JUVENILE EMPLOYMENT. I. GREAT BRITAIN At the census of April ign, 2,272,766 persons under 18 (1,336,907 boys and 935>8S9 girls) were returned as employed in Britain. Of this number 147,023 (98,157 boys and 48,866 girls) were under 14 years of age. These figures, in so far as they related to children under 14 years of age, were made up of children who had obtained partial or total exemption from school attendance. The Employ- ment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act, 1920, now forbids the employment of children under 14 in any industrial undertaking, unless they were legally so employed on Jan. i 1921.
Pending the coming into operation of certain sections of the Education Act, 1918, which were suspended for temporary rea- sons, total or partial exemption from school attendance might in 1921 be granted by the local education authority to enable children over 1 2 years of age to undertake work of a non-industrial character. 1 In England children over n years of age and in Scotland children over 8 years of age (in this latter case for six weeks of the year only) may obtain partial exemption for the purpose of employment in agriculture. Exemption from school attendance is granted subject to the attainment of a minimum standard of education or of school attendance, and on condition that the prospective employment of the child is, in the view of the local education authority, "beneficial." The practice as to the grant of exemptions varies widely in different areas and in accordance with different local by-laws. In addition to em- ployed children who are relieved in part or altogether from school attendance, a considerable number who are in full-time school attendance are employed out of school hours. The total number of such children in 1913 was roughly estimated to be 245,000.
From the beginning of the 2oth century there was a marked increase of public interest in Great Britain in the social results of the industrial employment of juvenile workers. This interest was shown in movements to preserve and restore the practice of formal apprenticeship, and in an agitation, for which Mr. R. H. Tawney was largely responsible, to discourage, or at all events to control, the entry of boys into "blind-alley" employment upon leaving the elementary schools. Attention was drawn to the fact that very large numbers of boys were employed in industries which offered them no career as adults. Boys were attracted to such industries by relatively high wages, were retained for two or three years, e.g. as van-boys or as workers upon routine processes of little or no educational value, and were thrown upon the labour market at the age of 16 or 17 to find fresh employment. These difficulties were brought very fully to the notice of the Royal Commission on the Poor-Law (appointed Dec. 1905; reported Feb. 1909). Both the majority and minority reports of the Royal Commission made recommendations in the matter. There was agreement that boys should remain at school until 15 years of age. The minority recommended part-time compulsory attend- ance at " continuation " classes up to the age of 18. The majority recommended exemption below 15 years of age only to boys leaving to learn a skilled trade, and the grant of power to recall to school boys under 16 years of age " not properly employed." The majority further recommended the establishment in con- nexion with labour exchanges of a special organization for giving boys, parents, teachers and school managers information and guidance as to suitable occupations for children leaving school. Nine years were to elapse before legislation was obtained to enable the school-leaving age to be raised, but prompt action was taken upon the other recommendations of the majority.
The Labour Exchanges Act, passed in Aug. 1909, provided the labour exchanges which were to be the centre round which the organization for the direction of juvenile labour was to be formed, and gave power to establish the advisory committees which such an organization required.
In 1910 the Choice of Employment Act enabled local educa- tion authorities, with the approval of the Board of Education, to form committees designed to assist children upon their entry into employment. By arrangement between the Board of Trade and the Board of Education " juvenile employment committees "
1 In the majority of areas in England total exemption cannot be obtained under 13 years of age.
have been formed in practically all industrial areas of importance by the Board of Trade (from Feb. 1918 the Ministry of Labour) under the Labour Exchanges Act, or by the local education au- thorities under the Choice of Employment Act. Fifty-two such committees had been formed in July 1914, and at the beginning of 1921 some 250 were in operation (150 working directly under the Ministry of Labour and 100 responsible to the local education authorities). The committees consist of representatives of local employers and workpeople, of the local education authority, and generally include independent persons with a knowledge of, and interested in, questions affecting juvenile employment.
Juvenile employment committees in Great Britain are generally responsible for collecting and disseminating knowledge about the employment of boys and girls in their areas and, by approaching employers and local and central Government authorities, for securing improvements in the conditions of juvenile employment, e.g. by extending the practice of apprenticeship, formulating other less formal methods of systematic industrial training and securing the abolition of blind alley occupations by more scientific methods of transfer and promotion. The committees undertake at special meet- ings of " rota " sub-committees to advise children and their parents upon the available openings in local industries, and in doing so they usually emphasize the value of choosing employment which offers opportunities for definite training. In many cases arrangements are made for the supply to the juvenile employment committee of reports from the elementary schools upon all children at the end of their school life. This assists the committee in giving advice as to the employment which seems suitable for individual children and is also of value when the committee is called upon to deal with children who have fallen out of work within a year or two of leaving school. The committees naturally cooperate with other agencies concerned with the welfare of boys and girls (care committees, juvenile organ- izations committees, clubs, etc.), and they sometimes maintain schemes of " after-care " for keeping in touch with employed children in their area in order to help them in any difficulties which may arise. The degree of elaboration in the work of juvenile employment committees and its value varies very widely. The work of the committees depends largely upon the zeal and knowledge of the members and upon the quality of the officials of the employment exchanges and of the local education authorities whose duty it is to carry out many of the decisions of the committees. During the year ending Nov. 12 1920, more than 500,000 children under 18 years of age, the number of boys and girls being practically equal, came within the purview of juvenile employment committees.
The Effect of the War. The most authoritative estimates of the fluctuations in the number of persons employed in various indus- tries and callings during and after the war are those prepared officially upon the basis of sample returns obtained from selected emplovers. They relate to an estimated total employed population under 18 years of age of 1,923,000 in 1914. The table on next page shows separately for boys and girls the changes which are estimated to have occurred in the number employed as at Nov. 1918 (the Armistice), and at July 1920, when normal industrial conditions had been largely reestablished and industry was prosperous.
These figures indicate first of all an absolute increase, since July 1914, in the numbers of boys and girls employed during and after the war. This increase occurred mainly among the girls because among them alone was there any large reserve of unoccupied labour. There was, however, during the war a marked increase, although not upon a large scale, in the number of partial and total exemptions from school attendance before the age of fourteen. The position in this respect was practically normal by July 1920.
Secondly, the figures show the directions in which the fresh supplies of juvenile labour which became available during the war were used, and the industries from which juveniles were attracted to war work. Thus among both boys and girls there was a marked reduction in the numbers employed in the textile and paper and printing groups; in the number of boys engaged in finance and commerce and in the civil service (the Post Office is responsible for the larger part of th reduction) ; in the number of girls employed in the clothing group On the other hand, there were large increases in the number of boy and girls employed in the " war industries," predominantly in th metal and chemical groups. The number of boys increased in mine and quarries; upon the production of food, drink and tobacco; in the wood industries and in transport. The number of girls employe*' also increased in the last-named, and large numbers entered " financ and commerce " and the civil service, in these cases no doubt takin the place of boys and men who passed toother occupations, includiri service in the forces.
The war had other important effects upon juvenile employment. At the outbreak of hostilities in Aug. 1914, widespread unemploy- ment was feared, and for a short period many boys and girls were out of work as the result of the reduction of their staffs which employers found prudent in view of uncertainty as to the future. By the beginning of 1915, however, boys found little difficulty in obtaining employment. Enlistment of men for the forces was already making
