Many students keep their part-time jobs

Press, 14 January 1987, Page 11

Many students keep their part-time jobs

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MARGARET BAKER

Looking for a holiday job doesn’t begin and end in November. About 1000 students are still registered as looking for jobs at the job search centre at the University of Canterbury. The co-ordinator, Vai Upton, says the most disadvantaged job seekers are school leavers who ■ will be starting university . this year. I “About half of the long►term, subsidised jobs , come in during Decem- » ber, and it’s very difficult * to find a long-term position now — most of the ; work is for no. longer than «a week.” “ Gardening and horticul«tural positions are often ■ available at the moment, » and a lot of farmers have ■- work for students. t “We actually get more * farming work than we can h accommodate. If a Lin- < coin student wants work * we can probably offer jobs anywhere in New Zealand.”

Val says many students do not meet the requirements of the farmer, who usually wants a Lincoln or Massey student. This summer, the greatest number of vacancies has been in manufacturing, with a lot of factory jobs available. There had been a downturn in the number of retail jobs. Val guesses this may have been because of “GST and an anticipated quiet Christmas.”

"But-the jobs in general reflect the growth areas of Christchurch. Over all, the number of jobs we have received is down, but given the economic situation it’s no worse than we expected.” Employers have responded well to’ the centre’s cry for work, and a lot of students have been placed with new employers this year. “We started with 3500, but many found their own work or managed to ob-

reports mid-summer

progress in the on-going search for student work.

tain the necessary practical work for their degrees. Apart from the school leavers, who can still often be supported by their parents for another summer, the worst off are probably the overseas students.” One noticeable trend this year has been for students to hold on to the part-time jobs they take on during the year. “Many have come to some arrangement so they can keep their jobs if they leave Christchurch for the summer. Part-time work becomes, our major area in February, when the students come back and need a job to keep them going for the year.” Val believes the rate of pay for most jobs this summer has been quite reasonable. “Two years ago I really grizzled about the low rates of pay, but I’ve got nothing to grizzle about this year.”