-
Source: ONE News -
Watch Video
-
Related
The government's much anticipated job summit will take place in Auckland on Friday, though many are still in the dark as to what the outcomes might be.
The summit, which will be held in Manukau and chaired by NZX CEO Mark Weldon, is expected to come up with initiatives to avoid a significant increase in unemployment.
Unemployment hit a five-year high of 4.6% in the three months to December 2008, and the worst official prediction puts unemployment at 7.5% this year.
Latest employment surveys show one in five Kiwis are worried about losing their jobs this year, and one in three employers say they may have to lay off staff or reduce working hours.
Key has maintained that the summit will be a "do-fest", not a "talk-fest.
It will be attended by 200 participants, including government ministers, business, industry and sector group leaders, and job experts.
One of the ideas expected to be discussed is the government's proposal of a four-day working week. Under this proposal the government would subsidise a fifth day of employment which could be used for community work or skills training.
Fairfax Media spokesperson Jenni McManus says while there are high hopes for the summit, Key is yet to detail any of the proposals.
"The credibility of his government does depend on concrete proposals coming out of this, not just committees and more reports and things like that because employment is suddenly the only issue in the world," she says.
McManus says there has been some criticism that summit, which is meant to focus on jobs, is also discussing larger economic concepts such liquidity.
She says while these issues are related, the focus needs to be on aspects such as unions, how to make it easier for employers to employ, and the Holidays Act.
National Distribution Union leader Leila Harre expects there will be concrete ideas that emerge from the summit as there has been a lot of preparation by participants leading up to it.
"There's no doubt that having these people in the room involved in a process with the government is better than not having it," she says.
However, Harre says with just 12 representatives from the Council of Trade Unions, there are far too few people representing the workers' perspective on employment issues.
"What we need is a 'Back New Zealand' campaign which needs to involve government, it needs to involve working people, it needs to involved business and funders and so on, and there's an opportunity to have some concrete outcomes to support that," she says.
The summit will open and close with an address from John Key, although much of the summit's discussion will remain behind closed doors.
TVNZ will have comprehensive coverage of the Jobs Summit with live coverage of the event on TVNZ 7 and TVNZ.co.nz, as well as reports throughout the day from TVNZ reporters on site.
