§ 42. Captain Pilkingtonasked the Minister of Labour how many working days were lost in 1956 through strikes.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodAbout 2,083,000. A review of the figures for 1956 is given in the January issue of the Ministry of Labour Gazette.
§ Captain PilkingtonCould my right hon. Friend give any estimate of what this costs the country?
§ Mr. MacleodNo, I do not think that is possible, but there are a couple of matters arising from these figures that I might point out to my hon. and gallant Friend. First, the figure for 1956 is less than the average of the previous ten years or so, and this reverses a trend that had been going against us for about seven years. Secondly, if we divide this figure, which sounds most formidable, of 2 million man-days among the working population, it comes to 45 minutes a year.
§ Mr. RobensIs it not a fact that there are more days lost through the common cold than by industrial disputes? Is it not also a fact that there are fewer days lost in disputes in this country than in the United States of America and many other industrial countries?
§ Mr. MacleodIn reply to the first part of that supplementary question, I think that sickness accounts for about 130 times as many lost days as are lost by industrial disputes. The reply to the second part of the supplementary question is that the number of days lost in America, taking man-days per thousand workers, is about seven or eight times worse.