supply the necessary labor. This was the task that faced military government manpower officials when they entered Germany.

Up and down the country in whatever village or town they were assigned, military government teams found that the first urgent job was the location and reopening of the labor office. As rapidly as personnel could be screened to run them and undesirable features of the Nazi system of labor could be eliminated, these offices began to function again to supply the urgent needs of the renascent German economy and of the occupying forces. The basic controls used before the war, including registration of all employables, were continued from the start.

With their basic functions of registration and allocation thus reestablished, the labor offices were ready to take their place in the governmental structure of the U. S. Zone. The establishment of three states within the U. S. Zone-Greater Hesse, WürttembergBaden, and Bavaria-with their own appointed cabinets was only the first step in a progressive development of increasing autonomy which now, in November 1946, is at the point where state constitutions are about to be adopted and state governments democratically elected. Built solidly into the framework of these state administrative systems, the employment service is today functioning within the broad policy limitations set by military government and with a considerable degree of self-reliance.

Like Areas of Jurisdiction

Each of the three state cabinets includes a ministry of labor. In Bavaria a single department of the ministry controls manpower allocation activities, while in the other two states the same department of the ministry handles both manpower allocation and labor relations. But in the case of all three the area of jurisdiction of the manpower allocation officials is the same; namely, labor registration and allocation; compilation and interpretation of labor statistics; vocational guidance, retraining, and apprenticeship; care of unemployment insurance receipts; and assisting in the denazification of private industry.

The ministries control a far-reaching system of regional and local offices within each state. Bavaria, owing to its large size, has two regional labor offices (Landesarbeitsämter). The other two states, one regional labor office each. At the local level there are 63 local labor offices (Arbeitsämter) for the whole area, as well as numerous branch offices (Nebenstellen). In addition, Bavaria has a number of rural offices (Aussenstellen) open only for a few hours on specified days and run from the nearest branch office.

The geographic area of the local labor office extends over a labor market district which is usually not coextensive with civil administrative units. Coverage may include parts of or entire rural or municipal counties (Landkreise and Stadtkreise). In Württemberg during the early stage of the occupation, there was a local labor office in every county, but when

military government ceased to maintain operational teams in every county the only reason for the existence of so many labor offices disappeared and 10 of the 19 offices were eliminated.

The structure of the regional labor offices varies among the states. In Bavaria each regional and local labor office has three departments: administration, manpower allocation, and labor relations. The local labor offices in Wüttemberg-Baden are constructed in the same way but the regional labor office has only the first two divisions. In Greater Hesse the regional labor office has the following six departments: administration, personnel, labor allocation, labor relations, vocational guidance, and statistics.

The regional labor offices serve as the principal executive agencies for the ministry in the field of labor placement. They also establish policies for interregional labor clearance, the placement of the severely disabled, the organization and supervision of vocational counseling in the local labor offices, and the initiation of job-training courses. To assist local labor offices with their problems, each Bavarian regional labor office maintains an inspection board whose members visit their subordinate units regularly for periods of from 3 days to a week. All reports from local labor offices are channeled through the respective regional labor offices.

In order further to encourage the democratic administration of both regional and local labor offices, advisory committees have been authorized composed of representatives of workers and employees, employers, and public bodies. For local labor offices these committees are appointed by the president of the competent regional office and for regional offices by the Ministry, from lists submitted by trade unions, representative employers, and public bodies.

System of Manpower Allocation

Manpower allocation is performed on the basis of labor market demand and supply as revealed by the census of the population of employable age, the registration of the unemployed and the requests for labor submitted by employers (who may hire persons only through the labor offices and who must inform these offices of completed individual dismissals and of contemplated mass dismissals.) Under Allied Control Council Order No. 3 of 17 January 1946, all males 14 to 65 years of age and all females 15 to 50 had to register at the labor offices, which are empowered to grant exemptions from direction to employment only if a registrant is physically incapable of work or unable to be employed because of other social duties (housewives, students, etc.). The effect of this order, carried out throughout Germany, was such that, by the end of June 1946, out of a total population for Germany of 62,800,000, the number of persons registered amounted to 32,018,000, of whom 23,819,000 were employed; 6,801,000 were unemployable; and 1,398,000 were unemployed. The labor force then totalled 25,217,000. In May 1939, when preparation

for war pushed employment to a high level, the labor force for the same geographical area numbered 31,050,000.

