Jobless mainly older men, teen-age girls

Press, 26 November 1981, Page 26

Jobless mainly older men, teen-age girls

PA Wellington Victims of longer-term unemployment are mainly men aged 40 to 59 and girls aged between 15 and 19. according to Labour Department figures. The figures are based on the number of jobless registered with the department — 28.852 males and 17,115 females at the end of last month.

The Department’s figures show the age and duration of the registered unemployed up to 26 weeks. Then there is a category for those who have remained jobless beyond that. It is here that the older men and teen-age girls show up — 1322 of the former and 887 of the latter topping the list in this category. Among the men the next highest group is those aged between 30 and 39 (938) and third are the 20 to 24-year-olds. 922 of whom had been without work for more than 26 weeks.

Among the women the 20 to 24-year-olds (705) were second on the list, followed by 443 in the 40 to 59 age range. The figures do not detail how long these people have been without work. The Statistics Department does not have details on this, either. Mr Sam Jamieson, director of employment in the Labour Department, feels

that the statistical system .the department has got is satisfactory. He rejects the term "unemployable." '’When we are talking about employment we mean matching a person to a job." If anyone was willing to work, and they were the only people the department registered. a job would be found for them. "Of course the speed with which this can be done varies with location and the types of work available." he said. Someone living in parts of the Coromandel or East Coast would have more diffi-

culty than someone living in a city. "Certain locations have limited amount of choice for the job-seeker. If the need arises, we encourage mobility of labour." Those unemployed beyond 26 weeks did not'form a big proportion of the register. “It is a moving register that is turning over like nobody’s business." He said that the department had training programmes to meet the needs of people having difficulty getting a job. Compared with other countries. such as the United States. New Zealand still had low unemployment.