3. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
What reports, if any, has he received on New Zealand’s current unemployment rate?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Acting Prime Minister) Link to this
I have seen a number of reports. One of those states that unemployment rises during a recession. Another states that the rise in the last quarter was around 1 percent. The last time that it was 1 percent was in 1988, when Phil Goff and Annette King were the Ministers of Employment.
Does he stand by his statement that the Government’s policies are taking the sharp edges off the recession, when the figures released today from the household labour force survey show that unemployment is now 6 percent, which is higher than Australia’s unemployment rate; that it is the biggest quarterly jump in 21 years, up by 20.6 percent; that it is the highest unemployment rate in 10 years; and that the number of long-term unemployed has more than doubled, and does that not show that rather than taking the sharp edge off the recession, this Government’s inaction is slicing through families through its lack of policies around unemployment?
No, I do not agree with any of that. I would point out to the questioner that the rate of unemployment now is the same as it was in 2005, when Labour said that the economy was booming.
Is his Government’s policy taking the sharp edges off the recession when the number of people accessing the much-trumpeted ReStart package has gone down each week this month at the same time as unemployment is rapidly rising, and does it not show that the Government’s policies are all about puffery and slogans rather than real solutions for real people?
There are no puffery and slogans about a $10 billion infrastructure investment programme. There is no puffery about a $323 million insulation programme that is benefiting people all over the country. The member may think that it is puffery and sloganism for 17-year-olds to be able to get jobs under the new Job Ops programme, but we think it is important to them and important to the country.
Chris TremainThere are some remarkable similarities, and some differences. Every job lost in this recession is a concern to the Government, but it is not as bad as in previous downturns. For example, the number of people currently receiving the unemployment benefit is under half the number who were on it when Labour left office in 1990. As I pointed out before, the registered unemployment level today is the same as it was in 2005, when that party claimed it had beaten the cycle of boom and bust and everything was going fantastically.
Is his Government’s policy taking the sharp edges off the recession when a mere 33 applications have been made by businesses to sign up to his 9-day fortnight, creating around 400 temporary jobs in 5 months, when at the same time 20,000 Kiwis are being thrown out of work each week?
The Government has provided a range of employment programmes, ranging from ReStart to the 9-day fortnight and the youth unemployment package. Alongside that, the Government is out in the market borrowing billions of dollars to pump into the economy, and it is protecting many people from the sharp edges of recession.
I have seen reports of politicians trying to trivialise the problem of unemployment, but, more important, I have seen reports that leading indicators of the economy are beginning to pick up. I have also seen a number of reports of people who are very pleased with the Government’s infrastructure investment because it is providing jobs.
Is his Government being successful in taking the sharp edges off the recession when we now have 24,000 more people unemployed than in the last quarter, 40 new households a week seeking food parcels to feed their families, and 1,240 families reaching out to the Salvation Army for clothing, bedding, furniture, and other practical assistance?
All of those figures are signs of an economy under stress, and I feel sorry for those people who relied on the economic management of the previous Labour Government, because they have found out that their jobs were built on sand. Those people are paying the price for 10 years of mismanagement, too much borrowing, and reckless Government spending.
I keep hearing reports that there are alternative policies, but I have not seen policies that will roll back a global recession.
Carmel SepuloniWhat advice would the Prime Minister give to the 10,000 Pacific people who are now unemployed, and what is he doing to address Pacific job losses in New Zealand?
The Government is setting about changing the economic direction so we can strengthen this economy to provide those people with new jobs. Unfortunately, they relied on the previous Labour Government, which told them they had secure jobs. It turns out that in the face of a recession they should not have trusted Labour the way they did.
Kelvin DavisWhat new initiatives will the Government introduce to address the skyrocketing Māori unemployment rate, which has increased from 8.1 percent to 12.6 percent in the last year?
I am pleased the member asked that question, because the House was told earlier this week that Māori and iwi organisations will be supported by the Government to create opportunities under the Community Max scheme and the Job Ops scheme, which are focused particularly on young unemployed Māori, who are overrepresented among the unemployment statistics. I know that that member is a good local member, and I hope that he will help organisations to access that scheme, which he can do right now.
I seek leave to release the weekly ReStart figures for July, which show that the numbers of people on ReStart have gone down each week for July.
Mr SPEAKER