Ignorant Argument

President Hoover never knew for sure how many persons were unemployed in the U. S. during his Administration. President Roosevelt knows no more than his predecessor about the state of U. S. joblessness. Their ignorance is due to the fact that the Federal Government keeps records of those who get jobs, none of those who do not. Largely because there are no incontrovertible figures on unemployment, its size and extent remain a red-hot subject for argument and guesswork.

The American Federation of Labor announced that 10,300,000 employables were out of work last month. The National Industrial Conference Board computed the jobless last June at 7,934,000. The U. S. Chamber of Commerce fortnight ago charged that exaggerated jobless figures were hurting business morale, set its own estimate at less than 7,000,000. Of these, declared the Chamber's report, 2,000,000 were normally unemployable.

Peace but not much enlightenment was brought to the dispute last week by the Department of Labor. Since the Federal employment service was opened in July 1933, announced Madam Secretary Perkins, 12,634,974 applications have been received. In the past year, 6,951,523 jobs have been parcelled out. But at least 4,123,000 men (CWA workers) later lost those jobs. So the 7,000,000 "open file" applications mean little.

Of more value were the Department of Labor's employment figures for July. Index was 78.6, 2.4 below June. Some 359,000 workers lost their jobs during the month and weekly payrolls slumped off $10,460,000. The decline was more than seasonal.

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