HC Deb 21 May 1947 vol 437 cc259-60W
Mr. Swingler

asked the Minister of Labour the approximate number of employed persons excluded from his Department's monthly statistics of numbers employed in each industry for the reason that they are not insurable under the unemployment insurance scheme; and the particular numbers so excluded in the cases of commerce, banking, insurance and finance, of the railway industry, of public utility companies, and of national and local government service.

Mr. Isaacs

The monthly industrial analysis of insured persons employed which is published in the "Ministry of Labour Gazette," and to which my hon. Friend no doubt refers, does not include the railway or the national and local government services. Neither does it include uninsured persons (except part-time women) for whom no monthly figures by industries are available. Separate estimates for the insured and uninsured workers in the various industries can only be prepared in July of each year. The estimates of total manpower, however, which are also given in the "Gazette" without an industrial analysis, include both insured and uninsured as well as employers and persons working on their own account. At July, 1946, the total number of employed persons of insurable age who were not insured under the Unemployment Insurance Acts (other than women in part-time paid employment and persons in indoor private domestic service) was estimated to be nearly 3,000,000. This total includes the following numbers in the Services named:

Commerce, banking, insurance and finance 56,000
Railway service 260,000
Gas, water and electricity supply (including local authority undertakings) 34,000
National government service 280,000
Local government service (excluding trading services but including teachers) 430,000

The figures include employers and persons working on their own account as well as employees.