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Unemployment – No Story Here

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, January 8th, 2011 - 65 comments
Categories: unemployment - Tags: , ,

Youth unemployment is 19.8%, but is there much coverage of a shockingly high number?  That’s 1 in 5 young people Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEETs to the initiated); higher than the OECD average.

If you’re not listening to Radio NZ, you’re not to find out about it.

Clare Curran correctly points out that unemployment seems to have fallen off the media radar.  We have a new norm that means between 6 and 7% of the workforce is unemployed, double the previous government’s trend, and that seems to have been accepted.  75,000 people added to this government’s scrap heap?  Fine if it’s no one you know.  Best we up the bene-bashing, that’ll solve the problem.  With John Key relentlessly focussed on Hawaii, not Jobs, it seems about this government’s only solution.  Unless that cycleway comes through real soon.

Social Development Minister, Paula Bennett, used to give us the monthly unemployment updates those months they went in the right direction (either seasonally adjusted, or raw figures, whichever worked…) – so the fact that she hasn’t could mean 2 things: all those weeks on her US ‘sabbatical’ kept her too busy, or the numbers are bad.  It shows how focussed on getting Kiwis jobs this government is, that the Social Development Minister could afford several weeks out of the country on a jolly.  We know she made it back for Christmas, as what this government is relentlessly focussed on is PR, so we all got to hear how she wanted SBW as her man-slave…  Get that image out of your head.

Bennett is also Minister for Youth Affairs.  She has trumpeted Job Ops and Community Max for making ‘a real difference to youth’ – getting them training at McDonald’s flipping burgers.  But it turns out those burger jobs just weren’t there when the country headed into double-dip recession…

65 comments on “Unemployment – No Story Here ”

  1. BLiP 1

    Hey, c’mon! The retailers are doing it tough – why would the media want to detract from the efforts of advertisers by reminding the populace that their continuing likelihood of employment is getting bleaker by the day when they might better be considering the hire-purchase of a brand new flat screen?

  2. Deadly_NZ 2

    Didn’t she or winz have some sort off special deal with Macca’s? cost about 5 mil or sommat like that? Hang on Google search time.. Gotcha

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/2557352/McDonalds-to-get-up-to-16-000-a-beneficiary
    or here is another slant on it
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0907/S00146.htm

    And the one thing that was not mentioned was how many hours did the new employee’s work a week? if Macca’s get 300 a week per new employee then winz effectivly pay for 24 hours a week gross 300/12.5 the question here is how many actually work the 24 hours? and how many work less and macca’s still get the 300 notice Macca’s get it all and the poor employee is on a basic wage, a nice rort going on here it seems

  3. Adele 3

    Teenaa koutou kaatoa

    I have simply quoted from the Department of Labour website:

    Unemployment rates by ethnicity June 2008 – June 2010:

    Maaori 7.3% – 14.3%; Pasifika 6.3% – 15.5%; all ethnicities 3.9% – 6.7%

    Youth (those aged 15-24 years) have been particularly affected during the labour market downturn, and Maaori and Pasifika youth have been hit hardest. Between June 2008 and June 2010, Maaori and Pasifika youth employment declined by 21.5% and 21.6% respectively. These declines were more than twice the size of the 10.3% fall in employment for all youth over the same period.

    The Maaori and Pasifika youth unemployment rates have more than doubled in the two years to June 2010. The Maaori youth unemployment rate has increased from 15.1% to 30.3%, while the Pasifika rate has increased from 14.2% to 30.6%. The unemployment rate for all youth has not increased so quickly, rising from 10.7% to 18.2%.

    A lot of Maaori and Pasifika potential suffering inertia. Maybe Paula Bennett should organise with Judith Collins to have more of our youth killed in Police chases – to bring those stats down.

  4. Paula “big mac” Bennett is a disgrace. Her pseudo “proud to be a westie” antics are cringeworthy.

    It is noticeable that if there is a spin and a distortion that can be put on the unemployment figures she is there with boots on but if the figures are irredeemably bad then she is nowhere to be seen.

    She is one person I would be pleased to see unemployed. Then perhaps the rest of the unemployed would have a greater chance.

    • Deadly_NZ 4.1

      I read an interview she gave and i posted the link in another post it made for scarey reading she has not got a clue. Hang on i’ll go find it.

      http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/q-paula-bennett-interviewed-guyon-espiner-3436376

      Warning contents may make you nauseous

      • Mickysavage 4.1.1

        Truly scary.

        Isn’t she like yuukno a minista or sumefing?

      • ianmac 4.1.2

        A very interesting interview Deadly. For once I am impressed with Guyon’s interview. Wow! As for Paula Bennett. She does have a strong support from the Bludger Brigade but the holes in her policy must prove hellish for the actual people in the gun. It does seem overall that the policy on say DPB will greatly increase the workload for Social Welfare. Maybe those coming off the benefits will be needed to staff the offices?

