THE APPRENTICE PROBLEM

Taranaki Daily News, 4 March 1935, Page 4

THE APPRENTICE PROBLEM

At a recent conference of master builders the apprentice problem was given -a good deal of consideration. It was pointed out that in the carpentery and joinery trades the number of apprentices employed had fallen from 1757 in the year 1928 to 505 in 1934. The fall in industry as a whole was not so great, being from 10,227 in 1928 to 4303 in 1934. Still, a reduction of more than one half in the number of apprentices in all trades and of more than two-thirds in one of the principal industries is sufficient to cause anxiety as to the future supply of skilled labour. It waA inevitable that the building trade should feel more than most the effect of the economic depression. The effort made by the Unemployment Board to remove some of the handicap by way of subsidy afforded some relief, but it is obvious that this was but a palliative measure, and that until economic recovery is nearer completion there will be limitation in building enterprise. Some help might be anticipated, and is actually accruing from municipal improvement and housing schemes launched with the idea of removing any tendency towards the creation of slums and of preventing its recurrence in the future. The apprentice problem, however, is wider than its relation to any particular industry. It ts one upon which there seems an irreconcilable difference of opinion between employers and labour organisations. One point they agree upon is that the locally-trained skilled tradesman is the most suitable for Dominion employment, and there are few who will challenge that conclusion. Trades unions fear the exploitation of apprentice labour, and the employers complain that sufficient appreciation of what is implied in the training of apprentices is not accorded. The builders’ conference suggested that apprentices might be indentured to group associations instead of to individual employers. There are obvious difficulties in such a plan apart from the possible objection of the trades unions. Nevertheless for the sake of the youth of the Dominion a policy of drift cannot be contemplated with equanimity. It is perfectly clear that the future will be the age of specialisation, that in the struggle for success the well-trained man will outdistance his competitors, and that economic conditions will demand the utmost efficiency unless industries are to go under. As in the professions so in the skilled trades the way of the student with energy and ability must be left open. The question for employers and labour leaders to solve in co-operation is how best this can be brought about.