Special work for about 180 students

Press, 11 January 1978, Page 4

Special work for about 180 students

At least 177 Canterbury i tertiary students have been placed in work under the Government’s summer vacation special student work programme. About 350 employers have offered jobs. The Labour Department is unable to release the numbers of Canterbury students registered as unemployed at the moment, but its last official count — which covered the period from November 9 to December 16 — showed that 167 male students and 143 female students had registered as unemployed with the Canterbury office. Numbers would certainly be lower than that now, said a Labour Department spokesman. The NovemberDecember count reflected the many students who had registered as unemployed as soon as the university closed in case their own efforts to get a job failed. In fact, many had found jobs. However, under that part [ of the scheme run by the Labour Department, 177 jobs had been found for students

I between November 9, when, the scheme started, and; January 9. The Ministry of! , Recreation and Sport cooperates with the Labour I Department to run the ! scheme. Under the scheme, comimunity organisations, local I authorities, educational insti- : tutions, and government I agencies which need work i done, seek to qualify for i assistance. The agencies fill out an application form detailing the nature of their project, ways in which it will benefit the community, and the ex-; 'tent of financial support; : sought. The application is; [assessed by senior officials; of both departments, and if; [approved, is sent back to its; region and matched with; students registered as un-i employed on Labour Depart-1 ment rolls. Assistance under the pro-; | gramme includes money for, wages, equipment and mater-1 Hals. The $300,000 at first! allocated has already been; ;exceeded. I Students employed on the I scheme must be paid at the!

same rates as other: employees doing the same! work. The employing agency; is either reimbursed by the! Government, or students are; paid direct, and once weekly,! by the Government. The Labour. Department; spokesman said that applica-i tions usually took about a; week to process. Once; assessments arrived back! from Wellington, a student' would have a job the next! day. Under the scheme’s cri-i teria a tertiary student is aj “full-time university student;; a long-term, full-time technical institute student; or a! seventh - form secondary-; school pupil intending to go to university or technical! institute.” There is also a| special exemptions category, i Employing bodies must be! able to show that their pro-; ject contains a “significant”, element of community ser-l vice; that their project is! labour-intensive rather than; capital-intensive; and that; the expenditure involved; cannot reasonably be met by) the applicant organisation. ;