If you’ve been to your local dairy, takeaway shop, or corner store lately, you’ve probably noticed the change – fewer customers and fewer purchases.
For the many in our Indian community, who run and work in these small businesses, the cost-of-living crisis is no longer just something we read about – it’s happening right in front of
us.
The reality is simple: when people lose jobs and wages dry up - local businesses feel it straight away. Under Christopher Luxon, there are 36,000 fewer people in work. In the last year alone 125,000 New Zealanders left, and 2,700 businesses shut down – the highest in a decade. One in eight Auckland retail shops sit empty.
Now, with fewer tradies in work and families tightening their spending, dairies, cafés, restaurants, and service businesses are struggling.
We know how this works in our own households. If the rent or mortgage is up, if groceries cost more, if the power bill is higher – there’s less left over for takeaways on Friday night or the haircut at the local salon.
Christopher Luxon promised to make things better. Instead, he is making them worse.
The number of people out of work is going up, and National’s choices are pushing more skilled workers overseas. We all know someone – a cousin, a neighbour, a friend – who has packed up and gone because they couldn’t see a future here. That’s talent and energy lost, not just to our workforce, but for the small businesses who rely on them as customers too.
Food, electricity, and housing costs are all going up. Families who are already doing it tough feel the pinch every time they go to the checkout. Yet, while ordinary people are making sacrifices, this Government is focused on increasing pay for board directors and delivering tax cuts for property speculators and even tobacco companies. That tells you everything about their priorities.
The construction slowdown has been particularly tough. Work was booming not long ago – supporting families with decent wages and giving young people apprenticeships and a future. Now projects have stalled, people are leaving, and instead of stable jobs we’re seeing worrying rises in gang activity and methamphetamine use. That’s not the kind of economy or community we want to build.
For small businesses, this downturn is deeply personal. The dairy owner who sees fewer familiar faces in the shop. The local restaurant that has empty tables on a Saturday night.
The builder who used to have months of work lined up but now has none. These are not just statistics – they’re our families, our livelihoods, our communities.
The Government should be doing everything it can to protect jobs, bring down costs, and give small businesses a chance. That means investing in infrastructure, so construction keeps moving. It means making sure skilled workers want to stay here, not leave.
And it means making sure the economy works for everyone - not just speculators and big corporates. Right now, the cost-of-living crisis is biting hard. Families are cutting back, and small businesses are paying the price.
The Indian community knows the value of hard work and
small enterprise – it’s time the Government did too.
Ginny Andersen is Labour’s Police and Jobs and Incomes spokesperson
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