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Occupational structure of the Jewish
population
No figures exist that would allow us to
describe the professional structure of the Jewish population
in the
Middle Ages and modern period. Somewhat more is known about
the
traditional social hierarchy of Jews at that time, which
differed from
that of feudal Christian society, where good birth and
wealth brought
prestige. Jews' greatest authorities were the learned
Talmudists.
Intellectual professions and those related to religion, such
as the
rabbi, dayan, sofer, shoychet (shekhita) and yeshiva
teacher. Next on
the social ladder were the merchants, but individuals who
had a
religious education and wealth were most esteemed. The
Community elders
were most often chosen from this group. The physical
professions were
least valued, which meant that artisans were on the bottom
of the social
hierarchy. This was even more the case because they often
came from the
poorest strata of society, which meant they rarely had the
opportunity
to acquire a thorough religious education.
Attitudes towards physical labor and the crafts began
changing only
in the early twentieth century, as Jewish lay culture and
political
movements were developing. The professional structure of the
Jewish
population in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was
typical for a
burgher class. Jews rarely worked in agriculture because
they were
banned from owning land, though this rule was not always
strictly
enforced. They were usually engaged in trade (along with
credit
activities and brokerage), trade and inn-keeping. Many Jews
were
employed as servants in private homes and estates, trade
enterprises and
factories. Relatively few Jews worked as clerks (employed in
government
offices and private enterprises), while the proportion of
teachers was
higher than in the Christian community. Jews had a long
tradition of
involvement in the medical professions, where they served as
physicians,
medics and barber-surgeons. In 1794, there were more than a
dozen
Jewish doctors in Warsaw alone. Rabbis and synagogue
caretakers were
important, though numerically small, professions, and were
present in
all Jewish communities. The lowest class in society,
comprised of
beggars, procurers, pimps, thieves and smugglers, was
smaller than in
the Christian community.
The partitions of Poland also divided Jewish society. As
the result
of legal and economic differences in the three partitions,
the
occupational structure of Jewish society developed somewhat
differently
in each. In Wielkopolska in 1849, approximately 10% of the
Jews were
wealthy bankers, merchants, hoteliers, and members of the
free
professions; 52% were employed in small-scale trade and
crafts; 28% were
journeymen and servants. In Wielkopolska, as many as 10% of
Jews had no
specific profession.
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In the Russian partition, the proportion of
trade in the occupational structure fell at first, as Jews
were shut out
of rural trade. In the later period, when Jews were driven
out of many
professions and concentrated in the Pale of Settlement, the
number began
to grow again. After 1882, most Jews were engaged in
small-scale trade
(primarily stall-keepers and peddlers) and crafts. Transport
and
shipping began playing a significant role: Jews operated
four-fifths of
the transportation, shipping and foreign trade firms. Jewish
cabbies and
carters (balagula) became an intrinsic element of most
railway stations
and markets.
Jews also represented a high proportion in the service
sector,
particularly among those running inexpensive restaurants,
beer halls and
inns. In the second half of the nineteenth century,
increasing numbers
of Jews were members of the intelligentsia, which included
clerks,
employed above all in private offices, teachers, and members
of the free
professions.
The occupational structure of Galicia's Jews, however,
was
different. Trade and crafts did not play as large a role as
they did in
the Russian partition. In 1880, 27.4% of Galician Jews were
engaged in
trade; in industry and crafts, this figure was 26.2%, and
among
inn-keepers and publicans the proportion was as high as
21.8%. The
percentage of farmers was significantly higher than in the
other
partitions - 13.4%; as well as those living off the interest
of their
investments - 10.2%. No figures exist regarding the
proportion of Jews
in the free professions, or what their proportion was of the
lowest
classes in Galicia.
During the interwar period, most of the Polish Jews made
their
livelihood in the production sector. In 1931, the proportion
was as high
as 42.4%, of which the majority was involved in crafts,
based in small
production and service enterprises; these were either
family-run, or
numbered just a few employees. In industry, the highest
number of people
was engaged in the clothing sector (17%), food (7.1%),
metal-working
(3.0%), wood-working (3.4%) and textiles (3.0%).
Trade provided a livelihood for 36.6% of the Jewish
population (this
included insurance and finance). But here, too, most Jews
were engaged
in old-fashioned and rudimentary forms of trade, either in
retail or as
peddlers and door-to-door salesmen. The number of Jews
involved in
insurance, finance, wholesale and cooperative trade was
significantly
lower.
The third largest Jewish professional group (4.5%) was
in transport
and communication. In the areas of this sector owned by the
federal or
local government (post, telephone, telegraph, railways,
trams, and city
buses), the Jewish presence was only negligible. Jews were
employed in
private shipping companies and traditional forms of
transportation, such
as cabbies and drivers of horse-drawn carts, and as porters.
Very few
drove modern means of transportation, such as taxis or
trucks.
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The proportion of Jews in agriculture increased
to 4.3%, and included vegetable and fruit growers, forestry
and
fishing. A few Jews even owned farms themselves.
Jews comprised 2.1% of those involved in the medical
professions and
hygiene. These included doctors, pharmacists, medics,
nurses, midwives,
barbers and cosmeticians.
The proportion of Jews in the field of education was
similar (2.3%),
and included teachers at private and public schools, tutors,
melamdim
(cheder), preschool teachers, employees of academic
institutions and
instructors at institutions of higher learning.
In the sector "public servants and the free professions"
(1.8%) the
highest percentage were lawyers and attorneys in private
practice,
individuals employed in religious organizations and social
service
institutions, as well as writers, painters, sculptors, and
those
involved in the theater, for example. State employees
represented a much
smaller proportion of this category. The most weakly
represented were
domestic servants (0.7%).
There was a large group of people who were not gainfully
employed
for various reasons (4.7%). This included people of various
social
ranks: pensioners, the disabled, disabled veterans and their
families,
those living off the income from their investments, beggars,
those
supported by welfare benefits, and individuals in hospitals
and prisons.
Most of the professions in which Jews were strongly
represented had
low income levels. After the Second World War, an attempt
was made to
construct new occupational patterns for the Jewish
population by
steering Jews towards different sectors of the economy. In
1947, as many
as 32.6% of Jews were employed in heavy industry and in
agriculture
(ORT), 15% in crafts, both in private workshops and in
cooperatives
("Solidarnosc").
Under communism, only a few Jews owned shops, while most
who were
engaged in trade did so illegally, at markets or
door-to-door. Jews
began to be employed in the state and local administration
(approximately 25% of the total Jewish workforce). In the
years
1949-1950, after independent Jewish institutions were
liquidated and the
administration and offices purged, this number fell.
Statistics on
Jewish employment patterns were not kept after that time.
(G.Z./CM)
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