"New" policy from Luxon, National

[Wainuiguy]

As someone who also has contacts at WINZ,  to claim that people aren't encouraged & helped into jobs simply isn't the case. There are very, very few people who genuinely don't want to work.

And yes, there's a marked difference between the way people on  benefits other then Superannuation are treated. There shouldn't be, but there is & a part of the problem amy be WINZ employing people who lack life experience by virtue of their youth.
The Nats aren't 'trying to engage young people' - they're dragging out their beneficiary scapegoat group again in hopes of gaining votes from those who don't understand  that most people including young people, prefer to work when work with a reasonable wage is available.



Some fact checks, Bryan Bruce:

https://www.facebook.com/www.redsky.tv

"At their┬á annual conference NationalÔÇÖs leader Christopher Luxon is reported as stating .
"To young people who don't want to work: You might have a free ride under Labour, but under National, it ends."
Putting aside for a moment the inference that all young unemployed people are lazy, a quick look at the Statistics NZ site reveals :

(a) The youth unemployment rate has actually dropped.
While the┬á Youth unemployment rate is 9.2% (and we certainly need to continue to address that issue) the rate actually went up to 18.4% shortly after John Key took office as Prime Minister, stayed high during NationalÔÇÖs term of office and only dropped down to 9.2% after a Labour led coalition took office in 2017.

(b) Youth are a traditional source of seasonal labour.

In other words a lot of young people are working seasonally and trying to pay for their education.

© A glance at the ethnicity figures┬á tells you┬á it is Young M─üori and Pacific people who have consistently had higher unemployment rates than young Pakiha. In the September 2021 quarter, the youth unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) were 7.8 percent for NZ European, 15.5 percent for M─üori, 11.2 percent for Pacific, and 9.6 percent for Asian groups.
We know that Maori and Pacific peoples are more affected by poverty issues than any other group and that racism is another factor in unemployment  statistics that some politicians would rather we did not talk about.

(d) Over 6000 young people are involved in caregiving ÔÇô they are not lazy

(e) Lastly  it is  the 25-60  age group that  tend to be longer unemployed than the 15-24  year olds

Policies that snipe rather than tackle the source of most of our social issues - inequality and poverty - don't impress me."

Hmmm was there something that happened in 2008 that caused that lift in unemployment?  Let me think....
And the rate didnt just magically decrease when labour came to power in 2017.  It was already on it's way down.  The time to focus on someone out of work is the first 3 to 4 months the time when their motivation to find work is the highest.  Waiting until 12 months or more already has them at a much lower ebb.  And giving them a cash incentive to stay in work is a great thing but the stick needs to be there for those who would choose to not engage in the job seeking.