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Speaker 1: The government says it is concerned the number of job

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Speaker 1: seekers is going in the wrong direction and it's introducing

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Speaker 1: individual job plans to help people get back into employment.

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Speaker 1: The governments had a target to reduce the number of

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Speaker 1: job seek is by fifty thousand by the year twenty thirty,

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Speaker 1: but rather than reduce, numbers rose by almost fifteen thousand

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Speaker 1: in the first nine months of this year. Louise Upston

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Speaker 1: is the Social Development Ministers with this evening Kyodo, Good evening, Minister,

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Speaker 1: Good afternoon Jack. Why has that number increased so much?

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Speaker 2: Well, we did know that because of the state of

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Speaker 2: the economy. The numbers were always forecast to go up

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Speaker 2: before they come down, and Treasury with their BFU forecast

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Speaker 2: had expected that peak in January next year, so no

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Speaker 2: surprises there. But we are putting more effort in supporting

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Speaker 2: people with their opportunities to find work.

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Speaker 1: So what do you reckon the numbers will likely peek

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Speaker 1: at alongside unemployment.

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Speaker 2: Look, well we're at four point eight percent unemployment rate

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Speaker 2: and the peace is expected at five point two percent,

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Speaker 2: so the numbers are likely to still keep going up,

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Speaker 2: which is why it's really important we take efforts now

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Speaker 2: to provide assistance to people to help them and improve

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Speaker 2: their chances to get a job.

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Speaker 1: But we could, I mean theoretically, at the very least,

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Speaker 1: be looking at another ten thousand people on the benefit

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Speaker 1: right if those numbers hold true.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And look, as I said, the numbers were forecast

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Speaker 2: to get worse before they got better, which is why

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Speaker 2: we've now got seventy thousand people in case management, ten

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Speaker 2: thousand over the phone, which is a new initiative and

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Speaker 2: working really well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, talk us, talk to us about an individual job plan.

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Speaker 1: What does that actually involve?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So what we as part of our Welfare That

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Speaker 2: Works reform, for the seventy thousand that are on case management,

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Speaker 2: they will have an individual needs assessment and then they'll

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Speaker 2: create a job plan with their case manager. So we

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Speaker 2: do know for some people they've got more barriers to work.

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Speaker 2: It might be childcare, it might be they don't have

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Speaker 2: a driver's license, it might be that they've got literacy

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Speaker 2: or numeracy challenges. So they'll have those sorts of activities

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Speaker 2: built into their individual job plan to improve their chances

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Speaker 2: of being in work. And that's what it's all about. So,

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Speaker 2: so I want to provide support they need.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So so just to be clear when you say

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Speaker 1: you have that built into their job plan, as in

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Speaker 1: you have them, you have it. You tell them to

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Speaker 1: go and see Mengfoon and get a driver's license.

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Speaker 2: So they'll create their individual plan with their case manager.

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Speaker 2: So if they need a driver's license, then yes, we'll

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Speaker 2: connect them with an MSD funded program. And there's some

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Speaker 2: great programs around the country. For other people, it might

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Speaker 2: be more complex, and so we want to make sure

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Speaker 2: that we are addressing the individual barriers that someone faces

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Speaker 2: to improve their chances of getting a job.

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Speaker 1: So how many people are going to get this individual

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Speaker 1: job plan? How do you handle that from the case

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Speaker 1: manager site?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so, as I said, there'll be seventy thousand in

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Speaker 2: case management now, up from fifty three thousand a year ago.

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Speaker 2: So that's a significant improvement. And then each one of

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Speaker 2: those people over time who have a case manager will

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Speaker 2: have that needs assessment and an individual job plan because

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Speaker 2: we want we want to really interrupt that cycle of

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Speaker 2: welfare dependency and we want people to be in work,

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Speaker 2: and we recognize that some have more challenges and need

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Speaker 2: more support than others.

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Speaker 1: So sanctions for people who don't meet their obligations have

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Speaker 1: increased from I think eight thousand in September twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: three quarter through to fourteen thousand and September twenty four.

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Speaker 1: What does that say about how sanctions are actually working

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Speaker 1: as a deterrent.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's working really well because ninety eight percent of

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Speaker 2: people are complying, so they're at green on the traffic

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Speaker 2: light system. They're taking the steps they need to and

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Speaker 2: what we've seen, despite their being rare really challenging economic times,

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Speaker 2: in the four months July through to October twenty two

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Speaker 2: thousand people exited the Job Seeker Benefit into work, which

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Speaker 2: is four thy one hundred more than the same time

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Speaker 2: a year ago. So people taking the steps they need

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Speaker 2: to take is improving their chances of getting a job

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Speaker 2: and that's what this is all about.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for your time, Social Development Minister Louise Upstin. For

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