Letter No.92
16 December, 1998

30 November 1998

A study finds that 38% of NZ workers are suffering from chronic job stress or serious burnout. This is about the same level as in workers in the US and Canada. The survey by researcher Bob Boudreau at Otago University measures burnout by its three elements: emotional exhaustion, lack of personal accomplishment and the tendency to view people as objects. The symptoms of burnout include poor health, absenteeism, lowered performance, higher job tension, lack of job satisfaction, feelings of helplessness and low self-esteem.

1 December 1998

Work and Income NZ staff will not have to declare their political affiliations. WINZ communications manager Robert Brewer says the clause in the code of conduct that made headlines last month would be reviewed to correct any ambiguities. Brewer says no staff had been asked to reveal details of which political party they support.

Figures are released measuring the decline in the Asian economies over the quarter to September this year. The economies of Singapore and the Philippines are the least affected as they contracted -1%; South Korea fell -6.8%; Hong Kong fell -7%; Malaysia's economy fell by -8.6%; and Indonesia's economy, marked by food riots and political upheaval, was damaged -17.4%.

The merger of Exxon and Mobile corporations creates the world's largest oil company. It also means huge job losses with industry analysts expecting to see 12,000 to 15,000 workers made redundant.

2 December 1998

The Mental Health Commission reports that government is funding only 60% of the actual need of mental health services, a shortfall of $355m. Commission chairperson Dr Barbara Disley says government must increase spending on mental health by $59m per year until 2004 if it is to meet its own targets. The director-general of Health, Dr Karen Poutasi says her information is that the gap between needed services and funding is only $221m.

Student Job Search offices are finding fewer positions this year than last. Hamilton SJS spokesperson Bryan Smith says that while the same number of companies are offering jobs, they have been for fewer workers. In his region the greatest number of jobs are for one-off domestic help.

The Morgan Poll says that more NZ'ers feel their jobs are safe now than for any year since the poll began monitoring job security in 1991. The poll results are curious given that in the same survey, 68% said they expect unemployment to rise over the next twelve months.

3 December 1998

Community Wage workers will not receive the $21 per week participation allowance if the organisation they work for closes over the Christmas break. WINZ Minister Peter McCardle also says that if the community wage workers' scheduled day of work falls on any public holiday and the worker is not allowed to work on that day because the organisation is closed, the worker will not receive the participation allowance.

4 December 1998

Corporate lay-offs in the US are likely to have totalled 625,000 by the end of this year. The figures are the highest in the last ten years and seem to contradict the steady growth in the US domestic economy which has also seen the unemployment rate dropping slightly to 4.4% in November. The worst hit industries are computers and electronics, financial services and industrial goods manufacturing.

7 December 1998

National director for Student Job Search Lindsay Wright says the number of students registered with the service was down 27% on last year. Nationwide, the service has filled over 9,000 vacancies, about 5% down on last year.

The Trade Union Federation claims the new prison export industry may threaten NZ's $1.3 billion fruit and vegetable exports. Britain, the US and Canada all have laws making it illegal to import goods that are even partially manufactured by prisoners. Customs officials in those countries could halt importation until prison-made goods are identified. Fruitgrowers Federation chief executive Peter Silcock says it a real concern if NZ exports were put in jeopardy by companies contracting to prisons.

9 December 1998

The official word from government is that the NZ economy is looking very weak for the next three years. Treasury expects 16,000 more NZ'ers to be out of work by the March as unemployment reaches 8.7% next year. Treasury also forecasts that NZ will be out of recession next quarter, but expects growth of only about 1% per year for the next three years. With the tax take down, the government is now budgeting to be running a deficit for the next three years.

Carter Holt Harvey Forests announces jobs cuts as it spells out cost savings after making huge losses this year. Prime forestry contractors are being reduced from 120 to 24. Trees will be planted further apart so they will not require crews to thin the forest. And from the end of next year, CHH will no longer need pruning crews. The company believes the cost of pruning, coupled with the facts that pruning slows tree growth and the price differential between clearwood and unpruned radiata has made pruning uneconomic.

The ANZ Bank survey of job vacancy ads shows more vacancies being advertised this month than last month. While job ads are up 6.6% on last month, they are still down 15% on this time last year.

10 December 1998

Northland Dairy Company in Dargaville gives notice to its 94 workers that the plant will close in March. The company produces specialised dried milk products for one major customer in Indonesia. The Indonesians are no longer able to import milk products.

The number of people employed in Australia falls by nearly 50,000 in November. The unemployment rates rose from 7.7% to 8% and the participation rate falls from 63.4% to 63.2%.

Social Services Minister Roger Sowry says the number of people on benefits has stabilised. He explains that while there has been a rise in numbers of people on unemployment and invalids benefits, there has been a corresponding decrease in the number of people on the domestic purposes and sickness benefits. Sowry says are only 273 more people on benefits now than there were this time last year.

However, it appears the stability is expected to be short lived. WINZ Minister Peter McCardle admits that domestic purposes beneficiaries are expected to rise by 8% over the next three years. The number of people on invalids benefits are expected to rise by 17% over the same period. Unemployment is expected to rise 17% within the next four months.

11 December 1998

The Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation tells the NZ Qualifications Authority that it wants total control of training for its industry. ITO executive director Trevor Allsebrook says all training should be done on site and does not want Skill NZ to fund polytech building courses. Allsebrook says the ITO is taking this approach because with the current system, government funding per student is dropping while polytech course fees are increasing. This leaves an ever widening gap between funds available for training and the cost of training. He says the industry and trainees are no longer willing to fund the gap.