Directorate-general for employment. Commerce and industry census of 1930. Individual forms

Collection

Title:: Directorate-general for employment. Commerce and industry census of 1930. Individual forms

Title (official language):: Algemene Directie Arbeidswezen. Handels- en Nijverheidstelling van 1930. Individuele telformulieren

Creator/accumulator:: Algemene Directie van het Arbeidswezen; Direction générale du Travail

Scope and content:: This fonds, which is of great interest for the study of small, medium and large companies during the interwar period, contains the questionnaires filled in by businesses owners in the context of the census of December 1930. The fonds contains various types of forms (generally around 4 pages), including information on the business owner such as first and last name, date of birth, nationality, (primary and secondary) profession, marital status, but also information on the business and its activities – for example, the size of business, the type of business activity (crafts, industry), the number of paid employees, the nature of the work etc. (This fonds is indirectly related to the Jewish population.)

Administrative/biographical history:: The Algemene Directie van het Arbeidswezen / Direction générale du Travail (‘Directorate-general for employment’) formed part of the former Ministry for Industry, Employment and Social Welfare. This administration consisted of the Medische arbeidsdienst, the employment office (Arbeidsambt) and services supervising employment, facilities subject to authorisation, as well as dangerous, insalubrious or harmful facilities. The Directorate-general for Employment was responsible, among others, for the execution of the commerce and industry census of 1930, organised simultaneously with the population census (cfr. royal decree of 12 December 1930). The administration was dissolved in 1938. (S. Kirca & I. van Damme, Handels- en Nijverheidstelling van 1930/Recensement commercial et industriel de 1930, T 300, Brussel, ARA-AGR, 1995; D. Luyten, “De FOD Werkgelegenheid, Arbeid en Sociaal overleg en zijn voorgangers”, in P. van den Eeckhout & G. Vanthemsche (ed.), Bronnen voor de studie van het hedendaagse België 19de – 21e eeuw. Tweede herziene en uitgebreide uitgave, Brussel, Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis, 2009, pp. 422-428.)

Finding aids:: S. Kirca & I. van Damme, Handels- en Nijverheidstelling van 1930/Recensement commercial et industriel de 1930, T 300, Brussel, ARA-AGR, 1995.