THE NEW INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 
239 
INCREASES IN NUMBERS EMPLOYED, 
JULY 1, 1923, to JULY 1, 1927 
Building (exclusive of roads, subways, etc.) ......... 
Automobile, truck and bus operation and maintenance. . 
Road and subway construction...... 
Trade (chain stores and miscellaneous) ........... . 
Public service, including school teachers (assumed to 
increase at same rate as population) ................ 
Operation and maintenance of apartments, hotels and 
restaurants .... 
Telephone operation .. or Ss 
Operation and maintenance of office buildings. 
Electric light and power. . 
Sports, moving picture production and exhibition. et... 
Dil production 
Total . 
1,000,000 
500,000 
710,000 
“7'000 
100.000 
100,000 
50,000 
50,000 
30,000 
50,000 
50,000 
2.150 000 
As a result of these and similar calculations, it was con- 
cluded that there had been no real unemployment problem 
ap to the last half of 1927. What had occurred from 
1923 to 1927 were shifts from some industries which, 
because of improved machinery and processes, required 
fewer workers to turn out an even larger product, to other 
industries or classes of services which had been developed 
or had undergone an unusually large expansion during 
these years. This absorption of displaced workers was 
also assisted by the decline in the number gainfully em- 
ployed as compared with the total population. The tend- 
encies in this direction which had been observable since 
1910, such as less employment and longer school training 
for children and a decline in the number of wage-earning 
wives and mothers, was further stimulated by the better 
standards of living or, in other words, by the advance in 
earnings of husbands and fathers after the 1921 depression. 
Beginning with the second half of 1927 and continuing 
through the first quarter of 1928, there was an entire 
change in conditions. Decreased manufacturing activity 
and a general decline in industrial output produced, as has