RISING WORRY ABOUT THE WILL TO WORK

Slow down. You move too fast. You got to make the morning last. --Feelin' Groovy by Simon & Garfunkel

AMID today's widespread affluence and shortages of skilled labor, businessmen find it difficult to inspire their employees to hustle. The clumsy waiter, the surly sales clerk and the inept repairman have become endemic--signs of a tight labor market in which the employee can afford considerable independence. "We have terrific problems getting car salesmen who are willing to take any guidance or initiative," says a big Chevrolet dealer in Chicago. "Our auto mechanics are ridiculously overpaid ($8.50 an hour), and their training is awful. You have to chase them. They'd be perfectly happy to sit around and sleep all day."

Employers can almost always find something to carp about, but there is evidence that millions of people in the U.S. are not working as hard as they could, or as diligently as they and their fathers once did. The U.S. economy's productivity--the prime source of the nation's opulent standard of living--is declining. Since World War II, the output of the average American worker has increased by 3.2% a year. But during the first half of 1969 the productivity of the private economy fell by 0.6%.

Hoarded Labor. Such a downturn is common whenever the economy nears the end of an expansive period. This year, however, the U.S. has been fighting inflation, not recession. Total output is rising, but the number of man-hours spent to produce goods and services is going up even faster. Many businessmen have simply hoarded and stockpiled more labor than they needed, even though one result was the beginning of a profit squeeze.

The rising pressure on profits, reinforced by the Government's efforts to cool the economy, makes higher unemployment almost inescapable. The nation's jobless increased in September from 3 1/2% to 4% of the labor force, the highest level in 23 months. Though unemployment has been inching up all year, the size of the jump--the largest for one month since the 1960-61 recession--was unexpected. Unemployment normally falls sharply in September as youngsters leave the labor force to return to school. This September the number of jobless rose by 89,000 to 2,958,000, primarily because businessmen are hiring fewer new people.

Layoffs. How big a price in unemployment must the U.S. pay to halt inflation? The answer remains elusive, but the fact that workers are being paid more for less work increases chances for layoffs as the economy slows down. The reason is that pay raises already fixed by union contracts will lift the cost of producing many goods and services, unless there is a large--and unlikely--increase in productive efficiency. If consumer demand levels off or falls, employers will eventually have no alternative but to cut their payrolls.

One crucial question is whether the lag in productivity is only temporary. There are several indications that the change may endure. The main thrust of the U.S. economy has shifted from producing goods to providing services. Last year work in Government and services together consumed 50% more man-hours of labor than the production of goods. Thanks to improving technology, productivity is still gaining in manufacturing; it has climbed at a 3 1/2% annual rate so far in 1969. Outside of manufacturing, where the best way to raise efficiency is to induce people to perform better, productivity has fallen at a 5% rate so far this year.

Tarnished Idol. The decline only confirms a malaise that frustrated consumers have already sensed as they cope with power blackouts, telephone breakdowns, transportation delays and an increasingly paralytic postal service. For years, businessmen and politicians have worshiped economic growth. Today that idol is tarnished by inflation and pollution. "We get richer and richer in filthier and filthier communities," John Gardner, chairman of the Urban Coalition, said last week in Washington, "until we reach a final state of affluent misery --Croesus on a garbage heap." Slower economic growth, which is part of the Administration's recipe for battling inflation, might also help to improve the deplorable condition of cities by checking urban sprawl and pollution from autos and factories. But slowed growth exacts a toll from the poor. Another antidote is rising productivity--in Government, in the executive suite, and most especially in the service industries. If the U.S. is to retain prosperity while curbing inflation, more incentives to economic efficiency are an urgent need.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.