Fact sheet for Act on Poverty Week

www.wairaka.net/ubinz/IR/PovertyFactSheet.html

The "Act on Poverty" Campaign Information Sheet

From 1981 - 1991, the middle, inflation adjusted incomes of men in New Zealand aged 25 - 34 fell by 26%. (Statistics NZ) Since then there have been the 1991 Benefit Cuts and the Employment Contracts Act which will have further reduced incomes
From 1981/82 to 19994/95, the average income of the lowest 10% of the population fell from $11,318 to $9,134 (in June 1996 $) (Social Policy Agency, Department of Social Welfare)
During the same period, the average income of the top 10% of the population rose from $65873 to $78,226 (in June 1996 $) (Social Policy Agency, Department of Social Welfare)
Average household spending power dropped by 12% in real terms between 1986 and 1995 but expenditure on health nearly doubled and that on education trebled over the same period. (Statistics New Zealand)
The "economic miracle" gave GDP growth of 6% or above, for only 3 three month periods since 1984, in 1994/5, and GDP growth per head of population for only two of those quarters. It is now close to 1%. (Statistics NZ) (It needs to be more than 3% for unemployment not to rise. (Silverstone & Daldy, University of Waikato, 1994)
Economic growth and employment generation are up to the "market", that is the extent of Government policy
By August 1995, there were 7% fewer full-time jobs than there were in February 1987. (Statistics NZ)
In July 1996, 6883 vacancies were notified to the NZ Employment Service where 153,292 people were registered as Job Seekers.
29% of all jobs are now part-time, up from 5% in 1961, ranging from 1 - 25hrs / week (Statistics NZ)
Almost one in four of the working age population are dependent on state support (From Welfare to Well-being, 1995, Department of Social Welfare)
"The level of the welfare safety net is at or below ground level" Laurie O'Reilly, Commissioner for Children (2nd National Food Bank Conference)
The shift to market rents for state houses had the greatest impact on food bank use, increasing dramatically from 1991. 57.8 % of Salvation Army Food bank clients in 1996 were paying more than 50% of their income on rent (up from 46.2% in 1994) (NZCCSS Survey) 22% of those receiving the Accommodation Supplement had only $75 per week left to live on after accommodation costs had been met, 9% had only $25 left per week. (Colmar Brunton Research for the Ministry of Housing & the Department of Social Welfare)
64% of families renting homes from Housing NZ live below the poverty line (The Family Centre Social Policy Unit)
In South Manukau, the demand for the Salvation Army's emergency houses has increased 400% in the last two years, and they are overcrowded. Community Housing, a subsidiary of Housing New Zealand, has increased the rent for them by more than 40%. (Salvation Army)
One in five of all New Zealanders and one in 3 of all New Zealand children live below the poverty line. The incidence of poverty among Maori and Pacific Island families is two and a half times greater than these overall levels (Stevens, Waldegrave & Frater, 1995) Alternatively, there were 593,000 people, mainly children and their parents living below the Benefit Datum Line of $14,050 / annum for a couple in 1991/2, a rise of 35% from two years previously. (Easton, 1995)
71% of GP's in a survey believed their patients were delaying seeing their GP's because of the cost. (GP Weekly)
Nearly 20% of pre-schoolers in low income families without Community Service Cards were not getting their medicine because of prescription charges (Otago Medical School)
67% of CSC holders find fees pose a barrier to accessing a fee-for-service doctor, with a higher level than this for Maori and Pacific Islanders who have greater health needs. (Parks, Auckland University, 1996)
Delays in children seeing a doctor have high and long term costs including to their health and education. Diseases of poverty are impairing the learning ability of up to a third of the children in the Porirua area. (Dr Alan Farrell, Paediatrician, national conference on The Multiple Effects of Poverty on Children & Young People: Issues & Answers)