WORK OFFERING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23774, 30 September 1940, Page 9

WORK OFFERING

NEEDS OF INDUSTRY FARM HANDS WANTED THE DOMESTIC PROBLEM Signs of an increasing demand for labour for both primary and secondary industries have been very definite over recent months and further evidence that the call for manpower is steadily growing was found in the advertising columns of the Herald on Saturday, when 265 separate advertisements offered work in numerous spheres of industry. Many of the advertisements called for more than one applicant and in some instances work was offered to indefinite numbers. Sihce tbe outbreak of war there lias been a greater mobility in the labour market, the freer movement and transference of manpower being a natural sequence to the absorption of thousands of men in the various services. Numerous gaps have been created in industrial establishments and the problem of filling those and maintaining production, particularly in essential industries, lias been of perplexing anxiety to many employers. The expanding range of selection of employment is also a noticeable feature of industrial activity and in the Jess popular forms of employment there is a distinct dearth of labour. This is especially applicable to primary industry and is borne out by the appearance of about 60 advertisements in Saturday's Hkiiald calling for farm hands. Here again, many of the offers are for more than one employee and there is also a demand for youths. In the dairying industry the approach of the peak of tbe milking season is likely to increase the demand still further. The difficulty of securing domestic labour is still acute and is emphasised hv frequent calls for cooks and other helpers in the home. This problem lias been accentuated by the employment of additional female labour in factories engaged in the production of war material. It is stated that girls are leaving schools at the earliest possible moment to enter upon this type of em-

plovment and that the majority are loth to undertake domestic duties even when most attractive terms and conditions are offered.