Labour’s 10 big ideas for the future of work
Labour has released their 10 big ideas for the future of work:
- Building digital equality – through ensuring Kiwis can access technology regardless of where they live or how wealthy they are.
- Accelerating technology in business – through developing new models of capital raising and investing in research and development.
- Developing Business Clusters – by creating regional partnerships of business, councils, research organisations and iwi to get the best out of local and emerging industries.
- Building wealth from the ground up – by encouraging new models of business, including entrepreneurship and cooperatives to create a more sustainable economy.
- Establishing a just transition – through creating a social partnership model and strong and flexible social and re-training programmes.
- Ensuring greater income security – through investigation of new models of income security for New Zealand, including considering a limited trial of a universal basic income-type system in a town or region.
- Reforming the transition between education, training and work – through comprehensive reform of career guidance and creating a school leavers’ toolkit to prepare them for the practical requirements of work.
- Labour’s Working Futures Plan – in which all New Zealanders receive three free years of post-school education, phased in from 2019.
- Partnering with Maori in a post-Treaty settlement era – through the Government facilitating strategic partnerships between iwi, business, and third parties to develop the Maori economy.
- Establishing a Pasifika working futures plan – by working with the community to focus on the transition between education and work and identifying and eliminating the barriers to entrepreneurship.
Many of these are good ideas, but will probably happen without the Government. The new methods of capital raising have already evolved are are being used. Regional business clusters can and do occur without central Government. And the last things entrepreneurs need is Government encouraging them to be more sustainable.
So some of the ideas are not bad, but basically platitudes.
On trialling a UBI, I don’t think the numbers add up. But yeah lets trial it in Gore, and see how many people move there in order to get $200 a week in exchange for not working.
Sadly there is nothing at all about recognising the need for more flexible labour markets, or helping small businesses by retaining the 90 day grievance free trial period.