Report on Work

What Next?  National Conversation about Work is a new report discussing two years of investigations into the state of employment in New Zealand, particularly equal employment opportunities.   A quick glance through it makes it seem a fairly positive report; not that it overlooks the problems, but it does tend to soften them somehow.  

Nevertheless this is a well-produced report, as much as for its emphasis on the needs of minority groups as for its insights into the more positive aspects of work in New Zealand.

10 priorities they suggest for EEO are:
Disabled people
Youth into work
Migrant workers
Looking after the children of workers
EEO across the sectors (check this out when you read the report)
Pay and employment equity
Older workers [One I'm particularly interested in!]
Support for employers
Improving labour market information and analysis
Adequate standards of living (increasing the minimum wage and benefit levels)

The report ends with twelve examples of equality in the workplace.   'These innovations are are informed by a Kiwi 'can-do' attitude alongside a commitment to fairness and equality.   They are part of the fabric of decent and productive work in New Zealand.'

How does this relate to the work of ministry?  

Older people at work

The graph above comes from the Department of Labour's fact sheet on older workers in the NZ labour market. Apart from the fact that the first box should read working-age population 55 years and older (and not 15 years and older) this is an interesting graph to ponder on when you're thinking about church and older people. (As I always seem to be doing - must be something to do with now being a superannuitant!)

Notice that there's a good percentage of people in the work force compared to those out of it, but that within those who are employable or wanting to be employed, only 2.8% are out of work. By contrast, have a look at the youth graph.


There are about three times as many youth in the 15-19 age bracket, yet there are ten times as many unemployed. This presumably isn't counting those who are studying or at school - it's those who want to be employed and are not.

What questions does this raise in terms of church? Does it say that older workers won't be as readily available to do volunteer work? Does it say there's a big need for youth programmes that assist them into employment. How can the church help? What other questions does it ask?

Changing work trends

In the recently released report, Workplace Age and Gender: Trends and Implications, we discover that:

- A total of 63% of bus drivers were aged 50 years or more in 2006, and 80% were men.

- The age profile of HR professionals is younger than that of the total workforce and has become intensely female – in 1981, 28% of HR professionals were female, but by 2006 that had risen to 69%.

- Relatively few women work in engineering, ranging from 2% in industrial and mechanical to 8% in civil, 15% in electronic and communications and 36% in chemical.

- A third of the dentistry and social work professions were aged 50+ in 2006.

- In the police force, women tallied 9% of the workforce in 1991 and 22% in 2006.

- One in three firefighters was aged over 50 in 2006. Overall, 95% of firefighters are male.

- The peak age for labourers has been falling, and was 15-19 in 2006.

Your gut instinct probably told a good deal of this, but it's always helpful to have it confirmed...

And another area for innovation in the church

An increasing number of older New Zealanders past retiring age are continuing to work, many of them in part-time roles.

A recent report from Statistics NZ shows that the number of people aged 65 years and over in the workforce rose 278% between 1986 and 2006 – from 22,000 to 82,000 driven by such factors as skills shortages, increased life expectancy, more part-time opportunities, the growth of the service industry and ... a buoyant economy.

Although this trend may not survive the current downturn it put us second only to Japan for “elder” labour participation in OECD countries – in 2006, one in six older New Zealanders remained in the workforce with 66% of the women and 43% of the men holding part-time jobs.

slightly amended from the NZIM Managers’ Update, March 2009

Again, where what implications does this have for churches and their attitudes to older people?

How will churches react?

How will your church react?

Nearly one fifth of New Zealanders in employment fear they may lose their jobs this year and half of those worry they may not quickly find another. That was the outcome of a survey commissioned by the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development that polled 2852 respondents online and found the worry about job loss was greatest amongst those in low-paid jobs and in hard-hit areas like construction,
transport and storage, and forestry/agriculture. Those feeling most secure are farm owners and managers, followed by police, nurses, teachers, service workers and
public servants.
By age, those most worried about their future work prospects are in the 25-34 and 55-64 age groups.

from the NZIM Managers’ Update, March 2009

On Abortion

While New Zealanders wait for the outcome of Justice Forrest Miller's criticism of the Abortion Supervisory Committee, a new study commissioned by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good has concluded that government social spending and economic conditions do more to reduce abortions than legal strategies such as parental consent laws. You can read a summary of this here.

Mary Nelson writes:

Joseph Wright (Penn State University) and Michael Bailey's (Georgetown University) examined the dramatic drop in abortions in the 1990s. The results are significant. States that spend more generously on nutritional supplement programs, for example, could see up to 37 percent lower abortion rates. Other factors such as cutting welfare more slowly and higher male employment rates had a 20 to 29 percent reduction rate.

The negative approaches don't seem to work. Welfare caps on children born while on welfare and laws requiring parental consent for minors have only negligible impact. The study concludes that "pro-family policies reduce abortions."

Both Republicans and Democrats should take note. The authors estimate that increased welfare payments and less Medicaid funding for abortions could lower the current abortion rate by 37 percent.

Perhaps the New Zealand Government might take note: not caring for young families and not helping men and fathers in particular to work, is a dangerous social policy.