The economic position of womenAcademy of Political Science in the City of New York
History
The economic position of women
Academy of Political Science in the City of New York
Women -- Employment -- United States; Women -- United States -- Economic conditions
3. Maladjustment--“The inability of people who want work to get quickly
into contact with opportunities.”
He further states that the employment bureau can offer no remedy for
the first condition, for in that case only education and training will
be effective; neither can it remedy the difficulty due to excess of
supply over demand for labor. It can, however, if properly managed,
help correct the maladjustment.
All the studies above mentioned agree with the opinion of a number of
writers[43] dealing in detail with the question of unemployment, that
the existing agencies have not met this question of maladjustment. Many
commercial agencies resort to “dishonorable practices and fraudulent
methods.” The hunter for a job “becomes, because of his ignorance
and necessities, a great temptation to an honest agent and a great
opportunity to an unscrupulous one.” Only a small proportion of these
agencies have been found efficient, honorable, or even systematic.
The work of charitable employment bureaus--those conducted under
the auspices or management of philanthropic organizations--has been
found extremely “fragmentary, uncoördinated and meagre,” while their
connection with charitable institutions has been of doubtful advantage.
Trade unions also have been unable to deal effectively with their
unemployed, or to attempt the formation of a systematic bureau.
Seemingly one of the simplest methods for employer and employe to
find each other is the want column in the daily newspaper. But this
method has proved too simple to be of more than nominal service. In the
first place, careful investigation has conclusively shown that a large
number of advertisements are either “fakes” or misrepresentations.
The effect upon a girl of looking up several advertisements is
marked. Her wearisome efforts and wanderings are usually rewarded
either by finding the place taken or misrepresented, or by meeting
with inexcusable carelessness and indifference on the part of the
advertiser. Hence she is convinced that there are no real or serious
wants for “Help--Female.” A condition of which much complaint is
made is the insertion of an advertisement and then a failure to give
instructions to those with whom applicants will first come into
contact. Consequently, when a girl appears to inquire for the work
she is often told by an uninterested stenographer that no help is
wanted. It such a case recently it was only by accidentally meeting the
employer on the elevator that the writer discovered that there was an
open position. Another employer had advertised in the morning paper,
but had left his office before nine o’clock. His secretary could give
no idea of the time of his return, or of the work desired. A number of
applicants, she said, had already been there, but would have to come
again. This waste of time, energy and carfare could be easily prevented
by a bit of foresight and consideration. The employer may reply that
the irresponsible girl fails him just as often.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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