20

THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  UNEMPLOYED

by  39.8  per  cent.  These  figures  in  declining  trades  do
not,  it  is  true,  represent  the  number  of  those  who  are  at
any  time  unemployed,  but  they  do  indicate  a  large  actual
displacement  of  labour.
§  8.  “  Skilled  "  versus  “  Unskilled”  Trades.
Finally,  the  important  question  confronts  us  as  to  how
far  “  unemployment  ”  is  greater  in  the  “  unskilled  ”  or
“  low-skilled  ”  than  in  the  “  high-skilled  ”  trades.  The  Labour
Gazette  7  per  cent,  is  derived  exclusively  from  the  picked
members  of  skilled  trades.  Is  there  not  a  strong  presumption ­
  that  in  the  low-skilled  trades  the  proportion  of
economic  “unemployment”  or  waste  is  much  greater?
One  result  of  the  organisation  of  the  skilled  trades  has
been  to  render  it  more  difficult  for  outsiders  to  equip
themselves  for  effective  competition  in  a  skilled  trade.
To  some  extent,  at  any  rate,  the  skilled  unions  have
limited  the  labour-market  in  their  trade.  The  inevitable
result  of  this  has  been  to  maintain  a  continual  glut  in
the  low-skilled  labour  market.  This  permanent  pool  of
over-supply  of  low-skilled  casual  labour  is  fed  by  the
periodic  trade  depressions  which  thrust  the  weaker  members
of  the  skilled  trades  into  the  seething  mass  of  low-skilled
town  workers  to  struggle  for  a  bare  subsistence  by  irregular ­
  labour.
§  9.  Are  there  Two  Questions  of  “  the
Unemployed  ”  ?
It  is  sometimes  sought  to  separate  entirely  the  problem
of  the  low-skilled  superfluous  labour  of  our  towns  from
the  problem  of  “  unemployment  ”  to  which  skilled  workers
are  subject.  But,  while  the  severance  may  be  sound  and