 0 7 55 7 5 Craftsmen 26 14 100 4 19 0 65 4 Operatives 23 12 100 0 13 9 9 48 Laborers 39 20 100 0 l3 l0 20 3 ‘Percent not shown where base is less than ten. “These were all farm laborers. laborers had become farm operators by the time of the survey. While career changes from farm to nonfarm work were striking, similar upgrading of occupations did not occur among persons who had started their careers in nonfarm jobs. Some of the nonfarm workers crossed occupational lines during their working careers, but \ Figure 6. Automation and technology reduce the need for Spanish-American farm labor. The operation of sprigging Coastal bermuda, which once required a large work crew, is now performed by two. 16 the overall distribution of nonfarm occupation the first and final jobs was very similar, partic g in San Antonio. About three-fifths of the urban { workers were employed at blue-collar jobs at b0 i? beginning of their careers and at the time of the " study, and about half of these workers were unskilled work in both periods. " Similarly, there was little change in the p A tion of household heads who were doing service between their first and final jobs. In San Anti, service work played a fairly important role as the?‘ job occupation of household heads (about on were employed in service work), but career ch“ away from the other occupations were not di q in any significant degree toward the service , Movement into white-collar jobs was slight; the all proportion of urban household heads employ, white-collar jobs increased from one-tenth to tenths. Some occupational change from nonfarm to A jobs occurred in the rural area, where one-fou w‘ the household heads who had started their c“, _ with nonfarm jobs subsequently turned to farm Occupational Mobility A history of types of jobs held for a year or 1 ij was obtained for each household head employed e ABLE 13. OCCUPATIONAL HISTORIES OF EMPLOYED ANISH-AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD HEADS BY NUMBER ND TYPES OF OCCUPATIONS‘ _ umber and types - . San Antonio _ of occupations Atascosa County I otal number 223 191 100 100 ' r One occupation 37 31 I Farm operator or manager 17 0 Farm laborer 15 1 Nonfarm work 5 30 Two or more occupations 63 69 Farm work only 12 0 Nonfarm work only l0 43 Change from nonfarm work on first job to farm work on final job ll 2 Change from farm work on first job to non- farm work on final job 30 24 Includes occupation of first full-time job and all subsequent occupations followed for a year or longer. g the survey in order to discover the dominant pat- ern of occupational change during the working career f the respondents. About one-third of the household heads had been mployed at only one type of job during their working reer (Table 13). An additional one-third had been mployed in two or more occupation groups, and the mainder in three or more occupations. A movement from farm to nonfarm work was aracteristic of persons who changed occupations. I‘ s many as half of the workers in rural sample who ad held two or more kinds of jobs had made a change across farm-nonfarm occupations. A large percentage of these (two-fifths) had moved from farm to nonfarm work. A much smaller proportion (one-tenth) turned to farm work on their final job from previous jobs in nonfarm occupations. Since there were proportionately fewer farm workers in the city, the change from farm to nonfarm jobs affected a smaller share of the urban household heads who had changed occupations during their working careers. Occupation of Former Members of Spanish-American Households A comparison of the current J occupation of Spanish-American household heads and the occupa- tions of household members (mainly sons and daugh- ters) who had left the home by the time of the field study may be used as further evidence that Spanish- Americans are achieving moderate advances in occupa- tional status (Table 14). The intergenerational differ- ences consisted mostly of a decline in the importance of farm work as an occupation, some shift away from unskilled laborer jobs and a slight increase in the incidence of white-collar jobs among former members _ of Spanish-American households. For the rural area, the major intergenerational change in occupations between household heads and former members of their households was a decline in farm workers and a rise in blue-collar workers. This continues the trend away from farm work evident between the first and final jobs recorded for the house- hold heads themselves. Rural Spanish-Americans represented in farm work