THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1938 UNEMPLOYMENT POLICY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23227, 22 December 1938, Page 10

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1938 UNEMPLOYMENT POLICY

Official expectations that jobs would be available for all workers this summer have most unhappily been disappointed and the Minister of Labour has therefore announced that the operation of the No. 13 scheme for the relief of unemployment will be continued until January 31. How many still lack regular employment is not stated, but apparently the number in and around Auckland is large, to judge by the report from the Labour Department that a particularly busy time has been experienced this week and last in arranging the payment of Christmas and holiday bonuses. Official returns are no longer as informative as they should be, omitting to state the number who would be out of work if their wages were not paid out of the Employment Fund. In Augusl last those coming under this category totalled 35,796, in addition to 10,154 returned as unemployed. It may be supposed that now, with seasonal activities at their peak, the number dependent on the fund will have declined, but actually there is nothing official to go on. The new Minister of Labour, Mr. Webb, should consider reversing his predecessor's policy of concealment. The people who pay the piper are entitled to know the true position and in any case public support and cooperation in working out solutions of a continuing problem will not be so readily forthcoming while its extent and incidence remain hidden. Such co-operation may before long be urgently sought by the Government, when the special relief revenues cease to come in after March 31 next, affecting the finances of several existing employment schemes.

In fact, it is becoming clear that the Government will have to frame a new policy to deal with unemployment. The original idea was that the shorter working week, combined with the increasing purchasing power released by higher wages, would so stimulate the labour market as to re-absorb all workers into regular employment. In spite of the gratuitous assistance given this policy by increased income from exports, it has not disposed of the problem—not even in the busy summer months. Much of the increased purchasing power has gone to pay for imports and to keep overseas workers in jobs. Now that past accumulations of overseas credits have been used up, imports must decline, providing another inducement to set our own unemployed to work. A new and more positive approach must be made to the whole problem. It may be an indication of the Government's realisation of this fact that Mr. Armstrong has been replaced at the Ministry of Labour by Mr. Webb. The latter took a foremost part, in the drive a few months ago to secure the co-operation of local bodies in placing all the unemployed in full-time subsidised work, and was eminently successful. Besides the energy and gift of persuasion he then displayed, Mr. Webb had in the absence of Mr. Armstrong last year sought to attack the problem constructively. He found that jobs were going begging for lack of skill to fill them and he sought to equip idle men with the necessary qualifications. These training schemes are reported to have met with some success in the South, but in Auckland they foundered on the rock of trade union opposition. Some way should be; found to reconcile union objections so that the sure method of ending unemployment may be applied, the method of equipping men with the skill that is in demand. At the beginning of the present year Mr. Webb made the arresting statement that 10,000 more tradesmen could be absorbed in the State housing scheme and another 20,000 in allied trades. Whether that statement still applies or not, it is reasonable to suppose that if a survey were made, not only of the building and allied trades, but of all trades and industries, a demand of labour would be found sufficient to absorb all those not in regular employment and to divert many from unproductive public works. The supposition can be made with firmer I conviction now that the Government has decided that New Zealand must import less and do more of her own work. If it was true in August, as Mr. Webb asserted, that "more jobs are available in Auckland than there are men to fill them," then it is doubly true to-day. What debars men from filling the vacancies 1 Most of them lack the requisite skill and are faced by the obstacles of labour awards and trade union rules in acquiring it. If the position were laid frankly before the unions and their co-operation enlisted in helping their fellows, a great deal might be accomplished. Employers could fairly be expected to play their part as well. In fact, goodwill and a spirit of give-and-take would be needed on both sides and should be forthcoming at the lead of the Minister of Labour. Such arrangements would not fit in every case, suggesting that the Government could with advantage set up instructional and training centres to give men the modicum of skill necessary to take their place in particular trades or industries, or to restore to them the habit of work. A preliminary to such a policy, however, would be to demonstrate its necessity, by a proper disclosure of the k existing position with respect to I unemployment.