H—ll

Dunedin District Dunedin is the centre both of a wide range of secondary industries located mainly around the Dunedin urban area, and extensive sheep, and mixed farming, and fruitgrowing in Central and South Otago. More than one-fifth of all male workers in this district are engaged in primary industries, the remainder being divided fairfy evenly between secondary and tertiary industries. As appears to be usual in the larger centres, the bulk of women and girls work in the servicing industries. Fewer than one-third are employed in manufacture, and just under two-thirds in tertiary industries. Vacancies— The demand for labour of all kinds remains buoyant in this district. Immediately prior to Christmas some difficulty was experienced in placing men, but at other times in the year the real difficulty has been to find men for the jobs offering. A fall in the total of male notified vacancies from 1,215 at 31st March, 1948, to 1,002 at 31st March, 1949, was confined almost exclusively to manufacturing industries and building and construction. Vacancies for skilled workers fell by almost one-third, while a slight increase occurred in the demand for juveniles. Female vacancies rose from 1,807 to 1,848 at 31st March, 1949. In this case the demand for skilled workers rose considerably, while the demand for juvenile labour fell. Manufacturing. —Although the demand for skilled labour in the engineering and metalworking trades remains keen, shortages of raw materials, notably steel and hard coke, have reduced it somewhat by comparison with the previous year. Notified male vacancies fell from 333 (including 184 skilled) at 31st March, 1948, to 224 (including 93 skilled) at 31st March, 1949. It is expected that the shortage of sheet metal will be relieved to some extent when a duplicate iron-roller mill commences operations in about June, 1949. Difficulty was experienced during the year by fertilizer-manufacturers in anticipating demand, and in October it was reported by some units that they were fully staffed, all storage space was full, and orders for fertilizers were not coming forward from farmers. The position altered later, and the combined effect of the draw-off of labour for freezingworks and the flow of orders left the works with 26 vacancies at 31st March, 1949. The demand for female workers comes from woollen-mills and clothing and footwear - manufacturing. One woollen-mill has brought into operation during the year a modern hostel designed to attract women and girls. Vacancies in each of these three avenues of employment have increased over the year. Woollen-mills require 284, an increase of 23 over 31st March, 1948 ; clothing-manufacturing requires 618 females, or 76 more ; and footwear-manufacturing, 58, an increase of 18. Seasonal. —At 31st March, 1949, there were 1,220 men employed in seasonal industries in this district, as compared with 1,163 at 31st March, 1948. The maximum number employed in freezing-works was 771 at 28th February, a number slightly in excess of the maximum the previous year. The labour position in freezing-works has been good, on the whole, and though shortages have occurred they have not been such as to impede production. Dairy factories in the district were fully staffed, and some labour was diverted to Invercargill, New Plymouth, and Hamilton. There was no apparent shortage of shearers, and only 8 shearers from the shearers' training scheme were placed in this district, 3 being sent to Oamaru. Tertiary Industries. —The greatest need in the servicing industries, as expressed through notified vacancies, is for female labour. Hospitals, particularly small private hospitals, are short of trained staff, and there is a shortage of 12 nurses and 46 other female workers. Mental hospitals require 33 nurses. There is also a shortage of domestic workers in the catering trades, 114 vacancies being notified at 31st March, 1949, compared with 87 at 31st March, 1948.

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