INSURANCE AGAINST UNEMPLOYMENT IN ENGLAND
Insurance Against Unemployment in England Judging by the English newspapers there has been a remarkable change of sentiment among British working people since January 15, when the Insurance Act of...
...During the six months of all outgo and no income, the Conservatives had made much political capital out of the discontent of many of the working people with the act...
...These trades employ about two and a quarter million people, of whom only 10,000 are women and about 100,000 boys under eighteen...
...The unemployment section of the act is admittedly experimental...
...When the figures for February were available, about 2.2 per cent...
...The payment seems small for the head of a family, but it is expected that the certainty of receiving even this much will be an incentive to further thrift, and will certainly be no temptation to unenforced idleness...
...of these insured workers were in receipt of unemployment benefits—a smaller percentage than were unemployed in the same trades in February, 1912...
...Insurance Against Unemployment in England Judging by the English newspapers there has been a remarkable change of sentiment among British working people since January 15, when the Insurance Act of 1911 came into full working, says The Independent...
...By January 15, a sufficient fund had been accumulated, and both sick and unemployment benefits began to be paid out to the insured workers...
...It covers only a few selected trades—shipbuilding, building and construction trades, engineering, iron-founding, and the construction of vehicles...
...It is now acknowledged even by the Conservative newspapers that no popularity can be gained from attacks on the principle of national insurance, and little is likely to be heard of the unpopularity of the Lloyd George Insurance Act...
...The benefit during unemployment averages $1.70 a week up to a maximum of fifteen weeks in any one year...
...The contributions to unemployment insurance in the trades that come under its operation are 5 cents each from the employer and workman, to which the Government adds 3 1-3 cents, making 13 1-3 cents per week as payment into the fund...
...On July 13, 1912, the weekly payments under the law became compulsory, and for six months about 14,000,000 men and women were called upon each week for their contributions, while as yet no benefits were available...
Vol. 5 • April 1913 • No. 17
