Rebalancing

Jami-Lee Ross’s Bill allowing employers to take on other staff to replace striking workers has been greeted with howls of outrage.

But as Not PC asks, do you own your job?

. . . Strike action by unionised employees is certainly their right.  But the unionised employees have no right to forcibly exclude non-union labour from taking the jobs from which they have voluntarily walked away.

They will disagree with me. They would place pickets and law in the way of employers hiring new folk to replace those who’ve walked out. They will argue, essentially, that they own these jobs and have a right to exclude others from taking them—to exclude them by force, if necessary.

But they don’t own those jobs, and the mistaken idea that they do is what gives unions their power to destroy. . . .

The destruction isn’t only of their employers and his/her business, the damage goes much further than that to all the other people whose lives and businesses are affected.

After the prolonged Ports of Auckland strike a friend was buying jandals and was offered two for the price of one.

The shop keeper said the footwear had been delayed by the strike. By the time he got the shipment it was too late in summer for most people so he was offering two for one to get rid of them.

The right to strike will remain if the Bill succeeds but it will rebalance the power which at the moment is tilted in the favour of unions by allowing employers to keep their businesses running while staff are striking.

It will also reduce the damage done to other businesses not involved in the dispute but which are also affected by a strike.

Jobs come, jobs go

The opposition couldn’t have picked a worse time to be wasting their time and our money manufacturing a crisis about a manufacturing crisis.

New Zealand manufacturing activity rose in May to the highest level since June 2004, led by new orders and production, stoking optimism the economy may be picking up pace.

The BNZ-BusinessNZ performance of manufacturing index rose 4 points to 59.2 in May, the highest level in nine years and the strongest reading for May since the survey began in 2002.

The monthly survey suggests manufacturing may not be as weak as suggested in government figure this week showing sales volumes fell 0.6 percent in the first quarter and indicates companies are confident enough to take on more workers.

Machinery and equipment manufacturing led gains in May, with a reading of 67.4. . . .

The good health of manufacturing was on show at last week’s National Fieldays:

Prime Minister John Key says the National Fieldays are a perfect example of why New Zealand’s manufacturing sector is at its highest level in nine years. . . .

“New Zealand is well placed to be doing well in manufacturing,” Key said at Fieldays.

“What you’re seeing here at the Fieldays is actually a lot of innovative manufacturers who are developing products.

“I think we’re (New Zealand) a good place to do business. We’ve got a good, stable democracy, we have an English court and law system and we’ve got a competitive economy,” he said.

Those who think we’ve got a crisis here might take a look at India:

As many as 14.08 million jobs were lost in the five-year period ended in 2009-10 in the agriculture sector which engages almost 60 per cent of the workforce in the country.

The job losses in the manufacturing sector during the five year period from 2004-05 to 2009-10 was 5.03 million as per the draft 12th Five-Year Plan approved by the country’s apex policy making body National Development Council (NDC) in December last year.

According to the data analysed in document, employment in the agriculture sector in absolute terms was 237.67 million in 1999-2000 which increased to 258.93 million in 2004-05 and then fell to 244.85 million in 2009-10.

Similarly the workforce engaged in manufacturing sector was 44.05 million in 1999-2000, which increased to 55.77 million in 2004-05 and then came down to 50.74 million in 2009-10. . .

Jobs come and jobs go. In spite of all those losses, there were gains in some areas and overall employment increased:

 . . . However, the employment in non-manufacturing sector increased from 20.84 million in 1999-2000 to 29.96 million and 48.28 million in 2004-05 and 2009-10 respectively.

The workforce in electricity, gas and water supply also saw a decline from 1.30 million in 2004-05 to 1.25 million in 2009-10. The other sector broadly in services sector saw a surge in employment.

 

The overall employment in the country has jumped from 396.76 million in 1999-2000 and 457.46 million in 2004-05 and it was 460.22 million in 2009-10.

Tim Worstall puts jobs losses in various sectors into perspective:

In 1841, over one in five workers (22%) were in the Agriculture and fishing industry.

This has now fallen to under 1%. But we produce an awful lot more food than we did back then.

