The Government says it had briefly considered making it compulsory for beneficiaries to move to Christchurch when their skills and a job could be matched. Wisely, that was discounted....The compulsory uprooting of men and women and, conceivably, families in a manner such as this is clearly a step too far.
Why? Labour did it. Has everybody forgotten Jobs Jolt.
2003:
The Government would pay the moving costs.
But it would not continue benefits forever for those refusing to shift.
The package would reinforce that those receiving the dole had clear obligations under the law to be available for work and to take reasonable steps to find a job.
Mr Maharey said the provisions available to suspend benefits would now be used more frequently.
2 comments:
Hi Lindsay
As I reflected last year when the fibre broadband was installed down our street in Christchurch:
...if we have more than 6% of our workforce unemployed, and presumably they are unskilled or semi-skilled like the Filipino’s who are here on temporary work permits, [installing broadband] how is it that they can travel from Asia to work here, where our unemployed cannot be expected to travel from Northland?
Why are we importing laborers while our unskilled unemployed stay home on State funded benefits?
The 3K incentive is high. This might be the cost expected of a private employer if they were needing to relocate someone with specialist skills, but to expect the state to pay the same amount as an incentive to move off a benefit is asking too much IMHO.
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