The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1944-01-27

New York City QLNS).-1
job trouble after the war, the F
the basis of a report on "Techno
by the foundations Department Q
Americas all-time product
period, has been accomplished wi
the number of workers employe
Guilty in providing full employme
port finds.
This situation, in which the
to keep pace with expanding produces
ton, is product of the goth century,
the findings disclose. The pace quick
ened around 1923, when basic tech
biological changes stimulated during
the last year began to be widely ap-
piled in this country. These changes
have gained speed during the present
war.
Labor Changes Analysed
Written by Miss Mary l.. Fledderus.
research associate, and Miss Mary van
Kleeck, director of the Department of
Industrial Studies, the 237-page report
analyzes changes in labor requirements
out of chronological developments in
the mineral industries, agriculture, con-
structiOn, transportation and cOmmuni-
cation, and in manufacturing. The re-
port climaXeS a study made with the
assistance of information drawn from
scientists reports to the National Re
sources Planning Board and other gov
ernmental agencies, on new discoveries
and inventions.
Such enlarged resources should be
hopeful for the future Miss Fledderus
and Miss van~ Kleeck agree. Despite
dangers implied in the rising surplus
of workers due to the Harvesting of
natural forces and the increase in pro-
ductivity, adjustments can be made
if guided by social research in every
cOmmunity-village state, and nation
directed toward use of the new pro-
ductivity for higher living standards.
A hopeful sign for postwar en-
ployment is the conclusion that "the
new technology is potentially able to
contribute to the development and en-
hancement of our great natural re-
source, the land as Il means of liveli-
hood. Many workers would be con
stantly needed in an adequate program
of conservation of land and all it's re-
sources"
Work Adjustments Suggested
'''The immensely accelerated and com
stantly increasing productivity of the
twentieth century is due to the new
science of electricity and chemistry
and their practical applications" ac-
cording to the report.
Continuing, the Il u t hOrS declare:
The problem of employment is not
. primarily to provide jobs, but to eX-
Rpand production needed for living
standards. At the same time, employ
ment must be so organized as to meet
the labor requirements of production,
with adequate return to the workers in
wages and in leisure time.
"One adjustment contributing to the
organization of employment is the con-
tinuous shortening of hours of work.
Another is the possibility of slower
speeds to reduce the excessive demands
made on workers through automatic
processes which are beyond their con-
troll, and thus to conserve health and
enlarge employment opportunity"
Depressions Complicate Problem
While technology displaces workers,
the problem of adjustment, according
to the report, is complicated by re-
current depressions in business, which
check advances in production. These
have actually occurred every or 4
years and with increasing severity.
"In these periods of restriction, or
failure to produce, the greatest waste
of the labor force, through involuntary
unemployment, takes its course, paral-
1eled by lowering of standards of living
and by decline in the national income.
Technological change enters into the
whole problem at the point where CON
SideratiOn needs to be given to ways
and means of restoring idle workers to
employment.
In periods of expansion after de-
preston, the tendency has been to in
\ trOduce Improvements in mechanical
.'uulpiitiil, NHlCH III lulIl ItStllS III III
crease i'm production without IL proper
tiOnate increase in the number en-
plOyed.
Jobs OF Many Eliminated
Under such circumstances the
places of many who worked under the
old condition and at former levels Of
production are shown to have been
eliminated through new automatic pro-
cesses and the greater productivity OF
the labor force. Among them are those