FURTHER WORK.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20455, 7 November 1934, Page 9

FURTHER WORK.

Finding Jobs for Unemployed.

BOARD’S DECISION. ALTERNATIVE TO DEPENDENCE ON RELIEF. (“Star” Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The Unemployment Board has decided to embark on a policy of endeavouring to place unemployed workers with private employers. The new scheme will be tried out at first in one or two of the main centres, and, if it is a success, it will be extended. In making an announcement of this development to-day, the Hon J. A. Young said the board had been of the opinion that the improvement which had undoubtedly occurred in the general conditions opened up the possibilities of associating the functions of the labour-placing bureaus proper with the activities of the unemployment relief bureaus. The question had been brought forward by himself at a meeting of the board, and it was decided that action should be taken along those lines. The board recognised that effective work in the placing of unemployed persons in private employment depended very largely on securing the confidence of employers in the recommendations made to them by the bureaus, and it was intended to exercise more than usual care in selecting the officers who would be entrusted with the duties of making contact with employers. The idea would be tried at first only in one or two of the main centres, added Mr Young, but, if it proved successful, it would no doubt be extended later. The board realised that there were large numbers of men on its register who, although they had had to depend on relief for a considerable length of time, were not content to resign themselves permanently to such a mode of existence, but who were anxious to resume their former places in the working life of the community. On the other hand, it was believed that there were many employers who would be willing to give qualified unemployed men an opportunity of filling vacancies on their stall's, or even in some cases to create extra positions, if they could be placed in personal touch with deserving and suitable men. The board hoped by the experiment now proposed to bring the two together, realising the need in the interests of the country of providing alternatives to habitual dependence on relief.