Unemployment forecast

Press, 22 September 1984, Page 5

Unemployment forecast

PA Wellington Unemployment will rise by 22,000 in the next three years assuming there are no economic policy changes, according to a Labour Department forecast. It is the first time such a forecast has been released by the department.

It was estimated that at the end of March 5.8 per cent of the workforce did not have jobs.

By March next year that figure was expected to rise to 5.9 per cent, with a further rise to 6.9 per cent by March, 1986, and increasing to 7.3 per cent by March, 1987.

These increases were expected in spite of a predicted net outflow of 35,000 workers in the next three years.

The forecasts were pre-

pared before the General Election and did not take into account the devaluation or any policy change. The department expected the workforce at the end of March, 1985, would total 1,313,300, an increase of 17,000 on this year’s figure. But by March, 1986, the workforce was expected to drop 12,000 and the department did not foresee any improvement by 1987.