UNEMPLOYMENT PAY.

GOVT CONCESSIONS.

20s FOR MEN; 16s FOR WOMEN.

In response to strong pressure from among their supporters, as well as from the Labour benches; the Government yesterday, through the Minister of Labour, agreed to raise the weekly unemployment benefit for men from 18 shillings, as proposed in their new bill, to 20. “Give them the twenty bob,” Mr Barnes had said, dropping into the old vernacular, and the minister, after swearing that he’d ne’er consent, consented. The immediate result of that concession was that Mr Clynes withdrew his perfectly impossible amendment, on which most of the discussion had taken place, in which he had demanded 40s for every head of a family, 25s for every other insured member, and 5s for each dependent. That is the Labour party’s official programme, and they say that they will not be content with anything less. Nevertheless, they accepted the 20s with alacrity, and the bill passed through its remaining stages without much trouble.

But let it be understood what the result of this concession will be! The effect will be to wipe out the whole of the accumulated surplus in the Unemployment Fund, if the average rate of unemployment among insured persons continues at 9½ per cent until July next, which is the basis of the actuarial estimates. The surplus now amounts to £22,000,000. The Government scheme would have drawn upon this surplus to the extent of about £17,000,000. The concession will probably deplete it altogether. But it was the manifest wish of the House – albeit a very thin one – and it was supported alike by Mr Barnes, Sir Edward Carson, Sir Fortescue Flannery, Sir Donald Maclean, and others. Then, of course, someone put in a demand for equality for the women, but here the minister declined to do more than concede an additional shilling, thus making the women’s new benefit 16s instead of 15s.