Venkat Raman
Auckland, May 15, 2020
Unemployment is a major problem all over the world, as major companies and small and medium enterprises cut back on jobs and make a large number of people redundant.
The US has more than 22 million people on the dole on the face of Covid-19, while Europe, Asia and Australia are reporting massive unemployment.
In India for instance, ‘migrant workers,’ (Indian nationals from other States) who have lost jobs are being asked to go back to their home States because they cannot sustain themselves.
New Zealand is not immune to the problem.
Rising unemployment
The country’s unemployment rate is expected to reach 9.8% over the next few months.
Budget 2020 focuses on encouraging employers to retain staff and helping those in the market to find jobs.
The case of New Zealanders shying away from performing certain jobs are over.
Today, airline pilots, marketing managers, security personnel – to name just a few – are working in supermarkets, rest homes and as assistants to truck drivers.
Times are a changing and how!
New jobseekers
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said that almost 40,000 new job seekers are now in the market, about half of them are not beneficiaries.
“They were high earners. More than 4700 New Zealanders have returned home after the virus swept the globe. About 65% of them are New Zealand Europeans,” she said.
The government’s expanded services to support people into jobs will help an emerging cohort of New Zealanders impacted by Covid-19.
The impacted group are relatively younger.
Indian Newslink will shortly write more on this subject.
