screenees inca

TRUTH ABOUT UNEMPLOYMENT

More without jobs now than at
any time since Hungry Thirties

HE Canadian Labor Con-

gress convention this month
will have to adopt a program
to put Canadians back to
work. And it-will also have
to realize how severe .unem-
ployment really is, The situa-
tion is more serious than is
often realized, even among
trade unionists.

The government puts out
two sets of unemployment fig-
ures. As of February 13, 1958,
there were 854,257 job appli-
cants at the offices of the Na-
tional Employment Service
across Canada. According to
the February monthly survey
of the Dominion Bureau of
Statistics, 555,000 Canadian
workers were without jobs and
seeking work.

The March figures, which
will come out just at the time
the CLC convention meets,
will undoubtedly be even high-
er. : ;

Lahor always uses the larger
figure of unemployment, rec-
ognizing that even it underes-
timates the real number of un-
employed So did the Conser-
vatives when. they were in op-
position and so do the Liber-
als now. Employer and Cham-
ber, of Commerce spokesmen
always use the smaller figure,
and so does the government,

The. argument as to which
figure is -the right one ob-
scures the fact that .both are
usefyl.. It also.leads to a very
simple mistake, which is made
over and over again by al-
most everyone who discusses
unemployment.

This. mistake is to compare
the number of unemployed with
the total labor force. Thus with
854,257 workers looking for
jobs, 15 percent of the labor
force is said to be unemploy-
ed. But why the total labor
force?

Obviously, the bosses, who
are also counted in the “labor”
force, are not among the un-
employed and are not likely to
be laid off. Taking the total
labor force understates the
real ratio and intensity of un-
employment.

The total labor force is made
up as follows (figures for
-February, 1958):

Paid workers (wage and

salary earners) -- 4,829,000
Employers 272,000
Own-Account Workers (with-
out paid employees) 608,000
Unpaid Family Workers 160,000

TOTAL 5,896,000

The Unemployment Insur-
snce Commission puts all
thosa without jobs and seeking

work in the wage and salary
earners’ group — and rightly
so. On this basis the DBS
figure of 555,000 unemployed
in the middle of last February
was 11.5 percent of the work-
ing force — not 9.5 percent.

The 854,257 workers looking
for jobs through the national
employment service were 18
percent of the working force—
not 15 percent.

The table gives the figures
of unemployment in the past
year compared to the year be-
fore.

These figures show:

® In the early months of
1957 unemployment, accord-
ing to both sets of figures,
was only slightly larger than
at the beginning of 1956

® By the end of 1957 it had
grown to twice or more what
it was at the end of 1956.

® The DBS Unemployment
figures show a consistently
larger increase than the num-
ber of job applicants with the
NES. This is because the
“hard core” of unemployment
has grown even more than the
total: has: The number of job
applicants includes the so-call-
ed “frictional” unemployed —-
people moving from one job
to another and who are out of
work for only a short time.

The capitalists argue that
these people are not really un-
employed. Of course they are.
However, because their num-
ber varies relatively less they
tend to mask the increase in-
the number of long-term un-
employed The DBS figures
show this underlying increase
more fully, even though they
also understate it.

Because of the addition of
seasonal unemployment in Jan-
uary-February, the percen-
tage increase in these months
over a year ago is less than the
year-to-year increase in Octo-
ber-December. This does not
mean that the increase in basic
unemployment is slowing
down.

Here the figures themselves
tell the story. In J anuary-Feb-
ruary of this year, there were
nearly 300,000 more unemploy-
ed, based on the number of

job applicants, than there were _

a year ago The DBS figure
shows an increase of one quar-
ter of a million in the number
of unemploved.

This was the increase in one
year. None of it is seasonal—
all of it is long-term.

® The rise in seasonal un-
employment, together with the
growth in basic non-seasonal
unemployment, has swollen the
total number of unemployed
by 598,361 since September
1957 This compares with the
rise from September 1956 to
February 1957 of 415.888. That
is, the rise in the last six
months was
than a year ago. All of this
represents an increase in basic
mass unemployment.

ae 500) 508 a Fs gees a
Erin) e number
of basic non-seasonal unem-
ployed. In six months, an in-
crease of nearly 200,000!

