Refugees in Great Britain

Abstract

POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PLANNING (P E P) in a recent broadsheet (No. 216, January 14, 1944) gives a useful review of the present position of refugees in Britain and of the changes which have taken place during the War and since the appearance of Sir J. H. Simpson's report "The Refugee Problem" in 1939. The present number of civilian refugees is estimated at 139,430, including 50,000 Germans and Austrians, and 20,000 Allied seamen, a total which differs from that of the Prime Minister's statement of April 7, 1943, in allowing for those who have left or died since the beginning of the War. Considerable progress has been made in utilizing the services of aliens with special professional, technical or academic experience. According to the Minister of Labour's statement of September 23, 1943, shortly after the 1941 registration 82·5 per cent of the men and 60 per cent of the women were in employment, and since 1941 the opportunities open to aliens to engage in war-work have increased, so that the number who now remain unemployed is negligible.