9 May 2013

Aim should be jobs for all

The Council of Trade Unions says that while the drop of 15,000 in the number of people who are unemployed is welcome, we are still a long way off from returning to the low levels of unemployment in 2008.

Statistics NZ announced today that the unemployment rate had dropped from 6.9 percent to 6.2 percent.

Peter Conway said “there is no cause for satisfaction when there are 146,000 people unemployed and a further 83,300 part time workers looking for extra hours. Also the jobless figure is still over a quarter of a million people.”

“We want to see a commitment to a vision of jobs for all who are seeking work”.

In 2005 we had below 4 percent unemployment and the Government should have that as an immediate target.

Peter Conway says the CTU has consistently called on the Government to make jobs a priority.

“We know they can’t solve unemployment on their own. But they could do more”.

“They could insist on local industry participation clauses in tender documents for major Government procurement, invest more in people so that skills can better match employer demand, invest in employment-rich projects like social housing, and reintroduce community employment schemes,” said Peter Conway.

Maori unemployment is 13.9 percent and Pacific unemployment is 15.2 percent, still disproportionately high. “This shows the significant disadvantage faced by Maori and Pasefika in the job market.”

Peter Conway also noted that we continue to do worse than in Australia where the unemployment rate is 5.6 percent.

"We want the Budget next week to include initiatives for jobs.”

ENDS

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