        • Deadly_NZ 4.1.2.1

          I was talking to someone at a winz office the other day and was shocked to find out that as people leave they DO NOT replace them.

          Which is why it now can take their call center 45 mins to answer the phone, that and all the extra work they do. (emergency food grants and things) so with less and less staff and more and more people getting tossed out of work, and it always seems to be the young that get the raw end of the deal. Soon it will take so long to get some help from WINZ because of no staff that the crime rate will then rocket as starving people have to feed themselves and their families, get arrested and locked up for stealing food. and a proud Paula Bennet can say SEE i did fix the unemployment problem, and then the minister for justice screams for more money for more prisons to house said people. And the private prison company is happy. Then the problem has shifted and the great fat bennet can look around at the carnage and say to Shonkey see i dun gud.

          • millsy 4.1.2.1.1

            “Which is why it now can take their call center 45 mins to answer the phone”

            I would also point out that Winz only accept calls to their 0800 numbers from landlines, not cellphones, seeing as >95% of people on a benefit dont have the phone on, and find getting credit for their cellphone an uphill battle, they have to go to the nearest phone booth, and deal with winz over that.

            • Deadly_NZ 4.1.2.1.1.1

              I would also point out that Winz only accept calls to their 0800 numbers from landlines.

              And they are not the only ones it seems there is a conspiricy going on because most places you need to have phone contact with only except calls from a land line IE most banks, IRD Most Councils. And as cellphones are most peoples way of contact (and you try to find a call box that actually works). SO now you have it that ostt people cannot contact these companies they can say see look no phone complaints.

              I wonder how long it will be before they outsource the Call center to bloody manilla or something like that. And if you have tried to deal with telescums or telstra clears call centers you will know what I mean. the “Im Sorry I appologise But.” seems to be the main line I get when trying to sort out a phone problem. SO imagine you have had your bene cut and you have to deal with someeone in another country that couldn’t give a flying fuck about you and your problems cos they only on 50 bucks a week or so.

              • Zorr

                You can make the 0800 call from a payphone. Not so much of an issue.

                • Colonial Viper

                  Except for the 20-30 minute walk in the rain to get to one. Damn, I’m not even sure where my nearest payphone is.

                  • McFlock

                    Only about 10 minutes walk to the nearest payphone for me.

                    In the rain.

                    To sit in the damned callbox for 45mins before talking with a person.

        • Draco T Bastard 4.1.2.2

          From what I’ve seen, her policies increase workload right across WINZ for no benefit. Haven’t got a job and can’t find one? You have to go see the case manager. The longer you haven’t got a job the more you have to see the case manager.

          Seeing the case manager does two things: Takes time out of the case managers day when they could probably be doing something better and takes time out of the persons day that could be used for looking for a job.

          So, decreased efficiency and higher costs: Thanx NACT, I’m loving it.

  5. Matthew Hooton 5

    You don’t think that, just possibly, the 19.8% unemployment rate among 15-24 year olds could have something to do with the previous government’s decision to abolish youth rates (and the current government’s refusal to reverse the decision), which is estimated to have cost 12,000 youth jobs?

    • andy (the other one) 5.1

      Matthew, do you work for the hospitality assoc or or do any work for retailers?

      Youth rates may or may not have any impact. In a recession where year on year consumption is dropping, I would have thought that would have a bigger impact on hiring in general. Also the fact that school finishes every year in December which spits out a years worth of unemployed yoof..

      I left school in 1989, and no one was hiring. Wage rates were meaningless in the face of falling demand. I don’t think youth rates were a problem for employers in the boom years, or did not seem to be.

      The current government will not reverse youth rates because they understand it won’t help and will give Labour a stick to beat them with.

    • Bunji 5.2

      So do you think that youth are worth less as human beings and deserve lower rights?
      If it’s just a means to an end, would you agree with Maori and Pasifika having lower minimum wages with their unemployment rates of 14.3% and 15.5%? (thanks Adele)
      Youth rates may have a small effect on youth unemployment, but it’s not creating jobs, it’s just taking them off older workers. We need a government that’s actually creating jobs to solve the problem overall.

    • millsy 5.3

      It speaks volumes about the attitudes of some people if bosses wont hire a young person because he cannot pay them subsistence wages..

      Hooten, if youth wages are bought back, it will have the effect of slashing wages to little above the level of benefits, and creating an army of working poor who will struggle to meet costs of living (especially young people trying to bring up families)

      But, you dont seem to care do you, as long as you just keep pushing down wages.

      Tell me, what is your opinion of the American labour market prior to 1865?

      • Deadly_NZ 5.3.1

        As an Ex boss of Pizza parlors and Burger Bars ALL i hired was teens AND they were paid the 12.50 to start and given oppertunities to up this wage as well. As to the Idiots who say cut the minimum wage I say this The Minimum wage should be extended back to 15 year olds as well. As at the mo they are the ones that can be exploited. The companies I worked for paid an Under 16 $9.90 an hour with the same opportunities to up the hourly rate as everyone else in the company ( You did courses on the computer about product and procedure, from memory there were 6 of them, and each one passed (a 10 min course) was an extra .50c an hour not much but with a little work a 15 year old could earn 13 an hour.) which was way better than the 6 being offered by other companies. Unfortunatly those companies have gone from a corporate ownership to private ownership with the usual cutting of these rates and the accompanying loss of jobs.

    • Eddie 5.4

      “which is estimated to have cost 12,000 youth jobs”

      estimated by whom?

      By your PR company?

      or by that nutter Crampton – the guy who defends sweatshops because ‘it’s better than nothing’ (as if nothing is the only alternative) http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2009/05/sweatshops.html ?

      face it – you’re saying that less pay for the same work is justified for young people. Now you have to justify it for other groups with higher unemployment – Maori, Pasifika

      • I tend to think it rather important in policy making to separate questions of desert from questions of feasibility. I don’t know anything about desert – I’ve no comparative advantage in sorting out who deserves what. But neither do you. What I do know about is how policy changes affect outcomes. Banning sweatshops pushed poor vulnerable folks out of work that they preferred into situations that they found worse: picking garbage in dumps, prostitution, agriculture in malaria-ridden areas. Sure it would be nice if everyone in third world countries could have our advantages, but trying to mandate it through legislation often makes things worse.

        The minimum wage will always have the worst employment effects on the most vulnerable groups: the folks whose labour is valued by their employers at not much more than what they’re paid. A legislated pay hike pushes some of them out of work – and even more so when a rather bad recession hits. It’s killed the sheltered workshops (the paperwork to get exemptions too onerous), it’s killed youth employment.

        If the work were really the same – if young folks with no experience and no references were just as expectationally productive as somebody with experience and a good track record – then we wouldn’t have seen the ramp up in youth unemployment that we have seen. I don’t know much about deserves. But I don’t think these kids have deserved what y’all have done to them.

        • McFlock 5.4.1.1

          The trouble is that if you solely look at questions of “feasibility”, some little sociopath might not realise that *both* sweatshops and abandoning the unemployed to the rubbish tip (literally) are bad things.

    • Descendant Of Smith 5.5

      Nope everyone I know lost their job because there was no work available – nothing at all to do with the rate of pay.

      Contracts were lost or finished with no replacements, sales went down, their were less houses being sold, less tourists coming to town – both internal and external, less jobs as other people were laid off and no longer had the cash to buy things, firms going out of business cause some other person who owed them money went bust, export contracts lost as firms overseas went bust,drought meaning less stock on farms and less stock to kill in freezing works, lending stopped by banks to allow companies and businesses to ride through the tough patches, piss poor management by business owners who had no money put aside from when times were good to enable them to survive when times were not, and so on.

      Nary a mention of pay rates at all.

      Mate if there’s no work and no export order the rate of pay makes no difference at all to employing someone – or are you saying employers will take people on if there is no work for them?

      It simply allows those that currently have work to reduce wages and increase profits – predominantly the corporates who can then further consolidate their position to remove small businesses from the equation. It’s also anti-competitive because it makes good employers have to compete with bad employers on a wage basis rather than a quality of service or product.

      It’s like tax cuts for business – before the tax cuts many employers said they couldn’t afford to pay their staff more – there isn’t a single person I know who had an employer say to them now that I don’t have to pay as much tax you can have a pay increase.

    • Draco T Bastard 5.6

      Nope. As research has shown that there is no correlation.

    • lprent 5.7

      Matthew.. Rather pathetic spin and unlinked numbers as well. Who was it estimated by? What data did they use? Why does your comment have the stench of a spinner bullshitting?

      The family problem


      If you look at the links you’ll find that youth rates across countries have no general correlation with youth unemployment rates.

      Indeed I have never seen a credible economist making a case for it – ie using actual numbers to show the correlation. It appears to be one of those nice conservative/neolib myths that substitutes a slogan for using their brain (like so many other neolib precepts).

      Perhaps you’d care to find some actual argument to back up your spin?

      • Matthew Hooton 5.7.1

        Analysis was done by Eric Crampton, Senior Lecturer, Economics Department, University of Canterbury

        • Colonial Viper 5.7.1.1

          Employers will simply swap out older workers for younger workers in basic labouring and unskilled jobs, and leave higher cost older workers standing in the dole queue.

          Seems unlikely to me that actual additional new jobs will be created.

          To me this is a tactic in the Right’s larger strategy of worker wage suppression.

