LABOUR  BUREAUX  AS  CLEARING-HOUSES  12J

of  a  system  of  Labour  Bureaux  as  a  department  of  the
public  service,  which  shall  register  the  names  and  requirements ­
  of  workers  who  seek  employment,  and  of  employers
offering  employment,  and  shall  assist  to  place  the  two
bodies  in  communication  with  one  another.  An  effective
organisation  of  this  sort  would  reduce  to  a  minimum  those
elements  of  “  waste  ”  arising  from  leakage  between  jobs
to  which  lowly  organised  trades  are  specially  prone,  and
would  impart  some  increased  elasticity  to  industry  by
enabling  employers  to  execute  their  new  designs  with  less
trouble  and  less  loss  of  time  than  is  imposed  by  the
present  need  of  seeking  for  suitable  labour.  Workers  out
of  employment  who  possessed  some  labour-power  for
which  there  was  a  growing  demand  would  be  able  to
utilise  it  more  speedily  and  more  advantageously  than  at
present.  Labour  Bureaux  would  thus  impart  increased
fluidity  to  labour  and  would  for  the  lower-organised
trades  undertake  some  of  the  important  functions  of  the
Trade  Union  in  the  skilled  and  well-organised  trades.
If  Labour  Bureaux  under  local  management  and  ordered
on  the  same  general  principles  were  kept  in  close  and
constant  relation  with  each  other,  a  Clearing  House
system  for  Labour  might  be  established  which  would
reduce  to  a  minimum  the  waste  arising  from  leakages
and  minor  trade  displacements.  At  the  same  time,  though
such  work  would  be  conducive  to  industrial  order  and
might  help  to  throw  light  upon  the  extent  and  nature  of
fluctuations  in  employment,  no  system  of  Labour  Bureaux
would  materially  assist  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  unemployed. ­
  The  ability  to  fill  gaps  in  employment  somewhat ­
  more  easily  will  not  considerably  increase  the  net
quantity  of  employment.  Even  when  Labour  Bureaux