Fuel prices had been rising fast in recent weeks. Photo / Corey Fleming
By Susan Edmunds of RNZ
Essential workers in some parts of the country face much higher fuel bills than in others, new data shows – and it has raised questions about how support should be targeted.
Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub has compiled data showing the average commute of workers across a range of industries around the country.
It shows healthcare and social assistance workers in Southland, Central Otago, Westland, Hurunui, Kaikōura, Central Hawke’s Bay and Wairoa have some of the longest average commutes in the country.
Even within Auckland, typical commutes varied. Healthcare workers in Waitematā had the longest average commute, and areas such as Waitākere, the Puketāpapa local board area and Whau local board area had the shortest.
For education and training, Hurunui, Central Hawke’s Bay and Southland feature again, as well as areas such as Clutha.
Eaqub said the data showed some areas would be more exposed to fuel price rises than others. “It’s all happening piecemeal … like nurses need help or the fire service needs help, but it’s so specific, and it kind of misses that geographic aspect.
“What I was trying to get at is who are the essential workers, and how far did they travel, where are those people based?
“Where people can work and live in the same area, that’s awesome. When you can, it’s wonderful. But it’s those people, the nurses who have to drive for 40 minutes or whatever to get to work every day. That is an unbearable cost and burden on those people.”
He said that raised questions about how support could be targeted more precisely.
“How do we get that overlap right? We don’t expect some kind of handout for people to get to work every single day, but people who have to travel for their work and they’re essential, why aren’t they being looked after?”
University of Otago economist Murat Ungor agreed that rising fuel prices did not affect regions equally.
“Across several districts, the data suggest that essential workers in rural and provincial areas drive more than double the distance of their urban counterparts.
“For example, essential workers in the Mackenzie District travel an average of 15.8km, in the Southland District 16.4km, and in Central Otago 13.7km, all predominantly rural districts. In contrast, essential workers in Dunedin City travel 6.3km, in Porirua City 7.1km, and in Hamilton City 7.2km. This means an essential worker in Mackenzie or Southland drives more than twice as far as one in Dunedin.”
He said rural essential sectors had a double burden.
“Those most critical to the rural economy, particularly agriculture, have the longest commutes, while urban essential sectors such as health and education have shorter ones. In Southland, agricultural workers commute 16.5km; in Central Otago, 15.8km; and in Waitaki, 16.0km. By comparison, in Dunedin City, healthcare and social assistance employees commute 5.9km, while in Wellington City, education and training employees commute 7.4km.
“One may argue, using these comparisons, that the workers putting food on the country’s table are the ones driving the farthest. A fuel or diesel price spike, therefore, directly increases both the cost of food production and the cost of living for the very people who produce it.”
He said essential workers in many areas had no practical alternative to driving, so they were not able to avoid being subject to fuel price volatility.
“In the Gore District, 82% of essential workers in public administration and safety drive … In Invercargill City, the figure is also 82%. In Hamilton City, 83% of manufacturing workers drive, and in Tauranga City, 81% of transport workers drive. By contrast, in Wellington City, only 27% of essential workers in public administration drive.
“This is perhaps the clearest evidence of geographic inequality. An essential worker in Gore or Hamilton has no choice but to pay whatever the pump price is. An essential worker in Wellington, by contrast, has a viable escape hatch through public transport or walking, insulating them from the worst of the price shock."
Wellington workers were not necessarily travelling shorter distances, but they had more options.
Ungor said fuel vulnerability was not just a rural issue but a transport inequality one, shaped by where people worked, how far they travelled and whether they had a realistic alternative.
– RNZ