§ 75. Mr. Willeyasked the Minister of Labour what has been the increase in the number of unemployed in Sunderland during the past two months; and what factors have caused this increase.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodThe numbers unemployed on 11th February, 1957, were 2,778, an increase of 641 since December, 1956. Nearly a third of the increase was due to temporary stoppages in the shipyards owing to bad weather, about a sixth of it to seasonal unemployment in the building and contracting industries and the remainder was spread over a variety of industries which were affected by normal seasonal influences and to a small extent by shortages of fuel.