CHANGES ARE A COMIN’: Changes to the benefit are a comin’—with reforms announced this week. The focus is on our youth and getting them off the dole and into work. $20 million a day or $8 billion a year is spent on beneficiaries. What are the reforms? Is it about training or incentives? Are there jobs for the unemployed? Do the reforms look at early intervention programmes? Do we need to reform more than our youth sector? Will these reforms fix the problem or leave more young people out in the cold?
SPEAKING OF JOBS: A new poll shows many tertiary students plan to head overseas because they fear they won’t be able to find a job in New Zealand. Are their fears justified? It’s “O” week—should new students keep this in mind when entering University? How do we keep our students in the country?
MMP: In November we decided we wanted to stick with MMP. Now, it’s time to have our say on MMP reform. What changes would you like to see to MMP? What should the threshold be for list seats? Should a list MP be able to stand in a by-election? Should a candidate have to choose between the list and an electorate? Who should rank the list? How many MPs do we need in Parliament? How should we manage proportion of the seats? What if a party wins more electorate seats than it would get under its share of the party vote?
A night of LIVE pub politics from the Backbencher Pub: Wednesday, 29th of February. Our Panel: Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty, Labour MP Sue Moroney, New Zealand First MP Tracey Martin, and National MP David Bennet
Go Sue!
WOO HOO! 
!!!!!
The bene changes suck and should be scrapped!
!
“How do we keep our students in the country?” Yeah, good luck with that…
Spud, the question should be: why impose debt on students when it is completely unnecessary? Or why educate foreign students when it merely takes up resources which could be better utilised?
The benefit changes are mainly superficial and will just push people who want employment into more bullshit ‘educational’ programs which solve nothing at all… Sadly, most of all, for them.
I would hate to think about what pressure these parents that have been out of the work force for a number of years are going to be put under when faced with having to get work in such difficult times. What employer will take them on when their skills are out of date?
Those that can’t find work and have gone back to study take the risk of buying an expensive lottery ticket to end up with a job at the end. There are never any guarantees are offered on job placement. Training without the chance of placement is a waste of time, money and effort. There are students coming out now with degrees into the economy that will be part of a lost generation. If they can’t find something within a few years in their field their education will be wasted and in some cases out of date and needing to be re-skilled. There will be students entering now that will still come out into a flat economy in 3 – 4 years time unless a credible economic plan for growth is put in place. Much of the education sector is a con, printing fiat based degrees, where the value is worth less and less every year with employers.
When students are told constantly by recruiters and employers that they don’t have enough experience for entry roles that they might apply for, then the added pressure of them having to take up a McDonald’s job will contribute to more leaving. Why stay and be stuck in something when your student debt climbs and you can only get work to just cover your rent and bills? They will search the international market and take the best international offer that matches their qualification.
Students are passionate about what they have learnt and are eager to put their theory to practice, or in some cases get more external practice. Employers are picking staff with experience over qualifications and they have no confidence in giving someone a chance that have some ability.
What about those that have gone back to study with in the past few years to upgrade their education. The jobs are not out there. Only half of them exist when you account for the ghost jobs that are advertised by recruiters all advertising the same positions, or the ones by employers where they just want to see who is out there. Many don’t want to take on someone unless they meet over 80% of their requirements. Some people just don’t fit in the box that is defined by many HR staff in their lengthy job adverts aimed at filtering many applicants out. I am sure someone that has been out of work for a while will find this process totally frustrating and demoralizing during these economic times. Not everyone has the ability to face hundreds of rejections, or in some cases no responses at all from employers.
I would also like to add that employment status discrimination is happening. Those that have been out of work for quite some time are going to be discriminated against. Chances are those applicants will not be on the top of the list. In addition, anyone that has been on contract status before is also discriminated against when wanting to get back into full time roles.
What about those that have had tertiary education but are having to go back and do more? This only contributes to the payment of more student fees and debt and does nothing for the country if they decide to leave. There is little support for those that want to use transferrable skills to build on basic experience to take on roles in other areas that they may not be qualified in. Today you can’t easily move into other fields without having to go back and do another degree. We need better ways of helping those with transferrable skills to take up work in other industries with employer support to encourage that move. We need employers that encourage those that are willing to pick up extra on the job training, to take up new positions and contribute to the economic growth without significant delays due to lengthy retraining courses.
The top down approach to economic growth is not happening. Employers are continuing to put off more workers and they will only contribute to the pressure on those that are all ready finding it tough competition. We need an environment that encourages those that have some basic skills and education to feel they have some value to add to the economy rather than flipping burgers.
@Matt –
@James –