BRITISH INDUSTRIES

Otago Witness, Issue 3854, 24 January 1928, Page 26

BRITISH INDUSTRIES

THE ANNUAL SURVEY.

RUGBY, January 19.

In itg annual survey of employment, wages, cost of living, and trade disputes during the past year the Ministry of Labour records that, despite the acute depression in some of the important industries, the average number of persons actually employed was higher than in any previous year. The number of trade disputes causing stoppages of work was the lowest ever recorded. The average amount of unemployment among insured persons wag lower than in anv year since 1920— a year before the post-war depression set in—the average annual percentages falling from 17 in 1921 to 9.7 last year. The aggregate number of working days lost in disputes was the lowest ever recorded. There was a slight reduction during 1927 in the average level of the rates of wages in industries and services for which statistics are available. Changes reported during the year resulted in an aggregate net reduction of £389,000 in the weekly fulltime wages of over 185,000 work-people; and a net increase of £30,400 in those of 280,000 workpeople. The greater part of the net reduction occurred in the actual working of industry, which accounted for over 70 per cent, of the total, and included the textile working and transport industry groups. The improvement in employment last year is greater than is at first apparent, owing to the fact that in the past two years the number of persons insured for whom official _records ar e available increased by 230,000, and now exceeds 12.000,000. Ibe review shows that contemporaneously with the marked improvement in employment, the cost of living has progressively decreased. At the beginning of the year the index figure stood at 75 per cent, above the post-war level and at the end of December it bad declined to 68 per cent

“Looking to the future there is good ground for confidence,” said Mr F. C. Goodenough (chairman) at a meeting of Barclay s Bank. “ Both industry and trade in Britain arc showing indications of a substantial revival. The continuous process of the stabilisation of currencies and world prices affords a reasonable expectation that the trade improvement we are. now experiencing may be more permanent than similar revivals in recent years, which have proved inly temporary.”

Regarding the suggestion of a tariff agreement between the principal European States, Mr Gobdenough said that this might benefit Europe as a whole, but Germany would be the chief gainer. It would certainly be more in Britain’s interests to devote her energies increasingly towards the development of the Empire. There was no doubt that the prosperity of Britain and the Empire in the future was dependent upon the. development of the areas within the Empire through interimperial finance and trade. The lowest percentage (9.7) of unemployed persons among “ insureds ’’ since 1921, the highest increase in the avenues of employment since 1920, and the lowest cost of living since 1919 are facts arrayed in the press, which is featuring the speeches made at the Associated Chambers of Commerce meeting. The speaker strongly emphasised the need for the curtailment of expenditure and costs of production, pointing out the handicap to trade through taxation, high freights, higher wages, and shorter hours. Nevertheless, the year opened with every prospect of peace at Home and aboad, and a time of flowing trade throughout the Empire can be looked forward to. To-day’s, reduction in the French bank rate is hailed as another good sign, and it has reopened discussion 'on the possibilities of the Bank of England’s rate coming down.