Regional Distribution of the Surplus. 
15. The surplus in the coal industry is mainly concentrated in 
large blocks in a few areas. In mid-May in the Northumberland 
and Durham coalfields slightly over 40,000 men were wholly unem- 
ployed; in South Wales and Monmouthshire about 55,000, and 
in Scotland about 25,000. There are ‘‘ pockets '* which, though 
smaller, none the less present a serious local problem, in other 
coalfields, particularly East Lancashire, the Forest of Dean, and 
in the Midlands, in the Cannock Chase area, and elsewhere. 
Concentration is also a feature of the unemployment in the iron 
and steel and shipbuilding industries carried on, as they are, in 
close connection with the coalmining industry. The surplus in 
these industries is probably for the most part in Northumberland 
and Durham. South Wales and on the Clvde. 
Age Distribution of the Surplus. 
16. An indication of the age distribution can be obtained from 
the results of a sample inquiry into the ages of miners registered 
58 wholly unemployed, made by the Ministry of Labour in May of 
this vear. 
Out of about 130,000 cases examined of wholly unemployed miners 
between the ages of 16 and 65, about 1,300 were under 18%; about 
30,000 were between 18 and 25 ; about 34,000 were between 26 and 
35 ; about 37,000 were between 36 and 50; and about 27,000 were 
between 51 and 65. 
Comparable figures for the other heavy industries are not avail- 
able, but there is no reason to doubt that the age-distribution of 
anemployed workers in these industries approximates fairly closely 
bo that of workers in the coal industry. 
Transfer Value of the Surplus. 
17. The ** under 18 *’ group forms part of the juvenile problem. 
In no other group is the demoralising influence of unemployment 
80 rapid and so disastrous in its effects. The habit of work has to 
be learned and to leave school at 14 and to loaf in idleness for 
one, two, three or more years destroys the will to work. It is to 
combat this deterioration that numerous centres for unemployed 
uveniles have heen opened in the mining and iron and steel and 
* These figures must not be taken as any indication of the extent of the 
juvenile problem. Owing to the fact that juveniles are not insured under 
the Unemployment Insurance Scheme until the age of 16, the statistics of 
anemployment.among juveniles must be regarded as very incomplete.