(a) The proportion of men who found work after certification

Of the 764 men in the sample who were certified between 1931 and December 1944 and who were still alive in February 1946, rather more than [Text missing] were working at the time of interview and a little over 29% had worked at some time previously. In all, therefore, 66% of the men certified up to December 1944 were either working or had worked in the past. * Thus, during a period which included five years of full employment two out of every three men found work of some kind.

(b) Factors associated with employment

Each man’s chance of finding work on leaving mining is influenced by the availability of work, the stage the disease has reached, and his age. Any discussion of those factors is complicated, however, because.

(a) Men were certified in increasing numbers from 1931 to 1944.

(b) A new Order was made in 1943 providing for the certification of men at an earlier stage of the disease than formerly.

(c) The Second World War radically altered the employment situation in South Wales nearly halfway through the period under consideration.

Consequently a few men in the sample had had thirteen years in which to find work and many only one year: some had left mining in the advanced stages of the disease at a time when work was hard to find, and others had left mining in the early thirties, the depression period, were older when certified than those certified in the forties, the boom period, and consequently much older when work was freely available. Against all those complications, however, a simplifying factor can be set off. The men were interviewed when all of them, regardless of age or disease category, had lived through a period of full employment commencing in1940. For that period the decisive factors were age and disease category, not want of work.

(c) Summary

65% of all surviving men with pneumoconiosis who had been certified for at least one year had found employment after certification. Whether they found employment or not was associated with availability of work, the stages disease had reached, and age at certification

(a) The proportion unoccupied

595 men thought themselves fit for work at the time of the inquiry. Of these, 276 were in employment. 319 men were unoccupied therefore. They numbered 42% of the whole sample * . 42% of these men were in the later stages of pneumoconiosis compared with 26% of those in employment.

(b) Silicosis Board recommendations to subsequent employment

It is of interest at this point to mention the recommendation made by the Silicosis Board about the kind of work a man can do. This recommendation is written on his certificate and suggests that he is not fit for work at all, or is fit for light, very light, or moderately light work. The two recommendations made most often were no work or light work.

Of the men for whom no work had been recommended 75% had never worked, 15% had worked at some time since certification and a further 9% were employed at the time of interview. Of the men for whom some work had been recommended 86% had worked.

(c) Summary

78% of the men interviewed considered themselves fit either for full-time or part-time work in February 1946, 36% were in employment at the time of interview and 42% were unoccupied. More than two-fifths of the men who were unoccupied were in the later stages of pneumoconiosis.

Since this sample was interviewed a greater number of younger man and men in the early stages of pneumoconiosis have been certified. It is possible, therefore, that more than 78% of the present population of men with pneumoconiosis are fit for work.

(a) The Employment Exchange

All men were asked if they signed on at the Employment Exchange when unemployed. 529 men (69% of the 764 men interviewed) did so. Of these, 460 said that they felt fit for whole-time work, 45 for part-time work, and 24, or 4% did not feel fit for work at all.

Three out of five of the men who did not sign on did not consider themselves fit for work and the majority of the remainder thought themselves fit for part-time work only.

An analysis by X-ray category shows that 66% of those who signed on were in the early stages of pneumoconiosis and 30% were in the later stages. Alternatively it can be said that eight out of ten of those in the early stages signed on, compared with one in two of those in the later stages.

Analysis by employment history indicates that 92% of the 501 men who had worked in the past signed on at an Exchange when unemployed, compared with 28% of those who had never worked. Of those who signed on 255 were working at the time of interview and the remainder, 52% were seeking employment through the Exchange. They numbered 36%+ of all cases of pneumoconiosis.

In the past the men had obtained their jobs mainly through the Employment Exchange, but there were other, unofficial sources. 30% of the 961 jobs done by the men who had worked were said to have been taken because the Exchange offered nothing else. 10% more were obtained through the Employment Exchange when there was an element of choice. 15% were taken because nothing else was available. On the other hand, 17% of the jobs were obtained through friends or relatives, and 8% were chosen as being lighter and healthier than previous jobs. The remainder of jobs were taken by men who needed work and took whatever they thought might suit them.

A high proportion of the jobs obtained through the Exchange were labouring jobs or bench jobs. The jobs the men obtained through friends or relatives were more often moderately heavy labouring, work as a van driver or clerk, and work as an attendant or at the bench. The men who wanted healthier and lighter jobs took a job as an attendant or light labourer, while those who took whatever they could most often took labouring jobs.

It is clear that the greatest number of jobs on offer in the war years were bench jobs and labouring jobs and that the Employment Exchanges steered men into these whenever possible. Those who found work through friends did a wider variety of jobs.

