Manufacturing jobs: youth wage and benefit ‘merry’-go-round

18 comments on “Manufacturing jobs: youth wage and benefit ‘merry’-go-round ”

• Comments are now closed

1. David H 1

   9 October 2012 at 11:23 am

   I also noticed that companies can now hire 16 and 17 years olds. And some 18 and 19 year olds as well for like 10 bucks an hour for the first 6 months. So now we have the Adult 3 month ‘trial period’ and now we also have for the teens slavery for 6 months (well it is) and then what ? Rather than pay them the minimum wage ie: a pay rise of like 3.85 an hour. Whats to stop them saying so long and hire the next kid or just tell them they stay at 10 bucks or they’re gonners? Sound Joyce tactics there.
   • Tom Gould 1.1

     9 October 2012 at 3:30 pm

     I can see Key telling the Hollywood moguls, between caviar canapes and sips of vintage Dom, that they will soon be able to hire youth extras and gofors for $US8 an hour back home.
2. captain hook 2

   9 October 2012 at 12:32 pm

   the whole fact of the matter is that no one in new zealand can really make or do anything.
   we are dumkopfs and if we do succeed then someone comes along and buys the bizzo out and moves it offshore.
   In the meantime the NZX wants the states assets to add depth to the stockmarket.
   what a fucking laugh.
   all the upper echelon in NZ can do is talk about it.
   they can make tons of hot air and frig all else.
   Oh they can make things hard for the people who need jobs!
3. Jokerman 3

   9 October 2012 at 2:51 pm

   you give, and take away
4. xtasy 4

   9 October 2012 at 2:56 pm

   How revealing those figures are! Bennett’s spin has been exposed as total BS!

   Re the mainstream media giving so much, more or less biased publicity and credit to Key’s comments re manufacturing and the crisis that apparently does not exist on “planet Key”:

   Who once ran Mediaworks, owners of TV3, Radio Live and so forth? Steven Joyce, now “multi minister” for almost “all affairs” with ANY relevance to economic planning.

   Who sits on the board of TVNZ and hase quite some influence? A known National Party lobbyist.

   Who pays the bread and butter of TVNZ staff? The government, presently run by NatACT.

   Who pays the bread and butter of most media? Indirectly at least the advertising industry and their customers (selling products and services).

   Who owns the newspapers and their online equivalents in NZ? APN and Fairfax, both Australian corporations with their NZ enterprises.

   What only sizeable broadcast media other but TVNZ, TV3 and their owners exists in NZ? Privately owned and run Sky TV, whose owners should be known to many.

   You do not bite the hand that feeds you, especially in the environment of large scale restructuring and sizeable lay offs. That is where journalism in NZ – and sadly also most other places -stands.

   So much for “independent” reporting, and no wonder they rather stick with Key and his government, as all the “paymasters” of mainstream media do have a vested interest in keeping things as they are.

   And there is ample presence of the “old boys network” in it too.
5. Dr Terry 5

   9 October 2012 at 4:26 pm

   Yet again, one is left breathless! I am trying to count the number of dreadful things that have happened under this Government in recent weeks/months that already appear to have been lost to sight.
6. Mary 6

   9 October 2012 at 4:37 pm

   Just heard Megan Woods on RNZ’s The Panel. She was appalling. Slagged the extension of youth rates – great – but then went on to offer not one single alternative. She was absolutely abysmal. If that’s all Labour can put up we’re doomed.
   • karol 6.1

     9 October 2012 at 5:17 pm

     Well, to be fair, in the links above to the Stuff article, Labour said this:
      
     Labour would pay employers to take on apprentices, raise the minimum wage and foster innovation through research and development tax breaks, he said.
     ”We will create wealth through innovation and by supporting our businesses.  We can’t sit back and continue to see manufacturing jobs being shed – 40,000 have already been lost over the last four years.”
      
     And in their press release linked at the bottom of my post, this:

     Labour has real ideas that will make a difference. We will pay employers the equivalent of the dole to take on apprentices, raise the minimum wage, create a world-class education system, foster innovation through research and development tax breaks, tackle the high dollar by changing monetary policy and encouraging investment in the productive sector through a capital gains tax. 

