The number of people looking for work has increased again, with the latest metric the number of people on a jobseeker benefit.
There are 22,000 more people on it than a year ago, reflecting the dire work situation the Government’s choices have left us in. Unemployment is at 5.1 per cent, which is the highest it’s been since the height of the pandemic.
The Government has slashed $1.5 billion from the public house building and maintenance fund and handed a $2.9 billion tax break to landlords, while making renting more unstable for tenants. If people are forced to move around a lot and can’t find a long-term home, it follows that they are also less likely to be in stable work.
Thousands of jobs have been deliberately cut from the public sector by National to help pay for their tax cuts – including at Police, Customs, and in biosecurity.
National chose to stop hiring nurses and doctors, which has exacerbated workforce shortages in the health system, and the latest statistics show a teacher shortage looming as well.
The Government watched as hundreds of people lost their jobs in manufacturing, as plants closed, operations shut down, and local communities were gutted. Its ‘cancel first, plan later’ approach to major infrastructure has also contributed to the almost 13,000 jobs that have now disappeared from the construction sector.
And jobs have been lost in local communities because of disastrous changes to the free and healthy school lunch programme. Some schools used to contract local suppliers, which created local jobs, and others had in-house staff who would help distribute healthy lunches to students each day. They’re now gone, and dozens of school canteens are facing closure after Libelle, one of the suppliers contracted by the government to deliver the new lunches, went into liquidation. The 500 staff who work there are now also facing an uncertain future.
These examples aren’t exhaustive. Every day seems to bring new reports of job losses and established companies folding. What this means is more families struggling to pay the bills and make ends meet.
But this Government does not care. In fact, the worse things get, the more they will blame the depleted public service and beat the drum of foreign ownership. The plan is for pain, to run our systems down so much they can claim the only option is to sell them off for a quick buck. Labour does not agree and believes in protecting people’s jobs and incomes and the services we all rely on for the future.
When in power Labour delivered the most public homes per year on average since the 1950s, kept whole industries running despite hugely challenging global conditions, and made sure people had work or a pathway to get into it. And when we return next year, we will do what we always do: roll up our sleeves, repair the damage National has inflicted, and set about providing the things we know Kiwis need right now: jobs, health, and homes.
Every New Zealander deserves to have a decent job that pays enough to put food on the table, pay the bills and enjoy the good things in life.
Labour’s spokesperson for Jobs and Incomes, Hon Ginny Andersen