At the time of the inquiry the Disabled Persons Register had only been in operation for a few months but 58% of the sample had placed their names on it. 87% of those who had worked in the past had registered, compared with 34% of those who had never worked.

(b) The Government Training Centre

86 men, or 11% of the sample, applied for training at a G.T.C. Of these 37, or 5% of the sample, had been refused training because of their age, or health, or because the Centres were full.

49 men, or 6% of the sample, attended a G.T.C. They were mainly men in the early stages of pneumoconiosis. They were trained as Fitters, Welders, Turners, Machinists, Sheet-Metal Workers and Woodworkers. Roughly one in four received a certificate of proficiency.

30 of the 49 men who were accepted by a G.T.C. obtained work they had been trained for. 23 obtained bench jobs.

*See p.9. 42% thought themselves fit for work and were not employed. Not all signed on at Employment Exchange therefore.

(c) Migration

A further indication of the extent to which the ex-miner with pneumoconiosis is willing and anxious to work is given by his attitude to migration. At the time the survey was carried out 12% of the men had taken the very big step of leaving their homes, either alone or with their families, and going elsewhere in search of work. 5% had moved within South Wales and 7% had moved further afield, that is, to North Wales or over the border into England or Scotland. Rather more or the men from the Eastern part of the coalfield than from the Western part had moved, the additional percentage going to places outside South Wales.

53% of the 91 men who had migrated had moved as individuals, 25% of them with Government assistance. Only 3% of those who had moved with their families had received Government assistance. 79% of those who had moved as individuals had continuing ties in South Wales. The young men and those in the early stages of pneumoconiosis had moved more frequently than the older men and those in the later stages.

The majority of men had moved in search of work only. 3% had gone to jobs offered by the Ministry of Labour, 2% to jobs offered by friends and 5% with no particular job in prospect. 2% had moved for other reasons. By February 1946, however, 35 of the 91 men who had migrated had returned to their old homes, mainly because their job had been unsuitable, because they wanted to return to their family and friends, because of ill health or because they could not find accommodation for their family in the place they had moved to.

All save those who had migrated successfully in the past were asked if they were prepared to move their homes in the future. 33% of all men with pneumoconiosis said they were ready to move. 38% of all in the early stages of the disease were ready in South Wales, 5% were ready to move further afield, and 20% were ready to move anywhere. More married than single men were ready to move, and the married men were more often ready to move anywhere. The men in the East were readier to move in the future than those in the West, the difference between the two regions being significant. The men who had worked were more ready to move than those who had not worked.

The reasons men gave for wishing to move were, for nine out of ten, to find work, or, for three out of ten, because they thought a move would benefit their health. If they were to move, however, they wanted to be sure of a house or other accommodation; they wanted to be able to take their wives and families and, to a lesser extent, they wanted to be sure of work at a decent wage. Those who did not want to move their homes said principally that it was because of local or family ties, 62%, economic ties, e.g. property, and ill health 25%. The men living in the West spoke more often of economic ties and less often of ill health than the men living in the East.

(d) Summary

Of the three avenues discussed, the Employment Exchange, Government Training Centres and Migration, the Employment Exchange was most frequently used. There was little to choose between the Government Training Centre and Migration. Unofficial sources, such as friends, were more frequently used to find light jobs for the men.

69% of all men signed on at an Employment Exchange, (36% were seeking work at the time of the interview), 12% had migrated and 6% had been given instruction at a Government Training Centre.

The greatest single proportion of the jobs the men had done prior to February 1946 had been obtained through the Employment Exchange. They were mainly bench jobs and labouring jobs. It is clear that the Employment Exchange steered men into these jobs wherever possible.

33% of all men said that they were ready to migrate in the future.

It is evident that migration in the past was a limited success however, mainly because jobs were uncertain and because of the pull of family life. In addition the expense of keeping two homes going was too much for many men. A great many men would present circumstances it is doubtful if the percentage of successes would be any provide jobs where the men live is better than migration, even though it may not make provision for those men who wish to move to a better climate for their health as well as to work.

(a) The total time the men worked

It is possible to estimate the capacity of cases of pneumoconiosis for steady work by considering the total length of time they have worked as a proportion of the length of time they have been certified. This overcomes the difficulty introduced by the fact that men were certified in varying numbers from 1931 onward, with a consequent wide variation in the length of time it was possible for them to work, but it does not take into account the difference in performance between a man who had been certified for two years and had worked for one year, and a man who had been certified for ten years and had worked for five years.

