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Speaker 1: Now we've got good news. I think from the welfare reset.

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Speaker 1: You remember that traffic light system. New stats are showing

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Speaker 1: ninety nine percent let's call it, virtually everyone and meeting

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Speaker 1: their obligations. Feedback solid two. Apparently ninety percent say the

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Speaker 1: traffic light system gives them clear direction anyway. There's also

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Speaker 1: been a ten percent drop in the number of sanctions.

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Speaker 1: Louise Upstin's the Minister of Social Development and Employment, of course,

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Speaker 1: and is back. Well this good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Mike.

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Speaker 1: The level of monitoring in the checks, are you confident

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Speaker 1: and comfortable that they are being done? So people just

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Speaker 1: don't rock up and go yeah, I applied for three jobs,

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Speaker 1: just can't find one.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Because there's people who have different levels of intensity

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Speaker 2: in terms of their work with MSD. So if you

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Speaker 2: are in case management, you are talking to your case

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Speaker 2: manager at an absolute minimum of once a month. They

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Speaker 2: are monitoring what you're doing, they are providing support and assistance.

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Speaker 2: It is more intensive. If you are a young person

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Speaker 2: in one on one coaching, it is more than weekly,

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Speaker 2: it is more like daily. So there's a lot more

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Speaker 2: activity going on. With people who are job seekers. We

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Speaker 2: want to improve their chances of getting a job, and

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Speaker 2: that's exactly what's happening.

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Speaker 1: So with ninety nine percent meeting their obligations, what have

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Speaker 1: you learned out of this? How much slacking was there

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Speaker 1: actually going on?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think the first thing is people weren't clear

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Speaker 2: about their expectations. Now they are, and they also know

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Speaker 2: that we have a system where there are rights and responsibilities.

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Speaker 2: There are consequences if you don't fulfill your obligations. So

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Speaker 2: what we've seen with the reduction in sanctions being applied

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Speaker 2: is people know their obligations, they're taking the steps they

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Speaker 2: need to. We've also seen eighty three thousand people leave

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Speaker 2: the benefit into work, which is exactly what we want

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Speaker 2: to see. Is there more to do? Absolutely, And what

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Speaker 2: we do know is employment is the last thing to

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Speaker 2: come right when you come out of a recession. So

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Speaker 2: I'm really optimistic about what we're seeing and the traffic

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Speaker 2: light system working.

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Speaker 1: I'm seeing filled jobs and January, for example, a little

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Speaker 1: bit softer. You know, as we tay, January seemed to

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Speaker 1: be a weird month, but overall, from the latter part

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Speaker 1: of last year into this year, jobs do seem to

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Speaker 1: be growing, and presumably that's now a trend. Would that

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Speaker 1: be your vibe?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely. If you look at my other area of

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Speaker 2: tourism and hospitality, we're seeing international visitors grow. That means

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Speaker 2: there are more job opportunities and that's exactly what we

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Speaker 2: want to see with a growing economy. So it is working,

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Speaker 2: and we just need to keep that level of pressure

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Speaker 2: on the welfare system so people know their expectations and

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Speaker 2: they're fulfilling them.

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Speaker 1: I had a curbed wheel on my car and I

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Speaker 1: went into the wheel shop yesterday and I was talking

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Speaker 1: to the bloke who owns the company and he said,

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Speaker 1: he works with your lot. And he goes along and

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Speaker 1: he says, I need a person. I can train them

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Speaker 1: to do a bunch of stuff in my job. Give

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Speaker 1: me someone who's on a straight up and down. How

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Speaker 1: much does that happen?

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Speaker 2: Well, it's happening more and more because what MFD are

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Speaker 2: doing is working more closely with businesses. Have more to

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Speaker 2: say about our work with the Chambers of Commerce around

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Speaker 2: the country on Thursday, so look out for an announcement there.

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Speaker 2: MSD has the most people available for jobs. Many of

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Speaker 2: them have skills, and many of them have been in

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Speaker 2: work recently, so I'd really encourage any employers who have vacancies.

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Speaker 2: First thing, talk to your local MSD office. They have

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Speaker 2: work brokers, they have suitable candidates and they are very

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Speaker 2: very particular and careful about how they match the right

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Speaker 2: candidate to the job. We want people to be successful

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Speaker 2: getting off welfare and into work and that's what MSD

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Speaker 2: are doing really well.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff, Luise, nice to talk, you appreciate Louis Upston,

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Speaker 1: Minister for Social Development Employment. For more from the MI

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Speaker 1: Casking Breakfast, listen live to news talks that'd be from

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