§ Mr. HANNONasked the Minister of Labour the decrease in the last two years in the number of persons insured against unemployment; whether he has evidence that this decrease is due to the losses by death, emigration, and retirement being in excess of the number of young persons securing employment for the first time in insured industries; and whether, if this be so, how many young people who have left school in the last two years have failed to secure employment?
§ Sir M. BARLOWThere has not been, so far as I am aware, a decrease in the number of persons insured against unemployment during the last two years. The figures published in the "Labour Gazette" show an apparent decrease, but this is accounted for partly by the omission of the Irish Free State from the later figures, partly by the decisions of the High Court as to the non-insurability of certain classes of workpeople, and partly by the fact that owing to incomplete information the first estimate in 1921 was in excess of the actual figure. It is not possible to give the number of boys and girls who have failed to secure employment after leaving school during the last two years.