Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Susan St John: Auckland University Associate Economics Professor on Jobseeker numbers

Transcript

Susan St John: Auckland University Associate Economics Professor on Jobseeker numbers · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Europe might be running out. They reckon they've got six
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: weeks left of jet fuel and they are scrambling to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: replace the supplies that they have, going to the US
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and Nigeria to get it. Only enough though, to replace
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: half of the supplies that they've lost. So they reckon
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: six weeks left in the tank. And if you're heading
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to a summer in Provence in Europe, then you might
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: have some flight cancelations on your way. Better if it
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: numbers still heading the wrong way. Job seeker figures are
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: out up nearly two point well almost three percent, two
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: point six percent on last year. Government's pointing to thirteen
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: hundred more people in work, but overall numbers are up
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: twenty five thousand since they took office. Susan Saint John,
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  Speaker 1: Associate professor Economics at Auckland University, also with the Child
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Poverty Action Group. Good morning, Susan, Nice to have you
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: on the program.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Oh, good morning, Ryan.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: So the quarterly number is coming down, that's a sign
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: that perhaps things are starting to improve.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Well, we're looking at this quarter that's just finished compared
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: to last year, so it doesn't reflect anything that's happen
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: and recently.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: But the oil Yeah, exactly.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: So the Minister has milked every ounce of positivity that
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: she can out of the figures, and fair enough, but
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: we're still looking. As you said, it arise overall on
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: a yearly basis, and it's not easy to get onto
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: a job seeker. So this is very worrying.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is worrying. I'm in the economy is cooked
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: and has been for a while. That's the problem, isn't.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: It It is? It is absolutely we're suffering.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: So what do you think we should do about it? Well,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I don't get a better economy.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Well, we have to analyze why we've got to where
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: we are. And you can't help but think that many
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: of the policies that we've had have taken us totally
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: in the wrong direction and made the problem worse. So
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: this incessant aim that we must bring down government spending
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: and the deficit and keep get low when we're in
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: a recession only makes things worse. And I think that
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: until we can recognize that we are in a deep recession,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: that it is going to keep worse and that we
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: will need government to step up. We were really stuffed.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: What would more governments bending do to inflation which is
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: already above the band at the moment, what would that do?
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, where does inflation come from. It doesn't
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: come in a real declining economy where there is a
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: lack of demand, that's people not able to feed themselves.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: And yet we've got it, don't it's above the band season. Well,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: so explain that to me.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Well, we have a slight increase in the inflation rate
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: which had been coming down, and obviously it is going
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: to get worse under this fuel crisis.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, we have to look through that.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: No, No, because.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Right, I mean we just we literally have just been here, Susan.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Then we did that and it didn't work. Well, no,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: that's why we're cooked.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: When you're in a recession, where are you going to
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: find the demand that is going to stimulate the job
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: growth that you need?
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Businesses do it? The private sector bounces back?
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Who does it? Don't think we're seeing that one bit?
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, season, Nice to have you on the show, season,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Saint John. We were until oil.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: to News Talks it be from five am weekdays, or
• 3:39
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