Christine Rankin: Former WINZ boss on the 12% increase in the number of people on the Jobseeker benefit

The former WINZ boss says a jump in Work Ready Jobseekers is no surprise. 

The Ministry of Social Development's September figures show the number of people on the benefit has increased by almost 12% in a year. 

It means more than 12,000 people are receiving the weekly payment. 

Former WINZ boss Christine Rankin told Mike Hosking the increase was predicted by economists. 

She says it's obvious it's going to get worse before it gets better. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And so do the job market. And the new numbers
out indicate if there are green shoots to be seen
in this economy of ours, the last cab off the
rank's going to be the job market. Job seeking numbers
are up twelve percent since this time last year. That's
an extra twelve thousand people for were Wins Boss Christine
ranking with us on this Christine Morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning, Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Do you subscribe to the broad theory that it is
jobs the last to be seen the coming right, so
everything comes right by the jobs.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yes, absolutely, And this was expected and predicted by economists,
and we haven't reached the peak yet, so it's obvious
that it's going to get worse before it gets better.
You can't turn a mess of an economy around like
this in a year, There's no doubt about that.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
No, you can't. The sticky bit for the government was
they tightened the rules around the unemployment at a time
when jobs were actually disappearing, which made it difficult, didn't it.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
No, I don't believe that does make it difficult. What
it does is ensure that job seekers do not rock
on that benefit, and that's what happened with the last regime.
This is actually a gift that they've got that in
place now because nobody's going to be stuck on that benefit. Look,
we are losing we have got people on benefit, more
people on benefit. But there are a lot of jobs

(01:08):
out there, and it's about the motivation and the confidence
to get them back into work different work.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
And does the department actually do that? I mean, what's
the role of the department And where's the line between
I've lost my job, so it's up to me to
find another job versus some government wonk who's going to go, well,
what you should be doing? This, this, this and this.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Look, you're absolutely right. There are a lot of people
who won't go near any government department unless they need
the support of that benefit. And then they get into
the system and have to have that government wonk as
you call them, to help facilitate it. A lot of
people will find their own jobs, but if they don't,
yes that that this minister is absolutely determined about what

(01:50):
this government department is going to do. I don't think
it's done it for a long time, but I'm sure
it's very excited to be doing it again. It's real work.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
What do you do with a bloke who was at
a mill in the middle of the North Island, small town,
New Zealand, whose mill got closed, and he's now looking
at Australia. Do you say bye bye and all the best?
What do you do with them?

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, unless there really is an alternative there, you can
absolutely understand why he's going to Australia. This isn't going
to happen to him again over there, and the conditions
are going to be much better. If I was running
wealthy now, I'd be telling my people if there weren't
jobs there, do everything you can to support them to go.
They have a right to that life, all.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Right, Christine, appreciate your expertise as always, Christine ranking form
A Winds Boss whe us. For more from the Mike
Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks there'd be from
six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.