§ MR. TOULMIN (Bury)To ask the President of the Board of Trade, whether the shipbuilding disputes on the Clyde and Tees affected the percentage of the unemployed in the last quarter of 1906; whether he can say to what degree; whether the number registered as unemployed in those districts included employees directly concerned in the disputes; and, if not, in what way the percentage was affected.
(Answered by Mr. Lloyd-George.) The percentage of unemployed members of trade unions published in the Board of Trade Labour Gazette in the last quarter of 1906 was of course affected by the disputes in the shipbuilding trades on the Clyde and Tees owing to the inclusion of a number of men whose employment, though not themselves on strike, was indirectly affected by the stoppage. Such men are properly included among the unemployed; but persons who are on strike or who have been locked out are not so included. It is not possible to estimate with any degree of accuracy the extent to which the percentage of unemployed was affected by the disputes referred to.