CRIPPS URGES MORE OUTPUT PER WORKER

Grey River Argus, 14 August 1948, Page 8

CRIPPS URGES MORE OUTPUT PER WORKER

LONDON, Aug. 12. Emphasising there was need for a higher output, Sir Stafford Cripps, in a speech at Belfast last night, said that the increase in production since 1938 was mainly due to a bigger labour force, and not to a higher rate of productivity. There was practically no room to increase the production any further by adding more to the numbers of people at work. He said: Last autumn we had reached about the same productivity level as that before the war, but since then, the rate of advance has slowed down, and unless we can quicken it markedly, we shall not make the strides that are necessary to balance our economy before the Marshall aid has ended. There must be a higher output per worker per year, if we are to suceed. That does not necessarily mean longer hours, but it does mean a more economical use of labour, by new methods, and new machinery, with less absenteeism, and a greater concentration on the job.