          The question I have of our elite business leaders, the EMA, the Chamber of Commerce etc is: how are you going to raise the wages of the median NZer by 20% (to $33K p.a.) over the next 5 years. That’s a bare 3.7% increase p.a.

          If you can’t do that for us, why the frak should we even listen to what you have to say.

        • scarfie 5.7.1.2

          The “analysis” by Crampton is nonsense, see Marty G:

          The lie behind the Right’s attack on wages

          Youth rates are just a variant on minimum wages – which have no effect on unemployment:

          Minimum wage myths: unemployment

        • Eddie 5.7.1.3

          This is the same crampton who argues in favour of sweatshops.

          his analysis fails to show any causation, and tries to blithely ignore that internationally youth unemployment has worsened dramatically due to the Great Recession.

          • Eric Crampton 5.7.1.3.1

            You’re right that I do not show causation. What I did show is that youth unemployment, relative to the adult unemployment rate, went crazy very shortly after the youth minimum wage was hiked to the adult rate – and went crazy in a way that it didn’t in any recession in any of the Household Labour Force Survey data.

            You’re also right that youth unemployment always does worse than adult unemployment during recessions. That’s why I wanted a long time series of the relationship between the two that covered a few recessions. Something really weird happened third quarter 2008 that wasn’t seen in any of the recessions since the 80s. I rather expect that it was the abolition of the youth minimum wage, but it could have been something else. But there was no other policy change that hit that specific age cohort with the right timing.

            As for international evidence, The Economist recently noted that our youth unemployment rate, as a multiple of the adult unemployment rate, is third worst in the OECD.

            And, yes, I do argue in favour of sweatshops. They’re certainly better than prostitution or picking trash out of garbage dumps. Those are often the alternatives open when misguided rich kids launch boycotts that close the factories where these folks work.

            • Marty G 5.7.1.3.1.1

              “And, yes, I do argue in favour of sweatshops. They’re certainly better than prostitution or picking trash out of garbage dumps. Those are often the alternatives open when misguided rich kids launch boycotts that close the factories where these folks work.”

              The alternative is that the multinationals pay their workers living wages you cretin.

              Those “misguided rich kids” are saying its immoral to buy products from companies that are profiting off exploiting people by not paying decent wages with fair conditions.

              Moreover, they’re acknowledging that the basis of the international trade system is not real competitive advantage in many cases but exploitation of artificial differences created by lax labour laws in some countries.

              On top of that, they know that if they support a system that transfers jobs out of their economy to somewhere else where the workers are sweated then eventually they end up worse off too because their economy’s manufacturing is hollowed out and their are no jobs.

              The only people who win from an international trade system based on sweatshops and the race to the bottom is the corporates – and, eventually, they suffer because – as history has shown time and again – when an elite preys on the people too much eventually they are left with nothing to prey on and the system collapses.

              • They should give them all ponies too. And round trip tickets to Disneyland.

                • Armchair Critic

                  and a PhD in economics

                • Marty G

                  are you saying that multinationals can’t afford to pay living wages to those they are sweating? or are you just being childish because you don’t have any serious rebuttal?

                  • Are you saying they can’t afford to give them ponies?

                    Note that wages at sweatshops are higher than prevailing wages in those countries – that’s why workers try to get jobs in those factories rather than elsewhere.

                    • Marty G

                      “Note that wages at sweatshops are higher than prevailing wages in those countries – that’s why workers try to get jobs in those factories rather than elsewhere.”

                      that doesn’t mean they’re adequate.

                      there used to be sweatshops in the West too. They got workers for their inhuman wages and conditions too. That didn’t make sweatshops acceptable. Minimum standards for pay and conditions were set. The world didn’t end. We all ended up wealthier.

                      One of the things people like you don’t seem to understand is that ultimately the durability and wealth of a society depends on its fairness. You need an educated, healthy, content workforce for the economy to work well. In the end, if the wealthy elite take too much of the wealth for themselves the rest start to reject the system – it ends in revolution if the elite is stupid, or reform if the elite is sensible.

            • QoT 5.7.1.3.1.2

              And, yes, I do argue in favour of sweatshops. They’re certainly better than prostitution or picking trash out of garbage dumps.

              One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong (I’ll give you a hint, it’s the one that while “morally” “dubious” and just as bad when undertaken under coercion as, well, all slavery, can still be performed voluntarily for hundreds of dollars an hour.)

              • If somebody chose a factory over prostitution, then went to prostitution when the factory closed, I’d have to say that that person preferred the factory. If somebody preferred prostitution from the outset, that’s of course different.

                • QoT

                  That’s … got an awesome amount of nothing to do with either your original comment or my response to it. But thanks for playing!

        • lprent 5.7.1.4

          Still no link – means that I can’t dig into the ‘analysis’. But his work has been somewhat questionable in the past in my view. Last thing I read from him started with a questionable precept which he asserted was true without bothering to substantiate, and he then built a pyramid from that.

