LABOUR SCARCITY IN DENMARK COMING TO END

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22820, 15 December 1948, Page 6

LABOUR SCARCITY IN DENMARK COMING TO END

(From Charles Croot, Reuter’s Correspondent) COPENHAGEN (By Air Mail) Clear-cut ’ications that Denmark's severe labour shortage is coming to an end have become apparent here over the past few weeks. Although no official employment statistics are at present available, labour exchange officials report that the number of men seeking jobs in the past weeks has risen considerably. Even skilled workers, generally recognised as being unobtainable, have been registering as unemployed, it was stated. Big employers of labour are reported to have been receiving applications for jobs at a rate unknown since before the war. This relatively sudden reversal of the position on the Danish labour market is believed to be the result of the closing down of a number of smaller firms who have been unable to get necessary raw materials. Allocations of such materials have been made on the basis of giving preference to the older-estab-lished and the bigger firms. Closings ami Retrenchments As a result, many firms which started up after the war have had to close down. In some cases, even long established firms have had to cut down staffs. This is particularly the case in the radio industry in which nearly onethird of the producing companies have now served notices f dismissal on their

staffs. Man-power shortage put the emphasis in Danish industry on greater efficiency of production. With their greater capital and larger staffs, the big firms have been better able to do this and the result is that Denmark is concentrating more and more on producing high-quality goods at competitive prices on the world markets. In spite of dollar, labour and material shortages, the Trade Minister, M. Jens Kra'V was able to tell the Danish Lower House recently that Danish industrial production, which in 1946 exceeded that of 1938 bv only one per cent, was expected to reach a level of 20 per cent over the 1938 figure this year. He told members of Parliament that although Marshall Aid would greatly assist Danish post-war recovery, it was on Danish effort that the country’s post-war : . novery mainly depended. Business circles here hope that signs of a returning labour surplus would constitute a vital key to increased production and decreased costs. Poor Standard of Goods One business man told me that at one time after the war is seemed in Denmark that “people would buy anything no matter what the price.” Some of the goods produced in Denmark were so bad, he said, that many retailers would not have them in their shops. Now, this abundance of money and apparent indifference to quality is disappearing. He expressed the opinion that the British exhibition, which was held here in September, had played a great part in opening Scandinavia’s eyes to the quality which can still be achieved in spite of post-war difficulties. Businessmen here see in the current situation decided indications that the sellers’ market is almost at an end. A plentitude of labour would mean falling wages and therefore falling production costs and cheaper prices. More than that, it is hoped that the post-war trend of workers to seek jobs in the towns rather than on the farms will cease. To a country as dependent as Denmark on her agricultural production, more labour on her farms would go a long way towards solving her foreign trade problems. Meanwhile, her businessmen are well content with the prospect of a more normal labour market and the gradual disappearance of the recent unhealthy over-demand. With Marshall Aid functioning, good world crop prospects and, in the domestic field, a considerable easing of rationing, Danes are today beginning to take a more optimistic view of the future.