Work Ready New Zealanders on Welfare Amid Labour Shortage Has ‘Got to Stop’: ACT Party Leader
New Zealand’s ACT Party Leader David Seymour said they would put work-ready Kiwis receiving welfare benefits under “income management” to encourage them to take up jobs.
According to the Ministry of Social Development (pdf), of the 170,000 people receiving a Jobseeker Support benefit at the end of September, 98,900 were classified as “work ready.”
Seymour said under the ACT Party, these people would be able to claim enough benefits for life necessities, “but it’s not going to be a holiday again and again and again.”
“They’re not actually working,” he told the AM show. “I talk to employers who say people come in, and they do the interview, get the stamp and then go back to WINZ (Work and Income New Zealand) and keep getting the benefit. And that’s got to stop.”…