Not as simple as getting off the Couch

This BLOG was first published in the Franklin County News on Wednesday 21st December 2017.

The Government announced they would consider some ‘work for the dole’ type schemes and Shane Jones, the list MP for NZ First, now Regional Economic Development Minister announced, “...there will be no more sitting on the couch.”

The mainstream media, missing the point, indulged itself in what can only be called pedantic roughhouse diversionary reporting.

Our culture has an expectation that everyone that can work will (or be at home looking after the kids). The belief is, “...it saves us from the dullness and boredom of life. It puts our energies to a proper use. Unused energies create disorder in us. They make us physically unhealthy and mentally unhappy. Time hangs heavy on our shoulders when there is no work.” Hence the old adage ‘the devil finds work for idle hands’.

If we look around us, for the most part we will see that everyone is busy. Work is an important part of our lives. We might ask if it has come to the point where it has taken over our lives. But that is another discussion.

Everything we now do is tied in some way to work. So when people are not working, especially if they are capable of work, and if we are paying them as well, we tend to have a not so understanding or kindly view of them. Such people are quickly typecast as malingerers and wasters, probably lying on the couch drinking or on drugs all day.

We search diligently for examples to prove and justify our prejudicial bias. And the media is always there to help reinforce our view.

To most thoughtful people, unemployment benefits embody a painful trade-off. They are the mark of a civilized society, clubbing together to provide assistance to those in need. But do unemployment benefits really encourage people to duck work?

The benefit protects people who find themselves out of work from having to rush into an unsuitable job. It is nothing to celebrate if an unemployed person cannot afford to spend months finding a job which they are qualified for but are forced to accept the first available job, be it unsuitable, to put food on the table.

Of course that begs the question ‘where are the jobs all these people are going to?

Famous economists from all schools of thought say that you have serious problems if you have 10% of the workforce out of work. Let us remember where Shane Jones is, the level is sometimes double that.

Some will argue that a level of unemployment is good for the economy. Good for whom I can guess, but certainly not for those unemployed.

The Employers & Manufacturers Association tells us 72% of employers surveyed find it difficult or very difficult to recruit staff in skilled positions. 65% say there is, or soon will be, a skills shortage in their industry sector. 56% are expecting their businesses to grow over the next six months.

Hello, is anyone doing the maths?