BRITISH INDUSTRY

Evening Star, Issue 21005, 20 January 1932, Page 11

BRITISH INDUSTRY

THE WORKLESS ARMY LAST YEAR REVIEWED (British Official Wireless.) Press Association-By Telegraph-Copyright. RUGBY, January 19. (Received January 20, at 11 a.m.) f The state of employment in 1931 is officially reviewed in the Ministry of Labour’s Gazette, published yesterday. There was no marked improvement in employment until the last quarter of the year, but there was not, as in the preceding year, a steady increase month by month in the numbers of unemployed. The steady and general decline during 1930 received a check last February, and it was followed by a slight improvement during the next three months, ■which affected chiefly the seasonal trades and a number of textile industries, including the cotton and woollen and worsted industry. Further decline, however, began in June and continued until the end of September. Following the suspension of the gold standard, an improvement was recorded at the beginning of October, which continued until the end of the year and had an influence on almost every industry except those such as building and contracting, which normally experience slackness in winter. The estimated number of insured workpeople in employment in Britain rose from 9,215,000 in January to 9,516,000 in May, but after some fluctuation it fell to 9,326,000 in September. By December, however, it was 9,593,000, compared with 9,475,000 in December of the previous year. It is stated that the recent legislative changes had not affected by the end of December the number of insured persons recorded in the unemployed percentage rates of unemployment among insured persons. The fall in the percentage from 22.6 in September to 20.9 in December represents, therefore, a measure of real improvement in employment.