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270 WORLD-CRISIS: INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS
They were entered on the employment rolls and statistically
recmded. as such. .The war industries. created ax;
epnc.b. of ··over-employment.... so to say .. which, lIndapost-war-
conditions could hardly be maintained in
alcgitimate manner~ l.n 1919-22 unemployment became.
therefore a mentionable·· statistical" pheJJomenon simply
because a large number of war-employees. had automatically
to be retrenched and this retrenchment had to be
officially recorded ..
The expansion in t~e membership of British trade.
unions in post-war years may be taken as an. index to· a.
certain extent of the inHated growth ol employment during:
the war-period.
In pre-war years the membership was. as follows: 6
1910
1911
1,647,715'
l,662,13J
19t2
1913
2,001,633
2,232,446
These figures indi::ate a slow lIse in the curve.
The~ come the war years. at tbe end of which we
~ncounter the following figures:
191&
1919
4.,532.085
5,283,676
1920
!921
6,505,482
6,417,910
Such..fi~ures for 1918-21 are certainly extraordinary
In the perspective of those for 1910-13. Naturally,
therefore, high unemployment becomes a normal feature
of social economy about 1921-23. A~cl it is ,interesting
also to' observe that the percentage of unemployment in
proportion to trade union merp.bership d'edines along with
the decline in the membership itselE The fignres for
1922 to 1925 will exhibit ,this relation:
6 LaboUT Year 8oo1( 1930,pp. 510·5H.