Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 213, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 September 1919 — Immigration Loss Blamed For Present Shortage of Labor in United States [ARTICLE]

Immigration Loss Blamed For Present Shortage of Labor in United States

If every soldier were back on his old Job the country would still be 4,000,000 short of its normal number of workers due to the loss of immigration the last four years; if Industry does not quickly develop some means for overcoming this shortage it will be seriously handicapped in adjusting itself to new conditions, say officials of the United States training service of the department of labor. They point out that the country has gone without its normal supply of peace-time commodities for years and now it must replenish freely. Furthermore Europe has lost millions of men arid tens of billions of property in the devastated regions must be made good. It is urged that to meet this extraordinary situation the workers in factories and shops must be assisted by increasing their skill and interest in their work. The estimated shortage in this country of 700,000 houses is cited as showing how far the nation is behind normal production. Training courses in the industrial plants, conducted at the employer’s expense, are advocated as one' of the practical means 1 of putting industry on a normal footing. More than 350 firms have already Instituted courses of this sort and according to reports received by the training service, have benefited in‘better production and reduced turnover. The workers on the other hand have increased their skill and broadened their knowledge of their trades.