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Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), Auckland Action Against Poverty (AAAP) and Kick Back say the Prime Minister’s office received no advice that plentiful jobs are available to the 18- and 19-year-old jobseekers the coalition Government will stop from accessing Jobseeker Support in some circumstances.
Under the Official Information Act, CPAG asked the Ministry of Social Development what evidence was supplied to the Prime Minister about the number and location of jobs available to young people, as well as any costings youth migration for those jobs.
“Our request was transferred to the Prime Minister’s office, which refused our request on grounds that ‘the requested information does not exist’,” the group says.
“This completely goes against claims the Prime Minister has been making in public, since his Government announced it would begin removing access to Jobseeker Support for 18- and 19-year-olds without children.
“In multiple media interviews, press conferences, and business events, the Prime Minister has repeatedly asserted ‘there are plenty of jobs’, that primary industries are ‘crying out for young people’, and if they cannot find work locally, young people should ‘go where the jobs are’.
“Since those comments were made, business leaders and regional employers have pushed back, saying they are not ‘crying out’ for young workers at all.
“Horticulture employers in Hawke’s Bay stated they were fully staffed and that roles were highly seasonal, not suited to year-round income.”
CPAG spokesperson Isaac Gunson says it’s been evident for some time the Government’s strategy of reducing poverty by simply getting people into jobs won’t work in an economy with unemployment at a nine-year high, and with roughly four jobseekers for every job ad.
“In a nation where one in seven children lives in material hardship, the answer is not to strip away income support when they graduate into adulthood and find there are no jobs for them.
“That’s just hurting them and hurting our shared future as a nation.”
Auckland Action Against Poverty (AAAP) co-ordinator Agnes Magele says this new information reveals a policy that treats young people as disposable.
“To put it simply, as Nelson Mandela said, ‘There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children’.
“This OIA shows young people are being sanctioned and pushed off support without evidence that jobs exist or any plan to help them relocate.
“That’s not how you protect the next generation. If the evidence doesn’t exist, the policy shouldn’t either.
“Our 18- and 19-year-olds are ready to work, their parents are already busting their ass just to keep food on the table, a roof over their heads, and yet the Government is punishing them for a system that doesn’t exist.
“No jobs, no plan, and no evidence – while young people are paying the price.”
Kick Back general manager Aaron Hendry says a lack of opportunity, not ambition, is driving youth poverty.
“Kick Back has serious concerns that this policy is going to push more of our rangatahi and whanau deeper into poverty and make our young people more vulnerable to homelessness.
“Our rangatahi do not lack motivation, what they lack is opportunity, and the support they need to overcome the very significant challenges they face.
“Instead of punishing young people for an economic crisis that they have had no hand in making, our Government could be investing in solutions, building pathways into meaningful employment, creating opportunities, and building the social infrastructure our rangatahi require in order to thrive.”
