Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter III. - The employment of the factory worker

Collection:: Economics Books

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

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