          I classed him as a ‘number of angels on the head’ analyst with approximately the level of credibility of a 12th century monk building scholarship based on texts written on the 4th century mistranslations. In other words garbage in garbage out

          His comments around here have been notable for that style of writing.
          http://thestandard.org.nz/?s=%40author+Eric+crampton&isopen=none&search_posts=true&search_comments=true&search_sortby=date

          • Eric Crampton 5.7.1.4.1

            I have no clue what you’re on about, lprent (what the hell is up with nobody here using a real name anyway?!). Go to Offsetting Behaviour, hit the sidebar link on minimum wages. The bit relevant to New Zealand started with a very basic ordinary least squares regression of the youth unemployment rate on the adult unemployment rate (Household Labour Force Survey Data), then plotting the residuals of that regression to show that something very odd happened to the youth unemployment rate as a function of the adult rate starting around third quarter 2008. The changes in the youth minimum wage are a smoking gun given the timing (don’t tell me it’s just the recession – look at the path of the residual in prior recessions which were worse here).

            • Marty G 5.7.1.4.1.1

              lprent is short for lynn prentice genius. Rocky is short for Rochelle Prentice. Mike Smith is short for Michael Smith.

              I’ll leave you to guess what Marty G is short for.

              Not that it matters because this is a debate of ideas.

              I don’t know who Eric Crampton is. It may as well be a pseudonym. I just know its ideas suck.

              You haven’t explained why a similar upshoot in the youth rate occurred during the last long recession – the one triggered by the neoliberal reforms in the late 80s/early 90s – when there was a youth rate. You haven’t explained how other countries have also experienced upshoots in their youth unemployment despite not having recently abolished their minimum wage.

              You’re basically reduced to arguing this upshoot is may be slightly worse than in other recessions, which can be explained by a variety of causes. Not all recessions are the same and the youth population is not the same as it was.

              • QoT

                Marty Godlikeeconomicsblogger?

              • Thanks for the partial disambiguation; I always prefer knowing to whom I’m talking.

                The youth unemployment rate went up then, sure, but not by nearly as much or as quickly relative to the adult unemployment rate. From 1990 to 1992 or so, the unexplained part of youth unemployment relative to adult unemployment climbed four points. This time, it climbed about 8 points in a year.

                And our youth unemployment rate, relative to the adult rate, is third worst in the OECD.

                It’s always possible that something else was to blame for a sharp shift in the relationship between the youth and adult unemployment rates starting around third quarter 2008. Just like it’s always possible that the guy holding the smoking gun wasn’t really the killer.

                • McFlock

                  Hmmm. I’m just trying to remember how accurate the last “smoking gun” analogy I heard was.

                • Zaphod Beeblebrox

                  If you’ve got temporal correlation but no causation- what’s the value of the research? There’s an emormous number of cofounding factors to consider.

                  • Descendant Of Smith

                    One example of a causative factor around that time in the Hawkes Bay was youth not going into seasonal work as these jobs were taken up by other displaced workers such as Real Estate Agents, used car salesman and housewives as a result of their husbands losing jobs having reduced hours.

                    You’ll see the growth in unemployment happen later in the Hawkes Bay e.g. growth in November for most of the rest of the country – June July the following year for Hawkes Bay as a result.

                    Add to that mix a younger than national average population and a drought, freezing works reducing staff on a last on first off basis, additional overseas workers in the seasonal industry that are kept on as crops fluctuate, a reduction in tourism and eating out where a substantial chunk of youth are employed, young people returning home to mum and dad from other regions and from overseas where they have lost their jobs, less taking up study and willing to get into debt, the hidden youth who might not have been in the stats before as they lived off mum and dad but can;t any more because mum and dad don’t have work and so on and you’ll soon see that very little of this growth has anything to do with youth rates.

                    Most seasonal work is on a contract basis anyway that doesn’t differentiate. It’s simply that a used car salesman is more likely to have a vehicle to get to the seasonal work than a young person who does not – turning up at the gate for a job makes you more likely to get one.

            • lprent 5.7.1.4.1.2

              I have no clue what you’re on about, lprent (what the hell is up with nobody here using a real name anyway?!)

              I’ve been using lprent since 1979 when it was given as a login for my computer access for the first degree. It has been my net name ever since.

              It is and always has been standard for the net discussions to largely be pseudonymous because it frees up the discussion and stops a lot of the flame wars that result from stalking. The moderators take care of abuses and we don’t really appreciate idiots with little understanding of the net who don’t work on the site wanting to set the rules (see the about and policy).

              It is my policy to encourage people to use pseudonyms to reduce the silliness in the discussions that results without them. So I use one myself, and frankly I don’t really care what you think about it.

