Ministry of Labour (United Kingdom)

Following World War I it supervised the demobilisation and resettlement of ex-British Expeditionary Force servicemen.

It allocated people to work between the armed forces, civil defence and industry, and to administer the Schedule of Reserved Occupations.

The Ministry was responsible for solving labour shortages caused by the war and maintaining high production outputs.

[2]: pp101–102  The Defence Regulations gave the organ significant powers over the direction of labour and mandatory industrial arbitration, although Bevin enforced them sparingly and favored conciliation through a national Joint Consultative Committee with equal representation from both trade unions and employers.

Under Bevin the ministry also encouraged increased unionization, although strikes were discouraged during the war and news of ones that did occur were censored.