§ Mr. BENSONasked the Minister of Labour the volume and percentage of unemployment in Germany, France, United States of America, Canada, and Great Britain, respectively, during the past four years, with monthly variations during 1931?
§ Miss BONDFIELDFor Germany, the United States of America, Canada, and Great Britain, the available statistics are summarised in the following table. For the years 1927 to 1930 the figures given are the annual averages of the weekly or monthly figures; for 1931 they relate to one day in each month, generally at or near the end of the month.
2093W
Germany United States of America. Year. Number of persons registered by public Employment Exchanges as unemployed. Percentage unemployment among membership of reporting trade unions. Percentage unemployment among membership of reporting trade unions affiliated to the American Federation of Labour. Official index of employment in manufacturing industries. (1926=100). 1927 … 1,500,619 (a) 8.7 14(b) 90.4 1928 … 1,545,935 (a) 8.6 13 93.8 1929 … 1,929,080 13.3 12 97.5 1930 … 3,139,455 22.7 21 83.7 1931:— January … 4,886,925 34.2 27 73.1 February … 4,971,843 34.5 27 74.1 March … 4,743,931 33.6 26 74.8 April … 4,358,153 31.8 25 74.5 May … 4,052,950 29.9 25 74.1
Year. Canada. Great Britain. Percentage unemployment among membership of reporting trade unions. Official index of employment (1926=100). Number of persons insured and uninsured on the registers of Employment E changes. Percentage rate of unemployment among insured persons. 1927 … 4.9 105.0 1,111,771 9.6 1928 … 4.5 112.3 1,231,109 10.7 1929 … 5.7 119.2 1,230,164 10.3 1930 … 11.1 112.6 1,915,237 15.9 1931:— January … 16.0 100.7 2,613,748 21.3 February … 15.6 100.2 2,627,558 21.6 March … 15.5 99.7 2,625,418 21.3 April … 14.9 102.2 2,531,673 20.7 May … (c) (c) 2,523,041 20.6 In the United States of America it has been officially estimated that there were 4,500,000 to 5,000,000 persons unemployed in December, 1930, and that there were 6,050,000 persons wholly unemployed, with 250,000 to 300,000 persons temporarily stopped in the latter part of January, 1931. Similar estimates are not available for other dates. In France, it was officially estimated that in January, 1931, there were 350,000 persons wholly unemployed and 1,000,000 partially unemployed. No similar estimates are available for other dates and no figures are published relating to the percentage of unemployment. The numbers of persons on the registers of Employment Exchanges are regularly recorded (d), but these figures do not purport to show the total numbers unemployed, and are not comparable with those for Germany and Great Britain, given in the foregoing Table. Notes. (a) The figures for Germany for 1927 and 1928 relate to persons registered as available for and seeking work, and include a small proportion of persons who were not actually out of work. (b) Based on figures for October to December only. c) Figures not yet available. (d) The average weekly numbers recorded under this heading in the years 1927–1930 were:—47,799 in 1927, 15,275 in 1928, 10,052 in 1929, 13,859 in 1930: the figures for the end of each of the first five months of 1931 were:—January, 44,464; February, 59,500; March, 70,822; April, 66,957; May, 56,937.