The unemployed as political footballs

Press, 7 August 1981, Page 12

The unemployed as political footballs

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The politicisation of the issue of unemployment with the approach of the General Election in November, barring a snap election even earlier, is frustrating efforts to deal with it. It is not only the Springbok tour, protests, violence, and questions of law and order, which are responsible for pushing unemployment off the airwaves and news pages. Politics is. responsible too. With the election approaching, the Government tends to see those complaining on behalf . of the unemployed or commenting on its actions towards the unemployed as opponents. There is no climate for constructive questioning or comment; the Government has adopted the policy of attacking anyone who does not support it of who keeps harping on the issue.

The Labour Opposition is just as guilty. It uses any information that comes its way as a stick to beat the Government with. This, of course, greatly reduced the likelihood that the Government will adopt any suggestions made if Labour accompanies the suggestions with a political attack.

This is not an atmosphere in which to make progress on unemployment. Those with something to say are keeping their heads down, unless ardent supporters of Labour anyway, in which case the Government can be understood for rejecting the counsel given. Impartial commentators seem to have no place. If there are any, they are keeping a very low profile and presumably will continue to do so until after November. Questions about the number of unemployed are interesting and useful, but they are not vital to understanding the nature of unemployment. Yet the politics of numbers have exerted a fatal attraction on both the Government and the Opposition. Their concentration on this aspect of unemploy-

ment is frustrating efforts to understand it, and so preventing remedial measures. The ill-fated Adams Report on unemployment had a number of useful things to say about it. The Adams Report is filled with insights into what it is like to be unemployed. Those who politicise unemployment for their own electoral advantage seem to have given scant thought to what the reaction of the unemployed might be to this.

One word which recurs often in the Adams Report is ‘'frustration.” More than half the registered unemployed in New Zealand are under 21 years of age. These are also, coincidentally, the years of highest violence shown in criminal statistics. The frustration of large numbers of unemployed youths is not one which society can contemplate calmly. Luckily, the seasons of spring and summer are looming. Seasonal job opportunities should soak up numbers of unemployed, and so be reducing the registered unemployed leading up to the General Election. after which a new outflow of school leavers will arrive to swell numbers again. This sequence of events is one which the National Party can live with, but brings no joy to Labour, it is exacerbating their political stances. One Government agency has been notably silent over unemployment — the Department of Education. A glaring ommission of the Government publication “Jobs and People” —

attractive and informative as it was in many ways — was information and comment on how many children stayed an extra year at school, or returned to school during the year, because they were unable to get jobs. This information may have been supplied by the department as part of its contribution to “Jobs and People,” but it did not appear in the final publication. How many school children

like this are there? What effect have they had on school discipline, facilities, staff, morale and academic achievements? It would be helpful to know the answers.

This is just one example of a number of areas in which useful progress could be made on understanding and remedying unemployment were it not for the political preference to deal with numbers,. Other fields include the attitudes of the youthful unemployed to work, the reasons for higher unemployment among Maoris than other racial groups, and why unemployment is becoming more of a long-term phenomenon among some groups. Meanwhile, the Government has committed itself more or less firmly to the directions shown in “Jobs and People” while Labour, if its enthusiasm, to attack the Government is any guide, supports the Adams Report. There is no political reason why the Government and the Opposition should try to find some common, middle ground over unemployment, so it is very unlikely that they will try.

Yet constant levels of 60,000 registered unemployed and on special work, and substantially more seeking work who are not recorded in the official statistics, do constitute some sort of national crisis. The numbers certainly constitute a crisis for those who are unemployed or on special work. These individuals may well expect more attention from National and Labour over the next three months than just being politicial footballs, to be booted around to party political advantage. Competent and public work on their behalf ought not to be suspended or kept under wraps for the duration of a limited political season. The fact of unemployment and the plight of the unemployed are major factors in society and deserve massive and public attention.