No new clothes, no haircuts, no fresh veg - the harsh reality of being a working poor mum
Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Judy is a single mother of two, and being part of the working poor for her means no fresh veges, no sports for the kids and relying on support for housing.
The Canterbury woman works 30 hours a week, but she still can't remember the last time she bought clothes for herself and worries about the cost of visits to the doctor for her sick daughter.
She's one of the many people who have contacted Stuff after a story was published on Wednesday revealing the realities facing the 'working poor' in New Zealand.
Judy is an office worker, but she's got concerns about being identified. She raised her 15-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son on her own after leaving an abusive relationship, she says.
**READ MORE:
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* The poor and squeezed in New Zealand
* Rising living costs sees families turn to food banks
* Families struggle to afford back-to-school requirements
* One in 10 families fell into 'Struggle Street'
* No simple answer to help New Zealand's poor**
She earns $19 per hour at her job, where her hours were recently reduced from 37.5 per week to 30.
In a payslip for two weeks' work in early May, Judy took home slightly less than $940 - $470 per week.
Among her costs are the average winter powerbill, which she said was 'between $580 - $650 per month'.
Her daughter is sick - her health issue wasn't covered by any disability benefit, Judy said - and the $40 doctor fees chewed into the food budget.
They live in a Housing NZ home where rent has just dropped from $170 to $148 per week.
Her son's feet are so big she has to buy him shoes specially - pairs from The Warehouse don't fit - and they only last about three months.
Without the Working For Families (WFF) benefit she received, they wouldn't be eating, she said.
'I can't remember when I last bought fresh veges, only frozen - they go further,' Judy said.
She's good at budgeting, but among the things the family can't afford is for the kids to play sport.
Birthday parties are at a bare minimum.
Her son recently got a job, so her WFF benefit had reduced.
'He pays board but as he has to travel a long way to work I can't charge him much as petrol is over half his wages gone then.'
Despite that, her kids don't complain that their friends have more than them and they appreciate what they've got.
'My kids keep me going as it's not their fault the situation we are in … They never go to school in ripped or holed shoes, uniforms are clean. My kids come first and always will,' she said.
'I don't remember the last time I bought clothes for myself or got a haircut. I can't afford makeup.'
She was 'very lucky' to have an HNZ home, Judy said.
'I do not get any assistance from WINZ for anything as I am working. I would probably be better off financially on a benefit but I want to work,' Judy said.
'I could change my job but I love where I work, its close to home, yes the pay sucks but at least I'm working. Up until two years ago I didn't have internet at home but because of the school having homework online now I had to have internet at home. An expense I do not like to have, but because of having the kids at school I have to have it.
'Mum brought us the computer, I could never afford one myself.'
Her car is another item her parents helped out with.
'It's very good on petrol, I only have the car because of having to take daughter to doctors and hospital appointments as bus service is not good to say the least and very expensive.'
But despite all that, Judy doesn't expect a handout.
'I'm better off than a lot of people. I hate it when people bag out HNZ as they have help me out so much. I just wish wages were better and I was paid what I'm worth.'
She says she had to leave the father of her children because he was abusive, and he now pays the minimum in child support.
In her view, the minimum should be $100 per week per child.
'I spend every cent I earn on my kids, the other parent should at least have to pay a bit.'
THE WORKING POOR
Unemployment is at its lowest in a decade - at 4.4 per cent in March - but wage growth has stagnated.
So you can get a job, but it might not pay the bills. Sitting between employment rates and wage statistics are the working poor - employed, but doing it hard.
With the political spotlight on poverty, a Government-backed study wants to answer the question: who are the working poor?
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and the Human Rights Commission (HRC) are this month commissioning a study to define, measure and profile 'households that cannot escape hardship despite containing individuals who are employed'.
Due to be published in March 2019, tender documents suggest the work will inform future poverty reduction efforts.
'Poor children have poor parents … and often they are employed. These families are facing undue hardship, and this is a timely opportunity to understand and address the situation,' the tender document says.
Charles Waldegrave, a tireless chronicler of poverty in New Zealand, says a study into the working poor will more than affirm what's known.
'We've got the statistics for them. What the Government is worried about is what's happening to these people.'