§ 34. Mr. MONDasked the Minister of Labour what principle is applied in deciding whether dock labourers coming under the terms of Lord Shaw's award are included in the unemployment returns; whether they are shown as unemployed although they may have worked three days in the previous week; and whether, without excessive extra labour, this class could be shown separately in the weekly returns?
§ Mr. BETTERTONIn general a casual dock labourer is included in the return of persons unemployed if he is known to have been unemployed on the previous Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. I should mention that in general workers of other classes are only included in the return if they are known to have been unemployed on the Monday to which the return relates. It follows that a dock labourer may be included in the return notwithstanding that he worked on three days of the preceding week other than the first three days. The weekly retains of the Live Register published by my Department already give separate figures for persons normally in casual employment, the majority of whom consist of dock labourers.