Only 22 jobs offered in Canterbury

Press, 1 July 1985, Page 1

Only 22 jobs offered in Canterbury

Although this year’s Telethon was an unqualified success, a Telethon-based scheme to find permanent jobs for young people, Jobathon, was less successful.

Employers in Canterbury pledged 22 jobs for school leavers during Telethon. The co-ordinator for Jobathon in Canterbury, Mr Richard Hopkinson, said that this response was disappointing. “We didn’t have any kind of goal in mind, but 22 must be a disappointing figure.” Most of the jobs had been pledged yesterday afternoon, after appeals were made over television after

the poor response from employers. Employers offered positions for process workers, factory workers, sales and clerical work, a graphic artist, and warehouse work.

Mr Hopkinson said that response around New Zealand to Jobathon had generally been poor, although in Auckland, where more than 300 jobs had been pledged, it had been a huge success. This was probably because of Auckland’s large, diverse economic base, which was not affected by seasonal employment. Mr Hopkinson and 22 other Labour Department employees co-ordinated Jobathon in Christchurch.