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CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM RELEASE AS9
CURRENT SUPPORT BRIEF
A COMMENT ON SOME ADDITIONAL RESULTS OF THE9 POPULATION CENSUS IN THE USSR
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND REPORTS
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Thii report represents the immediate views of the originating intelligence components of the Office of Research ond Reports. Comments are solicited.
This document contains Informationie national defense of the United States, withintUeSC.nddrsrevelatlon of which In any mannerlnftuthorUed person Is prohibited by law.
A COMMENT ON SOME ADDITIONAL RESULTS OF9 POPULATION
CENSUS TN THE USSR"
The USSR rocently announced more summary results of thecensus conducted in/ The new data, whicha distribution of tho total population by social class and means of support,istribution of the labor force by occupation and educational attainment,ype of Information thathas been available only ln the published volumes for6 census. For Soviet planners and policy makers, the detailed data underlying the few results made public are the first such datain census form
Distribution of the Population by Social Class
According to the census results, the populationillion ln9 was distributed by social class as follows: Workers andercent; Kolkhozpercent; and Private Peasants andpercent. orkers and Employees and members of their famillos havo increasedittl over half to more than two-thirds of tho population, reflectingthe growth of the urban working class and the decline of the peasantry. State farms also contributed to this development as their population, which is included in the class Workers and Employees, more than doublod9 to roughlyillion
Distribution of the Population by Means of Subsistence
The distribution of the Soviet population by source of income or support is shown in Table 1. According to the census1 "million persons wore "gainfullyis, were reported as having an occupation as their chief means of supporjt, and anillion were exclusively engaged in porsonal subsidiaryfarming personal plots of land and tending privately-owned livestock and poultry. Thoillion persons -ereon the state or on other individuals.
The questions asked in the census, as well as the instructions Issued to the census-takers, made no provision for an individual to report himself as unemployed. Persons with an occupation as their chief means of support but not working on the census date were asked to specify where they last worked and were classified accordingly.ince the census was conducted ln mid-January, when outdoor work waseasonal low point, the number of gainfully occupied persons was much higher than the number of persons actually at work. "For example, the consus3 million gainfully occupied individuals on collective farms, but average employment during the census month was0 million. 3/ Similarly, the census countedillionoccupied Workers and Employees in mid-January, comparedeportedillion actually at work at tho end/ Althougheasuro of unemploymont by the rigidly defined USwhich counts an individual as unemployed only if he is activelyworkdifferences show the extent of idleness inamong persons who usually work: ercent among collective farmers andercent among othor workers.
ompares the census results-wlth OAR-estimates of the civilian labor force. In order to make these comparisons it iso add to the census figure for the total number of gainfully-occupied persons the number of persons engaged in personal subsidiary agriculturo,o subtract the number in tho armed
POPULATION OF THE USSR BY MEANS OF SUBSISTENCEANUARY 9
Means ofPersons
Total
Gainfully
Armod
Workers and employees
Collective
Individual peasants and
Engaged ln personal subsidiary
Dependent on stipends or pensions
Dependent on other
Dependent on other means, or status
not3
employed in State-owned enterprises including Statemembers of Producers' Cooperatives.
employed persons receiving pensions (includedncluding all members of familiespensions, except those who were also employed.
Tablo 2
CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE INCENSUS RESULTS
AND 0RR ESTIMATES, PERSONS)
a/
Civilian labor force
a. 67
1
CQNFIDENTIAh
n thQ armed forceshe published - tVs identical withanualVe?flfiO Kh^ushchev as the 8lz^ of the armed forces as of
-The- ORR estimate of the civilian labor force combinesof the number of collective farmers who worked during tho year with annual averages of employment on state farms and in nor.agri-cultural branches of the economynd therefore could not beto agree with the census fTgure. Nevertheless, the totals are quite close; the substantial differences in the two figures for agriculture and nonagrlcultural branches can be explained largely in terms of differences in concepts and definitions; are.
of agricultural employment includes all employment at State and collective farms, and would thereforehigher than the census figure which Includes only agriculturalat these farms.n average of about'ill ion farm workers were employed in nonagrlcultural activities at State and collectivo farms. 9/
Tire- ORR estimate of nonagrlcultural employment is an annual average and would necessarily be lower than tho census figure,because seasonal and part-time workers arc treatod the same as full-year workers In the census figure, but are included only as fractions in the annual average.
The census figure for nonagrlcultural employment probably includes certain small groups, such as domestic servants and the military security forces, that were excluded from reported annual averages and therefore from thVoHfr estimate.
Educational Attainment of the Labor Force
The census results were reportedanner which showsgains in the educational levol of the labor force The proportion of the labor force with at leastear) education increased fromercent9 toercent Among the intelligentsia, whichpersons or one-fifth of the labor force thowith at least an elementary education increasedoercent, and among the manualremainder of the laborproportion roseercent toercent.
When avorage (median) years of schooling are computed for the various groups, however, the results (Tablehow more clearly how low is the educational attainment of the Soviet labor force and how very unequally tho groups have shared in the Although tho absolute difference between the educational attainment of tho intelligentsia and manual workers is now greater thanhe relative difference has remained the same -the intelligentsia had about twlco as much schooling as manual workers both9 and The gap between thoattainment of State workers and collective farmers,widened both absolutely and relatively Although State workers hadore years of schooling than collective farmershey nowore years; State workers now haveercent more schooling than collective farmers, compared toercent more
AVERAGE (MEDIAN) YEARS OF EDUCATION OF THE USSR LABOR FORCE99
Total labor
Manual
State
Years
Collective
including the armed forces; excluding personalagriculture.
iqic, DJS1S!ld Rational progress made by the USSR9 the Soviet labor force, on the average, had only half as much
Vheears. US urban workers1 years of schooling, and US farm workers
5
ources :
2. Vestnik statlstiki, no I, pp. U.
Manpower" "RosGarch Office, US Bureau oi tho Ccne^-j.
Materials on the Conduct of the 'S. ;
US Department of Commerce, Washington,.
s ticheskoye upravleniyo pii sovete
ministrov SSSR. Sel'skoye khozyzystvo SSSR (Agriculture USSR).
statisticheskoye upravleniye pri sovete
ministrov SSSR. Narodnoye khozyayslvo9The National Economy of"inTMoscow, p. . U.
Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Serins
No 5, a^ct nods'"Used"Current Employment and Unemployment Statistics Prepared by the Bureau of the.,
, Labor. Supply _and Employmentthe
, "
FBfS, Pa'ily Repor t (USSR and Eastern Europe), 14
CT above) p.
Sel 'skoye kbozyaystvo.
10. OT Bureau cf Labor Statistics, Special Labor Force Reports No. Educational Attainment of Workers: U.
1
CONFIDEN YIAL
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Original document.
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