Evening star., 1949-02-22

month. The number of new entries
.is even more significant, having
dropped from 220 in March, 1948,
to 48 last month.
Furthermore. visitors to Wash
ington are not invariably interested
only in the scenery.
1--WE are sure" says Mr.. HetZel,
that we get a Larger number Of
migrants in@ Washington than IN
almost any other city. People from
all over the country stop off here
on their way South, and many OF
them are looking, for jobs. Our
Office does q heavy business with
them"
But the fact that jobs are hard
er to get now than they were a
few months ago results not only
because the labor pool has been
swelled by visitors and returning
veterans. USES interviewers. who
are sent around to employers in
the hope of drumming up trade
for job applicants. report the en-
ployers themselves are changing
their attitude toward taking on
new help.
Machinery Plays Part.
The increased availability of la
bor- saving machinery seems to play
a part, they say. Particularly in
such businesses as laundries. inter-
viewers have found that machines
taking the place of hand opera
tions have become more readily
available within the last year. And
businessmen are showing a ten
dency to invest in such devices
rather than in large payrolls.
Credit for business expansions
has frightened and sales in many
cases have fallen considerably, ac-
cording to the reports. Employers,
who once had an attitude of take
any one we can get" have adopted
a more cautious policy.
Those employers who still are
hiring workers are getting choosy
about applicants. More of them
each month are requiring that
prospective employees be tested by
the USES before they apply. They
are also demanding recent ex-
perience in the job applied for and
are less inclined to take on part
time workers.
This toughening attitude is
making it harder today for women
to get jobs in some kinds of work.
It is also hitting the older people,
the handicapped and the colored.
According to the USES the days
are gone when the housewife,
finding it hard to make ends meet,
could get herself a part-time job
almost anywhere until things got
better.
There is still great demand,
of course, for workers in certain
specified fields. No qualified
stenographer, for instance, is
likely to go begging for a job in
Washington today.
The latest Inventory of Job
Openings" for the District issued
by the USES lists also many un-
filled requests from employers for
electrical engineers, nurses, ply
sicists, craftsmen, boilermakers,
Diesel plant operators and radio
and television mechanics. At the
height of the building season last
summer, contractors were offering
fantastic wages for as many brick
layers as they could get.
But these are the exceptions.
In the opinion of labor experts
here, the job shortage applies to
a vast majority of the labor pool
outside the Federal Government,
and it is here to stay.
No one yet is predicting that
the change in the employment
situation will affect wages or prices
in the forseeable future. Even
in unorganized fields, such as do
mestic labor, there has been
no tendency toward competitive
wage-cutting on the part of the
workers. A housewife today may
be able to hire a better cook be-
cause of the change, but probably
not q cheaper one.
A