Reforms to help the unemployed
Labour Exchanges Act 1909
The successes of this were:
- there were offices to help the unemployed find work
- by 1913, 430 labour exchanges were operating
- by 1914, 3,000 people a day were being provided with work
The limitations of this were:
- it was not compulsory for employers to register vacancies
- it was also criticised for only finding temporary and low paid work, so did not reduce poverty
National Insurance Act (Part 2) 1911
The successes of this were:
- after one week, an insured worker losing their job would receive 7 shillings a week, for 15 weeks
- to receive this - workers paid 2.5d per week, employers paid 2d per week, state paid 3d per week
- many trades were involved, e.g. shipbuilding, mechanical engineering, construction, iron founding, sawmilling - the scheme was compulsory for these trades.
The limitations of this were:
- cover was only provided for a limited time depending on contributions - after this, the Poor Law had to be used
- if the worker was fired for bad conduct, no benefit was provided
- there was no provision for the worker鈥檚 family
- insurance was only available in certain trades and only insured about 2 million workers
- it became too expensive for the Government after World War One