People under-18 years are not entitled to the unemployment benefit and the new law is expected to affect 10,000 young people and increase their dependence on their parents. All people under-25 years were previously eligible for student allowances, depending on their parents' income.

The new law was originally drawn up under the assumption that the school-leaving age would be raised to 17 years, one of the major recommendations of the Employment Taskforce. However, six months ago, the government announced it has postponed indefinitely any moves to raise the school leaving age.

Source -- The Dominion 1 January 1998 "Law strips under-18 student benefits" by Cathie Bell

Last April, work testing for the DPB parent was introduced requiring them to be available for paid work when their youngest child is aged 14 years. Those who fail to take up a job or training opportunity without "good or sufficient reason" face a regime of temporary cuts to their benefits. Social Welfare Minister Roger Sowry says: "We want people who have school-age children to be asking the question whether they are available for part-time work..."

Source -- Sunday Star-Times 21 December 1997 "Sole-parent beneficiaries to get message on jobs" by Ruth Laugesen

Source -- New Zealand Herald 5 January 1997 "City keen on using dole workers" by Sue McCabe

Apparel and Textile federation chief executive Marcia Dunnett predicts that at least half the jobs and business will go if the government took the same approach as for cars and rapidly moved to zero tariffs between 2000 and 2002. The Minister of Commerce John Luxton is said to favour a more rapid reduction of the tariffs. The whole sector is waiting for the current review of tariffs by the government, which will be completed in March and announced in May.

Source -- New Zealand Herald 20 December 1997 "Industries shudder at tariff-cut outlook" by James Gardiner

Christchurch prides itself in being known as "the electronics capital of NZ" -- earning over half a billion dollars of foreign exchange each year. But the sector says it has had difficulty filling job vacancies because too few students, parents and teachers see electronics as a career choice.

Source -- New Zealand Herald 23 December 1997 "Lack of skill causes concern" by Ivo Wynn-Williams

Over 90% of the teachers surveyed cited an increase in the number of students experiencing social, family or financial difficulties which effect the student's performance or behaviour at school. These conditions have led to more suspensions, and even attempts to register some students as identifiable hazards under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

According to the PPTA, fewer younger teachers are staying in the profession, leading to fears that there will be an even more serious teacher supply problem early next century. The percentage of teachers aged under-35 is dropping steadily: in 1990 this group was 27% of all teachers, but it has dropped to 22% this year.

Source -- The Dominion 29 December 1997 "Number of young teachers plummeting survey shows" by Alan Samson

Source -- The Dominion 20 December 1997 "Government moves to attract new migrants" by Helen Bain

Source -- Common Ground December 1997 "The Jobs Gathering"

Hubbard challenges the Roundtable view that businesses should only be concerned with maximising the return for shareholders. He believes that what businesses do also has implications for employees, other businesses and the wider community. Hubbard: "Socially Responsible Business is good business. Long-term companies that take social responsibilities seriously are more stable and more profitable..."

Hubbard denies his group will be left-wing or political. But he says it will be more than a networking group -- it will have its own small staff to prepare position papers and lobby government. The group is being modelled on a similar network in the United States.

Kerr says that the Roundtable encouraged businesses to be good employers, which was in everyone's interests. It's primary role, however, was to provide goods and services to consumers at the cheapest possible price. And Kerr says that if businesses did not make profits, then this was a waste of NZ's scarce resources such as capital, labour and materials.

Source -- The Daily News 23 December 1997 "Businessman plans to form Roundtable rival" by NZPA

The survey of 400 PC users in medium-sized and large companies in Europe found that personal computers caused stress, with employees feeling that they had to work harder than ever before. Nevertheless, employee attitudes toward PCs were broadly positive, with over 90% of respondents saying computers were vital to their working life.

Source -- Reuters 19 September 1997 "PCs Could Waste Three Working Weeks a Year"

The mainstream economic theory is this: We can never achieve an unemployment rate lower than the NAIRU for more than a brief period. This is because as soon as the rate falls below the NAIRU, then inflation starts to accelerate, and its only a matter of time before the Reserve Bank uses higher interest rates to discourage demand in order to get inflation under control again.

The theories behind this tool of economic management continue to be a matter of difficult debate. It is also difficult to be sure at what level economists are calculating the NAIRU to be. Professor Jane Kelsey, author of the bestseller "The NZ Experiment" says that NZ officials are defining the "natural" rate of unemployment as around 6%. In Australia, Owen Covick of the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies says that Australian economists are putting the Australian NAIRU at 7.5%-- 8.5%.

This also means that the long-term unemployed cease to be seen as part of the effective supply of labor. Economists then determine that inflationary pressures are emerging at a higher level of total unemployment than when the pool of long-term unemployed was smaller. The Age: "It's the build-up in the numbers of the long-term unemployed in the aftermath of the deep recessions of the early '80s and '90s that probably does most to explain why the NAIRU is now so high..."

Source -- The Melbourne Age 22 November 1997 "Why growth alone is not enough to get the jobless back to work..."

The book argues that there is no historical evidence that sacrificing growth for lower inflation is worth the price we pay in stunted growth, lost jobs and stagnated pay. Even if there was such evidence, it says that the policies still amount to a deliberate sacrifice of the interests of people who earn their living from work, in favour of the interests of investors.

Wolman says that, since the collapse of communism, business leaders in the west have unhooked their traditional partnership with workers. And he points out that as capital relentlessly chases the lowest costs, "knowledge work" is becoming no more sacrosanct than the industrial work it replaced.

Source -- Atlanta Business Chronicle Executive Bookshelf "'Judas Economy' turns up dark view of world market" by Terry O'Keefe

"It is in the social policy area that we will see the greatest debate and the most significant leadership from this government.

"We will lead the debate on social responsibility, focussing on what governments can and should do, and what families must do for themselves. We must talk with each other, not at each other, to find the answers.

"We'll be working case by case to see that people who have an ability to work are encouraged to do so, at least part-time, in order to avoid the long-term welfare dependency trap.

"NZ is still one of the best places in the world to live and raise a family. We can be as successful as we choose to be. That requires energy, determination, a clear sense of purpose and a commitment to succeed..."
-- Jenny Shipley, Prime Minister

"The economy is slowing sharply. One forecasting agency, Berl, picks unemployment, which in the June quarter was 6.6% to rise to 9% by 1999. There have recently been big layoffs, with more to come as the government eliminates tariffs at a suicidal rate.

"Working people are mobilising against Max Bradford's plans to cash up and sell holidays. The proposed commercialisation or tertiary education is causing real anxiety in that sector. State tenants are fuming about the ever-increasing burden of market rentals. And Mrs Shipley and Mr Peters are on a collision course over superannuation: she wants to means test it; he won't.

"There is plenty of scope for 1998 to be another tumultuous year. Throughout it, Labour will continue to focus on the key issues concerning ordinary people: health, education, housing, jobs and superannuation. Major policy work is being undertaken..."
-- Helen Clark, Leader of the Opposition