Jobless: 2,508,151

The Census Bureau last week put a partial end to months of political guesswork when it announced its first official count of U. S. unemployment: 2.508,151. This figure, as of April 1, included only those out of work, able to work, looking for work. It did not include those with jobs who had been laid off without pay.

According to the Census Bureau, 2% of the total U. S. population was jobless. Mississippi and South Dakota tied for low score with only 1/2% of their inhabitants unemployed. Joblessness reached its peak in Michigan where 3.3% could not find work. New York, with the largest jobless list (364,617), was 2.9% idle. Computations of unemployment on the basis of total populations have been seriously criticized on the ground that they do not show the true relation between workers and those seeking work. Census estimators unofficially figured that the number of unemployed was 5.2% of the gainful workers--that is, one employe out of 20 was looking for a job. Because no direct count of unemployment by census enumerators has ever been taken before, no comparisons were available to indicate the economic spread and shift of joblessness. The count was five months old. By means of index averages and estimates from industrial centres the Labor Department has reported a recurrent monthly decrease in employment since April. The political importance of unemployment in this year's campaign has long been obvious. Republicans minimized the issue, guessed not more than 1,500,000 gainful workers were idle. Democratic guesses ran up to 5,000,000. Securing from the Census Bureau a fair approximation of the official figures 24 hrs. in advance of their release, Republican Senator Henry Drury Hatfield of West Virginia rushed it into print through the Republican National Committee, declaring: ''We at last have an accurate statement [which] brings into high light the malevolent character of statements made by Democratic Senators and leaders. . . . The effect of these statements has been to misrepresent the situation, discourage the country, create pessimism."

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