6 May 2015

Job figures show many missing out

New Zealand’s “rock star” economy is failing to deliver either a surplus, real wage increases or job growth with unemployment stuck at 5.8 per cent,” Labour’s Leader Andrew Little says.

“The Government trumpets the 3 per cent growth rate and tells us we are ‘on the cusp of something special’.

“Yet today’s unemployment figures are not showing the benefit of that growth. Unemployment has stalled at 5.8 per cent. At the same time wage growth is the lowest they have been in two years.

“Along with National’s failure to keep its promise of a surplus, New Zealanders will be wondering what the point of economic growth is, if it does nothing for everyday working people.

“The figures are also a sign of National’s neglect of the regions, with unemployment at 9.9 per cent in Northland and over 7 per cent in Bay of Plenty, Gisborne-Hawkes Bay and Manawatu-Whanganui.

“National seems content to let the economy drift along. They are out of ideas and out of touch.

“What is needed is investment in creating jobs, lifting incomes and supporting our regions,” Andrew Little says.

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