Unemployment is down for the time being, the job market is looking up and everyone is starting to feel better about the unemployment rate as we make our way out of the recession, right?
Wrong, very wrong. The Asian unemployment rate has hit a record high of 9.8 percent with 1200 Asians being forced to join the Dole queue since February.
There are currently 22,400 unemployed Asians in New Zealand and Ethnic Affairs Minister Pansy Wong does not seem concerned nor does she have any good ideas to tackle the problem.
I have asked Minister Wong what she is doing to help curb the spiralling unemployment rate amongst Asians and she has offered up the idea of business forums.
Has the government not learned from last year’s dismal Job Summit that talk-fests don’t work?
The business forums will be run by the Office of Ethnic Affairs, yet in a response to a Written Question I recently lodged she said the Office of Ethnic Affairs does not operate to create jobs.
No wonder she is so blasé, or maybe just confused. Business Forums run by an office that doesn’t help to create jobs? This sounds like an empty gesture doesn’t it?
The Asian community needs a strong leader who is going to offer up real solutions to this problem that is affecting thousands of Asian people across New Zealand.
Under her watch as Ethnic Affairs Minister since National came into power, the Asian unemployment rate has grown steadily above the national average.
What real solutions do you offer Raymond?
And I saw a snippet on Maori TV last night that improvement in unempolyment has not been seen in Maori employment figures.
Raymond, hope you watch Campbell live tonight to see how Asians have to change their name just to get their foot in the door. Perhaps there may be more of an underlying reason as to why unemployment amongst Asians is high and not necessarily through inaction of the government.
Gosh and I thought the dole was for all NZ citizens. Not too happy seeing Labor putting the boot into Asian unemployed New Zealanders. A sad 2 for 1 special.
Perhaps they are also represented in higher numbers as people who cannot speak or write English very well?
bikerkiwi said
This seems to be an increasing issue amongst a lot of different people, notwithstanding the specifics of your comment. Punctuation, blah. Spelling, blah. Using actual English words,blah. Coz u kno its 2 gr8!
indiana – I believe bikerkiwi just proved you point. As soon as you mention asians, out pops a stereotype.
“your point”, of course LOL
@ WTL – it was not a stereotype – it was a question “Perhaps they are also represented in higher numbers as people who cannot speak or write English very well?”
Im sure Raymond will be able to back up the comment – that there are many Asians (specifically mentioning Asians because this is who the thread is about) that simply cannot communicate in English well.
Thats not a insult – its a fact – many people from (say) China come here after living most of their life in China – its normal that their English would be poor (same as if I went there) – I would expect if I went to another country and couldn’t speak the ‘lingo’ well – I would not get a job.
This could be a very good reason for the link in figures.
I also know this is the fact for youth who (as Loota says) say stuff life “Coz u kno its 2 gr8!” – I actually have this on CV’s that come across my desk. They never get a interview. But then I assume you think that is a stereotype against youths.
Actually wtl, Raymond (I suspect maybe his anglosaxonised name…) proves my point that he does not actually truly understand the core reasons for high unemployment amongst Asians when he infers in his post the following:
“Under her watch as Ethnic Affairs Minister since National came into power, the Asian unemployment rate has grown steadily above the national average”
So the root cause could well be immigration standards?
Haven’t had a chance to read thread properly so apologise if somebody has already said this, why aren’t English language standards higher for getting into the country?
Migrants (not only Asians) come here on different categories – investor, skilled, family reunification etc. Language proficiency is part of the requirements for all categories except family. So language, although an issue in some cases, is not an issue per se.
A recent UMR Research report showed that the public perceptions of discrimination against Asians has increased over the past 12 months.
During times of adversity, strong leadership is needed. The Asian community needs an advocate, someone to champion their cause within Government.
Well, alot of immigrants coming into NZ are uneducated and that’s a fact you can’t change. We can’t go into their country and educate them so they can come here to find a job easier. You could try educate them here but we are too busy getting the $h1t taxed out of us educating our own people, and even that’s not enough you realise even though the % of asian unemployment is higher the Quantity of Pakeha unemployment will be higher than all other races combined.
Seriously what’s the solution? There really isn’t one there are uneducated foreigners coming into our country and that’s just the way it is you can either let them come sit on the doll or you can get racist and shut some of them out either way you look bad as a politician.
Unless theres some other solution I’m not thinking of which you have so cunningly and mysteriously decided not to say while bleating about a problem which some politicians are getting really good at doing at the moment.
Raymond,
You say “Migrants (not only Asians) come here on different categories – investor, skilled, family reunification etc. Language proficiency is part of the requirements for all categories except family. So language, although an issue in some cases, is not the major factor.”
How you can say that language is not a major factor
How many of the unemployed Asians in NZ are here on family visas? How many cannot speak English?
