HC Deb 21 March 1945 vol 409 cc833-4W
Mr. Burke

asked the Minister of Labour the average percentage of unemployment during 1934 in the boroughs of Gateshead, Darlington, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Wallsend, Blyth, Redcar, Whitehaven, Workington and Burnley, and in the urban districts of Whitley Bay, Cockermouth and Maryport.

Mr. Bevin

As the areas served by local offices of the Ministry of Labour and National Service are not co-terminous with local authority areas, the available data do not provide a basis for statistics showing the numbers or percentages un- employed in the local authority areas specified. The following table shows the percentage obtained if the average numbers of insured persons aged 16 and under 65 years, recorded as unemployed month by month during 1934 at local offices of the Ministry of Labour situated in the localities named, are related to the total numbers of insured persons, of those ages, whose unemployment books were exchanged at the same local offices in July, 1934. As, however, considerable numbers of insured persons register, when unemployed, at local offices other than those at which their unemployment insurance books are exchanged, these percentages may be misleading as an indication of the relative levels of unemployment in the localities named.

Locality Percentage (computed as explained above)
Gateshead 42.0
Darlington 19.2
Newcastle area* 23.3
Wallsend 32.4
Blyth 24.3
Redcar 23.8
Whitehaven 27.1
Workington 30.4
Burnley 25.0
Whitley Bay 28.2
Cockermouth 42.2
Maryport 54.6
* Including Newcastle, Elswick, Heaton and Walker.