BRITAIN'S UNEMPLOYED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21086, 21 January 1932, Page 9

BRITAIN'S UNEMPLOYED

IMPROVEMENT LAST YEAR. LABOUR MINISTRY'S REVIEW. British. Wireless. RUGBY, Jan. 19. The state of employment during 1931 is officially reviewed in a Ministry of Labour gazette published yesterday. There was no marked improvement in employment until the last quarter of the year, states the review, but there was not, as in the preceding year, a steady increase month by month in the numbers of unemployed. The steady and general decline during 1930 received a check last February and was followed by a slight improvement during the next three months, which affected chiefly seasonal trades and a number of textile industries, including the cotton, and woollen and worsted industries. A further decline, however, began in June and continued until the end of September. Following the suspension of the gold standard, an improvement was recorded at the beginning of October, which continued until the end of the year. It had an influence on almost every industry except those such as building and contracting, which normally experience slackness in the winter. It is estimated that the number of insured workers in employment in Britain rose from 9,215,000 in January to 9,516,000 in May, but after some fluctuation fell to 9,326,000 in September. By December, however, it was 9,593,000, as compared with 9,475,000 in December of the previous year. It is stated that recent legislative changes had not affected, by the end of December, 1931, the number of insured persons recorded in the unemployed percentage rates. Among insured persons the fall in percentage from 22.6 in September to 20.9 in December represents a measure of real improvement in employment.