Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-08-21
Cut Of 1O4,4OO
In Government
Jobs Ordered
Budget Bureau Unoble
To Estimate Number
Affected in District

Release of 104 400 Government
department employees within the
next three months was ordered
today by Budget Director James
E. Webb. The Budget Bureau
said there was no way of ascer-
tanning Immediately how many
Federal employees in the District
would be affected.
Heaviest hit will be the white
collar workers. whose group of
$4,000 will be whitfield by 10000 or
9'& per cent at the November Is
deadline.
The figures released were on a
national level and it would be up
to department and agency heads
to determine where the cuts would
be made, Budget Bureau spokes-
man said
To Set New Job Ceilings.
He said the bureau was now pre-
pairing letters which, under the
directors new broad powers, VIII
set new ceilings on personnel of the
various agencies. These new ceilings
probably will be announced within
the week and then department
heads will determine where the
cuts will be made.
The fact that many dismissals
will be made outside Washington
and that there will be transfers Of
some employees to expanding agencies
makes it impossible to accurately
estimate the effect on District en-
! ployes, it was said
| Mr. Webb said that by November
Is. one of each 25 current employees
will be dropped from the payrolls,
reducing the total to 1852 800.
Attributed to Normal Decline.
| The retrenchment was attributed
to normal decline in seasonal en-
Fployment" and the shift of the
United States Employment Service
back to the States.
| 1t was pointed out that in drawing
up the new figures, the Budget
Bureau used man hours instead
of individuals as basis. Two men
might be splitting an eight-houS
shift equally and would be classified
as one man in the climates, it was
said
Many of those released from one
department would find work in other
expanding units, such as the Veter-
ans Administration. the Post Office
Department and the War Assets
Administration, the Budget Bureau
added.
Overall Maximum Undercut.
In exercising for the first time his
Authority to fix agency employment
ceilings. the director undercut the
overall maximum allowances pro-
vided by Congress.
For instance, for the quarter be-
ginning October /, Congress set q
maximum of 528,975 white collar
workers, but the Budget Bureau cut
this to $4,000. This will be further
slashed to 487 500 at the November
Is deadline.
The white-collar workers who will
bear the brunt of the dismissals are
Stenographers, executives, scientists,
clerks, customs inspectors and the
like.
In granting these workers a Il
per cent pay increase earlier this
year, Congress insisted the 1921 ,0OO,-
900 cost of the increases be absorbed
by reductions in force. 1t set out
specific instructions for quarterly
maximums as follows: October /.
E528,975; January l, 1947. sol, I'll:
April /, 1947, 474,567, and July l,
l947, 444 1863.
The total number of employees
other than white collar workers was
set at 2,394, 900 for the quarter be-
ginning October /, with a reduction
I'd 1882 800 scheduled for Novem-
Der 16
At the END OF last June, the num-
Der of Federal employees around the,
world stood at 2686,00o. Before the
war the number was SS7 500 and
during the war it scared to above
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