PARLIAMENT | PARTY | GRASSROOTS

Red Alert

Posts Tagged ‘Unemployment’

Let’s back jobs for young Kiwis

Posted by Chris Hipkins on September 2nd, 2011

Yesterday Labour launched our Youth Skills policy. Jacinda did an excellent post on the details just after it went public. If you live in Wellington and missed it in the DomPost this morning, look again. You’ll see all the salient details comprehensively covered in the news brief below and to the left of the quarter page article and photo espousing John Key’s babysitting and travel companion potential.

There is a certain symmetry to Labour launching a policy to get young Kiwis into work on the same day the National government signed off on a deal to buy a bunch of new electric trains for Auckland from overseas, rather than build them locally here in New Zealand. I think it’s great that Auckland are getting much needed investment in their public transport infrastructure, but why aren’t we cashing in the potential to create somewhere around 1,000 new jobs and add up to $250 million to our GDP?

The link between these two announcements actually runs a lot deeper than highlighting the contrast between Labour, who want to create local jobs, and National, who want to export them overseas. When I speak to a lot of the tradespeople in my electorate, I’m reminded just how many of them did their apprenticeships at the railway workshops, the post office, the car assembly plants, or the freezing works. With the exception of the railway workshops, that now employs a fraction of the staff it once did, all of those big employers are gone.

Those tradespeople are now sole traders or work largely in firms that employ fewer than 10 people. Taking on an apprentice is something they’re more than happy to do. They learned their trade on the job and they’re more than happy to give future generations the same chance. But it’s a huge commitment financially and a lot to ask of such small businesses. That’s why I know they’ll welcome Labour’s plan to convert the dole into apprenticeships subsidies.

A lot of people have remarked to me in the past how crazy it is we pay a young person to sit at home on the dole but we won’t provide some financial support to those willing to take them on and train them up. Well Labour is going to do something about that. Our Youth Skills policy is one that I’m very proud to campaign on. Our plan to get thousands of young Kiwis into work, education and training is in marked contrast to National’s plan to give a couple of hundred young beneficiaries a pre-pay purchase card.

So while baby-sitter John devotes his time to worrying about how young people spend their pocket money, Labour is focused on providing them with a meaningful vocation and hope for the future. Oh, what was that about nanny state again…?

Tags: , , , , ,
Filed under: Unemployment, jobs, workforce, youth
15 Comments

When a smile and a wave are not enough

Posted by Grant Robertson on February 5th, 2011

Yesterday in the electorate office I met an articulate middle aged woman at her wits end. She is a skilled person- a business analyst and project manager in the IT sector. She has been out of work for most of the last two years. She has used up all her savings and has now had to sell her home. She came to see me because she is being given the run around by Work and Income about her eligibility for support. As she said she felt like the staff at Work and Income made her feel it was her fault she was unemployed. She knows its not their fault, they are only following the directives from the top. She is stressed and struggling.

We talked, my office staff went away to talk to Work and Income, and I suggested some ideas for helping with her job search. She said towards the end of the conversation, ” I am working really hard here, but what is the government doing to help create jobs.”

Well, apart from obfuscating about the latest rise in unemployment, Mr Key has been having a great old time this week. I can’t sum it up better than Duncan Garner

But the figures out yesterday are John Key’s problem. He’s promised Kiwis that National would bring better jobs, higher wages and voters flocked to him. He has now said jobs are coming and we just need a little more patience. But time is ticking.

Key can dance badly and he can smile, he can laugh at himself and pick which of the ladies are hot – and in many ways his opponents have totally underestimated his ability as a politician and his ability to reach into ordinary New Zealand households.

But ordinary households need the recovery to kick in too, and Key needs more jobs to be created – his political credibility and the credibility of his economic plan relies on it.

