Montana labor news., 1949-03-03


The President, reas,uring re-
marks wcre followed by another
Nhrtc House statement from Edwin
g. Nour>c. chief economic adviser
to Truman who termed the business
,ltuaiian a. one OF 'dIsinilation
that was economically healthy unless
the public became ''Jlttery'.
"Disnilatlon. DR. Nourse ex-
planned, meant taking pressure oil
imitation whereas "deilation" might
mean general collapse The gov
crnmcn', aim now. he added was TO
achieve a workable set of price re-
laiion,hip> below the peak OF in
ilaiion but above the general level OF
the prc-war period.
Meanwhile. a more than season.
az drop IN employment between
md December and mid January was
annoanced by Evan Clague, Com
missioner 81 the Bureau OF Labor
Statistics ot the Labor Department
However. this drop does not mean
tha, the nation no longer is en-
JOKING a rull employment era. he
said
Mr llaguc said that 100000
out at work would be "a good
guess" at the present unemployment
figure. the mid January total having
been 2.7Oo,ooO lie termed 1,0OOOO
figure a. low as II could get in
tins country, progressing economy,
! ~.t,,-s, =" ~,~A<ssr ,~Au~*vy ~Msass>
which throw people out OF work.
Not until unemployment reaches
total Of around 100000 to $780,
OUu, sustained for some time"
would there be an unemployment
problem which requires action, he
,aid
The employment drop in non
farm industries a, the turn of the
year. Dec IS 10 Jan. IS, was $780,
tN workers
Mi Claguc said that this drop
should be viewed in the light Of )
important facts
CD Employment in December,
l9lS, vas highest in history for De-
I ceulber and for every other month
al lylS III comparison with the like
months Of previous years. (These
figure, concern civilian employment,
and do not include military employ
mcnt ln the war years.
~ The December to January
downturn was mostly seasonal, such
As happens in all years, with post
Y Christmas lay-oiis OF workers in
trade and postal services.
80 The downturn in January,
which was somewhat more than
seasonal. when analyzed, shows up
as small and select" hitting mostly
the manufacturing industries.
lhc commissioner attributed the
\ drop III manufacturing. which he
termed continuing trend, to a
catch-up on war shortages. From
4 ppst-war employment, high OF To-
Il 7WOo in September, manufacturing
job, have declined in each OF the
past lour months to figure OF
4 lSn75,U00 in January
The exact size and significance OF
the more than seasonal drop can
not be measured until April, when
seasonal employment is on the up
ward curve again Mr.. Clague said
II the comeback has ''verve and
kick he said any current talk OF
depression trend will have been
proved uniounded Ii the normal
,ca>onal upturn is 'dampened down
it viii indicate to what extent there
| Is cause ipr concern over a possible
, unemployment trend.
Meanwhile, nation wide survey
oi price, in food clothing and shelf
cr items that constitute the average
Amcrican consumers CHIEF living
, costs. undertaken by the New York
, Times. showed that declines have
been moderate and spotty.' Fooe
: costs were reported in downtrend
clothing prices "soitening. but man,
: other items essential to the averag,
consumers standard OF living hav,
4 remained at top levels. while others
e like iuel and light bills, have evel
, / ppf,. I'm