In yet another announcement likely to negatively impact on young people and families with young people, the Government is announcing a further crackdown from November next year on eligibility for help.
The attack by Mrs Upston and Mr Luxon is also strikingly ignorant of current incomes for a lot of people when balanced against the money in the bank after paying rent/board. It is an ignorance I am not terribly surprised about though – like their other Government colleagues. both have shown a remarkable inability to read the room on the cost of living.
So, what is that attack? From November 2026 whether a young person getting income support will depend on the results of a means test conducted on their parents income. The objective is to see whether a parent can support them instead of the taxpayer. Given that incomes in the last decade have been steadily squeezed by rents and other living costs, that just further tightens what might seem like already excessively tightened family budgets. Rather than seek to address the causes of the extremely tight budgeting the Government has chosen instead to make those budgets tighter still.
This is dangerous. It will no doubt bring a lot of families to the point of financial meltdown – essential things will have to be foregone, such as trips to the dentist or to the doctor. It will most likely push some families to sleep in their cars, which is the first step to destitution because if they cannot sleep at a fixed address, they run the risk of starting to be cut off from essential services, such as banking, communications and other utilities.
National are not the only party that seems to be clueless about the impact this will have on young New Zealanders. A.C.T. Leader David Seymour talked about the “many businesses who could not find staff, calling it “shameful that people from overseas are showing more willingness to work than too many young people here”.
Many of those people that Mr Seymour refers to, come from low income countries with little or no understanding of living conditions in New Zealand. They also come – through no fault of their own – with little understanding of bargaining and their rights as workers. When they arrive, many have been set up with immigration consultants who are just out to make a quick dollar and disappear before their clients realize that they have been scammed.
Contrary to what the Government says, most youth are keen to get work for simple reasons:
- Their own income
- It is well known that after rent you cannot survive on a pension, benefit or other Government income, and still expect to live well
- A sense of pride and contributing to the community
These all sound pretty simple – and are – yet many young New Zealanders are left with the impression that they somehow have to justify their value to certain sections of society, even though they are the country’s future. Too many in positions power, all the way to the ninth floor of the Beehive, seem to believe that young people are a hindrance.
I have huge sympathy for young New Zealanders trying to find work these days. In many respects despite what employers will say, many are caught between a rock and a hard place. The “rock” is the wall of non-communication that many find with prospective employers who, having posted a job vacancy, which many a prospective employee has then applied for, the communications trail goes dead. Days, weeks pass during which time there is no communication from the prospective employer about whether the employee was successful or not.
It is something I am quite familiar with, having had my share of applications lodged and then complete silence – sometimes even after e-mails and/or text messages to find out. Between May 2011 and August 2013 I was unemployed. My lack of work was not of my making – my job vanished like thousands of others did in the Christchurch earthquake. I went back and retrained for any office work I could get, but recruitment agencies I think must have taken one look at my C.V. and thrown it in the bin – only one agency seriously tried to help across all that time.
It is also immensely off putting. The employer presumably posted the vacancy in good faith. The prospective employees responded with applications in good faith, reasonably expecting – at the worst – a “We regret to inform you that your application is not going to be progressed Thank you for your time. We wish you all the best with future applications”. At best, an employee who has been rejected could expect to find out first hand by telephone call or even have a face to face conversation – however short – where the reasons are explained.
So, rather than rounding on our youth, maybe the Government could try a new tactic: actually doing something to address the concerns raised instead of exacerbating them. It is not rocket science.
Leftist Kiwi Writes 