18 November 2010 Media Statement

Annette King
Deputy Leader

18 November 2010 Media Statement

Wages plummet under National

Real incomes have plummeted in the two years since National became government, with Māori and Pacific Island families hit the hardest, Labour deputy leader Annette King said today.

“Official figures show that Median incomes for European New Zealanders have dropped by 3.4 per cent, or $21 per week, over the last two years when adjusted for inflation. That is bad enough, but for Māori and Pacific the situation is much worse,” Annette King said.

“Since 2008 Maori incomes have dropped 11.5 per cent, or $60 a week, while Pacific Island wages have fallen by a staggering 19 per cent, or $89 a week.

“It’s no wonder families are finding times tough.

“National has loaded extra GST costs onto families, whose budgets were already stretched after 18 months of National government, power prices have shot up, ACC levies have soared and extra early childhood education costs are about to put families under even more pressure.

“And now these figures from Statistics NZ, which have been adjusted for inflation, show what many people suspect – that they are actually going backwards under this government.

“The evidence of mounting financial difficulties is all around us. Earlier this week in a Christian newspaper, the Salvation Army’s Major Campbell Roberts said 19,000 families had sought their help so far this year.

“Major Roberts said ‘many of those families have emerged since the October 1 [GST] increase in response to extra pressure’. The Salvation Army was ‘gearing up a significant rise in the number of people who will appear this Christmas’ he said.

Annette King said: “With the much promised ‘aggressive’ economic recovery nowhere to be seen and inflation set to rise further due to the GST increase, the budgets of hard-working New Zealanders look set to be stretched even further.

“Will John key, Bill English and Paula Bennett now start to listen to what’s actually going on in the community?”

ENDS

See Stats NZ data and CPI calculation attached.
Change_to_Median_Income_2008.pdf

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