possible following last week's unemployment survey.

That was the promise from Labour Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman as he revealed the preliminary result of the survey -- a total of 421 out of work.

"We're very pleased that people have come forward,'' said Mr. Pearman. "We will be working with the figures and will try to match individuals with job opportunities as soon as possible.'' One of the reasons for last week's survey was the gap between the Government's estimate of unemployed people and the total of 2,000 counted last May in the Census. Although late names may still trickle in, last week's result is much nearer the Government's running total.

"The response last week was not at the level we thought based on the Census figures,'' admitted Mr. Pearman. "Therefore some real evaluation has to take place. But the response is consistent with those persons that had registered on an ongoing basis with the Government Employment Office. It bears out our statistics so it seems our system is sound.'' He was not yet prepared to comment on why the census figure had been so high.

Last week's three-day registration drive asked unemployed people to sign up at post offices and schools to give Government an idea of the number hunting work.

"I am not disappointed,'' said Mr. Pearman. "People have made an effort to respond to the call to be registered as seeking employment or prepared to be trained or re-trained. I am satisfied that a lot of the persons that have come forward are new to the register.'' They were "very serious people, not traditional part-timers,'' he said. The majority were 30-plus and they ranged from people with their own companies to office clerks.

A large group seemed to be from the construction industry and its fringes -- like home maintenance workers, independent truck owner/operators, and people with family painting businesses.

"These are persons whose business levels have reduced to a point where they want to look for something else,'' said Mr. Pearman.

Efforts to boost local employment would be helped by the survey, he said. "We have more information than just names and addresses. We have people's skills and trades and we can now apply these immediately against work permit applications.

"We can't place all of these people overnight but we may go back to many of them for more specific information.'' Government was thankful to organisations that volunteered to help with the survey, Mr. Pearman added: "It hasn't cost the public purse a penny in labour costs.''