Untitled

Hokitika Guardian, 19 December 1930, Page 4

World unemployment is all too general, Franco alone escaping the serious consequences of the far flung stringency overshadowing world business. The Journal of the London Chamber of Commerce remarks tnat n little rather melancholy comfort was drawn recently from the fact that- the serious decline in the British export trade was at any rate far from unique and that the United States, .n the first six months of this year, suffered even more acutely, Consolation of a similar unsatisfactory kind may also be found in the uiifimploymelit position of the other great exporting nations, though any comparison m more difficult owing to the lack of com,parable '-statistics. The United States Government, however, lias confessed to million unemployed, and in view of the extreme reluctance of that confession it is not unreasonable to assume that the estimate is very conservative indeed. An American industrial tokl Mr Ramsay Macßonuid, according to a statement made in the House of Commons, that the Lid ted States figure would be anything between 10 million and 11 million if they were calculated on the same basis as the British returns. And Mr William Green, President of 'the American Federation of Labour, in speaking of the Government estimate, expressed the belief that during the winter months the total would rise to well over five million. The total Bniish figure of nearly 2\ million includes, of course, those “temporarily stopped’’ and “normally in casual employment ” as well as the “wholly unemployed,” and, in addition, covers women, boys and girls, as well as men. The number of men wholly unemployed on October 27 was 1,123,300, and it is at least arguable that this figure would provide the fairest comparison with the United States Government's f million. Certainly the total of 'h° wholly unemployed—just over J V million—is more nearly a comparable figure than the 2J million gj'oss total which is generally quoted. The population of the United States is appvoximatelv 120 million compared with the British 45 million. 'ln Germany, with a population of some 20 million more than the United Kingdom, the number receiving public relief on October 31, was over two million, but, according to a statement to the Reich by the Minister of Labour, the total number out of work is probably 3j or perhaps even 4 million. Figures for a number of other countries are published by the League of Nations every month, and although it should he pointed out that in most cases their employment position is probably better than that of the United Kingd im the United States and Germany, lhe figures ar" difficult to use as a basis of comparison, referring for tlm most part, as they do. to “registered” unemp'oved. or trade unionists only. The number of wholly or partially unemployed registered in Italy, for exam o’e, is given as about 400,000. whereas recent statements seem to indicate a considerably large figure bn I the real total.