HC Deb 21 March 1940 vol 358 c2136W
Sir P. Hurd

asked the Minister of Labour what is the total number of farm workers registered as unemployed in each county and the whole country?

Mr. E. Brown

The numbers of insured persons in farming, forestry, etc., recorded as unemployed (including those temporarily suspended from work) in Great Britain were 27,053 at 11th December, 39,394 at 15th January, and 47,555 at 12th February. The figures for January and February were inflated as a result of the exceptionally severe weather conditions, which in many cases made work in the open impossible on the dates on which the monthly count of the numbers unemployed was taken. Statistics of unemployment are not ordinarily compiled by counties.