The labor offices regulate their placement activities by means of a series of operational files: (1) the registration file which in addition to registerable persons includes all persons over or under registerable age actually working or seeking work; (2) the employment file, an alphabetical name file of all gainfully employed, each card being flagged to indicate the occupational and economic group in which the person is employed; (3) the unemployed file, flagged according to normal occupations of the unemployed; (4) placements file to indicate applicants sent out for job interviews; and (5) job openings file, flagged according to occupations. Statistical data transmitted from the local to the regional labor offices are consolidated for the purpose of area analysis.

In the U. S. Zone the problem of finding jobs for unemployed workers, or workers for vacant jobs, appears relatively simple in view of the over-all figures for unemployment, job openings, and placements. Unemployment in September (478,696) was less than twice the number of job openings (253,179) and the labor offices placed 194,360 people during the month. In reality, however, the problem is difficult. Great discrepancies exist between job requirements and available manpower with respect to occupation, level of skill, and location. Moreover, conditions of health and morale resulting from lack of food, clothing, housing, and from the migration of people cause a high degree of instability of employment and often defeat the efforts made to allocate labor to productive tasks. One major problem of placement is to direct unemployed workers without permanent occupation and workers in technical, commercial, engineering, metal, and other occupations into common labor, construction, agriculture, and domestic service. In many cases this involves the transfer of highly trained people or of clerical workers to hard and low-paid manual work.

Compulsion Seldom Used

Although Allied Control Council Order No. 3 permits compulsory allocation of labor this authority has been used infrequently except to assign Nazis to rubble clearance or other undesirable work. For instance, in Bavaria only about 5 percent of persons placed during the past 3 months have been assigned compulsorily.

The nature of the shortages and the composition of the unemployed makes compulsion for the most part unsuitable. To some extent these difficulties may be met by retraining. Where, as frequently occurs, lack of skills in given trades makes placement difficult, only retraining within occupations can help. To this end, the Labor Ministries are retraining adults and providing additional apprenticeship opportunities for young people. In all three states retraining programs have been started in the building trades and in

Greater Hesse the apprenticeship period in the industry was reduced by the Ministry in agreement with trade specialists. Vocational guidance is performed in many cases by labor office specialists. In Greater Hesse and Bavaria counselors employed in labor offices visit schools to explain employment opportunities and to indicate the advisability of seeking nonovercrowded occupations.

Anti-Nazis Given Preference

The labor offices play an important role in the ideological mission of the occupation forces by removing Fascist discriminations in hiring practices and in affording preferential treatment to those who resisted or suffered under the Nazi regime. A control council order prescribes that applicants for positions are to be placed in the following order of priority: (1) Victims of nazism; (2) persons who actively resisted the Nazi regime; and (3) persons who did not belong to the Nazi party or its formations.

Considerable care is given to proper classification of registrants and to placement in accordance with these categories. In Bavaria, for example, labor offices have placed red and yellow tabs on the registration cards of the first two classes for ready reference. On the other hand, labor offices may compulsorily direct Nazis to heavy or otherwise undesirable work. Moreover, the labor offices in the U. S. Zone are required by the German Law for Liberation from National Socialism and Militarism to secure from every business enterprise monthly lists of employees holding supervisory positions, indicating their connection, if any, with any former Nazi organization.

As in the United States, unemployment insurance and placement agencies have long been closely related. In Germany, this has been the tradition since the formation of the Reich Institute for Labor Palcement and Unemployment Insurance under the Weimar Republic. Until now, no unemployment insurance benefits have been paid, but the labor ministries, through the labor offices, have continued to collect dues and maintain accounts of current receipts. The only permitted use of these funds so far has been to meet the administrative costs of the labor offices themselves.

National Service May Come

The ultimate form of the German employment service must, of course, depend on the larger solution of the entire German problem. At present a workable structure of regional and local offices such as has been described exists all over Germany, to a great extent standardized by policy formulated by the four occupying powers, but still separated into four rigidly distinguished areas.

With unification of the zones, when it comes, will come the necessity for the reconstitution of the employment service on a national scale.

