Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
UNEMPLOYMENT
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: TUM-VAN
del.icio.us it!
|
UNEMPLOYMENT , a See also:modern See also:term for the See also:state of being unemployed among the working-classes. The social question involved is intimately See also:bound up with that of See also:relief of the poor, and its earlier See also:history is outlined in the See also:article CHARITY AND CHARITIES. It is more particularly within the 20th See also:century that the problem of unemployment has become specially insistent, not by See also:reason of its greater intensity—for it is open to considerable doubt whether, comparatively speaking, there was not more unemployment in the organized See also:industrial communities of the See also:early See also:middle ages—but because the greater facilities for publicity, the growth of industrial See also:democracy, the more scientific methods applied to the See also:solution of economic questions, the larger humanitarian spirit of the times all demand that remedies differing considerably from those of the past should at least be tried. In most civilized countries attemptshave been made to solve this or that particular phase of the problem by improved methods. There is, however, always a See also:great difficulty in knowing the extent of unemployment even in any one particular See also:country. No See also:census has ever been taken in any country of those of the whole See also:population who were employed and unemployed on any particular See also:day, and even if it were possible to take such a census modern conditions of See also:industry might render its results valueless almost immediately after. It would be complicated, too, by having of See also:necessity to include the shiftless and unemployable sections of the population, as well as those on the borderland of employment (those who are See also:worth some sort of wage in times of pressure), while at the same See also:time it would be necessary, to make the census of See also:practical value, to obtain returns of the demand for labour, in See also:order to value the true See also:character of the See also:supply. Such See also:statistics are obtainable possibly only in theory, but every country makes an endeavour to obtain statistics of a sort. In See also:England the See also:Board of See also:Trade, for example, has compiled valuable memoranda on the percentages of unemployment in the more important trade See also:union See also:groups of trades, which may be taken as a measure of unemployment in the more highly organized See also:industries; while other memoranda throwing See also:light on the subject See also:deal with the amount of time lost by workpeople through want of employment and other causes; with cyclical trade depressions; the extent to which See also:female labour has displaced adult male labour of See also:late years; seasonal industries and industries carried on by casual labour; See also:emigration and See also:immigration, &c., all intimately bound up with the study of the problem. The statistics issued by the Labour Bureaus of many of the states in the See also:United States are of considerable value, in particular, those of See also:Massachusetts, New See also:Jersey, New See also:York, See also:Connecticut and See also:Wisconsin. See also:Germany, See also:France and See also:Belgium also publish statistics, but like the figures of other countries, they far from represent the actual state of unemployment. The actual causes of unemployment in any one country will always remain to a certain extent controversial, as will the See also:comparative See also:weight to be assigned to each cause. Putting aside the much disputed theories of economists as to the causes of cyclical depressions of trade, there are certain well-observed facts which See also:present themselves in connexion with the question of unemployment, and to each one of them some contributory portion of blame may be assigned. These facts causes of may be classified as (a) those over which the worker Unemployhas no See also:control, and (b) those which may be said me'. to See also:lie in the worker himself. Some of those under (a), of which it is impossible to give more than the more obvious examples, have, of course, been operating, especially in the United See also:Kingdom, sometimes potently, sometimes slowly and almost unnoticed, over a See also:long range of years. They are seasonal industries and industries carried on by casual labour. There are many industries affected by certain states of the See also:weather or by the changes of the seasons, as the See also:building and allied trades, the furriers' trade, See also:confectionery trades, &c. But more important are those industries which depend largely in times of pressure on casual and unskilled labour, such as See also:port and See also:riverside See also:work of all kinds, construction See also:works and to a certain extent the See also:iron and See also:steel industries. Then there are a number of skilled trades which have about them continually a fringe of casual labour, for which employment is very intermittent. To quote from the See also:report of the See also:British Royal See also:Commission on the Poor See also:Laws (19oo): " The class of under-employed includes not merely the whole of the men in such occupations as See also:dock and See also:wharf labour and See also:market porters, and a waxing and waning See also:share of the See also:lower grades of the building operations, but also a very extensive fringe of men more or less attached to particular industries, and working at them only by way of brief and casual jobs. " To go in " for one See also:half-day, one day, two, three, four or five days out of the five and a half is See also:common to bootmaking, coopering, galvanizing, tank-making, oil pressing, See also:sugar boiling, piano-making, as