Gist of This Issue IMPROVISOR, innovator, pioneer-all three describe the worker in the Employment Service. This issue brings a few of the trail-blazing projects carried on by these workers in public employment offices. First comes a group of articles telling of innovations introduced by employment offices to serve veterans. Finding jobs for ex-servicemen where no jobs had been thought to exist; "mass field visiting" on their behalf, rallying an entire town to find jobs for disabled veterans, and setting up special informational devices for them, are four of the stories appearing in this issue. (pp. 5-9) One of the most striking examples of pioneering in the ES was that carried out by the Los Angeles office in gaining cooperation of organized labor. (p. 10) The color and excitment of working in an employment office was never better illustrated than in the three articles entitled "Operation Cherry Pack!," "Workers for Tobacco," and "Playtime is Placement Time." (pp. 12-15) The next group of articles tells how local offices blazed new trails in improving operations. Hartford, Conn., was among the first to experiment with self-application, (p. 16). Philadelphia found a striking plan for eliminating the peaks and valleys in the selfapplication load, (p. 17). To improve employee morale, a Texas supervisor turned a grapevine into a constructive factor. (p. 19). And in California, the Long Beach office developed an effective type of operations controls. (p. 21) From Albert Lea, Minn., comes the story of the "greatest job hunt in history" led by the ES, with the help of the local Committee for Economic Development. (p. 3) Manpower-Basic to Building WHEN THE public thinks of the Veterans Emergency Housing Program, it looks at the number of houses under construction. But, what it cannot see as vividly is the problem of assuring the necessary supply of building materials which up to now has been perhaps the major bottleneck in the housing program. Holding up this supply were shortages of basic raw materials, lack of plant capacity, machinery and equipment, shortages of storage space and shipping facilities, price limitations and manpower. In order to meet tremendous production goals, every assistance to build up output was extended, including premium payment plans, wage and price increases, machinery and equipment priorities, and the like. Results have been gratifying with a spectacular rise, during the past few months, in the production of building materials such as lumber, roofing and siding, brick and tile, softwood plywood, and clay sewer pipe. But, basic to all of these emergency measures was the need to assure an adequate supply of workers. To this task the USES is making a major contribution. State and local offices, wherever building materials industries are located, are keenly aware of their special recruitment programs to aid individual plants. They are maintaining close relationships with plant management and cooperating with them in analyzing in-plant conditions or in suggesting modifications in personnel practices. They are placing orders in interarea recruitment and dovetailing their own efforts with those of other Government agencies to help increase local production. Local office staffs may well take pride in the results achieved through their coordinate efforts and I extend to them my congratulations. The job, however, is not yet over. Many production schedules are still rising in order to keep pace with the expanding Veterans Emergency Housing Program. These include cast iron soil pipe, plumbing supplies, hardwood flooring, roofing materials, and others which call for large expanded production programs. These in turn will frequently require a stabilizing of the present labor force and perhaps increased employment levels. Additional shifts may have to be worked and new trainees brought in. I am sure that the Employment Service will carry on with this emergency program and "lick it" as it has other emergencies of the past.-ROBERT C. GOODWIN, Director, United States Employment Service. T An official publication of the U. S. Employment Service, United States Department of Labor Press TIME 'raise for States and staffs-Training materials eleased-VES field forces grow-Even producon pace-War and Navy employment nears ock bottom-NEPH Week wins support— ED reports to President. OME 24,000 staff members in 1,809 full-time and 2,712 itinerant point offices will read this issue of EMPLOYMENT SERVICE REVIEW in their new roles itate employees. s this "army" of workers transferred from Federal vice on November 16, they took with them the 1 praise of Robert C. Goodwin, Director of the ited States Employment Service: The men and women of the local offices did a magnificent during the war and in the months that followed. They rve the highest commendation for the outstanding services rendered during the period of their Federal employment. 1 sure that the State agencies recognize that in the transof these experienced and trained employees to State emment, the State services are receiving an asset of inestimavalue. I know these employees will continue to give the : outstanding service to the State public employment : systems." t the same time Secretary of Labor Lewis B. wellenbach expressed his appreciation to the e officials who cooperated in working out deof the transfer, and expressed confidence that Employment Service will, under Federal-State tionships, continue its forward march: am confident the gains made during the war and reconon period will be retained under the Federal-State relahip established by the Wagner-Peyser Act. The Emnent Service functions have become increasingly clear igh its 13 years of experience, 13 years during which the oyment pendulum has made its widest swing, from the peak of unemployment in the 30's to the high peak of shortages in the war years. he Nation as a whole faces the task of