When Unemployment Pays .
There is obviously something wrong with a social system which enables a man to obtain a larger income when unem- ployed than when in work, particularly when that income is scaled down to cover only his minimum needs. Yet the report of the Unemployment Assistance Board for 1937, which was published on Tuesday, reveals a number of cases in which this is happening. An unskilled workman, to take an actual example quoted by the Board, normally earns a wage of 38s. a week ; he has a wife and eight dependent children, so that his U.A.B. scale allowance should be 54s., but that would give him 16s. more than he would earn if in work, so he is actually paid 45s.—which is still 7s. more than he would earn. In these circumstances he cannot, even if he wished to, afford the luxury of work. He is at once getting too much according to his earning capacity and too little according to his needs. Apart from the question of family limitation which such a case raises, one point stands out clear, that in a large elan of cases wages are being paid which, measured by the U.A.B.'s exacting standards, fall far short of human needs. A partial solution of that problem lies in family allowances -mad rent rebates.
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