Greens oppose `employment merry-go-round'

Greens (WA) Senator Dee Margetts, commenting on the release of the government's white paper, Working Nation, claimed it will merely create a nation of working poor.

“To quote the prime minister, `he thinks that by sending us to some sort of peasant wage structure that we will be able to compete in certain areas of commerce for jobs which just don't exist any more, the jobs which simply are not there' -- a quote from his criticism of the opposition's youth wage in July 1992.”

Margetts said the government's continuing emphasis on growth and industry profitability rather than directly creating jobs was a disappointment to anyone who expected real action to address massive structural unemployment.

“The measures, in our opinion, are designed to continue to keep wages low rather than deal with the fundamental problems of our economy”, Margetts continued. “The government is helping to create an employment merry-go-round by providing subsidised low waged workers to private industry.”

The net effect of this policy will be to push established workers out in favour of the 18 month long-term unemployed, Margetts said.

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