dropped from 54 percent among the family heads to 16 percent of the former male members. In fact, there were fewer farm workers “l ABLE 14. OCCUPATIONS OF EMPLOYED FORMER MEMBERS OF SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS AND OF EM- LOYED PERSONS IN THE TOTAL POPULATION, BY SEX Atascosa County San Antonio Former members of Former members of Occupation Spanish-American All persons‘ Spanish-American All persons‘ households’ households’ Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female 110 27 4,094 1,212 53 29 115,814 60,790 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 16 4 37 ll 4 0 l 3 Operators 8c managers 7 0 18 4 0 0 ‘ 3 . Laborers 9 4 19 7 4 0 3 3 Ndhfarm 84 96 63 89 96 100 99 100 Professional 8c managers 4 4 13 18 15 10 22 19 Clerical 8c sales l0 67 6 33 17 21‘ 18 44 Service workers 19 ll 3 30 15 69 9 24 Craftsmen ,_ 16 7 17 23 0 23 1 Operatives 9 0 1s 6 9 0 1s 11 Laborers ‘ 26 7 s 2 17 0 9 1 and Table 74, p. 400. ‘Less than .5 percent. ‘Source: 1960 U. S. Bureau of the Census, Vol. PC (1) 45C, “Texas: General Social 8c Economic Characteristics,” Table 84, p. 517, ‘Includes former members who were employed at any time in 1961. In addition, there were 14 former members of Spanish-American ' households in Atascosa County and 9 former members from San Antonio households who were in the Armed Forces. 17 among the younger generation Spanish-Americans than in the total male population of Atascosa County. This is probably because many of the former members of Spanish-American households left the rural area com- pletely when they moved from their childhood home and were living in the city, where farm work is not generally available. Information on the occupation of the total population was collected at their place of residence, and the two characteristics of residence and occupation more nearly coincide. The younger generation Spanish-Americans from the rural area moved from the farm occupations of their parents to blue-collar jobs. Half the former members of rural households were blue-collar workers compared with three-tenths of their parents. There was also a slight intergenerational increase in the relative number of white-collar and service workers among the children of rural household heads. Occupational changes between generations of Spanish-Americans in San Antonio were not so marked as in the rural area and were restricted to the nonfarm occupations, since farm work was virtually nonexistent for either generation of Spanish-Americans at the time of the survey. Principal intergenerational changes occurred as declines in blue-collar workers and in- creases in white-collar workers. These changes placed the younger generation Spanish-Americans in a posi- tion which was midway with respect to occupational status between the household heads and the total male population. One of the important intergenerational changes was in the lower proportion of unskilled blue-collar laborers among the younger group. Only 2 out of l0 in the younger male generation were blue-collar laborers compared with 3 out of l0 of the household heads. However, the younger generation Spanish- ‘ Americans had not improved their manual skills sufficiently to match those of the total population. Unskilled laborers among the younger generation Spanish-Americans still outnumbered those in the total male population, of whom only 1 in 10 were laborers. If all laborers, both farm and nonfarm, are counted, a similar situation exists in the rural area. There are relatively fewer younger generation than older generation Spanish-Americans working as un- skilled laborers and relatively more younger genera- tion Spanish-American laborers than in the total population. A middle-status occupation in which Spanish- Americans were not underrepresented was that of craftsmen. Approximately equal proportions of both generations of male Spanish-Americans and of the total male population in San Antonio were working as carpenters, bricklayers, mechanics and in other skilled blue-collar jobs. Apparently use of a foreign language and low educational level were not barriers 18 to the acquisition of manual skills required f0, jobs. Some occupational upgrading also occurred white-collar occupations in which three-tenths‘ younger male generation Spanish-Americans ployed. Here again, they have made occu gains over their parents, among _whom only twf were wl1ite-collar workers. This did not quit the occupational level of the total male pop of San Antonio of whom 4 in l0 were prof and other white-collar workers. The same g: