THE UNEMPLOYMENT ROLL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20869, 11 May 1931, Page 8

THE UNEMPLOYMENT ROLL.

The overhauling of the unemployment registers has not materially reduced the magnitude of the problem. When the Minister of Labour announced the suspension of temporary relief work for a fortnight, he stated that a number of men were obtaining relief who could not be deemed to be strictly unemployed wage workers and would not be entitled to receive sustenance if such were being paid. the old registrations were discarded there were 37.558 names on the lists: the new roll contains 36,921 registrations of, according to the official stipulation, "genuinely unemployed wageearners who are definitely in need of relief." No positive conclusion can be drawn from the small reduction. It is possible that 637 is only the difference between a large number of disqualifications and an almost equivalent number of new additions to the ranks of unemployment. There is, however, one striking feature of a comparison between the return for March 30 and that for May 4. During the five weeks, the registrations in Auckland declined from the peak of 8545 to 4572 —over 2000 before the suspension and the balance since then. Part of tho improvement n*ay have been due to the elimination of registrations under the new conditions, but the total reduction of nearly 4000 is too large in comparison with chances elsewhere to be regarded as even mainly the difference between indiscriminate enrolments and strict investigation of applications. To some extent at least, the reduction of the Auckland registrations may be regarded as evidence of a positive improvement in the state of employment. That conclusion need not be modilied if it is shown that a considerable number of unemployed have been transferred from the Auckland lists to registers in other centres. Evidence of that sort of diffusion is to be found in other figures. It is, however, entirely salutary, for the problem has been aggravated by the congregation of men in the cities, where they have easily drifted to relief works instead of seeking employment independently. It must be recognised that under the new rules of the Unemployment Board there is very little inducement for men to lean upon relief schemes if they can possibly find work elsewhere, and, harsh as the principle may appear, it is undoubtedly essential that all such operations should be based on a rigid distinction between maintenance and relief. As there are approximately 325,000 male wage-workers in New Zealand, the latest total represents 11 per cent, of unemployment. It is scarcely necessary to emphasise the coincidence. between this ratio and the proposed general reduction in wages. While arbitrary regulations have maintained wages at an artificial standard, the aggregate sum paid in wages has been peremptorily reduced by the operation of inexorable economic forces. Nor can there be any doubt that if tho process of adjusting wages had been initiated months ago, when the need for action became patent, unemployment would never have reached its present dimensions and the improvement in economic conditions which seems to have occurred in Auckland would have been visible throughout tho Dominion.