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almost 300,000 employees on new building and repair of nonfarm housing between the first and fourth quarters, bringing average employment in the fourth quarter to 900,000.

cally the same amount of construction labor as in the third quarter.

All types of workers actively engaged on construction projects are included in the estimates presented below (i. e., wage earners, salaried employees, working proprietors, and self-employed persons). Force-account workers' and other employees of nonconstruction (or multi-industry) firms who may engage in construction activities are also covered, as well as all workers employed by construction firms either at or off the site of construction projects.

Employment on privately financed nonresidential building, which had declined steadily from the third quarter of 1946, rose by some 17,000 workers in both the third and fourth quarters of 1947. The employment increase resulted mostly from gains in commercial building, particularly of such structures as stores, restaurants, and garages. The decline in federally financed construction work in the fourth quarter of 1947, resulted in an 11-percent drop in employment. At the same time, State and municipal work required practiEstimated average employment on construction projects in the United States, by type of project, 1946 and 1947

1 Force-account employees are workers hired directly by a business or government agency (instead of through a contractor) and utilized as a separate work force to perform nonmaintenance construction work on the agency's own properties.

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! Mainly airports, water and sewer systems, and electrification projects.

'Includes community buildings, water supply and sewage disposal projects, and miscellaneous public service enterprises. NOTE.-These data should not be confused with the contract construction estimate presented in table A-2 which excludes self-employed persons, working proprietors, and those employees of nonconstruction organizations (including public and private force-account) which are actively engaged on construction activities.

Work Stoppages

In First Half of 1947

MORE THAN 2,300 WORK STOPPAGES were recorded during the first 6 months of 1947. About 1,580,000 workers were involved in these stoppages and the resulting idleness at plants or establishments directly affected, amounted to approximately 23,000,000 man-days. By contrast, in the first half of 1946 there were 2,335 stoppages, involving

2,970,000 workers, and idleness aggregated 89,000,000 man-days. During prewar years (193539 average) comparisons reveal that, on the average, 1,534 stoppages occurred in the first half of each year, involving about 640,000 workers and resulting in about 9,410,000 man-days of idleness. Although the figures for the first half of 1947 were considerably higher than the 1935-39 average, they were substantially lower than for the corresponding period of 1946.

The first half of the year 1946 saw the greatest

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141,000

734,000

8,980

131,000

18,300

26, 500

1,860,000 18,300

2,160,000

409,000 20, 600 1,690,000 255,000 203,000

1,970,000

16,300

146,000

28, 100

397,000

957,000

56,600

60, 800

138,000

402,000

445,000

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stoppages (272) than any other industry group during this period. The 2,460,000 man-days idle in construction was greater also than in any other industry group except transportation, communication, and other public utilities where, principally as a result of the telephone strike, idleness reached 10,800,000 man-days.

New York and Pennsylvania each experienced about 250 stoppages. Illinois had 238 and California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Ohio each had over 100. Seven States each had more than 1,000,000 man-days of idleness; New York had the highest, 2,160,000.

Wages were important issues in 63 percent of the stoppages. About 88 percent of the total idleness was connected with disputes in which wages were the primary issues or were important issues along with union-organization matters. Jurisdictional and union rivalry disputes caused about 3 percent of the total stoppages.

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Largely as a result of the prolonged telephone strike, idleness was greatest among the "unaffiliated" unions which include the telephone workers' union. For the unaffiliated union group as a whole, lost time amounted to about 48 percent of the nearly 23,000,000 man-days recorded during the first 6 months of 1947. Lost time arising out of disputes involving affiliates of the AFL or CIO each amounted to about a quarter of the total.

Labor-Management Disputes

in December 1947

WORK STOPPAGES due to labor-management disputes declined to a new postwar low in December 1947. Tentative estimates indicate a total of about 120 new stoppages involving approximately 30,000 workers. Total idleness in plants directly affected was estimated at not more than 500,000 man-days.

No large stoppages began in December. Disputes causing the most idleness were those carrying over from preceding months, e. g., agricultural strikes in California and Arizona which began October 2 and November 19, respectively, and the strike of printers (compositors) against six Chicago newspapers which began November 25. All three of these stoppages continued throughout the month of December.

A threatened strike of 50,000 Western Union employees throught the Nation, scheduled by three AFL unions for December 22, was averted through efforts of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Demands for a wage increase of 15 cents an hour were filed September 16; and on December 21, one day before the strike was scheduled to go into effect, the parties agreed to submit two questions to a fact-finding board. These issues revolved about the company's wage-profit relationship and whether the existing agreement was formally re-opened by the unions on October 1 or November 1, 1947, under terms of the reopening notices filed. The board is to report on these questions on or before February 9, 1948, following which collective bargaining on the wage question is to be resumed.

Review of Year, 1947

Preliminary estimates of the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that about 3,600 work stoppages occurred in 1947 as against 4,985 in 1946. Approximately 2,200,000 workers were involved in the 1947 stoppages-about half the number (4,600,000 workers) affected in 1946. Idleness in plants or establishments directly affected declined even more sharply to an estimated 35,000,000 man-days-less than one-third of the 116,000,000 man-days recorded for the year 1946.

