'Job adaption' programme

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33033, 28 September 1972, Page 9

'Job adaption' programme

Increased unemployment among people who were unable to adapt to a job had been apparent to workers at the “Open Door” welfare centre for the first time during the last year, especially in the summer, said the Anglican City Missioner (the Rev. M. J. Goodall.

Mr Goodall, amplifying the mission’s annual report, said that in order to help those who were socially and psychologically unemployable, an informal, unstructured educational programme “to adapt these people to work” would be started. “For this, we have employed Mr A. Forbes, a former lecturer at Wellington Teachers’ College,” he said. “I would hope that the Government would look at the possibility of financing retraining programmes for those who are voluntarily unemployed and who apply for the dole and those who don’t seem able to settle into regular work.” Mr Goodall said that there was a great need for re-

search into the problem of people drifting from city to city—a problem reflected in greater use of emergency accommodation. “In 1972, 975 individuals stayed at the night shelter, compared with 718 the year before, and we provided 7859 meals—over 2500 more than in 1971.”

Relief work during the year had almost doubled in cost, he said. Clothing grants, $3094, compared with $lB4O in 1971, and food supplied by the mission, worth $5OlO, compared with $3408.