TABLE 19.

18. The boarded-out children of single women and their mothers are not included in this Table.

19. The total number of husbandless women in receipt of domiciliary relief on the 1st January, 1927 (including those with no dependent children), was 193,968. This number includes 138,465 widows, equivalent to about one-twelfth of the widows in England and Wales at the time of the Census, 1921.

TABLE 21.

20. The persons shown in this Table are included in the number of persons over 70 years of age shown in Table 20.

21. The 67,762 old-age pensioners shown in this Table constituted 64 per cent. of the total number of old-age pensioners, other than blind persons under 70 years of age, in England and Wales at the end of 1926.

TABLE 22.

22. The total number of mentally infirm persons chargeable to unions in London, viz., 25,882, includes 7,500 persons maintained in institutions other than lunatic asylums. Owing to the special accommodation afforded in the institutions of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, only 271 of these persons had not been removed to specialised institutions.

23. The number of persons included in the total of 133,630 shown in this Table who were returned as being mentally defective within the definitions of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, was 25,136, viz., 4,749 chargeable to unions in London, 11,465 to other populous unions, and 8,922 to other unions. The number of these persons chargeable to unions in Wales and Monmouth was 1,554.

24. Persons accommodated in poor-law institutions under Section 37 of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, numbering 6,894 are not deemed to be in receipt of relief, and are not included in the Tables.

TABLE 23.

25. The 74 persons shown in this Table as relieved otherwise than in institutions were mainly persons relieved in common lodging houses in unions where no casual ward was available.

TABLE 24.

26. During the period 1914 to 1927 there have been interchanges of areas between the group of "other populous unions and the group of all other unions mentioned in the Table. The interchanges which have taken place are, however, not numerous, and in most cases not extensive, and no adjustment in respect of them has been made in the Table, which gives for each year totals for the areas as constituted in that year.

TABLE 25.

27. In cases where a union is situate in more than one administrative county, it has been included under the head of the county in which the greatest part of the population (Census, 1921) is situate.

Printed by H.M.S.O. Press, Harrow,

Memorandum on Certain Points

Concerning the Statistics of
Unemployment and of
Poor Law Relief.

Presented by the Minister of Labour to
Parliament by Command of His Majesty.

November, 1927.

LONDON:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2; 120, George Street, Edinburgh; York Street, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff;

15, Donegall Square West, Belfast;

or through any Bookseller.

1927

Price 2d. net.

Cmd. 2984.

the Statistics of Unemployment and of
Poor Law Relief.

This memorandum brings together certain statistical data bearing on the relation between the unemployment figures published weekly and monthly by the Ministry of Labour and the Poor Law figures published by the Ministry of Health.

1. Statistics of Out-door Poor Law Relief-England and Wales.

In considering the relation between the Ministry of Labour statistics of unemployment and the numbers on Poor Law relief it is necessary to bear in mind certain facts regarding the composition of the latter.

Briefly these are as follows:

(a) Whenever relief is granted in respect of any member of a family, whether it be the head of the family, his wife, or a dependent child, the head of the family is included in the statistics, even although relief may not have been granted to him personally. In every such case where the head of the family is not in receipt of relief in respect of himself, he is nevertheless regarded as being "constructively" in receipt of relief, since under the Statute relief given to a dependant is relief to the head of the family. Examples of such cases are those in which relief is granted in respect of a sick wife or a sick child; or cases where the head of the family is involved in a trade dispute in circumstances which preclude the payment of relief in respect of himself. Nevertheless, he is, in all such cases, included in the statistics of persons receiving relief.

(b) The statistics of insured persons on Poor Law relief always include not only a number of persons whose claims to unemployment insurance benefit have been disallowed, but also individuals in the following classes :

(i) Persons in the waiting period;

(ii) Persons actually in receipt of benefit;

(iii) Persons whose claims for benefit have been disallowed but on subsequent revision of the decision the unemployment benefit in respect of the period up to the date of revision is used to repay to the Guardians any Poor Law relief received.

2. Ministry of Labour Statistics of Unemployment.

Before proceeding to compare the statistics of persons on Poor Law relief with the unemployment figures published weekly and monthly by the Ministry of Labour it is necessary to explain in some detail the composition of the latter.

The unemployment figures published each week give the number of persons on the registers of Employment Exchanges. Except for a very small number of employed persons who are on the registers with a view to obtaining other work, the register figures include only those who are attending at the Exchanges and furnishing proof of unemployment.

The composition of the register figures for Great Britain for 26th September, 1927, was as follows:

The monthly figures which form the basis of the published percentage rates of unemployment in insured industries include the first four items given above and also what is known as the Two Months File of lodged unemployment books. At 26th September, 1927, the books in this file numbered 111,293, or about 10 per cent. of the total number of insured persons included in the statistics of unemployment among insured persons. Whenever an insured person becomes unemployed he is required to lodge his unemployment book at an Employment Exchange whether he claims benefit or not and the book cannot normally be removed until employment in an insured trade is obtained. The Two