H—llA

391. The laggards in recovery were the building and construction industries, some branches of engineering, and the industries supplying building materials —e.g., cement, bricks, and tiles, &c. 392. The following are the half-yearly figures of registered unemployed as shown by the Unemployment Board's annual reports — September, 1929 .. .. .. .. 2,466 March, 1930 .. .. .. .. .. 3,130' September, 1930 .. .. .. .. 6,025 March, 1931 .. .. .. .. .. 38,028 September, 1931 .. .. .. .. 54,590 March, 1932 .. .. .. .. .. 54,520 September, 1932 .. .. ..73,650 March, 1933 .. .. .. .. .. 66,652 September, 1933 .. .. .. .. 79,435 March, 1934 .. .. .. .. .. 65,387 September, 1934 .. .. .. .. 64,761 March, 1935 .. .. .. .. .. 53,498 September, 1935 .. .. .. .. 60,344 March, 1936 .. .. .. .. .. 54,529 393. The administrative measures adopted to deal with the unemployment problem during this period have been dealt with at length in the annual reports of the Unemployment Board. The Unemployment Board never at any time expressed any particular concern about unemployment amongst women, and all available figures suggest that the problem was not serious. The number of women in factory employment showed a slight drop in 1931-32, but the 1929-30 level was passed in 1933-34. Most women were, of course, employed in the light consumers goods industries, professional offices, domestic services, and the distributive trades, which were not so severely hit. But such an enormous increase in male unemployment probably affected adversely the demand for female labour, the most likely result being that more girls remained at home. These girls would not appear in the unemployment statistics, but normally they would have entered the labour market. 394. Recovery and Soeial Security, 1936-1939. —The census returns of March, 1936, give a picture of the industrial break-up of the population at that time. These figures probably reflect the preceding depression conditions rather more than the succeeding pre-war conditions. In the following table the census figures for 1926 and 1936 are given—

395. In 1936 some 144,000 males were engaged in farming and 45,000 in various types of constructional work. Farming showed an increase over the 1926 figures ; but constructional employment had not fully recovered to the 1926 level. There was a rise in the number of women employed in all industry, although this was no more than proportionate to the increase in female population. A more rapid increase in the employment of women came just before the second World War.

72

1926. 1936. Males. Females. Males. Females. Primary production Industrial Transport and communication Commerce and finance Public administration and professional Domestic and personal service Unspecified 138,550 113,372 56,441 64,295 34,307 8,084 23,626 3,526 20,616 2,283 19,493 23,948 36,416 7,040 168,598 129,146 60,022 75,827 37,050 12,263 22,615 6,515 27,712 2,328 24,039 27,686 44,482 6,165 438,675 113,322 505,521 138,927