Jobless climbs to 11.7% of workforce

Press, 24 February 1989, Page 4

Jobless climbs to 11.7% of workforce

By

PETER LUKE,

political reporter

Another 8167 New Zealanders joined the dole queue last month, pushing the registered jobless figure to 157,797.

Fuelled by increases in metropolitan areas, but checked slightly by some seasonal decreases in South Island regions, the rate of unemployment grew from 11.6 of the workforce to 11.77 per cent.

If the 12,452 students who are without a holiday job are counted the registered unemployment figure is 170,249 — or 12.7 per cent of the workforce, according to the Department of Labour. If those on work schemes or training schemes like Access are added in the total reaches 188,630. These figures are all considerably higher than the 6 per cent unemployment figure identified by the Statistics Department’s Household Labour Force Survey this week. The difference is because of the more rigid, but internationally comparable, criteria for unemployment used by the survey, and to the more extensive labour force definition it applies. The figure of 157,797 unemployed was 8167 more than last December, and 56,399 more than in January last year. That amounts to a monthly increase of 5.5 per cent and a year-long rise of 55.6 per cent. Including vacation workers, whose total numbers decreased 800 in

January, the biggest monthly rises were in Auckland where registered unemployment rose 2112 to 18,251, Christchurch, up 983 to 18,928, and Takapuna, up 526 to 3497.

Four of the seven em-

ployment districts in the South Island recorded drops in unemployment — Greymouth, Timaru, Dunedin and Invercargill. This moderated the rise in total South Island unemployment which increased less than 2 per cent in January. The most spectacular decreases occurred in Invercargill where unemployment dropped from 5776 to 3674 since last September. This, like the three other regional drops, is likely to be a seasonal decrease as the four freezing works in or near Invercargill begin processing. Unemployment in Invercargill, and the South Island, is traditionally at its lowest over summer, but increases rapidly from April. Excluding vacation workers, South Island unemployment stood at 40,428 in January, up 720 since December, but up 13,489 since January last year. The Labour Department figures highlight the extent to which the metro-

politan North Island centres have borne the brunt of unemployment increases during the last year.

Unemployment has risen 36 per cent in Takapuna, 77.8 per cent in Auckland, and 73 per cent in Manukau. Joblessness has increased 83 per cent in the Lower Hutt and 88.8 per cent in Wellington.

These rises are in line with the second or “metropolitan” wave of unemployment identified by the Treasury late last year.

The Treasury’s third wave essentially comprised those entering the job market, rather than those being laid off, leading to greater longterm unemployment. Yesterday’s figures show that 38,962 people, including 5001 in Christchurch, enrolled with the department in January. This is 1200 more than in December, but 574 fewer than a year ago.

But while the number enrolling is down, on a January to January basis the time the jobless spend on the register has increased markedly in the last year. Excluding vacation workers, some 55,909 obless or 35.4 per cent have been registered for more than 26 weeks, compared with 14.4 per cent for

under a month. Comparable figures one year ago were 26.1 per cent jobless for half a year, and 21.8 per cent under a month. The figures for last month showed the longterm unemployed, largely men, included 4375 jobless for two years and another 15,056 unemployed for between one and two years. Included in the January figure were 12,170 school leavers — 826 more than in December, 1988, and 4609 more than in January last year. Registered unemployed at the end of January 1989, excluding vacation workers: Whangarei, 9596 (this month), 9430 (December), 20.05 per cent (of labour force); Takapuna, 3497, 2971, 4.59; Auckland, 16,817, 15,431, 9.15; Manukau, 14,502, 13,768, 12.07; Hamilton, 14,403, 13,689, 12.91; Tauranga, 5284, 4733, 16.12; Rotorua, 11,356, 10,845, 19.02; Gisborne, 3671, 3303, 21.02; Napier, 4114, 3849, 15.92; Hastings, 4195, 3685, 15.21; New Plymouth, 5895, 5802, 13.98; Wanganui, 3841, 3673, 13.21; Palmerston North, 6561, 6151, 11.65; Masterton, 1719, 1574, 9.94; Lower Hutt, 3869, 3700, 6.73; Wellington, 8049, 7310, 8.21; Blenheim, 2025, 1867, 14.34; Nelson, 3986, 3713, 14.69; Greymouth, 1791, 1841, 13.50; Christchurch, 17,213, 16,228, 11.53; Timaru, 2661, 2863, 12.70; Dunedin, 9078, 986, 12.86; Invercargill, 3674, 4118, 8.72. New Zealand, 157,797, 149,630, 11.77.