Bennett David: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 16 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6665. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) to the Minister of Finance: How is New Zealand’s labour market supporting resilience and delivering higher incomes for families?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): Our economic resilience depends in part on a well-functioning labour market. The current participation rate at 69.3 percent is the third-highest on record. New Zealand’s employment rate—that is the share of the working-age population in employment—is among the highest in the OECD at 65.2 percent. Our labour market is also delivering higher take-home pay for New Zealand families. Average wages rose 3.2 percent in the year to June well above the inflation rate of 0.4 percent.David Bennett: What reports has he received showing how the Government’s tax reforms are supporting more jobs and higher incomes from work?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Last week Treasury released a working paper looking at the effects of the Government’s 2010 tax package which reduced income tax and increased GST. Treasury referred to a number of effects—first that the package increased labour market participation and increased the average hours of work a week; secondly higher labour supply reduced the annual cost of income tax reduction to welfare spending by up to $230 million. The working paper also found that the tax package was approximately distributionally neutral as measured by the Gini coefficient.David Bennett: Who benefits most from the 2010 tax package through better labour market outcomes?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Treasury found that the net effect of the tax package was a moderate improvement in labour market participation and a lift in working hours by all groups that were examined. The strongest improvements were for single women and in particular sole parents whose participation rate increased by nearly 1 percent as a result of the tax reform according to the Treasury study.David Bennett: What additional steps is the Government taking to support more jobs and higher wages?Hon BILL ENGLISH: We intend to stay on track with our existing policy and in particular to refresh the Business Growth Agenda which has proven to be a very successful way of consistently interacting with businesses over what is going to build their confidence to invest another dollar and employ another person. We have already issued a couple of refreshers of the Business Growth Agenda and we will be issuing more over the coming months.Grant Robertson: Was per capita GDP negative in the last quarter?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I think the member has pointed out before that it probably was negative in the last quarter. But of course this Government does not focus on quarter-to-quarter numbers because we cannot influence them. We take a longer-term view about lifting the productivity of New Zealand businesses and the resilience of our economy.Grant Robertson: If the Minister does not focus on quarterly figures can he confirm that the Reserve Bank slashed a third of its forecast growth in its report last week for an annual figure?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The Reserve Bank did reduce the forecast of growth because the signs are that the economy will grow more slowly. It did reduce those forecasts from pretty high levels and it is showing 2 to 2.5 percent growth over the next 12 months which is moderate. But in the context of rapidly dropping dairy prices actually it is not a bad result for this economy if that is what is achieved because other parts of the economy are growing—for instance the manufacturing sector is in its 36th month of continuous expansion.Mr SPEAKER: Before I call the next question—[Interruption] Order! Before I call the next question would Mr Seymour please remove that visual aid from his desk.