In 1841, a third of the working population (36%) worked in manufacturing and in 1901 this was at a similar rate of 38%.

This has now fallen to 9%. And we do indeed still manufacture an awful lot more by value than we did back then.

How can that be?

The answer to how we did both is that we invented machines that did a lot of the work of those people. Yes, this did indeed mean that these people thus became unemployed: which was the very point of making the invention. The point of the mechanical hay baler is to make manual hay balers unemployed. The point of the robot riveter is to make human riveters unemployed.

And thus those made unemployed by the technological change can go off and work in services. Which is how we all become richer: we’ve now got the machines doing the food and the manufacturing, the humans doing the services and we get all three: food, manufactured goods and services.

Think about it for a moment, if we still had 22% in farming and 36% in manufacturing then that’s 58% of the people. Currently 81% of the population work in services (there’s a bit in construction, water etc as well). If we’ve 58% who cannot be in services because they’re in food or manufacturing then we’d, just as in 1841, only be able to have 33% working in services. So, which half to two thirds of the services we currently do get would you like to give up simply because we don’t have the people available to do them? OK, we all agree the diversity advisers can go but beyond that?

Quite. By mechanising agriculture and manufacturing we’ve been able to get the production of both of those that we desire and also have a vast expansion of services that we also get to enjoy. We have more thus we’re richer. And that of course is the point of doing such mechanisation: to make us all richer and long may it continue.

Machines have replaced a lot of jobs. They’ve also increased productivity and freed people to do things machines can’t.

Jobs come and jobs go and more jobs come. It’s not a recent phenomenon, it’s been happening for centuries as new inventions make it easier to do old jobs.

Instead of manufacturing a manufacturing crisis the opposition should be putting their energies into finding solutions for the problem of people who don’t’ have the skills, and sometimes the will, to do the new jobs.

Labour only for some workers?

Labour is supposed to be the party of and for workers but Trevor Mallard’s performance yesterday showed scant regard for employment law and the role of a select committee.

Mallard abruptly left a select committee after an exchange of angry words with Police Minister Anne Tolley after he questioned the decision of Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Bush to speak at the funeral of former police officer Bruce Hutton. . .

After Mallard attempted to question Bush on the issue Government committee members objected that his questions were out of order.

But Mallard hit back and appeared to threaten Bush’s job.

“We’re deciding whether or not to continue his salary, that’s what we’re deciding now,” he said.

Mallard then got embroiled in an exchange with Tolley who said that was not his decision before Mallard abruptly left the committee. . .

Perhaps he doesn’t regard a senior police officer as a worker or maybe his party is only there for some workers.

Regardless of that, after all his years in parliament he should have some understanding of employment law and know it’s not a select committee’s role to hire and fire people or set their salaries.

His behaviour provides more evidence for my theory that Labour’s motivation for strict employment law is because they judge all employers by their own sorry standards.

 

 

Trans-Tasman tide turning

The Trans-Tasman job tide is turning:

ANZ has become the latest big Australian company to send more jobs overseas, replacing 70 call-centre jobs with positions in New Zealand as part of attempts to bolster profit through cost-cutting.

In another case of ”offshoring” by a big bank, ANZ last week told staff it would shift the jobs from Melbourne to New Zealand, where it is bulking up its 175-strong staff who respond to Australian customers’ queries.  . .

In another sign that our economy is strengthening while Australia’s is weakening, the New Zealand dollar may test 85 Australian cents this week as figures on Thursday have analysts mulling whether Australia’s mining boom is finally peaking, and as local interest rates become more alluring on this side of the Tasman.

This news might provide a psychological boost for those who get a kick out of Trans-Tasman rivalry. But Australia is a major trading partner and it’s better for us to have it doing well too.

Leading by example

Dunedin City Council chief executive has turned down a 10% pay rise.

Dunedin City Council chief executive Paul Orders has turned down a $35,000-a-year pay rise, saying the increase cannot be justified when the organisation is in savings mode. . .

The decision came after the council’s performance appraisal committee – headed by Mayor Dave Cull – concluded Mr Orders’ $350,000-a-year salary was 10% below that of others in his role. . .

