§ Captain GEE forasked the Minister of Labour if he is aware that the number of coalminers reported to be at work and unemployed, respectively, at the end of March, 1925, was 1,122,700 and 148,400, respectively, or a total of 1,271.199 in the industry, and that the corresponding figures for the end of March, 1921, were, respectively, 1,188,500 and 26,400, making a total of 1,214,900; and Whether the number of coalminers has increased by over 56,000 in the past year
Sir A.STEEL-MAITLANDThe figures quoted by my hon. Friend relate to the number of wage earners returned to the Mines Department. as recorded on the colliery hooks at a particular date, and to the numbers of workers, covered by the Unemployment Insurance Acts, recorded by the Ministry of Labour as unemployed at a proximate, but not an identical, date. These figures are not mutually exclusive, as a colliery worker may be retained. on the colliery books at a particular date and yet be recorded as unemployed, owing to short time or intermittent working. it would not be correct therefore to add the figures together in order to ascertain the number in the industry. I may add that the Mines Department figures include workers under 16 while those for insured unemployed do not, and, on the other hand. 1839 the latter include non-manual workers earning less than £250 a year while the Mines Department figures exclude them