11
 
    4. Estimates based on German sources indicate that, in partial repacement of  till the 7 million
withdrawn from employment, Germany since 1939 has made the following additions to its labor
force:
       Foreign civilians.................................................1,600,000
       Prisoners of war ................................................1,500,000
       Women ................................................................500,000
       Men .....................................................................500,000
       Volksdeutsche .................................................. ...150,000
                                                                             -----------------
                                                                                  4,250,000
    5. Qualitative impairmcnt of the labor force has been as important as the net reduction in
numbers. Prisoners of war, Polish and Italian civilian workers, men called back from retirement,
and women workers do not provide adequate replacement for the men of active age drawn into
military service.
    6. Industrial output per hour worked showed no net increase between 1933 and 1939, and has
undoubtedly declined since 1939, and among those cmploycd in their normal occupations. This
decline has been accentuated by the qualitative impairment of the labor force. The decline in
average productivity per man-hour has bccn only partially offset by an increase in the number of
hours worked per week.
    7. As a result of the reduction and dilution of the labor force, togeher with some material
shortages and transportation difficulties, there has occurred a decline in the volume of industrial
output in Germany since 1939 which has been estimated by the BMEW to be  as much as  20
percent. While evidence is lacking to support this figure, it is clear that total output has fallen.
This decline was conrcentrated in the goods ancl services available to civilian consumers, while
production of war materials probably increased.
    8. Previous to 1939 the shift in production from civilian to military output had been such as to
reduce per capita production and consumption of civilian goods by 10-15 percent below the 1929
level. Since 1939 this shift has been accentuated. Perhaps the most illuminating evidence of the
concentration of effort in war production is the increase in employment in the metal trades by
approximately 2,200,000, an increase of roughly 50 percent.