More Men at Work The increase of 55,000 in the
numbers of persons in work in February, as compared with January, is slight, and partly seasonal, but it is none the less welcome. A decline of 46,000 in the army of the workless is the reverse side of the case. The proportion between the 9,340,000 insured at work and the 2,856,000 unemployed on the register is now a little more than three to one. A modest improvement in the building trades has helped in this. If only the Government, the local authorities and private enterprise could make a vigorous push with rehousing schemes and with the public works that are urgently needed, such as new schools, we might soon see the unemployment figures cut down not by tens but by hundreds of thousands. Yet, for want of initiative, the building trades are stagnant.
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