LABOUR SUPPLY

Evening Star, Issue 23438, 1 December 1939, Page 14

LABOUR SUPPLY

FROM PUBLIC WORKS TO INDUSTRY MANUFACTURERS' PROBLEMS “ Although it was hoped by the Government that its policy of fostering secondary industries would result in a greater absorption of male labour into industry, the results do not appear to have been as successful as everyone would have .wished,” stated Mr C." V. Smith in his presidential address to the annual meeting of, the Dunedin Manufacturers’ Association. “The wages being paid bn public works, the open-air’lifb, and comparative freedom from restrictions are apparently more attractive than working in a factory, : although surely some of these men must sometimes wonder what the future holds. “ They must realise that every day their rightful place in industry is being taken up oy boys leaving school, and when they tire of public works life, or there are no longer jobs on public works for them, they may find that their opportunity is gone and gone forever. “As far'as female labour is concerned, this has not been such a big problem in Dunedin as it has been in other centres. At the same time, the turnover in female labour has been very considerable—girls working for, * few months in one factory and then moving on to another. “ I realise the difficulties in operating a scheme that would secure some longer continuity of service in one industry, but I realise also that the constant training of new girls does not secure the best production results,” he concluded.