But beyond the expected increase to base rates, a more intriguing initiative unveiled by the finance minister is the plan to design a Social Unemployment Insurance scheme. In December 2017, 123,000 people were receiving that unemployment payment, or 4.2 per cent of the working-age population. As of March, that has now jumped to 201,000, or 6.4 per cent of the working-age population, despite the staggering multi-sector labour shortages. Surely that is the greatest measure of the success or otherwise of our welfare state. And on that score, when New Zealand’s entrenched underclass of dependence is expanding, we have nothing to crow about.

Source: Stuff May 24, 2021 16:52 UTC