New Zealand idle
The quarterly household labour survey results in headlines such as, "Low joblessness adding wage pressure - unemployment tipped to be lowest since 1980s" (NZ Herald, February 1).
More jobs advertised or created does not mean lower numbers of unemployed. The equation just lowers the unemployment rate
on paper and figures can be made to tell whatever story is desired.
There are almost 65,000 more working-age people on Jobseeker support than there were four years ago. If a person on a benefit is not "actively seeking work" or is only working one hour a week, they are not counted as unemployed.
Why bring in high numbers of low-skilled and unskilled workers from overseas on a residency pathway when we have our own non-working "workforce" to draw on? Increasing our low-skilled population sustains our low-wage economy. The pathway to higher wages and a more productive country is to train our own unemployed.
While the OECD pressures NZ to raise the age of eligibility for superannuation, why are they ignoring the numbers of the working-age population sitting on benefits?
I agree with Simon Bridges, we have become a "lifestyle nation".
J Leighton, Devonport.
Unforeseen consequences
New banking laws introduced despite there being no problem to fix (low default rates) have created a credit crunch in New Zealand.
This is impacting on first home buyers. Worse, it has cut credit to our young entrepreneurial and innovative businesses.
This will stifle this important economic activity and most certainly lead to a brain drain as they leave for more accommodating countries such as Australia.
We need to repeal and then target loan sharks, not mainstream banks.
Mike Single, Bayswater.
Haere mai
It is now time to let all Kiwis overseas come home, now. No more MIQ,
No more Zoom calls, watching loved ones die; no more Zoom calls watching children grow up.
Covid (Omicron) is in New Zealand, what are we trying to keep out?
Over 90 per cent of eligible New Zealanders are fully vaccinated and more are getting vaccinations and booster shots all the time.
Let's show our love and empathy to our countrymen and let them come home.
Bronwyn Dorrian, Matarangi.
Sudden repatriation
Those living in New Zealand have paid through the nose for members of their families who have migrated overseas. These ex-pats, who contributed next to nothing to our economy while they were away, now demand the right arising from their rite of passage to come back home to be with the loved ones they abandoned.
We are all paying the massive costs of their repatriation by pandemic serious illness arriving over our border.
Citizenship demands behaviour as a responsible New Zealander and not to act in a way that is against the interest of New Zealand. I wonder if these attributes can be applied to ex-patriates.
Julie Daymond-King, Helensville.
Ears and graces
Why did Charlotte Bellis think she did not have to follow the rules like the rest of us and apply for an emergency allocation spot in MIQ within a 14-day timeframe?
Why did she leave the safety of a European country and travel to one of the most dangerous countries in the world for women? Why did she whip the media into a frenzy and then complain about a breach of privacy?
She now has an MIQ spot. She will have safe passage out of Afghanistan, unlike many other women in Afghanistan. Most of us do not have the ear of the world's media, and are not so lucky with the MIQ system.
If I were her I would feel a degree of humility and gratitude.
J L Jones, Devonport.
