WORKLESS SCOTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22184, 21 November 1946, Page 5

WORKLESS SCOTS

CONCERN IN INDUSTRY SERIOUS IN HIGHLANDS DRIVE FOR NEW PLANTS (Special Correspondent.) (10 a.m.) LONDON. Nov. 20. The growth of unemployment in Scotland and the north is causing concern in industrial circles. Last month 5 per cent of the total number of insured men were out of work which is exactly 1 double the percentage for the whole of Great Britain and five times the figure for the Midlands and Southern England. The Scottish Council for the Development of Industry has taken up the matter and is formulating plans for the creation of new industries and the regeneration of others. Nevertheless, the situation is serious, particularly in the highlands, where the majority of Scottish unemployment is located. Twenty-eight per cent of Scottish unemployment is among demobilised ex-servicemen, many of whom are members of Highland regiments. One of the reasons for the increasing number of workless is the declining productivity of the old Lanarkshire coalfield on which so many of Scotland's industries depend. Efforts arc being made to develop new fields in Fifeshire. Aryshire and West Lothian, but housing is a bottleneck that ; is delaying progress with these schemes. It is hoped that, the big new hydroelectric development scheme for the Highlands will assist, but the long-term j problem is to develop more and diverse | industries in all parts of the country.

The Scottish council is at present assisting in the proposals by no fewer than 120 firms which want to establish various types of light industries in the north. A number of these firms are American. Swedish and Dutch.