UNEMPLOYED WORKERS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19697, 1 August 1938, Page 6

UNEMPLOYED WORKERS

INEVITABLE PROPORTION

EXPENDITURE OX RELIEF

DEPARTMENT'S VIEWS

(Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day

"The existence in any working community at any given time of a body of unemployed able workers appears inevitable," is one of the conclusions expressed in a comprehensive survey of the situation in the annual report of the Labour Department's employment division.

This seems to be borne out by the statistics of unemployed as at June 1. for they include 1303 men who have been unemployed more than two years, and 3870 who have not worked for wages for three years or more. The age distribution of the last category shows that while there are 50 between the ages of 21-24, the figures are heavier between 40-49 (GO3), between 50-59 (1291), and between 00-G4 with its total of 1109.

"The problem of unemployment today, and for future generations." remarks the Secretary of Labour, "may not be how to provide subsistence for persons out of employment, but how surplus labour may be absorbed in socially useful ways at rates of pay consistent with those enjoyed by the rest of the community. If organised society does not afford an employable man an opportunity of earning a living in the ordinary channels of industry, and the natural resources and powers of production of the community are ample and sufficient for the provision to every man, woman and child of a comfortable standard of living, then there remains the problem of best utilising his energy." Higher Ratio of Unemployed

The report goes on to predict the possibility of a higher ratio of permanently unemployed, for after stating that the existence of a certain number is inevitable, it adds: "And with the constant improvement in management and technology there is a possibility that the numbers wiil increase up to that time when actuarial estimates predict a downward trend in the population figures. "There appears to be no reason to anticipate that mechanisation of industry will not increase to a considerable extent, although this may be more applicable to the industries of the towns than to the industries of the rural ureas. The growth of technology appears likely, in the light of past experience, to be accompanied by a dimunition in the capacity of private undertakings to absorb surplus labour. With the consequent need for the breach to be filled by national means."

"In the expenditure .of national funds it is clear that the unemployed should not be placed in competition with industry. If, however, ablebodied unemployed were placed on long term and large scale work programmes, this policy would result in a substantial decrease in the volume of unemployment to the benefit of society.

Present Methods

Relief works ought to be used as a force to compensate for moderate business fluctuation, is another point made in the report, which states that groups of persons engaged in industry cannot be expected to employ others at a loss. If relief works are to be really effective as an agency of economic stablisation, it is suggested that comprehensive measures are required which look to their utilisation not merely as a remedy when trade depressions occur, but in part for prevention of the causes of depression. "That is to say, just as public works expenditure on setting works in hand may diminish unemployment if It is incurred at a time of trade depression when private enterprise is slack, so it may diminish unemployment in prosperity if planned to employ classes of labour which for some special or seasonal reason are unemployed, and not likely to be readily absorbed in a carefully planned expansion of enterprise," states the report. A wholesale liquidation of unemployment among artisans is noticeable in examination of the work of the placement office. This has been particularly noticeable in connection with the huilding trades. Shortage of Trained Men "At present,'" says this section of the report, "there are very few firstclass tradesmen, either carpenters, bricklayers or plasterers, who are without work. In fact, there is a distinct shortage of trained men in the two former trades, and this shortage is undoubtedly responsible for the limits to building expansion which are at present being encountered. "A similar bouyaney in the employment figures of mechanical and engineering trades also has been remarked, while there has been a great impetus given to the absorption of men in the metal manufacturing industries, particularly in motor car engineering and assembling. "Parallel with the increase in the numbers employed in many trades there has been a comparable increase in the number of 'white collar' employees. Clerks who had been without engagement for years on end during the depression have been widely employed, while the numbers of commercial travellers and contact workers also have expanded." xhere vutai t ereaw vdtseo: