Kerre Woodham: I like the more targeted approach to Jobseekers

As Jobseeker numbers continue to rise, the government has announced targeted management of Jobseeker beneficiaries. 8000 more people were receiving a Jobseeker benefit in the last quarter, and that'll come as no surprise to anyone who was reading the news and seeing factories closing, and more media outlets closing, and more jobs in the state sector being lost. The total number on Jobseeker benefit is just over 200,000. It’d be a big ask to achieve the Government-stated aim of reducing the number of Jobseekers to 140,000 in the first instance.  

But the government is hoping that giving job seekers targeted assistance will see them get the skills and the confidence they need to get off a benefit and into work. Up to 70,000 Jobseekers are to receive a new, more comprehensive needs assessment of the challenges holding them back from finding work, and a personalized job plan to help overcome them, because of course, not all job seekers are created equal. You will have people with PhDs looking for work, classed as job seekers, alongside people who left school at 14, never got any formal qualifications, know how to work when they can work, but are quite often the first off when projects are cancelled. 

And then you've got people who are completely overwhelmed at the thought of going to work, and need to be coaxed, cajoled, given a few light taps to get into work. So not all job seekers need the same assistance, need the same support, need the same encouragement. Social development and Employment Minister Louise Upston told Jack Tame on Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive last night that they knew that the numbers were going to get worse before they got better, and they do have a plan to get people back into work.  

“As I said, the numbers were forecast to get worse before they got better, which is why we've now got 70,000 people in case management, 10,000 over the phone, which is a new initiative and working really well. As part of our Welfare that Works reform, for the 70,000 that are on case management, they will have an individual needs assessment, and then they'll create a job plan with their manager.  

“So we do know for some people they've got more barriers to work. It might be childcare, it might be they don't have a driver's license, it might be that they've got literacy or numeracy challenges. So they'll have those sorts of activities built into their individual job plan to improve their chances of being in work. So they'll, they'll create their individual plan, with their case manager, so if they need a driver's license, then yes, we'll connect them with a MSD funded program and there's some great programs around the country. For other people, it might be more complex, and so we want to make sure that we are addressing the individual barriers that someone faces to improve their chances of getting a job.” 

Which I think is a good thing. I mean, when I look back, I was a single mother. And if I had been on a benefit, and somebody said, what are your issues? And I said well, nascent alcoholism, probably, single mother, rental accommodation —that's a bit precarious— and childcare. But I had a village that helped out, so I didn't need a benefit. I could go to work, and I had friends and family who helped me, who helped me do that, so I never needed to rely on the state.  

But what if you don't? What if you don't have friends and family that can help out with the childcare? What if your alcoholism has gone from being sort of ‘oh, that was probably one too many’ to unable to get out of bed in the morning, it's a real addiction that you need to address. What if you haven’t got your license? It will be very tricky to find work if you haven't got your license.  

I like this idea. If we spend a little bit to get people out of the torpor, and the lethargy, and the misery, really of having people controlling your life. Wouldn't you want choices? Under Labour, Louise Upston says, if someone under the age of 25 came on to a benefit, they were predicted to be on welfare for about 20 more years over their lifetime. That’s an appalling statistic, a really sad statistic. It is imperative for young people, especially, to see that they can be self-determining, that they can have choices, that they can be successful. They're not some loser with their hand out. That's certainly what I've been told, you start to feel like you've got nothing to offer because nobody's telling you that you're valuable, that you're essential – without you being part of the team, they couldn't do the job. That's a huge part of working, is being part of a team, a wider team.  

I can’t imagine how soul destroying it must be to have you-yourself, the only person you see in a day, no money, nothing to spend it on. If there are ways that we can get people to understand that they they're valuable, they have skills that are valued and people will pay for those skills, it would be fantastic. We've also got highly skilled people who don't need to go along to “How to write a CV”, so it'd be great to see more targeted assistants. What would that look like for you, if you are one of those people, perhaps in the great public service job cull? Do you need assistance to find work or is it simply a matter of waiting for the economy to pick up and you'll be fine? Thanks very much. You just need to wait until people get over the collie wobbles and start hiring again. 

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