Aj Committee, Jewish Occupational Council Form Committee on Minority Employment

The American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Occupational Council have established a national joint advisory committee to work in 10 major American cities for the increased employment of Jews and other minorities in corporate management posts. The project was announced by Benjamin S. Loewenstein, chairman of the Jewish Occupational Council and a member of the board of governors of the AJ Committee following a conference of community leaders from major American cities.

Mr. Loewenstein said that the advisory committee, working with local Jewish vocational services, would try to break down historic barriers to the hiring of Jews in such fields as banking, insurance, public utilities, railroads and steel. “Not only has there been an unwillingness to hire Jews for top level management posts by such firms,” Mr. Loewenstein said, “but there has also been an assumption in the Jewish community that there was no opportunity for Jews for careers in the corporate structure.” Mr. Loewenstein noted that although Jews constitute eight percent of the college graduates in this country–the pool from which corporation executives are selected–they constitute only one-half of one percent of executives in major American industries. “We are not suggesting the establishment of a quota system but these figures certainly indicate the existence of a major problem of conscious or unconscious discrimination,” Mr. Loewenstein said.