11 10 12 11 13 12 14 13 15 14 16 15 17 16 18 17

2. ESTIMATES OF ANNUAL. CLOTHING REQUIREMENTS

Workers were asked (Question 8) to estimate what clothes they required for their job for a year. The replies have been tabulated on pages 13 and 14.

The average requirement for men is 147 coupons, ranging from 181 for workers to 120 for Distributive Workers. For women the average is 124 coupons, ranging from 196 for those in Iron & Steel Manufacture to 91 for Agriculturists.

It is necessary to show whether these estimates are reasonable or whether the, are unduly inflated. What evidence has been collected bearing on this?

First the investigators’ reports on the survey as a whole show that, while there was exaggeration by some workers, in general workers did try to give an unbiased estimate. Of the 23 investigators who reported, 14 are neutral on this point, 6 say that the estimates might not be strictly accurate, as it was difficult for many workers with a stock of clothes to say exactly what they required for a year, or that estimates were exaggerated in the hope that the industry would benefit from extra coupon awards. Three investigators say they had no reason to suppose that answers were not frank and honest. It would therefore appear that the greater number of workers had no wish to exaggerate, and the underestimations by some would compensate for over-estimations by others, but the restricted number of workers who purposely over-estimated would tend to exaggerate the average estimate. There is no obvious evidence that one occupation group exaggerates more than another.

Secondly, there is the evidence of the analysis of replies to the questions. If, in general, the average estimated requirement of each group is reasonable, it could be expected to have relation to -

(A mathematical expression known as the coefficient of correlation is here used to determine the relationship between requirements and the other factors. This coefficient, “r”, may fluctuate between + 1 and - 1. These limiting values represent perfect direct and perfect inverse correlation respectively. Zero represents complete absence of correlation, and a value of “r” between Zero and + 1 indicates a degree of direct correlation. Any value over + .5 is usually taken as evidence of satisfactory correlation, having regard to the probable error attached to it.)

1. correlation of estimated annual coupon requirements and damage to clothing caused by work.

There is thus shown to be a relationship between requirements and occupational damage to clothing. It is probable that weighting the kinds of damages would result in higher positive correlation.

2. Correlation of coupon requirements with proportion of workers unable to obtain essential requirements with present allocation of coupons.

The high values for “r” show positive relationship between requirements and the proportion of workers saying they were unable to meet requirements with their available coupons. This tabulation is of all groups, including those having supplementary awards of coupons. It is evident that supplementary awards where given have gone some way to enable workers to meet their requirements, but not all the way. As examples, in the sample of 121 Ironstone Quarry Workers, of the 22 who had received an award, 12 said they were unable to meet their essential requirements, and of those in Iron & Steel Manufacture who had received an award, some 70% said they could not meet requirements.

If the groups having a large proportion of workers who had received an award are omitted from this table, the correlations are higher still, being + .91 for men and + .95 for women.

3. correlation of requirements with net intake of coupons from the worker’s family plus supplementary awards.

There is shown to be a relationship between the worker’s estimated requirement and the extent to which he has had to take coupons from his family. The correlation is satisfactory with men, since it is in excess of + .5 usually taken as a criterion and it is perfect in the case of women. In the male groups, 2, 9 and 14 are conspicuously out of step. That the women show better correlation than men is due at least in part, to the surer knowledge they have of their personal coupon situation, reflected in the finding that 70% of men pool their coupons as against only 53% of women.

4. Requirements and expenditure of coupons.

The gross expenditure of coupons is here given and is taken as synonymous clothes bought for work. An inspection of the table on page 22, in which the average expenditure of groups in this survey is compared with the average expenditure of a normal sample of the population, will show that the items of clothing on which the special groups have spent their coupons are directly or indirectly those connected with work. More coupons have been spent on overalls by the groups that the normal sample. On items such as nightwear, slippers, and the miscellany of “other” garments the expenditure by the groups is much less than that of the normal sample.

The correlations for both men and women are high.

Question 8: What is a year’s clothing requirement for your Jobs.

Workers were asked to estimate a year’s clothing requirement for their Job. A comprehensive estimate was usually given but in some cases items such as socks were omitted. Such cases have been deducted from the total sample when the requirement for particular Items was computed.

Detailed tabulations of the estimated clothing requirement, Including coupon-free garments, are given on pages 35 to 49 of the Appendix.

ESTIMATED CLOTHING REQUIREMENTS - WOMEN

Question 8 - “What is a year’s clothing requirement for your job?”.

Question 9 - “ Are you able, or unable to obtain all your essential requirements with your coupons?”

Investigators reported that they usually knew the answer to this question before putting it, from the worker’s remarks on the preceding questions. The replies show that 76% of men and 81% of women were unable to meet their requirements. The tabulation of replies to Question 9 shows what garments the worker was unable to get because of coupon restriction.

Question 9)a) - “If unable, what do you need that you cannot get?

Question 10 - “Do you buy more, as many, or fewer clothes now as compared with the year before rationing?”

Comparatively few men in these occupations were buying more clothes than they did before rationing began, particularly few in iron-stone, limestone and slate quarries. An equally small proportion of women in agriculture and the distributive trades were buying more clothes. On the other hand, a large proportion of women in engineering and iron and steel manufacture, Groups 1, 3 and 5, were buying more because as the answers to Question 11 show, they work longer or the work is heavier and dirtier than in their former employment.

Most workers are buying fewer clothes mainly because of the inadequate number of coupons, and to a lesser extent because clothes are costing more. Included in “other answers” are those workers who said they were buying less for patriotic reasons, they were putting their money into War Savings instead.

Occupational groups

Question 11(a) - “Has the quality of clothes remained the same?”

Investigators were instructed to make this question clear by adding “irrespective of price increases”. In spite of this some 7% of workers did not understand its intent. 61% stated that irrespective of price the quality of some or all

clothing had gone down.