”Mr Orders has advised he would find it very difficult to reconcile a salary increase with the ongoing push for the DCC to identify economies and do more with less,” Mr Cull said.

Mr Orders was recruited from Wales and, since arriving in Dunedin in September 2011, has delivered savings from within the organisation that helped ease the council’s debt burden and reduce rates pressure.

He has taken a strict line on any budget increases, while pruning $5.6 million from spending – and creating $1.4 million of ”headroom” within the trimmed budget – ahead of council annual plan meetings earlier this year. . .

Local government, in general, has been much slower than central government to understand the necessity for cutting costs.

The DCC chief understands what needs to be done and is leading by example.

 

 

 

Important work

Quote of the day:

“It may be that it’s dogsbody work but it’s still work that needs to be done, isn’t it? That makes it important work. If she does it to the highest standard she can then that’s a worthwhile job.” Terry

Tweet of the day

Steven Joyce ‏@stevenljoyce 28m

Another interesting NZ/Oz employment stat: 78% of Kiwis in employment are full-time v only 70% in Oz. Higher overall employment in NZ now too.

Rural round-up

Export prices for lambs improving – Alan Williams:

Export market prices for lamb are improving but an early return to a $100 lamb is a question of all the planets aligning, Alliance Group general manager of marketing Murray Brown says.

“You’d be wanting a bit of exchange rate improving as well, but it’s not out of line,’’ Brown said.

If it happened, a big reduction in lamb numbers next season would be one reason, he said.

The signs were positive for the winter market and heading into next Christmas but some caution was still needed in forecasting prices. . .

Farmers may be able to invest in water storage project:

Central Hawke’s Bay farmers who tap into the proposed Ruataniwha water storage scheme may get the opportunity to invest in it too.

The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is asking the Government to recognise the scheme as a project of national significance.

The council and its investment company have made applications to the Environmental Protection Authority seeking resource consents and a regional plan change required for the project, which would supply water to about 25,000 hectares of land from a dam on a tributary of the Tukituki River. . .

Dairy Farms staff and the shocking state of employee turnover – Milking on the Moove:

Well, gidday. Glen Herud here again and I am going to carry on talking about dairy farm staff. Last time I said that only a small percentage of New Zealand population are prepared to work on a dairy farm simply because of the long hours involved.

Today I want to talk about a report that was released by Dairy NZ in 2009 I think, called “Farming Smarter Not Harder.” They had some interesting figures.

• They said that 50% of staff had been in their current job less than one year.  

• The average length of service, so that’s the average time people stay with an employer was less than one year. 

• 1/3 of dairy staff leave the industry every year. . .

Early start for lambing - Jill Galloway:

There are about 50 early lambs gambolling around a Kiwitea farm in Manawatu.

They are cute now, but they’ll be gracing dinner plates in Britain for Christmas, owners Jill Martin and Nigel Lintott say.

They had planned to have early lambs at two of their three properties.

“This breed are Dorset ewes, so they can have early lambs,” Lintott said.

$11m for Wagyu project - Marie Taylor:

The government has stumped up with $11 million for a project to produce high-value, marbled beef for premium markets in New Zealand and offshore.

What will the country get for its money and what does the project mean?

Hastings-based Firstlight Foods managing director Gerard Hickey is a key part of the Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) project.

The seven-year PGP is worth $23.7 million and Hickey describes it as an investment to create a new category of NZ beef. . .

Fight to be the top dog – Ian Allen:

New South Island sheep dog champion Steve Kerr plans to celebrate this week’s success by getting his dog a bitch on the way home.

Mr Kerr, of Fairlie, said he was stopping near Christchurch to breed his winning huntaway, Dodge.

Mr Kerr and Dodge took out the straight huntaway title at the South Island Championships in Blenheim yesterday.

After four days of competition, only .25 points separated Mr Kerr and runner up Kerry Kilmister, of Tinui, and his dog Pulse.

Mr Kerr said it had been a hard week and it was time to celebrate.

The top of the hill got a little bit tricky but Dodge did a great job, he said. . .

