Refugees who have come to this country since the Nazis rose to power in 1933 have not displaced American workers, but rather, through the exercise of their “transplanted skills,” have been employing American citizens in new trades, according to a study, Refugees at Work, issued today by the Kings Crown Press of Columbia University. From 1933 to 1941 about 150,000 immigrant refugees arrived in this country, half of whom settled in New York State, it was estimated in the report.
A preface to the report, written by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, said the study was undertaken to determine whether refugees constituted a threat to American security, economic or otherwise, and added: “I hope this study will be widely read so that it may allay fears of those who are now making it more difficult for the refugees to make a real contribution to their new homes, through fear of competition when there may be a new lag in employment.”
The report said the refugee influx represented an increase of 82,000 to the 33,000,000-man labor force of the nation. It added that about 65,000 refugees now live in this city. A study of 828 refugee enterprises in the city, the report said, disclosed that the competition involved was “negligible” and that actually each enterprise created jobs for seven American workers.
It estimated that 75 per cent of the refugees came from Germany and the absorbed Austrian nation and that the rest were from Italy, Czechoslovakia, France, Belgium, England, Spain and Switzerland.
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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.
