By Duncan Garner
Unemployment has hit a 10-year high at 7.3 percent and 168,000 people are now officially looking for work – the highest in 17 years.
The numbers for the three months to December have come as a shock to the Government. Earlier this week Finance Minister Bill English was saying the numbers weren’t expected to reach Treasury’s forecast of seven percent.
More than 72,000 young New Zealanders aged 15-24 are looking for work, but John Key says it shouldn’t get much worse than this.
“I think we are getting somewhere near the top,” he says. "All the signs we see from employers, and from what is happening with the unemployment benefit numbers which we look at every week, shows us that signs of encouragement are coming back into the economy."
Labour says the latest figures are proof the Government has failed.
“It’s much worse than expected,” says Labour leader Phil Goff. "John Key said it would peak at 7 percent, he was rejoicing last year and saying unemployment was falling."
The number of those out of work for 26 weeks or more have jumped markedly, from 14,000 this time last year, to 40,000.
Simon Mapu has been looking for work for a year.
“I’ve been applying for about 10 jobs every week, but it’s always the same old story,” he says.
Maori and Pacific Island unemployment has risen dramatically. Maori unemployment has gone from 9.8 percent to more than 15 percent, and Pacific Island unemployment has almost doubled, at 14 percent.
Unions say the Government’s job summit, which was held a year ago, has failed workers.
“What I’m worried about is that focus that the Government had on jobs is now completely gone,” says Helen Kelly of the Trade Unions Council. "They're focussing on things that are actually losing people jobs, like cuts in the public services."
The main idea of the summit was the nine-day fortnight.
“It’s everyone on the shop floor holding the hand of their mate to save their job,” says Mr Key.
But that vision got a lukewarm response – just 49 businesses nationwide have taken it up and, as of today, it has saved just 621 jobs.
When the job summit was held the unemployment rate was 4.6 percent. The unemployment rate is now at 7.3 percent, which means 60,000 workers have lost their jobs in the year since the summit.
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