    • Colonial Viper 5.8

      Matthew, tell me what youth rate is required to reduce youth unemployment by a third, and then lets go do it ASAP. Is it $12/hr? $11/hr? $10/hr?

      Will be waiting on your response with baited breath.

      • Deadly_NZ 5.8.1

        Exactly if there’s no work then it don’t matter if the pay is a buck an hour or a grand an hour no work = 0 per hour rgardless.

  6. I think the underemployment of senior executives should be addressed by putting them all on youth rates. Market forces should do the trick!

  7. tc 7

    “I read an interview she gave and i posted the link in another post it made for scarey reading she has not got a clue.”

    Yes DNZ that appears a pre-requisite in this gov’t with most ministers by design as the old guard which may have had a better grip but just aren’t up with the ‘program’ as the likes of Basher/Crusher/AyaTolley/Wilko etc are who just follow that script as directed.

  8. Craig GlenEden 8

    Bennett’s dumber than dog shit, being dumb is the one trait you can rely on in a Bully.

  9. Draco T Bastard 9

    We have a new norm that means between 6 and 7% of the workforce is unemployed, double the previous government’s trend, and that seems to have been accepted.

    Well, Blinglish did say that unemployment below 6% was a fraud and we know that the MSM accepts what NACT say uncritically so, yeah, we really shouldn’t expect them to actually say anything about unemployment rising.

  10. Afewknowthetruth 10

    In view of the fact that conventional world oil extraction has peaked (even the International Energy Agency finally admitted the truth in November 2010), all economic activity that involves use of oil must go into decline. That does mean practically everything in the NZ economy. The prognosis for employment in the current sense of the word is obvious to anyone with a brain that still functions properly (junk food and rampant commercialism do seem to have deadened the brains of most people in western nation, unfortunately). There is substantial evidence the great unravelling commenced in 2008, but desperation measires by governments around the workd (so-called bailouts, quantitative easing etc.) generated the pretence of a recovery for a while. All that happened, of course, was that they dug the hole a bit deeper.

    We are headed into an energy and environmental bottleneck that will ‘crush’ everything mainstream over the next decade, starting with the service sector.

    Rather than being led by wise leaders who are implementing policies appropriate to the times we live (energy descent), we are being led by madmen/madwomen who implement policies that squander what litttle resources we have left and make everything worse in the process.

    Interesting times (in the Chinese curse sense).

    Pity the next generation.

  11. Deadly_NZ 11

    I have just come back from my local New World supermarket, and I just had an argument with the manageress there. there were huge queues and i asked them to open an express lane which they did. I was then told quite rudely that if I was in a hurry i could use the Automated cashier service, no person to scan your groceries you do it all your self. To which I asked quite loudly how many teens had lost their jobs because of these machines, and also informed her that if i was going to spend my money there then I want someone to pack my groceries. and as i left all i hear is stuff about me being inconsiderate.

    I tell you i will go else where for my groceries in future

    I notice these machines are in Pak n Save too maybe a boycott is needed or soon there will be no people working in supermarkets at all

