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4-2085
FEDER.AL 1'.'0RKS AGENCY
WORK PROJECTS ADMilJISTRA.TIOlT
western U
FtB 12 1
For Release to Morning Newspapers,
Thursday , February 1, 1940,
~ '""-~-'SR AR"
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U:NEMPLOYd:.~NT REMAINS HI GH AS INDUSTRIAL ACTIVI TY HITS N".SW ALL-Tii-AE
PE.AK
While i ndustrial activity during December 1·eached t he
highest l evel o n record
even above that in the
11 p ro
$Jl eri ty 11
period of 1929 -- there was no corre~Jonding abatement in the
pressure of th e r e li ef and unemployment p roblems, Col onel F. C.
Harrington, Work Projec ts CoIT'miGsioner , ['.nnounc ed toa.ny on the
basis of a. summary revi Gw of relief a.nd. e conomic conditions t:iroughout t he nc::.t i on .
I n th e face of such er.courat:;i ng economi c factors as the
rise in i ndus tr ial p roductio r. to a l evel above the po o.k in 1929 ,
o.nd with "',at i onal i ncome pa::ment s eq_1.1ali ng t hose ac!li ev ed dur i ng
t he 1937 r ecovery period, Colo nel Harr i ngton noted that t he hit~h
l eve l of unemp loyment remain5d unchanged during t he month .
Thero
was , further, he said, an i ntens ification of t he p r essu:re up on
loca l r elief and WPA offic es for a ssistan ce to the d e stitute and
unemployed.
11 While
this paradox of h i gh i ndustri a l a ctivity a ccomp anied
by an i ntensifi cation of relief ,1eeds aprears confusi c1g , 11 Colonel
Harri ngto n stated ,
11 i
t i s no t difficult to understand when c.11 t he
factors are known .
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the f ir st place , more Md more persons nre seeking
joos each year .
As our populat io n conti nues to t':."I'ow , especL:.l l y
in the working-nge brackets, the total number of r,e r sons
work i n creases .
nting
Vl['..
Si nc e 1929 over 6,000,000 have been o.d.ded to t he
nation I s vrorki,:g force .
Hence, while p roduction is kwk to its
level of a decade ago, unemployme~1t r emains a ste,6 gering pro blem.
11 Se co i:dly,
t he relation between 2Jroduction n.nd elll_l-; lo ymen t
is steadily widening.
Fe,rer a,.'1d fewer men nre needed to p roduce
the s wne quantity of goods a s were required a de cade, or even f ive
ye ars, agp.
Mechanization is steadily reducing the ciema:.:d for man-
p O\,er per unit of out p ut .
Sho rt er honrs of work only rar ti all y
C0 11!fensate for the i ncreased efficiency .
11 Thirdl;,,r ,
a great ma,.'1y of t hose currer tly ea_p lo yed are
emplo~red on a r, art-time bas i s .
Hence , t he step- uI, i n :::•roduction
which has been i n evid.ence for the i) ast several no,1tl1s ~1as nean t, to
an i r:rpo rt ant degree, t he r e tur n of ,mrkers already enp lo;'{ed to ful lt i r.ie schedules rathe r than t he emp l oy::ient of any great nunbers of n ov1
workers .
"Moreover, seasonal facto rs t end t o off sot , insofar as
tot a l uneJ:11,loynent is co:1.cerned , any- gn.ins vrh icb. night
to i n cr eased industrial activity .
·bo
attributed
Con.structio11 a21d ;_1any other typ es
of bus i ness are sharp l y curtail ed fron lJo•.renber to I£arch .
Winter
always finds agricultural errp lo yne?1 t at its lovmst po iEt i21 any year .
Naturally , t oo , the neea.s of tho une!:Ij_Jlo ycd for food , clothing, and
shelter are nuch greater duri ng riint or than in other !J.ontl:s .
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11 These
p aradox:
factors are ne c es sary to an undor stai1di!1g of
0ur
wby r e liof needs do not decline as r.iuch a s busL1ess ac-
tivity inprove s .
They lec1d to the inevitable conolti_sion thnt we
r.mst coatinue a substant i al p ro gran of aid t o t :ie 1 .1;.1e~:ip l oyed un til
suc h ti ne as donestic activity L:-1cr eas o s to l e v e ls n·bove o,ny he r e t of o re seen .
11
Accor di n.gly , Colone l Hnrr i n 6 ton said, WPA eXJ.ia:1ded its
operc.tions in Decor.1bor.
