Su’a William
SIO
Employment Spokesperson

7 February 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT

Where are the jobs, Prime Minister?

Today’s unemployment data, which shows that 33,000 people have given up on the labour market altogether, is an indictment on National’s economic failure, says Su’a William Sio.

The Household Labour Force Survey reveals that in the last 3 months of 2012, the Labour Force participation Rate dropped by 1.2 percentage points.

“At the last election John Key promised New Zealanders that his ‘Brighter Future Plan’ would help create 170,000 new jobs over four years. It sounded great – but the reality has been altogether different.

“One year on from that promise, and the economy has actually shed 30,000 jobs[i]. So instead of creating work, National’s hands-off economic mismanagement has destroyed jobs.

“To achieve John Key’s promise the economy will now have to create an extra 200,000 jobs over the next three years. Given National’s track record that looks about as likely as Kim Dotcom making another donation to John Banks.

“John Key, Bill English and Steven Joyce have no idea how to get the economy back on track. They are sitting by and watching as people opt out of the labour market, or fly off for Australia.

“Kiwis deserve better than that. They need a Labour Government that will get stuck in and make job creation a priority,” says Su’a William Sio.

labour.org.nz

[i] In December 2011 there were 2,224,000 people employed in New Zealand. In December 2012 there 2,194,000 people employed.

ENDS

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