New employment group gains a chairman

Press, 9 November 1983, Page 7

New employment group gains a chairman

A former president of the Employers’ Federation, Mr Frank Crothall, has been appointed chairman of the Christchurch Employment and Training Advisory Committee.

The committee, which will meet for the first time on Monday, takes over from the Canterbury Employment Advisory Committee, which was appointed in November, 1977 and chaired by a former Town Clerk of Christchurch, Mr M. B. Hayes.

The old committee was set up to provide a direct link between employment services and the community. It set up several training courses at Christchurch Polytechnic to help people acquire skills which could help them gain employment. The old committee last met a year ago. When it began there were 1479 people registered as unem-

ployed in Christchurch. The new committee faces a bigger challenge, with more than 8000 registered unemployed. Mr Hayes said that his committee had found no easy answer. “We were just caught up in the changing times,” he said.

Mr Crothall also takes the view that there is “no quick short-term solution to unemployment.” “Some unions say why train people when there are no jobs, but I take the view that if we can teach people some skills and the community has a different outlook we are surely making progress,” said Mr Crothall. The job prospects for the next two years appeared bleak, he said. “In the next 10 years I hope the economy will pick up, but with changing technology new skills will be

needed. We need training both for academics and in the technical areas because we have a shortage of skills in some areas.”

Five persons have already been appointed to the new committee, as well as Mr Crothall. They represent the Canterbury United Council, the Employers’ Association, the Canterbury Trades Council, the Education Department, and the Labour Department. Another three to five are still to be appointed. Mr Crothall, who retired as managing director of Command Services Corporation in 1979, is vice-presi-dent of the New Zealand Chamber of Commerce and is on the councils of the Christchurch Polytechnic and the Vocational Training Council. He is a past president of the Canterbury Employers’ Association and the Employers’ Federation.