To t al er:rp l oyncnt on p r o jects advn.Lced fr on
2, 0 23,925 at the end of libvenbc r t o 2 ,151,813 on Do cenber 27 .
A
substan tial po.r t of this onp l oync:1t wrn acconntod for by tl,o r e assign.r:Jen t o f vrorkcrs p r evi ou s l ;v l a i d off u!'ld.e r th o cl2,uso i n the
current WPA appr op riatio::1 c.ct p r ohi b i ti:J g no r e tho.:,.1 18 no;.:ths continuous e::rp l oyne11t .
Totn.l e:;q,end i tur es d1lri:"lg Decen·ber r:ere $133,257,000,
a s conpar ed with $118,526 , 000 i n the 1-receding no,1th .
lfost econonic fo..ctc•rs which could ·be ex_;_)e ct ed t 0 be ar upon
the p r ob lens of r e lief ond unenp l oynent showed
De c enbe r, t he Con::dss i one r pointed out .
o...'Yl
upm,,rd tr end during
The Federal :U.eserve i ndex of
il1du stri a l product i o n, which as l ate as last Aur;u.s t rms onl y 103 , had
cliobed t o 128 .
At this leveJ. t he indox ,-:as 3 po i )its abo ve its pea..'!{
in t he su:mer of 1929,
a,.>-id
10 po i!1t s h ighe r thcU.1 at any ti~.10 in t he
r e covery y8o.:r of 1937.
lfatio nal i ncor:.1e pn;yrnm t s in Deccube r vmrc runni:1g a t an
wmual r ate near l y as large as in t he best nont r.s of 1 937, a l though
p ricos ·were l ov;er .
Tho cos t of li vi nc , Yih i ch r ose sli g:1tly fo llovdng
the outbreak of tho Euro pean r:o.:r , nas in Deccnb cr st ill n li t tle
lo wer than a ye::rr onrlier; 5 perce!,t lower t hon at its pecl: in 1937
and 15 pe r cent l ower t han in 1929 .
Dupartr.:ient stor e soles nere higher
~
than at any tino igitnea.13-;o7 .
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Aft e r incroo.sing in N0 v emb e r for t he first ti ne during the
co..lendo.r yo.:i,r , u.nenploynent r ot:C1.ined unchangect d"L1ring Doc onbor , Col onel
Harring t on said.
Over- all unenploynent ,,as in excess of 9, 000 , 000 in
both months .
The fail ure of unenpl oyment t o decline in Decenb er was the
r e sult of conflicting tronc.s in agricultura l a nd norn1gricul t ur::i.l i ndus tri es .
A go.in of app r oxir..ately 390 , 000 j ob s i n r etail trade was po.rti o..lly offs e t
by declining employnent in construction , trrurnpor t o.ti on n:ncl sovoretl other
i ;:ipo rt o.nt industr i es , lea ving n. net i nc ro::cse of ne·)..r ly 250 , 000 i 11 t o t2.l
nonD,C;;ricul tural enploynont .
Th is , however , wo.s vir tually \,i pod out by
a net cl.ecli ne in tho nw.1bor of e,gricult·,1r C'. l j obs , t hus l envi ng over- c.,11
unon~Jl oynont prc..cticall;i UJ1cho..11,3ed fron t he Novenbo r t o tal .
The DerlD.1·t-
mont of Ag ricul tnre re1)01·t od. the nur.1bo r of h ired wcirkors on fo.:c·ns nt
tho ,:mcl of Doc m.1b e r as t ho snallest f 0 r
O.il;:/
sL-:iilar per i od on roco:.:d.
Sinila rly , th e Soc i a l Se curity Eo~~r<l r o~)o 1·t od n cto croaso
of 5 . 5 :po rcerit in t he nur.~ber of j obs in :yri vato on9loynont secured in
Dcce:·.1bor t l1r ow;h its :Bureau of Enploynen t Security , and. a:1 i n croo.se of
7 percent in the ar.1ow1t of un enployuon t c onpens a ti on pn~'T.lonts .
Those
cho.nc;e s , li ke t he i nc r ease in W?l~ enpl oyne:1t , tho Cor.ITJissionor explo.L100_,
were 1 2.r sol y due to t ho usuL'..l seas onCLl influ.0"1cos w~1ich r est rict t:.1e
op1Jo rtuni ti c s for out c1.oo r or.rploynont .
