UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION

Evening Star, Issue 19583, 15 June 1927, Page 6

UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION

SKILLED TRADESMEN OUT Far from pleasing_ a feature of the unemployment situation is the number of skilled tradesmen to be found in the ranks of the unemployed, and to-day nine carpenters, six painters, eight fitters and turners, eight motor drivers, seven clerks, four metalworkers, and eight motor drivers were listed as being out of work. The Labor Department’s unemployment bureau experienced a busy time to-day, but no men were placed _ in work.” There were five fresh applications for employment this morning, making a total of fifty-six applications since Monday. There are now 375 men on the books—2o2 of thorn married and 173 single. No advice has been received by the Public Works Department in regard to the 220 men to be placed on relief work. In the meantime many cases of distress are coming under notice, and the real grim menace of unemployment is beginning to bo felt. The Trades Hall officials have on their books the case of one man with nine children. Ho is unable to find work, and his family is in parlous circumstances. Another man with a family of three children has been out of work for ten weeks, and he has drained his last resource.

A harrowing tale is told by nn exBritish Army man, upon whom the lank of food and nourishment is tolling. He is unable to find employment, but refuses to accept charity, and has set out to walk to Oamaru in a further effort to find a position. A bunch of immigrants arrived in Dunedin yesterday, and unless they have positions to go to, a social worker who has been connected withthe unemployment situation in ail its phases states that their prospects of obtaining work are far from rosy. It is a fact that local people in the majority of cases are giving preference to New Zealanders for the filling of vacant positions, and one job offered during the week was on the understanding that no immigrant would be considered.