The terrific growth in basic
mass unemployment will be-
come even clearer when the
winter’s seasonal unemploy-
ment begins to decline, and the
much larger figures of unem-
ployment in the coming sum-
mer can be compared with
those of last summer and the
summer before.

That is, the figures will be
much larger, unless organized
labor moves in and forces the
government’ to take drastic
action.

The huge rise in long-term
mass unemployment can be
shown in still another way.

The DBS figure of workers
without jobs and seeking work
was 72 percent higher in Jan-
uary-February of this year
than in January-February
1957 — 537,500 compared to
313,000.

The breakdown of this num-
ber by the length of unemploy-
ment shaws that there were
“only” 23,000 more workers
who had been unemployed less
than a month, an increase of
25 percent.

Those who had been unem-
ployed from one to three
months increased 105,000 —
from 178,500 to 284,000 or by
59 percent. -

The number who had been
unemployed four months and
more increased more than
three times, from 41,500 in
January - February 1957 to
137,500. in 1958.

Thus the longer the period of
unemployment, the more the
number of unemployed work-
ers continues to grow, so also
will the average length of time
that they are out of work.

182,474 greater.

January - March
September
October
November
December

January
February :

January - March
September
October
November
December

January
February

1956
510,742
158,804
157,392
202,162
314,401
1957
526,058
574,692

DBS Monthly Survey, Number of Workers

1956
296,000
97,000
98,000
135,000
186,000
1957
303,000
323,000

Job Applicants at National Employment Services
Seeking Work

570,674
1958

816,982

854,257

1957
323,000
194,000
208,000
292,000
386,000

1958
520,000
555,000

Faulkner film exp
of imperialis

BOVE RREY COBB’S novel

of the same title, on which
Paths of Glory is based, was
written at least 20 years ago
and is One of the most savage
indictments of the First
World War to come out of
that conflict.

It was based on an actual
incident of the war that took
place in the French army,
and the French general staff
is the villain of the piece; the
average poilus, the victims.

Anxious to make a name
for himself and win promo-
tion, a career general orders

an attack on a practically im-

pregnable German posi‘ion.
Everyone, all the way down
the line, knows the attack
will fail and the casualties
will be heavy.

When the attack, which is
under the direct and reluct-
ant command of Colonel Dax
(Kirk Douglas) fails, the gen-
eral tries to get his artillery
te fire on his own soldiers in
order to force them to ad-
vance. P

And after the retreat, he
orders three soldiers, picked
at random from three com-
panies, to be court-martialed
for cowardice in the face of
the enemy.

This is done and the men
are shot. One, who has been
injured in prision the night
before and has a fractured
skull, is irussed up, on a
stretcher and tied to the
stake, They are not only in-
nocent; they are all heroic
men and have previously dis-
tinguished themselves. But an
example must be made: it is

“good for the moz#

soldiers; and.
(Adolph Menjou)
ranks the commal
eral, permits the ee
go through—for
sons.

fos xt
The sort oO

the lives of the me
by these French

not likely to exist 7

ranks of an impetl@
and this film is 2?
imperialist wat ~,
as on the so-called
the career office!

It is unrelenting
posure of this tyP®
and the political
behind the heartle
displayed by :
(George Macready)”

The “honor” of Bp
is vindicated bY

tions even if, in tb

t wa

1e” 0
another

dis
nis
“eae

¢ conten

d
jC

HE

jo
of B

D

, e
the commanding 8%

self.must face a? ip
his illegal artillery

There is no cont
played in this film

exhibits; war is 2°
as it always is; it
stroys human V@
most frequently
this is a particu”
war and it is exp?
its senseless butch!
tragedy. For the ex
character spring? ,
nature of the army
omy) involved, a
springs from the ©

DAVID

April 18, 1958 — PACIFIC TRIBU

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The Bridge on the ae

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