Sensitivity

 First published in Column 8 on the 5^th December, 1990. 

A piece that has dated, and yet is still up to date – for different reasons. The job scene has improved somewhat, but wages, for many people, aren’t enough to pay for their weekly outgoings. Those in power, and the wealthy, still have little conception of how the poorly paid live –I may not be that clear about it myself, since in recent years I’ve been blessed to have had enough to live on. In most cities we now have people sleeping in cars, and keeping their worldly goods in the same place. Some people live in tents in public parks. The homeless far outnumber the availability of beds in homeless accommodations.

And much more…

 If there’s an expression I hate it’s ‘dole bludgers.’ And during the course of the recent elections it was used again and again – often by the party that got in.

I’ll tell you in a minute why I hate it.

There may well be people who rip off the system. I used to work in an office where we occasionally saw people who did just that – and the office wasn’t Social Welfare.

But they were vastly in the minority.

And when I see thousands upon thousands of people out of work through politicians’ disagreements over economic policy, I know that only a small minority of them are likely to be so-called dole bludgers.

The rest are on the dole through no fault of their own and they’re the ones I get concerned about.

I’ve been on the dole myself, and fairly recently. A couple of years ago I had to resign from my position, for reasons which aren’t important here. Suffice to say, I couldn’t get another job as easily as I’d expected.

So I know what it’s like to wake up each morning with some expectancy, only to have your hopes dashed when you look at the minimal number of ads in the paper.

I know what it’s like to trot down to the Labour Department and see the pathetic number of jobs advertised on the board, and then, when you do find something possible, not even to get an interview, because you’re screened off by the department itself.

I know what it’s like to hear that there are plenty of jobs around – but they’re just not advertised. So you start calling on people. And a more demoralising process I can’t imagine.

And I know what it’s like to give up, with tears, and decide it isn’t worth it anymore – there just aren’t enough jobs to go round.

Towards the end of my months of unemployment a compassionate friend offered me a part-time job. Doing that gave me some hope again.

A few months later I was even more blessed to be offered a job which I really enjoy. But it took months for the feelings of insecurity to wear off.

I know that jobs like that don’t turn up for many people these days – I’m now one of the lucky ones.

So I get angry with those in the political arena who don’t really appreciate how much it costs to survive in our present society, not just financially, but emotionally.

I wrote to several politicians a year or so ago, when they had one of their perennial income hikes, and expressed concern that they were being given such a large raise when so many people in the country were suffering from unemployment.

The answer I received from one of them – he’s now the Prime Minister, I’m unhappy to say – was that if he’d paid attention to all the letters he’d received every time he got a raise, he’d still be living on an income of $8,000 a year.

The trouble is, when you’re living on an income vastly exceedingly $8,000 you quickly forget the desperation caused by not having enough to go round, and you’re quick to make blanket accusations about all those who have to live on the dole, like it or not.

The dole barely allows you to survive – just to pay the rent or mortgage may eat up nearly every cent you get.

So please, you politicians, let’s have a bit of sensitivity when it comes to referring to those who haven’t the [good] fortune to live in your shoes.

Some days in a column like this it’s difficult to be light-hearted.

Men out of work during the depression

 The figure of $8,000 mentioned by Mr Bolger would have been what he earned back in the 1970s when he was first in Parliament, I’d assume. The current Prime Minister earns half a million a year, which, surprisingly, is a pittance compared to what the CEO of Fonterra earns: just under six million per annum.