Nine To Noon for Tuesday 13 May 2025

09:05 Work wanted: the thousands who can't get enough hours 

Hundreds of thousands of people don't have as much paid work as they need - with labour market data showing while the unemployment rate remained stable in the recent quarter, fewer hours are being worked, and wage growth is slowing. Outside of the 2020 and 2021 Covid period, the number of hours worked recorded the deepest annual decline since 2009. The March quarterly data from Stats NZ shows 156,000 people are unemployed - but 234,000 more are under-utilised meaning they have a job but not enough hours or are able to work but may have given up looking. It all sits underneath the comparatively rosy headline figure of unemployment - which was unchanged during the period - to stay at 5.1 percent. Mary Jo Vergara is senior economist at Kiwibank.

09:20 Restoring the fortunes of our struggling wool industry 

An Avondale-based acoustic panel and insulation manufacturer has developed a sustainable wool product it hopes could restore the fortunes of the struggling industry. Autex Acoustics has spent the last four years developing a way to process wool sustainably. Manufacturing starts on a Hunterville farm - with a conscious focus on fertilizer minimisation and soil management. The whole process is carbon negative - meaning more CO2 is removed from the atmosphere than emitted during the manufacturing process. So far Autex Acoustic produces insulation and acoustic panels, and last week opened a research and development Autex Future Lab to develop sustainable materials for commercialisation. This comes as wood producers respond with dismay to Bremworth's decision to re-introduce some synthetic carpets. Autex creative director and Future Labs leader Jono Mountfort speaks to Kathryn. 

09:30 Unlocking the secrets of the "superagers"

Why do some octogenarians have exceptional memories? Emily Rogalski, Professor of Neurology at the University of Chicago, has been working in this area for years. She says research often looks at people who are sick,  and work backward to figure out how they got that way. But she is starting with people who are extraordinarily healthy to understand how they became so.  She talks to Kathryn about "superagers"  - those 80 + who have the memory of someone decades younger.

09:45 USA correspondent Ron Elving

In the USA, markets are taking the pause in tariffs with China as an indication of a lasting peace agreement.

Ron Elving is a Senior Editor and Correspondent, Washington Desk for NPR news.

10:05 Jack Hobbs: "Plants are good for us!"

Nearly 50 years ago, a young landscape recruit in Auckland began working on transforming some farmland in Manurewa into what is now the beautiful Auckland Botanic Gardens. His name was Jack Hobbs -  and he went on to become one of the country's pre-eminent horticulturalists. Jack Hobbs has been curator / manager of the Auckland Botanic Gardens since 1997, he had 20 years running the botanic garden plant breeding programme, he's author of numerous books on plants, and host and presenter of TV and radio gardening shows. Jack Hobbs has just retired from Auckland Council after 48 years.

10:30 Kiwisaver figures show more withdrawals for hardship than homes

Retirement savings are increasingly being used to supplement people's incomes, with the number of financial hardship withdrawals now surpassing the number for withdrawals for first home deposits for the first time. Inland Revenue data shows in each of the past nine consecutive months the number of withdrawals for hardship reasons was higher than the number of a home deposit. The data shows prior to 2023 first  home deposit numbers clearly outstripped the numbers of those in hardship, but that this gap started to close during 2023. The most recent data for March shows 4.980 hardship withdrawals and 4,190 first home deposit withdrawals. Tom Hartmann is Personal Finance Lead at Sorted.co.nz which is run by the Retirement Commission.

10:35 Book review: The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey 

Kiran Dass reviews The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey published by Te Herenga Waka University Press

10:45 Around the motu: Peter de Graaf in Northland

Right off the back of a drought, Kaitaia, Kerikeri and Whangarei all had their wettest April in recorded history, it has been 180 years since the start of the Northern War, Northland commemorates the Battle of Te Kahika, and James Cross has died aged 68.

Peter de Graaf is a RNZ Northland reporter based in Kerikeri.

11:05 Business commentator Victoria Young

Kiwi companies Sanford, Xero, and Manawa Energy have results coming this week; Pushpay has lost its conviction appeal in the insider trading case and how much land has Ikea picked up over the years?

BusinessDesk editor, Victoria Young

11:20 Dame Valerie Adams on her advocacy for tamariki in South Auckland

Dame Valerie Adams is on a mission to help thousands of tamariki in South Auckland as winter bites. Kidz First Hospital at Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland is seeing up to four children admitted to its intensive care unit every day with respiratory illnesses. The situation is worsened by cold, damp homes. Through the Jammies for June campaign, Middlemore Foundation ambassador Dame Valerie Adams pushing to collect pajamas to donate for children in need.  The campaign is also raising money to buy PJs - and aims to get twenty-thousand pairs into homes. Dame Valerie Adams speaks to Kathryn Ryan.

11:45 Sports chat with Sam Ackerman

In sport, Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox has won for the first time on the PGA Tour, claiming the Myrtle Beach Classic title in a play-off.