Jobs barometer to move

The first jobs going up on the job barometer, which then remained static for nearly five months.

The mercury is about to move on the controversial jobs lighthouse barometer plastered on the north wall of the Masterton Town Hall.

The council's economic development manager, Tina Nixon, has revealed the barometer, the needle on which has been stuck on somewhere between nil and about 25 for months, will on Friday lift and jump the first hurdle of 50 jobs, and end up at about the second hurdle of 100.

Ms Nixon conceded the council has "copped a bit of flak" over the barometer but said the reason behind that was it has not been updated due to the cost of doing so. "We planned to update it every three months but in hindsight that has probably been too long."

She said it would have been better to have kept the public informed by letting people know just when the barometer updates were to be done.

"We have a register of newly created jobs, well over 50 from the time the first ones were posted on the barometer."

Ms Nixon said it was a huge task to try and capture all newly created jobs and for that reason any employer who has taken on more staff, or people who have taken on a newly created job should contact the council so checks can be made as to whether those jobs have been registered.

The jobs barometer was a project driven by the council's chief executive, Pim Borren, and the first batch of jobs was listed on it on the last day in July. Since then it has not moved, a situation which has drawn derisive comments from Times-Age letter writers and texters.