Work Trends contains useful and up-to-date statistics on our changing economy, workforce and workplace, as well as addressing issues such as skills, education and training, and the challenge of a “work-life balance”. Each trend in the guide is divided into simple sections on “What’s the Story?”, “What’s the Reason?”, and “What does this Mean?” ... and finishes with short and specific advice on what each trend means for students, workers, employers and the government.

The guide is not as frank when it comes to the political choices that are inherent behind many of the trends it is describing. Many of the elements driving change (like the “restructuring period” of the 1980s and 90s, or “globalisation”) come across like “acts of nature” that we have to get used to ... rather than being the consequences of choices taken — or not taken — by successive governments and community leaders.

Nor does this guide make specific forecasts on future trends for employment sectors or regions in New Zealand. Instead it emphasises the scale, nature and scope of change in the labour market, and beats the familiar drum that our future job security will come from our investment in our own skills and capabilities.

But perhaps we should not expect political comments or specific predictions from a government department ... yet this guide clearly lays out the relevant information, enabling you to make your own assessments from what has been provided.

Two years ago, Minister of Social Development and Employment Steve Maharey launched the Future of Work programme as a way of helping New Zealanders improve their understanding of current trends and future possibilities for the workplace, the workforce and employment opportunities.

With this resource, the Labour Department’s Future of Work unit has certainly risen to the challenge of putting these complex trends and issues into a mainstream public conversation. — Vivian Hutchinson, Editor

Work Trends — How work is changing in New Zealand by the Department of Labour (A Future of Work Report, September 2003) ISBN 0-477-03690-2 download full document (PDF, 51pg, 3.2MB)

“ We know that there are likely to be changes in the nature of work, what we actually do at work, and the rewards for different types of work. What else do we know? Our need to work will continue, although work will increasingly fit in with our lives (not vice versa). And, adaptability and versatility will continue to be sought-after attributes for workers. “ We can all act to ensure we’re well placed to cope with a changing environment. The ability to adapt will be a key to success in the future world of work. In part, adaptability is based on skills and knowledge. There’s no doubt that training and study can improve our future prospects in the job

market and help us prepare for change. For example, having a set of skills that can be applied to a range of different jobs will be an advantage. The right attitude will be important too – actively making decisions about our working lives and being prepared to adapt will give us a head start ... “ ... Few New Zealanders are going to remain untouched by the changing nature of work. To make wise choices, we should all be aware of wider trends in the economy, workplace and workforce so we can work out viable strategies for the longer term...” — from the Work Trends report

EXPECT LONGER WORKING LIVES

McDermott also highlights the potential burden older workers will have on the health industry, and labour shortages. “It’s been a problem that we’ve seen coming for decades and we’ve probably done very little about it, but it is going to change the shape of the workforce...”

“There’s a scenario that many countries around the world with the same demographic pattern as we have, are beginning to become aware of — that people will not be exiting the workforce in the same numbers as they have done. They may take some good opportunities.”

Source – Sunday Star Times 14 September 2003 “Stopping the baby boomers busting” by Amie Richardson; Work Trends September 2003

FEMALE SOLUTION TO LABOUR SHORTAGE

Austen argues that encouraging women between 25-54 years to do more paid work will be a key factor in economic growth in the coming decades. In a submission to an Australian Parliamentary committee, she points out that governments — for ideological and economic reasons — have concentrated on tackling the looming labour market problems by keeping older people working longer. But she says that aiming at getting more prime aged people into paid work, especially women, would be more to the point and it is achievable. About 65% of non-employed or under-utilised labour in the Australian labour market is female. Austen says that female labour force participation rates have responded positively to previous episodes of labour shortage and she believes this can happen again.

But in order to engage more women in the paid workforce, or to get more women to work more hours, the government must implement better “family friendly” policies. Austen: “Women’s ability to successfully respond to labour market opportunities, without sacrificing fertility, will depend on the support given to them as they try to balance their paid and unpaid working roles. Institutional support such as child and elder care, and availability of parental and other forms of paid leave will be vital in securing both economic outcomes for the nation and the well being of Australian women.”

Source – New Zealand Herald 9 September 2003 “Call for more women to do paid work” by Billy Adams; WEPAU submission to the House of Rep standing committee on Employment workplace relations 2003 “Inquiry into employment: increasing participation in paid work”

FORTY YEARS ON ... AND STILL A STRUGGLE FOR EQUAL PAY

The PSA says that some of the reasons why women experience lower levels of pay are because they often work in occupations dominated by women such as social work, nursing and education. Or women are often in technical (rather than professional) jobs or do “caring” work that is under valued. The PSA believes that many workers could benefit from an analysis of their pay and conditions from the perspective of equal pay for work of equal value. This involves comparing skills, training, responsibility, effort, working conditions and “job size”.

The Pay and Employment campaign is also promoting the need for affordable quality childcare, financial security for workers when they retire, and workplaces that recognise that employees have responsibilities to their families and communities, as well as to their employer. These issues are not exclusively women’s issues but also apply to low-paid men, many Maori and Pacific workers who are at the bottom of the pay scales, and to workers with disabilities.

