SWEDEN.

From such statistical information as is available, it would appear that up to the end of 1916 employment in Swedish textile trades was, on the whole, free from serious interruption due to failure of supplies of raw materials or fuel resulting from the war. The monthly returns on unemployment furnished by the trade unions of textiles operatives to the Swedish Department of Labor Statistics show that after the setback in the latter part of 1914 consequent upon the outbreak of war a recovery took place, and the average monthly level of unemployment in 1915 and 1916 was not very different from that in the first seven months of 1914, being 3.7 in January-July, 1914; 3.8 in 1915; and 3.1 in 1916. The fluctuations in the monthly percentages were, however, very considerable, and in 1916 ranged from 0.6 in February to over 11 in August and November, the percentage for December being 1.4. Later figures are not available, but since the beginning of 1917, work in the textile trades has been seriously hampered by interruptions in the supply of raw materials and fuel.

With regard to the movement of wages during the war, a special investigation made last autumn by the Swedish Department of Labor Statistics showed that the increase in average earnings in July, 1916, as compared with July, 1914, averaged 14.7 per cent in cotton spinning and weaving, 9 per cent in flax and jute spinning and weaving, and 10.5 per cent in wool spinning and weaving.

AMENDMENT OF THE AUSTRIAN SICKNESS INSURANCE LAW.

The Austrian workmen's sickness insurance law of March 30, 1888, has been radically amended by an imperial decree promulgated January 4, 1917 (Reichsgesetzblatt No. 6),1 and came into force three months after the date of its promulgation. The amending decree extends the scope of the insurance and substantially increases the benefits of the insured. A brief outline of the principal changes made in the law is given below.2

The most radical changes were made in article 6 of the original law, giving the scope of the insurance and the minimum benefits. The original text in describing the scope of the law did not mention the granting of maternity benefits as coming within its scope, although maternity benefits were paid in the form of sick benefits.

1 Bulletin des Internationalen Arbeitsamtes. Vol. 16, Nos. 3 to 5. Jena, 1917. 49-58.

pp.

2 For the provisions of the original law, see Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, vol. 1. Washington, 1911, pp. 225 ff.

8809°-17-10

The amended text explicitly states that the granting of maternity benefits is one of the objects of the insurance.

In its present form the law provides the following minimum benefits:

1. From the beginning of the sickness free medical treatment, inclusive of obstetrician's and midwife's aid as well as free medicines and therapeutical appliances.

2. If the sick person is unable to work, beginning from the third day of sickness a daily pecuniary sick benefit amounting to:

0.60 crown ($0.12) in wage class 1; 0.90 crown ($0.18) in wage class 2; 1.20 crowns ($0.24) in wage class 3; 1.50 crowns ($0.30) in wage class 4; 1.80 crowns ($0.37) in wage class 5; 2.10 crowns ($0.43) in wage class 6; 2.50 crowns ($0.51) in wage class 7; 3 crowns ($0.61) in wage class 8; 3.60 crowns ($0.73) in wage class 9; 4.20 crowns ($0.85) in wage class 10; 5 crowns ($1.02) in wage class 11.

Sundays or holidays are not to be counted as first or last day of sickness. The benefits shown under Nos. 1 and 2 are to be granted as long as the sickness lasts, not to exceed 26 weeks. The pecuniary sick benefit is payable at the end of each week of sickness.

3. Women in confinement receive, while not working at their employment, a maternity benefit equal to the daily pecuniary sick benefit for a period not to exceed six weeks( formerly four weeks) after delivery.

4. Women in confinement who themselves wet-nurse their children in addition receive a nursing premium equivalent to half the daily pecuniary sick benefit for a period not to exceed 12 weeks after delivery. (This benefit is entirely new.)

5. In case of the death of the insured his survivors receive a funeral benefit equivalent to 30 times (formerly 20 times) his average daily earnings, but not less than 60 crowns ($12.18) or, if there are no survivors, the sick fund defrays the actual burial costs.

The first day of sickness is to be considered the day on which the insured reports himself or is reported to the fund as being sick. Sick benefits may not be claimed for periods preceding the date of this report by two weeks or more. For periods preceding the report by less than two weeks sick benefits may be granted only if the insured was prevented from making a report in time and if he can prove disability caused by sickness and that he was under medical treatment.

The decree further provides that it may be made obligatory for sick fund members to apply to specified physicians for medical treatment and that the sick funds in such a case shall be justified in declining to pay the costs of treatment if other physicians' services

1 For description of wage classes, see p. 141.

than those designated by the fund have been obtained by the insured. The individual sick funds or federations of sick funds are to conclude written agreements with the physicians appointed for the treatment of members which must state the rights and duties of both parties and the compensation of the physicians for their services. Sick funds which have not made contractual arrangements with physicians may be permitted to increase the pecuniary benefit by at least 0.75 crown ($0.15) a day as a substitute for free medical treatment. Disputes between sick funds and their physicians arising out of the interpretation of contracts are to be decided by special boards of conciliation, and the decisions shall be binding only if accepted by both parties. In case of failure of conciliation the dispute is to be finally decided by the arbitration court of the accident insurance institute having jurisdiction over the district of the sick fund or federation of sick funds in question.

