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Social Unemployment Insurance Scheme
from WK test
by bell-gully
Ministerial statement
“At the urging of Business NZ and the Council of Trade Unions we have committed to the development of a Social Unemployment Insurance scheme.”
Editorial comment
Budget 2021 proposes a “Social Unemployment Insurance Scheme”, in line with a commitment in Labour’s election manifesto. The proposed scheme shares some similarities to the ACC system but in this case for unemployment. The Budget papers indicate that such a scheme will provide a worker who loses their job with 80% of their income for a fixed period of time, with minimum and maximum caps. The scheme will be jointly designed by a Social Insurance Tripartite Working Group comprising the Government, Business NZ and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, who will be consulting stakeholders in the first instance, with wider public consultation to occur later in 2021.
Industry Transformation Plans
Ministerial statement
“[W]e are developing Industry Transformation Plans across seven areas of our economy where we believe we can get a global competitive advantage or where an industry sector needs to undergo transformation to significantly increase its level of productivity.”
Editorial comment
The Minister of Finance’s Budget speech notes the Government’s “Industry Transformation Plans” initiative. The initiative is being run through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. The apparent objective is to set up long-term plans for particular business sectors to increase their productivity. So far, Industry Transformation Plans have been developed for the agritech and construction sectors, and are currently in the process of being developed for the digital technologies, advanced manufacturing, food and beverage and forestry and wood processing sectors.
Digital skills training programme
Ministerial statement
“Budget 2021 builds on [prior initiatives to support SMEs] with funding for a digital skills training programme for up to 60,000 small businesses. One of the main messages from small business in the wake of COVID-19 was the importance of having the knowledge and tools to compete in a digital world.”
Editorial comment
Delving into the detail of the Budget papers reveals that $44 million ($22 million in each of 2021/22 and 2022/23) will be pledged to a “digital skills programme”. The programme will be a 2 year nationwide programme that helps provide core digital skills training to up to 60,000 small businesses, as well as a digital business advisory service to assess small businesses’ digital needs and help them create digital business action plans.
