The Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will be signed by the trade ministers of 12 countries in Auckland on 4 February. So this is a good time to look at the economic evaluations of the agreement. Politicians and lobbyists use these to find large-sounding numbers to throw around. Turn on the garbage filter you use when… Read more »
Read more...Economic Bulletin
Unemployment is Still Too High
Unemployment is rising again. It never got below 5.6 percent under this Government despite strong economic growth rates. Just as in the 1990s, it seems that around 6 percent unemployment is the best we can expect from National even though we can do a lot better. Paradoxically, at least until the September quarter, employment had… Read more »
Read more...The Budget and what it could do to raise wages
One of the most significant aspects of the Budget on 21 May will be what has been described as radical changes to funding of public services. For example, yesterday Bill English announced a voucher system for funding people with disabilities. Other ingredients will include applying wider use of the “investment approach”, currently being trialled for… Read more »
Read more...The wage gap with Australia: no improvement
Remember back in the 2008 election, the National Party set itself a target of wage parity with Australia by 2025? I looked at it two years ago when Bill English was talking about the wage gap as an advantage which would attract businesses to New Zealand. With Australia now not doing as well economically as… Read more »
Read more...The union landscape
Where are New Zealand unions strongest and where are they weakest? While we often focus on the fall in overall union density (the proportion of wage and salary earners who are union members), underlying that is a very uneven spread of union membership. It’s important to understand this ‘landscape’ of unionism in New Zealand if… Read more »
Read more...The year ahead: unusual times
We’re in unusual times. The economy is growing strongly yet deflation (falling prices) is on the cards. There are still serious problems in other developed economies which are creating great hardship for working people and could bite us through falling demand for New Zealand exports – but also contribute to falling prices. Employment in New… Read more »
Read more...Doing something about low incomes: wages and benefits
The Government is putting poverty on the agenda despite denying that there was a problem during the election campaign. It is difficult to see how it can address poverty without increasing incomes, yet Ministers talk about not “throwing money at the problem”. This matters for working people because it is partly about wages and partly… Read more »
Read more...What’s happening to the self-employed?
Unions and many others are concerned about the development of “dependent contracting” in New Zealand. It is a form of self-employment in which the worker is virtually tied to one employer/contractor and is an employee in all but name and employment rights. This situation is ripe for exploitation and abuse of the worker. Though it… Read more »
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