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