N.Z. jobless toll rises to 87,470

Press, 19 November 1982, Page 1

N.Z. jobless toll rises to 87,470

PA Wellington The numbers on the dole and on special job-creation schemes rose again last month, according to figures released by the Government yesterday. The combined total of registered unemployed and people on private and public job-creation schemes rose more than 3000 to 87,470 passing last month’s postwar record.

The number of jobs from private-sector employers taking part in the Govern-ment-subsidised job-creation scheme has fallen 627 to 13,574. More than 2100 of the registered unemployed were university and other tertiary students, but the number of. school-leavers on the dole fell 65 to 3106.

The figures showed that in Whangarei, the site of the Marsden Point oil refinery extension project, 7.2 per cent of the work-force was on the dole, the second highest total in New Zealand after' Hastings at 7.4 per cent, where there are a lot of seasonal workers. ■ Recent redundancies in the engineering and furniture industries have helped boost the number of unemployed in the Christchurch district by 253 to 6754.

The rise was also a result of the enrolling of seasonal workers, said the district superintendent of the Labour Department, Mr W. T. Holland.

The total is expected to increase in the next month as students and schoolleavers enrol for job-place-ment help from the department. At October 31 last year the total of registered unemployed in Christchurch as 5437.

As well as the 6754 registered as unemployed, there are 2298 employed on subsidised job-creation programmes in the public sector and 1988 in private-sector schemes.

The percentage of people registered as unemployed for more than 13 weeks fell slightly in September, according to figures released by the Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger. Replying to a question in Parliament by Mr T. K., Burke (Lab., West Coast), Mr Bolger said that 14 per cent of the total number of people registered as unemployed at September 30 had been registered for 26 weeks or more. This compared with 18 per

cent in September last year, 8 per cent in 1980, and nearly 5 per. cent in 1976. For New Zealand as a whole, 4.4 per cent of the work-force was registered as unemployed, not counting job-creation programmes. The Wellington area had the lowest percentage unemployment in the country — 2.9 per cent of the workforce in the capital and 2 per cent in the Hutt Valley. The biggest numerical in crease during October was in Auckland, where another 1549 went on the dole. The biggest decreases were in Hawkes Bay, where registered unemployed fell 246 in Napier and 141 in Hastings. The combined total is up more than 16,000 on the same time last year when there were 46,000 on the dole, 11,000 in private-sector jobcreation programmes, and just under 15,000 on publicsector programmes. The figures showed that while the number of students seeking holiday work was up, so was the number placed by the Labour Department in unsubsidised work. During the month the Labour Department filled 8576 of the almost 10,000 vacancies notified to it.

Over all, 15 districts saw increases in those on the dole and seven districts had decreases.

The Opposition has called on the Government to reinstate annual household labour surveys to ensure that adequate information is available on the unemployed.

IJetails of South Island unemployment figures are as follows (last month’s figures in brackets):

Blenheim, 495 (436), up 59; Nelson, 1062 (1073), down 11; Greymouth, 616 (610), up 6; Christchurch, 6754, (6501), up 253; Dunedin, 2220, (2169), up 51; Timaru, 999, (1043), down 44; Invercargill 2332, (2244), up 88.

University students in Christchurch will have a harder time finding jobs during the summer holiday than their counterparts in other cities, according to figures released by the New Zealand

University Students’ Association.

According to the figures, 3950 students had enrolled at the job search centre in Christchurch by November 12 and only 648 jobs had been found.

This compared with 2550 enrolments in Auckland, where-1500 jobs had been found. In Hamilton, 1300 students had enrolled and 175 jobs had been found. In Wellington, 911 students had enrolled and 339 jobs had been found.

Most of the jobs found by the 12 student job centres were either parttime or lasted for less than three weeks.

A total of 11,455 students had registered at the centres. Only 4554 jobs had been found; and of those, only 2000 lasted the full 12 weeks of the student summer holiday. . Representatives of the Students’ Association met the Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, to discuss the situation yesterday, but said that they were “angry and disappointed” at the response.