Texas Almanac, 1949-1950 Page: 352
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P::X S ALMANAL. --i 1 -1'JC0.
cent of the crews of migratory workers in
the fields came from communities that had
furnished none in other years.
In 1948, field offices of the commission
were asked by farm employers in Texas to
help them in filling a total of 634,604 Jobs.
To provide this assistance the offices found
and referred to these employers a total of
643.227 workers. As a result. 599,898 farm
Jobs were filled and crops were planted, cul-
tivated and harvested in season and without
delay or loss.
Seasonal Farm Demand.
The planned and controlled recruitment of
emigrant workers gives assurance to 1 exas
farmers that their own labor needs will be
met and at the same time makes Texas work-
ers available to farmers in other states and
job opportunities in other states available to
Texas workers.
Most of the farm areas in Texas have peak
seasonal periods when the local labor supply
is far less than the need for workers; a com-
paratively small portion of the state is self-
sufficient on a year-round basis. This condi-
tion has existed for years. As a result large
numbers of agricultural workers habitually
migrate from their home communities to
other areas as the farm season progresses.
Direction of these workers is perhaps the
most important of the functions of the com-
mission's Farm Placement Service. They
must be channeled in numbers to meet the
need without creating a labor surplus with
its resultant loss of time and earning oppor-
tunity.
Cotton Harvest Migration.
The major problem in Texas is the cotton
harvest. It involves the greatest migration
of workers, from the standpoint of numbers
involved, distances traveled and duration of
migration. This migration begins in the
Lower Rio Grande Valley in July and ends
in the High Plains in December. To direct
these workers this year the commission estab-
lished, at appropriate times, control offices
at San Antonio. Fort Worth and Abilene and
temporary placement offices in thirty-four
Texas cotton communities. Information re-
garding labor needs, labor supplies, crop con-
ditions and weather flowed daily from the
regular and temporary offices of the com-
mission to the control offices. Co-ordinated
instructions as to where and in what num-
bers to direct surplus workers flowed back
from the control offices to other offices. Tex-
as cotton was picked without loss.
J Wheat Harvest Problem.
Completing the wheat harvest requires both
workers and equipment (combines, tractors
and trucks) in numbers far greater than are
available in many communities. To meet this
need the commission, early in 1948. in con-
cert with other states in the wheat belt, re-
cruited equipment and skilled workers
through a region extending from Texas into
When the harvest started in Texas
these were called in the numbers needed and
their direction from community to commu-
nity was handled by a daily radio broadcast
through the co-operation of radio stations
covering the wheat-growing area in Texas
and other states. As a result neither men
nor equipment were idle. The crop was hai-
vested without delay or loss.
Service was rendered to all types of Texas
farmers. The nearly 600.000 local farm place-
ments included 495.000 on cotton farms, 46.000
on vegetable farms, 26,000 on general farms.
16.800 on fruit and nut farms. 7.500 on grain
farms. 3,500 on livestock farms, 2.000 in agri-
cultural services, 900 on dairy farms, 650 in
nurseries and greenhouses and 400 on hay
and peanut farms.
The commission was materially assisted in
its most successful farm year by Texas news-
papers and radio stations and by hundredsof local organizations that recognized the im-
portance of orderly direction of farm labor.
Nonagricultural Placement Service, 1948.
Nonagricultural employers in T re-
quested the assistance of the comml ion in
filling 522,964 jobs during 1948. To provide
this assistance the commission offices referred
685,813 individuals to these employers and
458.032 were hired. Of these nonagricultural
job placements, 143,561 were placements of
women and 142.452 were placements of vet-
erans, each group representing approximately
31 per cent of the total. This activity was sub-
stantially greater than in 1947, when 510,845
job openings were received, 668.517 referrals
made and 429,268 placements resulted.
In making these 458.032 job placements.
service was rendered not only to the 28,000
employers covered by the Texas Unemploy-
ment Compensation Act, but also to the
thousands of small Texas employers not cov-
ered due to size of firm, and employers in
industries not included within the meaning ol
the legislation. Cities, counties, departments
of the State government, and federal estab-
lishments in Texas also made extensive use
of the service in filling their jobs. In order
to see that continuous and adequate service in
filling their worker needs was rendered to
Texas employers, commission personnel made
251,614 personal visits to employing establish-
ments.
Handicapped Workers.
Included in the nonagricultural job place-
ments made in 1948 were 18971 placements
of physically handicapped workers, including
11,384 handicapped veterans. This represented
an increase of 8 per cent over the handi-
capped placements made during 1947. The
greatest number of handicapped placements
made during any one month was 2,760 in
October. This was the result of the wide
publicity given to the annual "Employ the
Physically Handicapped" week proclaimed
during that month nationally by the Presi-
dent and within the State by the Governor.
Texas led all other states in the nation in
the placement of handicapped workers dur-
ing that month.
Counseling and Placement.
An employment counseling service is pro-
vided by the commission to job applicants
having difficult problems affecting their em-
ployment. This service is available particu-
arly to veterans, persons maladjusted in
their present or recent employment, and the
physically handicapped. During 1947 this serv-
ice was extended in 47,705 counseling inter-
views to 25,389 individuals. During 1948 this
special assistance was furnished by trained
counselors to maintain 25.000 individuals, in-
ciuding 9,000 who were handicapped. Com-
prehensive aptitude tests were administered
to 1,950 of the individuals counseled.
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Texas Almanac, 1949-1950, book, 1949; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117167/m1/354/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.