Evening star., 1946-08-10
Employment in U. 5.
Tops 60,0O0,O0O,
Census Bureau Saws
BY the Assoeioied Press

In less than a year of peace the
United States has topped the So
called full employment" goal of
100000 jobs, the Census Bureau
reported yesterday.
Civilian employment In July
climbed to an unprecedented high
of So, ,000-a gain of 1890 900 job
holders in single month-while
the armed forces had 2,64O,O00 on
the rolls.
The bureau, which seldom inter-
prets its figures, threw out a eau
ton flag. Unemployment sank to
it's 1916 low, 2,270000, but the
people now out of jobs, the report
said, "in some cases are having real
difficulty finding work.
Manpower Shortage Seen.
On the other hand, a definite
trend toward manpower short
age Of the wartime type was re-
ported by Robert c. Goodwin. direc-
tor of the United States Employ
ment Service. 1t probably is still
considerable distance away" he
told a reporter. Other agencies
have forecast serious shortage
by the year end.
Sixty per cent of employment
service area Offices over the country
show employment still going up,
Mr.. Goodwin reported. Only II per
cent show labor surpluses. In %
per cent of the areas employment is
neither rising nor falling.
The employment service has not
yet generally shifted back to its
wartime role of finding workers for
jobs, Mr.. Goodwin said, though the
trend is in that direction-we will
shift as rapidly as there is need"
Farm Helpers Sought.
President Truman took steps, how
ever, to help farmers get harvest
hands. He signed a bill continuing
until next June 80 the Federal pro-
gram Of recruiting farm laborers in
areas where workers are scarce.
The postwar target of 10000 900
Americans at work, including the
armed forces. was set by the late
President Roosevelt in a 1914 cam
paign speech.
AT VI day. an official Govern
ment forecast predicted, not too
optimistically. that it might be
achieved in IL to 18 months.
But Secretary of Commerce Wal
lace. who gave the concept it's widest
circulation in his book Sixty Mil
lion Jobs" stated last week that
todays full employment is due to
imitation and lacks the stability
needed for lasting prosperity. He
predicted a slump.
Wallace View Challenged.
Civilian Production Administrator
John D. Small, first to forecast a
labor shortage this year, challenged
Mr.. Wallace's view. Barring labor
strife, he predicted, the country can
attain "a period of prosperity such
as we have never known"
Commerce Department officials
privately gave the opinion that the
census figures made conditions look
better than they actually are. Sea-
sonal employment in farming, vaca-
ton trade and other fields will drop
off this fall, they noted, and many
veterans and children will quit jobs
to enter school.
The civilian employment increase,
a jump of almost 100000 from the
total of 54,270,O00 employed one year
ago, therefore may be "shaky," they
said, and subject to a slump.
The census report showed, too,
that even July's low total of unem-
ployed was a big increase over a
year ago, when $4,000 were hunting
jobs in the month before Japan
surrendered.
One out Of every five job seekers
had been looking for work as long
as four months, the bureau said
Last year only one in twelve was in
that situation.