Tags: ,
Filed under: Unemployment, jobs
72 Comments

From the Archive: Peter Fraser

Posted by Chris Hipkins on August 22nd, 2010

Yesterday I attended the rally in Civic Square protesting the government’s latest attacks on worker’s rights. It’s always interesting to put events of today into context. This quote comes from Peter Fraser’s speech to Parliament on the Employment Bill back in 1945:

“…if we have learned anything … it is that the worst thing in the world is to go on making a depression worse by reducing incomes. At that time, the whole power of the State should be used to maintain purchasing-power … I declare that as long as this Government remains in office, notwithstanding what happens in the outside world, notwithstanding what happens to prices, even of our own commodities, we can still produce sufficient to house and feed and clothe adequately our men, women and children, and particularly the children. Never again will this country be permitted to return to the terrible conditions that prevailed before this Government came to office.  It is indeed a terrible thing and a reflection on our civilization that, in a land of plenty, children should lack sufficient to eat…”

The old cliche goes that those who don’t learn the lessons of history are bound to repeat them. Ministers in the current National government obviously didn’t pay much attention during their history lessons. Since coming to office they’ve slashed spending on many vital public services, laid off thousands of public servants, and yanked away vital support from many of those who find themselves down on their luck. The purchasing power that Fraser alludes to is being eroded through their GST increase and the inflation it will cause, along with their unofficial ‘wage freeze’.

National’s latest moves to impose ‘fire at will’ provisions on all new employees and sell their holidays will only make matters worse. National promised Kiwis they were ‘aspirational’ – the question is for whom? It certainly isn’t ordinary hard-working Kiwis who are struggling with rising costs, stagnant wages, and lower levels of support from their government.

Tags: , , , , ,
Filed under: Unemployment, history, workforce
10 Comments

Unemployment up, still no plan…

Posted by Chris Hipkins on August 5th, 2010

The latest unemployment stats make for grim reading. Over 19,000 Kiwis have joined the ranks of the unemployed in the past 3 months. Since National has been in office unemployment has increased by 53,000. So what’s the National government focused on? Well they’ve spent most of this week trying to doctor figures to hide the fact that the wage gap between New Zealand and Australia has grown during their time in office, despite John Key’s pledge to make closing it his “fundamental priority”.

We should never regard unemployment as merely a matter of statistics. These are real people with real lives, real families, real homes, real mortgages, real bills to pay. The increase in unemployment from 6% to 6.8% in three short months marks thousands of individual tragedies. It’s a much bigger increase than anyone was predicting and highlights how adrift this government have already become.

Back in May John Key was happy to pronounce that his government is on the right track due to falling unemployment, so by his own standard they must have jumped the track in the past 3 months. Where is their plan? The Jobs Summit was a joke. The cycleway has failed to produce the thousands of jobs Key promised. Gerry’s bold plan to mine in National Parks has been stomped on. So what’s next? The thousands of Kiwis struggling to find work are keen to know…

Tags: , , , ,
Filed under: Unemployment, economy
19 Comments

Where’s the plan for jobs?

Posted by Chris Hipkins on April 9th, 2010

John Key promised that under a National government we’d catch up to Australia. He has succeeded on one measure. When he took office we had a lower unemployment rate than the Aussies. Under Key we’ve not only caught up, we’ve overtaken them.

In the past month 20,000 new jobs were created in Australia, the 7th straight month the number of jobs increased over the ditch. 215,000 jobs have been created in Oz in the past 6 months. Here in New Zealand 60,000 Kiwis have lost their jobs since National took office.

National has had a year and a half to implement their plan (or come up with a new one) yet they’ve spent it sitting on the sidelines. By contrast the Labor govt in Aussie has invested in a bold stimulus package, with a particular focus on R&D and education (unlike National who have cut both). Now National wants to raise GST too.

I hope this year’s Budget will demonstrate that National does actually have a plan. If they don’t, I suspect even more Kiwis will be crossing the Tasman.

Tags: , , ,
Filed under: Unemployment, economy, jobs
53 Comments

Unemployment stats grim reading

Posted by Chris Hipkins on February 4th, 2010

The latest unemployment stats out today make for grim reading. While the National government keeps claiming they have taken the ’sharpest edges off the recession’ an extra 18,000 New Zealanders found themselves out of work in the last quarter of 2009. 168,000 New Zealanders are now unemployed, the highest level since the in 16 years.

