Media Release
ONE IN FIVE BABIES BORN 2012 ON WELFARE BY YEAR-END
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Data released under the Official Information Act shows that 21.2 percent
of babies born in 2012 were dependent on a caregiver receiving a
welfare benefit by the end of the same year.
Welfare commentator Lindsay Mitchell said that, "Over one in five babies
reliant on welfare by year-end is a sobering and sad statistic. But it's
worse for Maori at over 1 in 3 or 35.9 percent."
"There is now an established pattern of childbearing involving birth
onto an existing benefit or recourse to welfare soon after. This occurs
during good and bad economic periods. For instance, in 2007, when New
Zealand briefly experienced the lowest unemployment rate in the OECD,
the percentage only reduced to 19.1%"
"In general, the younger that children go on welfare, the longer they
will stay in the benefit system. This leads to chronic child poverty and
the many associated risks."
"Current and forthcoming welfare reforms are aimed at reducing this
incidence but the answer remains largely with young females who need to
be persuaded to gain educational qualifications, work skills and a
committed partner before embarking on motherhood. "
(Talking to Larry Williams on NewstalkZB about this issue)
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1 comment:
Lindsay - you're not counting WFF or the "childcare subsidy" and especially not "paid maternity leave"
The true answer is more like nine out of ten babies start life as blugers. And we know that somewhere between six and eight of those babies will remain bludgers - i.e. non nett taxpayers - over their entire lives.
New Zealand. More socialist than Easter Europe ever was.
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