War Manpower Job Flyer
1942
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This flyer was created by the War Manpower Commission to encourage women to register for war jobs during World War II. With men off fighting the war, women were called to take their place on the production line. The War Manpower Commission, a Federal Agency established to increase the manufacture of war materials, had the task of recruiting women into employment vital to the war effort.
A number of cities across the nation had a positive economic effect because of the demand for manufactured war materials. In Alabama, no city felt a greater impact than did Mobile. An estimated ninety-thousand workers swarmed into the city to work in the local war factories, especially in one of the two shipyards (Gulf Shipbuilding and Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding) or in the ALCOA factory. The ALCOA plant alone would produce 34% of the nation’s aluminum, a metal necessary for the production of airplanes. Men still worked at these plants, but without the women, these plants would have never been as productive or as successful as they ultimately were.
After the war, most women returned home, let go from their jobs. Their jobs, again, belonged to men. However, there were lasting effects. Women had proven that they could do the job and within a few decades, women in the workforce became a common sight.
A number of cities across the nation had a positive economic effect because of the demand for manufactured war materials. In Alabama, no city felt a greater impact than did Mobile. An estimated ninety-thousand workers swarmed into the city to work in the local war factories, especially in one of the two shipyards (Gulf Shipbuilding and Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding) or in the ALCOA factory. The ALCOA plant alone would produce 34% of the nation’s aluminum, a metal necessary for the production of airplanes. Men still worked at these plants, but without the women, these plants would have never been as productive or as successful as they ultimately were.
After the war, most women returned home, let go from their jobs. Their jobs, again, belonged to men. However, there were lasting effects. Women had proven that they could do the job and within a few decades, women in the workforce became a common sight.
Transcript
IF HITLER CAME TO MOBILEEvery woman would defend her home with a gun, a knife or her bare fingers.
BUT---
Hitler and his hordes will not come if women help to build ships, more ships to transport our men, tanks, planes, and munitions to the battle lines on other Continents - or if women take other jobs directly aiding the war effort.
This folder tells every Mobile woman not now in a war job how she may help win the war. Read it carefully and pass it on to your neighbor. It is an official statement from the War Manpower Commission.
Remember February 22 is an important day in Mobile.
War Manpower Commission
United States Employment Service
TO THE WOMEN OF MOBILE:
You are needed in the war jobs and in other essential civilian jobs directly aiding the war effort in Mobile NOW. Manpower has been practically exhausted. Housing available at this time will not permit the bringing into Mobile of the thousands of additional workers required for the shipyards and other war and essential industries. We must depend on you - upon womanpower. There are idle machines in war plants which you can operate. There are idle jobs in the shipyards which you can fill. There are jobs in stores, offices, transportation, restaurants, hospitals in which you can render essential war service.
Hitler will not come to our shores if we build the ships which can transport our soldiers and our war material overseas. We are training the armies, we are building the airplanes, tanks, guns and trucks, to do the job that must be done. But they will be of little use if we do not build the ships that can transport them to the battle zone.
Many of you are already in war jobs and are rendering essential service to our common country in the hour of need. We do not ask that you give up one essential job to take another. We do appeal to you, however, to take a job in which you can aid the war program. Those of you who are not engaged in war work or essential civilian employment, we do urge you to take the training which will equip you for such a job, or if you have the training, to take the job NOW without delay.
Women have responded nobly to the call to war service throughout the Nation. Many are employed in the shipyards in Mobile now. Many are at Brookley Field. Still others are in plants which are producing the war supplies essential to victory. Women who have never worked before are employed in stores and other necessary business establishments. Women have proved their efficiency in war work. Throughout our country they are doing work which many believed could be done only by men.
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Register for War Jobs at the United States Employment Service Office or at a Woman's Booth February 22 to 27.
In many war plants women make up more than 50 percent of the workers. In some war plants they constitute 70 percent of the employment list. In one war plant every employee is a woman. In another plant, where before the war the hiring policy was "No Women", women are in 25 percent of the jobs and are being hired as fast as they can be found. In the Norfolk navy yards 500 women are employed as mechanics. They operate lathes, serve as drill press operators and shapers, assemble engines, repair radios, generators and electric starters, and are expert welders. The United States Employment Service, after long study, has reported that, "It can hardly be said that ANY occupation is absolutely unsuitable for the employment of women. Women have shown that they can do or learn to do almost any kind of work."
Four million women are now employed in America's war industries. Fifteen million women re employed in other jobs which have released men for the armed services and other essential war work. But this is not enough. SIX MILLION ADDITIONAL WOMEN MUST GO INTO JOBS ESSENTIAL TO MAXIMUM WAR PRODUCTION. Every housewife should ask herself and answer this question: "Can I be of greater service in my home or in a war plant?" If she finds that her children can be cared for in a nursery or by a home nurse, relative or friend, then she should take the training which will equip her for a job in a war plant or an essential civilian industry.
A recent survey of Mobile shows that approximately 6400 women are unemployed and available for war work. This does not include women who have come into Mobile with their husbands in recent months. Many of them might serve. It does not include women whose daily presence is required in their home.
Every women in Mobile who is willing to take an essential job can get the training and can be referred to a job as soon as she completes a short training course. There are idle training machines in Mobile. One is waiting for you. You may get training in welding, machine shop practice, drafting and tracing, sheet metal,
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Register for War Jobs at the United States Employment Service Office or at a Woman's Booth February 22 to 27.
and ship electricity. Every business in Mobile has a training program, either in its plant or in a training course elsewhere. You may select your course. Supervisors will recommend courses which you can readily master and which will lead to war jobs, without delay. The United States Employment Service, 107 Government Street, will be glad to tell you about them.
If you can't take a permanent job, you are needed for essential volunteer service by the Mobile Council of Defense. You can fill many jobs in the civilian defense program. Every woman in Mobile can render an essential service as a worker in a war plant, in an essential civilian industry or in the civilian service program of the Council of Defense.
You now have an opportunity to register for an essential job or for a training course. REGISTRATION BOOTHS WILL BE OPENED BY THE UNITED STATES EMPLOYMENT SERVICE AT PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND MANY OTHER PLACES IN MOBILE AT 9 A.M. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22. THEY WILL BE OPEN FROM 9 A.M.TO 8 P.M. EACH DAY THROUGH SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27. Women volunteers, who have been trained to fill out the registration cards used by the United States Employment Service, will be in charge of the booths.
Every woman in Mobile who can take an essential job or training for a job is urged at this time of national crisis as a good American to register with the United States Employment Service during this Woman's Registration Week. Remember: EVERY WOMAN WHO TAKES A JOB HASTENS THE DAY OF VICTORY FOR AMERICAN ARMS - AND PEACE.
Help bring them back alive!
WAR MANPOWER COMMISSION
UNITED STATES EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
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Register for War Jobs at the United States Employment Service Office or at a Woman's Booth February 22 to 27.
This primary source comes from the Records of the War Manpower Commission.
National Archives Identifier: 281500
Full Citation: War Manpower Job Flyer Promoting Women to Register for War Jobs; 1942; Central Files and Monthly MOPAC Area Reports, 1942 - 1943; Records of the War Manpower Commission, Record Group 211; National Archives at Atlanta, Morrow, GA. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/war-manpower-flyer, March 25, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
