4. Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn) Link to this
to the Minister of Finance
How many jobs does he expect the 9-day fortnight will save?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) Link to this
I expect the 9-day fortnight programme will save as many jobs as businesses, unions, and employees can negotiate to enter the scheme. So far 123 jobs have been saved. We expect more jobs will be saved in coming weeks and months. Work and Income has had approaches from 67 firms, and a further seven smaller firms have made inquiries about the extended scheme announced by Prime Minister John Key last week.
Hon David Cunliffe Link to this
Can he confirm, therefore, that last week’s changes to the 9-day fortnight were a political patch-up because the scheme was simply not working, and that with unemployment up by more than 17,000, National’s efforts to protect 123 jobs, although worthwhile, were simply inadequate; if so, how can he insist that the 9-day fortnight has been successful when Fisher and Paykel Appliances has cut another 20 Kiwi jobs after having received public funds from the scheme?
The member may be interested to know that the scheme has been operating for 1 month and that the Government has provided sufficient funding for many workplaces, businesses, unions, and employees to negotiate to use the 9-day fortnight. In the end it is up to them. The member should understand that many of them face some difficult and stark choices between people keeping their jobs or losing them, people taking pay cuts, and people going on the 9-day fortnight.
Amy AdamsUnemployment started to rise at the beginning of 2008 under the previous Government. It currently stands at 4.6 percent which is relatively low compared with the United Kingdom’s rate at 6.7 percent, and the 8.5 percent rate in the United States and in the eurozone. The Government is keen to do everything it can to help people to retain jobs, but it also wants to build confidence in the economy, so that we can create the new jobs that will replace those that are inevitably being lost as part of the global recession.
Hon David Cunliffe Link to this
Given that approximately 1,160 Public Service workers have been “capped” in recent months, why are they not being afforded the benefits of the 9-day working fortnight?
The Government made the decision that the best way it could contribute to inhibiting job loss was to have a scheme applicable to the private sector; the Government can make its own decisions about the public sector.
Hon David Cunliffe Link to this
Can the Minister therefore confirm to the House that John Key’s unfunded cycleway—that is, not this year, next year, or the year after—the 9-day working fortnight, and the scrapped equity scheme have failed to live up to their hype; and does this not just confirm that Mr Key’s Job Summit was the talkfest that everybody suspected it would prove to be?
No; the Job Summit was a very interesting and effective interaction between the Government and the private sector—a bunch of people that the Labour members forgot about when they were in Government, to the extent that they were completely ignored. A number of initiatives will be pursued, and the cycleway, in particular, will be pursued with vigour because it is a great idea.