YOUTH EMPLOYMENT

Evening Star, Issue 24265, 5 August 1942, Page 8

YOUTH EMPLOYMENT

EFFECTS OF WAR

OPPORTUNITIES IN INDUSTRY Problem? of youth employment are comprehensively dealt with in the report of the Dunedin Vocational Guidance Association, which also refers to the opportunities now existing m manufacturing industries for boys to train as technicians. “ For many boys the approach of military service overrides all other consider!-, tions when leaving school, and for those who stayed at school until into their eighteenth year without University entrance or public service examination passed there was difficulty in finding acceptable employment,” the report states. “ Any job taken must be transitory, and this condition will continue while national obligations impose an equal call on our youth at the same age, irrespective of educational and social status. We trust that whenever the war situation permits, the miliary authorities will individually release those youths whose apprenticeships or. careers in skilled callings have been interrupted by service obligations. “The increasing growth of manufacturing industries has given opportunities for boy's to train as technicians,” the report adds. “ Too few secondary' school boys of high ability are willing to go into a works, making an 8 o’clock start, to take these positions. In factories there lias been a continual demand for boys for both skilled and unskilled work. In some places . the absence of the ordinary comfort? of work make junior staffing very difficult, especially in winter time. Problems, for Replacement. “ Our experience has been that any worthwhile boy not past 16 years has .bad no difficulty in securing, an apprenticeship or training in a professional career.; But we must express our concern at the number of immature boys, who still persist in leaving school. These boys will present problems for replacement when readjustment. inevitably' comes. ” Much has been heard of the high wages paid boys at the present time in unskilled positions,” the report continues, “ but t hese are relatively few. Wc deplore the shortsightedness of those who wilfully pass by opportunities to acquire -skilled callings at the lower rate paid to learners. Again, wc continually meet employers who fail to realise that there are excellent skilled occupations in which learners may secure wages above the bare minimum legal provision. Many fair-minded employers and union officials do realise that juvenile wages must rise as adult pay increases, and they have not used better wages as an excuse to default in the training of young people for a proper place in industry and commerce.” Employment of Girls. The report states that the demand for girls and young- women for employment has been greater each year since the' outbreak of the war. Girls without experience have readily been found work in all branches of industry. The report adds: “ Loose talk about high wages and conditions of work, talk not borne out by facts, was a cause of girls and young women looking for different work. There have always been with us girl.? who have been unable to hold down their jobs and who have drifted until, by the age of 17 a,nd 18 years,- they' have worked in a number of places. Almost, without exception these have been girls who went to work too young to accept increased responsibility as t.beir half-yearly' wage increases came due. In this connection it was sad to note that at the end of 1941 53 giifls left Dunedin and suburban schools before completing Standard VI. Indeed, 23 of these 53 girls went, to work from Standard V. and lower classes.”