Evening star., 1936-12-12
LABOR PROBLEMS
BUILDING WORRY
skill, Rates of Pay and Mum.
bers important Factors
In Costs.
snesial pisna teh to The Star.

CHICAGO, December IL. With
construction activity surging ahead to
q total Of 260, 900 new home units built
in 1896 and a further increase of IS
per cent predicted for 1887 only one
serious uncertainty confronts the home
building industry and that pertains to
labor, according to the December
American Builder, leading publication
In the field Of building.
Contractors and the home buy
ing public" the American Builder de-
clares, face labor uncertainties OF
three sorts: % Are there today
enoush building trades mechanics to
handle an extensive building pro-
gram? (2) Is their skill up to par?
and 90 Is the customary wage struc-
ture with its high hourly rates the
best that can be devised, bearing IN
mind the interests OF both building
labor and property owners?
To-day, with residential con-
struction volume about four times
that Of the depression low. but still
less than q quarter of what might
be considered normal, there are
persistent reports Of sectional scarcity
and warnings of an impending general
labor shortage.
Skilled Help Shortage.
"E. M. Craig, executive secretary,
National Association Of Building
Trades Employers. says that one de-
plorable aftermath of the last period
efo ic
when construction swings back to
normal q shortage Of skilled build
ing help cannot be averted. Aside
from the lack of trained apprentices.
and thinning Of the ranks through
death, Mr.. Craig believes that many
mechanics in the upper middle age
bracket have abandoned their tools
for all time. He points out that in
1929 a million and half building
craftsmen were employed, and esti-
mates that this number is thinned
down to less than q million workers
available at the present time
Closely related to the question Of
available supply Is the matter of craft
skill. The sudden demand for trades
men would again mean filling the
ranks with unframed labor recruited
from any source, as has happened
during past times of rapid expansion;
the inevitable result of such an in.
fux is unsound construction. Moth
ing could bring about prefabrication
faster than such a situation.
"The responsibility for providing q
continuous supply Of skilled workers
rests mainly within the field of or
eanised labor. All other factors must
concern themselves with this prob
lem, however. The Federal Govern
ment has been increasingly active in
promoting apprentice training; other
public as well as private organizations
should foster such activity and seek
to make the opportunity more at
tractive for young men of craft ability,
initiative and desire to find
place in the building trades At the
same time, those whose only objec-
tive is to take advantage Of the
relatively high wages during ap-
prenticeship as compared to what
they could earn elsewhere should be
discouraged.
Hourly Wage Rates.
FINALLY, cost based upon hourly
wage rates should be considered as
the real key to the situation, and one
which bears direct relation to the
bwo preceding subjects. Labor must
receive q fair return for its services
However, the manner in which labor
n paid will eventually be based upon
certain fundamental economic prin-
ciples-supply and demand will be
tempered by what the market will
stand in the way of rising costs. In
che fleld OF housing which, after all,
ts a consumer product, abrupt in
ereases in cost can do much to stop
the present steady increase of rising
volume.
Near certain urban centers home
building activity in the low.cost
bracket Is already feeling the effects
OF rapid rise in the cost Of labor.
substantial progress toward the de-
velopment Of housing for the lower
income classes has been made in the
A0Se ACW yCoAoB uNt VIC hppllCdLlOIl Oh
union scale Of wages has already
curtailed some Of this activity and
N placing it beyond the buying power
Of those for whom it was intended.
because labor cost here represents a
greater percentage of the total than
In higher-priced homes with more
complete equipment. Thus labor works
contrary to its own interests-it re-
duces the volume Of available work
by curtailing the market and raises
the cose Of commodity which it
must buy.
"A low cost development near q
Midwestern city will illustrate this
point. Here developer had sue
eeeded in producing low cost suburban
homesteads which were being sold to
industrial workers from a nearby city.
The scale of F. H. A. monthly pay
ments was well within the reach of
these people. Local labor was per-