More being laid off since Job Summit

The pace of redundancies appears to be quickening again two weeks after the Government's Job Summit.

Work and Income figures show 20 employers sought help for redundant employees in the first week after the February 27 summit, compared with 50 in the whole of January and 72 in February last year. But the weekly rate is still slightly lower than in December, when 90 employers sought help for a total of 1282 redundancies.

And the picture is mixed because the number of workers receiving the department's ReStart support increased by only 159 in the two weeks to Friday, the smallest increase of any fortnight so far this year.

The data suggest that most of the 3070 workers given notice of redundancy by employers who sought Work and Income help in the three months to the end of February have either found new jobs or have yet

to actually apply for the ReStart package, which provides extra family support, accommodation subsidies and help with finding new jobs.

Only 1229 people went on to ReStart between January 1 and last Friday, and only 97 of those had gone off the scheme into new jobs by Friday.

The agency said most employers seeking support have been in hospitality, real estate, food processing, transport, timber and construction, meat, engineering, seafood processing, manufacturing and retailing.

"We do not necessarily know how many workers who have been redundant have new jobs, as there is no need to tell us when they are not receiving any financial assistance from us," it said. "With our Redundancy

Support we provide employers and workers with a range of information and support and they then effectively choose if they want to continue to engage with us."

HAND UP
Redundancy support

Feb 2008
Employers: 72
Workers: 1251

Dec 2008
Employers: 90
Workers: 1282

Jan 2009
Employers: 50
Workers: 537

March 1-6
Employers: 20
Workers: NA

www.workandincome.govt.nz