 

 

Wage growth only part of story

Wages are growing, albeit slowly.

Annual growth in the labour cost index (LCI) salary and wage rates eased for the third consecutive quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. In the year to the March 2013 quarter, salary and wage rates (including overtime) increased 1.7 percent. This includes a 0.4 percent rise in the March 2013 quarter.  

Private sector salary and ordinary time wage rates increased 1.8 percent in the year to the March 2013 quarter. Public sector salary and ordinary time wage rates rose 1.5 percent in the same period. This rise in the public sector came from increases in central government (up 1.5 percent) and local government (up 2.1 percent).

In the March 2013 quarter, 13 percent of all surveyed salary and ordinary time wage rates increased. Of the 13 percent, the median increase was 2.4 percent, the lowest in 12 years. Fifty-six percent of the surveyed sample increased in the year to the March 2013 quarter. Of the 56 percent, the median increase was 2.9 percent, the lowest in 21 months.

Results from the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), also released today, showed that average hourly earnings for ordinary time (ie excluding overtime) rose 2.1 percent in the year to the March 2013 quarter. This followed a 2.6 percent rise in the year to the December 2012 quarter. . .

Although wages are growing slowly that is only part of the story.

Low inflation means that the value of wages and investments are being maintained and lower interest rates leave more money in most people’s pockets.

Someone with a mortgage of $200,00 is saving about $200 a week compared with four years ago.

Both these factors take pressure off households, leaving them with more buying power or a greater ability to save and invest.

Rural round-up

Challenge goal to boost NZ export earnings - Hugh Stringleman:

Four of the government’s selected 10 National Science Challenges are connected with the primary sector and have potential to boost export earnings, Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce says.

However, the need to expand export earnings to the government’s target of 40% of GDP by 2025 was not a specific criterion for selection of the challenges.

Prime Minister John Key’s chief science adviser, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, drew attention to challenge four, called high-value nutrition – developing high-value foods with validated health benefits – as an obvious area where commodities would be enhanced to earn much more. . .

Why only a small number of people will consider working on a dairy farm – Milking on the Moove:

There are 60 new dairy conversions going into Canterbury this year. In This video I discuss how this equates to an extra 250 dairy staff been required, and why most “townies” won’t even consider a job on a dairy farm.

I’m surprised by the extra staff required, but the numbers seem to be logical. . .

60 new dairy conversions in Canterbury for 2013 season

Hey, well I want to talk about dairy farm employment issues. So staffing, of all the issues that the dairy industry face, finding people to milk the cows is the biggest issue. So I was talking to a cow shed manufacturer. He said there’s 60 dairy conversions going into Canterbury this year; and those are new dairy conversions.

60 conversions x 750 cows (cant avg) = 45,000 extra cows into Canterbury 2013

Now the average herd size in Canterbury is 750 cows, so 60 times 750 equals 45,000 extra cows coming into Canterbury this year alone. That’s not including Southland or the rest of the South Island; 45, 000 new cows into Canterbury. . .</>

No PKE from dodgy mills says MPI:

Malaysian officials have confirmed no palm kernel expeller (PKE) has been exported to New Zealand from the processing mill that Federated Farmers has reported concerns about.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is taking the concerns about post-production handling of PKE very seriously, says director plants, food and environment Peter Thomson.

“There are stringent safeguards in place that ensure PKE is safe for use, and MPI is requiring full assurance that these safeguards have not been breached,” Thomson says. . .

O’Connor leaves DINZ in good heart – Annette Scott:

If Mark O’Connor has done something right in his 13 years as chief executive of Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ), it has been employing good people.

He will officially leave his position after the industry’s annual conference later this month and he makes no secret he will miss the people.

“It is a wonderful industry in terms of people – they are a unique bunch. I will certainly miss them. It has been nothing but a joy,” O’Connor said. . .

Irrigator ruts causing accidents:

Centre-pivot irrigator ruts are contributing to the high accident rate amongst groundspreaders.</>

The New Zealand Groundspread Fertilisers’ Association, (NZGFA) would like to see a reduction in recent accident rates amongst groundspreaders.

