Economics and problems of labour

A consideration of the position of labor in the modern world necessi tates a discussion of many important issues confronting our society. For the employer, labor problems involve an adequate supply of labor and the maintenance in the plant of an organization capable of maximum efficiency at lowest cost. Labor seeks not only a fair but protection achieving against avoidable industrial hazards and against all forms of insecurity. Elimination of evils such as child labor, excessive labor of women, "sweating," long hours, and low wages are all part of the labor problem. Insecurity of tenure on the job, destitution during periods of ment, and need during old age are, in a sense, problems of unemployment, labor. Although some of these issues also touch other groups in the wage population, they impinge most heavily upon labor. A discussion of labor problems is, therefore, not only an examination of difficulties faced by labor in its efforts to extricate itself from the bonds of insecurity; it must be an examination and analysis of the diverse remedies that have been suggested by labor, and by the friends of labor in government and in society; it must be, as well, an examination and analysis of the

arguments and philosophy of those who have opposed labor's advance. Since the forces and attitudes that have shaped the problems as well as the answers and the proposed answers have been influenced by events and conditions in the past, it may be desirable to begin our investigation by a brief examination of these past events and conditions.