Tough law for tough times

Written By: - Date published: 5:18 pm, December 10th, 2008 - 2 comments
Categories: workers' rights - Tags:

Against the backdrop of tough new employment laws there’re predictions that “35,000 jobs could be lost in the construction sector.” No wonder that there are reports that Kiwis are worried about losing their jobs!

A quarter of workers are afraid of losing their jobs, while more than half the workforce is not expecting a pay rise in the next year, new figures show. The statistics – part of a Research NZ survey released yesterday – show 24 per cent of those in paid work do not feel their employment is secure, compared with 73 per cent who believe their jobs are safe…

Low-income households were the most gloomy about their job security, with a third of workers concerned about losing employment. In households earning more than $70,000, some 18 per cent had job security concerns. Almost a third – 31 per cent – of young workers aged 15 to 29 did not feel their jobs were secure. A total of 55 per cent did not expect a pay rise in the next 12 months either….

And a Manpower survey just out shows Kiwi employees could have reason to be glum. The Employment Outlook Survey of New Zealand hiring trends – released yesterday – reveals the pace of hiring is set to slow further in the first quarter of 2009.

Given the number of young, low income Maori households which will be affected by the changes I was pleased to just hear on the radio that the Maori party will not be supporting the legislation.

And in case the whole thing seems a bit academic, a study out yesterday confirmed that the topic of jobs matters to lots of us. The Survey of Working Life, by Statistics New Zealand, found that of the 2,138,900 people employed in the March quarter 73.6 per cent were permanently employed, 12 per cent self-employed, 7.7 per cent temporarily employed and 5.7 per cent were employers. What’s great news is that most people (84.1%) said they were satisfied, or very satisfied, with their main job and and three-quarters (75.8%) said they were satisfied, or very satisfied, with their work-life balance. Let’s hope we can keep it that way, despite this backward step from National.

2 comments on “Tough law for tough times ”

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  1. Bill 1
    10 December 2008 at 6:31 pm

    compared with 73 per cent who believe their jobs are safe

    ‘John is a nice guy’ seemed to enjoy a fair bit of currency, so maybe such high levels of delusion should come as no surprise?

  2. ianmac 2
    10 December 2008 at 7:03 pm

    Oi. If 2,138,900 people were employed in the March quarter, and 815,000 + were signed up for Kiwisaver that can’t be 1 in 4! It is 1 in 2.6 innit??? Does that mean that John mislead me?? Surely not!

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