7 
CHAPTER IV 
Attendance and Absenteeism 
54. Tables I to III printed at pages 68 to 77 of this Report show, 
by departments, separately for men, women and all adult operatives, 
the frequencies of attendance of cotton mill workers in nineteen represen- 
tative mills in Bombay City for the month of July 1926. The figures, 
in all cases, are in relation to 27 working days in the month. Similar 
tables have not been prepared for Ahmedabad and Sholapur because 
a8 explained in a previous chapter the number of working days in the 
wage periods selected for those centres were not uniform in all the mills 
covered by the Enquiry at each centre. The main point of interest of 
such tables is the proportion of those who worked full-time, 5.e., without 
any absence during the wage period, to the number of workers returned. 
Tables IV to VI, printed at pages 78 to 83 show, by departments, 
separately for men, women, and all adult operatives, the number. of 
workers returned, the number who worked full-time and the percentage 
of full-time workers to numbers returned at each centre. 
55. In the mills in Bombay, out of a total number of 38,349 men 
returned, 20,144 or 52-53 per cent. worked throughout the Census month 
without any absence, i.e., for 27 days. Six thousand and ninety-eight 
or 15-90 per cent. worked for 26 days and 3,696 or 9:64 per cent. for 
25 days. About 31 per cent. lost from one to three days and a little over 
sixteen per cent. lost four days or more. Among women workers, the 
figures of attendance were affected both by voluntary absence and by 
rotation of employment owing to some mills retaining, at the request 
of the workers concerned, more women winders and reelers than were 
actually required. As the individual mills which arranged for rotation 
of employment did not report or give any indication as to the number 
of days for which individual winders or reelers were stood off and the 
numbers of days not worked on account of voluntary absence, it isnot 
possible to determine the effect which each of these causes had on the 
attendance of women workers. Qut of 12,072 women returned for 
Bombay, 3,968 or 32-87 per cent. worked for 27 days or without any 
absence, 2,648 or 21 94 per cent. for 26 days and 1,384 or 11-46 per cent. 
for 25 days. As compared with 31 per cent. for men, 41 per cent. of 
the women workers returned lost one to three days. The percentage of 
those who lost four days or more was 26-08 as compared with 16°40 for 
men. If the figures are considered from the viewpoint of all operatives 
(adults only in this case as no children were employed), 24,112 workers 
out of a total number of 50,421 returned or 47°82 per cent. worked for 
27 days, 8,746 or 17°35 per cent. for 26 days and 5,080 or 10-07 per cent. 
for 25 days. One-third of the total number of workers covered by the 
Enquiry lost from one to three days and about one-fifth lost four days 
Or more.