How well does New Zealand’s tax system perform in reducing inequality? What would be the effect of some likely changes to it discussed in the… Read More »New Zealand’s tax system: weak at reducing inequality
Council of Trade Unions President Richard Wagstaff said that today marks ‘working for free day’ for Pasifika women because of the gender pay imbalance. “The… Read More »Pasifika women effectively working for free for the rest of the year
It is often said that New Zealand has a low-wage economy in comparison to other high-income countries such as those in their club, the OECD.… Read More »Does New Zealand have low wages? Yes.
An Ombudsman’s report released last week shows our deportation rules aren’t working, especially for eight Indian students who were deported last year, says CTU Vice-president… Read More »Deportation of Indian students shows need for a rule change
Reflecting on the Coalition Government’s first Budget yesterday, Dr Bill Rosenberg posed the question why the Government won’t increase spending to 30 percent of GDP,… Read More »Bill Rosenberg and Ganesh Nana deliver independent Budget analysis
“It’s good to see more jobs,” says CTU President Richard Wagstaff. “But the growth in wages is just happening too slowly.” “Working people need to… Read More »More jobs, but they still need to be better paid
The new Government’s first Budget will be announced on 17 May. What pressures is it facing? It will be in a pincer between the spending… Read More »The coming Budget: between a rock and a hard place
The Council of Trade Unions says that a debate on our approach to trade and investment policy is welcome and overdue. “We want to work with Government… Read More »Trade and investment policy can and should be more inclusive
The Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) has shrunk into the 11 member “Comprehensive and Progressive Transpacific Agreement” (I’ll call it the TPPA-11) with the exit of… Read More »Why the TPPA-11 is still a bad deal
It’s a crucial part of the mythology around National Party Governments that they are “good economic managers”, as their new leader, Simon Bridges, is repeating. The business commentariat repeat it endlessly too. How true is this?
Read More »Was National a ‘good economic manager’?
Council of Trade Unions President Richard Wagstaff said today that he was excited to see such swift and broad progress on the Provincial Growth Fund… Read More »Provincial Growth Fund exciting opportunity to build good jobs for the future
CTU Economist Bill Rosenberg welcomed the Government’s Half Year Fiscal Update as a positive sign that the Government was willing to repay the social and… Read More »Government makes steps towards repaying long-term debts to society