Technical change and employment in the post-war gas industry

The development of the post-war British gas industry reveals a pattern of continuous productivity increase accomplished by a series of significant technological changes and substantial reductions in the labour force. Moreover, the transition from coal gas manufacture to the gassification of oil, and, more recently, to the exploitation of natural gas was accompanied by marked changes in the composition of the work force. Such changes raise a number of questions concerning the potential for re-training and redeployment measures within industries undergoing technical change. The paper examines the manner in which the shedding of labour took place within the gas industry, looks at the extent to which retraining measures were a feature of its development, and suggests some more general issues that are raised by this case study and which warrant further consideration.