THE DEGREE OF UNIONIZATION: 1948-1968.

In recent years there has been a considerable, although inconclusive, debate concerning the relationship between the degree of unionization and union power. Craft unions tend to recruit by occupation across several industries, whilst the general unions recruit members from a wide variety of trades. Any industrial division is bound to be arbitrary to some extent in the absence of detailed classification by individual unions. The purpose of this article is to undertake a process of estimation for the post-war years. The nature of the available sources is slightly different, however, so that the method of calculation must again be outlined. The article supplements the previously published estimates from 1924 to 1938 by providing comparable data for the post-war years. This detailed description of the research methods is justified by the intricate process of calculation required due to the non-industrial structure of British trade union organization. It is hoped that the series provided, will prove useful to future investigators in this field, although the imperfections of the data and the assumptions and approximations of our method of estimation must be remembered.