Unemployment in the United States

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1828236179

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-226169

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Unemployment in the United States

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: United States, Government Printing Office

Year of publication:: 1930

Scope:: II, 193 Seiten

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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ries rk wat le as pir 1th at ar of an ite ne. elt. en rt nd oy she me nb. of he LY 1= at y vg 10 = 2 ne TS t, Te of al he: 0- cy id SO ad en rer wt ab at a. NO at va UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED STATES 187 to peak proportions; that the prospects for stable employment for months ahead were better than they had been for two years. “And yet it didn’t turn out to be,” he continued, “for the reason that wider sublicity and greater emphasis were accorded it than anyone could foresee. What happened? Within a week after the item was released the district had more workers than it could absorb. Good mechanics from other States rushed there and in some instances got the jobs that otherwise would probably have gone to local mechanics. In some cases, too, they doubtless quit jobs, leaving their {amilies behind them. Another unfortunate phase was that many men of the type that could not possibly be employed spent time and considerable railroad fare to no purpose. I mention the incident simply to emphasize the harmful 2ffect of giving too wide circulation and too large headlines to an employment tem, even though it be of an optimistic tinge. Print, unadorned, sometimes magnifies the simplest truth.’’ A LABOR BAROMETER “But don’t,” he continued—*“don’t draw the conclusion that because I oppose printed and oral broadcasting of unemployment statistics [ would detract from she value of these statistics where social relief is necessary. In cases of long- continued depression in a community they might well be invaluable. To my mind, unemployment statistics are as harmful to the employer and the man he would like to employ as is a blindly optimistic attitude that tends to embitter the social outlook of both.” And when all’s said, why bask in shadows? Is not this the thing we really want 0 know; not so much about unemployment but more about the very real, de- serminable, inspiriting thing that makes unemployment loom, fade or disappear— she trend of employment? If we know the direction industry is moving in we have ‘he world’s best earnest on what is ahead in buying power. For industry seldom employs workers unless and until it is ready to produce goods. In svery language business speaks, employment spells production, and production ‘he capacity of producers to buy. Where to scent the trend? If the proper study of mankind be man the proper slace to study a subject is where the subject roosts. In the sphere of the printed word, what more reliable long-swing barometer of unemployment exists than the help-wanted advertisements of our foremost newspapers? What an uncanny fidelity, their bulk or paucity forecasts production's flow and ebb. A mass of charts and statistics clutter my desk. They show, month on month, for many years, the total linage and number of help-wanted advertisements carried by certain outstanding newspapers in nine of our largest industrial centers, If your memory is rusty as to the general state of business in any one year or juarter thereo, you have but to consult them to get an unbiased, comprehensive answer. There you vision, year on year, the blast of optimism that greets each new vear—spring’s mawlike demand for men in the building trades; the lull of summer, when few of us are concerned with jobs for other people, to say nothing of our own; the return of interest in things futuristic that shows itself after Labor Day, and, finally, November's and December's coldness to the building industry and affection for inventories and for paring down overhead until after the holidays. And then January once again, in every city, each vear. recording a greater lemand that the previous vear's December STATISTICS WITHOUT GUESSWORK Help-wanted ads reflect the need for labor in general and in specific industries. By their absence or insistent presence they forecast the trend in production and eventually in buying power. But they indicate that demand for labor weeks, sometimes months, after the demand first arises; for when a plant has been dormant and is about to man its idle machines its first and logical move is to recall, oy post, gate sign, or word of mouth, its furloughed employees. It inserts its aelp-wanted ads if and when its labor requirements continue unfilled. In the judgment of an employment veteran of many years’ service business has no more valuable indicator of the employment trend than reliable statistics prop- arly appraised and promptly released for public use. “But they should be weighed against other factors before we can be sure which way the pendulum is swinging,’’ says Mr. Charles J. Boyd, general super- ntendent of the Chicago Free Employment Offices. ‘For instance, a most wuthoritative source we in Illinois have throueh our department of labor is the

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