1. Job Creation and Unemployment—PolicyRt Hon BILL ENGLISH (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSJob Creation and Unemployment—Policy1. Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by her Government's policy to create more jobs"; if so can she confirm that over 245000 jobs have been created in the last 2 years?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes. It is this Government's policy to see more people in employment. I can also confirm that in the last two years there were 235000 more people in the workforce and an increase of around 245000 people in some form of employment.Rt Hon Bill English: Can she confirm that that means there were around 10000 extra jobs created on average each month and if so how many jobs—new jobs—over and above that does her Government plan to create?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: It is absolutely this Government's ambition to increase employment particularly for people in the regions and particularly for young people. Over the same two-year period that that member referenced there was for an example an increase in the unemployment rate in Gisborne up to 8.8 percent and the number of "neets"—young people not in employment education or training—over that two-year period increased by 4000. We can do better than that.Rt Hon Bill English: Can the Prime Minister tell us what kinds of jobs the Government has in mind to create in Gisborne?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We've spoken a number of times around the kind of regional growth and employment we hope to see. A lot of that we hope to see off the back of our investment through the Regional Development (Provincial Growth) Fund which is an initiative of New Zealand First. But I see opportunities particularly in Gisborne around issues like wood processing the forestry industry and others. This is a Government who is ambitious for New Zealanders and our regions.Rt Hon Bill English: So do the types of jobs she wants to create resemble those referred to by her Minister for Regional Economic Development who said it would take 1250 planters to plant a million trees a day a hundred days' work a year; and does she mean that planting trees on Tuesdays and Fridays at the minimum wage is the kind of quality job she wants to create?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We will see a range of job opportunities off the back of that regional growth fund. It's sad to see that after such a short time in Opposition those past Government members have become so unambitious for the potential of those young people.Rt Hon Bill English: Can the Prime Minister address the question and that's: do the jobs proposed by the Minister for Regional Economic Development—that is people working planting trees two days a week on the minimum wage—count as the kind of ambitious job she has in mind?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: There are full-time job opportunities in the forestry industry and the member well knows that.Rt Hon Bill English: So will she direct the Minister for Regional Economic Development to create full-time jobs paying the living wage—as the public have been led to believe will be the case—or is she happy with the current policy to create part-time jobs on the minimum wage?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The Minister for Regional Economic Development does not need to be directed. He has a very clear ambition for job creation. He has a particular focus on rangatahi and young people particularly in Northland in the Bay of Plenty and in the East Coast. Those are job opportunities like forestry and I have an expectation that of course they will be quality opportunities with long-term prospects.Rt Hon Bill English: So can the Prime Minister tell us what jobs will be available in addition to those already struggling to be filled in the horticulture industry and the hospitality industry in the regions that she has referred to?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Look as I've said in an area like Gisborne we have an unemployment rate of 8.8 percent. Yes in some cases that's about investing in education and training. That's another reason why this Government has removed any barriers to access around education and training with its fees-free policy. It's about investing in young people so that they're able to take up those jobs—not diminishing their motivation or their ability to do a job.Rt Hon Bill English: Does the Prime Minister stand by the estimates made for the Government policy that there will be a few thousand extra enrolments across New Zealand as a result of the fees-free tertiary policy; and to what percentage should unemployment drop in Gisborne as a result of that policy?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Speaking to the question on the expected enrolment for the education sector there's been an expectation that that will lift as a result of our policy and stem the tide of declining enrolment and participation that was happening under the last Government."