Interesting finds from the 1940 census data

This final note today. The Census Bureau released data from the 1940 census this morning. All kinds of cool individual stuff you can look up on the Census website.

Also a then-and-now comparison. Things like: In 1940, fully a quarter of the economy was manufacturing. Today it’s just shy of 11 percent. Back then, 5 percent of Americans had bachelor’s degrees. Today it’s 28 percent.

This is the one that got me: In 1940, women earned 62 cents for every dollar a man made. Today, it’s still just 74 cents.