11% fewer jobs being advertised in Hawke\u2019s Bay than a year ago.<\/a> Thompson was seeing it first-hand.<\/p>\n\u201cIn the year that I\u2019ve been here it\u2019s steadily rising, the unemployment out there. It\u2019s tough times for everybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Combine that with the rising cost of living and Thompson is concerned about his community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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\u2019s Bay because you\u2019ve got Hastings and Napier and all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watene said he felt disheartened by the Government, saying it was not delivering on promises to boost the economy and employment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a real struggle. I\u2019m not happy with the Government at the moment. I\u2019m pretty annoyed as [the Government is] making our lives harder, that\u2019s how I feel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Social Development Minister Louise Upston told RNZ that unemployment was one of the last things to come right after a recession.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder our Government, inflation is down from 7% to 2.5%, interest rates are falling, wages are growing faster than inflation, rents have flatlined and we have put a lid on Government debt, which blew out by $120 billion in recent years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Social]()
Social Development Minister Louise Upston says unemployment is one of the last things to come right after a recession. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
The minister said infrastructure investment would create more jobs, and this year\u2019s Budget forecast economic growth to average 2.7% per year, creating 240,000 jobs.<\/p>\n
She said there had been a 14% increase in job seekers leaving the benefit compared to a year ago.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s something Watene would love to do, but he told RNZ it was not as easy as the Government made it seem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey think there are jobs out there that we can just get with a snap of our fingers, but it doesn\u2019t work like that for us. I need work asap and I\u2019ve been looking every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard times and I feel the Government focuses on other stuff rather than what\u2019s really important, which is people,\u201d said Watene.<\/p>\n
In his role, Thompson could also help people into further training at EIT, the Eastern Institute of Technology, if a career change or up-skilling was needed.<\/p>\n
Although some skills did not require tertiary education and he often mentored jobseekers on the importance of a good handshake and eye contact.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose 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,\u201d laughed Thompson.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s easy to send an email where they can just flick it off, but go there in person and introduce yourself… it just shows you\u2019ve got commitment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s often a successful tactic, and he told RNZ that when people finally secured a job it was a real highlight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel rapt for them. It\u2019s helping to improve their life and their wh\u0101nau\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust seeing the pressure come off their face… because you do get a lot of clients who do walk in and have their head down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2013 RNZ<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a warm smile and a welcoming hug, Thompson radiates positivity. It\u2019s this optimism that was helping get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[44315,44316,17955,44311,10198,79,1430,44317,18,44310,41032,44314,19,17,3503,227,39623,44312,44313],"class_list":{"0":"post-62630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-12year","9":"tag-alexa","10":"tag-as","11":"tag-bay","12":"tag-benefit","13":"tag-business","14":"tag-central","15":"tag-cook","16":"tag-eire","17":"tag-hawkes","18":"tag-high","19":"tag-hit","20":"tag-ie","21":"tag-ireland","22":"tag-job","23":"tag-jobs","24":"tag-numbers","25":"tag-seekers","26":"tag-struggle"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}