The Unemployed and Insurance The number of the registered unemployed
for the past _week fulfilled the prediction that the relaxation of the qualifying conditions for-benefits under the New Unemployment Insurance Act would cause a considerable increase. The total of the unemployed .in all .:three categories was 1,621,800. Unemployment is now worse than it has been for eight years, and a further increase is feared. It is only right to add that the increase of 31,675 in the number, of wholly unemployed as compared with the week --before was due almost wholly to, the relaxation we have mentioned. A remarkable fact is that the Act has caused little change in the number of registrations in England and Wales where the Poor Law authorities have long insisted upon registration even where there was no claimto unemployment benefit. The new registrations are virtually confined to Scotland. it is at all events satisfactory to know that in England and Wales the _boast of the Ministry of Labour that it had a full record ofunemployment was justified. * * * *
