LABOUR SHORTAGE SHOWN TO BE ON INCREASE IN N.Z.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 7, 8 March 1950, Page 6

LABOUR SHORTAGE SHOWN TO BE ON INCREASE IN N.Z.

A total of 30,130 vacancies were reported by employers in their employment information returns in October, 1949, this being 3500 more than 1 2f months earlier and the highest October total of vacancies recorded during any of the past four years, says the half-yearly survey of the Department of Labour and Employment. The survey states that the greatest proportion of the newer vacancies are for male workers. There Were 17,446 male vacancies in October, 1949, (5.4 per cent of male employment), as. compared with 14,719 male vacancies one year earlier.

Still Acute Even soi the survey says, the shortage of female .labour is still the more acute, the 12,684 female vacancies amounting to 10.1 per cent of the 125,000 female employees in

surveyed industries. “Almost all sections of industry reported a greater number of vacan-

cies in October, 1949, than 12 months previously. Manufacturers showed a total of 14,945 vacancies (7133 for males and 7812 for females) last October, as against 13,458 a year earlier. v “In distribution and finance vacancies have risen from 2642 .-/to 3681 in the same period, while in transport and communication the

increase has been from 3249 at the earlier date to 3794 in October, 1949. Similar comparisons extend into other industrial groups. “In October, 1949, vacancies notified by its clients to the department for filling numbered 11,322 for males and 9579 for females, these representing approximately two-thirds of the vacancies recorded in the halfyearly survey'. \ The survey says that the surveyed labour force between October, 1948, and October, 1949, increased by 12,464 persons this being particularly identical with that of 12,464 persons for the previous 12 months. Force Has Expanded “The estimated total labour force, which includes farming and certain other groups not .in the surveyed labour force, has expanded from 702,300 in October, 1946, to 730,600 In October, 1949.

“The annual increase in the size of the non-Maori labour force reached its lowest point during 1948-49. This one factor has been a major restricting influence on the rate of growth of New Zealand’s labour force during the - post-wear years. Its limiting effect will again be felt during 1950, but from 1951 onwards an increasing flow of juvenile woi’kers to the labour force can be expected.”

Answers to Quiz on Page 7

1. Westminster Abbey. 2. Vitamin C. / 3. One of the hypothetical inhabitants of'the planet Mars. 4. The treating of diseases by the application of water. 5. Red-letter days were the more important feasts set apart by the

Church and indicated in the calendar in red letters. 6. Lafayette sent them to George Washington, and they are now in Mt. Vernon.