We are a small spunky country. Our size means we can be flexible and if we want to we can pivot and change quickly.
Yes there are big challenges but we are a country that people from around the world want to come to for better lives. We shouldbe proud. We should be optimistic about our future. We should celebrate our successes and embrace the challenges.
Along with everything going for us, we have a growing problem that could affect our future. We are leaving too many of our young people behind. There are 34,000 under-25-year-olds on the jobseeker benefit.
That is nearly the equivalent of Gisborne’s population. Thirty-four thousand under-25-year-olds not in work or education and languishing on welfare. The number of youths on benefits has increased nearly 50 per centin the past five years.
To be eligible for the jobseeker benefit you need to be looking for work. It can go to someone who has a health condition or disability that affects their ability to work temporarily but it predominantly goes to people who are out of work.
How can we accept that 34,000 young people are on benefit and are not getting jobs? How can we rationalise that more than 500 of them have been on welfare for longer than five years?
At best they will be living pretty meagre existences. Life on a benefit is hard. There is not enough money and it can be isolating and lonely. The evidence shows that the younger someone is when they first receive a benefit - and the longer they stay on it - the higher their chances of suffering poor social and economic outcomes.
There are currently more than 500 ads for labourers on Trade Me jobs. The work is there, why aren’t these young people getting these jobs? Photo / NZME
We still see the signs up in hospitality and retail windows begging for staff. There are currently more than 500 ads for labourers on Trade Me jobs. The work is there, why aren’t these young people getting these jobs?
Our welfare system used to believe in mutual obligations. If you are going to receive money from hard-working taxpayers, you are required to meet certain obligations like being work-ready and actively looking for jobs. If you don’t meet these obligations, there should be sanctions.
Some will say sanctions are tough and Labour effectively dropped sanctions as they treat beneficiaries as victims with no control of their destinies. Not surprisingly the number of young people on benefits sharply increased when sanctions were dropped.
We need to get back to having real requirements of people. Not just for taxpayers, but for the young people themselves. They are in control of their own destinies. There is a better life than one relying on welfare. We owe it to them to insist on mutual obligations.
It is cruel to leave them to languish on welfare. The humane thing to do is to wrap around support, give clear information on what is expected and then hold them to account. They deserve futures and to live happy healthy big lives in this wonderful country of ours.
