Jobless toll rises to 11 p.c.

Press, 14 July 1989, Page 1

Jobless toll rises to 11 p.c.

By

PETER LUKE

in Wellington

Unemployment rose 3014 in June to reach 148,667, with big mid-winter increases in the bottom half of the South Island.

Labour Department jobless statistics released yesterday showed that the fall early this year in registered unemployment had been partly off-set by rises in May and June. The Minister of Employment, Mr Goff, said the June figures were consistent with commentaries that a gradual recovery was under way. Last month’s increase was far less than the June, 1988 jobless rise of 7600 and the 4000 rise in 1987.

“I am informed by the Department of Labour that the. June figures represent the first seasonally adjusted decrease in unemployment since October, 1987,” Mr Goff said. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, said this argument was nonsense.

“There is no relief on the scene for unemployed New Zealanders,” he said.

The June total of 148,667 represents 11.09 per cent of the workforce, and is 34,914 higher than In June last year — a rise of 30.7 per cent. The Ppposition spokesman on employment, Mr Winston Peters,

said that if those on courses, such as Access and on .partly subsidised programmes, were counted the real jobless toll would be 174,691. The Government argues that this figure is not relevant because not all those on schemes come from the unemployment register. Excluding vacation workers, registered unemployed reached a

peak of 157,797 in January this year, then fell for three successive months to 143,607 in April. In May the jobless toll rose 2000, before June’s increase of 3014. The Invercargill employment district suffered most last month, with unemployment rising 1333 to 5259. The next biggest increase was in Dunedin, up 768 to 9419, followed by Tauranga, where unemployment rose 505 to reach 4483. Christchurch unemployment totalled 16,590 in June, an increase of 167 in the month. In June last year unemployment totalled 12,450 in Christchurch, giving an increase of one-third over the year. Mr Goff attributed the big increases in Invercargill and Dunedin to the end. of the freezing works season, and in Tauranga to the end of the kiwifruit picking season. Although urging caution in interpreting the figures, Mr Goff argued that the pattern since February indicated a turnaround in the rapid increases since the. sharemarket crash in October, 1987.

Mr Peters accused the Government of simply tolerating “economic and social madness.” A National Government would Immediately introduce community work schemes for the longterm unemployed, he said. Of the June total, about 66,600 have been jobless for six months or more, including 6216 who have not worked for two years.