Letter No.153
3 October, 2001

21 September 2001

Two of the three major shareholders of Air New Zealand, Singapore Air and Brierley Investments, reject a demand from the Air New Zealand board to immediately commit $850 million to rescue the national carrier. The board says that without the funds they are likely to place the airline in statutory management. The NZ government is the other major shareholder.

23 September 2001

Job losses are expected as the Auckland District Health Board begins the process of merging Green Lane, Auckland, National Women's and Starship Children's hospitals. The hospitals currently employ 7,500 staff who have been told that specific redundancies will be announced by Christmas.

24 September 2001

The government expects 300 jobs to be created as it contributes $100,000 towards a plan that it says will see Ngati Porou marginal land planted as commercial forest. Minister of Maori Affairs Parekura Horomia says that the venture will create training and employment opportunities almost immediately and will inject $3-5 million into the largely Maori community on the East Coast.

Boeing, the world's largest commercial aircraft manufacturer announces it will shed 30,000 jobs by the end of the year. Boeing is expecting a 20% drop in aircraft sales over the next two years.

Japanese camera and electronics manufacturer Minolta says it will cut 2,500 jobs over the next three years.

25 September 2001

Kmart stores in NZ are likely to be re-launched after the Australian owners, Coles Myers, decide to ramp-up the retail chain that has been losing money. About 1,000 NZ Kmart staff will apparently now retain their jobs which had been under threat as negotiations were underway to sell the 11 NZ stores. Meanwhile, Coles Myers announces that 1,000 middle management and head office jobs will be scrapped in Australia.

The Reserve Bank of NZ lowers its wholesale interest rate to 5.25%. The US Federal Reserve Bank cuts rates its to 3%.

26 September 2001

The Ministry of Women's Affairs releases Maori Women: Mapping Inequalities and Pointing the Ways Forward. The report confirms that there are big gaps in social and economic outcomes for Maori women.

The price of insurance is certain to rise as a result of the September 11th attack in the US, according to the National Business Review. The weekly warns NZ business people to expect increases from between 20% to 200%, depending on which industry they are in.

27 September 2001

The NZ Income Survey, compiled by Statistics NZ, shows that the average weekly income rose by 6% over the last year. The increase has been driven largely by an increase in the numbers of people in paid employment, and by a rise in average hourly earnings.

The NZ Stock Exchange suspends trading of Air New Zealand shares after comments by PM Helen Clark could have been construed as indicating the government would bail the company out.

It can take several years before for non-English speaking refugees in NZ are ready and able to get paid work. Simon Collins of the NZ Herald says that most refugees require at least one year of English-as-a-Second-Language training before they are work-ready but many are not doing the training because it is unavailable. At the moment there are 300 refugees on waiting lists to take state-funded ESL courses. There are another 120 refugees in queues for ESL courses which they are willing to pay for.

Job vacancies in Australia have declined by 6.7% over the last three months according to a survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is the fourth straight quarterly decline in Australian job vacancies.

28 September 2001

Dame Margaret Bazley, veteran civil servant and, until today, interim CEO of the Ministry of Social Development, retires.

US aviation industry job losses now total 122,800 since the 11th of September attacks on America.

29 September 2001

The Australian government is developing a work-for-the-dole scheme which it says will be implemented if it is re-elected next year. The scheme will require people who have been on the dole for six months to do between 150 and 240 hours of community service per year. The government says the scheme will help people stay active and connected to the community and keep people from growing dependent on welfare support.

Air New Zealand share trading is suspended again, this time because of comments by Greg Terry, chief executive of Brierley Investments. The Dominion says Terry's comments were an attempt to talk up the share price which would increase the value of Brierley's share of Air NZ. The new twist delays any deal being negotiated between the major shareholders regarding the future of Air NZ.

Part of US president George W Bush's economic revitalisation plan is to double the amount of time people can be on the unemployment benefit while looking for new work. Bush says that unemployment insurance will support people for a year rather than six months. He is also asking Congress for funds to increase job training assistance.

1 October 2001

Winz and the Ministry of Social Policy formally merge to form the Ministry of Social Development.

2 October 2001

The World Bank estimates that the stunting of world economic growth due to the September 11th attacks in the US will condemn as many as 10 million more people to live on less than $US1 per day. The worst hit areas will be in Africa.