SUPPLY MEETING DEMAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22911, 19 June 1936, Page 23

SUPPLY MEETING DEMAND

SUCCESS OF PLACEMENT SCHEME OVER FIVE HUNDRED MEN BENEFIT (Contributed by the Labour Department. ) A chastely-decorated office card that had considerable vogue a few years ago, somewhat didactically asserted that if a man built a better mouse-trap than anyone else had built the world would make a beaten pathway to his door—presumably to buy mouse-traps. Well, if that is what happens when a man invents an extra-special mousetrap, what variety of accolade or order of merit should be bestowed upon those men who have devised a plan for bringing into touch with one another the disengaged labour supply and the previously unknown demand? This plan (ifs significant title is “The Placement Scheme”) is in full working order in the 19 Labour Department districts in the Dominion, and, though it has been in active operation for only five weeks, it has a record of “ placements ” that is astonishing. The adjective is quite correctly used, because the tally of men reabsorbed into private employment since the initiation of the plan is in excess of 500. It is interesting to note also, that the placements represent permanent and casual positions in almost equal numbers.

The reinstatement each week of 100 men in satisfactory private occupations, at regular wages that will permit of the purchase of all the family’s needs, and of occasional luxuries, is not only a remarkable achievement, because it has demonstrated that Nature’s law of supply and demand never censes to operate. It is remarkable also in that it has restored to those 500 men their self-con-fidence, and possiby, in some cases, dissipated tragic beliefs, the outcome of years of unemployment, that the private labour market was for ever closed to them. Self-confidence and fearlessness are assets of quality in individuals, as in nations.

This, then, is the record of the placement scheme to date, and a glimpse into its methods will prove informative and interesting. The basic idea of the scheme is to obtain an occupational analysis of registered unemployed men and of all other men who desire help in getting back to work. In view of the persistence of unemployment on a large scale for about six years, the task appeared to be almost impossible of achievement; but the job was tackled on methodical business lines.

Early successes stimulated the placement officers to extend the scope of their efforts and to endeavour to place the square pegs in square holes, instead of hurrying an applicant into the first available job. This is only one phase of the carefully organised placement service that is/hoping to bar up, as far as possible, all the blind alleys and give the disengaged man trained in one branch of industry which may be fully staffed an opportunity of transferring to a less crowded area of activity, or even to a section of his own trade or occupation where the competition for available work is less marked.

The activities of the placement officers are not wholly parochial. If they have on their lists of applicants the name of a capable tradesman for whom a position is not available at the moment, and the man has expressed his willingness to accept work at a distance, neighbouring placement officers are immediately communicated with, and if there is a suitable vacancy the man is sent to fill it. The question of transport may then arise, and where it is necessary, such cost will be provided and an arrangement made for a refund in small weekly instalments.

A practical illustration of how the machinery of the placement office works is provided by John Brown’s experience. Somewhat diffidently, and more than a trifle doubtful, John entered the placement officer’s room. Incidentally, this arrangement for the men to “ enter the placement officer’s room ” is an admirable example of strategic psychology. Interviewer and interviewed arc immediately on an equal footing, and (he comradely “Well, Mr Brown, what can we do for you?” restores his selfconfidence and almost wholly disperses his doubts. If a public counter had raised its broad and unfriendly surface between the parties it would have formed not only a tangible but an intangible barrier to that confidential chat so essential in framing a correct estimate of the applicant’s capabilities. John iS then asked to supply certain necessary particulars—age, conjugal condition, educational and technical qualifications, previous employers and periods of service, main occupation, alternative occupation, and a few minor details.

In appears that John’s main occupation has been that of an ironmouldcr, involving very hard work in wet sand, and after nearly 10 years of this trying work his health began to fail, and he had to take other work. For several years he had drifted from one labouring job to another, and, as he now considered he could stand up to a further period of his original trade, he thought he would “give the placement scheme a go.” John is a well-set-up chap of 34, clean and wholesome looking, but possibly the employers he had interviewed were dubious of employing a man who had been so long away from the trade, and regretted that they could not place him. Within a short time of his leaving the office a possible employer was located and had interviewed John. The outcome was the offer of a job on trial, tools were arranged for by the placement officer, and John started work next day. The story needs no elaboration. A capable tradesman, drifting around from one “blind alley” job to another for over five years, is placed in profitable employment in his own trade within 24 hours of his “ last resource ” application to the placement officer. John’s story has been duplicated in over 500 eases, and as no single phase of life succeeds more remarkably than success itself, the tally may reach well into four figures during the next few months. The placement officer’s services are free both to the employer and to the applicant.