Unemployment

Press, 2 December 1982, Page 20

Unemployment

Sir, — To many of us with long memories, it comes with a sad feeling of deja vu to note that the numbers of unemployed and of those on Government subsidised work schemes continue to grow, month by month. Claims and counterclaims, mainly in the nature of political point-scoring, are made of comparisons between unemployment figures of today and those of the early 19305. One point I would like cleared up, if possible, concerns schoolleavers. Were school-leavers, unable to find work when they left school in the early 19305, included in those unemployment statistics? I have been told they were not. To my way of thinking they should have been included as they are now; then, as now, they were in the market for jobs. — Yours etc., LES BOGREN. November 21, 1982.

[Mr G. L. Jackson, Secretary of Labour, replies: “The most fundamental differences between the 1930 s figures and those collected today are that

women were never included in the statistics, and practically all youths under 20 were also excluded. Such differences in the collection of statistics, as well as in the composition of the labour force between the 1930 s and today, mean that any comparison of unemployment between these two times is likely to be misleading. A detailed comparison of this can be found in the “Labour and Employment Gazette” Vol. 32, No. 2, June, 1982, published by the Labour Department.”]