Planning notes [Number 23, 27 August 1962]

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NUMBER  23
27   AUGUST 1962
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LET'S COMPARE
. . .Greensboro with several other cities having essentially the same population but situated
in varied geographic locations . These cities are:
Portsmouth, Virginia; Columbus, Georgia-Alabama; Trenton, New Jersey; Topeka, Kansas;
Lincoln, Nebraska; and Madison, Wisconsin.
From data compiled by the Census Bureau, I960
enumeration, we are comparing Greensboro
and the above mentioned cities by selected employment, educational, economic, housing and
population characteristics . These comparisons
are being made for the purpose of discovering
similarities and differences between the cities.
A proper interpretation of these factors will
lead us to new insight of our community.
Variations are brought about by manydiffer-
ent factors. Industrial and commercial activities must be taken into account as well as demographic, climatic, physiographic and cultural
factors. Also, factors pertaining moredirectly
to the producation and exchange of agricultural
and non-agricultural goods should be considered.
One outstanding area of comparison is by labor force characteristics. These are comprised
of data pertaining to employment status, occupation groups, and industry. In order to facilitate the comparisons being made, an explanation of these terms  is warranted.
Employment status is basically that data
pertaining to the number of people in the labor
force. For our purposes this includes both
male and female, 14 years old and over employed and unemployed. Military personnel are
not included here although census data does include them.   Employment status may therefore
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be loosely defined as that portion of the available civilian labor force which is either employed or unemployed.
The civilian labor force may, in turn, be sub-
classified into occupation groups. These groups
are merely classifications of particular fields
of employment which are homogeneous. For
example, in one grouping we will find professional and technical workers while another will
categorize workers as craftsmen and foremen
or perhaps as operatives. The divisions were
made in accordance with the varying amounts
of skill and/or aptitude necessary for the satisfaction of the job requirements.
Occupation groups in turn, may be categorized into industry or industry titles. An industry category defines a particular industrial field
and consists of a homogeneous group of industry titles. An individual maybe classified ina>n
occupation group as a craftsman or foreman and
have an industry title of textile and apparel products, this being the field inwhichhe is actively
engaged.
Therefore, we may say that employment status indicates the number of employed whereas
occupation classification is concerned with
skills and training to the product or function
performed. In the following table employment
status data has been compiled into male and female employed and unemployed and percentages
of unemployment.
Prepared by Mathey A.   Davis
Department   of   City   Planning
NOPTH CAROLINA I