Government’s Job Creation Scheme to Cost Taxpayer $500,000 Per Job
Prime Minister John Key’s claim that building the Kapiti Expressway will create “about one thousand jobs” means the
project is a costly taxpayer subsidy of about $500,000 per job, according to youth climate change organisation
Generation Zero.
Mr Key made the job claim yesterday at a visit to the site of the proposed expressway, also posting it on his public
Facebook page.
Last October, a leaked report by engineering consultants BECA prepared for the New Zealand Transport Agency found the
Expressway had a benefit-cost ratio of just 0.2. The report was commissioned as part of the NZTA’s legal case for
resource consent, but was suspiciously never submitted as evidence to the Board of Inquiry or released.
Generation Zero spokesperson Louis Chambers:
“If the benefit-cost ratio is 0.2, that means we are only seeing $127 million of value for the $635 million spent. Mr
Key’s best justification for wasting the remaining $508 million is that it will create 1,000 jobs, but at $508,000 per
job, that’s a hefty price for New Zealand to pay.
“If the Government is building the Expressway to create jobs - which to be honest is a better reason than some of the
others they have given - then we can think of much more sensible ways to do that.”
“Instead of creating temporary jobs to fund uneconomic motorways, the Government could increase its investment in decent
public transport infrastructure.”
Studies from the US show that public transport creates more jobs per dollar invested than motorways. In one study of
American stimulus spending, the authors found that investing in public transport created two times as many jobs as
investing in highway infrastructure programs.
“The Government likes to say it doesn’t pick winners with its economic policy, but that’s exactly what they’re doing
with their road-building agenda. It’s time the Government started investing in durable jobs in low carbon sectors, which
will be the real winners for New Zealand in the long-term.”
Sources
John Key claims Kapiti Expressway will create 1,000 jobs:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/kapiti/8652555/Kapiti-expressway-will-create-1000-jobs-Key
Public transport investment creates twice as many jobs as highway infrastructure spending: http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/documents/010510_whatwelearned_stimulus.pdf
Public transport investment study:
About Generation Zero
ENDS