The job market's remaining tougher, for longer, than many economists were expecting.

Unemployment's reached a ten-year high of 5.4 percent in the December quarter.

The broader under-utilisation rate is close to a ten-year high, at 13-percent.

EMA Head of Advocacy, Finance and Strategy Alan McDonald shares his thoughts.

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You’ll probably see and hear a bit of argy bargy up north today as the pollies get welcomed onto the Treaty Grounds.

If you’ve never been up there, it’s easily one of the best ‘kiwi’ weekends you’ll experience. The sunshine’s guaranteed. People are friendly. The grub’s good and there’s plenty of watering holes filled with political chats flowing long into the night.

Protest is an important part of democracy. It lances society’s boils and keeps powerful people in check.

But it must be peaceful. The minute you start throwing fists, pushing cops and shoving people round you lose the room.

I’ve seen that happen at Waitangi several times. I’ve seen that happen at many protests about a whole bunch of different issues.

I hope it doesn’t happen this year. There’s a group of twenty online who apparently say they’re ready to be arrested in the name of protest. What a shame that would be.

If there’s one thing we’ve shown each other as a country over the last fortnight; with the storms, flooding, landslides and then the clean-up; it’s that we are still the united and down-to-earth country.

The politicians might argue. The lobby groups hiss and roar. But at its heart, New Zealand is mostly made up of decent people who look out for each other.

We saw marae house, feed and water their neighbours. I saw farmers being fed by kuia on marae. We saw farmers helping clear Māori-owned land of debris.

We saw tradies and workers leap in to help tourists trapped under rubble.

They might fight about race in Parliament but the reality on the ground, as you know and most of us know, is way more chill than they make out.

Much more chill than we in the media make out, too, to be fair.

We’re basically a nation of hard-working people, of all different cultures and colours, who sometimes disagree but mostly get on with life and look after each other.

Of course, there are exceptions but that’s exactly the point, they’re exceptions not the rule.

And this Waitangi Day, especially given how badly some other democracies have gone to dogs, that’s something surely worth celebrating.

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A view more practical training for drivers will be essential, with the full licence test in the rear-view mirror.

After passing the restricted licence test, drivers under the age of 25 will have to wait out a mandatory 12-month period before they can apply for a full licence.

Those aged over 25 will have to wait six months.

Institute of Driver Educators President Mark Revill-Johnson told Ryan Bridge it's important to get training all the way to a full licence.

He says lots of people fail that test for things like speeding and failing to follow stop and give way signs.

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Growers are counting the cost as drinking habits change.

Around 100 thousand tonnes of grapes —a fifth of the crop— were left on the vine last year after exports couldn’t keep up.

Soljans Estate vineyard manager Tai Nelson told Ryan Bridge they just haven't been able to sell their product.

He says demand generally has dropped.

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The economy appears to be turning a corner, and we'll learn today whether the unemployment rate will follow suit.

Stats NZ is providing its latest employment update at 10.45am.

Economists are divided on whether the unemployment rate will remain unchanged at the historically high 5.3%, or will dip slightly to 5.2%.

Westpac Senior Economist Michael Gordon told Ryan Bridge jobs have started to trickle through, but it’s just enough to stabilise the rate, rather than bring it down.

He says they’re expecting things to turn towards the middle of the year, improving over the course of the next year or so.

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The British Prime Minster says Lord Mandelson has let the country down as he quits the House of Lords.

UK Police are now investigating allegations that Mandelson shared internal government information with convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.

The latest release of Epstein files also show pictures of Mandelson in his underwear with an unidentified woman.

UK correspondent Mike Pearse told Ryan Bridge the Government told him if he didn't resign, they would've introduced legal powers to sack him.

He says it's turning out to be one of the biggest political scandals in the UK in recent years.

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On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Wednesday the 4th of February 2025, the government's scrapping full drivers license tests, Mark Revill-Johnson, President of the New Zealand Institute of Driver Educators shares his thoughts.

The first job market statistics of the year come out today, Westpac Senior Economist Michael Gordon tells Ryan where he thinks the unemployment rate will sit.

The wine industry’s nursing a bit of an oversupply hangover, Soljans Winery Vineyard Manager Tai Nelson tells Ryan how it's been impacting their winery.

Plus UK/Europe Correspondent Mike Pearse has the latest on Peter Mandelson stepping down as a lord.

Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The inflation thief might be gone but it lurks in the corner and if you’re not careful, it happily leaps out and steals your wages.

Last week we spoke about the fact their inflation’s running hot - almost 4%.

They’re now world leaders, with the highest rate in the developed world. More than the UK, US, Germany, Japan, Canada, Spain, and France.

Not something Albo or anyone in Canberra should be proud of.

So yesterday the Reserve Bank of Australia did what central banks do when things are getting too spicy - they hike rates.

They’ve just done a quarter of a percent. They’re likely to do another one next month.

Labor has a very generous system that gets Aussies into houses. First home buyers can get in with 10%, there’s cash at the ready.

Housing costs are partly driving this inflation. No such thing as a free lunch.

The subsidies are also helping to drive house prices, which in places like Sydney, Melbourne, and even Brisbane are completely out of reach and not even comparable to our big cities.

Now the interest rate hikes these young new buyers are going to have swallow, as rates go up, will leave an estimated 1.3 million mortgage holders under stress.

Roy Morgan says that’s 30% of mortgage holders.

Albo and Labor are overseeing near record highs of government spending - almost 30% of GDP.

Now, the problem is that when the private sector runs up against competition from the public sector it can cause the whole thing to fizz and bubble up to the point of overheating.

And overheating needs cooling, and cooling causes pain.

So, the next time politicians on this side of the Tasman tell you more borrowing and spending will solve our problems, ask them how much, from where, for what exactly and whether the spend carries an inflation risk or not.

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