The Maldistribution of Employment The newly-issued report of the Ministry
of Labour shows that, whilst in the north of England and in Wales there was a decline in employment of 748,000 between 1927. and 1931, in London and the southern divisions generally ..there was actually an increase of 79,000. It is not surprising that Londoners have not fully appre- ciated. .the severity of the trade slump. Since 1931 the northern divisions have picked up considerably, the numbers of employed rising by 293,000, whilst they rose in the south by 453,000. The magnitude of the ,latter figure shows that migration has played an important -part . in , the distribution of employees. Migration has been going on quietly and steadily (though not fast enough to level up the distribution of employment) • since 1923, when coal mining, and the textile and heavy industries were contracting, and the distributive trades, building, and the electrical and motor trades were expanding. The solution of the rroblem by the process of migration is too slow and painful to be tolerable. No time ought to be lost in devising measures for tempting industry northwards.
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