it is to dock-labouring, stevedoring, See also:crane-lifting, building. Some trades, like that of the See also:London bakers, regularly employ more men on one or two days of the See also:week than on others. In London a large See also:body of men is always required for the See also:Friday See also:night See also:baking when the work in preparation for Saturday and See also:Sunday is we are told, exceedingly heavy. The usual See also:hours of working are fifteen or sixteen instead of the ten of other nights and twice as many men are required. These Friday night men, many hundreds in number, pick up See also:odd jobs the See also:rest of the week. At the factory See also:gates every night during the. week, a number of men are always See also:hanging about ready to be taken on in an emergency, or to fill the See also:place of any See also:man who, according to a very common See also:custom, has " taken a night off." In busy marketing neighbourhoods, a whole class of butchers' assistants are engaged only for Fridays and Saturdays. Analogous arrangements exist in many other trades. Moreover, in every trade there are men whom the employer takes on only when he has a sudden and temporary See also:press of business. They may be the " glut men " of the customs See also:department or the See also:Christmas hands of the See also:post See also:office. Every See also:tramway undertaking, municipal or commercial, has its reserve of extra drivers, conductors, yard-men, washers, &c., who get a day's work now and then when they are wanted. At See also:Liverpool, and indeed in all large towns, there is a whole class of casual carmen, who are taken on for the See also:job as required." Then there are the accidental circumstances which incidentally produce unemployment, such as the displacement of labour by the progress of invention and improvement. The example of the See also:distress brought upon the See also:hand-See also:loom weavers by the invention of the See also:power-loom is only one of many, but the See also:process is continually going on. The See also:change, for example, from See also:horse carriages to motor cars has brought much unemployment in its See also:train. Then there is the unemployment due to decaying or declining trades, brought about through a persistent falling off of the demand, or through some change of process or of See also:fashion; the removal of an industry from one place to another, the displacement of adult labour by that of See also:women and boys, the continuous See also:migration of unskilled labour from the country to the towns, and the depression in See also:general trade caused by the occurrence of something unforeseen, as See also:war. Then too, there are to be added the numberless frictions of industrial See also:life, all contributing their See also:quota to unemployment, such as the See also:bankruptcy of an employer, changes in management, the arbitrariness of a foreman, &c. There are also what may be termed the See also:political causes of unemployment, which depend on the commercial policy of the nation, in so far as it adopts See also:Free Trade or See also:Protection. Recognizing the existence of the problem of unemployment, and putting aside the possibility of knowing exactly its extent, Remedies we have to consider the remedies which have been See also:tar unem- advanced for its solution. These may be classified ployment. as temporary and permanent. Temporary expe- dients, whether in the nature of voluntary relief by individuals or organized See also:societies, or on the larger See also:scale of municipal or state organized relief works, more properly fall under the description of charity (see CHARITY AND CHARITIES). Two particular methods of permanent remedy, however, are especially favoured. The first of these is the See also:establishment of a See also:system of labour exchanges, See also:national in character if pos- sible, by which it is claimed that machinery would at once be set in See also:motion for assisting that mobility which is so effective for the proper utilization of labour and which, even with the modern facilities for travel, labour so lacks at the present time. Labour exchanges would also, it is argued, Labour Exchangesfacilitate the collection of data for the enumeration . and See also:classification of the unemployed. Labour exchanges have been long established in Germany. " There is a network of labour exchanges of various types. The most important . . . are the public and municipal exchanges. There are over 200 such, among the 700 odd exchanges, filling now 150,000 places a See also:month, which report regularly to the imperial statistical officer. Practically there is a public general See also:exchange in every See also:town of over 50,000 inhabitants, and in a very large proportion of the smaller towns. Most of the public labour exchanges date from 1894 to 1896 or received a fresh impulse then" (Report of Commission on Poor Laws, 1909). The causes of the success of the See also:German system of labour exchanges' are attributed by the Poor See also:Law Commissioners to (a) the high See also:standing given to the See also:movement by the 1 The German system of labour exchanges is exhaustively dealt with in Report to the Board of Trade on Agencies and Methods for Dealing with the Unemployed in certain See also:Foreign Countries, by D. F. Schloss (1904).advocacy and practical assistance of all public authorities, town See also:councils, state governments, imperial See also:government, &c.; (b) the association through combined committees of employers and employees in the management of the exchanges; (c) the unequivocal character of the exchanges as industrial and not relief institutions; (d) the excellent arrangements for the use of telephonic, telegraphic and postal facilities by the ex-changes, and (e) the preferential railway fares for men sent to a situation. An See also:attempt