NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

XI. DIVISION OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
During the period covered by this report, as in the preceding years,
the Division of Economic Research was engaged in research upon
economic problems of jurisdiction and labor relations arising in the
administration of the Act. This work was of two principal types :
(a) studies in connection with particular cases on the Board's current
docket, and (b) research bearing upon a group of cases, or upon
general questions of policy and interpretation of the Act, and work
of an informational character.
Work of both types was initiated in one of two ways. Requests for
information and analyses were received from the Board, Board members,
the Legal Division, regional directors and attorneys, and field
examiners. These were complied with, first by reference to the files
of economic material built up from previous research, and second by
such additional research as might be necessary. On other occasions
the initiative came from the Economics Division. The Division followed
closely the state of cases on the Board docket, as well as the
general developments in fields related to the Board's work. Whenever
it appeared that a question had arisen, in the solution of which
economic material was helpful and available, the Chief Economist
made specific recommendations to the Board that appropriate studies
be authorized. Upon such authorization, the Division proceeded as
in the case of an original request.
CURRENT CASE WORK
Junisdictional problems.—In the preceding year the process of
judicial review had considerably clarified the extent of the Board's
jurisdiction. There remained, however, many fields of economic activity
in which jurisdiction had not yet been determined. During
the fiscal year a number of industries and services appeared for the
first time in Board proceedings. For these, the Economics Division
made studies of the extent to which their operations were in interstate
commerce, and the extent to which the flow of interstate commerce
would be affected by industrial strife within them. Among
the fields in which such material was prepared and introduced into
hearings were shipbuilding, coal mining, metal mining, motion picture
production, banldng, and the processing and distributing of
agricultural products.
In this work, the Division followed the general pattern developed
for the press wire service and for the steel, auto trailer, and garment
industries in test cases before the Supreme Court./ In addition to
the study Of the respondent's individual operations, researches were
made of the nature of the industry's operations, of the geographic
Associated Press v. N. L. R. B., 301 U. S. 103 (1937) ; N. L. R. B. T. Jones cE Laughlin
Steel Co., 301 U. S. 1 (1937) ; N. L. R. B. V. Fruehauf Trailer Co., 301 U. S. 49 (1937)
N. L. R. B. V. Priedman-llarry Marks Clothing Co., 301 U. S. 58 (1937).
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