A relentless focus on jobs

Written By: - Date published: 12:49 pm, August 31st, 2010 - 13 comments
Categories: jobs, unemployment - Tags:

The government is canning its already too-small and ill-directed Community Max programme.

$40 million was a pathetic amount that created, at best, just 3,000 temporary jobs when quarter of a million Kiwis are jobless, 68,000 of them aged 15-24.

The government didn’t bother to put any controls on whether employers were genuinely using the $1250 subsidy to help create a new job that otherwise wouldn’t have existed, so all the government probably ended up doing was subsidising jobs that would have been created anyway.

Doubtless, Paula Bennett will, once again, proclaim victory over unemployment. She will say that the fact Community Max is closing down is due to the government’s success in getting people into work. In reality, it’s just another example of the Key government failing to invest enough in job creation and being too lazy to spend money smartly.

13 comments on “A relentless focus on jobs ”

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  1. mickysavage 1
    31 August 2010 at 1:39 pm

    Does mean that Paula Bennett will have nothing whatsoever to crow about now?

    Capcha Bothering!!

  2. BLiP 2
    31 August 2010 at 3:08 pm

    It was a focus-group inspired PR sop to the public any how.

    • BLiP 3.1
      31 August 2010 at 4:18 pm

      That’s from June and is mentioned in the article linked to in the OP. Bozo.

      • marco 3.1.1
        31 August 2010 at 4:57 pm

        The post says the government is canning the scheme. But in reality the scheme was limited to 3000 places. It then extended the scheme to areas of high maori youth unemployment.

        When the scheme was announced, there was never any promise it would be extended. The scheme was also not open to companies as the post suggests, instead it was only available to non-profit organisations, such as churches, marae, and charitable trusts that were undertaking community orientated projects.

        Job Ops was the scheme available to companies who wished to employ people under 24. But anyway no need to sweat the details…Bozo.

        • ron 3.1.1.1
          31 August 2010 at 7:08 pm

          …….and temporary job schemes have NEVER resulted in increased job opportunities for employed for the six month period. They didn’t work in the days of TEP and before that PEP. They don’t now. But of course one can’t expect a Tory government top take any notice of the facts.
          capcha: lifetimes

        • bbfloyd 3.1.1.2
          31 August 2010 at 7:27 pm

          marco… and your point being??? at a time when there is widespread unemployment, the bast the nats can do is provide 6 months minimum wage labouring jobs for a tiny fraction of the people in that age group alone looking for work. not to mention the fact that anyone over 24 is out of luck completely in the job creation stakes.
          so they extended it a little bit before canning the whole project. WHOOPEEEE!!!

          • marco 3.1.1.2.1
            31 August 2010 at 9:00 pm

            I never said I supported the scheme. It clearly is a stop gap measure, however my point was the post isn’t accurate. If you want to make a valid point criticizing a policy and want put a bit of spin on it, it’s generally a good thing to be accurate.

            • mcflock 3.1.1.2.1.1
              1 September 2010 at 1:42 pm

              So is the gap stopped? no.

              Is the programme continuing (beyond the few remaining placements yet to be used up)? no.

              Sounds pretty axed to me. Or are you saying that because they said they were going to axe it after 3000 placements, any end to the programme isn’t an axing?

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