184 in May, 1927. In April, 1926, 147 furnaces were in blast. The average monthly output of pig iron during the year was 607,800 tons as compared with 521,800 tons in 1925 and 855,000 in 1913.

In iron and steel works at the end of March 15.4 per cent. of insured workpeople were unemployed; at the end of December the figure had risen to 22.7 per cent. The average monthly production was 758,000 tons as compared with 616,400 in 1925 and 638,600 in 1913.

There is no doubt that the consumption of iron and steel in the world is rising and that the increase is likely to continue, and the British share will depend upon price and the distribution of the orders among the plants most capable of efficient production. There is still a substantial reserve of productive capacity which has not fully come into operation and it is probable, therefore, that in some areas in this industry, as in coal, there will be a "surplus" of man-power that will require to seek an outlet in other directions.

The cotton trade showed, broadly, the same situation as in previous years-fairly regular whole-time employment in the sections spinning Egyptian cotton and engaged in the production of the finer qualities of cotton goods, with comparative prosperity in those areas, and irregular short-time with economic difficulties. over a wide area of the American cotton-spinning section and in the production of the coarser qualities. During parts of the year organised short-time was in operation over much of the American spinning section. The end of the year was marked by discussions within the trade as to the need for reorganisation of methods on a scale wider than anything yet attempted. At the end of the year out of 570,110 insured persons in the industry 56,924 were unemployed, 3.3 per cent. being wholly unemployed and 6.7 per cent. on temporary stoppage.

In the shipbuilding and ship repairing industry employment was, on the whole, better than for several years, the improvement being due in part to the carry-over from 1926, but also to the existence of additional new orders. The percentage unemployed in Great Britain and Northern Ireland fell from 36.9 in January, 1927, to 21.5 in December. On the Clyde it fell to 12.2 per cent.

In considering the figures of unemployment as a picture of the industrial position in the trade, it should be remembered that a number of those shown as wholly unemployed are ship repairers who are normally engaged for a particular job, and discharged when it is finished, to be engaged again after a longer or shorter interval for another job.

The figures of production for Great Britain and Ireland for the year were 1,225,873 tons gross as compared with 1,084,633 ir

1925, and 1,439,885 in 1924. It appears probable, on the whole, that the world demand for new tonnage, and the share of that demand that British yards may reasonably be expected to secure during the next two or three years, will be insufficient to afford fairly regular employment to the whole of the present insured personnel of the industry, and some transfer will be inevitable.

In engineering the motor and cycle trades, electrical engineering, and the railway shops were fairly well occupied, but marine engineering and textile engineering were poorly employed.

In the wool industry there was irregularity of employment, and, although towards the end of the year conditions in the worsted section improved, employment declined in the woollen section.

In spite of the position in the staple industries, the general employment situation, as has already been indicated, sensibly improved. This situation adds support to the view suggested in the Report for 1926 that activity in other trades, and in areas which are not dominated, economically, by coal, iron and steel and cotton, is beginning to make its weight increasingly felt in the industrial balance of the country.

The relative prosperity of the south and midlands, which was manifest in 1926, continued in 1927, as the figures below indicate, though the "staple industry areas" of the north, apart from coal, improved their comparative position to some extent during the year.

The following table shows the variations in the rates of unemployment among insured persons in the respective divisions into which the country is divided for the purpose of the administration of the Unemployment Insurance Acts:

The numbers on the live registers of the Employment Exchanges, &c., in Great Britain at the end of each month for the year 1927 were as follows:

...

...

November

December (19th)

The Problem of Transfer.

The problem indicated by these figures, though formidable, is not insoluble, given a general recognition of its importance and a genuine attempt at co-operation. Industry is a living organism which is constantly in process of adapting itself to changing circumstances. There is at all times a steady drain-away from industries and areas, where opportunities for employment appear to be restricted, to other occupations and districts. This is mainly unorganised and individual, following the ordinary human stimulus of a desire to earn a livelihood. In the Ministry of Labour Gazette of November, 1927, (pp. 426 et seq.) appeared figures showing the changes in the distribution of the insured population, which illustrate the process.

Between 1923 and 1927 the number of insured people in the distributive trades increased from 10.92 per cent. of the total to 13.03 per cent.; building and public works contracting increased from 7.35 per cent. to 8.39 per cent.; silk (including artificial silk) from 0.32 per cent. to 0.45 per cent., that is from 37,000 to 55,000 persons; motor vehicles from 1.67 per cent. to 1.92 per cent.

Coal mining decreased from 10.83 per cent. to 9.88 per cent. of the total, a reduction of 44,000; shipbuilding and ship repairing from 2.35 per cent. to 1.78 per cent., a reduction of 54,000; wool and worsted declined by 20,000.

