Aspirational nonsense - they want work

Anne Tolley’s description of the Government’s unemployment target as ‘aspirational’ is not only confirmation that National is failing to get people into work, but astonishing in its naivety, Social Development spokesperson Carmel Sepuloni.

“Ms Tolley has basically admitted National has given up on getting people into work.

“In a statement today she claims benefit numbers are showing a steady decline. However if you read between the lines, the total number of people categorised as ‘jobseekers’ has shown a steady month on month rise since March last year, with 122,927 New Zealanders now on a jobseeker benefit compared to 116,893 in March, 118,072 in June and 120,901 in September.

“Not only that, the number of people coming off the benefit is at its lowest level since September 2013.

“If the Government wanted to be truly ambitious and was serious about getting people off benefits it should be investing in upskilling and training, creating jobs and incentivising business and others to take on staff,” says Carmel Sepuloni says.

People coming off the Jobseekers Benefit:

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