Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE MONDAY, DECEMBER 10th., 1928. EMPLOYMENT PROBLEM

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 December 1928, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE MONDAY, DECEMBER 10th., 1928. EMPLOYMENT PROBLEM

W E have, in this column, on opportune occasion previously written on the increasing difficulty there is in placing boys and girls in suitable occupations when they leave school, Huis we find it easy now to endorse the appeal being made by the N.Z. Educational Institute to Dominion employers, to co-operate with the teachers in the endeavour to give the ex-scholars a good start in life. The problem is serious and is likely to increase in gravity, unless a real attempt is made to solve it. Above all, it must not be made a matter for Party politics.

During their school-life, New Zealand’s children are very well looked-after, and they leave the schools with standards of requirements higher than those which had to satisfy earlier generations. The difficulty is further increased by the fact that in these days, girls, to a much greater extent, enter fields previously reserved for youths, who thus find competition additionally severe. There are, of course, some avenues of’ employ-

ment which can he adequately filled by girls, and parents and guardians should take notice of the tendency of certain industries to rely mainly on feminine employees. Care should be taken to avoid, as far as possible the placing of lads in occupations which are unlikely to give them much scope when they reach man-

hood. Shop-assistants, for instance, arc less frequently masculine than in years gone by, and office-work is

another branch of employment, where girls are strongly entrenched. The growth of population being greater than the increase in national industries is probably the main cause of the juvenile employment crisis, but there are other factors to be considered. The comparatively high wages paid to the beginners in industry compel many employers to be chary about, increasing their staffs. The non-adherence to the principle of shopping or purchasing in one’s own town, is another method of reducing local employment; as the loss of such business obviously means that local dealers will not require so many assistants as they otherwise would. Machinery and mechanical inventions also help to lessen the demand for human; labour in some directions, although against that, some modern machin-

ery creates new industries. It will take time and much consideration before a remedy is found for this industrial crisis, but the fact that national recognition is being made of the existence of the difficulty gives cause for hope, that the whole duty—and it is a duty to the youngsters —-will be shouldered, and Ihe necessary organisation instituted. It seem too absurd that a young and prosperous land like New Zealand. which invites migrants from, abroad, should be unable to offer work for its own young people. Still the fact remains that in Greymonth, as in most other towns, numerous boys and girls are leaving school, primary and secondary, this month, and after the holidays will require work. What is their chance of getting it? The next move is with district employers.