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Show THE HERALD. Provo, Utah Page 39 Unemployment Analyzed When unemploymentis reported in the press we see something like this The Departmentof Labor reported to: day that the unemployment rate remained at 6 1 percent. The numberof Americans without jobs totaled 6,150,000 The impression we get fromthis is that we have over six million helpless ment because some people do notfeel the financial pressure that would make them diligently look for a new job Extending the period of unemployment because it is desired increases the total numberof people unemployed In this way the unemploymentrateis Twenty-six percent of all un employedare teen-agers This problem 1s partly the result of past high birth rates that temporarily have caused a bulge of teen-agers in our population is will be self correcting for the ene to give them jobs However teen-age group will now contract by Jnemployment for most is not permanent, but temporary If the same six million people remained unemployed for long periods of time, unemploymentwould bea terrible problem; but this is not the case Current data show that 47 percent of all unemployed have been jobless for less than five weeks, and another 32 percent have been unemployed for some five to 14 weeks Only 10 percent have been out of work for six months or longer, and we will see iater that manyof thesereally prefer unemploymentto work. The problem looks much different when we realize that most unte people in this country remain unemployed for a relatively brief period, during which mostget someincome support from the rest of us Unemploymentalso looks different when werealize that over two-thirds of the unemployed haveat least one other family member who is working Who Is Unemployed? Every month the Department of Labor conducts a survey of over 50,000 families from over 900 areas around the country. The families are randomly chosen. Only persons age 16 and over are counted aspart of the totallaborforce. The interview week always contains the 12th of the month. If a person has done any workfor pay during the week, that personis counted as employed. People who are temporarlly awayfrom their regular jobs cause of vacation, illness orstrikes are also counted as employed. To be counted as unemployed, persons must not have a job, must be currently available for work, and must have engaged in some type of jobseeking activity within the past four weeks. Persons who say they would like to work but have become discouraged andarenotlongerlooking for work are counted separately. Currently about 64 percent of our poopie over 16 are either working or looking for work. This is the highest percentagein our history. Some UnemploymentIs Normal Americans are mobile. If we don’t like one job welook for another, or we may decide to move somewhere where the grass looks greener. Under these conditions it is our choice to be temporarily unemployed. We also have a constant flow of workersin and out of the work force. People receiving Social Security may decide to work for a while, housewives maydecide to work for a few weeks or months, students mayinterrupt their education. One-third of all unemployed come from this student group. Currently 800,000 of the unemployed are those who are seeking theirfirst job. As they find jobs they are replaced by other new entrants. This is a continuous process. Somepeople havedifficulty holding a job after they get one, for a great variety of reasons, and so are morefrequently unemployed. When we add together those who voluntarily quit to find a new job, the re-entrants into the work force, the new entrants and the employmentinstability of non-productive and dishonest workers, we have accounted for 88 percent of the unemployed. Only 12 percenthave beenlaid off for economic Teasons. When analyzed this way we can see that most of our unemployment roblem is ‘“‘normal”’ in the sense that it is a natural part of a growing, dynamic society. Unemployment That Is Not Counted Social reformers make muchof the fact that there are currently about 900,000 (nine-tenths of one percent of the work force) who say that they are so discouraged that they are no longer looking for a job The conclusion is then drawnthat the economy is growing too slowly and these people could geta jobif only the government would stimulate economic growth by increased government spending, or that tax money should be used to create ‘make work’ government jobs. On the other hand, social reformers seldom mention that manypeople actually prefer to live on welfare rather than work. Work incomeis taxed, and welfare payments are not Reformersalso avoid the problem of people refusing to accept menial, dirty or other unpleasantjobs. It has become easy forus to rationalize that we would rather