BRITISH UNEMPLOYED

Evening Star, Issue 23527, 16 March 1940, Page 14

BRITISH UNEMPLOYED

IMPROVED POSITION OF FUND EFFECT «F DEFENCE EXPENDITURE (British Ofidia) Wireless.) Press Association —By Telegraph —Copyright RUGBY, March 14. The Unemployment, insurance . Statutory Committee, one of the main functionia of which is to keep a watch on tfao finances of the .Unemployment Insurance Scheme, has published its annual report on the ; financial condition of the Unemployment Fund on Decibar 31, 1939! 'fhe report discloses that the fund which the committee had aaticipated would have suffered a loss of some £8,000,000 .daring the year actually showed an improvement of over £16,000,000. The committee attributes the improved position largely to the effect of defence expenditure. Assuming that there will be a rise of unemployment after the war, with a resultant large expenditure of the Unemployment Fund, the committee reports that it is unable to regard any part of the present balance as a disposable surplus. After the repayment of a proportion of the debt still owed by tne fund, th© annual sum of £1,000,000 is left f<»r the benefit of the general scheme. The committee recommends that this should be used to increase the benefit for the first two dependant children 1 from 3s to 4s. The Minister of Xabonr (Mr Ernest Brown) announced to the House of Commons that the Government had decided to accept tha recommendation. Replying to a question in the House of Commons on TQuirsday, the Minister disclosed that, since the Holidays With Pay Act had. come into operation in July, 1938. orders requiring employers to provide for paid holidays had been issued ia'respect of 49 trade beards covering over 1,000,000 people. Aa regards agriculture, orders had boon issued in respect of all areas exoapt Monmouthshire. These orders covered some 600,000 people. The estimated number of people now revered by the collective agreements providing for holidays with pay is about 4,500,000.