A proposal to coordinate all Jewish employment work through a central agency which would function as “service station and laboratory to the constituent members,” was made by Mrs. Alexander Kohut at the all-day conference on unemployment held Tuesday under the auspices of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies, at the Federation Building, New York. The conference, in which Jewish and non-Jewish social agencies, commercial bureaus and public agencies were represented, was called to consider employment problems affecting the Jewish worker. More effective organization to meet these problems was discussed. Dudley D. Sicher, president of Federation, was chairman of the conference.
The lack of coordination of the employment work carried on by Jewish workers and the absence of administrative standards was pointed out by Mrs. Kohut. “The need of improvement of this service is apparent,” she said, proceeding to outline her plan.
Samuel A. Goldsmith, executive director of the Bureau of Jewish Social Research, opened the morning session with a summary of the specific phases of the Jewish employment problem on the basis of the Jewish Communal Survey recently completed by his organization.
Mr. Goldsmith stated that there was a demand, on the part of the better educated Jewish workers, for “white collar” jobs out of proportion to the number of such positions available. He stressed the rapid change that has taken place in recent years in the small merchant class, driving many of the small merchants out of business, and the contrasting drift of the population out of the Jewish unions into the employing class. The Sabbath observer also presented a peculiarly Jewish problem in employment, Mr. Goldsmith said.
Specific employment problems of Jewish agencies were presented at the morning session by Jack Nadel of the Young Men’s and Mrs. Carl Pforzheimer of the Young Women’s Hebrew Association, and by Alexander Shluger, of the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society.
Dr. Bernard Drachman, director of the Jewish Sabbath Alliance of America, stated the problems in employment presented by the Sabbath observer, and James Marshall, of the Jewish Board of Guardians, the employment problems affecting delinquent boys and girls, while Moses A. Leavitt, of the Joint Distribution Committee, discussed the work of the family agency in the employment field. Melville Rappaport, of the Merit Employment Service, presented the problems in Jewish employment met by the commercial bureaus.
Dr. Paul Abelson, consultant and
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(Continued from Page 3) arbitrator for the needle trades; Dr. Meyer Bloomfield, pioneer in vocational guidance work; Cyrus L. Sulzberger, and Dr. Solomon Lowenstein, executive director of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies, also took part in the discussion.
Representing the New York State Department of Labor at the conference were James Brady, director of the Bureau of Industrial Relations, and Miss Claire Lewis. Others who discussed particular phases of the employment problem were Dr. Mary H. S. Hayes of the Junior Employment Service, who stressed the desire of Jewish youth for office jobs. Dr. Emily Burr of the Vocational Adjustment Bureau, Miss Kathryn Mahn of the Girls’ Service League, who stated that the great majority of Jewish girls desired office work in preference to work in a factory, and Miss Louise Odencrantz of the Employment Center for the Handicapped, who spoke on the difficulties of placing former members of the small merchant class in factories and shops.
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