15 NOVEMBER 1930, Page 3

Unemployed Women and Domestic Service On Tuesday Miss Bondfield filled

up one notorious gap made by the absence of common sense in the administration of Unemployment Insurance. She said that the Employment Exchanges ought more emphatic- ally to guide unemployed young women to seek engage- ments in domestic service. Thus at last the official comment on a fact which leaps to the eye becomes identical with the comment of all reasonable onlookers. It is complained by those who are looking for compe- tent and loyal labour in the household that it is very difficult and sometimes quite impossible to obtain it. Yet many thousands of young women who refuse this kind of work regularly draw unemployment bene- fits. Miss Bondfield in formerly defending such payments has said that many girls who have been trained to " skilled " industrial work are hopelessly unsuited for domestic work. We think that she exaggerated both the incapacity of the girls and the difficulty of the domestic work required. * * * *