HOW LONDON FILLS JOBS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19138, 6 October 1936, Page 12

HOW LONDON FILLS JOBS

LABOUR EXCHANGES SOME UNUSUAL REQUESTS LONDON* Aug. 1. Deputations from all the larger countries except Russia have been to an old house in Queen’s Gardens, Paddington, where the Ministry of Labour has developed a. high-speed system of helping unemployed men all over London to find work, ~ , . ■On the top floor of the house, which is the Ministry’s London divisional office, is the largest teleprinter apparatus of its kind in the world. It enables the office to communicate simultaneously with 31 employment exchanges in all part 3 qf London, and so to fill' vacancies with a speed hitherto impossible. Recently a London manufacturer was offered a large contract which depended on diis obtaining half a dozen specialists at 'once'.' The divisional office at once flashed his requirements to every exchange bn the teleprinter service. -Within 90 minutes of his appeal the men he needed had been found, and he was able to sign his contract. “SEVERAL BOXERS WANTED” "Oddities crop up occasionally. This week the teleprinter had to ask lor “several'boxers, to go on tour.” It has also had,to. appeal for a rat catcher complete with ferret* and a groom with hackney experience. Hitherto tho divisional office has been responsible not only for Greater London, with 70 offices and exchanges, but also for 11 surrounding counties. But the Wbrk has grown so immensely with the general expansion of industry that from to-day the Queen’s Gardens staff will look after London alone. Every half-hour the teleprinter sends out details of vacancies or withdrawals. During tho intervals it receives similar notifications from various exchanges. . The demand for juvenile labour in London is still much in excess of the supply. There is a dearth of engineers skilled in the finer kinds of aeroplane and motor work, domestic workers are bard to gel. and skilled shorthand-typists ‘‘cannot be got.” I was told, “for love or money just now.” They have all been snapped up as holiday reliefs.