Are you saying that the vast majority of Asians who mention unemployment to you have strong English skills ?
It IS a major issue. I have interviewed many who have English skills that are not good enough for a customer facing role.
You mention discrimination – which is really a cop out as you seem not to believe that it may be *their* skill-sets – but is more likely discrimination on behalf of normal NZ’ers.
And as a Kiwi (Married to an immigrant, with a daughter who is living with another immigrant) that I find offensive.
Chris, I respect your position. You said you found it offensive, were you offended by the report or the result?
The UMR report showed that Asians were the most discriminated against of any group, with 75 percent of respondents believing this to be the case.
Also the annual race relations report released in March had a ’significantly higher’ amount of race-related complaints than previous years.
Takeaway the language factor, this shows that Asians are being disadvantged just by being Asian before they even open their mouths.
If you believe English is a “major factor” then are you suggesting the Government policy in language proficiency is not working?
“Takeaway the language factor, this shows that Asians are being disadvantged just by being Asian before they even open their mouths.”
By SOME (small minded pathetic) people SOMETIMES – not all the time – and why take away the language factor – its a very real issue – that you keep seeming to miss. (and didn’t answer my question on). You seem to keep ignoring it and seem to think that discrimination is the MAJOR cause of this.
If you believe English is a “major factor” then are you suggesting the Government policy in language proficiency is not working?
Im saying that (and remember most of the immigrants came in under your government) – is that if you cannot speak English then you are likely to be unemployed. And this is reflected in the figures you put forward to start.
Same thing Labour did in the UK – and look how well that turned out.
“Takeaway the language factor, this shows that Asians are being disadvantged just by being Asian before they even open their mouths.”
If this is the case, how can you possibly relate the increase in umemployment amongst Asians to all of a sudden National coming into government? You would have been better off to say that Labour stands for zero discrimination than to try and lay the cause at the feet of Pansy Wong. I’d really like to know what policies or legislation has been introduced by National that allows prospective employers more freedom to discriminate against Asians.
Like your argument Indiana – even though I disagree!
However, the issue here is that Asian unemployment is getting worse under National.
This also coincides with the UMR survey which shows that discrimination against Asian’s is increasing as well.
Politics aside, we’ll need to discover the underlying reasons for this.
But Raymond the issue is not that “Asian unemployment is getting worse under National” raising unemployment of Asians is the result – not the issue.
Sadly – you show your own bias and and play the discrimination card because you refuse to acknowledge that language issues exist amongst the MANY Asians who simply do not speak English well – stating that the fact some cannot speak English is “not an issue per se.”
In place you go for the discrimination card – over and over.
Still – its easier to blame “racist” kiwis than it is to acknowledge that the thousands of non English speakers that came in under Labour.
Chris: just out of curiosity: an Indian job seeker, who is a native English speaker but do speak English with accent – will he or she fail your English proficiency test?
Also, re Campbell Live story that migrants have to change their names to improve their chance of job interviews – borrowing your language – is this an issue or a result?
So don’t accuse others of playing which card, be calm and carry on. Let’s work together to find the underlying reasons. And this is exact my challenge to the Minister.
While I acknowledge that language may be an issue for some immigrants (whether Asian or not), I believe that my point still stands. According to my dictionary, the definition of stereotype is “a preconceived, standardised, and oversimplified impression of the characteristics which typify a person, situation, etc. an attitude based on such a preconception. “. Here one of the commentators immediately assumed that if Asians were involved in must be because of language. Surely this is a classic example of a preconceived idea since no evidence was put forward to show that language was, in fact, the reason for high Asian unemployment. Furthermore, there are likely to be a number of reasons for high unemployment among Asians, and assuming that it is all down to language is an oversimplification.
Raymond “Chris: just out of curiosity: an Indian job seeker, who is a native English speaker but do speak English with accent – will he or she fail your English proficiency test?”
That person would “pass” I dont care for accents – we are a professional company and have many people here from all over the world. As long as they can communicate – that is what we need.
But good on you for yet again not even accepting that it MAY be an issue.
Chris, please read my article and comments carefully. Migrants came here under different categories. For some, language IS an issue while for the others, may not. If you are so fond of a narrow approach, at least you should try to avoid begging the question.
sean14 says:
May 10, 2010 at 4:44 pm
What real solutions do you offer Raymond?
Thanks Sean14: watch the space.
“sean14 says:
May 10, 2010 at 4:44 pm
What real solutions do you offer Raymond?”
Sean, can you point to the job creation schemes that came out of the job summit? The cycleway doesnt really count because it’s still an idea. The venture capital idea got shelved, and we got 9 day working weeks for some who wanted that.
Do you accept the job summit was just a “talk fest” rather than the “do fest” it was advertised as?
What about the Crabs, Raymond?
Hard to swallow, isn’t it? Have you asked for Minister Wong’s take on this?