NZGFA president Stuart Barwood says “we are aiming to make farmers aware of the dangers to groundspread fertiliser drivers and trucks. Centrepivot ruts are a major accident waiting to happen. . .

National Science Challenges are the new black:

Federated Farmers is delighted that New Zealand’s primary industries are well represented in New Zealand’s fiscally upsized National Science Challenges, announced yesterday by Prime Minister John Key and the Minister for Science and Innovation, the Hon Steven Joyce.

“This is significant because we hear talk of creating a technological future and the National Science Challenges are about inspiring this to happen,” says Dr William Rolleston, Federated Farmers Vice-President.

“Significantly, the Government has increased its funding by $73.5 million taking the investment to $133.5 million. In an age of constrained spending this deserves praise for its foresight.

“When taken in conjunction with AgResearch’s major investment announcement earlier this week, the National Science Challenges are another tool to break down institutional barriers and foster scientific collaboration and endeavour. . .

Fewer jobless

Unemployment dropped in North Otago in the three months to March, in spite of the loss of more than 100 jobs at Summit Woolspinners.

. . . Figures released by the Ministry of Social Development on Friday indicated that the number of people claiming the unemployment benefit at the Oamaru Work and Income service centre fell from 172 at the end of December, to 146 at the end of March.

The number claiming the domestic purposes benefit also fell, from 349 at the end of last year, to 338 at the end of last month. Southern regional social development commissioner John Allen said some former Summit employees were still out of work following the closure of the plant in February, but many had already found new work in the area.

”The local labour market is reasonably buoyant and we’re seeing former Summit employees find work in a range of industries including meat processing and manufacturing jobs. Seasonal employers are continuing to recruit, again in meat processing, or have just finished hiring for the upcoming season. There are also a number of vacancies for skilled trade workers.

”Most of the employers we work with appear to be positive about the labour market, especially the engineering, construction and agriculture sectors, although this can vary across industries and seasonal factors can impact on benefit numbers.” . . .

A drop int he number of unemployed is a sign of economic recovery.

It could also reflect a change in emphasis with benefit reforms. Those who could work are being treated as job seekers and getting more help to find jobs.

That’s better for them, their families, society and the economy.

Farming not attractive?

The top 10 most attractive industries to work for in the 2013 Randstad Awards are:

1 – Media
2 – Education & training services
3 – Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG)
4 – Public Administration & Safety
5 – Banking & Financial services
6 – Public Sector
7 – Professional Services
8 – IT & Telecommunications
9 – Transport & Logistics
10 – Healthcare

The media industry received top marks for its provision of interesting job content, competitive salary and employee benefits.

That could apply to farming, farm support and science but none of them appear on the list.

Is that because the survey had an urban bias or are those industries really not attractive?

There’s nothing in travel or tourism either though that could be because a lot of jobs in those industries aren’t particularly well paid.

Bonding works well for rural vets

Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy has welcomed 30 new vets onto the 2013 intake of the Rural Veterinary Bonding Scheme.

“The scheme is now in its fifth year and is making real headway in tackling the rural vet shortage,” says Mr Guy. . . 

“The scheme is a solid incentive, helping to make rural practices more attractive to junior vets who might otherwise end up in city clinics or heading overseas. . .

The Veterinary Association says  the scheme is working well.

The rural veterinary bonding scheme for Massey graduates is fully subscribed with 102 veterinary graduates working in rural veterinary practices around New Zealand according to official figures released today.

“Even better, 96% of those entering the scheme from the time it commenced in have stayed in it,” Gavin Sinclair, president of the NZVA said.

“While it is still early days, and there still seem to be some stubborn (hard to recruit) rural regions, this result is encouraging. The New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) lobbied hard for the introduction of the scheme at a time when there were gaps appearing in the thin green line that is the veterinary rural workforce in New Zealand.

“The first tranche of graduates received their first payment of $33,000 before tax ($11,000 per year) just prior to Christmas. At that point, four had left the scheme, and ten had moved to other rural practices. This is just what we wanted; young veterinarians settling into rural practice and hopefully remaining there. They are sorely needed,” Dr Sinclair said.

