N.Z. sliding downhill says Sir Thomas

Press, 24 February 1978, Page 1

N.Z. sliding downhill says Sir Thomas

PA Wellington New Zealand was one of the worst places in the world to live, the president of the Federation of Labour, Sir Thomas Skinner, said yesterday. “Our present situation is unfortunate and dangerous. “We have the third highest rate of inflation, second in fact with Spain, and our economic growth rate is only 1.8 per cent per year,” he said at the end of a two-day meeting of the F.O.L. Council. “The Government’s policy is a disaster and New Zealand’s position is worse today than it was three years ago,” he said after the meeting of the country’s top unionists. Sir Thomas said that 20 years ago New Zealand ranked fourth in the world for per capita gross national product — it now ranked twentieth. “We have at least 3 to 4 per cent unemployment and it is growing. “We are the only country in the world that sends children to school to educate them so that they are equipped to take their place in the dole queue, straight from schools to the ranks of the unemployed.” Department of labour statistics showed that in 1971 26 per cent of registered unemployed males and 52 per cent of registered unemployed females were under 20. By July last year these

figures had risen to 41 per cent and 71 per cent. He said that people, mainly skilled workers, were leaving the country in droves with a net loss of 25,000 workers. New Zealand’s foreign public debt had risen from 51436 M to 52900 M, including Reserve Bank borrowing. “New Zealanders hate been unable to realise the bad news about their country's economic position. “They prefer to keep their heads in the sand, or accept it as inevitable," Sir Thomas said. “New Zealand was once the envy of the world with its industrial relations. but now we have one of the worst industrial records, according to a recent study which Included statistics on the world strike wave from 1969 to 1975.” Sir Thomas said the old idea that the threat of unemployment would cause a fear that would reflect itself In increased production from workers had been proven entirely wrong. He said that where inflation was high, then industrial unrest was also high, because workers felt an uncertainty about their jobs, resulting from unemployment. Inflation so eroded earnings that an attitude of desperation and frustration was brought about which did not enhance employer-employee relations, said Sir Thomas.