prevailed for the rural area. Changes in the number of Spanish-A employed in the service occupations between J generations were slight. However, in both stud among both generations of Spanish-America proportion of males employed as service work larger than the proportion in the total male-- lation. While an increase in the incidence of collar workers in a population indicates an .3‘ of occupational skills, the reverse is true for the occupations. These often include predominantl skilled and unskilled jobs paying relatively low. The Spanish-American service worker seeking 'v provement would tend to look to the whit fields, thus lowering the proportion of service among the Spanish-American people. To summarize, the pattern of occupational '_ among male Spanish-Americans is one of a de the number of farm workers and a corres increase in blue-collar workers. Smaller in occurred among white-collar workers. This _ pattern for intergenerational change among Americans from the rural area and for long-tenu,‘ changes of household heads who were living city at the time of the field study. Among _’ residents, the intergenerational pattern of tional change reflects reductions in blue-collar _ particularly the unskilled laborers, and an in ' white-collar workers. i Among the Spanish-American men whi moved away from the households surveyed, majority (9 out of l0) were employed at som‘ during 1961. This was not the case for the A who used to live in these households. Only: one-fifth and two-fifths of the female former, hold members in Atascosa County and San respectively, were working in 1961. The nu y female former household members employed small, then, to permit anything but the broade eralizations about their occupations. As with the males, the female former 5 of Spanish-American households in San Antoni underrepresented in the white-collar occupatio overrepresented in the service jobs when c0 with all females in the total population. The twice as many women in the total populatio g portionately, who were working in clerical and* ° hite-collar fields as there were Spanish-American omen. The reverse was true for the service jobs which Spanish-American women were much more ighly concentrated than were all women in the city. Of the Spanish-American women who had lived p the rural households, many had probably moved i.» the city upon leaving their homes. Most of the ' omen‘ found jobs in the clerical fields. About a tenth of the male former members of ,panish-American households were in the Armed orces. Many of this group planned to remain with he military during their working career because they ‘lt that they could advance as rapidly, or at a faster te, than they could in private industry. In general, former members of Spanish-American ouseholds who were in higher-status occupations had igrated away from the area in which their parents sided. For example, only about a tenth of the former embers of Spanish-American households in San ntonio who became employed in the professional d managerial occupations were located in that city t the time of the survey. More than half had left e state and the remainder lived in Texas but some istance from San Antonio. For the most part, the ‘ounger generation Spanish-Americans who were in t e lower status occupations tended to remain in the rea of their former home or in the immediate vicinity. ittifudes of Household Heads and Their ‘hildren Toward Farm Work as an Occupation y Attitudes of Spanish-American household heads ind their sons toward farm work as an occupation ere definitely negative. Among the household heads ho had done farm work but were no longer working . a this occupation, a majority (about three-fourths in ach study area) would not consider doing farm work lain. The most frequent reasons given for the un- illingness to return to farm occupations were that e work is too hard and the pay too low. Only about 5 percent of the household heads who had once done arm work were willing to return to it. The remain- g g household heads were undecided. Most of the sons of Spanish-American household eads also preferred not to have farm employment, iélthough the proportion expressing favorable attitudes as greater in the rural area. In Atascosa County, pproximately one-third of the sons aged l0 to 17 efe thought by their parents to be interested in some ind of farm work for their future employment. Only a percent of the sons living at home in San Antonio ere interested in farming or wage work. Differences in tlfie willingness of boys to do farm ork may be related (‘to the amount of encouragement hey received from their parents. In Atascosa County, bout 40 percent of the l0 to 17 year old boys living it home were urged by their parents to enter farm ~ ork or to live on a farm. The proportion of children 'n San Antonio encouraged to do farm work was only Figure 7. Spanish-American household heads have relatively high occupational aspirations for their sons. Youth, such as these, have hopes for better occupations than their parents. 