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‘The labour market’ refers to all the places where firms look for people to hire, and where workers look for job opportunities. It exists because firms need workers and workers need jobs. Read more
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Social Development announced a new policy to support the Canterbury rebuild and reduce unemployment. The policy, dubbed ‘3k to Christchurch’ is a one-off incentive of $3,000 to beneficiaries outside of Christchurch to relocate and work in the city. Read more
Lately, a lot of people have been calling Social Development Minister Paula Bennett a beneficiary basher. Beneficiary bashing involves anything that sours public perceptions of beneficiaries, thereby justifying benefit cuts, limitations and restrictions. Read more
According to recent research, the new poor are not actually poor at all. Well, at least not as we know it. Read more
As a businessman and philanthropist I get many requests – for funding, to be a keynote speaker, to support various projects. Unfortunately, I can’t do everything, but when I was asked to support an Auckland Council initiative to get young people into training and employment I was genuinely excited. Read more
In his book, The Great Degeneration, Niall Ferguson describes how the West’s six ‘killer applications’ (competition, science, property rights, medicine, consumerism, and work ethic) are on the decline. "Our democracies have broken the contract between the generations by heaping IOUs on our children and grandchildren. Read more
This week the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) released their report Benefit Sanctions: Creating an Invisible Underclass of Children, which focussed on the sanctions on beneficiaries who failed to meet certain obligations. The report was critical of the National Party’s ‘ideologically driven’ policy of forcing parents into paid employment (among other social obligations). Read more
Recently the government announced it would fund KickStart, a breakfast-in-schools programme designed specifically for decile 1 to 4 schools. The announcement was generally well received but did raise an uncomfortable question: is it the state’s role to feed people’s kids? Read more
The 2025 Taskforce’s 2009 report put New Zealand’s income gap with Australia (2008) at 35%. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) latest statistics for real GDP per capita show that the income gap with Australia increased to just under 41% in 2011. Read more
Last Thursday night, former Australian Prime Minister Hon John Howard spoke at The New Zealand Initiative's inaugural retreat in Auckland. Below is an edited excerpt of his speech in which shared his views on think tanks and how they influenced him during his time as a politician. Read more