Expenditures for materials, tools, equipment, etc., are borne by the office in charge of the service enterprise, and naturally vary from project to project. Experience acquired on 236 such enterprises in Prussia has shown that the service offices bear about two fifths of the total cost, the other three fifths being borne by the Federal Government and Insurance Bureau. In 1932 the amount spent for this purpose by the Federal Government and the Insurance Bureau was 86,000,000 marks ($20,468,200), of which 75 percent came from the former and 25 percent from the latter. Using the ratio of three fifths and two fifths, the contribution of the service offices would have amounted to a further 57,000,000 marks ($13,566,000), making the total cost in that year 143,000,000 marks ($34,034,000). In formulating plans for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1932, the average contribution of the Federal Government and the Insurance Bureau is estimated at about 1.80 marks (42.8 cents) per man per day, to which must be added a further 10 percent for "book credits"," making 1.98 marks (47.1 cents) per man per day. This represents three fifths of the cost, the other two fifths, or 1.32 marks (31.4 cents), being contributed by the service office. At this rate the actual cost, per man per day, works out at 3.30 marks (78.5 cents). On a basis of 300 working days in the year, the annual cost per member would be 990 marks ($236). It was early realized by the authorities that the selection of capable supervisors and leaders of the workers played an important part in the success of the service. In order to supply these leaders, special courses for their training will be opened in the near future. These courses will last from six to eight weeks and each course will be given to from 60 to 70 persons. As soon as a sufficient number of trained men is available posts of the above nature will be filled only by persons who have gone through the regular training courses. THE Employment Conditions in Great Britain in 1932 HE report of the Ministry of Labor for 1932, which has recently appeared, is presented in eight chapters, dealing respectively with employment, provision of training for the unemployed, juveniles, unemployment insurance, industrial relations, administration of the trade board acts, labor statistics, and international labor. Employment TAKING the field of industry as a whole, changes in volume of employment during the year were small, the minimum and maximum percentages of insured persons unemployed being respectively 20.8 (in March) and 22.9 percent (in August), while for December the percentage was 21.5 against 22.3 in January. The year showed no evidence of returning prosperity, but at least it witnessed a slowing down in the rate at which unemployment increased. The estimated average • These credits are granted to members under certain conditions and can be used only for the purpose of purchasing a house and lot. The maximum credit per member is 360 marks ($85.68). number of insured persons in employment during the year is shown for 8 years as follows: It will be noticed that while each year since 1929 has shown a decrease in the number of insured persons at work, the falling off in 1932 was less than in either of the 2 years preceding. The incidence of unemployment varied between the sexes, the percentage of insured males who were unemployed, which was 23.1 in December 1931, having risen to 24.9 in December 1932, while the corresponding percentage for females sank from 14.9 to 12.3. This difference in trends is ascribed to "the greater activity of the textile and lighter metal industries which give employment to women, and the continued depression in the heavy industries, which provide employment, in the main, for men." Periods of Unemployment As a result of the continuance of the depression an increase is shown in the proportions of the unemployed who had been without work for periods of a year or longer. The following table shows for men, for women, and for all claimants for either benefit or transitional payments (the last figure including boys and girls) the percentages of those on the register at January 25 and December 19, 1932, who had been registered for periods of various length. PERCENT OF INSURED PERSONS ON THE REGISTER JAN. 25 AND DEC. 19, 1932, WHO HAD BEEN UNEMPLOYED FOR SPECIFIED PERIODS The most striking feature of the table is the increase in the percentage of men who had been out of work for a year or over, an increase so large that it more than overbalances the decrease in the percentage of women in this group. Nevertheless, such prolonged unemployment is far from general. In spite of the increase during the year in the number of men with long periods of unemployment, over half of the claimants for benefit at each of the dates for which figures are given had been unemployed for less than 3 months; many of these had been unemployed for much shorter periods. This latter fact reflects the breaks in employment which occur in nearly all trades at all times. In considering the significance of the unemployment figures as a whole this relative liveliness over half the register is often overlooked. Occupational Distribution of Unemployment THE metal trades, including engineering, vehicles, and shipbuilding, furnished the largest group of the unemployed, 16.4 percent, at July 1932, followed in order by the distributive trades, the miscellaneous manufactures and services, building and public works contracting, and allied trades, textiles, and mining and coke ovens. As compared with the figures for 1923, there has been a decrease in the percentages coming from the mining, metal, and textiles groups of industries, and an increase in those from the distributive trades and from the building and allied industries. The figures indicate that the conditions over the last 9 years have led to a marked change in the industrial distribution of the insured population in the direction of the expansion of the industries concerned mainly with the home market and of the service of distribution, and a contraction of the industries which operate to a substantial extent for export trade. Supply of Seasonal Workers Through Employment Exchanges SPECIAL attention was paid to securing workers for seasonal industries, and along this line a new opportunity was opened up by an inquiry from the farmers of the island of Jersey as to whether they could obtain English workers for harvesting their crops of potatoes and tomatoes, for which they had usually recruited Breton laborers to help out their local force. The opportunity was warmly followed up, and volunteers for the work came forward in numbers. It was found that 2,268 men would be required, and more than twice this number applied. The first gang reached Jersey on May 3, and from then on gangs were sent daily until a total of 2,641 men and 7 women had