Evening star., 1933-09-17
More Jobs. More Paw.


Material advance in employment and
in pay rolls since March and an upturn
of large proportions from July to Au-
gust is disclosed in a statement issued
Friday by Miss Perkins, Secretary Of
Labor. Through the Bureau of Labor
Statistics it is shown that 2,200, 900 more
workers were employed in August than
in March in the factories and in the
sixteen manufacturing groups sur
veyed by the bureau. 1t is estimated
that the weekly pay rolls have jumped
by $40,000,000 over the pay rolls Of
March. These figures can be interpreted
only as a distinct power Of the Ameri-
can people growing and bread lines
diminishing
From July IS to August IS the in
crease in the number Of workers en-
ployed is given by the bureau as 100000,
divided between factory and nom manu-
featuring groups. A gain of $4,000
jobs in the factories and Of 100000
in the manufacturing groups is re-
corded. And the pay rolls in The Au-
gust period mounted to $12000000 a
week over those in the July period.
Miss Perkins attributes these advances
in employment and in pay rolls to the
N. r. A., to the adoption of the codes
of fair practice in some of the major
industries and to the blanket code tenn
porarily put into effect by executive
order. She mentions. however, other
efforts toward industrial recovery, pre-
sumably those included in the admin
istration's program looking to greater
credit facilities for industry. It would
be idle for the opponents of N. R. A.
to claim that this great drive toward
industrial recovery has not been respon-
sible, in considerable part, for this evi-
dent pickup In employment and wages.
Other factors undoubtedly have entered
into the increases In number OF jobs and
in wages paid to the workers. In
creased demands for goods because Of
depleted stocks the initiation Of the
huge public works program now under
way are among them. But Miss Per-
kins may argue with much justice that
the N. R. A. drive has been a great
stimulating factor in the recovery so
far attained in industry.
There is yet much to be done. how
ever. Miss Perkins rightly points out
that the battle is still to be won. But
the results so far attained must give
added courage for the efforts still to
be made to put American industry on
its feet. Never before In similar period
have there been such great advances in
employment and in pay rolls. 1t is true
that both employment and pay rolls had
reached new proportionate minimums
in this country in March last The
advance toward greater operation Of
plants of many kinds is heartening.
Miss Perkins has pointed out that
factory pay rolls rose faster than did
employment, indicating that the pur-
chasing power of factory workers has
been on the increase. The adoption OF
minimum wage scales for the workers in
industry undoubtedly has been re-
sponsible for such situation in con-
siderable part. However, some employ
ers have increased the pay Of their
workers all along the line, and others
undoubtedly will follow suit.
A vast amount is yet to be done and
millions of unemployed are still to be re-
turned to workshop and mill. More
jobs, more pay, more purchasing power
are the essentials in the chain. Prices,
it is said, must rise. and the value of
the dollar fall. But prices must not
outpace purchasing power nor the
value of the dollar become so low that
the increases in pay are more than
absorbed.
Probably the figures now released by
the Department Of Labor head do not
give the full picture of unemployment
in this country, for many thousands OF
workers undoubtedly have been put to
work on jobs outside of the survey
maintained by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. With Winter approaching,
these reports Of the upward turn in in
| duStry become even more important.