The Economic Progress of American Jewry: An Overview

Abstract

This chapter tracks the economic status of American Jewry over the past three centuries based on the analyses in previous chapters. It relies on qualitative material in the early period and quantitative data since 1860. The primary focus is on the occupational status of Jewish men and women, compared to non-Jews, with additional analyses of earnings, self-employment, and wealth. The Jews in Colonial America, many of Sephardic origin, disproportionately lived in the east coast seaports and were engaged in international trade and finance. The mid-nineteenth century German Jewish immigrants settled throughout the country; often beginning as itinerant peddlers, they advanced to small businesses, and some to not so small businesses in the retail trade. The Yiddish-speaking Eastern European and Russian Jewish immigrants, who arrived primarily in the four decades starting in 1881, are the ancestors of most contemporary American Jews. Starting in operative, craft and laborer jobs in small scale manufacturing or in retail trade in the northern and midwestern industrial cities, they experienced rapid economic advancement. Over the course of the twentieth century their descendants achieved very impressive improvements in earnings and occupational status, attaining significantly higher levels than those of the non-Jewish white population.