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Jobs 3

May 30, 2019

Up until one and a half centuries ago, this country used to be a samurai country, and almost all of its workers were farmers. It is estimated that about 7% of the residents were samurai, 5% were merchants and craftsmen, and the rest were farmers. During the samurai time-period citizens were not allowed to move from their living areas or change their occupations. However, a half century after changing to a modern form of government structure, a 1920 statistics depicted citizens' occupations:  Farmers : 51.6%  Fishermen : 2.0%  Miners : 1.6%  Industry labors : 19.4%  Merchants : 11.6%  Transporters : 3.8%  Officials : 5.3%  Others : 4.7% Before 1920, drastic changes had been happening within this country. Railroads were spread all over the country. Steel was made and rails were constructed. Of course, many stations were constructed. How many people worked for them? After they were completed, many new rail-related occupations occurred: train drivers, conductors, ticket punchers, ticket sellers, maintenance workers, even box lunch sellers. A postal system started. Post office branches were constructed all over the country and an uncountable number of postmen were employed. People sent letters and parcels all over the nation, including to remote areas. Telegraph and Telephones started. Telephone poles and lines were installed all over the country. Maybe being a telephone operator was one of the most popular jobs for females.   Water systems, sewage systems, electricity grids, and roads were constructed. Many workers engaged in those, both constructing and maintaining. Children's education became compulsory. Elementary schools and junior high schools, as well as high schools and universities were constructed and many teachers were employed. Brick buildings, and then later steel and concrete buildings were built. Shabby individual houses were changed into better ones. Later, modern homes had children's rooms and walls that were insulated. Individual carpenters and painters worked, and later they formed companies.     More and more people lived in cities because companies and factories were made in cities. As cities grew, they were more planed, and allowed for more new jobs. Restaurants offered lunch for workers. Barbers and beauticians cut people's hair. Movie theaters and pachinko opened for worker's entertainment. Clothing companies offered outdoor clothing. Hotels offered single rooms for business men and women. Actually, companies are a good system to offer mass products and services. They borrowed money and made factories. The textile industry was the biggest industry in the first stage of this country. As the labors' salary was lower than other developed countries, companies were able to make certain quality cheap clothes. The companies' products used new synthetic fibers like nylon and polyester are started to sell them all over the world at a low cost.   Banks played as important role to support mass production. For mass production, big factories were needed. Many workers' salaries would have to be paid before the company got any money from sales. Eventually clothing exports became electric appliances and cars. There were so many products that were exported. People in this country liked this type of thing. There were no natural resources in this country, so the early economic strategy was to import natural resources, and then process them into a product, and export it. Farmers continually decreased. They weren't able to make enough food for the people in this country any more, but people didn't care. They could import food from other countries using the money they earned from exporting products. The GDP per person in this country became number one in the world.   (To be continued ...)

*estimate :見積もる
*craftsman :職人
*structure :構造
*depict :描く
*miner :鉱夫
*conductor :車掌
*remote :へんぴな
*sewage :下水
*compulsory :義務
*shabby :みすぼらしい
*insulate :断熱
*outdoor :戸外の
*textile :繊維
*synthetic :合成
*fiber :繊維