§ 1. Mr. McENTEEasked the Minister of Labour the estimated number of juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 now unemployed?
§ 3. Mr. G. GRIFFITHSasked the Minister of Labour the number of boys and girls unemployed at the latest available date and the comparable figures for the previous year?
§ The MINISTER of LABOUR (Mr. Oliver Stanley)At 24th September, 1934, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 65,339 unemployed boys and 51,446 unemployed girls, of 14 and under 18 years of age, on the registers of Employment Exchanges and Juvenile Employment Bureaux in Great Britain. At 25th September, 1933, the corresponding figures were 57,076 and 39,830 respectively. The comparability of these figures is affected by the large increase in the numbers of children reaching the school-leaving age during the year, and by the lowering of the insurance age at the beginning of September, 1934.
§ Sir PERCY HARRISIs the right hon. Gentleman consulting his colleague the President of the Board of Education in regard to these appalling figures, in order to do something to keep these children longer at school?
§ Mr. STANLEYI am always consulting my colleagues, but I do not agree with the hon. Member's description of the figures as appalling. In view of the large increase in the number of children leaving school, their absorption into industry is rather remarkable.
§ Mr. KIRKWOODDo the figures include boys and girls of the working-class only, or do they include all those unemployed between the ages of 14 and 18 years?
§ Mr. STANLEYIt depends entirely on whether they are on the unemployment register at the Exchange, or at the Juvenile Unemployment Bureau.
§ Mr. KIRKWOODArising from that reply—
§ Mr. SPEAKERWe have 133 questions on the Order Paper to-day.