Even before World War II, industrialization in Czechoslovakia had substantially reduced the relative importance of agriculture in the economy. Before the KSC gained control of the government, Czechoslovak agriculture consisted primarily of small to mid-size family farms with an efficiency on a par with most of Europe. The situation did not change until 1949, when the KSC initiated a policy of collectivization. The pace of collectivization was rather gradual until the late 1950s and was generally more thorough in the Czech lands than in Slovakia. Collectivization was essentially completed by 1960. Large numbers of farmers, particularly the young, left agriculture for more attractive industrial jobs. In the 1960s, the active farm population consisted largely of women and older men.