Page image
Page image

H—lla

with 5,359 men. Included in these totals, however, were many workers who could not find employment readily. In particular, the returned-servicemen category, comprising over a third of total placements, included younger men who had not previously been employed in civilian occupations and men suffering from war injuries and requiring new avenues of employment. SECTION IV.—NECESSITY FOR WIDER EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION (i) The Changing Outlook on Unemployment 509. The efficient manner in which New Zealand as a nation geared herself to wartime conditions gives encouragement for the growing belief that, with the necessary guidance, she can adapt herself with the same determination and efficiency to mitigating the anti-social effects of recurring depression conditions. 510. In the history of this country and of the great nations of the world, trade depressions have brought, periodically, all the social and economic evils arising from the inadequate use of the available resources of the world. Socially and economically, the greatest evil is the inadequate use of the available labour force. Mass unemployment in periods of depression, with a partial recovery only as the cycle swings upward, has in the past brought personal catastrophe to countless people who, without hope of new opportunities in the visible future, were deprived of their jobs. These people could realize only too well that the inadequate use of the labour force meant more than an economic loss to the nation and more than the loss of means of livelihood to those who were unemployed. It meant to the many whose period of unemployment was long, loss of hope and even loss of self-respect. 511. Realization has come of the necessity for nations to fight in time of peace against the evils of mass unemployment with the same determination as they fought against other evils during the war. The signatories of the United Nations Charter adopt full employment as a guiding principle, and success will depend upon the methods by which they strive to achieve it and the determination of their attack on the causes of depression. (ii) Full Employment under Wartime Controls 512. Experience has shown that full utilization of the nation's man-power can be obtained in times of war, but at the sacrifice of many personal liberties. The problem for peace is to achieve an equally full utilization of man-power without the same sacrifice of personal liberties. The key to the problem is the intelligent use of adequate, comprehensive, and constantly up-to-date statistical information. 513. The maintenance of full employment is a national commitment, and while industry, if assisted by the availability of reliable up-to-date information, may itself be able to achieve more stabilized employment than in the past, the final responsibility for equating demand to supply of labour must rest with the Government. It is not sufficient that there should be, on a Dominion basis, as many vacant jobs as there are unemployed workers. The balance must be qualitative as well as quantitative. As men become surplus to requirements in one activity, other work must become available to them, the new r work being — (a) Suitable to their physique and skill. (b) In a locality in which they can reasonably be expected to work. (c) Available at the right time to avoid an excessive period of standing by. (iii) The Function of Employment Information 514. Employment information must serve three main purposes. It must provide private enterprise with the information necessary to achieve on the one hand full benefit from the economies of long-range planning and appropriate location of industry, and, on the other hand, a balanced and stabilized labour force in reasonable equilibrium with other industries. It must provide information to enable Government works

106

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert