Table 2.- -Operations of Offices of State Employment Services, May 1936 All States.. 215, 905 93, 0832+21. 5 85, 3332+17.2 37, 489 165, 12020. 14,071, 870 2-1.9 Table 4.-Veterans' Activities of Offices of Combined State Employment Services and National Reemployment Service, May 1936 TREND OF EMPLOYMENT AND PAY ROLLS Summary of Employment Reports for May 1936 NDUSTRIAL employment and pay rolls again increased between April and May according to reports from more than 135,000 manufacturing and nonmanufacturing establishments surveyed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although seasonal activity was a primary factor in the gains registered by a number of manufacturing industries, the net increases for manufacturing as a whole were contra-seasonal. Gains in employment were shown by 12 of the 16 nonmanufacturing industries surveyed, and increased pay rolls by all but one (bituminouscoal mining). Among the industries showing marked gains in both employment and pay rolls were building construction, anthracite mining, quarrying and nonmetallic mining, dyeing and cleaning, and metalliferous mining. An increase in the number of workers employed by class I steam railroads was also shown between April and May according to preliminary reports of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The public-employment reports for May showed marked increases in the number of employees working on construction projects financed by regular governmental appropriations and on construction projects financed by the Public Works Administration. Substantial employment gains also occurred on construction projects financed by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and on the emergency conservation program. Private Employment IT IS estimated that nearly 90,000 workers were returned to employment between April and May in the manufacturing and nonmanufacturing industries surveyed. Weekly pay rolls were increased by approximately $6,900,000. In comparison with the corresponding month of last year, May 1936 showed increases of more than 654,000 in number of workers employed and nearly $36,000,000 in weekly wage disbursements. These estimates are based on reports from approximately 135,000 establishments. In May these establishments employed more than 7,200,000 workers whose weekly earnings totaled more than $170,000,000. Contrary to the seasonal movement, factory employment rose 0.7 percent in May, continuing the upswing which has been shown each month since January. This gain represented the return of more than 51,000 workers to jobs and brought the employment index to 85.7. The factory pay-roll index advanced 1.8 percent to 79.3; expressed in dollars, the gain in weekly wages over the month interval amounted to $2,659,000. The May indexes for both employment and pay rolls stood at the highest level reached since October 1930. Employment in the durable-goods group of manufacturing industries showed a gain of 2.1 percent over the year, the May 1936 index standing at 79.2 and exceeding the level of any month since October 1930. The nondurable-goods group, however, showed a decline of 0.4 percent in employment, due primarily to seasonal decreases in the textile and leather industries. Despite this recession, the May 1936 employment index for the nondurable-goods group stood at 92.7 and was 1.0 percent above the figure for May 1935. Fifty of the ninety manufacturing industries surveyed showed gains in employment over the month interval and 65 reported increased pay rolls. The gains in employment in May brought the level of employment in a number of industries above the maximum recorded in any month during recent years. Employment in blast furnaces, steel works, and rolling mills reached the highest level since September 1930, foundries and machine shops employed more workers than in any month since September 1930, engine-turbine-tractor factories employed more workers than in any month since March 1930, and the electrical machinery, steam fitting, sawmill, brick, and steam-railroad repair shop industries had more employees than in any month since the latter part of 1931. Seasonal activity was a primary factor in the employment gains of 19.2 percent in ice cream, 14.2 percent in radios and phonographs, 9.2 percent in beverages, 9.0 percent in beet sugar, and 5.5 percent in butter. Employment increased sharply in a number of the industries manufacturing building construction materials and supplies. The cement industry showed a gain of 11.6 percent; brick, tile, and terra cotta, 8.7 percent; structural and ornamental metalwork, 7.2 percent; lighting equipment, 5.6 percent; marble-slate-granite, 5.1 percent; sawmills, 2.5 percent; and steam fittings, millwork, paint and varnish, and plumbers' supplies from 1 percent to 2.8 percent. The locomotive industry reported a gain of 10.7 percent, and employment in the blast-furnace, steel-works, rolling-mill industry rose 3.1 percent. Other industries of major importance reporting increases were foundries and machine shops, 2.8 percent; electrical machinery, apparatus and supplies, 2.3 percent; furniture, 1.2 percent; baking, 1.2 percent, and automobiles, 1.4 percent. Gains ranging from 2.1 percent to 3.1 percent were shown in men's furnishings, slaughtering, |