WHEN Great Britain declared war on Germany

WHE

in 1939 the Employment Exchanges had been operating for about 30 years. It was in 1909 that the British Parliament passed the Labour Exchanges Act authorising a network of Employment Exchanges to be operated and maintained by the State. The first 61 offices were opened early in 1910. Additional offices were opened as rapidly as possible and almost from the outset a chain was formed corresponding to the existing system of about 500 Employment Exchanges supported by approximately 900 suboffices.

The main aim of the Employment Exchange system in Great Britain is to bring employers offering jobs and workers seeking jobs into touch with one another through a comprehensive and personal placing service. No monopoly is sought; the Exchanges rely on developing the goodwill of employers and workers whom it is their privilege and duty to serve.

Progress Despite Difficulties

The period up to 1939 saw steady developments in the work of bringing together employers seeking workers and workers seeking employment, despite some major difficulties and distractions. The first big test came in 1914 when the comparatively new Service was called upon to take an important share in the mobilization of the Reserves, the selection and submission of skilled and unskilled labour required for building military camps, for the manufacture of army equipment and, later, for the production of munitions.

After the o4-18 war, severe unemployment occurred involving at the worst period about 3 million workers. Meanwhile, the Employment Exchanges, which in 1916 had been transferred to the newly formed Ministry of Labour, had been given the responsibility of administering the Government's Unemployment Insurance Scheme, providing for weekly payments of unemployment benefit to unemployed persons. Many were the times when practically the whole of the staff had to be concentrated on paying what came to be known popularly as the "dole." However, in spite of all the difficulties, the service had developed by 1939 to the extent of placing annually over 2 million workpeople in jobs.

The whole story of the work performed by the Employment Exchanges during the 1939-45 war has yet to be told. A very large number of members of the staff were released to the Armed Forces while many others were transferred to carry out vital work in other hard-pressed Government departments. With a reduced regular staff, but with the invaluable help of older men and women recruited because of their unsuitability for manual work in munitions factories,

January 1947

the Ministry embarked upon a complete stocktaking of the nation's man and woman power; for such was the labour stringency that the skill and experience of every man and woman had to be used to the best advantage whether in the Armed Forces, the Civil Defence Services, the munitions industries, or other essential industries or services. All men between 18 and 45 and women between the ages of 20 and 30 were registered and considered for call-up to the Forces, the women being given the opportunity of electing to work in the munitions industry as an alternative to joining the Women's Auxiliary Services. In addition, men up to 51 and women of 18 and 19 and between 30 and 51 were registered, and where their domestic circumstances and employment position permitted they were transferred to war work.

Thus all men and women between the ages of 18 and 51 were registered by the Employment Exchanges and came under the control of the Ministry of Labour and National Service for war work. The Armed Forces were built up by the middle of 1943 to 4,757,000, and at that time no fewer than 5,180,000 men and women were engaged directly on equipment and supplies for the Forces. (Between mid-1943 and mid1945, the Armed Forces were built up from 4,757,000 to 5,900,000, while the labour force supplying the Services was scaled down to 3,887,000.) Out of a total working population of 22,281,000 at mid-1943, no fewer than 22,121,000 men and women were actively engaged, directly and indirectly, in the prosecution of the war and the maintenance of the essential services of the civil community. The responsibility of the Employment Exchanges was to see to it that the work they performed was in the best national interest.

War-end Task

When hostilities ceased, the Employment Exchange Service had to undertake the task of unwinding this huge labour build-up. This has been their first major post-war task. Between mid-1945 and the end of August 1946, about 3,835,000 men and women from the Forces and 3,300,000 men and women from munitions industries had been released. The vast majority of them have been re-absorbed in peace-time employment without unemployment arising in any serious degree, save for a few "pockets" to which reference will be made later.

