Jobless soars to record 445,300

Press, 23 February 1978, Page 17

Jobless soars to record 445,300

UNEMPLOYMENT soared last month, with 445,300 people — 7.2 per cent of an estimated workforce of 6.2' nillion — out of work, compared with 354,589 in 1977 and 343,939 in 1976. The shock January Jobless Cgures were released on Friday |

unemployment rate since the Great Depression was the achievement of the Fraser Government. “Unemployment has * increased by more than 100,000 since the Prime Minister came to office,” he said. As a faint glimmer of hope, ; unfilled job vacancies rose dur- | ing the month by 490f> - | P* r '

the payment ot unemployment benefits. “The average waiting period for tlie first unemployment cheque is now 28 days instead of the 16 days promised by the Government,” he said. Both Mr Fraser and Mr Viner ’—‘■diet a steady improvement in

I policies would inevitably lead to unemployment levels higher than 7 per cent,” Mr Wran said. Mr Wran was supported by the South Australian Minister for Labor and Industry, 'M* Wright, who said: “The unr ployment figures are caiarrJ - ' They are spot-on with t’ Government’s consistent

Stark facts from the “Australian,” February 11.

self as a New Zealander in- Brisbane was treated with considerable suspicion when he set out to buy a motor vehicle. Whereas the usual rule of $5O down and the rest over a period applied to the locals, I found myself being required to pay cash in full before any firm would do business.

“It is not that we don’t trust you,” the dealers said, “but the reputation of New Zealanders in this state is not too good.” Asked to amplify, the dealers said that they had sold cars on small deposits to New Zealanders, had not got the balance owning, and had later found the cars had been left abandoned in other states.

For those who bring their country’s name into disrepute there are others who remind Australians that New’ Zealand does produce some honest and reliable people. I met a stranded Rotorua girl, Marlene Matthews, at Coffs Harbour; Marlene had gone to Australia full of youthful hope and quite good secretarial qualifications. But her luck deserted her at

the employers’ door and she found herself desperate for work and sustenance.

She said that she had almost despaired of getting a job to oav her tare home but had finally got part-time work at a factory which processed dried bananas. After a while her employers had taken her on full time because she was so reliable and hard working. When I happened during the course of an assignment to talk to her employers they spoke very highly of the girl and wondered if New Zealanders were all alike.

In driving up and down the north coast of New South Wales one could hardly keep count of the number of young people walking the roads in search of work.

The writer picked up at least 50 during a six months commuting stretch between Coffs Harbour and Woolgoolga. Ail were heading for Queensland — all were hoping against hope for the job they could not find in New South Wales, Victoria, or South Australia.

There were even those who had trekked across the Nullabor Plains from Perth believing that the east might be kinder than the west.

There was the young man from Dubbo in Central New South Wales, who told how he had applied to join the Navy but had been rejected because he had bunions. He had paid $5OO to have the bunions removed but had still failed to pass the medical.

Then the Army turned him down and he was on his way to Queensland on foot with a determination to do anything at all so long as it was a job. The enormity of the unemployment problem in Australia cannot be measured merely in terms of figures. The psychological effects on the young workless is where the lasting damage is occuring.

Social workers speak of young people who are so ashamed of being out of job that they will not venture out of their homes. Some will go no further from their bedrooms than to the dining room and

have as little contact with the rest of their families as possible.

They consider themselves, at the ripe old age of 17 or 18, to be failures, outcasts, unwanted, on the scrap heap. They won’t mix with people of their own age because they fear being pointed out as “dole bludgers” — a glib expression which easily drops from the lips of the safely employed.

The Federal Government in its determination to cut inflation — now reduced to a tolerable 9 per cent — appears willing to pay out S2OM a week to the workless. But the consequences of putting a few percentage points of inflation ahead of jobs for people may create long term problems never thought of. One cannot expect every young New Zealander to be deterred from heading for Australia on the strength of this warning article. But the recommendation that one have the price of a return fare before setting out could save intending travellers more, than a little distress and misery.