The percentage of time men suffering from pneumoconiosis were employed since leaving the pit, analysed according to the year of certification

Of all men which pneumoconiosis, 12% had worked for up to 29% of the time available to them, 20% had worked for between 30% and 59% of the time available to them, and 34% had not worked at all. If these percentages are recalculated on the base of the number of men who had worked the result is as follows:-

Thus, of those who had worked, more than half had worked for the major proportion of the time available to them. There is no significant difference between men certified in 1939 and earlier and those certified in 1940 for from 60% to the whole of the time available to them. This grouping of the years those certified in other years, however. Of the men certified 1940-2 a greater proportion worked for two-thirds or more of the time available to them than was the case due to rapid expansion of industry which took place in South Wales up to 1943 and which may have slowed down in the years that followed.

(b) The number of jobs held by each man

49% of the men who had worked had had one job only. A much lower proportion, 28% had had two jobs since certification, while 23% had had three jobs are more. There was no significant difference between men in the different X-ray categories. It might be concluded from these figures that mobility was low among men with pneumoconiosis and that when found a job they stayed in it, but it should be remembered that a high proportion of men, particularly those in the early stages of pneumoconiosis, had not been certified sufficiently long for them to have had more than a small number of jobs. The following table illustrates the difference between men certified in different periods, and shows that the men who were certified in 1943 and 1944 had three or more jobs less frequently than those certified earlier.

(c) The duration of each job

A further estimate of the persistence with which men with pneumoconiosis have worked can be made by considering the length of time they have spent in their jobs, disregarding for the moment the differences between the kinds of jobs. For this purpose the last job the men had done was compared in duration with the previous jobs they had done. The last job the men had done was also split into jobs which were still held at the time of the inquiry and jobs which the men had by then left. Thus the length of time men had worked in jobs they were still doing could be compared with the length of time men now unemployed had spent in their last job, and both would be compared with previous jobs.

24% of the 276 men with pneumoconiosis who were working at the time of the inquiry had spent up to six months in their job, 20% seven to twelve months, and 56% more than twelve months. These percentages compare with 37%, 22%, and 41% of the 376 men who had spent similar periods in their last completed job. The length of time men had spent in earlier jobs was, on the average, shorter still. It would seem, therefore, that the men tended to stay longer in their later than their earlier jobs, and that the longer they had worked in a job the more frequently they remained in those jobs when a high proportion of men were being declared redundant. If the men who were working at the time of interview and had been in their jobs over 12 months, are added to the men who were not working at the time of interview but had completed over twelve months in their last job the total, 50% of all men who had worked, may be a reasonable estimate of those who had worked consistently . This figure is in fairly close agreement with the earlier estimate of 52% who had worked for from 60% to the whole of the time available to them since certification.

There is no significant difference between the X-ray categories save in the case of those who had worked for between 37-48 months. A somewhat higher proportion of those in the later stages of pneumoconiosis had held their jobs for this length of time.

(d) Unemployment

Some light might be thrown on the reasons why men did not work the whole of the time available to them by considering their periods of unemployment and the reasons they gave for being unemployed. 491 men had had at least one period of unemployment, and the average duration of this period was slightly over 10½ months. + 350 men had had at least two periods of unemployment, and the average duration of the penultimate period was just over 12½ months. There were significant differences between men in each of the X-ray categories. In the most recent period of unemployment the average duration for those in the early stages of the disease was over 8 ½ months and for those in the later stages over 14 months for those in the early stages and over 20 ½ for those in the later stages. This does not contradict the indication that the percentage of time worked differed little between the X-ray categories, since a high proportion of those in the later stages had been certified in which to be unemployed. Nevertheless it would appear that men in the later stage of the disease found it somewhat more difficult to find another job when they had become unemployed than did men in the early stages of the disease.

The reason the men gave for being unemployed either in their most recent period of unemployment or in the penultimate period was most frequently that no jobs were available. 66% gave this as their sole reason for being unemployed after their last job. Another 18% said they were sick and did not feel strong enough to work . The remainder said they were training, were awaiting certification, or gave less specific reasons for being unemployed, There were significant differences between men in the early and later stages of pneumoconiosis. The men in the early stages of the disease mentioned that no jobs were available more frequently and sickness less frequently, than men in the later stages of the disease.

(e) Summary

The following points have been made: (i) that the majority of men have worked the major part of the time available to them, (ii) that only a small proportion have had more than two jobs since certification, (iii) that the men had worked longer in their later than in their earlier jobs, and that the longer they had worked in their later jobs the more frequently they were still in employment at the date of the survey, (iv) the men in the higher X-ray category had longer periods of unemployment than those in the lower X-ray category, (v) the majority of men were unemployed because no jobs were available, but a small proportion, more of those in the late than in the early stages of the disease, had been unemployed because of illness.