14 percent. Most parents who had not encouraged their sons to do farm work indicated that they hoped their children could do better than farming or work- ing on a farm. Rural and urban heads differed not only in the proportion favorably inclined toward farm work as an occupation for their sons, but also in proportion who wanted their sons to enter the professional occu- pations (Figure 7). Relatively few (l4 percent) of the rural heads who had sons under 18 living at home hoped that their boys would seek careers in profes- sional fields while almost half (45 percent) of the household heads in San Antonio preferred these occupations for their sons. In the rural area, the occupations of skilled craftsmen were slightly more popular as the household head’s choice of a son’s career than were the professional occupations. Aspirations were high in both sample areas for future work careers of daughters living in Spanish- American households, but here again, the urban house- hold heads had higher aspirations. One-quarter of the rural heads and half of the urban heads with daughters living in their household hoped that their daughters would become employed as teachers or in some other professional occupation. An additional one-fifth in each area wanted to see their daughters working as secretaries or in some other clerical capacity. INCOME STATUS Although striking progress in income levels has been achieved by both Spanish-American and all other families in Texas in the last few decades, a relatively low level of income still persists among Spanish- American families. Levels of Income Generally, rural residents earned less than urban residents and Spanish-Americans earned less than 19 TABLE 15. INCOME SPANISH-AMERICAN FAMILIES AND OF ALL FAMILIES EXCLUDING THOSE WITH SPANISH SURNAME‘ Atascosa County San Antonio Spanish- All families’ Spanish- All families“ Income American excluding American excluding class families those of families those of Spanish Spanish surname surname All families 268 2,754 276 89,581 Percent 100 100 100 100 Under $1,000 11 9 10 4 1,000-1,999 28 14 16 7 2,000-2,999 24 11 24 9 3,000-3,999 15 l0 24 11 4,000-5,999 13 23 17 25 6,000 and over 9 33 9 44 Median family ' income $2,468 $4,480 $3,000 $5,470 ‘Incomes for Spanish-American families are for 1961 while those for all families are for 1959. “Source: 1960 Bureau of the Census, Vol. PC (l) 45C, “Texas: General Social and Economic Characteristics,” Table 76, page 428, and Table 86, page 561, and Vol. PC (2) 1B, “Persons of Spanish Surname,” Tables 13 and 14. other people. The Spanish-Americans in Atascosa County had the lowest incomes of all groups with whom they are compared, averaging about $2,500 in 1961 (Table 15). The average income for the non- Spanish families of Atascosa County was almost double, or $4,500, in 1959. Spanish-American families living in San Antonio had higher incomes than their rural counterpart, but they also received little more than half the income of the non-Spanish population of the city. Their medians were $3,000 and $5,500, respec- tively.1° There were very large proportions of the Spanish- " American families with incomes below those normally "Income data of Spanish-Americans and the total population are not altogether comparable. The reference year for the former is 1961 and for the latter it is 1959. TABLE 16. INCOME OF SPANISH-AMERICAN FAMILIES IN 1961 BY SOURCES OF INCOME Source Atascosa County San Antonio Total $788,000 $885,000 Percent ’ 100 p 100 Earnings of household heads‘ 52 65 Earnings of other family members‘ 25 23 Net farm income’ 14 Rents, interest and dividends’ 1 1 Pensions, contributions and gifts” 8 ll ‘Includes income received for work performed as an employee (wages, salary, commissions, tips, piece-rate payments, and cash bonuses) and net income from nonfarm business. Does not in- clude income from farming. ”Refers to income received by all family members. 