The Department of Labour and Employment: Recent History and Organization

Abstract

Some indication of the scope and purpose of this thesis is necessary. It has two main aims as follows: to describe the means by which the present departmental structure has been built up i.e., to determine the motives which led to the transfer of functions between departments, the creation of new departments and amalgamation, in the period 1936-1947. Secondly, it tries to trace some pattern in the development of an employment service organization during the same period and to estimate the capacity of the Employment Division "to promote and maintain full employment at all times." The plan of the thesis is as follows: Part One begins with an account of the industrial and economic background to the formation of the Labour Department. The problem which the Department was created to cope with and the instructions received by Edward Tregear from the government of the day are the starting points of the investigation; they help to focus what follows. The position of the Labour Department in the first World War is included to give an interesting comparison with the procedure adopted in World War II. The relation between the Labour Department and the Unemployment Board is dealt with as it serves to indicate the main lines along which the employment (or unemployment relief) service was organized in the 1930's, up to the passing of the Social Security Act, in 1938. Part Two begins at the year 1940 rather than 1936 as the setting-up of the National Service Department was more significant for the future of the Labour Department and employment service organization, than the passing of the Employment Promotion Act in the latter year.