9 August 2012

Higher unemployment needs a plan

Council of Trade Unions President Helen Kelly says statistics released today with an increase in the unemployment rate shows the continuing ambivalence of Government to addressing this issue is unsustainable.

Helen Kelly says “we are not surprised that the statistics show our unemployment rate has increased to 6.8 percent, up from 6.7 percent in the March quarter – this is the highest rate since June 2010. A recent Reuters survey showed economists were expecting the rate to drop to 6.5 percent, but our experience shows there aren’t many jobs out there, and its increasingly hard for those out of work to find decent work. I would like to know what economists were basing their expectations of a drop in the rate on?”

“Employment growth has slowed and there are 2,000 fewer people in work than last year – the government is continuing to bank on the Christchurch rebuild to provide much needed stimulus and jobs – they need to do more than just wait. The Government plan to increasingly load the blame for this on the unemployed themselves is simply to avoid it having to take responsibility and develop a sustainable economic plan.”

“There are now 162,000 New Zealanders unemployed, this number has risen by 1.1 percent – these figures continue to be alarmingly high. We need to focus on job creation, and support NZ jobs through government procurement. We need to boost training for Kiwi workers in Christchurch, build trains in New Zealand, retain good Government jobs, increase infrastructure projects, increase skill development programmes, reinstate tertiary spending cuts and stop hoping the market will fix this. Each percentage increase represents real people facing a miserable future unless together we take action.”

ENDS

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