PLACEMENT SERVICE

Te Puke Times, Volume 26, Issue 44, 4 June 1937, Page 3

PLACEMENT SERVICE

Working Age Limit

NOT TOO OLD AT 80 !

Some readers may have noted in the newspapers a controversy regarding the working age-limit for men and women. The truth of the matter seems to be that it all depends on the individual. Some men and some women retain their mental and physical faculties until their eightieth year, while others become mentally feeble and helpless before they are sixty. This subject has become quite a “live” one during recent months because the operation of the State Placement Service has resulted in large numbers of unemployed men from about 55 years to 80 years being placed in private employment. Recently a man over 71 years of age was sent by a Placement Officer to a business man in Wellington suburb. He was engaged and he proved 30 capable after a fortnight’s trial that his wages were increased by 10s per week. The same firm added to their staff a man aged 51, who is practically stone deaf. This man had been on relief for over four years, but is proving to be an invaluable member of the staff. A man over 70 years of age who had been out of work for five years was found a position as a custodian, and a plumber of 67, after four years’ relief work, was reinstated at his trade,

The “star” age placement was that of a man aged 80, ineligible for an old-age or an invalidity pension, Who was appointed caretaker of a Wellington firm’s premises. It would therefore appear that age is not always the deciding factor in estimating a man’s capability for work.