Or, to put the matter in another way--the insured personnel of silk has increased by 47.6 per cent. since 1923, electrical engineering by 30.1 per cent., brick, cement and tile manufactures by 40.5 per cent., construction of motors, cycles and aircraft by 21.4 per cent., building, &c., by 20.5 per cent., printing and publishing by 12.6 per cent., and tailoring by 7.8 per cent.; on the other hand, shipbuilding has been reduced by 20 per cent., lace by 14.4

per cent., steel smelting by 7.8 per cent., and coal mining by 3.6 per cent.

The same issue of the Ministry of Labour Gazette (p. 429) shows, in particular, the movement in and out of the coal mining industry during the year 1926-7. Although this was an exceptional year and the figures cannot be regarded as typical of future developments, they give a valuable indication of the activity which is described as "turnover of personnel " and show the possibilities of transfer.

These figures illustrate the extent to which changes of occupation take place in the normal development of industry, and changes of geographical distribution are probably no less extensive. The process is one which must take place gradually; sudden readjustments of labour on a large scale are hardly practicable. It is, in the end, largely a matter of personal effort. But personal efforts. can be supplemented, and wasted effort reduced, by a co-ordinated system such as the Employment Exchanges. The Exchanges can have knowledge not only of actual vacancies, but of the tendencies of the labour market in every area in the country. They can also make an initial selection of men from all areas where there is surplus labour, and so facilitate transfer of the right men. be urged that there is in most areas some local unemployment and that the method of transfer does not add to the volume of employment, but puts one man in while it keeps another out. But this is to misunderstand the working of the employment market and the problem of transfer illustrated by the above figures. There may be in an area some unemployment and at the same time an unsatisfied demand for labour, because the labour available locally does not fit the requirements of the vacancies. Moreover, in addition to the existing and known demands for labour there are often potential vacancies which materialise upon the presentation of a suitable applicant; "an employer is always on the look out for a good man." By transfer, therefore, men of willingness and capacity may increase their chances of employment in spite of the existence of an apparent surplus of labour in the areas to which they go.

But clearly if such transfers are to be effected with as little. hardship and waste of effort as possible. all the agencies involved need to be brought into effective co-operation. It was with this in mind that the Government decided at the end of 1927 to establish the Industrial Transference Board. The announcement was made in the House of Commons on 7th December by the President of the Board of Trade, who said that: "We propose to set up a small Commission, Committee or Board, of not more than three men, whose sole object will be to stimulate and assist the transfer of workers from distressed areas to openings in other areas, and other industries, both at home and overseas.

The Board was actually appointed on 6th January, 1928.

WORK OF THE EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES.'

66

Some modifications in the organisation of the Employment Exchanges have been adopted during the year. Of these the most important is the institution of what are known as intensive clearing areas. From the early days of the Exchange system the functions of the Exchanges in clearing " labour through the several provincial headquarters of the Department (Divisional Offices) and through the National Clearing House Gazette (see Report for 1923 and 1924, p. 80) have been emphasised. By this means wide areas of possible labour supply have been tapped to fill vacancies for which suitable local labour was not available.

As an extension of this principle intensive clearing areas have been established on Clydeside, Tyneside, Merseyside, and in the Inner London and Birmingham areas. All the Exchanges within these areas exchange information daily about vacancies and surplus labour for vacancies other than unskilled through the medium. of a Central Clearing Exchange, which thus obtains a bird's-eye view of the whole movement and needs of the labour market in the area. All the Exchanges are within easy travelling distance of each other. Any employer, therefore, in the area who requires workmen of skilled or semi-skilled type can secure, upon application to any of the Exchanges in the area, the submission of the most suitable applicants available within the whole area. Similarly any workman can draw upon the whole field of vacancies existing throughout the area which is within daily reach of his home.

The scheme has already proved very successful, not only in quickly connecting supply and demand, but in bringing to the notice of employers the wide choice of applicants of good qualifications existing within the area. Its development in other areas is being undertaken.

The ordinary work of the Exchanges has continued without any other changes of importance in administrative policy.

The total numbers respectively of vacancies notified to and filled by the Exchangest during the year are :—

Vacancies notified, 1,436,052.

Vacancies filled 1,252,707.

*For Administrative Divisions, with areas, population, and numbers of Employment Exchanges and Branch Employment Offices, see Appendix IV.

Including Branch Employment Offices and Juvenile Employment Bureaux of Local Education Authorities having choice of employment schemes in operation.

"Vacancies filled" include certain types of cases (described as class B placings) in which the work of the Exchanges was limited; for instance, obtaining for an employer former employees. In the monthly statistics published in the Ministry of Labour Gazette, the number of class B placings is shown as a footnote; this number was 243,341 in 1927.