Source: Radio New Zealand
A number of people have shared their struggles of being among the “invisible unemployed”. RNZ
“We are stuck,” an out-of work stroke survivor says.
On Friday RNZ reported on the “invisible unemployed”: people who have too much to qualify for a benefit, but not enough to make ends meet. The story prompted a number of people to share their struggles.
Here are some of them.
A stroke survivor resorting to canned soup and bread
“I read your article today and cried,” said Andrew.
“Finally someone has seen us.”
Andrew was formerly the head of music at a private school. He had two strokes in November 2021 at the age of 47, leaving him unable to work.
He could not get WINZ (Work and Income) help due to his husband’s $77,000 income.
“My husband’s pay has to cover our mortgage, rates, insurance, utilities, and food. We often can’t make it through the fortnight and have to resort to canned soup and bread. There’s nothing left for rehabilitation or psychological support or emergencies. We are both exhausted.”
He recently started relief teaching one day a week, but the physical and cognitive energy it required wiped him out for days afterwards, he said.
“Working in a school is not good for my health, but I feel I have to, it’s all I can do. I have applied for hundreds of part-time jobs, but no one wants a 50-year-old ex-music teacher.”
He believed the current system only worked back in the 1970s and 80s, when one income could support a household. That was not the case in 2026, he said.
“We are stuck. Unseen, unheard, not cared about, and completely alone.”
A full-time carer fundraising for her daughter’s medical needs
Casey could not work as she was an at-home carer for her two children, who had disabilities.
She wanted to apply for the supported living payment, because she was carrying out the equivalent of full-time work.
But her husband made $90,000 – too much for her to qualify, despite it having to stretch to support their family of six.
They tried to feed the family on up to $60 a week, and did not qualify for food grants.
Casey had started a Givealittle page to fundraise for her daughter’s wheelchair and accessibility modifications to their home.
“It’s been extremely difficult.”
A solo parent
A person who did not want to be named said they left an abusive relationship with their teenage son, but they still owned a house with their former partner.
That put them over the Work and Income cash asset limit, so they could not get a benefit.
“If it wasn’t for the $172 a week from Working For Families, we would not be eating,” they said.
They earned $45,000 annually, paid $550 each week in rent, “and try as I might I haven’t got a flatmate yet”.
Their ex-partner gave them $50 a week, but that did not cover their son’s food and clothing, they said.
“My ex is eligible to get a benefit because he lives in the house we own that he refused to leave.
“It just seems ridiculous the abuser can get a benefit when the person who has to leave with children to support gets nothing and I have worked pretty much all my life.”
Social Development Minister Louise Upston said benefit thresholds were a long-standing feature of the welfare system.
She was not looking at raising them, focusing instead on getting people off the benefit and into work.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