was made in England to start labour exchanges by the Labour Bureaux (London) See also:Act 1902, which gave See also:metropolitan boroughs power to establish and maintain bureaux, to be paid for out of the general See also:rate. Before this act, however, certain municipalities here and there had made experiments in the way of exchanges, but they were never very successful, for they had no knowledge of what they intended to do; they were not properly staffed; they were hampered by See also:bad rules; they were nearly all started in times of depression, exactly the wrong time to start a labour exchange, the time to start it being when trade is going up. The act of 1902 was a failure because it merely permitted, and did not compel See also:borough councils to establish bureaux, and consequently only a very small See also:part of the See also:metropolis was covered, and there was no interchange of ideas amongst those established. However, a fresh attempt was made to establish exchanges over a greater part of the United Kingdom by the Labour Exchanges Act 1909. The Labour Exchanges Act defines a labour exchange as any office or place used for the purpose of See also:collecting and furnishing See also:information, either by the keeping of registers or otherwise, respecting employers who See also:desire to engage work-See also:people and workpeople who seek engagement or employment. The act gave the Board of Trade power to establish and maintain labour exchanges in such places as they might think See also:fit, and to collect and furnish information to employers and work-people. An important See also:provision of the act was the authorization of advances by way of See also:loan towards See also:meeting the expenses of workpeople travelling to places where employment is found for them through a labour exchange. The regulations of the exchanges provide that no See also:person shall suffer any disqualification or be otherwise prejudiced on See also:account of refusing to accept employment found for him through a labour exchange where the ground of refusal is that a trade dispute which affects his trade exists, or that the See also:wages offered are lower than those current in the trade in the See also:district where the employment is found. The act also empowers the Board of Trade to establish advisory committees in connexion with the exchanges and imposes penalties for making false statements for the purpose of obtaining employment or procuring workpeople. For the carrying out of the act the whole of the United Kingdom was mapped out into divisions, with a divisional inspector at the See also:head of each. In all the more important towns of each See also:division exchanges were established, classified according to the population of the town. All the exchanges a:e in telephonic communication either with each other or with a divisional clearing-See also:house, the divisional clearing-house in turn being in communication with a central clearing-house in London. The See also:advantage of the See also:English system of labour exchanges will be found in the fact that it is a national system, with the sup-port of the state behind it. Unless, as has been proposed, it is made compulsory in all large trades, much of its success will depend on the patronage extended to it by employers, which in its turn must be justified by the efficiency of the service rendered. Patronage by government and municipal authorities, while making an imposing addition to the returns of situations found, will not necessarily be an effective See also:guarantee that the true See also:objects of the exchanges are being fulfilled. The German labour registries are of seven See also:principal types: the private registry office, maintained by See also:ordinary agents for purposes of gain, and occupying itself chiefly with the placing of domestic servants; the travellers' homes and relief stations, which endeavour to find situations for their inmates—their success is not great, as the better elements of the labouring classes avoid them; trade union registries maintained by trade unions to assist their members in obtaining employment; gild labour registries or associations of employers (mainly small employers) for the promotion of the interests of the trade in which they are engaged; agricultural labour registries maintained in different parts of Germany by the See also:chambers of See also:agriculture; employers' labour registries, established as a See also:counter-move against the trade union registries—they are chiefly in industries employing large See also:capital, particularly the See also:metal industries; and public labour registries, established either by voluntary associations or by municipalities. These latter have been very successful and have provided the See also:model for the English registries. In See also:Austria labour registries have also been established on the German model by many district and municipal authorities, those of See also:Vienna and See also:Prague being especially successful. See also:Switzerland has a few registries established by public authorities, notably those at See also:Basel, See also:Bern, See also:Schaffhausen and See also:Zurich. In Belgium there are a considerable number of public registries, some established by associations, some philanthropic, some political, some organized by employers, some by employees, some Jointly by employers and employed. Some of these registries are in See also:receipt of subventions granted by municipalities, while in a few cases the municipalities themselves have started registries. In France labour registries are of many types. There are the ordinary registry offices, carried on for gain, and requiring a See also:licence from the municipal authorities. They are very numerous and according to returns to the See also:French Labour Department fill over 1,000,000 situations yearly in various occupations. There are