Nebraska Economic Area Related to Occupational Factors of Nebraska Farm Male High School Graduates

In 1954 Nebraska Census of Agriculture divided Nebraska into eight economic areas. These economic areas were determined by the type of agriculture prevalent in each. Economic Area 1 included the Sandhills ranching region of Nebraska. Economic Area 2 was located in the southwestern part of the state. Economic Area 3a included the area beginning just west of North Platte, following the Platte River to just east of Grand Island. Economic Area 3b is located in north central Nebraska just east of Economic Areas 1 and 3a. Economic Area 4 lay along the Kansas border extending from Nuckolls County to the Colorado state line. Economic Area 5 included that land south of Economic Area 3b to the Kansas state line. Economic Area 6 was located in the northeastern area of the state. Economic Area 7 was situated in the southeastern section of the state. Several studies have previously been conducted in Nebraska concerning the occupational status of former vocational agriculture graduates. These studies were conducted on a local school basis. This study, however, was conducted on a statewide level. It was designed to determine the relationship of occupational factors of Nebraska’s farm males, graduated from high school nine to thirteen years earlier, to the economic area of Nebraska in which they lived on the day of graduation. The specific objectives of the study were to determine: The relationship between graduates’ occupations and selected home environmental characteristics by Nebraska economic area; The relationship between graduates’ occupational and educational background by Nebraska occupational area; and Some measures of occupational status of graduates by Nebraska economic area. Graduates included in the study were those whose fathers were farming on the day their sons graduated from high school or who had farmed during most of the time that their sons were in high school. Graduates who had enrolled in six or more semesters of vocational agriculture were also included in the study. The final sample of respondents numbered 1120; the final response rate was 92.6 per cent. Advisor: A.A. Kahle