In this issue:
Supporting employers to hire more staff
Visiting Los Angeles
Building safer communities
National Standards info now online
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Supporting employers to hire more staff
National is working hard to support businesses to grow and invest in more and higher paying jobs for New Zealanders. Our priority is to build a more competitive and productive economy; building business confidence is one of the ways we'll achieve this.
Our plan is working. According to the Household Labour Force Survey, which is the standard internationally-recognised measure of employment, a net 57,000 more New Zealanders have a job now than two years ago.
The Government's measures across the board are helping businesses employ more people and invest in growing their workforce. We've brought in the 90-day trial period for new employees, which has created 13,000 jobs. We've cut company tax to 28 per cent. We've invested $152 million in the Youth Opportunities package that will include 12,000 places in Job Ops to give young New Zealanders an opportunity to work. And we're increasing the number of apprenticeships and training places in areas where we know there is a shortage of qualified staff, such as in the engineering sector, or trades like carpenters and brick-layers.
Our on-going Business Growth Agenda will help businesses further, by putting the right conditions in place to give businesses the confidence they need to hire staff, invest, and compete in the international market.
Click here to watch my latest video journal on YouTube.
Visiting Los Angeles
I'm in Los Angeles at the moment meeting with heads and senior executives of major United States film studios. This trip is about promoting the vibrant New Zealand screen industry - which is worth $3 billion in revenue to our economy.
This visit is about jobs for New Zealanders, working alongside some of the major global players. New Zealand has a growing reputation as a great place to make outstanding films. The screen production and post-production industry in New Zealand is the type of creative industry that we want to support.
The screen industry in New Zealand supports over 2700 businesses, more than 95 per cent of which are involved in production and post-production work. There is intense competition for their business, and we need to keep New Zealand front of mind for those individuals who can bring further investment to our shores.
Building safer communities
On Monday, Police released the latest crime statistics, which show crime rates continuing to fall. Our Police do a tremendous job keeping our communities safe, and the falling crime rates are a reflection of their good work.
In the year to June 30, the crime rate per head of population fell by almost 6 per cent. This follows a 7 per cent reduction in crime the year before.
National is staying tough on crime. We've put 600 more Police on the beat, and we're keeping the worst offenders behind bars for longer. We're putting victims at the heart of the justice system, with more support and help to navigate the system. We're also re-balancing the rights of a person charged with a crime with the safety of the public by strengthening our bail laws.
These latest crime stats show we are well on the way to reaching our target of an overall reduction in crime of 15 per cent by 2017, which is one of our Better Public Services targets.
IN BRIEF
National Standards information available online
We introduced National Standards into Primary and Intermediate schools across the country to help identify children who are falling behind, give parents more information about their children's progress, and help schools target support before it's too late.
Last week, National Standards data for schools was published for the first time as part of other Public Achievement Information already online. Aggregate data shows 76 per cent of Year 1-8 children reached or exceeded the national standard for reading, 72 per cent for mathematics, and 68 per cent for writing. This is great progress, and we can see where additional support is needed to help every child succeed at school.
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FROM MY DIARY
I'm returning from Los Angeles on Sunday. Next week Parliament is in recess so I will be busy visiting some of our regions.
Regards,
John Key
Prime Minister
www.johnkey.co.nz
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