Bevan Thompson.
Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook
As a growing number of Central Hawke’s Bay residents desperately search for work, local man Bevan Thompson is helping them with everything from attaining a drivers licence, to boosting their confidence through korero and cuppas.
Alexa Cook gained an insight into the mahi going on behind the scenes to get people off the benefit, as part of Pinch Point – an ongoing RNZ series about living with the cost of living.
“I’ve had a couple of clients that stand there and say ‘Ohh man, I can’t get nothing’ and shed a couple of tears.
“So we just sit there, have a cup of tea and I reassure them that ‘don’t worry bro, we’ll get it done’.”
With a warm smile and a welcoming hug, Bevan Thompson radiates positivity. It’s this optimism that was helping get people’s lives back on track.
“I’ve always been a good believer in helping people into self motivation – to inspire them into you can do it.
“That’s all it is, is korero with people about that ‘can do’ attitude,” he said.
Photo: RNZ
The number of people living off a benefit in Central Hawke’s Bay is the highest it’s been in more than 12 years as residents struggle to find work in a tough job market.
Bevan works for Te Taiwhenua O Tamatea and does the employment placements and pastoral care for the Ministry of Social Development.
Many hours were spent on the road, visiting people in their homes to see what challenges they were facing with finding a job, and helping in any way he could.
One of his clients, 19-year-old Caleb Watene, had been searching for work for over eight months.
“It’s just about letting him know there is someone there in his corner,” said Thompson.
Caleb Watene.
Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook
Caleb lived in Waipawa and was on the jobseeker benefit, which was how he had ended up with Thompson’s help.
“It gives me more hope really and makes it easier for me to get a job,” he said.
Because in the never-ending grind of searching for work, applying for jobs, and being rejected it was easy to lose hope.
“It’s tiring and stressful, and makes you scared a bit. I could end up in a position where we have to go back living with our parents,” he worried.
It was the longest he’d been out of a job since he began working at age 14, and told RNZ that living off a benefit was hard when the cost of living was so high. Each week he had $30 left after paying for rent, power and groceries.
“It’s pretty hard at the moment… it’s harder than it used to be, way harder. Before I went to Aussie, I could crack a job just like that,” he said.
New figures from Stats NZ reveal the number of filled jobs in New Zealand has plummetted by 10,000 in the past three months and nearly a thousand of them are in Hawke’s Bay.
Job website SEEK told RNZ there are 11 percent fewer jobs being advertised in Hawke’s Bay than this time last year
Data from the Ministry of Social Development shows 1161 people in Central Hawke’s Bay are living on a benefit, the highest it’s been since at least 2013.
The main employment opportunities in Central Hawke’s Bay were the freezing works, a pet food company, farming or seasonal orchard work.
Eleven percent fewer jobs are being advertised in Hawke’s Bay than a year ago
Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook
However with recent restructures and businesses closing there were 11 percent fewer jobs being advertised in Hawke’s Bay than a year ago. Bevan Thompson was seeing it firsthand.
“In the year that I’ve been here it’s steadily rising, the unemployment out there. It’s tough times for everybody,” he said.
Combine that with the rising cost of living, and Bevan is concerned about his community.
“I worry about it all the time… you know I sit there and look around and think sometimes we are like the poor cousins in Hawke’s Bay cause you’ve got Hastings and Napier and all of that.”
‘I’m pretty annoyed’
Job seeker Caleb Watene was feeling disheartened by the government, saying it was not delivering on promises to boost the economy and employment.
“It is a real struggle. I’m not happy with the government at the moment. I’m pretty annoyed as [the government is] making our lives harder, that’s how I feel,” he said.
The Minister for Social Development, Louise Upston, told RNZ that unemployment was one of the last things to come right after a recession.
“Under our government, inflation is down from 7 percent to 2.5 percent, interest rates are falling, wages are growing faster than inflation, rents have flat lined, and we have put a lid on government debt which blew out by $120 billion in recent years,” she said.
Minister for Social Development, Louise Upston.
Photo: RNZ / Reece Baker
The minister said infrastructure investment would create more jobs, and this year’s Budget forecast economic growth to average 2.7 percent per year, creating 240,000 jobs.
She said there had been a 14 percent increase in jobseekers leaving the benefit compared to a year ago.
Something Caleb Watene would love to do, but he told RNZ it was not as easy as the government made it seem.
“They think there are jobs out there that we can just get with a snap of our fingers, but it doesn’t work like that for us. I need work ASAP eh, and I’ve been looking every day.
“It’s hard times and I feel the government focuses on other stuff rather than what’s really important, which is people,” said Watene.
‘Old school’ skills paying off
In his role, Bevan Thompson could also help people into further training at EIT, the Eastern Institute of Technology, if a career change or up-skilling was needed.
Although some skills did not require tertiary education, and he often mentored job seekers on the importance of a good handshake and eye contact.
“Those tiny skills go a long way. I think sometimes that the social development of people has gone a bit wayward with the increase in social media and technology,” laughed Thompson.
He’s a big fan of the old school approach, driving his clients to meet potential employers face to face and drop off a copy of their CV.
“It’s easy to send an email where they can just flick it off, but go there in person and introduce yourself… it just shows you’ve got committment,” he said.
It’s often a successful tactic, and he told RNZ that when people finally secured a job it was a real highlight.
“I feel rapt for them. It’s helping to improve their life and their whanau’s life.
“Just seeing the pressure come off their face… because you do get a lot of clients who do walk in and have their head down,” he said.
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