Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-01-09


production.
As much as anything else, that prob
lem will mean "salvaging" the workers
who are convinced that the war is vir-
tually over because their particular job
has come to an end.
That means combating peace rumors,
combating the reaction to cutbacks and
the resumption of civilian goods manu-
facture, combating rumors of mass un-
employment and combating the desire
of duration" workers to go home.
. The real danger in the next six
months, manpower officials say, is not
unemployment but a voluntary exodus
of workers from war jobs with its con-
sequent threat to production of military
supplies.
They are afraid workers will start
scrambling for permanent nonwar Jobs
They are also afraid Of losing approx
mately 100000 workers who came into
the labor force because of the war.
Among them are 1000 900 women, nearly
a million men and women over IS years
of age, and approximately $500, 900
youths under 49,
These people may try to get out
OF the labor force before we can afford
to let them co." explained William Ha-
Der, assistant executive director of the
War Manpower Commission.
While manpower controls to some ex-
tent limit the movement of workers
from one job to another and there is
no sign that these controls will be eased,
there Is no method of holding workers
in the labor force if they decide to 60
back to school, or back to housework.
Many Workers Needed.
VINO answers fears of mass unem-
ployment by pointing out that there is
mot community in the country that
can't use more workers than it now has"
Even in New York, where there have been
consistent reports of unemployment,
VINO says the surplus of workers re-
ported is largely Statistical"
Mr.. Haber who predicts there will
be no unemployment for the next six
months, said that laid-off workers could
be quickly absorbed in warehouses, de-
partment stores, transportation services,
business ofices and the trades
The major problem, however, is to
insure that war industries are manned
before workers laid of because of cut
backs return to civilian jobs and this
may mean large-scale transfers of
workers
There have been other major shifts
from farms to factories and back again.
from numbering to shipyards and back
again. Millions of workers are now
working far from home Some of the
shifts were made with considerable
fumbling. Controls on migration came
belatedly. Housing and community
services never kept up with the shifts.
All this shifting, however, was done
on the "up-beat," the pressure of in
creasing production, schedules that had
to be maintained, work that had to be
done and everybody knew it.
Now there is the problem of uproot-
ing the workers again when production
is leveling out and in some cases de-
Ginning when civilian goods are about
to 60 on the market again, when workers
are wondering about their chances of
permanent jobs.
Shift in Requirements.
How stable the manpower shift will
be is purely matter of production
schedules. VINO knows at the outset
that the manufacture of ordnance will
be substantially reduced while aircraft
will be almost as substantially increased.
The emphasis will be on.ship repair in
stead of ship production.
In the face of predicted cutbacks,
VINO insists that it must formulate its
plans on the basis of full production,
operating on its latest Official War Pro-
duction Board data production
schedule Is per cent greater than the
1913 output.
That schedule calls for an overall
increase, rather than a decrease in the
war labor force. If there are substan-
tial cutbacks, the increase may be wiped
out, but there still remains the problem
of supplying the individual industries
where production will rise and that's
where the labor salvaging" process
comes in.
For the past four months, the man.
power phase of cutbacks has followed
this routine, according to VINO officials
VINO is notified that cutback is con-
templated by the procurement agency
involved. VINO attempts to influence
the decision on where the cutback will
be made so that areas of labor shortage
are affected first-the idea being that
laid-off workers can be absorbed in the
community by other war industries short
of help.
Seeks Advance Notice.
VINO has requested that it be notified
as far in advance as possible as to when,
where and what size the cutback is to
be, so that it can make plans to transfer
the workers.
As soon as VINO learns about the
cutback, it notifies the regional VINO
director in the affected area. If the
cutback involves only so to 100 workers.
no action is taken since that few workers
can transfer themselves.
If, however, major lay-off is ex-
pected, the area VINO director is told
to work out program for transferring
the workers-placing them within the
community, if possible, or in the neigh
boring area. Sometimes. the United
States Employment Service sets up a
branch office in the plant. In other
cases, the workers are instructed to 60
to the USES ONCE to registered for new
jobs.