receive welfare or unemployment insurance payments than to ac- cept a job below ourstatus. EmergencyAssistance? Unemployment insurance was originally conceived as a program that cand give some financial help during the period people were seeking work, and who were discharged through no fault of their own. Gradually we have accepted unemployment insurance as an income raAncatance program that is ourright to receive. An extreme example is the golf pro from the north who uses his unemployment insurance as supplementalincome while he vacations during the winter in Florida. It is common, however, for seasonal work to be supplemented by unemploymentinsurance during the off season. Maintenance Makes Unemployment Look Worse Welfare and unemployment payments now easethe financial pressures of unemployment. The naturalresult is to Tengthien the period of unemploy& to increase total spending wheneve employment appearedtobe a pre It was assumed that everyone wh was unemployed really wanted a and everyone who was rece employment insurance food artificially increased Teen-age Unemployment want work This leads to the conclusion that the federal government should go charging ahead to spend more to support these poor people, and to develop more new hungry people all of whom desperately Policies Can be Disastrous During the 1950s and 1960s g ment economic policies were desi, and other types of welfare 1 wouid jump at the chance to g job ive al this up if only a job. any job were available Increased spending. 1t was believed would create rising sales < d thus mor job opportunities Increased spending programs was part three million over the next 10 years because of falling birth rates that began 16 years ago were periodic tax cu THIS IS HOW an Army Air Force cre ® looked 4 years personal income in Teen-age unemployn' Is exag gerated, however, because 700.000 full: time students are counted as un employed because they are looking for art-time work, usually just a few jours a week Minority Teen-age Unemployment Oursociety does have a majorsocial problem represented by almost400,000 unemployed minority teen-agers. They represent four-tenths of one percent of ourtotal work force Mostlivein large cities. This is more properly a social problem that requires socia! solutions than an unemployment problem Minority teen-age unemploymentwill not be cured By “force feeding” the economyto ‘full employment ” The rate of labor force growth has doubled the pastthree years. Instead of a million and a half newworkersentering the work force each year, which was expected from past birth rates, three million new workers have entered each year. The extra million and a half new workers per year were women who decided to work to help offset the ago when they were serving in W oid War IL. The group got together by telephone t celebrate the an niversary ir receiving the Air Medal From lett back are De as Willett, navigator Col Leroy West would increase private The government always assumed that encouraging increased sp me would not be inflationary until pilot; Simon K. Benson, co-pilot; Hoyte Hoskins, bom. bardier; Veron LaKey, tail gunner, and Louis Dowdy waist gunner, front from left, Louis Abramoritz, ball turret gunner Irvin Shapiro, engineer and Marvin Rubin. radio operator Crew Recalls Date By Long Distance employment was forced below 4 per cent. This is the reasoning behind the Humphrey- Hawkins Bill recently pas sed by Congress We now know that we arecurrently An Army Air Corps crew who served on LaKey. tail gunner. and Marvin together ing Wor War I n. radio operator developing excess demand pressures celebrated 34thanniversary of their The airplane was flying over enemy with 6 percent unemployment. Skilled receiving theair meda! by talking col itory in Europe in 1945 when it ran labor is scarce and wagesare being bid lectively on the telephone Tuesday into tremendous flak which wounded up. Shortages are beginning to show up evening some of the men and knocked out one of in the economy such as cement, paper The nine men talke the engines. However. they made it and aluminum from all pa t back to the base through what Mr Excess demandbids up prices and is ly, all are according to Benson said was a “miracle. a direct causeof inflation. Attempts by Simon K Ben: whose idea Colonel West is retired from the Air the government to deliberately in- the “‘teleph an a Hi ves in Ogden, while crease spending now in the hope that Col. Letoy West Navigator Willett is in Japan. He is this policy would lower the unemploy- pilot; Douglas ( Willett, navigator also retired from the Air Force. mentrate, would directly cause rapid Hoyte Hoskins. bombardier, Mr Mr. Hoskinsis a rancher and farmer increases in the current high rateofin- Benson, co-pilot: Ivin Shapiro flation, and would lower the