Show finds workers want W ant i jobs not pay to be idle idl e only one in six who lose jobs ever ask for unemployment insurance and even they soon leave rolls by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator service 1616 eye street N IV washington D 0 two men who have hava been life lifelong long friends will have occasion to remember the month of august 1945 for a long time to come mgt peter pugh waiting tor for invasion on an aircraft carrier off the coast of japan heard that the war was over hank haines welder in a medi medium tim bomber plant drew with his pay envelope a notice that his job had come to an end because medium bombers were no longer needed of course uie the sergeant was not discharged immediately neither was hank not immediately he had two weeks then he went downtown to file hla his unemployment compensation claim and put in an application with the united states employment service for a new job within six weeks he was back at the aircraft factory but instead of welding parts tor for medium bombers he was working on the engine of a giant passenger plane then peter came home before he went of off to the pacific he had worked at the same plant did the very same type of work haines was now doing peter needed a job and since he was a veteran haines once more had to give up his position and ue another claim with the unemployment compensation omee office fiction the names are but the stories contain facts that have been happening thousands of times in all parts of the country since the war I 1 ended facts like these are telling some important things to an agency in washington that was set up at the bottom of the depression to try to help people meet the economic crisis that comes to almost everyone some time this agency Is the social security board and I 1 am thinking particularly of that division of it which administers the state unemployment compensation laws the sudden end of the war brought manifold problems to this agency like many others it had expected and demobilization to be gradual processes and unemployment aid was ready to meet that situation but the atomic bomb changed the picture and suddenly millions of men and women were thrown onto the labor market there was a sudden rise in claims tor for unemployment insurance as the country grappled with the problem of creating jobs tor for the workers who were no longer needed when war contracts were terminated a and nd for the boys who were doffing uniforms for mufti facts on jobless pay in this first experience of its kind since the came into being some important facts are being uncovered answers to such questions as what at Is the truth about peace induced unemployment in this country when on the average will the unemployment compensation periods run out and the crisis become acute if there are not enough jobs what kind of people are asking for jobless pay Is it true that they are taking this money and not bothering to look for work let us see what answers the employment bureau of the social security board is finding to these questions as experts here in washington and in the field sift through a great mass of data first I 1 might say that unemployment compensation claims at this writing are a good barometer of the unemployment throughout the country brought on by the war later this would not be the case when there is a long per period lod of heavy unemployment people who have been out of work for four months or more would not appear on the claims lists and therefore would not figure in the statistics but ahe situation Is different today the rise in unemployment is fresh and the periods of payment have not yet been used up by many claimants so the rolls reflect a true picture of the situation As these lines are written the second wave of unemployment to hit tile the country since the war ended Is mounting its as the first wave recedes at the pres present ent time workers are being discharged because they are being displaced by servicemen who are arc being de mobilized tho the first wave was made up of those persons who found themselves out of jobs because war industries had to convert to peacetime operation in the first wave about six million workers found themselves out oi 01 work as a result of the ending oj 0 war contracts of these three milron million shifted to peacetime lobs jobs rl elgh ahl away without any interruption interrupt ion two million registered in unemployment meni men compensation offices and about one million are unaccounted for th they c y may have found foun dother other registering in the tha unemployment of flee or they might have gone on vacation or retired about former war workers of this number found it necessary to draw anem compensation right now the claims for jobless pay are drop ping each week and social security officials say that means tho the full lm im pact of the first wave of unemployment the wave has hag been felt the bulk of the war workers have been laid oft off the bulk of those who are going to file for benefits have already done so ahead then Is the second wave the unemployment which will come as tin an aftermath of demobilization it Is estimated that from six to nine million servicemen are destined to return to industry in the next 9 0 to 12 months la ID addition about two million workers who have been in government service during the war will be looking for new jobs that means that about eight million persons will be thrown on the labor market in this second wave which will come its as a result of the end of 0 the war crisis looms by 1947 As nearly as on cat bo be judged so cial security officials see a crisis by 1947 if there are not enough jobs that is they expect that ment compensation payments will carry people over jobless period until about 1947 by which time pay m ments ants will have been used up since the amount of compensation and the length of time for which it Is palo are based on previous length of em and wages it is plain thai a period of spotty employment WM wll affect a workers future benefits A different type of person Is ap plying for jobless compensation these days than when the system was set up in the days when a apple were being sold on street corner a and nd employment un was a majo threat to family security in the early thirties collected theft benefits for th the e entire period of their eligibility and still were without jobs As of this moment they are collecting for an average of tour four weeks and then getting jobs today more women are arc applying tor for unemployment compensation than men skilled workers make up more than 50 per cent of tile the claimants semiskilled semi skilled rank next in number As unemployment comes into th the national picture again and effora are made to get more complete job I 1 less es s legislation out of congress arguments are heard that people who are able to get unemployment compensation pensa tion do riot not bother to look tot for jobs this Is answered by the so caal security board on the basis of what they have been finding out from the postwar claims they point out first that little bet ter than one in six of the persons who lost their jobs as a result ol 01 0 Is receiving unemployment compensation payments this shows they say that a worker prefers a job any day to being pale paid tor for not working moreover they point to the fact that over persons or about 35 per cent of the workers who filed claims initially since VJ V J day have already left the rolls and taken jobs then there Is tho the testimony that in two representative cities where special studies were made it was found that two thirds of the workers who left the claim rolls took jobs before they drew any benefits at all they say that other cases can be cited to prove the point meantime as the second wave of jobless workers hits the labor market the unemployment compensation agencies prepare to handle growing claims for jobless pay unless and until peacetime industry gets its wheels turning to provide the jobs joba that are needed |