The New Right's employment impacts on Pacific peoples within the Porirua area and their responses to the initiatives set-up to promote education and ultimately employment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University

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Date
2000
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Massey University
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This thesis examines the concepts of development encapsulated in the New Right ideological spectrum. More specifically this thesis focuses on the impacts of employment deregulation and responses to these effects on Pacific populations in urban Aotetora/ New Zealand. It investigates the role neo-liberalism has played since the 1984 Labour government and the subsequent 1990 National government, which many have argued coincided with the breakdown and apparently permanent collapse of Keynesian social and economic policies of the post-war era. Neo-liberalism is an economic and political project that is primarily concerned with promoting a free market economy. It is based on the principles of individualism, rationalism, flexibility and supply-side innovation manifested in the following ways: 1.) the liberalisation of competitive market forces; 2.) the abandonment of demand-side intervention in favour of supply-side policy measures; 3.) the rejection of both social partnership and welfarism; and 4.) the rejection of 'full-employment' and the liberalisation of the labour market. Some well-known neo-liberal projects have been Thatcherism (UK), Reaganism (US) and Rogernomics (NZ). The responses taken from the research participants illustrate the impacts the New Right development approach has had on this community living in New Zealand, and more specifically living in the Porirua area. Unemployment was seen to place socio-economic stress on the individual and Pacific family unit. These broad New Right concepts which underpin a more flexible labour market are reduced-down to the current community-based employment initiatives being used, the responses and benefits of such development projects to this area, and to exemplify the disparities in the employment sector for Pacific peoples. The impacts: The macro-level results of this thesis have shown that the New Zealand labour market has been transformed into an individualist and flexible labour environment based on contractual agreements. Pacific peoples labour market participation rates have increased in part-time work and in the service sector, however, this has been offset by large decreases in the manufacturing sector. Pacific peoples have higher unemployment rates when compared to other ethnic groups (with the exception of New Zealand Maori). The responses: The micro-level findings have shown that Private Training Establishments (in this case TOPEC) provide a 'seamless' education system for an individualist, flexible and contractual labour market. In conclusion, the impacts and the responses from Pacific peoples involved in the New Zealand labour market demonstrate that the path being used to close labour market disparities are based on industry training and student-centred approaches.
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Pacific Islanders, Labour market, Economic conditions, Employment
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