Almost a year ago, the Government was being accused of working at a glacial pace on fixing Māori unemployment. A $50 million training scheme had created just four new Māori jobs in eight months.
Stuff explained the Māori Trades and Training Fund – the scheme in question – was a contestable, grant-based initiative from the Covid-19 response and recovery package in Budget 2020.
They could have described it as race-based, too. Proposals (the Stuff report said) must be by-Māori and for Māori, aiming to upskill participants and provide “meaningful opportunities into employment”.
Today we learn of another scheme to encourage greater Māori employment.
This one has been named the Māori Employment Action Plan, although the employment objective was not the first consideration in the press statement. The opening sentence said three aims are at the heart of the plan:
- Growing the Māori and wider economy,
- Giving effect to Treaty of Waitangi principles; and
- Supporting more Māori into employment, education and training.
In another announcement from The Beehive (when we checked this morning), we learned the Government is helping more people into houses, too.
Employment and training opportunities will be generated for good measure.
Housing Minister Megan Woods confirmed $296 million of the Government’s public housing funding is supporting the delivery of the Arlington Development on the fringe of Wellington’s CBD to provide warm, dry public homes for an estimated 900 families and individuals.
This was a significant milestone for the construction of around 300 new homes for public housing, plus shared amenities such as a playground, community gardens and rooms, offices, and orchards, Woods said.
Employment and training opportunities are projected for 40 apprentices and four new graduates with at least 50 per cent of these roles for those who identify as Māori, Pacific and women or Kāinga ora customers.
The only other announcement from The Beehive at time of writing, since our previous report, tells us New Zealand is donating further vaccines to COVAX and has commenced roll-out of Pfizer’s paediatric COVID vaccine in Polynesia.
Announcing the Māori Employment Action Plan, Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson said the Māori labour force is growing five times faster than non-Māori and the Government must improve employment outcomes for them, to ensure more Māori skilled employees and employers are equipped and ready for the future of work.
The press statement was released both in English and te reo. The English version (in line with the Government’s perverse idea of what constitutes effective communication) nevertheless was larded with te reo to frustrate easy comprehension.
Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni said:
“Te Whai Mahi underlines our commitment to supporting kaupapa Māori and working kanohi ki te kanohi and in partnership with whānau, hapū, iwi and wider hapori to improve employment outcomes for Māori.”
And:
“Te Whai Mahi is for Māori from all backgrounds and walks of life. Whether you’re an aspiring wāhine Māori entrepreneur, a tāngata whaikaha with a desire to get into leadership roles or an older Māori wanting to upskill, this plan will support you to do just that.”
With regard to Willie Jackson’s remarks about the need to ensure more Māori skilled employees and employers are equipped and ready for the future of work, we note that 10 months ago, the government was reporting the number of apprentices continued to grow, with people from across the community signing up for careers in the trades.
Tertiary Education Commission data for enrolments in tertiary and vocational study showed that at December 2020 the number of apprentices had increased by 17.6 per cent from 45,155 in 2019 to 57,035 in 2020.
The number of Māori and Pacific apprentices had grown almost 30 per cent.
The push to lift the Māori component of these statistics had been fortified by the announcement of the Māori Trades and Training Fund in the 2020 Budget.
How much difference this scheme might have made to the growth in Maori and Pacific apprenticeships in 2020 is open to question.
According to the Stuff report referenced earlier in this post, so far (at March 27 last year) $11.4m had been committed to approved projects with $1.8m paid out.
Written questions from National’s employment spokeswoman, Louise Upston, to Carmel Sepuloni revealed four people had been assisted into paid employment since June 2020.
Sepuloni said in her written response that “outcome data” was limited as most projects were still in the establishment stage.
In a written response to Stuff, she said the fund sat alongside a suite of other programmes to support Māori into “employment, education or training”. These included Mana in Mahi and He Poutama Rangatahi.
“We’ve had 2500 placements through Mana in Mahi and He Poutama Rangatahi has supported over 2000 rangatahi into employment, education or training.”