also registries maintained by trade See also:gilds, by individual trade unions, by a number of trade unions jointly, by See also:joint associations of employers and employed, by associations of employers, by friendly societies, by philanthropic institutions and by municipalities. These last are being rapidly increased, and will without doubt eventually supersede all the others. In the United States the states of See also:Colorado, Connecticut, See also:Illinois, See also:Kansas, See also:Maryland, Massachusetts, See also:Michigan, See also:Minnesota, See also:Missouri, See also:Nebraska, See also:Ohio, See also:West See also:Virginia and Wisconsin have established free public employment offices, and in many of the other states the private registries are under strict supervision and licensing. The second permanent remedy is that of See also:insurance against unemployment. Certain schemes have been tried in Switzer-Insurance See also:land, notably the voluntary municipal See also:scheme of against Berne, the compulsory municipal scheme of St See also:Gall Unemptoy- and a trade union scheme at Basel,' while there is men[. in Germany a system of insurance against sickness, See also:accident and incapacity (see GERMANY). Much See also:attention has been devoted in England to the possibilities of insurance against unemployment, and in 1910 a scheme was being worked out by the government with a view to its discussion by See also:parliament in 1911. The lines on which such a scheme must work were clearly laid down by See also:Sir H. Llewellyn See also: " 4. The scheme must avoid encouraging unemployment, and for this purpose it is essential that the rate of unemployment benefit payable shall be relatively See also:low. It would be fatal to any ' For a detailed description of these schemes see G. Schanz, Zur Frage der Arbeitslosen-Versicherung (See also:Bamberg, 1895) ; Neue Beitrage zur Frage der Arbeitslosen-Versicherung (See also:Berlin, 1897) ; and Driller Beiirag zur Frage der Arbeitslosen-Versicherung and der Bekdmpfung der Arbeitslosigkeit (Berlin, 1901).scheme to offer See also:compensation for unemployment at a rate approximating to that of ordinary wages. " 5. For the same reason it is essential to enlist the See also:interest of all those engaged in the insured trades, whether as employers or as workmen, In reducing unemployment, by associating them with the scheme both as regards contribution and management. " 6. As it appears on examination that some trades are more suitable to be dealt with by insurance than others, either because the unemployment in these trades contains a large insurable See also:element, or because it takes the See also:form of See also:total See also:discharge rather than See also:short time, or for other reasons, it follows that, for the scheme to have the best See also:chance of success, it should be based upon the trade See also:group, and should at the outset be partial in operation. " 7. The group of trades to which the scheme is to be applied must, however, be a large one, and must extend throughout the United Kingdom, as it is essential that industrial mobility as between occupations and districts should not be unduly checked. " 8. A state subvention and guarantee will be necessary, in addition to contributions from the trades affected, in order to give the necessary stability and See also:security, and also in order to justify the amount of state control that will be necessary. " 9. The scheme must aim at encouraging the See also:regular employer and workman, and discriminating against casual engagements. Otherwise it will be subject to the See also:criticism of placing an undue See also:burden on the regular for the benefit of the irregular members of the trade. " 1o. The scheme must not act as a discouragement to voluntary provision for unemployment, and for that purpose some well-devised See also:plan of co-operation is essential between the state organization and the voluntary associations which at present provide unemployed benefit for their members. Our See also:analysis, therefore, leads us step by step to the contemplation of a national contributory scheme of insurance, universal in its operation within the limits of a large group of trades—a group so far as possible self-contained and carefully selected as favourable for the experiment, the funds being derived from compulsory contributions from all those engaged in these trades, with a See also:subsidy and guarantee from the state, and the rules See also:relating to benefit being so devised as to discriminate effectively against unemployment which is mainly due to personal defects, while giving a substantial See also:allowance to those whose unemployment results from industrial causes beyond the control of the individual. Is such a scheme practicable? This is a question partly actuarial, partly administrative, and partly political. I may say that so far as can be judged from such data as exist (and those data are admittedly imperfect and rest on a somewhat narrow basis) a scheme framed on the lines I have indicated is actuarially possible, at least for such a group of trades as building, See also:engineering and See also:shipbuilding." In addition to insurance against unemployment by the state, there are various voluntary associations, such as friendly societies and trade unions, which make a feature of grants to their members when out of employment. In September 1910 the first See also:International See also:Conference on Unemployment was convened in See also:Paris, the subjects of statistics of unemployment, labour registries and state insurance being the See also:chief topics. The outcome of the conference was the formation of a society to study all phases of the problem, and to keep in See also:touch with public and private bodies and the various governments. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] UNDERWRITER |
[next] UNGAVA |