The National-led government has totally failed to come up with any sort of plan to deal with the rising tide of unemployment. In fact, they aren’t even concerned about it. Last year John Key said he was happy with the way unemployment numbers were tracking.

This time last year National’s rhetoric was all about creating jobs. Key called a Jobs Summit that he claimed would be a ‘do-fest’ not a ‘talk-fest’. Kiwis are still waiting to see any evidence it has led to new jobs. In fact the government’s whole recession stimulus package has produced just 2,300 jobs, not that many when you consider 3,500 people queued outside a single new supermarket in South Auckland a few weeks back to apply for the 150 jobs going.

Meanwhile, over the ditch in Australia, where they have an active government, unemployment is falling. Their unemployment rate is actually 2% lower than ours and that gap is likely to grow. So much for the National Party’s hollow promises about catching up with the Aussies…

Tags: , ,
Filed under: Unemployment, workforce
11 Comments

Rent rises hit lower income earners

Posted by Chris Hipkins on November 29th, 2009

Figures released by Statistics New Zealand last week highlight the plight of some of our lowest income households. While those with mortgages are enjoying a bit of interest rate relief, those who are renting have seen their rental costs increase by 8.1 percent. Average total household income from all sources has increased by 5.6 percent during the same period.

Just under a third of Kiwi families rent the house they live in. Those on lower incomes are far more likely to rent rather than own the property that they live in, so they are the ones most likely to be feeling the pinch.

About 65 percent of those households earning $43,900 or less rated the adequacy of their income as ‘just enough’ or ‘not enough’. Around half our Kiwis households fit into this demographic. Over 70 percent of those households with an income of $86,700 or above rated their incomes as ‘enough’ or ‘more than enough’.

It’s been a tough year for those at the bottom of the economic ladder. The very first thing the new National-led government did was take away tax cuts for the lowest income earners so that they could give that money to those on the highest incomes. As unemployment has continued to rise, the Nats have been asleep at the wheel. Let’s hope they wake up next year!

Tags: , , ,
Filed under: economy, housing, jobs, national, poverty
9 Comments

How to start your day in Washington

Posted by Maryan Street on October 8th, 2009

On a beautiful autumn morning in Washington how else would you start your day but with a visit to the World Bank, then a quick hop across the road to the IMF? That’s how Phil Goff and I began our day yesterday. I found their briefings on  the global recession excellent.

The IMF had released its most recent report on the World Economic Outlook – Sustaining the Recovery, just before I left NZ last week so that was good plane journey reading. New Zealand gets a mention on about p.82, along with Australia and Canada under “Other Advanced Economies”. I was delighted to see the recognition that NZ “took advantage of the prolonged period of prosperity in the run-up to the current global recession to put in place sound macroeconomic and regulatory frameworks. As a result, they have had ample room to implement expansionary policies to limit the damage from the global recession and to support recovery as needed.” Thanks to Michael Cullen.

That’s something you will never hear Bill English admit. But he should.

The 3 elements of recovery according to the IMF were: the monetary and fiscal stimulus packages put in place the world over; the fact that the restocking of inventories run down at the start of the recession would assist growth; and that the period of panic was over.  I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as it sounds. Nor does Paul Krugman - read that link as a cautionary tale. He thinks more stimulus will be needed to avoid a long period of unemployment.

I would have thought that a mere $13million for Adult and Community Education classes might have been a wise and not very expensive investment in recovery.

Tags: , ,
Filed under: economy, education
11 Comments

Flags replace beads and blankets

Posted by Chris Hipkins on July 20th, 2009

Our colleague Shane Jones has a very thought provoking column in this morning’s Dominion Post regarding the choice of flag to fly over the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day next year. It’s titled “Flags taking the place of blankets and beads”. I can’t find it online, but here are some excerpts:

“Maori have enjoyed flags since before the Treaty of Waitangi. In the midst of the Maori land wars, tribal leaders believed in the power of flags … The Crown regularly presented flags to tribes for their loyalty. Colonists did so as well. In 1864 a flag was presented to the tribes of Wanganui for protecting the Wanganui township from their upper river kin Moutoa.

