New Reporting and Training Rules for Job Seekers
🚦Two new non-financial sanctions focused on job searches and upskilling, launch today under the Government's beneficiary traffic light scheme. 🚦
The new sanctions are:
👉🏼 Report Job Search: a requirement to undertake and report on a minimum of three job-search activities every week for four weeks. This sanction supports increased accountability for beneficiaries who are meant to be looking for work.
👉🏼 Upskilling: a requirement to attend and participate in one or more employment-related training courses or programmes for a minimum of five hours per week over four weeks. This sanction supports beneficiaries to build the skills they need to get into work.
Beneficiaries on their first obligation failure would only be eligible for these non-financial sanctions if they were in active case management or had dependent children, and they must attend an MSD appointment.
Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston said the obligations were passed by Parliament in May and that they were not "unduly onerous".
"They're basic expectations. They reinforce accountability for those failing to meet their obligations, while also recognising that reducing benefits isn’t the answer for everyone."
Upston noted most job seekers were fulfilling obligations with less than 2% on the red or orange settings. "The 98.5% of job seekers at green are committed to finding work, and MSD is fully committed to supporting them to do so."
The traffic light system, introduced in August last year, categorises beneficiaries with work or social obligations into green, orange, or red status.
Those in orange have breached obligations without a valid reason. If they fail to comply within five working days, they move to red and face sanctions.
Text credit: 1news.co.nz
Image credit (altered): NZ Herald/123Rf
Photo by Resume Genius on Unsplash
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Poll: 🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
The Reserve Bank has shared some pretty blunt advice: there’s no such thing as a “safe” job anymore 🛟😑
Robots are stepping into repetitive roles in factories, plants and warehouses. AI is taking care of the admin tasks that once filled many mid-level office jobs.
We want to know: As the world evolves, what skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
Want to read more? The Press has you covered!
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52.7% Human-centred experience and communication
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14.7% Critical thinking
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29.8% Resilience and adaptability
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2.7% Other - I will share below!
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
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