Thursday, November 27, 2008

Transitioning on and off welfare

Statistics NZ yesterday released data relating to people transitioning on and off benefit.

Two things stood out. Only transitions onto the unemployment benefit have dropped - all other benefits are 'business as usual', including a 45% increase in transitions to sickness since 2000. So much for Labour's reforms to DPB and incapacity benefits.



This is more interesting. Look at the pre-benefit employment history and observe the remarkable homogeneity of the data. Doesn't matter which benefit, the (average) individual transiting onto it has a patchy work history.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Labour likes having people on benefits because beneficiaries are beholden to the state and provide a justification for the theft that is taxation. They also provide a justification for bigger bureaucracies, full of bureaucrats who are beholden to the state.

http://kiwipolemicist.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/why-has-government-use-of-floor-space-increased-by-42-in-five-years/

Lucy said...

According to those figures 10% of the total beneficiaries where "transitions onto 'unknown' benefit type" how can you have 10% (approx 17,500)people in transition?