THE LABOUR MARKET

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13873, 6 October 1908, Page 6

THE LABOUR MARKET

CONDITIONS IN AUCKLAND. GREAT DEMAND FOR DOMESTICS. With the advent of spring the unemployed difficulty generally diminishes before an in-creased-demand for labour. At the local Labour Bureau there, is at present considerably more demand by the Government for unskilled labourers—principally navvies. The bureau has sent, and is sending, men up to the Northern lines for railway construction work. A number of others have been despatched to Opotiki for the Roads and Survey Department. On the other hand, there have bean fewer applicants for employment at the bureau recently, which indicates that private employment is more plentiful. During August and the first half of September there was a slight falling oft" in the number of applicants for unskilled work. This month, however, will probably show a marked diminution in the number of callers. During August the bureau found employment for 155 men. Last month 196 were sent out—l 74 single and 22 married. Of these 59 wen- to private employers, and the remainder went to Government and railway work. I. There..,is the usual spring demand for good farm hands, but the bureau has great difficulty in filling up orders of this description. Dairy work i not much sought after. Notwithstanding the large number of immigrants who have arrived in the Dominion lately, but few have applied to the bureau to bo provided with employment. Those who did register were unskilled labourers and farmers. The majority, however, either had engagements to go to when they arrived, or secured them through the agency of friends here. The institution of a branch of the Goyemment female labour bureau in Auckland has proved successful. During August 108 female workers were applied for by mistresses, and there were 69 applicants for employment. The office found employment for 45, and 21 employers notified the Department that they had been supplied privately. August is chosen for a sample month, because it included Fleet Week, during which and the week before very few engagements were entered into. Girls who were out of work before Fleet Week did not seek employment till after that period of festivity, and mistresses, apparently realising the uselessness of it, did not ask for helps while the fleet was in the harbour. The demand for general servants in Auckland and throughout the Dominion is very large, but it remains unsupplied. New Zealand girls apparently have a great objection to the position of " general," as only 13 classed themselves as such out of all the applicants for one month at the local office. Girls willing to accept engagements as " generals" can command wages ranging from 12s to 30s weekly, with liberal holidays and every possible convenience, but they are, not to be tempted. Next in demand come waitresses, housemaids, and cooks, in the order named.