UNEMPLOYMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22398, 20 October 1934, Page 12

UNEMPLOYMENT

The decline in the volume of ■» unemployment in the Dominion is- at evident to the most casual observer. The statistical information on the 'f subject shows that there has'been a very substantial diminution in the past twelve months in the number of persons d who are ip receipt of relief. The latest date to which the return of .registra- ..: tions-has-been prepared is September - 29—three weeks ago. There is a great y deal of encouragement to be derived from-the-particulars exhibited by this,w, return. The'number of persons in ? receipt of some form of unemployment relief at that date was 61,489. This . is a large figure, but as the correspond- v ing figure at‘the end of September, 1933,' was 75,134, it will be seen that " there, has. beep a very material drop, ~;., which, moreover, is the more ,significantr-r ■ in*view of the fact that'in' October of r; last .year—twelve months ago—the unemployment figures had reached their -peak, 75,246 persons being then -7 in receipt of' assistance. A decrease of some 13,000 in the number of .; persons receiving relief from the Un- - employment Fund would be of good omen" at any. period of the year, but - 1 the statistical records, which indicate v that unemployment was . most serious about this period of the year in both 1932 and 1933, serve to emphasise the i nature of the improvement that has occurred. Since the separate, com- v : parative figures relating to the number of men in part-time employment of g on sustenance, and the number who are in full-time occupations with C assistance from the Unemployment ■ Board, show decreases in each case in T, the latest return, the inference may . ;, reasonably be drawn that there is a *;■ distinct movement back to permanence ’ of employment on the part of-men whom the force of circumstances had placed under the necessity of seeking relief. The Unemployment Board’s figures will go far to reassure those.f people who may have, expressed a fear -v that the modest reduction in the unemployment wages tux would involve a penalising of those who lack .regular .>< employment. The announcement which was made by the Minister of Public Works early this week respecting-the - 1 rates of pay that will now be intro- : duced in single men’s camps and under ; the small farms scheme presented in • itself a satisfactory reassurance on this * score. Under the revised scale' those ;V of the unemployed to whom it will ,; apply will benefit appreciably. The 50 , per cent, increase in the allowance to those in unemployment camps, whose , position has been the subject of a good ■ deal of misrepresentation by warmhearted but not necessarily wellinformed persons, will be generally;... viewed with satisfaction. -