IDLE YOUTHS

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20510, 28 May 1938, Page 31 (Supplement)

IDLE YOUTHS

AN AMERICAN PROBLEM SURVEY OF THE SITUATION "THE DIGNITY LABOUR" (From a Correspondent) WASHINGTON, March ii A revived faith in the, dignity of worklinn with one's hands is needed to oveii some "deep dissatisfaction'’ among ' i youth with the roles they play in the. i nation's economic system, the Ameriican Youth Commission concluded to- | day after a sample survey made among 113.500 young persons in Maryland. ! Announcement, of the Commission s { findings followed closely on the heels | of the annual youth pilgrimage for .jobs i and education' sponsored by the Ami erican Youth Congress. Several hundred young persons of varying economic j status spent the week-end in the capital to draw' attention to the proposed i American Youth Act, appropriating ! £100.000.000 In enlarge the functions inf the National Youth Administration, i in their interviews with members of | Congress, their mass meetings, their i rail at the White flouse, and at heari ings before a 'Senate subcommittee, tile 1 delegates emphasised that they reprei sented 4,000,000 young persons now i denied an opportunity for education and ! jobs. The Youth Commission's surveyshowed that 30 per oent. of the young people in the labour market are unemployed. "Most of those with jobs

are discontented with their wages or the kind of work they are doing, or wish they were doing something else,” says Dr. Homer P. Rainey, Commission director. Of the jobless group, nearly half said they never had full-time work, although some had been in the labour market seven years. At the time of the interview, however, more than halt admitted they were not actively seeking work. A large proportion were discouraged and to interviewers appeared to toe resigned to the shortage of jobs which, they said, was the chief reason for their unemployment. “More than half the youth in every field expressed a preference for some other kind of work,” said Howard M. Bell, author of the report and supervisor of the survey. ‘‘The policy of some individuals and corporations of hiring young people, almost exclusively, and then releasing them as soon as they have deserved a higher wage. . .or reached a certain age, is also adding to youth’s bewilderment, Mr Bell concluded.