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Download AudioLabour’s former employment minister Willie Jackson is questioning the overhaul of the Mana-in-Mahi programme to staircase rangatahi Māori into employment.
Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says just 31 percent of Mana in Mahi participants in the second half of 2023 were on Jobseeker, and she wants to see a greater proportion of MSD’s spending on employment programmes go towards supporting people on benefits.
Mr Jackson says Ms Upston doesn’t understand who the programme was targeting, including 18 to 24 year olds not in training or jobs as well as those on a benefit for three or more months.
“What we saw was communities activated by that programme Mana in Mahi. It was one of our most successful programmes. I was proud to see it along with He Poutama Rangatahi Maori trade training. Was it doing the business in terms of our community, Māori and Pasifika? Absolutely. It just seems to be going down a punitive track,” Mr Jackson says.
Mana in Mahi helps rangatahi into apprenticeships by paying the employer the equivalent of one year’s benefit, which the employer then topped up to the minimum wage.
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