12 NOVEMBER 1937, Page 3

The Unemployment Figures The increase of over fifty thousand in

the number of the unemployed in October is not surprising, and should certainly not necessarily be taken as a signpost pointing to depression. The change is almost wholly seasonal. The hotel and boarding-house, distributive and building trades alone pro- vided over 70 per cent. of the total increase. Cotton and coalmining, on the other hand, showed a welcome improve- ment. So, to a smaller extent, did shipbuilding. The total number of registered unemployed is now 1,390,249, which represents a drop of 166,400 on the comparable figure for last year. The number of insured persons in employment is 11,659,000, which is 47,000 less than the revised figure for September.