20 quoted as being at the poverty level. App Y two-thirds of the Spanish-American familie cosa County had an annual income of less t , in 1961, compared to one-third of the n0’ familes. Even though Spanish-American f) San Antonio had somewhat higher income as half the families received less than $3, the year. In contrast, only a fifth of the n, population of San Antonioihad a” total fami, below $3,000. Type of Income l/Vage and salary earnings of the house were the most important type of income ff American families, accounting for half the income of the rural families (Table 16). For I families, because of the absence of farm's occupation, the wage and salary earnings of-l provided an even larger share (two-thir’ family’s income. ' The importance of the household headl to the family’s total income underscores thi upgrading the job skills of the household h’ generally low wages depress the financial __ the Spanish-American family far below t‘ total population. With educational and 0c achievements low among the household h earnings, and consequently their family i also very low. Earnings of other family members, =7 one-fourth of the aggregate family income,‘ second most important source of family inc both the rural and urban study groups. i‘ In addition to the wage and salary e the heads and of other members of their some Spanish-Americans living in the rura, ceived income from farming; this type of iv not available to the urban group. Farm inc’? ever, was relatively minor in relation to, income received by the Spanish-American i lies, averaging no more than 14 percent of’ Furthermore, it was a relatively small source considering that 3 out of l0 household " Atascosa County were farm operators. '0 The only other relatively important :_ income, comprising about one-tenth of the t‘ income, were pensions, welfare payments a ,4 Number of Income Sources Although their average family income p, rural Spanish-American families received th from more sources than urban families, chie of income from their farms (Table 17). A than half the rural families had 2 or more i income. However, for about half these f i of the sources was farm income, combined other type of income. The remaining ru with two or more sources of income depen wage and salary earnings of 2 or more famil R on earnings plus other nonfarm income such as A little less than half the rural families had only ne source of income available to them; for the ajority of these families this consisted of the earnings f the household head. Most of the remaining families 'ved exclusively either on farm income or on pension come. A Almost two-thirds of the Spanish-American fami- 'es living in San Antonio had only one source of amily income, consisting in most cases of the wage r salary earnings of the household head. Second in portance was pensions, with 16 percent of the San ntonio families receiving this type of income only. here there were two sources of income, they con- isted of earnings of members of the family for about alf the families and earnings combined with some ther type of nonfarm income for the remaining half. Despite the sizeable proportion of Spanish-Ameri- n families receiving money income from two or more urces, their total income was low by almost any tandard. come in Relation to Socio-economic Factors Income differentials were closely related to occu- ation, education, age, language used and place of irth of the Spanish-American family heads (Table 8). Spanish-American families headed by persons _mployed at the time of the field study had incomes hich were almost double the income of families hose head was out of the labor force or looking for ork. Furthermore, where the household head was ' : farm worker, the family income was only two-thirds i e income of families headed by nonfarm workers. The close relationship between education and come is strikingly illustrated by the information ontained in Table 18 on the education and family , come of the head. Income levels rose with each crease in the educational level of the household cad, from a low of less than $2,000 annually for rural ' amilies whose head had less than one year of school- ng to $4,200 for the family headed by a high school ; aduate. Similar increases in family income accom- anied higher educational levels among the urban tZHdS. Age of the family head bore a minor relationship o, amily income except for families whose head was 5 and over. For these families, average income was bout $1,500, considerably less than the average for ll Spanish-American families. Family income ifose "slightly after 25, reaching a eak at different age levels for urban and rural family eads. Among urban families, income increased with he age of the family head until it