NEW JOBS FOR OLD.

Hawera Star, Volume L, 20 June 1930, Page 4

NEW JOBS FOR OLD.

The difficulty of dealing with the unemployment temporarily resulting from improved methods of production, whether of invention or organisation, is a problem that has taxed the ingenuity of economists for several centuries. New light thrown on the question by the experiments of some English firms at present engaged in rationalising their concerns is consequently of profound interest. Many Labour leaders have been lukewarm in their support of rationalisation, because its systematic restriction of production adds to the volume of unemployment until the economies it makes possible result in an increased demand. To bridge over this period of individual strain the gas industry of Great Britain has arranged a comprehensive pension scheme for those of its employeesvwho are thrown out of work by rationalisation and* amalgamations. For elderly persons the pension is on quite a substantial scale. A. famous firm of cocoa and chocolate manufacturers in York has tackled the problem in an even more far-reaching way. Just over a year ago it endeavoured to settle its displaced employees in other trades by offering to pay to their new employers a considerable portion of their first, twelve months’ wages. Under this scheme twenty-one men obtained new work in a few months’ time, and a way was pointed to reduce immeasurably the hardships incidental to large-scale industrial improvements, were it generally followed by other firms. Lately, a second stage has been reached by this firm in its plans for finding employment for men displaced by advances in technique and organisation. Three now industries chromium plating, the manufacture of a new type of water heater, and the retreading of tyres by a fresh process—have been introduced into York to take off this supposedly surplus labour. The actiivties of these I English gas and cocoa firms are pioneer efforts to make industrial changes benefit all classes immediately, and as such will be watched sympathetically by everyone interested in social welfare.