Fewer Jobs, not Poor Attitude the Issue

The CTU is objecting to Minister Paula Bennett saying that the jobs are there for those with the right attitude in respect of youth unemployment.

Peter Conway, CTU Secretary said "in the last 5 years the rate of youth unemployment has doubled to 27.5 percent and it is simply wrong for the Government to say this is due to the attitude of young people."

"We have 155,000 people unemployed in this country. In 2005, New Zealand had the lowest rate of unemployment of any country in the OECD. Now we have slipped to 11th lowest."

"All countries were affected by the global financial crisis," said Peter Conway, "but why are we doing so much worse than others in terms of the longer term effect on jobs?"

Peter Conway said "the fact is the Government has simply not made job security a priority. The big money in the recession went for tax cuts to those on high incomes. Support for those out of work has been phased down and the Youth Guarantee is just too small a programme to have a major impact."

ENDS

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