Percentage of Membership Unemployed (All Causes) at the Close of Each Quarter, 19081914: By Principal Industries.

1 Owing to the fact that the respective dates - December 31, 1911, March 31, 1912, and June 30, 1912-fell on Sunday, the date chosen for the returns in each case was the day preceding.

2 In explanation of this unusually high percentage unemployed for all causes it should be stated that over 9,000 organized textile workers in Lowell who were involved in a strike pending on March 30 were included in the aggregate number reported as unemployed on that date.

In the building trades the highest percentage reported unemployed during the seven-year period was 33.8 on December 31, 1914. Other high percentages were 29.7 on March 31, 1914; 25.2 on March 31, 1908; 23.9 on December 31, 1913; 21.2 on December 31, 1908; and 20.9 on December 30, 1911. The influence of the weather conditions is more marked in the building trades than in any other group of trades, and it will be observed that in this group of trades the highest percentages unemployed are either for the close of December or March. The lowest percentage unemployed in the building trades was 2.5 on September 30, 1912, on which date the percentage unemployed for all industries was also the lowest noted, namely, 4.7. During the year 1914 conditions in the building trades were by no means satisfactory even during the Summer and Fall. The principal occupations included in this group of trades

showed percentages unemployed at the close of December of this year as follows: Bricklayers, masons, and plasterers, 50.6; carpenters, 32.7; electrical workers, 10.0; engineers (hoisting and portable), 26.2; hod carriers and building laborers, 49.8; lathers (wood, wire, and metal), 44.9; painters, decorators, and paperhangers, 48.0; plumbers, gasfitters, and steamfitters, 18.0; and sheet metal workers, 13.2.

In boot and shoe manufacturing the highest percentage unemployed was 18.2 on June 30, 1908. On September 30, 1908, it was 17.1, but for no other quarter did the percentage unemployed in this industry exceed 14.9 (March 31, 1913). The lowest percentage reported was 2.3 on December 30, 1911. During the entire year, 1914, conditions in this industry were very unfavorable, the percentages unemployed for the close of the four quarters of the year having been, respectively, 14.4, 12.9, 13.3, and 14.7. The improvement in this industry which usually follows the slack period in the Spring of the year was not evident in this particular year.

In the textile industry' the highest percentage unemployed was 43.9 on March 30, 1908. Other high percentages were reported as follows: 29.1 on March 30, 1912; 21.3 on June 30, 1911; 21.2 on December 31, 1914; and 20.9 on December 31, 1908. The lowest percentage was 2.4 on June 29, 1912. In this industry the effects of the industrial depression in 1907 were very keenly felt, and, although there was some recovery during the second and third quarters of the year, 1908, the high percentage (20.9) at the close of December, 1908, indicated that the recovery was by no means complete even at that time. The very high percentage, 29.1, on March 30, 1912, was due to the unemployment of a large number of textile workers in Lowell (over 9,000 in all) who were involved in a strike on that date. During the year 1913 the percentages unemployed in this industry at the close of the first three quarters were rather higher than what might be considered normal for this industry, but at the close of the year the conditions had greatly improved, the percentage unemployed having been only 5.9 on December 31. The percentages unemployed at the close of the first two quarters in 1914 did not indicate any considerable amount of unemployment in this industry, but at the end of the year the percentage (21.2) was unusually high.

1 Owing to the comparatively small percentage organized of the aggregate number of textile workers in Massachusetts, the returns for this industry are, admittedly, very meagre, but the organizations which report are composed principally of the more skilled workmen in this industry on the progress of whose work depend those processes on which the unskilled labor is principally employed. For purely local reasons conditions in the industry inany particular textile center may, and undoubtedly do, vary greatly from the general conditions observed throughout the State. The Bureau, however, has carefully avoided making any reference to purely local conditions in any industry except where the report from any single local organization has been confirmed by special inquiry made of other sources of reliable information.

