More Govt money sought for jobless

Press, 10 April 1981, Page 4

More Govt money sought for jobless

■ Local bodies had a responsibility to fight unemploy■ment. said Municipal Association members in Christj church yesterday, but the 1 Government had to provide I more money to help them do I the job. The Auckland Regional Authority’s deputy chairman (Dr R. H. L. Ferguson) said that local government should also try to devise more imaginative job proposals that could attract temporary help through the Labour Department. j “There are still people inj phis country who do not be-, ! lieve that unemployment is | | a problem,” said the Mayor] i of Hamilton (Mr R. M. Jan-; ’sen). Money for jobs pro-! I grammes was a Government! responsibility.o In addition to money for workers’ salaries, he said, funds should also be available, for equipment and materials.

Dr Ferguson said the Gov- - ernment was “desperate for •i projects” eligible for special ■;work schemes. The A.R.A.’s > i employment task force had been going for six months, r“but it has not really ! worked satisfactorily. We 1 are about to cut their budget: i in half because of their lack 1 of performance.” I The Wellington City Coun-i ■ cil had leased a building asj a training centre for worki r!skills development employ-j ■lees, “and I think we’re very! isuccessful,” said the Town! II Clerk of Wellington (Mr I.; •;A. McCutcheon). ; I Project Employment Pro-! ; gramme (P.E.P.j schemes! ■iwere a palliative, not a solu-i ition, said the Mayor of Po-I i rirua (Mr W. j. Brown).! I New Zealand needed a national employment strategy. P.E.P. schemes were; ensuring that people would , l remain jobless, said thei Mayor of East Coast Bays l

■ (Mr A. M. McCulloch). *: High wages in some P.E.i Tjobs meant that young work--5 ers had large amounts of 1 money and no responsibility; , .some 16-year-olds were H working as labourers in the Labourers’ Union tlarea at a minimum wage of ;!$2lO a week, he said. ; “There is no-one who ■i could match this sort of ;j money in private enteruprise,” said Mr McCulloch. Earlier, Cr Vicki Buck ! (Christchurch) had told the I Minister of Local Government (Mr Highet) that GovI ernment subsidies were ■allowing local bodies to proivide only short-term work. ; She asked if a percentage lof the income tax from their jobs could be returned tn local bodies for investment !in long-term job opportu- ; nities. 1 Mr Highet- said he would I not discuss national taxation.