UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22971, 24 February 1938, Page 17

UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES

Sir, —Before assuming office the Labour Party promised to abolish unemployment if they got into power. They have been in power for more than two years, and the unemployment figures are so unsatisfactory that they are afraid to publish them. Speaking at Morrinsville, Mr. Nash said that the number of men unemployed or 011 sustenance was about 16,000. The Abstract of Statistics gave, the number of registered unemployed on September 25 as 36.450. Anyone could see that between that date and February of this year 16.000 men had not found jobs. A later issue of the Abstract of Statistics gives the number of unemployed on December 18 at 8367, but states that men on sustenance or in full-time employment subsidised from the Unemployment Fund are not included. Why? If these men are a charge on the funds provided bv the wages tax and the unemployment levy, they should surely be accounted for as unemployed, so that those who provide the money may see how it goes. It is quite plain from the Government's adoption of this "hush hush" policy that it has made a hash of its curing unemployment. This withholding of essential facts from the' people comes with peculiarly bad grace from a Government that solemnly promised always to take the people into its confidence. In future the public will virtually be told nothing at all about the unemployment figures, for the figures that will be published will be misleading and valueless. This -is bureaucracy with a vengeance. A. Waiuhirton. Ngaruawahia.