US teen birth rates

The Green National Socialist Party issued a press release last week that blared of their success in reducing the number of single mothers on the dole. It was trumpeted on Kiwiblog and Whaleoil as a sign of National’s superior skills in governance. Like most of their releases, this one does not stand scrutiny.

The Nats spent $41 million of your money on a program to help single mothers get off the dole and find work. The purpose of this press release is to make the taxpayers think this money was well spent. The likely reality is that this was just more socialist waste.

The Nats point out that there were 4263 single mothers receiving taxpayer money in 2009 and this has dropped to 1863 in 2016. Unfortunately they omit detail that would demonstrate the truth about the programs effectiveness, such as how many solo mothers participated in the program and how many of these participants found work.

Strangely, this most pertinent information is not found in the press release. I like Ann Tolley, but she has to do better than this cheap stunt.

Teenage pregnancies UK

The number of single mothers has been steadily dropping for some years now, all over the globe. Therefore its unlikely this reduction is down to Nat’s policy. The reasons for the fall are subject to much speculation.

Pew Research has a good go at establishing the reasons.

Naturally, these falling raw numbers would also cause a fall in the numbers of single mothers receiving the dole. If the Nats were going to claim credit for this, wouldn’t you think they would have included information supporting this claim?

They did not because they cannot. The fall in numbers is not down to the $41 million spent, and its not down to the brilliance of the NAt’s policies. Falling numbers of teen pregnancies naturally cause a reduction in the number of teen mothers on the dole. Its a world wide thing. The Nats and their $41 million had little to do with it. If not they would have showed us the evidence. Their claim therefore is a complete fabrication.

Remember that when you cast your vote in the upcoming election.