ANALYSIS OF MANPOWER SITUATION IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R001900050005-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 28, 2001
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: September 22, 1948
• Content Type: REPORT

IWITRY
? ARJECT
4.CQUIRED
P,?-.711-TCATiON drrIldr17
ApprovecEPRIMOSTE21.03ElltaAGFAIeDP82-0 45/11110100005
FORMATE?
Ceechoslomakia
Anslysis of the ?anpeeer e!: nation in
Czechoslovakia
FATE n? 1."0
lA
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DATE DISTR. 22 September 1948
CObririzziv
PAGES 4
This document is hereby req 0.1 or
CONFIDENTIAL in accoiliarice wartEt.
letter of 16 October 1"..,73 trom
Director o
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f Central in:eq!,:cteil'e
ENCLS.
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Arch;vist of .1:be MEM' TO
P:e%17 REPOT NO.
As is evident from the declaration of Antonin Zapotocky2 the Prime Minister,
the situation in the production sector of the Czechoslovak economy is not
satisfactory and not as it was envisaged in the Two-Year Plan. The labor
situation is particularly unsatisfactory in spite of the fact that the entire
labor force is orrmized in the ROH (Revolutionary Trade Union Movement)0
(eccording to the daily press, 22300,000 workers - among them 540,000 women
ere organized in the ROH. Lidove Noviny of 1 June 1948 stated that up to
1 May 1948 there were 1,204, 917 job holders in industry in Bohemia and
o'oravia).
First of all, there is a considerable fluctuation of manpower in the various
sectors of production. According to Rude ?ravel, which quoted Mr. ZapotockyTs
declaration, the fluctuation reached 120% per annum in the textile industry.
Conseauently.2 the worker: cannot be properly trained for their jobs and there
Is a lack of skilled? labor. This is highly detrimental to the quality and
the quantity of the geode produced,. increases waste, and necessitates a
further exransion of administrative work. The greatest fluctuation of man-
power is in the border districts, in the former Sudetenland, which still
represent the weak spots in the Czechoslovak economy. Thus for example every
employee in the District of Karlovy Vary and the District of Liberec changed
his job approximately once in the course of 1947. In the Cheb District the
fluctuation is even greater. In the Chomutov District, the labor force of
49,000 was increased tly 61,000 newcomers. The As District presents the most
unfavorable situation in this respect with a fluctuation of /20%. Occording
to the Tabor 'Exchange and the Rude Pravo of 24 June 1948, there is a 2luetu-
aLion of 100,000 laborerE2 i.e. of the 1,200,000 employed in industry.
According to another report of the Rude Fravo, this fluctuation amounts to
25% of the labor force). The fluctuation in the Stalin Works at Ust3, Nad
Fallen reached 94.1% in the course of 1947 and 79% in the first quarter of
1p48*
9. In the mining industry and in metallurgy there is a remarkable percentage of
workers changing their jobs. In the mining industry it amounts approximately
to 25%2 in the metallurgy to 7 to 12%. The greatest fluctuation appears
again in the Metallurgical Works at Chomutov and Dvur Kralove, which belong to
the Steel works Corporation.
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/n addition to other reasons, the fluctuation of workers is to be ascribed
to the lack of workers in the various sectors of production and the workersv
search for the most favorable wages, The voluntary work brigades have also
had an unfevorable influence upon the percentage of labor fluctuation.
50 The most acute shortage of labor appears to be in mining where more than
/0,000 permanent workers are wanted, Then follow the metallurgical industries
(eneecially the foundries), energetic industry where there is an urgent need
eor skilled workers, and agriculture where at least 90,000 laborers are
needed for the harvest, For picking of hops some' 100,000 season laborers
would be needed0 In order to secure workers for the harvest period it would
be necessary to use brigades from the industries, (The latest reports indicate
that industrial brigades have been discontinued for the time being.)
6. The permanent lack of worker's is being increased by absenteeism, which ine
disputably has its effects on production. In some cases the loss of working
hours caused by absenteeism amounts to 25% of the total.
Conseeuentlye by the end of May 1948, the Teo-Year Plan was being fulfilled
by 97.7 % only, The textile industry, for example, fulfilled less than 50 %
of the Plan. Other industries whose performance fell even below 20% during
the first 4 months of 1948 are the followings
Castings.....,..................