FORTY YEARS ON ... WOMEN’S WORK AND INCOME AT 2003 — Women earn 84.3% of men’s average hourly earnings. — Where women and men work in the same occupation, women on average earn less than men. — Maori and Pacific women generally earn less than other women. — Women are concentrated in fewer jobs than men, such as clerical and administration and many health professions. Generally, the higher the proportion of women in an occupation, the lower the average pay. — 70% of those earning under $40,000 are women, 81% Pacific and 68% Maori. — 56% of public service employees are women. — The median income of men working full-time is $35,000 compared with $28,900 for women. — Women in the public service are twice as likely as men to earn less than $30,000, while men are three times more likely to earn over $80,000. — Of the 18.6% of the population who earn more than $40,000, seven out of ten are men. Source – PSA Bulletin August 2003

CAMPAIGN TO ATTRACT PLUMBING APPRENTICES

Liaison manager Doug Wilson says that all the trades suffered in the 1990s both because of the economic recession and the changes government made to apprenticeship schemes. Tradespeople were scrambling for what little work was available just to make their own living and found that training a young person was too expensive and complicated and therefore very few of them took it on. A consequence of this has been that nearly a whole generation has missed out on learning trade skills, and there are currently very few tradespeople who are in their 30s. Wilson: “We have such a chronic shortage of qualified tradespeople. We’ve got an aging workforce ... there’s plenty of people aged 40 and up. But what we need desperately are apprentices. I dread to think what will happen long-term if this campaign doesn’t work.”

Wilson says the focus of the campaign would be on the lifestyle benefits of a well paid job ... where you can train without incurring any student debt. He “unashamedly” intends to impress school leavers that tradespeople can afford things like fast cars and overseas trips. First year apprentice plumbers, gasfitters, drain layers and roofers generally earn between $16,000-$20,000. Advanced qualified and experienced tradespeople earn upwards of $50,000.

— Plumbing and Roof Industry Recruitment Taskforce Roadshow contact person Peter Reilly phone 027 217 5529

Source – New Zealand Herald 11 September 2003 “Worrying gaps in trades takeup” NZPA; The Dominion Post 9 September 2003 “Plumbers talk cash to entice apprentices” by Adrian Bathgate; Mayors Taskforce for Jobs core group meeting notes September 2003

FOREIGN CAPITAL MEANS DECLINING NZ INCOME LEVELS

— “Savings, capital and growth: has low domestic saving constrained New Zealand’s economic growth?” an NZIER report to AMP financial services, September 2003, can be downloaded (29 pg, 329 kb) from www.nbr.co.nz/Images/Savings,%20Capital%20and%20Growth%20final%20report.pdf

Source – The Dominion Post 9 September 2003 “Foreign capital restrains NZ wages”; National Business Review September 9 2003 “AMP pushes savings as growth indicator”

COMMUNITY CALL FOR BUDGET PRIORITY ON POVERTY

The letter: “We know you share our concern that thirty percent of NZ’s dependent children are in poor families and experiencing living conditions which a vast amount of research shows are linked to poor health, education and employment outcomes for children, youth and adults ... We believe that there should be a significant investment in reducing child poverty in the 2004/5 Budget and that further investment should be outlined in a public plan aimed at eliminating child poverty by a specific date.”

Calder argues that placing assistance to low income families in the context of having strong government surpluses is the wrong priority. Calder: “Investment in children must not be the last item on the economic agenda. There was a time when governments recognised our children as the first priority and invested heavily in school health services, school dental service, free education, family benefits and income support which really did meet the cost of living. Such social investment built social cohesion and a healthy future. Let’s restore that sort of priority to children once more.”

Source – Press release Bernardos 8 September 2003 “Cullen asked to honour child poverty assurance”

NURSING SHORTAGE ISSUES

New Zealand does not have a shortage of nurses; it has a shortage of nurses who actually want to nurse. The NZ Nurses Organisation estimates that there are nearly 42,000 nurses holding practicing certificates in New Zealand but only 31,000 work as nurses. These qualified nurses could easily fill the 2,000 nursing vacancies ... but they choose not to. College of Nurses chief Jenny Carryer says the answer will not be found in churning out more nurses, but in addressing the reasons people leave nursing. Carryer: “Unless you can retain people once they have graduated, then you just keep on graduating neophytes and moving them overseas.”

Carryer says the two major issues here are the lack of job satisfaction and low pay, in that order. Carryer: “When you ask nurses, they don’t mention pay first, they talk about diminished job satisfaction and fears for patient safety”. That’s not to say that pay isn’t a concern. She says that when job satisfaction drops, people tend to look to their pay packet.”

With a basic starting salary of $30,000 - $34,000, and the average nursing graduate responsible for a $20,000 student debt, they find little solace there. The pay and debt levels result in many nurses working extra shifts in order to meet their financial obligations … further increasing the pressure on them and their families.

Source – The Dominion Post 2 August 2003 “Nursing in crisis” by Diana McCurdy

UK PUBLIC SERVICE JOB EXPLOSION

The British publication The Week points out that not all these new jobs are going to front-line public services. In the National Health Service, for example, only about 85,000 of the 160,000 new jobs created since 1998, have gone to doctors and nurses. The other 75,000 have gone to managers.

Source – The Week 9 August 2003 “The explosion of the public sector”