A PRIMER ON EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES

The author's many books, background and experience give a firm note of authority to this latest and most useful of his books. With the controversial subjects of labor, unemployment and poverty current, a positive approach with a background in history gives the uninformed something to build on, the informed a clarification of these interrelated topics. He feels that unemployment and poverty are not the inevitable concomitants of capitalism, and that the attitudes of the people towards the responsibility of a democratic government and society are relevant. He analyzes the complex shift in labor forces, the wage pattern, trade unionism, the relation between wages and employment, and the facets of failure in the present system. Some of the statistics are startling--35 million in the world's richest nation live at a poverty level. Many of our ""advances"" are critically examined (earlier retirement age, shorter working week, etc.) He sees education as the single most important factor as an increase of skills is demanded in an automated society. His final chapters dealing with government measures which have provided an imaginative, multi-pronged program, are, he feels, a step toward what the Scandinavian countries have already achieved. A book which should have an added appeal for thoughtful young adults.