Was it a mistake to let shipbuilders, miners, and railway workers enlist instead of keeping them in reserved occupations?
Short answerYes. The criticism is that needed workers enlisted while protection depended too heavily on job descriptions rather than the essential work actually being done.
NotesProtecting a job title did not necessarily keep its holder working on an essential wartime task. The example offered is a civil engineer whose skills qualified for protection but who could still work on private conservatories instead of airfields. Meanwhile, miners and other needed workers had volunteered for military service before the system recovered their skills for industry. Daniel relates this criticism to an official manpower history available through HyperWar. The practical alternatives include using experienced tradesmen to train Royal Engineers and organizing construction specialists in dedicated units.