THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE FACTORY WORKER; 33 
worker to return to his village when he fails to secure employment pre- 
vents the growth of any large reserve of unemployed workers in the 
city ; but the man who returns to his village is not assured of employment 
there, or at any rate of regular employment. It is, however, obvious 
that, as soon as the supply of labour becomes equal to the demand, the 
problem of unemployment begins to appear and there is no doubt that 
within the last few years genuine unemployment has made its appearance 
in some centres and industries. We give below particulars of certain 
selected cases ; but it should be noted: that the figures we quote do not 
bring the position up to date. Since 1929 economic depression has led 
bo greater under-employment in some industries and has tended to swell 
the numbers seeking employment in the large cities. 
Unemployment in Specific Industries. 
In Bombay city there has been a serious contraction of 
employment, in the cotton mills, as is indicated by the follow- 
ing figures for recent years of the average daily number of persons 
employed :— 
1924 144,547 
1925 146,244 
1926 148.254 
1927 145,005 
1928 118,617 
1929 118.368 
The principal cause of the large fall in 1928 is said to be the serious strike 
in that year, but even without this, there would have been a measurable 
decline in employment. The Fawcett Committee, which reviewed the 
whole position, came to the conclusion that the chief reason for the com- 
mencement of the strike was the fear of unemployment. This fear arose 
from the institution in a group of mills of more efficient methods, involving 
the employment of fewer operatives. Since the big strikes of 1928 and 
1929, general economic depression and political turmoil have combined 
to prevent an improvement in the position. A second centre in which 
some unemployment has recently emerged is Jamshedpur where the 
following are the figures of persons employed by the Tata Iron and Steel 
Company. These are mainly, but not exclusively, factory workers \— 
1924-25 29,106 1927-28 31,484 
1925-26 32,078 1928-29 28,842 
1926-27 32,521 1929-30 28,660 
At the end of 1926 the Tariff Board, in their report on the steel industry, 
emphasised the need of a drastic reduction in the numbers employed at 
the Steel Works. The endeavour to carry out this policy led in 1928 
bo serious unrest and a prolonged strike. In the same year a strike 
which occurred in the Tinplate Works at the same centre revealed the 
existence of a considerable number of ex-employees of the Steel Com- 
pany who had remained in J amshedpur. The only other group of 
factories in which we found evidence of unemployment on a recognisable 
scale wag the railway workshops. Here also the examination of 
working methods by an official committee revealed the fact that 
increased efficiency could be secured with substantially smaller numbers