UNEMPLOYMENT IN BERLIN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 277, 20 November 1914, Page 4

UNEMPLOYMENT IN BERLIN.

The “Berliuger Tageblatt” 'of September Kith contains extraordinary statistics of unemployment in Berlin. The returns are those of the Labor Bureau, and do not include any classes of unorganised workers. The “Tageblatt” describes the figures as serious, but as being not so bad as many people had expected. Bakers and butchers are actually in demand, as so many are in the field. There is plenty of'work in the breweries, because so much beer'is drunk in the cafes, where the public await and digests the news. Carpenters, saddlers, tailors, and some other classes of workmen have profited temporarily by the war. Other trades are suffering severely. Dressmaking, which lias become a very important German industry, is practically at a standstill. The Berlin branch of the German Metal Workers’ Union, the greatest of all German labor organisations, has 12 per cent, of unemployed, although about 20 per cent, of its, members are in the field. Of the members of the Transport Union 10 per cent, are unemployed—about three times the normal figure. The Woodworkers’ Xmion has 14,000 unemployed out of 27,000 members. The Masons’ Union has 2500 unemployed out of 12,000 members, although 2000 are at the front. The League of Bookbinders, with 8500 members, has more than 0800 unemployed, the normal figure being only 600. Paperhangers, waiters, painters, and many other classes of workmen are suffering severely, and about a third of the workers in the Berlin textile industries are unemployed.