SKILLED LABOUR

Evening Star, Issue 23565, 2 May 1940, Page 2

SKILLED LABOUR

NEEDS DF FACTORIES POSITION NOT YET ACUTE While skilled labour for footwear and clothing factories is difficult to obtain at the present time, there does not i ppear to bo any acute shortage in Dunedin, and. in the majority of cases, the work in hand is not being retarded through a lack of the right kind of labour. In some instances, it is true, were the labour available, it could be made use of with a resultant improvement in deliveries, but generally speaking factories are working at their maximum capacities. Where the shortage is most noticed, and where it must become increasingly pronounced, is in the replacing of skilled men who enlist for war service. This particular problem has not yet reached serious proportions, but the longer the war continues the more it must develop. It is not an easy matter to convert an unskilled labourer into the skilled worker, and the day may come when the unskilled man is more in evidence. However, that is a poser for the future, a poser which may be aggravated through a difficulty of obtaining even unskilled labour. Even today this labour is more difficult to obtain than it was a few months ago, and both skilled and unskilled ranks must thin out as more and more men depart for the war. It is not possible to place girls in the vacated positions, for there is a shortage of girls for practically every industry, in fact, practically every class of work. Although factories are working at capacity, deliveries are ivell behind in every instance. This is because of a general concentration on Army contracts, a reflection of which is a marked shortage of men’s footwear on the open market. This state of affairs is not likely to improve, as the overseas demand and war conditions are playing havoc with deliveries of raw materials essential to phases of the industries as carried out here.

In the clothing trade itself the shortage of men is less noticeable, for girls provide the bulk of" labour, but there is a demand in certain branches, notably pressers. Youths have a good chance to learn trades to-day—but the question is: Where are the youths? There is no doubt before so many more months are past there really will be a shortage of all classes of labour.