SOME LEAVERS ASK FOR BENEFIT

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31551, 13 December 1967, Page 22

SOME LEAVERS ASK FOR BENEFIT

Some school-leavers in Christchurch have applied for the unemployment benefit after schools closed for the year last Friday.

The chairman of the Social Security Commission (Mr G. J. Brockle. .urst) yesterday said in a telephone interview that his department would get figures of those under 18 who applied for the benefit. The figures would not show who were school leavers and who were not.

Mr Brocklehurst said some school leavers had already applied for the benefit. Christchuch manufacturers estimate that they will be able to employ only about half the number of school leavers they engaged in the corresponding Christmas-New Year period a year ago. The director of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association (Mr R. T. Alston) said this had been shown by a survey of 62 manufacturers. The firms surveyed included engineering, clothing, foodstuffs, printing, footwear, Electrical and plastics manufacturers. So far 10 school leavers have registered with the Labour Department in Auckland as unemployed, according to the Press Association.

The district superintendent Mr N. Pelvin, said they registered on Friday, after most had tried to find jobs for some days. Dunedin Situation

The Minister of Labour (Mr Shand) denied that any school-leavers in Dunedin had applied for unemployment benefits. “Since the end of the school year seven young people have

applied to the Labour Department in Dunedin for employment,” said Mr Shand’s statement.

“With one possible exception, the department does not expect any difficulty in placing them in employment. It is incorrect to say that they have applied for the unemployment benefit as has been suggested.”

Mr Shand said that school leavers with sound education standards should find work without difficulty.

“It is one of the main functions of the department to assist anyone of any age to obtain suitable employment and

the proper thing for a youngster to do who has no employment prospect immediately available is to seek the assistance of the department. “Our officers will try to find him work suitable to his capacity. The district officer in Dunedin tells me that he does not expect any serious difficulty in placing school leavers with the school certificate or better and a sound school report or those with two years secondary education only and a good report.”

The Minister said that one young person who had left school in Dunedin before completing two years secondary education was returning to school on the advice of the department to complete his two years.

“In fairness to young people who have just left school and are looking for employment for the first time, I hope that any publicity will emphasise that enrolment with the Labour Department is a wise step for any young person finding difficulty in obtaining suitable employment and is in no sense a reflection upon him.

“It should be emphasised that enrolment with the Labour Department has no necessary connection with unemployment benefit, which in fact is administered by a different department,” he said. Dunedin Report: P. 17