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There was no short-time working in the Borough during the year,
neither were there any trade disputes. Some redundancies occurred- not
on a large scale and mainly where firms closed down completely or left
the area. Arrangements were generally made to see the workers before
final discharge in order to make efforts to find alternative jobs before
expiry of notice. Recruitment of workers has continued from N.E. England
and other parts of the country and allowances towards lodgings and/
or final removal have been granted under the Department's Resettlement
Schemes. Conversely about 25 key workers employed by a large Maiden
firm, some of whom lived in Kingston, have also been assisted by the
Ministry to move their households to the Isle of Wight to train local
labour at the Company's new factory. Others will go in the early part
of 1964.
In the local aircraft industry the labour force was comfortably
held with a combination of different types of production work. Towards
the end of the year there were increased demands for technical staff to
cope with the expected orders for the P.1154 whose future unfortunately
was in doubt at the turn of the year. The general feeling of all employers
at the end of the year was one of cautious optimism.
Relating the numbers of unemployed to the local working
population, I think it is true to say that the area was virtually one of
full employment at the end of 1963. There is always some labour turnover
and much of it is of the workers´ own doing, but it should not be
forgotten that about 2 out of 5 unemployed men were over 60 years of
age, and the same proportion of women over 50. The problems this brings
are well known and constant approaches are made to employers on behalf
of the elderly worker. It is relevant to note that the 1961 census
figures published in 1963 show that Surrey has more old people than most
other counties of England and Wales and the proportion is beginning to
grow".
3. Extract from Vital Statistics of the Year.
The crude birth and death rates for local areas cannot properly
be compared by reason of the fact that the population on which
they are based may be of widely differing sex and age constitutions.
Consequently the Registrar General provides a comparability factor for
each area. When the crude rate of any area is multiplied by this
factor an adjusted rate is produced which can be used to compare with
the adjusted rate of any other area, or with the crude rate for England
and Wales as a whole (where the comparability factor is unity).
The comparability factors for Kingston-upon-Thames are
Births 1.00; Deaths 0.89.
The birth and death rates in respect of the town are shown
overleaf and for the purpose of providing some comparison the rates
for England and Wales are also shown.