§ Mr. W. THORNEasked the Minister of Labour the number of men and women employed on the productive side of industry for the financial years ending 1921 and 1929; and the number engaged in the distributive trades for the same periods?
§ Mr. BETTERTONComparable statistics of insured persons in the various industries are not available for any date before 1923 or since July, 1928; and I am not sure that it would be possible to analyse the figures that are available with sufficient accuracy under the headings of productive and distributive industry. At July, 1923, out of an estimated total of 10,908,000 insured persons aged 16 to 64 in Great Britain, 1,219,900 were classified as belonging to the group described as the distributive trades. At July, 1928, out of a total of 11,629,000 there were 1,582,290 classified as belonging to this group. It should not be assumed, however, that none of the remainder of the insured workers, including,2040W for example, those engaged in commerce and transport, would be included under the heading of distributive industry.