§ 8. Mr. RHYS DAVIESasked the Minister of Labour if he will give the official figures of unemployment in Great Britain, France, Germany and the United States on 31st March, 1931, and the last available date in 1932?
§ Sir H. BETTERTONAs the answer is necessarily long and contains a number of figures I will, if I may, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. DAVIESAs only four countries are mentioned, will the right hon. Gentleman give the figures for the four countries?
§ Sir H. BETTERTONI can give them if the House and the hon. Member wish. For Great Britain the numbers of persons on the registers of the Employment Exchanges, including those temporarily stopped as well as those wholly unemployed, were 2,581,030 on 30th March, 1931; and 2,567,332 on 21st March, 1932. In France, the numbers of persons on the registers of employment exchanges were 70,822 in March, 1931, and 342,982 in March, 1932. It is understood that these totals represent only a small proportion of those unemployed in France. With regard to Germany, the figures were 4,743,931 in March, 1931; and 6,129,173 in March, 1932. Statistics of unemployment are not officially compiled in the United States of America, but the official index of employment in manufacturing industries in that country was 74.8 per cent. in March, 1931, and 65.6 per cent. in February, 1932. The American Federation of Labour estimate that in the United States 5,500,000 persons were wholly unemployed in March, 1931, and 8,300,000 in February, 1932. It must be understood with regard to all these figures that, owing to the differences in the method of compilation and other reasons, these unemployment totals are not strictly comparable as between one country and another.
§ Mr. LAWSONIs it not a fact that the American Federation of Labour estimates deal only with wholly unemployed, and that they calculate one partly unemployed for one wholly unemployed?
§ Sir H. BETTERTONI am not sure that I can answer that; the hon. Member may be right. If you take Germany, for instance, they include in their insurance scheme agricultural labourers, and we do not. We include part-time employment, and they do not. That bears out what I said, that these figures are not strictly comparable.
§ Sir JOSEPH LAMBIs it not a fact that in two of these countries a larger population is employed in agriculture than here or in America?
§ Sir H. BETTERTONThat is undoubtedly a fact.
§ Mr. CHARLES WILLIAMSIs not the real import of these figures the fact that this Government are more successful than other Governments in dealing with unemployment?
§ 10. and 11. Mr. LAWSON (for Mr. LUNN)asked the Minister of Labour (1) if he will give the total number of persons who have been refused transitional payment by the public assistance committees from 12th November, 1931, up to the latest date;
(2) how many persons receiving unemployment benefit have had their cases examined by courts of referees since 24th August last and how many have been disallowed benefit or payment by such courts of referees?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of LABOUR (Mr. R. S. Hudson)Between 11th August, 1931, and 29th February, 1932, 234,939 claims by men and 337,640 by women were considered by courts of referees in Great Britain. The statistics do not distinguish between those receiving and not receiving benefit, respectively, at the dates when their cases were heard. As regards the remainder of the information desired, I would refer the hon. Member to the replies given to his questions of 10th March and 24th March, on the same subject. Figures for later dates are not yet available.