maintaining a high economy. A strong system of State-operated employoffices is essential to meet the employment problems of and in the years to come. wish to express my appreciation for the fine cooperation ave received from the States in working out the necessary details incident to the transfer of local office operations to the States. I pledge the fullest cooperation on the part of the Federal Government in carrying out the joint Federal-State relationship provided for in the Wagner-Peyser Act, as amended." ¶Local office training material was released during October on employee relations, occupational classification, the VES field assistant training program, and the interest check list. Progress was made on a handbook entitled "TABULAR AND GRAPHIC PRESENTATION" for use by State and local employment offices and a handbook entitled "METHODS OF AREA LABOR MARKET ANALYSIS." A set of new occupational tests called the General Aptitude Test Batteries that measure 10 aptitudes which show a job seeker's probable success in as many as 20 different kinds of work is now available at the Employment Service local offices which have job counseling services. Many State and local offices contributed to the development of these training materials. ¶ Selections are rapidly being made of additional VES field assistants authorized by the Seventy-ninth Congress to aid the Employment Service in securing jobs for veterans. These field representatives will go after orders for jobs to be filled by veterans. They will travel to all communities, and will coordinate their activities with those of local offices in interviewing employers and employer organizations, encouraging them to make more and more jobs available to veterans. After obtaining job orders, the local ES office will follow through by referring appropriate veterans to the jobs. Field representatives will also plan and conduct programs designed to promote the employment of veterans, utilizing the press and radio stations to carry their message. They will work with local, State, and Federal agencies and private organizations engaged in services to veterans in order to initiate plans for job development and to assist such agencies and organizations whenever possible. ¶ Industrial production continued at the peace-time peak it had already attained. Hence, little net gain was registered during September, says the October report of the Civilian Production Administration Administrator, and no important increases were being predicted for the rest of the year. Output of that very very important commoditysteel-has been stabilized since early August at about 90 percent of capacity. Unless production mounts, the output of machinery and equipment so necessary to the expansion plans of many plants, cannot be pushed much above the September level. This level, however, is already 150 percent above the 1935-39 average. Many building materials reached new production highs in September, though not enough to meet requirements. However, the outlook is brightening and the CPA Administrator says "further increases in building materials are possible and probably will be achieved." Likewise the Nation may look for a revival of the meat-packing industry and an increase in cotton textiles and in those types of chemicals (notably industrial alcohols) which depend upon agricultural raw materials. In other industrial groups operations are either at practical capacity or as high as shortages of manpower and materials will permit. A slackening of demand is evident in brick and in truck tires. Until the supply of steel and some other basic materials can be increased, production in many fields will not be able to move ahead. Automobile production, after making sharp gains in July and August, was unchanged in September. ¶Budget Director James E. Webb has reported that civilian employment in the War and Navy Departments has declined nearly a million since VJ-day. Thus a new Budget Bureau reduction order to these departments finds them well in line with employment ceilings set for January 1, 1947. The War Department, which was asked to cut its civilian personnel from 602,000 on November 16 to 528,000 on January 1, had by October 1 already cut employment to 565,209, and since that time has made a further reduction of 25,000. The actual reduction to be accomplished by January 1 will therefore be less than 20,000 and its turn-over rate of 3 percent a month is expected to eliminate this number. For the Navy Department, the Budget Bureau ordered its personnel ceiling cut from 384,000 on November 16 to 363,000 by January 1, a total cut of 20,000. Actually, the Navy had 372,837 employees on October 1. Since October 1, turn-over and reductions have brought its net employment figure down by nearly 10,000 persons. Thus Navy needs no further lay-offs to meet its January 1 ceiling and normal turn-over between now and then will put its employment well under the budget ceiling figure. ¶ One result of National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week, observed October 6-12, was the extensive amount of public information which came about through publicity in newspapers, radio, and in monthly and weekly periodicals. The effectiveness of this information is reflected in the increased numbers of employment opportunities held out for the handicapped. A total of 29,400 placements of handicapped job seekers through the Employment Service was 38 percent above the previous September figure. Sixty five percent of the placements of handicapped wer disabled veterans. Forty-six States reported October gains in total placements of the handicapped; ir New Jersey and Tennessee, September figures were more than doubled. In the October period, Massachusetts and New Mexico almost tripled their September record. New York led in the number of placements reported, with Texas, California, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania following in that order Texas led in placements of disabled veterans, and following that State were New York, Michigan. California, and Pennsylvania, ¶ By mid-December the Council of Economic Advisers w submit its report to the President on employment, busines conditions, fiscal policies, wages, labor relations, and other aspects of our economy. As required by the Employment Act of 1946, the Preside will use this information as a basis for his report on the economi: state of the Nation which must be submitted at the openin session of the Eightieth Congress in January. That report wil cover public and private employment, production, purchasi power, Government tax policies, and forecasts on all thes: economic elements. Most of the information which will go into the Counci report will be assembled from the research units in Goverment agencies. The Council has consulted with representatives of industry, agriculture, labor, consumers, and with State an local governments to gather all facts which go to make up the country's economic picture. ! GREATEST JOB HUNT This Is the By P. D. FAHNESTOCK Committee for Economic Development THREE YEARS before the armed forces of the United Nations had won final victory, the residents of Albert Lea, Minn., set out on the greatest job hunt In history. For while this southern Minnesota comnunity of 16,000 was in the midst of a thriving war prosperity at that time, its citizens already were hinking in terms of productive jobs for the 3,500 young men and women of the county who were in he service. Then, too, Albert Lea had another job problem, hat of supplying postwar employment to thousands of young men and women from its farms who were not called for service. For, as mechanization proceeded, ›ne farmer often could do the work of several. Even without this factor, farm population of the area was greater than the needs for rural labor, because large amilies are the rule among the Americans of Scandinavian, German, and Italian stock who form mportant parts of the Albert Lea trading area. The city had a Chamber of Commerce which was anxious to do something to create new jobs, but its eaders agreed it was not flexible enough to meet the problem which confronted the community in January 1944. So businessmen of the town sat down to do some job planning. One of their first moves was to oring into their group Walter Stieler, manager of the ocal office of the Employment Service. From the very beginning of the effort to find more jobs he became key man in the organization. As the businessmen began to chart their course it became evident that three things had to be done. One was to encourage expansion of existing industries. The second was to seek new factories for the comnunity. A third was to help new, infant enterprises et under way, especially for returning veterans who wanted to go into business for themselves. Out of discussions as to how the work could be done ame a suggestion that a hundred men in the community contribute $100 each to organize and finance in enterprise to be known as Jobs, Inc. The money hus raised would be loaned to men and women to tart a new business or a new service not already in xistence in Albert Lea or Freeborn County. It would e a revolving fund. There would be no profits or ven a guarantee of return to the contributors of he capital. The money was subscribed quickly and was made vailable for job creation with similar speed. The rst borrower was a cabinetmaker who wanted to have is own business. Using scraps of wood from a local planing mill he skillfully equipped a shop in which bird houses were built, then wooden toys which were in big demand during the war. Today he is building complete kitchen cabinets and doing millwork with a force of nine men. More will be hired as materials become available. The original loan of $1,000 has been partially repaid and the owner now has a business worth many times that sum. Another firm, launched with the help of Jobs, Inc., funds, took scraps of metal from a local stove building concern and produced sturdy miniature snow shovels and sets of garden tools for children. Today this firm, the Albert Lea Wood Products Co., is planning Nation-wide distribution of its goods. It started in a garage with 800 square feet of floor space, now has 7,200 square feet in a modern factory building, and in its first season of operation produced 50,000 snow shovels and 22,000 sets of garden tools. Its loan of $1,500 repaid to Jobs, Inc., it has current liquid assets of 10 times that sum and is providing steady employment for more than a score of workers. Predicting the Outlook As the launching of these new industries was progressing, the backers of Jobs, Inc., in cooperation with the Albert Lea Chamber of Commerce and a local Committee for Economic Development, were using check sheets to find out just what the community's postwar job outlook would be. Here Manager Stieler's contribution to the job creation effort was very great, for he was able to determine the status of anticipated employment during the war and how much employment might reasonably be expected after victory and reconversion. He found that there were 4,266 jobs in commerce, industry, and the service trades in Albert Lea in 1940, with a wartime peak of 5,896 indicated. Nearly all of the 5,896 who were on the job at the height of the war effort wanted to stay in productive employment after victory. The community also wanted to give suitable preference to the 3,500 men and women in the armed services, so it set its sights far above prewar levels in its job planning. But there was a major problem to be solved, that of housing, if homes as well as jobs were to be provided for all who wanted to work after victory. Here, too, Jobs, Inc., moved swiftly into action, for commuters were driving into the city from points 35 miles distant or even more. Once more local