From this it would appear that, once they have found that they can work, men with pneumoconiosis also work consistently, but that the two main factors which effect this consistency are the availability of work and their X-ray category. Of the two, however, it seems that availability is very much more important than X-ray category. The effect of the type of work they have done on the consistency with which the men have worked remains to be discussed.

(a) Effect of type of work on duration of Job

If the duration of a job is chosen as an indication of its suitability for the men engaged in it, + that choose between pedestrian, attendants and bench work, and light labouring. Very heavy labouring and to a lesser extent moderately heavy labouring, however, were most frequently jobs of short duration.

(b) On hours worked daily and days worked weekly

96% of the men interviewed had worked a five, six or seven day week, and 95% had a working day of eight hours or more.

A higher proportion of the men in labouring jobs than in the other jobs had a working of five days or less. On the other hand a higher proportion of the men in very heavy labouring jobs than in other jobs had a long working day. For example, compared with 24% of the moderately heavy labouring jobs, 18% of bench jobs, and 24% of pedestrian jobs.

(c) On mens’ opinions about its suitability

The opinions of the men on the suitability, from the point of view of their health, of the jobs they had done, agreed closely with suitability as indicated by the duration of the job. A high proportion of the men who had done very heavy (62%) and moderately heavy (44%) labouring jobs considered them unsuitable largely because the work was too heavy. Roughly similar proportions of men (29-37%), found the remaining jobs unsuitable.

A number of those who had thought a job suitable added that this was because it was light and they had had fresh air, but some qualified their judgement of a job by adding that it was unsuitable in bad weather. Bad weather, fumes, dust, long hours, night-work and travelling, were given as reasons for the unsuitability of a numbers of jobs. Those who said that pedestrian work was unsuitable most often said that it was too heavy. In bench work the fumes, and in the attendants work the long hours and night work, were most often mentioned as disadvantages.

(d) On outdoor or indoor work

The majority of jobs of short duration, the very heavy and moderately heavy labouring jobs, were outdoors jobs, but a high proportion of pedestrian jobs, also outdoor jobs, were of long duration. From this it might be argued that whether a job is indoor or outdoor does not matter. Further evidence on this point can be obtained by comparing Indoor and Outdoor jobs classified as moderately heavy and not heavy and seeing whether men’s opinions about their suitability differ.

Type of labouring done indoors and outdoors by men suffering from pneumoconiosis, analysed according to whether the job is suitable to their state of health.

This comparison shows that moderately heavy jobs are less frequently considered to be suitable than jobs that are not heavy whether they are indoor or outdoor. There is no statistically significant difference between the proportions of men saying a moderately heavy outdoor job is suitable and the proportions saying a moderately heavy indoor job is suitable.

From this it would appear that it is the weight of the job itself which decides whether or not it is suitable for men with pneumoconiosis and not whether it is indoor or outdoor.

(e) On mens’ reasons for leaving jobs

The reasons men gave for having left their jobs did not often include the disadvantages mentioned above, however. Men had left their jobs most frequently because they had been declared redundant or because the job was finished. This happened most frequently in the case of bench work and the very heavy and moderately heavy labouring jobs. Apart from this men left their jobs because they were too heavy, (principally the very heavy and moderately heavy labouring jobs), or because working conditions were poor. The percentage of jobs abandoned for these reasons was not very high, however, nor was the percentage of jobs abandoned through illness. There does not appear to have been any close association between the reasons men gave for leaving their jobs and their X-ray category.

Since a considerable proportion of all jobs were considered unsuitable by the men who had done them, but only a low proportion had left for that reason, it must be concluded that the men had stayed in their jobs as long as they could despite their unsuitability. The majority of unsuitable jobs were of short duration, but that was more often because the men were discharged than because they chose to go. It follows, of course, that men who had worked in an unsuitable job of short duration were more likely to have worked a lower percentage of the time available to them than those who had not because, as has been shown, the average period of unemployment between jobs was high.

(f) Summary

Taking duration of job and the men’s own opinion of its suitability as criteria it is clear that very heavy and moderately heavy labouring jobs were the least suitable of the jobs done by men with pneumoconiosis. In all jobs, however, the men seem to have worked normal hours and a normal week. The majority of men left their jobs only when they had to do. Most frequently they took whatever job they could largely regardless of their opinion of its suitability. To a considerable extent they had to do so if they were to work at all. Only a small percentage of the men were assisted by training, and of these a considerable proportion did not do the work they were trained for when they eventually found work. In nearly all the aspects their work which have been discussed X-ray category has played a minor part. In general it would appear that the men overcame considerable difficulties, mainly presented by the kinds of job open to them, in order to work, and on the whole did so very successfully.