Evening star., 1935-04-21
JOBLESS INCREASE SEEN
BY "a OF 80 COUNTRIES
World Recovery Apparently Has Hit
Snag, Figures Reported to
Geneva Indicate.

sources Degan TO QWlnOle. Inc faSClSLS
have had to halt completely a pro-
gram which a few years ago took one
fourth of q 10000, ,000, 900 lire budget
to carry out.
The trend in the gold bloc" coun-
tries is being accentuated. Belgium
finally was forced to devaluate the
belga by % per cent in an effort to
stimulate foreign trade, but France.
Switzerland. Holland and Italy are
doggedly sticking to the gold parity
OF their currencieS. French loans are
said to be holding up the lira. The
Belgians rejected the idea Of further
borrowing from Paris and preferred to
join the deprecated currencies TO
going deeper into debt.
Jobless Increase in France.
In France the number Of Officially"
compared with 1872 900 year ago and
4l6 900 in Decemb' =. Actually, the
unemployed reach a million.
In Holland there are 432,392 idle.
compared with 238,926 three months
ago.
In Switzerland there are l02,9l0 on
relief; in December there were only
5000.
In Italy the latest figures give
1,011,7ll unemployed, against 969,s44
three months ago.
against 1885 on December l, 1884.
Yugoslavia has 29,893 unemployed
now and three months ago she had
only 11,721.
The muddled international politi-
cal situation unquestionably plays an
important part in the present state
of employment. But war scares work
both ways. Certain businesses have
been stimulated-steel, iron, NUM-
tions, textiles-where nations have
embarked on large defensive" pro-
grams. Shipbuilding in Italy and
France, where several warships are
under construction. is picking up.
In Germany, Czechoslovakia, Eng
land. France and Italy aircraft fac
tories are working full force-all be-
cause the dogs of war are prowling.
Germany actually has more men en-
gagged in war industries" today than
she had before 1914. Fifteen per
cent of German workers, according
to authoritative estimates, would i'm
mediately become idle were she to
cease her military preparations.
On the other hand, legitimate busi-
ness is adversely affected by the
jittery international horizon. Com
merce is sporadic, several countries
have slapped embargoes on potential
war material-wool. cotton. nickel.
manganese-which the Germans have
been buying heavily. Retaliatory
tariffs and trade quotas have brought
trade to a standstill in channels
which heretofore carried heavy traffic.
Fluctuating exchanges and the poSsi-
bility that the Swiss franc and Italian
lira may follow the Belgian belga
of the gold standard also complicate
trade.
Labor Figures Important.
Labor conditions usually reflect
faithfully the ups and downs of
trade. There is a class which has
been recognized as the "chronically
unemployed" but the 'part-time work.
ers, those who are engaged today,
ldlQ Oh TOMORROW ana re-engage0 the
following day, form the barometer
that can be read in the following
summary.
The unemployment figures upon
which the summary is based are taken
from four sources: Compulsory un-
employment insurance statistics, in
dicated by (D; voluntary unemploy-
ment insurance reports, indicated by
Cd; trade union statistics, indicated
by (+), and official Government and
Employment Exchange estimates,
which are not starred.
The figures for April /. 1895, or
the nearest date thereto for which
reliable data is available, the situa-
ton three months previous. and the
figures for II months before, form a
basis for comparison of conditions
within countries. The table, how
eyer, is valueless as a comparison
between countries. The column
marked difference" indicates by
plus and minus signs whether un-
employment has increased or de-
creased, and how much, over the IL
months separating the first quarters
of 1884 and 1885.