CTU media release

24 November 2009

Mixed news on job front

The CTU gave a cautious welcome to expansion of the youth Job Ops scheme and the improvement in youth unemployment figures announced today.

“The Employment Minister is right to be concerned about unemployment over the coming summer months,” said CTU Secretary Peter Conway. “While it is good to see figures stabilising we expect to see further increases in the near future and the more accurate picture given by the Household Labour Force Survey shows that we are not out of the woods yet.”

“We must not forget that there are still 150,000 unemployed, 122,100 workers wanting to work more hours and a total of 254,000 people who are jobless. In the last quarter unemployment amongst Maori was at 14.2 percent, Pacific people 12.3 percent, and youth unemployment (15-19 year olds) was at 25.1 percent. While it is welcome to see the recent decline in actual numbers on unemployment benefit the bigger picture is still a major concern.”

“New Zealand is still lagging behind Australia, and the Government needs to support state sector jobs and resist further cuts. The opportunity to invest more heavily in skills training has not passed either – more could be done to equip those currently out of work to better satisfy the future demand for skilled labour which will be just as acute as it always was.”

ENDS

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