The welfare dependency crisis

The Herald reports:

The estimated time that work-ready Jobseeker recipients will spend on income support until they reach retirement age has jumped by 23 per cent since 2019, amid a “worrying” slowdown of the benefits system that could strain government finances and trap thousands of people in poverty.

Growing up in a household where no adult is working, is one of the main indicators of likely problems later in life.

For example, Sole Parent Support clients are projected to spend an average of 17 working-age years on a benefit (up from 12.5 years in 2019), but the upper quartile of this group – about 18,700 people – are expected to spend more than 25 years in the system.

We should;d have a maximum time limit for welfare, for people who are work capable.

about 2000 teens on the Youth Payment or Young Parent Payment now expected to spend an average of 24 working-age years on a benefit – a 46 per cent increase from the 2019 estimate. 

Labour’s legacy again.

In June 2022, Taylor Fry predicted Māori would make up nearly half of work-ready Jobseeker clients by the end of this decade, up from 35 per cent in 2010.

Absolutely the wrong trend.