508 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 



Present Effects of War on Industry. 



The women who have entered industry since the War seem for the most part 

 comparatively young. Billeting money and fairly liberal separation allowances 

 have been sufficient to prevent any large number of unskilled married women 

 from returning to work in factories. 



One of the tendencies of the War is clearly to transfer a more than normal 

 proportion of the nation's business to large concerns. Though this has its draw- 

 backs the balance on account is probably to the advantage of the women who 

 have entered, as far as the safeguarding of their standard of life is concerned, 

 and consequently of that of the men who will return. 



It is clear that the year has seen an enormous upheaval in industry; fac- 

 tories have been adapted to meet new demands and to facilitate women's employ- 

 ment; Trade Union and Home Office restrictions have be^n relaxed; women 

 are replacing men ; experiments are being made and knowledge gained which 

 may well revolutionise many branches of industry. The dominating demand 

 upon injlustry is that made by the volume of Government contracts. At the end 

 of the War these will substantially decline and industry will begin to resume its 

 normal course. But every transference of labour, every youth put into a man's 

 place, every woman who has received training because of the War, adds some- 

 thing to the bewildering chaos of those industrial problems which will have to 

 be grappled with when peace is declared. 



III. — The General Position. 



In the earlier months of the War, industry, following the lead of public 

 opinion, organised itself on the assumption of a war of short duration, and a 

 considerable period elapsed before it was generally realised that experiments 

 in the employment of women might have to be made on a considerable and 

 unprecedented scale. The necessity of immediate action in utilising the potential 

 resources of female labour was not understood, and it is now possible only 

 partially to remedy this past error of judgment. Necessity, however, is proving 

 the spur to effort, and experiments and trials are now being made in this direc- 

 tion. Of the results of these interesting developments it is, however, as yet 

 too early to judge. We can only indicate what appear to be the main features 

 arising out of the new conditions of women's employment during the past year. 



After twelve months of war three features of the labour market stand out 

 in special prominence : 



(1) the serious shortage of skilled workpeople. 



(2) tlie considerable extension of women's employment. 



(3) the limited extent to which women have replaced men, in the sense that women 



are now doing work previously done by men. 



(1) Serioiis Shortage of SJcilled Labour. 



With few exceptions the reports during the last eight months from industries 

 engaged on War contracts eloquently repeat the serious nature of the situation 

 caused by the shortage of skilled workers, due to the number of skilled men who 

 have enlisted and to the changes in industrial methods, which demand a small 

 number of highly skilled mechanics working in conjunction with a compara- 

 tively large number of less skilled operatives. Men who in the earlier months 

 of the War joined the Forces have in many cases actually been withdrawn from 

 the fighting front to assist in filling the gaps caused by this deficiency in the 

 ranks of industry. There is no lack of unskilled workers, but the extent to 

 which semi- or unskilled labour can be employed depends not only upon the 

 amount of that labour available, but upon the extent to which skilled labour 

 can be obtained. In the case of the men who remain the lack of training 

 and experience is all too general ; amongst women it is, with rare exceptions, 

 the universal rule. Apart from other disabilities this factor alone has been 

 sufficient seriously to limit the entry of women into those industries in which 

 there are enormous demands for materials of "war. Not only have the majority 



