The Employment Outlook . Though the last unemployment returns of
the year show a small increase, of five thousand, in the numbers on the live register, this can be discounted, as it appears to be due to the fact that the count happened to be taken on a wet and stormy day when a number of hands in various outdoor trades had to be stood off. The number of those actually at work constituted a record. What are the prospects for 1937 ? So far as can be seen the steady improvement in the employment outlook will continue. Building may have slackened a little, but there are still extensive slum-clearance schemes to carry out, and the construction of new munitions factories (announcements regarding four more have appeared this week), as well as the actual production Of munitions, will mean a substantial expansion of employment in this field. The Minister of Transport has announced a considerable road-construction pro- gramme in Scotland, shipbuilding is improving, and with the cheap money policy still continuing there is every reason why employment should be better in 1987 than in 1986. Against that is to be set the effect of a probable rise in income-tax, and the armament employ- ment is of course beneficial only on the short-term view.
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