H.—lla,

Reference to the current index of male and female enrolees affords interesting information as to their occupational fitness. At 31st March of the current year the following position was revealed in this connection: —

Current Enrolments.

Table Y of the Appendix shows the provincial distribution of male and female enrolments current with the Service as at the 31st March, 1941. Vacancies. During the twelve months ended 31st March, 1941, 46,370 vacancies for males and 7,712 for females were notified to the Service for filling. The industrial distribution of notified vacancies for males during the period is shown by Table 111 of the Appendix. It must be mentioned that, although these figures will give some clue to those industries which are most in need of labour, they do not tell all the story, because it has been found that many employers, knowing that there is little likelihood of their requirements being speedily met, do not notify vacancies to the Service. In addition, there remains a conservative section of employers which does not take advantage of the facilities offered by the State Placement Service. However, if statistics relating to vacancies notified suggest any noteworthy conclusion it is that the shortage of labour in industry has not been confined to one or two industries but has tended to be general. Placements. In the year ended 31st March, 1941, the Placement Service filled 31,991 private positions with male and 3,553 with female enrolees. The following table gives the number of private positions filled with males during the calendar years since the inception of the Service in May, 1936, and also for the first, quarter of the current year. As in previous reports, the figures relating to placements refer to positions filled and not to individuals placed. (N.B. —One person may enrol and be placed on several occasions in the same year. An indication of the extent to which this applies is shown by the fact that the 8,475 male placements effected in the first quarter of the current year relate to 7,262 individual workers.) Female placements were not recorded by the Service prior to October, 1939. The 3,553 placements effected during the year ended 31st March, 1941, include 2,779 permanent, 604 temporary, and 170 casual.

Table of Male Placements.

Table 111, dealing with enrolments, placements, and vacancies in respect of male workers, is of value in indicating readjustments in tlie labour employed in the listed industrial groups. The number of female enrolments, placements, and vacancies is too small to permit of any accurate conclusions in this regard, but the totals of such figures tend to reflect trends similar to those observed in the case of male workers as per Table 111 of the Appendix. The general shortage of labour referred to in the introduction of the Placement Service report is reflected in enrolments, placements, and vacancies shown in this table. Thus enrolments during the twelve months (not of individuals, but applications for employment) stand at 72,758, nearly 27,000

8

Classification. Males. Females. Total. Verified first class, fit, and prepared to travel to distant employment .. 237 5 242 Verified first class, fit, but not prepared to travel .. .. .. 720 13 733 Verified second class, fit, and prepared to travel to distant employment .. 1,197 11 1,208 Verified second class, fit, but not prepared to travel .. .. .. 2,543 64 2,607 Unverified and not finally classified .. .. .. .. .. 1,467 175 1,642 Fit for light work only .. .. .. .. .. .. 2,901 74 2,975 Unemployable .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 377 47 424 9,442 j 389 9,831

1936: 1937: 1938: 1939: 1940 : 1941 : , T pp, , May January January January January January Total JNature ot ±"iaeement. to to to to to to tQ Date _ December. December. December. December. December. March. I | Permanent (of three months' dura- 9,530 17,650 12,885 11,370 10,827 3,264 65,526 tion or more) Temporary (of more than one week's 5,384 12,051 9,416 8,569 9,224 3,015 47,659 duration but less than three months) Casual (up to one week's duration) 4,329 17,092 17,354 12,879 11,262 2,196 65,112 Totals.. .. .. 19,243 46,793 39,655 32,818 31,313 8,475 178,297