Screening Minersf Skills: Coal Industry Recruiting in Early Twentieth Century Japan

Coal mining firms used the intermediary organization of labor called the gdormitory system.h In the 1900s, coal mining machinery was not introduced yet, traditional manual skills were dominant and firms usually did not enter the inside of their coal mines. Under these circumstances, firms did not have any choice but to leave almost everything tasks of managing miners to dormitory heads. In this study, we focus on recruiting miners and study experience of a coal mine in the 1900s. The coal mine partially adopted direct employment system. We investigate historical documents, gMiner Job Applicationsh for the coal mine. When applying coal mining firms, applicants were referred by someone who was acquainted with coal mining. We found three types of referral agents; dormitory heads, directly controlled dormitory heads and skilled miners. Six percent of all job applicants were directly employed. Our regression analysis shows that new entrants tended to be directly employed by the firm and dormitory heads tended to refer them. It also shows that applicants who had traditional manual skills were referred by dormitory heads and skilled miner referral agents and Applicants who had new skills for operating conveyance elevators which were newly introduced in the 1890s tended to be directly employed. Referral agents and the firm played respective roles in recruiting miners.