4. Economy—Business Confidence Forecasts and UnemploymentHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of FinanceEconomy—Business Confidence Forecasts and Unemployment4. Hon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of Finance: Does he have confidence in the Government's management of the New Zealand economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Yes even more so today with the release of employment data that shows 94000 more people employed in the June 2018 quarter compared to the June 2017 quarter; a fall in the rate of those young people not in employment education or training from 12.4 percent to 10.9 percent; and the highest employment rates on record for Māori and women.Hon Amy Adams: Does he take it as a signal of confidence in the Government's economic management that the number of people unemployed has increased by 4000 people in the last three months the cost of living is increasing faster than wages and job growth is half of what it was under the previous National Government?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The number of people unemployed—the unemployment rate—has gone up from 4.4 to 4.5 percent. That puts it lower than what we inherited at 4.8 percent from the previous Government. And I repeat there are 94000 more people employed in the June quarter compared to June 2017. And I would say in the year before that June 2016 to June 2017 it was only 76000. This Government is actually building the number of people in employment.Hon Amy Adams: Does he take it as a signal of confidence in the Government's economic management that former ANZ chief economist Cameron Bagrie has described the economy as being at stall speed" Infometrics have said it is clear that businesses are giving up hope on the economy and a survey by Federated Farmers has reported a fivefold increase in pessimism over the last 12 months?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The first of those people Cameron Bagrie also said today that it was necessary for us to shift to a more sustainable economy and a more productive one—away I might say from population growth and house price rises echoing John Key's comments from the weekend—and what Cameron Bagrie said was that it will take time for other parts of the economy to step up. We're getting on with the job of actually supporting those other parts of the economy to step up rather than sitting on the side lines grumpily carping.Hon Amy Adams: Does he take it as a signal of confidence in the Government's economic management that senior economists are now talking about our economy probably growing at around only 1.5 percent compared to Treasury's forecast of 3 percent—a drop that would cost the Government billions of dollars in revenue?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The consensus forecasts that came out this month show a 3 percent growth over the forecast period. The IMF supports that the Reserve Bank supports that and Treasury supports that. The member might want to talk the New Zealand economy down but actually we are in a transition period. The economy is continuing to grow in a sustainable way.Hon Amy Adams: So when he said in the House yesterday and today that the Government is transitioning the economy did he in fact mean that the Government is transitioning us from a high-growth economy with falling unemployment and wages rising at twice the rate of inflation to in fact a low-growth economy with more people on the unemployment benefit and the cost of living increasing faster than wages?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Absolutely not. What I meant was that we were going to transition away from an economy that even the member's former leader is now acknowledging was built on population growth and housing speculation. That's not sustainable. What is sustainable is actually investing a billion dollars a year in our regions giving a billion dollars' worth of research and development support creating a Green Investment Fund and getting alongside the business community to grow long-term sustainable jobs. I'm proud that this Government is finally facing up to issues that were ignored for nine years."