Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1955-01-01

been lad OH and are seeking new
employment are likely to realize
that they will have an extremely
difficult time finding jobs and, af-
ter looking around for while, may
give up the search. Yet if they
stop looking for jobs, they may no
longer be officially considered as
unemployed by the Census Bureau.
According to the official figures,
there seems to be slightly more
unemployment among women than
among men. The percentages in
October were 4.6 per cent for wo-
men and al per cent for men. But
again the official figures may not
tell the whole story. We must
bear in mind that women are gen.
orally less employable than men
and, faced with more dismal job
prospects, are less likely to be
looking for work. Therefore, there
may be more "hidden unemploy-
ment" among women than among
men, and the actual impact Of un-
employment on women may be con-
siderably greater than the official
figures indicate.
There is no question that Ne
groes have experienced more un-
employment than whites. The
Census figures show that the I'M
employment rate for Negroes is
more than double that for whites.
In October, for whites it was 3.8
per cent and for Negroes ~ per
cent. While discrimination in en-
ployment is slowly receding, the
old maxim that Negroes are "last
to be hired, first to be fired" still
seems to hold. Again, the Census
probably understates Negro unem-
ployment because, like other
groups who are at disadvantage
in looking for jobs, Negroes will
not for very long continue to seek
jobs that simply are not available
to them. One interesting sidelight
on Negro unemployment is that
Negro men have been hit slightly
harder by unemployment than Ne
gro women, while for whites the
reverse situation has been true.
Industry And Area
Coal mining and hard goods
manufacturing, and the many
areas in which these industries
predominant, have had the heav-
lest layoffs during the past year.
No figures are available indi-
eating directly the industries in
which the unemployed held their
last jobs. All we can do to deter
mine which industries have laid
off the most workers is to look
for the decline in employment in
various industries.
From September, 1853, to Sep
TENDER, 1954-the latest date for
which industry employment figures
are available-the Department of
Labor reports that total non-farm
employment dropped by nearly l.
100000 or about 31z per cent.
Manufacturing, with a decrease in
employment of close to 1900, 900
over the same twelve-month Pc
riod, accounted for about seven
eighths Of the total drop in nom
farm employment. Manufacture
ing employment dropped Sc per
cent, while other non-farm en-
ployment declined by only 0.6 per
cent
While manufacturing showed the
largest decrease in the number of
workers, mining had an even larger
percentage drop in employment.
The decline was particularly sharp
III bitumionus coal where employ
ment in September, 1864. was &c
per cent lower than a year ago.
Transportation, especially rail.
roads, is another industry in which
employment has fallen off consid-
erably, although slightly less than
in manufacturing. Over the year
the only pickup in employment in
non-farm industry groups was in
state and local government, fl
nance, insurance and real estate,
and food and liquor stores.
Examining trends in various
manufacturing industries, we find
that from September, 1853, to Sep
TENDER, 1854, employment shrank
in both hard and soft goods indus
tries, but the decline in hard goods
accounted for four-fifths of the
total decline in factory employ
ment. The IL per cent drop in
hard goods employment was more
than three times the percentage
decline in soft goods. On the
other hand, it is important to re-
member that employment in many
soft goods industries was at quite
low levels a year ago at time
when hard goods plants were only
beginning to lay off workers.
Not single major durable
goods industry group showed an
increase in employment over the
twelve months from September,
1858, to September, 1854. The per-
centage declines ranged from 6
per cent in furniture to IS per
cent in ordnance. The largest de-
cline in number of workers en-
ployed was in transportation equip
ment, mainly due to extensive lay
offs in the automobile industry.
Aircraft, the second largest indus
try in the transportation equipment
industry group, actually showed
an increase. the second largest
decrease was in primary metals,
mainly in basic steel. Az has al.