Minister elaborates on job-creation schemes

Press, 28 November 1980, Page 20

Minister elaborates on job-creation schemes

PA Wellington The Acting Minister of Labour (Mr Thomson) has elaborated on the modifications announced in the mini-Budget to the public sector job creation programmes. He said there were four programmes. They were the svork skill development programme, aimed at equipping mainly young job seekers with work habits and basic work skills; the winter employment programme which provides fully subsidised off-season employment for seasonal workers who cannot obtain unsubsidised work; the student community service programme which provides fully subsidised vacation employment for tertiary students who cannot obtain unsubsidised work; and the project employment programme which provides short term, subsidised employment for job seekers who cannot readily be placed in regular employment.

Mr Thomson said that in the Government sector additional funds were being made available to the Lands and Survey Department and the Forest Service to enable the two departments to provide additional jobs.

The Lands and Survey Department will develop additional recreational facilities in national parks and reserves and undertake track clearing and construction, noxious plants clearing, fencing and woodlot planting on land under its control. The Forest Service would plant an additional 5500 hectares of new

forest This together with silvicultural work in established forests, environ- ‘ mental work and development of additional recreational facilities in forest parks would provide additional work. In addition the recent increase in forest encouragement loan limits should result in increased forest planting by local authorities, thereby increasing the number of jobs they can provide. Local' authorities and community organisations would from December 1 be able to claim up to $25 a week for materials for each worker engaged under the work skill development programme. This would be in addition to full reimbursement of wages, the grant for labour related overhead costs and reimbursement of the supervisor-trainers salary. Local authorities and community organisations making jobs available under any of the public sector job creation programmes could claim a weekly grant for labourrelated overhead costs of $lO a worker employed on inside work and $2O a worker, employed on outside work. The - $2O to cover all labour related overhead costs incurred “on outside work would be increased to $3O a week with effect from March 1, 1981, for all local authorities and community organisations participating in any of the public sector job creation programmes.

The additional providsion of up to $24. a worker a week would continue to be available

where excessive transport or accommodation costs were incurred and the flat rate grant of $lO a worker a week for inside work would remain unchanged. Projects of up to one year’s duration would be accepted from local authorities under the project employment programme but only where such projects were not readily divisible into shorter sub-projects of less than six months. Mr Thomson said several community groups throughout New Zealand had made constructive proposals to promote or generate additional employment, but had been thwarted from putting their proposals into effect because they feel outside the various subsidised job creation programmes. The new community employment initiatives fund would enable the Secretary of Labour to make grants of up to $lO,OOO to genuinely communitybased groups which submitted constructive proposals with clear objectives related to employment and job creation. The young persons training programme run by the Labour Department for the last two years would continue for another two years and expanded to provide training places for 5000 young people a year, Mr Thomson said.

The aim of the programme was to provide basic training in social or occupational skills at. the sub-apprenticeship level for young job seekers who needed such training before they could be placed in jobs.

Five types of training were provided: Pre-em-ployment courses in technical institutes to develop social skills and build job seekers’ confidence: technical institute-based occupational skill courses; job exploration which enabled a trainee to find out about a job for up to three weeks at no cost to the employer, work-based operator training with the trainees receiving a training allowance and the employer receiving a training subsidy; and training in employment during which trainees were paid full wages and the employer received a wage subsidy of $75 a trainee a week.

The training allowance payable to young people undergoing institute-based occupational skill training, job exploration or workbased operator training was, from the beginning of 1981, to be set at rates $5 above the rounded-up, after-tax, level of the corresponding rates of unemployment benefit. At present rates of unemployment benefit the under-20 rate of training allowance would rise from $3B to $46 a week and the 20 and over rate from $49 to $5B a week.

This margin over the unemployment benefit was intended to cover additional expenses such as travel incurred while training, Mr Thomson said.

Young people assessed as needing training who persistently refused invitations to do training would be struck off the Labour Department’s register as no longer seeking assistance.