2 December 2015 MEDIA STATEMENT

South Island unemployment rises 32% in 2015

The Government is sitting on its hands as New Zealand’s regional unemployment soars, with a more than 30% rise in those out of work in the South Island this year, Opposition Leader Andrew Little says.

“Unemployment is growing and household incomes are plummeting while Government ministers parrot lines about New Zealand’s ‘great economy’. Just ask families how great it is in regions such as Wanganui, Manawatu, Otago and Southland where household incomes fell this year.

“Even in supposedly affluent Wellington and Canterbury, the money going into homes has declined. In the South Island it fell by 2% this year. The West Coast region is now in recession, according to ANZ.

“The health of the economy should be measured by the health of its people. And yet in just the past three months 11,000 jobs were lost taking our tally of unemployed Kiwis to more than 150,000 people. Work is about more than just a job. It’s dignity, opportunity and the chance to live the Kiwi dream.

“Under John Key that dream is slipping away for tens of thousands of families as the National Government sits and watches from the sidelines. Regional neglect in New Zealand is real, and it’s hurting,” Andrew Little says.

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