Unemployment and Training Schemes

Abstract

AN article on “Training and Unemployment” by Mr. Morris S. Viteles appears in the Human Factor, 7, No. 9. Mr. Viteles points out that the feeling of economic insecurity consequent upon unemployment and fear of unemployment is responsible for a great deal of the individual maladjustment in industry at the present time. Training schemes applied to entrants have tended to increase their efficiency and stability. At the same time, injustice has been done to workers of many year's standing, who are not given the benefit of this aid to efficiency, on the assumption that their experience makes it unnecessary, and that they would resent it. The writer advocates the training of older workers as well as new, and also the incorporation of instruction in allied tasks and processes into every training scheme-so that the mobility and adaptability of the workers within any given organisation unit may be at a maximum. Considerable increase in the worker's sense of security would follow, since he is good for more than one job. The chief psychological problems involved are those concerning the nature of motor skills and the probability of a general underlying factor; the transference of skill; and the possibility of accurately assessing individuals before giving them training. Mr. Viteles does not suggest that training is the panacea for unemployment, but he does maintain that when the more fundamental problems are solved, and further knowledge of occupational trends is available, it will be of ever-increasing value.