Drop in Public Service youth jobs deplored

Press, 26 October 1982, Page 24

Drop in Public Service youth jobs deplored

PA Wellington Junior recruitment in the Public Service has fallen to its lowest level since 1964. when the service was half its present size, says the deputy secretary of the Public Service Association, Mr Colin Clark. He bases his view on figures in the latest annual report of the States Services Commission. Writing in the "P.S.A. Journal.” he says that the latest figures on junior recruitment highlight the tragedy of youth unemployment which he says is growing at a frightening rate in New Zealand. The State Services Commission is the largest employer in the land. In the year to March 31. 1982, 3081 juniors were recruited into the Public Service. In the previous year there were 3529, and the year before, 4295. ' The average junior recruitment figure in the 15

years to 1982 was 4191. The intake for 1982 was therefore 26 per cent down on that average figure — a colossal drop, said Mr Clark. "The same pattern is to be found, unfortunateh’, in other State services and in the private sector, as all parents know to their sorrow. Jobs for young people have dried up. almost overnight. “All unemployment is tragic, but for school-leavers to be denied employment at the stage in their lives when they are bursting with hope, innocence, and energy, is a betrayal of their humanity. "It is to be hoped that the State Services Commission is aware of the human tragedy represented in the decision to cut junior recruitment so drastically in the last two years. “The largest employer in the land has a proportionately greater responsibility than others to take account of the effects of such decisions," said Mr Clark.