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THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  UNEMPLOYED

have  found  temporary  employment  for  a  considerable
proportion  of  their  applicants,  we  are  not  entitled  to
assume  that  the  net  amount  of  employment  in  the  community ­
  has  been  increased:  for  it  may  be  the  case  that
the  selection  of  employees  recommended  by  the  Labour
Bureaux  has  involved  the  rejection  or  the  non-selection
of  others  who  remain  unemployed.  In  trades  where  there
exists  normally  an  over-supply  of  labour  it  is  difficult  to
admit  that  the  establishment  of  increased  facilities  for
hiring  labour  will  increase  the  number  of  those  employed,
though  it  might  allow  a  more  discriminative  process  of
selection.
Even  if  we  assume  that  a  certain  quantity  of  productive
work  remained  undone  at  present  because  of  the  lack  of
a  system  placing  employers  in  close  communication  with
employees,  this  admission  only  implies  that  Labour
Bureaux  might  somewhat  increase  the  available  power  of
production.  But  in  periods  of  depressed  trade,  and  in
many  trades  normally,  there  exists  an  excessive  power  of
production,  and  the  addition  made  to  production  by
Labour  Bureaux  would  not  be  economically  valid  unless
it  could  be  shown  that  a  corresponding  rise  in  consumption ­
  was  involved.  In  a  town  where  more  houses  are
being  built  than  can  find  occupants,  no  net  continuous
increase  of  employment  would  be  caused  by  a  Labour
Bureau  which  enabled  builders  to  secure  an  easier  supply ­
  of  all  necessary  labour  and  so  to  put  up  houses  faster
than  before,  and  if  this  same  condition  held  in  all  or
most  towns  no  system  of  mere  labour-exchange,  however
well-conducted,  would  increase  the  total  quantity  of  employment ­
  over  a  long  area  of  time.  Even  the  stoppage
of  waste  from  “  leakages  ”  and  misplacements  would  only