Massachusetts

A press release from the Department of Labor and Industries of Massachusetts shows the following changes in volume of employment in various industries in that State from September to October,

1925:

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES IN 993 MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS IN MASSACHUSETTS, WEEK INCLUDING OR ENDING NEAREST TO SEPTEMBER 15 AND OCTOBER 15, 1925

New York

The New York State Department of Labor has furnished the following tabulation of changes in employment and pay rolls in New York State factories in November, 1925. The table is based on returns from a fixed list of approximately 1,700 factories. The weekly pay roll for the middle week of November was $14,700,438.

CHANGES IN EMPLOYMENT AND PAY ROLL IN NEW YORK STATE FACTORIES FROM NOVEMBER, 1924, AND OCTOBER, 1925, TO NOVEMBER, 1925

Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Labor Market, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of Oklahoma, in its issue of November 15, 1925, contains the following information on changes in employment and pay rolls in 710 establishments in that State from September to October, 1925:

CHANGES IN EMPLOYMENT AND PAY ROLLS IN 710 INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN OKLAHOMA, SEPTEMBER TO OCTOBER, 1925

Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Labor Market for November, 1925, issued by the State Industrial Commission, contains the following data on volume of employment in Wisconsin industries in October, 1925:

PER CENT OF CHANGE IN NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES AND IN TOTAL AMOUNT OF PAY ROLL IN IDENTICAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN WISCONSIN INDUSTRIES FROM OCTOBER, 1924, AND SEPTEMBER, 1925, TO OCTOBER, 1925

PER CENT OF CHANGE IN NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES AND IN TOTAL AMOUNT OF PAY ROLL IN IDENTICAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN WISCONSIN INDUSTRIES FROM OCTOBER, 1924, AND SEPTEMBER, 1925, TO OCTOBER, 1925-Continued

UNDE

NDER date of November 11, 1925, the Manchester Guardian states that the Minister of Labor has appointed a committee of inquiry "to consider, in the light of experience gained in the working of the unemployment insurance scheme, what changes in the scheme, if any, ought to be made."

The chairman of the committee is Lord Blanesburgh, a prominent Conservative, and the membership includes representatives of both employers and workers, among the latter being Miss Margaret Bondfield and Mr. Frank Hodges, both of whom were members of the late Labor Government. In commenting on the appointment of the committee, the Economist (London) in its issue for November 14, 1925, says:

The initiation of the inquiry is welcome on two grounds. Sufficient experience must by now have been collected to reveal abuses and shortcomings, and to suggest necessary revisions. Secondly, the committee will serve to dispel the popular fallacy, particularly persistent abroad, that the so-called "dole" is merely charitable relief by the State. Recent visitors to America, for instance, have found current there the idea that 1,200,000 British workers are merely living on State charity. In view of this, no harm will be done by the authoritative repetition of the fact that the word "dole" is a misnomer, and that the whole scheme of unemployment pay is a properly worked out insurance scheme, whose actuarial basis, it is true, has been from time to time strained by the incidence of unexpectedly large-scale unemployment.