Getting children back to school, people into jobs

Dana KirkpatrickMP for East Coast

Opinion

The release last week of the benefit numbers and the burgeoning increase in people on the Jobseeker benefit is deeply concerning to all of us — especially those working in industries where there is work available and no one suitable to fill the jobs.

The December 2023 MSD figures show an 11 percent increase of all benefits in the Gisborne district, rising from 5571 in December 2018 to 6183 in Gisborne.

Most importantly, if you drill into the figures you will see that of the 2646 people on the Jobseeker benefit – 1431 of them are aged between 18 and 39. The statistics also show that 54 percent of the 2646 have been on the benefit for over a year — in the prime of their lives, where they could be actively contributing productively to our local and regional economy.

Of course, there will always be those who cannot do physical work and should be supported, but according to the MSD figures 1995 people are work ready!

So, what is the problem here? Minister of Social Development and Employment Louise Upston summed it up when she said the figures paint a grim picture of the previous government’s legacy of a culture of dependency and economic mismanagement.

The malaise that has become our productivity index is not going to prevail under the coalition Government as we believe people are better off in employment, both financially and socially. For those who can work, it is the best way to get out of a cycle of poverty and dependency.

Of course, this cannot happen on its own and many families will need support and help to become work ready. But without a concerted effort from all agencies we will never break the intergenerational cycles that many of our families have come to know as normal.

The Government’s Welfare that Works policy will fix this by using community providers to

give young job seekers a job coach, a plan to address their barriers to employment, and a proper needs assessment to help them find suitable work.

We will introduce a traffic light system that makes it clear to those on Jobseeker support what their obligations are to prepare for or find work, and what the consequences will be if they refuse.

The coalition Government has already begun delivering for job seekers by indexing main benefits to inflation from April 1, to keep up with rising costs, and extending the availability of 90-day trials, giving all businesses the confidence to take a chance on new employees.

As the Minister said, we will be relentlessly focused on getting unemployed people into suitable work; providing them with greater independence, choice and opportunity to get ahead.

Much of this starts with education — and will require a concerted effort to improve attendance numbers at school. There are some appalling statistics. Nationally only 45.9 percent of students attended school regularly in the third term of 2023 — figures on a par with the same period in 2022. The statistics for schools in Gisborne is even lower — 37.1 percent attended school regularly (90 percent of the time).

This is not success. If we are to get people into jobs, we must first get them into school. Learning to read and write and do basic mathematics is paramount to being productive and useful in the community — it’s an area of clear focus for us all.