The Employment Exchange Service is organized on a national basis, but the country is split up into 11 territorial regions, each in charge of a Regional Controller, and he is responsible for the executive control of the local offices in his region, subject to the general directions of headquarters. Local offices comprise Employment Exchanges established in all the main towns, together with sub-offices and branch offices

9

serving the smaller towns and villages. These latter offices are under the executive control of the manager of the nearest Employment Exchange. Each Employment Exchange includes an Employment Section and an Unemployment Insurance Section; men, women, and juveniles are dealt with in separate departments. Exchanges are controlled by officers of managerial rank, classified into three groups according to the size and importance of the offices, viz: first class, second class, and third class officers. The various sections in each Exchange are controlled, under the manager, by supervisors termed employment officers, who are assisted by employment clerks. At the larger offices the manager may have the assistance of a second class officer as deputy, and several third class officers. Recruitment to the basic clerical grade (that is, employment clerk) is usually by open written competitive examination arranged by the Civil Service Commission, the age-limit being normally 16-17 years. Direct recruitment by competitive examination is also made to a limited extent to the third class officer grade from candidates aged 21-24 of University standard. Otherwise, entry to the various grades is by promotion.

Entry to established posts in the Civil Service was closed during the war, the vacancies being filled by older men and women on a temporary basis. During the post-war reconstruction period, special competitive examinations have been arranged for candidates up to 30 years of age who missed their opportunity of entry into the Civil Service owing to the war.

Training Deemed Important

The Ministry attaches great importance to the training of its staff, both as regards general background and specialised duties. Training courses are therefore arranged for all new entrants, covering a period of 6 months, during which they are given both theoretical and practical instruction in the different types of work with which they are likely to be concerned in their coming service. These training courses, in addition to providing general background knowledge covering such subjects as the history and traditions of the Civil Service, the rise and growth of the Ministry of Labour, stress particularly the fact that the Employment Exchange Service is concerned with administering a vast system of social service dealing with the multifarious problems of the individual men and women with whom the new entrant officers will come into touch when carrying out their duties.

In administering the many social services for which the Ministry is responsible, "in-training" plays an important part. The Ministry is developing many new services, e. g., the Resettlement Advice Service and the Disablement Resettlement Service, requiring a knowledge of problems of which its officers had not previously had experience. Training courses are therefore arranged, at which lectures and talks are given by specialists both from within and from outside the Ministry, and group conferences and "refresher" courses are held from time to time, at which officers are afforded an opportunity of discussing the problems

with which they are faced and of gaining from the experience of others. In view of the importance of placing work in the Employment Exchange Service, a long-term training programme is being developed, which provides for training on study group or discussion lines, with visits to local firms and talks and discussions with leading employers and trade union officials. The objective of this training is to ensure that all officers dealing with placing work shall acquire as complete a knowledge as possible of the industries and industrial processes with which they are mainly concerned. Plans are also being evolved for ensuring that those officers who have to help in the resettlement of the disabled are given an understanding of the ways in which certain disabilities affect the capacity for full employment. In this scheme, the co-operation of the medical profession and of the hospitals is being gladly given.

Any person (except a member of the Armed Forces not on leave) is free to register at a local office for employment, whether or not he has a job and whether or not he is an insured contributor under the Unemployment Insurance Scheme. Persons registering at a local office fall into two main categories: Claimants, i. e., applicants wishing to claim unemployment benefit, and non-claimants. Registration for employment consists of recording identification particulars and details of the applicant's past employment or employments, normally covering a period of at least 5 years, together with any other useful information bearing on the nature of the employment for which he may be suitable.

Special attention is paid to service in the Armed Forces, in view of the knowledge and experience which many men and women gained while serving and which may stand them in good stead in civilian life. As a help to the staff in dealing with these men and women, a Guide has been issued showing, on the one hand, the duties undertaken in the various sections of the Forces and the skill and qualificats necessary to perform these duties and, on the other hand, the civilian occupations in which this experience and training might best be utilised.

MINISTRY'S APPOINTMENTS DEPARTMENT

(Approximating the American National Roster) MENTION should be made of the Ministry's Appointments Department, which is responsible for dealing with applicants possessing higher executive and technical qualifications or capacities. For professional engineers, technicians, and scientists of degree standard, the Department maintains a Central Register in London, primarily because the demand for this type of highly skilled worker can best be met by a centralised branch. For applicants with administrative, managerial, and executive experience, Registers are maintained by Regional Appointments Offices in London and in 13 provincial centres. The Employment Exchanges act as Agents for forwarding particulars of any appropriate vacancies that come to their notice and also putting applicants of this standard into touch with the nearest of these Appointments Offices.