Under transportation (steam and electric) the highest percentages unemployed were 13.3 on March 31, 1908, and 8.9 on June 30, 1908. Since the latter date there has been comparatively little unemployment among the organized employees in this group of occupations, until the close of the last quarter in 1914, when 6.8 per cent were reported as unemployed. Ordinarily railroad employees are rather continuously employed and the number employed is fairly constant. For limited periods it has been customary in Massachusetts of late to place some railroad employees, particularly those engaged in shop work, on a five-day per week, eight-hour per day schedule and others on a shorter working-day schedule, apparently for the express purpose of curtailing the expenses of the railroad companies. This "short-time," however, has not, to any large degree, affected the percentages unemployed during the portion of the year when the short-time schedules were in effect.

Under iron and steel manufacturing the percentages were high during the entire year 1908, the percentages for the close of the four quarters of the year having been, respectively, 16.6, 17.8, 16.0, and 16.3. At the close of each of the first three quarters of the year 1913, conditions in this branch of the industry were fairly normal, but at the close of the year the percentage (18.2) was unusually high, due to the unemployment of a large number of molders, which group of workmen constituted a large proportion of the total number reporting under iron and steel manufacturing, and therefore bore considerable weight in the returns. At the close of 1914 the percentage was 18.5, the highest recorded for this industry during the entire seven-year period.

In printing and allied trades rather high percentages were reported as unemployed at the close of each quarter in 1908, but since that year conditions appear to have been comparatively good until the close of June, 1914, when the percentage was 9.8. Some improvement was noted at the end of September, but at the close of December the percentage was 12.1, this being the highest percentage on record during the period 1908 to 1914, with the single exception of the percentage (12.6) at the close of September in 1908.

E. UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS.

An examination of the statistics of unemployment in the various occupations1 discloses a very wide range in the percentages unemployed. In the same occupation there may be at one time practically no unemployment among the members of the organizations reporting, while at another

1 For percentages in detail for the seven years, 1908-1914, see Table 8 on pp. 56 and 57.

time the percentage may reach a high figure. A comparison of the percentages for one occupation with those of another may also disclose a wide variation in the amount of unemployment in the occupations compared. Again, in certain occupations the percentages unemployed may continue fairly constant for a long period, then abruptly rise to a high point. For the occupations in the building trades (carpenters, bricklayers, painters, etc.) much seasonal unemployment is usually reported at the close of March and December in each year.

While the percentages of unemployment by occupations may prove of comparative value in certain instances, they should be used with caution, particularly where comparisons are made between percentages in those occupations for which, owing to the small number of employees reporting, the returns may not have been properly representative. On the whole, comparisons based on percentages unemployed in the several more important industries are to be recommended in preference to comparisons on an occupational basis.

V.

STATISTICAL TABLES.

TABLE 1. National and International Unions and Federations Having Affiliated Locals in Massachusetts at the Close of 1914,

Showing the Number of Chartered Locals in Massachusetts

and at Large.

TABLE 2. Number of Delegate Organizations Having Affiliated Locals in Massachusetts at the Close of the Years 1908-1914. TABLE 3. — Number and Membership of Local Unions at the Close of 1913 and 1914: By Municipalities and Sex.

TABLE 4.- Number and Membership of Local Unions at the Close of 1913 and 1914: By Occupations and Sex.

TABLE 5. Number and Membership of Local Trade Unions at the Close of 1913 and 1914 having Women as Members: By Occupations.

TABLE 6. Number and Membership of Local Trade Unions at the Close of 1913 and 1914: By Industries.

TABLE 7. Increase or Decrease in Membership of Identical Unions existing both at the Close of 1913 and 1914: By Municipalities.

TABLE 8. Percentage of Membership of Trade Unions Unemployed (All Causes) at the Close of Each Quarter, 1908-1914: By Principal Occupations.

TABLE 9. Percentage of Membership of Trade Unions Unemployed (All Causes) at the Close of Each Quarter, 1908-1914: By Principal Cities.

[IX. 46]