THE UNEMPLOYED

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 19 September 1934, Page 6

THE UNEMPLOYED

Process of Absorption in Industry WILL TAKE UNTIL 1940 FUND SET ASIDE “If the present rate of absorption of the unemployed in industry is maintained it will take until 1940 for the registration figures of unemployed to return to the 1928 level.” This observation is made by the Unemployment Board in its report to Parliament tabled in the House of Representatives yesterday. The report is for a period of nine months ended June, compared with a period of 12 months ended' September covered by the previous report. “Concurrently with a general improvement in economic conditions in New Zealand, the unemployment outlook is distinctly brighter than was the case when the Unemployment Board presented its last preceding annual report,” states the board. “Any changes which have occurred in the unemployment situation during the past year have been for the better.

“It is not suggested by the board 1 that the experience of the past nine months is an indication that the progress of reabsorption into industry will continue at the same rate, without new efforts and new experiments, until the problem of unemployment in New Zealand is solved. Even if this rate of progress were maintained it would not be until 1940 that the registration figures of unemployed would return to the level of 1928, the year when a special committee was set up to investigate and report on the unemployment position.

“It is on this account that the board 1 , has set aside £250,000 from: its funds to be used as an aid to the development of new industries. It is not one of the board’s functions to initiate new industries or to control industries. The board, in taking this action, is seeking the co-operation and assistance of the industrialists. It appears that the best results will be obtained if fhe initiative in the matter of expanding secondary industries is taken bj those who are specially trained in industry. If, however, there is a failure on the part of this section of the community to meet the present difficult position, it seems inevitable that new experiments will have to be tried. In the meantime the board is exploring every possible avenue for stimulating reabsorption of the unemployed into existing industries. “The principle hitherto adopted' by the board: of requiring wore to he performed in exchange for relief granted is now presenting great difficulty. Had! the depression been an ordiiary trade cycle such as is experienced' at more or less regular intervals the?;* is little doubt that, for New Zealand conditions, the method of providlig work through local bodies in exchange for relief would have much to ctmmeni it. Despite the criticism -levelled 1 against much of the work done under certain schemes, the board 1 still' confidently maintains that at least 10 per cent, of the necessary expenditure on relief to the unemployed has been salvaged in the form of permanent asets. In many parts of the country it is still possible to administer relief throigh these channels to advantage. It is in. the more populous areas where tie numbers of' unemployed are large and where the type of work suited 1 scheme No. 5 is becoming scarce that the great difficulty is being experienced.”