Unemployment Reported Growing Among Jews in Poland; Census Taken

Unemployment is growing among Jews in Poland, not only among those who were repatriated from the Soviet Union since 1956, but also among the long time Jewish inhabitants of the country, a report received here today from Warsaw established.

The report said that Jewish workmen were recently dismissed from jobs in industries owned by the state, in spite of directives from the government ordering greater use of the country’s manpower. A census conducted among repatriates showed that more than half of the men and women in 2,800 repatriated families have no trades at all, while about half of those who do have skills–have no jobs.

Strenuous efforts are being made by Jewish leaders in Poland to improve the economic situation of the Jewish population, but only among the repatriates is any progress recorded, the report said. The work of retraining repatriates, or teaching a trade to those who have had no previous industrial experience, is being carried out by ORT.

In some instances, as many as 75 percent of the students in the ORT vocational training courses are women, the report stressed. Major difficulties facing communities trying to train or retrain Jewish workers, both in ORT schools and in others conducted by the local communities, are: lack of machinery, shortages of raw materials, inadequate financial backing, and difficulties in placement of newly-trained workers in jobs. The national government has recently subscribed a total of 19,000,000 zlotys to aid these various projects, but the local communities and provincial governments are not matching the national funds, the report said.