ABSTRACT
This chapter considers what extent placing work has suffered, and at what enormous cost of human energy the unemployment insurance program of the Government has been carried on. By the end of 1920 the exchanges had completed ten full years of operation, and had to their credit a deserved reputation for the effective performance of vital work during the war. The slight improvement in the efficiency of the exchanges which is discoverable, and which is certainly no greater than should have been expected after thirteen years of operation, has been won at a totally disproportionate increase in personnel and expense. The refund system, which combines the characteristics of State banking with those of insurance, has been a particularly heavy burden on the exchanges considering the very questionable value of the scheme. In its broad basic outline the system of German employment exchanges is practically identical with that of Great Britain.
