Benefit numbers rise 1200 since outbreak

More than 2700 Southlanders are looking for work and that number has jumped 1200 since the Covid-19 outbreak started in New Zealand.

Business leaders fear more people will be searching for work as the impact of the pandemic keeps disrupting the economy.

Data from Work and Income classified by territorial authority, in this case the Southland Regional Council, showed 2702 people were on the Jobseeker Support WorkReady benefit in July this year.

In July last year, the number was 2119; in February this year it was 1509.

The largest spike occurred during March and April this year. The country first went into lockdown on March 25 at 11.59pm.

In March there were 1648 people on the Work-Ready benefit but by April that had increased to 2164.

The Jobseeker Support social welfare benefit is split into two categories: Work-Ready, for people who are actively seeking work; and Health Condition and Disability, which covers people who have a health condition or disability, who can’t work or who have a limited capacity to work.

In July 2020, there were 3542 people in total getting the Jobseeker Support benefit, up from 2907 in July 2019.

The data also reveals the number of Covid-19 income relief payments offered by Work and Income in the south. In June, 115 people in Invercargill City, 12 in the Gore District and 90 in the Southland District received the relief payment.

This increased in July, to 210 in Invercargill, 18 in the Gore District and 174 in the Southland District.

The relief payment was introduced for people who had lost their jobs because of the pandemic. It offers $490 per week for a full-time worker and $250 for part-time workers for a 12-week period.

Otago Southland Employers Association chief executive Virginia Nicholls said she expected that the number of people on Jobseeker Support would continue to increase in the following months.

July was actually a good month for the region but returning to alert level 2 had impacted the hospitality and tourism industry, she said.

Southland Chamber of Commerce president Neil McAra said he expected unemployment figures would rise further when the eightweek wage subsidy ran out.

Businesses have until September 1 to apply for the subsidy and until September 3 to apply for the resurgence wage subsidy.

The Treasury is forecasting a national unemployment rate of 8 per cent to 9 per cent after the wage subsidy runs out, and Southland would be affected, McAra said.

Given the economic uncertainty, Southland employers were concerned about the challenges in running their businesses and that there were not many able to offer employment, he said.

Fiordland could be put into an economic micro-climate of its own, as it had been severely affected by the loss in tourism and hospitality, he said.

However, the rest of the Southland had been able to get through the pandemic better than other regions as the export market had still been operating throughout the year, he said.

In July, Great South held its Job Search expo, with more than 600 jobs listed in the region.

Great South strategic project general manager Steve Canny said matching employees with jobs was not an easy process.

In the 12 months before the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, 9600 jobs were advertised throughout the region. In normal circumstances those vacancies would be hard to fill, Canny said.

The fact of the matter was the wage subsidy and mortgage holidays would end and the region would be impacted by that, he said.

However, Canny believed it was not all doom and gloom as there were lots of employment opportunities in the pipeline, such as the Homer Tunnel extension project and upgrade to the Great Walks tracks.

In addition, the region would be expecting more employment coming from the Department of Conservation’s Jobs for Nature fund.

It was also important to note that employment figures were affected by seasons, particularly with June being the off-season for meatworks processing, Canny said.