UNEMPLOYMENT TIDE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20251, 10 May 1929, Page 12

UNEMPLOYMENT TIDE.

MORE REGISTRATIONS. HIGHEST TOTAL SINCE JULY. A further increase in the number of registrations at Government employment bureaux is shown by the official returns, covering the period up to April 15, published in the Abstract of Statistics. During the last four •weeks of the period there were 4014 new applications, as against 2445 in the corresponding period of last year. The numbers placed were 245 employed by the Government (as against 391-1) and 329 by local bodies (as against 33), while 300 (as against 194) were placed elsewhere. The number remaining on the books on April 15 was 3211, as compared with 2534 a year ago.

The weekly returns of unemployed reached the maximum of 3414 on June 4 of last year. From that date the number declined almost continuously until Decembei 10, when it was 1788. Since then, although there have been fluctuations, the tendency has been steadily upward, until the latest total is the highest since July 9. Xearly every return has shown a higher figure than the comparable total a year previously, the only exceptions being those for the second half of February and the first fortnight of March. In that period last year there was a sharp rise in registrations as a result of the Government's announcement that relief works would be open only to men actually registered. Reviewing the Jatest' returns the Government Statistician remarks that between March 11 and April 15 the number of unfilled applications at Gisborne increased from 65 to 270, or more than quadruple. "This increase in Gisborne is not seasonal," he adds, "and it is possible that the proposal to push on railway construction there is closely associated with this sudden transference of a potential supply of labour to that district." Of the 3211 "unemployed" on April 15 there were 1031, or 32 per cent, in Auckland; 475, or 15 per cent, in Wellington; 467, or 15 per cent, in Christchurch; 199, or 6 per cent, in Dunedin; and 1039, or 32 per cent, in other districts.