are based on weekly averages of the number employed and out of work during the month; nor do the figures include as unemployed those out of work by reason of strike, lockout, sickness, accident, or imprisonment. According to the table the largest proportion of unemployment prevails among the diamond workers, while no unemployment is reported among clay and coal miners and peat diggers; and agriculture shows less than 1 per cent of unemployment in each month.

PER CENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN CERTAIN TRADE-UNIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS IN MARCH AND APRIL, 1915.

[Source: Maandschrift van het Centraal bureau voor de statistiek. The Hague, 1915, April, p. 379; May,

Trade-union.

p. 456.]

1 No unemployment.

2 Includes those unions whose membership consists of workmen of different trades.

A survey of the amount of unemployment over a period of years is shown for the building trades in the following table. Here the effect of the war is quite apparent.

PERCENTAGE OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE BUILDING TRADES, JANUARY, 1911, TO APRIL, 1915, BY MONTHS.

[Source: Maandschrift van het Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, vol. 10, No. 5, May 31, 1915, p. 459.]

For ascertaining the state of the labor market the Norwegian labor office has for some time made use of five sources of information: (1) Reports from trade-unions, dating from 1903, upon the amount of un

employment among their membership; (2) reports from employers (200 to 300) as to the number of their employees at certain periods of time. (These reports also date from 1903); (3) reports from the public employment exchanges since 1898; (4) special unemployment censuses, 1905, 1906, and 1910; (5) returns from unemployment benefit funds, ascertaining thereby the number of such funds, their membership and changes therein, and their financial condition.

The labor office, in the second issue of its journal for 1915, summarizes conditions in the labor market in 1914 as follows:1

The first seven months of 1914 continued the activity of the prosperous years by which we had benefited since 1910. The year did not begin with quite such favorable indications as the preceding year, as the amount of unemployment in certain trades, e. g., the building trade, was relatively very considerable; yet in the course of the spring months the situation in this particular trade became so favorable as to cause the average of unemployment for the year among tradesunion members in general to decline for the months of May, June, and July to that of the specially prosperous years of 1912 and 1913. For these same months the public employment offices reported more vacancies than there were applicants for jobs, not merely in the women's division, as is usually the case, but also in the men's division, where there is regularly an oversupply of applicants.

Returns from 200 employers indicated a labor force of 34,352 hands at the close of 1912, and 33,913 at the close of 1913, while during the period from January to May, 1914, this average number increased to 34,786 among 208 employers (practically the same individuals who reported in 1913). A decline began, however, even in June; in July the same 208 employers had a labor force of 34,189 hands, a decline which is accounted for by the occurrence of a strike. From both sources of information, namely, reports from trade-unions and from the public employment offices, the effect of the outbreak of the war is manifested. According to reports from the national trade-union federation (Arbeidernes faglige landsorgenisation) 10 per cent out of a total membership in round numbers of 68,000 were unemployed on August 31, 1914, while 7 per cent were unemployed on September 30, 1914. The number of applicants at the unemployment offices increased greatly as between July and August, 1914, rising from 3,028 to 5,312, while the number of vacancies decreased as between these same months from 3,150 to 2,874. As the year advanced, however, the labor market tended very generally to return to a normal.

The amount of unemployment in the membership of certain unions at periods indicated is disclosed in the table following.

1 Sociale Meddelelser utgivet av socialavdelingen under Departementet for sociale saker, handel, industri og fiskeri. Christiania, 1915, No. 2-3.

PER CENT OF UMEMPLOYMENT IN TRADE-UNION MEMBERSHIP IN NORWAY AT THE CLOSE OF INDICATED MONTHS IN 1913 AND 1914.

[Source: Sociale Meddelelser, utgivet av socialavdelingen under Departementet for sociale saker, handel, industri og fiskeri, Copenhagen, 1915, Nos. 2-3, page 97.]