been placed. In spite of being, for the most part, unaccustomed to farm work, most of those sent gave a good account of themselves. Reports indicate that clerks, tailors, chefs, and shop assistants did as well as, and in some cases better than, the navvies and agricultural laborers who were employed. For example, a gang of three men who came from Poole, consisting of a professional dancer, a shop fitter, and a painter, averaged 20 Jersey perches a day (the standard set by skilled Breton laborers) and earned 10s. a day each. A bus driver who was picking and sorting earned £4 13s. a week; his output is believed to constitute the island's record, even among Bretons. Three professional footballers cleared 22 Jersey perches a day and each earned over £3 weekly. On the average the work was up to the usual standard and it was generally admitted that the grading of the produce was more carefully done than in past years. Much attention was also given to supplying holiday resorts with the additional workers needed in the season. The season was not considered a good one, yet 50,896 workers were placed, of whom 39,599 were women and girls and 11,297 were men and boys. Domestic service absorbed most of these, though nearly eight thousand were placed in "some 70 or 80 different occupations, the principal of which were transport and delivery workers, bathing machine, stall and cloakroom attendants, laundry workers, etc." Although the supply of local applicants was greater than last year, it was necessary to bring 18,949 work people from other districts, an increase of 1,103 over 1931. The power of the department to advance fares on loan was widely used in this connection to assist the workpeople to travel to their employment. Picking fruit and peas, work in the cultivation of sugar beets, canning fruit, fish, and vegetables, and Christmas work in the post office were other seasonal occupations in which numerous workers were placed. Measures to Meet the Unemployment Situation in Japan 1 TA meeting of the Japanese Cabinet on November 25, 1932, an expenditure totaling approximately 229,000,000 yen ($48,000,000)2 was approved for public works to relieve unemployed workers and depressed farmers. Of this amount 84,000,000 yen ($17,640,000) was allocated to the Department of Agriculture and Forestry for land clearing, drainage, afforestation, etc., and 145,000,000 yen ($30,450,000) to the Department of Home Affairs for work on roads, rivers, harbors, etc. It is estimated that these projects will provide approximately 200,000,000 days of work. Furthermore, the Department of Home Affairs will undertake work for the relief of intellectual, casual, and other unemployed workers, which will cost approximately 39,000,000 yen ($8,190,000) and may furnish 10,000,000 days of work. The unemployment commission set up in July 1932 has adopted a report, submitted by its secretariat, which embodies the major lines of investigation to be undertaken by the commission. Among the suggestions made in this report is a study of the problem of establishing a system of unemployment insurance in Japan suitable to present-day conditions in that country. It is also recommended that public works be extended, especially with a view to assisting other workers than those in the casual-labor class, the development of mutual unemployment-relief schemes for casual workers, and the reform of dismissalallowance schemes which have already been introduced in some cities. 1 Data are from International Labor Office, Industrial and Labor Information, Geneva, Mar. 6, 1933, p. 297. Conversions into United States currency on basis of the average exchange rate of yen in November 1932, which was about 21 cents. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE Postponement of Effective Date of Wisconsin Unemployment Insurance Act BY YA recent act (ch. 186) of the Legislature of Wisconsin, the effective date of the unemployment insurance law was postponed indefinitely. This act provides that the unemployment insurance law, approved on January 28, 1932, shall not become effective until such time as the State industrial commission finds that business recovery has sufficiently progressed to permit a successful operation. Wisconsin was the first State in the United States to adopt an unemployment insurance law. The Wisconsin Legislature by the enactment of the law (ch. 20, Wisconsin Special Session Laws of 1931) intended to make certain that by July 1, 1933, a majority of the employees working for industrial companies in the State would have some adequate system of unemployment compensation. It was incumbent upon the employers of at least 175,000 employees, before June 1, 1933, to establish voluntarily some unemployment insurance plan which met the standards prescribed by the act. Failing in such voluntary action, the law would automatically become compulsory on July 1, 1933. Under the 1933 act, however, the compulsory features of the unemployment insurance law will not be pressed by the State of Wisconsin at this time. By the provisions of section 1, of chapter 186, Acts of 1933, the procedure for determining the time when the Wisconsin unemployment insurance law shall become operative is set forth in the following language: The legislature intends through this act to make it certain that in the near future at least a majority of the employees of this State will enjoy the protection of fair and adequate systems of unemployment compensation. The largest organization of employers in the State having declared it to be the intention of its members voluntarily to establish unemployment fund systems, it is the intent of the legislature to give employers a fair opportunity to bring about the purposes of this act without legal compulsion. Therefore the opportunity to keep this act from taking general and compulsory effect shall extend until business recovery is well under way in Wisconsin; namely, until a finding of fact by the industrial commission either that the number of manual employees in Wisconsin manufacturing establishments has for 3 successive months been at least 20 percent greater or that the aggregate weekly pay rolls for such employees have for 3 successive months been at least 50 percent greater than for December 1932, as shown by monthly indexes of employment and pay rolls computed by the commission and appearing in its Wisconsin Labor Market Bulletin. Such finding of fact shall be published by the commission in the official State paper. If by 20 days after such official publication date the employers of not less than 139,000 employees have voluntarily established plans in accordance with section 3 of this act, then the compulsory system provided for in chapter 108 of the statutes shall not take effect; otherwise, it shall take effect 60 days after such publication date. 1 For complete text of law, see Monthly Labor Review, March 1932 (pp. 541-552). |