Three large disputes in 1947-the Nation-wide telephone strike in April and May, the smaller but more prolonged East Coast shipyard strike, and a relatively brief bituminous-coal stoppageaccounted for about 15,000,000 man-days of idleness. Twelve other stoppages each involved 10,000 or more workers. Nearly 3,000,000 workers were involved in 31 large stoppages in 1946, with a resultant time loss of almost twice that recorded for all strikes in 1947.

As in the preceding year, wages were the chief cause of most work stoppages. Many of these controversies centered about the sharp increases in living costs encountered by wage earners. Issues arising out of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 were important toward the close of the year in some controversies.

Changes in

Disability Compensation Laws1

2

A SYSTEM OF CASH COMPENSATION for illness is now in operation in two States-Rhode Island and California. The Rhode Island law became effective on May 10, 1942, and the payment of benefits began in April 1943. It was found necessary to amend this law in 1946 in order to preserve the solvency of the disability fund and to eliminate inequities in benefit payments.3 After considerable study of the Rhode Island plan, the California Legislature passed a similar type of act in 1946.4

1 Prepared in the Division of Labor Standards, U. S. Department of Labor.

2 See Monthly Labor Review, February 1945 (p. 225).

See Monthly Labor Review, July 1946 (p. 21).

4 See Monthly Labor Review, August 1946 (p. 236).

Each of these laws is operated in the State employment compensation system, the the being that a worker unemployed because of si ness should receive compensation during his ness. The disability program is financed in b States by the diversion of employee contributi from the unemployment compensation funds special disability funds.

Under the original Rhode Island law, the wor contributed 1 percent of his wages to the ability fund and 0.5 percent to the unempl ment compensation fund. This was changed 1946 to provide that the entire 1.5 percent of t employee contributions should be paid to the d ability fund. The assets of the cash sickne fund were increased in July 1947, when the Rho Island Legislature authorized the transfer 28 million dollars of employee contributions fro its account in the Federal unemployment tru fund, in accordance with 1946 amendments to th Social Security Act. Beginning July 1, 1947, th State Legislature reduced the employee rate contribution to 1 percent. This is the same a the California rate.

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There are a number of differences in the tw laws. The California law is less costly to ad minister. This situation is partly due to the fac that several of the high-cost items which had been included in the Rhode Island plan were excluded in California, in order to reduce the total cost o disability compensation. Thus, California quires a worker to have earned at least $300 during the base year in order to qualify for sickness benefits, whereas the Rhode Island law requires total earnings of only $100. Another reason for lower costs in California is that no benefits are paid in pregnancy cases. The Rhode Island law originally allowed unlimited benefits in the case of uncomplicated pregnancies. As the result of a 1946 amendment, benefits in such cases are limited to 15 weeks, although payments may be extended if unusual complications result from childbirth.

Heavier costs in Rhode Island are also caused by the provisions as to the waiting period. Both State laws provide for a waiting period of 1 week. However, in Rhode Island only one waiting period is required in a benefit year, whereas California specifies a waiting period for each period of disability. This difference is somewhat lessened by the fact that Rhode Island requires a calendar week of waiting period. Thus, if a claimant be

comes ill on Tuesday, the required waiting period in his first spell of disability is almost 2 weeks. Changes were made in 1947 in the California aw which will give greater benefits to workers. The maximum weekly benefits in this State were increased from $20 to $25 per week, which will be payable for a maximum period of 26 weeks instead of 23 weeks, as under the original law.

A waiting period of 7 days was required under the original California act, and thereafter payments were made only for a full week of disability. As a result, no payments were made for a disability of less than 14 days. A 1947 amendment effective January 1, 1948, changed this provision, so that daily benefits are provided after 7 days of disability. One-seventh of the weekly benefit is paid for each day of disability after the waiting period.

Voluntary Plans

A significant difference between the two State laws is that in California employers are permitted to operate their own private system of disability benefits within the State program. In order to qualify, voluntary disability plans must be more beneficial in at least one respect than the State plan; and, in addition, the rights of the claimants must be at least equal in every other respect to those provided under the State law. Public acceptance of the voluntary plans is demonstrated

by the fact that there were more than 8,500 plans in effect at the end of October 1947, covering about 660,000 persons subject to the unemployment insurance act.

The original California law provided that a voluntary plan must remain in effect for at least 2 years. At the end of that time it could be terminated by either an employer or a majority of his employees. This provision was amended in 1947 to reduce the minimum period during which the voluntary plan must be effective from 2 years to 1 year. At the same time a provision was added to the law in order to bridge the gap between private plans and the State plan, so far as the benefit rights of individual workers are concerned. The law now provides that an employee who has ceased to be covered by a private voluntary plan, if otherwise eligible, immediately becomes entitled to benefits from the State disability fund.

Other recent amendments to the law, of course, will also have an effect on the voluntary plans, inasmuch as such plans must equal the rights under the State law in every respect and exceed it in at least one respect. It will be necessary, therefore, for the vast majority of existing voluntary plans to be revised or modified. In most cases, further changes in the voluntary plans must be made because of increased benefits under the law and the more liberal provisions with regard to the waiting period.

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