UNEMPLOYMENT.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19111, 21 September 1927, Page 14

UNEMPLOYMENT.

POSITION NOT IMPROVED. . At the Employment Branch of the Labour Department, 12 men registered as unemployed; of the total 10 were married. Trade union secretaries concur with the opinion that the position shows no improvement. At the last meeting of the Trades and Labour Council dent (Mr H. Worrall) in a report on unemployment, emphasised the' following aspects:—

(1) Those drainage works which had not already been stopped were all Bearing their end. For the men thus rendered unemployed, there was no newwork offering. A big drainage work had been proposed for Papanui, but it could not start for several weeks. In the meantime, unskilled labourers were in' as bad a position as ever.

(2). The position was becoming even more acute since skilled workers who 'are unemployed, were forced to take up unskilled labour, thereby swelling the ranks of the unemployed. The position in the unskilled trades was by far the worst, but there was a certain amount of unemployment even among skilled workers.

City Council and. Tramway Board. The Tramway Board-is- employing 60 men over anci above its permanent staff on track renewal work on Papanui road. This work is. expected to last till January when, the- wbrk ■of renewing the track in Oxford terrace will be undertaken. ' Work at the Board's quarry will give employment to an additional number. • . ;

The City Council- is employing 337 men in excess of' its permanent staff; Of the total 144 are employed on watersupply works and 66 on works under the unemployment loan. '