Evening star., 1933-12-21
BUSINESS CENSUS
TO GIVE $50 JOBS
WaShington'S "White-ColIar'
Class to Share in Plan to
Employ 10000.

Approximately 800 Washington un-
employed men and women will be
among the 10000 supervisors and
enumerators to be given jobs in taking
the census of American business be-
ginning shortly after January 1. About
80 employed here will be field workers,
with the remaining 600 In the Census
Bureau.
Plans for the census, one of five
projects recently authorized by the Civil
Works Administration to give employ
ment to "white-collar" workers, have
been completed and William L. Austin,
director of the census, announced to-
day that work will begin throughout
the country shortly after New Year
day,
This is the second of the census
projects to be launched, the first being
an inventory Of real property, which got
under way last week with the selection
of 60 cities in which the survey is to
be made.
Altogether, 1,577 persons will be en-
ployed in Washington in all five
projects, but plans for the three re-
manning projects are not yet COM
pleted.
To Compare Business.
The census of American business will
embrace a canvass of more than
2,400,0 900 business establishments in the
United States. The field work, in
which most of the workers will be en-
ployed, is expected to be completed by
February Is, 1884. Analysis and tabu-
lation of the work, however, probably
will not be completed before May !, and
most of those remaining in the service
after February Is will be employed
here.
The new census proposes to cover
all establishments engaged in retailing,
wholesaling in its various forms, service
businesses and all kinds, amusement
business and hotels. 1t will exclude
agriculture manufactures, construction,
transportation, financial institutions,
educational institutions, and profess
sional and personal services.
THE census is designed to present to
business and Government agencies O
true picture OF the condition of busi-
ness and accurate comparisons with
1929 conditions" according to Mr..
Austin, "and will furnish most COM
plete and important guide for sound
planning in the future
For the kinds of business included,
the report will cover particularly the
volume Of business done in 1888, the
number of people employed, amount OF
pay roll and other expenses, stocks on
hand to obtain the total value of sal
ableS at the various stages of distribu-
tion, and other data required to make
the results comparable with the 1929
census of distribution.
Checks Up on Amusements.
Since this is the first time that serv-
Ice trades and amuSementS are included
in a census, it will be possible to ascer-
tain where the consumers dollar is
spent, in what kinds of stores, for
what classes of merchandise, and how
much Of it is spent for service and
anluSements.
With view to speeding up the field
work, the Census Bureau has limited
Its QUESTIONABLE to eight questions.
Ordinarily such an enumeration would
have been made by mail, but since the
original purpose was to supply employ
ment under the c. w. A. the answers
will be obtained by personal calls and
interviews.
The questions call for an accurate de-
scription of the business establishment,
the kind of merchandise or service Of
fered the public, the principal functions
performed, employment given during the
year 1888 to men and women on part
time or full-time basis. salaries and
wages paid, other operating expenses,
net sales and other operating receipts.
stocks on hand, and the amount Of
business done on a credit basis.
Returns Confidential.
while individual returns will be held
as strictly confidential" Mr.. Austin
said, "every business man should be
able to compare his accomplishments
with others operating in similar lines.
This may lead toward greater efficiency
in operating methods and policies.
With collective action made possible, by
the National Recovery Administration,