14. Mr. Jenkinsasked the Minister of Labour whether he can inform the House of the changes that have been made in the method of computing the numbers of unemployed since 1933; and what effect the changes have had on the records of the numbers unemployed?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe only change of this kind made since 1933 is that introduced in September, 1937, by which persons subsequently found to have been in employment on the date of the count of the unemployed are excluded from the figures. The effect of the new procedure at that date was to reduce the numbers on the registers of Employment Exchanges by approximately 49,000. I should add that in the interval between 1933 and the present date various extensions in the scope of unemployment insurance and unemployment assistance have resulted in an increase in the unemployed register considerably larger than the figure I have mentioned.