Upston said the fact the Government recognised Māori suffered disproportionately more job losses recently made its “indolence in taking action” even worse, she said.
But the scheme has given Ministers something to bray about as the unemployment rate declines:
- 3 NOVEMBER 2021
Unemployment falls to record low
Stats NZ figures showed the unemployment rate fell to 3.4 per cent in the September quarter from 4 per cent in the June quarter, down 18,000 to 98,000 classed out of work. The last time it was under 100,000 was in the September 2008 quarter.
Employment rose by 54,000 in the quarter, with women accounting for 39,000 of that.
New Zealand’s employment rate was the third highest in the OECD.
Sepuloni said:
“The drop in Māori and Pacific unemployment is pleasing and shows that our focus on these groups is working.”
And:
“This Government has invested in programmes such as Flexiwage, Apprenticeship Boost, Māori Trades Training, Mana in Mahi and He Poutama Rangatahi, which are designed to empower Māori and Pacific people in the labour market, and provide them with the skills to thrive. MSD are seeing record numbers of people moving into work and today’s results reflect that.”
- 2 FEBRUARY 2022
Unemployment falls to lowest level on record
Stats NZ figures showed the unemployment rate fell to 3.2 per cent in the December quarter from 3.3 per cent in the September quarter, down 5,000 to 93,000 classed out of work. That is 34 per cent below where it was a year earlier.
New Zealand’s unemployment rate was the fifth-equal lowest in the OECD.
Employment rose by 27,700 in the quarter. The total number of people in work is now 117,300 above where it was in the December 2019 quarter before COVID.
Sepuloni said:
“The Government has created interventions aimed at younger people, these include Flexiwage, Apprenticeship Boost, Māori Trades Training, Mana in Mahi and He Poutama Rangatahi. It is good to see our proactive actions in this area are making a difference and helping young people reach their full potential.”
And now we have the Māori Employment Action Plan to throw into the mix…
Latest from the Beehive
E whai nei te kāwanatanga ki te tautoko i a ngāi Māori e kuhu ana ki te ao whai mahi
ngā mātāpono o Te Tiriti o Waitangi, ko te tautoko kia tokomaha ake a ngāi Māori e uru ana ki ngā toronga mahi, ki ngā kuratini ako hoki i roto i ēnei wā whakatikatika i te KOWHEORI-19, koinei ētahi o ngā kaupapa kei te iho o te Te Mahere Whai Mahi Māori hou a te kāwanatanga e ai ki tā te pānuitanga a Carmel Sepuloni, te Minita Whakahiato Ora, Whai Mahi hoki i tēnei rā.
Government acts to support more Māori into mahi
Growing the Māori and wider economy, giving effect to Te Tiriti principles and supporting more Māori into employment, education and training as we secure the recovery from COVID-19 are all at the heart of the Government’s new Māori Employment Action Plan.
Wellington gets 300 new public homes in transformational urban regeneration project
The regeneration of a landmark location on the fringe of Wellington’s CBD will provide warm, dry public homes for an estimated 900 families and individuals.
New Zealand donates further COVID-19 vaccines to COVAX and Pacific Islands
New Zealand is donating further vaccines to COVAX and has commenced roll-out of Pfizer’s paediatric COVID vaccine in Polynesia.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE.
1 comment:
Interesting that the Maori Employment Action Plan rates getting Maori into employment AFTER giving effect to the Treaty principles...which are a fiction!
We all know how this will end. The "action" plan will turn into an "inaction" plan and waste all the money put into it. Yet another He Puapua inspired black hole.
This is another nail in the coffin of Robbo's statement on Q & A that Labour ALWAYS spend taxpayers money carefully. There are now so many nails that there isn't any wood left to put them in.
As for the unemployment rate. Lindsay Mitchell has exposed the lie behind this in a recent article. The real rate is almost double but unemployed either get put on another benefit or state they're not actively seeking work so don't get counted.
This is the continuing sorry tale of how this government tries to cover up it's woeful performance. By lying and massaging statistics.
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