Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-11
Unemployment Has Been Al
most Entirely Wiped Out
During Past Year.
THEIR LEADERS WORRIED
OVER STATUS IN FUTURE
There Will Be More Men Than Jobs
When Soldiers Return From
Firing Lines.

drains and losses of thirteen months
Of war have had the paradoxical effect
of placing the German workingman IN
position of prosperity unexampled
in his history, of raising his wages by
and large to a point they never at
tanned before, and of almost completely
solving his unemployment problem
The faster men at the front have
fallen and holes in the ranks had to
be filed, the better has become the
situation of the men at home. the high
er have mounted the savings banks
deposits Of the few doing the work
of the former many.
Each month has drawn from the
ranks of nearly all trades men whose
places have not been filled. yet whose
work has had to be done. The work
has been done. in part, by overtime
labor, in part by workers whose
value-and In consequence whose pay
increased about in proportion to the
Withdrawals.
Yet the very fact that the worker
who has stayed at home is having an
unprecedented heyday has created
problem which his leaders. II not ne.
are studying and worrying over-the
problem of what is to become or MIN
and Of how to take care of him when
the war is over. when hundreds OF
thousands of his fellows come stream
ing back from the front. when the
lucrative manufacture of war materl-
ais suddenly stops.
Appeal to Government.
Some think the problem is to be
solved by kind employers who will i'm
mediately take back their former en-
ployes, even though business and trade
do not at once resume their before
the-war volume. Others. less optimis-
tic. are far-sightedly negotiating with
the government already and are asking
that no matter when hosttlities cease
the hundreds of thousands not regu-
larly employed as soldiers shall be
kept on the rolls for eight or twelve
weeks till economic matters adjust
themselves and the men can get back
to work.
The organized trades are piling up
small fortunes in their treasures
against the time when they shall have
to begin again paying out the non-em-
ployment benefits that Just now have
dwtndled to the vanishing point And
the government is practically pledged
to supply hundreds of millions of
marks, il necessary. toward this same
end.
The labor situation in Berlin today is
more than fair measure by which to
gauge the situation throughout the en-
pire. More than ever since the begin
ming of the W. there has been an in
hux of workers H~om the country, at
tracted by the high wages prevailing.
especially in those trades catering to
army needs.
The country has always had a smaller
percentage of men unfit for military
service than the city. The needs of the
army, therefore. which have called for
most of the men who are fit has Gre
ated a greater shortage of workmen in
the small towns than in the cities, and
the labor situation. from the mems
point of view, in the former is in gen.
eral even better than in the latter.
Figures From Berlin.
In Berlin the situation never was
rosier-from the standpoint of the
worker-as the following figures will
attest.
At the great central employment bu-
reau, maintained by the principal
brahches of labor in Berlin, between As
and so trades are represented At the
end of the first week in September Is
OF these trades reported that not one
member was out of employment: 80
others reported from 1 to 1873 members
unemployed and entitled to unemploy-
ment support. The total number draw
ing this support was $40; six trades
mad one man apiece. four had two men
and three had three. The unempIoy-
ment November 81. 1914. numbered
s,i0s among the trades represented.
The city OF Berlin assists in supportin1
tne unemployed. and adds on an average
." per cent Of what the trades themselves
pay out TO this sum. Yet during the
week ending August q last, the city was
FORCED to expend through this channel
pat one half OF 1856 marks, while during
the week ending November 2 1914 nm.
employment had been so great that the
Guys share had been one-haif of 54,SO7
marks.
Payments to Unemployed.
The amounts paid out to unemployed
trade workers through the central en-
pioyment bureau. on the one hand during
the week ending November .. 1914. and
on the other during the week ending Au-
gust II. indicate suggestively as any
thing else how unemployment has dwin-
died with the advance of the war The
following figures covering some of the
more important trades serve as good ex-
amples:
Unemployed metal workers received in
the November week. 6,s73. 80 marks in
.sugust, 21e marks; building trades work.
ers in November, 1865 50 marks; in Au-
gust 22o marks; photographers. S4s. 40
$50 marks; painters, 279 55-l2 marks; tex
tile workers. 4310-S3 50 marks printers
l.15s sos marks: tobacco workers. g. so
" marks. woodworkers. II. 0S1 $40 80
marks. transportation company EMPLOYEES
3.<S2. lo-lS. 10 marks.
The economic reason for the decrease
~. almost the disappearance of, unem-
ploynent lies naturally in the eyer-in-
freasing number of men who have been
drawn into the army. In such trades in
which wages have increased markedly
the places OF some OF the absentees have
been filled-but never all of the places
Thus figures showing the number en-
plOyed July !, 1915 and the number
Drawn for military service up to June 30
1915. when totaled together, in a ma jorit v
OF cases add up to more than the total
employed July !, 1914. In other words
Industrial recruits have been found but
never enough to keep wages from rising.
Status Of Organized Workers.
The following table shows the status of
the organized workers of Berlin In the
nrst column is the number employed July
l, 1915; in the second the number drawn
into the army up to June 30. 1915: in the
third the total employed July /, 1914. and
in the fourth. for purposes Of showing
how the demands Of the army have in
creased, the number that had ben called
upon to serve up to the 3lst Of December
1914:
En- Called En- Called
ployed In TO ployed in u,
July IJu'e 3o.July Dee. 81
1913: 1918: 1914. 1914.
Bsies -. 5000 1873 Bass SIS
Building trades. 5.96s 1906 1i,ss5 3O9s
stooecutters 433 3+3 Sis IA:
Brewery vorkers. ABB 2.14s 5,oa3 AZ;
bootbinoen 4.Sl3 LII sos o.
4 % 1o- 80.