Unemployment Insurance by Firms Without any doubt the best approach to insurance by industries or by industry as a whole is to start with insurance by firms. An admirable beginning has been made in this direction by the National Federation of Employees Approved Societies—particulars of this scheme can be obtained from the Secretary to the Federation, c/o British Thomson-Houston Co., Ltd., Rugby—it is also described with great clearness by Mr. Lesser in the pamphlet referred to on p. 260. The experience of the Federation is most instructive. In many works, before the days of National Health Insurance, there were sick clubs which provided for members unemployed through illness, benefits from a fund to which employers and employed alike contributed. Both employers and employed viewed, with considerable regret, the proposed absorption of these clubs into the new Approved Societies established under the Health Insurance Act, and to obviate that fate reconstituted their clubs with the approval of the Insurance Commissioners into “Works Societies,” and obtained official sanction for these Societies to administer the State scheme. Later these Works Societies decided to undertake the administration of unemployment benefit at their respective works under Section 17 of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920. There were three conditions precedent: first, that the Society must provide for payment out of its own voluntary funds of an additional unemployment benefit equal to one-third of that payable under the Act—that is to say, if the State benefit was 15_s._ the Society must add to that at least another 5_s._ out of its private fund and so pay a total benefit of 20_s._ The second stipulation was that the Society must have a system for ascertaining the rates of wages and the general conditions of employment prevailing in all occupations in which its members were engaged; these particulars were always well-known, and there was not much difficulty about that. The third requirement was that the Society should have an effective system of ascertaining vacancies for employment—this meant some organization distinct from the Labour Exchanges. Such an organization was finally obtained through the co-operation of the local Chambers of Commerce, who receive from their associated firms particulars of vacancies which the Chambers send on to the different Works Societies. The scheme works exceedingly well. It was first adopted by the South Metropolitan Gas Co., and later by the Gas Light and Coke Co., Messrs. Debenhams, the British Thomson-Houston Co., Ltd., Taylor Bros. & Co., J. T. & J. Taylor, Ltd., and a number of other firms. The Society acts as the State’s agent with regard to paying out the State benefits, and in addition pays at the same time a supplementary benefit of one-third of the State benefit, for which an extra contribution is generally levied on the workers at the rate of 2_d._ per week, and most of the employers