“Prime Minister John Key is maintaining that historic tradition as he rewards the Maori Party for loyalty, and sanctions the Maori Affairs minister to fund gatherings to select a flag…Mr Key has done an impressive job in capturing the Maori Party. He is canny enough to know it is less threatening and more amusing to have hui about independence ensigns than confront Maori state dependency. Beads and blankets are no longer de rigueur – rather it is flags that are the new currency.”

“Mr Key knows that hoisting a flag above the harbour bridge will not alter one jot Maori economic status. The 500 Maori losing their jobs every week know that getting their whänau up the ladder is the true test of rangatiratanga…”

“Maori fortunes are inextricably bound up with those of society overall. Far more prosaic, less mesmerising topics such as productivity, numeracy, literacy, civic participation jobs and employment are responsibilities that the Maori Party is shirking.

Tags: , , , ,
Filed under: M?ori, democracy
31 Comments

Still no plan for jobs

Posted by Chris Hipkins on July 16th, 2009

John Key did a big speech yesterday on the state of the economy and the government’s plan to beat the recession. It was full of platitudes and vague on specifics. As Selwyn Pellett from the Productive Economy Council noted on Morning Report this morning:

“His speech was ‘New Zealand we’re not going to change anything just try harder’ and that’s not going to cut it.”

Last year John Key was ambitious for New Zealand. Under his leadership we were going to close the wage gap with Australia, we’d all get a big tax cut without any cuts to public services, crime was going to go down, healthcare was going to improve, our kids were going to do better at school, and kiwis currently living overseas were going to flock home. Now his ambition amounts to little more than “blunting the sharp edges of the recession”. Tell that to the 1,200 people signing up for the dole every week!

The rhetoric in John Key’s speech also doesn’t match up with the reality. While he talks about focusing on R&D and skills development, his government slashed the Fast Forward fund, which would have promoted R&D, and gutted adult education and community skills training programmes. Not to mention the fact that they took an axe to NZ Trade and Enterprise programmes designed to support businesses. As for encouraging savings – they cut Kiwisaver in half!

What New Zealand desperately needs now is a plan from the government to save and create jobs. They are missing in action. John Key is no longer being ambitious for New Zealand; he’s simply content with being ambiguous for New Zealand.

Update: Annette King has just released information showing over 50,000 kiwis have signed on for some form of benefit in the last 12 months. Yet still no sign of a plan from National…

Tags: , ,
Filed under: jobs, national
8 Comments

The Cycleway Joke

Posted by Chris Hipkins on July 13th, 2009

Papers obtained by TVNZ have revealed how much of a joke John Key’s “national cycleway” has become. Remember this was the major initiative to come out of the Jobs Summit, which Key promised would be a “do-fest” not a “talk-fest”. The cycleway was to provide an immediate economic stimulus, helping to keep kiwis in work while also creating a long term legacy of real value to New Zealand. So far it has done neither.

The papers TVNZ has obtained show just how much Key’s original ambition has shrunk. Originally he was proposing a cycleway the full length of the country. At a cost of between $300,000 to $500,000 per km, the benefits would have been highly questionable. It would also have left unresolved the biggest problem kiwi cyclists face, which is the lack of dedicated and safe cycleways within the urban centres.

The watered down proposal, which focuses on a series of “great rides” around the country, actually makes more sense, but it hardly meets the original aim which was to create jobs and help stave off the effects of the recession. I’ve biked the Central Otago Rail Trail and I think it’s great. But replicating that success around the country will take time and it’s not going to provide the type of short-term economic stimulus we so desperately need.

I’m a keen cyclist so I’m generally supportive of initiatives that will make life easier for those travelling by bike, but frankly that’s not what we should be focused on at the moment. With 1,200 people joining the dole queue every week, saving and creating jobs has to be the government’s number one priority. Instead we’re getting smiles and platitudes rather than real action from Key’s government.

Tags: , , ,
Filed under: jobs, national
12 Comments