Unemployment falls

Press, 12 June 1984, Page 1

Unemployment falls

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The number of people unemployed or on special work fell nearly 2000 during May compared with April, continuing the downward trend of recent months but at a slower rate. Figures from the Labour Department released yesterday showed 102,107 people registered as unemployed or on special work schemes, down 1924 from April. The number of registered unemployed fell 2755 from 65,582 to 62,827, but the numbers on private sector job creation schemes rose from 17,515 to 18,068, a rise of 553, and the numbers on public sector job creation and training programmes rose from 20,934 to 21,212, up 278.

The 62,827 registered unemployed represented 4.6 per cent of the labour force, and included 5609 school leavers, 828 fewer than in April. Of those registered as unemployed, 16,363 had been so for less than four weeks, 21,031 had been from four to 12 weeks, 12,632 for between 13 and 25 weeks, and 12,801 for more than six months. Hastings and Nelson with 379 and 338 unemployed respectively, were the only areas to have a significant rise in unemployment. Auckland on 1106, Whangarei (447), Manakau (390), Takapuna (330), Tauranga (322), and Christchurch (262), all had significant falls. During May, the number of males registered unem-

ployed fell 116 from 39,701 to 38,535 and the number of females fell 1589 from 25,881 to 24,292. The Acting Minister of Labour, Mr Thomson, said the figures represented the biggest May fall in unemployment in recent years The latest total was 12,103 down on May, 1983. At 5609, the total of school leavers unemployed was 957 lower than it had been a year ago, he said. Labour’s spokesman on unemployment, Mr Peter Neilson (Miramar), said the slowing in the rate of decline reinforced the message that the surge in the economy had already passed its peak. The present rate of economic growth was not being sustained because it was

based on borrowing and not on production. He said that more than 20 per cent of those registered had been out of work for more than six months, and the Government’s policies to tackle long-term unemployment had failed. The leader of the Social Credit party, Mr Beetham, said that although the drop in unemployment was welcome, there was still 51 per cent more out of work in May, 1984, than there had been in May, 1931. The Government could take little kudos from the figures when more than 100,000 were still on the dole and in Government-sub-sidised work schemes, he said.

At Blenheim 3.5 per cent of the workforce is now registered unemployed, with a slight increase during May of 12, from 473 to 485. Of these, 284 were males compared with 283 in April and 201 were females (190). At Nelson, 4.7 per cent of the workforce is unemiloyed, with an increase in tfay of 338, from 895 to 1233. Of these, 744 were

males (526) and 489 were females (369). At Greymouth, numbers were exactly the same in May as in April, 718 in total. This represented 5.4 per cent of the workforce. Of these, 438 were males (442) and 280 females (276). At Christchurch, the number of unemployed fell 262, from 8580 in April to 8318 in May, but still represented 5.5 per cent of the labour force. Of these, 5119 were males (5223) and 3199 females (3357).

At Timaru, unemployment rose seven during the month, from 793 to 800. This represented 3.5 per cent of the workforce. Of these, 429 were males (442) and 371 were females (351). Of the 9051 placements made by the Employment and Vocational Guidance Service of the Labour Department 2438 were in unsubsidised jobs, 2363 were in partially subsidised private sector jobs, and 4250 were in fully subsidised public sector jobs.