Source: Child Poverty Action Group
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) is today releasing a new commentary: Children Can’t Eat a Promise: Rethinking the EducationtoEmployment “Silver Spoon” and three short evidence briefs on (1) uneven returns on tertiary education, (2) student indebtedness, and (3) labourmarket frictions. We do so in direct response to the Government’s announcement to means-test 18-19-year-old jobseekers through a new “Parental Assistance Test”.
The Government’s Securing the Future for Our Young People policy claims that young people under 25 on Jobseeker Support will spend an average of 18 years on a benefit. The solution then is to make it harder for 18-19-year-olds to access the benefit and move them into work or education. Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says this modelling tells only part of the story and risks blaming young people for structural problems in education, work, and income policy.
“Forecast like this speaks to the future we’re building for our rangatahi than their behaviours,” said CPAG Researcher Dr Harry Yu Shi. “The wider structure can be changed. These kind of forecast act as a red flag that the current settings aren’t working for low-income families and young adults, like housing, education and income support. Turning that around means fixing the system, not punishing the struggling individuals.”
CPAG’s new review, Children Can’t Eat a Promise, brings a different perspective to the education-employment pathway, often portrayed in policies as the road to a “silver spoon”. It draws attention to how hard it is for graduates to secure a job, especially one that matches their qualification and skills, let alone passion. Many remain in low-paid or insecure work, faces wage gaps based on who they are, and as a result may end up with a crippling amount of debt that delay important life milestones like home ownership and starting a family.
“Government messaging keeps repeating that education or a job is the best route out of poverty. On average that’s true – but averages hide who misses out,” said Dr Shi. “When the payoff from education depends on what you study, your gender, or your ethnicity, that’s not a personal failure. It’s a structural one.”
The report highlights that:
- Nearly one in eight children in working households live below the poverty line after paying rent.
- Māori and Pacific graduates earn significantly less than Pākehā peers even with similar qualifications.
- New Zealand’s user-pays tertiary system shifts risk onto low-income families through student debt and high effective tax rates.
- Students are borrowing a lot more money to keep up their cost of living, therefore “lay buying” their future.
Instead of tightening benefit access, CPAG calls for a “child-centred” policy reset that lifts family incomes and derisks education for low-income households. Key recommendations include:
- Make work pay a family wage by ensuring Living Wage rates is the legal minimum and applied across public procurement and contracted services.
- Raise children’s incomes now through unconditional child components in Working for Families and fairer abatement settings.
- Derisk study for low-income families by increasing student allowances and making child-centred payments available regardless of study status.
- Assess every major policy through a child poverty lens to ensure changes improve, not erode, family stability.
“Education matters. Work matters. But neither will end child poverty unless every job pays enough to raise a family and every child is guaranteed a secure income floor”, CPAG Executive Officer Sarita Divis says. “Children can’t eat a promise – they need policies that feed them now.”
Notes (background): – Government statement: “Securing a future for our young people” (5 Oct). (The Beehive) – RNZ coverage of the policy and PM’s defence (5-6 Oct). ( RNZ)
