TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F, 607 



Revival of Trade. 



Happily this state of affairs did not last for long. Very soon the Govern- 

 ment came into the market as chief buyer and found industry very willing to 

 concentrate both its labour and machinery upon the production of goods to 

 clothe, feed, and equip armies. The collapse of those trades connected v^ith 

 the normal demands of peace had released thousands of women for other 

 industries, while the contraction of men's employment had been almost wholly 

 counterbalanced by recruiting. In September just under a quarter of a 

 million women, apart from those in non-industrial occupations such as clerical 

 work and retail distribution, were employed, as compared with the numbers in 

 industry at the outbreak of war. The men were fighting and the women had to 

 take their places. From September onwards women — unskilled and industrially 

 ill-equipped as the great majority of them were — poured into the leather, tailor- 

 ing, metal trades, chemicals and explosives, food trades, hosiery and the wool 

 and worsted industry, which had been suddenly revived by the placing of large 

 orders by the Allied Governments. Between September and December over 

 130,000 women were drawn into the ranks of industry proper, but still 80,000 

 unemployed women remained in spite of the net shortage of men, which 

 amounted to about a quarter of a million. Fortunately the new demand was 

 to a large extent for that class of goods in the j/rod notion of which female 

 labour normally predominates.' An extension of women's normal employment 

 rather than a displacement of men's by women's labour was what occurred. 



Lack of Skilled Labour. 



Unfortunately recruiting was carried out without discrimination, and by 

 December the outstanding feature of the labour market was the enormous short- 

 age of skilled men in all industries, a shortage which led to the contraction of 

 women's employment.* In some instances employers attempted to train women, 

 but in most cases time was too short, the experiment too risky, and the pressure 

 of business too great, for employers to become enthusiastic over such schemes. 

 Where it was possible to transfer women from one branch of a trade that was 

 slack to an allied branch in which the work was brisk this was done, but there 

 were limitations to such transference. Women were untrained industrially, and, 

 as week by week went by, the lack of skilled men became more and more 

 marked. Through the National Labour Exchanges a Register of Women was 

 compiled and about 86,000 names were enrolled, but only a small minority — 

 4,750 — were able to undertake the skilled jobs awaiting them. It must be 

 remembered, however, that a large number of these women were skilled in 

 occupations and professions other than industrial. 



By February some of the Government contracts, e.g., clothing, had been 

 reduced, but overdue private home and shipping orders were sufficient to keep 

 the industries affected in a prosperous and busy condition. 



Munitions. 



The group of trades which showed the most phenomenal increase, in spite of 

 the huge Government contracts which had been already placed, was the muni- 

 tions group. The story of Neuve Chapelle and the creation of a Minister of 

 Munitions, and the increasing needs of ourselves and our Allies for munitions of 

 war, caused an unprecedented demand in this group. Into the armament 

 branches, therefore, of the metal and engineering trades many thousands of 

 women have been pouring since February. It is as yet early to draw deductions 

 from this further entry of women into munition work,* though it is as well to 

 bear in mind that much of the work, e.g. shell making, is exceptional work and 

 will diminish when peace is declared. 



' See separate Reports on Tailoring, Leather, and Food Trades. 



* See Report on Pottery Trade for exception to this rule. 



* See Report on Metal Trades, p. 546. 



