Beyer Georgina: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Beyer Georgina: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:623;Page:18580] 
4.  
GEORGINA BEYER (Labour—Wairarapa) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: What recent reports has he received on the state of the labour market? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 The household labour force survey for the December 2004 quarter released last Friday reported that employment increased by 87000 last year taking the total increase in employment since the Labour Government took office to 264000. That is 152 more people in employment for every single day of this Government or one person employed every 10 minutes. Unemployment reduced by 18000 last year. That is 37 percent fewer unemployed than when we took office. Unemployment now is at a record low of 3.6 percent which makes us No. 1 in the OECD. 
Georgina Beyer 
: Were any aspects of the December 2004 household labour force survey results unusual; if so what were they? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The Labour-Progressive Government was pleased to notice in the survey that six records had been broken. The first was the record high level of employment. The others were the record low level of unemployment; a record high 1.6 percent employment growth in the December 2004 quarter; a record high labour force participation rate of 67.7 percent; a record high 65.3 percent of those of working age now in employment; and for the first time all ethnic groups measured having an annual average unemployment rate of under 9 percent. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Why does the Minister want to associate himself with that sort of deception when he knows full well that the Finance and Expenditure Committee was told that that employment measurement can derive from a person getting just 1 hour’s work a week and that it disguises the fact that tens of thousands of New Zealanders have gone off the unemployment benefit to the sickness benefit and therefore are not measured against the Minister’s 3.6 percent index? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Because of course it is not deception. This measure is the measure used throughout the OECD so we are using the same measure. As I have explained to the member a number of times the measure he should be looking at in the survey is underemployment to tell whether people are getting the jobs that they actually want. I point out to the member that what we have is a movement of people from sickness benefit to invalids benefit but that over the last 5 years approximately 20000 have moved from sickness benefit to invalids benefit and about 70000 have moved back the other way. 
Judy Turner 
: Has the Minister seen reports of Dr Alan Bollard’s recent speech to the Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce when he stated that to increase growth it is more important to focus on improving the productivity of the current workforce rather than on expanding an already stretched labour force and how does this sit with the Government’s pledge to encourage more mothers back into paid employment and away from caring for their children at home? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: It sits very well. In fact if the member cares to read speeches from right across the economic portfolios of the Government she will hear the same message about productivity. But at the same time this is a country where more people can go back into the workforce provided they have the support of such things as childcare and provided that it is a free choice to do so. That is what we are aiming to provide for. 
Georgina Beyer 
: How has this significant improvement in the employment situation been shared regionally? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The Labour-Progressive Government has noticed that all 12 regions have reported and benefited from an improved employment situation. In every single region the unemployment rate is now under 5 percent. The annual average unemployment rate in Northland went down from 8 percent to 4.5 percent within a year while that in the Bay of Plenty dropped from 6.3 percent to 4.7 percent. The disparity between the lowest rate which is 2.5 percent in the Nelson / Marlborough / West Coast area and the highest which is 4.8 percent in the Hawke’s Bay / Gisborne area is much smaller than it used to be. 
Judy Turner 
: Does the Minister agree that a singular focus on increasing women’s participation in the labour market in an effort to improve GDP relative to that of other OECD countries ignores the fact that staying home to look after children is valuable work even if it does not rate on a clinical economic indicator and that by contracting out parenting through dawn-till-dusk childcare we may be putting economic rankings above family well-being? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I would not want the member to think that the Government would focus on one singular policy to increase productivity. As she knows the Government has more policy than the rest of the House put together on these issues as well as on everything else. I also stress that the Government has placed an enormous amount of emphasis on the family. That is why we have a partnership on the Families Commission as the member knows. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek leave to table two documents. One is the comparative record between the 2005 results which were much lauded by the Minister and the results from 1985 when the great economic experiment began under Labour which shows that unemployment is higher than it was back then. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? 
Document not tabled. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek leave to table the second document which debunks the view that there is a greater movement of people from the sickness benefit to the unemployment benefit than the reverse. The document proves that under Labour there are tens of thousands more people who are on the sickness benefit than there were before Labour came to power. 
Document not tabled.