(1) REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF BUREAU OF EMPLOYMENT

To the Industrial Commission:

The report of the Bureau of Employment, for the year ending September 30, 1915, is herewith respectfully submitted. In connection with the report, there are also submitted separate reports from each branch office and statistical tables showing in detail the operations of the Bureau.

The necessity for public employment offices, both in this country and abroad, is now well recognized. Already twenty-four states of the Union have state systems. Nearly every European country has them, and they have been especially successful in Great Britain and Germany. There are now several bills before Congress calling for the establishment of a Federal system, for the purpose of bringing about co-operation of the different state systems.

The law establishing the Bureau of Employment in this state was approved in April, 1914. A civil service examination was held for the office of Director and for a list of superintendents. The Director was appointed in November, 1914, and the first branch office was established in Brooklyn, on January 4, 1915. The next branch office was opened in Syracuse on January 25. The branch office in Rochester was opened February 4, and the one in Buffalo on February 8. The last branch office opened was in Albany, on April 23. The Brooklyn branch office was at first used as a sort of training school for the workers in other parts of the state. Superintendents and others were required to spend a few weeks in this office for the purpose of getting practical training.

The Bureau of Employment law requires that all employees shall be selected from civil service lists. At the time the first offices were established, the only list available for the Bureau was that of superintendents. There were no lists from which assistants to the superintendents could be selected. In this emergency,

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for the time being, persons were taken from the stenographic list. After repeated requests, the State Civil Service Commission granted an examination for assistant superintendents, for men and women. Provisional appointments were made which held good up until the assistant superintendent list was certified. From this list permanent appointments were made, many of the provisional appointees being continued in their positions. The present branch offices are each in charge of a superintendent, with an office force of from three to nine, consisting of assistant superintendents, file clerks, stenographers and messengers.

The first year of any newly established bureau will necessarily be one of much trial. This was especially true of the Bureau of Employment. It was established at a time when unemployment in this country was in its most acute stage. Thousands of ablebodied and reliable employees were vainly searching for work. Mills were shut down entirely, or employing only a minimum force. Naturally, as soon as a branch office was opened it was overwhelmed by the hundreds who came to register. The corps of workers in the different offices, while well versed in the theory of public employment offices, all had to learn the business from the ground up. The record and card systems instituted for the use of the offices had to be tried out and changes made where practical experience rendered such changes necessary. The public in each city in which an office was located had to be made aware of its existence. Public misconception, and in some cases mistrust, regarding the reason for and the function of the offices, had to be overcome. Now, after nearly a year's work, the branch offices of the Bureau of Employment have each become an important factor in the industrial life of their community. Further, all the offices have a force of well-trained workers who are adequately fitted to carry on their important work.

At first the applicants for registration were mainly from the unskilled or semi-skilled class of workers. On the other hand, the offers of employment in the beginning came largely from employers who only offered poorly paying positions. Gradually this has changed. Employees of all grades came to know that they could secure employment through the Bureau, and the grade of registrations went up, until now each branch office has registrations

representing every trade and occupation, as well as many of the professions. Employers at the same time have come to learn that they can get any kind of an employee through the Bureau. In a great many instances large establishments depend on the different branch offices to furnish them with all their help, from the office force to common laborers.

This change has been brought about in several ways. In the first place, the offices have been operated as business propositions, as exchanges for the bringing together of the workers and those who have positions to offer. The vague misconception that public employment offices are in some way a charity has been dispelled by trying to deal justly by both employers and employees. Fitness for positions is the prime test in all dealings. If applicants are unemployable, because of old age, inefficiency, lack of training, or disability of any kind, it is recognized that to refer them to positions which they cannot hold is to wrong not only the employer but the worker as well. Another great help in bringing about this change has been the public press. Articles have been written for newspapers and all sorts of journals. These articles pointed out the true function of public employment offices and their possibilities. The daily newspapers of each city in which a branch office has been located have given the offices considerable space. Each superintendent has endeavored to bring his office to favorable notice through the local press, and almost without exception the newspapers have dealt fairly and favorably with the offices. Now and then mistakes in "write-ups" have occurred, but these were, as a rule, a reflection of the general misconception. The newspapers now realize that the public employment offices stand in the same relation to industry as does the public school to education, and they are giving the activities of the offices the same value as a source of news. The Director and each superintendent have frequently made addresses before various assemblies in a further endeavor to spread a knowledge of the Bureau.

The thing which has been of the greatest value to the offices is the bringing to the attention of employers the work of the Bureau through personal solicitation. The employees in all the branch offices are required to spend a part of their time in visiting the

various mills, factories and other work shops in their communities. This brings about two very valuable results the attention of the employer is brought directly to the office and he is made to understand its worth to him. At the same time, the representative of the public employment office becomes acquainted with the kind of work carried on in his locality. This acquaintance with industry makes him better fitted to register applicants and properly to refer them. Through this direct contact with industry and the workers, there is gradually accumulating in all the different offices a mass of practical information concerning every trade and occupation. The employees in public employment offices are becoming thoroughly acquainted with the details and requirements as to the workers and the processes in all sorts of industries.

The law establishing the Bureau of Employment calls for separate departments for men, women and juveniles, with a special section in regard to the method in which juveniles shall be handled. Strict impartiality as between employer and employee is provided for, especially during the time of any labor disturbance. Each office is to have an advisory committee composed of an equal number of representatives from organized labor and representatives of employers' associations. The law also provides that the Bureau of Employment shall furnish information and statistics not only from the Bureau's own offices, but also information and statistics gathered from the private employment exchanges. A section of the law outlines a method of co-operation among the different offices established under the Bureau.

The different branch offices so far established are all, with one exception, located on the ground floor, in or near the business section of the city. The office in Syracuse is located on the second floor, with a stairway leading directly from the street to the office. Separate departments in all offices are established for men and women, with separate entrances either directly from the street or immediately after entering the building. There is a further sub-division in some of the offices between skilled and unskilled workers in the men's department and between domestics and all other workers in the women's department. Certain hours of the day are set apart for registration, and during these