Unemployment in the Depressed Areas The Ministry of Labour has
performed a useful service by publishing its analysis of unemployment in the depressed. areas, though these figures offer a bitter contrast with the prosperity which the rest of the country enjoys. Even if it is true that unemployment has fallen by over 50,000 in the depressed areas during the last year, the Government can derive little satisfaction from the conditions which continue to prevail there. In the middle of March, total unemploy- ment in the depressed areas was 239,026; and nearly 150,o00 men had been out of work for over three months. These compose what is called the solid, and apparently irreducible, core of unemployment ; and its nature is perhaps shown most clearly by the fact that 70 per cent. of them were over 35 years of age, and 24 per cent. over 55. The tragedy for these men is that most of them have little prospect of finding work again. Transference is no solution ; these men are of the kind for whom it is most difficult and painful to leave home, and the least likely to find work elsewhere. The root of their misery is the decline of the coal industry, which accounts for 35 per cent. of unemPloyment in these areas. Relief may be found in the introduCtion of light industries, but revival in the coal trade would be even more valuable.
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