34

CHAPTER III,
and this was followed by reductions in the staffs. The average daily
numbers employed in recent years have been :—

1924 138,070

19256 141,302

1926 152.970

1927 146,432
1928 137,464
1929 135.989
The numbers thrown out of work were, of course, larger than the
reduction in these figures would indicate ; for, although workers were
transferred from one workshop t6 another on the same system, it is not
possible for a workshop in one province to limit its recruitment to men
retrenched in other provinces.
Prospect for the Future,

Thus unemployment is certainly not unknown among Indian
factory workers, but in the past it has been.on a comparatively small
scale. Itis possible that, with an increase in the supply of labour, unem-
ployment may assume greater dimensions ; but, as the factory popula-
tion is, to a large extent, made rather than born, i.e., as it is mainly drawn
from the villages in response to demand and does not grow up in the
cities, the question is mainly one of preventing the number of city workers
being swollen by men for whom there is no work. As we have already
stated, the regularisation of employment, which we have recommended,
should do much to make employment secure for those who are required
and to discourage those who are not required from entering the labour
market. It has to be borne in mind that, even if there is no expansion of
industry, the present numbers cannot be maintained without constant re-

cruitment. The fullest insurance against unemployment, however, would
be provided by the growth of Indian industry ; and, in the absence of con-
vulsions from non-economic and especially political causes, there ig every
reason to anticipate such growth. If, on the other hand, industry is
checked or in part destroyed by internal commotion, no economic scheme
can protect the workers from sharing in the suffering involved,
Efficiency and Unemployment.
It is important to observe that, until very recently, the main
cause of unemployment has not been the contraction of trade. In the
railway workshops and in the steel industry, the decrease in numbers was
the consequence of an increase in efficiency, v.e., it represented the tendency
60 secure the same work from fewer operatives. This is also true, in part, of
the unemployment among Bombay cotton mill workers. We believe that
the need for increased efficiency is generally recognised by all who have
given serious consideration to Indian industrial conditions. The produc-
tion of the average operative is at present low and the loss caused by this
inefficiency falls mainly on the operative himself, If the standard of
living is to be substantially raised, the operative must produce more, 4.e.,
fewer men must be employed for a given production than is the case at
present. The demand for higher standards wil] continue, and it should
be assisted conjointly by employers and labour. At the same time,
every endeavour should be made to secure the workers against the