1. POOLING OF CLOTHING COUPONS IN FAMILIES, AND THE GIVING AND TAKING OF COUPONS
The Consumer Needs Department of the Board of Trade required information on the pooling of clothing coupons in families. A question (Q.1) “Do you as a family pool your clothing coupons?” was accordingly asked of all persons interviewed in each of the occupations treated, and the analysis is given in the following table.
The result is given for each occupation and the average for total men and total women. A substantial difference will be seen between the averages for men and women, 53% of men as against 70% of women pooling their coupons with their families.
Among those stating they do not pool coupons are “one-person families”, the incidence of which is shown under “Household” , page 67. There is a relationship between those not pooling clothing coupons and the occurrence of unusually high numbers of “one-person families”. Which should be borne in mind if further application is made of these figures. In almost all cases no pooling took place with “one-person families”, exceptions being one or two who shared with friends.
Question 1 - “Do you as a family pool your clothing coupons?”
Group No.
Occupational Group
Pool Clothing Coipons
Do not pool Clothing Coupons
Sample= 100%
%
%
MEN
2
Heavy engineering and shipbuilding
75
25
507
4
Iron and Steel Manufacture
68
32
518
6
Distributive Workers
66
34
252
8
Quarry Workers: Ironstone
72
28
116
9
Limestone
68
32
210
10
Clay
71
29
178
11
Slate
82
18
166
12
Building trade
66
18
535
14
Non-uniformed Transport
72
28
475
15
Agriculturist
51
49
77
Average: Men
70
30
3034
Women
1
Engineering, Machinists
46
54
518
3
Heavy engineering and Shipbuilding
62
38
173
5
Iron and Steel Manufacture
66
34
280
7
Distributive Workers
42
58
257
13
Agriculturist (Excluding W.L.A.)
57
43
372
Average: Women
53
47
1600
Supplementary Awards
To obtain information on the total number of coupons received, question 2 asked whether the worker had had a Supplementary Award. The analysis is shown by occupational Group in the table overleaf.
(a) Includes some workers who had received conditional coupons for clothes destroyed in air raids.
(b) Includes a number of workers who had received coupons to replace clothes damaged in fire at quarry.
(c) Includes men who had received 20, 74 and 120 clothing coupons on discharge from Army.
(d) Includes a number of Irishmen who had received an allowance of 40 coupons on entry into England.
(e) Includes mothers who had received additional coupons for growing or new-born children.
(f) Includes five women who stated they had received odd number of coupons, viz., 29, 23, 18, 16 and 7.
Question 3(c).
The number of workers receiving coupons from their families, and the average number of coupons received for each Occupational Group is shown in this table. A truer picture of receipt of coupons is afforded by the percentage based on the number of workers answering the question. It will be remarked that a proportion of workers could not answer, a natural consequence of the high incidence of pooling coupons.
No Coupons from family Coupons received from family Unknown number of coupons received Could not answer questions
47
39
55
38
41
38
39
46
41
58
41
36
27
53
45
33
42
22
57
43
36
49
27
33
24
46
54
69
35
32
5
7
4
2
5
4
1
10
13
5
5
3
3
6
5
15
12
19
3
11
22
11
16
13
13
13
7
1
6
18
Sample (=100%) No.
(515)
(537)
(256)
(121)
(214)
(185)
(173)
(537)
(483)
(79)
(523)
(173)
(173)
(257)
(378)
% receiving coupons based on number answering
45
55
32
61
54
51
56
45
53
33
57
62
73
43
45
Average % of all occupations receiving coupons
49%
56%
Number of coupons
Average number of coupons received
10.8
15.4
4.8
14.0
12.2
11.4
16.5
9.5
10.5
5.8
14.3
21.0
28.5
8.7
6.9
Questions 4 & 4(a) - “If coupons received from members of your family, have they gone short as a result?”
The members of families who provided these extra coupons are given in the following table. The few cases in which friends or neighbors had provided coupons are included in “other member”. (100% = number receiving known and unknown number of coupons). Items are not mutually exclusive, (since more than one member of a family might contribute coupons).
Occupational Groups
Men
Women
Answers to question 4,4(a) and 5
Heavy Engineering Shipbuilding
Iron & Steel Manufacture
Distributive Workers
Quarry Workers: Ironstone
Quarry Workers: Limestone
Quarry Workers: Clay
Quarry Workers: Slate
Building Trade
Non-uniformed Transport
Agriculturist
Engineering, machinists
Heavy Engineering & Shipbuilding
Iron & Steel Manufacture
Distributive Workers
(Agriculturist) (Excluding W.L.N.)
2
4
6
8
9
10
11
12
14
15
Av.
1
3
5
7
13
Av.
%
%
Parents Wife or husband Children Other member Family in general Member no known
3
4
1
4
2
2
6
3
5
3
4
12
25
28
11
11
16
20
30
11
38
25
19
33
20
17
17
22
7
7
7
2
4
6
8
19
4
21
10
10
14
6
5
8
10
5
7
12
2
3
6
3
2
2
3
3
1
1
2
3
1
2
6
7
14
5
4
7
.7
.8
5
-
1
-
1
.2
.9
1
.7
.6
3
3
.4
.6
1
14
10
21.7
4
6
24
11
18
17
11
14
4
4
2
6
18
7
Sample = (100%)
(4.36)
(474)
(207)
(117)
(191)
(145)
(154)
(452)
(427)
(69)
(2672)
(494)
(161)
(283)
(242)
(310)
(1490)
Question 5 - “If yes, of what clothing had they gone short?”
Protective Clothing Outer Clothing Underwear Footwear Socks and Stockings Children’s & infants’ Clothing Type of Clothing not known
1
1
-
-
-
-
1
.4
.5
1
.6
2
1
1
-
2
1
5
8
5
6
7
11
18
6
8
5
7
8
9
16
5
8
9
3
4
1
8
3
4
5
1
2
1
3
5
9
7
4
5
5
3
5
2
-
3
6
7
4
4
9
4
7
4
9
2
5
4
3
3
.5
.9
3
6
6
2
3
-
3
4
5
9
1
3
4
6
13
.5
16
4
5
5
3
3
3
6
3
5
7
2
1
3
14
21
8.7
31
17
6
20
16
13
16
16
6
16
18
7
6
10
Sample = (100%)
(436)
(474)
(207)
(117)
(191)
(145)
(154)
(452)
(427)
(69)
(2672)
(494)
(161)
(283)
(242)
(310)
(1490)
Question 6, 6(a) & 7 - “Has the family used any of your coupons?”
Workers were asked whether their families had used any of their coupons and, if yes, which members had used how many coupons. The results show that men and women workers had given no more than an average of one coupon: very much less than the average number received by the workers from their families.
