BRITAIN’S UNEMPLOYED

Grey River Argus, 19 May 1938, Page 10

BRITAIN’S UNEMPLOYED

RELIEF MEASURES. [British Official Wireless.] RUGBY, May 17. Votes for the Ministry of Labour, and the Unemployment Assistance! Board were discussed in Committee-1 of-Supply in the Commons. | The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, reviewing vari-' •bus aspects of .the Ministry’s and Board's work, stated that 2,500,000 men and women were placed in employment through the Labour Exchange last year. Mr Lennox Boyd added, dealing with industrial transference, (hat last year 17,500 men and 6,500 women, about 7000 families, were transferred, a high proportion being from the specially depressed areas. I The Minister also referred to the extensions of the unemployment insurance scheme stating that whereas ten years ago the number of people . enjoying the benefits of unemployment insurance were 12,500,000, the figure to-day was 15,000,000, It was ■ unhappily true that on April 4 the , number of registered unemployed ‘ was as high as 1,748,000, but of those 358,000 were temporarily laid off, and j it was reasonable to assume that a ( large proportion were expecting an ( early resumption of work. Chief criticism from Opposition j speakers was directed to the recent 1 order of the Unemployment Assist-, ance Board to its local officials, to ( discontinue the additional grants au- j thorised last autumn to meet winter ( conditions with the rising cost ofTiv- j ing. I ( Mr Boyd had previously drawn attention to the movements in the cost . of living index, which, he claimed, j justified the Board’s action, and added that the Board had under consid- < eration a new regulation which pro- } vided for increases during the win- j ter months in future. j