Unemployment in Britain

Manawatu Times, Volume 59, Issue 212, 5 September 1934, Page 6

Unemployment in Britain

Trade Improvements Help Men and Women BUT BOYS AND GIRLS SWELL NUMBERS (British Official Wireless.) Received Tuesday, 7 p.m. RUGBY, Sept. S. Under the new Unemployment Act which becomes operative to-day, the of entry into unemployment insurance is brought down to the schoolleaving age. Juveniles who obtain work will be eligible for contribution but they will’ not be entitled to drawunemployment benefit until they are 16. The Ministry cf Labour estimates that at August 20 there were approximately 10,710,000 insured persons aged from 10 to 04 years in employment in Britain. This was 34,000 more than the month before and 370,000 more than the year before. The improvement in employment was most marked in the coal-mining industry and there was also some improvement in the building, woollen and worsted industries, in the shipbuilding and ship-repairing industry, and in the shipping service. The improvement recorded iu previous months continued in the jute industry. Following the termination of the local holidays, there has been a substantial reduction in the numbers registered as temporarily stopped. Oil the other hand there is a further decline in employment iu the tailoring, boot and shoo, cotton and motor-vehicle industries. A slight setback has also occurred in the iron, steel, pottery and hosiery industries, and in the distributive trades. At August 20 the numbers of unemployed persons on the registers of employment exchanges in Britain were as follow:—1,508,338 wholly employed, 456,841 temporarily stopped, 51.339 normally in casual employment, making a total of 2.136.578. This is 10,318 more than the number on the registers on July 23, 1934, and 274,559 less than the year before. The net increase compared with a month ago is accounted for by the unemployed boys and girls who have just left school. An increase in the number of boys and girls registering for employment ordinarily occurs in the months of July and August, but the number registering this year is higher than usual and has resulted in the increase of 3LOSS in tlie number of unemployed boys and girls comparcc’ with the previous month. On the other hand, there is n de crease of 20,770 in the number of mei and women on the registers compare with a month earlier. The total number of unemploye comprised 1,692.319 men, 68,710 boy 323,603 women and 43,941 girls.