Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 437

Jewish Agency's Government's estimate of estimate of absorptive absorptive Net Schedule Grant (i.e., Gov. estimate capacity (Total capacity, applied for). less Period. % 26.5 31.0 52.1 deductions). Oct. 1933—Mar. 34 April—Sept., 1934 Oct. 1934—Mar. 35 24,490 20,100 18,600 6,500 7,600 9,700 5,500 6,800 7,500 April—Sept., 1935 19,160 10,800 56.4 8,000 The difference between the official estimates of the absorptive capacity and the net schedules granted is due to the deductions made by Government, mainly on account of illegal immigrants or tourists overstaying the authorised period without permission. It will be observed that the official estimates of the country's capacity to absorb immigrant labour have been steadily increasing, both absolutely and in relation to the estimates of the Jewish Agency, and that in spite of the increasing deductions the net schedule figures have also risen. 4. Even such increases, however, as were secured, lagged, in time and in scope, behind the growing demand for labour. The position which prevailed in the labour market throughout the period under review and the effects of the labour shortage on the economic development of the country may be presented by the following quotation from the Jewish Agency's memorandum on the labour schedule of October, 1934 : The present half-yearly application is the third which is being submitted under conditions of an acute labour shortage. Far from abating, the tension in the labour market grew steadily in the past halfyear and has now reached critical proportions. Its most serious adverse result from the Jewish point of view is the contingent exodus of Jewish workers from agriculture and their concentration in more lucrative trades. The proportion of Jewish wage-earners in agriculture to the total Jewish working class dropped from 16.3% in January, 1932, to 13.8% in October, 1933, and to 8.9% in July, 1934, and their number went down from 5,800 in 1933 to 4,200 in 1934, while the area of Jewish orange groves increased during the latter period by 25%. The main drain on the agricultural labour market has been exercised by the building industry, where the labour shortage persisted and wages continued to rise, surpassing all previous records. . . . The rise affected agriculture and the manufacturing industries and did not spare the Arab labour market. Shortage of labour and a rise of wages in certain Arab regions were officially reported during the last harvesting season " notwithstanding the influx of Bedouin from the Sinai." The evil consequences of the abnormal wage level have been manifold. It has, first of all, had a dislocating and even demoralising effect on labour itself. Secondly, it has jeopardised the chances of healthy economic development of enterprises based from the outset on excessive capital expenditure. Thirdly, it has deterred many a would-be investor from carrying out his plans. Fourthly, it has adversely affected the competitive power of local enterprise. Lastly, it has upset the cost estimates of works delayed by lack of labour, making it questionable whether they will be carried out at all. In a number of 437