(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Special credit for the training of unemployed Jews to enable them to enter productive occupations was asked of the Soviet Government by the Comzet, the Government Deparment for Jewish Colonization, at its session held here today under the chairmanship of Peter Smidovitch, vice-president of the Soviet Union.
The credits assigned are to be made available to the Commissariat of Labor according to the Comzet recommendation.
The decision was taken following the consideration of a report submited to the Comzet by Teumin, a member of that body, in which emphasis was laid on the great unemployment prevailing among the Jewish population in Russia. Unemployment among Jews is twice as high as unemployment among the general population. In addition to the number of unemployed registered in the labor exchanges there are great masses of Jews who are not registered, mostly former artisans whose situation is precatious.
At the same session the Comzet decided to settle on the land during 1928 only 8,000 Jewish families instead of the originally planned 10,000. The curtailment was explained by the lack of funds. It was estimated that the settling of 10,000 families would require an expenditure of 15,000,000 roubles of which the government would have to give 10,000,000, since the foreign relief organizations intend to spend during the year not more than 5,000,000 roubles. The settling of 8,000 families should require only 4,500,000 roubles of the government funds.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