reached a peak of 3,500 when the family head was middle-aged (45 to 54 years of age). For the rural families on the other and, family income reached its high point (about TABLE 17. NUMBER AND TYPES OF INCOME IN 1961 OF SPANISH-AMERICAN FAMILIES Number and types Atascosa County San Antonio of income Total families 268 276 Percent 100 100 One source 45 64 Earnings of household head‘ 30 45 Pensions’ 6 l6 Net farm income‘ 8 Earnings of other family members‘ 1 4 Two sources 42 33 Earnings of household head and of other family members‘ 19 18 Net farm income and earnings, rents, or pensions2 12 Earnings, rents, or pensions‘ 10 15 Three or more sources 13 3 ‘Includes income received for work performed as an employee (wages, salary, commissions, tips, piece-rate payments, and cash bonuses) and net income from nonfarm business. Does not 1n- clude income from farming. “Refers to income received by any family member. $2,800) early in the life of the head (when he was I between 25 and 34 years of age) and remained close to that level until the traditional retirement age. Families headed by persons born in Mexico had lower incomes than families whose heads were born in Texas, and similar differences in family income TABLE 18. MEDIAN INCOME OF SPANISH-AMERICAN FAMILIES BY SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HOUSEHOLD HEAD Selected Median family income characteristics Atascosa County San Antonio Occupation Employed $2,664 $3,312 Farm work 2,089 ‘ Nonfarm work 3,261 3,324 Not employed $1,405 $1,740 Years of school completed Less than one year $1,983 $2,721 1-4 years 2,440 2,587 5-8 years 2,738 2,910 9-11 years ‘ 3,131 12 years or more 4,249 4,199 Age Under 25 years $2,284 $2,713 25-44 years 2,750 3,018 45-64 years 2,526 3,456 65 years and over 1,578 1,453 Place of birth Texas $2,552 $3,317 Mexico 1,924 2,499 Language used at work Always 0r usually Spanish $1,832 $2,341 Equal Spanish and English 2,761 3,174 Always or usually English 3,082 3,332 ‘Median not shown where base is less than ten. 21 @ Atascosa. County a San Antonio 80 '- 60 — 40 — 20 — 34 95 24 65 Mechanical _ refrigerator Radio Ielevision Washing machine Bathroom with plumbing Hot running water Figure 8. Percent of Spanish-American homes with specified facilities. existed between families whose heads spoke different languages at work. Where English was the language usually spoken by the head at work, family income averaged around $1,000 more than the income of families whose head spoke Spanish most of the time while at his job. TABLE 19. NUMBER OF SPECIFIED ITEMS IN SPANISH-AMERICAN HOMES BY SELECTED CHARACTERIS‘ THE HOUSEHOLD HEAD‘ POSSESSION OF MATERIAL GOODS A Six items common to many homes were to gauge the level of living of Spanish-Americ Q holds. These were the radio, television, f machine, refrigerator, bathroom with plumb hot running water. ‘ \. Rural-urban Differences ‘ ,1 There was little difference between rug‘ urban households in the extent to which they some of the specified items. About the same tion of families (9 out of l0) in both area radios and refrigerators, and close to four-fifth? washing machines. Major differences, how isted in the availability of bathroom plumf hot running water. Only a third of the _ American households in Atascosa County had plumbing while 95 percent of the homes '_ Antonio had this facility. Hot running watt homes was enjoyed by only one in four rural while almost two out of three urban homes ,1 equipped (Figure 8). a These urban-rural differences were also s: in the number of items possessed by Spanish- families. Only 3 in 10 of the rural househ‘_ ~ 1 Atascosa County San Antonio .._ Number of it Selected Total Number of items Total characteristics Num- Per- Less 3 or 5 or Num- Per- Less 3 or ber cent than 3 4 6 ber cent than 3 4 Total household heads 268 100 19 52 29 276 100 6 23 Occupation Employed 223 100 18 52 30 191 100 5 21 Farm work 121 100 31 51 18 4 2 Nonfarm work 102 100 2 54 44 187 100 21 Not employed 45 100 27 49 24 85 100 l1 27 Years of school completed _ Less than one year 84 100 25 58 17 27 100 4 48 1-4 years 84 100 17 48 35 80 100 12 19 5-8 years 78 100 17 50 33 103 100 4 21 9-11 years 9 2 34 100 0 29 12 years or more 13 100 8 46 46 32 100 9 9 Age Under 25 years 14 100 50 50 0 14 100 7 43 25-54 years 155 100 13 50 37 170 100 5 22 55 years and over 109 100 23 54 23 92 100 9 21 Place of birth '9 Texas 207 100 18 52 30 183 100 4 24 Mexico” 60 100 23 52 25 86 100 13 21 Language used at home Always or usually Spanish 196 100 23 57 20 168 100 7 23 Equal Spanish and English 56 