Nine To Noon for Thursday 4 February 2016

09:05 What is behind the fall in the unemployment rate?​

The country's unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in almost seven years, at 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, with strong growth jobs in the construction sector as well as in retail and hospitality businesses.

But the data also showed that 14,000 people had stopped looking for work for various reasons, even though the size of the workforce had increased, driven by record immigration. We examine who is leaving the labour market and why and the flow on effects with ASB Chief Economist Nick Tuffley.

9:20 Should property buyers be getting soil tests ? 

New Zealand has an estimated 20,000 sites contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides and other toxic material. Since 2008, all regional councils have been identifying land where hazardous activities have taken place, such as pesticide storage or sheep dips  - and adding them to a register.

The register is based on the Ministry for the Environment's Hazardous Activities and Industries List (HAIL) - which details 53 activities and industries that could potentially cause soil contamination.
However, the Ministry admits it doesn't know how exactly many sites may be contaminated, and just because a site does not appear on the regional council's lists, it does not guarantee that it won't be contaminated. 

Lawrence Yule is the President of Local Government New Zealand, and also the Hastings Mayor 

Sally Gaw is an Environmental Chemist at the University of Canterbury 

09:45 UK correspondent​ Ann Leslie

Ann Leslie reports on David Cameron's 're-negotiations' of Britain's terms of membership of the EU, and Lord Lucan the dapper peer who vanished 42 years ago after the murder of his children's nanny,  is officially declared dead.

10:05 Jo Marchant

How is it that placebos can be effective..even when someone knows they are taking fake medicine? What impact can meditation and slow, regulated breathing have on your nervous system and immune response? And why do burns victims report much less pain undergoing treatment, if they are immersed in a virtual reality? Jo Marchant is a science writer in the UK who has written a book on the remarkable healing that can happen because of what people believe in or think. Cure - A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body delves into the research that shows the mind can have enormous power over the progression and symptoms of disease.

10:35 Book review

In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride, reviewed by Lisa Finucane, published by HarperCollins

10:45 The Reading

11:05 Live from TPP protests in Auckland

RNZ reporter Murielle Baker reports live from from protests in Auckland against the signing of the TPP Agreement.
 

11:15 New technology with Sarah Putt

Sarah Putt reports on Alphabet becoming the world's most valuable company and Netflix blocks privacy tools

11:25 Equipping children to deal with disappointment and failure

Jessica Lahey is an American teacher and author. She writes a bi-weekly column titled "The Parent Teacher Conference" for the New York Times. She says we are the generation that invented over parenting. Her new book How to Step Back and Let Your Child Succeed, is about the gift of failure.

11:45 Viewing with Paul Casserley

Paul Casserley talks about true crime including, Making a Murderer and The People v OJ Simpson

Music played in this show

Artist: DD Smash
Song: Outlook for Thursday
Composer: Dobbyn
Album: Beside You: 30 Years of Hits
Label: Epic/Sony
Time: 09:17
Artist: Al Green
Song: Love and Happiness
Composer: Green/Hodges
Album: I'm Still in Love with You
Label: The Right Stuff
Time: 09:44