Evening star., 1939-12-31
Perkins Report Denies
Millions Of Job|ess
Need Persist in j. ).
Labor Secretary Sees
Substantial Coins
In Fiscal Year

IN TJSCOI eur
The Labor Department last night
hit at the theory that unemploy.
ment always will run into the mil
lions in this country, declared nc
evidence is available" on which to
base such q conclusion.
1T is now probably true that be-
tween four and five million people
on any given date represent the
normal turnover of industrial un-
employment; that is the number OF
persons who are likely not to be
working on the particular day OF
any particular week due to seasonal
and other variations in the system, u
Secretary Perkins said in her an
nual report. Those individuals,
however, would not be available for
any unsolicited employment on
their intermittent days of idleness.
They are not unemployed in the
real and long time sense.
THE number of persons who will
be available and pressing for work
In the labor market after the full
efforts of reduced hours and better
wage levels are felt in the economic
pattern is still problematical as the
monthly absorption of this group is
steadily increasing. These facts do
not justify conclusions that there is
an ever-increasing body OF unem-
ployed or that there will be no en-
terprises capable of absorbing young
people coming out of school each
year"
Labor Gains Seen in Year.
Secretary Perkins reported sub
stantial improvement" for labor in
the fiscal year ended June 30, last.
Opportunities for employment
were more numerous" she said,
wages increased, maximum hours
decreased, physical conditions Of
work became safer and more health
full. These and other benefits are
the cumulative result of the COM
prehensive economic and social pro-
gram which was launched in 1888"
Non-agricultural private employ
ment in June, the report said, was
33,500,000, compared to 26,l00,000 in
March, 1933-when the Roosevelt
Administration took office-while
pay rolls had dvanced-factory fig
ures were used-from 1887 900 to
$164,089 900. From June 1898 to
June 1889 the weekly roll stepped up
by s29. 9.138,0O0.
These concrete figures show di-
rect economic gains since 1885," the
report continued. They have been
accompanied by social advances
made through legislation designed
primarily to benefit the wage Garner,
but also in the public interest, and
the combination has operated to
promote the general well-being of
this generation and those to come"
While, despite these significant
gains, unemployment has not been
eliminated the report said, lit has
been reduced, mitigated and modi-
fed"
Wage-Hour Act Praised.
Secretary Perkins described the
inauguration of the Wage and Hour
Act as the major development" of
the year designed to reduce unem-
ployment and improve the condi-
tions of the American workman,
and said that the first years opera
ton of the legislation which puts a
floor under wages and a ceiling over
hours can be viewed with some
satisfaction"
She noted also continued i'm
provement in orderly, effective in
dustrial relations" between employ
ers and employees, explaining that
total strikes in the last calendar
year numbered 2,772, involving
688,376 workers and causing 9,148,273
man-days OF idleness, as compared
with 4,7A0 strikes the previous CAL
endar year, involving 1,860,62l work.
ers and causing 28,424.857 man
days of idleness. The 1888 figures
were the lowest since 1882.
The report touched briefly on the
long g-standing fight between the
American Federation of Labor and
the Congress of Industrial Organi-
cation, and told of the efforts of the
administration to bring the warning
factions together.
This split in the labor movement
is hazardous to trade-unionism in
America and is troublesome to some
employers and to those branches in
the Government which deal with
labor problems and labor legisla-
tion," it said.