If National wins ...

[fungus pudding]

What does everyone think of the new entrant minimum wage of $10.80?

I don't know the answer to that, but I know what I think. That is, why has it taken so long to introduce? It's just cruel to see young people who are prepared to work (there are some) and employers who would employ them (there are some) but don't because they tend to need so much supervision and there's lots of down-time at the start of their vworking lives, so they opt for the experienced worker; they are simply better value generally speaking. Our school leavers are not prepared for work. I've yet to find a school leaver who is any use as an office junior for a start. Ask a 16 year old to write a letter for a start and you'll see what I mean. Put a young fella' on a building site and it takes a couple of months of labouring, cleaning up - gopher work, before they adapt to the environment. I'm all for it.

[CJ]

I think it could be a good idea. It is good it has been introduced. It does need to be monitored though to ensure it is creating new permanent jobs, not just recycling low wage employees.

The goal is to reduce youth unemployment. Interesting read here:

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/labours...ment-ck-115419

Risk is it just takes jobs of other workers or it is used for short term positions just to lower wage bill.

[elZorro]

I think it could be a good idea. It is good it has been introduced. It does need to be monitored though to ensure it is creating new permanent jobs, not just recycling low wage employees.

The goal is to reduce youth unemployment. Interesting read here:

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/labours...ment-ck-115419

Risk is it just takes jobs of other workers or it is used for short term positions just to lower wage bill.

Yes, interesting chart CJ. What this is saying is that government can pull levers in the economy very noticeably. Probably not the effect Labour wanted to see, but removing the youth minimum wage saw employers react within a year or so, and youth unemployment hit historical proportions. All for a few dollars an hour. We employers must be a miserable lot on average. It's also saying that many of these jobs were short term. This is a general comment on the state of businesses in NZ. Not good enough.

FP, you're saying earlier on that any tax credits should be across the board. But if the right levers are pulled, tax incentives, like wage rates, can be a positive force. In manufacturing jobs, a new person can be quickly trained up if good systems are in place, and doing chargeable work within a few hours. All we need is more profitable manufacturing jobs.

I agree with you about written output from younger staff - you cannot even be sure that a tertiary graduate can spell or write well enough to knock out a report that you could present to a client. Those that can do this, shine out like beacons of hope.

[fungus pudding]

Yes, interesting chart CJ. What this is saying is that government can pull levers in the economy very noticeably. Probably not the effect Labour wanted to see, but removing the youth minimum wage saw employers react within a year or so, and youth unemployment hit historical proportions. All for a few dollars an hour. We employers must be a miserable lot on average. It's also saying that many of these jobs were short term. This is a general comment on the state of businesses in NZ. Not good enough.

FP, you're saying earlier on that any tax credits should be across the board. But if the right levers are pulled, tax incentives, like wage rates, can be a positive force. In manufacturing jobs, a new person can be quickly trained up if good systems are in place, and doing chargeable work within a few hours. All we need is more profitable manufacturing jobs.

So who's to decide? Leave such things to the market. If you really want your Labour mates to do something constructive with the tax system, get them to find a way of applying GST to small imports. It's becoming a huge problem (for sevveral countries) and quite unfair on retailers. More constructive than capital gainstax nonsense.

[elZorro]

So who's to decide? Leave such things to the market. If you really want your Labour mates to do something constructive with the tax system, get them to find a way of applying GST to small imports. It's becoming a huge problem (for sevveral countries) and quite unfair on retailers. More constructive than capital gainstax nonsense.

Leave such things to the market, nonsense, Labour mates..if I didn't know better I'd think you were trying to get a bite from that post, FP.

You refer to unimaginative copycat retailers stocking goods that are also available elsewhere in the world, priced under $350 or so and lightweight, portable items. There's the problem. If the retailer also added value to some products, or provided great service, who would bother to seek the products out overseas? If margins are held low in some areas by this sort of competition, the onus is on the business to change its lineup, to move sideways into other areas. Maybe (shock horror) to export itself. They should also have a web presence and a shopping basket system.

What I notice is that there are many niche manufacturers in NZ who struggle for a long time to connect with customers. They don't usually have their products in retail stores because the stock turnover is too low for most chains, and advertising costs a lot. Why don't struggling retailers who are short of stock to fill the shelves or shop floor, team up with NZ manufacturers and hold stock on consignment at least. Then the stores can be centres of excellence, and be selling goods no-one else has. I've found this works with overseas contacts too, anyone can set up from even a home base overseas and there's no risk on their part. You need to establish good contacts and rapport first.

[elZorro]

There are lies, and there are statistics..