Having registered an applicant for employment, the Exchange proceeds at once to consider for which of any vacancies notified by employers the applicant is best qualified. It may be that a suitable vacancy has not been notified; but, on the principle that an employer is always prepared to consider a good worker, in appropriate cases the Exchange approaches likely employers on behalf of applicants, and these so-called "speculative submissions" often result in successful placings.

The cardinal principles observed in selecting applicants for submission to vacancies are: (1) Compliance with the employer's requirements; and (2) submission of those applicants who are best qualified to do the job. In this matter absolute impartiality is observed between all sections of the community; but there are special arrangements for identifying ex-Service applicants, and when ex-Service men and women are submitted to vacancies, the Introduction Card is specially marked to show that they are exService personnel. Always, in the selection of applicants for submission to vacancies, the Employment Exchanges see to it that ex-Service men and women are not placed at any disadvantage through lack of recent experience of civilian work.

So far as possible applicants are introduced to suitable employment within daily travelling distance of their homes. If, however, there is no suitable local vacancy available, vacancies in other districts are brought to the applicant's notice. This is done under a system reby vacancies which cannot be filled locally are notified by telephone, teleprinter, or printed lists circulated from a Regional Clearing-House, to other local offices where there may be suitable applicants.

Helping the Difficult-to-Place

In the nature of things, the rule of submitting to an employer the applicants most qualified for the job tends to leave the books of the Exchange a proportion of less obviously qualified registrants, and the placing staff have instructions to do their utmost to find these persons suitable jobs. The Exchange managers and placing supervisors accordingly give these cases their personal and particular attention in order to discover any fresh facts bearing on their employment potentialities. Occasionally it is found that a course of training that will fit an applicant for employment in a new occupation is the solution to the problem; generally, however, a special approach to an employer to give the applicant a trial is the line taken, and frequently it proves successful. These more difficult placing propositions are, fortunately, comparatively few in relation to the total number of persons applying for jobs; but the satisfaction derived by all parties, including the employer, when a successful placing is achieved in such a case is ample recompense for the special effort of the Exchange officials. The disabled in search of employment are another problem. In 1944 Parliament passed the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act, which makes provision

for the vocational training and industrial rehabilitation of disabled persons, for their registration as disabled persons, for the imposition upon certain employers of an obligation to employ a quota of registered disabled, and for assisting such persons who are seriously disabled to obtain employment or work on their own account under special conditions.

If there are more applicants than vacancies, discretion may be exercised in favour of ex-Service men and women when selecting disabled persons for vocational training and industrial rehabilitation or in selecting registered disabled persons for submission to employment. At each Exchange at least one officer, the Disablement Resettlement Officer, specialises in the work of finding suitable employment for disabled persons. He pays particular attention to the selection of vacancies in order to avoid employment that might aggravate the disability and, in cases of doubt, he seeks the advice of a Disablement Advisory Committee, one of whose members is a doctor.

Service for Juveniles

For juveniles, there are two alternative systems of placing work, both under the central guidance of the Ministry of Labour and National Service, but one administered by the Local Education Authority and not by the Employment Exchange. Under both systems, however, the work falls into four main divisions, viz: (1) Advice on choice of employment; (2) placing employment to satisfy the demands of local employers for juvenile labour, coupled with (3) industrial supervision or continued guidance of juveniles until they are established in progressive employment; (4) local administration of the Unemployment Insurance Scheme.

The change-over from war to peace has been accomplished without unemployment arising in any serious degree save for a few areas where work on the production of civilian goods cannot be commenced at once. These are districts where there were insufficient opportunities for employment during the period between the two wars because of their too exclusive dependence on one or two industries. It has already been indicated that the policy of the Government is to arrange, wherever possible, the provision of work within reasonable daily travelling distance of workers' homes. In these so-called "Development" areas, factories are being built which on completion will be rented to employers engaged in industries which will be new to these areas. In this way it is hoped to arrange a better distribution of industry throughout the country.

Apart from placing, the Employment Exchanges have a very important duty to perform in connection with the collection of facts relating to employment and unemployment for the information of the Government in administering the policy of maintaining a high level of stable employment to which it is pledged. It is of paramount importance that the Government should have as early information as possible about signs of coming unemployment in order that effective