MORE UNEMPLOYED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 257, 7 August 1940, Page 3

MORE UNEMPLOYED

INDUSTRIES IN BRITAIN.

CHANGES! DISPLACE LABOUR (United Press Association. —Copyright.) LONDON, August 5. An increase of 60,431 last month in the number of unemployed in Britain, announced by the Ministry for Labour to-day, had been foreshadowed in public statements bv the Minister, Mr Ernest Bevin, suggesting that such a result Avas likely as a. temporary effect of the deliberate plan of the Government to decrease borne consumption and to concentrate the. displaced labour on the production of essential goods. The transfer of workers from nonessential to essential production, Mr Bevi-n claimed, Avould need time to carry out before the balance of employed labour could be regained. The Ministrv of Labour and the Board ol Tirade were Avorking together closely, as it Avas possible to arrange for the absorption l of the displaced workers in munition making and the export trade with minimum hardship. The increase in unemployment Avas also partly due to the loss of coal markets on the Continent of Europe. The figures slioav that the increase Avas particularly noticeable among Avomen employed in the textile and clothing industries, and among men temporarily employed in the coal industry, in Avhich the actual number of unemployed Avas still, as a Avhole, very loav. Over all industries the 'number of wholly unemployed men Avas fewer by more than 46,000. The figure of unemployed on July 15 Avas 827,266, against 766,835 a month ago. —British Official Wireless.