UNEMPLOYMENT

Hokitika Guardian, 21 November 1932, Page 3

UNEMPLOYMENT

COSTS IN BRITAIN. It was stated in tbe House of Commons on Novembe r 3rd that the total payments from tile Unemployment Insurance Fund since the Armistice amounted t° '£686,000,000. In addition administration had cost £61,500,000; interest debt £17,500,000 ; and out-oi-work donations, £61,500,000. The Unemployment Insurance Commission’s report, which was ejected to form the basis of the Government’s I'j.tegt legislation, .proposed a dual system of unemployment, insurance and relief. Under this proposal the insured worker who has paid a minimum .number of contributions -wf!! be entitled to a fixed payment for a limited time withouj. inquiry into his needs. Workers ■ wlio are not insured,. including those over the income limit of £250 per annum, and insured workers who have exhausted their insurance rights, will he relieved according to, .' eir needs under a relief service to be administered by local authorities and supervised >by the Minister for Labour. Principles for the guidance of local authorities in making grants under the proposed scheme of . unemployment! separate from' tile Poor Law w ere suggested as follows: - (1) Assistance should be subject to proof of the need of the applicant, which should b e judged after assess- 1 rnent of the resources of the household of which he is a .member, • (2) .The amount of the payment must be Jess- -than - wages. (3) Ttie standards to be established, should he those, which experience shows to.be required to relieve need. The proposals iu the • majority report of the 'Commission aimed at caving over £11,000,000, including reductions in tbe dole of between threepence and ,a shilling a week-, chielly to recipients under 21 ■ yeai’s of ago, but, increasing the period in which, the dole will 'be obtainable. The isdliPmo I is at present £115,000,000 in debt, and is costing £6.‘600-.OUO--i»r "interest. |