Untitled

Hokitika Guardian, 16 March 1925, Page 2

In the January issue of the “ Ministry of Labour Gazette ” there are published, says a Home paper, figures relating to the Home employment situation during 1924. Although still had on the whole, employment was better than in the previous year, the average monthly percentage unemployed in Croat Rritain and Northern Ireland, among the 111 million workpeople covered by the Unemployment Insurance Acts, being 10.5 in 1924. as compared with ll.fi in 1923, 14.0 in 1922 and over 10 in 1921. The gradual improvement which has been in progress since the early part of 1922, though temporarily chucked towards the end of January, 1924, continued without further interruption until the end of June, when the proportion of insured workpeople unemployed had fallen to 9.4 per cent. In the third quarter of the year, however. there was a marked decline in employment in some industries, including coal and iron mining, iron and steel manufacture, the wool textile and hosiery industries, and the clothing trades ; and the percentage of insured workers unemployed rose to 10.8 hv the end of Secitember and to 11.1 by the end of October. After a slight improvement prior to Christmas, the proportion unemployed on December 22 was 10.9 per cent. The decline in the general level of rates of wages, which had continued since the early months of 1921, was arrested towards the end of 1923, and the changes effected during last year were mainly in an upward direction. In the industries and services for which statistics are available, the changes reported during 1921 resulted in an aggregate net increase of about £OIO.OOO in the weeklv full-time wages of nearly 3.000,000 workpeople, and in a net decrease of about £60,000 in those of nearly 500,000 workpeople. The industries mainly responsible for the net increase in wages were coal-mining, brick, pottery, glass, chemical, etc.,

shipbuilding, the building and transport trades, and the public utility services. Nearly one-third of the workers who received a net increase in wages were employed in the eoal-inin-ing industry. The number of trade disputes causing a stoppage of work, reported as beginning in 1924, was (592. in these disputes about 550,(100 workpeople were directly involved and 54.0(10 indirectly involved ; while about 3,000 workpeople were involved in twelve disputes which began in 1923 and continued into last year. The aggregate number of working days lost was approximately 8,312,000, which is the lowest total recorded for any year since 1918.