Communications and transit > Enquiry on national public works

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under an obligation to pay larger amounts than the State had placed at its disposal during
those periods. In practice, this fact does not involve any difficulty. Indeed, in the
contracts concluded for carrying out State reserve works, the Commission always inserts
a clause reserving the right to suspend the work at any time. Moreover, it is not bound
in the case of reserve works subsidised by the State. When it has admitted, that an
undertaking is of this nature, it sends the authority concerned a letter of notification,
in which it states that it can, if necessaty, withdraw the State subsidy.
Review of the 'position regarding the allocation of credits.—As regards the allocation
of credits referred to in the above tables, it is advisable, as in the case of public works
carried out under the unemployment budget, to draw up the recapitulatory table
(Table 8) on pages 218 and 219,'which includes under separate headings the State reserve
works and the communal reserve works subsidised by the State.
V. Effect on Unempeoyment.
As regards the reserve works, the effect which their execution has produced on the
volume of unemployment is immediately apparent in the figures relative to the number
of registered unemployed who have been engaged upon them. In order to realise their
effect, it is therefore necessary to ascertain what has been the number—both absolutely
and relatively—of registered unemployed who have been engaged upon such works.
The same does not, however, apply to the works carried out at the ordinary market
rates. In order to judge of their effect, it is necessary to examine the possibilities of
work which they have opened up. In this connection, there is available the statistical
material collected by the Ministry of Social Affairs showing the number of days’ work
performed.
The above-mentioned means of ascertaining the effect on unemployment relate
exclusively to the direct effect of the execution of public works. On the other hand,
there is no material to show statistically the indirect effect, which, in the main, makes itself
felt in the open market. It resides in the fact that work has been provided for numerous
industries in carrying out the orders for various materials (bricks, cement, bridge
materials, etc.) necessitated by the public works undertaken. This indirect effect should
be borne in mind, as in all probability it has been of great importance to the labour market.
Reserve works.—The effect of the reserve works from the point of view under con¬
sideration is shown by the statistical data communicated monthly by the Central Unem¬
ployment Commission. The first step was to use these data as a basis for Table 9, which,
in respect of the period dealt with in the present memorandum, shows, in the first place,
the variations in the unemployment figures and, in the second place, the number—both
in absolute figures and also as a percentage of the total figures of the registered unem¬
ployed—of workers employed on State reserve works and on State-subsidised communal
reserve works. For the sake of clarity, these particulars are given only for the months
of January, March, June, September and December.
The table 9 shows at a glance that, at the beginning of the period under con¬
sideration, the number of workers employed upon reserve works varied between 28.2 and
16.4% of the registered unemployed. At the end of 1930, this figure had fallen to 12.2%,
and in the winter of 1931-32, the percentage of those engaged upon such works also
remained low. The same position recurred in the following winter and is clearly due to
the fact that it had not been possible to increase the reserve works so as to keep pace with
the increase in unemployment, which by then had reached its peak. In the winter of
I933~34, there was an improvement in this respect, while in the summer of 1934, the number
of workers engaged upon reserve works was represented by the highest figure, both rela¬
tively and absolutely, recorded throughout the depression. In June 1934, indeed, the
figure rose to 44,498, or 44.6%, of the registered unemployed. For the months of July