Men at Work

WPA last week answered one of the biggest questions about unemployment. All through the Depression, while the nation struggled with the problem of unemployment, no one knew for sure at any given time how many unemployed there were in the U.S. WPA at last appeared to have this statistical disgrace licked. WPA computed the number of U.S. unemployed in July--5,600,000--announced it was able to make its surveys within the short space of two weeks.

Both A.F. of L. and C.I.O. statisticians were impressed. Best they had been able to do was make estimates which they admitted were unsatisfactory. Their method was to take the known number of employed, when they finally got the figure, subtract it from an estimate of the total labor supply. Latest estimates they had were for June, and ranged from C.I.O.'s 6,305,000 to A.F. of L.'s 5,333,000.

WPA's fast-working system, adapted from the methods of the FORTUNE Survey and Gallup Poll, uses a sampling technique. As developed after many tests, it has about 350 enumerators who go from door to door, asking some 22,000 families in 54 carefully chosen counties in 38 States which of their members are unemployed.

Henceforth WPA intends to make a report on unemployment once a month.

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