Government has significant responsibilities for food safety, animal welfare, and biosecurity and it relies on the thin green line of veterinarians to monitor livestock to ensure these responsibilities are met.  The risks arising from late recognition of an exotic disease outbreak, food safety concerns, and animal welfare disasters, on our international markets are serious. Veterinary involvement in managing all these risks has been recognised in part by government support of the scheme.

For farmers, it also means a viable, sustainable, cost effective and responsive rural veterinary workforce for the ongoing day-to-day, 24/7 demands of both routine and emergency clinical services.

“A rural veterinary practice faces many risks and challenges, not the least being able to sustain the 24/7 on call requirement.  These practices have a high workload and a surprisingly low level of remuneration which can make the work unattractive to young graduates,” Dr Gavin Sinclair explained.

National introduced bonding for graduates in human and animal health professions who were prepared to work in hard to staff rural areas soon after coming into government.

It’s one of the best ways of student support. It keeps graduates in sought-after disciplines in New Zealand, directs them where they’re most needed and provides them with a financial incentive for going there.

He commented there are also demographic trends, most notably the increasing numbers of female graduates (85% of new graduates from Massey are female) who are wanting flexible working arrangements, often part time over time, and increasingly in companion animal (pet) practices in urban areas. . .

That demographic trend isn’t confined to vet practices.

As more women combine work with raising families the demand for flexible working arrangements increases.

Farm worker salaries better than average

Federated Farmers/Rabobank Farm Employee Remuneration Survey 2013, shows that remuneration levels for most pastoral farm positions have continued to increase.

The average farm worker is now earning $5,500 more than the New Zealand average annual wage and salary.

“I need to point out our survey was in the field in late 2012 and before the impact of the 2012/13 drought really hit home,” says Katie Milne, Federated Farmers employment spokesperson.

“The drought will undoubtedly have a drag effect on farm wage growth and prospects. We need to also point out that marked commodity price pressures have become apparent in 2013 in the meat and fibre sectors particularly.

“That said, the 2013 survey covers more than 3,900 positions involving the input of 1,194 farm employers. That makes it the most comprehensive of its type and we sincerely thank Rabobank, our research provider Ipsos and farm employers for helping us with it.

“Federated Farmers considers that it has an important role to develop and attract quality people into agriculture. This survey is intended to assist employers and employees, both current and potential, to better understand what agriculture has to offer.

“It is also important to point out that the primary industries made up of pastoral agriculture, horticulture, forestry and fisheries employ over 146,000 New Zealanders. Misconceptions about pastoral agriculture must be challenged and this survey is a useful tool doing just that.

“Agriculture is vast and includes on-farm work, value-added processing right through to scientific research and international business.

The survey showed farm workers earned an average salary of $46,246. That increased to $49,159 when the value of non-wage , such as accommodation, power and meat, was taken into account.

“Farming is incredibly wage competitive because the national average wage for people in paid employment was $40,716[i] in the June 2012 quarter. When you consider living costs in many rural areas tend to be lower than in urban areas it is an eye-opener.

“Yet despite relatively high unemployment nationally, farmers are finding it difficult to recruit skilled and motivated staff. There is a gulf between talk in the media about unemployment and the experiences of farm employers.

“We are hopeful reforms to the benefit system may incentivise Kiwis with the right attitude to look wider and consider a farming career.

“Farm employers know they need to strike the right balance between containing wage growth and attracting high quality skilled workers to not only consider farm employment but to stay. The need for career development is also important.

“We are seeing a growing professionalism in rural employment relationships. This is paying dividends as evidenced by StatisticsNZ’s recent Labour Productivity statistics. These show labour productivity within agriculture has increased 3.4 percent each year.

“Labour inputs showed little change whereas output has surged, meaning agriculture is driving New Zealand’s labour productivity growth. . .

This survey disproves the contention that farm workers aren’t well paid.

There will always be a few employers in any industry who exploit their staff, just as there are some staff who can’t, or won’t, do what’s required of them.

But good staff are valued by good farmers and the higher than average remuneration levels uncovered by this survey reflect that.