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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • First Chief Clinical Advisor welcomed into Coroners Court
    Hon Rino Tirikatene, Minister for Courts, welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s appointment of Dr Garry Clearwater as New Zealand’s first Chief Clinical Advisor working with the Coroners Court. “This appointment is significant for the Coroners Court and New Zealand’s wider coronial system.” Minister Tirikatene said. Through Budget 2022, the Government ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Next steps for affected properties post Cyclone and floods
    The Government via the Cyclone Taskforce is working with local government and insurance companies to build a picture of high-risk areas following Cyclone Gabrielle and January floods. “The Taskforce, led by Sir Brian Roche, has been working with insurance companies to undertake an assessment of high-risk areas so we can ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • New appointment to Māori Land Court bench
    E te huia kaimanawa, ko Ngāpuhi e whakahari ana i tau aupikinga ki te tihi o te maunga. Ko te Ao Māori hoki e whakanui ana i a koe te whakaihu waka o te reo Māori i roto i te Ao Ture. (To the prized treasure, it is Ngāpuhi who ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    24 hours ago
  • Government focus on jobs sees record number of New Zealanders move from Benefits into work
    113,400 exits into work in the year to June 2022 Young people are moving off Benefit faster than after the Global Financial Crisis Two reports released today by the Ministry of Social Development show the Government’s investment in the COVID-19 response helped drive record numbers of people off Benefits and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Vertical farming partnership has upward momentum
    The Government’s priority to keep New Zealand at the cutting edge of food production and lift our sustainability credentials continues by backing the next steps of a hi-tech vertical farming venture that uses up to 95 per cent less water, is climate resilient, and pesticide-free. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visited ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Conference of Pacific Education Ministers – Keynote Address
    E nga mana, e nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kātoa. Warm Pacific greetings to all. It is an honour to host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Aotearoa is delighted to be hosting you ...
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    2 days ago
  • New $13m renal unit supports Taranaki patients
    The new renal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital has been officially opened by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall this afternoon. Te Huhi Raupō received around $13 million in government funding as part of Project Maunga Stage 2, the redevelopment of the Taranaki Base Hospital campus. “It’s an honour ...
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    2 days ago
  • Second Poseidon aircraft on home soil
    Defence Minister Andrew Little has marked the arrival of the country’s second P-8A Poseidon aircraft alongside personnel at the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Base at Ohakea today. “With two of the four P-8A Poseidons now on home soil this marks another significant milestone in the Government’s historic investment in ...
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    2 days ago
  • Further humanitarian aid for Türkiye and Syria
    Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further humanitarian support to those seriously affected by last month’s deadly earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, says Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. “The 6 February earthquakes have had devastating consequences, with almost 18 million people affected. More than 53,000 people have died and tens of thousands more ...
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    2 days ago
  • Community voice to help shape immigration policy
    Migrant communities across New Zealand are represented in the new Migrant Community Reference Group that will help shape immigration policy going forward, Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced today.  “Since becoming Minister, a reoccurring message I have heard from migrants is the feeling their voice has often been missing around policy ...
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    2 days ago
  • State Highway 3 project to deliver safer journeys, better travel connections for Taranaki
    Construction has begun on major works that will deliver significant safety improvements on State Highway 3 from Waitara to Bell Block, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan announced today. “This is an important route for communities, freight and visitors to Taranaki but too many people have lost their lives or ...
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    2 days ago
  • Ginny Andersen appointed as Minister of Police
    Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has today appointed Ginny Andersen as Minister of Police. “Ginny Andersen has a strong and relevant background in this important portfolio,” Chris Hipkins said. “Ginny Andersen worked for the Police as a non-sworn staff member for around 10 years and has more recently been chair of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government confirms vital roading reconnections
    Six further bailey bridge sites confirmed Four additional bridge sites under consideration 91 per cent of damaged state highways reopened Recovery Dashboards for impacted regions released The Government has responded quickly to restore lifeline routes after Cyclone Gabrielle and can today confirm that an additional six bailey bridges will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Foreign Minister Mahuta to meet with China’s new Foreign Minister
    Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for China tomorrow, where she will meet with her counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in Beijing. This will be the first visit by a New Zealand Minister to China since 2019, and follows the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions between New Zealand and China. ...
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    3 days ago
  • Education Ministers from across the Pacific gather in Aotearoa
    Education Ministers from across the Pacific will gather in Tāmaki Makaurau this week to share their collective knowledge and strategic vision, for the benefit of ākonga across the region. New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti will host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) for three days from today, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • State Highway 5 reopens between Napier and Taupō following Cyclone Gabrielle
    A vital transport link for communities and local businesses has been restored following Cyclone Gabrielle with the reopening of State Highway 5 (SH5) between Napier and Taupō, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan says. SH5 reopened to all traffic between 7am and 7pm from today, with closure points at SH2 (Kaimata ...
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    3 days ago
  • Special Lotto draw raises $11.7 million for Cyclone Gabrielle recovery
    Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds has thanked generous New Zealanders who took part in the special Lotto draw for communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Held on Saturday night, the draw raised $11.7 million with half of all ticket sales going towards recovery efforts. “In a time of need, New Zealanders ...
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    4 days ago
  • Government delivers a $3 million funding boost for Building Financial Capability services
    The Government has announced funding of $3 million for providers to help people, and whānau access community-based Building Financial Capability services. “Demand for Financial Capability Services is growing as people face cost of living pressures. Those pressures are increasing further in areas affected by flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle,” Minister for ...
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    6 days ago
  • Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao – new Chair and member
    Minister of Education, Hon Jan Tinetti, has announced appointments to the Board of Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao. Tracey Bridges is joining the Board as the new Chair and Dr Therese Arseneau will be a new member. Current members Dr Linda Sissons CNZM and Daniel Wilson have ...
