3. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
Does he stand by all his statements on unemployment?
Hon JOHN KEYDoes he agree with the Minister for Social Development and Employment that the weekly unemployment benefit figures he has released at two press conferences recently are “unreliable, highly volatile, and potentially misleading to the public”; if so, why is he pulling the wool over New Zealanders’ eyes by using shonky data?
I find it a bit amusing that the only people who seem to be pleased when unemployment goes up are Labour members. I know that one or two of them are very focused on their employment at the moment—
Mr SPEAKEROK. Yes, in broad terms I agree with the Minister for Social Development and Employment, but the points I made at my press conference yesterday were about the trend. The trend is that for 9 weeks in a row more people have come off the unemployment benefit than gone on it. That is something we should be celebrating, especially given Treasury’s predictions at this time.
When he was reusing “unreliable, highly volatile, and potentially misleading” figures yesterday, was he aware that unemployment drops around this time every year and that this year we are experiencing a smaller than usual seasonal drop of just 2.6 percent, when the average drop over the same period for the last 9 years was 5.2 percent?
Hon David CunliffeWhy should there be no road rage on my cycleway? I think it is a good idea. Treasury’s prediction for all of 2009 was that unemployment would rise, so despite the assertions of Annette King, that is not the advice we had from Treasury.
Can he confirm that the latest figures released from the Ministry of Social Development show that the number of people on all benefits, including the unemployment benefit, has gone up by over 56,000 in the year that he has been Prime Minister, and that his use of “unreliable, highly volatile, and potentially misleading” figures is nothing more than a public relations stunt to play down the growing impact of unemployment on struggling New Zealanders?
No, I cannot confirm that. I can confirm that when Phil Goff and Annette King were Ministers of Employment, the number of people on the unemployment benefit rose from 42,000 to 149,000.
Will he now change his figure for the level that unemployment will reach in New Zealand by next year from the 7 percent he was predicting just a few weeks ago to 8 percent, which is what the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research is now predicting, or was his use of the 7 percent figure also “unreliable, highly volatile, and potentially misleading to the public”?
I know this will come as an enormous disappointment to Annette King, but when the Minister of Finance releases the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update next week, the deputy leader of the Labour Party will find that, in fact, my predictions are spot on with Treasury’s and that the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research is wrong.
I seek leave to table a letter, dated 6 November, from the Hon Paula Bennett to me, in which she said the weekly data of unemployment benefits is volatile and could be potentially misleading to the public.
I seek leave to table a letter, dated 17 August, addressed to the Speaker of the House, in which she says the weekly unemployment figures that are being used by the Prime Minister are unreliable and potentially misleading figures.
Hon John CarterThe letter was to the Speaker of the House from Paula Bennett, Minister for Social Development and Employment.
I seek leave to table the latest benefit figures from the Ministry of Social Development, which are out today, showing that 56,000 more people are on benefits since John Key became Prime Minister.