§ Sir K. WOODasked the Minister of Labour the number of unemployed persons registered at the Employment Exchange at Woolwich for the last week for which figures are available and similar information for the corresponding week in 1929 and 1930?
§ Miss BONDFIELDThe following table gives the information desired:
now performed by the Employment Exchanges in addition to their original function; what proportion of their staffs are 1001W employed and what proportion of their expenditure is incurred in actually filling vacancies; and what steps she proposes to take to increase their efficiency as Employment Exchanges?
§ Miss BONDFIELDIn addition to their original functions under the Labour Exchanges Act, 1909, the Employment Exchanges administer the Unemployment Insurance Acts. In view of the close interdependence of the work of filling vacancies and administering unemployment insurance, it is not possible to give a figure for the proportion of the total cost of the Employment Exchanges which represents solely their work as placing agencies. The placing work of the Exchanges is being steadily developed in a number of ways. That these measures are having steady results is illustrated by the fact that there has been each year since 1927 a substantial increase in the number of vacancies filled through the Exchanges, and that in 1930, notwithstanding the industrial depression, the number of vacancies filled through the Exchanges was 1,732,144, as compared with 1,556,271 in 1929.