time and those on night work lost 13.2 per cent.' While the number of hours and the percentage of time lost varied greatly from plant to plant, the result of the British investigations proved that it formed a large fraction of the working time of the average employee.

Within the last two years several investigations into absenteeism in labor have been made in the United States which, incomplete as they necessarily are, have nevertheless disclosed something of its extent in industry. The study by Sydenstricker, Wheeler and Goldberger, conducted in 1916 in seven South Carolina cotton-mill towns for the Public Health Service, but not published until November, 1918, gives some interesting results concerning absenteeism for the months from January to May, 1916, inclusive, which are shown in the following table: *

The Industrial Management Council of Rochester conducted an inquiry into the amount of absenteeism in fifteen industrial plants for the month of November, 1917. The following table shows the result of their investigation:

The amount of absenteeism was found to be much less in the largest plant investigated than it was in the fourteen smaller establishments.

1[Cd.] 8511, p. 34.

'Sydenstricker, Wheeler and Goldberger, "Disabling Sickness Among the Population of Seven Cotton-Mill Villages of South Carolina in Relation to Family Income", Reprint no. 492 from Public Health Reports, p. 11.

Dr. Boris Emmett, in his analysis of the employment records of a large motor-vehicle plant, found that the average amount of absenteeism for the year ending April 1, 1918, was 6 per A New York manufacturing plant, with a working force of about 800, lost through absenteeism and tardiness the following amounts of time: "

Since the average length of the working week was not given no percentage can be computed, but it seems probable that the loss for the various months averaged from 3 to 5 per cent. A Newark firm estimated that they were compelled to employ 5 per cent. more workmen than were absolutely necessary because of absenteeism, while a certain New York firm found that its percentage of daily absences for July, 1918, was approximately 10 per cent. Part of this latter amount was, however, due to vacations. The Curtis Publishing Company had an absentee percentage of 4.2 per cent. in January, 1917. The absentee rate at the Compton-Knowles Loom Company for part of 1917 was 8 per cent., while at the Hood Rubber Company it was 10 per cent. for the night shift and 8 per cent. for the day shift.3 At one time the Beacon Falls Rubber Company's absentees numbered 40 per cent. of their force, and

'Dr. Boris Emmett, "Labor Turn-Over and Employment Policies of a Large Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Establishment", Monthly Review, United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, October, 1918, (vol. 7, no. 4) p. 10.

* Bulletin no. I, on Absenteeism, issued by the Information and Education Service, United States Department of Labor.

3 John S. Keir, "The Reduction of Absences and Lateness in Industry", Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, May, 1917, pp. 141-4.

Ibid., p. 141.

7.54 per cent. of the working force of the American Pulley Company were absent daily for the year 1917.1

Probably the most thorough study of absenteeism that has ever been made is that which was conducted by the Industrial Relations Division of the Emergency Fleet Corporation. The table on the next page covers only full days lost and does not include tardiness or half-day absence. It includes ninety shipbuilding companies, employing over 320,000 workers in September, 1918, for which continuous weekly records were available from January to September, 1918, inclusive. The table shows the following very interesting facts: (a) The percentage of absenteeism was extremely high. In steel-ship yards 17.8 per cent. or over one-sixth of all full working days were lost through this factor, while in the wood-ship yards 13.2 per cent. or over one-eighth of the day's were lost. (b) The percentage of absenteeism was considerably higher for steel than for wood yards. (c) Absenteeism was highest in the winter months, being 22.3 per cent. in the steel yards for the first quarter of the year, as contrasted with 16.0 per cent. and 15.5 per cent. for the second and third quarters respectively. (d) Absenteeism was lowest in the Pacific Coast yards and highest in those of New England.

It is undoubtedly true that the shipbuilding industry, during the abnormal period of 1918, was not typical of industry as a whole, but when taken in conjunction with other industries studied, both here and abroad, it discloses a leakage in labor due to absenteeism, which, while it cannot be definitely estimated, is of the utmost importance and is probably not far from being between 6 and 10 per cent. S. R. Rectanus, as the result of an independent investigation of several steel mills, estimates the amount of absenteeism at 10 per cent.3

1 W. A. Sawyer, "Installing Employment Methods", Industrial Management, Jan., 1919, p. 7.

2 The table in the text is adapted from one in an article by F. E. Wolfe and P. H. Douglas, entitled "Labor Administration in the Shipbuilding Industry During War Time II", Journal of Political Economy, May, 1919, p. 387.

3 S. R. Rectanus, “Absenteeism", p. 2. This was an address delivered before the National Association of Employment Managers, 1918, and privately printed.

AVERAGE PERCENTAGE DAILY ABSENTEES OF ALL EMPLOYEES OF 90 SHIPBUILDING COMPANIES

Steel Ship Yards

District

No. yards

Ist

2nd

3rd

9

reporting Jan. Feb. Mar. April May June July Aug. Sept. Quatr. Quatr. Quatr. Mos.

32.1 32.0 29.0 27.0 21.9 20.9 20.3 16.7 21.7
26.2 21.5 15.3 14.6 15.8 13.2 16.0 14.3 18.8
35.9 27.9 22.9 23.6 21.3 17.7 22.8 25.4 19.8
10.9 10.6 15.4 19.5 15.4 15.9 13.7 13.6 14.1

23.0 20.6 16.9 15.5 16.3 11.2 14.0 13.5 16.2
7.6 10.5 11.8 11.1 10.5 12.3 14.9 14.4 16.7

9.1 11.9 12. I
II.2 9.5 7.5 11.2 60 17.5
38.5 26.5 22.6 26.1 17.8 12.8 16.6 19.7 17.8

42

15.3 15.9 13.4 12.8 12.2 11.4 13.5 11.3 15.2

14.7

12. I 13.4

13.2

2. The Losses of Absenteeism

It is of course impossible to measure accurately or perhaps even approximately the loss which absenteeism entails. Nor should it be thought that all absenteeism is a net loss. For example, a perfect attendance record would mean no vacations, which would cause a decrease in the net productivity of the workers, for a certain amount of absence from industry is undoubtedly necessary in order to obtain the highest efficiency. We do not know how large a percentage this should be, but what does seem perfectly clear is that the amount of absenteeism which now exists is far in excess of that which is necessary to maintain the worker in the highest efficiency.

It is this unnecessary absenteeism that brings with it a loss to the consumer, to the employer and to the employee as well. The consumer of course loses the goods which might have been produced had the worker been on the job. The cost to the employer may be classified as follows:

(a) Machinery or equipment rendered less efficient by the absence of the worker. The absence of a man on the pay-roll means either that the equipment and machinery provided for him to work with must go unmanned or that another worker, probably less competent, must assume his job. Since absences can rarely be foretold, it follows almost invariably that some of the equipment and machinery is unmanned. When this occurs the employer has an overhead expense with absolutely no return. When a less competent worker takes the absentee's place, a lessened output results, with greater danger of damage both to the output and to the machinery itself. follows from this that the more elaborate the machinery and the more highly skilled the worker, the greater will be the loss. Absences, for example, are more costly to the cotton manufacturer than to the street-paving contractor.

It

(b) Extra administrative and clerical force required. The absentees as well as those at work require the services of a clerical force to account for them and to maintain the pay-roll. Indeed they require more because the recording and handling of absence in itself necessitates more attention from the clerical force than do other types of work.