Still More Employment Satisfaction in the steep rise in the
employment figures for last December was lessened by the knowledge that the next month was bound to show a seasonal set-back. But no such inevitable discount need be applied to the March figures. The addition of 117,000 to the total of the employed took it beyond the December figure by more than 50,000, and improvement was registered in most trades and in all districts ; and there is every reason to expect that the upward movement will continue during the present month. Mr. J. H. Thomas went too: far when he tempted the gods by asserting that the problem of unemployment was now mastered. But the tide of trade has now asserted itself with sufficient persistence during the period of the last twelve months to enable us to say that it is rising ; and the same movement is reflected in the year's revenue figures, which so substantially exceed the estimate. It is reasonable to look forward to a year of improving trade, improving employment, and improving revenue. But it will take long to repair the social damages wrought by four years of (in our time) unprecedented slump.
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