01-17-2026, 11:29 PM
(01-17-2026, 10:49 PM)chr0naut Wrote: New Zealand's previous government offered to take the hundreds of 'boat people' that Australia has incarcerated on islands around Australia.
Quote:Worsening unemployment, hunger and homelessness in New Zealand Tom Peters
20 February 2025
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/02...d-f21.html
Unemployment increased by 33,000 people last year to reach 156,000, or 5.1 percent—the highest level since September 2020. It is forecast to reach 5.5 percent by the middle of the year. As well as cuts to healthcare and other public services, factories including paper mills and meatworks have closed down, devastating entire towns.
Real unemployment is far higher than the official figure, which only accounts for people actively looking for work. By the end of 2024 more than 409,000 people were receiving some form of welfare payment, 12 percent of the working age population.
There is growing poverty among working families. New Zealand’s gross domestic product per capita declined by 2.7 percent in the year to September 2024, and the Salvation Army notes that 37 percent of the workforce received no pay increase.
The government is driving down wages for the lowest-paid workers. It recently announced that the minimum wage will go up by just 35 cents per hour or 1.5 percent in 2025, half the annual increase in household living costs.
