§ 11. Mr. REMERasked the Minister of Labour how many people were unemployed in the motor car industry on the 1st December, 1929, and how many on the 1st February, 1930, respectively?
§ Miss BONDFIELDThe number of insured persons, aged 16 to 64, classified as belonging to the motor vehicle, cycle and aircraft industry, recorded as unemployed in Great Britain at 27th January, 1930, was 18,721 as compared with 17,661 at 25th November, 1929.
§ Mr. STEPHENWill the right hon. Lady pass those figures also on to the Chancellor of the Exchequer?
§ Colonel HOWARD-BURYHas there not always been an increase in previous years, and is not this year the first to show a decrease?
§ 17. Mr. GEORGE OLIVERasked the Minister of Labour if she can state how the hourly rates of wages paid in the motor car section of the engineering trade, now covered by the so-called McKenna Duties, compare with the hourly rates paid in other sections of the engineering trade not so protected by an import duty?
§ Miss BONDFIELDThe hourly district time rates of wages recognised by the employers' and workers' organisations in the engineering industry do not differentiate between the motor car section and other sections of the industry. I am not in possession of any recent statistics 1561 showing the rates actually paid by employers in each of the different sections of this industry, but particulars of the average earnings, in the week ended 27th October, 1928, of workpeople in various branches of the industry, including the motor vehicle and cycle section, were given on page 401 of the "Ministry of Labour Gazette" for November last, a copy of which I am sending to my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. OLIVERIf there had been an increase in the hourly rate of pay applying to the motor section of the industry, would there be some record of it in the Department; and, in the absence of such record, am I to take it that there is no difference at all in the rate paid in the motor section as compared with other sections of the industry?
§ Miss BONDFIELDNormally speaking, we are notified of any changes in the hourly rates of wages.
§ Mr. OLIVERShall I be right in assuming that, despite the high duty on motor cars, the workpeople have no advantage from Protection?
§ Miss BONDFIELDI should like notice of that question.
Sir G. HAMILTONDo not these workpeople at any rate get a regular job at good wages, whereas in the silk trade they are losing their work?
§ Mr. REMERIs it not a fact that the wages in the motor industry have been advanced as the result of the McKenna Duties? Is the right hon. Lady aware that in one factory in Birmingham as much as £13 a week is earned?