     And I’ve added a quote to my post above – from Bennett about a month ago, saying that Labour should be ashamed of what they did in government, shifting people off unemployment benefits on to sickness and invalid benefits – which seems pretty much like what’s been happening under Bennett’s watch.
      
     • Mary 6.1.1

       9 October 2012 at 5:24 pm

       Fair enough Karol, I did see that. Just a pity Megan Woods couldn’t have managed to focus on even one of these things. She didn’t even try. It was such a lost opportunity.

       http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2535023/the-panel-with-linda-clark-and-tim-watkin-part-1.asx
       • karol 6.1.1.1

         9 October 2012 at 5:40 pm

         Yes, probably a lost opportunity.  I heard some of The Panel when I was driving.
          
         Megan Woods performance there seems to reinforce something Linda Clark said on The Panel today – that the Labour front bench is pretty weak, and is not performing well. She partly put the blame for this on Helen Clark for blocking new blood coming into the caucus, along with the culling of Labour MPs at the last election. 
         • Colonial Viper 6.1.1.1.1

           9 October 2012 at 6:09 pm

           Clark’s been gone a long time now. Other people are in charge of who goes on Labour’s front bench.
7. felix 7

   9 October 2012 at 6:27 pm

   So I just heard Kate Wilkinson on RNZ saying the youth wage is all cool, and it might seem a bit low but not to worry because “every job they get after that will be at the adult minimum wage”.

   A freudian slip shows just where their heads are at. It’s the low wage, low skill National Party dream.
8. xtasy 8

   10 October 2012 at 1:05 am

   I like John Key now, as he looks like he would make a good butler.

   If he cannot get a job as butler at the Vatican, to cater for the Pope, I will consider giving him a well paid job on the minimum wage as my personal butler, after he will no longer be the Prime Minister.

   As such a genuine, honest, hard working and well motivated man of true highest value, I am sure John Key will value every job opportunity given, especially if it may be offered through WiNZ.

   I look forward to have my evening red wine poured into my glass by John, he looks like he is a real gentleman and is well qualified to do the job very well.
9. Gosman 9

   10 October 2012 at 8:27 am

   What a surprise – the abolition of the Youth minimum wage by Labour likely led to massive increase in youth unemployment.

   http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2535043/senior-lecturer-in-economics-at-canterbury-university.asx
   • vto 9.1

     10 October 2012 at 8:33 am

     I propose reducing wages even further, just like in your over-egged Zimbabwe analogies, and in so doing reduce unemployment to near zero, just like in Zimbabwe.
     • Gosman 9.1.1

       10 October 2012 at 8:39 am

       Zimbabwe has quite strict labour relations laws including a number of minimum wages for various sectors. It also has massive unemployment. I’m not sure what your point is by bring it in to the discussion as it certainly doesn’t support a case for minimum wages.
       • vto 9.1.1.1

         10 October 2012 at 8:48 am

         The reference wasn’t to minimum wage, the reference was to low and reducing wages and its effect on society and employment.

         You like to compare NZ to Zim all the time. They have very very low wages, yet high high unemployment. Why is that? Is it because you’re wrong? Or is it because all comparisons to Zimbabwe are ridiculoux? Like Planet Key’s reference just this week…… sheesh
         • Gosman 9.1.1.1.1

           10 October 2012 at 9:01 am

           You are quite wrong if you think Zimbabwe’s labour costs are extremely low. The country is highly unionised and as I stated there are a number of regulations around minimum wages. The country has comparable wage rates to Kenya, Namibia, and Zambia.
           http://www.newsday.co.zw/2012/08/31/2012-08-31-manufacturing-on-rails/

           http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53201:consultancy-firm-to-host-labour-talks&catid=41:business&Itemid=133

           The fact that people have trouble making ends meet is more to do with the fact that the previous ZANU-PF Government gutted the productive sector with leftist policies.

• Comments are now closed

• Log in
• Donate
• Contribute post

• Articles RSS