Hon Carmel Sepuloni
Minister for Social Development and Employment
The Government has announced the Ministry of Social Development’s (MSD) role will expand to support non-beneficiaries into employment, education or training.
“As a result of our Government’s focus on supporting people into employment, education or training, we’ve seen unemployment at a near record low, exits off benefit and into work the highest on record and benefit numbers not reaching the high forecasts from Treasury,” Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni said.
“Now isn’t the time to take our foot off the pedal which is why we’re formally expanding MSD’s role in supporting non-beneficiaries into jobs. We are also doubling down on our focus to reduce barriers to work for those at risk of long term benefit receipt by ensuring they are a priority cohort for determining investment and service provision,” Carmel Sepuloni said.
“The Welfare Expert Advisory Group and the Productivity Commission both identified that MSD employment services were previously focused on reducing short term costs and the number of people on a benefit rather than on long term outcomes. They called for Government to strengthen and expand these services and we agreed to this as part of the welfare overhaul. Today we are delivering on that commitment.
“In response to COVID, the Government invested funding for MSD to support a wider group of New Zealanders into employment, including through supporting those affected by COVID to return to work quickly. This included Flexi-Wage which is available for those not yet on a benefit, but who may be disadvantaged in the labour market.
“With record numbers of people moving off Benefit and into work and a promising pipeline of people participating across all our employment, education and training services, it’s clear the expansion has proven its worth.
“We know we need to ensure employment and training supports are well targeted. We are doubling down on the Governments effective approach by directing MSD to focus on providing proactive support to those at high risk of benefit receipt or who may be disadvantaged in the labour market, such as those with health conditions, disabled people, and sole parents.
“We have seen success in our targeting so far, particularly for longer term beneficiaries with 36,000 people who had been receiving a Main Benefit for longer than a year moving into work over the previous 12 months.
“One of the other target groups of this change is young people not currently receiving a benefit but could be at risk of poor labour market outcomes. He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) is one of our programmes which is clearly working for young people. So far we have invested $58.6M in 88 programmes. Over 4,200 young people have so far been supported into education, training, or employment since HPR began in 2018 with over 2350 more currently in programmes.
“This shift in MSD’s way of working will help to bolster our commitment to supporting people into work as well as helping to further develop and underline existing initiatives such as Industry Partnerships and Skills for Industry.
“These initiatives alongside our suite of employment, education and training interventions have contributed to the steady growth in job placements, equitable and improved outcomes for those who have typically been disadvantaged, and meaningful employment for all New Zealanders.” Carmel Sepuloni said.
MSD’s Employment and Social Outcomes Investment Strategy and individual programme evaluations will continue to demonstrate that money invested is contributing to sustainable employment and equitable outcomes for the people who need them most.”
