As shown by the above table, the total selling value of all goods made and work done by the "twenty-five selected industries" in 1914, is $616,279,507, against $644,299,165 of value produced by the same industries in 1913. The decrease in 1914, is, therefore, $28,019,658, or 4.3 per cent. The value of all products by "other industries" in 1914, is $474,643,200; in 1913 it was $484,525,224, a falling off in 1914 of $9,882,024, or 2.0 per cent. Comparing the value of the products of "all industries"-$1,090,922,707 in 1914, and $1,128,824,389 in 1913, shows a falling off for the later year of $37,901,682, or 3.4 per

cent.

Measured by the selling value of products, our most important industry among the selected twenty-five shown on the comparison table, is the production of "refined oils," with a total product value of $101,763.531. Others in the order of importance are: "Silk goods," $65,556,307; "chemical products," $49,500,460; "drawn wire and wire cloth," $41,984,048, and "woolen and worsted goods," $40,431,081.

Only six of the twenty-five selected industries show increases in the value of products, and these, with the single exception of "silk goods," which shows a gain of $16,490,361, or 33.6 per cent., are all small considering the number of establishments included in each of them. Nineteen industries show decreases, the largest numerically being the refining of "oils," $13,430,681, and "machinery," $9,898,751. Proportionately, the greatest falling off in product values in 1914, as compared with 1913, is shown by "steel and iron forging," 27.6 per cent.; "machinery," 22.5 per cent.; "artisans' tools," 18.4 per cent., and "structural steel and iron," 16.3 per cent.

Table No. 4 shows the greatest, least and average number of persons employed, for each of the eighty-nine general industries, and also for all industries combined. The employes are classified as men 16 years of age and over; women 16 years of age and over, and young persons, of both sexes, who are less than 16 years. As the employment of children who are less than fourteen years of age is illegal in New Jersey, it is assumed that all the young persons in the third class are above that minimum limit.

The form of the table is such that the excess of greatest over least number of persons employed is shown in absolute numbers and also by percentages. These figures show with absolute accuracy the measure of unemployment or partial idleness experienced by the wage earners of each industry during the year. To illustrate what is meant by the term unemployment as used here, the case may be supposed of a certain number of the maximum working force of an industry having been laid off because of dullness in trade or for any other reason, the percentage of the total number employed represented by the number thus displaced would represent the proportion or percentage of unemployment for that industry.

Of

The table shows the average number of persons employed in all industries in 1914 to have been 325,624; the greatest number 353,043, and the least number, 292,833. The difference between the greatest and least number employed is 60,210. the total average number, 233,208 are males 16 years of age and over; 87,669 females 16 years of age and over, and 4,757 children below the age of 16 years.

The table shows a large increase in the number of women employed, and an even larger proportionate decrease in the number of children, although taking all three classes of wage earners together the average number employed in all industries. is several thousands less than in 1913. Two acts passed by the Legislature of 1914 relating to hours of labor of women and children in factory and workshop industries, and in commercial establishments are doubtless responsible for these changes, the greatest that have occurred in the history of the factory and workshop industries of New Jersey since 1883, when the moral influence of our first general factory legislation brought about a reduction of the proportion of children among factory wage earners from 9.6 per cent. to 3.0 of the total within a few years. The act of 1914, which went into operation July 4th, forbids the employment of children in a long list of industries because of their extra hazardous character, and also makes their employment for more than eight hours illegal. The result has been that the 6,670 children employed in factories and workshops in 1913 has shrunk to 4,757 in 1914. That the discharged children were practically all girls, and that they were replaced by women 16 years of age and over, seems probable from the fact that this class of labor shows an extraordinary increase in the average number employed during the year.

By far the greatest fluctuations in the numbers employed, that is to say, the difference between the greatest and least numbers on the pay rolls at various times, is due to the seasonal industries which close down during a certain part of the year. Industries of this character are glass making, and the brick and terra cotta work. The glass houses close up during the summer months and the brick and terra cotta suspend operations during the winter. There are many lines of industry also in which "rush" seasons occur which require a temporary increase in the working force, followed by a reduction to the ordinary number when the pressure is relaxed. At least one-half of the unemployment is due to fluctuations in the activity of these seasonal trades. The difference between the greatest and smallest number employed at any time during the year was 60,210, or 18.4 per cent. of the average number employed, which represents the sum total of intermittent employment due to all causes.

The conditions of employment with regard to stability in 1914 are compared with those of 1913 in the table below:

As shown by the figures above, the greatest, least and average number of persons employed were 2.0 per cent., 1.4 per cent. and 2.2 per cent. lower, respectively, in 1914 than they were in 1913.

As already explained, wage earners are classified on this table as men, women and young persons of both sexes who are below the age of 16 years. The proportion of the total average number employed, included in each of these three classes of wage earners, are shown on the table below in absolute numbers and by percentages.

As shown by these figures, there is a remarkable condition of stability in the class divisions of the army of wage earners, employed in the industries of New Jersey, although the changes this year are from causes explained above, much greater than are ordinarily experienced from year to year. The very small differences shown by the comparison in the composition of the three classes of labor are at once an evidence of the care bestowed on the filling out of reports by the manufacturers, and the compilation of the data by the Bureau. The table shows the proportion of men 16 years of age and over to be 1.2 per cent. lower in 1914 than in 1913, and the proportion of children to be 0.6 per cent. lower. The proportion of women 16 years of

2 STAT.

age and over shows an increase of 1.7 per cent., and the proportion of unemployment, an increase of 1.0 per cent.

The table that follows shows all the industries in which women and children are employed in the various processes of manufacture, and the number and equivalent percentages of the men, women and children employed in each of them.