HOURS AND OUTPUT.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 163, 25 June 1928, Page 4

HOURS AND OUTPUT.

JN the last report of the Balfour Committee on Industry and Trade, there is an interesting reference to the question whether reduced hours of labour have resulted in increased wages costs. The discussion relates mainly to time workers. The claim has been put forward on the one hand, that the shortening of the period of work leads to greater efficiency and improved output; on the other hand, it is asserted that production per hour worked has not increased. It is clear from the evidence submitted to the Committee that the effects of the reduction have been very different in the different industries. There appear to be cases, in industries where the machinery employed imposes no limitation on the rate ot output, in which owing either to more intensive work or to better time-keeping, the weekly output per worker has been little, if at all, diminished by the change; while where, as in the iron and steel industry, there have been great ini-

provements in plant and mechanical power, output has been actually increased. The wire and wire netting manufacturers, for example, stated in evidence before the committee that the wiredrawers were keeping better time, and that consequently they were working as long as before, while standardisation of processes and improved machinery bad resulted in a larger production psr man than formerly. It is stated, however, that in some industtries production per hour could not be increased because the machinery employed was already working at its maximum effective speed. To a large extent this has been the position m the cotton trade, and it has not been possible to accelerate production in that industry following on the reduced hours of working. The same position appears to have arisen in the woven wire trade, and in some parts of the engineering industry. Tn such instances, so far as time workers are concerned, the effect of the reduction in working hours, considered by itself. has been to increase the wages cost of production, though other factors mav have tended to counteract this effect.