Mr. DAVID ADAMSasked the Minister of Labour whether he will give the number of persons on the Employment Exchanges of County Durham who have been unemployed for two, five, ten, or more years?
§ Lieut.-Colonel MUIRHEADAmong 90,077 persons applying for insurance benefit or unemployment allowances at 26th October, 1936, at Employment Exchanges in the county of Durham (including the county boroughs), 25,474 had been continuously on the registers for two years or more, including 8,739 who had been continuously on the registers for five years or more. The number who had been on the registers for 10 years or more is not known. Corresponding figures are not available in respect of persons, registered as unemployed, who were not applicants for insurance benefit or unemployment allowances. Of the persons who had been on the registers for extended periods a proportion, which will increase as the period on the register increases, will have had one or more short spells of employment, lasting not more than three days each, during such periods.