JOBS IN N.Z. INDUSTRY

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27750, 30 August 1955, Page 10

JOBS IN N.Z. INDUSTRY

Rise Of 50 Per Cent. By 1975 Predicted

ASSESSMENT BY MINISTER (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, August 29. Inspections of industrial development throughout the country and a study of the practical problems of industry which reached his desk every day enabled him to see clearly the reality of an industrial New Zealand, said the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr D. J. Eyre) at the annual meeting of the Auckland Manufacturers* Association tonight. As it was estimated that the population of New Zealand would reach 3,000,000 by 1975, the question arose: where would jobs be found for the extra workers?

One school of thought held that the answer was to absorb them in expanded farming industries. The other school held that sufficient work would not be found on the land and jobs would have to be found for them in secondary and tertiary industries. Obviously, Mr Eyre said, the final answer lay somewhere between the two opposing schools of thought. -It was estimated that the labour force would increase by about 350,000 by 1975. Allowing for those who were likely to find work in tertiary and servicing industries, employment would have to be found for some 130,000 in secondary or primary industry.*

To provide a population of 3,000,000 with food and the necessary level of imports to avoid balance oi payment problems and maintain, and if possible, increase living standards, it would be necessary to increase farm production by about 50 per cent, in the next 20 years, he said.

“Will the attainment of this increase of 50 per cent, in farming production absorb the bulk of the increased labour force we must plan for?” Mr Eyre asked. “In my opinion it will not.”

Placing 50,000 of the 130,000 extra workers would represent an increase in the farm labour force of one-third in 20 years, and it might be safer to work on a lower figure of 25,000. Even if this was extended to take in 30,000 of the extra workers likely to be available for employment either in primary or secondary industry, there would still be a problem of placing some 100,000 other workers. “We must look to the manufacturing industries,” Mr Eyre said, “to take the remaining 100,000. In other words our inanufacturing industries may be faced in the next 20 years with increasing the numbers they employ fov something well over 50 per cent.”