27 May 2004
In Malta, PM Helen Clark suggests NZ and Malta negotiate a Working Holiday Scheme, so that
50 young people could live and work for periods of up to a year in each other's countries.
28 May 2004
The government is to spend $21m over three-and-a-half years to inform people about the "Working
for Families" Budget package. Minister of Social Development Steve Maharey says that many families
are unaware of, and don't apply for, their current entitlements and the new campaign will encourage
those who are eligible for assistance apply for it.
National MP Murray McCully says that the Budget promotional package costing is "way out of
proportion with anything we've seen before". McCully suggests there is a political motive for the ad
campaign that goes well beyond the need to communicate with potential recipients.
The Dominion Post is unable to find any government policy change promotion campaign that cost
even close to the planned costs to promote "Working for Families".
31 May 2004
NZIER predicts economic growth will slow from the 3.3% it was to March 2004 to 2.8% in
March 2005, chiefly due to the downturn in the number of immigrants to NZ. Immigrant numbers are
expected to be about one-third what they were last year.
2 June 2004
Seventy jobs will be created in Rotorua as the Cryovac packaging plant nearly doubles its
workforce after securing a 5-year contract with dairy company Fonterra. Five years ago the plant lost about
the same number of jobs as Cyrovac's predecessor Holmes Packaging lost a contract with NZ Milk
Products, the predecessor of Fonterra.
Air NZ will cut 15% of its 10,000-strong workforce over the next four years.
World prices for NZ export commodities rose sharply last month. Prices for NZ commodities are
now 15.3% higher than they were at this time last year.
An ILO report says that joblessness is gripping the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories, with
Palestinian unemployment reaching an average of 35%.
4 June 2004
The new Sky City Auckland Convention Centre is employing an additional 130 permanent staff,
and expects to increase that number as the facility begins hosting day time events in August. Human
resources manager Paul Walsh says it was a significant recruitment drive for the hospitality industry.
Sky City workers go on strike for four hours saying the company is offering an unfair wage package
as well as unfair rostering that impacts on workers' health and family lives.
The government is running a $7.2 billion surplus, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars more than
Minister of Finance Michael Cullen said it would be just one week ago when he tabled the Budget. The
surplus reflects a larger tax take - personal and company income taxes, as well as GST - and increased
export earnings due to the lowering the value of the NZ$.
6 June 2004
One-fifth of large US companies use some off-shore IT workers, according to Meta Group
researchers. However, the companies only outsource 5% of their IT workforce. Meta found that 55%
of outsourced US IT labour goes to India, 7% goes to NZ, 7% to Australia and 6% to China.
8 June 2004
Thousands of low-cost IT workers are entering Australia and undermining the job prospects of
new computer science graduates, according to the Australian Computer Society. The society calls for
tighter immigration rules.
9 June 2004
The Audit Office is looking into the government-funded campaign to "explain" the Working for
Families Budget. The Audit Office wants to establish if the spending of $21 million to inform people is
appropriate in the context of the Budget.
The government says the Budget promotion campaign is necessary to inform people of their
entitlements because they are being phased-in over four years and people have to apply in order to receive
them. But the ads that have run so far have enraged the National Party because they have included the
party-political phrase "you are better off with Labour".
10 June 2004
The number of NZ job vacancy ads rose slightly over last month.
About 80 jobs will be lost as Wellington manufacturer Interlock is to shift part of its production to
a low-cost manufacturing country, probably China. Chief executive D'Arcy Quinn says the looming
arrival of a competitor selling much cheaper versions of its window stays has forced the decision.
Australia's unemployment rate drops to 5.5%, a 23 year low. However, the economy lost a
seasonally adjusted 42,600 jobs and the labour force participation rate fell from 63.9% to 63.5.
11 June 2004
The home support industry is in crisis, according to care providers and academics who say the
government wants to keep elderly people at home as long as possible, but does not pay enough to
retain workers to do the job. Home support workers earn, on average $10.80/hr, and are not generally
paid for the time or expense of travelling between jobs, both of which is often significant.
Goods donated to February flood victims in Manawatu are sold at a three-day garage sale, and
the proceeds contributed to the flood relief funds. Horizon group recovery manager Mark Harrison
says that people don't need the clothes and lounge suites that were donated, they now need to purchase
wall cladding and paint.
World Day Against Child Labour.
16 June 2004
Feilding's Flood Relief Welfare Centre closes. The centre - set up after the February floods - dealt
with about 300 families over four months.
A new database to help better understand the workplace is to be developed for the
Statistics New Zealand. The government has allocated $11.8 million over the next four years to develop a
Linked Employee Employer Dataset (Leed) that will help the department match data supplied by
businesses with employee databases — including the database maintained by Inland Revenue Department. This
will allow statistical profiles to be generated that show, for example, the age and pay rates of staff in
a particular industry. Other uses may include showing if certain employers are successful at creating
long-term jobs for the unemployed, and seeing if there are links between employee turnover and
business performance.
A study of what makes successful Maori-led organisations tick could lead the way to
reducing Maori unemployment. The study, commissioned by some leading Maori businesspeople and backed
by the Business Roundtable, will look at successful Maori institutions in the church and military.
Accounting firm Ernst & Young chairman Rob McLeod — who calculates his Maori blood at 43.75% and is
of Ngati Porou descent — says the study will discover more about Maori approaches to business
and organisation. He hopes it will eventually assist with the development of good public and private policy.
The Community Employment Group (CEG) is standing by its policy of allocating grants on
the basis of race. CEG targets at least 50% of the assistance it provides to Maori and 20% to Pacific
Island project each year — about $16 million. Department of Labour spokeswoman Jacqueline Owen
says CEG was set up to target high priority groups and that would continue. Owen: "The Community
Employment Group was set up in 1991 to maximise employment opportunities and move people
towards self-sufficiency. Maori and Pacific Islanders are over-represented in the statistics so they are the
groups we target."
A scheme that hopes to get school dropouts back into education is to be piloted in Auckland
and Wellington this year. Notschool.net is an online learning scheme that will provide computers and
fast internet connections, along with access to mentors and subject experts, to an initial 100
disaffected teenagers. The $2.5 million programme is aimed at 13- to 16-year-olds who are not at school or
not achieving well. The mentors and subject experts will encourage and guide the students in school
subjects as well as social issues.