The Ecphorizer

Mensa Rosterology III
Ken Uhland

Issue #11 (July 1982)


A data dump of the occupations and ethnic origins of SF Mensa members



[quoteleft]It's time for more, yes more, information about the membership of San Francisco Regional Mensa. Some time ago National Mensa provided the San Francisco group with a data tape containing a mass of statistics on the 2,566 members we had at the time. (We've grown since.) A look at

6.1% of SF Mensa members identify themselves as other than White European

these statistics may answer some often-asked questions.

How do SFRMensans earn their living? National Mensa gathers information in two categories - Area and Occupation.

Area.

 

 

Private Industry

41.93%

1,076

Government

 

 

   Federal

5.38

138

    State

2.49

64

    Local

2.57

66

    Total Government

10.44

268

Non-Profit

 

 

    Charitable

0.47

12

    Education

5.96

153

    Health Service

3.20

82

    Religious or Church

0.31

8

    Total Non-Profit

9.94

255

Self-employed

5.85

150

Other areas

3.35

86

Not employed

9.98

256

Information not provided

18.51

475

Occupation.  Looking at the occupation codes, we find 549 members (21.40%) haven't listed a specific occupation.  those who have fall under the following headings:

Professional, Technical arid Managerial Occupations

 

 

    Architects

0.39%

10

    Art

0.82

21

    Data Processing & Computer        Technology

10.83

278

    Education

5.03

129

    Engineers

7.87

202

Entertainment and Recreation

0.58

15

Law and Jurisprudence

3.58

92

Life and Social Sciences

2.68

68

Managers and Administrators

11.11

285

Mathematics and Physical

 

 

Sciences

1.56

40

Medicine and Health

4.32

ill

Miscellaneous Professional or

 

 

Technical Occupations

3.82

98

Museum, Library and Archival

 

 

Professionals

0.47

12

owners of Businesses

2.45

63

Religion (Clergy)

0.11

3

Writing

3.23

83

Clerical and Sales Occupations

 

 

Computing, Keypunch and

 

 

Account-Recording

0.50%

13

Information and Message

 

 

Distribution, Mailroom

0.27

7

Merchandising, excluding

 

 

Salespersons

0.16

3

Miscellaneous Clerical

1.21

31

Sales - Services

0.62

16

Sales - Commodities

0.31

8

Secretarial and Stenography

1.05

27

Service Occupations

 

 

Amusement and Recreation

 

 

Services

0.11%

3

Bankers and Stock Investment

 

 

Brokers

0.86

22

Building Services, Janitorial,

 

 

Custodial, etc.

0.11

3

Food and Beverages Preparation

 

 

and Service

0.50

13

Housewife or Homemaker

1.17

30

Miscellaneous Services, not

 

 

classified elsewhere

0.66

17

Protective Services

1.32

34

Real Estate

1.48

38

Wholesale Supply and Service

0.08

2

Farming, Fishery, Forestry

0.39%

10

Trade, Manufacturing and

 

 

Processing Production Worker


 

Bench Work and Technical

 

 

Services

0.97%

25

Construction

0.47

12

Machine Trade

0.43

11

Manufacturing and Processing

0.39

10

Other Specific Trades

0.35

9


Miscellaneous Occupations

 

 

Amusement, Recreation and Motion Pictures, not elsewhere classified

0.23%

6

Graphic Arts

0.23

6

Motor Freight and Transportation

0.27

7

Utilities Products and Distribution

0.08

2

Occupations not classified above

5.53%

142


Excluding the 549 members who didn't list an occupation and the 142 unclassifiable occupations, the individual occupations having the largest number of members are:

95

3.70%

Programmers

87

3.39

Miscellaneous Professional and Technical occupations

77

3.00

Electrical Engineers

66

2.57

Lawyers

63

2.46

Business Owners

62

2.42

System Analysts

60

2.34

Managers and Administrators

58

2.26

Data Processing and Computer Technologists

44

1.71

Accountants and Auditors


At the other end of the scale, we have only one member in each of the following categories:

Metal Manufacturing
Guards/Watchmen
Protective Services
Commodity and Supply Brokers
Athletics/Sports
Actor/Dancer
Interpreters/Translators
Veterinarian
Dietician
Geologist

Ethnic Origin. Predominant racial or ethnic class data has not been given by some members and 50 members consider it private information. The breakdown is as follows:

20

0.78

Amerind

19

0.74

Black

1,878

73.19

White European

25

0.97

Latin/Spanish American

11

0.43

Middle Eastern

9

0.35

South Asian

38

1.48

Oriental

9

0.35

Other Asian

1

0.04

Polynesian/Melanesian/Oceanic

25

0.97

Other origins

531

20.70

Not known 



This month's article contains the last bits of information that Ken Uhland squeezed out of the Mensa roster tape.  His computer is now convalescing.

More Articles by Ken Uhland


Contributor Profile

Ken Uhland

Master Puzzler Ken Uhland graced the pages of the SFRM Intelligencer with puzzles for over two decades. Ken has worked as a taxi driver and a technical instructor. For many years he coordinated the Mensa volunteers during San Jose's KTEH-TV's PBS Pledge Weeks. Ken passed away in May, 2004, at age 58.