Kristin Macfarlane: Bay of Plenty - the NZ summer holiday destination with high unemployment

The number of unemployed people is growing in the Bay of Plenty. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

The Bay of Plenty is a region people flock to on holiday.

For many people in New Zealand, there is no better place to be than the sunny and adventure-packed region we get to wake up in every day.

But for many others, the Bay of Plenty is a region that offers very little else. It's a region that has high living costs and ever-rising homelessness.

You only have to take a walk around the CBD or a drive past some of the city's parks and reserves to see the reality of people living rough, without homes and without financial stability.

It's also a region with unemployment rates rising at an alarming level.

We revealed this week that as of last month the number of people on the jobseeker benefit in the Bay of Plenty had jumped 42 per cent since the same time last year.

As we deal with the impact of Covid-19 on businesses and communities, people are in situations they weren't in just a year ago.

Ministry of Social Development data shows the region has the third-highest number of people on the jobseeker benefit, with 20,400, or 9.3 per cent of the working and able population needing financial support as of September - an increase of 6000.

Rotorua had the highest number of beneficiaries in the Bay, with 4032 people on the work-ready jobseeker support, up from 2701 at the same time last year.

It spiked by nearly 600 in the lockdown between March and April, and again by nearly 300 from July to September. Recruiters have even suggested people may need to move out of Rotorua to find work.

The combined number of people in the Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty District Council on the jobseeker work-ready benefit was 3045, up from 2026.

This is heartbreaking. People are facing a new reality of being out of work, an added stress for people as the festive season approaches.

As the number of unemployed people grows in the Bay of Plenty so does my concern for the future of our region.

We need to be a region that provides plenty for those who live in the Bay, not one that ignores reality for a good time. We need to provide people with enough job opportunities to adequately live above the poverty line - and we need to live up to our name.

There is a lot of work to do here in many areas - and everyone has a part to play.