Who counts jobs gained?

Job losses get headlines.

That’s justified by the impact not just on those directly affected but by the wider community and economy.

But who counts jobs gained by those who lost them?

Those who go on benefits or immigrate will eventually turn up in welfare and immigration figures.

But who counts the people who find work either for other employers or in their own businesses?

The creation of a large number of new jobs by, for example, the opening of a new milk processing plant, will be reported, but smaller job gains aren’t usually.

In a column discussing how subsidised jobs make everyone poorer, Rodney Hide writes:

. . . If Tiwai closed, the job losses will be obvious and reportable. The jobs and income generated through the extra and cheaper power won’t be. But they will be there. And we will all be better off as a consequence.

The only difficulty is that these jobs won’t be spotted and will go unreported. We don’t know where they are. And we can’t point to them. That’s why the jobs argument – bad as it is – has propaganda value. . .

There have been lots of stories about job losses recently, there have been few about jobs created.

But benefit numbers have fallen to the lowest level since 2009 .

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says there are 29,000 fewer New Zealanders receiving benefits since the last quarter.

This is the lowest benefit numbers have been at this time of year since 2009.

“I’m really pleased to see this significant reduction in benefits and I take my hat off to the more than 17,600 people who went off the Unemployment, DPB and Sickness Benefits and into work in the last quarter.”

The Ministry of Social Development cancelled 525 benefits in the last quarter after it implemented an enhanced information sharing arrangement with Inland Revenue. . .

If benefit numbers have dropped in spite of all the reported job losses, new jobs must also have been created.

n spite of all those jobs lost, there must have also been jobs created.

Missing the point

The Opposition is concerned that possible changes to the provision of patient meals in public hospitals will result in job losses.

Health Minister Tony Ryall explains the reason for a possible streamlining of services:

“The health service is looking at how we can provide a better service with improved quality of food but in a more collective way, that saves money which can be ploughed back in to front line services.

“The vast majority of hospital kitchens are already contracted out to private businesses,” Mr Ryall says.

“I am told the consultation could see two or more major new kitchens providing food services across the country. That would result in a number of other hospital kitchens being downsized, but HBL says food quality would be maintained and improved.

The purpose of hospitals is not to employ people.

It is to provide health services.

Changes which enable them to provide more and better services at a lower cost should be applauded.

The Opposition miss the point.

Job losses would be unfortunate for those concerned but that’s not a justification for not seeking improvements to the cost and provision of health services.

 

80 jobs to go from QLDC?

Queenstown Lakes District Council could shed 80 jobs as it restructures:

. . .The draft report proposes reducing the number of staff to 254, meaning 80 staff could lose their jobs.

Of the 334 employees, 163 are employed in operations – which includes service centre managers, librarians, admin and support staff.

The draft report proposes reducing operations staff by 42 to 121 and reducing planning department staff from 49 to 33.     

The loss of 80 staff is a significant reduction. While having sympathy for the people involved, QLDC rates are high and staff costs will be a significant factor in that.

However, it’s not just numbers but the effectiveness and efficiency of the service they provide which matters.

One of the key recommendations of the draft is to move as many Queenstown-based staff as possible into one building.

Currently staff are spread across several different offices and locations.

All frontline staff need to be in one location, the recommendation said.

Developing an internal culture of performance and public service was key as the council dovetailed its activities, the report said.

The review team observed that, excluding frontline staff, customer service was not always seen as important.

Not recognising the importance of customer service is not peculiar to QLDC.

The amount of needless paperwork generated for meetings also came under heavy scrutiny.

A significant amount of councillor and staff time and effort was put into more than 4000 pages of reports prepared for meetings over the past eight months.

More than 30 per cent of the material was judged to be needless and reducing the paperwork would free up staff resources.

Key points of the paperwork were considered more appropriately dealt with by the chief executive and management.

It was recommended only vital reports containing meaningful information should progress to council or committee meetings. . .

Needless reports wouldn’t be peculiar to QLDC either.

The council’s chief executive Adam Feeley was appointed last year after resigning as head of the Serious Fraud Office.

