MALE AND FEMALE TURNOVER WITHIN UK MANUFACTURING

This is a cross‐section study of the inter‐industry variation in male and female turnover in UK manufacturing in 1968, this date being constrained by the availability of appropriate data for use in the statistical analysis. The number of discharges over four weeks, expressed as a percentage of the number employed at the beginning of the period, is published by Minimum List Headings (MLH) on a quarterly basis. The annual rate of turnover was estimated by taking an average of the quarterly observations and multiplying by 13. This shows a wide variation between MLHs. In 1968, the annual male turnover rate was lowest at 8.5 per cent in Mineral Oil Refining (262) and highest at 77 per cent in Jute (415). Similarly the female rate ranged from 12.4 per cent in Mineral Oil Refining to 81.9 per cent in Fruit and Vegetable Products (218). Moreover, the frequency distribution presented in Table I suggests that turnover was an apparently serious problem. About one‐third of the MLHs had an annual rate of male turnover of between 30 and 40 per cent, while in nine branches of manufacturing the rate of leaving exceeded 50 per cent. The male turnover rate across all manufacturing was 29.9 per cent. Turnover is clearly greater among females. Seven in every ten MLHs had a female rate in excess of 40 per cent, and the average for all manufacturing was 48.1 per cent.