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| No.188 | 7 July 2003 | Essential Information on an Essential Issue |
 of key events over the last few weeks. IMMIGRATION CHANGES BERL FORCASTS BIG JOB LOSSES NURSE DEBT LINKS TO SKILL SHORTAGES AUSTRALIAN REPORT ON THE FUTURE OF WORK WHERE HAVE ALL THE FOREIGN STUDENTS GONE? BUILDING SKILLS TRAINING IN NORTHLAND IMPORT SUBSTITUTION JOBS CALL TO ALTER WINZ WEBSITE “JOB BOARDS” NO SEX WORKER ADS, PLEASE, WE’RE WINZ SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS SCHEME LAUNCHED PACE TO JOBS MOST FAMILY UNITS WILL HAVE NO CHILDREN BY 2006
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Index to Features
12 June 2003A major study on the Australian workforce is presented at the "Future of Work" conference in Sydney. See Special Feature in this issue. 14 June 2003Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast warns of job losses as the National Bank goes up for sale. All three previous NZ bank sales resulted in the relocation of head offices away from Wellington and the systematic removal of IT and back-up services to overseas. The National Bank has 1,500 Wellington-based corporate staff. Over the last five years, women took 57.6% of the new jobs created in Australia. Jennifer Mead, writing in the Australian Business Review Weekly says that while women are still under-represented in CEO positions, they are getting more of the higher-skilled professional and management jobs. The US unemployment rate rises to 6.1%, the highest level since 1994. 15 June 2003National MP Katherine Rich says that Minister of Social Services Steve Maharey is harping on the past as he criticises old National Party welfare policies that were not included in her welfare discussion document. Rich: "It's Groundhog Day for Mr Maharey who is hung up talking about the history of welfare rather than talking about its future". 16 June 2003NZ job ad numbers dropped last month and are now 6.1% lower than a year ago. ANZ economist David Drage says the level of advertised jobs is still consistent with a "solid labour market" but predicts that employment growth will slow in comparison to the last two years. A Maori trust believes it will create jobs as it develops and harvests natural extracts, oils and medicines on Maori land in the Waikato. Te Puaha O Waikato Trust plans to turn hundreds of hectares of under-utilised land into productive units and jobs through "bio-prospecting". The Australian government believes a thousand jobs will be created as work begins on the Bayu-Undan gas field in the Timor Sea. The work will include a 500 km gas pipeline on the sea bottom from the field to Darwin. 17 June 2003Associate Minister of Maori Affairs John Tamihere accuses tribal elders of "strangling" their young successors by refusing to step aside and let the next generation of leaders come through. The top 2% of NZ public sector managers are paid as much as 50% less than those in comparable private sector jobs, according to an IBM Consulting Services report. The Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) says the NZ economy is rapidly cooling. Manufacturing sales dropped 2% last year, a trend the EMA says will be reflected in the whole economy. 19 June 2003There has been a decrease in the number of people using foodbanks over the last year according to the latest Poverty Indicator Project report. Salvation Army Major Campbell Roberts believes the small drop in numbers is due to improved Winz service which has ensured more people receive their full benefit entitlements. The Poverty Indicator report, however, found that those using foodbanks are worse off now than they were a year ago. It says that increased housing costs have eaten away at people's disposable income. 20 June 2003The West Coast timber company cuts 30 jobs and another company, Timberland West Coast, is reviewing employee numbers in response to a rapid downturn of the timber market. Green MP Sue Bradford accuses Winz of refusing financial assistance to teenage prostitutes who had asked for help to turn their lives around. While those under 18 years do not qualify for the unemployment benefit, Bradford says Winz should be trying to get such young women on the Independent Youth Benefit. Britain has relaxed the visa criteria for young NZ'ers on working holidays. The age limit has been lifted to 30 years and people can now compete for any type of job, not just casual or holiday jobs. Young NZ'ers will also be able to able to move from a holiday visa to a work-permit after a year. 21 June 2003Attrition rates up to 15.5% in the NZ Defence Force are creating a "black hole" of shortages of senior personnel. Cabinet papers obtained by the Sunday Star Times say the shortages could force the Defence Force to abandon some deployments. 23 June 2003A bid to shorten the five-and-a-half-day workweek in Singapore is rejected. Deputy PM Lee Hsien Loong says "now is not the time" for the civil service to switch to a five-day week. 24 June 2003Visitor numbers to NZ were down by 13% in May. There were huge falls in visitors from Japan (-42%) and China (-78%). 25 June 2003Soliciting sex for money, brothel keeping and pimping become legal in NZ as the Prostitution Reform Bill is passed. Swiss bank UBS assures its 30 NZ staff that their jobs are safe as it cuts 500 jobs overseas. 26 June 2003The US Federal Reserve Bank lowers its interest rate to 1%, the lowest level since 1958. 27 June 2003The NZ economy grew by 0.6% during the last quarter, resulting in 4.3% growth for the year to June. But Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard warns this is likely to be a peak and the economy may even contract over the next quarter. Australia's biggest retailer, Coles Myer, aims to hire 10,000 temporary workers to work in Kmart and Myer Grace stores over the coming Christmas period. 28 June 200355 workers lose their jobs at Kajavala Forestry Ltd's log processing mill in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. A new company has taken over management of the giant Central North Island Forest and has decided to process logs elsewhere. Mill owner Jacob Kajavala says that while his business was the worst hit, he believes as many as 75 other jobs will be lost in mills around the region. 1 July 2003One year after the introduction of paid parental leave, over 18,000 people have used the scheme. Minister of Labour Margaret Wilson says a review of the scheme will consider extending the eligibility to people who have had more than one employer during the year and to those who are self-employed. 2 July 2003New immigration legislation is introduced that will overhaul the skills-based immigration category. See this issue.
