§ 29. Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Minister of Labour, in view of the un employment in highly skilled technical trades, such as ship building and engineering, in the City of Aberdeen, what steps he is taking to ensure that the services of such highly skilled workers are not wasted by their being absorbed into work requiring less or different skill and technique from that for which they were trained.
§ Mr. IsaacsThe employment exchange will continue to do all that it can to help skilled workers who are out of employment to find work suited to their skill and experience.
§ Mr. Hector HughesIs my right hon. Friend aware that there are, in fact, many 231 highly skilled technicians who are being guided into inappropriate jobs? Will he have this rectified, in the interests not only of national production but of the men themselves, whose high skill is being wasted in jobs beneath their capacity?
§ Mr. IsaacsNo, Sir, I am not prepared to accept that generally, because men who have got high skill in one branch of, say, the engineering industry are often suitable in other industries. So far as ship building is concerned, there are 44 skilled shipyard men now unemployed at Aberdeen. I am afraid that if they want to carry on in that particular occupation they must be willing to leave Aberdeen and go elsewhere.