2. Question No. 2—FinanceDr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour—New Lynn) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 2—Finance2. Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour—New Lynn) to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Late last week Standard & Poor's (S & P) global ratings released a report on the economic outlook for the Asia-Pacific region. The S & P report said that economies that flattened COVID-19 curves quickly and launched substantial and well-targeted stimulus—like New Zealand—are expected to escape with less permanent economic damage. S & P Asia-Pacific chief economist Shaun Roache said New Zealand definitely is one of those economies that has exited the most severe periods of the pandemic first and that clearly was just because what that allows the economy to do is reopen so those face-to-face service activities that are so important for the labour market and that hopefully should get jobs restarted and people can go back to work." While our economy continues to face challenges from COVID-19 the S & P forecast shows that our decision to go hard and early with our health response combined with our significant investments to protect businesses and jobs will help stimulate the economy and speed up the recovery. Dr Deborah Russell: What did the S & P report say about New Zealand's current economic outlook compared with international peers and previous downturns? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: According to the report S & P expects the COVID-19 pandemic to leave "lasting scars" on the Asia-Pacific region. New Zealand is not immune and this is reflected in its forecast. S & P expects the New Zealand economy to contract 5 percent in the year to June 2020 reflecting the impact of the lockdown and the global recession but this is then followed by a strong period of projected expansion: 6 percent in 2021 3.4 percent in 2022 and 3 percent in 2023. That is a faster rebound than either Australia or Japan are projected. While we've always been clear that the economic fallout from the pandemic would be difficult it is encouraging that S & P expects the New Zealand economy to rebound relatively strongly meaning less of an economic hit over the medium and long term. Dr Deborah Russell: Has he seen reports of recovery in the New Zealand job market? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Yesterday Stats New Zealand released employment indicators for May showing some encouraging signs for the job market. The Stats data shows the total number of filled jobs rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent in May after a 1.6 percent drop during April as a result of the lockdown. The May result is the highest monthly growth rate since January 2019. The data also showed that the overall fall in filled jobs since March has been most significant for those aged 15 to 24 who tend to be doing more part-time and casual work while studying. While the headline increase is encouraging we are obviously concerned at the impact on younger people which is why we have already put in place initiatives including training and apprenticeship funding and obviously the continuation of the first year of post-school training free. There will be a long way to go in providing sustainable skilled employment pathways for people who have lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19 but the Government is committed to doing that."