8. Question No. 8—Social DevelopmentHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for Social DevelopmentQuestion No. 8—Social Development8. Hon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for Social Development: What proportion of the working age population is receiving the COVID19 Wage Subsidy COVID-19 Income Relief Payment or Jobseeker Support?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development): An estimated 6.3 percent of the New Zealand working-age population were receiving jobseeker support and an estimated 0.3 percent were receiving the COVID-19 income relief payment as at the end of June 2020. Can I just say with regard to the COVID-19 income relief payment it is not only those who are deemed of working-age population that can access it like with benefit; it does extend beyond the 18 to 64 category. So it does take a little bit longer to pull together that information hence why I've used the end of June 2020 information. The wage subsidy is paid to the employer and the Ministry of Social Development reports on the number of jobs associated with the subsidy. I can advise that the wage subsidy has supported 1.7 million jobs. These initiatives are examples of how the Government is responding to the needs of people families and communities in supporting the long-term economic recovery for New Zealand.Hon Louise Upston: What is the total number of people that are currently being supported by the COVID-19 wage subsidy the COVID-19 income relief payment or jobseeker support?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: So the figures that I used earlier for end of June were because we had to work out the working-age population and as I said with COVID the COVID job loss cover they can access that from 16 to over 65 actually if they'd been working. So the most recent numbers for the COVID job loss cover at the end of last week was about 18500. Those on a main benefit currently is at about 352000 and as I said the number of jobs that have been supported through the wage subsidy is currently at around 1.7 million.Hon Louise Upston: Is she confident that the 436922 Kiwis who are currently receiving the wage subsidy will continue to have a job when the subsidy ends; and if yes why?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We put the wage subsidy in place to provide some support for businesses so that we could provide some certainty for those that do currently have jobs. We're hoping that as many of those businesses are able to survive this unprecedented event as possible but we certainly can't put a number on that. And we do know and we've always said that unfortunately the reality for us as a country and the reality globally is that there will be job losses. We just want to see as few of those as possible and I think it is heartening that the New Zealand economy is continuing to perform better than expected by most economists.Hon Louise Upston: Is the current number of people on temporary income support which is 455514 showing that Treasury's forecast of 300000 people who will be unemployed too high too low or about right?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Unemployment is actually at this point expected to peak slightly lower than previous forecasts. However the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update will include the next official Government figures. We are in uncertain times and this Government has put every measure into place that we can to mitigate the risk of job losses and we continue to invest in not just the creation of jobs but opportunities for upskilling and training to ensure that we are looking after New Zealanders during this really difficult period.Hon Louise Upston: Is she aware that the number of Kiwis currently receiving the wage subsidy and income relief payment is almost equal to the amount of people living in the Waikato region and if so what is the plan to get Kiwis back to work?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We're not going to apologise for providing New Zealanders with financial support during this very difficult time. We put the wage subsidy in place for that purpose. We put the job loss cover in place for that purpose. We bolstered the support that we can offer through the Ministry of Social Development not just with respect to income but also with respect to supporting people to get into work. What is heartening can I say is that actually in June we had more exits off benefit into work this year than what we did last year. I think it was around 7500 exits off benefit into work as opposed to 5200 the same time last year. So I think this Government has shown itself to be very proactive and focused on what is most important and that is New Zealanders during this time.