§ 30. Mr. HANNONasked the Minister of Labour the percentage of unemployment in Great Britain as at the end of November of the present year, and give at the same time the corresponding percentages for France, Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia, and Belgium?
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDAt 26th November, the percentages unemployed among workpeople insured against unemployment were 12.1 in Great Britain and 12.2 in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Owing to differences in the bases of the unemployment statistics for overseas countries, I am unable to give corresponding figures for the continental countries specified, but I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of the December issue of the "Ministry of Labour Gazette," published to-day, on pages 461 and 462 of which the latest statistics regarding employment and unemployment in these and other overseas countries are summarised.
§ Mr. HANNONWould my right hon. Friend say whether it is not due to the fiscal policy of those countries that there is a much lower percentage of unemployment there than there is in this country?
§ Mr. T. SHAWWhen the right hon. Gentleman says that the unemployment is a certain percentage, does he not mean that the registered unemployment is that percentage? He does not refer to the actual unemployment?
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDWith regard to the first supplementary question, that is a matter of opinion and argument. My own opinion is that fiscal policy has a good deal to do with it. In reply to the second supplementary question, I can never pretend that the figure I give includes every single person who is unemployed, but it does give an increasingly accurate and comprehensive figure of unemployment, and has done for the last few years.