'i'foil o t here vms a one po rc on t d.ecrec,,se i n Decenbor in the
mmb er of c2.ses r e ceiving ger.ero.l relief in 108
reprcse n ta ti-✓ o
ci ti cs ,
accorcting t o t l1e Socio.l S 0 cl1.ri ty Bo e.re. , ~md of one percent in t ho
suns s po:1t f o r such pur :!_)oses , t he r e
\70.S
no im1.ic.:-.t i on of a l ossor.ic1g
cf r eli ef noods , Col onel Ha rri ngt oi~ decL:,roc.•
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The decreas ;J s wer e larg ,J ly acc ount od for , he said , by
depl e ti on of r elief bud.gets in many comrrnmi ti es , a nd by the reabso r ption by WPA of ma.ny of its workers laid off duxing At.1t,CJ1.1s t
ani S09te;,1bc r Tu1der the 1 8- month dismissal clause who s ought
t empo r o..17 ::ihel tor on l oco.l reli ef rolls .
Colonel Hn.rring t on said
thc,t r epo rts fr om his Sto.t e Administro.t ors i;;o r e :Jractic'--clly all t o
the
effect t h[~ t th e re ,ms UJ1usuo.l int ;:,nsi t ~-· in t lw nu:rnb Jrs seoki:1g
e itho r d.iroct r e li ef or WPA as signmen t .
Ir. or.ly a fo1_,, Ste.,tes , ho
said , wc,s t he r e sufficient i ndustri o,l o..ct i vi ty to red-11ce tho nu111bor
of suc~1 o.:o~)li cr,_ t ions over th o p1· oceding months , rbilo in c ertc,i n
agricul tur c.l ~ro::,s ~tffGctod by dr oucht t ho r og_ue sts for assist:.u1co
were f ear oe;-;rond SCu.SOi10.l expec t c.t i ons .
Administrators i n the No rth Atlan tic Sta t e s r opo r tod a
gene r o..l rnc.i ntonance of t he h i gh l e v e l r, f i ndust ri o,l a ctivity but
with only s :pot ty evidence of i n creased j ob op:i,ort uni ti es for r:!FA
worknrs .
Agriculturo.l act i v ity
,10,s
a t a s t o.nd.still o.nd. there ,1cts
much unempl oyment among seo.men in the c oo.,s tal citi es .
I n t ho Sout h ,
there was a te;,1dency for industria l activi t y t o leve l off d.uri21g
Decemb er, o...11d in s one states , to decl i ne sl i ghtl:r .
If c oo..l r;li:1in6
anct t extil e prod:11ction c on t inue o.t i;irescnt leve l s , honevor , hope
was e:icorcssed t ho.t some norkers migh t ev o,1t-Lw.lly be dro,i;m fr om the
r olls for empl oyment in t hese industries .
Agric-;,:_l ture uas st.::-..c;natcd.
evc r ynl1ere exc ept in s out h nrn Fl ori da o.nc!. narts ;J f T0xas .
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Middle We st e rn Stn,tes reported a leveling off of industrial
activity gene rally . Michigan , hov,ever , repo rted continue d acti vi t3° i n
the automobile industry v1hich is affording j obs for an encourc.ging
number from "fTPA rolls .
Mining and. manufacturing continued at nigh l ev els in the
Rocky Hountain and Pa cific Coast Stat es but r:i th little obser vc..b lc
effect on TTPA. r olls , admi n i str2.t ors in thi s regi on reported.
P..:.1,ilroc.d
and lumb or industri es report decreo..s es in empl oym8nt , wh il e n.c;ric1..ll t uro
wns at n. pn.rtici..1larly low ebb .
In p r ac tically all states , gr e<'-t m1r.-1bers of pe r sons ho.ve boon
certifi ed f or WPA empl oyr:wnt but have not yet beori assi gned , Colonel
Hc.rrL1c;t on sc.i d .
The l a bor t u r no ver on WPA :p rojects , th e Corw1issi0ncr added ,
rer:w,ined f a irly even during De c embe r .
The nuI!lber of :rie1·s o:.1s l eaving
tho rolls in thc,t nonth was 1 81 , 678 , or 9 . 4 perc ent of t ho t oto,l
eoplo:rec:1. c,t the b eginning of the oonth .
Of this nunoer , 63,847 left
volTu-i t o.,rily , t }1e oo.jori ty t o o.c cep t ::9r i vo.te or;ryl oyment •
Of t he
298 , 955 o.dc:1.ed to the r olls in Docenber , 66 , 696 c.::1ne on VlPA for tho
first tL10 .
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