3ichles.4040000000.0040400400040
Metal Furniture.000000.0,000,m
Aluminum Waree.,....0..,00,..400
Aluminum gheetSocee,boolioomoocio 1
Machines for Working Up Wood.. 18%
Hemp Yarn, Silk Thread, Umbrellas,
Dress Material, Gloves, Hides?and
Ieather.044444040000000.00000400 0%
8. The Government has, therefore, decided to face this decrease in production
by introducing payment for piecework and by equalizing wages in all sectors
of industry (except mining). It is further planned to provide workers with
flats as well as other social benefits the absence of which influences the
fluctuation, According to an article in Rude Pravo dated 9 June 1948 the
first sanctions have been instituted against irregular attendance and late
reporting for work, In the Karvinna-Ostrava coal fields miners will be
punished for absenteeism by confiscation of their extra food coupons (which
will be given to hard working laborers); the young miners will be fined by
reductions in meas.
As seen from the above,' the labor problem proves itself to be a bottleneck
on the way to the realization of the Teo-Year Plan.
It would not be advisable to draw conclusions from the results of the May
elections or connect them in any way-with the economic side of the picture
in Czechoslovakia, The districts where the election results were most
favorable for the Communist National Front are the newly colonized districts
on the border where the production figures show the poorest performance.
RET
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COZereppeee._
On the other handn the districts of Pilsen, Ostrava, and Perdubice, where
the election results were much less favorable (less than 90%), have been
;showing very substantial progress in the realization of the Teo-Year Plans
District: Votes for the Coemarlst Natigesi
Front in Percept,:
Karlovy Vary, Cheb, As. 004640061)00,000640,1,004o0r000400P 95./6
litati Rad tabem, Chomutov..... OOO *400410,600VOOO*4>0004t 97.30
******* 93.10
PileGnoo0o0o0o0e00porn0009e.***0000000000.200000000neo0 88020
Ostrava. ............................................... 86.50
Pardubice.. 000400404000.@00090000000006O0000**4000001440 79400
11. The greatest fluctuations in manpower were in As, Cheb, Chonutoee, Itarlov
Vary, and Usti Nad Tabora, where (in the course of 1947) each employee
changed his job once or twice. In the districts of Plzen (Pilsen),
Ostrava, and Pardubice the conditions of manpower are settled; Minister
Trlinent has cited the Steel Works at OstravaVitkovice as a good example,
Madno can be cited as a rime of the fact that the Communist Party
neMbership is not the measure of productivity, (Kladno is mainly a mining
end steel district). The National Front received the largest percentage
of the vete in this district (99.5%), but the local miners, who are mostly
Communist Party members, fulfilled the Two-Year Plan in May only by 88,2%,
It is interesting to compare the production figures with the election
results in other mining and steel districts (Ostrava) where the relatione
snip is just the opposite.
13. It is, therefore, 'clear that nany workers who disagree with the present
regime are anxious to help in the economic reconstruction of the country
end in the increase of production far more than those who proclaim them-
selves supporters of the regime.
It is also apparent that the RON, in which almost all of the 19200,000
industrial workers have been organized, does not hold its Nvolnntarilyn
organized members under centtrol. In spite of the incessant appeals in the
trade unionspress, ROH has not been able to influence the (working) morale
of its membersQ
15. It is not eossible to draw far reaching conclusions from the drop in pro-
duction figures for the month of May, especially since this marks the
beginning of the summer months (and vacations). The preparations for the
gokol Festival also affected the production figures. A further drop in
production must be expected as the ?lack of manpower on the farms will force
the Government to send some brigades from the industry to help in harvesting.
16. As far as the general productive capacity of Czechoslovakia (and of the
rastern bloc as well) is concerned, the inadequate performance of the economy
in the light of the Teo-Year Plan represents a significant delay in the
effort to -build up an independent industrial Eastern bloc which would strengthen
the war rotential of the East. The main task of the lo-!ear Plan was recone
struction, that is, raising the production figures to their pre-war level.
-CONFID!,NTILL
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Th ?Ivo-Tear Plan, the outlines of which are already visible, is to
contribute on a greater scale to the industrialisation of Eastern Europe*
10 rieellwr i the fulfilment or the Two./ear Plan means an automatic delay
.!?), -ioakenilig of, the Elva-Year Plan and, consequently, a delar in
iolLeation and n 4ecrease in the war notential of the Eastern bloc,.
e
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