CRASHING THE PARTY
Global debt hit an all-time high of US$281 trillion by the end of 2020.
New Zealand society was already tracking towards a greater divide between the “haves” and “have-nots” before Covid. Now, we are seeing the development of a K-shaped recovery, in which the economy takes off in different directions. Those already doing well are doing better; those not doing well are doing worse.
It is becoming evident there are different speeds of recovery at play, some experts say, with some parts of the economy thriving. Sectors to have done very well out of the pandemic include some in the retail spend zone – think stores such as Briscoes and Bunnings – as New Zealanders went crazy buying furniture, cars and bikes and items for home improvement.
Some of that has come from the $10 billion or so Kiwis spend a year on overseas travel, which they haven’t been able to do with borders closed. Other sectors, such as tourism and hospitality, have fared much worse, and jobs in these sectors are often part-time and low paid.
Women working in the service industries – that’s our cleaners, hotel workers, cafe workers and so forth – lost their jobs at a higher rate than men. In addition, the Government’s infrastructure spend and the construction boom tend to favour men in the workforce.
Not only that, but of people still working and who want to be working more, the underemployment rate has risen. It’s not just people in the lower socio-economic brackets who are finding their lives upended. Some in the so-called middle classes, including pilots and academics, have been hit by job losses or slashed hours and are finding it hard to pay the rent and put food on the table.
Take Claire from the Hibiscus Coast (she didn’t want her last name used). She and her husband have had cereal for dinner at times, so the children can eat better, after her family’s world took a dive post-Covid.
Claire’s husband lost his job prior to Covid but was about to be re-employed. However, the job was in the hotel industry and it failed to eventuate when international tourism stopped overnight. Claire had just opened a reflexology business when the first lockdown came along and closed it.
She is still trying to re-establish herself and her husband is getting