100 l1 43 46 84 100 6 24 Always or usually English 16 100 0 25 75 24 100 4 17 Total family income Under $2,000 104 100 31 56 13 73 100 17 34 3320003999 106 100 16 53 31 130 100 4 26 $4,000 and over 58 100 4 43 53 73 100 1 6 ‘S ecified items are refri erator, washin machine, radio, television, bathroom with lumbin , and hot water. P g g P g ’Percents not shown where base is less than ten. “One household head in Atascosa County and seven in San Antonio were born elsewhere in the United States. Z2 a or 6 of the items in their homes compared t0 7 in 0 of the urban households. Possession of Material Goods in Relation g Selected Socio-economic Factors _ Level of living of the Spanish-American families I as interrelated with certain characteristics of the ‘ ~ ousehold head (Table 19). Level of education, in ’ _ articular, had a consistent relationship with number {material goods possessed in both study areas. For , xample, only half the homes in San Antonio whose I i ead had less than a year of education had 5 or 6 of he items specified while 80 percent of the households hose head finished high school reported this many I€II1S. Household heads employed at nonfarm work ossessed more of the material goods specified than rm workers. Similarly, heads aged 25 and over had 7< advantage over the younger heads in accumulating i» aterial goods. g One of the factors most closely associated with level of living was family income. In San Antonio, lmost all of the families with incomes of $4,000 and ver possessed 5 or 6 of the items studied, while only alf the families with incomes under $2,000 had as in any of these items. HOME OWNERSHIP STATUS i A large majority of the Atascosa County Spanish- "merican families (four-fifths) owned the houses in hich they lived. The remainder either rented their omes or were provided homes rent free. , Home ownership is relatively less common in San ntonio than it is in Atascosa County. Half the panish-American families in San Antonio rented heir living quarters and half owned them. San intonio families had more rooms in their homes. hey averaged 1.4 rooms per person. Rural Spanish- mericans averaged .9 rooms per person. VIEWS OF SPANISH-AMERICANS CONCERNING THEIR PROGRESS Heads of Spanish-American families were encour- aged to discuss freely their views about the degree of progress which the Spanish-American people were either making or failing to make. . r I On the subject of change in the overall position of the Spanish-American population during the ten- year period preceding the field study, approximately three-fourths of the household heads felt that their people had made some progress along with the rest of the nation’s population (Table 20). Approximately one-fifth felt that there had been no change in the position of Spanish-Americans, and less than a tenth believed that the Spanish-American people had be- come worse off in relation to the rest of the population during the last decade. TABLE 20. OPINIONS OF SPANISH-AMERICAN HOUSE- HOLD HEADS CONCERNING GENERAL PROGRESS OF SPANISH-AMERICAN PEOPLE Last l0 years Next 10 years Opinions Atascosa San Atascosa San County Antonio County Antonio Total number 268 276 268 276 Percent I00 100 100 100 Improvement 71 77 75 77 A great deal 27 51 A little 44 26 No change 21 17 3 I p Position worse 8 5 1 Don’t know 1 1 22 21 ‘Less than 0.5 percent. Although the rural household heads believed as frequently as the urban heads that there was some improvement in living conditions for the Spanish- American people, they differed about the degree of change. One-half of the household heads in San Antonio felt that a great deal of progress had been achieved compared with only one-fourth in the rural county. A relationship was observed between occupation of household heads and their views as to the amount of progress achieved by their ethnic group as a whole. Those who were in nonfarm work tended to believe that more progress was being made than did the heads employed in farm work. Household heads who were out of the labor force or unemployed did not feel that Spanish-Americans were making as much progress as did the heads who were employed. Evidence of improvement cited by Spanish-Ameri- can household heads included the better jobs they held, their higher earnings, better living conditions and better acceptance by the “Anglo” population. Several cited examples of Spanish-Americans who had Figure 9. Different agencies are working t0 improve the edu- cational level of Spanish-Americans. Here, the House of Neigh- borly Service in San Antonio provides classes in English for adult Spanish-Americans. 