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Improvement in employment but not fast enough
Council of Trade Unions media release
4 November
2010
Improvement in employment figures but not fast enough
Today’s Statistics NZ figures showing unemployment at 6.4 percent is a welcome step in the right direction but the improvement is neither fast enough nor substantial enough, said the CTU. It is also a higher figure than the 6.2 percent forecast by the Reserve Bank.
“In particular women are finding that the job market is tough – while 15,000 fewer men were unemployed in the last quarter, female unemployment jumped by 5,000,” said CTU Secretary Peter Conway.
There are 243,500 jobless people in New Zealand including 150,000 officially unemployed. There are also 110,000 part-time workers who would like to work more hours.
Peter Conway said: “We know that the labour marker lags in any recovery. The problem is we don’t even know if there is a recovery, let along how long the lag will be in terms of jobs.”
“Even worse,” he said, “is the number of people who get left behind. The number of long term unemployed has increased by 8.1 percent in the last year.”
Maori unemployment has hardly fallen at 16.2 percent (compared to 16.4 percent in June) and Pasifika unemployment is still at 13.5 percent (from 14.1 percent in June).
Peter Conway said that not enough is being done about unemployment and that we run the risk of any recovery being jobless.
“Why have a Jobs Summit when unemployment is at 5.1 percent but abandon the unemployed when it runs at more than 6 percent for a year?”
Peter Conway commented yesterday that the daily dose of economic commentary, mainly provided by bank economists, unwittingly puts inflation issues ahead of jobs and wages every time.
“What this amounts to is that many economists are arguing daily about the risks of unemployment falling and wages rising.”
“Of course inflation is important – it impacts on the real wage after all. But to consistently put inflation concerns ahead of jobs and wages is skewing the economic debate and it is time we had a new approach.”
“After all,” Conway said, “we have the finance sector internationally to thank for the global financial crisis that caused much of the current misery through loss of jobs and cuts in public services.”
“What we need is a new approach to monetary policy and a revitalised focus from this Government on actions that will help the unemployed.”
ENDS
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