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FED~ WORKS AGENCY WO.RX PROJ~CTS ADMINISTRATION 4.- 226 6 ~~ttfl'm ~~"t'!> e,u\f. ~ ~.o° For Rel ease Thursday, September 4, 1941 StP 22 00 mJEMPLOYMENT DROPS 300,000 nr AUGUST, WPA REPORTS The number of unemployed declined by 300,000 between July and August to a total of 5,300,000, Assistant WPA Commissioner Corrington Gill announced today on the basis of the monthly u...,employment report of the Work Projects Administration. The labor force of the nation decreased by 200 , 000 pe1~sons from J uly to August in accordance with seasonal expectations , while employment rose fhe total labor force in August was placed at 55,800,000 and the 100,000. number of employed at 50,500,000. Since August, 1940, the numbe1' o;: t:nem:•, lo:•e d has declined by 3,600,000. Changes between July and August in unem~0loyment, employment and the labor force were among the smallest of the cm·rent year, Hr. Gill gointe cl ou.t. Unemployment fell 300,000 from June to July, but the labor force i ncreased 300,000 and employment increased 600 , 000 in that period. The July-August seas onal decline in the labor force reversed_ tho sharp upward movement of the :preceding months . Between April and July the labor force increased by 2,700,000 persons , l argely because of seas onal activity in agriculture and the influx of ;'lO'J.ng workers into the labor ma:.::-ket with the closing of school. During this period employment rose 3,700,000 unem- a,11~ ployment declined 1,000,000. "Seasonal changes have been striking during the months that ·wpA has been making its studies of em};loyment, unem;:,loyment and the l e bor fo1·ce, Gill said. 11 ?-ir. "The increase in the labor force during the last few months, how- ever, has to a considerable extent offset the increase in the number of Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-2266 - 2 - employed persons, with the result that the decrease in unemployment has not kept pace with the rapid employment gc1.ins. "A decline in unemployment is expected in September, judging by the experience of last year ;rhen thousands of young workers left the labor market and \<re nt back to school. The same s easGnal factors which cut unemploy- ment drastically la.st S1:,ptember and caused an incr-e ase later in the fall no doubt w il1 b e at ,.,ork this year. 11 The greatest decreases in unemployment a nd increases in employment between July and August were found in the rural c ounties, indicating that the seasonal high level of agricultural activity was co ntinuing. In the five largest metropolitan centers employment remaine d unchanged \<l•hile the labor force and unemployment decreased by the sa1:1e amounts . In other urban ar eas there was little change among the cat dgori e s of employed , unemployed and labor forc e . In August, as in a ll previous mon ths covered by the unemployment surveys, the rate of unemployment was c ons istently lowest in the rural counties and highest in the five lar ges t metropolitan centers. The 11 :!vionthly Report of Unemployment II was inaugurated early in 1940 by the WPA Divis ion of Research under Ho1, ard E . Myers , Director of Research. 1 A representativ e cross-section of the work f orc e is interviewed each month , provicling a direct and up-to-dat e measurement of unernploymunt and employm,m t. Publicati on of the report s was authorized last month after comparison i,rith the 1940 census a nd r epee.ted tests had demonstratecl the r eliability of the findings. (Attached i s a table from the Monthly Report of Unemployment covering d ata from April, 1940, through August, 1941.) ---00000- - - Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY -4• Table I .J .Absolute and Percentage Estimates qf the Labor Force, Employment and I UneMployment April 1940 to August 1941 Total .United States '" Month and year La'bor Force As a perIn cent of r:1illi ons the popuof lation 14 persons years and older 1/ E1:112loiment As a percent of the population 14 years and older 1/ In millions of pers ons Unem:elo;y:ment As a percent of the population 14 years a nd older 1/ In millions of persons 1940 April May June July Au.gust @ September October November December 54.3 55.0 56.6 57.3 57.0 55.4 55.1 54.0 53.4 53.9 54.7 56.3 57.0 56.7 55.2 54.8 53.9 53.2 45.4 46.5 47.9 47.9 48.0 48.3 47.6 46.4 46.3 45.1 46.3 47.7 47.7 47.8 48.1 47 .4 46.3 46.1 8.9 8.5 8.7 9.4 9.0 7.1 7.5 7.6 7.1 8.8 8.4 8.6 9.3 8.9 7.1 7.4 7.6 7.1 53.0 52.8 52.6 53.7 54.4 56.2 56.5 56.3 52.8 52.7 52.4 53.3 54.0 55.7 56.0 55,8 45.4 45 .6 45.8 47.0 48.7 50 .2 50.9 51.0 45 .2 45.5 45.6 46.7 48 .3 49.8 50.4 50.5 7.6 7.2 6.8 6.7 5.7 6.0 5.6 5.3 7.6 7.2 6.8 6.6 5.7 5.9 5.6 5.3 1941 January February March April May June July August l/ Excludes institutional population, and estimated number of pers ons in the arre d forces. FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY Work Projects Administration Division of Research Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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