Report on Agencies and Methods for Dealing with the Unemployreport on Agencies and Methods for Dealing with the Unemployed Ed

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893 Excerpt: ...of the above classes. Of the 96 local authorities 35 established labour registries mostly of a temporary kind, on which the names of the unemployed were enrolled, and in many cases those employed on the relief works were selected from these registers, of which a fuller account is given on pp. 213-235. Of the 96 local authorities, 33 were in London, 56 in other parts of England and Wales, and 7 in Scotland. No action was taken by the local authorities in Ireland. No general principle appears to have prevailed in conducting these works. In some, as at Glasgow, Leeds, Norwich, Cardiff and other places, an effort appears to have been made to inquire into the character of applicants and to ensure that only those for whom the works were intended obtained employment, while in otliers the first men entered on the register were taken on, and in others again any person presenting himself was employed without any special inquiries being made. The wages paid varied from Is. per day to 6d. per hour; and in some cases skilled men were paid at their ordinary rate. In some cases the men were paid at the end of each day in cash, in others at the end of three days, or a week; sometimes wholly in cash, sometimes partly in kind. In one district those among the men employed who were ratepayers were permitted to leave a portion of their earnings weekly as an instalment towards the payment of their rates. The practice in different districts was equally divergent as regards the hours of work and the number of days per week for which the same men were employed. In some districts they were employed continuously, in others they were employed in weekly or half-weekly relays, those first employed waiting for their turn to come round again. In others the same men worked for three days a...