10. Wage Rates—Impact of Immigration onIAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) to the Minister of FinanceWage Rates—Impact of Immigration on10. IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement in relation to the labour market that if wages aren't rising then there isn't a shortage"?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): Yes in the context of which a fairly particular question was asked about the construction industry. I pointed out that employment increased by over 6 percent to 125000 in the last year and average weekly earnings in construction increased by nearly 6 percent compared with inflation of just 0.4 percent. I think the question had put to me the assertion that there had been no wage inflation in the construction sector. That was incorrect; there has actually been a 6 percent increase in average weekly earnings in the construction sector.Iain Lees-Galloway: Could the reason there was nil real wage growth in the last quarter be that the Government has issued so many work visas that the labour market is flooded just as the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) warned when it wrote that filling labour shortages through migration can result in wage suppression?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I think that if the member looks at the advice he will find that a number of agencies made statements about what they thought could be the case. The piece of work that was actually done in 2013 by MBIE showed that that effect was not occurring. I understand that piece of work is currently being updated so that we can refresh our view of what is actually happening in the market rather than relying on assertions by officials.Iain Lees-Galloway: Why did the immigration Minister claim that there is a shortage of workers in Te Ānau and Queenstown when average earnings are falling in those regions which he says indicates that there are plenty of workers already available; could it be that issuing 209000 work visas has supressed wages?Hon BILL ENGLISH: There are many questions rolled into that one. But I must say in Queenstown if the member goes there he will find that it is growing very fast. There is a question of whether enough people can turn up for the jobs there but it is also pretty evident that a significant majority of the workforce there are non - New Zealanders and New Zealanders do not appear to be travelling to Queenstown to take up those jobs in great numbers.Iain Lees-Galloway: I seek leave to table a data set from the New Zealand household economic survey that indicates that earnings in the Otago and Southland regions have fallen by—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That information is available on the website of Statistics New Zealand.Iain Lees-Galloway: Does the fact that average wages for sales workers fell by 6.7 percent in 2015 indicate that there is no shortage of sales workers; if so why did the Government issue 2700 work visas for sales workers when there are 23000 people in New Zealand looking for sales work?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I would not rely on the member trying to use his own numbers to create some kind of cause and effect. The fact is a number of the visa categories are labour-market tested and I think as the Minister has pointed out in recent years the immigration officials have dropped something like 50 occupations off the list and put only about three or four on the list. The member should also remember that all of this is happening against the background of one of the faster-growing developed economies where there is a high rate of job creation where incomes are rising and where there are good prospects for people looking for work.Iain Lees-Galloway: Is the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment wrong is Treasury wrong is the Reserve Bank wrong is the BNZ wrong is the Auckland Chamber of Commerce wrong and is he right when he says that—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am inviting the member to ask one supplementary question. I will give him a chance to rephrase it but in that time I think he had asked five and he was still going strongly.Iain Lees-Galloway: Is everyone else wrong and is he right when he says immigration is more permissive because New Zealanders are "pretty damned hopeless"?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I did not say that but I could give the member this advice: Winston Peters is much better at this stuff."