Jobathon seen as gimmick

Press, 9 May 1985, Page 17

Jobathon seen as gimmick

PA Wellington The proposed jobathon during this year’s Telethon has been sharply criticised by Employment Network’s national co-ordinator, Mr Robert Reid. He has said that the job pledge scheme reduced the real economic problems of New Zealand to the razzamatazz of a Hollywood event.

It reduced the problem of unemployment to a charity' framework which might give the impression that this was another poor and deserving section of New Zealand’s population whose problems could be solved neatly, he said. Mr Reid said he did not know what the format of the show would be. “But we would be very concerned if individuals

were put up and touted around—that would be very humiliating,” he said. “If more jobs are created by this show it probably says a lot about the people involved. “It will be an indictment of all of us if we have to wait for an event like this for jobs that are out there to come through, merely because employers can get a bit of publicity for them-

selves. "If I was a person who had been unemployed for a long time and got a job through the jobathon I would certainly have mixed feelings about it. “I would be pleased to get a job, but I would also be brassed off that it had not come through earlier and that I had had to wait for a gimmicky-style operation to get it,” Mr Reid said.