HC Deb 04 October 1909 vol 11 c1651
Mr. FELL

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many men engaged in the building trade were out of work according to the last Return for England; and how this compares with the similar Returns for the same period for each of the past three years?

The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of TRADE (Mr. Churchill)

The Department has no information as to the total number of building trade operatives out of work. The percentage unemployed among trade union carpenters and plumbers at the end of August, 1909, was 10.0, the corresponding figures for 1908, 1907, and 1906 being 10.3, 5.6, and 5.5.

Mr. FELL

Would that include the bricklayers, labourers and others employed?

Mr. CHURCHILL

The figures I have quoted relate to trade union carpenters and plumbers.

Mr. E. A. GOULDING

Is there not a vast body of working-men attached to the building trade not associated with any trade union?

Mr. CHURCHILL

I should have thought it was well known by this time that the Board of Trade unemployment figures only relate to statistics of trade unions. Consequently, they are not thoroughly representative, and we have never pretended they are.