Morning Report Essentials for Thursday 7 August 2025

In today's episode, a Christchurch man says he has applied for hundreds of jobs with no success, and despairs about what to do next; New Zealand's unemployment rate has hit 5.2% - the highest since 2020; The government is planning to abolish petrol tax and move towards all vehicles paying road user charges, or RUCs, to pay for roads; Auckland high school principal Claire Amos says the Education Minister is overstating schools' readiness to use Artificial Intelligence; Contact Energy is ramping up its renewable energy supplies, saying investment in that area is critical to the economy; New research has revealed that song birds may need a good night's sleep to sing.