There isn't anything new around employment thinking. It’s a combination of rules and incentives, the state of the market place in terms of jobs and the mix of attitude of those looking for work and the amount of assistance the state Government is prepared to offer.
In Britain they are cracking down, so you need to meet your welfare officer or get penalised or apply for jobs or get penalised. If you don’t play ball you will lose your benefit.
Here, it’s the opposite - if you don’t want to work no one seems to care.
The numbers contained in this year's Salvation Army report are heartbreaking.
Thousands upon thousands of young people are not only without work, they are not in training, not looking to improve themselves and aren't in education looking to add to their CV's.
They are literally doing nothing and for that we support them financially in some cases for years on end.
The great crime in that is, 1) they are young and therefore you are robbing them of a future that could be vastly different, and, 2) it comes at a time of extraordinary amounts of work.
It would be nice to think you could sort yourself out, that you are self-motivated or someone around you is there to help you on your way. But for clearly too many, that simply isn't their reality.
This all resonates with me because the age group we are dealing with are the 15-24-year-olds. That’s the age of all five of our kids.
They are all doing their own thing but what we told them as parents was you could do whatever you want, as long as it wasn’t nothing.
A couple have been on a specific path for a while and a couple have been working through various options. But at all times they have been busy and earning or studying or training.
To not have them do so is an abdication of parental responsibility
So why doesn’t the Government take the same view?
19 percent of young people in the Bay of Plenty do nothing, in Northland its 17 percent, Taranaki its 13 percent, Auckland its 11 percent. In total that's 67,000 people with no training, no education and no job.
Although we vote for polices that affect us our sense of the economy, health waiting lists etc, tell me how you can vote for a Government that for five years has allowed that number to get where it is, at a time when answers have been so plentiful?
If it's irresponsible as a parent, then surely it's as bad for a Government.
What Government can justify writing off the next generation by literally doing nothing except handing out money with no expectation of social, moral or economic improvement?
Yet, as we say, the numbers don’t lie.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings.
Thousands upon thousands of young people are not only without work, they are not in training, not looking to improve themselves and aren't in education looking to add to their CV's.
They are literally doing nothing and for that we support them financially in some cases for years on end.
The great crime in that is, 1) they are young and therefore you are robbing them of a future that could be vastly different, and, 2) it comes at a time of extraordinary amounts of work.
It would be nice to think you could sort yourself out, that you are self-motivated or someone around you is there to help you on your way. But for clearly too many, that simply isn't their reality.
This all resonates with me because the age group we are dealing with are the 15-24-year-olds. That’s the age of all five of our kids.
They are all doing their own thing but what we told them as parents was you could do whatever you want, as long as it wasn’t nothing.
A couple have been on a specific path for a while and a couple have been working through various options. But at all times they have been busy and earning or studying or training.
To not have them do so is an abdication of parental responsibility
So why doesn’t the Government take the same view?
19 percent of young people in the Bay of Plenty do nothing, in Northland its 17 percent, Taranaki its 13 percent, Auckland its 11 percent. In total that's 67,000 people with no training, no education and no job.
Although we vote for polices that affect us our sense of the economy, health waiting lists etc, tell me how you can vote for a Government that for five years has allowed that number to get where it is, at a time when answers have been so plentiful?
If it's irresponsible as a parent, then surely it's as bad for a Government.
What Government can justify writing off the next generation by literally doing nothing except handing out money with no expectation of social, moral or economic improvement?
Yet, as we say, the numbers don’t lie.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings.
5 comments:
In the woke culture, you hear a lot about rights - rarely about responsibilities.
A one -way street.
The problem is enforcing these people to constantly apply for jobs they do not want is a huge burden on the employment sector. Some severe govt employemnt would be ideal, but as with PD supervisors, truancy officers etc no one is sufficently bold and foolhardy to take a hard line with them, so any such work would be almost as soft as the dole. Besides when you can qualify for one of the new stet units bey merely breeding or less, why fritter life working to acheive little or no better. Imagine decolonisation and they did not work before.
Many young people would benefit from a greater emphasis being out on vocational education at high school level. I am not talking about turning schools into vocational training centres but using the flexibility that the NCEA system affords to devise programmes for youngsters that are aimed at heading them towards vocational career tracks from about age 14/15. One size does not fit all. There is no reason why some kids cannot be put on such a track through individualised programmes while others continue their schooling along more conventional lines. Drop me a line if you are in the education game and are interested (bv_54@hotmail.com).
Hi Barend
the problem is any such programme would attract accusations of racial streaming so, even if in best interests, is nowadays not acceptable. We have to pretend all are equally able or not, advance them each year and divert huge energy form tomorrows leaders and acheivers in attempting to obttin impossible equity of output.
Of course parents should be responsible for helping to develop work ethic and skills by giving their kids chores .However parents are undermined by a schooling system in NZ that actually discourages work habits let alone acquiring basic skills in literacy and numeracy.
I was shocked when my children told me their teacher said "if you don't feel like doing something,don't do it".I have employed teenage underachievers on work days to do jobs and they were willing enough but incapable of doing simple tasks like sweeping a path, weeding or cleaning to even a reasonable standard.
Look at our crumby education system which does not instill work ethic into students as well as all the other contributing factors,
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