Barry Maggie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBarry Maggie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 12 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:14535. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.MAGGIE BARRY (National—North Shore) to theMinister of Finance: What do official statistics show about progress in the Government’s goal of supporting new jobs and higher incomes for New Zealanders?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): First it is important to recognise that businesses create jobs and the Government is following a supportive policy for businesses and the people who work in them so that they can invest more and create more jobs. Recent indicators confirm that the programme is working. In the September quarter 27000 more New Zealanders had jobs than in the previous quarter. The increase in jobs over the year to September stood at 53700. Regional employment data was moderately strong with eight regions having a lower unemployment rate than Auckland.Maggie Barry: What did labour market statistics show last week in respect of overall employment levels labour market participation rates and hours worked across the economy?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The results from the survey for September were a bit more positive than expected although to be fair those expectations were pretty moderate. Employment increased by 2.4 percent in the year to September. The labour market participation rate—that is the proportion of the potential workforce that regards itself as being in the labour market—increased by half a percentage point to 68.6 percent and the unemployment rate fell to 6.2 percent. Both the number of hours worked and the number of hours paid rose and this is indicative of reasonably good growth for the whole economy. Wage growth accelerated more than expected according to the quarterly employment survey. All these indicators suggest that the economic recovery is gathering some momentum—and I am pleased to say particularly in the regions and particularly in manufacturing.Maggie Barry: How does New Zealand’s rate of unemployment compare with unemployment levels in other developed economies?Hon BILL ENGLISH: At 6.2 percent it is still higher than we would like to see it but it is a considerable improvement on 7.2 percent a year earlier. This improvement is more noteworthy given that New Zealand’s labour market participation rate has increased significantly to 68.6 percent which is high by world standards. In a number of other developed economies participation rates are falling as people are discouragedfrom looking for work. Our unemployment rate is a bit higher than Australia’s 5.7 percent; however in New Zealand—[Interruption] No just listen to this. In New Zealand 64.4 percent of the working age population is in work. In Australia that percentage is 61.1 percent of the population in work. So a bigger proportion of the New Zealand population is in work than in Australia by quite some margin and our unemployment rates are pretty similar.Maggie Barry: According to official labour market statistics how do recent wage increases compare with movements in the cost of living?Hon BILL ENGLISH: This is particularly relevant for households that feel the pressure of rising costs and for many New Zealand households that have had to wait a bit long for wage increases. The quarterly employment survey measure of average hourly earnings rose 2.6 percent in the year to September—almost double the 1.4 percent increase in the CPI for the same period. So average hourly earnings rose almost twice as fast as the Consumers Price Index. This is moderately helping families to get ahead of the cost of living.Andrew Little: Why is half the workforce not getting a pay increase in any one year?Hon BILL ENGLISH: We will continue to pursue policy that locks in to the extent that it can relatively low inflation but more important policy that supports workplaces paying higher wages.