“This is great news for our people,” said National’s Ilam MP Gerry Brownlee in reaction to the positive unemployment figures released today.

Unemployment in the Canterbury region is down from 8.3% in the December 1998 quarter to 6.9% in the latest September quarter, as outlined in the Household Labour Force Survey.

“The sustained fall in unemployment shows that the Canterbury economy is growing and that National’s policies are working .

“The number of Canterbury people in work has risen by 22,000 in the year to Sept 1999, that that is 430 more jobs every week in Canterbury over the past year. That is the equivalent growth of one Bendon factory every week.”

Mr Brownlee said it is the Government’s aim to bring nation-wide unemployment to below 6%, and the latest figures show that this goal will soon be achieved.

“But if the Labour-Alliance bloc ever got the chance to govern it won’t happen. Simply put, higher taxes, higher interest rates, and scrapping the Employment Contracts Act would cost jobs.

“More New Zealanders are in work now than ever before. National has made some substantial headway with increased employment this decade. We can’t afford to let the Labour-Alliance bloc stunt economic and employment growth because they are key to social progress.”

ENDS

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