The true cost of Youth Unemployment
Youth unemployment could lead to suicides - Anderton
Progressive MP Jim Anderton is warning high youth unemployment rates could lead to a spike in suicides. File photo / NZ HeraldHigh youth unemployment rates could lead to a spike in suicides, Progressive MP Jim Anderton is warning.
The comments follow a New Zealand Institute report on disadvantaged youth, released this week, that found efforts to tackle youth unemployment had made little progress.
Mr Anderton today said high rates of youth unemployment inevitably led to high rates of suicide.
"In the `90s, four peak years of youth unemployment were followed by the highest youth suicide rates in the Western world,'' he said.
We know from the social carnage caused during the economic turmoil of the 80s and
90's that it is our societies most vulnerable that bear the brunt of such change. We should never forget as we look to relegate community safety nets to 'nice to haves', that our suicide rate trebled to the shameful OECD levels they are today during the last great pruning of the State.
All publicly funded sectors are eyeing the forthcoming zero budget with concern as what is needed in all sectors as they tackle an ever growing tide of demand, is not austerity, it is social re-investment.
It is difficult to reconcile the growing list of corporate welfare with continued cutbacks to public welfare. I've never fully understood why the most vulnerable in society are asked to do with less for an economic crises they had no hand whatsoever in causing.
We can not pretend not to know what happens to the most vulnerable in society when that society contracts, we've walked this very path in the 1990's, yet to continue skipping down this path minus any of the extra funding our social infrastructure requires is just criminal neglect on behalf of the Government.
And what is Paula Bennett's solution other than bennie bashing and baby farms? She keeps wasting money on boot camps!
This Government love boot camps and seem to believe that spending over HALF of the $55 million package supposedly aimed at unemployed youth on pointless military boot camps is a great use of money in the steepest recession since the Great Depression.
It isn't and the Government know this and that is why Paula Bennett is hiding the results...
Effectiveness of boot camps 'under wraps'
The effectiveness of Government "boot camps" to straighten out the country's worst child criminals is being kept under wraps.
The eight-week military activity camps, known as Macs, are run near Christchurch and cost about $36,000 for each participant. So far 36 offenders aged 14 to 17 have completed a course as a last resort to turn their lives around.
The Social Development Ministry has refused to disclose the number and nature of offences committed by the participants before and after the camps.
Child, Youth and Family youth justice services general manager Chris Polaschek said he could not provide the details as the complete information was not held on CYF files and had not been collated from police files in a way that allowed suitable reporting at present.
Labour Party social policy spokeswoman Annette King said she suspected the silence was because the camps were failing.
...and that is because the BOOT CAMPS DON'T WORK!!!!!!
Most boot camp youths have reoffended
Only two of 17 youth offenders sent to controversial boot camps have not reoffended.
All stick and no carrot makes little Johnny a prison statistic.
posted by Bomber @ 8:38 pm
3 comments
3 Comments:
And its much worse than Anderton says, as only 20% of 'youth not in work' are registered as unemployed. This means that the problem is at least 5 times bigger than Anderton says, probably even more so because youth who are not recognised as 'unemployed' are more likely to be isolated, demoralised, powerless and prone to suicide.
Here's the relevant stats:
"There are currently 635,100 15-24 year olds in New Zealand. 319,600 of these people being 15-19, and 315,500 young adults aged 20-24.
Of these youth, 317,900 are employed. That's 50.1% of all 15-24 year olds. Registered unemployed is 67,500 (10.6% of all 15-24 year olds), whilst 249,700 (39.3%) are neither employed or registered as unemployed. Excluding those aged over 65, 15-24 year olds make up only 21.9% of the current New Zealand working age population. However, they make up 43.4% (67,500) of all registered unemployed people in New Zealand."
http://theglobalcircus.blogspot.com/2011/05/elephant-in-room-youth-unemployment.html
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The key problem is, of course, that NZ is out of fucking money! Sure we can borrow and hope, and that is exactly what we're doing - spending $17 BILLION of money we HAVEN'T collected from taxes (that BTW by definition originate from SURPLUSES in the PRIVATE sector) - and it still isn't enough to paint over the DEPRESSSION that we are actually in. But as Greece, Ireland, et al have shown this is ultimately NOT a sustainable path. Sooner or later the market forces you to show your hand, and we better have a credible plan to get out of our current Ponzi economy when (not if) that happens.
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