5. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) Link to this
to the Minister for Social Development and Employment
What reports has she received on the latest increase in benefit numbers?
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) Link to this
The latest monthly figures show that 59,151 people are currently receiving support through the unemployment benefit. I can report that the last time we were at this number was in February 2005, which was not in the middle of a global recession but was, in fact, in the middle of the term of a fairly poorly performing Labour Government.
As 323,160 people are now collecting a main benefit—an increase of 21 percent since she became Minister—why has her answer to the misery that many people are facing been a poorly targeted subsidy for employers for 6 months, which may help 4,000 people over 2 years; and how does that compare with the Australian Labor Government’s employment package, which saw Australia’s unemployment remain static this month while ours went up?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
It is true that New Zealand was in recession well before other countries were, and that we had a Labour Government that did nothing for three quarters while unemployment numbers went up, so on coming into Government last November we had a lot of catching up to do, a lot of work to do, and that is what the Government has been focused on. A thousand Job Ops positions have been created in the last 6 weeks. The scheme is proving to be successful, and employers and young people are benefiting from it.
Does the Minister stand by her claim that she has done “heaps” for unemployed people with programmes like ReStart and the 9-day working fortnight—flagship policies of the Job Summit? Given that a mere 4,493 people have accessed ReStart in almost a year, not the 35,000 people a year promised, and given that only 38 companies have actually made inquiries about the 9-day working fortnight, will she now acknowledge that she has done very little for struggling families?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
Let us be quite clear that with ReStart there was not a target. What actually happened was officials made an estimation of how much money they thought the Government needed to put aside for the scheme, and what we did was work out a worst-case scenario. I am sorry if the member is disappointed that that number of people have not been made redundant. Let me add that because of our unrelenting focus on jobs and work, in terms of Work and Income 44,000 fewer people have needed benefits in the last year than otherwise would have.
Katrina ShanksWhat other reports has the Minister seen on the impact of the current global economic climate on jobs?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
New Zealand is still holding up fairly well internationally. Our household labour force survey unemployment rate places us ninth out of the 30 OECD countries. Yes, unemployment is going up. The Labour Opposition is just waking up to the fact that in a recession, unfortunately, people have to go on to benefits. This month 7,594 more people qualified for an accommodation supplement. A total of 53,000 more people are receiving it now than were receiving it before the election.
Is the Minister aware that an additional 9,000 people went on to the domestic purposes benefit in the last year, which would equate to an annual additional cost of up to $200 million per year; and is it not false economy and punitive to cut $11 million from the training incentive allowance, which could have helped half that number of beneficiaries to get back to work through training—people who actually want to get off the benefit?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
The member obviously does not recall that people who were receiving the training incentive allowance before the Budget still can receive it, so those people have not had their training incentive allowance cut; they are still on the training incentive allowance, and will be on it right through until they finish their study. Yes, 9,000 more people are on the domestic purposes benefit, most of them because, unfortunately, they have lost their jobs. I understand from what I heard in the weekend that members on that side of the House would like to have a social inclusion commissioner. I am not sure what they expect that social inclusion commissioner to actually do to help reduce unemployment.
Darien FentonDoes the Minister have confidence in Work and Income, given its latest botch-up over the advertising of the Telecom technician position in Auckland, with Work and Income telling hundreds of Telecom technicians doing the same job as that advertised who are being made redundant that the only jobs on offer are minimum wage jobs; if so, why?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Link to this
Yes, jobs from Telecom have been going on Work and Income’s books, and we have been placing people in some of them. I believe that the job that the member is referring to is an owner-operator role. I do not believe that anyone has been placed in that role right now, but we will take job vacancies and we will place unemployed people in them every chance we get.
I seek leave to table two advertisements from the Work and Income Find a Job website, the first advertising a Telecom technician job as a full-time wage job, and the second advertising the same job as an owner-operator position.
Mr SPEAKER