Parker David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParker David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 06 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16410. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.Hon DAVID PARKER (Deputy Leader—Labour) to theMinister of Finance: What will he do to “spread some of the benefits of growth” when hourly wage rates have only grown by 1.6 percent in the year to December 2013 which is close to 0 percent in real terms when 45 percent of listed corporates have double-digit profit growth?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): The member continues to use the wrong numbers on wages. Last year average hourly wages went up 2.9 percent compared with inflation of 1.6 percent. The year before they went up 2.6 percent compared with inflation of 0.9 percent. The year before that they went up 2.8 percent compared with inflation of 1.6 percent. The member mistakenly uses the labour cost index and deliberately as a way of measuring what wages people earn and it simply does not measure that.Hon David Parker: Does the labour cost index measure the change in hourly rates from year to year and did that show growth of only 1.6 percent in the year to December 2013?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The labour cost index is an index of labour cost like the CPI is an index of consumer cost. It does not measure what people earn. What people earn is measured by the quarterly employment survey. For the last 3 years wages have gone up over 7 percent at a time when inflation has been around 4 percent so real wages have been rising.Jami-Lee Ross: By how much have wages after tax grown in the past 5½ years and how does this compare historically?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Since the September quarter of 2008 real after-tax wages have increased by 12.9 percent. In other words the average wage after you allow for inflation and tax has gone up 12.9 percent in a little over 5 years. Those have been 5 pretty difficult years but it compares well historically. For example over the 9 years from September 1999 to September 2008 real after-tax wages rose 4.4 percent not 12.9 percent as it has in the last 5 years. Average workers have been considerably better off under this Government than under the previous Labour Government because their after-tax wages have gone up much faster despite the fact that we have had a major recession.Hon David Parker: Do the census figures published in theNew Zealand Heraldjust before Christmas last year show that the median income inMāngere andŌtāhuhu had dropped by 16 percent and inŌtara Papatoetoe and Manurewa it had dropped by 17 percent since the previous census and does this represent the brighter future that he promised these hard-working New Zealanders 5 years ago or is it the census that has got the figures wrong?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well I would have to look at the details—Iain Lees-Galloway: It’s called the census Bill—the census.Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well because he keeps using the wrong measure for the increase in wages it could be that he is using the wrong measure for statistics. But I can tell you that if the people in those suburbs have been hit by the recession what they need is a growing economy with more jobs because the one thing that will lift those wages is getting jobs. If there is one thing that Labour and the Greens are against it is more jobs because every policy that this Government has introduced to give those people more hope has been opposed by Labour and the Greens.Hon David Parker: How can he deny that the benefits of growth are not being shared fairly when homeownership is now at its lowest level in more than half a century? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The question was to the Hon Bill English.Hon BILL ENGLISH: The fact that house prices are rising pretty significantly does mean that people who currently own houses in some places get a greater share of the increase in wealth and people who are locked out of the market do not get the benefits of those wealth increases. The best thing that the Opposition can do to help that is support the Government’s measures to improve the access of low and middle income people to the housing market. So far the Opposition has opposed all of the measures that the Government has taken to give low and middle income New Zealanders better opportunities.Hon David Parker: How can he deny that the benefits of growth are not being shared fairly when rental prices have increased by around 15 percent on average across New Zealand over the past 3 years yet wage rates have increased by only 5.5 percent? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Hon David Parker is asking the question to the Hon Bill English.Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am on my feet. I now require an answer from the Hon Bill English.Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. You were looking at me. I know I asked the question. It is those members who need to know who is going to answer it.Mr SPEAKER: That is not a point of order. That is creating further disorder in the House.Hon BILL ENGLISH: They have had a very good answer and now they will get an excellent one.Mr SPEAKER: And I would be grateful for an answer.Hon BILL ENGLISH: If the member is concerned about the impact of the cost of housing on inequality then he should support the Government’s measures like special housing areas which are designed precisely to reduce that inequality. In fact the reason the member talks about housing as a driver of inequality now is that the measures of income inequality do not suit his argument. He has had to concede that the rich are not getting richer and the poor getting poorer that that is simply not true so now he is trying to change the argument.Hon David Parker: How can he deny that the benefits of growth are not being shared fairly when there are now more than 360000 children and older people living in poverty and many of those children are living in the households of working parents?Hon BILL ENGLISH: We could argue about the fact that the measure he is using which uses median incomes overlooks the fact that all of those people he is talking about—children and older people—are in households that have had significant increases in their income despite the fact that there has been a recession. In fact the version of poverty the Government is most focused on is persistent deprivation which is the hard end of poverty. That is where people really get trapped for life. We are advancing a programme of improving housing options reducing welfare dependency and dealing with the most difficult families constructively in a way to give them the opportunity to get into work and realise their aspirations.