§ Sir J. D. REESasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of persons engaged in the building trade have lodged their cards because of unemployment with the Labour Exchanges during March; how such proportion compares with that which obtains in respect of other occupations; whether the Board of Trade Returns give 5.8 per cent. of builders unemployed in January, while the statistics of the Insurance Commissioners return 8.8 per cent. as having lodged their cards, and whether he can explain this discrepancy; and whether the more favourable figure of the Board of Trade shows the building trade to be in a worse way in respect of unemployment than other insured trades, e.g., shipbuilding 3.3, engineering 2.1, vehicle construction 2.2, and others 1.5?
Mr. ROBERTSONThe number of unemployment books of workmen in the building trades remaining lodged at the end of March was 5.2 per cent. of the unemployment books issued in these trades, as compared with 2.3 per cent. in the other insured trades. The difference between the percentage of books of workmen in the building trades lodged at the end of January and the Trade Union Return to the Board of Trade cited by the1626W hon. Member is accounted for by the fact that the trade union figure is based mainly on returns relating to carpenters and plumbers, whereas the figures with regard to unemployment books lodged relate to the whole of the building trades, including unskilled labourers. The greater amount of unemployment in the building trades as compared with other insured trades in January was largely owing to the usual winter depression in the building trade at that time. Since January the difference has decreased, and at the end of May the proportion of books lodged was 3.4 per cent. in the building trades, while in the other insured trades it was 2.2 per cent.