Canty jobless rises 57 p.c.

Press, 24 September 1988, Page 1

Canty jobless rises 57 p.c.

Christchurch district unemployment has soared 57 per cent in the last year, according to Labour Department figures.

Registered unemployed totalled 14,054 in the Christchurch, Ashburton and Rangiora area in August. This compared with 8959 in August, 1987 — an increase of 5095 over the year. In the month from July, the number of people registered as unemployed rose by 629, an increase of 4.7 per cent. The number of school leavers among the job seekers increased by 29 to reach 657. August also showed a big increase in the number of job vacancies notified to the Labour Department. The figure was 281 in July, but it rose to 393 in August, an increase of 40 per cent. The Islington meat works closed in mid;Ju!y, so the 800 redundant staff from the plant are unlikely to appear as newly registered unemployed in the August figures. The Labour Department’s Riccarton branch office, which is the nearest to Islington, showed the district’s only drop in registered unemployed in August. Redundancy announcements have continued steadily through August and into September, with Waitaki International announcing only this week that it would shed 90 jobs when it moved its head office from Christchurch to Wellington in October. During August, the Reserve Bank forecast that registered unemployment would rise to more than 145,000 nationally by March, 1990. Unemployment was identified as New Zealand’s most serious problem by the Minister of Employment, Mr Goff, in spite of the rate being lower than the O.E.C.D. average. Mr Goff said in August that the real solution lay in creating an efficient, low-inflation economy which would allow exports and industries such as tourism to be internationally competitive.

But since then, the Minister has announced that the Government would begin a programme of new employment schemes, targeting the long-term unemployed. A working party was being set up to develop business skills and encourage people to establish businesses and employ new staff. In Christchurch, in August, the biggest rises at branch offices were at New Brighton (up 114) and at Papanui (up 169). Riccarton has the highest number of registered unemployed among the Christchurch branches, with 2171 people seeking jobs, but its total fell by 16 in the month to August. The totals at the other city branches are Beckenham, 1281 (up 35 since July); High Street, 1948 (up 36); Shirley, 1264 (up 87) and Woolston, 1255 (up 70). Ashburton’s registered unemployed rose sharply, from 598 in July to 730 in August, an increase of 132. The figure for the North Canterbury area based on Rangiora remained virtually static, with 1188 people registered in August, an increase of two over the month before. The Christchurch district had 282 placements into employment through the Labour Department in August, an increase of 85 over the previous month. Ninety of the private-sector job vacancies notified to the department remained unfilled at the end of August, but the 393 notified vacancies were down on the 478 reported in August, 1987. The district had 1002 job seekers undergoing training in August, a drop of 298 since July. The number of people on subsidised private-sector work schemes increased 64 to 395 in the month to August. National unemployment figures are expected to be released today,