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/tax-tak...ease-rh-130451

The National govt heralds an improvement in tax take, as business conditions improve. But wait a minute, the tax take under Labour improved to over $60 billion a year, it's now at just $55 billion. Most of the modest increase from a lower point will be provisional tax. This tax is designed to lead known or actual income by a factor of several months. The implication is that last financial year was fairly good for most businesses, the ones that are left. Fonterra's payout has already been put on notice to drop from last year's, not a good sign if the improvement is to continue.

[craic]

Beware of comparisons between countries. We have less than half the rate of unemployment of many if not most developed countries. But many countries apply a radically different test to get their figure - they do not door-knock to find out who would like a job as the do here from time to time. Similarly with suicide rates. Here we measure suicide on a balance of probabilities rule whereas other countries require evidence that the individual actually intended to take his own life, particularly youth suicides, are defined as accident or misadventure.

[BIRMANBOY]

EZ...stock on consignment is a wonderfull thing....not....Firstly, as a manufacturer you end up with an unusually high stock list in relation to your actual sales...which means poor use of cash and credit. In order to make up for that you need to charge more for your goods...which of course makes them unsaleable...which in turn leads eventually to the business getting further and further in the crapper. Also the retailer doesnt have any real incentive to sell the consignment goods because they have no money in it..they will sell the other goods they already have paid for first. Consignment isnt even good for the retailer because it makes them lazy buyers. No need to look around for the best deal/products/hot item because they have something similar on consignment. If a manufacturer has "goods that no-one else has" you dont realistically think they will let someone who is "struggling" have it on consignment ...come-on!!!!

Leave such things to the market, nonsense, Labour mates..if I didn't know better I'd think you were trying to get a bite from that post, FP.

You refer to unimaginative copycat retailers stocking goods that are also available elsewhere in the world, priced under $350 or so and lightweight, portable items. There's the problem. If the retailer also added value to some products, or provided great service, who would bother to seek the products out overseas? If margins are held low in some areas by this sort of competition, the onus is on the business to change its lineup, to move sideways into other areas. Maybe (shock horror) to export itself. They should also have a web presence and a shopping basket system.

What I notice is that there are many niche manufacturers in NZ who struggle for a long time to connect with customers. They don't usually have their products in retail stores because the stock turnover is too low for most chains, and advertising costs a lot. Why don't struggling retailers who are short of stock to fill the shelves or shop floor, team up with NZ manufacturers and hold stock on consignment at least. Then the stores can be centres of excellence, and be selling goods no-one else has. I've found this works with overseas contacts too, anyone can set up from even a home base overseas and there's no risk on their part. You need to establish good contacts and rapport first.

[elZorro]

EZ...stock on consignment is a wonderfull thing....not....Firstly, as a manufacturer you end up with an unusually high stock list in relation to your actual sales...which means poor use of cash and credit. In order to make up for that you need to charge more for your goods...which of course makes them unsaleable...which in turn leads eventually to the business getting further and further in the crapper. Also the retailer doesnt have any real incentive to sell the consignment goods because they have no money in it..they will sell the other goods they already have paid for first. Consignment isnt even good for the retailer because it makes them lazy buyers. No need to look around for the best deal/products/hot item because they have something similar on consignment. If a manufacturer has "goods that no-one else has" you dont realistically think they will let someone who is "struggling" have it on consignment ...come-on!!!!

Might not work out for everyone, and I've sent goods on consignment to a chain in NZ, took me months to get them all paid for or returned at the end of the agreed holding period. But I've also sent consignment goods off overseas to a trusted colleague trading from home, and that has worked out fine for both parties. The way I see it, making quite a few items in a production run makes each unit cheaper to build, and might mop up spare time with staff. It makes no difference if the stock is on my own shelves or on someone else's. It also means that after the first lot is sold, there's not the same reluctance by the reseller to part with more cash to try the cycle again. Having a retail presence would be an added bonus. If it doesn't work out within a time frame, the goods can easily be shipped back.

BB, one of the biggest costs for a manufacturer/distributor is marketing. Retail points are often less interested, or want the supplier to pay for this. Getting the goods sold and in use, so that word-of-mouth advertising takes over, is the goal. Look at Trademe, i-phones etc. Any low-cost method of getting the goods in front of buyers will do.

I am also serious about stores having a web presence. On the news today, a google guy said 2/3 of NZ businesses don't have a website. That is so crazy when there are firms offering brilliant deals (under $1,000) with shopping baskets, CMS sites, easy to configure and they'll even put your data in for you if you pay a bit more (maybe still under $2000). There are also thousands of wanna-be website programmers, which keeps the costs low. But I recommend you go to a firm that already has hundreds of websites using their system. No bugs, and you're up and running in a week or so, not years later.

NZ manufacturing in a slowdown.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/indu...-for-factories

[slimwin]

If you need a good website try estaronline. A Nz company doing great work in that field.
Disc,I hold estar!