unemploy- engineer. Louis Dowdy, waist gunner in Missouri, and Mr. Benson is a Provo School District bus driver. Until his ment rate verylittle Louis Abramoritz, ball turret gunner; retirement, he wasa junior high school Sears} ravagesof inflation on family income. This huge influx of new workers has helped keep the unemploymentrate up to 6 percent. The momenta housewife starts looking for a job she becomesofficially unemployed. Welfare and Unemployment Three or four years ago welfare rules were changed. Tobe eligible for food stamps or aid for dependent children, each able - bodied person between age 18 and 65 ina recipient household had to register for employment. Whenregistering, such a personal automatically became unemployed whether he or she really wanted to work or not Studies show that 90 percentof these compulsory registrants are never placed in jobs or even in training programs. Recent studies also show that this forced registration of people whodid not want to work hasraised the unemployment rate between 1 and 2 items reducedprices. Mr. Shapiro lives in Los Angeles where he is president of a trucking company, and Mr Dowdy is president of a gas company andhas traveled all over the world Mr Abramoritz is a chart and map maker with the Air Force and hewill retire soon Mr. LaKey and Mr Rubin are both insurance company agents. Mr. LaKey lives in Texas and Mr Rubinin Illinois The Pacific Ocean contains 46 per cent of the world’s water, the Atlantic 23.9 and the Indian Ocean holds 20.3 percent HURRY! LAST 2 DAYS Prices effective Fri- day, April 13th thru Saturday, April 14th Most and high school coach EASTER SALE al percent. Forall the reasons so far discussed we can now conclude that6 percent unemploymentis a very poor measure of “economic welfare.” Today when our current overall unemployment rate is 6 percent, the unemployment rate for married menis only 2.5 percent. Our main poolof skilled labor is in this latter group Skilled labor is in short supply in many places in this country. This can be seen by the record amountof “help wanted’’ advertising in the newspapers. A shortage of skilled labor will automaticallyly bid up wages, which in \ turn will increase unit labor costs, which will in turn force upprices. For two years this economy has absorbed a record number of new entrants into the work force. Over six million new jobs have been created in just 24 months. This is truly remarkable economic performance. During the past two years the unemploymentrate for married men has been under 3.5 percent. It makes no sense to argue that we suffer general unemployment when the huge skilled labor force in this country is ‘‘fully”’ employed. ‘or two years now wehavehad, in effect, full employment, even though LTRS GY \ HALF PRICE! 3 6 Were $24.99 Spr. °78 Suits, , 12” $ 10% Were $21.99 Spr.’79 Toddler Suits ..... Boys’ Sizes 8 to 16 Were $31.99 Spr. °78 l 5°? I 5 S 2 Beverage Can Children’s Easter Dresses Girls’ Sizes 7 to 14 Were 524.99 Spr 99 “TB Long Dresses sga.seeee ners Were $9.99 to $16. Spr. 7B Short Dresses ...00ceeeeee wel 2 i8 Spr. Shirts $9.99 Dress Were LongSleeve SAVE $2 to $ Girls’ Long and Short Denim Suits ..........-+++- “97 OD NM the unemployment rate has hovered around 6 percent. CUT 40% to 64% Boys’ Easter Suits and Dress Shirts l SAVE‘5 HALFPRICE! Men’s Dress Slacks Misses’ Short All-Weather Coats Recycling Center Opens Reg S16 ve 10% off 10°” original price SAVE 50% Selected Easter Dresses at TAYLOR, Mich..—A_ recycling center that will process more than 600 million aluminum and steel beverage / A cans during 1979 — about 60 cans forg ! every person in Michigan — was SAVE 33% to 30% dedicated recently by Aluminum Com- pany of America. The center, at 21110 Trolley Industrial Drive. Taylor Industrial Park, is part of a $2 million Alcoa recycling system that will serve as the central processing point for beverage wholesalersat 91 locationsin the state. The new centerwill process nearly3 million pounds of aluminum andsteel cans a month, or about 24 million cans Special Selection of Easter Dresses Men's Short Sleeve Dress Shirts SHEE 30% Cushion-Dri Dress Socks 1, monthly. “This is the most modern and efficient can recycling system in the na- EASTER TREATS tion,” said George Herrman, president of Alcoa Recycling Company, “Becauseof the ease with which Alcoa closes the aluminum canloop between use and re-use, it’s possible for a used can to be redeemed by the consumer, collected by the wholesaler, recycled by Alcoa, madeintoa newcan, filled, and be back on the shelvesof a retailer again within 90 day Home,Not Free The typical newsingle-family home cost $57,300 last year, up from $9,455 in 1949. Cost components have shifted since the, The Conference Board finds. 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