ACTIVITIES OF THE UNITED STATES CONCILIATION SERVICE, DECEMBER 1940 THE United States Conciliation Service in December disposed of 373 situations, involving 214,947 workers. The services of this agency were requested by the employers, employees, and other interested parties. Of these situations, 230 were strikes, threatened strikes, lock-outs, and controversies, involving 190,732 workers. The remaining situations, involving 24,215 workers, included such services as filling requests for information, adjusting complaints, consulting with labor and management, etc. The facilities of the Service were used in 27 major industrial fields, such as building trades, and the manufactures of foods, iron and steel, textiles, etc. (table 1), and were utilized by employees and employers in 39 States and the District of Columbia (table 2). TABLE 1.-Situations Disposed of by U. S. Conciliation Service, December 1940, by Industries Labor Turn-Over LABOR TURN-OVER IN MANUFACTURING, NOVEMBER 1940 A FURTHER decline in the hiring rate and a moderate rise in the lay-off rate during November were indicated by reports on labor turn-over received by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from approximately 6,800 manufacturing establishments employing nearly 2,800,000 factory workers. The accession rate for November was 4.65 per 100 employees as compared with 5.52 in October, and the lay-off rate rose from 1.53 to 1.60. The increase in the lay-off rate, however, was more than offset by lower rates for quits, discharges, and miscellaneous separations. As a result, the total separation rate declined from 3.23 in October to 3.06 in November. Primarily responsible for the decrease in the accession rate were the usual seasonal declines in automobiles and bodies, in which the rate declined from 9.79 to 4.50; automobile parts and equipment, from 10.17 to 6.29; and steam and hot-water heating apparatus, from 8.54 to 4.12. The small increase in the lay-off rate cannot be attributed to any particular industries, since the only substantial increase in this type of separations was in the radio and phonograph industry, where the rate rose from 2.22 to 6.03 per 100 employees. There were, however, slight rises in a number of industries, particularly in the textile group. 418 TABLE 1.—Monthly Labor Turn-Over Rates in Representative Factories in 135 Industries 1 1 The various turn-over rates represent the number of quits, discharges, lay-offs, total separations, and accessions per 100 employees. Beginning with January 1940, miscellaneous separations, such as deaths, permanently disabled, retired on pensions, etc., have been reported separately. Such separations were formerly reported under the classification "quits and miscellaneous separations." 3 Including temporary, indeterminate, and permanent lay-offs. Beginning with September 1940, workers leaving to enter the Army or Navy are included in "miscellaneous separations.' " Beginning with January 1940, accessions have been separated into 2 classifications; rehirings, which include workers hired after a separation of 3 months or less, and new hirings (other employees hired). Labor Turn-Over by Industries In the 39 industries for which separate rates are shown in table 2, the quit rates followed the usual seasonal trend and with a few exceptions declined to lower levels. Only nominal changes were indicated in the discharge rates. Unusually low lay-off rates were shown in a number of industries manufacturing materials for national defense. The aircraft industry registered a lay-off rate of 0.68 per 100 employees; brass, bronze, and copper products, 0.62; cast-iron pipe, 0.26; electrical machinery, 0.74; hardware, 0.24; iron and steel, 0.21; and machine tools, 0.10. High accession rates continued in the aircraft; brass, bronze, and copper products; electrical machinery; foundries and machine shops; hardware; shipbuilding; and structural-iron industries. Seasonal influences were reflected in the high accession rate of 12.91 per 100 employees registered for slaughtering and meat packing, and 9.14 for rubber boots and shoes. |