Mr. W. Joseph Stewartasked the Minister of Labour whether he will state the total insured industrial population in the administrative county of Durham, and the county boroughs of Sunderland and South Shields for the years 1931 and 1938, respectively?
§ Mr. E. Brown,pursuant to his reply (OFFICIAL REPORT, 1st December, 1938; col. 566, Vol. 342), supplied the following statement:
The table below shows the estimated numbers of persons, aged 16–64, insured under the general scheme of unemployment insurance at July, 1931, and July, 1938, in the areas in question, as indicated by the numbers of unemployment books exchanged at Employment Exchanges in those areas.
Area. July, 1931. July, 1938.* Durham Administrative County. 260,420 259,110 Sunderland County Borough. 58,860 59,380 South Shields County Borough. 31,010 30,790 *The figures for 1938 include small numbers of persons (estimated to be about 3,000 for County Durham, 1,000 for Sunderland, and 400 for South Shields) in the classes of domestic employments which were brought into insurance at 4th April, 1238.