39 
turnover, to which we have referred, involves the creation almost 
every month of a large number of vacancies, so that ordinarily the 
worker who is out of a job need not long remain unemployed. 
This constant turnover does not, of course, increase the total amount 
of employment. It has rather the opposite effect, for the fact that 
new workers can secure posts without much delay tends to attract to 
industry an unnecessarily large. number of workers. If, as we have 
recommended, each factory endeavours to build up a more regular 
labour force, the result will be to deter workers who are superfluous 
from entering the industrial labour market. The second factor, namely 
the steady growth of factory industry, is of much greater importance 
from the point of view of the protection of the worker. Between 1892, 
when statistics began to be regularly collected, and 1929, the only 
years in which the factory population showed a decrease on 
the preceding year were 1911 and 1928, and in each case the 
decrease was less than one per cent of the total. Changes in the 
definition of a factory have assisted in swelling the figures from time to 
time ; but there is no doubt that the record of perennial factories generally 
and of most industries has been one of almost continuous expansion. 
In nearly every other branch of industry, such as mining and railways, 
there has been similar steady expansion. In such circumstances it was 
unlikely for unemployment to arise on any large scale among factory 
workers. In the larger centres there has generally been a reserve of 
workers accustomed to fill casual vacancies ; this has for long been a 
special feature of conditions in Bombay, where the figures of absen- 
teeism in the cotton mills are high. Until recent years, however, 
it is doubtful if there was any real reserve of workers willing and able 
to work regularly in the mills and yet unable to secure employment. 
The Existence of Unemployment. 
In spite of this, unemployment has existed among certain classes 
of workers for some time, especially amongst seamen and dock workers. 
Both these branches of industry require the existence of a certain reserve 
of workers, but the number idle at any time in recent years in India has 
far exceeded this requirement. We discuss the position of these indus- 
tries in a later chapter. There have also been. periods when depression 
has forced certain of the factory industries to reduce output and thereby 
restrict the wage earning opportunities of workers. Sometimes there 
have been reductions in the numbers employed with consequent un- 
employment ; in other cases the resort to short time has led to periods 
of under-employment for large numbers. The jute industry in particular 
has adopted the method of short-time working when necessary, and 
indeed for the past few months, owing to the depressed state of the 
market, the members of the Indian Jute Mills Association have been 
working a week of 54 hours and closing down their mills entirely for one 
week in the month. On the question of unemployment in the factory 
industries at the present time, there are conflicting statements, and in 
the absence of accurate statistics it is not possible to gauge precisely 
the extent to which unemployment exists. The tendency of the factory