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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.

Introduction The level of turnover in UK manufacturing, measured as the percentage of both leavers and starters over a four‐week period, was first collected in August 1948. Since this date, the level of quits and accessions has been published for Minimum List Headings (MLHs) and all manufacturing on a quarterly basis. This has proved to be a valuable data source for cross‐section analysis but, perhaps surprisingly, it does not appear to have been fully exploited for time‐series analysis. For example, it was used by Curran (1981) for an inter‐industry study of male turnover across 89 MLHs in 1972. Shorey (1980) analyses male quitting in 1968 across 49 MLHs, and extends this to cover both male and female turnover in Shorey (1983). A subsequent article in this journal will consider male and female quitting in 1968, but will present an improved model of turnover which is estimated across all 104 MLHs.

Data on shift‐working, annual hours and employment are used to derive alternative measures of capital utilisation in seven countries. There is a positive relationship between utilisation and capital intensity, and utilisation levels in developing countries are significantly higher than in industrialised countries. Inter‐country comparisons of capital productivity are made by comparing industries with similar levels of capital per production worker. It is shown that output per input of capital services in some developing countries is half that of comparable industries in industrialised countries. However, the higher levels of utilisation in developing countries partially offset these low values for the productivity of capital services. Data on labour productivity and earnings are combined to measure labour costs per unit of output and thus throw light on the overall competitive position of industry in the different countries.

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.