Occupational Distribution of the Jewish Population in European Countries

Occupational Distribution of the Jewish Population in Various
European Countries During the 1930s

Source. World Jewish Congress Submission to the London Conference on Nazi Gold
Nazi Gold. London: HMSO, 1997, pp. 735-737

In Yugoslavia, where Jews represented 0.5% of the population, its occupational distribution in 1930 was as follows:

Agriculture	Handicraft	Commerce	Liberal Professions	White Collar Workers
3%	13%	37%	8%	25%

In Czechoslovakia, where the Jews represented 2.4% of the total population, the percentages of Jews and non-Jews engaged in gainful occupations (without agriculture), were as follows:

	Transport and Communication	Industry and Handicraft	Commerce and Credit	Public Service and Liberal Professions	Rentiers and Others
Jews Non-Jews	2.2 6.0	22.2 51.7	46.7 10.1	8.3 6.7	17.8 16.4

Among the Jews in Czechoslovakia, 56.1% were proprietors of business enterprises, independent professionals or persons of independent means, as compared with 32.5% among the non-Jewish population. Among gainfully employed Jews, 20.8% were salaried employees; among non-Jews, 7.8%. Wage earners constituted 23.1% of persons gainfully employed as against 60.1% of non-Jews.

In Hungary the Jews formed about 5.1% of the total population (1930), but constituted different ratios in various economic branches:

Trade and Credit			Industry			Liberal Professions
Independent Workers	Employees	Physical Workers	Independent Workers	Office Employees	Physical Workers	Liberal Professions
45.6	47.6	29.1	11	33.4	5.6	26

The occupational distribution of the Jewish and non-Jewish population in 1930 was as follows:

	Trade and Credit	Public Service and Professions	Industry and Handicraft	Agriculture
Jews Non-Jews	44.9 4.5	8.2 4.7	32.0 21.5	2.7 53.5

In Poland where the Jewish population came to 9.8%, the occupational structure of the Jews and non-Jews engaged in gainful occupations in 1931 was as follows:

	Crafts and Industry	Commerce and Credit	Transport and Communication	Public Service and Liberal Professions	Agriculture
Jews Non-Jews	42.2 16.9	36.6 3.5	4.5 3.5	6.2 9.3	4.4 67.5

In Romania, where the Jews represented 4.2% of the total population, the professional structure of the Jews and non-Jews engaged in gainful occupations (without agriculture) was as follows:

	Industry and Handicraft	Credit and Commerce	Public Service and Liberal Profession	Communication and Transport
Jews Non-Jews	34.8 47.5	51.5 18.1	2.9 13.4	2.6 10.1

The occupational distribution of the Jewish population in Germany differed considerably from that of the total German population. This is evident from the following figures on the occupational distribution of the Jewish population and the total number of gainfully employed persons as of June 16, 1933.

	Agriculture and Forrestry	Industry and Handicrafts	Commerce and Transportation	Public and Private
Percentage of gainfully employed	1.7	23.1	61.3	12.5
Percentage of total gainfully employed	28.9	40.4	18.4	8.4

The social position of the Jews in the various economic branches was also different from that of the total population. Only 16.4% of the total of German gainfully employed persons were independent, but 46% among the Jews. The figures for employees (white collar workers) were 12.5% and 33.5% respectively, and for manual workers 46.3% and 8.7% respectively. The Jews were better represented in the liberal professions than the average population, e.g., while the Jews constituted 0.74% of all gainfully employed persons, their proportion in the total number of physicians, lawyers and notaries public, and dentists was 10.8%, 16.25% and 8.59% respectively.

In Austria out of 191, 481 professing Jews (1934), 176,034 lived in Vienna. Their occupational distribution was as follows:

Industry and Handicraft

Commerce and Traffic

Public Service and Liberal Professions

Jews

Non-Jews

23.4

48.5

54.5

25.1

20.1

11.1