Full text of Press Releases of the Works Progress Administration : July Unemployment 5,600,000 as Employment Grows Faster than Labor Force : August 13, 1941, 4-2262

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4-2262
FEDER.AL WORKS AGENCY
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION

For Release to Morning Papers
Wednesday, August 13, 1941.

JULY UNEMPLOYMElfl' 5,600,000 AS E~il'LOYME})J""T GROWS FASTE.i.'t TH.AN LABOR FORCE

Unonr,loyncnt totaled 5,600,000 in July, a decline of 300 , 000 fron
June, according to a r:ionthly report of the Work Projects Adninistrdion n.::i.do .
public today for tho first tine by Assistant W'PA Connissionor Corrington Gill.
The drop in unenplo~ent was consic.oraoly loss than the rise in
employnont between the two nonths .

0

A seasonal expa..~s ion in the size of t ho

labor f9rco acted as a partial offset to
in July~

DD

incr ease of 600 , 000 in onplo;ynont

Tho total labor force of tho nation in_July was placed by tho WP.A

report at 56,000,000 and OL11Jloynent at 50 , 400 , 000 .
Clearly reflecting tho rising tonpo of i1:dustrinl activit;sr cluring

in un-

the past 12 nonths , tho ·wpA report shows a decline of noarl;r 4,000 ,0GO

errploynont bo~woon ,!uly, 1940, and July of this year , and a drop of 2-:000 , 000
since January, 1941.

Tho largest cl1.ango s c1uring any of tho 1xlst 12 r.1011ths

occurred between A1)ril and May of this year , when a reduction of neai·ly
1,000 ,000 was reported.

Although a largo part of the changes that occurr ed in or.iplo:rr.10ntt
uner:1ploynont a.nd t he labor far cc in July were doscri bod in tho report a.s
11

essentially seasonal in cho..ractor, 11 they servo to illustrate the :i;a:pid

changes t hat take :place nonth to nonth in the nntion 1 s labor force.

Between

Ylarch _and July of _the year , the labor force alone showed an i ~creasc of
3,600,000 Fersons .

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4-2262

Seasonal changes in employment , although modified by pros~uro to
•tiJ expand defense indust~y• also arc illustrated in tho monthly reports~

Employment rose 2,700.000 from July, 1940, to July, 1941, or from a total of
47,700,000 to 50,400,000, but seasonal influences brought a decline in t ho

winter, and a low of 45 ,200,000 was roached in January.
11

Thore is only one way of getting -:1-n accurate pio'bi.lro of the

rapidly changing unemployment situation today," Mr. Gill pointed out,

11

and

that is by _porsonal interview with a representative cross-section of ·.Ameri?a1 s
work force~

Each month we get a direct roport from tho workers themselves,

and therefore o~ figures arc not affected, as are all other current estimates

0

of unemployment, by assumption as to how many ,rorkers there aro. 11
Ini ti nted early in 1940 under tho direction of Howard B. :Viyors ,
Director of _tho WPA Division of Research, tho system was in full 01'.lcration by
April, 1940, when the decennial census was conducted, and employed the same
definitions as the J3uroau of tho Census.

Although both the census and WPA

figures on onploymont and unemployncnt were ba~ed on different national
samples, the agTeoment of results was striking.

,After repeated tests revealed

tho n.ccurac;:y of tho WPA surveys, publication of tho monthly series wns
authorized.
(A table from the monthly report , covering kpril, 1940, to July,
1941, is attached~
Tho complete report is available on reques t.)

0000000
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Absolute a.nd Percentage Estimates cf the Labor For ce, Emplo?m0nt r> nd. Unem:pl oyr.1ont
April 1940 to July 1941

,tiJ
Month
and
Year

La:bor Force
As a perIn
cent of
millions
the po-puof
l a tion 14
pe1·sons
yea rs and
older Jj

Emnlo;ymcnt

As a percent of
the population 14
years and
older 1/

Uno.mI21.o :y1no r..t
As a permillions cent of
of
the popupersons
l at ion 14
years and
older 1./

In

In
millions
of
persons

1940
April

May
June
J11ly
, August
• ~~ September
October
November
December

54.3
55,0
56.6
67,3

57.0
55.4
55.1
54, 0
53. 4

53 , 9

4? . 9
48 .0
48.3
47.6
46. 4

53 .2

<l.:5. 3

45 .1
46.3
47 .7
47.7
47 .8
48 .l
47.4
46.3
46 .1

52.8
52.7
52.4
53.3
54.0
55.7
56.0

45.4
45.6
45.8
47.0
48 .7
50.2
50.9

45.2
45 .5
45 .6
46.7
48 .3
49 . 8
50. 4

45 .4

53.9
54.7
56 .3
57.0
56.7
55.2
54.8

4 (.) . S

-

4r 1 ')
(. ~

8.8
8.4
8.6
9.3
8,9
7.1
7.4
7.6

8.9
8.5
8 .7
9.4
9.0
7.1
7.5
7.6
7.1

7.1

7.6
7.2
6.8
6.7
5.7
6.0
5.6

7.6
7.2
6.8
6.6
5.7
5.9
5.6

~

J anuary
February
March
April
l11ri,y

June

July

53.0
52.8
52.6
53.7
54.4
56.2
56.5

•

1./ Excludes institutional population, and estimat 0d numb er of persons in tho
armed forces.

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