100,000 jobless, says F.O.L.

Press, 1 May 1978, Page 13

100,000 jobless, says F.O.L.

PA Auckland The official figure of 33,729 unemployed or on relief was “way short of the real number,” said the president of the Federation of Labour (Sir Thomas Skinner) A survey by the F.O.L. had shown that the actual number was about 100,000, and if anything that erred on the conservative side, he said. Sir Thomas was commenting on figures released yesterday by the Minister of Labour (Mr Gordon) which showed that those registered as unemployed or on special jobs had risen by 2031 in the fortnight to April 14. At that date, 12,803 persons had been found work under the Government’s job-creation programme, 958 more than the number on March 31. The number registered unemployed during the same period had risen by 1082 to 20,926. Sir Thomas said: “This makes a mockery of the Minister’s previous estimate that unemployment was unlikely to rise to 30,000.” The F.O.L. survey had shown that one in three persons “lining up for jobs” was registered with the Labour Department.

He said that the figures would get worse as seasonal work slackened. New Zealand had the sec-ond-highest youth unemployment figure in the world. It was no wonder that the country was losing skilled, semi-skilled, and technical

workers “in their droves,” said Sir Thomas.

Mr Gordon urged local authorities to plan “imaginative projects” which would lead to the creation of community assets, but for which they did not have sufficient labour and notify such projects to the department. The number on special work in the circulation area of “The Press” as at April 14, with March 31 figures in parentheses, was: Blenheim: public, 136 (132): private, 40 (26). Nelson: public, 135 (135); private, 77 (66). Greymouth: public, 263 (261); private, 51 (52). Christchurch: public, 1462 (1309); private, 137 (106). Timaru: public, 31 (30); private, 46 (47).