THE LABOUR MARKET.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 299, 11 September 1908, Page 4

THE LABOUR MARKET.

o A COMPREHENSIVE TABLE. A new feature is introduced in the Labour Department's "Journal" for September, in tho shape of tho following table, based on reports received from Departmental; agents, and presenting in a concise.form a.generalised statement as to the conditions of tr;\do in tho chief and secondary towns of the Dominion:—

Tho. following notes are also taken' from tho "Journal":— WELLINGTON. During the month just ended trado generally can safely be said to have been fairly good. Employers, with few exceptions, say that, while trade has not been quite on a par with the corresponding month of last year, they have no roason to complain, and are quite satisfied with tho amount of business dono. A general improvement on last month has been shown, and, with the advent of .spring and better weather, tradespeople anticipate that business will continue to improve considerably. 'Building trades: Fairly good in tho city, but still slack in the suburbs. There aro some large contracts to be lot shortly, and it is confidently expected that a great improvement will soon bo shoivn. There, aro still many men out of employment. Bootmaking: Busy. All hands aro kept fully employed. Coachbuilding is slack, which is not unusual for tho time of year. An improvement is looked forward to. At dressmaking a large amount of ovcrtimo has been worked. Tailoring trades have beet fairly busy for this season, and an improvement is expected. Engineering remains very,, quiet, with ; no. prospect of an immediate improvement. Furniture trades havo been busy, and there are no hands out of employment. Woollen mills havo been kept fairly busy, although not' so much so as would lilcc.: There are a few hands unemployed. Plumbing and gasfittihg haTo been : fairly busy. Painting has -been fair, although not nearly so good as th'e corresponding month of previous years. A number of contracts are now,-coming out. There 'are a number of men out of work. Plastering has been rather dull, and several mon are out of employment: Saddlery has been fairly good, and there' are no hands out of work. At tho beginning of tho month tho. applicants for unskilled employment wero very • numerous, 1 Tanging at about 60 per .day. Towards the middle of the month this number fell to 40, and-at thoiend of tho month to .from 25 to 35 per day.. This is a considerable drop from the number applying tho preceding month. Three' hundred and eleven men wore assisted to! Wiffrk, 231 1 "h'ccfe'J)tihg 'Government co-opera-' tive'.Smployment. Tho Department was,able to offer work to all willing and able applicants, and there remain places yet ' to be filled-on both railway and . road works. An urgent demand has boon miido for 40 men for tW 'Main Trunk line, and .private employers have also asked the Department for mon, 80 having beon sent to this work during tho period! Tho prospect of employment for the unskilled labourer is now vei;y much brighter. From 30 to 40 farm hands wore wanted in tho Eltham district, and the Department could.find only 11. Ploughmen and married couples are also in request. Somo recent arrivals' from South Africa find it rather difficult to secure immediate- employment, owing to the natura of their trades, such as electricians, taxidermists, and joiners. AUCKLAND. Retail trade 'is 'appareliily' very ' good; 'but tradesmen complain that there is a very general shortage of ready money, duo largely to tho recent wet winter, and to Fleet Week taking ready money out of its proper channels j beyond that thero are no complaints of a falling-off in trade. Tho unskilled labour market is still well supplied with unemployed, but a large proportion of them aro young single men and strangers to tho city, and in many cases now arrivals from Australia. There, is a scarcity of men capable or willing to take on dairying work. CHRISTCHURCH. Trade during tho month shows an improvement, probably consequent on the improved weather. The improvement in the building trade, has absorbed a considerable number of unemployed, but there is plenty of room for further improvement. It is anticipated that within a weok or two business will be in full swing again. Applications to tho Department for employment havo fallen off, and things are now very littlo above the normal for this season of tho year. DUNEDIN. The amount of business ( transacted shows a tendoncy towards improvement, and now that the -worst qf tho winter season is past thero should not be so much difficulty for any class of worker to find .employment". So far as persons seeking employment in the country are concerned, there is ample opportunity offering for almost any class. ' UNION SECRETARIES' REPORTS. Another new feature of the "Journal" is a number of reports sent in by secretaries of industrial'unions. These aro printed-in full as received, and- the. Department disclaims any responsibility for opinions which they may contain. , Wellington reports, received are as follow Trade in electrical work has been very dull during the past month, but at present, owing to a number of men leaving the district, there aro no unionists out of employment. There are, however, several non-unionists, mostly now-chums, idle. Trado shows no prospect of brightening during the next'month,-on account of the slackening of building operations in the suburbs. There has been absolutely no demand for builders' labourers, and thero aro more unemployed in that line now than at any time during tho last ten years. Week after week the position has grown steadily worse. Each week sees more unemployed than the week before. There aro 35 " names on the employment book, but that does not represent the position fairly, as fully 50 per cent, of the mon do not coine to tho office. ■ There is no prospcct of any improvement until late in October, when tho flaxmilling and other summer industries may draw on tho city for men, and so relieve tho depression that now exists. . Work in the - majority of tailors' shops has been slack, but somo shops have been busy. There is a slight improvement in tho state of trado for carpcntorß, but (joinery works arc rather slack. Tho bulk of tho work at present is in tho city; thero is very little going on in, tho .suburbsi '

TABLE SUMMARISING CONDITION OP TRADE AND EMPLOYMENT IN NEW 1 . ZEALAND FOR MONTH ENDING AUGUST 31, 190S. Building . Engineering Boot Clothing Retail Unskilled Locality. Trades. ■ Trades. . Trades. Trades. , Trades. Labour. Auckland ... Slack Quiet Normal Quiot Good Quiet Gisborne ... Fairly Busy Busy ... Fair ... No demand Napier ... Steady Good Good Satisfactory Fair Hastings ... Quiet •. Fairly busy Fair Fair Fair. No demand New Plymouth Active Fair . Very busy Fair Steady Fair Wanganui ... Dull Faiflybusy Very busy' Quiet Fair Quiet Taihape ... Quiet Slack Busy \ Very good Good- Quiet Palmerston. N. -Fair Brisk Slack \ Fair Fair Quiet Tenui ... Fair ... ... , ... Slack' Good Masterton ...Dull Slack Good.'' Very good, Satisfactory Quiet Groytown N. Slack ... ... ; Fair Fair Fair Otaki ... Fairly busy ... Brisk ' Busy Fair Quiet Wellington ... Quiot Quiet ., Busy . Busy Steady Improving Nelson ... Fair Fair . Quiet , Fair Dull Quiet Westport ... Busy Busy ... Busy Fair No'demand Greymouth ... Fair Brisk Slack Quiet Fair Quiot Hokitika- ... Brisk Very busy Good ; Good Good No demand Rangicra, ... Busy" Very dull Busy Dull Fair Fair Christchurch Fair Slack Normal Fair Fair Quiet Ashburton ... Fair ... . Busy Medium Fair Timaru ... Quiet ., Fair Busy Good Quiet . Fair Oamaru ... Fair Busy Fairly busy Fair Quiet - Quiet Dunedin ... Fairly busy Fair • Good Good Fair Improving Invercargill ... Quiot Fair Busy Good Quiot Good