RECENT FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

AUSTRIA.

Die Arbeitseinstellungen und Aussperrungen im Gewerbebetriebe in Österreich während des Jahres 1897. Herausgegeben vom k. k. Arbeitsstatistischen Amte im Handelsministerium. 392 pp.

The present report on strikes and lockouts in Austria for the year 1897 is the first of this series published by the recently created bureau of labor statistics of the Austrian ministry of commerce. The scope of this report is similar to the reports published for previous years by the Austrian bureau of statistics. The data are presented in a series of six tables, containing (1) strikes according to geographical distribution, (2) strikes according to industries, (3) general summary of strikes, (4) comparative figures for 1894 to 1897, (5) details of each individual strike, and (6) details of each lockout. These tables are preceded by an analysis. An appendix contains a brief review of industrial conditions in 1897, tables showing contributions of trade unions in aid of strikes, and copies of papers and documents relating to strikes and lockouts in 1897.

STRIKES.-The year 1897 shows a considerable falling off in the number of strikes, establishments affected, strikers involved, and days lost on account of strikes. This is shown in the following table, giving the aggregate results for each of the years 1891 to 1897:

There were, in 1897, 221 strikes, affecting 819 establishments and involving 37,456 employees. Of the latter 34,835 were strikers and 2,621 were others thrown out of employment on account of the strikes. The strikers represented 61.11 per cent of all employees in the estab lishments considered. A total of 32,156 strikers were reemployed and 1,497 new employees took the places of strikers. These items are shown by industries in the following table.

a Figures here apparently should be 62.03; those given, however, are according to the original. b Figures here apparently should be 72.93; those given, however, are according to the original.

Of the 15 industries represented that of textiles shows the largest number of strikers, namely, 11,275, or 32.37 per cent of all the strikers reported. Next in importance with regard to the number of strikers were the building trades with 4,995, or 14.34 per cent, and machinery and instruments with 4,689, or 13.46 per cent of the total number.

The following table shows for the years 1891 to 1897 the percentage of strikers and of days lost in each of the seven groups of industries most extensively affected by strikes and in the remaining eight groups of industries collectively:

PERCENTAGE OF STRIKERS AND OF DAYS LOST, BY INDUSTRIES, 1894 TO 1897.

Of the entire number of strikers 25,644, or 73.62 per cent, were Males, and 9,191, or 26.38 per cent, were females; 22,231, or 63.82 per cent, were skilled employees, 11,630, or 33.39 per cent, were unskilled laborers, and 971, or 2.79 per cent, were apprentices.

The duration of strikes in 1897 for each industry is shown by 10-day periods in the following table.

The strikes were mostly of short duration. Of the 221 strikes reported 152, or CS.78 per cent, lasted 10 days or less, while but 10 strikes lasted over 60 days. The longest strike reported continued for 211 days. The average duration of strikes was 13.20 days.

In presenting strikes by causes, the cause and not the strike is made the unit, and the figures, therefore, show the number of times that each cause figured as an incentive to a strike, regardless of the actual number of strikes. Thus in 1897 there were 221 strikes, while 303 causes are enumerated. The following table shows the causes of strikes by industries:

CAUSES OF STRIKES, BY INDUSTRIES, 1897.

The most frequent cause of strikes in 1897 was the demand for increased wages. Next in importance was the demand for reduced hours of labor. Of the demands relating to wages, 17.69 per cent were successful, 36.73 per cent were partly successful, and 45.58 per cent were unsuccessful. Of the demands relating to hours of labor, 17.91 per cent were successful, 29.85 per cent were partly successful, and 52.24 per cent were unsuccessful.

The following table shows the results of strikes in 1897, classified according to industries:

Stone, glass, china, and earthenware..

Strikes. Strikers. Strikes. Strikers. Strikes. Strikers. Strikes. Strikers.

ments...

Wooden and caoutchouc

goods.

26

1,558

20

4, 689

28

1,382

11

834

11, 275

587

325

300 1,026 1,519

106

759

85

144

321

1,121

Of the 221 strikes reported, 38 were successful!, 81 were partly successful, and 102 were failures. Of the strikers involved, 5,245 succeeded, 16,979 succeeded partly, and 12,611 failed.

LOCKOUTS.-Lockouts were reported in 11 establishments, affecting 1,544 out of a total of 2,937 employees. The prevailing cause of lockouts was the observance of Labor Day (May 1) by employees. Of the 1,544 persons locked out, 1,507 were reemployed, 30 were dismissed, and 7 failed to return.

BELGIUM.

Travail du Dimanche: Consultation des conseils de l'industrie et du travail, enquête dans les grands magasins, consultation de l'Association pour le repos du dimanche en Belgique. Volume IV. Office du Travail, Ministère de l'Industrie et du Travail. 1898. lxxx, 332 pp.

The present volume is one of a series of reports published by the Belgian labor bureau, showing the results of an investigation regarding the nature, frequency, and causes of Sunday labor. Volumes I and II relate to investigations conducted on this subject by factory inspectors in industrial establishments, Volume III to investigations by mining 10193-No. 21—7

engineers in mines and quarries, and Volume V, which was the second of the series published, relates to Sunday labor in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and England. These reports have been reviewed in previous numbers of the Bulletin.

The present report, Volume IV, contains (1) information furnished by the councils of industry and labor regarding Sunday labor in industrial establishments, (2) facts collected regarding Sunday work in large stores, and (3) communications received from the Association for Sunday Rest in Belgium. Information was also requested of industrial and commercial associations, but without success.

The responses of the councils of industry and labor refer to the same items of inquiry and cover the same kind of industries as the information obtained by factory inspectors and mining engineers, and they serve to complete the data presented in Volumes I, II, and III. Returns were received from 237 sections of councils of industry and labor. These responses were grouped by industries and presented in the form of 97 monographs, each monograph representing an industry. No summary was made of the information thus collected.

The investigation of Sunday work in large stores was conducted by agents selected by the governors of the different provinces, at the request of the ministry of industry and labor. The inquiry was intended to cover only those large stores which employ a considerable number of persons on Sunday, and it does not, therefore, give any idea of the proportion of establishments which were open or closed on that day. Notwithstanding this intention, 55 establishments in which no Sunday work was carried on were included in the report. The information regarding large stores shows the frequency, duration, and causes of Sunday work and the conditions under which it was carried on. As in the other volumes, the facts are presented in the form of statistical tables and brief monographs.

Returns were received regarding 444 establishments, in 377 of which Sunday work was carried on regularly; in 3, both regularly and irreg ularly; and in 9 stores the Sunday work was only of an irregular nature. In 55 stores returned, no Sunday work was carried on.

The most important result shown by this inqury is the number of employees taking part in regular Sunday work. Of the 380 establishments in which persons were employed every Sunday, there were 11 for which the maximum number of employees only could be shown and one case where the number was not reported. The results as presented show that of 4,929 persons considered in this inquiry, 2,837, or 57.56 per cent, did regular Sunday work. This number represents 77.79 per cent of the persons employed during the week in establishments regularly in operation on Sunday. In the case of 536 of these employees a system of rotation was in use whereby the same individuals worked on every other or every third Sunday, or only on a fixed number of Sundays during the year.