A Congressional subcommittee studying the nation’s need for fair employment practices legislation has been told that firms in Chicago still specify opposition to Jewish applicants for Jobs.
Joseph J. Levin, president of the Bureau of Jewish Employment Problems, told the representatives that job orders still were issued with such specifications as “Nordic a must,” and “This is a Gentile firm” and “We want Christian girls.” Other biased job requests he listed included stipulations of “no Poles or Greeks.”
Both labor and management were blamed for the various forms of racial and religious discrimination in employment by Chicago firms but a spokesman for the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association sharply criticized claims that “vast numbers of persons are out of work because of race, color, religion or national origin.” He contended that except in “isolated cases, true unemployment is attributable to the lack of need for workers, not to discrimination.”
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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.
