Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-11-13
DEARTH OF HOUSE SERVANTS Il
BANE OF MATRONS HERE
Shortage in Domestics Creates Serious Problem.
Supply and Demand Widely Apart-Wages
Show Big Increase

fAk y tAs hrst oj a serss Of articles
deasno WITH the domestic empbre
probistn, IN wAtch tie facts Of The prob.
lem, together vnh Hs causes, ore de.
V"'e"' -.
NEVER before Nave Philadelphia and the
IN country AZ large been 20 beset with the
always perpieSins problem Of domestic em-
pioyes
How am to get cook. n waitress, a
maid. q iaundress7
These Questions asked by philadelphia
housewives are conundruma Help" IL
simply not 10 be had IN any reasonable
proportion TO the demand.
The 100 employment agencies scattered
throughout the city are facing the most
pronounced depression In the domestic serv-
ice market they have ever encountered.
Their books are loaded with applications
| for house employees and their registration
llsts are slim. Matrons keep the telephone
wires OF the agencies busy. pleading for
suitable servants. The benches IN the
agencies. usually crowded, are compara-
| lively empty.
The female help wanted columns Of the
newspapers have stretched and almost
doubled their length OF year ago. In n
corresponding manner. the female sltua-
tons wanted colunne have shrunh within
| the last twelve months. The shortage OF
domestic workers is apparent
A canvass Of some Of the principal em-
| ployment agencies IN the city showed that
the demand for servants Ia far above the
| supply.
At the Philadelphia branch bureau Of eIn-
ployuent OF the state Department Of Labor
| and Industry, which was founded n year
ago, the demands for houseworkers are APP
| pruximately double the supply. The bu-
| feau, In other words, has only half as
many prospective servants on file as II can
place In positions
The monthly report for October shows
that OF the 2ia applications for women em.
Dioyes ii3 were for domestics To supply
| this demand the bureau had on file seventy
| applications OF domestics for positions The
| result, forty-three, obtained by subtraction
does not represent the number who obtain
ed positions, for considerable percentage
OF the applicants did not connect"
These hgures are from n bureau where
no charge II made for bringing employer
ana eniploye In touch with one another
Ia the private agencies, where fees are
charged the supply ranges from only one
fiftleth TO ohe.thrd the demand.
"The limited supply OF domes,ies makes
u very difficult TO NJ servants into homes,
said Miss NJ A. Parry, head OF the large
Parry agency, at 1901 Arch street. I'll
normal times II requires n great deal OF
| observation and study Of employer and EN-
ploye to make an arrangement aatisfactor,
| ~
hard. with such pronounced shortage.
SHORTAGE. NOT TEMPERAMENT
ut Is the shortage and not such thingi
as temperaments or dissatisfaction tha
4. causes the present problem. I should SAY
the demand Is fully ten times the tupply.
a The Royal Employment Agency. l42!
Erch street reported that but one-third o
the demand could be satisfied.
The great problem Ia to furnish salts
factory help" 1t was said there. 9TH
supply of women between twenty and fort,
years old who compose the class OF womei
most In demand, has shrunk."
The demand for German domestlcs ha
run up to between thirty-three ana fft,
times the available supply. II was reporte,
at agencies dealing for the most part Ii
German trade. Mrs. Haines' German Elm
ployment Bureau. 6i7 North Tenth street
and the German Employment Bureau, 1at
Filbert street, are beslesed with request
for German help" with the already scan
supply gradually diminishing
| As result OF the ecord-brealxing order
for servants. the native ''colored" help 4
being more and more sought out. even II
the homes where formerly only whit
domestics were employed. Some hgencie
are advertising In the country and in tn