For the purposes of the insurance the decree divides the insured into 11 wage classes, according to the following scheme:

Regularly granted shares of profits, premiums (bonuses), and compensation in kind are also to be considered as earnings. Apprentices and learners who are not in receipt of a salary or money wages belong in wage class 1. To what wage class an insured person is to be assigned is governed by his time wages. If compensation is paid on a piecework or contract basis, the usual average weekly or monthly earnings govern the assignment to a wage class.

The decree makes it permissible that sick funds may provide in their by-laws higher sick benefits than the legally prescribed minimum benefits within the following limits:

(1) The daily pecuniary sick benefit may in wage class 1 be increased up to 0.80 crown ($0.16) and in the other wage classes up to 90 per cent of the lowest daily earnings in each class, but not beyond 5.50 crowns ($1.12). The funeral benefit may be increased to 45 times the average daily earnings.

(2) A special wage class with a daily pecuniary sick benefit of 6 crowns ($1.22) may be introduced for insured persons earning in excess of 9 crowns ($1.83) daily or 54 crowns ($10.96) weekly or 225 crowns ($45.68) monthly.

(3) The period during which sick benefits are granted may be extended beyond 26 weeks up to one year.

(4) Female insured persons who are in the last stage of pregnancy and on account of their condition abstain from wage work may be granted the daily pecuniary sick benefit before delivery during a period not in excess of four weeks.

(5) The granting of wet-nursing premiums may be extended for a period not to exceed 26 weeks.

(6) Sick persons or women in confinement remaining under care at home may with their consent be furnished trained nurses. Women in confinement may with their consent be placed in a lying-in hospital or some similar institution. In these instances the costs may be deducted from the pecuniary sick benefit up to one-half the amount of the latter.

The by-laws of a sick fund may grant a claim of sick benefits (family insurance) to such members of the family of insured persons as are not themselves subject to insurance. Family insurance may include medical treatment, funeral, and maternity benefits. Family insurance may not be obtained by insured persons with a taxable annual income in excess of a specified amount-1,800 crowns ($974.40) in Vienna, 4,200 crowns ($852.60) in first-class cities, etc. In certain districts family insurance may be made obligatory for sick funds within these districts.

The decree further provides that special funds may be created for purposes connected with sickness insurance. The resources of such funds may be used for extraordinary optional benefits, such as care in reconvalescent homes and in the preventive combating of tuberculosis, alcoholism, venereal diseases, etc. Special contributions may be assessed from the insured for the accumulation of such funds. The collection of contributions from employers for this purpose is permissible only if a majority of the representatives of the latter have voted in favor of such contributions at the general meeting.

Other matters which the decree leaves to regulation through the by-laws of the individual sick funds are the following:

(1) That sick insured persons who during their sickness live outside of the district of their sick fund may in place of medical care be granted an increase of the daily pecuniary sick benefit, this increase to amount to 0.75 crown ($0.15).

(2) That insured persons who purposely make themselves sick or become sick through their participation in brawls or as the conse

quence of inebriety may be entirely or partially deprived of the pecuniary sick benefit.

(3) That the pecuniary benefit of an insured person who, in addition to the sick fund, is insured elsewhere against sickness and does not notify his sick fund of this other insurance relation within three days after being taken sick may be reduced by an amount which, combined with the pecuniary benefit received by him from some other insurance, will not exceed his money wages.

(4) That insured persons who have a claim on their employer for payment of full wages or salary during sickness may be excluded from receiving a pecuniary sick benefit or be granted only a part of it, in which case the contributions for such insured persons shall be correspondingly reduced.

(5) That only such women in confinement be granted a maternity benefit as within the 12 months preceding delivery were employed at least 6 months in an occupation subject to insurance.

Now, as before, the means for the support of the various sick funds are to be procured by assessments levied in the form of a percentage of the wages of the insured persons. The workman's and employer's share of the assessment have been left unchanged by the decree, the workman paying two-thirds and the employer one-third of the rate fixed by the fund. The entire weekly assessment for an insured person may not exceed four-tenths of the average daily earnings in the wage class to which he has been assigned. The contributions of insured persons and employers may be used only for the defraying of the benefits fixed by the decree and the by-laws of the individual funds, costs of administration, maintenance of a reserve, and possible contributions to a federation of sick funds. Contributions of insured persons in the various wage classes are to be assessed in equal proportion to the average earnings. In determining the contributions the costs of medical care may, however, be computed without reference to wage classes.

The decree permits, however, that the by-laws may grade the contributions according to groups of members in which experience has shown that the sickness risk varies considerably. Such a grading may be effected by sex, occupation, industry groups, and for temporarily employed persons and apprentices. Higher contributions may be assessed for persons employed in construction work on roads, railroads, canals, rivers, and dams. Grading of contributions according to age is permissible only in the case of voluntarily insured persons.

Article 27 of the original law is amended by the decree to provide that for persons employed in an establishment the equipment of which does not correspond with existing sanitary regulations, the