FEW UNEMPLOYED

Southland Times, Issue 19172, 16 February 1924, Page 2

FEW UNEMPLOYED

DOMINION FORTUNATE. AUSTRALIAN COMPARISONS. S VARYING COMPLICATIONS. (Special to the Times.) WELLINGTON, February 15. Comparison with our nearest neighbour, Australia, or with other countries, indicates that, in the matter of unemployed, New Zealand stands in an exceedingly fortunate position. To indicate, by any basis of statistics, that would compare with other countries, what the relative rate of unemployment, in a normal period, is on New Zealand would not be practicable, for the reason that countries outside Australia and New Zealand, have not consistently presented I returns that would enable a comparison to be effectively made. Yet, an inquiry into the employment question in Australia and New Zealand reveals many interesting factors. FLUCTUATION IN EMPLOYMENT. In New Zealand, official returns of the fluctuation in employment are made possible only from the number of persons who actually register their names at the offices of the Government Labour Department; in Australia, the official details are based on information furnished by the secretaries of trade unigns in the six States.' According to the latest information available, the number of persons unplaced by ihe Department of Labour in New Zealand is 382 for the whole Dominion, at the end, of January. This return covers the records of 16 Labour Department offices. Over one-half of that number are labourers, drivers numbered 27, clerks 23, cooks and farm hands 14 each, seamen 13, storemen 13, while the remainder were under double figures. An amateur statistician, with an optimistic outlook, might consider himself. entitled to deduce from the figures that there were only 6 men reported officially out of work for every 10,000 men of working age, that is, between 17 and 60 years, in the Dominion. He would overlook the fact, however, that the number of men that report out of .work to the Labour Department is not a true index of unemployment, for the reason that only those report who consider the Department Is in a position to place them. Thus, men in clerical and professional walks in life, if rendered idle, generally rely on their own resources in 4.he search for employment, and depend on' private arrangement and the advertisements in the public Press for their chances of a renewal of employment. Yet the Labour Department’s returns have some bearing on the number of unemA played, as it is popularly regarded; in fact, it may be said that, where there is a material rise or fall in the figures of the Department, so unemployment becomes more or less acute. THE SEPARATE DISTRICTS. Separated into districts, the latest returns show that the number of men unplaced by the Departme’ht are:—Auckland, 145; Wellington, 92; Christchurch, 29; Dunedin, 17; New Plymouth, 17; Nelson, 15; Timaru, 15; Invercargill, 14 ; Gisborne, 10; Napier, 10; Greymouth, 9; Masterton, 5; Oamaru, 3; Palmerston North, 1. Taking a general review of the employment offering through official sources at the time the latest returns were compiled, the jobs available, in their order of numbers, were: —Dairy farm hands, general farm workers, labourera for public works, scrub-cutters, foundry workers, carpenters and blacksmiths. During the last'eighteen years, work was found by the Labour Department in New Zealand for 141,164 men, of whom private employment was found for 65,711, while 75,453 went to Government works of various kinds. The average number placed in work annually for the past fiye years was 3600. IN AUSTRALIA. Unemployment in the States of Australia, based on the statistics for 1922, the latest available, would appear to show that the rate is considerably higher, relatively, than New Zealand, allowing for the visible defect in the means of computation in either country. The percentage of unemployed to the membership of unions reporting, for the Commonwealth was 9.2, and, for the individual States: New South Wales, UJ; Queensland, 10; Western Australia, 9.9; Tasmania, 8.6; Victoria, 6.6; South Australia, 5.7. Engineering trades returned the largest percentage of unemployed, with 16.2 per cent, of members of unions, while the mining industry had 13.6 per cent, of their union membership unemployed, while manufacturing concerns, apart from the engineering and metal trades, had 10 per cent, of their union members out of work. IN THE OLDER COUNTRIES. The wide extent which the unemployment problem assumed throughout the various countries in 1921 and 1922 was felt in New Zealand far less severely than in the older countries of Europe and America. Latterly, in the United Kingdom, the administration of the unemployment dole has given an opportunity of collecting accurate statistics of unemployed, whose numbers have varied between 2,500,000 and 1,500,000 during the last two years. In the United States, a national committee appointed by the President reported in October, 1921, that the number of unemployed was in the vicinity of six millions; a return to more normal conditions has been attended with a considerable reduction of the numbers of unemployed, although the monthly reports of the United States Bureau of Commerce and Labour show that the problem still has its serious aspects. Ensure Correct Digestion. That tired feeling accompanied by slight headache after a heavy meal is the result of an irregularity in the system. Relief will be found in Senior’s Effervescing Saline which is not only effective in such cases, but is a pleasant cooling drink. Only 2/6 per bottle from your chemist. (AdvL)