Denver labor bulletin., 1917-09-01
PUBLIC LABOR
EMPLOYMENT
BUREAUS MEET
PROCEEDINGS OF FOURTH
ANNUAL SESSION.
Association Is Composed of Men Ac-
lively Engaged in Managing or
Administering Employment
Bureaus in United States.

The proceedings of the fourth an
nual meeting of the American Associa-
tion of Public Employment Offices.
held in Buffalo, July 90 and 81. 1916,
have just appeared as bulletin 220 of
the bureau of labor statistics of the
United States department of labor.
The purpose of this association is to
study the administrative details of the
employment business and seek to i'm
prove methods and secure uniformity
and cooperation among the employ
ment Offices of the country.
The association is composed Of men
actively engaged in managing or ad-
ministering employment business.
Thru its efforts systems Of records and
methods Of management have been
improved and made more uniform, and
in some cases the officers Of the asso-
ciation have assisted in drafting pub
lie employment office laws.
Two important developments Of the
fourth annual meeting were (l) the
adoption Of two resolutions, one plac-
ing the association on record in favor
Of the establishment Of n national en-
ployment bureau, and the other re-
qucsting the United States commits
sioner of labor statistics to edit and
publish as n bulletin the proceedings
of the meeting; and (2) the selection
Of n committee on standardization,
with the United States commissioner
of labor statistics as chairman. for the
purpose Of drawing up n system of
uniform records and formulating
standard definitions of terms and
methods Of work which can be used
in all the Offices thruout the country,
to the end that there shall be uni
formity in the figures from all the
states. II is the duty of this commit
tee TO select from all the systems and
methods now in use the best and most
efficient. and its report at the next
annual meeting at Milwaukee on Sep
tember 20 and 81, 1917, will be the
most important matter on which the
association will have to act.
An address was made by Hon. Royal
Mccker. United States commissioner
of labor statistics, on What records
should be kept by public employment
Offices and how they should be used"
He emphasized the necessity of keep
ing such records as. when published.
will give the public accurate and COM
plcte information as to the work done
by the public employment offices thru
out the country and the cost of con-
Quoting these Offices. At present this
is difficult, owing to lack of standardi-
The desirability of uniform definitions,
standards and forms was strongly
urged.
The secretary Of labor. Hon. W. B.
Wilson, in an address on a national
system of employment offices. dis
cussed the urgent need for public en-
ployment offices and showed the ad-
vantage which could be secured by n
national employment bureau cooper
ating with state and municipal bu-
reaus. helping to coordinate the work
between the different states and cities
Of the country. ,
Other addresses mt the conference
dwelt upon the Importance of business
efficiency in public employment Offices;
the dcsirability Of cooperation among
federal, state and city employment
bureaus; the advantages to be gained
by creating n national labor reserve
board to organize all the employment
Offices in the country into one system
of labor exchanges and put into effect
the remedies that may be found for
unemployment; the needs OF the wom-
ems department Of public employment
offices and the special problems to be
met therein; and the relation between
labor organizations and public employ
ment offices and how the" may be
mutually helpful. Vocational educa-
tion and it's bearing upon employment
problems were given consideration in
addresses covering such subjects as vo-
cational education and Juvenile place
ment departments, vocational guild
ance as n public school function, voca-
tional guidance and the Juvenile place
ment work of public labor exchange,
and cooperation between employers
and the schools in vocational guidance.