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    6 days ago
  • Scholarships honouring Ngarimu VC and the 28th (Māori) Battalion announced
    Fifteen ākonga Māori from across Aotearoa have been awarded the prestigious Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships and Awards for 2023, Associate Education Minister and Ngarimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today.  The recipients include doctoral, masters’ and undergraduate students. Three vocational training students and five wharekura students, ...
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    6 days ago
  • Appointment of Judge of the Court of Appeal and Judge of the High Court
    High Court Judge Jillian Maree Mallon has been appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and District Court Judge Andrew John Becroft QSO has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Mallon graduated from Otago University in 1988 with an LLB (Hons), and with ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • NZ still well placed to meet global challenges
    The economy has continued to show its resilience despite today’s GDP figures showing a modest decline in the December quarter, leaving the Government well positioned to help New Zealanders face cost of living pressures in a challenging global environment. “The economy had grown strongly in the two quarters before this ...
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    6 days ago
  • Western Ring Route Complete
    Aucklanders now have more ways to get around as Transport Minister Michael Wood opened the direct State Highway 1 (SH1) to State Highway 18 (SH18) underpass today, marking the completion of the 48-kilometre Western Ring Route (WRR). “The Government is upgrading New Zealand’s transport system to make it safer, more ...
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    6 days ago
  • Briefings to Incoming Ministers
    This section contains briefings received by incoming ministers following changes to Cabinet in January. Some information may have been withheld in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982. Where information has been withheld that is indicated within the document. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Teaming up for a stronger, more resilient Fiji
    Aotearoa New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta reaffirmed her commitment to working together with the new Government of Fiji on issues of shared importance, including on the prioritisation of climate change and sustainability, at a meeting today, in Nadi. Fiji and Aotearoa New Zealand’s close relationship is underpinned by the Duavata ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Investment in blue highway a lifeline for regional economies and cyclone recovery
    The Government is delivering a coastal shipping lifeline for businesses, residents and the primary sector in the cyclone-stricken regions of Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti, Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan announced today. The Rangitata vessel has been chartered for an emergency coastal shipping route between Gisborne and Napier, with potential for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Next steps developing clean energy for NZ
    The Government will progress to the next stage of the NZ Battery Project, looking at the viability of pumped hydro as well as an alternative, multi-technology approach as part of the Government’s long term-plan to build a resilient, affordable, secure and decarbonised energy system in New Zealand, Energy and Resources ...
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    7 days ago
  • Statement from the Prime Minister on Stuart Nash
    This morning I was made aware of a media interview in which Minister Stuart Nash criticised a decision of the Court and said he had contacted the Police Commissioner to suggest the Police appeal the decision. The phone call took place in 2021 when he was not the Police Minister. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • CPTPP Trade Ministers coming to Auckland
    The Government’s sharp focus on trade continues with Aotearoa New Zealand set to host Trade Ministers and delegations from 10 Asia Pacific economies at a meeting of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Commission members in July, Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor announced today. “New Zealand ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Govt approves $25 million extension for cyclone-affected businesses
    $25 million boost to support more businesses with clean-up in cyclone affected regions, taking total business support to more than $50 million Demand for grants has been strong, with estimates showing applications will exceed the initial $25 million business support package Grants of up to a maximum of $40,000 per ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • More than 160,000 new Kiwis to call NZ home
    80 per cent of 2021 Resident Visas applications have been processed – three months ahead of schedule Residence granted to 160,000 people 84,000 of 85,000 applications have been approved Over 160,000 people have become New Zealand residents now that 80 per cent of 2021 Resident Visa (2021RV) applications have been ...
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    1 week ago
  • Scholarships propel Kiwi students to NASA
    The Government continues to invest in New Zealand’s burgeoning space industry, today announcing five scholarships for Kiwi Students to undertake internships at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash congratulated Michaela Dobson (University of Auckland), Leah Albrow (University of Canterbury) and Jack Naish, Celine Jane ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New Zealand to attend regional security meeting in Australia
    The Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission’s Report into the Terrorist Attack on the Christchurch Mosques travels to Melbourne, Australia today to represent New Zealand at the fourth Sub-Regional Meeting on Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Security. “The Government is committed to reducing the threat of terrorism ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Health and safety action plan for ports
    The health and safety practices at our nation’s ports will be improved as part of a new industry-wide action plan, Workplace Relations and Safety, and Transport Minister Michael Wood has announced. “Following the tragic death of two port workers in Auckland and Lyttelton last year, I asked the Port Health ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Bikes and scooters to be exempt from FBT
    Bikes, electric bikes and scooters will be added to the types of transport exempted from fringe benefit tax under changes proposed today. Revenue Minister David Parker said the change would allow bicycles, electric bicycles, scooters, electric scooters, and micro-mobility share services to be exempt from fringe benefit tax where they ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Foreign Affairs Minister to reaffirm our close relationship with Fiji
    Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta will hold bilateral meetings with Fiji this week. The visit will be her first to the country since the election of the new coalition Government led by Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sitiveni Rabuka. The visit will be an opportunity to meet kanohi ki ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New legislation to streamline Cyclone recovery
    The Government is introducing the Severe Weather Emergency Legislation Bill to ensure the recovery and rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle is streamlined and efficient with unnecessary red tape removed. The legislation is similar to legislation passed following the Christchurch and Kaikōura earthquakes that modifies existing legislation in order to remove constraints ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Cost of living package: More bread and butter support for Kiwi families
    Approximately 1.4 million people will benefit from increases to rates and thresholds for social assistance to help with the cost of living Superannuation to increase by over $100 a pay for a couple Main benefits to increase by the rate of inflation, meaning a family on a benefit with children ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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