1 Unemployment for less than 14 days not reported.

2 Members of the workingmen's federation during 1913.

The table which follows may serve as a very adequate summary of labor market conditions in Norway during the year 1914. It shows for each month the per cent of applicants for jobs to jobs available, the per cent of unemployment in trade-union membership, and the number of employed workmen (as reported from 200 to 300 employers) for every 100 workmen employed at the close of 1908. The last part of the table is in reality an index number of the number employed, the number employed on December 31, 1908, being taken as the base or 100.

NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS FOR EMPLOYMENT PER 100 VACANCIES REPORTED, PER CENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT, AND NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED PER 100 EMPLOYED DEC. 31, 1908, 1909-1913 AND 1914.

[Source: Sociale Meddelelser utgivet av socialavdelingen under Departementet for sociale saker, handel, industri og fiskeri, 1915, Nos. 2-3, p. 98.]

SWEDEN, 1914.

Reports are published by the Swedish labor office in its monthly journal concerning the state of the labor market on the basis of (1) returns by schedule from leading employers located in 40 different centers, (2) from the trade unions, the latter of whom report the amount of unemployment among their membership as of the first of each month, and (3) from the returns of the public employment offices. Returns from 30 trade unions for the first quarter of 1915 showed an average membership of 59,195, 56,397, and 57,476, respectively, on the first day of each of the months of January, February, and March, with an unployment percentage of 15, 14.8, and 12, respectively. How this compares with the corresponding months of each of the years 1911 to 1914 is shown in the table which follows:

PER CENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN SWEDISH TRADE UNIONS ON THE FIRST OF EACH INDICATED MONTH FOR THE YEARS 1911 TO 1915.

[Source: Sociale Meddelanden utgivna av K. Socialstyrelsen, Stockholm, 1915, No. 5, p. 511.]

Judging from this table conditions as to unemployment were considerably worse in 1915 than in the corresponding months of the years 1911 to 1914, with the exception that in March, 1911, the per cent of unemployment was the same as in March, 1915.

The largest amount of unemployment in March was found among the bricklayers and masons' union (58.1 per cent) and in January and February among the members of the plasters' union, the per cent being 80 and 84.2, respectively; the latter union was also second in the amount of unemployment in March, 1915. In January the lowest per cent of unemployment was found among the members of the shoe and leather workers' union, in February in the miners' union, and in March in the ironworkers' union. In general the building trades workers suffered most heavily, while among metal workers unemployment was relatively at a minimum.

The increase in the activities of the public employment offices in Sweden during 1914 was very marked. During each of the years 1912, 1913, and 1914, the increase in the number of applications for jobs over each preceding year was 15.4, 5.7, and 25.1 per cent,

1 Sociale Meddelanden utgivna av K. Socialstyrelsen, Stockholm.

respectively; but the increase in the number of vacancies and the relative number of places filled did not keep pace with this increase in the number of applicants; the increase in vacancies in 1912, 1913, and 1914 was 22, 13.2, and 11 per cent, respectively; in places filled, 23.9, 12.3, and 17.2 per cent, respectively.

The following table shows the relation between the applications for positions and the vacancies available and the actual places filled. The effect of the early war months (August to December) in increasing the number of applicants per 100 vacancies as compared with the same number for the year 1913 is quite apparent. The greatest amount of unemployment in 1914 was found among male workers, judging from the fact that the largest proportion of applicants for each 100 vacancies was found among that class of employees. On the same basis agriculture showed the least amount of unemployment.

NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS AND NUMBER OF PLACES FILLED FOR EACH 100 VACANCIES FOR EACH OF THE MONTHS OF THE YEARS 1913, 1914, AND 1915.

[Source: Sociale Meddelanden utgivna av K. Socialstyrelsen, 1915, No. 3-5.]

Reports were received from 2,160 employers in 40 centers of employment, during the first quarter of the year 1915, employing 258,764 workmen. Of this number 2,138 employers, employing 249,403 workmen, were engaged in industry, the handworking trades, and transportation. After a compilation of their reports, it appeared that 384 employers, who employed 26 per cent of the total labor force, reported conditions of employment as improved as compared with the first quarter of 1914; 1,108 employing 49 per cent of the labor force reported conditions as unchanged, and 646 employing 25 per cent of the labor force reported conditions as worse.