Goldsmith Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGoldsmith Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 04 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13233. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to theMinister of Finance: What progress is the Government making in building a stronger economy that will support more jobs and higher incomes following the domestic recession which started in early 2008 well before the global financial crisis?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): The Government is making good progress in rebuilding the economy after the recession began in 2008 before the global financial crisis. Back then unemployment started to rise and the Government faced a decade of deficits as a result of the stewardship of the last Government. This week Treasury published its monthlyEconomic Indicators for August which confirmed a number of positive trends in the economy. Households and businesses are becoming increasingly optimistic and consumers in particular are beginning to spend more as their confidence lifts. Of course today we had the ratings from the World Competitiveness Index that indicate that New Zealand is beginning the long crawl back from the damage done by the previous Government which reduced our competitiveness.Paul Goldsmith: What did Treasury’s latest monthlyEconomic Indicators say about the outlook for the labour market?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Treasury has noted that there is a modest strengthening of the labour market in the June quarter and noted that the household labour force survey confirmed that the number of people employed rose by 8000. This was a particularly positive outcome following a large increase in the number of people employed in the March quarter. That means that over the past 6 months an extra 46000 New Zealanders have been employed. Treasury notes that the quarterly employment survey showed a similar strengthening in the number of filled jobs. Of course it has not grown as fast as we would like but 46000 jobs in 6 months is a pretty solid effort and we hope that the economy will build on that in the next 6 months.Paul Goldsmith: In the light of the improving labour market what do the latest indicators say about wage growth?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Total weekly gross earnings grew by 1.2 percent in the June quarter according to the quarterly employment survey. This took annual growth and weekly gross earnings to 3.8 percent. This is relatively subdued nominal wage growth. However with annual inflation at only 0.7 percent real annual wage growth is similar to the rate in the mid-2000s—that is real incomes are about 3.1 percent higher over the year. That is above the level of inflation. This wage growth and low inflation will continue to boost Kiwi family incomes. Of course we would like to see more of it and the competitiveness index results today indicate there is the possibility—the probability—of better increases in incomes in the future because we are becoming more competitive.Paul Goldsmith: What progress is being made in rebuilding Christchurch after the devastating earthquakes and what contribution is this making to economic growth?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Today marks the third anniversary of the first large earthquake. We want to acknowledge the courage and resilience shown by the people of Christchurch and communities across Canterbury. They are making very good progress in what are still difficult circumstances in the challenging task of rebuilding their lives and their communities. The Government continues to back the rebuild and boosted its commitment in the May Budget from $13 billion to $15 billion. We are also working hard to progress anchor projects in the Christchurch central business district with the first section of the Avon River precinct opened recently. Of course there are still issues that are frustrating both homeowners and commercial building owners related to thecomplexity of insurance arrangements in Christchurch. The extra activity is reflecting in economic statistics: the Canterbury economy grew 6.6 percent in the last 12 months—well ahead of other regions.