23 Figure l0. Since Spanish is the major language spoken in many Spanish-American homes, special classes are held in English for pre-school youth. been elected to hi h olitical ositions “for the first o n g p p I time 1n our knowledge,” or who were serving as school board members and were in other res onsible civic I o 0 a p positions. Also, they pointed to an increased accept- ance of their own children more as equals by other rou s as additional evidence of rovress bein made g P _ _ P_ n g by the Spanish-American population. When asked about the primary reasons for their progress, by far the most frequent reply was “through education” (Figures 9 and 10). It was clearly evident that a large majority of the Spanish-Americans viewed education as the key to their own future hopes and aspirations and those of the Spanish-American popu- lation generally. The heads of study households were also asked what they thought the future had in store for the Spanish-American population during the next 1O years. About three-fourths or roughly the same proportion of household heads who believed that improvement in the general situation of Spanish-Americans had been achieved in the past 10 years, also believed that the next 1O years would bring about more favorable con- ditions for their group. They expressed the hope that their children would get more education, hold better jobs, play a greater political role and continue to make progress in their relations with the Anglo population. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was conducted cooperatively by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas A8cM University, and the Farm Population Branch (now the Human Resources Branch), Economic Research Serv- ice, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Special acknowledgment is made of the coopera- tion and assistance of Louis Ducoff, former chief 2,4 of the Human Resources Branch, in carrying t; project. Valuable comments on the manuscri made by Calvin L. Beale and Gladys K. Human Resources Branch. Appreciation is t pressed to the bilingual interviewers who ga. erously of their time during the field work f interpreting and coding responses. i RELATED LlT’E:Ril-\TURE 1. Clements, Harold M., “Levels of Living of Spanish-j Rural and Urban Families in Two South Texas Master of Science Thesis in Sociology, Texas Al versity, May, 1963. 5 2. Cothran, Mary L., “Occupational Patterns of R a, Urban Spanish-Americans in Two South Texas f, Master of Science Thesis in Sociology, Texas A8; versity, January, 1966. 5T1 3. Dickerson, Ben E., “Incomes of Rural and Urban S Americans in Two South Texas Counties,” Master of»; Thesis in Sociology, Texas A8¢M University, May, 4. Ducoff, Louis ]., “Migratory Farm Workers in 1949,” of Agricultural Economics Agriculture Information No. 25, U.S.D.A., Washington, D.C., 1950. 5. Francesca, Sister Mary, “Variations of Selected Patterns Among Three Generations of Mexicans a Antonio, Texas,” American Catholic Sociological if March, 1958. 6. Friend, Reed E., and Samuel Baum, “Economic, S Demographic Characteristics of Spanish-American Workers on U. S. Farms,” Economic Research Servi, . cultural Economic Report No. 27, U.S.D.A., Was " D. C., March, 1963. 7. Leonard, Olen E., “Changes in the Spanish-Speaking, Force of Saginaw County, Michigan,” EDD, Department of Agriculture. (In process.) i 8. Metzler, William H. and Frederic C. Sargent, “M' Farmworkers in the Midcontinent Stream,” Agri; Research Service Production Research Report No. 4,%§ ington, D. C., December, 1960. l 9. Metzler, “lilliam H. and Frederic C. Sargent, “Inc Migratory Agricultural Workers,” Texas Agricultu ‘ periment Station Bulletin 950, March, 1960. 10. Mahoney, Mary K., “Spanish and English Language by Rural and Urban Spanish-American Families in South Texas Counties,” Master of Science Thesis in ology, Texas A8cM University, December, 1966. 11- Skfflbflnfik, R- L-, “Spanish-Americans Raising Edujl Sights,” Texas Agricultural Progress, Vol. II, No. 2, 1965. 12. Talbert, Robert H., Spanish Name People in the Sou and West, Leo Potisham Foundation, Ft. Worth, 1955. Q 13. U. S. Bureau of the Census, U. S. Census of Popu) 1960, Vol. I, “Characteristics of the Population,” Texas. 14. U. S. Bureau of the Census, U. S. Census of Popu 1960, Vol. PC (2) -1B Subject Reports. “Persons of S' Surname.” _ 15. Wilson, Foster W., “Demographic Characteristics of IVhite Persons of Spanish Surname,” Master of ~ Thesis in Sociology, Texas A8cM University, January, ' i y