Clayton Mitchell: The Community Wage

Clayton Mitchell is a Tauranga-based list MP for New Zealand First.

Being unemployed is hard. It's demoralising. Add to that - the longer someone's unemployed, the harder it is to become employed.

But, if, as part of receiving the benefit, beneficiaries were offered part-time work within their communities, they would have the opportunity to keep their resume current, increasing the likelihood of becoming gainfully employed.

This is part of the idea behind New Zealand First's Community Wage policy.

Another is that part-time community work while on the benefit could also provide opportunities for beneficiaries to acquire new skills. And, working also instills a sense of worth and purpose. Conversely, the often lack of structure and aimless feeling introduced into our daily lives when we don't have work can take a hammer to a person's self-worth.

Under our Community Wage policy, long-term unemployed beneficiaries could install insulation, improve drainage, paint, replace rotten wall boards, clean-up polluted waterways and plant trees, thereby improving their local communities while regaining the sense of dignity that comes from being a contributing member to society.

While it's easier to find work when one already has a job, we also understand that finding work can often feel like a full-time job. For this reason, we're suggesting part-time employment as part of the Community Wage program.

Our aim is to provide support to some of the most vulnerable within our communities. And community work could provide that opportunity to get people back into work, through the acquisition of skills and the bolstering of self-esteem, as well as by virtue of keeping their CV current.

New Zealand First is about effecting change through common-sense policies that are simple to implement and have a positive, direct impact on our society. Our Community Wage policy would do just that.