Evening star., 1937-05-30

the service Is attac cking possible labor
shortages in three directions; first,
by providing information with respect
to the available labor supply, second.
by increasing the geographic mobility
among skilled workers and. third, by
increasing the occupational and In
dustrial mobility of labor.
Detailed registra ton data kept by
the service is becoming an increasingly
valuable source Of information as to
location Of labor shortages or sur
pluses. trends Of employment. and a
guide to planning occupational train
ing programs or public works projects.
= Geographic mobility is being
achieved by development Of the
system OF state and interstate clear
ance under which, when workers can
not be found within a community to
fill available jobs, search for qualified
persons Is conducted among other
offices Of the service in a widening
circle from region to state to nation.
To Facilitate Transfer.
Through an occupational research
program, the service aims to facilitate
transfer Of workers from occupations
in which there are few employment
opportunities to other occupations by
classifying similarities OF jobs in unre-
lated industries and also the distin-
gushing characteristics OF successful
workers in different occupations
That the files of the service provide
q reservoir of labor is obvious from
the number and classification OF
registrations.
In December, 1898, and again in
July, 1886, the service made an anal
ysis Of occupational and employment
characteristics OF regstrants.
On the earlier date, it found
7,791,979 persons registered while the
figure had fallen to 6,6l9,89l on July
of last year. In each case, about halt
Of the total were persons with relief
status.
In classifying the registrants ac-
cording to occupational characteristics
the service found it had l,567637
skilled craftsmen listed in December
1895, and l,244966 on the rolls last
July. Representing a drop of more
than 100000, most Of whom presum-
ably have been absorbed into industry,
this classification also reflected greater
labor demand than others since in
1895 it accounted for 20.l per cent OF
the total registrants as compared to
only 1873 per cent last July
Training Progress Made.
AS regards the long-term solution of
training workmen. apprecible progress
has been made during the last two
years. In the preceding five years
such efforts had come to almost q
complete stop as industry shed Itself
of the cost of training young workers
and labor viewed with reluctance the
idea Of training men to take the
inadequate number of jobs then
available for those already skilled.
Along with general business i'm
provement, however, most effective
force in bringing about q realization
Of the need and elimination Of the
distrust between industry and labor
in connection with training workmen
has been the Federal Committee on
Apprentice Training.
First established in June, 1884, the
committees initial function was to
establish minimum apprenticeship
standards whereby employers, upon
compliance, might hire such workers
at wages and hours less favorable
than those prescribed by N. R. A.
codes. When the codes were invali-
dated, the committee oecame an ad-
junct Of the National Youth Admin
istration and Is still receiving Its
financial support from that source A
(Oonktnied o. Pa0e DID