REDUCED TO 42,200

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18848, 28 October 1935, Page 9

REDUCED TO 42,200

DOMINION UNEMPLOYED NEW SYSTEM ADOPTED TRUE POSITION SHOWN (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, last night. A new system in the publication ol unemployment figures in the Dominion is announced by the Minister of Employment, Ihe lion. S. G. Smit h. The change is based, he says, on the obvious truth, that, men in full-time employment cannot be classed as unemployed, even though the industry in which they are engaged may be receiving the stimulus from the unemployment fund. Hitherto, for convenience of account, and in order lo give the public fullest information about its activities, the board retained the names of these workers on the register during the whole period for which the subsidy lasted. Men engaged under the Public Works Department on works subsidised by the Unemployment Board, although not retained on the register, were also still included in the published monthly returns. The method has had the effect, of inflating the unemployment figures beyond the true position. When the board commenced operations, no internationally general practice in the preparation of unempl vment statistics was in operation. During' the past four years, certain principles have become established and the New Zealand practice no longer follows the method of other administrttions, which render reutrns to the International Labor Office. EXAGGERATED PICTURE

The value of the New Zealand figures for the purposes of international comparison is, therefore, diminished, and this effect is particularly to New Zealand’s disadvantage, since it causes an exaggerated picture of unemployment. in the Dominion to be given to the rest of the world. In the future, the board will treat, as unemployed only those in receipt of rational relief work or sustenance, plus the comparatively small proportion whose registrations are “live,” but who are not actually receiving relief at the date of the return.

The number of unemployed males registered in New Zealand at September 28 taken out under the new method is: Registered, but not eligigle for or not placed on relief, 2500; on part-time relief under scheme No. 5, 24,182; receiving sustenance without work, 5517; total unemployed, 42,200. ■ On the same date, financial assistance was being afforded to industry conditional on standard full-time employment, being given to 18,144 men who, without the stimulus provided by the subsidy would, in all probabality, have been dependent, on relief. The figure of 18,144 does not include men engaged in various allied trades, comprising the building industry, assisted by the board’s subsidy scheme. September marks the peak of each year in New Zealand. -It is anticipated that the tendecy for the next six months will be an improvement.