SUBSIDISING WAGES

Northern Advocate, 24 June 1932, Page 4

SUBSIDISING WAGES

"ANOMALIES ADJUSTED,' ■ ; NEW PLAN DEVISED; . (Special'to “Northern Advocate.’') WELLINGTON,, This Day. The anomalies in, ami differences of opinion concerning the operation of the scheme for subsidising the wages of unemployed workers placed in the building industry, have been adjusted as the result of discussions between representatives of employers and employees, and the unemployment officers.

The Minister of Employment, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, announced that the Unemployment Board had heard the representations of all concerned, and the anomalies which appeared in the first draft of the scheme had been straightened out. “The advice I have from the board,” said Mr Coates, “leads me to believe that the scheme is destined to be a great success. “One or two important alterations have been made in the original scheme. The first is that the subsidy will be payable to the owner who is responsible for putting the work in hand, and not to the builder, although the certificate of the building contractor as to the amount expended in wages will still be a necessary feature.

"One of the grave objections to the scheme when first mooted was the possibility of employers dismissing workers already in their service in order that they should register and qualify for the subsidy. That has been overcome by amending the rules to provide that on the larger jobs where building contractors will undoubtedly be engaged, the subsidy will only be payable on 80 per cent, of the men engaged on the job. It will be paid at the rate of 8/4 in the„£, and a maxim,um of 25/ per man per week. On the smaller jobs the subsidy will remain at the originally arranged rate of 6/8 in the £ of wages paid, with a maximum of 22/6 for any one man in any one'week/ ’ Mr Coates made it clear that it is not intended to penalise workers who are unemployed, but- have hitherto been debarred from taking on relief work on account of property qualifications, "In fact,” he remarked, "building work should not be considered in any sense of the word as a relief job. The Unemployment Board has just come into it with a subsidy to give the necessary incentive for work to be gone on with now, instead of being postponed/’