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Show EMPLOYMENT DISCOURAGED ; " f This year, as In past years, It Is proposed that the fed- j ' eral wage-hour law be extended to cover millions of work-! ers in local- business, notably retail trade, who have been exempt ever since the law was first passed. In opposing mj tension, retail Industry spokesmen have pointed out tbat the result would be to increase prices, and to reduce employment opportunities for marginal and unskilled ; workers. " That Is now substantiated in substance, by an official 'jjovernment publication the just-published annual report re-port of the Labor Department. Four years ago, Congress raised minlmums from the 75-cent to the dollar-an-hour level. Discussing the effect, the report states: ". . . during the 'period of adjustment to the higher minimum, there were significant declines in employment in most of the law wage Industry segments studied ... if alternative employment em-ployment is not available, workers in low wage communities commu-nities may remain unemployed rather than obtain higher wages as a result of the minimum wage . , Some employers em-ployers reported that prices for their products increased." There can be no doubt that extension of the wage-hour wage-hour ).w to retailing and the other service enterprises Involved, In-volved, all of which are of a local nature, would produce such unhappy effect on a large scale. What it all comes down to Is that the only sound and constructive way to higher wages is through higher productivity and increased increas-ed worth of the employe to the employer. |