Wednesday 6 May 2015

Employment figures hide prevalence of insecure work

Today’s unemployment figures are hiding the prevalence of insecure work in New Zealand, according to FIRST Union General Secretary Robert Reid.

The figures show that despite growing labour force participation the unemployment rate remains steady from the last quarter at 5.8%.

“We’re glad that unemployment isn’t growing again as it did last year, however we’re concerned with the growth of insecure work in many of our sectors,” says Reid.

“In the retail sector we’re seeing workers with few guaranteed hours who often work very low hours each week. An insecure job is still registered as an employed person in the official figures.”

“Insecure work makes the daily exercise of financial planning a nightmare and leaves workers open to potential bullying and intimidation tactics by their employers” says Reid.

“In recent months we’ve seen New Zealanders’ overwhelming opposition to zero hour contracts, but the Government needs to look more broadly than just zero hour contracts. Short term contracts, low guaranteed hours, agency temp work and casual work all leave workers vulnerable to exploitation, but they show up as a positive on employment statistics.”

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