5. Question No. 5—Social Development and EmploymentHon WILLIE JACKSON (Labour) to the Minister for Social Development and EmploymentQuestion No. 5—Social Development and Employment5. Hon WILLIE JACKSON (Labour) to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Do recent unemployment figures show New Zealand is back on track; if not why not?Hon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Social Development and Employment): Our coalition Government is getting New Zealand back on track and as I've acknowledged before too many New Zealanders have been denied the independence and opportunities that work provides. We've inherited a low-growth economy from the previous Government which unfortunately means rising unemployment. That's why we're implementing a more proactive welfare system to support people off benefit and into work. In the six years before we took over the number of people receiving the jobseeker benefit increased by 70000 or 57 percent.Hon Willie Jackson: How can New Zealand be back on track when on average every month since she's been in office there's been an additional 1000 people out of work?Hon LOUISE UPSTON: As I explained we unfortunately inherited an economy that saw the previous Government absolutely mismanage the economy and unfortunately New Zealanders are paying the price. For every New Zealander that loses a job right now it comes back to the broken economy that we inherited and the damage that that side did.Hon Willie Jackson: Does the Minister consider Māori employment rates to be back on track when under her watch in just nine months Māori unemployment has increased from 8.2 percent to 9.1 percent?Hon LOUISE UPSTON: Unfortunately the economic conditions that we have inherited mean rising unemployment. We have seen the unemployment rate rise—fortunately not as far as those forecast—and the job seeker numbers are of course getting worse. That is the reality of the economy we have inherited. Our job is to fix it. That's exactly what we are doing because we want to see more New Zealanders and more Māori in work.Hon Willie Jackson: Does the Minister consider Pacific employment rates to be back on track when under her watch in just nine months Pacific unemployment has increased from 6 percent to 8.3 percent?Hon LOUISE UPSTON: I can tell that member what this Government won't do with Pacific unemployment. We will not oversee an increase in six years of 93 percent in Pacific unemployment—that's outrageous and that's your record.Hon Willie Jackson: Can the Minister tell us how she can say youth employment is on track when recent figures show that youth unemployment has increased from 15.1 percent to 20.7 percent just in the last June quarter of 2024?Hon LOUISE UPSTON: I'm pleased that that member is finally interested in youth unemployment because what we saw unfortunately was a welfare system stagnating so much that a young person who goes on to benefit under the age of 25 now is forecast to spend two decades on welfare. That's the record of that member. We're not standing by to watch it which is why we are taking action.Hon Willie Jackson: Does the Minister have any plan to get people into work or is she just planning for the figures to get better once a whole lot of Kiwis move to simple old Australia?Hon LOUISE UPSTON: I'm very proud to again put on record the changes this Government has made to reduce the number of job seekers by 50000 by 2030. We have made sure that the sanctions regime is utilised and people are clear about their obligations to look for work. We have introduced a work check-in within two weeks of someone going on to the jobseeker benefit and again after six months. We have increased case management and for young people 4000 young people will now get case management over the phone. We have also last week increased the number of young people that will get access to the very successful He Poutama Rangatahi programme launched by National in 2017 including community coaching.