206 OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION 
sere Sr eens eee ———reereereem se ome ere eee 
British born and foreign born in general. While the British born males constituted 17.4 p.c. 
of the male population fifteen years of age and over, British born employed males formed 
i8 p.c. of the gainfully occupied male population in Canada; and while the foreign born 
males formed only 15.6 p.c. of the male population fifteen years of age and over, employed 
males of foreign birth represented 16.3 p.c. of the total occupied male population of the 
sountry. Thus both the British and foreign born males constituted larger proportions of the 
working population than would be expected from their numerical strength. The conclusion 
is that the British born and foreign born males are more generally employed than are the 
Canadian born, as is shown clearly in Table 130. While the number of males of Canadian 
birth engaged in gainful occupations represent only 87.5 p.c. of the total Canadian born 
males 15 years of age and over, the proportions of the British born and foreign born were 
92.3 and 93.3 p.c., respectively, Such high rates of employment are not unexpected, how- 
ever, because of the unique age distribution of the new immigrants. Both the British born 
and foreign born are abnormally concentrated between 20 and 40 years of age—the econ- 
omically productive years. 
The women of British birth take remunerative work somewhat more generally than the 
Canadian born, but the foreign born women do so to 4. much smaller extent. The proportion 
of Canadian born women gainfully employed was 18.2 p.c. as compared with the higher 
figure of 19.5 p.c. for the British born and the lower figure of 12.4 p.c. for the foreign born. 
Thus, while the British and foreign born males and the British born females are engaged 
in the country’s industries to a relatively greater extent than the Canadian born, the foreign 
born females find employment outside the home to a much less marked degree. Were data 
available for the daughters of the immigrant women the experience of the United States 
warrants the opinion that a very different situation would be revealed. Of all groups of 
women the daughters of foreign born parents show the largest percentage employed in the 
United States. 
Proportions Employed in Specified Occupations—Turning now to a detailed examina-~ 
sion of Table 127, attention is first directed to the occupational distribution of the male 
population. Approximately 41 pe. of the Canadian born employed males were engaged 
in agriculture; 14.5 p.c. in manufactures; 10 p.c. in services of various kinds, and 9, 8 and 
7 pc. in trade, transportation and construction respectively. Those six groups of industries 
hus accounted for about 90 pe. of the male working population of Canadian birth in 
Janada. A comparison of the distribution of the immigrants among the Canadian industries 
with that of the Canadian born males is suggestive. The males from the British Isles show 
24 p.c. employed in agriculture, compared with 41 pe. for the Canadian born males. That 
this should be so was anticipated in the section on rural and urban distribution of immigrant 
sopulation. The British born showed a relatively high percentage living in urban districts. 
While the males from the British Isles had a much smaller percentage in agriculture than 
the Canadian born males, they showed about half again as large a proportion in all manu 
‘acturing industries and over twice as large a proportion in the iron and steel industry 
[he construction, transportation and service groups also claimed much larger proportions or 
the British immigrants, and this is also the case with mining and quarrying. 
Immigrants from the British possessions show the least inclination to go into agriculture. 
Of males from portions of the British Empire other than the British Isles, less than 10 pe, 
were found on farms in 1921, that is, only one-fourth as large a proportion as for the 
Canadian born males. The main occupations attracting immigrants from the British posses- 
sions are the manufacturing. Almost 25 p.c. of the males were employed in one or other 
of such industries, and the percentage in the iron and steel industry was notably high. 
Indeed the proportion of males from the British possessions employed in that industry was 
aigher than that of any other immigrant group, and three times as large as that for the 
Canadian born. Abnormally high proportions are also employed in mining and quarrying, 
and as in the case of those from the British Isles, disproportionate numbers are engaged in 
ronstruction, transportation and the various services, 
Thus, speaking generally, the immigrant males of British birth avoid agriculture, bus 
concentrate in mining, manufacturing, building and transportation to a much greater extent 
than do the Canadian born. Particularly do they concentrate in the iron and steel industry.