Just 7 percent of Jobseeker beneficiaries had part-time work at year end

One explanation for why Jobseeker numbers continue to climb despite the unemployment rate staying low might be part-time employment.

An individual can receive a Jobseeker benefit if they are working part-time. So under the OIA I asked MSD how many Jobseeker recipients had part-time jobs. I have graphed the data they supplied:

Only 7.3% of Jobseeker beneficiaries had a part-time job at December 31 - 5.2% of Maori and 9.4 percent of NZ European.

But this is point-in-time data and doesn't tell me about seasonal workers for example. MSD fact sheets once gave the percentage of beneficiaries who had earnings for the prior year.

Though obsolete it'd be useful to look at one of those fact sheets. The last to record this info was December 2012 - pre-welfare reforms. Of those on the old unemployment benefit:

• 12 percent had a current earnings declaration for their current spell on benefit. This indicates some participation in paid work (during the last 12 months) while receiving a main benefit.

Not a great deal higher.

Blog followers will know I have been particularly intrigued by the mismatch between low unemployed but high Jobseeker numbers for Maori.

Given all of the above I am still stumped as to why over 58,000 Maori are receiving a jobseeker benefit while fewer than 30,000 are unemployed.


(To be continued)

140% increase in housing wait list since 2017

Latest stats just released by MSD

Here's the longer term back story:

Almost 12,000 more children on benefits

Almost 12,000 more children on benefits

February 25, 2020

Lindsay Mitchell, Welfare commentator and researcher


Data released under the Official Information Act today reveals almost 12,000 more children are dependent on welfare benefits since December 2017.

"At 31 December 2019 there were 206,395 children aged 0-18 reliant on caregiver on a main benefit (185,930), Young Parent Payment (1,531) or Orphan/ Unsupported Child benefit (18,934). That's 6 percent higher than at December 31, 2017."

Of the 59,637 births during 2019 10,882 babies were welfare-dependent by year end. Nearly one in five. Over half - 57% - were added to an existing benefit.

New Zealand's child poverty problem cannot be solved when high numbers of children live in non-working homes. Raising benefits and reducing the income margin between work and welfare will only incentivise more people to opt for welfare. This normalises benefit dependency for their children and the habit becomes inter-generational.

In 2008 Finance Minister Michael Cullen said, "...it is desirable to create a margin between being dependent on a benefit and being in employment....
The Labour Party isn’t the party that says living on a benefit is a preferred lifestyle. Its position has always been that the benefit system is a safety net for those who are unavoidably unable to participate in employment. From its history, the Labour Party has always been about people in employment."

The more the current Labour government ignores this, the more intractable the child poverty problem will become.

Cullen wouldn't have linked benefits to wages

Indexing benefits to wages is setting a precedent. They've been indexed to inflation since 2001 but this move has always been resisted.

For many people the margin between income from a benefit and income from work is a cost they are prepared to pay. Fix that margin and they will always be prepared to pay it. Increase the margin and work becomes attractive.

The previous Labour government understood this.

 "...it is desirable to create a margin between being dependent on a benefit and being in employment....
The Labour Party isn’t the party that says living on a benefit is a preferred lifestyle. Its position has always been that the benefit system is a safety net for those who are unavoidably unable to participate in employment. From its history, the Labour Party has always been about people in employment."
Michael Cullen, 2008

Stop promising, Jacinda

Given child poverty reduction isn't playing well for Jacinda, she might reflect on this piece of realism and honesty from Don Brash as National opposition leader in 2005:

When asked to guarantee his policies would not lead to an increase in child poverty, Don Brash told Morning Report "look there's a cycle of these things, they go up and down. I can't promise anything in that area."

It's bat shit crazy to vow to reduce child poverty given  the many measures with relativity as the mainstay anyway.

Kids will do better when the adults and the country they live in does better.