§ 29. Lord HENRY CAVENDISH-BENTINCKasked the Minister of Labour if he is now in a position to state the numbers of workers in this country who and the numbers working more than 48 hours; and if he will give the names of the industries, apart from the continuous processes, where the normal working week exceeds 48 hours?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of LABOUR (Mr. Betterton)I am not yet able to give the figures asked for by my Noble Friend, but from a sample tabulation of returns recently received from employers in most of the important industries (excluding agriculture, the retail distributive trades, the railway service and dock labour) it would appear that about 90 per cent. of the workpeople work a normal week of 48 hours or less. In each of the main industrial groups a varying, but usually small, proportion of workpeople not engaged on continuous processes is returned as working a normal week of over 48 hours.
§ Mr. BETTERTONI think not. That, I think, is included among the retail distributive trades.