There are too many people on welfare?

On average, everyone agrees with nonconsensus between 302 voters.

Reasons To Disagree

We have the lowest number of working-age people on benefits (that's all benefits - unemployment, sickness, DPB etc) for seventeen years. Obviously it would nice to get that lower still, but New Zealand is doing very, very well at the moment in reducing welfare numbers.

In my experience, everyone thinks there are too many people on welfare and that payments are too generous-until they need it and their views change!

We are lucky to live in a country that does provide welfare.

Reasons To Agree

I would like to be off welfare but as someone with 20yrs experience and education who held a good job before children I have not been able to find partime work with school holidays which will get me off a benefit. My child is 6 I can teach about life as well as sch work,I take her places in the holidays to broarden her knowledge and experience and feel I owe this to her as a Mother quite apart from the fact I am good at it and its fun for all. I have been looking for work for the longest time but I find employers want full time and/or weekend hours and are not prepared to train on the job in the specifics. I have a mortgage as a single parent and do not wish to indebt myself more with loans for training. As a beneficiary I cannot afford large expenses. When will employers realise the best workers are not always those that have no family and can work long hours? Hoping for the day when I find an employer who will give me a go!

thats because government made it to easy

Welfare is a spiral that feeds on itself. You cannot decrese those on it while it still exists in a wholesale form

Very nice to have welfare as a safety net. It is proven world-wide to grow into social cycles of dependency. In NZ the figures are skewed by many getting onto sickness benefits.

Welfare should be confined to those who either from inability to find work or for genuine health issues are unable to work.

far too many

Remeber the poor, remembe the sick, but why should the rest of us support the lazy?

they need togt a job

The unemployment benefit needs to go, fair play helping out solo parents or people who are too unwell to find work, but not people who are fully capable of working and choose not to.

what a searching question - even 1 is too many!

This is a touchy subject as I believe there are far too many people on welfare for example I know a 18 year old girl with a child on the benefit who should be out working but isnt there should be more suport to help mothers and parents get into a working environment even part time would help that way when the kids leave home theyre not stuck without work

The last five places I have lived at, perfectly healthy people have been living next door, being supported by our tax dollars! They could be out there working too, giving the government more money to spend on everyones health and education.

there is high rate of abuse where people cant or wasn't raised to find the DRIVE TO WANT .

New Zealanders need to stop taking advantage of something they don't need. I would imagine that at least a quarter of people on welfare excluding elderly, would still have the skills and physical health to be in the work force, and yes the world is becoming more populated and machines are taking over jobs but that's no excuse! People need to make work for themselves. Some people don't even try and find work. If the amount of people on welfare doesn't decrease New Zealand will land it'self in a lot of financial trouble.

Far to easy to get DPB, i truly believe there is people who really need and depend on it. But i have been working in finance and seen it soooo many times, people who apply for finance that are receiving DPB due to being a single mum, but they always bring their working partner with them!!! It makes me so angry. Me and my husband cant even afford to even think of having a family and we are both working full time. Its just all wrong.

1 is too many

Have people leaving school to get use to funding there own welfare cover of which half an employer would fund. This would lessen the welfare dependence culture we have at the moment.

There are still many people dependent on welfare definitely, because it is hard to compete with the 'baby boomers' who don't retire anymore and aren't offering jobs. The only way how to make this happen is to get rid of the baby-boomers working and to get all young people employed to be the highest GDP capita of working in the world like Liechtenstein.

Definetly WAY TOO many people on benefits who can work but who won't who are just taking advantage . Obviously sick/disabilled and elderly are fine but no just because your a solo parent or cbf getting a job uhm no Winz offers to lay childcare there's plenty of unglamorous jobs out there . No excuses - I reckon people can be on Winz for five years there who life until they retire , should keep a tally on each persons personal file and after five years (continuous or in continuous then see you later ) no additional help its called get a job , I do think though most beneficiaries are discouraged to work as money gets taken of there benefits for working part time but hey we get money taken of in tax and we seemingly get the same amount as you for working out arses off !!