Unemployment story ‘distorted’

Press, 29 August 1978, Page 2

Unemployment story ‘distorted’

PA Wellington The Secretary of Labour (Mr G. L. Jackson) responded sharply yesterday to Press Association reports from Hamilton in Friday and Saturday newspapers, purportedly describing an article on labour market trends, which appeared in the June issue of the "Labour and Employment i Gazette.” “The item distorted the Gazette article, and drew seriouslv misleading implications,’’ said Mr Jackson. “In particular, the claim that the department’s published views on the labour market contradicted recent Government statements was totally incorrect,” he said. “The ‘Gazette’ article was written for the June issue, and it is simply not appropriate to compare it with statements by members of the Government in the last few weeks. The articles made no reference to statements by Ministers.” The item had alleged specifically that the ‘Gazette’ article disputed New Zealand’s relatively low unemployment, compared with other countries and its seasonal nature. No responsible reading of the ‘Gazette’ article could lead to these

conclusions, said Mr Jackson.

“In spite of the rise in unemployment this year, the present level of registered unemployment is now only 2.2 per cent of the estimated labour force. This is still below the rates in most Western countries. “However, the ‘Gazette’ did make the point that present levels of unemployment are significantly above those traditionally experienced in New Zealand,” he said. “On the matter of seasonality, the ‘Gazette’ pointed out that during the first three months of this year unemployment rose, at a time when the seasonal trend is usually down. The increase in unemployment since June has been reinforced by seasonal influences, but it is now not unreasonable, in the light of current conditions to expect a seasonal reduction in unemployment in September and October." Finally, said Mr Jackson, the ‘Gazette’ did not say that New Zealand would be faced for some time with a “slack” economy. In fact, it had pointed to a bottomingout of the economic downturn, and suggested reasons why the effects of any increase in economic activity on the labour market might be delayed. The Press Association report was described yesterday by a Govenment spokesman as inaccurate, and misleading. Mr A. G. Malcolm, chairman of the Government caucus committee on labour said the report was in« accurate in that it attributed to the journal statements that it had not made. He said indications were that the rapid rise in unemployment had levelled off, and that the trend would continue as business confidence rose.