The Government's target to reduce the number of people on the benefit hasn't gone to plan. 

Recent statistics show a 12% increase in people getting assistance in the past 12 months. 

22,000 more Kiwis are currently receiving financial support from the jobseeker benefit alone. 

Employment relations specialist Max Whitehead joins the show to discuss the numbers. 

LISTEN ABOVE. 

The Government's target to reduce the number of people on the benefit hasn't gone to plan.&nbsp;
Recent statistics show a 12% increase in people getting assistance in the past 12 months.&nbsp;
22,000 more Kiwis are currently receiving financial support from the jobseeker benefit alone.&nbsp;
Employment relations specialist Max Whitehead joins the show to discuss the numbers.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE.&nbsp;

A fresh and intelligent start to your day - catch the very latest international and domestic news developments, sport, entertainment and business on Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, on Newstalk ZB.

A fresh and intelligent start to your day - catch the very latest international and domestic news developments, sport, entertainment and business on Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, on Newstalk ZB.

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

Max Whitehead: Employment relations specialist on benefit recipient numbers rising

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/dd46f5d1-d7ac-48e3-8e33-b2a20131c327/transcript

Listen to the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast for Friday 22 May.

Get the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen to the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast for Friday 22 May. 
Get the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Full Show Podcast: 22 May 2026 

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/fd9491c2-b42a-4a7d-894e-b451012ac480/transcript

Climate policies for farmers may be revealing a competitive gap.  

New research by Beef + Lamb suggests there should be a focus on incentives for farmers who achieve climate change outcomes.  

Chair Kate Acland told Ryan Bridge we need to keep an eye on what the rest of the world's doing.  

She says most of the world doesn't have agricultural-specific targets, but a lot of countries are incentivising farmers to reach any kind of reduction. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

Climate policies for farmers may be revealing a competitive gap. &nbsp;
New research by Beef + Lamb suggests there should be a focus on incentives for farmers who achieve climate change outcomes. &nbsp;
Chair Kate Acland told Ryan Bridge we need to keep an eye on what the rest of the world's doing. &nbsp;
She says most of the world doesn't have agricultural-specific targets, but a lot of countries are incentivising farmers to reach any kind of reduction.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Kate Acland: Beef + Lamb NZ Chair on the research finding incentives could help farmers reduce emissions

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/d492e03a-db32-47d0-80bb-b451000434bf/transcript

The AI and robot takeover isn't coming, it's here. Well, sort of. 

A bunch of data's come out on this over the past few days. 

Seek says job ads mentioning AI have doubled in the past year, up 4.1% from March to April. 

Nicola Willis reckons AI tools will help shave 9000 odd jobs off the public service in the next four years. 

Meta has this morning started firing 10% of its workforce, around 8000 workers in the first round, to make way for AI tools. 

The workers are so brassed off, a bunch of them are signing petitions demanding that Zuckerberg NOT collect their computer-use data. 

That data is being used to train the AI models that will replace them. Their work is being copied and pasted into a bot that will soon replace them. 

A petition will not stop this. Nothing will stop business becoming more efficient. 

Resistance is, in this case, futile. 

In some cases, new technology is being used to plug gaps, rather than create them. 

And this is the irony of the new workforce, which is not human labour, but technology: it cuts both ways. 

Take China, for example. Their problem is not a shortage of jobs but of workers. The ageing population and lack of babies is about to hurt their factories. 

They're going to lose 37 million workers in the next ten years. That's a few holes to fill in mega-factories. 

Enter humanoid robots. Barclays, the British bank, reckons 60% of those jobs will be performed by humanoid robots inside the next ten years. 

Basically, there's more chance your next new colleague will be a bot or an AI tool than ever before. 

Either learn to get along and play nice with them, or they'll replace you. 

The AI and robot takeover isn't coming, it's here. Well, sort of.&nbsp;
A bunch of data's come out on this over the past few days.&nbsp;
Seek says job ads mentioning AI have doubled in the past year, up 4.1% from March to April.&nbsp;
Nicola Willis reckons AI tools will help shave 9000 odd jobs off the public service in the next four years.&nbsp;
Meta has this morning started firing 10% of its workforce, around 8000 workers in the first round, to make way for AI tools.&nbsp;
The workers are so brassed off, a bunch of them are signing petitions demanding that Zuckerberg NOT collect their computer-use data.&nbsp;
That data is being used to train the AI models that will replace them. Their work is being copied and pasted into a bot that will soon replace them.&nbsp;
A petition will not stop this. Nothing will stop business becoming more efficient.&nbsp;
Resistance is, in this case, futile.&nbsp;
In some cases, new technology is being used to plug gaps, rather than create them.&nbsp;
And this is the irony of the new workforce, which is not human labour, but technology: it cuts both ways.&nbsp;
Take China, for example. Their problem is not a shortage of jobs but of workers. The ageing population and lack of babies is about to hurt their factories.&nbsp;
They're going to lose 37 million workers in the next ten years. That's a few holes to fill in mega-factories.&nbsp;
Enter humanoid robots. Barclays, the British bank, reckons 60% of those jobs will be performed by humanoid robots inside the next ten years.&nbsp;
Basically, there's more chance your next new colleague will be a bot or an AI tool than ever before.&nbsp;
Either learn to get along and play nice with them, or they'll replace you.&nbsp;

Ryan Bridge: The AI takeover isn't coming, it's here

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/2bc5860c-6d9e-4548-b5bc-b4510000f3e8/transcript

Max Whitehead: Employment relations specialist on benefit recipient numbers rising

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