Lone parents working for welfare in New Zealand

Abstract

Increased participation in the paid work force is one of the major goals of welfare reform in New Zealand. This goal is unlikely to be achieved given the high proportion of lone parents without a school qualification and labour market demands for skills. The outcome will be even worse outcomes for lone parents and their children, most of whom are below the poverty line, and greater surveillance of beneficiaries.

Keywords

lone parents New Zealand welfare reform work obligations

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andersen

Jensen

(2002) Changing Labour Markets, Welfare Policies and Citizenship. Bristol: Policy Press.

Castles

(1985) The Working Class and Welfare: Reflections on the Political Development of the Welfare State in Australia and New Zealand. Sydney: Allen and Unwin/Port Nicholson Press.

Centre for Research, Evaluation and Social Assessment (2010a) Sole Parenting in New Zealand: An Update on Key Trends and What Helps Reduce Disadvantage. Wellington: CRESA, Ministry of Social Development.

Centre for Research, Evaluation and Social Assessment (2010b) Understanding Sub-groups of Sole Parents Receiving Main Benefits. Wellington: CRESA, Ministry of Social Development.

Cheyne

O'Brien

Belgrave

(2008) Social Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Critical Introduction. Auckland: Oxford University Press.

Child Poverty Action Group (2012) Available at: http://www.cpag.org.nz (accessed 18 April 2012).

Dean

(2004) The Ethics of Welfare: Human Rights, Dependency and Responsibility. Bristol: Policy Press.

Department of Labour (2011a) Likely areas of growth in employment opportunities. Quarterly Report, April 2011. Wellington: Department of Labour.

Department of Labour (2011b) Skills Challenge Report. Wellington: Department of Labour.

10.

Fallow

(2012) Tough job market awaits beneficiaries. New Zealand Herald, 1 March.

11.

Fergusson

Horwood

Gibb

(2011) Childhood family income and later outcomes: Results of a 30 year longitudinal study. Children24–28.

12.

Fletcher

(2011) Some policy issues for reforms of assistance to sole parents. Policy Quarterly 7(2): 38–45.

13.

Hvinden

Johansson

(2007) Citizenship in Nordic Welfare States. Abingdon: Routledge.

14.

Kelsey

(1993) Rolling Back the State. Wellington: Bridget Williams.

15.

Kelsey

(1995) The New Zealand Experiment. Auckland: Auckland University Press.

16.

Lewis

Surender

(2004) Welfare State Change. Towards A Third Way?. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

17.

Lunt

O'Brien

Stephens

(2008) New Zealand, New Welfare. Melbourne: Cengage.

18.

McClure

(1998) A Civilised Community. A History of Social Security in New Zealand 1898–1998. Auckland: Auckland University Press.

19.

Marmot

Allen

Goldblatt

(2010) Fair Society, Healthy Lives: The Marmot ReviewAvailable at: http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/projects/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review (accessed 24 April 2012).

20.

Minister of Social Development (2011) Ministerial Group leads welfare reform programme. Press release, 30 May.

21.

Morel

Palier

Palme

(2012) Towards A Social Investment State? Ideas, Policies and Challenges. Bristol: Policy Press.

22.

O'Brien

(2008) Poverty, Policy and the State. Social Security Reform in New Zealand. Bristol: Policy Press.

23.

O'Brien

Bradford

Dalziel

(2010a) What We Heard. Wellington: Caritas.

24.

O'Brien

Bradford

Dalziel

(2010b) Welfare Justice for All. Wellington: Caritas.

25.

OECD (2011) Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising. Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

26.

Perry

Newell

(2004) Regional Labour Markets. In: Spoonley

Dupuis

De Bruin

(eds). Work and Working in Twenty-first Century New Zealand. Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 183–195.

27.

Rose

(1999) Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

28.

Rudd

(1997) The Welfare State. In: Rudd

CABR

(ed.) The Political Economy of New Zealand. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 237–255.

29.

Salmond

(2011) The New New Zealand Tax System: New Zealand Taxes in Comparative Perspective. Wellington: Institute of Policy Studies.

30.

Spoonley P (2010) New ways of working: Changing labour markets in 21st century New Zealand. In: Bryson I (ed.) Beyond Skill: Institutions, Organisations and Human Capability. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 79–102.

31.

Spoonley

Davidson

(2004) The changing world of work. In: Spoonley

Dupuis

De Bruin

(eds). Work and Working in Twenty-first Century New Zealand. Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 17–40.

32.

St John

(2011) Working for families. In: Dale

O'Brien

St John

(eds). Left Further Behind: How Policies Fail the Poorest Children in New Zealand. Auckland: Child Poverty Action Group, 51–75.

33.

Starke

(2008) Welfare State Retrenchment. A Comparative Analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

34.

Stephens

(1992) Budgeting with the benefit cuts. In: Boston

Dalziel

St John

(eds). The Decent Society? Essays in Response to National's Economic and Social Pollicies. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 100–125.

35.

Surender

(2004) Modern challenges to the Welfare State and the antecedents of the third way. In: Lewis

Surender

(eds). Welfare State Change. Towards A Third Way?. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3–24.

36.

Welfare Working Group (2011) Reducing Long-Term Benefit Dependency. Recommendations. Wellington: Welfare Working Group.