Jobless toll jumps—Labour

Press, 14 December 1983, Page 1

Jobless toll jumps—Labour

Parliamentary reporter

The Opposition spokesman on unemployment, Mr Peter Neilson (Miramar), said there were now 122,164 people, including vacation workers, in New Zealand who could not obtain employment without Government assistance.

This figure was a nqw record — 6324 up on the previous record set in September this year, he said. There had been only a tiny fall (351) in the number who bad been out of work for more than six months, in spite of the Government’s policy of referring only such long-term unemployed people to Project Employment Programme jobs.

Yet the Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, had asserted that the number of long-term unemployed would drop 3000 a month as a result of this policy, Mr Neilson said.

The many community organisations and local authorities who had been

very critical of this sixmonth stand down period for P.E.P. jobs would have had their worst fears confirmed.

Compared with November, 1982, registered unemployed was up 24 per cent, he said, by 15,270.

The number of unemployed school-leavers was up 38 per cent (1409) in spite of the S.T.E.P.S. programme designed specially for them. Long-term unemployment had risen during the last six months 85 per cent (6835), from 8056 to 14,891, Mr Neilson said.

There were likely to be more than 10,000 schoolleavers registered as unemployed by the end of February. Mr Bolger welcomed the fourth consecutive month in which the number of longterm registered unemployed had fallen. This reflected the increased strengths in the labour market and the success of the Government’s economic policies, he said. Detailed figures, page 2