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IMMIGRATION CHANGES TO ADDRESS SKILLS SHORTAGEThe previous immigration policy automatically awarded visas to people who scored sufficiently high on a points scale which was biased towards educational achievements and qualifications. On arrival, many highly qualified immigrants found that professional bodies would not recognise their qualifications, and they couldn’t get work in their field of expertise. Under the new regime, the points system will be more “settlement” driven with bonus points favouring applicants who have qualifications and experience that match New Zealand skills shortages and /or who have specific job offers, especially outside of Auckland. The Immigration Service has been instructed to return the majority of the 20,000 applications it already has on hand and invite the applicants to reapply. Immigration consultants believe that most of these people, many of whom are in New Zealand already, will not qualify under the new criteria. Source— Press release NZ Government 1 July 2003 "New skills category to drive immigration programme"; The Dominion Post 2 July 2003 "Migrants welcome but not in Auckland" by David McLouglin; Press release EMA 2 July 2003 "Immigration changes big step in right direction"; Press release Green Party 2 July 2003 "Law change opens path to corruption discrimination"; Press release Business NZ 1 July 2003 "New immigration policy tackles skills shortages"
BERL FORECAST BIG JOB LOSSESSandersons recommendations: New Zealand should aim to have a population of seven to eight million people in 20 years time. To achieve this we need to completely reconsider our immigration strategy and begin to use the current fiscal surplus to build the infrastructure needed to support a much larger population. — BERL Forecast (media release) 25 June 2003 . Download (8pg, 54Kb) from here. Source— The Dominion Post 25 June 2003 "More jobs may go as high Kiwi bites" by James Weir; The Independent 25 June 2003 "How to free NZ's seized economic engine" by Bob Edlin; BERL Forecast (media release) 25 June 2003 "Strong economy stalling for lack of direction", say BERL forecasters
NURSE DEBT LINKS TO SKILLS SHORTAGEAccording to the study, the average debt incurred by a nurse as they finish their qualification is just over $19,000 and those who go overseas to work tend to be those with higher debt. The study points out that fully training the current number (about 1,150) of nursing students costs about $27 million per year. With the cost of recruiting nurses (currently $100 million per year) added to the costs of associated with the nursing shortage and high industry turnover rates, there are obvious advantages for the government to pay the full cost of training nurses and then bonding them to practice in New Zealand. The study: “It is contradictory to invest in educating young New Zealanders and then effectively drive them out of the country to repay debt.”
can be downloaded (47pg, 4.8Mb) from the NZNO website (Not Current).
Source — The Impact of Student Debt on Nurses: an Investigation; Press releases by NZNO 17 June 2003 "New research show debt deepens nursing crisis" and Investigation in nurses debt— key findings"; New Zealand Herald 18 June 2003 "loans drive nurses out" by Martin Johnston.
AUSTRALIAN REPORT ON THE FUTURE OF WORK— less money, longer hours and harder work
A major report has been released by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) which shows
that, after two decades of labour market reform, most Australians are working longer hours, don't get
paid for their overtime, and suffer stress at work. The report shows that much of the Australian workforce
is underemployed or has no job security. Nearly half of the workforce is in part-time or casual work,
even though most of those in casual work have been doing the same job for over a year. The report
also predicts that by 2010, one in three workers will be employed on a casual basis.
We give an essential summary of this report as a feature in this issue of The Jobs Letter.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE FOREIGN STUDENTS GONE?The fee-paying foreign student industry quickly rose to be New Zealand’s fourth largest foreign exchange earning industry, last year. Foreign students not only create jobs in the education sector, they stimulate the whole economy by patronising businesses, creating a “homestay” industry, and stimulating the rental property market. Michael Barnett of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce: “If you see schools start losing students it won’t be the schools that suffer the consequences, it’ll be Auckland”. Source— The Independent 25 June 2003 "Export education sector faces crisis" by Kelly Sinoski; The Dominion Post 23 June 2003 "Foreign student numbers drop 40%" by Michelle QuirkeBUILDING SKILLS TRAINING IN NORTHLANDUNITEC became involved with the project after discussions with government about the problems of substandard housing and high unemployment in Northland. The programme utilises Maori and Pacific Island scholarships provided by UNITEC. UNITEC also trained the tutors and provided teaching resources and framework for the Certificate in Applied Technology programme while the Runanga provided management and materials. Source— Press release UNITEC 128 June 2003 "Training, jobs and housing for Northland"
IMPORT SUBSTITUTION JOBSInterestingly, while imports of footwear and clothing seem to have skyrocketed over the last decade ... we have also seen a significant rise in the value of exports from both these sectors.
Source — Parliamentary Library, Statistics NZ, INFOS Database
Source — Parliamentary Library, Statistics NZ, INFOS Database
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The Community Employment Group (CEG) has announced its selection of 51 “movers and shakers” who will receive funding from the new Social Entrepreneurs Fund. The government’s intention with this fund is to “build the capacity” of communities to solve problems themselves rather than to impose solutions from outside.
