Number Of Unemployed On Govt Works Sought

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31676, 11 May 1968, Page 18

Number Of Unemployed On Govt Works Sought

The most significant fact emerging from the latest unemployment figures released by the Minister of Labour (Mr Shand) was his apparent reluctance to reveal the number of men employed on special Government works on April 30, says Mr G. M. Edmonds, secretary of the Canterbury Organisation for the Unemployed, in Christchurch. In a supplied statement Mr Edmonds ‘says: “As we consider the number of men placed on Government works the most reliable Indication of the Government's sincerity in its assertion that it is endeavouring to solve the unemployment problem, any lack of these figures in the face of growing unemployment would indicate a similar lack of sincerity in the Government’s claims. “Nor does the Minister’s statement that there will be work for 4000 men on special Government work give much reason for rejoicing. At the end of September last year, when the registered Unemployed numbered 5640, there

were 3358 men employed on special work. “Since then, regardless of any increases or decreases in the numbers of unemployed, the number of jobs on special works has steadily declined month by month until on April 19, with 7618 unemployed, only 277 men were on relief work,” says the statement. “The most disturbing fact of the latest figures is the increase of almost 2000 registered unemployed in the last 30 days—a rate of almost 109 for each of the 19 working days last month. The only faintly hopeful aspect is the decrease of 19 in the numbeK of school-leavers on the dole' and the increase in, the number of notified vacancies from 1792 to 2026. “If the Minister would include the number of unemployed serving gaol sentences for non-payment of debts contracted when they were in employment, the deporable state of the nation would be more realistic,” the statement concludes.