Mrs Hercus in error, says Minister

Press, 29 June 1983, Page 3

Mrs Hercus in error, says Minister

Parliamentary reporter Mrs Ann Hercus (Lab., Lyttelton) was criticised yesterday by the Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, for her comments on Government employment schemes. “Mrs Hercus should acquaint herself with the details of New Zealand’s job creation and training programmes before criticising them,” Mr Bolger said. She had faulted Government schemes, such as the Project Employment Programme (P.E.P.), for having long job search and standdown periods. United States research had shown that such periods were harmful, particularly for school-leavers, she said. But Mr Bolger said the P.E.P. scheme was not intended for school-leavers. It was for people who had lost

their jobs and who were in danger of becoming longterm unemployed. “It is clearly successful because only 17 per cent of the registered unemployed have been enrolled with the Labour Department for more than six months,” he said. The new School-leavers Training and Employment Preparation Scheme had an eight-week job search period, but this was to ensure that it did not entice pupils from school prematurely. Other State and private job creation schemes for school-leavers usually had no job search or stand-down periods. “If Mrs Hercus had taken the trouble to study the New Zealand schemes she would know her criticism had no foundation,” he said.