Perhaps skills he learned at the SFO have enabled him to look at the council and its performance in a way someone who came through the bureaucracy wouldn’t.

He said in January that an organisational review was his number one priority:

”Everything else takes a back seat to that, because everything else on my list can’t be dealt with until I have the type of organisation that can deal with these problems,” Mr Feeley told the Wanaka Residents Association annual meeting last week.

The goal of the review of QLDC activities was to develop a more efficient organisation which had greater cost effectiveness, better skills and capabilities, and that met the expectations of all communities within the district, Mr Feeley said.

He acknowledged the review, which included covering the activities of more than 230 staff, could result in redundancies. But rather than being purely a ”slash and burn exercise”, it was geared at producing motivated staff and giving the public an organisation which was easy to deal with. . .

A council culture of you have to do this rather than how can we help and concentration on rules  without taking account of their affects afflicts other councils which might learn from the changes proposed for QLDC.

Crisis or opportunity

The loss of jobs if the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter closes would be devastating for those affected and have an impact on the Southland and wider economy.

However, in crisis there is almost always opportunity and energy consultant Wayne Cartwright sees one in the excess power that would be available.

An energy consultant says if the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter is closed and the Manapouri hydro lake is made available it would be a huge boon for the country.

The plant is under threat of closure because its owners say the price they pay for electricity is too high and the operation is not economic.

Wayne Cartwright says worldwide demand for energy will rise substantially over the next few years and with some investment from the Government, power from Manapouri could be siphoned to the national grid.

He says if that happens the price of energy won’t soar as much in New Zealand as it could around the world.

“We’re looking at a substantial rise in global prices of energy, particularly oil and gas, and if the substitution of hydro electricity for those requirements in New Zealand that need at the present time oil-based energy … can be made then this will be a great advantage to New Zealand because of the lower cost. . .

Most of the excess power would be in the south of the South Island which isn’t necessarily where the demand would be but upgrading the transmission lines to cope with the excess supply would be expensive. Instead of shifting the power north, it would be cheaper and could be more attractive for some businesses to move south.

The mnemonic love many fat royal people today has kept the six factors which determine the location of industry in my memory since 6th form geography – labour, market, finance, raw materials, power and transport.

If the smelter closes there will be excess labour and power in Southland. Finance is mobile, there’s a good port and reasonable roads in Southland. If whatever is produced is exported, nowhere in New Zealand will be much further from the market than anywhere else.

The possible closure of the smelter could be regarded as a crisis but it also has the potential opportunity for new businesses which could be better for Southland and New Zealand.

No greater upskilling than work

Quote of the day:

But for the unemployed, especially the young and unemployed, there is no greater upskilling than being in the paid workforce, being productive, and learning to do a good job.Rodney Hide.

This was part of his second column promoting the idea of auctioning the jobless on TradeMe.

The first column is here.

Here are the jobs

Positive signs of economic growth have yet to filter through to a substantial drop in unemployment but there are jobs available on farms:

With 14 unfilled vacancies on Federated Farmers’ own ruraljobs.co.nz website and with almost 150 more listed on other websites, things may be tough on-farm but farmers are still recruiting.

“Federated Farmers’ ruraljobs.co.nz website has 14 unfilled vacancies on it right now,” says Conor English, Federated Farmers Chief Executive Officer.

“You can definitely see a North/South split with just two of these 14 roles in the North Island. Whatever the environment and whatever the economy, Kiwi farmers will always need good keen workers.

“I had a quick look at TradeMe and 79 of their 126 farming jobs are in the South Island and of those 126 roles, 72 were paying $50-100,000 with four over $100,000.

“We need to knock a myth that farming roles are low-skilled and low paid.

“Federated Farmers will soon be able to flesh out the pay and benefits farm workers receive with our 2013 Farm Remuneration report nearing release.

“We have been motivated to raise our head above the parapet because we have heard of several hundred Aucklanders queuing for a couple of jobs packing shelves. Federated Farmers wants to say loudly and proudly; have a look at farming. . . “

The jobs are advertised on Feds’ website ruraljobs.co.nz