The Employment Situation in the United States

Report Outline
Geographical Distribution of Unemployment
Industrial Distribution of Unemployment
Causes of Current Unemployment
Proposed Remedies for Unemployment
Special Focus

The index of employment in manufacturing industries of the United States for the month of January, 1928, made public by the Bureau of Labor Statistics February 17, stood at 84.2, as compared with an average of 100 for the year 1923. The figures for January showed a reduction of 1.1 percent from the number of a factory workers employed during the preceding month, and a reduction of 5.8 percent for the year ending January 31, 1 928.

The index number for January, as will be seen from an examination of the table given on the following page, stood nearly a full point below the employment average for the depression year 1921, and was lower than the monthly index number for all except four of the twelve months of that year. In March and April, 1922, employment was at a lower level than during the first month of this year, but with the exception of these two months, the January index number is below that for any month since April, 1921. Estimates of the number at present with out employment vary from 3,000,000 to 4,500,000.

The day before the January index number was published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Secretary of Labor Davis said: