STATISTICAL BACKGROUND TO THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SCENE.

The article chronicles industrial relations in the Great Britain between January to April 1969. During the first quarter of 1969 the average total register of unemployed in Great Britain showed a fall compared with the first quarter of 1968. On a seasonally adjusted basis unemployment in the first quarter of 1969 averaged 479 thousand as compared with 510 thousands for the corresponding period of 1968. Since August 1968 unemployment had been on a downward trend and this continued until February. In March the trend was reversed when the fall in wholly unemployed amounted to 17,000 fewer than the estimated normal seasonal fall at that time of the year. In percentage terms the average wholly unemployed in Great Britain showed a 0' 1 fall over the average figure for the last quarter of 1968. The Index of basic weekly rates of wages for manual workers in Great Britain continued to rise in the first quarter of 1969. This rise was smaller than in the last quarter of 1968 when the December figure showed the effects of the new engineering agreement coining into operation in that month. The rise was small in comparison with that of the first quarter of 1968 when the January figure showed a steep increase over the December 1967 figures.