Evening star., 1936-12-07
INDIRECT JOB AID
FOUND PRINCIPAL
BENEFIT OF P.W.A.
2R Times More Employ.
ment Created in Industry
Than in Building.
lCKES HIGHLY PLEASED
BY REPORT OF BUREAU
2 Years Spent by Labor Statistics
Unit of so Experts to Track
Down Ratio.
BY NELSON M. SHEPARD.

BY NELSON W. SnEf AhDs
A longtime controversy over the
ratio between indirect and direct en-
ployment on the P. w. AS non-Fed-
eral construction projects was ended
today as the referee in the dispute,
the Bureau OF Labor Statistics. pre-
sented its answer to Administrator
Ickes. The verdict, which pleased
Ickes nightly. was that the p. w. A.
program creates two and half times
more work in private industries sup
plying building materials than 1t
does in the building trades construct
ing its projects.
Important use Of the established
ratio may be made when Congress
convenes next month to make ap-
propriations for work relief. 1t will
play an important part, no doubt,
in the arguments OF those legislators
who are championing permanent
Public Works program as a stabilizing
need in industrial employment.
Previous estimates on the relation
ship between labor in the production
Of materials and labor in the actual
building Of structures ranged from
l to to 6 to /.
From time to time the dispute had
waged hotly between the STATS of
Administrator Ickes and Works Prog
ress Administrator Hopkins, with
Ickes always claiming that the rather
modest employment figures of the
P. w. A. ION sites" were reflected
in shops "behand the lines" by a much
greater scale of employment.
Dispute Referred to Bureau.
Two years ago the dispute was
referred to the Bureau of Labor Sta
tistics for a decision. Since then.
so expert statisticians conducted a
search for the correct figure that car
ried them through swamps and for
ests, down into pits and mines,
through the din of steel foundries
and planning mills. and through more
than million dry-as-dust documents.
Using cost accounting methods.
these human blood hounds followed
the trail Of statistics for two full
years under the direction of Herman
B. Byer, head Of the bureaus division
of construction and public employ
ment. With the ratio as their ulti-
mate goal, the statisticians also made
monthly reports on the progress OF
the p. w. A. program and other
special studies covering its effects on
building trades employment and on
industrial production.
Three years of p. w. AS program
are thus covered in the voluminous
reports from its inception In June,
1888. to June, 1886.
During these 36 months, P. w. AS
non-Federal projects alone created
2e9, ,000, 900 man hours of site en-
ployment. Materials ordered during
the same period totaled S539, ,000, 900.
To fabricate these materials, 741,-
000,000 man hours OF labor were re-
tories and in transportation. These
two figures-299. 100000 and 74l.-
100000 are the basis for the 25 to /
ratio.
1WO OhAHOWh oIkOES EVuuus
Commenting on the report, Admin
istrator Ickes said: When this ad-
ministration undertook its recovery
efforts it found that it was confronted
with two unknown factors having to
do with employment. Reliable cur
rent unemployment records were not
available, and the all-important ratio
of so-called indirect to direct en-
ployment on construction was not
known.
Realizing the value Of obtaining
this ratio, not only for our own pur-
poses but also for the benefit of in
dustrialists and economists, we asked
the Department of Labor to make an
independent, comprehensive study and
that it report its findings. Where for
merly we we're confronted with con-
Trajectory estimates, we now have a
report which has removed one of the
unknowns from our calculations"
To obtain this ratio, Byer's corps
of statisticians carried the search into
every part Of the country, while 10000
contractors and subcontractors ham
ding p. w. A. jobs swamped WASH
ington headquarters with monthly re-
ports. Byer directed his search to the
three principal factors in materials
neutrality-suspicious., fabrication
and tropevorf ofioy