The Press THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1965. Farming And Jobs

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30678, 18 February 1965, Page 12

The Press THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1965. Farming And Jobs

It used to be said in war time that it took seven men to keep one soldier in the line. In the battle for overseas markets that New Zealand wages in times of peace, the farmers are front-line troops. While it may not require seven workers to maintain one farmer in the “ front line ”, the analogy is still useful in emphasising the vital place of the farming community. Until the last year or two it was fashionable to decry the part played by farming in providing employment and to exalt the role of manufacturing. Industrialisation came to be regarded as “ a means of achieving over-full employment”, as Professor B. P. Philpott said in an address to the Science Congress.

Statistics on the distribution of the labour force might seem to support the emphasis on promoting secondary industry. In April, 1954, 130,000 workers (including the self-employed) were engaged in farming; 10 years later the figure had fallen to 119,000. Over the same period the number of manufacturers and their employees rose from 194,000 to 256,000. While employment on the farms fell 9 per cent, employment in the factories rose 32 per cent. The trend in employment away from farming was hailed as one justification for the protection of secondary industry. It could also be interpreted as one result of that policy. However, the statistics are often misunderstood.

“ Manufacturing industry ”, in the official terminology, includes five broad groups. The largest in terms of numbers employed, is engineering and metal working, now employing 46 per cent more workers than 10 years ago. The engineering industry started in New Zealand in response to the needs of farming, and much of its output is still destined for farms. The food, drink, and tobacco industry (in which employment rose 28 per cent) draws its raw materials almost entirely from the farms. The other groups—textiles, clothing, and leather (employment up 13 per cent), building materials and furnishings (up 16 per cent), and miscellaneous manufacturing (up 54 per cent) —draw some of their raw materials from farming and sell some of their products to fanners. The drive to industrialise led to the expansion of some industries, such as motor assembly, but was quite irrelevant to the expansion of others, such as meat works and dairy factories. Protection of secondary industry must also have played only a small part in the expansion of employment in power, water, and sanitary services (up x-* per cent), building and construction (up 23 per cent), and “other” industry (up 29 per cent). “Other Industry” employs 457,000 workers, or 48 per cent of the civilian labour force, many of them directly associated with farming. New Zealand’s farmers, fewer today than 10 years ago, have raised the value of their exports by 57 per cent in the last decade. That result could not have been achieved without a considerable expansion of employment in meat works, dairy factories, fertiliser works, transport, and other services. Similar success in increasing exports over the next 10 years will not be achieved without a great expansion of labour in such occupations.