businessmen through Jobs, Inc., met the challenge. Each of 27 men invested $1,100 in a prefabricated home which Jobs, Inc., then rented to a returned veteran for $21 a month, or $23.50 if a stove and heater were desired. The colony on the outskirts of the city formed by these homes now has central bathing and laundry facilities and even elects its own mayor and council. It is recognized that these are only temporary homes but they have enabled 27 veterans to be with their families instead of having to occupy single rooms as many others have had to do. Albert Lea needs at least 500 new housing units. To help meet this need a representative of the building trades flew to Mexico, bought up a big supply of lumber, and shipped it back to Albert Lea for home construction. Prefabricated houses were built from this material, and an additional 30 complete prefabricated homes have been constructed. In addition, 171 conventional type homes are in some stage of construction and many basement homes have been built and families are living in them until the upper stories can be added. As all of this went forward Manager Stieler, working with Frank Marpe, county service officer, was touring the rural areas to recruit men and women not needed in agriculture for the city's rapidly expanding industries and for stores which were selling 31 percent more goods than they marketed before the war. Job training courses were set up for more than 200 veterans and others without previous industrial experience so that they could take some of the hundreds of available jobs. In these courses as in all of the planning for more jobs, organized labor took an active part in whatever was done. For jobs, Inc., worked through and not around organized labor. It likewise recognized the need for and welcomed the active participation of Government agencies in what it was doing. The "52-20 club" was no problem in Albert Lea. According to Mr. Stieler, of the more than 2,500 veterans of the community who had been discharged, only a very few were drawing unemployment compensation. Little industries in Albert Lea began turning into big ones. One Minneapolis firm operating in cramped quarters was induced to move its plant to larger quarters in Albert Lea and in order to assist the company in expanding its operations, $50,000 is being raised locally. This company has two new ideas that Jobs, Inc., considers especially worthy of development-a deburring barrel and a jet type collet chuck. In all the plans to help existing firms and to finance new ones, the men of Jobs, Inc., made sure there was a market for the products which would be manufactured. "Who will buy?" was a question that had to be answered satisfactorily before funds were made available for manufacturing. In the case of the deburring barrel, demand is far greater today than even the expanded new factory can supply. Steady jobs are assured for scores of men and women. Service enterprises also thrived. Two returned veterans set up a rat and insect exterminating business, thus filling a local need. Another former serviceman founded a plating company, there being no such enterprise within 100 miles. He is now working with a local manufacturer to finish his product in Albert Lea instead of having it shipped to a distant point. Cloth flowers made in Albert Lea are finding a national market. Practically every business house in town lists all its job openings with the local public employment office. Here is Albert Lea's job record for the past 6 years The 550 unemployed consist of recently returned veterans and veterans about to enter school, women formerly employed in defense plants but whose return to gainful employment is questionable, and unemployables who insist that their applications be kept active in the files of the ES, even though because of age, infirmity, or other disqualifications they cannot be placed in productive jobs. Very little has been left to chance in making sure that there are jobs for veterans in Albert Lea. In December 1944, a questionnaire was mailed to every resident of the county who was then in the armed forces. He was asked what his status with respect to employment was before induction. He also was asked if he expected to return to his home county to live, if he had an option on a job, if he planned to attend school, start a new business, remain in the armed forces, or would be looking for work. To complete the personal history of the individual he was asked whether he had any experience and training which would fit him for specialized work. Armed with this information the ES was able to plan for the placement of hundreds of men even before they were discharged and reported to the employment office. The result of such planning was a very minimum of time lost between discharge and entry into profitable civilian life. All of the information was, of course, treated in complete confidence. Presiding as chairman of Jobs, Inc., from the very beginning has been Charles E. Myers, public utilities executive by vocation and public-spirited citizen by avocation. This is what he has to say about the part the ES staff played in the amazing record of job creation and placement in his community: "The plan could not have succeeded in anything like the present degree had it not been for the aid of Mr. Stieler and his assistants. They joined in planning for more jobs, knowing that before they could make placements they had to have job openings. "In Albert Lea we have demonstrated that management, organized business, and organized labor, working with Federal and local agencies of Government, can solve almost any local problem that is presented. We of Jobs, Inc., are proud to have been part of the effort to find enough jobs to go around, not only for our servicemen and women, but also for the soldiers of peace who did such a fine job in supplying the things we needed to win total victory." |