Poverty in NZ

Yet, never since the tragic days of the depression of the thirties has that foundation been under such threat from the combined effects of inflation, taxation, and unemployment. The best estimates show that at this moment there are as many as one in every five New Zealanders living in poverty. Not poverty in terms of the back streets of Calcutta, but poverty in terms of being shut out from the normal life that most New Zealanders have always expected and taken for granted.

Some of these people may be in that situation through their own fault. But the majority of them are ordinary. New Zealanders who are desperately struggling to hang on against a crippling economaic tide. They are living in relative poverty, because they are being denied two fundamental rights — the right to work, or the right to a basic living wage. That is what the 'economy' really means.

The economic jargon and arguments that are tossed around might satisfy some. But the guts of any economy is, and always will be how it affects ordinary working people. If there is no security, no opportunity and no hope, among working New Zealanders, the economy is sick.

At this tune, there are at least 100,000 New Zealanders who want to work and cannot. They are far greater in number than those that appear on the fortnightly statistical releases. They include part-timers, married women, and the many younger people who do not even bother to register.