§ 1. Mr. McENTEEasked the Minister of Labour the estimated number of unemployed in Great Britain, Germany, France, and the United States on 31st March, 1932, and the latest available date in 1933?
§ The MINISTER of LABOUR (Sir Henry Betterton)As the reply is rather long and contains a number of figures, I will, if I may, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the reply:
§ In Great Britain, the numbers of unemployed persons on the registers of Employment Exchanges were 2,567,332 at 21st March, 1932, and 2,776,184 at 20th March, 1933. In Germany, the numbers of unemployed persons registered at the public Employment Exchanges were 6,034,100 at the end of March, 1932, and 5,598,100 (provisional figure) at the end of March, 1933. The comparability of these figures is, however, affected by legislative and administrative changes introduced in June, 1932, in the conditions governing the payment of unemployment benefit. In France, the numbers of persons registered at the Employment Exchanges were 349,198 at tale end of March, 1932, and 345,753 at 8th April, 1933. It is understood that these figures are not representative of the total volume of unemployment in France, as to which statistics are not available. Statistics of unemployment are not officially compiled 240 in the United States of America. The index numbers of employment in manufacturing industries, computed by the United States Bureau of Labour Statistics, were 64.5 in March, 1932, and 57.5 in February, 1933 (average employment in 1926 being taken as equivalent to 100). According to estimates made by the American Federation of Labour, there were 10,477,000 persons unemployed in the United States in March, 1932, and over 13 million in March, 1933.
§ Sir H. BETTERTONThe latest date for which figures are available is 20th March, when the number of unemployed persons on the registers of Employment Exchanges in Great Britain was 2,776,184.