HC Deb 12 May 1938 vol 335 cc1740-1W
Colonel Burton

asked the Minister of Agriculture the numbers of agricultural workers employed for the years 1931 to 1937, respectively; and what further steps he proposes to take to induce agricultural workers to remain on or return to the land?

Mr. W. S. Morrison

The number of agricultural workers, excluding the occupier, his wife and domestic servants, employed in England and Wales, on holdings exceeding one acre, as returned by the occupiers, on the 4th June in each of the years mentioned, is as follows:

Year. No. of Workers.
1931 … … … 716,607
1932 … … … 697,481
1933 … … … 715,546
1934 … … … 687,972
1935 … … … 673,203
1936 … … … 640,573
1937 … … … 631,657

In reply to the second part of the question, I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the reply which I gave on the 19th January, 1937, to a similar question asked by my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Salford, South (Mr. Stourton).