The Ministry of Social Development’s (MSD) new Kōrero Mahi – Let’s Talk Work seminars aim to help beneficiaries determine their next steps towards finding a job.
“People who come onto Jobseeker Support must now attend one within a fortnight to have their employment needs assessed and their next step decided,” Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston said.
“If they’re ready to work, they could be helped to apply for a job. If they need re-training or upskilling, they could be referred to a programme that can help.”
Those who do not attend the compulsory work seminars without a good and sufficient reason could be sanctioned.
Upston said about 188,000 people in New Zealand currently receive Jobseeker Support but only about 53,000 of them have employment case managers at any given time.
“We’re not prepared to sit back and let welfare dependency get any worse, which is why we’re intervening early to get job seekers on the pathway to work,” she said.
‘Cruel to people who are already struggling’ – Opposition
The Green Party called for an end to benefit sanctions and an overhaul of employment support that focuses on supporting people into work matching their skills and aspirations.
Work seminar obligations have been tried, tested and failed, the Greens said.
“Poverty is a political choice and this Government is not only choosing to maintain it but also make life even harder for those doing it tough,” party social development and employment spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said.
“Minister Upston and her colleagues in cruelty are doubling down on wanting to punish people in poverty with obligations that have no evidence of supporting people into good employment.”
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the sanctions are “another way to be cruel to people who are already struggling”.
Labour deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni said there had been staffing issues at MSD. If the minister is going to up the number of interactions between staff and clients, then they would expect frontline staff numbers should increase, she said.
That seems “completely out of sorts with what their general approach to the public sector is”, Sepuloni said.
National’s beneficiary crackdown
The work seminar obligation is in line with the Government’s goal to crack down on beneficiaries.
Earlier this year, Upston ordered MSD to use the full force of sanctions to ensure those on the jobseeker benefit were actively looking for work.
From June, the ministry will begin work check-ins for jobseekers who have been on the benefit for six months, particularly young people. The job seekers will be required to attend the check-ins, and failure to attend will result in a breach of obligations and a sanction could be applied.
National said the number of people who have been on Jobseeker Support continuously for more than a year grew by about 40,000 under the previous Labour Government and for beneficiaries under 25, they are now projected to spend an average of 19 more years on a benefit.